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Tips for Paying for Your Next Big Adventure

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Tips for Paying for Your Next Big Adventure

As part of our Women’s History Month series, Cinneah (the founder of Flynanced) and I co-hosted a series of incredible roundtable discussions with some of our favorite women in the personal finance space with the goal of fostering rich intersectional conversations around money.

There's a big misconception that travel - especially big trips - are for when you've “made it.” Given that many of us have had to postpone travel entirely over the last year, we may be yearning for that next big adventure. 

We spoke with Vanessa M.W. a travel tech professional and the creator of the wealth & wanderlust platform, Wander Onwards and asked her to tell us more about:

  1. How she did three months in Asia on her own with a backpack and a dream 

  2. How we can think about pulling together a massive trip on budget. 

Here’s what she had to share. (You can watch the full recording of the roundtable discussion, Creating a Travel Abundant Lifestyle, here).

Travel Hacking “Scams”

It's all about playing the game. In my friend group they call me the “scammer,” but that's not true. I just know how to work travel rewards programs at an expert level and leverage my blog as a travel tool.

In 2014, I had two backpacks - I “turtle-shelled” them - and I had about $2,000. I decided I wanted to go to Asia for three months. For anyone that can do math, that's not enough money. So I started playing the long game.

I had the Bank of America travel rewards card. I would use that to pay my monthly bills. I accumulated a bunch of points. There were no overseas penalty fees or ATM fees at the time - I think that's still true today. It was a really useful card to have. 

Travel Blogging Successes

Then I started my travel blog. I pitched companies in Southeast Asia, asking if they would be open to a promotion agreement. I would stay at their hotel in exchange for exposure to my community. And they said yes!

I was able to stay in my own Villa in the Philippines and I had all these amazing trips through Cambodia and Vietnam. And it was because I was able to leverage my blog and my points to pay for different parts of the trip. Then I would use the $2,000 I had to pay for ~$1 meals.

I was also a cute girl!  So if someone wanted to buy me a drink, that was okay. It's really all about using what God gave you and trying to figure out how to make that buck go further.

Plan for the Long Term

If you want to strategize a long-term trip -  most people just think about what hotel they’re staying at or what bus they’re taking - you also need to think about how your money is going to be spent in different places. Each place has a different cost of living. 

You can also plan ahead and put all of your expenses on travel hacking credit cards or in travel hacking programs. We call it “schemes” here in the UK but that has a negative connotation in America.

You need to do the long work so you can enjoy yourself. You don't have to think about your responsibilities. You just get to live in the now.

Travel for Work

In 2017, I got my first account management/project management job for an international education tech startup. I positioned my career to be in a place where I get sent out by my company to all these different countries. I went to Turkey, France - all over Europe - Dubai. While I was traveling, I put charges on the travel rewards credit card and then expensed it back to the company. I spent $10,000 in one year.

That's how I was able to rack up 120,000 points on British Airways which I then spent on my honeymoon. I had enough points for business class and I had a partner pass that I applied to my husband. We then went to Mexico from London to the USA for $500 each because of taxes. We got to fly business class back and forth.

Next Steps



About Vanessa:

Vanessa M.W. is a travel tech professional and the creator of the wealth & wanderlust platform, Wander Onwards. Vanessa is originally from Los Angeles, California, she is a proud Chicana, and she has been living abroad for the last 7 years. Today, she helps people build better lives inside the US and abroad through her ‘Move Abroad’ Master Class and financial literacy digital products. She currently lives in Europe with her German Husband and Italian cat, Xiao Huang.