Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
In my third episode of Journey Jabber, I interview Daraius Dubash of millionmilesecrets.com to pick his brain about getting into the dark arts of travel hacking. Daraius’ website is one of the best resources I used to get into travel hacking, and since then Becki and I have stayed many nights in hotels for free in some of the most expensive cities in the world, and received tickets for free airplane rides half-way around the world.
Travel hacking is the term many people use to refer to maximizing your frequent flier miles and hotel points, with the event of free flights and hotel stays being the grand result. If that sounds too good to be true, don’t worry, it’s not one of these “one weird trick” kind of deals .
We both know the easier something is, the less it’s likely to be on the up-and-up, and that there’s no easy tricks to get something valuable. Instead, travel hacking is actually a lot of work, but with that work comes some pretty sweet rewards.
(If you’re a fan of MillionMileSecrets and are new to the site, thanks for coming and click here to learn more about us!)
Daraius’ website is both extremely up-to-date on all the current news in the world of travel hacking, and is a great resource for beginners. This is important, because there is a lot to learn when you first dive in, and the world of travel hacking is very “contemporary” meaning things change all the time.
Offers from different hotels, airlines, and banks come and go very quickly, airlines and hotels merge and go bankrupt, form and break partnerships and alliances with other hotels and airlines around the world all the time, and loopholes are found, exploited, and then fixed by the companies at breakneck speeds. It’s good to have someone dedicated to keeping up with it all!
While Becki and I are only getting started in the travel hacking game, Daraius and his wife Emily have earned and redeemed millions of miles and points. They’ve flown all over the world, to places like Hawaii, India, and Paris, and stayed for free at the most exclusive hotels in some of the most expensive cities. It’s all part of what Daraius likes to call having “big travel with small money”.
In fact, as I’m writing this we’re in a hotel room in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, having just flown over from London. We booked the tickets last minute through British Airways/ American Airlines for a grand total of $715 in fuel surcharges and fees. I looked it up just to compare, and the cheapest tickets we could’ve bought were $2,200 per person. We saved a total of $3,685 by using airline miles for our last-minute flight.
It’s really possible to open up your world by using Daraius’ website as a guide, allowing you to travel for far less money than you ever thought possible. We really only scratch the surface of travel hacking, and I’m hoping we’ll get to have Daraius back on a future episode for Travel Hacking 201.
Click here to download the MP3
In this episode you’ll discover…
- How Daraius got started with travel hacking in the first place
- The altruistic activities behind Daraius’ free flights
- What wine Daraius prefers to drink while living it up in fabulous hotels
- The most ridiculous thing Daraius has done to earn miles and points
- Plus much more!
Mentioned in the podcast
Rock the vote!
We just had the podcast accepted into iTunes as well. Click here then click “view in iTunes” to subscribe to it and it’ll be automatically downloaded to you phone, iPod, and iTunes library. Also, if you’re feeling really generous, you can leave a review of the podcast there as well. Thanks so much for taking the time to listen! :)
a says
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest
but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come
back later on. Cheers