Tokyo Trip: How Did I Do It???

One of the most asked questions, I have received this week is how are you getting a $25,000+ trip for less than $500. (I think I only told the price on my Facebook page, so sorry to the Blogsphere.) Honestly, it was easier than you think.

I am going to let you on a dirty little secret of the frequent traveler world: almost anyone with a job can do what we do. You need to devote a little time each week to this hobby (yes, this is my hobby – some collect baseball cards or coins – I collect points).

How did I get this trip for about 3% of its original cost? Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses! I wrote about my recent credit card churn here, which helped pay for most of this trip. As I stated in that post, applying for 4 credit cards took about an hour. That one hour paid for about 60% of this trip (almost the entire United Ticket, the two Hyatt Nights and one night at the Hilton).

Many people are afraid to sign-up for credit cards. Don’t be. Look in your wallet right now. Do you have a credit card in it? If so, what do you get for using it? Cash Back? Points? Nothing?  Maybe its time to get a new one or two or three.

According to CreditKarma, I have 10 credit cards. However, I can only find 8 of them. The rest of them most be floating around Washington, DC somewhere ~ most likely at a bar that I left without cashing out. My credit score is about 760. Therefore, the rumor/fear that having to many credit cards will hurt your credit is hogwash. If you pay your credit card balance off each month, you are a perfect candidate for frequent travel credit cards.

Back to the reason of the post . . .

Say you want to copy my trip. Here is how I did it:

Airline Ticket to US to Asia with United Miles ($7,000):

60,000 points for a saver award, 150,000 points for standard award. I bought a saver award.

How I paid for it:

United Mileage Plus Credit Card – 50,000 miles after spending $1,000 in 3 months

After spending, the $1,000 you would have a total of 51,000 United Mileage Plus miles or enough for 85% of the ticket.

Currently, the best offer out there is for a 30,000 mile card here . . .  I would wait, because every few months United comes out with a better offer.

Park Hyatt Tokyo – Two Nights ($1,000)

How I paid for it:

Hyatt Chase Visa – 2 Free Nights after your first purchase

Applying for this card was a no brainer and the offer is still available here. (Here).

Friendly reminder, sign up for Hyatt’s Gold Password Program before getting the card.

Hilton Tokyo – Two Nights ($650)

How I paid for it:

Hilton American Express Card – 50,000 points

One night cost 40,000 Hilton reward points and I had almost enough in my account for the second night (a total of 80,000). I was short a few miles, so I paid for Hilton miles to get the free night. Hilton allows you to buy miles when redeeming for a free night, when trying to redeem miles. It will tell you how many miles you are short and how much it will cost for those miles.

First Class Airline Ticket from Asia to US (Stopover in Chicago), ($17,000):

This one was a little more difficult. When I searched, there weren't any saver business class seats available at 50,000 miles. However, there was saver first class available for 62,500 miles. Yes, for 12,500 more points than I was planning on spending, I could get one class better. Score!

How I paid for it:

American Airlines Citi Credit Card – 75,000 miles after spending $3,000 in 3 months

This over is not available anymore. The best offer out there is here. 40,0000 miles after spending $3,000 in 3 months. This will give you 43,000 AAdvantage miles. You could use the two browser trick and get two credit cards and 86,000 miles. I have never used the two browser trick, so if you want to use it, Google it.

W Chicago Lakeside 1 Night ($500)

I have an overnight in Chicago. I could stay by the airport, but that’s boring. So, I decided to stay somewhere nice. Yes, I will have to get transportation to and from the airport, but that’s a small consolidation price for this trip.

How I paid for it:

Starwood American Express Card – 30,000 points after spending $5,000 in 3 months

1 night – 12,000 points

Starwood points are the most valuable of the hotel points. They have a great points and cash policy and rooms start as low as 2,000 points. This is a big splurge for me, but this trip is all about going big!

The best offer now is 25,000 points (10,000 after first spend, and 15,000 more after spending $5,000 in 6 months). You can find this offer here.

For the most part, the trip is paid for by points I got from credit card sign-ups, which is easy to do. The rest of the points came from my hobby, pointing collecting. There are thousands of ways to earn points and you might notice that you are leaving points on the table. Here is a quick list of ways to get points easy:

Shopping Portals

EMiles

ERewards

Restaurant Rewards

There are many others ways to earn points. To get these amazing trips, one needs to think about points every day. You may surprise what you already do that can earn points. 

Its time for you not to leave points on the table!!!

FYI . . .the value of each award above was the cost of the product, if paid in cash, on the day I booked the award.