5 Credit Cards to Start Churning Points Responsibly

In talking about points and cards every day I often find that I run out of time explaining the basic strategies to people new to the game. There is no one-size-fits-all credit card point strategy as everyone has different goals in mind when they want points. However, this suggested beginner’s strategy is mostly for people in their early-mid 20’s or even earlier that are just getting their first few relevant credit cards and are trying to establish more credit history while wanting to travel.

This strategy is mainly to build your credit while maximizing flexible bank points and minimizing annual fees. This does not at all mean you should not open up that American Airlines card with a 50K point bonus if you fly AA and have a reward destination already in mind. If that is the case then go for it and cancel the card later assuming your credit history is solid enough, which we will get into a bit more later on.

Most importantly before we get started, you MUST be able to pay off your credit cards each and every month. Paying just the minimum and drowning in credit card interest (debt) is the worst possible thing for you and your credit score at this time in your life. As your history builds up over the years and you pay everything on time with no late/interest fees, you should have no issue getting a mortgage or a larger loan later on in life as your credit score should be fairly excellent if you play by their rules and plus, they'll give you free trips via points for a good score.

Brazil for Dirt Cheap

Sao Paulo at night

I blogged about this a bit earlier thinking $617 was a good price but oh how I was mistaken... If you live in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami, Phoenix, Dallas, Charlotte, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, or Raleigh, pretty much anywhere, you can go to Sao Paulo, Brazil for under $450 basically anytime from June until December.

If you have ever wanted to go to Brazil at all, now is your chance. So don't sleep on this deal as it will more than likely be gone in the morning.

From NYC it is a bit more expensive but can get as cheap as $592 from what I have seen. If you want to go to Rio instead from NYC, you can for $705 round trip direct or $635 with one stop on the way back. The route that I mentioned in my previous post had a multi city itinerary arriving in Rio and leaving from Sao Paulo which would cost just $609 RT direct in this case.

See everyone there and don't forget your visa before you go!

Free Flights to Europe via United

Oktoberfest in Munich, so many giant beers and giant pretzels

100% honesty upfront, that title's technically not true because of taxes/minor fees but let's be real here, we all want to game the system the best we can and if you want a virtually free trip to Europe, I'm pretty sure this is the easiest way you can possibly go about it at the moment. As an example for this post, I was talking to a friend about a trip to Munich for Oktoberfest this year which obviously is a very high demand time for Munich even though it is beginning to get pretty cold in Europe around that time of year. The opening bell rings at Noon on Saturday, 9/19 so the flight from NYC would have to take off on Friday night 9/18 at the very latest. I thought I would put myself to the test and see what I could do for him tonight. With free points and knowing United's award system, we can make this an almost free trip to Munich, Zagreb, and Frankfurt.

Your (and My) Next Vacations

Positano, Italy by @danicaspi via Instagram

Another week goes by and we are welcomed by a couple more deals from NYC over the pond(s)! If there is enough demand for other cities by all of you out there in the interwebs, I will start broadening my search and make it more frequently. For now though, get your wallet ready as I have some sample itineraries below to a couple very cool places for very cheap!

These are just a couple samples but there are also some options to Frankfurt over summer, Dublin over summer, and Stockholm late August onward as well as some cheap ones I have mentioned in the past but they are probably not available anymore. If you want to know how I find these, see my guide to airline pricing.

The GlobeTrotr Basic Travel Kit

Dragon's Back trail in Hong Kong

I've gone over a few ways to get the most points via credit cards along with some strategies to get the cheapest flights but none of those get into what you really need to travel into the mysterious foreign lands waiting for you. Below are some quick and easy tips for beginners to get started with feeling more comfortable while traveling. Some of these may not be exactly budget friendly (like a foreign data plan) but they can help you be prepared as best as possible for most situations when you arrive.

Travel Ideas via Instagram

Asilah, Morocco via @BeautifulDestinations on Instagram

Instagram is useful for much more than scanning through millions of pictures from your friend's lunches and dinners. It is honestly one of my main sources for places to add to my list to see in life. Another great option is Reddit via r/earthporn but I'll let you investigate that one on your own. As far as Instagram goes, a few of my favorites are @worldtravelbook, @beautifuldestinations, @nakedplanet, @cbezerraphotos, @chrisburkard, @elialocardi, and @wonderful_places. Below (and above) is a collection of some of their latest posts that I personally really like and plan on investigating further.

Also, if you are looking to get into photography at all, some of these even may have tips and you can go to their personal websites to see what equipment they use and what techniques were used to get the shots in some cases. You can also purchase some of their pictures and get them framed for your apartment in some cases. Once you follow any of these guys, make sure to check out their websites to see which pictures are for sale and buy one so they can keep feeding us beautiful pictures from around the world!

Flight Deals on 4/3

Oh wow, where do I begin with these deals? If you're trying to go to Asia from basically anywhere in the US, now is the time, and I'm not joking. Ever heard of flights to Taipei for $529? Or maybe to Ho Chi Minh City for $560? There are other deals in the $700 range for most places (Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Hanoi, etc.) but clearly the two aforementioned deals are far superior, especially because connecting flights elsewhere from Taipei and HCMC are relatively easy to find. So would you rather go to California or to Asia? If you have the vacation days from work, I would highly recommend a trip to Asia as it truly is a different experience from anything you can encounter here or in Europe. These flights were found from September on but I believe they end around the first week of November. Depending on where you are going, these would normally be on United or its partners like ANA.

Back to the east but not the far east we have Europe. These flights are tougher to find and quite honestly, the majority of them are just decent deals unless you can find a legitimate stopover as I have mentioned before.  These stopovers still exist for the most part like to Iceland/Amsterdam or Iceland/Norway via Icelandair which you would have to book directly on their site for the best deal. Google Flights attempts to find these deals but normally finds a more expensive version of them (e.g. $760 found by Google, $540 found on Icelandair).

Next Vacation Opportunity: Marrakesh, Morocco, Madrid

A great deal posted today on The Flight Deal to Marrakesh in Morocco from pretty much anywhere in the US (NYC/LA/Philadelphia/etc) for $606 - $771 on Iberia. The best thing about this is the fact that you can use a stopover for only about $100 more than the base price, so add $100 from anywhere and you can easily make this a vacation to both Madrid and Marrakesh all for the price of about $780 (if from NYC).  Or you could just tour all of Morocco for awhile and skip Madrid, the world is your oyster. The deal is mostly from September on although you can find some less ideal dates sooner for a little more. You can book via Iberia direct for the stopover or use the Google Flights multi-city tab, sample itinerary over Labor Day here via Google Flights. See below for more info.

How to Spend Your Money Wisely

Photo courtesy of 401kcalculator.org at Flickr

Spending money. The great American pastime. Who would have thought that you could be doing it wrong still?

Recently, credit cards have been getting a bad rap thanks to people that use them incorrectly. They don't pay off their balances, they pay tons of interest, they go into debt, and the next thing you know, it's all the credit card's fault (to be fair, their interest rates are out of control). Well, I'm here to tell you that credit cards aren't so bad! I personally think they're great because if you funnel all your costs through them appropriately and pay off your balance each month, you get free stuff! And who doesn't love free stuff?? Now, how much free stuff is completely dependent on how you redeem the monopoly money they give you in points but in this post we will only discuss how to get the most funny money for your lifestyle by going through a few of the best credit cards available below.

Flight Deals 3/27

Many of these deals have been aggregated from other sites and most will be live for maybe 24 hours (if that) but if they are of interest to you, it is worth checking to see if they still exist. These are all Round Trip.

$513 NYC -> Amsterdam via IcelandAir 1 stop KEF - Travel in June, select dates, sample date: 6/5 - 6/14. Long layover in Iceland but worth it for the price, and can do Fri - Sun in the summer. Stopover available if booked directly through IcelandAir site, select Stopover option.

$224 NYC -> Santo Domingo via JetBlue direct - Travel from May to June, sample date: 6/19 - 6/23

$599 Newark -> Honolulu via American 1 stop DFW - Travel from April to May, sample date: 4/16 - 4/20

$551 NYC JFK -> Oslo via Norwegian direct - Travel from April to June, sample date: 6/4 - 6/9. Must buy in NOK and may have to use Google Translate to help read Norsk. USD equivalent is $691 for that sample date. Cheaper fares earlier than June as it is colder but can use to connect.

$767 direct or $651 1 stop NYC -> Milan (MXP) via Alitalia or Lufthansa - Labor Day Travel, sample date: 8/27 - 9/7

$786 1 stop NYC -> Belgrade via KLM and Air Serbia - Summer Travel from June to July, sample date: 7/15 - 7/27

$90 Dallas -> Denver (and vice versa) via American (or Spirit or Frontier) direct - Travel from April to May, sample date: 4/16 - 4/20

Airline Tickets: Everyone's Worst Enemy

Photo by Michael Kelley, LAX Take Offs

I think the most common question I get asked is how to get cheaper airfare. There is no simple answer to this because honestly, the airlines are scumbags. They know the majority of us want the same travel plans. Hmm, a trip during the summer you say? And maybe Friday - Sunday? Direct? I don't think anyone else wants those days ever so sure, no big deal, have a discounted flight! I wish this happened (I'm sure you do too) but obviously it isn't the reality of the situation. This alone is the biggest barrier to many people even beginning to look into travel. Below are some rules that you should have a look through before you consider booking flights for your next vacation that I hope will help you get past that barrier and ultimately save money.

Travel While You're Young

I cannot count how many times I have heard the following phrase: "I wish I had the money (and/or time) to travel." This is so self defeating that it hurts me deep down every time I hear it. Stop wishing and start trying, it is incredibly feasible to do this when you are in your 20's and if you don't do it now, then when will you do it? People always ask me how I do it, and honestly, there are a few easy rules to follow but first, a bit of my background as this is the first post...