Our Best Travel Tip: Sharing Our 'Secret'

We didn't even realize it was a secret until we read Clark Howard, the well known consumer advisor.

He describes his secret as "surprisingly simple" and his number one travel rule. What is this strategy for traveling economically while seeing the world?

As Clark Howard puts it, "buy the deal first and then figure out why you want to go there." It was a revelation to realize we've been employing the very same strategy for the past 24 years or so.

This approach is a little different from what members of FlyerTalk and other active flyers refer to as a "mileage run." FlyerTalk defines a mileage run as "a series of flights taken in a very short amount of time, solely for the purpose of accumulating frequent flyer miles, with a blatant disregard for the destinations."  

If you stay even one night at your destination, purists will tell you it's not a true mileage run. By that definition, we've seldom flown one. We have, however, completed many domestic trips over the years that involve as little as a day or two at our destination. When we're considering flights, we regularly check the  FlyerTalk forums on mileage run deals and premium fare deals. 

We also read travel blogs, but we've found some of our best deals on Google Flights. Others recommend the similar Kayak Explore. 

In January 2024 we found a bargain business class fare on British Airways from Vancouver to Larnaca, Cyprus via Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and London Heathrow (LHR) outbound, returning via LHR. That added up to a total of 15,307 air miles before class of service bonuses, giving us quite a start on earning miles for our Alaska accounts in 2024. We enjoyed a great holiday there and will eagerly return if we see another bargain business class fare.

We found similar bargains at the beginning of 2025 to fly to Italy, Hungary, and France, countries we never tire of visiting. Along with some great travels, we've already each accumulated more than 75,000 Elite Qualifying Miles for 2025 in our Alaska accounts, and hope to reach 100,000 EQMs by the end of the year.

Unlike business travelers, we rarely plan a trip with the destination already chosen. The major exceptions for us are traveling to or from cruises, FlyerTalk Oz Fests in Australia, and all of those European trips we've taken over the past decade with our eight grandchildren.  

For planning those trips we utilize the Matrix airfare search. It's an excellent resource that allows us to choose the lowest fare available over a month to a given destination, but be aware there's a learning curve involved in using it.  

Utilizing our "secret strategy," we've managed to visit about 82 sovereign countries over the past 2 1/2 decades with a couple more new ones planned over the next year. After all that, we haven't shaken the travel bug.

And you're welcome to share our little secret!