I, too, have been actively collecting frequent flyer miles for the last 6 years, basically using the same method. I have always like to travel in my BC (before children) years. Thought I would not be able to do any more until I retired. It gets expensive for a family. Maybe do 1 faraway trip every 3 or 4 years. That was before I discovered these amazing miles. So far, I have taken the family to these amazing places, balancing the mix of culture and nature, and our diverse interest:

Yellowstone National Park
Williamsburg/Washington DC/Philadelphia
Hong Kong/Beijing/Xian
Alaska – sent husband fishing there 2 years ago
Yucatan – saw the beautiful mayan ruins and stayed in a hacienda!!
Kyoto, Japan – 2 months ago during cherry blossom week!
Going to Seward, Alaska next week to see glacier
Next year I plan on taking the kids to hike the Black Forest in Germany and the Alps in Switzerland, and spend a week in Paris just wandering around.
In the plans are also trips to see for Manchu Picchu in Peru, Iguzu Falls in Argentina,
rain forests in Costa Rica……..believe me, I have a long list of places I want to experience.

With the miles, it really cut down the cost of traveling for the whole family. We use hotel points too sometimes, but usually in urban setting. Elsewhere we like to stay in accommodations that reflect the history or culture of the place, which incidentally is always cheaper than a big-box hotel room, and add to the travel experience. My colleagues think I am indepently wealthy to be able to travel so much with the kids. Those who know my hobby of collecting miles are amazed how little we spend for these travels.

I don’t worry about FICO score as we have our house paid off and we have no debts. Besides, it really does not affect the score that much.

Well, to sum it up – I am GRATEFUL for the miles that allows my family to continue to explore this amazing world, for all its diversity!!

Thanks Chris!

I wonder whether one can combine miles from 2 carriers in one alliance? For example, if you have 25K miles from the US Airways credit card, can you transfer those miles to your United FF account? If one flies US Airways, it can elect to get United miles, so I think there may be a slight chance that is possible.

I never thought about getting multiple cards from the same carrier and mostly that’s why I stayed away from getting these airmiles cards …. because a free domestic ticket was not worth it to me. But if they have more than one card, and I can get 50K miles or more from them, that changes everything.

One thing that I don’t think you mentioned is that if you have a credit card with United for example, then if and when you book a ticket with United, a paid ticket, DO make sure you book it with the United Visa card. This way you will get triple miles bonus. I don’t know if it works for all credit cards, but for Chase United Visa, it does. I was an IDIOT for a long time and did not do that … when I flew business class full price for work, I should have paid with my own credit card instead of booking with our travel agent. I would have had at least one around the world ticket by now. Now, those good days are gone … oh well, live and learn!

And by the way, welcome home!

Good points, thank you. In the original article I explained how I closely monitored my credit and was surprised at how little it was affected over time with the new accounts.

Also, I don’t expect that most people will want to open 13 accounts like I did. My point is that even a couple of accounts will boost your available travel options by quite a bit.

But yes, if you (or anyone) doesn’t like to use credit cards, you’re right – this is not a good strategy in that case.

In addition, 13 more open credit cards will certainly increase your risk of identity theft and also make it more complicated to check your credit report for errors.

A lower credit score can obviously end up costing you way more than the price of a ticket in the long run on a mortgage. If your ultimate goal is a location independent lifestyle (like myself) this is much less of a drawback. I, however, am one of those people Chris mentioned that “do not like credit cards.” Frankly, I’m disgusted by the industry and want nothing to do with them.

Keep up the great work, Chris! Your journey is inspiring to those of us that are trying to follow in your footsteps!

I have one of the latter and the issue people should be aware of is that you can only use the points for the cost of the flight and have to pay taxes and other surcharges yourself. That sometimes affects your choice of airline as it did for me last year when Air Canada added fuel and baggage surcharges instead of just raising the price of their flights. I just chose a different airline. I also have to book by telephone for those. BUT they would also allow me to pay for a flight partly in points and partly in cash. Sometimes that is helpful, too.