Traveling the world.
That can mean a lot of different things for each of us. Whether it’s actually visiting every country in the world, or hitting a number of coveted destinations you’ve only been able to experience through photos and videos, most of us aspire to get out and explore the unknown at some point in our lives.
But what stops the majority of us from making our dream trips a reality?
The most common answers: money and work.
New York Times best-selling author, prolific travel hacker, and CreativeLive instructor, Chris Guillebeau is out to change this way of thinking. Chris has built a global business on the foundation of teaching people just like you and I, how to travel the world for far less than most think possible.
In his most recent class on CreativeLive, Make Your Dream Trip a Reality, students learning his proven tactics and strategies to collecting rewards and cutting travel costs, reported earning over 54,152,315 travel points in the 6 weeks the class was live.
One student during the class, Matt McLean, really took these strategies to heart, and his results more than paid off. Over the course of the class, Matt earned a total of 243,000 travel points and he’s now sharing his own experiences on his blog.
Matt was able to take his newly developed skills and parlay his massive amount of points into booking 3 globe-trotting trips for both him and his girlfriend spanning across Canada, Australia, and Hawaii. In fact, he was able to book over $5,000 in air travel for just $1,200, including a flight from Hawaii to Canada for just $6. He even proposed to his girlfriend during their trip to Haida Gwaii.
In Matt’s own words, “this course helped me arrange 3 trips that meant the world to me – trips that otherwise would’ve been neither affordable nor feasible. It takes a little studying to find local deals, but they are always there. There’s always a trick to be had.”
Check out his full interview during the class finale below.
So, how do you achieve these same results?
There’s no single tip or tactic that’ll consistently net you free and affordable trips around the world.
However, the framework that Chris teaches in Make Your Dream Trip a Reality will train you into a new way of thinking, researching, and booking travel that’ll get you an incredible amount of value for your time spent.
One option to consider if you have lofty travel ambitions, is to use one of Chris Guillebeau’s favorite techniques, booking Round-the-World (RTW) Tickets. They’re perfect for visiting a lot of places over the course of one year, and cutting your individual flight costs down by thousands of dollars.
“My tickets are around $5,000 each,” Chris explains, acknowledging that “$5,000 is a lot of money, of course, but when you consider all the flights you can take, the price per segment goes way down.”
“My price-per-segment is about $300, and this includes many long-haul flights that otherwise would cost thousands of dollars,” he says.
That’s too much to stomach for me, personally. I prefer shorter, more immersive trips where I can spend a good amount of time in a single location and develop an understanding of a different culture. It also gives me more time to relax, catch up on urgent work when necessary, and leave time for spontaneous ideas.
One of the best forums for getting regular updates and tips from fellow travel hackers is the Dream Trip Facebook Group where over 1,200 members continue to post and share daily. One example from this group a few weeks ago was round-trip flights from San Francisco to Oslo, Norway for just over $400.
To get you inspired to go out and make your own dream trips a reality, here are some Matt’s photos from his travels.
Les Grands Montets, Chamonix, France.
Haida Gwaii, Canada.
Glasshouse Mountains, Queensland, Australia.
If you’re ready to get started on booking your dream trip, join Make Your Dream Trip a Reality with Chris Guillebeau, today.
