I have been saving links to posts by other people for over a year. Some of these posts just struck my fancy at the time, others I find myself thinking about for weeks or months afterwards. I would like to share them with others, rather than hoarding them on my list of saved posts. I hope some of them speak to you as well.
I love, love, love stories about travel hacking. Not the low stakes stories of: I had to rush home for an emergency and saved a few hundred dollars on a last minute ticket using miles. No, I like the big shebang: look at this crazy thing I did for free (or nearly free).
Kevin at Financial Panther had a doozy of a trip, which he detailed in this December post. I admire his ingenuity in building such a fun sounding trip, and in doing a little gig-work to defray the costs.
He also managed to clear $7000 in bank bonuses last year. It all sounded like a bit too much for me to handle (I am clearly not as organized as he is), but I am impressed with the bounty he was able to extract with not-too-much (at least, according to his post) effort.
Travel seems so quaint, so 2019. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed reading Wanderlust Wendy’s post, One Year of Around the World Travel on $55 a day. This was made possible through many steps: credit card points, staying with family, going to some less expensive locations, giving up a lease and giving away most of her belongings. I’m not sure about that last bit, but I hope that someday soon (in a year or two), this might be something that I could start planning for, realistically.
If I do, I will want to revisit Rethink the Rat Race’s list of 5 Cheap and Easy Airport Tips (language is definitely not G-rated!).
On the other hand, the physical therapy couple at Fifth Wheel Therapist are not sanguine about the future of credit card rewards and travel points. They write that they are cashing out a good chunk of their points before they are devalued. They can use the money now anyway, while their situation is less stable than they had planned.
Your Average Dough wrote earlier in the pandemic about using their credit card reward points as an Unconventional Emergency Fund.
Last but not least, for something a little different, I loved this article from Smithsonian Magazine, Many Roads That Lead to Rome, Visualized.
Do you have any favorite tips or strategies to make travel cheaper?