Learn how to travel hack credit card rewards

“My first step was to apply for Chase Sapphire card. There are two: the Preferred and the Reserve. Seeing as the Reserve had a hefty annual fee, and I wasn’t sure that this was going to work out, I went with the Preferred card. After spending diligently on the card, I earned 60,000 points. I also got a $50 credit automatically for a hotel I booked through Chase’s Travel Portal. I was able to use this to contribute to the stunning Freitham Hotel in Flam Norway (this was 1.5 months after receiving the card). I used those points to be able to fly from Dubai to Scotland, and from England to New York in 2023. I also visited Kenya and Tanzania on the same trip, without using points, but using the points for Dubai, Scotland, and England meant I could also do Kenya and Tanzania.”

“In February of 2017, I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at travel hacking my first flights. Since I was new to this world, I had a few things I was worried about. First, I wanted something pretty simple and easy to figure out. Second, I didn’t want to pay any annual fees. (I’ve since learned that annual fees shouldn’t be a dealbreaker). The card that hit all of these points was the Merrill+ Visa Signature Credit Card. At the time, that card offered 50,000 bonus points if you spent $3,000 within the first three months, which translated to about $1,000 worth of plane tickets. And the best part was that the card had no annual fee, making it seem low risk in my eyes. Since I already had to pay for a bunch of wedding expenses, the card seemed like a no-brainer to me.”