Last week, I submitted a vlog application to The Points Guy for their open positions. I wanted to submit something that would make me stand out beyond my resume or a clever cover letter, so it turned into a video project introducing myself and summarizing my world travels. Some of you have asked how I traveled around the world and are amazed when I tell you briefly about how I used points to do it. Well, here it is.
I thought it would be fun to post my vlog here for you to get an idea of how I achieved my seven months of travel. I will write a little below about it and some extra thoughts, but really, the vlog is way more entertaining.
Want to read on? First, I got the starter college credit cards, then Amazon, and then Southwest when they still had the Rapid Rewards credits system. You know… after 16 short flights, I could fly a friend to me from across the nation. I initially used my points and miles to fly friends out to visit me in San Francisco. Since I saw it as free money, it was no skin off my teeth to use them on someone else, and we got to hang out!
Then, I went through a massive points-hoarder phase. I kid, mostly, I was buying cheap flights and accruing miles while flying with a group of friends. Unfair advantage: dual-income family. The points hoarding turned out great for me! After I quit my job, I wanted to fulfill my dreams of traveling around the world and the points really came in handy. These three flights counted as a round trip ticket. My destination was Asia as an open-jaw flying into Vietnam and out of Japan.
My origin was also an open-jaw flying out of Houston and back to San Francisco. When I compare the estimated costs of buying the United flight instead of using points or the simulated flight through Orbitz, you can see with points redemption was 5. In that case, I probably would have favored one-way flights for flexibility. This also worked for me because I did have certain known anchor points. United allows for one stopover and two open-jaws on a rewards flight, but the stopover cannot be at an open-jaw.
