If you think travel hacking takes years to pay out with free flights, hotel nights, and extra perks, think again. We’ve spent over 100 hours researching and testing travel hacks to bring you our first full year in review on today’s travel hack update.

Full disclosure: we started really looking into travel hacking in May of 2022, but it does take a while to hit bonuses, find new cards, etc., so 2023 is our first full year of hacking, and here’s how it went!

Today we go over:

• How many points we’ve accumulated and how
• What happened to our credit scores
• What we’ve redeemed and for what cost!

How Many Points We’ve Accumulated and How
Since starting our travel hacking journey in May 2022, we’ve earned a million points without drastically changing our spending habits (We’re both on school budgets, so our strategy focused on being smarter with where and how we spend, rather than spending more). Our accumulation really ramped up when we started using multiple cards strategically instead of just relying on one.

One of our first experiences with travel hacking was using the Capital One Venture Card way back in 2017. We earned the 60,000-point bonus and used it to erase flight costs, but at the time, it felt like a one-time deal that would take years to replicate. Now, we know better. Instead of waiting years to build up enough points on one card, we’ve learned how to maximize sign-up bonuses and ongoing rewards across multiple programs.

What Happened to Our Credit Scores
If you’re wondering if all these new credit cards tanked our credit scores—nope! We’ve actually seen our scores remain strong in the 800s. A key part of our approach has been paying off balances in full and never carrying debt. We’ve been careful about our applications, spacing them out, and keeping old accounts open to maintain our credit history. If you don’t trust yourself to pay off your balances each month, this strategy wouldn’t be worth it—but for us, it’s been a win.

What We’ve Redeemed and for What Cost!
2023 was the first year we really put our points to use, and the results have been incredible. We redeemed points for a business class flight to Europe and covered multiple hotel stays on our road trips. Our Capital One Venture points covered flights in full, and we’ve continued stacking points from various programs for more redemptions.

We also used points for our Christmas trip to Portugal and Spain, plus flights for our Universal Halloween Horror Nights trip with friends. Each redemption felt like a huge win, proving that you don’t need to be a big spender to make travel hacking work!

Trips taken using travel hacking this year alone:

• London with Dad – Business class flight and a hopper flight between European cities.
• Road trip stopovers – Hotel nights covered with points.
• Christmas in Portugal/Spain – Flights booked with miles.
• Friends trip to HHN at Universal – Flights and some hotel nights covered with points.
• Flights to Disney World – Used points to book flights.
• Trip to see friends in Panama City, FL – Used points to cover flights.
• LA, Burbank, Hollywood, and Disneyland with Dad – Multiple stops using redemptions.

Some redemptions were easy wins, like covering full hotel stays or flying business class, while others were more about making last-minute pivots when plans changed. We also had to get creative when hotel availability was tight, using different point programs to make sure we had a place to stay.

If you’re just getting started or looking to level up, we’ve learned a lot—like how to time redemptions, which transfer partners work best, and how to stack offers for even more value. It’s definitely possible to travel more for less, and we’re excited to keep figuring out the best strategies.

What’s your best travel hack win? Let’s swap stories and keep the adventure going!