Good riddance 2020. It was a horrible year for most of us on almost every level. The new year brings hope and a new start to regroup, recover, and plan ahead. I wish the best for everyone this year as we slowly get back to normal–whatever that means.
Like most of you, travel is important to me. I love everything about it. ‘Travel‘ a process. Spending time online looking for the next place to visit–it doesn’t matter if it’s a trip to another country or a short flight to visit family. Searching the web for the best deals on flights, hotels, car rentals. Which credit card do I use to maximize the points, or will I use points already earned? What will I pack? Which piece(s) of luggage do I need?
Call me crazy, but I spend a significant portion of my down time mocking up potential trips on my laptop while my favorite Netflix show plays in the background. Most of these trips never come to fruition, but some actually do. Some were the best vacations I ever experienced. I enjoy this exercise, and it’s a great way to stay on top of current offers from airlines, hotels, and credit cards. An educated consumer can save bundles of money and get the most out of the experience. If you have flexibility with your time and destination, you would be pleasantly surprised at the deals that are available directly on airline, hotel and cruise line websites.
Since 2020 was a complete bust for travel, I used that time to focus on making the most of my credit card portfolio. I maximized my point accrual using some calculated spending and shopping portals (Rakuten, Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, etc…) and canceled several trips consisting of nearly two dozen flights which I booked before the pandemic. Almost all of these cancelations resulted in the points being restored to my account or a travel voucher to be used at a later time.
The good news is that the second half of 2021 brings hope for leisure travel to resume, and I will be well armed with these points and vouchers to minimize the cash needed to travel again. And, that’s the entire point. That is what most of us really want, isn’t it? We want to travel to awesome places, by the best means possible (business class, upscale hotels, etc…), using the least amount of our own money possible.
Although nothing is for certain, it is highly anticipated that safe travel will begin to resume the second half of this year. Safe travel depends on a number of things including vaccinations and other steps taken by specific countries or regions–but there is hope and something to look forward to. One great thing that came out of 2020 was that almost every major airline and hotel chain has adopted extremely flexible policies regarding changing flights or canceling rooms. If you want to book a trip for later this year–go for it. Hopefully these new policies stick around for awhile.
I wrote a post back in August about when is the appropriate time to consider traveling again?! After looking back at the disaster that was 2020, I feel even stronger about the answer–anytime. Anytime is a good time to think about travel. As I mentioned earlier travel is a process. If you’re anything like me, the process is rewarding, educational, and gives you something to look forward to. May you have a great 2021 and may it bring you to new destinations.
Where will you visit in 2021?
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