The good life, for less
Lufthansa business class, where I am (hopefully) currently sitting :)
I'm taking a trip to Europe this month to see family and friends. Here's my itinerary:
Fly Sendai-Tokyo-Munich-Nuremberg (business)
Fly Nuremberg-Frankfurt-London (economy)
Rent car, drive London-Bristol-Liverpool-Leeds-London
Fly London-Santiago de Compostela (economy)
Fly Vigo-Bilbao (economy)
Fly Bilbao-Frankfurt-Beijing-Tokyo-Sendai (business)
I'll mostly be staying with friends, with one night in a hotel.
The total cost of the trip? Under 80,000 yen.
It's so cheap because I am using air miles for most of the flights and low-cost carriers for the rest, hotel points for the hotel, and a really cheap deal through Expedia for the car hire.
Miles and points are a great way to save money, travel more comfortably, or both. My ebook provides a basic introduction, but the first step is to get a credit card that gives you miles or points for your everyday spend. Then put everything on the credit card (be extremely careful not to increase your spending) and pay it in full every month.
After a while you will have enough miles or points for a free trip. Rinse and repeat.
Anyone else into travel hacking? Share your success stories and tips in the comments.
This post first ran on RetireJapan in September 2016