Hey guys, guess what!! We are getting into something very exciting over here…

I’m generally a very productive person, but sometimes I need a little boost to keep me going. One trick for staying productive is my habit of telling anyone who will listen my plans. Inevitably someone will take interest (even if a hundred others fell asleep half way through the conversation).

Such was my experience with travel hacking. I think I’ve told everyone I was going to learn how. Some yawned. Some nodded and eagerly exclaimed, “That would be awesome!” Some even gave me a few tips. Problem was, it’s one thing to read and hear about travel hacking. It’s another thing to do it. I read loads of articles about travel hacking before trying it and I’m so glad that I did. I didn’t know much about it before doing my research but now I feel quite confident to give it a go!

Then finally, my cousin James (who pretty much travel hacks like nobody’s business) caught wind and took interest. So much so, that I started to get nervous. I didn’t have an excellent credit score and didn’t want to ruin my on-the-verge-of-becoming excellent credit score by applying to a bunch of cards. If something does happen to the score to cause it to fall then I could always follow some of these tips to raise it quickly – https://www.moneytalksnews.com/7-fast-ways-raise-your-credit-score/.

But his interest became proactive check-ins which was exactly what I needed to hold me accountable. He told me exactly which cards we should apply for, and despite my nerves he showed up one day with his laptop and signed me up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

He has since persuaded me to sign up for the two more (!!) cards – the AMEX Platinum and Everyday. And guess what? My credit score actually went up – to excellent, finally – because the increase in my line of credit outweighed the inquiries. I also diligently pay off every charge I make in full to avoid carrying a balance.

Credit scores can quickly become confusing, can’t they? One of my friends recently showed me this great website that features a range of different credit repair companies. If you would like to increase your credit score, go to https://repair.credit/best-credit-repair-companies/ to find out more.

Travel hacking definitely requires a lot of proactive management and I can’t wait to share what I’m learning with you. Plus, I now have two really exciting trips on the books that I’ll be sharing soon! Having a mentor has made the entire learning experience so much easier. There are so many factors involved (like not overstretching your budget, coordinating multiple bills, tracking points and redeeming rewards) that I know there’s no way I could be this far along with my plans without James’ expert guidance and invaluable spreadsheets.

You can follow along as I learn here.

*Image via Capital Romance (what a perfect idea for an engagement shoot!)