Lifestyle Design

Financial Independence Retire Early? I’m Fine With Digital Freedom

I've been on a quest for digital independence for almost five years now, and only recently achieved my goal thanks in part to paying off my debts in a debt avalanche.

It all started when Angie and I were walking on a beach in Mauritius on our long-term trip that I said we should have a five year goal for digital independence.

The idea at the time was that we'd build up our websites to the point that we could sustain them as a full-time business. And while I was able to do that for myself in the time-frame, we're still on our way to working to that point for her.

Since that fateful conversation, the Financial Independence Retire Early (or FIRE) movement has taken off. Although it sounds like our story would be a case study for this philosophy, I really have to say the idea of it is, to put it bluntly, absurd.

Read more

Conquest Maps Review – The Most Beautiful Travel Map

When we are at home, we like to have constant reminders of our travels. From the random knick-knacks to hand painted artwork we pick up on the road, our house is covered with decorations that remind us of where we've been over the years.

But one of our favorite pieces of travel art is one that does not come from our travels, but is about our travels- our world map!

For many years we were settled with a DIY travel map with push pins we made ourselves, but after a while we knew we were in need of an upgrade. We searched the internet, read countless reviews, and settled on one that appeared to be leaps and bounds better than the rest- Conquest Maps.

It was the best decision we ever made.

Read more

4 of the Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards Currently in Our Wallets

When we tell people we travel the world for free (well, mostly for free), they often look at is with a bit of incredulity.

Those who know us instantly assume it is because of this travel blog and that we bounce around from press trip to press trip. But we often shock them when we say that is not our scene and we go on few, if any, hosted trips. In fact, when we travel we don't even pitch brands to work with.

It is something that we never enjoyed doing, so we don't do it.

Our travels are instead primarily paid through points which we acquire in a mix of Angie's travels for her day job and travel rewards credit cards.

In the past we've published a detailed travel hacking guide to how we've acquire nearly a million points in any given year (link above- highly recommended to read in tandem with this article). But today we want to dive down deep into the cards that we have in order to make this happen.

All cards featured herein are cards we personally have in our wallets right now (both of us in most cases-  double the rewards!), and we will do our best to update this guide as we open or close cards in the future.

Read more

A Travel Hacking Blueprint for All Budgets

Those who know us personally know that we absolutely love to travel hack.

Where other bloggers may source the bulk of their travels through comps, partnerships, and other discounts, we pay for most all of it ourselves and owe a lot of it to the insane amount of airline, hotel, and non-branded credit card points we rack up in any given year.

But we'll let you in on a little secret: our version of travel hacking does not involve manufactured spending or crazy schemes in order to get points. It is simply through meeting minimum spend limits on credit cards and carrying on like normal!

Okay, it definitely isn't that sexy when you really stop to think about it. This method really is as simple as opening credit cards, spending as normal, and receiving points. But while this approach may be relatively straight forward, it does have one perk that we're going to share today- it is repeatable!

In this guide we're going to take you down the rabbit hole of all the things you need to think about to before opening one of the best travel rewards credit cards to reap major rewards. The first task? Figuring how many cards you could possibly use in a given year!

Read more