How does anyone afford to travel now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

It's points. Airline and credit card points. Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously. You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will.

The elephant in the room is that this level of points is not possible without a) a lot of money for “minimum spends” on the credit cards to get the bonuses and b)willingness to apply for business cards because there simply aren’t enough personal cards to accumulate all these points without hitting bank limits.

Right ,getting these points is not free. You have to spend tons of money to get points high enough to use on even ONE hotel night stay. And some of these travel influencers who hawk these cards are getting more points from their referral links.

That's just...not true.

Chase Ink cards give a 75K-100K point bonus for spending 6k to 8K over a three-months period. This number of points will buy three nights at a Hyatt in Paris or up to ten months at a Hyatt in a less central city (ex. Cape Town, Lima, Casablanca).

10 months??

Sorry, ten nights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

It's points. Airline and credit card points. Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously. You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will.

The elephant in the room is that this level of points is not possible without a) a lot of money for “minimum spends” on the credit cards to get the bonuses and b)willingness to apply for business cards because there simply aren’t enough personal cards to accumulate all these points without hitting bank limits.

Right ,getting these points is not free. You have to spend tons of money to get points high enough to use on even ONE hotel night stay. And some of these travel influencers who hawk these cards are getting more points from their referral links.

That's just...not true.

Chase Ink cards give a 75K-100K point bonus for spending 6k to 8K over a three-months period. This number of points will buy three nights at a Hyatt in Paris or up to ten months at a Hyatt in a less central city (ex. Cape Town, Lima, Casablanca).

But you have to be willing to open a business credit card for a business you don’t have in order to do this.

No you do not. You apply as a sole proprietor and just say you’re doing some consulting.

Thai requires a willingness to lie for most people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that travel can be done by most people but it comes down to what your at home priorities are as well as what your travel wishes are.

If you make an effort to make travel a priority, you should budget for it. Cut down on non necessities.

When it’s time to plan your trip, do your research and plan ahead. Airline tickets can be cheaper when bought far in advance. Stay in cities and accommodations that are more reasonable. Travel in the shoulder seasons. You also have to consider different destinations. For example, we recently priced a spring ticket to phoenix. That ticket was more expensive than a nonstop to Dublin. So we went to Dublin.

I hear of friends who spend +$5K for a share of a week at a beach house over the summer. Thats crazy to me. I’d rather spend that towards a trip elsewhere.

Travel isn’t affordable for everyone but I do think it can be done if you budget and manage well.

This is the real answer, though I will disagree that travel isn't affordable for everyone. A decent apartment in a transit-accessible part of DC costs around $30K per year. Add in another $15k for utilities and food and you've got your necessities covered for $45K. Anything you make on top of that you're free to use for travel if that's your priority. Buying a house, paying for a car or multiple cars, taking fancy nights out, or having kids are all perfectly valid choices if those are your priorities. They're all also perfectly valid choices not to have or do if they're not your priorities.

People seem to think a lot of those choices are necessities then wonder why they "can't travel" because all their money goes to those choices they made. Those people absolutely have money for travel, they just chose to prioritize that money for other things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at $350k HHI, $4k PITI (cries at 2023 interest rate), $1k car payment, $2k in monthly daycare, and no family money. We eat out, get DoorDash at least once a month, bi-monthly cleaners, max out retirements, have over $100k in college fund for one DC4. We also travel.

We don't live extravagantly, but we're also not pinching pennies.

yeah sounds solid middle class lifestyle

Middle class, haha. No.

Subtract the income and that's a middle class lifestyle. Reminds me of the factory workers in the 70s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

It's points. Airline and credit card points. Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously. You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will.

The elephant in the room is that this level of points is not possible without a) a lot of money for “minimum spends” on the credit cards to get the bonuses and b)willingness to apply for business cards because there simply aren’t enough personal cards to accumulate all these points without hitting bank limits.

Right ,getting these points is not free. You have to spend tons of money to get points high enough to use on even ONE hotel night stay. And some of these travel influencers who hawk these cards are getting more points from their referral links.

That's just...not true.

Chase Ink cards give a 75K-100K point bonus for spending 6k to 8K over a three-months period. This number of points will buy three nights at a Hyatt in Paris or up to ten months at a Hyatt in a less central city (ex. Cape Town, Lima, Casablanca).

But you have to be willing to open a business credit card for a business you don’t have in order to do this.

No you do not. You apply as a sole proprietor and just say you’re doing some consulting.

Thai requires a willingness to lie for most people.

You don't have to lie. You say its a potential new business, you say currently you have zero revenue. You still report your regular job income and your SSN (since its a sole prop). They are really only underwriting you personally, not the business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

It's points. Airline and credit card points. Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously. You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will.

The elephant in the room is that this level of points is not possible without a) a lot of money for “minimum spends” on the credit cards to get the bonuses and b)willingness to apply for business cards because there simply aren’t enough personal cards to accumulate all these points without hitting bank limits.

Right ,getting these points is not free. You have to spend tons of money to get points high enough to use on even ONE hotel night stay. And some of these travel influencers who hawk these cards are getting more points from their referral links.

That's just...not true.

Chase Ink cards give a 75K-100K point bonus for spending 6k to 8K over a three-months period. This number of points will buy three nights at a Hyatt in Paris or up to ten months at a Hyatt in a less central city (ex. Cape Town, Lima, Casablanca).

But you have to be willing to open a business credit card for a business you don’t have in order to do this.

No you do not. You apply as a sole proprietor and just say you’re doing some consulting.

Thai requires a willingness to lie for most people.

You don't have to lie. You say its a potential new business, you say currently you have zero revenue. You still report your regular job income and your SSN (since its a sole prop). They are really only underwriting you personally, not the business.

I mean so many people have rentals these days. That's a business if I ever heard of one.

[Anonymous]

It’s definitely points. My husband travels for work and it really adds up. Our flights are free for the 4 us to travel to Europe and Iceland this summer round trip. I booked a couple of cheap air bnbs as well. It’s definitely doable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s definitely points. My husband travels for work and it really adds up. Our flights are free for the 4 us to travel to Europe and Iceland this summer round trip. I booked a couple of cheap air bnbs as well. It’s definitely doable.

Many, many people do not travel extensively for work to get these kinds of benefits. Consider yourself very lucky, moreso than it being "doable." It's only doable if you have a job where you travel a great deal AND are able to keep the points for personal use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

It's points. Airline and credit card points. Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously. You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will.

The elephant in the room is that this level of points is not possible without a) a lot of money for “minimum spends” on the credit cards to get the bonuses and b)willingness to apply for business cards because there simply aren’t enough personal cards to accumulate all these points without hitting bank limits.

Right ,getting these points is not free. You have to spend tons of money to get points high enough to use on even ONE hotel night stay. And some of these travel influencers who hawk these cards are getting more points from their referral links.

That's just...not true.

Chase Ink cards give a 75K-100K point bonus for spending 6k to 8K over a three-months period. This number of points will buy three nights at a Hyatt in Paris or up to ten months at a Hyatt in a less central city (ex. Cape Town, Lima, Casablanca).

But you have to be willing to open a business credit card for a business you don’t have in order to do this.

No you do not. You apply as a sole proprietor and just say you’re doing some consulting.

Thai requires a willingness to lie for most people.

These financial institutions lie, cheat, and deceive their customers. Why should anyone have the slightest hesitation to lie to them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people who travel for work and rack up the miles have the best chance for affordable travel.

I have a neighbor who games credit card deals, opening and closing cards to get the travel points and somehow doesn’t worry about his credit score.

Uh, that is how you get a better credit score

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a nurse, so very much true middle class. I live in a VHCOL city. I take 2-3 int’l trips a year by keeping them to a week or less, buying very cheap airfare and going off season/ shoulder season. Once there, I stay in the cheapest hotel I can find that is safe.

Of note, i literally never, ever order DoorDash. Anyone who has ever paid $29 all-in for a single hamburger is not allowed to whine about the costs associated with taking a trip— you are pissing away your money

I don’t pay the premium for Instacart. I don’t have regularly scheduled housecleaners. I go out to eat with friends sparingly, not just because it’s 7 pm and I don’t feel like cooking.

Oh ! And I don’t have a $800-$1000 monthly car pay like a few of my coworkers who wanted the brand new bronco instead of the 18 month old used Corolla.

We have a HHI around 160K with one kid and this is how we manage to travel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

It's points. Airline and credit card points. Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously. You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will.

The elephant in the room is that this level of points is not possible without a) a lot of money for “minimum spends” on the credit cards to get the bonuses and b)willingness to apply for business cards because there simply aren’t enough personal cards to accumulate all these points without hitting bank limits.

Right ,getting these points is not free. You have to spend tons of money to get points high enough to use on even ONE hotel night stay. And some of these travel influencers who hawk these cards are getting more points from their referral links.

That's just...not true.

Chase Ink cards give a 75K-100K point bonus for spending 6k to 8K over a three-months period. This number of points will buy three nights at a Hyatt in Paris or up to ten months at a Hyatt in a less central city (ex. Cape Town, Lima, Casablanca).

But you have to be willing to open a business credit card for a business you don’t have in order to do this.

No you do not. You apply as a sole proprietor and just say you’re doing some consulting.

Thai requires a willingness to lie for most people.

These financial institutions lie, cheat, and deceive their customers. Why should anyone have the slightest hesitation to lie to them?

Wow...

[Anonymous]

Lifestyle choices. Some people prioritize and save for travel. Others prioritize other things (homes, cars, some other material thing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don't understand are the people who fly business class all the time when they go on vacation. And pay for it with cash, not points.

Just for fun, I've looked at business class seats on some of the recent flights I've taken and they are THOUSANDS of dollars more. Like some of them were in excess of $10k. For one business class ticket.

These must be some rich mo-fos!

Economy seats aren’t cheap either

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s definitely points. My husband travels for work and it really adds up. Our flights are free for the 4 us to travel to Europe and Iceland this summer round trip. I booked a couple of cheap air bnbs as well. It’s definitely doable.

Many, many people do not travel extensively for work to get these kinds of benefits. Consider yourself very lucky, moreso than it being "doable." It's only doable if you have a job where you travel a great deal AND are able to keep the points for personal use.

Exactly. Most companies these days are cutting business travel as a whole