One of the reasons I'm opening this community is because travel is a genuine passion of mine. I'm in my 40s. I have a four-year-old. I work a full-time job. I also run a publishing business on the side. I'm not a digital nomad. I'm not constantly flying around the world. I probably take 4-6 trips per year, which I think is fairly realistic for many working adults. Tomorrow, I'm heading off on an 8-day solo trip to Rome, and when I started pricing everything out, I realized this trip could have easily cost me over $10,000 if I had paid cash for everything. Instead, I'm paying a fraction of that. And no, this isn't one of those "travel influencer" situations where I'm taking 20 flights a year and spending $100,000 on credit cards. This is a strategy that regular people can build toward. Could you join this community today and book a $10,000 trip next month? Probably not. Could you start building points now and be ready for an amazing trip in 2027? Absolutely. ✈️ The Flight - I'm flying business class to Rome. The cash value of my round-trip flight is over $7,000. Why so expensive? Because it's business class and includes a lie-flat seat for the overnight flight. Could I have flown economy for around $700? Sure. But one of the things I love about points and miles is the ability to enjoy experiences that I would never pay cash for. I would never spend $7,000 on a plane ticket. But using points? That's a different story. 🏨 The Hotels - Rome hotels are expensive, especially when you don't book far in advance. Thankfully, I had built up a healthy balance of Hilton Honors points. Hilton offers a benefit where if you book four nights with points, you get the fifth night free. I used that perk to cover five nights at an upscale Hilton property. I also had a Hilton Free Night Award from one of my Hilton credit cards, which covered another night. That meant I only had to pay cash for a single night during my entire stay. Even better: ✅ Hilton statement credit helped offset that cost