Everyone should accomplish their travel goals.
What are yours?
For a long time, I wanted to fly every month.
Last year (2024), I got my goal consistent.
I wanted to explain why this was a goal for me.
I also wanted to explain how I went about it.
Hopefully, this will encourage you to accomplish your travel goals.
Also, (hopefully) it will make you see that you don’t need a lot of money to travel.
Why I Wanted To Fly Every Month?
I am no big influencer.
I don’t get paid to fly for work either.
I do everything out of my own pocket in either cash or points.
I have a day job though I am an entrepreneur.
I plan to be a full time entrepreneur later.
I have more than one business that I am currently growing, including this blog.
In any case, for years I have watched frequent fliers.
I watched YouTube aviation channels.
These people fly almost every day all over the world.
I watched business travelers who fly for work.
After watching so many frequent flyers over the years, I wanted to fly frequently myself too.
Keep in mind that frequent flying means different things to different people though.
Since the average person only flies 3-4 times a year, flying every month can be considered frequent.
Later, I plan to fly even more with points and miles.
In the points hobby, flying frequently is not really a big deal.
With a stash of points, you can easily get to your next award flight.
So, over the years, I became an AvGeek,
An AvGeek is someone who loves all things aviation.
You should be an AvGeek too.
You can become an AvGeek by doing this.
So, now you know why I wanted to fly every month.
I know it is a pretty simple story.
How I Was Imperfect In Accomplishing My Goals & You Can Be Too
I started this goal in May of 2022.
I think my goal is consistent now.
Last month, I went to Washington, D.C.
This month, I will be heading to Las Vegas.
In February, it looks like I will go to Miami.
As you can see, I was imperfect in my goals.
After all, I started way back in 2022.
I think you can be imperfect too.
Your travel goals are about you, and can be accomplished whenever you want.
This is especially true if you have other big goals like buying a house.
There is nothing imperfect about having other goals that take priority.
I had other things going on, so it was ok to move slow.
If you want to move faster though, you can learn some lessons from my slow path.
In May of 2022, I just had the idea to fly every month.
I had no plan.
To accomplish your travel goals faster, you can have a plan.
For instance, if you wanted to go to Italy for a month next summer, you could plan accordingly.
How much would it cost?
How much would you have to save each month?
Is that realistic?
You don’t want years to go by without accomplishing your travel goals.
Again, at the same time, your travel goals are about you, and can be accomplished when you want.
In 2023, I only took 2 flights.
After that, in 2024, I got more aggressive with my goal.
I did back to back flights during the beginning of the year.
Then, I did a trip every couple months.
Finally, I set the goal to fly every month consistently by the fall.
I had 6 flights last year.
I know that was not the twelve I should have had, but it was better than two during each of the previous two years.
I think I am used to flying every month now though.
I know what to expect in cost and time.
My new goal for 2025 will be to start hitting my long list of international destinations.
I think I will go to Paris first as one of my monthly trips in the spring.
I also want to build a bigger stash of points to fly more than once a month later.
Possible Travel Goals Or Dreams To Accomplish
Don’t have any travel goals or dreams yet?
Here are some ideas.
You can take more family vacations a year.
You can take more short weekend flight trips in addition to your regular vacations.
Honestly, two day flight trips are the sweet spot for me in the United States.
Most places in the U.S. can be seen in 2 days.
This allows you to have more money or points for international travel.
To fly every month, I even pull off 24 hours in a city.
It is fun for me, but I know that one is not for everyone.
In addition to your regular vacations and short flights, maybe you want to add day trips and roads trips.
You could plan a month in another country.
Want even bigger travel goal ideas?
My friend got her second divorce a couple years ago.
Then, she decided to be a digital nomad.
Is the digital nomad life for you?
Honestly, that wouldn’t be for me in this stage of life, but maybe it is for you.
You could become a frequent flyer who flies every week.
These are just some ideas.
Why You Don’t Need A Lot Of Money To Travel
Whenever I tell people I am traveling, the first thing I hear, is ” travel is so expensive.”
I think this is a misconception.
Travel does not have to be expensive.
‘The point of this blog is to help you spend less on travel.
Flying every month on my own costs, I know how to save money on travel.
I do this while staying at only Hilton, Marriott, or Hyatt hotels.
Here are some things that can make travel less expensive for you:
- Fly low cost carriers like Frontier
- Fly basic economy on the Big 3
- Drive to a cheaper airport
- Use hotel calendars to find cheapest dates
- Stay through the week in places like Vegas that tend to be more on the weekend
- Stay during the weekend for places that have a lot of business travelers
- Travel off season
- Do shorter flight trips in U.S.
- Do a day or road trip
- Use points/miles or points/cash
Keep In Mind That Points Are What You Need To Travel For Less
This is a point’s blog.
You need points and miles to get those free or partial free trips.
The higher the stash of points you have, the more free things you will get .
So, build your stash of points
Like I said, I plan to fly more than once a month later with mostly points and miles.
I also plan to cover more countries in 2025 with points.
I want to do a ten day trip to Europe on all points by the end of 2025.
I would be stopping in 5 countries (U.K., France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands).
If it were not for points, someone might have to save for years for a trip like this.
If you had the right amount of points, you could probably do that in a couple months.
So, sign up for welcome offers on credit cards.
Get hotel credit cards that give you free night certificates.
Put your everyday spending on your credit cards.
Build that stash of points, so you can accomplish your travel goals.
Summary
So, now you see why I wanted to fly every month.
I hope it helps you accomplish your travel goals, and gives you ideas.
I am having fun flying every month.
Since I fly on my own dime, I cut costs again.
I fly basic economy.
I put away $10 here and there.
Did you know if you put away $10/day every day, you could have $300 saved at the end of the month?
Even if you put away $5 a day, that is still $150 by the end of the month.
In any case, I hope your accomplish all the travel goals in 2025.
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