How To Travel More – Major Keys!

Today the long anticipated and much hyped DJ Khaled album, Major Key dropped. As I type this article, I am listening to the album and it is LIT! If you follow Dj Khaled on snapchat you’ve learned a thing or two about self-confidence and self-promotion. One thing he always gives us are major keys!

In honor of his album dropping I’ve put together the major key to traveling more often, further, and better!

Prioritize Travel

The only way you you can travel more is if you put travel on the top of your priority list. That means travel will beat out designer bags, shoes and jeans. It will beat out a few happy hours every week. Prioritizing travel means that you may cook more often at home so that you can eat out after you book your next flight. Prioritizing travel means migrating funds that you are spending in other categories and spending it on travel!

Credit Cards

Using the right credit cards will get you to your travel goals a little quicker. Why you ask? Because credit card points mean free flights and free hotels! I currently only use credit cards to pay for EVERYTHING. I only use my debit card in the event I need cash. Different credit cards have different perks so don’t stick to one. With some cards I earn money back whereas others earn me free travel. The major key here is paying off your credit card EVERY month in order to avoid interest. You can put majority of your income in a savings account so that it is earning interest, then just use that account to pay all of your credit card bills and use your credit cards to pay all of your other bills! If you are financially irresponsible then this may not be a good method for you. Discipline is a major key!

So which card should you get? The best travel card, by far, is the Chase Sapphire. The Chase Sapphire offers double points on restaurants and travel and when you buy flights through their travel site you get 20% off of the airfare! Click here to apply for the card today! Using this link you will get 50,000 bonus points which is equivalent to $625, that’s enough for at least two trips! You will not regret it, I promise. This is the card that I use the most often. I also use have the American Express Delta Platinum card. I do not love this card as far as rewards go, but for those that fly Delta often this is a good option for reaching the spend to achieve your Medallion Status.

Solo Travel!

Many of us have invited friends to travel with us and they are game up until the point where you say, “let’s buy our flights!” Then suddenly excuses ensue and you’re disappointed because that vacation that you imagined on a beach with your friend suddenly vanishes. If I waited for someone to travel with me every time that I hopped on a plane, there is no way that I would’ve visited 63 countries and 34 states. Solo travel is a major key! It is fun, relaxing and challenging in a good way plus there are always new people to meet when you travel alone. If you want to travel with cool people who you may not know yet, be sure to sign up for our trip to Cuba in October! So go ahead and book that flight!

Flight deals!

More and more airlines are having sales nowadays. All it takes is one airline to put a route on sale and the others follow. If you have very specific dates that you want to travel then you may not be able to take advantage of many of the sales, but if you are flexible you can capitalize on daily sales from major US cities. Below I have shared a few websites that will send you daily emails and even track certain routes for price drops. Be sure to sign up for all of them! These emails are a major key, but can be helpful or dangerous! Be careful.

• AirfareWatchdog
• Secret Flying
• Fare Compare
• Airfare Spot
• The Flight Deal 

Airline loyalty

Picking an airline to be loyal to can be difficult. Check out this article to help determine which airline to give all of your money to. Airline loyalty pays off! No one can agree on what the best airline loyalty program is because it really does depend on where you live and the routes that you will be traveling. This article ranks US programs and this is a ranking of all airlines.

While I have accounts with every major airline group, loyalty has its perks. As a Platinum Medallion with Delta, I often get free upgrades to first class on domestic flights as well as flights to the Caribbean and Mexico, I do not pay fees to check my bag, I get free Delta comfort seats, and priority boarding, which means I never have to fight for space in the overhead bins and I save money on checked bags and preferred seats. Airlines have many ways you can earn miles. Delta has Skymiles Shopping, where you can earn miles for purchases you make online. This year I will make Gold on American Airlines. It will be the first time that I will have status on an airline other than Delta so I will be sure to let you know how it goes.

Beyond the perks once you achieve a certain status, each trip you take you earn miles, which eventually turns into free flights. So no matter how often you fly an airline, sign up for a loyalty program with each major airline alliance.

Now that you’ve got the Major Key to traveling more, where are you going?