Organisational Abstract of Our Household World Tour

This report highlights all of the organizational elements of our journey all over the world. It constitutes the second a part of a three-part abstract :

Organizational abstract of our round-the-world journey – half 2

An itinerary as dense as ours can’t be improvised on the spur of the second. I’d additionally say that with out correct planning, our bills may have soared shortly, forcing us to return before anticipated.

Between that day in November 2017 after we determined to go away and our precise departure in Might 2018, we had allowed ourselves 6 months of planning. That winter had passed by at a loopy velocity!

To place you in context, we had been already journey geeks earlier than embarking on this round-the-world journey. Certainly, I used to plan our journeys in a really organized and methodical approach. For instance, as a part of a 5-week journey, my group drove me to plan necessary and elective actions with an hourly accuracy, to estimate journey time primarily based on distances to be coated, to design itineraries in every metropolis, and even to make use of Google Road View to find parking areas. Briefly, journey planning is a pleasure for me, because it permits me to start out travelling earlier than I even do it bodily! The organisation of this world tour was subsequently not tiresome for me.

As soon as we had selected the locations to go to and an itinerary, all I needed to do was ebook flights, rental automobiles and lodges. With expertise, I’ve turn out to be so environment friendly that when planning a vacation spot like Sri Lanka for 15 days (together with locations to go to, itinerary, automobile and all lodges bookings), 2 hours and half-hour is on a regular basis I want!

I invite you to learn the article that explains how we selected our itinerary.

The abstract of our flights

Earlier than our departure in Might 2018, I had already booked the primary 41 flights, which took us to Japan till April 2019. The remainder is now historical past. We ended our journey with 56 flight segments, 50 of which had been at vacation spot and 6 connections. Right here is the checklist of flight segments. All quantities are in Canadian {dollars}.

#	Departure metropolis	Arrival metropolis	Airline	Whole value (CAD)	Price per particular person (CAD)	Distance (km)	Cent (CAD) per km
1	Montreal, Canada	Reykjavik, Iceland	Wow Air	1019.64	254.91	3737	6.82
2	Reykjavik, Iceland	London, UK	EasyJet	258.56	64.64	1890	3.42
3	London, UK	Basel, Switzerland	Ryanair	90.53	22.63	742	3.05
4	Basel, Switzerland	Berlin, Germany	EasyJet	123.67	30.92	684	4.52
5	Berlin, Germany	Sofia, Bulgaria	Ryanair	234.10	58.53	1306	4.48
6	Istanbul, Turkey	Nicosia, Cyprus	Turkish Airways	156.36	39.09	736	5.31
7	Larnaca, Cyprus	Beirut, Lebanon	Cobalt Air	188.52	47.13	208	22.66
8	Beirut, Lebanon	Larnaca, Cyprus	Cobalt Air	188.52	47.13	208	22.66
9	Larnaca, Cyprus	Athens, Greece	Cobalt Air	240.76	60.19	932	6.46
10	Chania, Greece	Paphos, Cyprus	Ryanair	200.71	50.18	765	6.56
11	Paphos, Cyprus	Tel Aviv, Israel	Ryanair	244.38	61.10	374	16.34
12	Amman, Jordan	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Etihad Airways	594.00	149.00	2000	7.43
13	Abu Dhabi, UAE	New Delhi, India	Etihad Airways	678.00	169.00	2281	7.43
14	Jaipur, India	Bangkok, Thailand	Air Asia	449.76	112.44	2948	3.81
15	Bangkok, Thailand	Chiang Mai, Thailand	Air Asia	153.86	38.47	565	6.81
16	Chiang Rai, Thailand	Bangkok, Thailand	Air Asia	88.82	22.21	673	3.30
17	Bangkok, Thailand	Phuket, Thailand	Air Asia	94.66	23.67	689	3.43
18	Phuket, Thailand	Bangkok, Thailand	Air Asia	72.56	18.14	689	2.63
19	Bangkok, Thailand	Yangon, Myanmar	Air Asia	185.35	46.34	583	7.95
20	Yangon, Myanmar	Bangkok, Thailand	Air Asia	258.18	64.55	583	11.07
21	Bangkok, Thailand	Siem Reap, Cambodia	Air Asia	155.44	38.86	351	11.07
22	Siem Reap, Cambodia	Bangkok, Thailand	Air Asia	170.62	42.66	351	12.15
23	Bangkok, Thailand	Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam	Air Asia	185.35	46.34	741	6.25
24	Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Air Asia	183.55	45.89	1046	4.39
25	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Air Asia	238.06	59.52	2469	2.41
26	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Air Asia	401.53	100.38	2469	4.07
27	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Manilla, Philippines	Cebu Pacific	410.00	102.59	2488	4.12
28	Manilla, Philippines	Puerto Princessa, Philippines	Cebu Pacific	95.91	23.98	582	4.12
29	Coron, Philippines	Cebu, Philippines	Philippine Airways	177.88	44.47	469	9.48
30	Cebu, Philippines	Singapore	Scoot	205.72	51.43	2423	2.12
31	Singapore	Melbourne, Australia	Scoot	511.44	127.86	6024	2.12
32	Melbourne, Australia	Alice Springs, Australia	Qantas	105.76	26.44	1857	1.42
33	Alice Springs, Australia	Sydney, Australia	Qantas	122.24	30.56	2021	1.51
34	Sydney, Australia	Golden Coast, Australia	Tiger Air	208.56	52.14	678	7.69
35	Golden Coast, Australia	Aukland, New Zealand	Air New Zealand	789.20	197.30	2219	8.89
36	Aukland, New Zealand	Christchurch, New Zealand	Jetstar Airways	205.00	51.25	745	6.88
37	Christchurch, New Zealand	Aukland, New Zealand	Fiji Airways	198.79	49.70	745	6.67
38	Aukland, New Zealand	Nadi, Fiji	Fiji Airways	573.44	143.36	2149	6.67
39	Nadi, Fiji	Port Vila, Vanuatu	Fiji Airways	675.50	168.88	968	17.45
40	Port Vila, Vanuatu	Nadi, Fiji	Fiji Airways	230.48	57.62	968	5.95
41	Nadi, Fiji	Tokyo, Japan	Fiji Airways	1689.30	422.33	7095	5.95
42	Tokyo, Japan	Osaka, Japan	Japan Airways	19.64	4.91	405	1.21
43	Osaka, Japan	Taipei, Taiwan	Jetstar	474.38	118.60	1703	6.96
44	Taipei, Taiwan	Hong Kong, China	Hong Kong Airways	540.60	135.15	807	16.75
45	Macau, China	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Air Asia	260.59	65.15	2502	2.60
46	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Kuching, Malaysia	Malindo Air	143.22	35.81	970	3.69
47	Kuching, Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Malindo Air	143.22	35.81	970	3.69
48	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Denpasar, Indonesia	Air Asia	185.56	46.39	1961	2.37
49	Denpasar, Indonesia	Singapore	Air Asia	190.62	47.66	1668	2.86
50	Singapore	Berlin, Germany	Scoot	1222.30	305.58	9938	3.07
51	Berlin, Germany	Basel, Switzerland	EasyJet	211.14	52.79	689	7.66
52	Dole, France	Marrakech, Morocco	Ryanair	327.28	81.82	2063	3.97
53	Marrakech, Morocco	Milan, Italy	EasyJet	128.55	32.14	2126	1.51
54	Milan, Italy	Madrid, Spain	EasyJet	172.46	43.12	1151	3.75
55	Madrid, Spain	Paris, France	EasyJet	210.33	52.58	1063	4.95
56	Paris, France	Montreal, Canada	Degree	1392.37	348.09	5541	6.28
	Whole			18676.96	4669.24	95008

As you will have seen, we normally flew quick distances. It saved us in form for the remainder of the day, particularly since we used to go to airport lounges the place we may eat at will earlier than the flights.

Notice that the Melbourne-Alice Springs, Alice Springs-Sydney and Tokyo-Osaka flight segments had been paid for with Avios factors, plus 26.44, 30.56 and 4.91 CAD respectively.

I give you a statistical evaluation of those flights.

Price part:

• Variety of flight segments: 56, the common variety of flight segments for a “regular” around the world journey being 14;
• Variety of low-cost flights: 40, or 71% of all flights;
• Whole value for 4 folks : 18,676.96 CAD (14,645.94 USD);
• Price per particular person: 4,669.24 CAD (3,661.49 USD), the common value of a round-the-world ticket being 4000 USD per particular person;
• Common value per flight phase: 83.38 CAD (65.38 USD);
• The most cost effective flight: 18.14 CAD (14.22 USD) per particular person between Phuket and Bangkok;
• The most costly flight (prorated based on the gap flown): 422.33 CAD (331.18 USD) per particular person, to achieve Japan throughout cherry blossom time from the Fiji Islands;

Distance part:

• Whole distance of all flights: 95008 km, 2.37 occasions the circumference of the Earth;
• Longest distance of a flight: 9938 km between Singapore and Berlin (Germany);
• Shortest distance of a flight: 208 km between Larnaka (Cyprus) and Beirut (Lebanon);
• Common flight distance: 1697 km;
• Median flight distance: 970 km;

Price/distance part:

• Common value per kilometer: 0.049 CAD;
• Most costly flights per kilometer (not low-cost flights):
  • 0.226 CAD/km between Larnaka (Cyprus) and Beirut (Lebanon);
  • 0.175 CAD/km between Nadi (Fiji Islands) and Port Vila (Vanuatu);
  • 0.167 CAD/km between Taipei (Taiwan) and Hong Kong.
• Most cost-effective flights per kilometer (excluding flights paid for with Avios factors):
  • 0.015 CAD/km between Marrakesh (Morocco) and Milan (Italy);
  • 0.021 CAD/km between Cebu (Philippines) and Melbourne (Australia);
  • 0.024 CAD/km between Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Bali (Indonesia).

Remarks

1. You may have seen that the full value for our 56 flights is extraordinarily low. The trick is to journey in carry-on suitcases solely.
2. What could seem most stunning is that we had ZERO flight delay. Actually, this isn’t that stunning, since more often than not we selected to fly on Low Price airways, which have a very good repute. For many who have no idea, the enterprise mannequin of Low-Price airways is to supply fares that problem all competitors via the optimization of organizational processes. And being on time is one in every of their priorities.
3. Notice that the full value of the flights may have been even decrease. However by favoring lower-cost flights, we’d have had flight schedules too early within the morning or too late within the day. We additionally prevented airways with a nasty repute, which may have precipitated flight delays and fatigue.
4. Travelling with carry-on baggage signifies that we shouldn’t have to verify them in, and thus get monetary savings on Low Price flights.
5. Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu are extra “costly” locations. So, they’ve inflated the full value a bit of. Anyway, it was about reuniting with pals!
6. I’m all of the extra happy with these fares, since we now have virtually all the time traveled within the excessive vacationer season, as our itinerary was designed based on the climate.

I invite you to verify my posts on the strategy I take advantage of to purchase low-cost tickets, and the objects that accompanied us in our carry-on baggage.

The abstract of our visas

We wanted 9 visas and a permission to go away Israel. More often than not, functions had been simply accomplished on-line.  The exception was Cambodia, the place the visa was obtained on arrival. As my mother and father had been born in Cambodia, I already had a Cambodian everlasting residence and by filiation, Mateo and Luka additionally obtained it totally free. Solely Jessica needed to pay the Cambodian visa charge.

Metropolis	Price of Visa per Particular person	Whole Price (CAD)
Turkey	60 USD	322.00
Israel (Exit Payment)	100 ILS	148.47
Jordan (Jordan Cross)	80 JOD (free for youths)	293.60
Oman (Entry Payment)	85 OMR	123.78
India	80 USD	440.72
Myanmar	50 USD	260.00
Cambodia	30 USD	54.00
Vietnam	25 USD	135.00
Sri Lanka	35 USD (free for youths)	94.50
Australia	18 AUD	70.23
Whole		1942.30

The abstract of our automobile leases

Nearly all over the place, the automobile was our most popular technique of journey. This gave us the pliability and freedom to go wherever we needed.

• 33 rented automobiles together with:
  • 3 campers in Reykjavik (Iceland), Christchurch (New Zealand) and Alice Springs (Australia);
  • 2 automobiles with non-public driver in India and Myanmar;
• 14 automobiles on left-hand drive;
• 50,000 km driving on asphalt, concrete, gravel and filth roads;
• 285 days with a rented automobile (2/3 of the time).
• The entire value of automobile rental is 13,696.02 CAD (10,740.03 USD);

Rental metropolis	Firm	Rented automobile	Nb of days	Price (CAD)	Price per day (CAD)
Reykjavik, Iceland	Camper Rental Iceland	Camper 5 Guide	9	2462.64	273.63
London, UK	Hertz	Renault Captur	11	286.50	26.05
Mulhouse, France	Hertz	Renault Grand Scenic	27	949.50	35.17
Berlin, Germany	Hertz	Open Corsa	30	797.97	26.60
Istanbul, Turkey	Finances	Fiat Linea	14	350.33	25.02
Beyrouth, Lebanon	Avis	Kia Picanto	7	214.84	30.69
Athens, Greece	Sixt	Renault Clio	5	159.59	31.92
Mykonos, Greece	Anemos Mykonos Lease a Automotive	Suzuki Celerio	2	97.10	48.55
Naxos, Greece	Karabatsis	Volkswagen Up	1	45.90	45.90
Santorini, Greece	Santorini Lease a Automotive	Kia Picanto	3	153.00	51.00
Heraklion, Greece	The Greatest Vehicles	Fiat Panda	3	153.00	51.00
Paphos, Cyprus	Financial system Lease-a-car	Renault Clio	4	167.75	41.94
Jerusalem, Palestine	Hertz	Chevrolet Traverse	3	240.79	80.26
Aqaba, Jordan	Avis	Kia Picanto	7	271.40	38.77
Abu Dhabi, UAE	Finances	Toyota Yaris	14	461.81	32.99
Delhi, India	Personal Driver	Toyota Innova	15	1308.30	87.22
Phuket, Thailand	Greatest Lease a Automotive	Toyota Vios	10	334.68	33.47
Yangon, Myanmar	Personal Driver	Suzuki Ciaz	8	975.00	121.87
Colombo, Sri Lanka	Automotive Reserving Sri Lanka	Suzuki Wagon R	15	475.33	31.69
Bohol, Philippines	Bohol Selfdrive Automotive Rental	Toyota Vios	2	76.00	38.00
Melbourne, Australia	East Coast Automotive Rental	Hyundai Accent	2	84.83	42.42
Alice Springs, Australia	Apollo Camper	Endeavour Camper	3	430.92	143.64
Sydney, Australia	Hertz	Suzuki Swift	3	197.57	65.86
Golden Coast, Australia	Jucy	Toyota Corolla	3	85.63	28.54
Aukland, New Zealand	Hertz	Nissan X-Path	4	223.56	55.89
Christchurch, New Zealand	Jucy Campervan	Jucy Compass	7	781.33	111.62
Nadi, Fiji	Coastal Rental Vehicles	Toyota Prius	6	285.00	47.50
Kuching, Malaysia	Guesthouse	Compact	1	22.67	22.67
Bali, Indonesia	CV Bali Automotive Rental Co.	Compact	12	229.43	19.12
Marrakech, Morocco	Hertz	Fiat Panda	14	403.95	28.85
Marrakech, Morocco	Sixt	Dacia Dokker	5	151.16	30.23
Milan, Italy	Hertz	Renault Clio	14	361.80	25.84
Madrid, Spain	Hertz	Fiat 500	21	456.73	21.75
Whole			285	13696.02

Notice that I’ve pushed in 40 of the 50 international locations that made up our journey. The ten international locations the place I’ve not pushed are Bulgaria, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Gibraltar. Probably the most troublesome and harmful nation I’ve pushed in is definitely Lebanon (learn my expertise on the nation’s article). I used to be really useful to not drive in Jordan, Sri Lanka and Bali, however after driving in Lebanon, I guarantee you that driving in these international locations is youngster’s play!

As well as, I’m proud to announce that I find yourself with an virtually excellent driving document, with just one violation in Wales (as a result of the GPS made me take a forbidden lane).

We had been extraordinarily shocked by the excessive variety of international locations the place left-hand drive is the norm. Actually, that is the case in practically a 3rd of the international locations we visited: England, Wales, Cyprus, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore.

Aside from the three campers and the two leases with driver, the three costliest leases are:

• Jerusalem, 80.26 CAD (62.94 USD) per day;
• Sydney, 65.86 CAD (51.65 USD) per day;
• Auckland, 55.89 CAD (43.83 USD) per day.

The three most cost-effective leases are:

• Bali, 19.12 CAD (14.99 USD) per day;
• Madrid, 21.75 CAD (17.06 USD) per day;
• Kuching, 22.67 CAD (17.78 USD) per day.

The abstract of our lodging

Over the 444 nights, we slept in 181 totally different lodging, a median of 2.47 nights per lodging, distributed as follows:

• 78 nights in 39 Marriott lodges, paid with factors;
• 8 nights in 3 Greatest Western lodges, paid with factors;
• 110 nights in 46 lodges, booked on Reserving;
• 60 nights in 24 lodges, booked on Agoda;
• 50 nights in 24 lodges, booked on Lodges;
• 69 nights in 23 flats, booked on Airbnb;
• 5 nights in 3 lodges, booked on different web sites;
• 20 nights in 3 campers (Iceland, Australia and New Zealand);
• 38 nights with a bunch (pals and kin);
• 6 nights within the transports (airplane and bus).

Or else:

• 314 nights paid in cash;
• 86 nights paid with factors;
• 44 unpaid nights.

The entire value of the lodging is nineteen,537.94 CAD (15,321.10 USD), which quantities to a median of 44.00 CAD (34.50 USD) per night time. Taking into consideration solely the 314 paid nights, the associated fee per night time is 62.22 CAD (48.79 USD).

Listed here are our 5 costliest lodging (per night time):

Notice that our 2 costliest nights had been within the 2 locations the place we had the least consolation.

And the 5 most cost-effective lodging (per night time):

Notice that within the 3 most cost-effective lodging, breakfast was included.

I normally don’t present any suggestions on the lodges the place we keep, for a number of causes:

1. All of us have totally different requirements in the case of selecting a resort: on the town or within the countryside, luxurious resort or youth hostel, alone, with a associate or household, with or with out breakfast, with or with out air-con, with or with out swimming pool, with or with out parking, with a view or not, and many others.
2. It’s not stated {that a} resort will swimsuit you, simply because it fits us.
3. An opinion isn’t any higher than a number of dozen opinions.

So, for those who don’t wish to be mistaken, I like to recommend that you simply proceed as follows when you find yourself searching for a resort:

1. On Reserving or Agoda, seek for lodges for a given location, with the specified standards.
2. Filter the lodges to maintain solely those who have obtained the most effective scores from prospects, i.e. greater than 8/10 or 4/5.
3. Type by value, from lowest to highest.
4. Browse the lodges in sequence and choose the one which fits you, taking care to get rid of those who have lower than a dozen latest critiques.

By doing so, you may be assured, like us, of just about by no means experiencing an unlucky scenario. I say “virtually” as a result of solely as soon as in New Delhi, though I adopted this process, we had an disagreeable scenario. The reason being that on the time of reserving, the resort had 11 very optimistic visitor critiques, however the newest of those critiques was a number of years earlier than. I spotted it afterward. I’ll spare you the main points however keep in mind that the opinions have to be not solely quite a few, but additionally latest!

The abstract of the images

You could not suspect that I took an extreme variety of photos. “Extreme” is the proper phrase as a result of my digicam has triggered a minimum of 152,000 occasions, a median of 342 occasions a day!

And right here is the rating of the variety of triggers by nation:

• Portugal: 660 per day;
• Australia: 536 per day;
• Spain: 481 per day;
• Italy: 477 per day;
• Myanmar: 442 per day;
• Japan: 440 per day;
• Hong Kong and Macau: 414 per day;
• Turkey: 414 per day.

And on the backside of the checklist:

• Fiji: 180 per day;
• Taiwan: 150 per day;
• Vietnam: 220 per day;
• Iceland: 220 per day.

Seeing Iceland and Fiji on the backside of the chart reveals that the frequency of triggering shouldn’t be essentially proportional to the fantastic thing about the world. This is because of the truth that mounted topics equivalent to landscapes don’t require as many pictures as shifting topics.

Please word that I’m speaking about “triggering”, not taking pictures. As a pictures fanatic, I all the time take not less than two photos of a scene, in case one in every of them is blurry. In a traditional course of, I solely maintain one third of the images. Of those who stay, I course of half of them. Then amongst this half, I solely publish a 3rd on Fb! In different phrases, of the 152,000 triggers, I saved 50,000, processed 25,000 (56 per day), and confirmed you solely 8500.

And as a bonus, listed below are the times after I took essentially the most photos:

• 1310 in Granada, the day we visited the Alhambra;
• 1280 in Sydney, the day we took the ferry in Sydney Harbour;
• 1150 within the Bako Nationwide Park, on the island of Borneo, the day we noticed the proboscis monkeys;
• 980 in Cappadocia, the day we went on a scorching air balloon trip;
• 920 in the course of the sand dunes of Erg Chebbi.

The end result of Journey Hacking

The technique for acquiring factors

After we had the sensible thought to embark on a world tour in November 2017, we had scheduled ourselves 6 months of preparation, which we thought-about very cheap. Whereas discussing our journey challenge with my chiropractor, he launched me to Journey Hacking, a self-discipline that permits me to earn factors via the subscription bonuses provided with bank cards, as a way to journey. So, I began to be taught as a lot as I may about it. After I realized the big potential of Journey Hacking, I regretted that we solely had 6 months left.

So, I put in all my efforts to attain as many factors as doable, and my technique paid off! We contracted a minimum of 16 bank cards between Jessica and me.  The next desk reveals our technique.

Date	Identify of the Card	Holder	Factors earned	Charges (CAD)
Dec 2017	American Specific Marriott Bonvoy	Poly	64500	120
Dec 2017	American Specific Marriott Bonvoy	Jessica	79500	120
Jan 2018	American Specific Marriott Bonvoy Enterprise	Poly	79500	150
Jan 2018	American Specific Marriott Bonvoy Enterprise	Jessica	79500	150
Jan 2018	Mastercard MBNA Greatest Western	Poly	20000	0
Jan 2018	Mastercard MBNA Greatest Western	Jessica	20000	0
Feb 2018	Mastercard BMO World Elite	Poly	45000	0
Feb 2018	American Specific Gold Enterprise	Poly	45000	0
Feb 2018	American Specific Gold Enterprise	Jessica	55000	0
Mar 2018	American Specific Platinum Enterprise	Poly	91250	499
Mar 2018	American Specific Platinum Enterprise	Jessica	106250	499
Mar 2018	Scotia Passport Visa Infinite	Poly	26000	0
Apr 2018	RBC Avion Visa Infinite	Poly	25000	0
Apr 2018	RBC Avion Visa Infinite	Jessica	25000	0
Sep 2018	American Specific Platinum Private	Poly	78750	699
Oct 2018	American Specific Platinum Private	Jessica	78750	699
Dec 2018	American Specific Marriott Bonvoy (Annual renewal)	Poly	35000	120
Dec 2018	American Specific Marriott Bonvoy (Annual renewal)	Jessica	35000	120
Jan 2019	American Specific Marriott Bonvoy Enterprise (Annual renewal)	Poly	35000	150
Jan 2019	American Specific Marriott Bonvoy Enterprise (Annual renewal)	Jessica	35000	150
			Coût whole	3476

I offer you some explanations about this desk:

• We took 14 bank cards between December 2017 and April 2018 (5 months), aiming to build up as many resort factors as doable;
• 2 American Specific Platinum playing cards had been requested through the journey, as a way to prolong entry to airport lounges till the top of our journey.
• The 4 American Specific Marriott Bonvoy have been prolonged on the annual renewal to learn from 4 certificates of 35000 factors every, which have been used through the second half of the journey in change for the most effective rooms of our total journey.

Listed here are the factors we had been in a position to accumulate with the bank card bonuses:

• Marriott Bonvoy Factors : 443 000;
• American Specific Factors: 455 000;
• Greatest Western Factors : 40,000;
• BMO Factors: 45000;
• RBC Factors : 50000;
• Scotia Factors : 26000.

As well as, all through the journey, factors had been earned via varied channels, equivalent to referrals, rewards, different bills and different combos of circumstances:

• Marriott Bonvoy Factors: 183 000;
• American Specific Factors : 55 000;
• Greatest Western Factors : 60,000;
• Scotia Factors : 46 000.

Ultimately, we managed to build up 1,403,000 factors! And the full value related to bank card subscriptions quantities to a “staggering” quantity of three,476.00 CAD (2,725.78 USD). However wait till you see the worth that we now have gained from it!

Factors spending methods

So as to get essentially the most worth out of strategically acquired factors, they have to be strategically spent. For that reason, I mounted myself some targets to maintain journey bills to a minimal, whereas on the identical time offering a most consolation. So I had anticipated 5 areas the place our level hunt might be useful to us:

1. Sleep as many nights as doable in luxurious lodges;
2. Cut back the prices of air journey;
3. Attend airport lounges;
4. Cut back overseas change charges;
5. Earn journey credit.

I evaluation them right here, one after the other.

Technique #1: Sleep as many nights as doable in luxurious lodges

This was our primary goal, and we didn’t skimp on the means. For all of the international locations we deliberate to go to, I searched the lodges among the many 30 manufacturers of the Marriott Worldwide resort group, whereas fastidiously choosing those who required the minimal variety of Bonvoy factors to be spent, whereas additionally extracting the utmost worth. To a lesser extent, I did the identical train with Greatest Western lodges.

By way of lodges, we had been very properly off, with a complete of 86 free nights within the Bonvoy and Greatest Western lodges. A complete worth of 22,616.10 CAD (17,734.90 USD).

Bonvoy Lodges

American Specific Rewards Factors might be transformed to Marriott Bonvoy Factors on the fee of 1200 Bonvoy Factors per 1000 Rewards Factors. An actual cut price!

At first of the journey, the American Specific Platinum card gave us Bonvoy Gold standing, which supplied us with room upgrades and breakfasts in virtually all of the lodges within the chain. The good thing about breakfast having been abolished for Bonvoy Gold members through the journey, we needed to wait till we reached then Bonvoy Platinum standing (requiring 50 nights) to give you the option to take pleasure in breakfast once more, along with the virtually assured upgrades in essentially the most lovely resort suites, in addition to entry to the lounges in some lodges, which allowed us to refresh ourselves at will.

The next desk lists the Bonvoy lodges the place we slept: 78 nights for 870,000 Bonvoy factors spent, a worth of 18,806.30 CAD (14,747.37 USD).

Metropolis	Identify of Resort	# of Nights	Factors req. / night time	Factors spent	Worth (CAD)	Worth per level (cent)
Frankfurt, Germany	Courtyard Wiesbaden-Nordenstadt	2	10000	20000	337.60	1.69
Vienna, Austria	Courtyard Vienna Schoenbrunn	3	15000	45000	540.80	1.20
Brno, Czech Republic	Courtyard Brno	1	10000	10000	2940	2.94
Istanbul, Turkey	Istanbul Marriott Resort Asia	5	8000	40000	835.20	2.09
Izmir, Turkey	Renaissance Izmir Resort	2	10000	20000	347.20	1.74
Cappadoce, Turkey	The Home Resort Cappadocia	2	9000	18000	541.28	3.01
Ankara, Turkey	JW Marriott Resort Ankara	2	10000	20000	1064.00	5.32
Istanbul, Turkey	Istanbul Marriott Resort Asia	2	10000	20000	281.60	1.41
Abu Dhabi, UAE	Le Méridien Abu Dhabi	1	12000	12000	268.00	2.23
Abu Dhabi, UAE	The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi Grand Resort	1	35000	35000	421.00	1.20
Dubai, UAE	Factor Me’aisam, Dubai	5	10000	50000	1616.00	3.23
Al Ain, UAE	Aloft Al Ain	2	7500	15000	195.00	1.30
Abu Dhabi, UAE	Courtyard World Commerce Middle, Abu Dhabi	2	12500	25000	408.00	1.63
Agra, India	ITC Mughal, a Luxurious Assortment Resort, Agra	1	12500	12500	270.00	2.16
Jodhpur, India	Fairfield by Marriott Jodhpur	2	7500	15000	365.00	2.43
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Factor Kuala Lumpur	2	7500	15000	224.00	1.49
Nadi, Fiji	Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay	2	35000	70000	2000.00	2.86
Taipei, Taiwan	Aloft Taipei Beitou	5	6000	30000	915.00	3.05
Taichung, Taiwan	Fairfield by Marriott Taichung	2	7500	15000	299.00	1.99
Taipei, Taiwan	Aloft Taipei Beitou	1	7500	7500	180.00	2.40
Hong Kong	Courtyard Hong Kong Sha Tin	10	10000	100000	2433.00	2.43
Macao	JW Marriott Resort Macau	1	35000	35000	550.00	1.57
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Factor Kuala Lumpur	4	7500	30000	542.00	1.81
Desaru, Malaysia	The Westin Desaru Coast Resort	2	12500	25000	572.00	2.29
Fes, Morocco	Fes Marriott Resort Jnan Palace	1	17500	17500	321.00	1.83
Marrakech, Morocco	Le Méridien N’Fis	2	12500	25000	860.00	3.44
Vicenza, Italy	AC Resort Vicenza	2	7500	15000	222.00	1.48
Madrid, Spain	AC Resort San Sebastian de los Reyes	1	7500	7500	213.12	2.84
Valencia, Spain	AC Resort Valencia	2	7500	15000	405.00	2.70
Murcia, Spain	AC Resort Murcia	1	7500	7500	111.00	1.48
Gibraltar, Spain	AC Resort La Linea	2	7500	15000	318.00	2.12
Sevilla, Spain	AC Resort Sevilla Discussion board	2	12500	25000	267.00	1.07
Madrid, Spain	AC Resort San Sebastian de los Reyes	1	7500	7500	84.00	1.12
Paris, France	Renaissance Paris La Protection Resort	1	25000	25000	505.50	2.02
Montreal, Canada	Montreal Airport Marriott In-Terminal Resort	1	25000	25000	362.00	1.45
Whole		78		870000	18806.30	2.16

Greatest Western Lodges

Because of the “Standing Match” program provided by Greatest Western, our Gold and Platinum statuses at Marriott have successively allowed us to acquire the Diamond and Diamond Choose statuses at Greatest Western. We subsequently loved a bunch of benefits!

The next desk lists the Greatest Western lodges the place we slept: 8 nights for 100,000 Greatest Western factors spent, a worth of 3,809.80 CAD (2,987.54 USD).

Metropolis	Identify of Resort	# of Nights	Factors req. / night time	Factors spent	Worth (CAD)	Worth per level (cent)
Salzburg, Austria	Amedia Artwork Salzburg	2	20000	40000	2884.80	7.21
Kuta, Bali	Greatest Western Kuta Seashore	3	8000	24000	410.00	1.71
Ubud, Bali	Greatest Western Premier Agung Resort Ubud	3	12000	36000	515.00	1.43
Whole		8		100000	3809.80	3.81

Technique #2: Cut back the prices of air journey

Throughout my preliminary evaluations, I had estimated that it was usually not worthwhile to spend factors on flights, in comparison with shopping for tickets from Low-Price airways. All through our itinerary, I had solely listed these 3 flight segments that allowed us to maximise the usage of air factors:

• Melbourne-Alice Springs : 10000 factors Avios + 26.44 CAD (20.73 USD) per particular person.
• Alice Springs-Sydney : 10000 factors Avios + 30.56 CAD (23.96 USD) per particular person.
• Tokyo-Osaka : 4500 factors Avios + 4.91 CAD (3.85 USD) per particular person.

So as to acquire these airline tickets, we wanted 98,000 Avios factors from the British Airways Government Membership program. So, I merely made the next conversions:

• 50 000 RBC Avion factors for 50 000 Avios factors;
• 48 000 American Specific factors for 48 000 Avios factors.

In whole, we saved 2,779.36 CAD (2,179.50 USD) on these flights. Extra particulars right here:

Departure Metropolis	Arrival Metropolis	Airline	Price in factors	Financial prices (CAD)	Worth (CAD)	Financial savings realized (CAD)
Melbourne, Australia	Alice Springs, Australia	Qantas	40000	105.76	1239.5	1133.74
Alice Springs, Australia	Sydney, Australia	Qantas	40000	122.24	1239.5	1117.26
Tokyo, Japan	Osaka, Japan	Japan Airways	18000	19.64	548.00	528.36
Whole			98000	247.64	3027.00	2779.36

Technique #3: Attend airport lounges

The airport lounges contributed to nice moments of pleasure, for us who flew 56 occasions throughout the entire journey! In the event you don’t know the airport lounges, image us consuming and ingesting at will, having a shower, studying worldwide newspapers, and even getting a therapeutic massage (in Thailand solely)! I usually took benefit of this stress-free second earlier than taking a flight to hook up with the high-speed Web of the lounges and advance in my writings or share our newest adventures on Fb. Once more, this privilege was granted to us by our American Specific Platinum playing cards, which gave us limitless entry to Precedence Cross lounges all over the world.

We have now saved some huge cash on this regard, particularly contemplating how costly airport eating places are! In whole, we attended 55 lounges and 6 airport eating places, more often than not earlier than boarding the airplane, however usually additionally after getting off the airplane!

On the value of 32 USD per particular person entry, I worth this benefit at 10,150.40 CAD (7,959.66 USD), at a fee of 1.30 CAD per USD, for our 61 visits to airport lounges.

Technique #4: Cut back overseas change charges

When you have learn my article on the usage of bank cards when travelling, you already know that we now have favored just one bank card throughout our total journey: The Scotia Passport Visa Infinite. It was the one and solely card we used for all purchases and withdrawals at ATMs overseas, though we now have dragged others with us for emergency conditions. It was the one Canadian card that was accepted all over the place and didn’t cost any conversion charges, whereas all different playing cards charged 2.5%. Since we put 82,600 CAD on this card to cowl virtually all journey bills, it saved us a minimum of 2,065.00 CAD (1,619.31 USD).

Technique #5: Earn journey credit

Some bank card constancy packages don’t permit conversion to air or resort factors. As an alternative, I needed to apply the factors as journey credit:

• Scotia Factors: The 25,000 bonus factors and 47,000 factors earned from bills through the journey supplied us with 720 CAD in credit score on our journey bills and had been charged to the bank card account;
• BMO Factors: The 45,000 bonus factors have additionally been transformed into 300 CAD journey credit score;
• Each American Specific Platinum bank cards supplied us with 200 CAD of journey credit score every, for a complete of 400 CAD.

The entire journey credit that we obtained quantity to 1,420.00 CAD (1,113.52 USD).

The entire worth obtained for the factors

We have now collected factors and we now have spent some. However on the finish of the journey, we nonetheless had 242,900 Bonvoy factors left. That’s sufficient for 48 nights in class 1 lodges in off-season! Primarily based on the common worth of two.16 cents per level that we had been in a position to earn throughout our total journey, I estimate the worth of those remaining factors at 5,246.00 CAD (4,113.76 USD). It’s going to drive us to take a trip. Isn’t it nice?

In abstract, right here is the worth supplied by all our factors:

• Worth of Marriott and Greatest Western Lodges: 22,616.10 CAD (17,734.90 USD);
• Worth of Avios flights: 2,779.36 CAD (2,179.50 USD);
• Worth of airport lounges: 10,150.40 CAD (7,959.66 USD);
• Worth of overseas change charges saved: 2,065.00 CAD (1,619.31 USD);
• Worth of journey credit (Scotia, BMO, Amex Platinum) : 1,420.00 CAD (1,113.52 USD);
• Worth of Bonvoy factors remaining on the finish of the journey: 5,246.00 CAD (4,113.76 USD);

The entire worth of bank card advantages subsequently quantities to 44,276.86 CAD (34,720.66 USD).

For an preliminary “funding” of three,276.00 CAD (2,568.95 USD), it’s like a 1352% yield, which is kind of astronomical.

Now, think about if we had extra time to gather factors earlier than our journey!

It’s like residing in a dream, isn’t it? However you would do it too!

Journey Hacking is a self-discipline that will appear complicated, however it may be very rewarding! You can also begin subscribing to bank cards, as a way to doubtlessly journey totally free, 12 months after 12 months! To be taught extra, I invite you to learn the articles with which I laid the foundations of my factors technique and speak to me when you’ve got any questions: Journey Hacking 101 and Journey Hacking 102. Sadly, Journey Hacking shouldn’t be accessible to everybody, as solely residents of Canada and the US can profit from it.

Conclusion of Half 2

Personally, I imagine {that a} flawless journey group drastically reduces dangers, stress and particularly prices. And that’s how we wish to journey: to have the ability to take pleasure in it to the utmost and at an affordable value.

To conclude on a excessive word, and if my figures haven’t but knocked you out, now you can learn the monetary report of our world tour, the place I current all of the bills of our journey with a breakdown by nation and by class, in addition to observations, analyses and a comparability with the prices I had estimated earlier than our departure.

To navigate to the opposite sections of our abstract: