What I’m doing now is traveling before retirement

This summer, my family of five will visit England and Scotland.

After my high school Latin course went to Italy in 1993, international travel became my top priority.

That trip inspired:

• A 60-day European backpacking trip was conducted in 1998, resulting in
• Four months in China and Southeast Asia in 2001,
• In 2002, five months in South America.
• Solo crossing in the last four months of Central America and Mexico reaching the San Diego border.

The 2001 Asian trip should be the only leg. But I was obsessed with backpacks.

The job market deteriorated after the 9/11 attacks, so the prospect of my return home to find jobs was depressing.

I’m short of cash, but for a long time.

My back pocket is from one I’m from American Airlines credit card.

Airlines strive to find passengers and offer incredible flight deals and reward redemptions in December 2001.

So instead of staying at home to find a bad job market, I booked my tickets to Quito, Ecuador, My airline miles are free,,,,, Unlock another nine months of exploration.

This is my first taste of the incredible value of travel rewards.

Traveling alone, I can handle local transportation and hotel dormitories in a daily life of $10 to $20 per day.

But as a family of five, the cost is rapidly reproductive, far exceeding 5 times.

When our children are independent and tolerant enough temporary discomfort, our children are already in the age group, which leads to the unexpected joy of international travel.

This trip to the UK will be the first real test to see if they love adventure as much as I do.

For years, I was worried that my backpacker budget would be very expensive for overseas travel (I’m cheap).

But I’ve been preparing – when I find a flight deal, I accumulate travel reward points and save.

That’s how we booked our roundtrip air tickets to London.

We paid for five airline tickets with points.

Reward points approx. $3,500 flight fees for airlines Thanks to transfer bonuses and booking 10 months in advance.

We also use points from Washington, DC to San Francisco twice (about $2,500 Value Every time), we just booked our Spring Break 2026 trip with the same strategy.

Mrs. RBD and I have the same credit card. We both earn a lot of registration bonuses and we spend more points every day.

Without the points we earned from this credit card, we wouldn’t be able to afford the rest of the upcoming summer trip as hotel rooms, Airbnbs, train tickets and daily food add up quickly.

If travel is important to you, even if you just want to ruin yourself in a luxury hotel every now and then, this credit card can help you get there.

I wrote a credit card review for my favorite credit card – Chase Sapphire Priority® Card – Emphasize the latest quotes and expense allowances.

Registration bonuses are valuable throughout the year, but be aware of higher registration bonuses for limited time.

After traveling to about 45 countries, I set an early retirement goal in 2003 (55) to ensure I can give priority to traveling again when I retire, while still being relatively young and healthy.

My initial idea of ​​“retirement and traveling at 55” missed an important detail, which is hard to imagine being bankrupt and single at 27.

A family.

After years of vacationing in the United States, it’s time to share my love for adventure with my loved ones.

These two trips we planned were just the beginning.

We also long to visit Australia (my son’s first choice) and China (my daughter loves pandas).

Reward points will make it possible.

When we become empty nests in about 12 years, we will prioritize traveling for several months of the year, as I thought.

We will expand revenue and usage of travel rewards to include hotel chains and multiple airline programs.

Comfort will also be more preferred. There are no more dirty hotel dormitories.

Craig Stephens

Craig is a former IT professional who left his 19-year career to become a full-time financial writer. He has been a DIY investor since 1995, and he began retirement in 2013 as a creative outlet for sharing his portfolio. Craig studied finance at Michigan State University and lived in Northern Virginia with his wife and three children. Read more.