Do you want to travel the world, but are on a budget? Are you new to the world of rewards travel and wondering where to start?
Welcome to Million Mile Secrets! Our new Beginner’s Guide can show you the ropes! Even if you aren’t new to miles & points, this is a good resource to share with your friends and family when they ask how you’re able to travel so much!
Emily and I always loved traveling, but weren’t sure how we could afford it. Rewards travel made traveling possible, and now we can go almost anywhere. We’ve taken our parents to see the Maldives, adopted a dog for a day in Hawaii, and rode elephants in India.
We created this guide to show you how to do the same!
How to Find the Beginner’s Guide
Link: The Beginner’s Guide to Cheap Travel in 10 Easy Steps!
You can click the direct links in this post. But if you need to find the guide later, click on the “New to Miles & Points” tab at the top of the web page.
What Will You Learn?
The guide will give you an overview of how you can collect lots of miles and points and travel for free (or almost free).
It answers important questions such as:
- What’s the catch?
- Will this hurt my credit score?
- Do I have to apply for credit cards, and how many cards should I apply for?
- How can I complete high minimum spending requirements?
- When should I cancel a credit card?
Share This Guide With Your Friends!
Whether you’re new to miles & points or an expert, we hope you will use this guide to help your family and friends learn about this hobby and show them how they can do it too!
Use the “Share” button at the top of the page to help your friends get started.
Bottom Line
Emily and I have benefited so much from this hobby over the years, and want you to do the same! We’ve saved hundred of thousands of dollars on travel and visited places we never imagined seeing.
We created this Beginner’s Guide to answer your questions on how to get started collecting miles & points. After reading it you’ll be on your way to lots of Big Travel with Small Money!
Let us know what you think!
Honestly, my specifics don’t matter in your game, but I will say that you’re right! The majority of the cards out there have the annual fee waived for AT LEAST the first year. Or how about that Chase Hyatt card I got with a $100 statement credit (for ANY purchase) subtracted from the $75 annual fee. Yeah that’s right! Chase literally paid me $25 to get their Hyatt card that came with two free nights at any Hyatt in the world worth up to $2000 or more depending on the Hyatt you choose and when you stay. Use it at the Park Hyatt New York for New Year’s Eve and see how much that would otherwise cost. Or price out a couple nights at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris during some high demand weekend.
Heck, I’ve even seen cards that paid people $250 to give them 100K miles, but as I said, historical specifics don’t matter in your upcoming game because the $25 deal and the $250 deal aren’t around right now. New deals can appear at any time however.
YOU have a LOT of reading to do my friend.
Want the latest trifecta? Here’s an AWESOME start.
-Barclay’s USAirways card – day one – 1st application
-Citi AAdvantage Platinum card – day one – 2nd application
(Knowing what I know now, I’d do another couple cards if it was me on that first day, like one from Chase and maybe one from American Express but again, DO WHAT’S COMFORTABLE TO YOU!!! I only got two on my first day not knowing how I was going to meet the minimum spend for both of them in only three months).
-Citi Business AAdvantage card – day eight – 3rd aplication
Those three cards will give you 154K miles after meeting the minimum spending requirement for only one $89 annual fee. That’ll get you a round trip first class ticket to southeast Asia on Cathay Pacific which is one of the finest seats you’ll ever fly in. It’s worth around $15,656 on a November round trip from LAX to Ho Chi Minh for example.
YOU have a LOT of reading to do. I only write to inspire.
Pretty cool info! One last question. Are you including all the annual fees in your expense reports? $89 can add up pretty quickly, though I’m sure not all 35 cards had annual fees up front.
I’ve canceled 10 for varying strategical reasons, but still have 25 open with the same 770 credit score I started with in January 2013!
Daraius no longer shouts about “churning” credit cards but that doesn’t mean a huge number of people aren’t doing it. 35 credit card approvals for one couple is a small number compared to some players of this game who’ve been doing it for many more years than I have.
I for one am very comfortable using free bank, hotel and airline money! BUT DO ONLY WHAT’S COMFORTABLE FOR YOU!!!
In regards to just the airplane tickets, we went to Hawaii on $6,000 first class round trip tickets EXACTLY one year after my first credit card approval, and currently have $15,988 business class tickets to Kenya for which I paid a grand total of $209.40. I also have $10,280 first/business class tickets round trip to Barcelona that cost me exactly $127, and the $40,876 tickets above. Not to mention the “Big Travel for Small Money” flights we’ve taken in the last two years to Key West, New Orleans, Seattle, Baton Rouge and Fort Lauderdale plus two trips to Vegas and two trips to Puerto Rico. The TOTAL out of pocket money was less than $150 for ALL those flights (to cover the very minimal taxes and fees)! And we haven’t even started talking about all the $400, $500 and $600 a night hotels we’ve stayed in for free with free breakfast and free Wi-Fi.
I learned early on in my game that reading is your friend so start reading and then read, read, read some more! I AM NOT MAKING ANY OF THIS UP!!! If you have a decent credit score, you can be on your way in no time!
How many of those 35 cards did you cancel in those 2 years and 1 month (I.e. 25 months)? That seems a bit extreme, but if you’re not making this up, this is enlightening because not even Darius has advocated taking out that many credit cards. 6 cards is about all I’ve been able to find Darius recommend taking out.
P.S. The flights I mentioned above required a grand total of only 363,000 miles/points. So @Joe, it didn’t take years and all my miles/points to get there and I don’t even have a blog or a mortgage.