This couple is traveling the world for free! Find out how

Flights and hotel bookings are the most expensive things while travelling. But, this couple Chad and Hanna Janis, quit their jobs and have set off on an eight-month adventure to 40 countries for free. The travel hacker couple has accured 2 million credit card points, which is helping them book expensive flights and hotels without spending a penny.

Over the past year, they’ve opened up 26 credit cards, keeping track of minimum spends on a master spreadsheet. Once they spend enough to get the sign up bonus, they score tens of thousands of points they can redeem for flights and hotels around the world. The couple have turned this hobby and that master spreadsheet into a website, Wall Street Minimalist, which offers travel hacking advice, and helps their users find the best credit cards to maximize points for free flights and hotel deals.

“Decide on your destination first, instead of letting the points dictate where you want to go. Doing the research on routes and rates will help you find a credit card that can pay for your trip. We’ll go get the card that earns towards that airline and book for free,” Chad explains.

The couple have saved more than $64,000 by using points, they’ve also saved close to 40 per cent of their income over the last year by living minimally and spending intentionally.

“I wasn’t always this way. Like you, I used to swipe through Instagram pics of social media influencers, believing that I would never get the chance to go on a safari in South Africa or lay out on on a flight from SLC to JFK for a job interview! Since then, I have refined my knowledge and experience to: Earn over 2,000,000 airline points; Travel to 22 countries; Save $50,000 on flights and 5-star hotels; and Get thousands of subscribers free flights anywhere they want,” Chad says.

“Our tickets are already booked entirely with points, and we are headed out for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to over 40 countries in business class for free,” Chad and Hannah excitedly announced on their Instagram page.

“The easiest way to earn airline points is through a credit card’s sign-up bonus. Earning points through credit cards is simple: You open a new card and spend enough money on that card to hit the ‘minimum spend’ requirement, which then triggers the card’s sign-up bonus, earning you 30,000 to 100,000 airline points. Credit cards are not free money — their rewards are. As minimalists, we never spend money on things we don’t need, so we made sure to hit the ‘minimum spend’ requirements organically by simply planning ahead of time what our expected expenses would be in the near-term future,” says Chad.

The duo have several hundred thousand points with hotel programmes. They have redeemed them for free hotel stays at Marriott, SPG, Hyatt, and Hilton, including a free, all-inclusive week-long stay at Marriott’s Fiji Momi Bay category 8 resort.

The travellers are visiting Hawaii, Japan, South Korea and Australia in September, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji in October, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and India in November and Indonesia in December.