How to Use Your Bilt Points: The Complete Transfer Guide 🏠✈️

Bilt burst onto the scene a few years ago with a genuinely new idea: earn points just by paying rent. In theory, it sounded amazing — and honestly, it was amazing. These days, with credit cards, new partners, ratios, and features being added, the program has gotten a little more complex to navigate. 🧭

A few months ago, Bilt also ran a promotion letting you rack up serious points through the Rakuten shopping portal. I personally earned 57,000 Bilt points this way! You can still earn Bilt points thru Rakuten, but at a decreased ratio. 

If you built up a nice Bilt balance and now find yourself wondering "okay, what do I actually do with these?" — you're in the right place.

What Can You Do With Bilt Points?

Bilt points work a lot like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, or American Express Membership Rewards. You've got two main options:

• 🛫 Book directly through the Bilt travel portal (flights, hotels, and more)
• 🔄 Transfer your points to airline and hotel loyalty programs, often at a 1:1 ratio

Transferring almost always stretches your points further, so let's dig into your partner options.

Bilt Airline Transfer Partners ✈️

• Atmos Rewards (Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian Airlines) — exclusive to Bilt
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards — exclusive to Bilt among the major flexible currencies
• Etihad Guest / Airways
• Iberia Plus
• Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• Spirit Airlines
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club & Virgin Red
• Aer Lingus AerClub

Bilt Hotel Transfer Partners 🏨

Hotel Program	Transfer Ratio
World of Hyatt	1:1
Marriott Bonvoy	1:1
Hilton Honors	1:1
IHG One Rewards	1:1
Wyndham Rewards	1:1
Accor Live Limitless	3:2
Preferred Hotels & Resorts (I Prefer)	1:2

That's a seriously expansive list of partners, which means you've got plenty of ways to put your points to work depending on where you're headed. 🌍

How to Transfer Your Bilt Points

Ready to move your points? Here's how:

1. Open the Bilt app and tap Rewards at the bottom of the screen
2. Choose the Hotels or Airlines tab, depending on where you're transferring
3. Select your partner program and link your account
4. Enter the amount and confirm your transfer

⚠️ One important detail: the name on your Bilt account and your partner loyalty account must match exactly, or the transfer won't go through.

The good news? Transfers land pretty much instantly, so you can move your points and start planning your next trip right away. ✨

Seems obvious, but you can transfer points from Bilt, Chase, Amex, Capital One and Citi into the same airline or hotel loyalty account so this is just another tool in your toolbelt to get almost free flights and accommodations. 

Do you want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "LETSGO" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

Turn Your Next Airbnb Booking Into Free Miles ✈️

When you book your next Airbnb, one extra step can earn you a nice stash of extra points or miles. It used to be just Delta SkyMiles or British Airways Avios. Now you can add Tap Air Portugal miles to the mix, too.

Here's how to make sure every Airbnb booking is working double-duty for your next trip.

• Delta SkyMiles Earn 1 mile per $1 spent on stays and 3 miles per $1 spent on experiences and services. Just connect your accounts via Delta Air Lines and Airbnb before you book.

Hot tip: this one has a catch. You'll need to book within a 10-day active window after connecting your accounts, so don't link up months before your trip and forget about it.

• British Airways Avios Earn 2 Avios per $1/€1/£1 spent on stays and 3 Avios per unit spent on experiences. Just click through the British Airways portal before you book your stay.
• Tap Air Portugal Miles Earn 2 miles for every 1 Euro spent on Airbnb. Simply log into your Tap Air Portugal account first, then book your Airbnb through the linked session.

Prefer VRBO? You're not left out. VRBO bookings can also earn extra points and miles through United Airlines, plus shopping portals like Rakuten.

The best part about all of this? It costs you nothing extra. Same booking, same price, just a few extra clicks for miles you'd otherwise leave on the table. 🧳

Do you want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

Bonus Points Alert: Shop Through These Portals Before the Deadline 🛍️

Bonus Points Alert: Shop Through These Portals Before the Deadline 🛍️

If you've been following along, you know we love stacking points on online purchases — and right now, both United and Southwest are sweetening the deal with bonus points when you hit certain spending thresholds. Here's what's available and how long you have to take advantage.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal ✈️

• Spend $100 → earn 500 bonus Rapid Rewards points
• Spend $250 → earn 1,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points
• Spend $500 → earn 2,500 bonus Rapid Rewards points

⏰ Expires August 10, 2026

United MileagePlus Shopping Portal ✈️

• Spend $150 → earn 500 bonus MileagePlus miles
• Spend $350 → earn 1,000 bonus MileagePlus miles
• Spend $600 → earn 2,500 bonus MileagePlus miles

⏰ Expires August 9, 2026

The offers look similar at first glance, but the spending thresholds are different at each portal — so read the fine print before you start filling your cart 🛒

And don't forget: pair your portal purchase with the right credit card to layer even more points on top. That's how double and triple stacking works its magic 💳✨

If this all gives you a headache, and you want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

Stop the FOMO: Here's How to Use Points & Miles to Book Europe Next Year

Stop the FOMO: Here's How to Use Points & Miles to Book Europe Next Year

Deep into summer, the travel envy is real 😅 Your feed is flooded with friends sipping wine in Santorini and wandering cobblestone streets in Rome. If that's you, here's the good news: now is the perfect time to start planning your own European adventure for next year — using points and miles.

So where do you start? Let's break it down.

The 4 Types of Points & Miles You Need to Know

Not all points are created equal. Here's a quick rundown:

1. Airline Miles ✈️
The most familiar of the bunch. Fly with an airline, earn loyalty miles. Many airlines belong to alliances or partnerships, meaning you can fly one carrier and credit the miles to another. You can also rack up miles faster by opening an airline-branded credit card that earns miles on everyday purchases. Once you hit the threshold, redeem them for a free flight or cabin upgrade directly through the airline. Simple enough.

2. Hotel Points 🏨
Same concept, different category. Stay at a hotel, earn loyalty points. Add a hotel-branded credit card to the mix and you'll earn even faster. Stack up enough and you're looking at free nights.

3. Flexible Points 💳
Here's where it gets interesting. These are earned through bank-branded credit cards — think Chase, Capital One, Amex, and Citi — and they're not locked into one airline or hotel. Instead, they can be transferred to more than a dozen different travel partners, giving you serious options. You can also spend them directly in the bank's travel portal on flights, hotels, car rentals, activities, and even cruises. One important note: use them before you cancel the card or they disappear.

4. The Others: Bilt, Rove & Rakuten 🛍️
Bilt functions like flexible bank points, but you earn them by paying rent — yes, really. Rove and Rakuten are shopping portals that layer bonus points on top of your regular credit card earnings when you shop online. Think of them as a rewards multiplier for purchases you're already making. Use my Rove referral link and get 500 points when you sign up. Use my Rakuten referral link and get $50 when you spend $50. 

Why Flexible Points Win

Here's a real example that says it all. A client came to me with nearly two million American Airlines miles — which sounds incredible, and we did manage to book business class flights for her whole family. But when it came to hotels? She had to pay cash 💸

If those had been flexible points instead, we could have covered both the flights and luxury hotels entirely on points.

That's the power of flexibility.

Our Favorite Card Right Now 👑

Now that you understand the difference, you'll have a whole new appreciation for the Chase Sapphire Preferred's current 100,000-point welcome bonus. Those are Chase Ultimate Rewards — flexible points that transfer to dozens of airlines and hotels, including the best sweet spots like Avios, Flying Blue, and World of Hyatt.

The card runs just $95 a year, and a new $100 hotel credit effectively knocks that down to $5 back into your pocket. For what you get in return, that's a no-brainer.

👉 Ready to start earning? Read more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred here — and if you decide to apply, we'd love it if you use our referral link!

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

💳 How to Triple Stack Points on Every Online Purchase

 

💳 How to Triple Stack Points on Every Online Purchase

Every time you shop online, there's a question worth asking: how many points or miles can I earn here?

Earning some points? Nice. Earning double points by layering two sources? Even better. Earning triple points across three sources at once? That's the triple stack — and it's one of the most satisfying moves in the points game.

Here's how it actually works, with a real purchase to show you exactly what's possible.

🌸 The Triple Stack in Action: A Flower Delivery Example

The goal: Buy birthday flowers for a friend ($66 total)

Flower delivery services are basically interchangeable, so the smarter move is choosing the one that earns you the most — not just picking the first result that pops up.

🔍 Step 1: Check for Credit Card Bonus Portals

Chase has an ongoing partnership with the digital payment platform Paze that earns 10x Ultimate Rewards points plus a $10 statement credit on purchases. The first step is checking the Paze merchant directory under flowers and gifts — and sure enough, 1-800-Flowers is listed. Read here about how to link your credit card to Paze.

✅ That locks in Layer 1.

🖥️ Step 2: Check Shopping Portals

Head to CashBackMonitor.com to see every shopping portal where 1-800-Flowers is listed. This is where you decide if a hotel or airline portal makes more sense than a cashback option.

A few things to consider at this step:

• Is any airline or hotel portal running a bonus promotion right now?
• Do you need to top off a specific loyalty account before a trip?
• Are any of your points or miles close to expiring?

In this case, the American Airlines AAdvantage shopping portal made the most sense.

✅ That locks in Layer 2.

💰 Step 3: Pay with the Right Card

Check out using Paze with your linked Chase Freedom Flex or Sapphire credit card.

✅ That locks in Layer 3.

🏆 The Triple Stack Breakdown

Here's what a $66 flower purchase earned:

Source	Reward
American Airlines shopping portal	350 AAdvantage miles
Chase Freedom base earn	66 Ultimate Rewards points
Paze 10x bonus	660 Ultimate Rewards points
Paze statement credit	$10 back

Total: 350 AA miles + 726 Chase points + $10 statement credit — on a $66 purchase you were going to make anyway.

🗺️ The Triple Stack Formula

Whenever you're about to buy something online, run through this quick checklist:

1. Check your credit card bonus offer (Chase Paze, Amex Offers, 5x bonus categories, Rakuten.com etc.)
2. Check shopping portals on CashBackMonitor.com to find the best rate
3. Choose the portal that fills a loyalty gap (expiring points, upcoming trip, bonus promo)
4. Pay with the card that earns the most in that category

The key is always checking before you check out — once the purchase is done, those layers are gone. 🎯

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

How You Can Rack Up 15,000 Chase Points Fast

Chase Quietly Launched a 10x Points Offer You Don't Want to Miss 👀

Chase just announced a partnership with Paze, a new digital wallet platform — and it comes with a seriously impressive earning opportunity: 10x points on purchases, up to 15,000 points per month. 💳✨

What Is Paze?

Paze is a digital payment system owned by Early Warning Services (the same company behind Zelle) that's accepted by select online retailers and linked directly to your credit card. Several major banks have already signed on — Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, and US Bank among them.

The Chase 10x Offer

Chase is sweetening the deal for certain cardholders by offering 10x points when you use Paze for online purchases. Here's which cards are eligible:

• Sapphire Preferred
• Sapphire Reserve
• Chase Freedom
• Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Chase Freedom Flex

United credit cards are also eligible for 10x points, though their cap is 20,000 points total.

How to Get Set Up

Getting started is straightforward:

1. Open the Chase mobile app
2. Tap Digital Wallet, then select Paze
3. Choose your eligible card — it should link instantly ✅

Where to Shop

Head to Paze.com to see the current retailer list. It's still growing, but a few highlights include Fanatics, Broadway.com, Harry & David, Domino's, and GNC.

Here's where it gets interesting for points enthusiasts 🤓 — New Egg is on the list, and they sell gift cards for a wide range of brands we actually use for travel and everyday spending:

• ✈️ Southwest Airlines
• 🏨 Hotels.com
• 🚢 Princess Cruises
• ✈️ Delta
• 🚗 Lyft
• 🛒 Chewy, Instacart, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Chipotle, Airbnb

Stacking 10x points on gift cards for travel brands? Yes, please.

👉Hot tip: try 3x stacking with Rakuten or your favorite shopping portal

The Numbers

The offer caps at $1,500 per card per month, which translates to a clean 15,000 Chase points. With this promotion running through December 31, 2026, there's real earning potential here if you stay consistent — especially if you're already spending at these brands anyway.

Once your purchase posts, the 10x points will appear in your account automatically. No hoops, no codes.

With 7 months left on this offer, that's a lot of points!  

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

 

Bad News From Bilt and Rakuten

Good News, Bad News: The Rakuten-to-Bilt Points Transfer Just Changed

Let's start with the win. 🎉

On May 15th, my Rakuten points transferred to Bilt — 53,000 of them. I'd spent the past few months deliberately routing my online purchases through Rakuten.com, and the payoff was real.

Quick refresher if you're new to either platform: Rakuten is an online shopping portal that earns you bonus points on purchases you were already planning to make. You can read more about how to use the platform here. Bilt is the newest flexible points currency on the block, with transfer partners spanning dozens of airlines — Air France, KLM, Southwest, Alaska — plus hotel chains like Hyatt, Hilton, and Wyndham. So landing 53,000 transferable points is genuinely meaningful. ✈️🏨

Now the Bad News 😬

On May 16th — one day later — Bilt and Rakuten announced a significant change to the transfer rate. Going forward, $10 in Rakuten cash converts to just 500 Bilt points instead of 1,000. That's a 50% cut overnight.

What does that mean practically? The referral offer I've been sharing — spend $50, earn 5,000 Bilt points — now effectively delivers 2,500 Bilt points. That changes the math on whether points are even the right choice for you anymore.

At this point, taking your Rakuten earnings as straight cash or converting to Amex points may make more sense depending on how you travel. Worth running the numbers before your next transfer. 💸

I did flag that this kind of devaluation was coming. Here it is. The window was good while it lasted — and if you maxed out the points before May 16th, consider yourself lucky. 🍀

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

How You Can Get A "FREE" 500 Delta Miles

If you've followed this blog for a while, you know I'm a big fan of shopping portals. For the uninitiated: a shopping portal is a marketplace featuring thousands of retailers where you earn bonus points or miles just by clicking through before you buy — stacked on top of whatever your credit card already earns you.

Lately, I've been routing most of my purchases through Rakuten, and here's why it's worth your attention. You can link your Rakuten account to your Bilt account to earn flexible Bilt points, which transfer to a solid lineup of airlines and hotels — think Southwest, KLM, Air France, American, United, Hyatt, Hilton, and Wyndham. If you use my referral link, you get $50 or 5,000 Bilt points when you spend $50 in the Rakuten shopping portal. 

That said, most major airlines and many hotel brands run their own portals too. A great free tool to bookmark is cashbackmonitor.com — it shows you which portals are currently offering elevated bonus rates so you can always pick the best option.

A current deal worth knowing about 🗓️

Delta is running a promotion right now: earn a 500-mile bonus when you make $100 in cumulative purchases through its marketplace by May 4th. 

While digging into this, I spotted that AARP was offering 1,100 miles for a new membership — and the membership itself is just $15. I went ahead and signed up since it had been on my to-do list anyway. With $85 more in purchases before May 4th, I'll hit that additional 500-mile bonus too.

Other ways to earn Delta miles ✈️

Delta has a surprisingly wide ecosystem of earning partners beyond the portal:

• Airbnb – book through deltaairbnb.com
• Starbucks – link your accounts
• Uber & Uber Eats – connect your Delta and Uber profiles
• Hertz – earn miles on rental cars

The opportunities add up faster than you might expect. A little intentionality about where you click before you shop or book can translate into thousands of extra miles and points over time — with no change to your actual spending.

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities. 

How To Get Thousands of FREE Airline Miles Without Spending Extra $

I talk about shopping portals all the time because they’re one of the easiest ways to earn airline miles and hotel points on spending you’re already doing. 🛍️✈️

Today I want to show you a few real examples — plus some bonus offers that can help you stack even more points and miles.

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Rakuten is my current favorite shopping portal 💻✨

Rakuten.com has become my go-to for earning extra rewards on everyday purchases.

For example: I buy cat food from Chewy.com every few months. If I take the extra step of starting at Rakuten and then clicking through to Chewy, I’m still shopping at the exact same website — but now I earn:

• 2% cash back from Rakuten

• Plus 1x–2x points from my credit card

Chewy is listed on a bunch of shopping portals, so it’s always smart to check cashbackmonitor.com before you buy. When I checked, most portals were offering 1x points or miles at Chewy… but the Chase Freedom portal was offering 2x. 👀

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The best part: Rakuten can pay out in points 🎯

Rakuten lets you earn rewards as:

• Cash back

• American Express Membership Rewards points

• Bilt points

I linked my Rakuten account to Bilt, so every 4 months my Rakuten rewards automatically transfer into my Bilt account.

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Quick Bilt refresher (because these points are legit)

Bilt points are a newer flexible currency — similar to Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex, Citi, and Capital One.

You can transfer Bilt points to airline and hotel partners like:

• Southwest

• Alaska

• Iberia

• Virgin

• Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)

• Hyatt

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A huge current Rakuten offer: Kraken 💰

Right now on Rakuten, the crypto platform Kraken is offering:

$150 back on a $225 deposit and purchase

If you’re earning in Bilt points, that’s essentially 15,000 Bilt points (since it transfers 1:1).

To put that into perspective:

• My last flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles cost 4,500 Alaska points

• The one before that cost 2,500 Southwest points

• And yes, I brought a companion along for free 😅

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Want to stack the deal even more? 🔥

If you open a Rakuten account using my referral link, you’ll get an extra 5,000 points after you spend $50.

So if you did the Kraken offer, you’d be looking at 20,000 Bilt points total.

And just to show how real this is: transfer those points to FlyingBlue.com and you can potentially book a one-way economy ticket on Air France from Los Angeles to Athens. Seriously.

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Not into crypto? Totally fair 😄

If crypto isn’t your thing, you can still use the referral offer and earn the bonus on a normal purchase.

I used it once to send flowers to a friend as a thank-you and earned the 5,000 points that way. You could also use it on something basic like… cat food. 🐾

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More bonus offers to earn points on everyday life ✈️🍽️🚗

United + Instacart 🛒

If you link your Instacart account with your United account and make a grocery purchase within 60 days, United will give you:

• 500 miles for free

If you’re a new Instacart customer and make 4 orders in 8 weeks, United will give you:

• 5,000 miles

I just did this and added another stack. I clicked on Rakuten.com which was offering 3x points on Instacart then placed an order with my Capital One Venture X to earn 2x points and 500 bonus United miles. Woohoo! 

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Lyft partnerships 🚙

Link your Hilton, Alaska, Bilt, or United account with Lyft and earn points every time you ride.

Prefer Uber? You can link Uber + United for extra miles too.

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Airbnb miles 🏡

• Book through Delta Airbnb to earn Delta miles

• You can also earn British Airways Avios on Airbnb stays through their earning portal

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Rental car miles 🚗

I’ve linked my Budget Rental account to my Southwest Airlines account — so every rental earns me 500 Southwest miles.

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VRBO + United 🧳

United also has a partnership with VRBO, so you can earn United miles on stays.

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Dining points through IHG + OpenTable 🍷

On the IHG website, you can access OpenTable and earn:

• 150 IHG points every time you dine out

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The takeaway

None of these require extra spending — they just require one extra click or a quick account link. And over time, these little wins can add up to real flights and hotel nights. 😎

There are even more offers like this out there, so check the websites (or social pages) for your favorite brands and see who they partner with for rewards.

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities.