Today I am launching my first blog, “Hack My Trip,” where I plan to show you exactly how I plan my adventures. Admittedly some are more exciting than others, but I remember being frustrated at how hard it was to learn this stuff in the beginning and hope I can share those lessons as I continue improve my expertise.
Update: In late 2014 I changed the name of this blog to “Travel Codex.” It’s the same content, just a new name.
In 2011 I flew over 100,000 paid miles, mostly on United and Continental. Of that, 50,000 miles was on trips for weddings, holiday visits with family, etc. I had little flexibility in my dates of travel. Another 25,000 miles was on discretionary vacations to Europe that I wouldn’t have taken without coming across sale or mistake fares. All of this was paid for on a graduate student salary.
In the process I was upgraded on most of my flights. I earned hundreds of thousands of miles that are worth more than what I spent in the first place. And most importantly to me, I saved time and money by skipping lines and getting waivers for almost every fee. As 2012 gets started I’m looking forward to doing it all again and learning from my past mistakes—mistakes that you, my readers, hopefully won’t have to make.
Besides reading about me and what I do, you can also get some personal assistance on any aspect of travel hacking, including booking award travel. Just visit the Help section above for more information or check out any of the other topic pages in the navigation bar above, which I plan to continue updating with new information about loyalty programs, credit card churning, etc. as time permits.
Can I pull off this ambitious mission? I enjoy traveling, I’m a good writer, and I have enough technical knowledge to buy a domain name. That qualifies me to join the hordes of travel bloggers popping up every day. Hopefully you’ll agree that I also have the skills to make it a success.
