Traveling has never been cheaper. With the rise of travel hacking, you can literally fly to a number of destinations for under $100. As a matter of fact, I booked my first flight out of Canada to Israel for only $73.53!
I bet you're wondering how many Aeroplan miles you need in order to take a round the world trip. The answer is simple: 200,000 Aeroplan miles.
How Many Travel Hacking Points are Necessary?
If you carefully look at the Aeroplan rewards chart below, you can see that one way flights overseas will typically require an average of 40,000 miles. (Image screen capped from the listing page at Aeroplan here.)
If you begin your journey in North America, and you plan on flying to Europe, Africa, Asia, South America then back to North America, then you will need at least 200,000 Aeroplan miles.
Now you are probably thinking "that sounds good, but saving up 200,000 miles will take forever!"
It will most certainly take forever if you do it the old fashioned way of spending money to earn points. The single best way to get the points is to take advantage of credit card sign up bonuses. Simply put, only apply for credit cards that will earn you Aeroplan miles! After you meet the minimum spending requirements and have earned the points, feel free to cancel the ones you don't wish to keep.
If you sign up for enough credit cards, you can easily earn 200,000 miles! Here is a link to a list of credit cards you can use to earn you those points.
The downside to booking flights using Aeroplan is they tend to have a hefty carrier fee, which can easily cost you over $400 when redeeming miles. The best way to avoid the extra fees is to book with an airline that does not charge carrier fees. Here is a complete list of these airlines:
* Air China
* Brussels Airlines
* Egypt Air
* EVA Airways
* Scandinavian
* Singapore Airlines
* Swiss
* Turkish Airlines
* United Airlines
By redeeming your Aeroplan miles with the above list of airline carriers, you can significantly cut the cost of your miles redemption. You will end up paying roughly $100 or less! In fact, Karen and I flew to both Las Vegas and Hawaii for only $36 thanks to travel hacking!
When you are trying to meet your credit card minimum spend requirement, make sure not to spend your money recklessly. You want to be strategic and leverage your expenses to meet the minimum spends.
For example, one of the credit cards requires you to spend $5000 within the first three months to earn 40,000 Aeroplan miles; do prioritize your necessities or any recurring expenses. Sample methods include:
* Lump sum pay for your annual car insurance
* Funnel your everyday spending (groceries, restaurants, etc) onto your credit card
* Buy grocery gift cards
* Buy gas cards
* Pay for government fees and taxes
* Buy prepaid debit cards
* Use the prepaid debit cards to buy a money order
* Deposit money order into your bank account to pay off your credit card
Annual Fees for Travel Credit Cards
Don't be afraid of annual fees; instead, think of it as a travel investment to save you more money in the future.
For example:
Your overseas flight cost $1,000. The $1000 price tag is outside your budget so you decide to travel hack and sign up for two credit cards. You end up earning 65,000 points and pay $120 in annual fees. You book your flight using your points and $100 for taxes and fees. Your one way ticket end up only costing you $220 instead of $1,000! That's a savings of $780!
If you'd like to learn more, feel free to read this article on how to travel hack using Aeroplan.
Don't wait. Start living the dream of around the world travel. Don't forget to travel hack and save yourself tons of money. Good luck!
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