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Flying First Class Is No Longer Only For The Rich…
You know that feeling when you fly economy and it feels like this:
Sucks, huh?
And the worst part is an economy flight still costs hundreds of dollars out of your pocket (and this is just for flying domestic).
An international economy flight will run you over $1,000 easily.
And an international business/first class flight? Easily $4,000-$10,000+ without breaking a sweat.
Look…it is what it is.
That’s the asking price.
But when you want to travel in luxury and the tickets cost almost 5-figures a pop, what do you do?
Do you YOLO and drain your savings?
Do you take out a loan to pay for it?
Or do you pray that you’ll win the lottery?
Unfortunately that’s what most people believe you have to do in order to fly first class.
And I used to believe that too.
For most of my life I used to believe that traveling in luxury was reserved for the rich and powerful.
I believed that you had to be a Wall Street banker, doctor, or CEO to fly first class.
Either that or you had to have rich parents or hope your boss footed the bill.
But turns out, it’s all a lie.
Of course, there are people who pay cash to fly first class.
But there’s another way…
How I Accidentally Became A Travel Hacker
I came across travel hacking like most people – I had a bunch of points racked up and had to decide how to use them.
Of course I could have redeemed my points for cash.
But then I saw this on my credit card company’s website:
“Get up to 2x more value when on travel purchase”
Sounds amazing, I thought.
Perfect timing too since I was in need of a vacation from working so much.
So I logged into my credit card company’s travel portal and booked my first trip to Mexico for free.
Little did I know, I made 3 critical mistakes…
Travel Hacking Mistake #1: Using Credit Card Company Portals To Book Your Trip
If you use portals like the one above, you’re might as well light your money on fire.
This was my first big mistake.
Sure I got a “free” trip since I had a lot of points racked up.
But I was leaving 5-10x the points value on the table.
All I got with my points were a few free nights at a 3.5 star, all-inclusive resort in Mexico.
And I didn’t even fly first class lol.
Not exactly the dream vacation I was hoping for.
It wasn’t until years of trial and error later later that I realized…
Redeeming through portals is literally the worst way to redeem your points.
No barriers to entry.
Literally anyone can do it.
But most importantly, there’s no reason to ever use one.
Portals are “convenient.”
But remember, portals are also literally “in-house” travel agencies owned by the credit card companies.
And you got to ask yourself, when do credit cards companies ever give a sh!t about you?
Even if you owned the right type of credit cards that got the right type of points, using portals is still a death sentence.
Which leads me to the next mistake…
Travel Hacking Mistake #2: Not Using The Right Type Of Card
Using the right type of credit card to earn the right type of points is the key to successful travel hacking.
Unfortunately too many people people see a card with 1-2% unlimited cash back with no annual fees and think:
“OMG this is so amazing, where do I sign up?”
Don’t worry I made this same mistake too.
Credit card companies make these cards sound like the best thing since sliced bread.
Plus these cards usually have huge ad budgets behind them and are endorsed by major celebrities.
Damn you, Samuel L. Jackson.
But while unlimited cash-back cards sound cool, they’re not always the best option for travel hackers.
You need to focus on cards that get you the maximum amount of points for travel.
This is the only way we beat credit card companies at their own game.
Travel Hacking Mistake #3: Settling For Economy Flights And Average Hotels
If you looked up the definition of “average hotel” you’d see a pic of this:
Look, I got nothing against Holiday Inn.
They’re clean enough, have free continental breakfast, and you get complimentary WiFi.
Yippie…
If that floats your boat, great.
But why settle for average if you don’t have to?
Like I mentioned earlier, my first travel hacking trip was at a 3.5 star resort on an economy flight.
This is what 95% of people settle for when they try their hand at travel hacking.
At best, they get a free, economy-plus flight and a few nights at a 3-3.5 star hotel.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
In fact, with what I’m about to show you…
You can stay in the most baller 5-star hotels in the world and fly business/first class whenever you want for free (or pennies on the dollar).
Call me crazy, but I’d rather stay at the Waldorf Astoria over Holiday Inn (I know, the Waldorf doesn’t have free continental breakfast but I think I’ll survive 😉).
Traveling In Luxury Has Never Been This Easy
What I’m about to show you isn’t just travel hacking.
This is LUXURY travel hacking.
That means the goal isn’t just to travel for free.
The goal is to travel for free in maximum luxury.
I like to call it travel hacking on steroids lol.
That mean taking first class flights anywhere in the world where the seats fold down like this:
That means being able to enjoy an entire container of caviar while 38,000 feet in the air.
Why?
A better question is, why not?
And that means being able to stay exclusively in 5-star hotels with upgraded suites and penthouse rooms (all for free, of course):