Travel Hacking w/ Lee Huffman | Maximizing Travel Rewards for Beginners

So we're excited to have Lee Hoffman from We Travel There, who is a travel hacking expert, to talk about travel rewards and miles and such. Yes, it's gonna be so good because who doesn't want to travel, especially once you've attain to your minimalist lifestyle. What are you gonna do with all your time? You're gonna make memories instead of collecting things. So let's learn how to go there frugally. Yes, and even for the credit card averse. I think we're

going to have some good, little simple beginner tips. This is not going to be an expert deep dive into travel hacking. It's going to be very accessible, So it's going to be a lot of the things that Jill and I do. We are not experts on this. We're just going to share about all of our experiences and then we're going to give you a destination that you should travel to. That's we're looking forward to. But before that,

should we should we talk about our sponsors? Yes? We should? Okay, believe that this episode is also brought to you by vacation. All I ever wanted when you have to get away, a vacation is what you want. Some people prefer spending it alone, others of family and friends. So whether it's a week away to forget someone or two weeks which will still probably not be long enough to get over someone, try vacation, vacation, anything anyone ever wants. It's a vacation.

I missness. Wrout that welcome back, Welcome back, Jen. Wow, you need a vacation. Apparently maternity leave is not vacation, as we can all tell Yeah, I think any parent can tell you a maternity leave is not. It's like the opposite of vacation. I need a vacation from my maternity leave, and I've already scheduled one and I'll talk about it. I scheduled it on points. I'm excited to hear about that. Let's talk about how we can get

you on a vacation frugally, because that's necessary. Yes, first, we want to give you a destination that you may not be able to travel hack because it's meng up next week. But we are having a Frugal Friends meet up in Washington, d C. I'm so excited, Jill. It's September seven at five thirty at Calorama Park, so in d C by the Washington Hilton. So if you're in the DC area, please head to Frugal Friends community on Facebook.

It's our group. We've got an event in there um and we'll be posting updates in case there's a rain change of location. But this is a Calorama Park. It's a free and big playgrounds, so great for kids and just hanging out and being frugal. Bring your own snacks. We'll figure out how you'll know who we are, but there'll be some indicator of where Jen and I are, maybe where we're wearing a shirts or some shirts that we're making. Yeah, I'm excited to see people in person

and just hang out like frugal friends do. Yes, it will be so good, all right, So if you are trying to get to d C to hang out, with us, and you're trying to travel Hacket in the next week. Um, sorry, may not be able to do that, but we can get into this interview with Lee Huffman if we travel there and find out how you can maybe do it a little longer term, like with more time. Yeah, I got you. Yeah, let's do it. Today we have Lee Huffman from the We Travel their podcast and Bald Thoughts

dot Com. Welcome to the show. Lee, It's great to be here. How are you guys doing today doing? Wow? So glad to have you. Absolutely, we love traveling, so we're excited to hear all about your travel hacking tips and you're you are like a pro expert at this, so we're all so excited to learn some things and excited to hear more about just what you do, what you've got going on. Full disclosure, I just listen to your podcast episode on San Diego because my husband and

I are going there in a couple of weeks. So super cool to have interviewed locals from different places and hear about cool things to explore. Just a really neat idea. I think it's what people enjoy about the airbnb scene of getting to interact with locals, but you've kind of done it already for folks before they even go so that if they do go the hotel route, they still get the local piece. So well done with that, thank you very much. Yeah, it's it's something that my wife

and I whenever we travel, we do that anyways. We always try to find somebody local if we're sitting in a bus or metro stop or even just at the bar, saying, hey, what are some of the cool places that that we maybe we're missing because we're not locals or what. Okay, I know there's a lot of things that are like the say, in Philadelphia, right, there's patent genos for Philip

che stacks, But where did the locals go? And that's really what we want to know is get that local flavor instead of like more of the commercialized stuff that

that everybody kind of does when they travel. Yeah, and we find too that it can be more frugal to do that because the locals will probably tell you, you know, the dive bar, bar, the watering hole that you can go to that is cheaper than the more commercialized things, or you even endear people to you and they're like, hey, just come hang out with me with Jenn and I. So that's why one of my questions is where's the happiest happy hour? And tell yes, nice, Well, we're excited

to pick your brain on travel hacking. So Lee, what is it and how did you get started with travel hacking? Sure, so before we get to travel hacking, the hacking, you know, there's like life hacking, there's all the personal financeecking. There's all these different things that people do that essentially they've kind of learned the rules that are out there and find them, find them and use them to the your advantage. And that's really what we do when we apply to

the travel space. You know, there's all these that kind of sweet spots and the award charts, or there's like uh like little trips, like a little tips and tricks to be able to earn more miles and points whenever you're spending on your credit cards or uh, you know, when you're staying at a hotel. So we we kind of accumulate all that in one spot talking about travel hacking.

So it's a it's a lot of fun. And my wife and I we've been able to travel the world and then after we had kids, brought them along with us for the adventure, and it's pretty it's been pretty amazing for me. Like when I really got started in it, like way back, probably twenty years ago, whatever it was, I had a client that worked for a travel agency and he told me it's like, whatever you do, just make sure you get a credit card that's specific to

the airline you want to fly. And this was way before everybody is really getting into it, and so I was okay, So I bought the I got the Southwest Airlines credit card and the SPG which is now Marriott credit card. And so I thought I was living on the high life, right. I was putting Mike Spend says, my dad was putting his expenses for his law practice on my credit card. So I was flying everywhere in the US and staying a lot of places in the

US for basically for free. And then I got married and my wife basically said, you know what, traveling around the US is really cool, but I want to go to Paris. And I said, well, babe, Southwest doesn't fly there,

so we go to Chicago instead. But you know, and they're not quite the same Chicago and Paris, New York exactly exactly, But so that really got my analytical mind thinking, and so I really started kind of diving in at that point, and I kind of equated to the matrix, right, do you take the red pill or the blue pill? Do you go back to your normal life and and not really know what's going on in that world? Or do you take the other pill and just dive head

first into it. And so I dove head first into it, and I was able to not only get enough miles and points for my wife and me to fly, I was also able to bring our son, who was at twenty six months old at the time, and my mother in law, and we flew there in economy and flew back in business class, and so it was it was quite the funny thing seeing a month old sprawled out in a life last business class seat, you know, and all the other passengers as they're walking by, going what

is going on? Why is this little kid and sitting in business class? Because he's important and I've been spoiled ever since, so it's uh, you know, obviously I still fly economy. I've had the Southwest Companion pass for I've now qualified for the fourteenth straight year, so my wife is my companion. So she flies with me wherever I go, uh for free. And um so I still fly economy a lot, but whenever I can, I spoil myself and we'll talk about that a little bit later, flying in

business class in first class, but whenever possible. Yes, I want to hear about that. We have the companion power for Southwest to and we can talk about how to get that soon. But it has been so cool to go all of these places. And for for domestic it's like eleven dollars and twenty two cents her ticket per way if you have the companion pass. It's no, it's yeah, it's it's five person has five dollars and sixty cents

each way. Yeah. Crazy. And now the Southwest is flying to Hawaii, they fly to the Caribbean, they fled in Mexico, Costa Rica, and they continue to add more and more locations so that that campaign pass it is just adding tremendous value to your travel hicking strategy. Yes, so I want to know how many cards you currently have? Okay, so for the beginners, close your ears. Uh, I have about of that's so awesome, I hears. That's why I

asked my draw literally dropped about it. I'm definitely in the deepend I mean, I don't recommend people do what I do. You know, I don't have a corporate job, so I can balance them all. You know, you took the blue pill. It's very clear, absolutely, you know. And some of the cards, honestly, I never spend on them, you know, I have them specifically for the benefits they provide. That's awesome. So for beginners, they can open their ears again. Um,

so what would your strategy be for beginner travel hackers? Okay, so there's a couple of different things you can do. One. Obviously, credit cards are a great way to get a lot of miles and points in a hurry. I mean, you can get bonuses of fifty even a hundred thousand, sometimes even more points just with one credit card application and meeting the minimum spend. So shining object syndrome. With all the credit cards that are out there, I mean, the marketers are very good. But what you want to do

is determined. Word is that you want to go and see which hotels are there, and see which airlines fly there, and so based on that that will help you determine which card you should get, and so you'll you'll want the credit card of the of the airline that flies to your destination and the credit card of the hotel that's there that you want to stay at, because generally the credit card will give you for the airlines, will give you priority boarding, and it will give you a

free check back. Plus it will save you some some money. The other times the credit cards will save you sometimes more on if you buy food or beverages while you're flying. Some of them give you free like WiFi, those type of things. And then on the the hotel side, sometimes you'll get automatic upgrades on your your status, so maybe now you get a better chance of getting upgraids or late checkouts or early check ins, and sometimes you get free breakfast and a lot of other perks like that.

Plus both credit cards will give you more points when you use those that credit card to pay for the airline ticket or for your hotel reservation. So that's that's the first thing, uh, And then second, not everybody's ready to get a credit card. Maybe you're working on paying off some debt, you're trying to build your credit score.

Maybe you're you don't want any inquiries because you're getting ready to refinance your home or get or buy a home, uh you know, getting getting a car, something along those lines where you want to keep your credit pristine. I recommend people use shopping portals. Um go to cashback monitor

dot com. And so you're gonna shop at Kohl's or Target or any pretty much any store that you're gonna shop online, you go to a website like that, type it in and they'll tell you where you can earn the most cash back, airline miles or hotel points, so that way you get to your to your vacation that much quicker. Yeah, we use racketin to get like cash back and stuff like that. Do you think do they do?

Like so racketon will be one of the ones that will that will be on cashback Monitor, cashback monitors or like an aggregator site. Think of it like the Expedia for airlines. Right, cash Back Monitor aggregates all the different options out there. And so what it does then it says, okay, well, uh, this time racketin is offering say four percent cash back, whereas top cash Back may offering four point five uh

you know, and Mr Remates may be offering six. So you can pick and choose which cash back you want or it could say, oh, well, British Airways is offering two, American Airlines is offering three, Southwest is offering one, and so you can pick and choose which airline that you want. And even if some of them were offering higher miles, if you're trying to accumulate all your miles with American, then make sure that, even if it is a little bit less miles that you're going to be earning, that

you accumulate with that program instead. Because if you have a bunch of different miles and points with all these different programs, but none of them add up to be uh, you know, free night or free flight, then you're kind of wasting your time. Yeah, for sure. What are some commonly overlooked things that people should consider in travel hacking?

As far as you mentioned some some pieces about credit score or applying for mortgage or um that kind of a thing, what are what are the peripheral things folks should be considering in this process. The number one thing is always keep your credit score as pristine as possible. I always sign up all my credit cards for our the automatic minimum payment, so that way I never miss a payment and that way I don't get a ding on my credit score. Plus obviously you're you're avoiding the

late payment fees that they would charge you. So that's number one, because if you don't keep your credit score up, you're not gonna be able to get qualified for the best credit cards, of which offer the best rewards, So that's number one. Two. I always sign up for all the different whatever like airlines and hotels that you're interested in.

Sign up for their mailing list. Yeah, you can probably delete a lot of them, but I always sign up because they're going to be that whoever's on their email is are going to be the first people to find out whatever the current promos are, and so sign up

for those. Again, you can delete them maybe if you have a Gmail or a different email system, you can apply a filter where they get shuffled into like a certain folder that we don't see them when you don't need them, and then whenever you do want to see them, then you can just go to that folder and see that. Whenever there are promos, they don't. They don't cost you anything to sign up, So always sign up because you never know when you're gonna have a last minute hotel

stay that would have qualified for a promotion. But the registration period ended, so now you can't get those extra miles and points. So those are some of the things there. Again, you can you can do things where you're stacking your benefits whenever you're out there spending with their credit cards, so you're going out to eat, whether it's locally or

when you're traveling around. There's programs like Dosh that provide cash back whenever you whenever you dine Uber Local so they give you Uber credits whenever you use Visa whenever you're dining at participating restaurants. Let's see, there's another one called Dining Rewards, which they have partnerships with several different airlines and I believe Hilton, and you can get extra

miles for also. So now you're looking at not only you're getting whatever rewards that you would learn from your credit card U plus, you're getting cash back from Josh, you're getting Uber credits from Uber Local, and then you're also getting miles from Dining Rewards. So now you're getting you're earning four ways off of one transaction. Wow, wow, how did you learn about all of this? Like if somebody wants to take the blue Pill, I know we did talk about beginners. But if someone wants to begin

heading in that trajectory, what is the learning process? Sure? I mean I read a lot, and I've been I've been doing this for a long time. But really the world changes so quickly, so even the things I learned several years ago may not really apply today. So it won't it won't be as big of a learning curve as you might think. And it's really if you have it, just have an interest in it, then you know you'll

be focused on it like any subject. So I would say, find you know, some of the travel blogs that you're interested in. Obviously I'd like it if you found mine. But you know, there's a website called boarding area dot com and that's where a lot of my articles reside. And there are about a hundred different bloggers that are there. So you'll find somebody there that really kind of resonates with the way that you think, and you'll like their writing style. You can go there. There are a lot

of other bloggers that aren't necessarily under that platform. I right for the Points Guy and choose a five super money finance buzz, So there's a lot of other websites out there that aren't underneath that ecosphere of boarding area, but also provide a lot of great content where maybe they cover the same thing, uh, and you just find one voice that you like versus another, or you know, sometimes they cover different topics that that the other ones don't cover, and so I would subscribe to maybe a

handful of them, maybe like four or five. Set it for you know, daily emails or weekly email so that way you can you're not gonna get inundated again or again. Set the filter so that way it goes into a certain box. You follow people on Twitter again, you'll see sometimes they'll give you advanced warning of certain promos or other deals that are happening that maybe not may not make it to the blogs just because they don't have

enough time to write about it before they dies. So there are a lot of other ways to do things. And on the top of that, there's conferences you can attend where sometimes like I, I know that I do this, I don't always give all of my secrets right on the blog, but when I meet you in person, I'll sit there and talk to you and probably give you a little bit more than I would, you know, in something that's more of a general population. So we got to meet up with you. We've got to do this

in a view in person. So I mean they're their conferences, Like Finance Buzz has having their conference coming up soon in October. Uh f TU, a frequent traveler university, has a conference that they do several times a year. Chicago Seminars has one as well in Chicago. So there's a lot of different conferences that that happened. And again maybe there there's one that's in your backyard that's easy for you to go to or something where you would would

fly to attend. Yeah, I use the points guy whenever I'm trying to figure out like which card that I want to get next, because the bonuses on the card, which is really like the creme de la creme of what you're going for, is they always always changing. So it's like we could talk about some bonuses today, but that doesn't mean that when you go to apply for the card that the same bonus is going to be available. Absolutely. That's what happened with us for the Companion Pass. We

just we're in this certain window. We already had a Southwest card. We tried to jump the hoops and yeah, they shut us down. But somebody who didn't have a Southwest card got it very quickly, So it's not always

going to work for everybody for sure. And then one thing to remember also is that when you see different offers from different credit cards, say they both have fifty thousand points or miles, those points of miles aren't necessarily equivalent one to one between two different programs Softy Hilton points. It's worth far less than fifty thousand higher points for example. Yeah, yep.

So speaking of card so I would say so most of them, it's like you have to spend a certain amount in the first three months in order to get their welcome sign up bonus. So say you maybe do like four cards in a year. What would be your in a perfect world today on this day? What four cards would you start with? There are a lot of rules that the banks have and they've implemented over the last few years, primarily to restrict people like me from

doing the things that we do. So I used to get probably about eighteen to twenty new cards every year, and I would just kind of rotate through them, and I've slowed down quite a bit since then. But so really what you want to do is say you're starting

completely from scratch. You haven't applied for any new cards in the last couple of years, then one of the first ones you want to get it would be like the Chase a Fire Reserve because it has a generally a great bonus of fifty thou points, which those points are worth of the seven or fifty dollars and travel or you can transfer them to a lot of different partners such as Southwest United or even marryott So or Hyatt. So there's a lot of great value in in that card.

I would also pair that with like a Chase Ink Business Preferred, which I think right now has about an eighty thousand point bonus. So now you can combine those points, so now you have from one and the eighty thousand

from the other. And now you're talking really uh tremendous value either on a transfer basis where you want to transfer to say United and be able to book an awesome flight, or be able to transfer to Hyatt and maybe go down to down to Mexico, down to Cabo and say all inclusive for about four or five days, you know, so sailer alert, that's what we're doing. So

I would do that. I would do those and really the next kind of cards really depend upon where you want to go, how you like to travel, and what categories you spend the most done. One of the cards I really like right now is the Capital one Saver, which earns four percent cash back on dining and entertainment. So if you like to go out to bars or restaurants, concerts, sporting events, those type of things, you're gonna earn four percent cash back, which is a pretty tremendous value on that.

For the first year. The annual fees waves, so it works out really well. There's a lot of debate depending upon how much you spend if it's still worth it going into the second year because of the annual fee, which about and it negates a lot of that value in the spending that you're doing. They also let you transfer it over because Capital one has a the Saver

has like a sister card that doesn't have an annual fee. Right, Yeah, there's the Saver one which has no annual fee, and that one, I believe earns three cash back instead of four, So you know, for that extra one percent, you got to kind of do the math and decide whether or not it's worth you're staying with the annual fe version versus downgrading to the one that's no annual fee. Yeah,

we have all of those so far. And because I think the Sapphire Reserve they waived the annual fee the first year, or at least they did when we got it, preferred does that that's the one that the reserve is four and fifty dollars, and so that one is not waived.

And now I know, if you're a beginner, you're here four and fifty dollars, you're probably choked up a little bit, uh, you know, but when you compare that versus the annual fee, this one, the four fifty, the reserve card gets three and annual travel credits which can be used offset you know,

baggage fees. You're a flight that you pay, uh you know, some other travel things such as like taxis or excursions as long as they code as travel expenses, you can use that three dollars to wipe those off your off your bill. And so that works out really well. Uh. And so now you're talking instead of four fifty, now

you only talk a hundred and fifty dollars. When you factor in you get the global entry credit, uh, you know, access to airport lounges and h and higher spending, higher rewards when you spend say like three x on signing and travel. And then also your points are worth one point five cents instead of one point to five, so it makes sense to spend a little bit more on that card versus the prefer which I remember that when we were signing up, I did sign up for the

preferred because the four scared me. But now looking back, like three dollars travel credit, that's a whole other sign on bonus for another card, because right now the capital one saver can sometimes be like fifty thousand points or or like that one changes, and that's basically the bonus for a whole other card without signing up for one. So yeah, the reserve is definitely worth it if you can swallow that. We just got the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, and I am living the jury. I can't, and I've

seen it. The three hundred dollars automatically comes off it just as erase from the bill when it is coded as travel. I have uti lies the lounges and it's been amazing. Yeah, you know, going from sitting in the terminal and being scrunched up in those those nasty seats, versus being able to relax in the lounge and get some free drinks and food, sometimes getting a shower or massage, free WiFi, all those things. It just elevates your your

travel to such an awesome level. Yeah, I get sometimes I get frustrated if I if I go to an airport there's no lounge, it doesn't have a third World country, you know, or is this opening? I have to wait? Now you have to wait forty eight months between getting the reserve and the preferred like to get the bonus. So I'm just like counting the months until I can go. We can travel together because between Eric and I you can take two people into the lounge each deal. So

let's do it. Anyhow, I love the Southwest credit card. A lot of people in the travel community kind of shy away from that one because they go, oh, there's no first class, there's no upgrades available, etcetera. But like we talked about earlier, the Companion Pass is to me the best benefit for especially for family travel that is

in anywhere out there and from any airline. So essentially, what the Companion Past does is you have to earn thousand miles or points in the calendar year, and you can do that through actually buying and flying in a seat. You can spend with their travel partners, or you can get bonuses on the credit cards and spend on the credit card. And so I really haven't paid for many of Southwest flights UH in the last few years, but I still have the Companion Pass, primarily from spending on

the credit card. So to me, I keep the card, and I've had it for for years and years. Most people get the card and they cancel it after a year or two and then reapply later on. To me, the value of having that companion Pass is I don't want to risk it. I don't want to lose that benefit. So I just keep the card, put the dred ten thousand or more, spend on it, and then get the Companion Pass. And the awesome thing is you're not redeeming

ten thousand points for the companion Pass. It's just once you suppress surpass that level, you get the Companion Pass and you still keep your points. So now that points is really the equivalent of two because now wherever you fly,

your designate companion can fly for free. And so this year right now, my my wife is my companion, but I'm man wried to switch it up because my my daughter and I were flying to Chicago to do then fly to Brussels, and so she's gonna be my companion for a little bit so we can fly to on Southwest to get the Chicago from Nashville. And then in a couple of months, my wife and I are going to Austin, and so I'm gonna put her back as

a companion. And you can try. You can change your companion up to three times per year, and so it's not like you're stuck with that person. Uh So, you know, if you if you have your spouse and you have kids, or you just have a couple different friends, you can change your companion throughout the year basically the suit your needs. You can have up to three boyfriends a year, essentially

your fourth boyfriend if you break up and make up enough. Yeah, you can take three capable guys and then marry the last one. The last one has to be a rich guy. Get the companion passed. That way, he can take you for free. Sure, yes, even more capable. Okay, So to recap that chase Sapphire reserve, swallow the four fifty it's worth it. Chase Ink Preferred, which has to Chase Chase Inc. Business Preferred, Business Preferred. Sorry, that is a business card.

And if you're wondering, like I don't have a business, I can't get a business card. They're very lax on what they consider business. And actually I've I've signed up with my business like tax I D for one and then use my social security number for another business. And it was easier to get a proof for a business card using my social security number than it was using my business E I N. So throwing that out there, well,

think about this way. Okay, there's a lot of people say, oh, I don't have a business, but they sell on Etsy, they have a rental property. They do a little consulting on the side that you don't have to have a six figure business in order to be able to qualify

as a business. Uh. In anyways, actually if you can stay they're starting a business and you know your c p A wants you to keep your business in personal expensive separate So even if you don't have a business from day one, you can actually still apply for a business card to say, hey, I'm starting up the business. Here's my E I N my my business name is

Lee Huffman Consulting and there goes. So as all as your first and last name is in the business name, you don't need a business name statement, you don't need an articles of incorporation, none of the other legal documents that O the businesses require. You know, all you gotta do is is, uh, you have your first and last name in the name of the business and your SOL Security number or E I N. And you can apply for a business card or open up a business bank account. Yes,

I love it. Um. And then the Capital one Saver, which we didn't use that for any travel purposes. That's just like cash back, so we just used it. Was when we signed up, it was five cash back. Um, I know it's not that right now, but and so we just transferred that to our statement. That was a free we just got and so that was awesome. What I want to tell people to do with that is basically just use that as like your slush fund for

when you go on vacations. Set aside in a separate account, and now you have a little bit of spending money whenever you go on vacation. Yeah, it's so it's so worth it. Not just to have like the Miles and the Chase Ultimate rewards, which are great, but to have like just a cash back card and Capital One has a great one, it's so nice to have that. Like

that term slush fund makes it sound fun. Yes, and then the Southwest Credit Card, which I would actually say is cards four and five because we because if you get a Southwest Personal Card and a Southwest Business Card, you can use both of those towards the Companion Pass and then you just spend a little more and you've got it. But there is a little stipulation to get the Companion Pass. You have to get all the points

in one calendar year. So you can't get some points in two thousand nineteen and finish it in You have to at this point probably wait until to get all of your points. Ideally, what you want to do is apply in late December and hit the minimum spend in early January. That way you get all the current year and all the next year, because whenever you earn the Companion Pass, it's for the remainder of the current year that that you're in and the full year following. So

ideally January February is the right time to do that. Yeah, you can apply at the end. It's just when you hit the minimum spend. You want that to be at the beginning of the following year, or the beginning of whatever year, because I've heard some horror stories people will apply in like October or November and then accidentally hit the minimum spend right before January and then those points don't count. It's so sad. Yeah, for the first world problems.

But yeah, but still, I know, right, it's so sad, the speaking of happy things that aren't so sad? Is it that time, Jill? It's that time. It's finally that time. It's time for the bill of the That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your card died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That built buffalo bill, Bill Clinton, This is the bill

of the week, alright, Lee. So every week we invite either a listener or our guest to tell us about their favorite bill this week. It can be a serious bill, a dollar bill, a dude named bill. Never it just build it up. What do you have for us? Sure? So um kind of in the realm of credit cards. Anytime I get a bill, basically, it's a statement for my credit card, and it just shows me how many

miles and points I've earned. I've been spending a lot on one of my my Hilton cards recently, and so I just surpassed the sixty spend mark, and so I got my second free night from Hilton. So I can use that that free night and the when I earned earlier this year, and any Hilton anywhere in the world. Um, there are a couple exclusions, but really I can use it for ones that costs even most of a thousand dollars a night, and to stay there for free on

the weekend, even on the weekend. That's so great. That's the kind of statement you want to get in the mail. I love that bill. If you would like to submit your bill of the week and build it up, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill and leave us a voicemail. We love hearing these, and now we move into the next best time of the episode, the lightning round.

I love it when you do that. I've clearly heard a lot of lightning in my life, and I know exactly how it sounds and I'm able to recreate it with RV. Yeah. Actually we slept right through it. The other night. People were like, did you hear those storms? I'm like, oh, I hear the birds in the morning,

did not hear the lightning? Dang? Well. For this Lightning Round, instead of asking questions, we thought it would be really cool that we're all going to share our favorite trips that we've taken using travel rewards and then a little bit about how we got there using them. So Lee, we will let you go first as our guest. Okay, well, thank you so much for that. So so I guess age before beauty. I guess in this in this case, oh god, I'm like less than at the starting line

for that one. Then all right, so um, like I mentioned earlier, my my daughter and I were find in Chicago. We're going to stay there for the night, just go check out the city a little bit, and we used the Southwest points to get there. I'm gonna get some deep dish pizza while we're there, because of course Chicago,

you gotta get some of that. But what we did is there was a promotion that was going on in June where you can fly on kale m h in Air France for either discount on business class or discount on economy. Now, the frugal friends part of me was going discount sounds pretty good. But then I said, wait a minute, I really don't want to fly overnight in

economy with my daughter. So I splurged and we took a business class flights to go to We're flying from Chicago at the Belgium forty tho klem Air France points to get there, I transfer them. You can transfer them from American Express City Thinking points or chase Ultimate rewards, so it's forty thou points each to get there in business class. They didn't really have good flights options on

the way back, so instead I used United Airlines. So I'm flying United Player's business class on the way back. That was six see thousand points each way, I mean each each person. So for a total of two thousand miles and points, I'm flying my my daughter and me from Chicago to Belgium and back and uh and then I think it was abound six or seven d dollars in taxes total for us, and I used my Capital one Venture card to erase that all those portases. So

really the whole trip was completely free from me. Wow, including hotels while you're there or was that something separate? So the hotel on there, mare At has this really cool program where they call it Knights and Flights or actually maybe there's a more technical term, but everybody in the in the industry calls the Knights and flights. So what you do is you you redeem your miles you're married at points for a one week stay and a

certain number of airline miles. And so this week I learned from when I traded in and got add American airline miles a couple of couple of months ago, and so but I of how the one week stay and so my daughter and I were staying at a Marriott that's really nice in in Brussels, and uh, and so the basics is completely free that way, So that it's going to be that promo that you signed up for that was off that was like off of the points correct, So it would have been you know, fifty some thousand

points or maybe a sixty whatever it was, and so end up being forty points each way instead. So that would be the reason to sign up for those emails. So you find out about those promos, Okay, correct. Actually that one I found out because I have friends with Capital One and at the same time they had a transfer bonus, So you can transfer from Capital one Venture or the Spark Miles business card over to KLEM and get a transfer bonus that you can redeem for less.

So really, now you're talking about less miles than what I would have taken if you try points from Capital One over to Klem and then redeemed for those flights. Wow. You definitely have to be savvy to really get the most of this, willing to invest some time and research. But my goodness, is it creating a lot of space for travel for you? Absolutely? But I will say this, I'm very good at earning. I'm not as good at redeeming.

And so even I have used they have award booking services out there, and I have a bunch of friends that do it, and so what they do is that they're they're like rain Man as far as as far as it goes with all the different miles programs and how to redeem them for the maximum value. And I redeemed one time my wife and I flew from l A to Rome and we end up paying somebody and they actually including their fee was less than if I would have tried to book it myself as far as

the taxes and everything goes. So sometimes it's worth it to pay a couple hundred bucks and have an expert do it because that's all they do all day long. Way. Yeah, dang, that's cool. So that's my thing that I learned, is to sign up for some emails and find some promos. We're really good at using our points. We use one card at a time. Well technically too, because Travis and I are two people and we each need a card, but we're only looking. We're only like trying to get

the bonus on one at a time. So we really do only do four or five cards a year. But we took a baby moon in March to Beaver Creek, Colorado, and we were able to stay at the Park Hyatt for free. High It's our our hotel chain of choice because I find that they have the best redemption value for points, and so we stayed at the Park Hyatt

and it was right on the slopes. It was so cool, and we used the Southwest Companion Pass to get there and back and that was each So that is how much we paid for the whole trip if you don't count like food and stuff while we were there, which we were using another card to do the like meals and stuff and get points for our next bonus there. We also haven't taken this trip yet, but it's coming up.

Our companion past expires at the end of this year, and so to get that last bit of it, we are flying to Cancoon and we are staying at one of Hyatt's all inclusive resorts there for four nights, and I am so excited. We're not taking the baby there, you go. Well, the good thing is if you did take the baby until they're two years old, they're free as well. Oh my gosh, which is great, but we're still not taking cost is not what I'm concerned about

in this situation. Relaxation, vacation all I ever wanted. Well, I know, we're sharing our favorites and so this one is yet to come, although by the time this episode releases, we will currently be enjoying this trip, so I'm hoping it's one of my favorites. But Eric and I just

booked a trip multiple destinations through Southwest. We have a Southwest UM business card, so we use points to fly from Philly, which is where we're from, to Las Vegas, and then a rental car which we booked on our Chase Sapphire Reserve Cards points to go from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon to Sedona, over to San Diego and flights back from San Diego to Philly. So super excited about that so far, not a penny spent on it, and gonna be booking some hotels through our Chase Sapphire

Reserve points. We might have to buy a couple of nights, but through using e A or racketin now too, we get some cash back from what we've booked. So super excited about that and what these credit cards have provided for us. That sounds like a fun road trip. I know. Yeah, it's great that you can use at least with Chase Sapphire Reserve on all things travel, so we can book flights, rental car, hotel all on points, which is great. Yes,

so good. I'm so glad you were able to join us, Lee, So what do you have going on at We travel there and bald thoughts dot com, Well, thanks for inviting me dot com. I'm always talking about the latest news that's going on in the industry. We travel there every week on Monday's we have a new podcast episode. We've been all over the world, big cities, small cities, and so what I like to say is that we help you travel like a local whenever you listen, and that

we have better experiences whenever you visit a city. Awesome. Yeah, so check those out. We look forward to talking with the rest of you and our Frugal Friends community about travel rewards and how you can travel more frugally. So thanks for coming on, Lee, Thank you. Wow, that was awesome. I'm so glad we did that. I love talking about travel because it's one of the reasons that I have set up my life the way I've set it up

so that I can travel. So learning how I can do that more but still be working on other financial goals not break the bank and yeah hack it and figure out the tips along the way. So super cool to learn from Lee on what he's done. Yeah, because when you get your values based spending in order and you're only spending on things that you really need, then you can handle using credit cards and why not use

them to your advantage. So I think it's great. Yeah, he's got a super cool podcast too, so I'm excited even as we go to different places to check check it out. You know we're different place. Yes, if you go to St. Petersburg, check out my episode so good. St. Peter's so good. Not me, but St. Petersburg both are good. That's really why I do this podcast with you, so that I can just go to St. Petersburg, yes, and have a place to say, all right, well, folks, we're

still doing book clubs. It's still I think I say that every time because because I don't I don't know if you're expecting it to stop or what. It hasn't stopped yet. We're doing it. So it's August again, it's still my birthday month. I know it's like, but I'm holding on. So we are wrapping up really reading The Simple Path to Wealth by J. L. Collins for book clubs, So there's still time to jump in on that or just pick up the book and engage with it as

you want to. Yeah, it's one of my favorite books ever. It is self published, so some libraries have it, some don't, and if yours is one that doesn't, you can get a free copy on us um by leaving us a review on iTunes or stitcher um screenshot the review and send it to Frugal Friends Podcasts at gmail dot com. And for every five of those we receive while we select one winner um to receive a copy of our

book club book. So send those reviews in. We also love seeing what you guys have learned from the podcast. That's a really great place to leave it, and it helps other people know what to expect from the show. And just for some example reviews, since sometimes people can get confused on like how many stars they should be, or like the type of content that should be in it, we'll give you some writing samples. This sample actually comes

from Stitcher. We usually pull them from iTunes, but uh, we're moving over to Stitcher because they seem to like us more over there. This was an oldie but goodie from from a few months ago, but John h says more than just frugality. I've been catching up on all the great content lately, and I must say there is a lot of great tips blended into the frugality here. Some minimalist and frugal minded podcasts are overwhelming and too extreme for my liking. Jen and Jill do a wonderful

job offering a wide array of perspectives. Keep up the great work. Thanks John H. John. That's exactly what we're going for. That is what we're going for. We're not trying to overwhelm you. We're just trying to be fun, low key. Throw in some tips blended in there, almost like blending in broccoli to the cookie dough. The kids have no idea what, I don't know. It's not something moms do. Don't they do that. They'll like grind down veggies and be like, oh, Cindy, I love your brownies.

Yeah you do. Guess what, there's cauliflower in here. The kids never knew. Haven't you ever heard a mom talk like that? Yes? If not, you are soon to be the mom talk. Guess what I blended into this thing? Nancy? Oh, I don't know. Upcoming episodeen brand things you can blend into other things to hide them, mostly vegetables. Well, that's exactly what you're getting here on the Rugo Friends podcast.

So broccoli mixed into your cookie dough. And on that note, before you toss out the cookie dough, we will see you next week. Bye. Hergo Friend is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Serria. Really you would see it in Cookie doll. You would listen I'm not a mom, so I haven't done this. I haven't had to disguise veggies in sweet things, so maybe that's not what they do.

I just know that moms who want to have their kids eat healthy will sometimes have to blend in healthy things to seemingly unhealthy things so that it's palatable for their children. I don't know what it is. I feel like i've heard the words oat brand and kale thrown out there. Um, zucchini, you can make a good muffin with zucchini zucan brownie, see exactly. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You was just the cookie dough that

threw me. I'm so used to using breaking bakes, and I'm like, how do you get broccoli into a breaking bake? I don't understand. That's the way cookies are made. You just buy them and you break them off and bake them. Because little Cairos is throwing his little broccoli on the ground. And you think about this podcast and you're like, m I wonder if I could get that into a cookie. Possibly, take the breaking bake and like stuff it inside a cookie so it's like a stuffed cookie, but you bite

into it. Then you're broccoli in the center. It will forever ruin cookies for him. I think the point is that it has to be not just hidden. I don't know. I'll try it and see if it's a surprise that's welcomed. I might I mean, best case scenario, he just doesn't like cookies forever and then I eat all the cookies. Or I might have come up with something genius here, like like I normally do all the genius things. I say, yeah, I believe it, all right, my b