I started planning for this trip about 4-5 months in advance and since we were traveling off-peak, I figured that there were going to be some good deals for the taking. We’d both actually never been to South America but what better way to test the waters, than with a pilgrimage to Machu Picchu – one of the new seven wonders of the world.

The Most Complicated Points Redemption Ever

I was able to find a ton of award availability from LAX to Lima (LIM) on American Airlines and a RT flight was 70,000 points plus about $70 in fees (so 140k points + $140 for the two of us).

AA points are very easy to come by and this redemption would have been a no-brainer but the AA flight made a stop in Dallas and the total travel time was 12 hours. Obviously that’s a best case scenario too and with the possibility of delays, missed connections, etc – that was a flight I wanted to avoid if at all possible.

After some extensive research, I actually discovered that LAN Peru (One World partner with AA) had two flights a day from LAX to Lima.  There was a TON of availability for revenue seats but nothing in the way of award travel though. Continue reading “2 Weeks In Peru And A 5 Day Trek To Machu Picchu” →

A lot of people don’t realize it but racking up miles and points is actually the easiest part of traveling hacking.  I’ve probably earned 2-3 million points over the past five years through credit card sign-up bonuses but spending all those points is a completely different story.  This is pretty counter-intuitive to real life since it’s always easier to spend cash than it is to accumulate it.

But if you’re in this hobby for the love of traveling, you will discover that there is no shortage of great destinations you can travel to for next to nothing.  Problems arise though when you try to use miles/points to get to a specific destination during a specific time of the year.

It helps if you can travel off-peak but flexibility really is the name of the game.  And if you’re open to the experience, that is when you can really start to benefit from traveling with miles and points. Continue reading “An Almost Free Week in Ireland” →

It seems like when most people travel these days it’s to far away places and destinations.  With the onslaught of Facebook statuses and Instagram posts, it’s pretty easy to get sucked into the one upsmanship of bigger and better when it comes to travel.

I’m not saying that I’m any better, but sometimes we forget that there are some great travel destinations right here in the good ol’ US of A.  Boston isn’t necessarily an overlooked travel destination by any means for most people, but it is a place that my wife and I have both never had the pleasure of visiting.  In fact, the whole east coast is a little bit lacking on my list of places I’ve traveled to.

But the motivation for this trip came from the fact that my wife’s best friend and one of my very good friends both live in Boston (they also happen to be married) now and since they’re only going to be living there for two years, we thought it would be a great opportunity to visit and see a new city.

Many of you already know that I’m a huge enthusiast of traveling for free via miles and points so this trip was no different.  It also helps out a lot when you have friends that you can stay with in the city you plan on visiting.  We ended up staying 4 nights with our friends on an air mattress in their living room and they were very gracious hosts.

I’m usually comfortable crashing with friends for a night or two but 3-4nights is pushing it.  Luckily, these are two of our very best friends so I didn’t feel too bad.

So moral of the story is: try to stay with friends to cut the cost of your trip in half. Continue reading “Our First Time In Boston” →