The path I took to making dreams my reality.
Tricks, advice, and lifestyle adjustments to enable me to pursue my passion.
Some of the most common things I hear or that I get asked are: "What do you do for a living?", "How can you afford all of this?" and my personal favorite "You must have a sugar daddy?". The answers are no, definitely no sugar daddy unfortunately... and I'm definitely not rich. When I decided that I wanted to take travel seriously, I sat down and thought how can I make this happen. I know nothing is completely free, but when I started to realize that travelling the world is cheaper than driving a few hours to the beach for a weekend I started to think "this could work!" and from there I researched a bit, I've learned a lot from the travelers I meet along my way, and I'm still learning more every trip I take.
The more I saw the world and returned home the easier these life adjustments were. Not everyone needs to take five plus trips a year, but even taking whatever vacation time each of us is allowed and making a few lifestyle adjustments for your bank account and possibly your own mental health in the long run this could help you add so much more worldly value to your life! I'm going to talk about some of the adjustments I've made, tricks I've found, sources I use, and the path that I've taken to make my travels less than what most people would believe!
Travel is more affordable than you think. I'm going to put a scenario out there that I always think about, and for some this isn't even cutting out everything you might enjoy on a regular basis. Each week of the month think what you might spend your money on. Starbucks, dinner out a few nights a week, fast food, Door Dash, the list can go on. Let's say the average is $80 a week you spend. $80 a week turns into $320 a month, that turns into $3,840 a year. The cost of my plane tickets for 2024 were $3580. I know it's not a huge difference, but it's still less and I'm also sure if you add up your weekly spending most of us are well over $80. Now for me personally I'd like to say I've seen some pretty cool shit this year by giving up my Starbucks runs, and lazy Door Dash ordering. For me it hasn't just been seeing the wonders of our world and taking a vacation. My life has greatly changed this last year incorporating cultures of the world, new languages, foods, and experiencing a way of life that others follow that's inspiring to my own. A tourist seeks comfort, while a traveler seeks immersion into culture. I praise those of us who follow this, and I urge you to seek outside your comfort zone and aspire to this. I promise you won't regret it.
In December the first thing I did after doing some research is choose an airline that I felt was best and fit my travel needs. I landed on United airlines. I found that I got the best exchange for the money to point value. Along with the credit card I also got some really great perks regularly with the airline like one free checked bag, two lounge passes a year, a $120 rebate every four years for global entry/TSA pre check, and after spending $3,000 in the first three months I would receive 65,000 airline miles. These introductory promotions for point values do change, but so far, no matter what you can get at least one free trip abroad just from signing up! That spending amount seems a little daunting but, for me I booked a few trips to reach the goal and also got 5x the miles on those trips since I was now a card member. Yay for trips, and Yay for a bunch more miles!
I started to give up my coffee stops (after having coffee around the world... it wasn't hard.), spending money on eating out as often, and I stopped going out every weekend spending on dinner and what usually led to drinks after. I thought to myself "why go party in a place I see every day when I can go party around the world!". Whatever it is that you can comfortably budget or cut out can make a huge shift for a travel budget.
This last year I didn't use a lot of my miles. Instead, I started to set them aside most of the year and stack them up as much as I could. Almost like budgeting my airline miles like I do things in daily life. One thing I love about United Airlines is that it's a part of the Star Alliance. Their partner
airlines across the world are great! One thing that they offer as a part of the mileage plus program is the "Mileage Plus X" app. On the app you can online shop through links or buy e-gift cards. Through this app you can increase your miles even quicker! For example, I buy food for my pets every month. They offer an e-gift card through the app at Petco that gives me five miles for every dollar, being a card holder, I also receive an extra 25% bonus miles.
So, I purchase the gift card for my pet's food which on average gets me about 2,200 miles. Buying the gift card with my mileage plus card I also get the additional points for every dollar put onto the card. There are so many stores through the app that most of us use. Hulu, Ulta, HomeGoods,
various clothing stores and so much more! This is all stuff most of us are spending money on anyways so why not get all these extra miles while you're at it!
One thing that I didn't cut out in my life is Hulu. This is a common streaming service most of us around the world have. I pay for the Hulu Live premium account which costs me about $75 a month. By using the Mileage plus app purchasing a gift card for my monthly Hulu payment that alone gives me an added 20,000 miles a year! This is a really great source to use that will help increase your miles greatly! It took me awhile to get my brain to look at the app before I purchase things at stores in person or online, but once I got in the routine of taking a different path before payment, I've definitely seen the benefits.
As I mentioned before this last year, I've started to stockpile my miles and save them up for new adventures. One thing that's made a big difference for me has been creating my own layovers. The airport that I fly out of isn't large enough for most international travel which leads to me typically having one layover in America before getting onto my long-haul flights. Instead of just using my hometown airport as my starting point I've started booking my long-haul flights out of some of the major hubs in America that are in the direction I need to go, and also looking at the ones that are specifically hubs for the airline I'm trying to fly on.
Some of the major hubs that I typically fly out of are Chicago, and Newark. United has eight major hubs with Chicago O'Hare being one of the largest. Some of my flights this year I've used points for my domestic flights to get to these various locations which hasn't cost me much additional money. You do have to pay the tax for flights, but these numbers are VERY small considering how much you're saving. Even paying full price for some of these round-trip domestic flights I still find I can save $50-$100 or more by purchasing a long-haul flight out of some of these locations. It's always worth a shot to look! I know that it sounds like a lot of work to sit and look at all of these things, compare routes and pricing, but $50-$100 is food for a week or possibly an activity or two in most countries. Depending on, it could even cover the cost of your accommodation!
After stashing away my miles through the year I did treat myself a bit in 2024.
 I'm constantly checking prices and tracking them using several apps. I like to keep an eye on google flights as well as Skyscanner. Skyscanner is a great app that compares a multitude of travel sites to find you the best prices. You do often book through third party company's (which isn't my favorite thing to do) but sometimes It's what I have to do. I do like to add the extra travel insurance in case I'm worried my plans might change. This source is great especially for international travel! Google flights compare most United States based airline companies and their affiliates, but Skyscanner also includes these as well as local airlines to each country! For example, when I recently checked for a flight from Zambia to Tanzania google flights notified me there was no flights to my location based on the days I had chosen, but on Skyscanner I put in all the same info and conveniently there was 20 flights for me to choose from! So, it's always good to compare all of these sources to get the best and all possible options. I knew for sure that I was going back to
Zambia, and I had decided that I wanted to check out Morocco during the time I went back. I had been keeping an eye on a few different flights at the time. I searched this flight, and the point purchase amount had dropped from 45,000 to 28,000 points! I snatched it up before I could think twice. My motto is "get the flight and figure the rest out later." The point around that being reward travel also can go on sale. With being a card member, you can cancel your reward flights and get all of your points returned to you. I always like to book things just in case because I can always cancel if the prices drop. After tracking my prices to Morocco from Chicago I was able to get a flight to Africa for $400 (yes, that less than groceries.) From Morocco I paid only $28 to get to Zambia! I travelled to Tanzania from Zambia which cost me $280 on a local airline I booked through Skyscanner, and from Tanzania I used 45,000 points. Using points for this month-long trip, mixed with a little money, gave me additional points for booking travel with my card no matter the airline, and I only spent $470 for all of my flights over the course of one month in Africa and visiting 3 different countries, YAY for points!
*When purchasing flights with points you are required to pay the taxes. Some flight taxes are as low as $12 and the most I've paid is $55 so far. This is still such a small amount compared to what you're saving. Being a card member, I also get a 25% discount on my flight prices, and taxes that are owed for point purchases.
Since my frequency of travel has been often, I have since upgraded my status with the airline which now also gives me more benefits, discounts, and better access to United Airlines as well as their Staar Alliance partners. This has definitely changed my approach to travel and made things much easier and worry free. With this upcoming year approaching I have so many new plans already in the works! At the end of this year even with spending some of my points I should have around 140,000 airline miles. I plan to use my points for one-way flights to several different locations across the world, and to then purchase a one-way ticket for either departure or return depending on prices. This way I can still take advantage of all those additional miles from purchasing a flight with money and get part of the way paid for using points.
The only down fall to using points is that you don't get any additional in return for these booked flights. Thats why I've decided to pay for one-way flights to turn around my point balance and keep the good times rolling with still spending less on flights!
Keep an eye out for my post on Budget travel! I'm going to share some of the sources I use to make things affordable, more accessible, and guidelines I follow to help me stay on budget and keep my travel costs low!
Any questions please leave a comment below or message me for more info and advice on how to get the most out of a trip you're planning!
