The Secret to Unlimited Free Travel

I started this series by describing my life-changing trip to Europe. Then, I was confronted by the financial realities of the real world. I scrambled to find ways to afford my travel bucket list, going deep into debt and eventually sinking into such despair that one cold morning, I called a suicide hotline to have someone calm me down.

My youthful travel dreams had started to feel like a cruel tease. I began to think I would never become the nomadic citizen of the world I felt I was born to be — or at least, not until I was old and in frail health, my best years behind me.

Everything changed when my girlfriend of the time sent me a feature article, posted on a major news outlet website, about a guy who traveled the world for free (or close to free) because he had discovered the secrets of travel rewards credit cards.

This guy knew the hacks to tap into nearly unlimited travel rewards points — frequent flier miles, hotel loyalty rewards, free night certificates and upgrades.

He used them not only to live a jetsetting lifestyle, but to get first class cabins and penthouse suites in five-star hotels — all without changing his daily spending habits or hurting his credit scores.

He was part of a subculture of travel hackers, who called their point-hacking practices “the Hobby.”

I was hooked. At the time, I was working miserable jobs as an office temp, my entrepreneurial misadventures having left me barely employable.

The only recourse I had to finance my travel ambition was to save for it. I would put away a little money from each meager paycheck in hopes of taking a big trip to Brazil next year. If I got a speeding ticket or the car threw a tire … well, goodbye travel savings. Hello, staycation.

But “the Hobby” ... I was floored by the possibilities of being able to travel like a boss whenever I wanted, without feeling like I was draining my savings or indulging in unsustainable instant gratification.

So I started doing what this guy did—collecting travel rewards credit cards, getting approved and rejected, building up point balances and blowing them all, forgetting about points and certificates until they expired, making every mistake in the book.

But slowly, I started to see it. I went to Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Japan — all in the space of two years. Good long trips where I got to stay a week or more in each place.

Two years in, it hit me — I had cracked the code. I was earning travel rewards points faster than I could spend them, and there was no end in sight. I would never have to pay full-price or even half price for a flight again. For every $1.00 I put into the Hobby, I was getting $10.00 in travel rewards out. Minimum.

Now I know not everyone is the math geek that I am, but bear with me — if I could show you how to spend $100 and get $1,000 back, would you do it? Yes or no? Take your time, I’ll wait.

Got it? Say it out loud for me. Yes, you would do that. If you found a slot machine where you could put in $100 and reliably get out $1,000, you would strap on your adult diaper and pull that lever until you passed the fuck out.

But the best was yet to come. I noticed something strange happening — the more travel rewards credit cards I got, the better my credit score got, as long as I followed three simple but important rules. I went from a respectable credit score of 720 when I started the hobby, to nearly 810 now.

It took me awhile — honestly, I barely believed it was happening — but eventually I went over to what I call “The Dark Side” of the travel points hobby. I started booking first class and business class airfare — seats worth thousands of dollars, for pennies out of pocket.

American Dreamliner Business, United Polaris, Turkish Airways Business Class … I was still an office temp when I started flying in these crazy cabins, mind you.

The highlight was probably ANA First Class from Houston to Tokyo. I flew round-trip with a private compartment and a cushy seat that converted to a lie-flat bed, all the legroom I wanted, and I’m over six feet tall, a seven-course meal, all-you-could-drink booze including unlimited Krug Champagne, 13 hours each way …

A seat and itinerary that retails for $22,000 … I only paid $300, plus points I got from one-and-a-half credit cards.

The travel rewards were only the beginning. It was like I had opened a floodgate. Success mounted on success. I felt like I had a superpower — the ability to make travel appear out of thin air.

I gained confidence, swagger. Women took notice and wanted to date me. Men took notice and wanted to be my friend. My side hustle blossomed into a full-time business. I quit temping and became a digital nomad, living the laptop lifestyle, jetting to faraway lands on a whim.

I did have amazing experiences abroad, but needless to say, can you imagine the FOMO I was creating in my friends and family? I posted lurid pictures of my adventures all over my Facebook and Instagram.

My friends, my family, brief acquaintances, hot girls, total strangers … they all started asking me how in the hell I was doing all this. How did I make it happen? Could they buy me dinner and learn how I did it?

That’s how I started giving advice on how to reproduce my success, so they too could travel the world for free for pennies on the dollar.

And to do it while they were still young and hot, not when they are retired and on their second set of hips.

And most importantly — even if they were not a millionaire or six-figure earner.

And thus, Travel Punks was born — a travel rewards brand for people who don’t play by the rules …

… especially the rule that epic travel is the exclusive province of the rich and famous, while you have to settle for half a life, completely bereft of adventure, only to wind up on your deathbed thinking “If only…”