I'm a big fan of loyalty/points programs of all kinds -- especially those that earn monetary or travel rewards at the end of the day. One of my hobbies each year is to set out to book a free vacation for the family while playing by all the rules of the system (i.e., not buying/cashing out gift cards). In this post, I'm going to detail this year's approach, while also taking my first stab at posting on the steemit platform to see what the posting experience is like.

1.) Find a lucrative sign-up bonus on a co-branded Credit Card

Most often the best way to get a free vacation quickly is to locate a credit card with a generous sign-up bonus. They are out there, and there are whole communities dedicated to finding them. This year I ended up with the Gold Delta Skymiles card after a targeted offer in the mail for 60,000 "miles" after a minimum spend of $2,000 within 3 months -- certainly obtainable within that timeframe and careful searching. Additionally, there was an offer of 10,000 additional miles for referrals (though this wasn't necessary this time around). Delta has two ways to redeem miles: (1) Directly for a flight based on fixed points amounts, (2) $0.01 per point towards airfare in $50 increments. In my case, the target was 56,000 miles for round trip tickets to Orlando from SEA.

2.) Make a plan to meet the minimum spend, without going into actual debt

One really important thing when going out and searching for these offers is to realize the real dangers associated with overuse of credit cards (without a specific, actionable plan to pay them off). In my case, I try to meet the minimum spending requirements while avoiding any interest or fees. This may involve canceling the card and negative impacts on your credit score, so it may not be worth it if you're looking to buy a car or house anytime soon.

In my case, my favorite way to meet minimum spend is purchasing gold or silver bullion. I usually buy from reputable dealers on eBay.

3.) Stack deals when/where possible

Why eBay? Because I can triple dip there. If I start my shopping trip on ebates, searching listings in lucrative categories, and only purchase those items that also reward eBay bucks I can make a percentage from (1) eBates (up to 15%), (2) eBay Bucks (up to 6%), and (3) the credit card itself (1% for the Delta card).

You can pretty much buy whatever suits your fancy. In my case, I go with gold or silver from APMEX -- namely because they're one of the largest dealers in the world and they have a special relationship with eBay. So I know that I'm going to get genuine product, and they have lower fees than other sellers, which allows them to offer lower prices in comparison. The challenge there is finding those items that qualify for eBay bucks, since most of the time the Bullion category does not.

I scored a Gold Britannia (at a much lower price point than it is now) when it was in the World Coins category, and a few tubes of Silver Eagles to meet the minimum spend.

4.) Pay the credit card bill

So now that I've spent all of this money, how do I pay the bill? Wasn't this supposed to be about getting a free trip? Well, I had to sell the coins. Silver and Gold have been on the move lately, so that part was pretty easy. I put the Silver Eagles up on Craigslist, and moved them for fiat the day after they arrived in the mail, and the Britannia found its way to my local coin shop. I ended up actually making $13 on the sales of both, and paying off the card.

Results might not be typical there, and this is where you're taking some amount of risk. Maybe to meet the minimum spend, you use it as your daily driver for a few months, paying off each charge as you make it. I personally like to do a few high value charges just to keep everything simple and straight up front.

5.) Cash out your points

Once you have the points in hand, you can head over to the website of either your card issuer to transfer points to a travel partner, or directly to the airline of your choice and book that trip!

Hopefully that was useful to someone out there, and I didn't just waste a bunch of time :-/ Again this is my first post and I'm still figuring out the platform.