Travel Hacking to Europe

9/7/2016

The good life, for less

Lufthansa business class, where I am (hopefully) currently sitting :)

I'm taking a trip to Europe this month to see family and friends. Here's my itinerary:

Fly Sendai-Tokyo-Munich-Nuremberg (business)
Fly Nuremberg-Frankfurt-London (economy)
Rent car, drive London-Bristol-Liverpool-Leeds-London
Fly London-Santiago de Compostela (economy)
Fly Vigo-Bilbao (economy)
Fly Bilbao-Frankfurt-Beijing-Tokyo-Sendai (business)

I'll mostly be staying with friends, with one night in a hotel.

The total cost of the trip? Under 80,000 yen.

It's so cheap because I am using air miles for most of the flights and low-cost carriers for the rest, hotel points for the hotel, and a really cheap deal through Expedia for the car hire.

Miles and points are a great way to save money, travel more comfortably, or both. My ebook provides a basic introduction, but the first step is to get a credit card that gives you miles or points for your everyday spend. Then put everything on the credit card (be extremely careful not to increase your spending) and pay it in full every month.

After a while you will have enough miles or points for a free trip. Rinse and repeat.

Anyone else into travel hacking? Share your success stories and tips in the comments.

9 Comments

goodandbadjapan

9/7/2016 09:53:42

Bloody hell, - I paid more than that for a couple of days in Hokkaido last year! I did fly to the UK for about 60,000 yen last year using BA air miles but other than that haven't really had much success. I do put a lot of my everyday spending on my credit card and collect points, and as you say, pay it in full every month. Every so often I can cash in the points with the credit card company and get about ¥20,000 or so in vouchers.

RetireJapan

9/7/2016 13:04:12

It's really worth learning the first 20% of air miles :)

After that it's an endless rabbit hole of minutiae, but the first bit gets you almost all the benefits (Pareto for the win?).

I find business tickets tend to be the sweet spot. Economy isn't as big a saving, and the costs/taxes are the same.

I wouldn't pay for business right now, but it's doable with miles and I'm getting soft in my old age :)

almost retired

9/12/2016 13:40:21

> It's really worth learning the first 20% of air miles :)

What does "learning" here mean?

>I find business tickets tend to be the sweet spot. Economy isn't as big a saving,

I guess you mean that an *upgrade* to biz is easier than getting a *free* economy.

I concluded a long time back that Japanese airlines werent worth it for points (US airlines used to be good). Is this no longer true?

RetireJapan link

9/12/2016 15:45:43

'Learning' here means just that: learning how air mile programs work, how to earn miles, how to redeem them effectively, how to book awards, etc.

Upgrading to business using a cheap economy ticket is rarely possible, and buying full-price economy costs almost as much as discounted business, so upgrades (apart from the complimentary ones using upgrade points or similar) are not worth it for the most part.

Instead, book business award tickets (1.5 times the cost of economy when booking with miles instead of approx 4 times with cash) or first class for a special experience (2x the cost economy vs. 10 times).

The main benefit of US airlines over Japanese ones is that miles don't automatically expire. This is important if you don't earn enough miles for a ticket at least every 2-3 years or so. In other aspects I prefer the Japanese airlines.

Desmond

9/7/2016 12:25:01

More of a points than miles guy here.

Have accumulated many times over to purchase flight tickets or offset large purchases by up to 30,000 yen at a time.

Incredibly satisfying to see the points pile up, but even more so to spend those points and still get yet more points for spending points!

Was actually attempting last night to search for accommodation in Kyoto this autumn for a much needed break, but absolutely no decent vacancies could be found save for AirBnB. Guess those newly accumulated points will have to wait a little longer =)

9/7/2016 13:10:50

Yeah, hotels in Japan are crazy recently...

Maybe the strong yen will help?

Olivia

9/8/2016 09:04:35

Do you have a credit card suggestion that earns points or miles that is easy for permanent visa foreign nationals (who aren't married to a Japanese spouse) to successfully apply for?

9/8/2016 15:15:59

As Ben had mentioned, without a credit history most credit cards will immediately be out of the question.

One strategy that personally worked for me, was to open a bank account and get a debit card which was also issued by the same bank.

After 6 months of using that debit card for all transactions, I was able to get the first card upon applying.

The other surefire way to build credit history is to lock yourself into a 2 year smartphone contract and methodically pay it off.

9/8/2016 13:46:44

Hi Olivia

Most cards will have their own qualifiers (normally age and income) then do a credit check.

The credit check is the main hurdle for many foreign residents: they haven't been here long enough or had enough financial activity to build up their credit.

You build up a credit history by paying bills on time, borrowing money, etc.

Ironically it's much easier to get a credit card once you already have a credit card :)

One thing that I suspect helped me was the fact that I took out a loan to buy a motorbike early on.

If you don't have any credit cards right now, the first step is to get one -any one. Don't worry too much about the points/miles at first. Just get a no-fee card and after a few months it should improve your chances of getting one of the more prestigious/higher-earning cards.

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Travel Hacking to Europe

The good life, for less

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