{"id":221,"date":"2024-06-10T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T20:30:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T20:30:06","slug":"how-to-travel-for-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Travel for Free\u00b9"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u00b9must be willing to jump through a litany of loopholes and degrade oneself before the transfer portal gods.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the last week, I\u2019ve seen a slew<\/span><\/a> of headlines<\/span><\/a> on the tails of American Express\u2019s first-quarter <\/span><\/a>earnings report, revealing that Gen Z and millennial users are accumulating their pricey, premium cards like student loans are in retrograde. This was interesting timing, as just a few weeks ago, I was interviewed for a piece in the Washington <\/span><\/a>Post<\/em><\/span><\/a> about travel rewards. <\/p>\n

The article examined the \u201chumblebrag\u201d travel content that cites\u2014with somewhat mysterious origins\u2014how an individual was able to fly Business Class \u201cfor free\u201d or travel the globe \u201cwithout paying a dime.\u201d Predictably, there\u2019s a bit of pyramid-shaped smoke and mirrors happening here: While the sign-up bonuses themselves can be worthwhile (many popular programs offer introductory rewards that eclipse $1,000 in value), the absurdly luxurious onboard suites with queen-size beds and champagne fountains depicted in these videos often require hundreds<\/em> of thousands of points to redeem\u2014an amount that\u2019s really only possible to accumulate if you spend or travel a lot already, never use your points, churn cards, and\/or rack up the maximum number of referrals each year. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>Travel rewards were a semi-integral part of my financial awakening.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

The writer understood why travel<\/em> creators were talking about these cards\u2014but he was curious why so many personal finance<\/em> writers covered them (enter: yours truly). Travel credit cards are about as close to \u201ccontroversial\u201d territory as we have in the tactical world of compound interest calculators and high-yield savings accounts, because credit cards (and debt in general) have long been associated with irresponsibility<\/span><\/a>. <\/p>\n

But as I told the Post, travel rewards were a semi-integral part of my financial awakening. In a time when I had little disposable income and<\/em> a desire to experience my twenties in places other than my apartment complex\u2019s courtyard, they enabled me to take weekend trips I wouldn\u2019t have been able to easily afford without them. <\/p>\n

More than that, they were fun<\/em>. <\/p>\n

There was so little in my financial life at the time that felt within my scope of control: I was quietly making responsible choices about what to do with my $1,600 bimonthly paychecks, living within my means, and notching up my 401(k) contributions like the good little aspiring retiree I was, but as every finance book I read at the time reminded me, there weren\u2019t shortcuts<\/em> on this path. Compounding took time, and time had to be spent somehow. <\/p>\n

But the ability to research which cards had the best bonuses, and how to cobble those bonuses together for a free stay at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas (the absolute lap of hedonistic luxury as far as 25-year-old Katie was concerned)? The freedom to execute a strategy that would afford me a $75 breakfast credit every day of my trip? (This was more than I spent on weekly groceries at the time.) Titillating. An amusement park for the mind. In October 2021, I published a post<\/span><\/a> about my love affair with travel rewards that included the well-adjusted and not-at-all concerning line, \u201cPay for my coffin with points and host my funeral in the Centurion Lounge.\u201d I didn\u2019t grow up traveling, and this mystical universe of points and miles is what enabled me to leave the US for the first time at the age of 23.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>Credit card points were like extreme couponing for people with a superiority complex.\u00a0\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Forget a path with shortcuts\u2014this was an entire world<\/em> of shortcuts, loopholes, and free upgrades, readily retrofittable to my new personality of Fiscally Prudent Young Person. Credit card points were like extreme couponing for people with a superiority complex. <\/p>\n

I never carried a balance on the cards (and therefore paid no interest) and my credit score was rapidly approaching 800 (leaving me unworried about long-term financial damage), so travel credit cards felt like a game I could play\u2026and win. In retrospect, I think I derived more enjoyment from finding ways to get trips for as cheaply as possible than I did on the trips themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n

Credit card points were my cheat meal in a world of rice and beans. In the grand scheme of my portfolio accumulation process, they didn\u2019t play an outsized role, but they were a treat for all my other boring, sensible choices. Every time my Ultimate Rewards points transported me from the trappings of my normal life of meal prepping and working overtime to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, I felt like I was taking a magic carpet ride into a rich person\u2019s life, an experience I documented at the time<\/span><\/a> with delirious wonderment. <\/p>\n

Often the debate about whether travel rewards (and the plasticware you must obtain to participate) are \u201cworth the hassle\u201d focuses tangentially on the question of credit card debt more broadly, or attempts to dissect the trade-off of time spent. On the latter question, Nick Maggiulli suggests<\/span><\/a> you\u2019re wasting your time on maximizing rewards if you make more than $200,000 per year. <\/p>\n

Because there\u2019s a payoff in the form of fake tokens you can redeem for real travel, it\u2019s assumed that the only gauge by which you can judge worthiness is whether the effort spent engineering the trip generates a commensurate amount of money saved. The idea that it\u2019s \u201cnot worth your time\u201d usually rests on the assumption that your time could be better spent doing something more valuable, like, I don\u2019t know, negotiating a raise. But we don\u2019t use the same language about leisure activities like Netflix (TV isn\u2019t worth your time!<\/em>), because we don\u2019t expect things we do for fun to meet stringent ROI requirements. Some people find enjoyment\u2014find pleasure<\/em>\u2014in pulling one over on the fine folks at American Express or scoring a really gratifying redemption. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>Nothing compares to the illicit joy of falling asleep in a hotel room you didn\u2019t actually \u201cpay\u201d for\u2014and I stand by that.\u00a0\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

I\u2019m in a different phase of life now (and mostly pay for my travel with real money, as I can finally afford to), but I still get a secret thrill from swapping out my accumulated points from regular spending for $1,000 off an international round-trip ticket. I don\u2019t spend hours scouring the internet for the best redemption value (…very often) anymore, but nothing compares to the illicit joy of falling asleep in a hotel room you didn\u2019t actually \u201cpay\u201d for\u2014and I stand by that. <\/p>\n

The good news, though, is that if you don\u2019t<\/em> enjoy it, can\u2019t be bothered, or, to Nick\u2019s point, already \u201cearn more than $200,000 per year,\u201d you can get a simple cash-back card and ignore the influencers in their business class suites. Get a little somethin\u2019-somethin\u2019 for the money you\u2019re going to spend anyway, but know that points and miles aren\u2019t required for your journey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00b9must be willing to jump through a litany of loopholes and degrade oneself before the transfer portal gods. In the last week, I\u2019ve seen a slew of headlines on the tails of American Express\u2019s first-quarter earnings report, revealing that Gen Z and millennial users are accumulating their pricey, premium cards like student loans are in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178814,"featured_media":2226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"si-template-single-post-everyday-spending-and-budgeting.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-rewards","tag-everyday-spending-and-budgeting"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Travel for Free\u00b9 - Money with Katie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Travel for Free\u00b9 - Money with Katie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00b9must be willing to jump through a litany of loopholes and degrade oneself before the transfer portal gods. In the last week, I\u2019ve seen a slew of headlines on the tails of American Express\u2019s first-quarter earnings report, revealing that Gen Z and millennial users are accumulating their pricey, premium cards like student loans are in […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Money with Katie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-10T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T20:30:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PlaneWindow_Green-Mint-674x1024.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"674\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katie Gatti\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Gatti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/\",\"name\":\"How to Travel for Free\u00b9 - Money with Katie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PlaneWindow_Green-Mint-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-10T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-04T20:30:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/51ab3e47f462d7af0d7d2b00ab153000\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PlaneWindow_Green-Mint-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PlaneWindow_Green-Mint-scaled.png\",\"width\":1684,\"height\":2560},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Travel for Free\u00b9\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/\",\"name\":\"Money with Katie\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/51ab3e47f462d7af0d7d2b00ab153000\",\"name\":\"Katie Gatti\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59c980f5acd370ecf7e985b2da3db33f1883bc4b53677d75e5b8f124f8e1ed74?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59c980f5acd370ecf7e985b2da3db33f1883bc4b53677d75e5b8f124f8e1ed74?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katie Gatti\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/author\/katiemoneywithkatie-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Travel for Free\u00b9 - Money with Katie","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Travel for Free\u00b9 - Money with Katie","og_description":"\u00b9must be willing to jump through a litany of loopholes and degrade oneself before the transfer portal gods. In the last week, I\u2019ve seen a slew of headlines on the tails of American Express\u2019s first-quarter earnings report, revealing that Gen Z and millennial users are accumulating their pricey, premium cards like student loans are in […]","og_url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/","og_site_name":"Money with Katie","article_published_time":"2024-06-10T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-04T20:30:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":674,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PlaneWindow_Green-Mint-674x1024.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Katie Gatti","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katie Gatti","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/","name":"How to Travel for Free\u00b9 - Money with Katie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PlaneWindow_Green-Mint-scaled.png","datePublished":"2024-06-10T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-04T20:30:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/51ab3e47f462d7af0d7d2b00ab153000"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PlaneWindow_Green-Mint-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PlaneWindow_Green-Mint-scaled.png","width":1684,"height":2560},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-travel-for-free\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Travel for Free\u00b9"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/","name":"Money with Katie","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/51ab3e47f462d7af0d7d2b00ab153000","name":"Katie Gatti","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59c980f5acd370ecf7e985b2da3db33f1883bc4b53677d75e5b8f124f8e1ed74?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59c980f5acd370ecf7e985b2da3db33f1883bc4b53677d75e5b8f124f8e1ed74?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katie Gatti"},"url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/author\/katiemoneywithkatie-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178814"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2108,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/2108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}