✈️ We Saved $18,000 By Travel Hacking to Japan!

Here we are half way through January and we hope you have not totally fallen off your goal(s)!  

^{This Week We have Three Things to Share}

1) Breaking down our total expenses during our recent Japan trip. It’s an inside 👀 at what it costs to use those fancy electric toilets while in a traditional kimono after eating some of the best sushi we have ever tasted.
This breakdown includes airfare, train fare, accommodations, chopsticks for the kids, more ramen and that mini shrine Geo had to get for his desk.  ⛩️

2) Telling you our favorite travel credit card and why we love it best of all 💳

3) Allie’s travel hack fail, yes, we are humans too 😤

We break these numbers down even further in a blog post if you want to see where all the savings came from- How we saved 18K on Business Class Flights to Japan. 

WHAT I AM LISTENING TO: 

This week I listened to Your Limitless Life episode 17: My Breakthrough Year. Some quick takeaways for me in 2024:

1. Mindset is crucial to sustainable change. This year I want to dig a bit deeper into not only recognizing my thought patterns but be active in shifting away from the negative self narrative that exists within my head at any given time. I haven’t committed myself to focusing on mindset before, so I’m sure my entire world will turn into rainbows and butterflies- it’s the Law of Attraction.

2. Imposter syndrome- I have a strong case! But, I am working through it. How can I live more genuine as someone who has something to offer the world. Sure there will always be people who know more and do things “better” but that isn’t a reflection on where I am on my own path. What a way to move through your experience, I’m here for it!

It’s an easy listen that is motivating as we are in this new year of growth and improvement!

Travel Tip: My favorite part of this newsletter! This week I want to highlight what I would consider the best credit card to consider if you want to position yourself for (nearly free) airfare and/or hotel stays for a trip this year. I say nearly free because you will always pay taxes and fees when using reward flights. This card  is considered a “keeper card” because there is value to offer even after obtaining the sign on bonus. We mentioned it in our last email and I want to tell you a few reasons why it’s a great option. 

Chase Sapphire Preferred:

1.  Chase ultimate rewards points (aka UR points) are some of if not the most valuable points to have. They transfer directly to 11 airlines and 3 hotel brands and even more if you book through other sites such as Aeroplan- making them as versatile as a breakdancer who can play the piano.

2. Low annual fee- $95. Annual fees on these cards are generally between $95-$600 dollars. It may sound crazy to spend $600 on an annual fee, but it might be worth it to some folks who value what the card offers- for example- see #3.

3. This card in particular has a $50 hotel credit which immediately halves the annual fee. Another example of finding value enough in an annual fee→ I have a Capital One Venture X card with a $395 annual fee. This seems like A LOT to pay each year to hold a dang piece of plastic in my wallet. However, one (of the many perks included) that this card holds is that it comes with a $300 travel credit that I can apply to ANYTHING TRAVEL! When booking through the Capital One travel portal, this credit immediately is factored into the final cost price. That immediately leaves the annual fee at $95 which I can absolutely stomach when you wrap the other perks into consideration.

4. Built in travel protection is another thing that perks me up like bacon on Christmas morning. Up to $10,000 per person (up to $20k) in trip cancellation or interruptions when using this card to book travel. More Bacon! I mean Points! 

5. 3x points per dollar on dining out, streaming services and online groceries. This is a great value to accumulate points on regular every day expenses you may have. Totally justifies signing up for the AsianCrush streaming channel (yes it's a real thing).  

There are A LOT of other reasons this card is a great consideration for a travel credit card. I also want to emphasize that it is not about spending more to accumulate more points. 🤔 

AsianCrush aside, the goal of travel hacking is to travel for less. (AsianCrush is a streaming service that brings the best of Asian entertainment to the west!) 

More money spending habits just to obtain points is the opposite of what we want to accomplish here! We are working within our safe spending budgets, people.

Actual Application: Let’s say you are ready to commit and get the card I’ve featured above, yay! This Hyatt Hotel in London is where I would have stayed during our upcoming trip to Europe next month IF I had found it before booking a non refundable hotel beforehand 🙁#travelhackfail. But let’s say I did it right (yay!) and wanted to book. I would simply transfer 30,000 UR points to my Hyatt loyalty account (free to sign up) for our entire stay which includes breakfast. *Also to note, unlike airlines- you never have to pay taxes or fees when booking hotels using points. Pretty sweet we think!

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If you have a question or a travel hack topic that you want to have a chat with me about or want me to focus on in an upcoming newsletter, just hit reply!