The Taste of Travel

Shot over Singer Island on my way to Toronto

Travelling is something that my mom instilled in me from a young age. There were many trips to New York City, Buffalo (New York), Chicago, Atlanta and Jamaica growing up. I am thankful for the trips, whether they were in the backseat of a car, bus, train or plane. 

As the years have passed, I have continued to travel when the opportunity presented itself. There are still many places I need to see throughout the United States and Canada. With regards to Islands, I haven't gone to any outside of Jamaica and the Bahamas. I plan on making my first trip across the Atlantic to England later this year. My list of places to travel to is growing, especially with the ability to scroll and double-tap my way through amazing shots from photographers travelling the world right now on Instagram. The only potential problem that I face is similar to that of many, how do I cover the costs of making it to all these dream destinations? Around nine years ago, I went to a retail travel agent to book a trip to Jamaica for a funeral and the travel agent told me to sign up for the airline frequent flyer program since I was going to be spending a significant amount of money on my plane ticket. At the time I heard of programs like Air Miles, but didn't know much about any others. The fact that I wasn't booking my own tickets online at the time goes to show you how much of a novice I was at the time. Now I find myself completing Google Flight searches and searches on Kayak every few weeks to figure out the best days to travel and how much money I need to put aside for my next trip. 

Over the last couple of months I stumbled upon some information about "Travel Hackers" and sites / forums where other travel enthusiasts discuss the best ways to get the most for your money when it comes to booking or spending money on travel. Now I find myself on sites like TPG and One Mile at a Time just about everyday. The founders of these sites are heavy hitters when it comes to flying frequently and know the best airlines, airline service, and hotels to use. They keep readers up to date with travel deals, and most importantly promotions from credit card issuers for travel rewards as well as how to maximize the card perks for traveling. Now that I live in the United States, there are an abundance of card offers to help with expenses used for traveling, or even turning everyday spending into travel rewards. I did however notice that Canada does not have as many offers as the United States. One of my favourite card issuers (American Express) offers cards on both sides of the border and the perks on their U.S. cards are much better than those of their Canadian card offers. I did however notice that I could have been doing better with my regular spending by switching from my Aeroplan AMEX Gold card to their Gold Rewards Card. The only other card that I am using regularly in addition to my Canadian American Express Gold Rewards Card is a Chase Freedom card. Now that I know a bit more about cards good for me based on my regular spending, I plan on applying to some to make the most of my travel and everyday expenses. I am definitely going after the Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum card this year.

How are you planning and preparing for your next trip? Where do you plan on going this year?

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Much Love!!!!