Hungry for Points

Is Travel Hacking Basically Prepaid Discount Travel?

by Peter | Sep 17, 2017 | Strategies, Tips and Tricks

Earlier this year, I had a dream about being in an apocalypse world.  Above the heavily torn urban landscape, flying demons lurked about in the sky and occasionally dived down hunting for human flesh.  Streets were filled with dead people scattering in concrete rubble.  Back “home” in a barely standing walk-up, my landlord was making a fellow tenant cut off his finger for being three days late on rent payment.  I was unfazed.  Strolling past countless destruction, I entered a Fidelity branch in an unmarked building and asked about depositing $50,000 in exchange for 25,000 United or American miles.  As I debated between the choices, the representative handed me a duct-taped plastic bomb set to detonate at the deadline for my deposit. It’s all about priorities. I woke up to the realization that none of it was real, except my plan to deposit $50k with Fidelity for miles.  Then it dawned on me that points & miles were no longer just a hobby… it had become a serious obsession.  Moving large sums of money around for airline miles, paying credit card fees, and hoarding gift cards are all convoluted activities that come with a cost.  I could not have imagined myself doing any of this before starting to play this points & miles game, . I figured I needed to take a holistic view of this game.  How much am I spending on points & miles?  Is it worth it?  It’s time for a cost-benefit analysis.   COST During the… read more