I've flown to 44 countries. Avg. flight cost: <$40. AMA

Why 5 star hotels were free for you ?

Hotel points and best-rate guarantees.

Nearly every hotel chain offers credit cards with big sign-up bonuses and no annual fee for the first year. I signed up for a few of those and was able to get weeks worth of free stays.

Plus I got a few best-rate guarantees for free nights. Basically each chain wants you to book on their website, so they make an offer that if you find a cheaper rate elsewhere, you can get the first night free (or some similar deal). I exploit that heavily with some fast Google fingers.

Every card I see that has an offer like that requires you to spend something like $3,000 in the first three months. And many of them charge an annual fee??

screw the annual fee ones, it's basically never worth it.

but yes, many of them have spending thresholds. here's the advice i gave anon-38ujrkel who had a similar q:

now i'm not a rich man so trying to actually spend $5k in 3 months is damn near impossible. that having been said, there are plenty of options for putting "spending" on your card that don't actually cost you much money. for example, buying Visa gift cards that you use or liquidate down the road. or worse comes to worst, you can paypal your friend whatever balance you have left to hit. paypal fees for credit card spend are 2.9%, so $29 for every $1000 you send. well worth it if it'll get you a free roundtrip flight.

/r/churning would disagree with you on annual fees. Those cards often give the best bonuses, and you can downgrade/cancel when the fee comes due.

yeah, different strokes for different folks.

for me, i have millions of miles/points, far more than i can use soon. so the idea of spending cash to get more miles strikes me as silly. but that's just my situation!

yeah, different strokes for different folks.

for me, i have millions of miles/points, far more than i can use soon. so the idea of spending cash to get more miles strikes me as silly. but that's just my situation!

I have a card with annual fee that gives me a companion ticket which normally costs 3 to 4 times the annual cost.

is it the British Airways card? if so, that companion ticket is barely worth the paper it's printed on, sadly :-(

Oh god... we at the hotel industry hate you.

i'm sorry :-(

i love you guys!

I know most hotels will price match, but I've never seen one that will price match AND give you a free night. Are these boutiques or something?

Edit: nevermind. See you answered already below.

nope! Choice Hotels does a first-night-free guarantee. IHG too

Why do you think it's okay to scam hotels for weeks? It seems really unethical.

who said anything about scamming? they set the rules and have full authority over them. i play within those rules

So how are you staying in these hotels for free? Obviously accommodation dictates a large chunk of the expenditure for the rest of us....

Yeah, absolutely. Here's the answer I gave to slashVictorWard and rishi13. Happy to get into more detail if you have specific questions!

Hotel points and best-rate guarantees.

Nearly every hotel chain offers credit cards with big sign-up bonuses and no annual fee for the first year. I signed up for a few of those and was able to get weeks worth of free stays.

Plus I got a few best-rate guarantees for free nights. Basically each chain wants you to book on their website, so they make an offer that if you find a cheaper rate elsewhere, you can get the first night free (or some similar deal). I exploit that heavily with some fast Google fingers.

What did you actually do in Thailand?

i plead the fif...

in all honesty i've been all over SE Asia, but haven't made it to Thailand yet! why, what did you actually do there?

He went to Thailand but ended up in Bangkok.

are you allowed to say that without simultaneously roshamboing someone?

Where did you go and what you liked the most about Mexico?, I feel proud that you are mentioning my country as one of your top 2 out of 44!

Oaxaca, hands-down. I lived there for most of the last year and fell in love with it. It's such a wonderful place, and completely off the tourist path 50 weeks out of the year.

Other awesome places I went in Mexico: D.F., Puebla, and Tuxtla/San Cristobal. All about inland Mexico. Let others take Cancun/Cabo instead

Good on you, although I am from the north I do agree that these places that you mention are the ones with the most dense culture and the best representation of Mexico as a whole.

If you ever visit again give Sinaloa, Sonora and San Luis Potosi a try, very beautiful places to be seen.

i would love to! one of my roommates in Oaxaca was from Sinaloa and would make us ceviche Sinaloa-style all the time. so delicious

Which country had the rudest people? What about the nicest? Any funny or scary stories?

Ahh man, great question! These are obviously based on just a few personal experiences, but:

Rudest: Nicaragua and St. Lucia. Nicest: Taiwan, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Lithuania.

A few short anecdotes. In Nicaragua, a teenager decided he liked my hat (it was a pretty sweet hat) and asked me for it. I said no. He wasn't pleased and so decided to threaten my girlfriend with a pair of scissors he pulled out of his pocket. Except they were the rounded child-proof scissors you get in 3rd grade. We just laughed and continued on our way.

In Taiwan, there wasn't a lot of communication since I don't speak Mandarin, but everyone was very warm and friendly and smiley. I love smiles! Likewise throughout eastern Europe.

The most oh-shit moment I've had traveling was in a bar in Singapore. The place was a country-western bar, which I'd feel out of place in anywhere, but had to see for novelty sake since it was in Singapore. There were Confederate flags on the wall and Elvis impersonators on stage. A minute after we get in, a guy comes up to my friends and I are starts chatting us up, saying how cool we seemed. He invited us over to his table to chat. Good conversation at first, but then pretty soon he started offering us drugs (which carries the death penalty in Singapore), so we adamantly turned them down. He then said we all need shots and went to get bottle service. The bartender brings the bottle over, but pretty soon we notice that the guy and his friend just walked out of the bar. Realizing we were about to get stuck with a $400 bar tab, we grabbed our jackets and ran as fast as we could for the exit. Scam: avoided.

That sucks Nicaragua wasn't good for you. I spent a couple weeks there last summer and everyone was exceptionally friendly. I wandered into a slum and a girl ran out to tell me to turn back because it was too dangerous for me. I guess it depends on cities too, I was in a fairly rural area most of my time there.

that's totally true. i'm always a bit hesitant to make broad generalizations about an entire country after meeting a few people. every country has assholes!

Funny, while in Nicaragua, I actually had a kid come zooming past me and steal my hat while I was wearing it. Enjoy the size 7 3/4 fitted wool hat that won't fit your head for 10 years if you're lucky.

lolol must've been a nice hat!

Unfortunately I kinda agree with this. I was walking down the street in Leon one evening with my dad, sisters, and girlfriend. A dirt bike came from behind us with two Nicaraguan guys on it. The guy in the back of the bike had what was essentially a switch. As they sped past they nailed my lower back and legs with it. Hurt like a mother fucker no long term damage (did make the already uncomfortable bus rides less comfortable) but it was mostly just a shitty thing to do to someone for absolutely no reason.

More than any other country I've been to, I felt your network of ex-pats was important to your enjoyment and success traveling the country.

+1

I can't believe the European countries where the nicest I always heard they were rude, not to mention I work in a factory which is a German owned company and they have not been very nice to me even being one of the best and reliable employees so believed what everyone said. But then again Europe is pretty wide spread and cultures differ. I can't believe there's a bar in Singapore with confederate flags, I live in Alabama and boy do I get annoyed with the sight of a confederate flag everywhere I go lol I hope the rest of your journey is great!!

i think there's a big divide between eastern and western europe. i've encountered some of that rudeness in western europe, but almost never in eastern.

How are hotels free?

Copy-pasted from above :-)

Hotel points and best-rate guarantees.

Nearly every hotel chain offers credit cards with big sign-up bonuses and no annual fee for the first year. I signed up for a few of those and was able to get weeks worth of free stays.

Plus I got a few best-rate guarantees for free nights. Basically each chain wants you to book on their website, so they make an offer that if you find a cheaper rate elsewhere, you can get the first night free (or some similar deal). I exploit that heavily with some fast Google fingers.

That answer doesn't really explain anything as far as how to go about doing this. That said, would you mind doing so? I stay in 5*s around the world for nothing or dirt cheap as well thanks to a card with points, but the best rate guarantee has me confused. What kind of magic do you work with that? Thanks!

so each hotel chain (marriott, hilton, IHG, etc.) offers a credit card with big sign-up bonuses, as much as 80k points. i sign up and use those points for super nice hotels around the world. for example, the best hotel in Sofia (right smack in the middle of downtown) was only 3-4k points per night. $0 out of pocket!

as far as BRGs go, it takes a bit of legwork. say a Comfort Inn advertises their nightly rate at $100/night on their website. however, booking.com advertises the exact same room at $95/night. i then book a refundable room and file a claim with Comfort Inn that i found a better rate. they then give me a free night, per their own rules.

You tha man! Currently at the Athens Hilton in a suite overlooking the Acropolis, for free! Super excited to try out the BRG method.

yessssss. i was in Athens in May and stayed at the radisson there. incredible view of the Acropolis from the roof. good luck!

So, I've never travelled in my life aside from being to Iran a few times when I was younger. But I'm planning on going somewhere in October-December.

My dream trip is to go to Tokyo, but I'm most likely travelling alone. Any tips for a first-time traveller/solo-travelling?

Yeah! I'm a big advocate of solo travel, at least once. It sounds super corny, but you learn a lot about yourself in the process.

Assuming you're young-ish, I'd recommend staying in hostels. They can be a bit grungy at times, but there's always tons of other young people and a great built-in social scene. Plus the workers usually know of fun events going on and are super helpful.

Also you might search Meetup.com to see what sorts of groups are getting together in the place you'll be visiting.

Last but not least, don't be afraid to get outside your comfort zone. I was in Osaka about a year ago at a random bar and asked a Norwegian couple next to me how their appetizer was. We got to talking and pretty soon someone else was leading us all on a bar-crawl of craft breweries hidden throughout Osaka!

As a Lithuanian, I'm curiuos what you liked and dislikes about my country, care to share? :D

happy to!

i loved how active everyone was. i was staying right by the river and every afternoon there were hundreds of people hanging out playing volleyball, having picnics, throwing the frisbee, etc. the food was delicious, imo, and the beer was fantastic! plus the architecture in vilnius and the nature in klaipeda/curonian spit was incredible.

to me, lithuania felt like the perfect mix of eastern and western europe. tons of culture/history, not too expensive, and english was widely spoken

What subreddits do you frequent?

Such a personal question! I guess this is ask me anything though...

For travel stuff, I like r/earthporn, r/mapporn, r/digitalnomad and r/travel.

For non-travel stuff, r/lifeprotips, r/financialindependence, and r/iama :-P

I've surprisingly never heard of ITA Matrix before! I just looked and they do have pretty cheap flights! Can you not book directly through them? I mean, why use Momondo to book your flights?

yeah, ITA Matrix just scrapes the information. you have to book elsewhere. almost always you can just take the info you found on ITA Matrix and book it elsewhere though!

I love to travel but can never justify dropping $1000 for a one-way ticket to somewhere.

How can you find such cheap flights?

Please teach me your ways when it comes to the plane tickets. I can find cheap/free lodging in most places I travel, but it is always the fucking ticket that holds me up from actually going.

yeah, me neither! $1000 for a flight is insane.

rather than try to condense everything down to a reddit comment, i can email you my ebook on the matter if you'd like? or if you have any specific questions happy to help!

[deleted]

i do! it's at [www.flyforfreeguide.com](www.flyforfreeguide.com) but i'm happy to give it away for free for anyone to whom the price would be a burden at all :-)

What was positive and negative aspects of traveling INDIA ?

Oh man, I've actually never been, so I can't provide any expertise there. I feel like when I do make it (hopefully soon!) I'll want to spend at least a month there.

Fun fact: I found roundtrip flights to India for under $300 last year. I convinced my friend to go with me and we spent an hour figuring out a good itinerary. 5 seconds before we clicked "buy", the deal disappeared. Fuck!

Suggestion: go to places with nature and scenery, like Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala. Don't spend too much time in the cities other than for getting in/out of the country. Mumbai in the city is hot and dirty and stinky and crowded.

Source: I am Indian.

i appreciate that! :-)

Wideroe deal?

i got in on the wideroe deal for $65 to milan. it was great! did you too??

i can't remember who the $300 India one was with. i think Emirates?

Which country's food you like most ?

Mexico, hands down.

Other top contenders: Vietnam, Japan, Italy, Turkey, and Morocco.

How about you?

These are at the top of my favorite foods as well. It's amazing how food can so well bring up images of a culture.

And maybe Brazilian food.

ahh yessss. haven't been to Brazil yet, but it's on the list!

Ever been to Guatemala? if so, what part(s)? And what did you like/dislike?

I've been a few miles from the border with Mexico, but have yet to make it there.

Have you been? Where would you recommend?

I live here, visit Lake Atitlan, Pacaya Volcano and the Tikal ruins. satisfaction guaranteed.

word!

how's the food?

Which country you like most ? And which country was worst ?

Most: Mexico. Best food in Latin America, if not the world. Super friendly people with great senses of humor. And incredible landscapes/architecture.

Least: St. Lucia. Still a great place, but I didn't encounter the friendliest folks, and the beaches can't compare with elsewhere in the Caribbean. Plus food and transport isn't very cheap

How much money do you save for each trip?

I don't really save anything. Here's why:

The flights are no more than $80 roundtrip, and the hotels are free. I still have to spend money on food, but I had to do that when I was home anyway. Plus food is far cheaper in most places of the world than the United States.

And as far as activities, I usually do self-guided walking tours, hiking, or beaches, stuff that doesn't really cost any money. I come back and my bank account is none the worse for having traveled!

Among the three airline alliances (one world, star alliance, skyteam), if you can only choose one, which would it be?

ugh, such a tough choice! not skyteam, that's for sure. i like oneworld's destinations more since i love Latin America, but star alliance is much easier for avoiding surcharge fees, especially to europe.

gun-to-my-head, star alliance.

Since you don't like cards with annual fees; once you signed up for the hotel cards and received the bonuses - did you simply cancel them within the first year?

more or less. i set myself a google calendar alert for 11 months after i signed up, then call the bank and politely ask them if they can waive the annual fee for the next year since i'm a nice guy (works 50% of the time). if they can't, then i ask to be downgraded to a no-fee card (works remaining 40% of the time). for the 10% of the time that neither works, then i cancel.

How much does it normally cost to fly in the wheel well?

sadly, your life usually :-(

You're killing my routine.

just looking after your health and safety

love, mom

Any advice on tickets to Johannesburg or Reunion Island? I have never seen economy priced at less than 4000 USD

oh wow, that's crazy. the absolute most you should pay is $900 roundtrip for JNB, and i found some flights recently for $700. if you want to get alerted when they pop up, i've got a cheap flights email list here.

here's a few general pieces of advice:

• If you can sign up for a credit card or two, you'll get enough miles for the entire flight and save yourself $4k.

• If you're taking a cross-ocean flight, try to find the cheapest city to fly in to, then search separately for a flight from there to your destination. For example, if you want to fly to Washington DC from Europe, search not only for flights to Washington DC, but also flights to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charlotte. Often times this will save you a ton of money, and it's not tough to get a cheap separate ticket from one of those cities to DC.

• Don't wait until the last minute to book. Unlike 20 years ago, standby fares are mostly a thing of the past and fares tend to shoot up in the final days before a flight actually takes place.

usually the credit card bonuses say something like 40k points after you spend $5000. Did you find credit cards without this limitation? spend the money? Another work around?

which limitation are you referring to? the minimum spending threshold to receive the sign-up bonus?

Yep, minimum spending threshold.

Like this one: Earn 60,000 Hilton HHonors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership

http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/earn-use-points/credit-cards/index.html

most cards have either a minimum spend threshold or an annual fee. since i hate fees and won't pay them, i always go with the minimum spend threshold.

now i'm not a rich man so trying to actually spend $5k in 3 months is damn near impossible. that having been said, there are plenty of options for putting "spending" on your card that don't actually cost you much money. for example, buying Visa gift cards that you use or liquidate down the road. or worse comes to worst, you can paypal your friend whatever balance you have left to hit. paypal fees for credit card spend are 2.9%, so $29 for every $1000 you send. well worth it if it'll get you a free roundtrip flight.

Reading this gives me a creepy feeling you're just a credit card monger.

lol. i like that title

i suppose i am a credit card monger in the sense that i think there's enormous value to be had if you sign up for and use them properly. but credit card companies hate people like me because i'm costing them hundreds if not thousands of dollars by not paying fees

Credit card companies HATE him!

lolol doctors and stock brokers too!

ok, just send me an offer with the terms

i'll need your SSN and bank account/routing number, first. for science

Have you ever had companies try and not follow through on agreements?

nope! they set the rules. i play by them

I have noticed you have invited friends with you on your trips. Do you cover their airfare with your points or are they stuck with buying a $1000 ticket to accompany you around the world?

only if they're a good enough friend :-P

I live in Canada and flights crossing this country cost more than most flights from here to Europe or Asia. Any tips for more affordable flights crossing Canada?

yes, although they're generally applicable and not country-specific.

• Be flexible with your dates and airports. Often times a Friday-Monday flight will be cheaper than a Thursday-Sunday, for instance, even though it's the same number of days. And don't only search your exact dates, even if they're firm. For instance, I once helped my friend George cut the price of a roundtrip flight to Vegas nearly in half by finding a redeye flight that left just after midnight, making it technically a Monday flight and not a Sunday flight.
• If you want the cheapest flights, chase the fare, not the destination. In other words, rather than picking a destination and then looking for the cheapest way to get there, start out by looking where there are cheap flights, and then decide among those where you'd like to go.
• Don't buy too early. For domestic flights, buy 1-3 months out. Otherwise, you're missing out on potential savings if there's a sale.

chase the fare

Are there some fare search engines for this?

SkyScanner is probably the best at it. you can search regions instead of individual airports.

I personally don't like flying places or care for going the places you went, but good that you did it.

So what's the TL;DR how you manage to spend $80 per flight, where do you book them and how?

haha fair enough! different strokes and whatnot

the tl;dr is hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles generated through credit card sign-up bonuses, as well as a keen sense of where to look for cheap-ass flights like $65 NYC-Milan.

i usually find flights on ITA Matrix and book at Momondo

Have you ever used rewards to upgrade your seats on a plane? I almost feel like that is a trip all on its' own right due to the crazy delicious food (referring to asia flights mostly).

i have! it's very decadent, but i'm too frugal to truly enjoy it. i keep thinking "i could be taking getting 2 trips for the same price as this one flight" and it brings me down haha

What was the difference between the "nice" people and the not nice ones? Can you give some Examples when did you decide to rate a folk unfriendly?

it's all just personal experience. how much people smile, how willing they are to chat, whether they seem welcoming or disdainful of your presence. i don't begrudge people for their demeanors, just interesting to note the differences.

in my personal experience, most people i encountered in st. lucia weren't particularly friendly. but that's just one person's experience on a 3-day stay, not an indictment on the entire island! i'm 100% sure plenty of other people have had very positive experiences there

What was the most stressful experience? What was a stressful or challenging situation you experienced multiple times? In those situations, what did you do?

oh man, good question. i once rode a camel in the Sahara Desert in southern Morocco, which was incredible. however, the guide ended up stiffing me on the full tour but wanted the full price. we had a big heated argument in the middle of the Atlas Mountains but neither spoke the other's language. it was...interesting...

So basically how to slowly go bankrupt?

on the contrary. cost of living is far cheaper when i'm flying for free and eating all my meals in vietnam :-)

What do you do when you're not traveling? Do you have a flexible job that allows for frequent time off?

i work as a freelancer writer. some journalism, some book writing, some entrepreneurism. willing participant in the gig economy!

So you get all of these perks with credit cards by signing up. Where exactly do the rewards get stored? I've been wondering how you stock up on points from different cards.

the rewards go straight into your frequent flyer mile accounts

I might be a little late for a response, but I'm curious about how you manage this. You've answered numerous questions about how you AFFORD to travel like this, but how on earth do you find the TIME? For me, that's just as big of a constraint unfortunately.

i'm self-employed, so i get to set my own schedule :-)

i worked a 9-5 for years, though, and was just judicious about using my vacation time to take cool trips

Which was the cheapest country to stay in? And how tourist-friendly was it?

The cheapest country I've been to was either Cambodia or Taiwan. both are very tourist friendly! your dollars will go veeerrrryyyy far there

Have you gone to Ethiopia? If so, did your method find you a cheap rate? I'm going in November so this is perfect timing honestly

not yet! i would looooove to though. but the methods are universal whether you're flying to Ethiopia or Easter Island!

I'm going to utilize this to the best I can! My mother, father, brother, sister, and I are going so this will be saving us a couple of grand if I get it right!

And if you decide on going I suggest you check out Lalibela, Axum, and Addis Ababa!

awesome!! i hope it works out for you all!

How?

can you be more specific?

What made my country one of your favorites?

tacos al pastor :-P

i lived in Oaxaca for a year and just loved the place

Do you have any tips or tricks to avoid scams while travelling? When im in a foreign country i never know how much im supposed to pay. Im like 99 percent sure that I've been ripped off at some point.

ah man, that's a good question. google "X country + scam" beforehand for sure. other than that, i try to avoid taxis and just take buses and whatnot. and google beforehand the expected cost for different things.

but don't take it personally if you end up paying a 20% tourist tax. that's life. think of it as doing your part to help people out :-)

Hello, I find your post fascinating, and i'm writing this at a very late time for where i am, so sorry if you don't udnerstand... what are hotel points and how did you get to stay for free in asia? i am thinking that hotel points are something that you get if you actually live in a hotel for a payed period of time. is it similar to that? how about some obscure hotel in the middle of nowhere that doesnt give any cards or offers? also the plane tickets, i get it that you have very fast fingers and strong arms :D but even if i book inter-continental flights in advance, the price is still around 500 dollars at a minimum for where i am (northern europe) i'd be very interested to hear your answers, and even to get a hold of your ebooks. Thanks!

hotel points are loyalty programs that hotel chains run. you can redeem them for free nights. they mostly only exist among hotel chains, but it helps you travel the world super cheap.

shoot me your email and i'll get you a copy of the book!

How? I mean how.

can you be more specific?