Travel By Millennials On the Rise

For the so called "Millennial" generation technology and mobile drive our lives. But what also drives life is a desire to travel and see the world. JD and I are both a part of the Millennial generation and we have that travel bug and have used our hobby of points and miles to the fullest advantage. But our friends and fellow Millennials seem to be stuck in the age of, "I would love to travel, but I just can't."

A recent study by American Express Business Insights and featured by ABC News found that despite a struggling economic picture that travel expenditures for Millennials grew by over 20 percent in 2010. Recently the study found that when they analyzed social media they saw that 42 percent of all posts by the Millennial generation focused on travel. The hunger to go out and explore the world is there and the dedication to do it is growing.

As a member of the Millennial generation the desire to travel was instilled in me by family, friends and my undergraduate university where almost 85 percent of undergraduates studied abroad at some point in their undergraduate career. The growth of study abroad programs in recent decades has created a new generation of travelers who have experienced the world, got a little taste of other cultures and wants to go do it all over again.

But the struggling economy, low pay of entry-level jobs and shrinking vacation/sick time balances has them struggling to find their way to their dream destinations. The great thing about the miles and points hobby is that it can't take away a struggling economy, it can't take away the low pay of a job (if only it could) but it can help maximize that vacation time and salary to make travel closer to reach. The even better thing is this hobby, while focused on the luxury life, doesn't have to be. If you don't care to experience Business Class or First Class on your flight and are quite content in Economy...there is still a place for you in points and miles.

In the coming weeks I plan to show how far I have come in just over a year in this hobby and some of the mistakes I made along the way because there are pleanty of resources out there that will show you how to do this hobby well. But there are few resources that will show you how a fellow Millennial did it and the mistakes they made along the way. And lets be honest...I haven't stopped making mistakes and I won't in the future. So I plan to be open and put out on the table and I hope we both can learn through this process and show you how we've done it and how you can do it too.
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