✈️ Epic travel hacks I'm using right now

Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 51 seconds

Selamat pagi dari indah Bali, Indonesia. ☀️

It’s weird to think I was here just a few weeks ago, but I’m very excited to explore even more of this lovely country over the next few weeks.

Anyway, I’ve got some good stuff for you today, so let’s get into it:

• 🏃🏼‍♂️ Mike on the Move

• ✈️ 25% transfer bonus to Flying Blue

• 🤣 Plane Meme

🏃🏼‍♂️ Mike on the Move

As you know, I’m in Bali.

But more important than where I am is how I got here, which involved a severely delayed train ride, a hit and run (I’m fine), and, most importantly…

QSUITES.

That’s right, folks… I was lucky enough to FINALLY fly on Qatar Airways’ business class and spend about 23 total flight hours in Qsuites…

It was awesome… 🤤

I won’t get into how I booked it (since I wrote about that in detail in this newsletter), but it was well worth the 100,000-point price tag.

I do have some thoughts on Qsuites, though (pricing, different Qsuites on different planes, Doha lounge, and more), so tell me:

If you’re tired of the Qsuites talk, I get it. But if you want to hear my take on things and some more recommendations, let me know.

Moving on…

I had a 16-hour layover in Doha along my Qsuites journey.

Rather than hang out in an airport lounge all night, I opted to book this Hyatt Regency for just 3,500 points, which was a quick 10-minute drive from the airport.

But Bali is where the real hotel hacking came into play… 😎

I’m staying at the Hilton Bali Resort, which is a lovely, 5-star beach property located in Nusa Dua.

It runs for around 30,000 points or just over $100 per night, which is not a bad deal.

But since I have the [[ hilton-honors-american-express-aspire-card.name ]], I get a $200 Hilton Resort credit every six months ($400 a year), which covers almost two full nights here.

Thankfully, all I need is two nights - since I’m heading from Bali over to the historic Javanese city of Yogyakarta.

The flight there was easy to book since domestic travel in Indonesia is so cheap to begin with…

But since I used the [[ hilton-honors-american-express-aspire-card.casual-card-name ]] to pay for it, it was free. 🤷🏼‍♂️

You see, the same card that comes with hundreds of dollars of Hilton Resort credit also comes with a quarterly airline credit of $50.

Using these credits alone ($400 of annual Hilton credits and $200 of annual airline credits) pays for the $550 annual fee of the [[ hilton-honors-american-express-aspire-card.casual-card-name ]]…

The uncapped annual free night award and Hilton Diamond status that come with the card are just the icing on the cake!

Anyway, once in Yogyakarta, there are infinite ways to travel hack, thankfully.

For example, there is a Hyatt Regency, which, as a Category 1 hotel, only costs 3,500 points per night.

So, my six-night stay at this 5-star hotel in Yogyakarta (or “Jogja,” as the locals call it) will only run me 21,000 Hyatt points… right?

❌ WRONG ❌

Remember when I told you about Hyatt’s latest “Bonus Journeys” promotion? Every three nights you stay will earn you 3,000 bonus points - including award stays.

That means I’ll get 6,000 points back for my 6-night stay, bringing my net cost down to just 15,000 Hyatt points for a 6-night stay at a 5-star hotel.

So let’s recap: Qsuites, free Hilton resorts, $0 flights, and six nights at a Hyatt for 15k points…

Now THAT is travel hacking at its finest, my friends…

Anyway, I’ve got more epic Indonesia travel hacks up my sleeve for this trip, so stay tuned next week for some more travel hacking fun times.

✈️ 25% transfer bonus to Flying Blue

YES. The moment we’ve all been waiting for… Another transfer bonus to Flying Blue.

Until April 30th, 2024, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards Points to Flying Blue with a 25% bonus.

This presents an opportunity to get some good value for your hard-earned points and take advantage of some of Flying Blue’s already wonderful sweet spots.

Of course, the best use of this transfer bonus is combining it with this month’s (or next month’s) Promo Rewards.

This month’s Promo Rewards include flying from Houston to Europe for just 15,000 Flying Blue miles.

With the current bonus, you’d only need to transfer 12,000 Ultimate Rewards Points, which is fantastic for such a long journey.

If you wanted to kick it up a notch and try out Etihad’s business class, you could fly all the way from North America to the Middle East for just 85,000 Flying Blue miles.

With the bonus, that’s just 68,000 Ultimate Rewards Points to spend 13 hours in one of the best seats in the sky.

Of course, this news only matters if you have UR Points in the first place…

Thankfully, that’s the easy part… 😏

You can earn a boatload of points just by signing up for a single, low annual fee credit card like the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.name ]].

In fact, the welcome offer on this card alone would give you enough points to book that flight from Houston to Europe FIVE TIMES. 🤯

So here’s the bottom line:

There is a great transfer bonus to Flying Blue.

If you have the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.casual-card-name ]] (which you should have anyway, to be perfectly candid), you can multiply your points and book tons of cool flights around the world.

🤣 Plane Meme

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That’s all for today, folks. 

I hope you’ve learned from the travel hacks I’m using on my trip and can leverage some of these deals, promos, cards, and hacks for yourself.

For now, take care, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning. ❤️

8.7932° S, 115.2147° E