3 Steps to Travel Like Never Before
So you wanna travel a lot more and spend a lot less money...
We can help with that! You know the saying - "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." And we get it, this definitely feels like one of those things. Flying to England for $73? Business class around the world for $210? Impossible, right?
But it is possible. It takes some willingness to learn, research, and practice, but it's absolutely worth it!
Follow the three steps below to get started!
Quick administrative note: we may earn a commission from the links below when you apply and are approved for a credit card. This allows us to continue to share helpful content for absolutely free. Thank you for using our links when applying for a new card! 🫶🏻
Step 1: Start with a solid sign-up bonus and practical spend category bonuses
It's the foundation of any solid points and miles strategy. You've gotta have a card that not only earns you a big chunk of points when you open it (and meet the initial requirements) but also continues to earn points from your everyday purchases.
The number 1 card we always recommend to our family and friends is the Capital One Venture card. With a straightforward 2x on everything and 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months, it's the perfect card to kickoff your journey to maximizing points to travel like never before.
The Capital One Venture card is our #1 recommended card for beginners
Want some premium travel benefits like airport lounge access, a $300 annual travel credit, and a credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck? The Capital One Venture X is the way to go (and it's our number 1 card overall - seriously, it's almost like they pay you to keep it open).
Another great beginner card - especially if your primary focus is domestic travel and hotel stays - is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. This card comes with easy-to-use transfer partners like Southwest, United, and World of Hyatt.
But hey, there's not a "one size fits all" card, so we've put together a collection of our top recommended cards.
Still not sure about the best card for you? Send us a DM with details about your travel goals and any cards you currently have, and we'll give you our best recommendations!
Step 2: Accelerate your points earning from everyday activities
Those signup bonuses are great. But how do you keep earning a bunch of points to continue to travel more without opening a bunch of credit cards?
While the spend category bonuses help, you will still be fairly slow to accumulate points if you're only relying on using the card. This is where shopping portals come in - you can easily earn up to 30 points per dollar (like we just did ordering Christmas cards through CVS Photo).
It sounds funky, but they're actually super simple:
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Visit the shopping portal of your choice
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Search for a retailer
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A points per dollar rate will be displayed
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Click the link and be redirected to the retailer's website
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Anything purchased in that session after clicking the link will earn the points per dollar in addition to the points earned from the card used to pay
Shopping portals like Capital One Offers make it easy to earn a bunch of extra points
And since almost every store has some sort of same day pickup option these days, this is a great way to earn a bunch of extra points by running those everyday errands.
If you choose a Capital One Venture card, Capital One Offers is the portal you'll use (it can be found in the "offers" section on your Capital One account)
If you go with Chase, it's Shop Through Chase (on the Ultimate Rewards page, click "Rewards Details" and "Ways to Earn Points")
For AMEX, you'll use Rakuten and then select AMEX points in the "How would you like to get paid?" section of your Rakuten account settings.
Or if you want to really diversify the points and miles you earn, you can use airline portals like AAdvantage eShopping or SkyMiles Shopping - no American or Delta card needed!
And don't sleep on referral bonuses! Capital One, Chase, and AMEX offer big bonuses when you send a referral link to a friend or family member and they are approved for a card through the link - it doesn't even have to be the same card you have! This is a great way to get that "Player 2" involved!
Step 3: Learn the transfer partners and airline alliances
Okay, so this part is where it gets a *little* more complicated.
While you can always use your points through the bank's travel page to redeem for flights, that method is usually only going to get you a value of 1 cent per point. The number of points will be tied to the price of the flight. You're essentially just using your points as cashback at that point!
The best value is in transferring your points. You take your credit card points and convert them to frequent flyer miles for various airline programs to then redeem them based on zones or distance - not the price of the flight!
Transferring points allows you to unlock incredible deals - like Qatar Airways Qsuite for only 70k points!
But knowing which programs you can transfer points to and which airlines can book other partners airlines and how to search and book is a lot to learn on your own...so we made a series of guides to help you out!
Start with Points and Miles 101 - it's a bit more detailed than this "express" version
Then study the Transfer Partner Tables and cross reference with the Airline Alliances Guide
And once you've learned the theory behind it, use the Transfer Partner Simplifier to begin planning out your redemption.
Become an expert on using the most popular airline programs with these How-to Guides.
Oh, and we have some answers to Frequently Asked Questions!
Next steps
Once you've followed the steps above, you should be making your first awesome redemption with points and miles before you know it! And then it's time to get more advanced...
It's not just about flights! Maximizing hotel programs can really take your travel game to the next level.
Here are some complete guides to the biggest programs:
And for frequent travelers, a solid premium card is key. They have big annual fees, but with the right strategy, you'll get WAY more value from the card than the cost of the fee!
Then, you can advance your points earning even more by learning how to turn cashback points into travel points!
Yeah...it's a lot to take in! But we promise if you keep up with our Instagram page and the tutorials we share, it'll all start to make sense before you know it!
Happy traveling! 🥂