To kick the new year off, were sharing our top tips and hacks to travel a little more luxury using points, miles, and credit card perks the smart way. We share tips about staying organized and tracking bonuses to flying premium cabins, scoring luxury hotels for nearly free, and maximizing perks like lounge access and hotel credits. If your 2026 resolution is to travel more often and spend less, this is the episode for you!

We have TONS more travel tips episodes to help you stay organized, use tricks, and travel good more often at lower costs!

Track flight and hotel deals on Thrifty Traveler Premium! One of our top hacks is combining points bonuses with point flight deals! Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.

2026 Travel Tips – Episode Transcript

0:40

Hello fellow travelers. Hey, squaddies. Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast. Today we are starting a brand new 2026 year off with the best travel tips to maximize this year of travel.

0:54

Speaker 1

We do an annual travel tips episode and I’m super excited to dive into this one because I feel like 2025, we really maximize our strategies and use our credit card points and hacks and really got like really good travel credit cards and we’re using really good benefits.

1:13

And so we did a lot of bougie or luxury travel, but on a budget.

And so I’m really excited to dive into this episode and share some of those tips with you guys so you could have the same experience.

1:25

Speaker 3

Yeah, we’re going to have a good plethora of tips here on a range of topics, no doubt.

But also do know, as Brittany kind of mentioned, a lot of these tips will be kind of travel, hacking and gaming, so to speak with your points and utilizing perks if you have credit cards.

1:42

But of course, there are some Nuggets sprinkled in between here that don’t necessarily involve that if that’s not something that you are into.

But tried and true tips nevertheless to make travel easier in 2026 and of course moving forward for life.

1:57

Never Forget Anything with These Packing Hacks

So we have a few different categories of tips.

The 1st is organization.

My first tip because I forget some thing on a trip almost every time I travel.

I am now using an Evergreen packing list.

I know Brittany, you already have one of these.

2:13

I have one for carry ONS so I don’t forget things.

But now this is an Evergreen packing list of everything I always bring on a trip.

Shampoo, conditioner, my laundry bag, shoe bag, air tag, like these things I sometimes do forget.

Even things like a tripod.

Sometimes I’ll forget and it’s not something you actually need.

2:31

But if I forget it, I always miss it and wish that I had it.

So an Evergreen packing list and a notes in your phone or Google doc where it’s something you look at every time you pack.

You don’t have to recreate, it ensures you don’t forget anything.

2:43

Speaker 1

You know, that is a really good tip.

I actually have one of the boxes that slides under your bed and in it I keep a lot of my packing cubes, my collapsible backpack, my tripod, my sound machine, and other things that I might forget if I didn’t have them all in one place.

3:01

And so like you said, can you have like a lisp?

And I have as well, but I also have a space that I keep most of these items in so that when I grab that bin I can just grab what I need out of it.

3:12

Speaker 3

Well, and I think that’s a good segment into the next tip, which is just keep things you typically need already packed.

So you Brittany for some of those stuff is not already packed, but it’s in the same spot so you don’t forget it.

But I keep lots of things already packed and always packed such as toiletries or my laundry bag is always in my luggage.

3:33

So when we come back, of course I have my toiletries, shampoo, soap, conditioner, certain types of like creams, antibiotic cream, hydrocortisone cetera, all that type of stuff.

I never take that out of my travel bag.

I just always have that travel bag ready to go and it’s there.

3:49

The only thing that I would ever need to do is maybe refill my shampoo and conditioner or I need a new soap.

So put a new soap in there, but that’s always ready to go.

And you even keep our pills and medications already organized in that one pack too.

4:05

So you don’t ever really have to take it out of your toiletries.

So just always keep those packed.

Everything is in it.

Boom, it’s in your suitcase or carry bag and you’re good to go.

4:14

Unlock Free Travel with Credit Card Strategies

Another tip that we have for you kind of segwaying off the packing and into the points and miles game is to have a strategy when you’re using your points, miles and credit cards.

4:25

Speaker 2

What’s your strategy because I don’t have one?

4:28

Speaker 1

So I have a spreadsheet that keeps track of every single credit card that we have open, how many we have open at a time, how many slots that we have that we can fill, when we can open our next card.

It has information on on perks that we get for every year and the bonuses.

4:45

And then we have a spot where it keeps track of how many points that we currently have.

So my organization style is a spreadsheet, but it could be different for everyone.

4:54

Speaker 2

So that’s not a strategy, that’s a record keeping sheet you’re talking about here.

4:58

Speaker 3

But it’s also strategy because it helps you know when to utilize it.

So what I mean by that is some cards, your benefit will be on a calendar year cycle, some of them will be on your anniversary cycle.

So as a great example, like I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, I mean I have multiple, but just using this one as an example, you get your $300 annual travel credit, but that’s based off of your anniversary cycle.

5:22

So I opened that card in March.

So my 300 credit always comes into play as of March.

So she has that listed on there.

Like when we can use it?

Do we have a trip coming up?

We know that we can use this if we book our hotel later, whereas if we book our hotel now, we’re not going to get the credit for that.

5:40

So there’s a little bit of strategy that those involved in it when you kind of keep those things and know when you can do that.

5:46

Speaker 1

There’s also a little bit of strategy where for example, Jamal got the Chase Marriott Bonvoy card and when he opened it, their promo was to get 5 free nights that you can use.

5:55

Speaker 2

Which, by the way, I have not seen that promo ever since.

5:58

Speaker 1

Oh, I, I actually used it this year.

I got that card this year.

So then Jamal then referred me to the card.

He got points for referring me.

I opened that card when it had five free nights and now we’re going to be using those nights in Turkey and in Anchorage for this upcoming year.

6:17

So being able to refer each other and get bonus points on top of that, that’s a little bit of a strategy.

Usually one of us at a time has the Southwest card and we open it when they offer their companion pass.

So that we almost always have companion pass for the majority of a year.

6:35

So we get BOGO flights in a sense is another one of our strategies.

So I mean, yes, it is a little bit about out the spreadsheet, but me keeping track of it on a spreadsheet helps me plan out how we’re going to strategize our points and our credit card for the next year.

6:52

Speaker 2

Speaking of strategy, another thing I would recommend doing before you do any transfer of points.

So almost always I try to use points for flights and hotels.

So I’ll check all my different balances and transfer partners and recently I was booking a hotel actually in New York City, the one we’re going to be staying in and it was through Marriott and I was maybe like 3000 points short or something, nothing crazy.

7:16

I knew I could transfer those through built, which is the credit card I used to pay my rent and I get points on rent.

They have a lot of the same transfer partners at Chase does put to Marriott 1:00 to 1:00.

But then I remembered seeing an e-mail from Chase saying that Marriott was having a bonus transfer and I went logged in and I saw the there was a 60% bonus transfer from Chase to Marriott.

7:38

So those points were worth 1.6 instead of 1 to 1 and I was able to transfer less points and book the same hotel.

7:45

Speaker 1

That is a good strategy for sure.

And while you’re using all of these programs, make sure you’re enrolling in the loyalty programs for hotels, cars, airlines.

Keep a log of all of that because you never know when you’re going to travel those airlines or hotels again.

For example, we’ve been traveling Gate One for years and every single year they put us on flights with like Delta, KLM, things like that.

8:08

And every time we sign up for the loyalty program and we don’t fly Delta often or some of the other airlines that they fly us on gate one often.

But when we went to Hong Kong, we were able to use all of the points that we had accumulated through our Gate 1 travels to get us from Hong Kong to South Korea for free on points and from Korea to Japan on points.

8:29

And we didn’t pay for any of those.

Yeah, so.

8:31

Speaker 3

A lot of times when you travel like again, if it’s with an airline that you don’t regularly, you could still accumulate those points and eventually use it.

Especially lots of airlines now don’t have expiration, Some still do.

But nevertheless, it’s good to do that.

And just keeping with the theme of signing up, right, We have a really good friend of ours, Josh, They have them travel for work.

8:53

We tell them all the time, sign up for the hotel’s loyalty program where they put you because they’re paying for you, but doesn’t mean later on when you travel on your own, you can’t stay here or the airlines, They’re paying for your flight, but utilize those points.

And we tell him all the time he’s just been, with respect to him, lazy about doing it.

9:10

But we also have another friend, a good friend of yours, too, Kim James.

He travels a lot for work.

And every time he tells me, oh, yeah, Like work pays for my flights, they usually fly him Southwest.

He has so many points that he uses personally that he’s accumulated through work, through the loyalty program.

9:28

They’re paying for it.

He’s getting those free flights later.

You know what?

9:31

Speaker 2

Else he does.

That’s a pretty genius.

He always books with Hilton and a lot of hotels and flights will do this.

They’ll give you the option to buy points or to book a more expensive tier of the room, but you’ll get more points with that tier.

He always books the more expensive one and then racks in the extra points.

9:49

Oh.

9:49

Speaker 3

Yeah, well, he told me to for work.

He’s responsible for booking, but work doesn’t really look like, did you buy the cheapest one or whatnot?

So he does that right now.

Nevertheless, if you work for an employer that has you travel a lot and they’re paying for your stuff, whether it be pay and reimburse or they pay direct what doesn’t really matter but just sign up for those loyalty programs because you yourself can get free stuff and your work is really the one paying for it but you reaping the reward on the back end.

10:19

So don’t negate doing that in.

10:21

Speaker 2

Fact, I just used that credit that Chase gives you for booking hotels through their edit group of hotels.

And I don’t really stay at HG hotels.

And I did not have a loyalty membership.

So before I booked it, I went really quickly to sign up.

It took like 60 seconds to get a loyalty number, plug that in before I actually booked with Chase.

10:40

And one of Chase’s perks is that you get that platinum status and you can’t get platinum status unless you have the loyalty sign up first.

Yeah.

10:49

Speaker 1

All of these great tips on my spreadsheet.

I also keep like which category spends the best?

So like for dining, our Amex Gold gets four times points on there versus Chase it’s three times.

So anytime we dine out, we use our Amex Gold card.

11:04

But if it’s just an everyday purchase, we’re going to use our Capital One Venture X because you get 2 times points on everything.

So if it doesn’t fall into a specific category, we’re going to use that card instead.

I also just opened the Amex Platinum card.

And so for flights, it gives you 5 times points if you’d book direct with an airline.

11:23

So that’s the best without going through the A portal.

So I’m going to book with them for direct flights another.

11:29

Save Money on Flights and Earn Bonus Points

Really good tip is to book trip internationally over weekends and holidays.

You can take longer trips and utilize less PTO days.

So again, it’s just really comes to travel hacking in a way.

Now sometimes of course, we do have tried and true dates that we need to go and this really wouldn’t fit in that.

11:46

But nevertheless, right, Like if you utilize over weekends, I’m not saying leave on a weekend because again, the flight may be more expensive, But if you at least encompass the weekend or holidays or certain things, then you have more time off without having to to utilize your PTO, which you could then save for other days and other travels later on in the year or.

12:07

Speaker 2

At some companies they’ll pay out your PTO, yes.

12:10

Speaker 3

Right, so you save it and then now that’s extra money in your pocket too.

So fantastic.

I also.

12:15

Speaker 2

Like booking early morning flights, yes it sucks to get up early in the morning, but usually the airports are less crowded.

The flights some a lot of times can be less crowded as well.

So sometimes you get an open seat or open row.

I’m tired in the morning.

So you can just sleep on the plane.

12:30

And you avoid a lot less cancellations or delayed flights because as the day goes on, flights are impacted by each other around the country or even the world.

And so you’re more likely to have a delay for a later flight and the flights are more likely to be booked up.

So I really like that.

12:46

I also like it for just maximizing time, right.

I’ve talked about on a few episodes going straight from a late night event to the airport, and it saves you a night in a hotel and then you’re tired on the plane.

And I love nothing more than getting on a plane, falling asleep, waking up in your destination.

13:05

I mean, being on the plane, unless you’re in first class is one of the worst parts of travel, that is.

13:09

Speaker 1

True, that is true.

The night that we left Quebec City, Jabal and I, I think what we slept an hour and a half, which was.

13:16

Speaker 2

Crazy.

You really should have stayed out and we.

13:18

Speaker 1

Should have just stayed out and then just gone straight to the airport and slept on our entire flight back home.

But either way we did, it was fine.

Another tip we have for you is to have multiple streams to earn points and miles.

So if you use your credit card shopping portals or travel portals, those are going to rack in a lot of points.

13:36

Recently I just saw one for a website called Airport Reservations.

It was through my Venture X card and it was giving 30 times the points.

And so Jamal and I actually had a trip that’s upcoming for us to go to Turkey and so we need to park our car at LAX.

13:55

We always use the same parking garage we have like a whole system so I booked our parking garage spot through the site and we’re getting 30 times back the points off of like $200.

14:06

Speaker 3

Right.

So normally, like if you just booked that direct without going through the travel portal, maybe that’s considered a travel purchase depending on which car do you use because it’s parking and maybe that’s like 3 times points.

But if you go through the portal and again, it’s not booking with points or anything like that.

14:22

They have shopping portals where you can get access to, you know, Macy’s or whoever, and they give you those bonuses to buy through there.

That’s where we’re getting that 30 times.

So you could really see how you can add up the value that way.

Or if you were to buy, I want to use this example because I just said it like Macy’s, lots of these travel credit cards have Macy’s as a vendor through their portals.

14:43

OK, maybe you’re getting one 2% depending on what category that may fall in.

But sometimes they give like a 5 to 10% bonus through there, right?

So instead of getting one times points, you could get 5 or 10.

So just really, really utilizing those travel portals is a great way to get those extra points for potential everyday purchases.

15:03

And what Brittany likes to do too is American Express ties to Rakatin.

So anytime she’s making a just a general online purchase, if it’s not more beneficial through the portal, she’s buying it through Rakatin, which technically gives you money back, but in lieu of the money back, then they give it to you to be transferred to American Express in the form of points.

15:24

And very recently, like the last time they gave us a credit, we got like 10,000 Amex points just for everyday purchases that Britney’s done because she did it through the Rakatin portal and.

15:34

Speaker 1

They recently added Built as well, one of their partners on Rakuten.

So Kim, you were just saying you pay your rent through Built.

If you don’t have an Amex card or membership rewards points, maybe you connect your Built account to Rakuten instead and get points instead.

15:50

Get Global Entry and Lounge Access with Cards

So another tip we have for you is to invest in credit cards that give you a lot of value.

Amongst the three of us, we have a lot of different credit cards that we find value in.

We have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, the Capital One Venture X card.

I recently got the Amex platinum card.

We’ve talked about the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless.

16:07

I have the Atmos Ascent with Alaska and we also have Southwest priority credit cards.

But why we sign up for these?

And the biggest draw for credit cards is usually their sign up bonuses because you get a ton of points and miles to sign up.

16:23

So for example, just recently I got an offer for the American Express Platinum card.

And I actually didn’t think I was going to get an offer from them because I recently this year opened an American Express Gold card.

And so typically if you already have one of their cards, they’re going to give you less of a sign up bonus on another card.

16:42

But they actually didn’t.

They were offering me 175,000 points to open up this card.

And yes, it does have a very high annual fee, it’s 895.

But if you can find the value in that and you think that the sign up bonus is worth it, then that card is going to be worth it to you, right?

17:01

Speaker 3

That 175,000 points may equal actually an international business class flight.

So where are you going to find a business class flight for $875, which is the annual fee or extra benefit is you utilize that for free travel, whether it be business class or not.

17:19

You could do a lot with 175,000 points.

But I think too where Britney’s saying see if you find the value is these credit cards give you perks like dining credits, hotel stays, etcetera.

So like a great example, the American Express Platinum card gives you $100 each quarter, so 4 $100 a year if you dine at Rezi restaurants.

17:39

So Rezi, of course, is just a platform to make reservations for restaurants.

But if it happens to be a restaurant that’s listed on there, then you can get that $100 a quarter credit.

So that’s $400.00 a year.

That’s almost like half of your thing.

So if you’re dining out and lots of restaurants are available on there, you’re really kind of getting that credit card already at half off.

18:00

So just look at it from that perspective of those perks and things that you get to see like, OK, does the annual fee get eaten by these things and everyday purchases that I would make anyway.

And a lot of times it will be the case.

Thrifty.

18:13

Speaker 2

Traveller actually has a really great spreadsheet that you can download for free where you click which credit card you have and it automatically populates a new tab on the Google Sheet with all of the perks that are included in that card.

And you can tick the boxes as you use them to triple check that you’re getting the value and perks of the annual fee and.

18:33

Speaker 3

A lot of these travel credit cards too do have free Global Entry applications or credits that they’ll give you back if you make the purchase for that on your card.

So with Global Entry, you get expedited customs back into the United States and it gives you TSA Pre-check saves.

18:50

Speaker 2

You so much time.

Time is money, I know.

18:52

Speaker 3

Exactly right.

So even though that’s like $125 or whatever they’re charging it for it now, that’s still 125 you’re saving.

It gives you all that time and value that you’re talking about.

Kim at the airport, you can arrive a little a little bit later if you’re not checking a bag, go through TSA Pre, not have to worry about it when you arrive back in the US.

19:12

Expedited customs versus the long line.

I think one of the last times we traveled all together, we landed back in Houston.

The normal line was disgusting.

We saw it, it looked like you were at Disneyland over there and we just like walked right through, you know, with our global entries.

Lots of value in these cards if you utilize those perks right.

19:29

Speaker 1

And a lot of them offer priority pass or lounge access which saves you money on food and drinks.

Like how much is a pizza in the airport?

It’s like $2025 sandwich is like 1520.

And then how much your drinks in the airport, they’re like 15 to $25 a drink.

19:44

So if you’re going into these lounges, you’re saving money on food and drinks, you’re having a nice space to relax and you already feel more relaxed and just sitting in the normal boarding area.

19:55

Speaker 2

That’s a huge benefit, like not monetary benefit of just being in a comfortable space around civilized people.

20:05

Speaker 3

Although so many people have these cards now that sometimes you’re not getting all civilized, no.

20:09

Speaker 2

It still is way, way more than the average boarding area where there’s hardly a chair.

But then some of these credit cards are now opening their own lounges.

I know Amex has for a long time.

Capital One Chase lounges are nice.

They’re swanky.

Like they look like swanky bars.

20:25

Better than anything you could find even out in the city.

That’s worth it.

Did you?

20:29

Speaker 1

Hear Southwest is opening up its own first lounge in Hawaii if.

20:33

Speaker 2

I could just get one Priority Pass lounge in Austin.

I would be happy about that.

20:39

Speaker 1

And then as we’re talking about sign up bonuses, not all sign up bonuses are equal.

We talked about the Marriott Boundless one, which offered five free nights.

Normal offers 3 free nights.

If you find it at 5:00 then you know you’re getting a steal.

20:52

Speaker 2

And it can also vary person to person.

I know Amex gold right now is doing up to 100,000 but it varies by the person and the offer they give you.

Yeah.

20:59

Speaker 3

Some cards are doing that now, getting dynamic, so to speak, with.

They’re targeted now with all the data that they have on us, which is quite unfortunate.

But yeah.

21:08

Speaker 2

But here’s another really, really important tip.

Do the soft check before you actually apply to that credit card and they do the hard check on your credit and you get a Ding for that.

Do the soft check to see what kind of offer they’d give you and and if you’d even be approved.

Then you can decide if you want to actually apply and.

21:25

Speaker 1

That was why I was so surprised because when I opened my Amex Gold, they offered me 100,000 and I just opened that this year.

And then they sent me an offer in the mail for the Amex Platinum for 100 75.

So I thought, is this real?

Because usually if they offer you so much on like a different card, that kind of same category, they’re not going to offer you such a high sign up bonus for a future card that you have within the same year.

21:48

And I was really shocked that they did lots.

21:50

Speaker 3

Of values with the cards and again, Kim, you made kind of like a little caveat of doing things responsibly.

I want to say it for everybody here.

You know, when we’re talking about sign up bonuses, a lot of times they have a minimum spend.

Don’t spend that money if you’re not going to be able to like pay it back or make purchases that you normally wouldn’t make to hit it.

22:08

But if you know what it tells you you have to spend in three months, four months is stuff that you would normally spend anyway just in your average budget, and you’re going to be able to pay it off then definitely.

But don’t sign up for these to just get these benefits without the ability to go ahead and pay it back.

22:25

Fly Business Class and Use Companion Passes

So let’s talk a little bit about flights.

This year we were actually able to use several points and miles to fly business class, premium economy and 1st class flights.

This is the first year that we’ve actually taken any other flight than economy.

22:42

So that was really exciting for all of us.

I.

22:44

Speaker 2

Haven’t used points for these but I do have a friend who had a family member who was a pilot and I got a free first class flight international actually.

I had to pay the taxes and fees on it but still free for the most part.

So that’s my hack.

Like really be intentional about who you’re friends with.

23:02

Speaker 3

Well, I mean, that works too if you know somebody who comes from a piloting family with an airline that takes care of retirees.

But if not, back to the theme that we had here, right, utilizing those points that you could potentially earn for that.

Now obviously you can find specials and deals for those business class premium economy at good value.

23:22

Sometimes depending on where you’re going, you can’t.

But nevertheless, economy flights are cheaper.

Sometimes they’re not cheap.

So even utilizing it to get free flights minus the taxes, you really can’t go wrong.

So just really be mindful of things you do in everyday life within your purchases, et cetera, that accumulate you points now translating it to get things for free later on such as travel.

23:45

So be sure to use that.

23:48

Speaker 2

Just one basic hack for anyone, whether you’re a beginner or an expert in points and travel hacking, is to use Google Flights.

My mom and her friend had messaged me earlier this year saying that they needed to book a flight to Virginia and they were wondering how to find the cheapest flight.

24:05

My recommendation to everyone who asks that is always use Google Flights.

You won’t see every flight that exists out there on the web through it, but you can get a pretty good idea of the marketplace, the going rate of flights.

You can use their calendar to see how the price changes if you change your travel dates, if you’re flexible.

24:22

But my favorite feature about it is that once you find a flight day time that you like, even if you have it specifically, I want this flight on this day and this time.

Or you just say any flight these days.

When you’re on that page, toggle on to track.

Then if the flight increases or decreases, you will get an e-mail and it will notify you of it.

24:43

I have used this so many times to finally pull the trigger on when to book and it’s helped me a ton.

It’s also helped me see that hey, prices keep going up and up and up.

I think I might want to buy that.

It’s getting a little close to the date.

They also have a feature in there with a graph that shows you historical pricing so you can see, hey, is the price I’m looking at right now the cheapest it’s been in a while.

25:04

It’ll show you it’s low, regular or high for what typically people pay for that flight, So I can just give you the background information you need to make a good decision on when to buy at what price We.

25:15

Speaker 1

Talked about transfer bonuses earlier in this episode and they often have one for airline transfer partners.

So if you subscribe to like Thrifty Traveller or if you look at the points guy or NerdWallet, they often have blogs or emails that include where their transfer bonuses are from, how much the transfer bonus is, what the ratio is.

25:37

So for example we had got an alert for a transfer bonus that was 30% to transfer from Chase to Virgin Atlantic.

So we were able to fly round trip to London with 30,000 points a person.

So that was such a good steal and that was because of a transfer bonus that we were able to utilize kind of.

25:55

Speaker 3

Keeping with that theme and just where you can find out that information, unless you’re not going to search it yourself, is utilizing a flight subscription service like Thrifty Traveler to have deals sent to you direct to your inbox, whether they be cheap cash deals or points and miles redemption.

26:11

So we love Thrifty Traveler Premium.

You’ve heard us talk about it a lot.

Brittany just mentioned it.

I think that’s not even the first time.

We’ve already said it in this episode, but those are great tools to have to really maximize the value.

And Thrifty Traveler Now is also giving deals, discounts that they’re seeing, whether it be points or cash for hotels.

26:31

So now you can really kind of piece everything together or if you have those points and time, but don’t really know where to go and you see a deal come through, just you could even book that spontaneous trip based off of that.

But services like this really help the value that you have built up go a long way when they’re telling you, hey, what’s on sale right now because that’s truly what that is, what’s on sale, so to speak, whether it be cash or points, that’s.

26:53

Speaker 2

A subscription service you can get an annual membership to that use our code TSP to get a discount on your first year we’ve.

27:00

Speaker 1

Also found this year that some flights that have alliance and Co sharing agreements so you can find flights let’s say like a Delta flight on KLM but using less points and miles and find it essentially for cheaper.

So make sure you’re looking at different airlines to see if you can find a deal that Co chair one of our.

27:20

Speaker 3

Favorite flight travel hacks that we do is companion pass.

Now Southwest has companion pass which basically means like for a year or duration of time they will allow a person to book the flight and then they can designate a companion and that person flies for free with them minus the taxes.

27:37

Now going back to the credit cards again, you can earn companion pass by status that you earn yourself based off of how many flights that you actually take or I believe even Southwest has it like if you spend a certain dollar amount correct on their credit cards, you can get companion pass there’s.

27:54

Speaker 2

Also little promos they’ll do exactly.

27:56

Speaker 3

But I was going to say, a lot of times they’ll have the promo with the credit card sign up that will basically be like your promo is points, but more importantly the companion pass that comes with it.

And I guess that goes to the point of where Brittany was saying keep track of the credit cards, like when you open them, because a lot of times they won’t allow you to open and close a card within a designated frequency and still qualify for the points.

28:20

So that’s also goes back into keeping track.

But I can’t tell you how much money Brittany and I have saved when we alternate years of who has companion pass and every time we fly Southwest, which is quite often, we’re only paying the $11.00 and whatever cents and change for taxes for like one person.

28:37

Speaker 2

Well, you guys have talked about this a million times and as a couple it makes sense.

I think people who are not couples who are listening at home might not see this perk as super valuable, but I want to share an experience of how it could be.

Even if you are single, you don’t have a companion.

You’re like, why would I need a companion pass, right?

28:53

I’ve had Southwest credit card for years.

I think I’m going to cancel this one soon so that I could build up time to restart it, get a new sign on bonus.

But I earned companion pass this year by one of those random promos they do.

It’s like book two flights in this random two week period and you get companion pass in a 2 month period ahead of time.

29:13

It’s like really weird the terms they put together for these things.

But if you’re paying attention you can catch 1.

I happened to catch 1 and I had it for three months and I said I don’t even really have a companion.

I’m not really going anywhere.

So I don’t know if I’ll use this, but for my Miami girls trip, we just so happened to want to fly Southwest and, and I told my friend, hey, I can make you my companion and then we can split the cost of whatever my single flight is.

29:38

And I’ll just add you one and we’ll do it that way.

So you can use it for friends and you can change your companions too.

So even if you’re not a couple, you can still get some benefit out of their split cost.

With a friend you can do it.

29:50

Speaker 1

With friend you can do it with family, doesn’t have to be a couple.

And we do talk about the Southwest Companion Pass a lot.

But recently last year I opened a Atmos or a Alaska credit card, which was offering some sort of companion pass and we actually redeemed it and I could book any flight.

30:08

And to add on my companion for round trip, they just pay $122.00.

So we bought our flights to Alaska and Jamal’s portion was just $122 round trip another.

30:17

Speaker 3

Tip that we want to give you guys regarding flights and we had a mini episode about this talking about utilizing it is airline stopover programs.

So a lots of airlines especially if they have a major hub, let’s just say Emirates in the UAE in Dubai or TAP utilizing Lisbon as the stopover because their flights run through there as their hub.

30:41

A lot of these airlines will allow you the opportunity to then have stays discounted for a certain duration of time in those cities before your next flight moving on somewhere else.

So that is a very good tool to utilize and of course, making the Max out of your trip by being able to stay and stop without having to pay extra fares to take those later flights to get where you are originally going or returning to because they allow you to use it on the going leg or the coming back leg.

31:07

So stopover programs are great to look into and some of these airlines too will give you then discounts or even free stays for certain amount of nights at hotels or food credits or things of that nature.

So lots of value to be found in stopover.

31:22

Speaker 2

Even if you are using an official stopover program, you can book a flight with a long layover in a destination.

If you’re using Google Flights, they’ll show you in order of duration these flights and sometimes there’s some that say it’s like a 15 hour international flight.

31:37

There’s some options in there that are like 30-5 hours and you first think why would I book that flight?

Sometimes they can cost a lot less and if you drop the carrot down so you can expand and see where that layover is.

Sometimes they’re in cool destinations and you can spend 8 hours or 12 hours in a different destination.

31:55

It’s already built into your flight and that’s the cheaper option anyway.

31:58

Reshop Hotels and Cars for Big Savings

Another little money saving hack is to really get specific about countries.

So if you’re using say expedia.com but you’re booking Auk hotel, you can change that to expedia.uk book in that UK British currency.

32:15

You can even try changing your VPN to a destination in the UK for example.

And you should, in a lot of cases, see a variation in the rates.

Just make sure if you do book that, that you’re using a credit card with no foreign transaction fee.

But when you really compare and actually spend the time, do the research, you can save a lot of money with that.

32:35

Yeah.

32:35

Speaker 3

I’m in the midst right now of trying to buy tickets to Mexico City for the World Cup.

I was looking because I have AVPN just normally like on like when I go to Aeromexico, it brings me up the American site, right?

And then we’ll bring up U.S. dollars prices.

32:50

It will give you the option even on the US site to convert it to pesos.

So if you pay in pesos, it gave me a little bit better of a rate because that’s their main currency and they probably have to convert it from dollars, etcetera.

But it wasn’t necessarily a lot, but it gave me the option.

33:06

And of course, maybe you wouldn’t get the savings if you don’t have a card that gives you no foreign transaction fees.

But if you do, why would you not do that by just doing that quick little toggle?

But more importantly, to the point of what you said on the VPN, Kim, is I switched my VPN to Mexico and then it already has it defaulted to me in Mexican pesos.

33:23

And I’m searching as if I’m in Mexico.

And I was telling Brittany the flights.

And then a couple days that I’ve been looking, I’ve seen it go from like $750 down to 614 by booking it through the VPN and pesos.

So you can get value that way by utilizing these little tricks.

33:42

Speaker 2

For hotels, a lot of the recommendations we have for maximizing points and loyalty programs are the same as flights.

Make sure that you’re signed up for all of them.

Really look at the credit cards for the hotels that are going to bring you the most value or where you’re planning to go.

And what hotel groups have hotels there, right?

33:59

So if you’re planning to go to Phuket, Thailand and you want to stay there with points, there are some amazing Marriott hotels that are there.

So you may want the Marriott Bonvoy credit card or when I went to the South of France, there was a Hilton Hotel, but there wasn’t a Marriott Hotel.

34:14

So you can kind of pre plan ahead for what programs you want to be a part of and a lot.

34:18

Speaker 1

Of the time, the point redemptions out of country are going to be much better than in country.

So for example, we were able to book three nights at a beachfront private Beach Hotel in Thailand and Phuket and we got that for free with our sign up bonus.

34:34

But when we’re looking at hotels, let’s say Alaska or when we were looking even to go to Niagara Falls in Canada, those hotels, they cost so much more point wise.

So if you’re doing big international trips that are going to Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, those sorts of countries, you can probably find a lot like better hotels at a better value due to the point redemption.

34:59

Yeah, we.

35:00

Speaker 3

Stayed at a St. regress in Singapore for two nights for less than 50,000 each night.

Like I feel like if you’re to look at a Saint Regis at the locations that they have in the US, you’re going to see those in the 100,000.

So again, it involves you going internationally, but sometimes the point value is going to be better on those international ones.

35:18

But even if it’s not and you’re just looking for an average good place to stay, we utilized the sign up bonus that we got from that Marriott card and here was 5 free nights in A2, great luxury hotels that literally cost us nothing.

And now Brittany has that cards and we have several future trips planned where we’re utilizing that in Turkey as well as in Anchorage, AK when we’re going to go there for our next National Park trip.

35:42

So just do that and of course, sign up for loyalty programs because if you stay at a place enough times or if it’s the only chain that you stay at, you could get status.

Those room upgrades early, check in, late check out, sometimes free breakfast, welcome gifts, etcetera.

36:01

And again, going back to the credit cards, lots of these credit cards already give you an elevated tier status with these places.

So you don’t even have to earn them by stays.

You could already be defaulted into a higher status.

And then the actual stays that you have count on top of that to get you to the next level.

36:17

So really good value in utilizing status with hotels and be.

36:22

Speaker 1

Mindful when picking hotels, pick hotels with amenities you’d use, like free breakfast or hotels that offer guests spa access or pools or lounges.

Like I know when you went to Switzerland, Kim, you booked a room that also gave you access into like the sauna or the spa, which you wanted to get value out of, and you did.

36:42

And to book that separately could cost, you know, quite a bit of Swiss francs.

So you saved money there.

My.

36:49

Speaker 2

Favorite place to look at real hotel reviews is TripAdvisor.

We talk about TripAdvisor a lot.

We love that site.

I love that there’s real people’s photos on there and they’re in date order so you can see, Oh my gosh, this bug infestation they had, OK, that was 10 years ago.

37:04

They’re probably better now or they recently remodeled.

Here’s what the bed linens look like now.

You can see the spas.

You can see if they have robes.

You can read real reviews and you can search within those reviews.

Do they have robes?

What’s the breakfast like?

What’s the parking situation?

What’s the noise like?

37:19

TripAdvisor is always what I double check before booking on any other platform.

I also.

37:24

Speaker 1

Do reshop hotels every once in a while.

I’ve actually rebooked several Marriott hotels that were booked with points and I’ve gotten points back because the redemption value has gone down.

And so I did that when we went to Seoul, South Korea, I ended up getting like 20,000 points back because the redemption had gone down to book that hotel and I got that back to use and apply to another trip.

37:46

You do.

37:47

Speaker 2

That a lot with rental cars as well.

I do.

37:50

Speaker 1

I obsessively do it with rental cars, actually more.

37:53

Speaker 3

Particularly when you book through Costco, right?

We like to book our rental cars through Costco.

They don’t require payment at time of booking.

You could cancel it anytime even day of and they’re still not going to charge you anything for that, right.

So we like it for that feature.

But also going through Costco, since they don’t charge you up ahead, they don’t have cancellation fees.

38:13

If it happens to go lower, then that’s when we’ll book it and save money just even before we paid it right as it’s gotten lower.

So we’re not getting reimbursed anything.

We’re just saving that expense.

But doing that means a couple things.

One, you have to be a Costco member.

38:30

So if you’re not, that does you no good.

But then also too, sometimes that doesn’t give you perks that you would get with rental cars when you book with them direct.

But a lot of times those require, you know, upfront payment, cancellation fees, etcetera.

38:45

But sometimes booking direct with rental cars versus through a third party give you extra points and perks.

So it’s a pro and con with that, yeah.

38:53

Speaker 1

Actually, for a Louisville trip that Kim and I went on, I originally booked the rental car under my name and Kim actually ended up getting in earlier than me.

And when we knew that she booked her flight and it was going to be that she was going to get in earlier, I ended up rebooking the same day that we flew out and we got back quite a bit of money for that last minute booking.

39:13

I do reshop and rebook often and a few squaddies actually have reached out to us this year saying that they’ve used this trick and that they’ve saved money.

So I’m glad that people are putting it into use when I’m.

39:24

Speaker 2

Planning out travel.

39:24

Explore Cities with Free and Discounted Tours

I have a Google sheet.

One of the tabs is all the trips that I have coming up and the hotel, the flights.

Like I have a record of what I paid and I’ve started noting down cancellation dates.

Do you keep a spreadsheet like that?

I don’t.

39:37

Speaker 1

Know.

Really.

39:38

Speaker 2

So you just have in your head the amount that you have spent on that car rental.

39:43

Speaker 1

Yeah, OK.

39:44

Speaker 2

You need a spreadsheet?

Yeah, well, she.

39:46

Speaker 3

Has in her head, but if you go to Costco right you can see existing reservations and it will show you the date and the price.

So if she wants to just recheck it, she can shop it through there and see if it’s different and.

39:56

Speaker 2

Hotels too.

That’s a lot to keep track of without a spreadsheet.

Well.

39:59

Speaker 1

If you go into, let’s say the Marriott portal, if you go to view and modify, it’ll tell you right there what you.

Paid point wise and then if you hit the view and modify button to continue, it’ll show you what the current rate is and then you can see if there’s a difference.

So you don’t really need a spreadsheet for that and you just.

40:16

Speaker 2

Click the button and it gives you the difference.

Oh, so you don’t actually have to completely rebook?

No.

40:21

Speaker 1

You just do the the modify kind of like you used to be to do it in Southwest before they got cheap and just, you know, be able to get get the credit before they’re playing all these games.

So yeah, Marriott’s still doing a good job.

40:35

Speaker 2

Or activities.

We always talk about free walking tours.

There’s one in almost every city.

And if you’re going to an international destination specifically, free walking tours are fantastic to do on one of your first days in town to get a lay of the land.

Yeah, and.

40:48

Speaker 3

If you’re not able to do a free walking tour, that’s not really your thing.

Look for discounted activities on Groupon or Viator.

Groupon obvious is usually where you’ll get it discounted on Viator not but nevertheless, these are still 2 great resources where you can find activities and things to do.

41:06

A lot of times you will have of course, a guide and depending on what you’re doing, transportation will be included.

So you don’t necessarily need to rent a car or do anything.

And again, these tours, depending on what they are specifically you’re doing, sometimes can also give you a good lay of the land.

41:23

I think one time to like the first time we went to London, Brittany, we booked a hop on hop off.

I think I remembering back how far it was.

It was through Groupon, so I was at a discounted rate and then we we just got a lay of the land.

It included a day trip to Stonehenge.

Transportation included really good value.

41:40

So you could find lots of activities and sometimes even discounted through those sites and even get your guide.

I want to throw get your guide because we’ve used them too and really like them a lot and if.

41:50

Speaker 1

You’re traveling to a major city in the US Look into City Pass.

It’s a company that provides an easy way to visit multiple attractions in a big city, a significant savings.

We’re actually using this in New York City and includes things like Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, a city line cruise, the Natural History Museum, the ferry, access to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

42:14

So you can pick what ones you want, but it gives you access to a ton of these things at a savings rate.

So if you’re going to a major US city for the first time, this could be of good value to you.

42:25

Speaker 2

We always like happy hours too.

Happy hours tend to have better prices.

And if there’s a fine dining restaurant that you really like, we know dinners are on the higher end.

If they do serve lunch, the lunch menus usually are similar.

Less people.

42:40

You still get the vibe, you still get the experience and you can save a little bit of money.

42:44

Speaker 1

You can also find experience passes or last minute discounts on sites, so if you do wait till the last minute then you might be able to find some savings.

I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re like really hard and really want to do this, but it could be a good way to get a last minute savings if you wait and our.

43:00

Book Early and Travel During Shoulder Season

Last tips here, closing out the episode just of travel hacking money saving tips is really when you travel during the time of year.

So booking in shoulder season often time leads to great savings, whether it be in accommodation, flights, etcetera.

43:16

But also at the same time, it could mean if it’s shoulder season or if you go into a place that’s season permitting, you know, maybe places close down and fall so you go and fall certain businesses and activities you want to do already close then.

So pros and cons with it.

But depending on what you want to do and where you’re going, you can get a lot of value and money savings based off of when you go and.

43:38

Speaker 1

Book early often.

Prices, especially for hotels, rise the closer you get to the date.

I remember when we were planning our trip for Banff and Jasper, I looked really early and reserved hotels very far in advance and when Kim started to look closer to they had almost doubled in price and.

43:56

Speaker 2

Things get booked up.

That was my case with Switzerland too.

There just wasn’t even that many options left to pick from.

If it’s a great destination, you’re going to paying more for a accommodation of less quality.

And I’m sure there are a million other great travel tips out there.

That’s why we keep doing these episodes on an annual basis.

44:13

But Squatty’s, you probably know a ton of great travel tips and hacks yourself.

So if there’s anything that you have that you’re just tried and true on that use it all the time, why don’t you go ahead and DM it to us on Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast.

We’ll feature it.

We’ll repost it on our story so that other people can learn from it too.

44:31

But for now, thank you so much for tuning into this week’s episode.

Keep the adventures going with us on social at Travel Squad Podcast and send us in your questions of the Week.

44:39

Speaker 3

And the information of this episode be useful or if you thought we were just plain funny, please be sure to share with a friend that would enjoy it too.

Please subscribe, rate and view our podcast and TuneIn every travel Tuesday and Fridays for new episodes and.

44:51

Speaker 1

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