Go Somewhere: Volume 5

Giving you the tools you need to travel the world on points.

October 13, 2023

We’re back. This week, with a new section - real-life hackers!

Each week, I’ll continue to feature two travel hacks, PLUS a story of a couple or family that successfully hacked an amazing trip.

I know this stuff can feel a little mechanical and far off, I want to bring it home. I want to show you real families actually doing this. I’ve already got some incredible people lined up to share their stories and I can’t wait for all of you to be inspired by them!

I hope my content is helpful to you! I’ll continue to deliver free knowledge every day on LinkedIn, and every Friday here.

If you want to access my paid services, check out my About section on LinkedIn and schedule a free call with me to learn more.

Now, for the hacks!

Hack #1: The Chase Trifecta

Remember when Lebron, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade were all playing for the Heat?

The big three.

They were great.

The credit card version of that is the Chase Trifecta.

The Chase Trifecta consists of:

➡️ The Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee)

➡️ The Chase Freedom Flex ($0 annual fee)

➡️ The Chase Freedom Unlimited ($0 annual fee)

To give some background, there are really two ways to earn enough points to travel consistently. 1) Optimize your normal spending with a few key cards to maximize points earned and 2) Churn credit cards.

Churning cards is what it sounds like - getting a new card every couple of months, using the sign-up bonus, then forgetting it.

If you’re not interested in churning and want to earn points through your everyday spending, the Chase Trifecta is one of the best options out there.

Let’s look at the cards.

The Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited are cash-back cards. Because Chase is so cool, if you have the Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve) along with those cash-back cards, instead of cash back you can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.

The Sapphire is the magic key that turns cash back into points.

Earning points:

  • Chase Sapphire Preferred

    • 5x travel, 3x dining, 1x everything else

  • Chase Freedom Flex

    • 5x on rotating quarterly categories (groceries, gas, etc..), 3x dining, 1x everything else.

  • Chase Freedom Unlimited

    • 1.5% on everything

    • Catch-all card.

The system is simple. Put travel and dining on the Sapphire, put the quarterly category bonuses on the Freedom Flex, and put everything else on the Freedom Unlimited.

This is a solid system to earn as many points as possible, while still keeping things simple.

As we’ve discussed, Chase has some incredible transfer partners making its points extremely valuable. Just Southwest and Hyatt alone could bring you some amazing value.

Hack #2: Understanding the power of Bilt Rewards

Bilt is a new credit card that lets you earn points on rent.

I heard of this card a few months ago and didn’t really pay attention.

I’m not sure why. This card is one of the absolute best on the market. It’s remarkable. I’ve got everything you need to know about it today.

This is the first ever card that you can use to earn points on rent. That’s impressive off the bat.

Rent is most people’s largest expense. Get some points. This card rocks.

Annual Fee: $0.

Sign-up bonus: 0 points.

Earning: 3x dining, 2x travel, 1x on rent & everything else.

  • They do have “Rent Day” specials where they up the earnings on select categories on the 1st of the month. You can plan larger purchases for the 1st.

Best transfer partners:

  • American Airlines (only card on the market!!!), Air Canada, Air France, British Airways, Iberia, Turkish Miles and Smiles, Virgin.

  • IHG + Hyatt.

1 catch: You have to make at least 5 purchases on your card each month to get the points.

➡️Trip example:

Let’s say you pay $2k monthly in rent and budget $200 to eat out each month.

At the end of the year, you’ll have earned about 32,000 Bilt Points.

That’s enough for…

  • A night at the Grand Hyatt Kaui

  • 6 nights at the Hyatt Regency Sofia or Hyatt Place Los Cabos.

  • 1 RT flight from Detroit to Paris in economy.

  • 1 RT flight to the Bahamas in economy.

  • Two domestic flights on Delta with Virgin.

  • Two RT flights to Hawaii from anywhere in the U.S. with Turkish.

You didn’t earn any points from rent last year. This year, your rent could get you and your spouse to Hawaii.

What are you waiting on?

Real-life hackers: Gabe & Sarah

Hacking a trip isn’t always as cut and dry as those Youtubers (or annoying dudes on Substack) make it sound. I want to keep it real and share the story of a REAL couple who went on a REAL trip!

➡️Couple: Gabe & Sarah

➡️Location: Cancun, Mexico.

➡️Occasion: Honeymoon!

➡️Airline: Southwest

➡️Hotel: Hilton All-Inclusive Cancun

➡️Flight price: FREE + taxes & fees. Used Southwest points.

➡️Hotel price: $3,200 for 2 weeks.

Gabe got a Southwest card, referred a friend, and had enough points to cover roundtrip airfare (4 free bags sounds nice). They booked the hotel using *prepare for hack* COSTCO TRAVEL.

Gabe said, “Costco is so much cheaper, that even my mom who is from Mexico, calling the local travel agents for deals and referrals couldn't even come within $300 of Costco. AND on top of that, we got a $375 Costco gift card because we booked through them.”

Epic stories: “I swam with a freaking sea turtle. Drank a margarita on a 35 ft long yacht. Swam through an underwater cave system. Snorkeled in Gatorade blue water seeing countless marine life in the Gulf of Mexico. Met interesting people from all over the world. Churn those points baby!”

Pro tip: “A great way to increase your spouse's credit score is adding them as an authorized user to all your CCs even if you don't use them, not to mention you have a built-in referral bonus!”

Gabe & Sarah, great hacking.

That’s it until next week. Share this with your friends!