How do I get started on this journey? Deciding your goal post [Part 1 of 7]
Everyone starts from somewhere... walk through a journey how to get your first successful travel hack experience
I walk through clients on how to get started, and today, I’m going to document my own discussion points to create visibility what a great travel hacking journey looks like.
Decide your goal post
The most important journey in travel hacking is to understand your own travel goals. Everyone has a different travel goal.
The number of occasions I have consulted with customers who come up to me with, they have 500,000 Scotiabank Scene Reward Points, can you help me make that 2 business class tickets. Unfortunately, I cannot. 500,000 Scotiabank Scene Reward Points is great for… Economy Class travel.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad travel goal. It is a completely reasonable travel goal. But it might not be the travel goal you are after while reading this article. I still personally collect Scotia points, because they are still aligned to my travel goal. But those travel goals are Economy Class tickets.
I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of consulting for customers who have enough points to redeem three round trip tickets in Business Class anywhere in the world, and yet we redeemed them for a hotel in Europe.
I’ve also fortunately had the pleasure of consulting with customers who decided their first travel hack is Maldives, and they started on the path with a singular focus, how do we stay at a hotel in Maldives that we could likely never afford on our own?
Ultimately, you should have goals in your travel hacking journey. Let me change that, you should have multiple goals in your travel hacking journey. Every travel hack you follow, should be driven by one of your listed goals. And it is important to know, your travel goals may change every year, and that is completely okay.
My Travel Goals from 2010 to 2019
Travel from Vancouver / New York to Singapore or India in Business or First Class
For 10 years, that’s all my focus was on. I was happy to forgo multiple experiences in Maldives, because I knew, my focus was to make my family’s journey between Asia Pacific and North America as comfortable as possible. Every credit card application, ever travel hack, every action of mine, was related to that singular goal.
My Travel Goal from 2020 to … an unknown year
Maldives. Business Class to Maldives for my parents.
In 2020, I had a single travel goal, it was to fly to Maldives, and take my parents and my brother with me. I knew it would be a huge undertaking, and so I kept my target realistic. I did not care whether I flew in Business Class, but it was imperative my parents flew in Business Class.
So throughout 2020, all my travel hacking either contributed my stay towards Maldives or flights towards Maldives.
I was incredibly lucky, I managed to fly my entire family to and from Maldives in Business Class, but I never lost focus of my travel goal.
When I realized that I could accomplish my travel goal, my goal post shifted, to include my own travel to Maldives in Business Class.
Once I accomplished that goal, I shifted my goal post again, to now include my brother’s journey (despite my love for him, he always gets the last priority).
After I booked everything, I realized, I had about 50% of the points necessary to create a luxury experience in Dubai. And guess what happened? My goal post changed again. I went all out chasing that new goal. And I was successful.
Ultimately, my starting travel goal was:
Maldives in an Overwater Villa
Traveling to Maldives in Business Class for 2 passengers
to
Maldives in an Overwater Villa
Traveling to Maldives in Business Class for 4 passengers
Luxury experience in Dubai
My Travel Goals in 2023 and Beyond
Here is an honest answer. I do not have any travel goals in 2023 and beyond.
But after going at it for 12 years, there were some thoughts in my mind:
Maldives… Part 2?
Canadian Rockies?
Disney Cruise?
European Tour
As a travel consultant, I’m privileged to be able to help curate custom itineraries. And many of my travel goals have been curated by me helping clients plan their own trip.
Granted, I’ll be honest, Canadian Rockies and Disney Cruise are ridiculously complicated to achieve from a travel hacking perspective. I would definitely classify that to be a distinguished expert to achieve that, but ultimately it is possible.
Meanwhile, I continue to collect points, without any goal, but I know if I collect them with a diverse range of programs, when it comes time to book my experiences, I will have enough resources to be successful.
Until then, I can’t get the itch of traveling away, so I repeatedly book random trips. Here is my current travel schedule for 2022-2023:
December 2022 to January 2023: India
February 2023: Europe
March 2023: India
May 2023: Canadian Rockies
June 2023 to August 2023: Enjoying the Canadian Summer. Maybe a Disney Cruise?
September 2023 to October 2023: India
All my flights to India are in Business or First Class. I have booked 2 round trip tickets already and 1 one-way ticket. My total out of pocket expense is $500 so far. That’s right, let that sink in, I’m paying $500 for 5 one way flights from Canada to India. Just because I had no other travel goal.
You might look at my travel schedule and see, wait, did I not accomplish 3 goals in 1 year? Not quite. Europe is on WestJet Economy Class, with a special $150 deal that was available for a short period of time. My Europe travel goal would be a luxurious adventure, not a backpacking adventure this will be.
Canadian Rockies is a bit more expensive than I would have liked to spend. I’m spending nearly $3,000 to stay at the Fairmont Lake Louise and Fairmont Jasper for twelve nights in total. Wait, that’s only $225 per night, and that’s a ridiculously good deal. Regular pricing is about $1,000 per night, so that’s a 75% saving already. But $3,000 seems a bit, I don’t know excessive. But I have until May to travel hack the Canadian Rockies and I’m certain I’ll be able to bring that cost down by at least 50%. $1500 for 12 nights at the Canadian Rockies, hell yeah!
Looking to be updated when I see crazy travel deals like my WestJet deal? Join this WhatsApp group here.
Next Steps
I’d recommend you think hard about your travel goals. Don’t take this step lightly, because, everything we do after this step, we will always ask a question, is my travel hack aligned with my travel goal. If not, then quite simply, don’t do it.
And most importantly. Dream about experiences you could not otherwise afford. If your dream is the Ramada Inn at New York City, I’m sorry, you are reading the wrong article. But if it is the Ritz Carlton in Hawaii, then you are in the perfect spot!
Oh, the other important step, which I’m guilt of skipping. Putting your days off in the work calendar. I often forget… that I am just that; a corporate working professional.
Questions
Feel free to book a complimentary 15 minute consulting session with the team here.