10 Essential Advice From A Spouse Who's Traveled The World Twice | Travel | Travelocity

 My spouse and I don't exactly spend a lot of money, nor do we have the appearance of frequent travelers. However, we've been able to take not one, but two round-the-world journeys using points, and we're about to schedule a third. A sincere belief that everyone can succeed. Research and lists are all that is needed! Here is how we achieved it, twice.

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1. It Is Not Necessary to Hack Cards

Each of my hubby and I has an Aeroplan Gold Visa card. If you're wondering why we selected it, the reason is straightforward: Our bank provided it to us! To get points, we don't invest much money. In fact, we work to do the opposite thing because we are conscious of our credit card debt. Nevertheless, we did gradually gather points over time. We first discussed using them as payment for a local flight. We started looking at other routes since we wanted to go as far as we could. That's what brought my spouse to FlyerTalk.

2. All available research has already been done

People who enjoy travel, aircraft, and rewards gather on the site known as FlyerTalk. They are the sort of people that share interesting facts with others, such as the fact that we could have travelled outside of Canada with our little short-haul points, but we should probably wait as we were in an excellent position to accumulate enough marks for a Personal 24 hour trip.

We owe this intelligent community a great deal of thanks since they captured our attention. 2013's first trip was based on itineraries that other people had successfully reserved. This is the location we went to have double all our information in 2018 whenever we got a little more adventurous with our plan.

I should note that even though I don't hack credit cards, I did go on a points binge in 2013 after seeing how simple it was to put together a round-the-world vacation. Because each "visit" was just every time you put $3 of petrol in your car, FlyerTalk allowed me to quickly accrue additional points for frequenting a certain service station during a month.

3. Make use of small print

Always read the fine print when making major travel arrangements. On the incentive flights we were considering, we discovered that we could take advantage of two layovers. Sydney, Australia was the major target of our maiden journey, and we relished the layovers in Bangkok and Brussels. Layovers may be added as long as they are on your flight route.

We also discovered that you may take several stopovers totaling 24 hours or fewer by reading the fine print. Although some travellers would view this as a voyage from hell, for us, it served as the starting point for our around-the-world journeys.

4. Fees Were Your Enemies

Wonderful layovers in Manhattan, Istanbul, Changi, and San Francisco were a part of our first round-the-world journey. In three weeks, we travelled from their residence in Ontario to Philadelphia (and into York City), Antwerp (with our own additions of side excursions to Paris, Leuven, and Bruges), Turkey, Hanoi (with a separate trip to Thailand), Jakarta, Sydney, San Fran, and finally back to our home.

Taxes, fees, and other expenses totaled $350 for each of us. As frugal as it gets, this is. My spouse kept a chart to keep track of which airports charged improvements fees and which airlines charged fuel surcharges as part of our effort to minimise additional expenditures. We took all of our trips on different Star Alliance carriers even though we get Aeroplan points from Air Canada. That technique was more cost-effective!

5. Be Creative With Your Booking

Planning with Star Alliance flights was a complete game-changer. It gave us more freedom and made planning even simpler. We were unable to identify all the itineraries we were interest in with Air Canada when we first started arranging your second trip in 2018. They were there, but we were unable to access them online. We couldn't plan too far ahead without a confirmed flight number. We then discovered that we could register for free subscriptions with all of the other Star Coalition airlines' systems and do research through them. Some of them contained the data we need.

Yes, doing research is quite helpful.

Along with being a skilled researcher, being organised is really helpful. You must double-check everything, including flight details, confirmation numbers, visa requirements, and vaccination policies. We made an effort to accept all the research, convincing yourselves that it was enjoyable preparation for our trip.

Pro tip: Make sure the booking agent links your bookings if you and your spouse, like us, have different last names. Changes should be made for both parties if they affect one.

6. Round-The-World vs World-Seeing

In reality, we've never purchased a round-the-world ticket. We've reserved Australian reward tickets and used up all of our available stopover and layover opportunities. In our particular case, it didn't matter whether we flew east or west to go there or return home because our end destination (Australia) was almost equal distance from our starting location (Ottawa). We were able to go throughout the world in 2013 because to that.

We could have travelled around the globe on our second trip, but we decided against it. Instead, we reversed course and headed back. Our journey began in Ottawa, and we made Newark our first destination. After that, we travelled to Milan, Lake Victoria (our first official stopover), Johannesburg, Jakarta, Perth (our final destination), Bangkok, the United Arab Emirates, Constantinople, Rome (our second successful layover), Tuscany, Siena, and Umbria, and finally Zurich before returning home. We completed the journey in six weeks for a cost of roughly $500 per person in taxes and fees.

Start accumulating points today for your global travels!

7. You Can't Always Do It All

You'll surely form a relationship with some breathtaking layovers once you start mapping out your potential itineraries. The Cook Islands, Colombia, and Niger were all on my list at one point or another! But practical factors dissuaded them. All were swapped out for equally fantastic locations. We took a plane to Milan to view The Last Supper by Da Vinci and indulge in gelato. We observed jacaranda trees in blossom while touring the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg one morning. The ancient town of Zurich was a pleasant surprise, brimming with tasteful construction.

Recognize that things don't always pan out as planned. We almost missed include Yangon in our second trip since the layover merely took longer than the permitted 24 hours. There are limitations on the number of flight segments and total miles that are permitted. You simply can't do them all at times.

8. Plan for tiredness, but be aware that it might not happen.

We get questions regarding jet lag a lot. There was nothing special or unpleasant about the vacation. Numerous nighttime flights are necessary, and economy class is not conducive to comfort. I can't sleep on aircraft, too. But we like to say that if you fly frequently enough, you can beat jet lag. We slept comfortably at each location because to the combination of the excitement and all of the walking we did.

9. Adore Traveling Light

They also inquire about our luggage. We would never consider taking checked luggage on a vacation of this nature. Multiple flights and extremely tight timetables are not your suitcase's friends. So true, we just brought a carry-on bag apiece for both of our vacations. We took bus excursions and went on exploration trips while carrying our bags. We looked for galleries and museums that have baggage storage. In order to safely leave our baggage while we went exploring and returned for them, we even reserved inexpensive airport hotels for a day (and a hot shower).

10. Cherish each moment.

Sometimes the hardest question we are asked is not how we managed to travel the globe on tickets, but rather how little time we allotted for our journeys. People wonder if a vacation this intensive can be fun. After all, a lot of time is spent at and around airports as well as travelling there. On a layover of less than 24 hours, is it really possible to have a meaningful visit? Is it worthwhile to travel to Australia if you'll just stay there for a week? Yes, it is the solution.

On a more practical level, we've discovered that, in the event of a layover, you should prioritize one thing and organise your entire trip around it. Find a hotel close to the wine bar or art museum of your dreams. Instead of wasting your valuable time traveling the entire city to view the top 10 attractions, focus all of your explorations on your top objective. Accept tasks that serve two or three purposes. In addition to an amazing dinner prepared by Thai chefs, our culinary lesson at the Bangkok street market gave us the chance to meet other visitors, have a tour of the marketplace itself, and ask the staff for some practical transit advice as we departed.

Start gaining credits for your travel goals by reading about the details and motivation behind our trips in 2013 and 2018.

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