In preparation for teaching the course tomorrow, I thought I d compile a few—okay, many—notes on the

In preparation for teaching the course tomorrow, I thought I d compile a few—okay, many—notes on the best current travel hacking opportunities. If you d like to see the world, or at least travel without spending a lot of money, perhaps something in this extended post will be helpful to you. Enjoy!
Round-the-World Tickets. In my early days of pursuing the quest to visit every country, I traveled on at least four RTW tickets each year . Back in the day you could have up to 20 segments on each one (it took an hour to hand-write them in Narita airport, where I often had them issued), and when beginning the trip abroad, the overall cost was much less.
These days, you get only 16 segments and everything is electronic. Overseas ticket prices aren t as cheap as they used to be, but there are still bargains to be found. In January I ll be heading to South Africa to begin a new OneWorld ticket, which will probably look something like this:
Chase Sapphire, Ink Bold, and Ink Plus. The trifecta of Chase cards remains the best overall credit card hacking deal for those who qualify. Sapphire is great because you ll always earn double points hotels near disney world on all travel and dining spend—which in my case, is the largest overall category of spending hotels near disney world by far. Ink Bold and Ink Plus are great for 5x points on internet, telecommunications, and office supply stores (more on that in a moment) up to $50,000 a year.
All three of these cards offer no foreign transaction fees, meaning you can use them anywhere in the world without paying a penalty for being a global citizen. hotels near disney world You ll earn a 50,000 bonus on the Ink Bold and Ink Plus cards, and a 40,000 bonus on the Sapphire hotels near disney world card. I have each of them and use them daily.
Vanilla Reloads hotels near disney world and other Free Money. A while back there was a mega deal where you could earn 5x points on buying Vanilla Reloads, essentially a gift card that contains money , which could then be converted hotels near disney world back to cash using AmEx s Bluebird card. This helped a lot of people rack up a lot of miles very fast.
You can no longer buy Vanilla Reloads for the 5x bonus at Office Depot, but you can still pick them up at CVS and other drugstores hotels near disney world at $500 a pop. Thanks to my travel hacking friend Wandering Zito , we ve both been running $5,000 a month through the cards, the maximum amount. With full optimization this adds up to 60,000 hotels near disney world extra miles a year times two.
Starwood Preferred Guest AmEx. The original card I started travel hacking on many years ago is still going strong. Like the Chase cards, I use it every day—and there s also a business version, which offers an additional sign-up bonus. The nice thing about Starwood points is that they can be transferred to (almost) hotels near disney world any airline with a 20% bonus, so every 20,000 points hotels near disney world creates 25,000 miles. I also use SPG points for hotel stays, and unlike Hyatt s program, hotels near disney world awards stays count as qualifying stays for elite status. Bam!
Status Matches ( One status to rule them all ). Long ago I wrote about how to earn one elite status with an airline or hotel chain, then use that to leverage the same status with others . Much of that post is still current, although specific details for various airlines or hotel companies can change. Sometimes you can t match directly, but instead you can undertake a challenge where you receive the status upon completing a lesser number of hotel nights or miles flown.
Lounge Access Is for Everyone. Actually, it s not—but it could be for you. I carry the AmEx Platinum hotels near disney world card, which gets me free Priority Pass membership and access to plenty of domestic lounges. If you don t want the AmEx Plat, it may be worth it to pay for the Priority Pass membership directly.
U.S. Airways Purchases (Currently available!) . Most of the time, buying miles isn t a good idea. The airlines are happy to sell miles for your own use or as gifts, but the price is too high for it to be worth it. Several hotels near disney world times a year, though, U.S. Airways will offer its miles for sale with a big bonus .
If you re reading this post today (October 14, 2014), hotels near disney world there is currently a deal open! Until midnight on October 15, you can receive a 100% bonus when sharing miles with someone else, up to 50,000 miles. This costs $0.01 a mile + taxes (a bit more than $500 for 50,000) and can be a great deal. Business Class tickets to Europe or Asia begin at 90,000 miles and usually cost thousands of dollars, but this is a way to effectively purchase them for much less.
If you ve never purchased before or don t have any U.S. Airways miles, fret not. This opportunity returns a few times a year. The next time you can purchase them at a low rate, do so—and then you ll have miles to share.
Free Elite Status and Hotel Nights with Cards (Hilton, Hyatt, hotels near disney world Club Carlson) . Just like the airline cards, you can put your credit to good use by applying for and responsibly maintaining hotel credit cards. Several of them offer free nights just for getting the card and meeting a minimum spend.
hotels near disney world Meeting minimum spend is easy. When you get a new credit card, the issuers sometimes require that you meet a minimum spend before hotels near disney world receiving the sign-up bonus. The minimum spend usually ranges from $500-5,000, hotels near disney world and you usually have up to three months hotels near disney world to complete it.
If you re not able to meet the requirement with your usual spending, you re not out of luck. Amazon Payments allows each person to send up to $1,000 per month to anyone else, using a credit card and without any fees at all. Bam! That takes care of at least $3,000 of your 90-day spend.
hotels near disney world Suntrust Debit Cards for Tax Payments. What if you don t want or can t get credit cards? If you can get a debit card, you still have a couple of options: Alaska Airlines hotels near disney world and Suntrust Delta. These cards don t usually have big sign-up bonuses, but at least they earn miles for spending.
I prefer the Suntrust Delta , because it earns miles on tax payments. For the past six months I ve been using the Suntrust card for my quarterly tax payments. Unlike hotels near disney world credit cards, where you pay a percentage that makes it too expensive, you pay only $3.49 per payment when using a debit card.
Fidelity Cash Deposits. Have a lot of cash on hand? You re not earning any money with interest rates these days, so deposit it at Fidelity and you ll get up to 50,000 miles. Depending on the current rules (they appear to change a lot), you may be able to deposit, withdraw, and redeposit funds until you get to the amount needed for the bonus.
The Big Hit Every So Often (Mistake Fares, Buy Useless Stickers, etc.). Once in a while, something really big comes along. In 2008 I went for a hair-loss consultation and earned 20,000 SkyMiles. During the next year I regularly purchased free money from the U.S. mint ($30,000 worth) in exchange for miles on a 1:1 basis.
The Biggest Hack of All: The Travel Experience. Travel isn t all about miles and points, or at least it shouldn t be. For me, the miles and points are what enable the overall experience of seeing and engaging in the world.
Question: Is it beneficial to apply for all these credit cards at once? I ve heard that applying for them at once increases the chances of getting them because it only registers once through the credit card companies. Truth?
Yes, generally speaking, it s best to apply in batches. I do this through the Frequent Flyer Challenge a few times a year. This minimizes the impact on your credit score, since all inquiries post on the same day, and also makes it easier for your own record-keeping.
Just wanted to say thanks.. after your last email I signed up for the United explorers hotels near disney world card and just got the 35k bonus, which put me over the top for a free flight hotels near disney world to run the Barcelona marathon in Feb!
After today s email, I signed up for the Chase Sapphire and when I get those 40k, I ll then sign up for the Ink, and that 50k will give me enough miles to go to the Jerusalem marathon for free as well.
Good to hear you re going to include some non-US hacks. It s not easy to find similar deals in the UK so it would be great to get your help with that. Unfortunately I can t join for the whole day, will you be publishing sections of the webinar online afterwards? Thanks. Lloyd
Awesome! How did you buy money from the US Mint? Cash for Cash? Credit card? They just wanted to ensure that new tender was circulating? I m also assuming you didn t just walk in there and write a check for 30k but did this gradually during that year.