7
Mar
It’s very rare that I meet other points and miles fanatics in the “real world”, but when I do cross paths with another, it’s absolutely exhilarating.
Last year, I met a very inspiring person named David on a TV set by chance. Once we started chatting, our conversation naturally shifted towards the topic of travel, and we shared our stories with one another for hours. He mentioned that he enjoyed traveling on a budget and often relied on miles and points to cover the bulk of his costs [thumbs up].
Further into our conversation, he told me that he had an ambitious itinerary in mind for 2013: He wanted to be able to travel to all seven continents by his 27th birthday in April. Inspired by his goal, I posted about his trip, asking for reader suggestions to pass along to him.
Well the good news is: David is already well into his journey around the globe, and he is documenting his travels on a personal blog he put up to share his experiences along the way. David reached out to me last month right before his trip began with this post explaining the breakdown of his bookings, and I have been following his posts since. It’s definitely an exciting trip report to keep tabs on.
The best part about his itinerary is that the vast majority of it was booked entirely on points and miles accumulated from credit card sign up bonuses. David was a man on a mission; he booked over $13,000 worth of flights using miles and $351.85 in taxes.
Here’s what his “map” looks like:
…and the countries David will be visiting, in order:
- Uruguay
- Argentina
- Antarctica
- Chile
- Australia
- Cambodia
- Thailand
- Taiwan
- Singapore
- Ethiopia
- Egypt
- Austria
I love hearing success stories of people bringing their travel dreams to life, and his itinerary is a prime example of the old saying, “if there’s a will, there’s a way” – anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
Whether there’s an excuse attached to it or not, I know many readers out there have aspirational trips sitting in the corner of their minds somewhere. If you haven’t done so already, I hope David’s story can help inspire you and give you that “push” to start piecing together your own travel dreams.
What’s your points and miles success story? If you’re still on the way to making that happen, please share your plan[s] instead.
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z said,
Hi, can you let me know how he used miles to go to antarctica? would love to hear about this because my goal is to reach all 7 continents, and antarctica seems like the most challenging.
Kim said,
and the locations (Antarctica is not a country) that David will be visiting, in order:
Uruguay
Argentina
CHILE
Antarctica
Angelina said,
@z/kim: he boated to Antartica from Buenos Aires and then boated to Chile on the return
caveman said,
Where can you go in Antarctica? Is there a settlement or something? I thought there is nothing more than a few scientists/researchers and seagulls/penguins.
dhammer53 said,
He did pretty good… for a rookie. ;)
The Deal Mommy said,
That’s terrific! Thanks for sharing this fun story.
Helixcardinal said,
What was the out of pocket cost for the Antarctica leg though?
David Williams said,
And how many miles?
Miles said,
Like others, I’m still not understanding the Antarctica leg using FF miles.
Mofessor said,
yes, more on the Antarctica journey. I really want to hear if that was paid for with points (because otherwise it’s, I think, a minimum of $3000-$5000)
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