MilesBuzz! - Traveling beyond your means on miles and points

When I talk about my upcoming trips, like the one to Brazil, I often find myself adding like a disclaimer or something--"Of course I got free flights on miles". There is no way someone of my income level could afford the kind of travel I do otherwise, especially in Australia where they don't have the mega credit card bonuses I can get as a US citizen with a good Fico. It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something. And I don't want people who see us walking out of an IC or Westin (on points) to think I am one of those rich people who usually stay there.

Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?

Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?

Nope. I travel, eat and drive what I want to, when I want to and make no apologies for it. By some standards I'm on a pretty good income, and by others I'm not, but I'm not interested in what others think of me, what I do or how I spend my money/time.

The only exception is when I'm talking about staying in a particular hotel room (IE Penthouse Suite or something) my friends will often ask me how I scored the room. I'll tell them that I didn't pay for it, it was upgraded to me due to my status (I don't use that word, I'll say "my frequent user level" or similar) and that I only booked a standard room. This is meant as an explanation not as an apolgy.

It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something.

Be careful... if they see you have lots of miles or points, they may hit you up for free flights and rooms.

"Wow, you travel for work and collect so many miles on so many airlines. You can't possibly use them all, so how about sharing some?"

I'll venture to say, if you're travelling on miles and points that you've earned (and probably worked hard to acquire) you aren't "travelling beyond your means".

My friends know about my FF hobby, and understand most of my trips cost me little to nothing out of pocket. For anyone else, it's NOTDB.

This is actually a fairly common situation in trying to explain why, for example, you picked Thailand or Bali for a trip. "Well, if you can get around the airfare somehow, your land costs are actually pretty cheap," I'll explain (sometimes to Customs on the way back).

In some countries you can make back the cost of the trip in savings on medical or dental care or prescriptions if you plan it right. It usually takes several trips to get in the groove there. Not needing a rental car and taking bus or rail inter-city can also really save in many countries, and some places have lodging that is a good value for the money.

I also took a buyout offer years ago with a severance that allowed me to travel around for a year IF I could hold the total budget for everything to $60/day. That meant a bias toward less-expensive countries...some have done that as a RTW trip, but thanks to miles I was able to do it as 90-100 day trips.

Sadly, many of those in the U.S. working for the Man are in corporate cultures that celebrate sacrifice, doing the work that 4 people used to do, not taking all your vacation (or taking money in lieu of vacation days), or (worst of all) not being considered promotable or serious about your job or considerate of overworked co-workers if you take 2-week vacations at any time other than Christmas. But you need that kind of trip length at minimum to do a decent trip that crosses the Pacific.

One other thing: I've self-funded about 98% of my airline earning activity (even when working for someone else, as I got very little travel with that). OTOH, I don't get the sense there are lots of self-funded, shoestring-budget people like me out there with big balances in HOTEL programs. With enough points in those you can live a pretty cloistered existence if you want.

99% of my friends still don't get the concept that you can basically fly anywhere in the world in first class for "free" with careful signups and use of ccards plus some BIS time. I try and try to explain it to them, but they have no desire to learn.

I assume that they know I am not paying for all my airline tickets, as given the volume of travel and the class of service I have been traveling in, my flights would total up to well over a hundred thousand dollars a year in airline expenses if I had been paying out of pocket (I checked kayak for same day/class/flight # for all the flights on my most recent award redemption and those flights alone would have cost close to $30,000).

Sounds like class welfare to me.

If you do not work for it you do not deserve it.

As CC in Asia become more popular you will find the free rides a little harder to find, most Asians handle money better than most Americans.

If you are travelling from your earned miles and points you are not travelling beyond your means.
If you learn and know how to shop for travel bargains that you can afford you are not travelling beyond your means.

When I am travelling well for very low cost, we usually leave the cake for everyone else.

Nope. I travel, eat and drive what I want to, when I want to and make no apologies for it. By some standards I'm on a pretty good income, and by others I'm not, but I'm not interested in what others think of me, what I do or how I spend my money/time.

Well said. Me too.

If you are travelling from your earned miles and points you are not travelling beyond your means.
.

What if those earned miles were one someone else's dime?

I piled up a bunch of miles and status flying for work. It was able to get first class tickets to Hawaii. they were (are) certainly beyond my normal means. I would not be able to pay cash for them, nor would I have ever been able to fly enough on my own dime to get the miles/status that got me the seats.

If you are travelling from your earned miles and points you are not travelling beyond your means.
If you learn and know how to shop for travel bargains that you can afford you are not travelling beyond your means.

When I am travelling well for very low cost, we usually leave the cake for everyone else.
Maybe I didn't phrase the idea very well. I am someone who is considered low income by Australian standards but because I am a dual citizen, I have a SSN, good Fico and can get USA credit cards. My friends and family see me and my husband taking off on fabulous trips to places like India, Cook Islands, Brazil and think I must have a secret trust fund someplace or huge bank account. Then when I say I can't do something or buy something because I can't afford it they think I am lying or a cheapskate or something. They don't get the idea of being cash poor but points rich.

So it's this falsely perceived idea that I am rich because I do trips that only people with high incomes can do which leads to awkward situations when they think I should be able to do other things that I would need cash for. Does that explain the concept better?

Same thing when I am overseas, vendors see us walk out of the Crowne Plaza or IC and jack up the prices because they think we are "rich" but they don't know that we booked those hotels on points and if it weren't for the points we would be in the local backpacker hostel.

It's no ones business but I do feel like I need to explain why one second I'm complaining about paying $500 in car repairs then the next I'm booking a business class ticket to Bali. I explain CC sign up bonuses, paying my rent with Amazon Payments, and only paying $50 for the reward ticket. I don't think they ever fully buy it because they don't really understand it. After that I don't feel guilty or any need to explain myself.

I do that all the time, OP, then get mad at myself afterwards because I really don't owe anyone an explanation.

As this thread focuses on uses of miles and points, please follow as the thread moves to the MilesBuzz forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

I'm 22 years old and have earned over 100,000 FF miles between AA & UA just in the year 2012. In the last two years I've made two trips to South America (spent 5 months there total), two trips to Hawaii (second trip to Hawaii was all first class), a two week trip to Sydney, Australia (business class upgrade on the flight back-best flight of my life, I think MSRP one way was about $15,000, rumor mill went crazy after that one) andddddd i just booked a trip to Turkey, open jaw flying home from Paris after new years 2012/2013. If it is hard explaining the points rich cash poor concept to somebody as a 40 year old, try explaining it as a 22 year old. Nobody understands. My uncle honestly asked to borrow $50K from me a few months ago. It is really funny to me, most of the time I just let people draw their own conclusions. It is fun. Earn em and burn em baby!

Then when I say I can't do something or buy something because I can't afford it they think I am lying or a cheapskate or something. They don't get the idea of being cash poor but points rich.

Haha. With my husband being a student and me currently unemployed, I have to offer up explanations constantly why I cannot afford to go out to dinner, but I CAN afford to go on vacation.

As CC in Asia become more popular you will find the free rides a little harder to find, most Asians handle money better than most Americans.

I wouldn't be surprised if American's handled money better before CCs than they do now. I also wouldn't be surprised if we saw a similar effect in other cultures as time goes on.

I'm 22 years old and have earned over 100,000 FF miles between AA & UA just in the year 2012. In the last two years I've made two trips to South America (spent 5 months there total), two trips to Hawaii (second trip to Hawaii was all first class), a two week trip to Sydney, Australia (business class upgrade on the flight back-best flight of my life, I think MSRP one way was about $15,000, rumor mill went crazy after that one) andddddd i just booked a trip to Turkey, open jaw flying home from Paris after new years 2012/2013. If it is hard explaining the points rich cash poor concept to somebody as a 40 year old, try explaining it as a 22 year old. Nobody understands. My uncle honestly asked to borrow $50K from me a few months ago. It is really funny to me, most of the time I just let people draw their own conclusions. It is fun. Earn em and burn em baby!

I'm in a similar situation, only I'm 28 and make decent money, though I still don't consider myself very 'wealthy' and certainly would never consider paying for first/business class though some would consider my income high enough to 'afford' it.

My wife and I went to PHX to visit her cousin. I paid for 2 suites (cash, $600 total for 2 nights at Hilton Squaw Peak) for her 2 cousins families and Aunt/Uncle. Her uncle has his private pilot's licenses so I was chatting with him about the travel I do and showed him pictures of some of our trips (airline F suites, hotel rooms, etc) along with my flight memory. I explained how I earn miles through cc's, mileage runs, etc and thought he actually understood.

Anyway a few weeks later he called me at work and asked if I would be interested in buying land to develop (they are in construction) that cost about $1.2 million. I had to break it to him that I did not have that kind of money but he just didn't get it and kept referring to all the travel I do. He then asked if I would be interested in buying half and helping him get financing for the other half so I just said I'm not interested at the moment.

I've tried to explain my hobby to a lot of people but the only ones who actually understand what I do and how I do it are my wife and parents, but they all think I'm crazy for actually doing it. I don't even bother trying to explain to friends and co-workers anymore.

OK, since you ain't ADK, Jr. how the heck are you bagging these miles? I would have assumed you are just out of college with a low credit score, but do tell! You were in diapers for the pudding game, you also seem a might young to have minted miles and too undercapitalized to have a large scale paper recycling operation. What are you doing - BITS mileage runs? Can you loan your long lost uncle Aloha 50k, too.:D

I'm 22 years old and have earned over 100,000 FF miles between AA & UA just in the year 2012. In the last two years I've made two trips to South America (spent 5 months there total), two trips to Hawaii (second trip to Hawaii was all first class), a two week trip to Sydney, Australia (business class upgrade on the flight back-best flight of my life, I think MSRP one way was about $15,000, rumor mill went crazy after that one) andddddd i just booked a trip to Turkey, open jaw flying home from Paris after new years 2012/2013. If it is hard explaining the points rich cash poor concept to somebody as a 40 year old, try explaining it as a 22 year old. Nobody understands. My uncle honestly asked to borrow $50K from me a few months ago. It is really funny to me, most of the time I just let people draw their own conclusions. It is fun. Earn em and burn em baby!

Be careful... if they see you have lots of miles or points, they may hit you up for free flights and rooms.

"Wow, you travel for work and collect so many miles on so many airlines. You can't possibly use them all, so how about sharing some?"

I've never had anyone even suggest that to me. I'm more than happy to explain to people how to do it themselves, but never had anyone brazen enough to suggest to me that I give them a ticket (other than, of course, my kids :D )

I've never had anyone even suggest that to me. I'm more than happy to explain to people how to do it themselves, but never had anyone brazen enough to suggest to me that I give them a ticket (other than, of course, my kids :D )

Same here, but I have offered on several occasions to use points and have friends pay me back. They still don't quite get how it works, but I guess that leaves more for the rest of us... :p

I always find myself making those same disclaimers. I am a teacher's aide in a parochial school. No money there! My son almost makes as much per hour as I do at his part-time job. People at school always eye me as we go off on yet another vacation, when teachers with decades of tenure can't afford to go. They wonder how we put our son through school and afford vacations to Europe. I have offered to show anyone how to get miles and points, but no one wants to put in the work or thinks somehow I'm in league with the devil. Oh, well, more miles for me!

I just tell people that I'm an international drug dealer. Much shorter explanation of how I can afford to do it so often. Plus, no one steals my food from the break room fridge.

I just tell people that I'm an international drug dealer. Much shorter explanation of how I can afford to do it so often. Plus, no one steals my food from the break room fridge.

Good one LOL!

Be careful... if they see you have lots of miles or points, they may hit you up for free flights and rooms.

"Wow, you travel for work and collect so many miles on so many airlines. You can't possibly use them all, so how about sharing some?"

+1 to that. People see money as, well, money and miles as free, so they seem much less tactful when asking for free flights and upgrade instruments.

It does happen here and there.
Mostly people are jealous especially in the workplace.
They assume I make way more than I do, i do have an income where i could afford that travel for myself, but not for a wife and a child so I am really glad i have those points><

For someone who doesn't make much cash (like me), various promotions and not caring where you go at any particular time are the way to go...I make pretty much all my vacation decisions based on PointBreaks, Hilton Great Getaway rates, etc. Last year for example I went from Bucharest to Warsaw...flew on a promotional LOT fare (so not an LCC & got miles) and had a great paid rate for a very nice upgraded suite at the IC there. Cost: 170 EUR for transport & 2-night accommodation :)

On a similar note, I once decided to stay at the AKA Resort Hua Hin on a last minute fare, having already signed up for the SLH Club (which provided free upgrades at member resorts): 110 EUR / night for an upgraded private pool villa seemed like a pretty damn decent deal.

These same things would cost someone who doesn't research status & offers hundreds more, amounts which I definitely couldn't afford on a frequent basis...

Everybody who knows me knows I am married to someone who lives in another country, and therefore "have" to maximize my points/miles. Also, my company has a large office in Asia, so a number of my co-workers either travel there occasionally (coach, per company policy) or where transferred from there, and therefore want to return occasionally, sometimes with their families. So in those last two categories I'm the "go-to" guy. Once I explain to them how, with the right planning, they can take their whole family home for vacation for free, they don't wonder how I can take my wife to Paris.

By now you know old Cardinal Fang is sure we all do the devil's work.

So what's the big deal? Everyone outsources these days!:D

Poor ADK, Jr. was convinced for years I was up to no good ferrying millions of coins around and slipping in and out of countries like Switzerland and Grand Cayman.

"I have offered to show anyone how to get miles and points, but no one wants to put in the work or thinks somehow I'm in league with the devil."

I'm a Ozzie and wish I had the benefits of credit card sign ups. I'm a poor factory worker who has a travel hobby and people/friends can't believe I'm flying in F on a RTW ticket for a family of four. They know I'm broke as a joke but they also know I'm up to something just don't know what. Although some of them think I've won the lottery but really I'm just awake at the right time I.e 4 mile ticket . It's not lucky it's dedication .

I just tell people that I'm an international drug dealer. Much shorter explanation of how I can afford to do it so often. Plus, no one steals my food from the break room fridge.

Do you tell that to border control? :D

Do you tell that to border control? :D

My episode of Locked Up Abroad is forthcoming.

People definitely think I'm up to something super sketchy so I feel obligated to explain that I'm using points. They know how much I make so they know there's know way I could afford this kind of travel. I've offered numerous times to help other friends that travel how to play the points game, but it's like they're afraid of getting caught up in the Mafia or something. They literally back away from me when I mention credit cards.

Perhaps you should play down the credit cards and just talk about the millions of dollars we move and the untaxable nature of our business.:p

People definitely think I'm up to something super sketchy so I feel obligated to explain that I'm using points. They know how much I make so they know there's know way I could afford this kind of travel. I've offered numerous times to help other friends that travel how to play the points game, but it's like they're afraid of getting caught up in the Mafia or something. They literally back away from me when I mention credit cards.

You should offer an explanation that blends in with everybody else. Saying you sell drugs, even as a joke, is terrible. You stand to lose everything in the U.S. since under forfeiture law there is no obligation for the gov't to convict a person of a crime before seizing everything you own. Words out of your own mouth that you sell drugs sounds like probable cause to me.

In some situations, you will be repeatedly approached to loan money, get involved in real estate or business deals, etc. You should have a story ready that slides off the tongue such as, actually, it isn't a good time, as I just bought a house. Or, it isn't a good time, as I just had to put my mom in the nursing home. It's OK to lie to sales people, and once someone hits you up for money, they are not approaching you as a friend, they are approaching you as a salesperson. You don't owe the truth to everybody who walks up with their hand out.

As for your relatives, this is classic "crabs in a bucket" as friends and family may feel you're leaving them behind and they have an automatic instinct to pull you back. You have to have a story for them that is a polite denial of the loan but still doesn't worry them too much. My credit cards are maxed out, is probably the standard little white lie here...

Maybe I didn't phrase the idea very well. I am someone who is considered low income by Australian standards but because I am a dual citizen, I have a SSN, good Fico and can get USA credit cards. My friends and family see me and my husband taking off on fabulous trips to places like India, Cook Islands, Brazil and think I must have a secret trust fund someplace or huge bank account. Then when I say I can't do something or buy something because I can't afford it they think I am lying or a cheapskate or something. They don't get the idea of being cash poor but points rich.

So it's this falsely perceived idea that I am rich because I do trips that only people with high incomes can do which leads to awkward situations when they think I should be able to do other things that I would need cash for. Does that explain the concept better?

I expliain to freinds and family (to whatever degree they want to listen) stuff like "I flew here/there on miles, and there's no way I could afforded it if I didn't have those miles". That's easy for me with my family, because it's true in the case of visiting my relatives cross-country for Christmas, fares were $800++ roundrip when I snagged roundtrip seats in first class for same miles as "anytime" seats in coach. If I mentioned to them that cash fare was $800++ but that I had plenty of miles "which I had spent any morey to get, only changed how/where I spent the money I normally spend", that's usually enough for anyone to understand that I'm using "special tricks" that work for travel but don't necessarily work for everything else.

People at work, back when you could still apply for two Citi AA cards every other month and get 25k miles each time, I did a printout of an offer and gave it to a number of co-workers and explained that it's not one-time only. But none of them went for it. But that did stop the questions. (They then understood how it was possible to easily get lots of miles by just choosing what you do, not by spending money, but they didn't choose to do it.)

Same thing when I am overseas, vendors see us walk out of the Crowne Plaza or IC and jack up the prices because they think we are "rich" but they don't know that we booked those hotels on points and if it weren't for the points we would be in the local backpacker hostel.

This is a separate issue IMHO.

There's a much more common scenario for "backpackers" staying in luxury hotels, that has nothing do to points or miles, but I don't supposed it's available worldwide either: blind bidding sites (Priceline, etc). Within the US, way more people get into luxury hotels at budget hotel prices using blind bidding sites than do it with miles or points.

But I do have a suggestion for you if it hurts your image with vendors: Conserve your points, and "only" stay at the Holiday Inn or Express, rather than the Crowne Plaza or IC, if you're going to meet vendors at the hotel.

If you're going on vacation and no one you know will see you coming out of the hotel (or only friends/family who'll understand how you got there), who cares. But if you're going on work and then meeting people at the hotel, I'd say don't splurge unnecessarily even if you can afford to, and keep in mind there's a lot of points hotels well above "backpacker hostel" and but not so "smelling of luxury".

But what small talk do you start such a vendor meeting with? "I can't believe that I got a room here for the same price as a budget hotel." Use some local brand if it's well known. In Europe, I'd say "for the same price as an Ibis", and people would instantly understand. In the US, "for the same price as a Motel 6", and people woudl instantly understand. But I don't know what the Ibis / Motel 6 equivalent -- in terms of level and fame -- is in Australia or other places outside of US / Europe you might stay in.

People will understand a low price for a normally-high-priced hotel before they'll understand miles and points, and it's simpler to explain you found a great but unusual deal, especially when you can do it in one sentence like that, than to tell the full and real story.

(Remember the vendor doesn't meet your friends / family, or vice versa, so you don't need the same story for both. For a vendor, you need a one-sentence story you can throw into introductory small talk. For friends / family, you have a bit more time to explain. So tailor your explanation to the audience and the situation.)

I just tell people that I'm an international drug dealer. Much shorter explanation of how I can afford to do it so often. Plus, no one steals my food from the break room fridge.

Do you tell that to border control? :D

My episode of Locked Up Abroad is forthcoming.

No more LLL's for you!

Seriously, the trend in getting through airports faster is moving from being elite to allowing Customs and Border people to do a background check on you, in exchange for granting you the ability to move through stuff faster (Global Entry, PreCheck, etc). But "background check" could involve talking to one or more of those people you told that to! And if they believed it? :eek:

Be careful... if they see you have lots of miles or points, they may hit you up for free flights and rooms.

"Wow, you travel for work and collect so many miles on so many airlines. You can't possibly use them all, so how about sharing some?"pefect time to introduce someone to Flyertalk. Which I have done but sadly most never stay with the program and thus never acheive any significant mile/point totals.

I just tell people that I'm an international drug dealer. Much shorter explanation of how I can afford to do it so often. Plus, no one steals my food from the break room fridge.

Of all the offhanded and sarcastic comments I've made on FT, this is the last one I expected to need to explain is a complete and total joke. I explain miles/points and churning until their eyes glaze over and they are utterly confused. I usually lose them between "change checking accounts" and "cancel the credit card before the annual fee is assessed". :D

Living on the East coast, & having 1K family that lives in Hawaii and pays for your flight out there multiple times a year quickly puts you into the game. With their advice + large mileage balance it is easy to get sucked in. I own zero mile credit cards, but take part in as many promotions/awesome deals& mileage runs. Oh not to mention Radisson's most recent promotion!!! Treated me very very well :)

When I talk about my upcoming trips, like the one to Brazil, I often find myself adding like a disclaimer or something--"Of course I got free flights on miles". There is no way someone of my income level could afford the kind of travel I do otherwise, especially in Australia where they don't have the mega credit card bonuses I can get as a US citizen with a good Fico. It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something. And I don't want people who see us walking out of an IC or Westin (on points) to think I am one of those rich people who usually stay there.

Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?



There is no correlation to you using FF miles/points for a free flight and how wealthy you are.

You paying a full fare FC ticket would be a sign of your wealth.


Economically specaking...If you travel to far off non-western countries you are going to be perceived as being wealth just by being american/western.

Many of these foreign countries its very cheap to travel around...the iggest cost barrier is the airline cost.

It's not just coworkers. The hotel concierge thinks I want to take a deluxe taxi to an expensive restaurant, when all I really want is directions to the metro and a nearby 7-11 with a bakery section. A hostel reception knows I want to travel cheaply and is often more helpful.

Economically specaking...If you travel to far off non-western countries you are going to be perceived as being wealth just by being american/western.

Many of these foreign countries its very cheap to travel around...the iggest cost barrier is the airline cost.

Ding*Ding*Ding!

No one sees a family of 4 taking a trip to Disney for a week and says "wow" you guys are loaded. Even though 4 1-week Disney tickets =$1200

There's a misconception that foreign travel is expensive. Even if I didn't use miles, and flew coach it is pretty amazing to me that most areas of the globe can be reached on $1,000 and in under a day. Once you land everything costs less than half as much as it does stateside.

Just stop taking photos of the first class seats and meals and posting them on FB. No one even knows my wife and I fly business/first on our trips.

I would say 99% of the time when I travel I feel like I fit in to the environment.
Only once did I feel a tad out of place. My recent trip to Carmel, CA and staying at the Hyatt Highlands Hotel on my 2 free rooms from my Hyatt Credit Card. The hotel was nice, the views amazing but the rooms seemed a tad dated. Anyway it was mainly the required valet and the other hotel guests where I just felt a tad out of place. Seemed like VERY rich hotel guests. That was the only time it even crossed my mind.

It's not just coworkers. The hotel concierge thinks I want to take a deluxe taxi to an expensive restaurant, when all I really want is directions to the metro and a nearby 7-11 with a bakery section. A hostel reception knows I want to travel cheaply and is often more helpful.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves and a reason why I don't like 5* hotels. I usually approach the concierge or front desk and ask for their suggestion on a low key (ie. hole in the wall) place where they would go with their friends or family for a normal meal, nothing fancy. It never fails, they always mention a restaurant in the hotel or something super expensive and act like they blow $50-$100/pp.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves and a reason why I don't like 5* hotels. I usually approach the concierge or front desk and ask for their suggestion on a low key (ie. hole in the wall) place where they would go with their friends or family for a normal meal, nothing fancy. It never fails, they always mention a restaurant in the hotel or something super expensive and act like they blow $50-$100/pp.

Had this happen to me at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome and the IC Rome. We went with the suggestions anyway. (When in Rome...and Paris) Both meals were outstanding, but I have to believe that you aren't ordering a prix fixe meal at guy's night out.

Give me the European Buffalo Wild Wings!

I explain miles/points and churning until their eyes glaze over and they are utterly confused. I usually lose them between "change checking accounts" and "cancel the credit card before the annual fee is assessed". :D

Hey, I do a lot of things for points/miles, but you can't get me to change checking accounts. I added a checking account once, it took forever to get any miles, I only did it because it also provided me with lower-fee ATM withdrawals in certain countries (Citi used to have a policy of no fee if withdrawing from an actually Citi ATM no matter where in the world), tho a year or two later they got rid of that. Now, especially that there's the 1099 garbage going on, I doubt I'll ever apply for another checking out to get miles.

Because I was using multiple cards (if for nothing more than Visa vs MC vs Discover vs pre-Visa Choice vs pre-MC Shell, etc) for a long time before getting into points/miles, getting a new credit card and using it for only a limit purpose was nothing new to me (and much, much different from "switching" checking accounts or even from getting new checking accounts).

Just stop taking photos of the first class seats and meals and posting them on FB. No one even knows my wife and I fly business/first on our trips.

The best response on here. I'm not accusing anyone, but be humble that you are in a position to play this game. Your 1,000 "friends" on FB don't need to hear you gloat about first-class accomodations.

Now if someone asks for advice and starts getting familiar with gaining points - thats the time to consider bringing up first-class, status upgrades, etc. Until then, "I took a trip to South Africa on points" sounds frugal compared to "I flew first-class," no matter how you spin it.

The joke was already told by Tim Ferris, and it was a bad joke then.


Of all the offhanded and sarcastic comments I've made on FT, this is the last one I expected to need to explain is a complete and total joke. I explain miles/points and churning until their eyes glaze over and they are utterly confused. I usually lose them between "change checking accounts" and "cancel the credit card before the annual fee is assessed". :D

Not in my opinion. They are allowed to post pix about the $6K they wasted on a standing in lines in Orlando, and I'm not allowed to post about my trip, which is actually something different and unusual? One of the pleasures of travel is the photographs you share with those back home. To say, "well don't share your photos" comes close to saying, "just cut them off as family" because I promise you nobody else is looking at your photos anyway!

The best response on here. I'm not accusing anyone, but be humble that you are in a position to play this game. Your 1,000 "friends" on FB don't need to hear you gloat about first-class accomodations.

Now if someone asks for advice and starts getting familiar with gaining points - thats the time to consider bringing up first-class, status upgrades, etc. Until then, "I took a trip to South Africa on points" sounds frugal compared to "I flew first-class," no matter how you spin it.

The joke was already told by Tim Ferris, and it was a bad joke then.

Who? Lighten up...

So the secret to your young success is having a sugar(cane) daddy or a sugar(cane) mamma? Kid, it is high time you stood on your own two feet. And walked over to Bank of America and got a checking account and an Alaska debit card. Or a cosigner and a starter credit card. Quit spongebobbing off the relatives and get a real job manufacturing frequent flyer miles. Why, when I was a kid your age we had to haul Presidential dollars from home to the bank uphill each way for our free flights and we went to bed each night hungry with nothing to eat but Healthy Choice pudding.:p

Living on the East coast, & having 1K family that lives in Hawaii and pays for your flight out there multiple times a year quickly puts you into the game. With their advice + large mileage balance it is easy to get sucked in. I own zero mile credit cards, but take part in as many promotions/awesome deals& mileage runs. Oh not to mention Radisson's most recent promotion!!! Treated me very very well :)

Not in my opinion. They are allowed to post pix about the $6K they wasted on a standing in lines in Orlando, and I'm not allowed to post about my trip, which is actually something different and unusual? One of the pleasures of travel is the photographs you share with those back home. To say, "well don't share your photos" comes close to saying, "just cut them off as family" because I promise you nobody else is looking at your photos anyway!

True, but IMO there is a line (and I am 23 and don't have a FB, so you can imagine how I feel about the site).

For example, for a past trip I took to Africa on points, I "checked in" to the Cape Town airport - thats the extent I informed Facebook. A few close buddies, family, and co-workers asked for pictures, and while there were a few of the hotels we stayed in (there was a watering hole with elephants some 50 yards away - as you said, unique), I mentioned - but wouldn't take pictures - of my airplane seat...I guess I would feel like it was gloating.

As always, it depends. My immediate family and close relatives? I told them all about free business-class tickets, and set the parents up with Fidelity accounts so our next family trip will be all points. An aunt/uncle that seem mad at the world every time I mention something good that happened in my life? I'll keep it to, "I went to Africa. It was great." :p

Not in my opinion. They are allowed to post pix about the $6K they wasted on a standing in lines in Orlando, and I'm not allowed to post about my trip, which is actually something different and unusual? One of the pleasures of travel is the photographs you share with those back home. To say, "well don't share your photos" comes close to saying, "just cut them off as family" because I promise you nobody else is looking at your photos anyway!

There is a difference between posting pictures of your vacation and posting and equal number of pictures of your first class seat as the actual things you did on the trip. While I enjoy luxury air travel as much as anyone, I view the plane ride as the means to get to my destination, it isn't the vacation itself. Posting a million pictures of your seat and a picture of each course of your meal on the plane just comes across as gloating.

When I talk about my upcoming trips, like the one to Brazil, I often find myself adding like a disclaimer or something--"Of course I got free flights on miles". There is no way someone of my income level could afford the kind of travel I do otherwise, especially in Australia where they don't have the mega credit card bonuses I can get as a US citizen with a good Fico. It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something. And I don't want people who see us walking out of an IC or Westin (on points) to think I am one of those rich people who usually stay there.

Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?

I usually mention that's its on miles so it doesn't look like I'm bragging.

College ruined my credit.

Well I should say bad decisions IN college ruined my credit, therefor, i don't think I will qualify for a miles card anytime in this decade.

My parents have sterling credit but it would take a lot of explaining and convincing, maybe it will be worth it when I run out of my current miles and am itching for another vaca.

I don't fly first or business unless it is free however, I see it a total waste, but I don't earn them in 50-75-100k increments, so I'm frugal. Quantity over quality.

I spend most of my time lurking but FT is awesome! And inspiring!!

Travel on points is pretty easy for me to explain. Spending on one or two cards to earn points in those programs and occasionally earn something free, people tend to understand that.

The harder thing for me to convey to people is that applying for multiple cards will not ruin your credit if you do it right, learn the ins and outs, and understand the limitations. I think people understand how I get points, but they think I must have ruined my credit for the sake of a free trip and think that is stupid.

Travel on points is pretty easy for me to explain. Spending on one or two cards to earn points in those programs and occasionally earn something free, people tend to understand that.

The harder thing for me to convey to people is that applying for multiple cards will not ruin your credit if you do it right, learn the ins and outs, and understand the limitations. I think people understand how I get points, but they think I must have ruined my credit for the sake of a free trip and think that is stupid.

That's exactly the pushback I run into with friends - they cannot grasp the fact that I have a better credit score than them, with 10x the credit cards and less income. It's the whole "too good to be true" thing - they assume there's a catch. I guess this why these cards are still offered, we who take full advantage of the bonus buffet are in the minority.

Folks who live in the USA are very fortunate in terms of the ease to get airline miles and hotel points. Those of us who live elsewhere (Canada for me) need to put together the scrapings we can get. Having said that, I do appreciate being able to supplement my travel budget with what I've been able to earn over the last year, being very new to the game.

Since I made my first award booking in March this year (even though it was only in economy), I've been hooked. Travelling to places such as the pyramids in Egypt, or the Great Wall of China etc., are now much more of a possibility. One thing I would say is that all of this doesn't come free, as I've certainly spent more $ pursuing this hobby (but also done a lot more).

College ruined my credit, too. For I took out alot of student loans, continued to work fulltime in college, and invested the loan money in 15% yield preferred stocks. Easy access to this type of credit simply ruined my incentive to play with credit cards. It was years of dividend payments later before I took up the cards.

If you have a mountain of debt, see if you can pay it with money orders via the BoA debit card. As to your credit rating, you may be able to rebuild it with secured cards. The key to credit is to never borrow unless you make a profit.

As to college, for most the disaster of debt is the only valuable lesson learned today. Did you ever wonder why the Gates of this world dropped out? Way overpriced and utterly worthless. A great place to breed sheep for a world filled with wolves.

And you will find wolves here. Fat wolves who feast on bleating airlines and banks. And wolves who dress as sheep and bah with the best of them until the dinner bell rings.:eek:

College ruined my credit.

Well I should say bad decisions IN college ruined my credit, therefor, i don't think I will qualify for a miles card anytime in this decade.

My parents have sterling credit but it would take a lot of explaining and convincing, maybe it will be worth it when I run out of my current miles and am itching for another vaca.

I don't fly first or business unless it is free however, I see it a total waste, but I don't earn them in 50-75-100k increments, so I'm frugal. Quantity over quality.

I spend most of my time lurking but FT is awesome! And inspiring!!

OK, since you ain't ADK, Jr. how the heck are you bagging these miles? I would have assumed you are just out of college with a low credit score, but do tell! You were in diapers for the pudding game, you also seem a might young to have minted miles and too undercapitalized to have a large scale paper recycling operation. What are you doing - BITS mileage runs? Can you loan your long lost uncle Aloha 50k, too.:D
I'm 22 years old and have earned over 100,000 FF miles between AA & UA just in the year 2012. In the last two years I've made two trips to South America (spent 5 months there total), two trips to Hawaii (second trip to Hawaii was all first class), a two week trip to Sydney, Australia (business class upgrade on the flight back-best flight of my life, I think MSRP one way was about $15,000, rumor mill went crazy after that one) andddddd i just booked a trip to Turkey, open jaw flying home from Paris after new years 2012/2013. If it is hard explaining the points rich cash poor concept to somebody as a 40 year old, try explaining it as a 22 year old. Nobody understands. My uncle honestly asked to borrow $50K from me a few months ago. It is really funny to me, most of the time I just let people draw their own conclusions. It is fun. Earn em and burn em baby!

ADK, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. Getting 100,000 miles in a year, while significant, is not at all undoable. A simple two credit card sign up bonuses will get you there without any flying at all. While certainly impressive to the average person, we are on FT, where most of us are not average in these matters, and you should not assume such based on someone's age. I am a college student, under 20, and scored 50k miles with the UA MP card. Missed the AA Citi cards, but going on a MR later this year that will net me 25k AA miles, both without the knowledge of my parents. This isn't including any of my other flying I've done or will do. My FICO score is in the 770s (Though I will admit I'm not sure exactly why this is). I always pay off my balances in full, and often will pay for others on my CC and get reimbursed. I probably make a good income compared to the average college student, but it's likely what many of you make in a month. I absolutely love traveling and don't mind flying BIS. Who says young people can't get into the game? :) Especially with the Internet, it's so easy to get information.

ADK, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. Getting 100,000 miles in a year, while significant, is not at all undoable. A simple two credit card sign up bonuses will get you there without any flying at all. While certainly impressive to the average person, we are on FT, where most of us are not average in these matters, and you should not assume such based on someone's age. I am a college student, under 20, and scored 50k miles with the UA MP card. Missed the AA Citi cards, but going on a MR later this year that will net me 25k AA miles, both without the knowledge of my parents. This isn't including any of my other flying I've done or will do. My FICO score is in the 770s (Though I will admit I'm not sure exactly why this is). I always pay off my balances in full, and often will pay for others on my CC and get reimbursed. I probably make a good income compared to the average college student, but it's likely what many of you make in a month. I absolutely love traveling and don't mind flying BIS. Who says young people can't get into the game? :) Especially with the Internet, it's so easy to get information.

The citi AA cards are still available - do a quick search on milebuzz - 100k AA miles available if you can meet 6k spend in 4 months - best deal out there

The citi AA cards are still available - do a quick search on milebuzz - 100k AA miles available if you can meet 6k spend in 4 months - best deal out there

Thank you. I wasn't aware of that. I will go check it out.

Be careful... if they see you have lots of miles or points, they may hit you up for free flights and rooms.

"Wow, you travel for work and collect so many miles on so many airlines. You can't possibly use them all, so how about sharing some?"

Just smile and say,
"Oh, but I do use them, and you could earn your own."

I usually start them out on the Starwood AMEX, I think it's the best hotel card, with low redemption charges. A Westin on Michigan Ave in downtown Chicago for 10,000 points? The Pulitzer in Amsterdam, the Luxury Collection, for 12,000 a night? Sheraton in downtown Brussels for $60 and 4,000 points? Can't touch this!

I of course get 5,000 points for the referral.

So if Apieinthesky can do all this at his age there is at least hope for his generation.:cool: My point is - take note you late teens and twenty somethings who say you cannot get cards to fly free - it can indeed be done. But more than above average brains are required - like Key West, you have to have a strong will to secede.:p

And move fast Apieinthesky, as soon ADK, Jr. will be unleased upon the banks and airlines of this world. He's had a card since first grade and has a history with AMEX. If he follows in his father's flip flops, with his size 13 feet, the inventory of free tickets will soon be trampled.:p

PM me if ya wanna kick your volume up another level. We are always recruiting potential new members at The TCC and it is far easier to bag your first hundred countries when you are young. Have a feeling you will go far, kid.:cool:

ADK, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. Getting 100,000 miles in a year, while significant, is not at all undoable. A simple two credit card sign up bonuses will get you there without any flying at all. While certainly impressive to the average person, we are on FT, where most of us are not average in these matters, and you should not assume such based on someone's age. I am a college student, under 20, and scored 50k miles with the UA MP card. Missed the AA Citi cards, but going on a MR later this year that will net me 25k AA miles, both without the knowledge of my parents. This isn't including any of my other flying I've done or will do. My FICO score is in the 770s (Though I will admit I'm not sure exactly why this is). I always pay off my balances in full, and often will pay for others on my CC and get reimbursed. I probably make a good income compared to the average college student, but it's likely what many of you make in a month. I absolutely love traveling and don't mind flying BIS. Who says young people can't get into the game? :) Especially with the Internet, it's so easy to get information.

The citi AA cards are still available - do a quick search on milebuzz - 100k AA miles available if you can meet 6k spend in 4 months - best deal out there

Thank you. I wasn't aware of that. I will go check it out.

Start here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1262549-citi-aa-100-off-50k-companion-cert-plus-other-offers-they-appear.html

Read the first post on the first page first (it contains the working links and a lot of basic information about applying for the offers), then read the last few pages (for the latest info, which often includes repeats of answers to frequent asked questions :) ), and then ask there if you still have questions.

Sounds like class welfare to me.

If you do not work for it you do not deserve it.

As CC in Asia become more popular you will find the free rides a little harder to find, most Asians handle money better than most Americans.

:confused::confused: They're undeniably more frugal and tend to be very price-sensitive (except in the middle and top when it comes to "status" items).

OTOH, I've found 'em generally not to be good at valuing their own time. They might spend an inordinate amount of shopping time to save a small amount of money or, conversely, a lot of time selling at a market without very much to sell and not much profit on a sale. All the focus is on the money rather than the money vs. time.

For someone who doesn't make much cash (like me), various promotions and not caring where you go at any particular time are the way to go...

Good point. You get the deal and then figure out the reason to go, which is the opposite of the way most people would approach it.

There's also a split in many workplaces between people with kids and those without. The latter group has flexibility to travel in the spring and fall low seasons, when school is in and the situation with both paid deals and mileage awards is better. If you're in a workplace where vacation requests can get rejected because of staffing coverage, being able to go in April, May or October could be very helpful (or you may lack seniority to get the more in-demand times, anyway).

I'm a Ozzie and wish I had the benefits of credit card sign ups. I'm a poor factory worker who has a travel hobby and people/friends can't believe I'm flying in F on a RTW ticket for a family of four. They know I'm broke as a joke but they also know I'm up to something just don't know what. Although some of them think I've won the lottery but really I'm just awake at the right time I.e 4 mile ticket . It's not lucky it's dedication .

I've heard before that I must have some kind of funding source (a rich uncle?) that I'm hiding.

... we went to bed each night hungry with nothing to eat but Healthy Choice pudding.:p

And Eggo waffles. And Kellogg's cereal with nasty dried-up berries in it. And Dannon water to drink. And some sort of Swiss Colony beef logs. And Emmi cheese. And some popcorn.

While we sat and read 400 magazines a month.

Start here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1262549-citi-aa-100-off-50k-companion-cert-plus-other-offers-they-appear.html

Read the first post on the first page first (it contains the working links and a lot of basic information about applying for the offers), then read the last few pages (for the latest info, which often includes repeats of answers to frequent asked questions :) ), and then ask there if you still have questions.

Thanks, but a bit late. Applied for, and got approved for both personal cards :) I'm going to have to recruit my parents to meet the minimum spend on these though. Excited for those 100k miles though!

So if Apieinthesky can do all this at his age there is at least hope for his generation.:cool: My point is - take note you late teens and twenty somethings who say you cannot get cards to fly free - it can indeed be done. But more than above average brains are required - like Key West, you have to have a strong will to secede.:p

And move fast Apieinthesky, as soon ADK, Jr. will be unleased upon the banks and airlines of this world. He's had a card since first grade and has a history with AMEX. If he follows in his father's flip flops, with his size 13 feet, the inventory of free tickets will soon be trampled.:p

PM me if ya wanna kick your volume up another level. We are always recruiting potential new members at The TCC and it is far easier to bag your first hundred countries when you are young. Have a feeling you will go far, kid.:cool:

If he tramples over my Sperry's, I will be very upset and will trample all over his flip flops, which I bet will hurt more. :D A hundred countries, huh. I'm a fifth of the way there. ;) One disadvantage of being young is that you don't remember everything. I barely have any recollection of my trip to Australia when I was four (I have family in Sydney). I love traveling, and obviously much of what I've done so far has been financed by my parents. I've just gotten to the point where I can afford my own trips though. What is the TCC? Your offer sounds intriguing.

LOL I can somewhat relate to this thread, as both my wife and I are by no means poor, we are certainly not wealthy.

Having gone from a week in BC (driving from Oregon) and a week in Acapulco in a decade to London/Scotland last Sept, AR last March and Chicago seminar in Oct, with a AS/NZ trip in preliminary planning for Fall 2013, and maybe a week in NYC, all due to a lot of the techniques acquired here, I have no problems flying 1st and aiming for a week at the Waldorf Astoria, and then being the envy of everyone.

Aside from people with credit difficulties, everything I have done is easily repeatable, and yes I have out in effort for the some of the spends (hauling 35-40lbs of coins to the bank LOL) but that effort has been paid back 100x. The tools are right in front of almost everyone's noses yet they fail to take advantage of them. For the longest time I paid no mind until recently and now I will not look back. To date I have gotten:

2 AA citi 75k
1 AA citi bus 75k
CO 40k
US Air 40k
HA 35k
citi TY premier 50k
SPG 25k
DL Amex 35k
DL Amex Bus 35k

And I am coming up onto my next churn as well and refilling my AA points.

To the OP, your situation is a little different, living in AU and having a US Soc# and that has advantages.

To them I would say that travel is a priority to you and that is what your vice is. I have the belief that having a few vices are not bad, mine is bicycling, good food and travel. I make no apologies in having good cycling gear, good food and traveling well. Thankfully, the $$ I save on travel can go to feed my other vices.

There's also a split in many workplaces between people with kids and those without. The latter group has flexibility to travel in the spring and fall low seasons, when school is in and the situation with both paid deals and mileage awards is better.

IMO going places in low season is definitely the way to go, and not just price-wise. I would abhor a place like Venice in August with high temperatures and shoulder-rubbing with the teeming masses. On the other hand, walking around Venice on New Year's morning when the place is absolutely deserted is one of those images that tends to stick for a lifetime!

@Apieinthesky, TCC is the Travelers Century Club...it is an objective for myself as well, i'm @ 53/100 of their recognized territories so far at age 28 :)

The problem is: you can get to your destination free of cost but the free ticket may delude you into thinking that your trip is free. Its not.. By the time you add up your other transportation, meals, visit to attractions etc, you would have spent a significant amount.. more so if you are going to an expensive destination like Japan.

The problem is: you can get to your destination free of cost but the free ticket may delude you into thinking that your trip is free. Its not.. By the time you add up your other transportation, meals, visit to attractions etc, you would have spent a significant amount.. more so if you are going to an expensive destination like Japan.

Of course the trip is not free. But a plane ticket from NYC-Japan is quite expensive. If the airfare is "free," maybe I could take two trips for the price that I would've had to pay for one. Or I can take my girlfriend on a nice trip once a year without incurring costs that are too much for our very limited budgets as college students.

The problem is: you can get to your destination free of cost but the free ticket may delude you into thinking that your trip is free. Its not.. By the time you add up your other transportation, meals, visit to attractions etc, you would have spent a significant amount.. more so if you are going to an expensive destination like Japan.

I find the item I routinely underestimate these days is rental car + gas, typically for U.S. destinations. That's probably because my mileage-game career spans 21 years now and the car + gas part didn't bite nearly as hard before as it does now. Cars are ridiculously overtaxed, and in some situations (like PDX and MSP in summer) it seems as if they're gouging. We know what's happened with gas. The combination makes that much more expensive than it used to be. It's also a negative for sprawler cities that otherwise aren't bad on costs.

Maybe I didn't phrase the idea very well. I am someone who is considered low income by Australian standards but because I am a dual citizen, I have a SSN, good Fico and can get USA credit cards. My friends and family see me and my husband taking off on fabulous trips to places like India, Cook Islands, Brazil and think I must have a secret trust fund someplace or huge bank account. Then when I say I can't do something or buy something because I can't afford it they think I am lying or a cheapskate or something. They don't get the idea of being cash poor but points rich.


Well, my biggest problem is my parents, but it's a "first world problem" I guess. My mom and dad do live a plane ride away, and these days, it's over $500 to buy two tickets... $500 that I could use on an overseas trip. I make a decent income, but live in a high COL area (metro DC) and borrowed a lot of money for school. They bug my wife and I a bit because we haven't flown back to their house since we got married three years ago. Where they live isn't my hometown, and we do somehow manage to get together at other points during the year.

They understand the points game quite well, and have gotten in on some of that. I flat out told them that our priority is international travel, and no, I'm not spending points to go to their house. They don't make a lot of money, but my "middle ground" is to help them accumulate points so they can come out and see us. I talk to my mom and dad every week (and for quite awhile) it's just that I'd rather spend our discretionary funds on international travel.

+1 to that. People see money as, well, money and miles as free, so they seem much less tactful when asking for free flights and upgrade instruments.

My wife falls into that trap. It's hard to deny that we actually have points for "that". What I've been getting across to her is that if we spend the points on X, we don't have them for Y. (And we have plenty of plans for Y.)

This is one of my biggest pet peeves and a reason why I don't like 5* hotels. I usually approach the concierge or front desk and ask for their suggestion on a low key (ie. hole in the wall) place where they would go with their friends or family for a normal meal, nothing fancy. It never fails, they always mention a restaurant in the hotel or something super expensive and act like they blow $50-$100/pp.

I can deal with it, but my wife hates that we'll get to stay at a 5* hotel for nothing, but then can't eat at the hotel restaurant or use their spa. That's not so bad for city hotels, but it can become a pain at resorts. My wife told me that this time around, I better set aside some cash to actually eat on the resort.

The problem is: you can get to your destination free of cost but the free ticket may delude you into thinking that your trip is free. Its not.. By the time you add up your other transportation, meals, visit to attractions etc, you would have spent a significant amount.. more so if you are going to an expensive destination like Japan.

Ain't that the truth. Despite the fact we have free airfare and nearly free hotels, we usually end up paying for intra-country airfare. Throw in BA's fuel surcharges, and you don't have a "free" vacation.

My job gives me five weeks vacation, and we've made plans to use use it all on a Bali/Thailand trip this year and a European trip next year. When you're gone for 30+ days, there's nothing close to free about that. $100-$150/day in F&B/entertainment costs adds up. Sure, we don't have to spend that much, but I don't want to stay in 5* hotels and then spend like a backpacker.

I am a single guy. Who I am careful about explaining myself to is my dates.

I would not want a gold digger to think that I make big bucks, just because I do some extravagent traveling. To the contrary, I would not want a girl who is responsible with her money to think that I am a fool with mine.

Ain't that the truth. Despite the fact we have free airfare and nearly free hotels, we usually end up paying for intra-country airfare. Throw in BA's fuel surcharges, and you don't have a "free" vacation.

My job gives me five weeks vacation, and we've made plans to use use it all on a Bali/Thailand trip this year and a European trip next year. When you're gone for 30+ days, there's nothing close to free about that. $100-$150/day in F&B/entertainment costs adds up. Sure, we don't have to spend that much, but I don't want to stay in 5* hotels and then spend like a backpacker.

+1.

So if Apieinthesky can do all this at his age there is at least hope for his generation.:cool: My point is - take note you late teens and twenty somethings who say you cannot get cards to fly free - it can indeed be done.

It's true, I'm another example of someone who is 22, make decent college graduate money, and off mostly credit card signups and some limited travel for work thus far, I've been able to amass quite a few miles/points. I'm early in the game, and am just planning my first redemptions, but you don't have to come out of college with a bad FICO. The biggest things that helped me were having one of those low-rate student cards (that I paid off regularly), and an "emergency" card provided by my parents for my travels (which I never used), which immediately gave me a super long credit history. Now spending a lot of time reading about this stuff has me hooked, and I'm excited at all the opportunities this game offers.

To answer the OP's question, I make no apologies for my travels, and won't when it's in C/F. I'll just direct them to FT and tell them to join the fun!

A few examples:

In the early 1990's at my previous employer, there was a deal where if one flew so many segments (first promo was 1,2,3 free domestic tickets after flying 8,14,20 segments on an airline). I was quitely looking for another job so I got flown out for job interviews. The segments built up nicely. I had multiple free tickets on DL and UA. I added to the mix with 6 segment trips on $125 RT airfares like LAX-(AUS/SAT/TUL), etc. That was during the time where the only taxes/fees on airline tickets was the 10% excise tax on the base fare. No other garbage fees on tickets. I used the free tickets to go to Bermuda, San Juan, Anchorage, etc with stopovers/layovers in both directions. I also got alot of FF miles. I did not know very much at that time.

People at my job thought I was a drug dealer or engaged in an illegal trade because I was gone alot. I couldn't explain (for obvious reasons ;) that I was looking for other employment. ;) It wasn't until later when I moved to my present employer almost 20 yrs ago that things became obvious.

2nd example: I did one of the SIN trips for under $500 back in 2002/2003 that had stops in HNL, NRT, Hong Kong, etc. I was carrying alot of bags and got the secondary treatment by customs. I was asked how can I afford the trips. I pulled out the itinerary which had all these stops that show it costing <$500 and some receipts from the hotels, etc I used points for. I also explained that I own rental real estate that I get income from in addition to my employment income. I told them I work for the govt and had my work ID with me. (I went from work to the airport and forgot to put my ID in my car). Customs was very satisfied with my explainations/proof and I never got a secondary screening again. I also explained to the customs person how I was getting lots of FF points for cheap and she liked that. ^ This was before I did CC signups for bonuses like I do now.

I have more but will wait until later to post. :)

And Eggo waffles. And Kellogg's cereal with nasty dried-up berries in it. And Dannon water to drink. And some sort of Swiss Colony beef logs. And Emmi cheese. And some popcorn.

While we sat and read 400 magazines a month.

Only sit and read 400 magazines a month? You were lucky. Our dad used to make us live in a bungalow made from all the old magazines because he said you don't earn as many points and miles from a mortgage as you do from churning credit cards, which he made us do every month. Also, we had to play musical first-year-free-gold-elite status with a rotating HHonors Surpass Amex so we could all eat free in the executive lounge when we traveled on points, or else Dad would thrash us within an inch of our lives with any old magazines left over. [Read in a Monty Python Yorkshire accent.]

Seriously, though, it sounds like the friends of the OP are very chippy and think that Tiki and the rest of us are "living above our station in life" because we've figured out a way to travel in style despite our modest means. Why should any of us have to offer apologies or explanations, as long as we came by these points and miles honestly, and handle our money responsibly? If people ask me how I manage it, I just refer them to Flyertalk so they can find a method that works for their particular situation. If someone finds out I've just come back from Japan (I don't volunteer the info, but sometimes people ask you where you've been), and I get the stink-eye from the inquisitor, I throw back a Cheshire cat smile.

And if someone hits me up for money, I say I give hand-ups not hand-outs and buy the person a subscription to a personal-finance magazine (and I earn 25 miles/$). Unless the money is for a registered charity; then I ask if the charity accepts credit card donations or donated goods like gift cards bought at supermarkets or drugstores (2x points).

There. Problems solved.

Sounds like you need a gal like my SO. When I first flew halfway across the world to her place I saw her baggie of credit cards with sticky notes on them and it was love at first sight. When she first flew to my place I picked her up at the airport and put her bags in the back seat. Our first stop was the bank - to unload the $35,000 of boxed dollars in the trunk! We both have been to over 100 countries, countless cruises, and on enough flights to sprout wings. For years we have played tag across the globe.

I am a single guy. Who I am careful about explaining myself to is my dates.

I would not want a gold digger to think that I make big bucks, just because I do some extravagent traveling. To the contrary, I would not want a girl who is responsible with her money to think that I am a fool with mine.

Sounds like you need a gal like my SO. When I first flew halfway across the world to her place I saw her baggie of credit cards with sticky notes on them and it was love at first sight. When she first flew to my place I picked her up at the airport and put her bags in the back seat. Our first stop was the bank - to unload the $35,000 of boxed dollars in the trunk! We both have been to over 100 countries, countless cruises, and on enough flights to sprout wings. For years we have played tag across the globe.

Modern day Bonnie and Clyde! Sounds fun!
I am short on time (to travel) and points. Wife went to Spain without me for a week. I'm a modern day sucker!

Another bright kid with a bright future.:cool: PM me when you need to manufacture additional spend.:cool:

Ditto the other rising stars...

It's true, I'm another example of someone who is 22, make decent college graduate money, and off mostly credit card signups and some limited travel for work thus far, I've been able to amass quite a few miles/points. I'm early in the game, and am just planning my first redemptions, but you don't have to come out of college with a bad FICO. The biggest things that helped me were having one of those low-rate student cards (that I paid off regularly), and an "emergency" card provided by my parents for my travels (which I never used), which immediately gave me a super long credit history. Now spending a lot of time reading about this stuff has me hooked, and I'm excited at all the opportunities this game offers.

To answer the OP's question, I make no apologies for my travels, and won't when it's in C/F. I'll just direct them to FT and tell them to join the fun!

Ummm...so my fellow Cardinal at Citi has said.:p That is when she is not asking Where's Waldo? or introducing me as that crazy person I told you about who flies to to the arctic circle for Mexican food.:p

Modern day Bonnie and Clyde! Sounds fun!
I am short on time (to travel) and points. Wife went to Spain without me for a week. I'm a modern day sucker!

It's true, I'm another example of someone who is 22, make decent college graduate money, and off mostly credit card signups and some limited travel for work thus far, I've been able to amass quite a few miles/points. I'm early in the game, and am just planning my first redemptions, but you don't have to come out of college with a bad FICO. The biggest things that helped me were having one of those low-rate student cards (that I paid off regularly), and an "emergency" card provided by my parents for my travels (which I never used), which immediately gave me a super long credit history. Now spending a lot of time reading about this stuff has me hooked, and I'm excited at all the opportunities this game offers.


Honestly could have written this myself. At 22, the two keys to already being in this game are (1) paying off, in full, every time on "student card" and (2) being attached to parents accounts (I don't even have cards, cut them up). From here on out, I just want to make sure to keep inquiries low in times I may move.

Well, my biggest problem is my parents, but it's a "first world problem" I guess. My mom and dad do live a plane ride away, and these days, it's over $500 to buy two tickets... $500 that I could use on an overseas trip. I make a decent income, but live in a high COL area (metro DC) and borrowed a lot of money for school. They bug my wife and I a bit because we haven't flown back to their house since we got married three years ago. Where they live isn't my hometown, and we do somehow manage to get together at other points during the year.

They understand the points game quite well, and have gotten in on some of that. I flat out told them that our priority is international travel, and no, I'm not spending points to go to their house. They don't make a lot of money, but my "middle ground" is to help them accumulate points so they can come out and see us. I talk to my mom and dad every week (and for quite awhile) it's just that I'd rather spend our discretionary funds on international travel.

Dude... Those are your parents...

I know. You said it but we were all thinking it.

But it goes the other way too. Those who know me, know that in a past life I played on a blackjack team, so I would get tons and tons of junkets and cruises and more trips than I could ever take. I could never get my parents to take any of those trips. Very sad. I actually took someone ELSE'S mom on one of my cruises.

The years go quickly, and the opportunity you think will always be there, might not always be there. I've used vouchers/points to visit the folks, even though it might seem silly when I could just hop in the car and drive. You can always earn more points, and "international travel" will always be there.

Dude...Those are your parents...

Not only am I traveling beyond my means on miles and points, but so is the rest of the family!

Examples:

Me and the Mrs sitting up front on our trip to South Africa in a few months
Dad and step-mom's flight to SF, and hotels for a week in Wine Country as a wedding gift
2 of us + 4 in-laws to Hawaii for a family celebration
2 of us + my mom, + siblings w/ sig others to Greece at a date TBD


I certainly wouldn't have been able to cover all those w/o miles and points - and in many cases, family wouldn't have even been able to cover themselves. The fact that it's "on points" is what makes them feel alright about accepting the gifts in some cases as well. If they thought we were paying $, there's no way they'd accept!

Earning 'em faster than I can burn 'em...

Add me to the list.

Just booked three trips for my girlfriend and I, two on miles, and the third paying cash with the money we saved by using miles on the first two trips (and because the flights were too cheap to justify miles), all within the next 10 months. Not the most exotic or aspirational locations (camping in California, Riviera Maya in Mexico, and Paris>Rome) but exactly where we wanted to go.

Early 30s and make a decent living at a non-profit, but never could have afforded flights for all three within a single year. We don't feel guilty or apologetic about any of it and are already thinking about the next trip!

Dude... Those are your parents...

I guess I spent a lot of time talking about how I don't feel all that compelled to visit their home. But, I did mention that we manage to get together once or twice a year at various points, so it's not like we never see them. It might not be at their house, but we still do things together. This year, we're meeting up in Chicago for a weekend before we fly out to Hong Kong :)

Honestly, though, the points thing is a two way street. I picked up a million points in my own name over the last year and a half (wife has crappy credit). If my mom and dad could do even half that, they'd have how many domestic plane tickets and hotel nights?

International travel might always be there, but my youth, ability to get around, and have the vacation time to do it may not be. My parents are in their early 60's and in perfect health. They can take a 1.5 hour plane ride as easily as I can.

I just don't feel all that compelled to visit a town I didn't grow up in.

I can deal with it, but my wife hates that we'll get to stay at a 5* hotel for nothing, but then can't eat at the hotel restaurant or use their spa. That's not so bad for city hotels, but it can become a pain at resorts. My wife told me that this time around, I better set aside some cash to actually eat on the resort.

Would she pay some of the bills out from her own sources? :p

Ain't that the truth. Despite the fact we have free airfare and nearly free hotels, we usually end up paying for intra-country airfare. Throw in BA's fuel surcharges, and you don't have a "free" vacation.

My job gives me five weeks vacation, and we've made plans to use use it all on a Bali/Thailand trip this year and a European trip next year. When you're gone for 30+ days, there's nothing close to free about that. $100-$150/day in F&B/entertainment costs adds up. Sure, we don't have to spend that much, but I don't want to stay in 5* hotels and then spend like a backpacker.

We are in the same boat regarding long trips - ours generally are 30 to 45 days long - may be 1/3 of the length is covered by free hotel stays. The rest are all paid nights whether it is on land or at sea. I have also found the transportation cost a major cash item - whether it is inter-cities on LCCs in Europe, or the local trains for day trips, r/t from/to airports, metro/bus within cities - all add up to the biggest cash item from the total cash cost of a trip... Foods actually much lower than that as we often take picnic lunch when we travel in Europe.

And what is so wrong with spending like a backpacker? My scouts spend like backpackers all the time as they travel about on their adventures.:D

"Sure, we don't have to spend that much, but I don't want to stay in 5* hotels and then spend like a backpacker."

I have found over the years that a good vacation seems to cost us $100 per day per person, even with suplementing it with free flights or free hotel.

Very few trips unless thoroughly planned can be done completely free.
a few examples: we enjoy all inclusive resorts for the simple fact that food and beverage can be the most expensive things besides a room in most foriegn countries. It is cheaper to go to the Riu in Playa del Carmen Mexico than it is to stay at a mom and pop hotel on 5th ave. and eat and drink in the overpriced tourist traps within walking distance...(not the case 10-15 years ago, but it is today....hell Florida is cheaper)
Most midrange AI resorts in MX and the islands run $100 pp/pn add free air to keep it near the magic number.
Cruises, weve been on 5 or 6 ...other than back to back x-mas/new years cruises I scored for free (just port taxes and tips) through Harrahs being partners with NCL...all have averaged about $100 pp/pn they are by far the most complicated to plan and budget without a calculator, on top of the low teaser cabin rate you have flights, transfers, port charges, required tips, fuel surcharges, bartab (or sneaking in some booze), soda cards, shore excursions....to be able to do it in a balcony cabin for $100 pp/pn is a good goal...and basically that is the rate they have stayed at over the last 15 years on 5 of the more affordable lines (carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL, princess, celebrity) Fun way to see many places and decide which to return visit and stay for longer.
Hawaii...our favorite, but without AI resorts a bit of a challange. Flight from ATL (now DFW) was always on points, last time in First, will be hard to go back to coach. Hotels on points or a few I scored awesome deals on aution sites...we even prefer VRBO condos for some cities....having a kitchen saves on some meals. We always go for 2+ weeks and usually 2+ islands and when we get home car rental/parking/gas/food/beverage/entertainment still hits around $100 pp/pn sometimes more if we do helicopter tours and such.
I thought this would hold true in Europe as well even if we have free flights and hotel, because of the weak dollar and food/car rental/gas/entertainment prices....the coming years will tell....I think cruising the med might be a good way to start, and maybe staying near friends in Germany could keep costs down.
I thought this price point was a product of foriegn destinations but found even our domestic vacations seem to hover around that price point.
Granted Vegas can take as much money as you want to spend, but even our trips to the gulf coast of Fla. (driving from Ga.) would hit between $75 and $100 pp/pn...granted I usually didnt use many hotel points and stayed at cheap beachfront hotels, we rent a boat for a day or 2, and the rest is gas/food/drink....not hard to drop $1400 for a weeks stay.
When people ask how we travel so much I try and explain at first, and when I see the glazed look of boredom come over the listeners face, I drop it.
Personally I think you should make up something like I sneak on the planes, stay in empty rooms and eat out of dumpsters.....if everyone knew how easy it was and was as interested as we are, the deal would be dead from overusage.

P.S. next trip might come in much cheaper...6 nights in PVR for me and wife, 30k BA miles+$230 taxes, $200 transfers and taxis, 120k choice hotel points for the Barcelo AI resort in Puerto Vallarta, I can beat the number if we dont spend $770 in duty free/souvineers/ and entertainment (snorkel boats, zoo, daytrips into town)....probably wind up at $50-$60 PP/PN in addition to what the points cost us.

We are in the same boat regarding long trips - ours generally are 30 to 45 days long - may be 1/3 of the length is covered by free hotel stays. The rest are all paid nights whether it is on land or at sea. I have also found the transportation cost a major cash item - whether it is inter-cities on LCCs in Europe, or the local trains for day trips, r/t from/to airports, metro/bus within cities - all add up to the biggest cash item from the total cash cost of a trip... Foods actually much lower than that as we often take picnic lunch when we travel in Europe.

Yup, transportations cost are not cheap. $50 to and from home airport = $100.
Another $50 to and from destination airport = another $100.
Foods are cheap in developing countries, but not so in developed countries.
For international, passport costs if you don't already have one or needed to renew. Also visa costs to some countries. Not to mention all the things on your to do list when you get there. All add up to lots of mula.

You're not visiting a town. You're visiting your folks. There's something else going on here. In my example, I know perfectly well what "something else" was. My parents were convinced that playing cards to win was pretty much a crime and I was going to be gunned down like a movie villain so why hang out with me. I don't know, can't guess, what's going on with your family, but a couple decades from now, you might feel pretty silly about it. Or they might be the ones who feel silly, who knows. I'm pretty sure that now my folks regret the missed opportunities but there's no turning back the clock. There is no such thing as being in your early 60s and in perfect health. There's being in your early 60s and being in good health for your age but that's it.

My parents are in their early 60's and in perfect health. They can take a 1.5 hour plane ride as easily as I can.

I just don't feel all that compelled to visit a town I didn't grow up in.

I'm 22 as well. Have many friends who are just stunned at the trips I've taken just this year (see: 2 TRs in signature). Have a job but not one that pays a ton.

I've had a Citi card since the day I turned 18. Also been an AMEX Authorized User since age 17. Sometime during age 20, I decided to use that high-700s FICO for something, and it was the BA 100K card. Miles have been pouring in ever since. :cool:

I go easy on the AoRs since my history isn't that long, but it'll be 6 months since my last app in a few weeks, and I'm reeling to get my hands on some of the post-summer blockbusters.

I can deal with it, but my wife hates that we'll get to stay at a 5* hotel for nothing, but then can't eat at the hotel restaurant or use their spa. That's not so bad for city hotels, but it can become a pain at resorts. My wife told me that this time around, I better set aside some cash to actually eat on the resort.

I have that same problem. I've gotten to the point where I almost don't want to stay at the really nice hotels/resorts for that reason alone. It sucks to stay at a place but feel suckered when the resort fee hurts, you can't eat at the restaurant or have drinks at the bar/pool/beach, and the staff seem to look at you with disdain when I insist on schlepping my own bags to the room. Even though I could technically "afford" to do so especially that I've gotten a great or free rate on the room, it's just not my style to spend that kind of $$ on extras.

As for the "travel class envy" I've gotten used to that, and my friends/coworkers are used to the fact I travel to a lot more places than my peers and mostly in premium cabins. I don't have kids and have always worked tons of overtime, so I've always been able to do more than the more typical family people who can't work the extra hours and have the expenses of a family. It's the lifestyle I choose, and it comes with both pros and cons compared to the more traditional alternatives.

You're not visiting a town. You're visiting your folks. There's something else going on here. In my example, I know perfectly well what "something else" was. My parents were convinced that playing cards to win was pretty much a crime and I was going to be gunned down like a movie villain so why hang out with me. I don't know, can't guess, what's going on with your family, but a couple decades from now, you might feel pretty silly about it. Or they might be the ones who feel silly, who knows. I'm pretty sure that now my folks regret the missed opportunities but there's no turning back the clock. There is no such thing as being in your early 60s and in perfect health. There's being in your early 60s and being in good health for your age but that's it.

Feel pretty silly about what, exactly? I've seen my folks once or twice a year for the last three years, just not in their town, and that's good enough for me. As you said, I'm not visiting a town, I'm visiting my folks. What's it to you in which town I actually see them?

I have that same problem. I've gotten to the point where I almost don't want to stay at the really nice hotels/resorts for that reason alone. It sucks to stay at a place but feel suckered when the resort fee hurts, you can't eat at the restaurant or have drinks at the bar/pool/beach, and the staff seem to look at you with disdain when I insist on schlepping my own bags to the room. Even though I could technically "afford" to do so especially that I've gotten a great or free rate on the room, it's just not my style to spend that kind of $$ on extras.


I spend *a lot* of time investigating the F&B options around the resorts I look at. We've eaten at a few hotel places (and even gotten room service) and it actually feels weird when we do. When we went to Bali last year, we stayed at the Laguna, and it was particularly bad in terms of the convenience of off-resort locations. On our trip this time around, it was a toss up between the St. Regis and the W, and the W won out because it's much more in the middle of things.

We're spending some time in Phuket as well, and *wood has a new property called the Naka Island. They've had some interesting rates and promos, and I've been half tempted to check the place out. However, speed boat transfers and F&B can be killers. Considering that the LM Khao Lak was/is running a low season special that gives two free drinks per room per day + 25% off F&B and 50% off spa, well, that won out.


As for the "travel class envy" I've gotten used to that, and my friends/coworkers are used to the fact I travel to a lot more places than my peers and mostly in premium cabins. I don't have kids and have always worked tons of overtime, so I've always been able to do more than the more typical family people who can't work the extra hours and have the expenses of a family. It's the lifestyle I choose, and it comes with both pros and cons compared to the more traditional alternatives.

I work with a mix of rather young people and a handful of old people. (The young kids are all math and science geeks and the old people are pretty much all retired aviation industry people.) I haven't run into the same "OMG you do what?" responses that some people talk about here. In fact, I get a few people who ask what cards they should be signing up for or ask about my opinion of a particular card -- including some of the old guys.

Just today, one of my friends asks me about a backpacker-type trip her and a friend are planning. (Others in the group want to do a lot of hopping around.) I asked her what her airfare and intra-country transportation costs are going to be. Considering I got her to sign up for the AA card last year, she looks at me and says "a couple grand. You're going to kick my ..., aren't you?" (Pretty much.) She's actually considering pushing off the trip a year so she can rack up some points.

I just started getting into this, but I have definitely been traveling beyond my means. I have not really gotten to take advantage of the international travel as much (yet) but I am already planning a huge trip. Working with Starwood is a huge plus because I get special rates at all the hotels (if available). Some really amazing deals also. I can stay at the St. Regis Bangkok for $95 a night or this hotel for $130 when its normally over $600 a night. https://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3714 I only mention Bangkok because thats the next place I want to travel.

The average cost of a Westin for me is $79 a night, an Aloft is $50, and a W is $89. St Regis normally is about $200 a night. My family loves it because they are also allowed to get the discounted rates. My friends love it when they travel with me and stay with me. Oh yea, plus I get 50% off all food and beverage.

I have been planning this trip for almost a year. My girl friend and I are traveling to China for five weeks and flying on first. My parents are flying with us and flying in Business. My G/F's parents are meeting us there a week later and also flying in business. We will be staying at the Park Hyatt in Shanghai for a few days. Conrad in HK for a few days. All the flights were booked using points. All hotels were booked using points. Yes, in 2008, I thought my friend was crazy for paying $300+ a night to stay at the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai. I will be paying $0 to stay at the Park Hyatt in Shanghai.

Congratulations, windcloud5. Really good work!

My friends love it when they travel with me and stay with me. Oh yea, plus I get 50% off all food and beverage.

edh101985, how ARE you. I can't believe we lost touch! :D

Now, where are you traveling and when? @:-)

I just started getting into this, but I have definitely been traveling beyond my means. I have not really gotten to take advantage of the international travel as much (yet) but I am already planning a huge trip. Working with Starwood is a huge plus because I get special rates at all the hotels (if available). Some really amazing deals also. I can stay at the St. Regis Bangkok for $95 a night or this hotel for $130 when its normally over $600 a night. https://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3714 I only mention Bangkok because thats the next place I want to travel.

The average cost of a Westin for me is $79 a night, an Aloft is $50, and a W is $89. St Regis normally is about $200 a night. My family loves it because they are also allowed to get the discounted rates. My friends love it when they travel with me and stay with me. Oh yea, plus I get 50% off all food and beverage.

The St. Regis in Bangkok in hardly $600 a night... more like 200...

I just started getting into this, but I have definitely been traveling beyond my means. I have not really gotten to take advantage of the international travel as much (yet) but I am already planning a huge trip. Working with Starwood is a huge plus because I get special rates at all the hotels (if available). Some really amazing deals also. I can stay at the St. Regis Bangkok for $95 a night or this hotel for $130 when its normally over $600 a night. https://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3714 I only mention Bangkok because thats the next place I want to travel.

The average cost of a Westin for me is $79 a night, an Aloft is $50, and a W is $89. St Regis normally is about $200 a night. My family loves it because they are also allowed to get the discounted rates. My friends love it when they travel with me and stay with me. Oh yea, plus I get 50% off all food and beverage.The St. Regis in Bangkok in hardly $600 a night... more like 200...

I believe edh101985 is referring to the hotel that is linked with the quote of $600 per night. If you read more carefully, he already says in his post that the St. Regis is about $200 a night, and that he gets to stay there for $95.

It's no ones business but I do feel like I need to explain why one second I'm complaining about paying $500 in car repairs then the next I'm booking a business class ticket to Bali. I explain CC sign up bonuses, paying my rent with Amazon Payments, and only paying $50 for the reward ticket. I don't think they ever fully buy it because they don't really understand it. After that I don't feel guilty or any need to explain myself.

How are you paying rent with Amazon Payments? It seems like there is a monthly limit of $1,000 and only for personal accounts... plus you have to convince your landlord to sign up just for you?

Fortunately I don't have a bunch of people hitting me up for money like others have stated in the thread. While I know a lot of people who aren't interested in any type of miles CC, they at least understand I'm not an ATM. But I am an example of someone who dosn't make a lot of money, but started establishing a credit history at a fairly young age and is now able to take advantage of a pretty decent credit score. I made mistakes along the way but none of the variety that prevented me from having a good credit score in the end.

I see my credit score as an asset, and a valuable one at that. I decided a while ago I wasn't going to just let it sit there... I'd put it to work and gain something out of it. A lot of people in general seem a little leary about credit cards, or afraid of the unknown. Personally I'm afraid of having a debit card and its a debate I've had with others many times in trying to get others into the miles game. Anyhow, the miles I've accumulated (not a ton compared to most but enough for now) will allow me to take trips that otherwise would be very hard for me to afford. I enjoy traveling, and I'm also a thrifty person. I'm not looking to travel in first class and I probably won't end up 'maximizing' my redemptions when I do use my miles in the future. But, they will end up suiting my needs and save me a lot of money, and take me to places I might not otherwise be willing to lay out so much cash to visit.

Fortunately I don't have a bunch of people hitting me up for money like others have stated in the thread. While I know a lot of people who aren't interested in any type of miles CC, they at least understand I'm not an ATM. But I am an example of someone who dosn't make a lot of money, but started establishing a credit history at a fairly young age and is now able to take advantage of a pretty decent credit score. I made mistakes along the way but none of the variety that prevented me from having a good credit score in the end.

I see my credit score as an asset, and a valuable one at that. I decided a while ago I wasn't going to just let it sit there... I'd put it to work and gain something out of it. A lot of people in general seem a little leary about credit cards, or afraid of the unknown. Personally I'm afraid of having a debit card and its a debate I've had with others many times in trying to get others into the miles game. Anyhow, the miles I've accumulated (not a ton compared to most but enough for now) will allow me to take trips that otherwise would be very hard for me to afford. I enjoy traveling, and I'm also a thrifty person. I'm not looking to travel in first class and I probably won't end up 'maximizing' my redemptions when I do use my miles in the future. But, they will end up suiting my needs and save me a lot of money, and take me to places I might not otherwise be willing to lay out so much cash to visit.

^

You have a very healthy attitude towards the miles and points accumulation game.

what status on AA and UA allow you to do the upgrade, I m a new member here and would like to learn the tricks of the trade from everyone in the forum, if you could reply. Thanks

what status on AA and UA allow you to do the upgrade, I m a new member here and would like to learn the tricks of the trade from everyone in the forum, if you could reply. Thanks

Have you thought about going to AA and UA own websites to check out their program rules, i.e. elite benefits? or the upgrade award charts?

You should be able to find all the answers to your questions above right on airlines own website, accurately and clearly, in plain English and easy to read tables, even pdf files to download.

When I talk about my upcoming trips, like the one to Brazil, I often find myself adding like a disclaimer or something--"Of course I got free flights on miles". There is no way someone of my income level could afford the kind of travel I do otherwise, especially in Australia where they don't have the mega credit card bonuses I can get as a US citizen with a good Fico. It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something. And I don't want people who see us walking out of an IC or Westin (on points) to think I am one of those rich people who usually stay there.

Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?

I never apologize but I almost always tell friends and relatives that we flew international business class with miles or used points for 5* hotel rooms. It gives me a good feeling to tout my ability to play the miles game :cool:, but I also don't want people to think that I would blow that kind of money on travel.

Conversely, I would would never share that info with random travelers unless they make it known that they are fellow mileage junkies. No reason for them to know I did not pay full price as they may have ;)

There is no question that miles and points have made it possible for me to travel beyond my means, or more accurately, to fly in C/F and to stay in luxury hotels and resorts for vacations. There is no way that I would pay full price for these perks so if it were not for points I'd be staying in lesser properties or using priceline more. In fact I now get upset when I can't find a "deal" for a leisure trip and end up paying through the nose for advance-purchase economy seats.

what status on AA and UA allow you to do the upgrade, I m a new member here and would like to learn the tricks of the trade from everyone in the forum, if you could reply. Thanks

If you are a new member and really want to learn the basics, I would suggest you check out some of the beginners pages on popular travel blogs. In particular, I suggest milevalue.com. There is a tab "start here" that will guide you through the basics. Good luck.

I see my credit score as an asset, and a valuable one at that. I decided a while ago I wasn't going to just let it sit there... I'd put it to work and gain something out of it. A lot of people in general seem a little leary about credit cards, or afraid of the unknown. Personally I'm afraid of having a debit card and its a debate I've had with others many times in trying to get others into the miles game. Anyhow, the miles I've accumulated (not a ton compared to most but enough for now) will allow me to take trips that otherwise would be very hard for me to afford. I enjoy traveling, and I'm also a thrifty person. I'm not looking to travel in first class and I probably won't end up 'maximizing' my redemptions when I do use my miles in the future. But, they will end up suiting my needs and save me a lot of money, and take me to places I might not otherwise be willing to lay out so much cash to visit.

Great outlook. +1 on the same idea.

I see my points as an untaxed part of my compensation. If I have to be away from my wife and daughter for work (even if my company pays for it) then whatever trips we may take or hotels we might stay in are most definitely earned.

We are in the same boat regarding long trips - ours generally are 30 to 45 days long - may be 1/3 of the length is covered by free hotel stays. The rest are all paid nights whether it is on land or at sea. I have also found the transportation cost a major cash item - whether it is inter-cities on LCCs in Europe, or the local trains for day trips, r/t from/to airports, metro/bus within cities - all add up to the biggest cash item from the total cash cost of a trip... Foods actually much lower than that as we often take picnic lunch when we travel in Europe.

We covered a lot of ground by foot in Naples. But we had no choice but to pay asking prices for the ferries to Capri and Ischia. Swimming was just not an option. :p The hotel staff in Naples would consistently tell us to take a taxi as the first choice to get within the city. They would then roll their eyes when we asked for directions on the map to walk to the destination instead. (We were staying on points.) On our last day, I asked how to take the bus to the train station, and the lady was aggravated that she had to look for a bus schedule to answer my questions. So I gave in and finally relented to the taxi as it would be better than schlepping our rollerboards for 20 minutes. She called the taxi before we were fully ready to leave (my husband had not yet returned from the rest room). When I got into the taxi which was about 10 minutes after he had arrived, the dude had already been running his meter from the moment he pulled up. Scam! :mad:

To answer the OP, international travel for leisure is not an uncommon thing to do amongst my friends and professional colleagues. Our friends do still think we are up to something very much not legit because we travel so much more often than them, but no one ever really questions if we can afford it. However, the staff I work with and clients at our offices would be in utter disbelief and jealous that I am probably one of those awful 1%-ers ruining this country one luxury vacation at a time if I told them of my vacation plans. To get around this, one colleague always tells his staff and clients that he is going to Albuquerque for business every time he goes away for a trip. No one ever questions a trip to Albuquerque and no one really desires to go there multiple times in a year. Of course this requires that you keep your FB account on super lockdown and not post pictures of Brazil when you were supposed to be in Albuquerque.

Unfortunately at my job, I had no way around it because I used to go to the airport straight from work, so when you show up with a rollerboard in a tiny office, people of course want to know where you are going.

She called the taxi before we were fully ready to leave (my husband had not yet returned from the rest room). When I got into the taxi which was about 10 minutes after he had arrived, the dude had already been running his meter from the moment he pulled up. Scam! :mad:


In Europe the custom is, when the hotel calls a taxi for you, the taxi starts its meter running from the moment the taxi is coming to the hotel... If your taxi driver started his meter when he arrived the hotel, you were already being charged LESS.

In Europe the custom is, when the hotel calls a taxi for you, the taxi starts its meter running from the moment the taxi is coming to the hotel... If your taxi driver started his meter when he arrived the hotel, you were already being charged LESS.


I discovered this to be the case in Paris on our 1st europe trip. I also learned to keep exact change on me, otherwise taxi drivers seem to like to keep a big tip for themselves when giving change because all americans are big tippers right :D

In Europe the custom is, when the hotel calls a taxi for you, the taxi starts its meter running from the moment the taxi is coming to the hotel... If your taxi driver started his meter when he arrived the hotel, you were already being charged LESS.

I had just assumed he started the meter when he arrived. It may have very well been when he was called. I didn't know this is the custom in Europe. Learned something new on FT today!

To get around this, one colleague always tells his staff and clients that he is going to Albuquerque for business every time he goes away for a trip. No one ever questions a trip to Albuquerque and no one really desires to go there multiple times in a year. Of course this requires that you keep your FB account on super lockdown and not post pictures of Brazil when you were supposed to be in Albuquerque.

He could simply claim he made a wrong turn on the way to Albuquerque

...To get around this, one colleague always tells his staff and clients that he is going to Albuquerque for business every time he goes away for a trip. No one ever questions a trip to Albuquerque and no one really desires to go there multiple times in a year. Of course this requires that you keep your FB account on super lockdown and not post pictures of Brazil when you were supposed to be in Albuquerque...

That's gotta suck. The thing I enjoy the most--besides my actual travel--is bragging about my travel.:D

That's gotta suck. The thing I enjoy the most--besides my actual travel--is bragging about my travel.:D

Haha that quote by sent was the funniest and the saddest thing I've read in a while.

In Europe the custom is, when the hotel calls a taxi for you, the taxi starts its meter running from the moment the taxi is coming to the hotel... If your taxi driver started his meter when he arrived the hotel, you were already being charged LESS.

This is great information -- thanks for sharing!

That's gotta suck. The thing I enjoy the most--besides my actual travel--is bragging about my travel.:D

We also have to keep most of our trips on the down low from our staff, as they will think that we make too much money! Sometimes we go and don't utter a word about where we are going.... like Istanbul or Petra. That is a hard one to keep under the brim, as I am usually beaming with excitement! Other times we tell them we have a conference we need to go to for work... but we never befriend our staff on FB! that way I can still post my picks!

He could simply claim he made a wrong turn on the way to Albuquerque


Love it!!!

And agree with the general sentiment expressed here that it's best to avoid the issue of how one pays for things altogether. My family's finances are no one's business but our own, and we are very private about them.

When I talk about my upcoming trips, like the one to Brazil, I often find myself adding like a disclaimer or something--"Of course I got free flights on miles". There is no way someone of my income level could afford the kind of travel I do otherwise, especially in Australia where they don't have the mega credit card bonuses I can get as a US citizen with a good Fico. It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something. And I don't want people who see us walking out of an IC or Westin (on points) to think I am one of those rich people who usually stay there.

Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?

Never! I am proud of my trips and it's no one else's business as to how I financed them. Sounds like you have a rubber spine - get some backbone and take pride in what you have accomplished!

It's not just coworkers. The hotel concierge thinks I want to take a deluxe taxi to an expensive restaurant, when all I really want is directions to the metro and a nearby 7-11 with a bakery section. A hostel reception knows I want to travel cheaply and is often more helpful.

Amen! The same goes for when the concierge tries to hook us up with a private car and driver for sightseeing. We were at the Le Meridien in Amman, Jordan trying ask about a public bus down to Petra for a few days. (Our guidebook was a little outdated.) Honestly, none of them knew where the bus station was and told us it would only be $300 to have a car & driver to take us down for a day trip. We ended up walking a few blocks away from the hotel and got a cheap taxi (although still probably a rip off) who took us to the bus station and got to Petra for $5.

The problem is: you can get to your destination free of cost but the free ticket may delude you into thinking that your trip is free. Its not.. By the time you add up your other transportation, meals, visit to attractions etc, you would have spent a significant amount.. more so if you are going to an expensive destination like Japan.

It's a myth that Japan is so expensive. I lived there for 2 years and there are plenty of cheap places to eat, but they are not in the hotel nor near the hotel. You'll find lots of cheap places near train stations. A huge bowl of ramen and a beer is less than $15. Most temples and gardens are less than $10 to get into.

I try to avoid expensive countries but I can't think of anywhere that is truly too expensive to go to, except maybe Bhutan that I think still has a min. daily spending requirement. Generally, if there are local people living in a place, there are local places to eat for less.

I try to avoid expensive countries but I can't think of anywhere that is truly too expensive to go to, except maybe Bhutan that I think still has a min. daily spending requirement. Generally, if there are local people living in a place, there are local places to eat for less.

Well, Africa can be awfully expensive. Been doing a tiny bit of research right now. 2 FT friends have done African trips - both were frugal minded, esp one traveled in a family of 5... both told me it was a very expensive trip and there were very little ways to keep the cost down. The family of 5 has gone to many exotic places, incl Easter Island, Galapargos and Chilean Fjords yet he said the South African trip has topped the chart in terms of both expenses and excitement... I guess it boils down to in countries / cities where the infrastructures are not there, it can be an expensive trip.

Poor rookie! You just haven't met the good cardinals of The Spanish Inquisition over at AMEX.:D

My family's finances are no one's business but our own....

Competition also drives down prices, too. Many of the expensive places have less competing transportation, lodging and meal facilities.

Well, Africa can be awfully expensive. Been doing a tiny bit of research right now. 2 FT friends have done African trips - both were frugal minded, esp one traveled in a family of 5... both told me it was a very expensive trip and there were very little ways to keep the cost down. The family of 5 has gone to many exotic places, incl Easter Island, Galapargos and Chilean Fjords yet he said the South African trip has topped the chart in terms of both expenses and excitement... I guess it boils down to in countries / cities where the infrastructures are not there, it can be an expensive trip.

In Europe the custom is, when the hotel calls a taxi for you, the taxi starts its meter running from the moment the taxi is coming to the hotel... If your taxi driver started his meter when he arrived the hotel, you were already being charged LESS.

I've never seen that before. I'm not sure I've ever actually had a hotel call me a cab before though.

I must say, I love this thread! It makes me feel so good!

Travel, collecting points, etc. all is a matter of life priorities. When people say they don't have the time or money it's because other things are more important, like new cars, eating out all the time, new flatscreens, the newest phone, etc.

This is such an interesting thread. I haven't seen anyone else talk about my approach: I share where I'm going, and then I say "you know, I do this through my hobby, earning travel for free... I'd be happy to show you how to do it, too."

What's amazing to me is how few people ever bother to take me up on my offer. Does anyone else notice this? Maybe they think it's too difficult or something, but I keep saying "it's really easy and I can help you get started" and still no bites.

We are a small niche group. In my company of about 4,000 there are no peers that I am aware of. My SO is the second peer I ever ran into. The first was a fellow cardinal and I have met a few since in the TCC, the Agency and FT. You have to have a certain mindset.:cool:

This is such an interesting thread. I haven't seen anyone else talk about my approach: I share where I'm going, and then I say "you know, I do this through my hobby, earning travel for free... I'd be happy to show you how to do it, too."

What's amazing to me is how few people ever bother to take me up on my offer. Does anyone else notice this? Maybe they think it's too difficult or something, but I keep saying "it's really easy and I can help you get started" and still no bites.

This is such an interesting thread. I haven't seen anyone else talk about my approach: I share where I'm going, and then I say "you know, I do this through my hobby, earning travel for free... I'd be happy to show you how to do it, too."

What's amazing to me is how few people ever bother to take me up on my offer. Does anyone else notice this? Maybe they think it's too difficult or something, but I keep saying "it's really easy and I can help you get started" and still no bites.

Yes, we all do.:D

I've found people interested, but I find that they really don't want to learn. They will let me give them links for credit cards needed for flights, hotels, and then let me book the whole trip for them. Hubby and I just went on a trip with another couple who let me book award flights to Europe and 10 nights of free hotels plus plan whole itinerary. We had a great trip, but 1st question when we got back was-- what's the next deal or link to get more free airfare. I've given them enough links so they already each have enough miles for 2 more free trips to Europe. I've now told them they need to read the flyertalk link I gave them along time ago. I just don't see people getting excited about this even if they see the fruits. Guess I've just spoiled them -- they think it's too complicated, but easy for me. So I'm finding it's much easier if they're not interested.

On my recent trip to Easter Island/South America when asked why there? I said a blog made me do it! I got in on the Avios deal and had a great trip using my BA and SPG points -the trip cost less than most would think but I'm constantly having to preface it with "using points explanation"
People are fascinated by it but tell me it sounds too complicated for them. just like anything else if you put the time in, you are rewarded.
I use points to bring trip costs down so that I can spend more on the experiences there (ie -flying back from Milford Sound, private guides, etc).
I find that only dipping your toes in is still rewarding, I don't churn cards or finely tune my online, gas, grocery spend for bonuses but still manage to travel to amazing places in the world with my points

I generally don't discuss or mention to others where I'm traveling to, as I am not one to brag. I have friends and colleagues who get so hung up on making sure that everyone knows the hotel they stayed at or the class of service they've flown, but my ego is not that big. If people ask where I'm going, or how my trip was, I'll certainly share, but nobody needs to know that I spent two weeks in Bali in June followed by two weeks in Italy in July.

This is such an interesting thread. I haven't seen anyone else talk about my approach: I share where I'm going, and then I say "you know, I do this through my hobby, earning travel for free... I'd be happy to show you how to do it, too."

What's amazing to me is how few people ever bother to take me up on my offer. Does anyone else notice this? Maybe they think it's too difficult or something, but I keep saying "it's really easy and I can help you get started" and still no bites.

Sometimes I think that people think that it is some type of pyramid scheme or other "Let me tell you how you can go to Europe for free by selling these vitamins, or makeup, or brushes." They believe something else is going on, because how else could you do this?

Alas, those of us with big feet have big toes. Last time I dipped my toe in, a few Pacific islands got wiped out by a tsunami. :p

I find that only dipping your toes in is still rewarding, I don't churn cards or finely tune my online, gas, grocery spend for bonuses but still manage to travel to amazing places in the world with my points

Alas, those of us with big feet have big toes. Last time I dipped my toe in, a few Pacific islands got wiped out by a tsunami. :p

It also wiped out your PM inbox receiving ability ;)

I must say, I love this thread! It makes me feel so good!

Travel, collecting points, etc. all is a matter of life priorities. When people say they don't have the time or money it's because other things are more important, like new cars, eating out all the time, new flatscreens, the newest phone, etc.

Quite true. That's the other half of how I can afford to travel so much. Yes, the miles make the flights and some of the hotels free, but the rest of the trip does cost money. I simply don't spend the way some do on those other things in order to make it work financially for me.

We are a small niche group. In my company of about 4,000 there are no peers that I am aware of. My SO is the second peer I ever ran into. The first was a fellow cardinal and I have met a few since in the TCC, the Agency and FT. You have to have a certain mindset.:cool:

You are so right. The only people I can discuss these things with are the ones on Flyertalk and other forums and blogs. Among in-person acquaintances, nobody is really very interested. My sister will follow up on credit card links I give her, and get some free trips that way, but most just say how jealous they are of all the travel I do, and don't really want to learn how to do it themselves.

You are so right. The only people I can discuss these things with are the ones on Flyertalk and other forums and blogs. Among in-person acquaintances, nobody is really very interested. My sister will follow up on credit card links I give her, and get some free trips that way, but most just say how jealous they are of all the travel I do, and don't really want to learn how to do it themselves.

When people tell me how jealous they are of my vacations, I tell them I travel on points and miles. But most people aren't interestd in doing the work to collect the points and miles. I've sent friends links to the latest cc's, but they don't even bother.

Why even offer? They already got heckled by your Amway selling brother in law! Nobody is interested in something that is "so easy to do and I'll show you how." You have to let them find it. Stop pushing. All you accomplish by pushing is to convince them that you're involved in a scam or criminal activity. What benefit do you get by pushing anyway unless you're an Amway seller, erm, I mean credit card affiliate. I go my way, and my friends and relatives must go their way. It is their choice to either not travel (some hate travel) or to pay a lot more (some people feel more comfortable paying more). I don't get the money they would save if they traveled cheaper but I would get the blame if something went wrong. Let it rest.




What's amazing to me is how few people ever bother to take me up on my offer. Does anyone else notice this? Maybe they think it's too difficult or something, but I keep saying "it's really easy and I can help you get started" and still no bites.

But with the government rolling out dollars like toilet paper and inflation at the pump and grocery store don't we owe it to the country to beat prices to the ground, stop business as is and solidy whack those politicians who want to turn the US into postwar Germany?:D.

Your money may be worthless and you can't afford food or gas to get to work, but here, have a dish of debt with a little health care sprinkled on it.:rolleyes:


Why even offer? They already got heckled by your Amway selling brother in law! Nobody is interested in something that is "so easy to do and I'll show you how." You have to let them find it. Stop pushing. All you accomplish by pushing is to convince them that you're involved in a scam or criminal activity. What benefit do you get by pushing anyway unless you're an Amway seller, erm, I mean credit card affiliate. I go my way, and my friends and relatives must go their way. It is their choice to either not travel (some hate travel) or to pay a lot more (some people feel more comfortable paying more). I don't get the money they would save if they traveled cheaper but I would get the blame if something went wrong. Let it rest.

Why even offer? They already got heckled by your Amway selling brother in law! Nobody is interested in something that is "so easy to do and I'll show you how." You have to let them find it. Stop pushing. All you accomplish by pushing is to convince them that you're involved in a scam or criminal activity. What benefit do you get by pushing anyway unless you're an Amway seller, erm, I mean credit card affiliate. I go my way, and my friends and relatives must go their way. It is their choice to either not travel (some hate travel) or to pay a lot more (some people feel more comfortable paying more).

Exactly. I evangelized very early on to my friends but then I stopped. If someone asks a direct question, I'm glad to help.

I'm in a beautiful suite at the HR in Hong Kong right now. Before this, had stops in Tokyo and Beijing, also in very nice suites. Oh, and I flew in J on JAL to get there... and flying F on CX going back home to Los Angeles in a few days.

And last year I did a 4 city tour in South America. Again, all suites, all J class. And I'll still have enough miles/points for at least 2 or 3 similar trips.

And my friends were all laughing at me when I was hauling 10k+ coins to the bank each week for months on end... I've sent every single one of them at least 1 email/photo/postcard from the various destinations I've been to so far, and plan to continue doing so :)

We are a small niche group. In my company of about 4,000 there are no peers that I am aware of. My SO is the second peer I ever ran into. The first was a fellow cardinal and I have met a few since in the TCC, the Agency and FT. You have to have a certain mindset.:cool:

Indeed! This is one of the reasons I like the MegaDO and other frequent flyer events... it's great to be in a room full of folks who understand exactly what you're talking about, and with whom you don't have to self-censor about where you're going/where you've gone, and (more interestingly) how you got there ;-)

Sometimes I think that people think that it is some type of pyramid scheme or other "Let me tell you how you can go to Europe for free by selling these vitamins, or makeup, or brushes." They believe something else is going on, because how else could you do this?

I agree, though with close friends who know me well, that's obviously not the case.

Why even offer? They already got heckled by your Amway selling brother in law! Nobody is interested in something that is "so easy to do and I'll show you how." You have to let them find it. Stop pushing. All you accomplish by pushing is to convince them that you're involved in a scam or criminal activity. What benefit do you get by pushing anyway unless you're an Amway seller, erm, I mean credit card affiliate. I go my way, and my friends and relatives must go their way. It is their choice to either not travel (some hate travel) or to pay a lot more (some people feel more comfortable paying more). I don't get the money they would save if they traveled cheaper but I would get the blame if something went wrong. Let it rest.

Of course... I am not pushing. :) I'm talking specifically about close friends & family who say they like to travel, and who say they envy me, and constantly say stuff like "I wish I could travel like that!" That's when I always respond with "you know, it's not that hard, and I can show you."

Why even offer? They already got heckled by your Amway selling brother in law! Nobody is interested in something that is "so easy to do and I'll show you how." You have to let them find it. Stop pushing. All you accomplish by pushing is to convince them that you're involved in a scam or criminal activity. What benefit do you get by pushing anyway unless you're an Amway seller, erm, I mean credit card affiliate. I go my way, and my friends and relatives must go their way. It is their choice to either not travel (some hate travel) or to pay a lot more (some people feel more comfortable paying more). I don't get the money they would save if they traveled cheaper but I would get the blame if something went wrong. Let it rest.

I wonder if there are folks in a parallel Amway message board somewhere on the interwebs discussing the benefits of how easy their sales are and wondering why more people don't want to do Amway given how easy it is.

hey! When are you headed to brazil? We are going for thanksgiving this year!!

When I talk about my upcoming trips, like the one to Brazil, I often find myself adding like a disclaimer or something--"Of course I got free flights on miles". There is no way someone of my income level could afford the kind of travel I do otherwise, especially in Australia where they don't have the mega credit card bonuses I can get as a US citizen with a good Fico. It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something. And I don't want people who see us walking out of an IC or Westin (on points) to think I am one of those rich people who usually stay there.

Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?

I wonder if there are folks in a parallel Amway message board somewhere on the interwebs discussing the benefits of how easy their sales are and wondering why more people don't want to do Amway given how easy it is.

That's a really interesting question. Of course, there are big differences between Amway (or any other MLM business) and the miles/points game that we all play. (The biggest being that we don't have to enroll anyone else in anything in order to get ahead... i.e. in most cases, I don't get significantly more miles/points if I share all my information with you.) But yeah, it's a funny thought!

That's a really interesting question. Of course, there are big differences between Amway (or any other MLM business) and the miles/points game that we all play. (The biggest being that we don't have to enroll anyone else in anything in order to get ahead... i.e. in most cases, I don't get significantly more miles/points if I share all my information with you.) But yeah, it's a funny thought!

This is true. If I share all my information with you and you actually get hooked, well now I've just diluted the mileage/point redemption opportunity pool by just a little bit potentially hurting my ability to redeem. But as this thread shows, so few actually go through the effort to even try and get into the game.

I've recently made a friend into a convert. After some persuasion and a three hour discussion, he decided to jump on the two-browser trick that will help him get to South America and Europe. Even though there are other cards that require no minimum spend or have a small annual fee, which is often worth the investment, he's decided two cards is enough.

Others think it's easy to find a cheap flight without miles. (Because they're not into getting a credit card). That's sometimes true, but they expect me to find them something equivalent to a mistake fare. "You're going to Japan for under $500!? Can you find me something like that? Except I want to go to the beach, so, something tropical." It's very sporadic and spontaneous because the window is only a few hours (with mistake fares). And I haven't figured out how to decipher dumping, so I'm still a rookie.

Either way, it adds fuel to the fire that my excitement — and addiction — can positively influence others so they are able to travel and experience more than they imagined.^

I have found over the years that a good vacation seems to cost us $100 per day per person, even with suplementing it with free flights or free hotel.


It depends on what your definition of "good" is. My husband and I traveled 5 months in 13 countries (Fiji, NZ, AU, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, Greeze, Spain and Portugal & NYC) and never spent anywhere near $100 per person. Our most expensive country was Fiji with $136 per day for two of us, and that included our hotel for $95 per night (buffet breakfast and sport activities included). Next highest was NYC for $125 for two of us, free hotel with SPG points at FourPoints. Yes, there were a few times we felt like we would have liked to spend more, like in Langkawi, Malaysia using our SPG points at the Sheraton it would have been nice to eat at the hotel more but we just walked 1/2 mile into town to eat at the local restaurants or ate at the hotel's happy hour. We have a couple of friends who hate our method of travel but most envy it. For us, it was a terrific trip that was worth staying on budget in order to take it.

I wonder if there are folks in a parallel Amway message board somewhere on the interwebs discussing the benefits of how easy their sales are and wondering why more people don't want to do Amway given how easy it is.

wow... I mean wow that's so deep :P I can't sleep tonight after reading this.:D

Heck, my scouts have a good time on less than $25 a day. Then again we hike for transportation, camp in tents, sit on rocks and dine on MREs.:D

It depends on what your definition of "good" is. My husband and I traveled 5 months in 13 countries (Fiji, NZ, AU, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, Greeze, Spain and Portugal & NYC) and never spent anywhere near $100 per person. Our most expensive country was Fiji with $136 per day for two of us, and that included our hotel for $95 per night (buffet breakfast and sport activities included). Next highest was NYC for $125 for two of us, free hotel with SPG points at FourPoints. Yes, there were a few times we felt like we would have liked to spend more, like in Langkawi, Malaysia using our SPG points at the Sheraton it would have been nice to eat at the hotel more but we just walked 1/2 mile into town to eat at the local restaurants or ate at the hotel's happy hour. We have a couple of friends who hate our method of travel but most envy it. For us, it was a terrific trip that was worth staying on budget in order to take it.

This is true. If I share all my information with you and you actually get hooked, well now I've just diluted the mileage/point redemption opportunity pool by just a little bit potentially hurting my ability to redeem. But as this thread shows, so few actually go through the effort to even try and get into the game.

Strictly speaking, yes, but in practical terms, it's such a small, small, small drop of water in a big ocean, right? I mean, of the thousands of people I interact with in my life, there are only 2-3 that I would invest the time in sharing (and teaching) everything I've learned. And as you said, so few even go through the effort, regardless...

It's all kind of an interesting mind game, though. :-)

It depends on what your definition of "good" is. My husband and I traveled 5 months in 13 countries (Fiji, NZ, AU, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, Greeze, Spain and Portugal & NYC) and never spent anywhere near $100 per person. Our most expensive country was Fiji with $136 per day for two of us, and that included our hotel for $95 per night (buffet breakfast and sport activities included). Next highest was NYC for $125 for two of us, free hotel with SPG points at FourPoints. Yes, there were a few times we felt like we would have liked to spend more, like in Langkawi, Malaysia using our SPG points at the Sheraton it would have been nice to eat at the hotel more but we just walked 1/2 mile into town to eat at the local restaurants or ate at the hotel's happy hour. We have a couple of friends who hate our method of travel but most envy it. For us, it was a terrific trip that was worth staying on budget in order to take it.

My wife and I traveled through SE Asia for a month, and our non-lodging & transportation budget was $100/day for the two of us. That was enough. This year, we're heading back and throwing in a HKG stop. HKG is going to run up the tab, but that's because we want to eat at some nicer places.

Let's say you can get by with $100 per day for BOTH of you, (that is a very low level that I doubt it could be done when we are talking about EVERYTHING INCLUDED - foods, transportation, sightseeing, occasionally paid lodging), 5 months would be 150+ days, at $100, it is still $15K cold hard cash... so to put a perspective....;)

Not to mention the duration of the trip.... if the 5 months were done on a single stretch... The longish trips we tend to do at least one every year would normally be limited to 45 days for various reasons including certain regular monthly medical appointments we must keep, so 45 days would be as stretched as we could get. Besides, long trips do put strain on one's body and mind.

It depends on what your definition of "good" is. My husband and I traveled 5 months in 13 countries (Fiji, NZ, AU, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, Greeze, Spain and Portugal & NYC) and never spent anywhere near $100 per person. Our most expensive country was Fiji with $136 per day for two of us, and that included our hotel for $95 per night (buffet breakfast and sport activities included). Next highest was NYC for $125 for two of us, free hotel with SPG points at FourPoints. Yes, there were a few times we felt like we would have liked to spend more, like in Langkawi, Malaysia using our SPG points at the Sheraton it would have been nice to eat at the hotel more but we just walked 1/2 mile into town to eat at the local restaurants or ate at the hotel's happy hour. We have a couple of friends who hate our method of travel but most envy it. For us, it was a terrific trip that was worth staying on budget in order to take it.

Let's say you can get by with $100 per day for BOTH of you, (that is a very low level that I doubt it could be done when we are talking about EVERYTHING INCLUDED - foods, transportation, sightseeing, occasionally paid lodging), 5 months would be 150+ days, at $100, it is still $15K cold hard cash... so to put a perspective....;)

Not to mention the duration of the trip.... if the 5 months were done on a single stretch... The longish trips we tend to do at least one every year would normally be limited to 45 days for various reasons including certain regular monthly medical appointments we must keep, so 45 days would be as stretched as we could get. Besides, long trips do put strain on one's body and mind.

This is a reprint from my travel blog:
Here's what we expected vs. actual costs (daily average costs for TWO people):
Country (#of days) Budgeted / Actual
Fiji (8) $157 / $135 (3 nights free on SPG)

New Zealand (21) $100 / $100 (not including the rental car--3 weeks $600)

Australia (15) $133 / $125 (not incl. 7 day car rental $175. 3 nights SPG cash & points)

Malaysia (15) $65 / $72 (7 nights SPG cash & points)

Vietnam (14) $65 / $66

Thailand (3, Bangkok) $65 / $75

Bahrain (1, layover) $100 / $100

Jordan (10) $70 / $107 (does not 3-day Petra pass. 6 nights SPG cash & points)

Israel (5) $100 / $98 (1 night in the airport because of Sabbath)

Greece (10) $75 / $77

Spain (29) $75 / $72 (includes one week of free hotel & food)

Portugal (5) $75 / $100

NYC (4) $100 / $125 (free hotel w/SPG)


The above did not include airfare--only land transport of buses, trains and ferries. Our total airfare--no free flights--was 18 flights in 5 continents for US$2,240/pp. We took this trip before I got into the points game--now it would be FREE airfares almost everywhere!!

5 months was long. Actually we planned and budgeted for 12 months and got tired, although the moment we got back home we were sorry we cut the trip short. We have done other 1-3 month trips that were easier.

It's easy to travel cheap, but with miles & points it can be ridiculously cheap.

This is a reprint from my travel blog:
Here's what we expected vs. actual costs (daily average costs for TWO people)...

WOW, very cool, really nice job wringing all the value out of that trip. Thanks for sharing your numbers. How did you get a week free hotel & food in Spain?!

Heck, my scouts have a good time on less than $25 a day. Then again we hike for transportation, camp in tents, sit on rocks and dine on MREs.:D

I don't see the word cardinal here, What do I win?

I don't see the word cardinal here, What do I win?

you need to email him haha

One of the main reasons I have gotten into this is because after seeing the benefits of one card (SPG) and some free nights on a trip last summer, I realized that my (now) fiancé and I could have a pretty great destination wedding and honeymoon in +/- 2 yrs time.

That said, it would be an even better trip if I could convince some family members to also join the game and the entire family could join us for the destination wedding, without having to complain about their cost for airfare. But, like everyone else has said, the chance of convincing an entire family to go along with that is slim. I don't want to think about the faces I would see explaining this to everyone. I won't even start to consider what would happen if I tried to tell different people to join different programs to avoid diluting the awards pool so we can all get there for less . . .

Let's say you can get by with $100 per day for BOTH of you, (that is a very low level that I doubt it could be done when we are talking about EVERYTHING INCLUDED - foods, transportation, sightseeing, occasionally paid lodging), 5 months would be 150+ days, at $100, it is still $15K cold hard cash... so to put a perspective....;)


I think it's one thing to critique someone's budget on Food/Beverage/Entertainment and miscellaneous transportation expenses, but it's another when you throw in occasional paid lodging. Lodging is always a separate category when I budget, as are major transportation expenses. (Cabs and subways come out of the per diem budget.) I usually come up with a total, and then workout whatever I can to stay within that.

My wife and I went to SE Asia for 5 weeks over Xmas/NY 2010-11, and our daily budget for F/B/E was $100. Honestly, we did quite well with that. However, this time around, we're going to bump it up $30/day. (We're talking about Bali and Thailand.)

When I budget, I play around with the length of the trip and $/day to get to a total that I can afford and a quality that I can live with. For instance, we're budgeting a ton for HKG, because I want to actually enjoy ourselves and get out on the town a bit.


Not to mention the duration of the trip.... if the 5 months were done on a single stretch... The longish trips we tend to do at least one every year would normally be limited to 45 days for various reasons including certain regular monthly medical appointments we must keep, so 45 days would be as stretched as we could get. Besides, long trips do put strain on one's body and mind.

The longest we've been gone has been 38 days. We're doing 35 this time around. After about 3 weeks, I feel like I've had my vacation from work. The other two weeks are two see places we want to see, and because we've traveled so far, we may as well. Having done this, I have no desire to plan some 3-6 month around the world trip on the budget of a backpacker. Give me 3-4 weeks at relatively nice hotels and enough $ to go out and eat some good food and have a few drinks every now and then and I'm happy :)

For instance, we're budgeting a ton for HKG, because I want to actually enjoy ourselves and get out on the town a bit.

Give me 3-4 weeks at relatively nice hotels and enough $ to go out and eat some good food and have a few drinks every now and then and I'm happy :)

I agree with both of these sentiments. I always try to plan most of our trip modestly, and throw a few days in the middle where we can spend some extra money. That might be going out, but it might also be staying at the hotel, drinking expensive drinks by the pool and getting a massage. You need balance. The opportunity to ENJOY your time is really important, and how much can you really enjoy it if you are stressing about every penny? I'd rather have a shorter trip that is lived a little bit fuller - and maybe by the end of the trip we have a few extra dollars to go shopping or bring back some souvenirs.

That said, I don't fault people for their own travel styles. I know people who travel very frugally and are very satisfied with it. And I have to admit, there are times that I envy the number of places they have gone or the amount of time they have been able to get away.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I always try to plan most of our trip modestly, and throw a few days in the middle where we can spend some extra money. That might be going out, but it might also be staying at the hotel, drinking expensive drinks by the pool and getting a massage. You need balance. The opportunity to ENJOY your time is really important, and how much can you really enjoy it if you are stressing about every penny? I'd rather have a shorter trip that is lived a little bit fuller - and maybe by the end of the trip we have a few extra dollars to go shopping or bring back some souvenirs.

That said, I don't fault people for their own travel styles. I know people who travel very frugally and are very satisfied with it. And I have to admit, there are times that I envy the number of places they have gone or the amount of time they have been able to get away.

To each his own.

I like to maximize use of points and miles and spend the money saved on food, drinks and activities on the trip. We usually have an inexpensive breakfast and lunch and then go out for a nice dinner because it can get pricy eating out all day.

@Apieinthesky, TCC is the Travelers Century Club...it is an objective for myself as well, i'm @ 53/100 of their recognized territories so far at age 28 :)

Thanks for this clarification. Considering the source was ADK I thought it might be The College of Cardinals ;)

I think it's one thing to critique someone's budget on Food/Beverage/Entertainment and miscellaneous transportation expenses, but it's another when you throw in occasional paid lodging. Lodging is always a separate category when I budget, as are major transportation expenses. (Cabs and subways come out of the per diem budget.) I usually come up with a total, and then workout whatever I can to stay within that.

I ALWAYS include the paid lodging in my cash outlay calculation - after all, this is cash out of my pocket. :) It is not like if I separate it to a different category, then I do not need to pay for such.

That is why I say EVERYTHING and I mean that - everything that is out of pocket, outside the award flights and award hotel stays - that you would incur. In our case the foods and beverage costs tend to be a lot lower than the transportation which often includes a few LCC flights, some ferries that ain't cheap (think Greek Isles or intra-Europe ferries), and trains - especially train trips that are not able to buy way ahead to get heavily discounted prices (the advance purchase Italian high speed actually would be CHEAPER than the local trains that one may take for daytripper as an example.)

I tend to do an Annual Budget for travel and try to keep the total under a ball park figure, plus/minus a few Ks. When divided the actual total CASH outlay by the total number of days out of home on trips, I have found consistently if I can keep ti at $150 a day it would be a good year, with some locales would bring us to $200 a day in some years.


My wife and I went to SE Asia for 5 weeks over Xmas/NY 2010-11, and our daily budget for F/B/E was $100. Honestly, we did quite well with that. However, this time around, we're going to bump it up $30/day. (We're talking about Bali and Thailand.)

SE Asia especially Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam are dirt cheap. That cannot be used to generalize the more "normal" priced locales.


When I budget, I play around with the length of the trip and $/day to get to a total that I can afford and a quality that I can live with. For instance, we're budgeting a ton for HKG, because I want to actually enjoy ourselves and get out on the town a bit.

You will have a sticker shock in HKG when you compare it to SE Asia. Even you try to be frugal and eat where the locals eat, it would still be more expensive than if you only eat Fast Foods in this country. To get out on town? hmmm, I dont know how much you are prepared... and where you want to go for your "outings".

Aside from lodging, both dining and transportation ain't cheap in HK. Take this from me who has spent 3 months in HKG earlier this year and who is almost a "local".:)


The longest we've been gone has been 38 days. We're doing 35 this time around. After about 3 weeks, I feel like I've had my vacation from work. The other two weeks are two see places we want to see, and because we've traveled so far, we may as well. Having done this, I have no desire to plan some 3-6 month around the world trip on the budget of a backpacker. Give me 3-4 weeks at relatively nice hotels and enough $ to go out and eat some good food and have a few drinks every now and then and I'm happy :)

In our distant past we did a very long driving trip in almost the whole Western Europe and ventured into southern part of Scandinavia - camping all the way and cooked our own meals because we were on very tight budget. It was a very fond memory but not something we would repeat especially given the world had since changed a lot. ;)

I always plan some nicer stays towards the end of a trip - if I can help it I would not want to end a trip with dumpy lodging - I want at least mid-range lodging for the last few days of a long trip so the trip ends with a good note overall.

We also get our "pampering" on cruises which we tend to do 1 to 3 a year - the Spring Transatlantic to Europe has been a stable for the past 4 years. Right now I am looking at the Oct - Dec Transatlantic sailings coming back from Europe. If I could find a way to roll all my UA vouchers without flying, we could do the Fall sailing. If not, then we would be forced to do the domestic trips so to burn the vouchers.

To each his own.

I like to maximize use of points and miles and spend the money saved on food, drinks and activities on the trip. We usually have an inexpensive breakfast and lunch and then go out for a nice dinner because it can get pricy eating out all day.

If you are in Europe, lunch at a nice restaurant usually is a very good bargain while dinner is often with much inflated price.

I ALWAYS include the paid lodging in my cash outlay calculation - after all, this is cash out of my pocket. :) It is not like if I separate it to a different category, then I do not need to pay for such.


True, but I usually equate the F/B/E cost per day as reasonably correlated with my enjoyment factor. I try to research the destination, figure out what kind of $/day makes sense, and then balance out the rest with my total budget. If my $/day*days+lodging+transportation exceeds my budget, something has to give.


I tend to do an Annual Budget for travel and try to keep the total under a ball park figure, plus/minus a few Ks. When divided the actual total CASH outlay by the total number of days out of home on trips, I have found consistently if I can keep ti at $150 a day it would be a good year, with some locales would bring us to $200 a day in some years.


I haven't been doing this long enough to have developed a metric like that that makes sense. Is your number per person or for the whole group?


SE Asia especially Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam are dirt cheap. That cannot be used to generalize the more "normal" priced locales.


I know :) Next year we are doing Western Europe, and yeah, I'm budgeting a bit more than we did for Asia. I can only describe the trip as NOT CHEAP :)


You will have a sticker shock in HKG when you compare it to SE Asia. Even you try to be frugal and eat where the locals eat, it would still be more expensive than if you only eat Fast Foods in this country. To get out on town? hmmm, I dont know how much you are prepared... and where you want to go for your "outings".


I know. I spend a lot of time looking at restaurant menus and prices to figure out what I'm going to spend, although I have to say I don't have a real clue what a hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop would charge. I'm quite aware that "out on the town" drink prices are going to rival those of NYC, circa USD $15 per drink at some places.


Aside from lodging, both dining and transportation ain't cheap in HK. Take this from me who has spent 3 months in HKG earlier this year and who is almost a "local".:)


Ok, any good local places to recommend? My HKG budget is around $250/day for two. Figure we'll end up spending real cash here and pinching a few pennies on the cheaper parts of the trip. Mind you, some days will be cheaper local places, with minimal time "on the town" and other days will eat everything up and then some.


We also get our "pampering" on cruises which we tend to do 1 to 3 a year - the Spring Transatlantic to Europe has been a stable for the past 4 years. Right now I am looking at the Oct - Dec Transatlantic sailings coming back from Europe. If I could find a way to roll all my UA vouchers without flying, we could do the Fall sailing. If not, then we would be forced to do the domestic trips so to burn the vouchers.

I wish I had your travel budget. We plan for one "real" trip per year and make it count. My wife and I haven't been married all that long. 2010 was 5 weeks through Thailand and Bali, this year we're doing more of the same + HKG, and next year we're doing western Europe plus a 12 day Italy cruise out of BCN. Parts of me can't imagine traveling any more when we've already planned one 4-5 week trip in a year.

you need to email him haha

Sent PM, Replied with no mention of prize. :mad::D

At least in the USA people are aware of large credit card bonuses. In Australia, they aren't nearly as generous and certainly no annual bonus. The best card we have is Amex PLT with Membership Rewards and they are devaluing the earning from 1.5 pts per $ to 1 point per $. The majority of Aussies who manage to build up large accounts of miles and points are usually doing it the hard way-BIS and BOM (body on mattress). So even having the miles, people do think I must have a very well paying job-which I don't. I'm getting USA based credit cards and USA based promos because I have a SSN and Mom's address in California.

When you budget for food on the trip, depending on where you travel to and your eating style (fast food or fancy restaurant) your travel food budget could be less than your eat at home budget with groceries priced for Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc with those wages in mind. I also try to book hotels on points that have free breakfast buffets, if you stuff yourself in the morning, you won't be hungry until 3 or 4pm, then you just need one more meal, you won't be hungry by the usual dinner time so you get by for less. I also avoid taxis and use public transport whenever possible or self-drive cars rather than organized tours.

Where I do splurge is eco-lodges for birders-Tambopata Research Centre, Cristalino, etc but even then the high price includes all your meals and excursions.

We recently did 6 days/6 nights with 2 nights in Naples, 3 nights in Sorrento and 1 night in Zurich. Total spent was $1370 for food + drinks, local transportation, entertainment (admission fees to stuff), and hotel incidentals (a round of drinks at 1 hotel and taxes/fees not covered by points at the others). That's about $230/day for 2 people. Souvenirs were a separate expense. The ferry rides to Capri and Ischia were the most expensive part of local travel, about $23 each way per person. We took only 2 cab rides (one was because the hotel forgot to give us a wakeup call). Hotels and airfare were covered with miles and points - probably paid about $300 in taxes for the airline award tickets.

This was the cheapest we've ever done in Europe. It was my most enjoyable trip as well, probably because this trip cost so much less than past trips. You would think that those past trips where we paid for airfare, primo hotel views, and drank wine with every meal while paying no attention to spending would've been so much better, but they weren't. I would come home and get upset at how much we had spent and could never get my husband to agree on a budget. This time, he was so enchanted with hiking up and down the Amalfi cliffs that he didn't have time to blow Euros. All that hiking kept his appetite curbed so our meals weren't the usually voracious appetizer + dinner/lunch + dessert + rounds of drinks. The exchange rate definitely helped. This part of Italy felt cheaper as well compared to the northern part of the country and other parts of Europe. Can't say the same about Zurich - everything felt really expensive there right down to paying almost $20 for 2 bottles of water.

For Europe, Switzerland is expensive but wait till you get to Scandinavian.

Eastern Europe is very reasonable, so as French countryside. Even in Paris, these days you can find a lot of ethnic eateries, especially those run by Asians and MiddleEasterners, offer great value.

With the euro has come down so much, traveling in Europe is much cheaper than a couple years ago.

Cannot say that for Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia / New Zealand - they all either have their currencies appreciate A Lot against US dollar, or in the case of Hong Kong which currency is pegged to USD, the price of everything goes thru the roof because they rely on imports.

Australia is very expensive, even before the AUD appreciation against USD. NZ used to be reasonable except for the rental car, not anymore. We used to do an Australia/NZ trip every 2 years since 2000. Our last one was 2009. We skipped it in 2011 and may not return any time soon because of the exchange rate and the very inflated prices - the produces are 3 to 4 times higher than what you would pay in a US supermarket for example. After all, we have covered the best parts of Australia and pretty much the whole New Zealand pretty well in our previous trips, there is no point to pay 30% higher price to do the same thing despite how much we love these 2 countries.

WOW, very cool, really nice job wringing all the value out of that trip. Thanks for sharing your numbers. How did you get a week free hotel & food in Spain?!

Pueblo Ingles--I wrote about it in my first blog post. It's a very cool volunteer program. They also just added Ireland for a few special programs this fall so you could go to Ireland for a week free (not including airfare).
http://cheaptrickstotravel.com/hello-world/
(http://cheaptrickstotravel.com/hello-world/)

With the average vacation allowance being two to three weeks per year, I wonder how some of you are able to travel so frequently and for an extended period of time. How do you manage?

With the average vacation allowance being two to three weeks per year, I wonder how some of you are able to travel so frequently and for an extended period of time. How do you manage?

Use your imagination. I work remotely by computer, so I can travel whenever I wish. Some people also earn "credit hours" by working say, 60 hours a week, and get credit for the additional hours that can be used for a vacation. And a lot of people earn more than 2-3 weeks a year. Federal employees earn 5 weeks plus 1 day a year after 15 years of employment.

...I have no desire to plan some 3-6 month around the world trip on the budget of a backpacker. Give me 3-4 weeks at relatively nice hotels and enough $ to go out and eat some good food and have a few drinks every now and then and I'm happy :)

I couldn't agree more with this... I just need a few weeks here and there to really get away from it all, and then usually I'm itching to get back. I'm in my 40s and the appeal of backpacking 3-6 months is long gone (to say nothing of the idea of staying at a hostel... eek!).

Pueblo Ingles--I wrote about it in my first blog post. It's a very cool volunteer program. They also just added Ireland for a few special programs this fall so you could go to Ireland for a week free (not including airfare).
http://cheaptrickstotravel.com/hello-world/
(http://cheaptrickstotravel.com/hello-world/)

Cool, thanks-- I'll check it out.

With the average vacation allowance being two to three weeks per year, I wonder how some of you are able to travel so frequently and for an extended period of time. How do you manage?

I work from anywhere there's a good internet connection, and my boyfriend is also often able to do his work remotely. There are also many great books on how to change your life to be able to do this (and you don't have to quit your job or make major upheavals, if you don't want to)... I suggest Chris Guillebeau's "The Art of Non-Conformity" (http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Non-Conformity-Rules-Change/dp/0399536108/?tag=fw-books-20) as a good place to start to get ideas.

With the average vacation allowance being two to three weeks per year, I wonder how some of you are able to travel so frequently and for an extended period of time. How do you manage?

I hear ya. I get 4 weeks vacay so I usually do an international trip once a year for 2 weeks or a little more. I do a lot more road trips though like Philly, Boston, NYC and DC.

It does make things easier that I have years of experience as a backpacker-since the mid-80's so I tend to be easier to please. I always see reviews on Trip Advisor how people slam hotels because the service isn't like the Ritz when from my point of view the hotel is perfectly fine, it's better than the $5 dumps I used to stay in! And better than sharing a bunk in a dormitory/hostel with strangers! :D

Happy, if I were going to Scandinavia, I would be looking at one of those cruises that go there and sometimes Russia too. I've seen really good discounts in my Princess Cruise newsletters!

Happy, if I were going to Scandinavia, I would be looking at one of those cruises that go there and sometimes Russia too. I've seen really good discounts in my Princess Cruise newsletters!

When we first visited Scandinavia, the cruise industry hadn't "discovered" it for cruise itineraries. ;)

The part we really want to go but haven't gone yet, is the Norwegian Fjords - the west coast of Norway. There are some cruises go there but not deep enough into the Fjords. (just Bergen and a little bit more.) Princess does not go there either. HAL does.

About the Baltic cruises - it depends on what you want to get from the trip. For us we feel the overnight at St.Peterburg as a port of call is simply not enough time.

Actually for you in Australia, sometimes Princess has bargain prices for the Australia/New Zealand - Asia - Alaska reposition cruise. Also now they finally use better ships such as Diamond or Sapphire, not the old old P&O ships. I would avoid the "Sun Class" ships like a plague.

With the average vacation allowance being two to three weeks per year, I wonder how some of you are able to travel so frequently and for an extended period of time. How do you manage?

I travel mostly on weekends, for weekends.

For longer trips, my job offers professional time off rather than a fixed quantity of vacation time. If I stay on top of my work (as I do), I can enjoy tremendous flexibility.

I have to explain the concept of elite status to my friends and colleagues when they ask how I afford to fly in F domestically. I have to explain that I'm only buying a regular coach ticket and I buy tickets later in the day and move up to earlier flights with space in the front cabin to get the upgrade.

I then tell them almost nobody in their right mind would pay for domestic F out of their own pocket (perhaps apart from Hawaii, Vegas, or AA Flagship/ United p.s.) - it's usually elite status upgrades or somebody else is paying for it.

Nope. I travel, eat and drive what I want to, when I want to and make no apologies for it. By some standards I'm on a pretty good income, and by others I'm not, but I'm not interested in what others think of me, what I do or how I spend my money/time.

The only exception is when I'm talking about staying in a particular hotel room (IE Penthouse Suite or something) my friends will often ask me how I scored the room. I'll tell them that I didn't pay for it, it was upgraded to me due to my status (I don't use that word, I'll say "my frequent user level" or similar) and that I only booked a standard room. This is meant as an explanation not as an apolgy.

^^^. Well said & exactly the right outlook to have (IMHO of course)

... I suggest Chris Guillebeau's "The Art of Non-Conformity" (http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Non-Conformity-Rules-Change/dp/0399536108/?tag=fw-books-20) as a good place to start to get ideas.

Thanks for that tip--I'm going to read it. I'm all about non-conformity! Also, the 4-Hour Work Week is a good book about how to redesign your work life to travel more. I'm self employed so getting time off isn't as hard as it is if I worked for an employer, althought I'm still trying to figure out how to make money remotely so I can be anywhere, anytime.

With the average vacation allowance being two to three weeks per year, I wonder how some of you are able to travel so frequently and for an extended period of time. How do you manage?

It does appear that a lot of folks get to work from home or have their own business where they have that flexibility. I'm not there yet; I don't get to work from home (but my employer is flexible for those days when we need it). I also don't travel for work (my employer rarely send us out to ANYWHERE :rolleyes:) Then again, I've done it at a previous job, and I find that didn't get to enjoy the travel part as much since work took up the bulk of the time. I don't mind occasional traveling for work, but otherwise, I prefer to leisure traveling when I can just unhinge from work.

I get 4 weeks of vacation a year (worked at employer for some years now, generally good benefits) and I can rollover days from one year to the next. So I tend to save up a bunch of days and use them carefully (for big trips). I also like to take two days before or after the weekend or after a holiday, and turn it the consecutive days off as a mini-vacation of sorts, which works really well for me.

It does appear that a lot of folks get to work from home or have their own business where they have that flexibility. I'm not there yet; I don't get to work from home (but my employer is flexible for those days when we need it). I also don't travel for work (my employer rarely send us out to ANYWHERE :rolleyes:) Then again, I've done it at a previous job, and I find that didn't get to enjoy the travel part as much since work took up the bulk of the time. I don't mind occasional traveling for work, but otherwise, I prefer to leisure traveling when I can just unhinge from work.

I get 4 weeks of vacation a year (worked at employer for some years now, generally good benefits) and I can rollover days from one year to the next. So I tend to save up a bunch of days and use them carefully (for big trips). I also like to take two days before or after the weekend or after a holiday, and turn it the consecutive days off as a mini-vacation of sorts, which works really well for me.

I've only been with my employer for 3.5 years, but they had a generous vacation policy when I started (it's since changed...) at the 3 year mark, we get 5 weeks per year.

I get 4 weeks of vacation a year (worked at employer for some years now, generally good benefits) and I can rollover days from one year to the next. So I tend to save up a bunch of days and use them carefully (for big trips). I also like to take two days before or after the weekend or after a holiday, and turn it the consecutive days off as a mini-vacation of sorts, which works really well for me.

Exactly my situation...long weekends may not be the most relaxing type of holiday, but they're awesome for discovering new places and keeping the trip affordable.

Thanks for that tip--I'm going to read it. I'm all about non-conformity! Also, the 4-Hour Work Week is a good book about how to redesign your work life to travel more. I'm self employed so getting time off isn't as hard as it is if I worked for an employer, althought I'm still trying to figure out how to make money remotely so I can be anywhere, anytime.

Absolutely. 4HWW is another good book, though you have to take a lot of what he says with a Volkswagen-sized grain of salt ;-) Still, it's the right mindset to get into...

Good luck with adding more freedom to your life!! It's awesome to be able to travel!

Also, the 4-Hour Work Week is a good book about how to redesign your work life to travel more.
IMO, the second half of the book is bunk. But the first half is some degree of genius. It was very helpful for me in gradually negotiating out of reporting to any office, then out of being geographically bound at all.

In the process, my boss gradually extricated himself from the office, and his boss successfully left the country. Guess they just needed a nudge in that direction. :D

When I talk about my upcoming trips, like the one to Brazil, I often find myself adding like a disclaimer or something--"Of course I got free flights on miles". There is no way someone of my income level could afford the kind of travel I do otherwise, especially in Australia where they don't have the mega credit card bonuses I can get as a US citizen with a good Fico. It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something. And I don't want people who see us walking out of an IC or Westin (on points) to think I am one of those rich people who usually stay there.

Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?

If you dont have mega bonuses credit cards for miles in AU and you dont have money coming out of your ears, then how do you acquire elite status and accumulate miles ?? what other methods do you use that we in NA dont know about.

Absolutely. 4HWW is another good book, though you have to take a lot of what he says with a Volkswagen-sized grain of salt ;-) Still, it's the right mindset to get into...

Good luck with adding more freedom to your life!! It's awesome to be able to travel!

Thanks for the tips. I am currently researching the options for "remote" employment, so to speak, since I have a similar situation. Even though I'm self-employed, can't normally leave job for extended period of time, but long weekends and even short week-day vacations are OK. This has prevented me from traveling to Europe and beyond, because I've always dreamed to spend at least a month in those places. So having enough miles is not always "enough":(.