If you love travel or dream of travel, this may be the most important blog you read all year or ever, especially if the biggest obstacle for you is money, like it was for us until recently.

Your grocery and gas spending can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars’ worth of free flight and accommodations. In fact, taking advantage of credit card spending categories and bonus offers can be quite lucrative for cash back and even more lucrative when used to purchase travel with points. Here we show how Chase credit cards can be used to get you between 10% and 20% on your food and gas spending back as tax free travel dollars. It is easy and perfectly legal. Plus, it will improve your credit score.

This blog covers the easiest and most rewarding way to fly for virtually nothing, if you tend to go on one big trip per year or 2-3 smaller domestic vacations. So, kick up your feet and relax while we tell you about the easiest Credit Card strategies ever.

The Chase Trifecta we suggest below will get you over 200,000 miles or more (worth $2000 in cash or up to $4500 in travel rewards) per adult in the first 2 years. Then, it will get you 40,000 to 60,000 points per year thereafter without the need to add another card into the mix.

The first thing to understand is why having multiple cards in the same family is better than having just one.

Here we will discuss the best trifecta for those who travel for vacations one or two times per year on average and have a credit score of 725 or above.

This is a great cash back trifecta that is even better if you roll the cashback into travel points. Best of all, this trifecta has a small, $95 annual fee on one card, while the other two are free.

​We really like the flexibility to be rewarded in cash or points, so that you can have ultimate flexibility in paying for vacations or other things.

The 20,000 point sign-up bonus plus 5% back on groceries for the first year will get you as much as 80,000 points the first year (Worth $800-2000). For a no annual fee credit card this is unheard of outside of the Chase Platform which boast two such cards!
Freedom flex bonuses explained (Limited Time offer)

1. You will get $200 cash back (20,000 points) after spending $500 in the first 3 months (40% cash back rate)
2. You will get up to $600 cash back (60,000 points) on groceries in the first year based on 5% of all your grocery purchases.
3. Complementary DoorDash subscription for the first three months (Value?)
4. 5% cash back on Lyft plus a $10 credit every month if you use Lyft 5+ times/month (Value?)

On top of these there is a flexible spending category every quarter that can get you another $300 cash back (30,000pts) per year. Here are the current categories and dates for them this year:

• October-December:                                                                                                             Walmart and PayPal 5% back up to $1500
• January-March:       

            Gas stations, internet, cable & phone services and select streaming services

• April-June:

            Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market

• July-September

           Grocery stores, gym memberships and fitness clubs and select streaming                          services
Additionally, there are very strong permanent categories for everyday spending:

• 5% on travel purchased through the Chase portal
• 3% on Restaurants
• 3% at drugstores
• And 1% on everything else (only do this if this is the only chase card you get; the 1.5% on the Freedom Unlimited card is better)

Lastly, there are other valuable benefits when you buy on the card

• Up to $800 mobile phone insurance (Pay your cell phone bill on this card!)
• Trip cancellation insurance
• Rental car damage waiver
• 1-year additional extended warranty on many items
• Fraud Protection and Credit Monitoring

When you put these all together, this free card should get you between $1000 and $2000 tax free “profit” in the first year, and it can protect many of the things that travelers value most. 

If this is the only card you add here, get this card ASAP and get started on being paid back to eat or save the points to start traveling like own hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place.

​I have attached a YouTube link below for more on the card and how it fits into the Chase Trifecta, but the vlogger chooses the more expensive Chase Sapphire Reserve as he probably travels more and can use all of the higher end bonuses to make up for the higher fees. If you do fly frequently, I can refer you to all chase cards and would love to talk you through it personally. Let me know in the comments below.

Like the Freedom Flex, The 20,000 point sign-up bonus plus 5% back on groceries for the first year will get you as much as 80,000 points the first year (Worth $800-1600) For a no annual fee credit card this is unheard of outside of the Chase Platform. In fact, used correctly, all three cards suggested can be leveraged for 80,000 bonus miles each, currently.

Freedom Unlimited bonuses explained (Limited Time offer)

1. You will get $200 cash back (20,000 points) after spending $500 in the first 3 months (40% cash back rate)
2. ­­­­­You will get up to $600 cash back (60,000 points) on groceries in the first year based on 5% of all your grocery purchases.
3. 0% interest for 15 months which can allow you to start accumulating points while paying off other cards or bills
4. 5% cash back on Lyft plus a $10 credit every month if you use Lyft 5+ times/month (Value?)
5. Complementary DoorDash subscription for the first three months (Value?)

 
There are no rotating 5% back categories for this card at this time, but there are many of the same permanent categories for everyday spending. With this card, however, you get unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases. Additionally, there are strong permanent categories for everyday spending on this card as well:
 

• 5% on travel purchased through the Chase portal
• 3% on Restaurants
• 3% at drugstores
• 1.5% on all other purchases

Lastly, there are other valuable benefits when you buy on the card

• Trip cancellation insurance
• Rental car damage waiver
• 1-year additional extended warranty on many items
• Fraud Protection and Credit Monitoring

If you have other credit card debt, this should be the first card to get due to the 0% interest, but only if it allows you to get caught up. The key to maximizing credit cards is to not pay interest and thus build your credit.  Furthermore, if you get this card at a time when you can take advantage of all the welcome bonuses, it will “earn” you $1000 to $2000. It's like found money.

​I have attached a YouTube link below for more on the card and how it fits into the Chase Trifecta, but, again, this vlogger chooses the more expensive Chase Sapphire Reserve as he probably travels more and can use all of the higher end bonuses to make up for the higher fees. If you do fly frequently, I can refer you to all chase cards and would love to talk you through it personally. Let me know in the comments below.

This is the card that doubles the value of the points on the other two cards and it is the key to making these all work towards travel rewards. It currently has a 60,000 mile bonus offer worth $600-$1200, but has recently had this as high as 80,000 points. At either value, this is the best travel card with a less than $100 annual fee, especially when used with the trifecta.

Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus explained

• You will get 60,000 points after spending $4000 in the first three months (15% rewards rate)

There are no rotating 5% back categories for this card at this time, but there are some permanent categories to be aware of for everyday spending that could be useful:

• 2 points on dining
• 2 points on travel (hotels, flights, taxis and more)
• 2 points on groceries through 4/30/21
• 5 points on Lyft through March 2022
• 1 point on all other purchases

Lastly, there are other valuable benefits when you buy on the card:

• No foreign transaction fees
• Trip cancellation insurance
• Rental car damage waiver
• 1-year additional extended warranty on many items
• Fraud Protection and Credit Monitoring
• Baggage delay coverage
• Trip delay reimbursement
• Purchase Protection
• Emergency services
• $60 Peloton Credit
• 1-year free delivery through DoorDash

This is a card you will likely only use for the first $4000 to achieve the bonus and, then, on travel expenses before and during your trip, due to the travel benefits highlighted above. The benefits make it a great card, especially when compared with other cards in this price category. The best part, however, is the opportunity to double the value of the points from the other two card by transferring to the partner programs below:
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Chase Ultimate Rewards Airline Partners:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• British Airway Avios
• Emirates Skyward
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United Airlines MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Chase Ultimate Rewards Hotel Partners:

• World of Hyatt
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy

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Note: All of these transfer partners have different airlines, routes, and the values of their points are different at different times and days. Please see our upcoming blog on maximizing Chase Ultimate Rewards Points for information on the best practices when transferring points to partners. Also, many of these partners have co-branded cards that you may want to add after you get the trifecta if you are sure to be flying with them. Only get co-branded cards if you are sure to use the miles within two years, and you are sure to get the welcome bonus. The rewards are very limiting and using them for everyday expenses is normally on a 1 point per dollar basis. We will have specific approaches based on specific airlines and destinations soon and will list them below as they come available.

​Below is a very comprehensive review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. 

The way I chose to get these cards was less than optimal as far as timing to take full advantage of all the welcome bonuses. Mostly, this was due to getting the Sapphire card first and prompting me to start paying the $95 per year earlier than I needed, but it also was a mistake to get the two freedom cards within 3 months of each other which limits my ability to fully capitalize on the 5% grocery bonus for a full 2 years.
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I have figured out a much better timetable for most people and have formulated a timing plan for both single people and couples that I will share with you below. With these timetables a single person can get over 220,000 points (worth $2,200-$5,500) over 2 years, while a couple can get twice that much or more.

     2. ​ Two to Six months after you get the Unlimited: Get the Chase Sapphire                       Preferred card when the bonus increases above the 60,000 mark or before                 you make any major purchases.

• Put every charge on this card until you reach the $4000 bonus
• Afterward, you will only use this card for travel purchases and to transfer points to partners from all 3 cards.

     3. 11 ½ months after you received your Freedom Flex: Get the Chase Freedom                Flex card and use this on everything except the 5% rotating categories                         from the Freedom Flex and Travel. 

The minimum you should earn if you spend the required amount to reach all three three welcome bonuses is 220,000 points after 2 years. This can be used for 2-5 economy, Round Trip tickets to nearly anywhere in the World, depending on how far you want to go. It also gives you the option to combine nearly free flights with free hotel stays if you tend to travel less often. It can even pay for 2 Round the World Tickets if you really want to get tricky.

If you spend in accordance with the average American’s spending according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the chart below would be your points earning after 2 years, but this will be less or more based on your spending habits:

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1. ASAP: You should both get the Chase Freedom Unlimited and use it for everything until you have spent $500 each. 

• Transfer the payment of your mobile phone bill onto this card as soon as you can to take advantage of the mobile phone insurance
• This will be your grocery card for this year to take advantage of the 5% back, except while you are spending the $4000 on the Sapphire Card

    2.   2 to 4 months in: One of you should get the Chase Sapphire Preferred card                     when the bonus increases above the 60,000 mark or before you make any                 major purchases.

• Put every charge on this card until you reach the $4000 bonus
• Afterward, you will only use this card for travel purchases and to transfer points to partners from all 3 cards.

    3.   3 months later: Refer the Sapphire Preferred Card to your spouse or                              significant other for an extra 15,000 points 
      •   Put every charge on this card until you reach the $4000 bonus

    4.   11 ½ months after you received your Freedom Flex: Get the Chase Freedom                 Unlimited card and use this on everything except the 5% rotating categories 
          from the Freedom Flex and Travel.

The minimum you should earn if you spend the required amount to reach all three bonuses is 445,000 points after 2 years, which can be used for 4-10 economy, Round Trip tickets to nearly  anywhere in the World, depending on how far you want to go. However, due to the spending power of a couple, you could earn much more’ leading to multiple dream trips where all you pay are taxes, food and entertainment.
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If you do only spend in accordance with the average American’s spending according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the chart below would be your points earning after 2 years (Families with dependents would result in significantly more points over the 2 year period):

These points can be redeemed as $4,230.49 in cash, $5288.11 in travel through the Chase portal, or an average of $8,460.98 through proper use of travel partners. Here we have given you the keys to unlock over $4,000 per year of free travel and this is just the beginning.
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If you travel often or own a business, check out the YouTube video below for a more expensive, but higher reward Chase Trifecta.

​Through the links here, you will receive the best available bonuses and, when you sign up through these, you will be helping support our efforts to educate travelers and produce more blogs and vlogs for YouTube. Please bookmark this blog and return when you are signing up for further Chase Card to complete your Trifecta or supplement it with cobranded cards or business cards as the situation warrants their addition. We thank you for taking the time to read this and we sincerely hope you take advantage of this to travel more, and do it more responsibly. Please come back every Saturday at 3pm Eastern Time for more valuable content and leave us questions and suggestions below?

We are writing similar strategies for several of the other Chase Transfer Partners, if you prefer these carriers and will link them below as they are completed.

1. Airline Partners with great supplemental strategies to earn more miles:

• British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia Airways (our best overall, meant for flying a lot on shorter hops anywhere in the World and, especially, for flying around Europe)
• Southwest Airline (Our best for Flying from coast-to-coast and to Central America)
• United Airlines ( our best for flying up and down the East Coast). 

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2.  Hotel Partners with good supplemental strategies to earn more miles:

• Marriot Bonvoy
• Hyatt
• IHG

Please use the embedded links where possible. We receive a small commission on many of the products we promote which helps us educated travelers on how to travel better for less. Also, if this is helpful for you share it and consider sponsoring us on Patreon. Sponsorships start at $3/month, which is less than 1% of what you will earn by using this guide to make money for your travels.

Important: The instructions in this guide are based on current credit card incentives. We will periodically update them to keep them accurate, but there is no way to guarantee that the particular costs and incentives will be available at the time you choose to enroll in the services we suggest here. They could be better or worse. We are doing this as a service to you and may be compensated from other organizations for referring you to their services. Always read all credit card agreements and terms carefully before signing up, and remember to spend responsibly to avoid interest and fines.

These strategies can be a great tool to enrich your life and can improve your credit when used correctly, but irresponsible spending on credit cards can do just the opposite. We attempt to influence people towards what we think is the best strategy for them, but we are not experts or professional financial advisors. Please monitor your credit and spending. We suggest you adjust these schedules as needed to keep or advance your credit at the level you are targeting. We keep ours in the mid to high 700s at all times and find that easy to do through paying off all credit card debt every month, and never paying any creditors late. You should too.

Please leave us any questions below or contact us on our Facebook or Instagram accounts @oldsolestravel . We do our best to help you save money, travel more, and “Find Yourself on the Journey”.

​   Numerous blogs, including one that we will be writing in the near future, cover the benefits and pitfalls of traveling solo versus in a group. While we will touch on some of these here, our primary goal today will be helping you choose the right companion(s), if any, to bring along on your next adventure. Having been “fortunate” to have traveled solo and in numerous group settings, we can tell you with certainty that all are great under certain circumstances. Matching the who with the what of a specific trip will be the most important decision you make when planning a trip.

​Solo travel is a great way to make new friends, learn about yourself, and do things that you want to do without the need to consider anyone else. I have been solo traveling for nearly 25 years. It started out as a necessity during my time in the Coast Guard and as an archaeology student, and it became a passion. Rarely do I take an international trip that does not have a solo component to it. This has given me friends throughout the World and an outgoing, confident travel persona that serves me well when entering unfamiliar cultures and situations. However, solo travel is not for everyone.

   The most important thing for a solo traveler is to love themselves. No matter how much you enjoy and practice social interactions, you will have times where you are alone with your thoughts, and if your thought are negative, so too will be your experience. This will be an issue no matter who you travel with, but it will be more acute when you are alone. So, the first thing you should do is find some time to work your shit out. Just the fact that you want to travel is a big positive about being you. How many people do you know who vacation at home or in the same place every year, and how boring must their life be? Furthermore, the more you think you are a worthwhile companion, the more others will do so, and most travelers actually chose to travel solo to have social interactions with new friends. In fact, a solo trip may be a great time to change for the better, whether this is through self-realization or even trying on a new attitude/persona that you like better for yourself.

​I chose to solo travel, in many cases for one or more of the following four reasons:

    Fortunately, I have enough travel opportunities, due to proper budgeting and ample vacation time, to travel with my wife frequently. Thus, the romantic and intimate opportunities that travel presents are an integral portion of my travels.

    Choosing to travel with your partner is only one portion of this decision, however. Do you take the kids? Are their friends who would want to join you? How much do you want to spend? Is it for a special occasion?
​
    Whether it was just Bear, or an extended family vacation, or with our group of travel friends, most of our trips are with others. Our few purely romantic trips have been for special occasions or in the early days of our relationship when spending time together as lovers was far more important than anything we would have seen or done at the destination. I suggest these trips, wholeheartedly. More pointedly, I suggest any trip with your partner includes some time for romance. Sometimes room service trumps the finest restaurants because the company is better, and the conversation often becomes pillow talk. ​

   Therefore, I believe that traveling with your family is a must. Bear is one of my favorite travel companions. We have been to 10 countries and 43 states together. We like many of the same things and can both physically accomplish most adventures without pushing ourselves in unsafe ways, which makes me much more comfortable traveling with Bear than anyone else in my family. However, we still have some of the complications of being so closely related and some aspects of our closeness cause us to worry more than we would with a friend or group of friends. I assure you hanging off a cliff in a rockslide in Nepal was more traumatic for both of us because we were more worried about the other.
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   Broader, more inclusive family trips are equally rewarding. Bonding while marveling at the Fjords of Alaska and around the dinner table or a campfire is both integral to the family experience and nostalgic. ​

​An anxious friend is a cancer on vacation, as are those who see vacation differently than you. Even your best friend may ruin your trip. You should pick the right friend(s) for each trip based on the following criteria:

​   Out of your dozens or hundreds of friends, you will be lucky to find a few that fit these questions in a way that makes them potential companions for each trip. Are these people less your friends? Probably not, although you may find the bond with your travel companions will put them into a category of their own after the trip(s). 

     This can be a lot of fun for many of the same reasons that I find solo travel to be great. However, there are only a few instances where I would choose this option if any of the above options were viable:

1. There was some amazing deal where the entire trip cost less than the airfare
2. It was more of an ecotourism or deeply cultural tourism opportunity that was not safe to do without a guide.
3. My travel friends were coming with me (Maybe)
4. It was arranged for a group of influencers to promote a deserving cause of under visited destination.

    Admittedly, the first reason is that I am cheap. If I see a $900 air-inclusive guided trip to somewhere on my bucket list, I cannot help but consider it. This was especially true when I was less connected to the travel community, had less resources, and did not fly and stay for free on points (More on that in the next lesson). The second seems most likely for me at this point in my life. While I really dislike group tours to popular hot spots for myriad reasons, group tours to far removed jungles, icefields, and villages are some of the safest and most efficient ways to see the truly remarkable places. Furthermore, several of these tour are highly beneficial to the culture and ecosystems they visit. Therefore, you can help Mother Earth and her people through the funds you spend to have your adventure.
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    Options 3 and 4 are more alike to the travelling with friends alternative above as they either include friends or likeminded people who I would like to be friends with, in all likelihood.

Conclusion: Who should you take?
 
     I think the answer is to do them all when the situation is right. This may require that you travel more, but that is what we are trying to get you to do on this website anyway. It is our belief that a well-travelled person is almost always going to have learned lessons that make them more tolerant and well-rounded.

    What is your next trip? Who are you taking and why? Where do you dream of going? Are there virtual communities that could be resources to help you make it there? These are all things you should be asking.
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    Ask yourself who do you want to travel with, and, more importantly, are you one of them. Nothing opens up group travel options more than being friendly and being a good travel companion yourself. Please check in every week for more helpful tips and travel blogs to inspire you to “Find Yourself on the Journey.” Pleas comment where you are going next and who is going with you.