How we learned to travel hack our way into a travel heavy lifestyle!

Are you feeling overwhelmed by traveling due to the expensive price tag often attached to taking a trip? We know we were at one point! Over the years we have discovered several different ways to minimize our out of pocket costs on trips to save us thousands of dollars per trip, ensuring that we are able to travel more frequently, for less money! 

To give one of my favorite examples, we originally wanted to visit Italy for our honeymoon back in 2021 – before we got into travel hacking and after tallying up all the costs for a two week trip, we were expecting to pay between ten to twelve thousand dollars (shocking – I know!) Thankfully, we ended up not moving forward with planning that trip due to the COVID-19 restrictions at the time. We did however end up going to Italy in the Spring of 2025 after getting into travel hacking, for a significant cost savings where we only spent between three to four thousand dollars – with most of that cost being a few special stays that we couldn’t book with points, excursions, local transportation, and food! 

Another example is our recent trip to visit Hawaii in January of 2026, where we would have easily spent at least two to three thousand dollars, but instead only spent $900 for the two of us to go for 5 days! 

But how do we save all this money you ask? Keep reading to find out!

Budget Hacking 101:

To simply put it, the best way to “travel hack” is to sign up for credit cards that earn you bonus sign up points for spending money that you would have already been spending to begin with, while earning credit card points and/or miles that you can then transfer to a hotel or airline for an extremely cheap cost. In essence, you can earn a significant amount of points/miles by signing up for new cards, but you also earn points/miles in your everyday spend on things like groceries, gas, dining, and entertainment. 

We are true advocates for travel hacking, but only if you are good with your money and can treat your credit card like a debit card in the sense that you must pay it off monthly. If you don’t, then you accumulate interest fees that actually outweigh the benefits you get from accumulating points.

Is Travel Hacking Really Free?

Unfortunately, travel hacking doesn’t equal free. It does however equal significant cost savings! Oftentimes when booking a flight, there will be small taxes and fees associated with the purchase that aren’t covered with points/miles. Hotels however can be free and we have stayed at many different hotels for free since beginning our journey. 

Many credit cards – especially the ones that earn really good points have an annual fee that comes along with the benefits. It’s important that you don’t shy away from a card due to it having an annual fee. Annual fee cards can often increase your category spending/earning potential, and often provide perks like no foreign transaction fees, lounge access, etc. 

An example of a card with a fee that to us at least is very worth paying is the IHG Premier Hotel card. This card has an annual fee of $99, however it also has a free nights stay every anniversary year, which essentially cancels out the annual fee. If you aren’t a fan of IHG, many other hotel lines have similar cards/benefits. 

Realistically, it’s up to you to decide if the benefits of the card you get are worth the annual fee for you/your family.

Which Credit Card Should I Sign Up For?

A lot of people often struggle figuring out which cards to apply for when first starting out their travel hacking journey. It’s important to realize your spending habits, and go from there. For example, many card bonuses are only given after a minimum spend is met, ie: spend 4K in 3 months or spend 8K in 6 months. You also want to take into account how your specific card earns points once you have met that initial minimum spend. For example, do you want a card that gives you 4x the points on groceries because your biggest expense is groceries? Or do you want a card that earns 5x the points at gas stations because you are traveling in an RV or camper van, or maybe just a simple card that earns 2x the points no matter where you swipe it? These are very important things to consider when applying for a card as your spending habits determine how you will earn points. Another huge thing to consider is the annual fees. Some cards have hefty annual fees attached to them, where others have no fee or minimal yearly fees.

A common mistake: Many people starting out will open an airline specific card wanting to earn miles, but then they notice that the card doesn’t earn very quickly unless they fly with that airline frequently – and then also notice that their miles are locked up and non transferable meaning you can then only fly with that airline.

A few of our favorite cards & their benefits: 

• American Express Gold
  • Earns 4x on groceries, 4x on dining, 3x on flights
• Venture & Venture X
  • Earns 2x on everything, 5x on travel booked through the portal
  • $50 experience credit on every Lifestyle Collection booking
  • Venture X has a $300 annual travel credit through the portal
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
  • Earns 3x on dining, 2x on travel, 3x on streaming services
  • $50 annual travel credit in the Chase Portal
• IHG Premier
  • Earns 5x on gas, up to 26x at IHG properties, and 3x on everything else
  • Annual Anniversary Free Night Reward
  • Redeem 3 nights, get 4th night free

To find what card works best for you, we recommend visiting a credit card specific site like Nerd Wallet or The Points Guy. 

Sign up for Loyalty Memberships:

If you aren’t into playing the credit card game just yet, that’s totally okay. Even if you are playing the credit card game – our next tip is highly recommended for all travelers – and that is to sign up for loyalty memberships. Whether you are staying at a hotel or flying with an airline, create a free account to earn miles/points for your stay/flight. Those tend to add up and can give you a free night stay or free flight once in a while. Sometimes you may get other perks like a free room upgrade, a welcome drink, etc just for being a member – which is a perk within itself! 

Sign up for Dining Programs:

Quite a few airlines have dining programs in which you can earn airline miles for dining at your favorite restaurants, simply by linking your credit card to your account. Personally, we use the United Plus Dining Program and often earn United Points without even realizing that we were earning anything.

Link Your Accounts:

Similar to a dining program, there are also several other ways to earn miles through your everyday spending. Below are a few examples that we know about! 

Starbucks: You can link your Starbucks account to your Delta Airlines account to earn miles when spending at least $25 in your Starbucks app. Click here to learn more!

Uber: You can link your Uber account to your Delta Airlines account to earn miles while using Uber or Uber Eats! Click here to learn more!

Rakuten: Rakuten is a shopping portal that allows you to earn cash back on everyday purchases, but you can also switch it to earn American Express or BILT points. We often use Rakuten to buy things like dog food when they have elevated points deals so we can earn thousands of points for a small purchase.

How to get started as a Travel Hacker!

Travel hacking is a learned skill and not something you are going to pick up overnight. However, it is definitely doable and absolutely worth it if you are willing to commit the time and energy – unlocking a world of possibilities. 

We highly recommend listening to podcasts like Takeoff, joining Facebook groups, or taking a course on entering into travel hacking.