This is how a 28-year-old reporter managed to travel 354,000 miles for free, including hotel accommodation and food.
Scott Keyes is a reporter for the online news blog and editorial Think Progress. He has a massive collection of around 25 credit cards that he uses for collecting frequent flyer miles to travel around the world for free.
Just recently, he was enjoying a layover at the Centurion Lounge in Dallas where his American Express Platinum card allowed him to enjoy a shower suite, free food and beverages, spa services and even high-speed Wi-Fi connections.
Usually, the American Express Platinum card comes with a $450 annual fee. But, Keyes found an online deal that waived the fee for the first year, and he said told Business Insider that he'll try to take advantage of another online deal to get it waived again for the another year.
Keyes will also be using his credit card perks for flying on an upcoming trip for 20,000 miles on 21 separate flights, without paying even a single cent.
His trip would span 13 countries that are good tourist destinations, including Finland, Mexico, Nicaragua, Lithuania, Trinidad, Macedonia, St. Lucia, Greece, Grenada, Bulgaria, Germany, Ukraine and Bulgaria. Keyes will travel within the next two months.
The total airfare would cost him 136,500 frequent flyer miles, which is now covered because of his credit card collection. His hotel stays would also be covered using reward points.
However, planning the whole trip took him a lot of time. Keyes said that it took him about 15 hours to plan the itinerary, avoiding flights with hidden charges and choosing the ones that will acquire his flyer miles.
Previously, he also travelled to Galapagos for only $45, Milan for $130 and Belgium and Norway for just $350. Keyes said that carefully organizing his credit by using spreadsheets and keeping track of his reward points and frequent flyer miles allowed him to travel for little to nothing costs.
Keyes has travelled to 30 countries using his money-saving methods, and his upcoming trip will up that number to 42. In total, he flown more than 350,000 miles or about 14 times around the whole globe.
Because of his amazing perseverance and talent for carefully planning out how to take advantage of his credit cards, his friends kept nagging him to tell his secret. Keyes wrote an e-book titled "How To Fly For Free," in which he details his steps.