Welcome to the CreditDonkey Travel More Course

Greetings. You're here because you want to learn how to save on travel. Maybe you want to take that dream vacation, or you want to have more money to do fun activities once you get to your destination.

And we all know that flights and hotel accommodations are always the most expensive part of travel.

But it doesn't have to be. Learn how to use airline miles and points to your advantage.

At first glance, phrases like "frequent flyer programs," "airline miles," and "award flights" sound like a lot of trouble. It sounds like something only people who travel a lot can do.

Guess what? You can do it too.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with Your First Step

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It takes planning, but there is nothing intimidating about it.

The concept of using travel rewards is basically earning tons of airline miles or hotel points that you can exchange for flights, cabin upgrades, hotel rooms, etc.

And the most amazing part? You do not even need to fly to do this.

Yes, You Can Earn TONS of Miles and Points Without Flying

Here's the basic concept:

• Earn airline miles with your everyday purchases
  
• Apply for specific travel reward credit cards that offer bonus airline miles (or hotel points)
  
• Then trade them in for that free flight (or hotel nights)

It sounds simple when we break it down like that, right?

But first, here's a mental check list to see if the airline miles and points game is right for you:

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• Do you have a great credit score? Unfortunately, you can only get approved for travel reward cards if you have excellent credit. If you are not quite there yet, not to worry. Focus on building your credit, and you'll get there soon enough.

• Do you pay off your balance each month? You should able be able to pay off your credit card balance in full each month. If not, travel rewards cards may not be the best for you. They usually have high interest rates in order to give you awesome rewards.

• Can you meet the minimum spend requirement? Often, travel reward cards have a high minimum spend requirement (for example: spend $4,000 within the first 3 months). If you do not meet it, you will not get the bonus miles, which is the entire point of this strategy.

• Will you travel enough to justify the annual fee? Most travel reward cards come with an annual fee. So think about how often you travel a year (or plan to). Usually, you would want to travel at least once a year to justify the fees. There is no point earning tons of miles if you never have time to take vacations.

• Can you be flexible with your travel plans? Flexibility is key when it comes to redeeming for free flights. Airlines often only release a certain number of award seats per flight, so maybe you don't see anything on your ideal date, but there'll be an open seat 2 days before or after. We'll talk more about award seat strategies in Day 8.

• Are you organized? You must be organized to keep track of your credit cards, minimum spend requirements, points expirations, etc. We will go over this later as well.

But Wait! Can I Really Just Travel for Free?

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Award travel is not completely free. You still have to pay some fees. But they are usually minimal compared to paying for a full-priced airfare or hotel room.

For an award flight, you would still have to pay some taxes and fees, and sometimes even a fuel surcharge. This can be as low as just $5.60 each way domestically within the U.S. Or it can be hundreds of dollars going to Europe. We will go over this more later and tell you tricks to avoid the high fees.

For hotel nights, you still have to pay any resort fees and tips.

So we call it "almost free" travel.

Ready to give this a try?

What You Will Learn in This Course:

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If you have a great credit score and can be responsible with your cards, then let's get started with earning travel rewards.

Over the next 9 days, you will learn:

• Exactly how airline miles work
  
• How to earn airline miles without flying
  
• The best and worst travel reward cards
  
• The different credit card rewards programs
  
• How to choose the right cards for you and our recommendations
  
• How to come up with an optimal card strategy
  
• How to best redeem your points for award flights
  
• How to best redeem your points for hotel nights

Each day, you will receive an email with a new lesson. These mini-lessons, approximately 5-10 minutes long, will help you learn how to both earn and use travel rewards wisely.

Stick it out and by the end of the 10 days, you will be on your way to scoring that flight or hotel for your next vacation.

See you back here tomorrow!