We just finished booking our summer travel. Read on to find out how you can travel for pennies on the dollar next summer or even for this winter…

Here is what we booked and what it cost us

So, how did we save over two thousand dollars on hotels and airfare? Well we didn’t do it by racking up miles flying all over the USA doing life/soul sucking consulting work with little to no personal life. Nope. Griffin works from anywhere with and internet connection doing work he loves and Valerie works around town doing social work that she loves.

What we did was strategically sign up for and receive credit card rewards from different credit card companies without changing our spending habits or overspending. Here are the cards we used for this trip:

American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card

Rewards Bonus Details

Bonus Amount: 30,000 SkyMiles
Minimum Spend: $500
Time Limit: 3 Months
Annual Fee: $0 for first year and then $95/year
Re-Apply Rules: Every 2 years
Bonus Perk(s): $50 Statement credit after you make a delta purchase on your card within time limit.

Chase IHG Rewards Club Select Visa

Rewards Bonus Details

Bonus Amount: 60,000 IHG Points
Minimum Spend: $1,000
Time Limit: 3 Months
Annual Fee: $0 for first year and then $49/year
Re-Apply Rules: Unknown
Bonus Perk(s):

• One free night per year after 1 year of having the card
• Upgrade to Platinum Elite Status as long as you are a cardmember. Benefit details here.

Chase Ink Bold Business Charge Card

Rewards Bonus Details

Bonus Amount: 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
Minimum Spend: $5,000
Time Limit: 3 Months
Annual Fee: $0 for first year and then $95/year
Re-Apply Rules:  Unknown
Bonus Perk(s):

•  20% Off travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 1:1 point transfer with no transfer fees

List Transfer Partners as of this writing

I hope the information above makes sense. Basically, each card has a minimum spend usually within three months. If you meet the minimum spend requirement within the time limit you should receive the award points shortly.

So, how do we recommend getting all these points? Here is our method.

STEP 1 – Credit Monitoring

Sign up for a free credit monitoring account at one or both of the following sites:

• Credit Karma – Free monthly TransUnion score
• Credit Sesame – Free monthly Experian score

These will allow you to get your current credit score as well as Monitor your credit for any issues from here forward. If you are in credit card debt or have a bad credit score, this may be a good step to take to monitor your credit, but please note, these companies are making money from commissions by recommending credit cards to you.  We recommend not going with their recommended credit cards as they are not always the best available.

STEP 2 – Pick Your Card

Once you have confirmed that you have a good credit score then you are ready to apply for your first card. We highly recommend only applying to cards for which you are sure you will be using the resulting rewards within 12 months. The reason for this is that many of the rewards points have expiration dates and/or other stipulations that affect the points after one year.

Example
We signed up for an Alaskan Airlines card to get 40,000 Alaskan Airlines Miles, but it turns out if you cancel the card you lose all your points. So we have paid two $95 fees so far in hopes to be able to use the card on a future flight. If this continues for much longer, we will not be saving any money.

We can personally recommend the cards above, but there are plenty of other cards for most of the major rewards programs you may be interested in. For example, if you are wanting Amtrak points, you could sign up for the Chase Ink Bold card above which can transfer points 1:1 to Amtrack, but you may also be able to find another option via a quick Google search for Amtrak Credit Card. If you are looking for another reward program, just sub out Amtrak for the rewards you are looking for and google that.

This gets a little complicated, but we recommend only applying to one Airline rewards card per Ailine alliance. The three major alliances are

One World | Sky Team | Star Alliance

The reason for this is so that your miles are in one main account instead of spread across a lot of accounts where you can’t leverage them as well. As long as you have miles in one of the alliances airline accounts, you can usually book flights with any airline on that alliance and sometimes even get better mileage value as well.

OK. Now, after you have thoroughly read and understood all there terms and conditions of the card you have selected, go ahead and apply for your desired credit card and best of luck! If approved, move on to Step 3.

STEP 3 – Use The Card

Be sure to spend the minimum required amount within the time limit on the card. We highly recommend not changing your spending habits as this is another way to get in debt, so make sure before that you can spend the required amounts, usually of $500 – $5,000 on the credit card in the time limit required. If you are unable to meet the minimum spend or do it in the time limit, you will not receive the major point bonus and all your effort will not be worth it. What we do is focus on one card every three months or until paid off. This way we can spend only on the desired card for the three months period and make sure we have spent the minimum before the time limit.

NEXT STEP – Collect & Track Your Points

So, you have been collecting points and Airline miles for a while and now you are having a bit of a hard time keeping up with it all? No problem. There is free service that can help with that. We use and highly recommend Award Wallet. It allows you to track most rewards programs balances for free. You can pay to view expiration dates and other features, but we have been more than happy with the free version.

FINAL STEP

Go travel! Enjoy your strategic work and book flights, trains and/or hotels and enjoy the time with your friends and loved ones!

TAKING IT FURTHER

If you are looking to take this all to the next level, below are a few resources that we have found well worth the investment.

1. Frequent Flyer Master

If you want to learn more about travel hacking and even get a guaranteed free domestic flight in the States, check out this great resource by someone who has traveled to every country in the world!

Frequent Flyer Master is a full e-book, a 20-minute audio, and a 4-page Priceline specific guide on the art of hacking airline miles. Click for a full description.

2. Travel Hacking Cartel

If you want to join a group of people passionate about finding the best deals, racking up points and traveling in style using points instead of cash, this is the place to be.  There is a monthly charge for this group, but we have found it more than worth the cost and have made back 10x our investment and more through the rewards travel from it.

3. Flyer Talk Forums

This is another great group to join if you are looking to really stay up to date and on top of all the different rewards travel options, hacks and strategies.  It takes a bit more time and energy than the above two resources, but it has the added benefit of being free!

We hope this has been encouraging and helpful. We have shared these strategies with many of our family and friends and have always enjoyed hearing about their travels using points for first class flights, resort hotels and more. Have you used miles and points to book an amazing trip? Share about it in the comments and let us know if we missed anything.

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While traveling in New Zealand, we definitely wanted to take a stop in Rotorua, New Zealand’s hotspot for geothermal activity. A short stroll around town can take you past countless hot pools and bubbling mud pits being heated directly by the Earth’s core.

The absolute best way to see everything Rotorua has to offer in one place is with a morning visit to Wai-O-Tapu.

While Wai-O-Tapu is great to visit at any time of day, I recommend visiting in the morning; at 10:15 to be exact. That’s the time the Lady Knox Geyser erupts each day and you definitely don’t want to miss it. Griffin and I were surprised by how much we learned about geysers in the brief speech given by a park guide shortly before the spout gave us a show. It was still going when we finished our photos and headed to the main park area to check out the rest of the “geothermal wonderland.” Of course, don’t show up at 10:15 exactly. You’ll need to get there early to get tickets and make your way to the viewing area, which is a little past the main entrance to Wai-O-Tapu.

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After the geyser, head back to the main entrance to continue your tour. There are three routes around the park, a short, middle and long, depending on how much time you have. The long route takes about 1-1 ½ and I highly recommend doing this one. Honestly speaking, I can’t think of any of the sites you would want to miss by taking a shorter trek. Not to worry, all three routes are easy walking and self-guided, so you can go at your own pace. You’ll find the place well marked and the routes easy to follow with a handy map, which you can find in several languages.

The thing we kept asking ourselves was “How on earth did this many geothermals end up in one relatively small area?” It’s amazing.

Highlights of the walk include the Sinter Terrace Formations, Champagne Pool, Crater Lakes, Hydrothermal areas, and an amazing range of colorful pools and volcanic areas. You’ll need to remember your camera for sure.

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Nearby the park itself is another famous site, the Mud Pools, which was entertaining enough to make us stop and stare through more time than we noticed.

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The geyser, park and mud pools all combined to give us a fantastic morning adventure that you will absolutely not want to miss. I promise this place is definitely worth the visit.

Tips:
Wai-O-Tapu opens at 8:30am and closes at 5:00pm, with the last admission at 3:45. If you arrive early in the morning, make sure you time it so you can leave to see Lady Knox erupt at 10:15am.

Get to the geyser area early as the viewing area fills up. If you’re planning to take photos or video, you may want to check which way the wind in traveling before choosing your seat as mist from the geyser can wet your equipment pretty thoroughly.

There is a lovely cafe if you need refreshment as well as a visitor center on site.

The staff is extremely friendly and they will go out of their way to answer any questions for you and help you find your way around.

Make sure you follow the guide map closely so you don’t miss any of the hotspots. They are each numbered, so they are easy to follow, but some of the turns can confuse you if you’re not checking the map closely.

For more information, visit the Wai-O-Tapu website here.

What is Animoto?

Animoto allows you to create stunning movies from your pictures and text. We tried it out for this movie as well as some we made for our moms on Mother’s Day and we really liked it.
Just upload your pictures, select some music, put in some text and it takes care of the rest. It really couldn’t be any easier. You have to pay to make a video longer than 30 seconds,to download the video and/or for higher quality video. But, if you just want to share a 30 second clip online it is free and their prices are reasonable if you want more options. We just paid for a month and then cancelled instead of having a yearly membership. We may do the same thing in a couple more months once we have some more ideas and pictures to share. Check it out here and let us know what you think.