Note: Chris Guillebeau just opened the doors to the new Travel Hacking Cartel.
If you’ve ever wondered how people get free flights, first class upgrades and stay in hotels for free, you might want to jump on one of the 1000 pre-boarding spots open today. After that, the program will be available by invitation only. There’s a 14-day trial for just $1 for this inaugural group.
For about five years from 2000 to 2005 I flew almost exclusively first class and took about 150 flights around the country and to foreign destinations. Most of that travel was for work (I was a business technology consultant to Fortune 500 companies) and I flew hundreds of thousands of miles and stayed in hotels nearly 200 nights a year some years.
My company didn’t pay for first class tickets, but I managed to nearly always fly first class. I had to upgrade the flights myself, and after learning the ropes from my seasoned traveling colleagues, I quickly figured out how to never fly coach again.
That was my introduction to travel hacking. Back then it didn’t have such a cool name, but all of us at the company knew some tricks for getting free perks.
My wife and I took a lot of vacations during those years as well. Sometimes we traveled within the U.S. (New York and New Orleans were favorite destinations), and sometimes we went out of the country. We took quite a few trips to Hawaii and went to Puerto Rico, Buenos Aires and Mexico.
We took probably 12 to 15 vacations in total, and almost never paid for a flight or hotel room. Almost all of the flights were first class (even international).
If you’ve thought traveling the world for a few years is only possible for 20-somethings or retirees, this story is for you.
I’m in the middle of packing for a 
