Save Those Miles! How I Only Spent $129.76 For My SEA RTW Flight

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A lot of people have asked me how I was able to afford a two month trip in South East Asia (SEA). They asked me questions like do have bajillion dollars? Are you super rich? Even my friends and family think I’m a baller. And the answer is no I’m not. I was in a financial crisis leading up to my trip and also during. Exchanged my non-USD currencies which were my surplus foreign currencies in the countries I visited prior to my SEA trip. I had excess HKD dollars from my previous HKD trip that I exchanged in Vietnam. It was enough to survive my 5 day trip there. I did the same for my leftover AUD in the Philippines. Even so, I wanted to travel and I was very systematic on the way I did it. So for you, who want to experience the world, I’m telling you right now it’s not impossible and never too late.

Coming back to how I only spent CAD $129.76 for my round trip Round the World (RTW) flight to South East Asia was all thanks to my accumulated United MileagePlus points. I’ve been racking up these points since my first solo travel in 2012 and from then on, I’ve been taking united flights and its partners so my mileage points kept increasing.

How It All Started

When I was planning my long SEA trip, I knew I wanted to fly to and from there on flights that circles the globe. With my accumulated miles, this is the best time to use them! I am so proud of myself that I managed to pull this one!

My first solo travel experience was when I visited my family in San Francisco back in 2012. I flew United going there and back and kept my tickets. I remember that experience so crystal clear. 20 years old, alone, very nervous to get on board the plane, and was anxious to miss my connection flight in Chicago. I was so new to the boarding and the waiting system that I remember I repeatedly asked the boarding gate crew if this is the correct flight. Now that I think about it, I laugh at myself with the memory.

After the flight, I kept my tickets and found that United has a program to accrue miles to redeem for future travel so I signed up hoping that it’ll be useful one day some day. So whenever I flew, I try, budget allowable, that I take United or their airline partners so I can also accrue miles. On top of that, I also took advantage of services like Mileage Dining and affiliates that gave me points like taking SuperShuttle to the airport.

And So My Mileage Points Grew

I took Lufthansa flights for my three weeks trips grad trip. I worked for a while in Europe and flew SAS to visit my European friends here and there. Ate at restaurants that accents the credit card I signed up for mileage dining. There were flights I took that allowed me to buy miles in a good price when I check in for a flight. So my miles grew and grew. Every bit of mileage points, even small, contributed to my points.

I even used some to upgrade myself to a business class for my one month trip to Japan in 2016. This made me earn more than the base points. I kept booking to have as much miles as possible to redeem.

I Finally Had Enough

October 2018 arrived and I had 70K points accumulated. By the time I had enough, I was already thinking of doing a long trip somewhere and use my 70k miles to fly there. I researched many combination of flights that will allow me to use my 70k miles. So for my long trip, I thought SEA is the best place to go. Good food, affordable prices, and great people.

For my long trip, I wanted to do an RTW flight. If I play it right, I may be able to pull this off.

I checked so many flights and decided to layover in Dubai International Airport (DXB) going to Asia and flew Singapore Airlines from there to Singapore. I get to experience amazing lounges they have at DXB, flew on a 5-star skytrax airline, and arriving in Singapore, even got more pampered at Changi International Airport (SIN).

For my flight to Asia, I ended up spending only $68.36 CAD plus my 40K mileage points. This used up my 40K but it was super worth it.

Now, I have 35K remaining on points but for my return, I want to fly through Pacific and America for the ultimate RTW travel. So I saw a flight from Incheon back to Toronto. I decided to board in South Korea, layover in the states, and eventually back to Canada. For this flight, I only paid $61.40 CAD plus 35K miles.

My point is, save those mileage points into one membership if you can. Accumulating miles is one of the best ways to travel. I can say it was definitely worth it in the long run. I was able to enjoy my long trip like this border trip I did in Johor Bahru. Thanks to my accumulated miles, this trip became well for my pocket.