044: Travel Hacks from my last 50 Flights • Passion Design Project

Summary::

I JUST flew my 50th flight in 6 months. What is that – my golden flight?

My 50th flight took me nonstop from JFK to Honolulu…not a bad 50th I would say. Mostly because my favorite food is Tuna Poke, and HELLO poke mecca!!! Be still, my heart.

Do you have a favorite foreign delicacy? (Maybe Hawaii doesn’t count as foreign, but until mango & avo trees grow in my Jackson Hole backyard, it’s pretty foreign to me!) Two of my ABSOLUTE other favorites are Pad Thai in Thailand and pastries in Paris. Yes, all pastries. Any pastry will do. Not kidding.

So in the midst of this milestone, I got thinking about you guys. I’m thinking a lot of you would welcome more travel in your life. Or at least the ability to go places when you want to, right?

So today I’m dropping a couple of my best travel tips that I’ve implemented from 50 straight flights. Nothing makes me happier than hearing about people’s excursions and discussing the amazing things they experienced in other places, and I want more of that for you.

Let’s start with straight up getting out of the house and onto a plane. The idea is nice, but the expense is not. I get it. Using Jackson Hole boutique airport, there aren’t exactly cheap options when buying flights, so I resorted to finding alternate ways. This even included joining a Frequent Flier Club from one of my favorite bloggers for years.

I find travel hacking incredibly interesting and have definitely put it to use myself. One of my favorite ways to hack is to use credit card points.

Maybe the word credit card freaks you out a little bit. Don’t let it. First off, if you let credit cards scare you because you don’t think you’ll be responsible enough for them…change your story! There’s absolutely no reason to not be able to control your money habits and if you implement a mindset that you’ll be smart and invest wisely with your cards, they can be very beneficial point-wise and build great credit, too (which is a good life-skill). Remember this simple fact: you control your spending; credit cards do not control you.

So yes, credit card points have gotten me some awesome flights in the past. Some of which include: a ticket from Bali to Austin, Texas, a cheap points ticket from boutique Jackson Hole airport to New York, a ticket from Ohio to New York last minute on points I didn’t even know I had, and a first class ticket an hour before a flight during the holidays.

Regarding points, remember this trick: do not use your points as cash! Use them as points. How? Put simply, first apply for a free frequent flier account on the airline of your choice (you should technically already have these set up – do it now!), and then go to your credit card account online and go through the steps of transferring points to your airline. You’ll get a much better deal this way!

Next, choose a location!! This is the fun part! Once you decide that you WILL go somewhere, where do you go?

I talk to so many people who are repeat vacationers. What’s that? People who go to the same place every year. Okay. I get why this happens. It’s familiar. You enjoy it. It’s easy to plan. Yeah, yeah, all fine. I repeat some trips too. For instance, I really enjoy Aspen during ski season, and have even repeated a few international destinations. But the key here is that if I repeat, it’s a spur of the moment thing. It just works and I go. I don’t go on the trip and start planning it again for the next year.

I’d love to say that I’m totally cool with repeat-vacationers, but the fact of the matter is that I’d be lying. I still like you guys, but I’ll just be real….it’s super necessary to expand your horizons! And no, not just for my benefit, for YOUR benefit. Say you enjoy a nice glass of wine when you’re on vacation. Have you visited any Vineyards in Italy (or Napa) to get the true experience? Or you’re into Yoga classes – did you ever consider doing a retreat in Costa Rica (a really easy place to fly and travel to)?

And, if you aren’t the international travel type (yet), there are SO many places in the states that you may be overlooking.

When I was a trek guide taking passengers around the USA, I went to so many places that I didn’t even realize existed. Growing up in Ohio, I knew of the highlights of the midwest, Myrtle Beach, Florida, and some East coast highlights. Never did I realize I could literally drown in incredible sites if I went to the Southwest.

So today, Pinterest a few of my favorites and see if you’d like to vacation to them (all very doable!).

-Bryce Canyon + Zion National Park (add Moab if you have extra time)

-Monument Valley (get really into it and add an overnighter under the stars with a local guide!)

-Any Mountain town in the summer or winter in Colorado (or Wyoming or Montana!). People often come to mountain towns for the snow, but stay because they enjoy the summer so much.

These 2 tips should be easy starting points to getting you onto a life of more freedom and fun. If you decide to go somewhere new, please let me know at haley@passiondesignproject.com!

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I’d love to know what you’d like to hear more of, or any guests you’d like me to have. You can reach me at Haley@PassionDesignProject.com or by finding me on Facebook at Passion Design Project.