2024 Travels Recap

By any measure, this year was a monster travel year for me but even I am in a bit of shock looking back at all of these numbers.

I love how travel hacking not only showcased how to travel for cheaper, better and more often but perhaps even more importantly for me, allowed for so much flexibility and freedom. Being able to make and change plans was clutch as many times I changed my flights the day before/day of! While this is probably not that way that most travel, it highlights why I always stress for you to figure out your whats/whys when you embark on your travel hacking journey…what do you want to accomplish and why are you doing this can help keep you motivated and also allows you to not let comparison be the thief of joy (read this if you’re looking on getting started)

Overall Year Recap

So many ways to look at these stats but perhaps the one that will grab your attention is that I spent LESS than $100/day on 148 days of travel with cash value over $100,000. I was able to spend so little and saved over $86K because of travel hacking. There were the casino status matched comped cruises plus I used 888,160 miles/points from many different programs – I have included how some of the points/miles were spent and how much was saved below.

Trip Summary

I know, I know I AM SO far behind in writing up the trip reports with 140 days of travel happening after May 1 but I am slowly getting caught up and will add links as posts are written. But you have to admit that it is a bit overwhelming since I circled the world 4.6 times.

• March 2024 ~ Los Cabos, Mexico
• April/May 2024 ~ MSC Poesia: Jewels of the Baltics
• May 2024 ~ Philly/Nova Graduation
• June/July 2024 ~ HAL Nieuw Statedam: Iceland and Greenland Passage
• July 2024 ~ VV Resilient Lady: Greek Islands Glow
• July/August 2024 ~ Paris2024: Olympics
• September 2024 ~ Philadelphia, PA, USA
• September/October 2024 ~ (Comped Cruise) PCL Caribbean Princess: Search for the Northern Lights
• December 2024 ~ (Comped Cruise) VV Valiant Lady: Riviera Maya
• December 2024 ~ New York City, NYC, USA

Flights

I spent almost a week flying nearly 70,000 miles on flights ranging from Jet Blue basic economy to complimentary upgraded AA domestic first class to multiple international business class tickets.

• Singapore Airlines Business Class  57K SQ miles and $5.60 Spend / $2,189.7.70 savings
• Swiss International Airlines biz class flight: 70K AC Miles (56 UR points with 20% bonus) and $73.53 spend / $6,891.47 savings

Lodging

While there were a few luxurious stays at some posh spots, most of the time I was looking for the best value when booking lodging. It was rather crazy that it was cheaper for me to stay in hotels than hostels since I had so many points and only had to account for a housekeeping tip. It was really nice that there were some unexpected gems at those lower level categories. Whilst I did miss the camaraderie and social aspect that I have found in hostels, I was still able to find and meet like minded travelers.

• Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal (during a sold out spring break weekend!) booked with 2X Free Night Awards- $5,856.74 savings
• Park Hyatt Paris Vendome (during the Olympics!) 90K WoH points $5,557.08 savings

Cruises

It is insane how I was able to parlay a spur of the moment $300 trip to Atlantic City with Casino Status Matching into such a crazy jackpot plus I ended up canceling two other comped cruises due to scheduling conflicts so the savings would have been even greater!

• April/May 2024 ~ MSC Poesia: Jewels of the Baltics $4,015.92 savings (Comped Cruise value – oceanview)
• June/July 2024 ~ HAL Nieuw Statedam: Iceland and Greenland Passage $2,598.80 savings (Comped Cruise value – oceanview)
• July 2024 ~ VV Resilient Lady: Greek Islands Glow $5,090.24 savings (Comped Cruise value – oceanview)
• September 2024 ~ PCL Caribbean Princess: Search for the Northern Lights $10,095 savings (Comped Cruise value – mini suite)
• December 2024 ~ VV Valiant Lady: Riviera Maya $2,752.25 savings (Comped Cruise value – XL balcony)

How Loyalty Pays

AKA why I am always stressing to sign up and learn the ins and outs of airline/hotel/other loyalty programs. I know that many will argue that elite status isn’t worth it but it paid off handsomely for me in 2024 in so many ways!

• Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedegral (HH Diamond status) – complimentary upgrade to 2 Bedroom Oceanview Villa (during sold out Spring Break weekend!) + daily comp breakfast $5,698.28 savings
• Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile (WOH Explorist status) – complimentary upgrade to Eiffel Tower view room (during Paris2024) + use of club access award for Regency Lounge access + two Category 1-4 Free Night Awards: $2,978.90 savings
• American Airlines (AA Executive Platinum status) – use of system wide upgrade at booking for international biz class ticket: savings $5,587
• American Airlines: 90% success rate for complimentary upgrades to domestic first class
• American Airlines: AA Executive Platinum = oneworld emerald so I was able to access airport lounges including first class even on economy tickets (international flights)
• Perhaps the biggest perk especially when you have a high elite status level is the ability to connect quickly to typically more experienced customer service reps. Unfortunately, things are going to go sideways with travel nowadays but being able to call the Globalist or Executive Platinum line was a godsend. Issues were resolved quickly and I rarely had to wait longer than a couple of minutes.

Notable Cancellations/Other comped things I didn’t book

It is insane how I was able to parlay a spur of the moment $300 trip to Atlantic City with Casino Status Matching into such a crazy jackpot plus I ended up canceling two other comped cruises due to scheduling conflicts so the savings would have been even greater!

• Emirates First Class Flight from MXP-JFK $2,598.80 savings
• Princess Interior 7 Day Alaska $2,598.80 savings (Comped Cruise value – interior)
• MSC Balcony 11 Day Southern Caribbean $5,090.24 savings (Comped Cruise value – balcony)
• Comped stays at Resort World, Ocean Casino, Hard Rock Atlantic City and Atlantis Bahamas were available

Some important things to note about these numbers/the data/process:

• Cash value was simply the amount that I would have paid in cash at the time of booking but those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Or really a pound/kilogram as there is no way I would have dropped thousands of dollars on a hotel room night or a transatlantic business class flight. And I only took the cruises because they were free. But I include cash value as it’s a good metric to really help drive home the value I’m getting from this travel hacking
• One of the biggest takeaways in travel hacking is DO NOT HESITATE and my year really showcased why this tenet is so important. It came into play when booking award flights or hotels as these are limited commodities and there are so many people that now have points/miles. And then there is the casino status matching, which had so many changes in the last half of the year and will become unattainable for most starting 2/1/25. I had been asked about when to start on multiple occasions and I always told people to do it soon as things can change in a heartbeat..this is true for so many things.
• So many of my trips involved a significant amount of last minute planning which was a dual edged sword: for certain things like the Olympics, I was able to score amazing seats because of tickets were released close to the event date/time but sometimes, it would mean that I would lose out on great award redemptions or couldn’t find business class flights.
• I spent a significant amount of time in very expensive locales (Nordic countries and especially Zurich) and never skimped on meals, activities, excursions, etc otherwise I could have pushed the spend down, and likely quite a lot, but that was never my intent. It was always to take the vacation that I wanted and use miles and points to save as much as possible so that I wouldn’t feel bad spending in other areas.  
• Important note that I also was able to save a lot of $ by staying with friends and family. And I am very fortunate in that friend’s/family generously covered a lot of other expenses for me. Never expected especially with my friends but definitely appreciated and to be reciprocated when they come visit! $ amount saved for $0/night stays and $ others paid for meals and activities weren’t accounted for on the spreadsheet but I feel it’s important to acknowledge since this helped significantly lower my overall daily spend. 

Top Ten Travel Moments for 2024

It’s really hard to narrow these down but this would be my travel wrapped

• 10: Being able to travel as much as I did: I do not take this lightly or for granted (especially after COVID and my knee situation) and really so many of the locations were incredible
• 9: Some pretty terrific hotel stays in Cabo and Paris – whilst I don’t necessarily need posh or luxury, I definitely enjoyed those stays and appreciated the upgrades
• 8: So, so many great airport lounges: I am normally the type that makes it to the gate near the end of boarding. I used to do this as I was rushing from security before the door closes but with the uncertainty of travel, I come a little earlier now and having lounge access has made that bearable. Plus having access on layovers or upon arrival is so nice, it allows me to sleep longer on the plane and still get brekkie in before I head off to explore a city (cuz you know that I am constantly eating and you do not want me to get to the hangry/dangry stages!)
• 7: Business class seats for long-haul flights as (besides FinnAir planes) flying is hell on my knee so being able to ice and/or elevate it for these flights is such a blessing.
• 6: Whales breaching: I have been lucky to see humpbacks before and have seen them breach but the number of juveniles doing it and for how long it went on was extraordinary in Cabo. Seeing this up close on my whale watching tour was cool but to be able to relax in a private plunge pool in my villa and look out into the ocean to see this was *chef’s kiss
• 5: Runavik, Faroe Islands: I have never experienced the type of hospitality offered here especially considering the short notice with our cruise changing itinerary. So much of the town showed up plus they accommodated/made all of these activities/tours for our ship. I had a lot of great conversations that day with locals which is something I cherish so much and don’t get as much of whilst cruising.
• 4: Attending the Olympics allowed me check another thing off the wanderlist and Paris elevated the experience even more. It was so cool to be surrounded by all of these iconic places whilst watching those incredible athletes and I lucked out with some great seats at most of my events.
• 3: Witnessing the Men’s 100M Final. It was such an epic finish with arguably the most talented field of sprinters assembled – and from an amazing vantage point that it stands alone from Paris2024 in my mind (well along with the rest of that incredible night at track and field)
• 2: Seeing the Northern Lights and being able to a number of times. It was really nice to be able to see them both while on my cruise from my mini-suite (so I didn’t have to rush upstairs) and whilst in the Nordics ~ very cool to check off another Wanderlist item! Maybe the coolest was that there were a few times that they were so bright that I was able to see them with the naked eye.
• 1: And as amazing and incredible as all of those experiences were to have or the places were great to see or food/drink was wonderful to consume, so much of travel comes down to people for me. I am so blessed to have met the people I did and will cherish so many of those connections for a long time. I love how when you are open to the universe, the right people can come into your life at the right time and place and be what you need. Unexpected and the most magical. Oh people are tied with and tied up with my other number 1. There are only two things I do not really do whilst solo and one is going for dim sum. And the other is dancing so finding people who I can go dancing with fills my soul with so much happiness.

Outlook for 2025

For those curious: I’m still sitting on a ton of points ~ as almost 2.4 million even with burning through as many as I had in 2024. In addition, I have three comped cruises booked for 2025 so still shaping up to be a big travel year. While I don’t anticipate that it will be as big as 2024, I love that I can stay open to whatever possibilities may present themselves because of travel hacking.

For me, elite status is as much a part of my overall strategy as opening credit cards for SUBs or obtaining bank bonuses (to offset costs even further) are and this is what I will be starting 2025 with:

• American Airlines: Executive Platinum with corresponding oneworld emerald (hilariously I never flew AA last year but was able to get the bulk of my LPs through AA shopping portal)
• Turkish Airlines: Elite with corresponding Star Alliance gold (status match/challenge)
• Hyatt Hotels: Globalist (I obtained this first from a special match promo due to my AA EP status but also organically with 60 elite nights)
• Hilton Hotels: Diamond (from holding AMEX Aspire card)
• Marriott: Gold (lifetime status)
• Accor: *Will use Bilt January Rent Day Promo to obtain

So do you believe in travel hacking now?