Can I really travel for cheap or free?
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The answer is TOTALLY YES! I remember when we took our first Disney vacation as a family in 2016, our package for our family of 5 including flights, resort, park tickets, and meal plan set us back about $5300… YIKES! I thought there has to be a better way, I want to come back, and take my kids on other trips as awesome as that one was but let’s face it, for many families that is a huge stretch! This led me to doing some research on how people are taking these awesome vacations without killing their finances.
Enter travel hacking. What does that even mean? Travel hacking means using rewards or points instead of money to book travel. The easiest or most common way to accumulate these points is with credit cards. OH NO SHE DIDN’T just say credit cards?! Gasp! Those are bad, right? I had always thought so! When Gabe & I got married, he had some credit card debt from putting himself through college. We got that paid off and I said we would never have a credit card again! What I didn’t know is that when used responsibly, credit cards offer so much value! Free points and miles for using credit cards and paying off in full every month? Yes please!
Many travelers may already have membership in various hotel or airline rewards programs. That’s great! But it will probably take for-eevvv-er to accumulate enough points for a stay of any worth using the program alone. Credit cards are like the free-travel fastpass (see what I did there). So how does this work? How are we pulling off free & cheap vacations? Credit card bonuses are the fastest way to earn a whole lotta points in a relatively short amount of time. These card companies offer thousands of points when you sign up for a new card and meet a minimum spend in the first X amount of months you have the card. Everything you pay now goes on that credit card. Groceries, gas, school supplies, bills, activities, restaurants, concerts, etc. Charge it! You are really just adding one extra step to the usual process. Instead of using your debit card that gives you absolutely nothing back, you pay with credit card, then turn around and pay credit card off with your regular money. THIS IS IMPORTANT PEOPLE. You must pay off your card in full, every month! No amount of rewards are worth paying interest! If you can’t do that, travel hacking is probably not for you. But if you can be financially responsible, the rewards are pretty incredible! And if you are married? Hiyoooo! You just entered a 2 player game! Both spouses can get can a card under their name and double up to really maximize those rewards! **Insert me doing the running man** let’s say the bonus is $500 in free travel… would you take $1000 instead? Yeah you would! This is super handy when you have kids you want to travel with, more people means higher cost!
Wait a minute. What will this do to my credit score? That was my big concern when first starting. Thanks to Credit Karma you can keep an eye on your credit score and all open lines of credit free of charge. This is a soft pull on your credit so no worries about it affecting your score when you check it. Many banks offer this service as well. Gabe & I both started with an “excellent” credit rating and although it has slightly fluctuated up & down with opening cards & making payments (as expected), it has always remained at an excellent rating.
So where do you start? Well, that depends on you! What are your travel goals? Do you want to take domestic or international trips? Are you looking for a one-time amazing, free trip? Or do you want to take multiple trips? Would you like to find a way to cover just flights or just hotels? All do-able! Start dreaming about the amazing places you’d like to see, it may not be as far-fetched as you think! Do you already have status with an airline or hotel reward program? You can build off that! There are many different strategies when it comes to opening/closing credit cards – how many, how fast, which ones in what order. The beauty of it is – you get to do this at whatever pace you are comfortable with.
The most common card travel hackers start with is our go-to card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card – referral link. Chase is top dog in terms of travel rewards, and this is a great starter card. The Chase Ultimate Rewards you receive are super flexible, meaning you can book travel through the Chase portal (where your points are worth 25% more) or transfer to their many airline/hotel partners. It also offers benefits you may not think about needing with travel, such as trip insurance, purchase coverage, and no foreign transaction fees. Plus the annual fee is waived the first year, so you have a full year to accumulate points and see if this card is a fit for your wallet! Sah-weeeeeet! Click the link for the full deets on current offer!
So tell me, where would you go if you could get there for free or cheap? Stay tuned, I’ll be sharing my exact strategy used for some of the trips we are taking!