Why You Should Prioritize International Travel

Travel is about seeing how the rest of the world lives.

International travel can look big and expensive without points.

Everyone reading this blog uses or will use points, so that is no issue.

Even without points, there are great sales all the time.

If you are not careful, you could spend as much on a domestic trip as an international one.

Though travel in the United States can always expose you to something new, it is not the same as learning how the rest of the world lives.

According to statistics, most people in the United States do not travel abroad as much and less than 30% have a passport.

I know people who read this blog are more well traveled than the average American.

Still, I think if you prioritize international travel, you can not only see more of the world, you can even travel more in the good old U.S.

I mean you could put more stamps in your passport each year than you already do.

Keep reading to see why I believe this.

My Mistake When I First Got Into Points & Miles Travel

In 2015, I knew I wanted to travel.

I did not know how, why, or where I would start.

I just wanted to travel.

I discovered points & miles.

I found you could get free hotels and flights.

I am from Alabama (hope I don’t get teased by others like I do by all my New York friends).

I lived in New York City for about a decade, which is why most of my friends are New Yorkers.

I also lived in Washington, D.C. for a year and half.

I think I have been exposed to different sections of the country enough especially since I became a blogger and like to travel to different places frequently.

After I lived in New York, I came back home to stay for over a decade.

I know I give my middle age away for those in their 20s.

I have plans to move to other parts of the country.

I actually like the blogger life right now where I can travel as much as every week to a different city.

Remember, you don’t have to be a blogger to travel often.

You can even work a normal full time job.

I think I understand a lot of different perspectives again.

I love to be on the road a lot, so I am sure that is a whole new perspective again.

As I said in another post, if I were not a travel blogger, I would need to be a business traveler, so I would get to travel frequently.

In any case, in 2015, I had not traveled in a long time.

Even my usual 3 trips to New York City/D.C. a year or frequent weekends to Atlanta (where I once entertained living) didn’t happen.

Life was going on instead of travel.

As I said earlier, in 2015 I wanted to travel.

I discovered a blog called the Points Guy as well as others and learned about credit card rewards again.

In May 2015, I started traveling every month to a different city.

First, I just got in my car (rental car) and went to Atlanta twice in May.

In June of 2015, I used my points to fly free to New York City.

I am ashamed to say I had to recognize my old neighborhood in Queens.

The N.Y.C. trip included an overnight stay in Philadelphia where I redeemed my first luxury hotel and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia.

I would keep traveling that year every month, sometimes more than once a month.

I got to places I had never seen in my state like Montgomery and Mobile.

I drove to New Orleans.

After covering much of the Southeast region where I live and seeing cities I had been to at least once like New Orleans and Miami, I looked at places I had never been to like Chicago.

By the end of 2015, I had covered Chicago, Los Angelas, San Francisco, and San Diego (all firsts).

While I probably covered most of the top 20 cities in the United States in 6 months in 2015, I made one error.

I covered my United States bucket list.

By the time I was ready for my international list, it was September 2016.

I probably could have done 10 countries or more by then.

I went to Canada in September 2016.

I visited both Montreal and Toronto.

What kind of person who has lived in New York for almost a decade in the past has never been to Canada?

I think you will see where I am going with this.

Good thing I had some international travel under my belt before that

Again, I was not a blogger like today.

Honestly, I just did not know better.

This method got my bucket list or a lot of it in the United States again.

This did not even touch my international bucket list.

Again, I had done some international travel.

I had lived in Africa for 6 months and have been to several countries there.

Africa is a big continent, and I will want to see more.

My travels were to Southern Africa.

I have not been to North Africa, West Africa, and East Arica.

I had also been to London.

If my bucket list had started off internationally, I would have covered 10-20 more countries again.

In 2016, I had to take time off travel again until I started this blog in October 2019.

Life happened again.

Now that I am a blogger (or more knowledgeable), I can always travel.

Still that was a lot of countries I could have seen had I prioritized international travel as you should.

I hope you don’t make the same mistake.

How You Can Spend As Much On A Domestic Trip As An International One

Most people think international travel is expensive.

So when it comes time to plan the annual vacation, they may plan a trip to Florida or Vegas.

Nothing wrong with that, but if you really could spend the same on an international trip, wouldn’t you?

With points, you can even get your international trip for free.

I know my audience who reads this blogs is more savvy than the average American.

According to statistics, most Americans do not travel abroad and only 30% of Americans have a passport again.

Why Points Are Made For International Travel

When you can get international businesses/first class flights (or even economy if you want) for pennies, international travel is meant for points and miles.

It gives you more bang for your points.

Sometimes, domestic flights can be as low as $15, and you can save your hard earned points.

International trips, especially those across an ocean, do cost more points but that is even more reason to prioritize them.

A trip to Canada, the Caribbean, or Mexico is about the same in points as one in the United States, so make sure to prioritize crossing an ocean like Europe, Asia, Australia, or even parts of the southern section of South America (when travel rebounds).

International travel will give you the biggest bang for your points again.

Most people only take 1-3 vacations a year.

In between your big trips, you can be using something like the road trip or domestic flight to see the rest of the United States.

As I said earlier, you can not only travel more internationally, you can also see more places in the United States just by prioritizing international travel.

So, make it a priority to cross an ocean first.

As always, your travel dreams are about you, and this is just a suggestion.

Use what strategy works best for you.

I think people can put more stamps in their passport though.

My Travel Plans

I have been road tripping through the Southeast for the last 6 months where I live.

As I said in another post, I got the news that my mom had to have knee surgery in June.

The summer plan had been to have a couple of domestic flights.

I had planned to fly to N.Y.C., Chicago, etc in June and July and in August to start looking at my first international trip.

I was supposed to travel every week in the United States rather by car or flight this summer.

Knee surgery is a pretty difficult surgery, so even my normal monthly trips have been stopped and all my summer plans disappeared.

My plan to move from monthly travel to weekly travel did not happen.

I have been nowhere since my mom had knee surgery and am expecting to get a road trip to Nashville in the next week or so.

Life does happen.

My mom is almost two months recovered from knee surgery now though.

I think she will be able to fly soon, so I hope to get us both moving.

In any case, when I get to international travel, I would like to cover continents fast.

I want to go to Europe, Asia, and South America quickly.

I have been to London, but want to go to Paris, Barcelona, and Rome in Europe.

With the pandemic, I am not sure where I will go in Asia, but I had wanted to do at least two countries initially like Tokyo.

With the Delta variant, this may be far off (or far to me).

I would also like to fly to South America.

Again, I lived in Africa a long time ago during college as a study abroad again, so except Australia and Antarctica that covers every continent.

They don’t seem like they will let anyone visit Australia for a long time.

We will see.

I think of trips like Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada as smaller so those can be done quicker or even over a weekend.

I would like to do ten countries quickly.

We will see.

Most people could be jetting off to their next international trip easier and with more frequency than they know.

Nothing wrong with visiting Florida or even New York, but you could be out discovering the rest of the world.

Summary

International travel can look big and expensive to people at times.

It may look easy to just go to Florida.

Most Americas don’t see much of the world.

I know people who read this blog prioritize international travel more than the average American.

During a pandemic, with borders opening, international travel may have a couple of hurdles.

After the pandemic is over and travel is back to normal, I think you can be adding more stamps in your passport each year just by prioritizing international travel.

Again, I know people who read this blog travel internationally each year, but you could do so more frequently.

People in the point’s community prioritize international travel because you get more value for your points.

Still, most people could be out adding more stamps to their passport than they know.

I hope this was helpful.

If international travel were really as easy as domestic travel, wouldn’t you be jetting off to your next country?

With points, international travel (without pandemic hurdles) is as easy as a domestic trip.

Because of my mistake, I plan to move fast through international travel as soon as my mom has recovered from knee surgery.

Why would you not be putting more stamps in your passport if it cost you nothing or little?

This all starts with prioritizing.

Which countries would you like to visit as borders open?