Our Once In A Lifetime 6 Month Trip Itinerary

In August of 2021, my husband and I left for 6 months of travel through Europe and Asia. We made it to 18 countries on our itinerary, and lived out our dream of traveling the world together! It was amazing, and sometimes it truly feels like a dream to me.

I’m going to detail our eventual 6 month travel itinerary, how long we stayed in each place, how we decided where to visit, and the method that we used to plan our trip. 

When we left, we did not have a solidified itinerary for the countries we would visit. Armed with a list of potential destinations, we flew to Turkey as our first stop, and made it up from there! 

If you ever decide to do something similar to us (which you totally should 😉 ), you can use this information to help create your own itinerary! 

When we left, many borders were closed or very difficult to get through *ahem thanks virus ahem*, so we stuck mostly to Europe and ended up in Asia at the end of our trip.

But, that being said, we were able to stretch the $30k we had saved in 1.5 years over about 6 months for two people!

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When my husband and I left for our 6 month trip to 18 countries, we knew that airfare would be one of the single largest individual costs of our trip. So, after a little bit of research, we found a way to get affordable flights all over the world: travel credit cards.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you.

The first note here that I need to make is that almost no flight is truly free, you do have to pay the taxes and fees. But, what if I told you I just bought a $6 flight from North Carolina, USA to Athens, Greece this week. Or that I’ve spent only $11 for me and Colton to fly from NC to Turkey?

Would you believe those numbers?

I never in a million years thought I could fly abroad for less than a few hundred dollars, and that’s if I somehow found an amazing deal!

It wasn’t until I came across travel credit cards and the world of points and miles that I understood how these serial travelers I was seeing everywhere were affording their flights.

The trick was, they were barely paying for them.

So, after tons of research, applying for credit cards, hitting bonuses, and of course getting everything in order to leave home for 6 months to travel, I bought our one way flights out of the country for $11.

How did we do it?

The world of points and miles, of course!

Let me tell you how we did it and give you the information you need to start earning free flights with your credit card! 

Let me preface this with one statement: the world of points and miles is BIG and there is a lot that you honestly don’t need to know to just get started.

So, I’m going to give you the most necessary information to get you started and cut out all the fluff. Let’s go!

I promise you this is not a scam, because maybe that’s the first place your mind is headed when I say “free” flights. 

In fact, paying with points and miles to purchase flights at insanely low prices is entirely legal, I promise!

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What Are Points and Miles

Points and miles are the reward currency of airlines and hotels: aka loyalty points. 

I’m not talking about the points you earn by flying with an airline repeatedly, that you only rack up over several years. 

I’m talking about points and miles you earn just from having the credit card you already use!

Each bank or airline that offers credit cards with points and miles use them as an alternative currency for purchasing flights. 

Many of the banks that offer travel credit cards have both airline and non-airline branded credit cards: a.k.a the airline the bank has partnered with offers airline miles as the sign up bonus, not credit card points. Those miles can only be used with that airline. 

If you apply for a bank branded card with no airline association, you’ll earn points with that bank that can then be transferred to their airline or hotel partners. 

How To Get Points And Miles With Travel Credit Cards?

The fastest way, and most likely reason why you’re wanting a travel credit card, is to earn points with a sign up bonus.

Most banks offer a sign up bonus of varying amounts after a certain amount of qualifying purchases on the card in the first few months. 

It might sound something like this: “earn 60k bonus points when you spend $3,000 dollars on purchases in the first 4 months.” Yadah yadah. 

But, you will also earn points while using your card on your everyday purchases! Some cards offer bonus categories, like 3x on grocery purchases, or 2x at restaurants, etc. So, when you spend money on your card, you’ll earn points in return that can be redeemed for various things, like flights or hotel stays. 

Generally, if you’re wanting to redeem miles for flights or hotels, you’re going to need a good chunk of miles to do so. 

You can purchase some domestic flights with as little as 8,500k points one way, but if you’re flying international, it will likely cost you 15k one way, at the very least. 

Of course, the cost of award flights in points can greatly vary and is not always directly tied to the cash ticket price.

Other ways to earn points with travel credit cards include anniversary bonuses, giveaways, and transfer bonuses. These come and go and aren’t something I would rely on.

For the purposes of this post, which is all about a beginner’s guide to free flights with points and miles, sign up bonuses are your very best friend. 

READ ALSO:
How to Save Money for Travel – Budget & Save for Your Next Trip
8 Simple Tips to Help You Save Money While Traveling
5 Tips To Find Cheap International Flights

How Much Are Points and Miles Worth?

Not all points are created equal.

Some points are more valuable than others simply because you can transfer and redeem them in more ways. 

Points and miles also get their value depending on the deal you get when redeeming them. 

Let me give you an example scenario to explain…

For example, let’s say you have 75k Capital One miles and you want to fly from Atlanta, Georgia to Athens, Greece for an amazing holiday eating delicious Mediterranean food and swimming in crystal clear waters for 8 days. 

These are the flights you’re looking at. They’ll take you to Greece during the best time to visit, late summer when it isn’t too crowded and not too hot.

You have a few options for how you can book these flights with points

Option 1: Redeem Points with a Travel Portal

Option 1 is to redeem your points through Capital One Travel and their online portal. When you do this, you’re going to get a fixed redemption rate of 1¢ per mile.

So your 75k miles would be worth $750 for travel. You could use those 75k miles to buy a flight worth up to $750 through the Capital One Travel portal. That’s over half of what this ticket is worth. So you would still have to pay about $390+ on top of your 75k miles for this ticket. 

We can definitely do better than that!

Option 2: Transfer to a Partner

Option 2 would be to transfer your Capital One miles to one of their airline transfer partners, then book the flight on their website using your points. 

If you did this, those 75k miles could become 75k FlyingBlue points (Air France & KLM’s loyalty program and one of Capital One’s transfer partners). 

The same exact flight booked on Air France with cash would cost you $1,142.

But, you can transfer your points from Capital One and over to FlyingBlue, so now you have up to 75k FlyingBlue miles! Let’s use them!

If you use FlyingBlue to book the exact same flight, you would only need 30,000 miles and $208 in taxes & fees. Way better than using all 75k and only covering half of the cost!

And, instead of paying $1,142 out of pocket for a round trip ticket to Europe, you’re only paying $208 plus 30,000 points.

*you want to transfer only the amount of points you need. In this scenario, thats only 30k of the 75k.

In this scenario, you would be redeeming your Capital One points, through FlyingBlue, for 3.1cents per mile. Now that’s more like it!

This is why points can be so valuable and why transfer partners can be the best way to go when redeeming points.

I know that was a lot, so let me summarize if for you:

• Out of pocket price for ticket Atlanta to Athens: $1142 on Air France/KLM
• Price of same ticket booked through Capital One Travel: 75k miles + $392
• Price of same ticket booked through FlyingBlue after transferring Capital One miles: 30,000 miles + $208 in taxes and fees.

You would come out of this deal with around 45k Capital One miles left in the bank. That’s enough to buy you another roundtrip flight to Europe.

Now THAT’S how we use points and miles to our advantage 🙂 

RESOURCE: Free List of Transfer Partners & Airline Alliances + How to Use Them

*be sure to only transfer the points you need and no more so you can keep the extra points with your bank and transfer them elsewhere in the future*

How Do You Redeem Points And Miles For Flights?

The way that we typically redeem our points and miles is by using them to purchase flights. We do this by transferring our credit card points to transfer partners. 

The scenario above is a great example of how we would use our points and miles to get amazing deals on flights.

Here is that chart again that I made to show you where you can transfer points based on what program you’ve accumulated points with. 

The process of transferring points can be a bit complicated, but I’m going to help you out here. 

Here is the basic rundown of how to redeem your points for flights:

• Accumulate points on your credit card
• Research credit card airlines transfer partners
• Search Google Flights or Skyscanner to find flight routes
• Search for award flights on airline transfer partners
• Find desired flights and see how many points/money required to book them
• Create a frequent flier account with airline if you don’t already have one
• Transfer points on your bank’s website to transfer partner of choice
• Book those flights!!

To use the example from above, I would find the flights I want and make sure I have enough points to pay for them. Then, I would log into Capital One and go to the Capital One Travel portal to transfer my points to FlyingBlue. Once my points were transferred, I would buy my flights!

The real trick is finding award flight availability and the deals that are out there waiting to be had! It takes a little bit of time and practice but you’ll get the gist!

READ ALSO:
How to Save Money for Travel – Budget & Save for Your Next Trip
Our Once In A Lifetime 6 Month Trip Itinerary
What 6 Months of Travel to 18 Countries Cost Us

What Travel Credit Cards Are Best?

For me to answer this question, you’ll need to ask yourself a question first: what are your goals?

Are you looking to cover some international long haul flights? Maybe you’re an avid domestic traveler and would like to cover a few legs of travel for your upcoming trips. Would you like to stay in nice hotels for just the cost of fees?

It’s good to look at the options and decide what you think will work best for your goals!

If you want to cover some flights, I would find a card that has great travel benefits and flexible rewards. If you’re more interested in hotel stays, get a hotel branded card!

You can find my favorite travel credit cards and all the information about them on my
Travel Credit Cards Recommendations page.

Want my help choosing a travel credit card?
Fill out my Free Credit Card Consultation Form & I’ll email you personalized recommendations!

“Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.”

The 18 Countries We Visited In 6 Months of Travel

Turkey – 2 Weeks
İstanbul – İzmir – Selçuk – Ephesus – Pamukkale – Antalya – Cappadocia

Bosnia & Herzegovina – 2 Days
Sarajevo

Croatia – 2 Weeks
Dubrovnik – Trogir – Šibenik – Zagreb

Spain – 15 Days
Mallorca – Soller \ Barcelona – Zaragoza – Bilbao – San Sebastian – Madrid

Italy – 3 Weeks
Naples – Rome – Florence – Montaione – Cinque Terre – Ortisei – Fie allo Sciliar – Venice \ Lake Como – Milan

Vatican City – 1 Day

Slovenia – 4 Days
Ljubljana – Lake Bled

Hungary – 3 Days
Budapest

Czech Republic – 1 Week
Prague – Karlštejn – Cesky Krumlov – Jiřetín pod Jedlovou

Austria – 10 Days
Vienna – Salzburg

Germany – 11 Days
Berchtesgaden \ Cologne – Baden Baden

Ireland – 9 Days
Dublin – Donegal – Galway – Cliffs of Moher – Dingle – Cashel

France – 6 Days
Paris – Blois – Amboise – Le Havre – Étretat 

Scotland – 11 Days
Edinburgh – Inverness – Isle of Skye – Fort William – Glencoe – Glasgow

The Netherlands – 3 Days
Amsterdam – Breda 

Belgium – 1 Day
Bruges

Switzerland – 8 Days
Chur – Lucerne – Bern – Engelberg

Thailand – 1 Month
Bangkok – Chiang Mai – Koh Phi Phi – Krabi – Khao Sok – Koh Samui – Koh Tao 

This list is in chronological order of where we visited on our 6 month travel itinerary, with a few exceptions. We went to Italy, Spain, and Germany twice, but I’ve listed each of those countries based on the first time we visited. I’ve separated the visits to those countries with a \ between locations. 

READ ALSO:
Why We Decided to Quit Our Jobs and Travel
What 6 Months of Travel to 18 Countries Cost Us
Travel Camera Gear – What’s In My Camera Bag | Travel Blogger Edition

How We Planned Our 6 Month Travel Itinerary

People always balk when I tell them we only planned the first 2 weeks of our 6 month world trip. And honestly, I can admit it does sound kind of chaotic.

Before we ever left for our trip, we had actually done a ton of planning for our 6 month travel itinerary. Just, not necessarily for our destinations or the daily activities we would do.

Rather, our pre-trip planning was mostly financial in nature (like setting up our Charles Schwab debit card that reimburses us for ATM fees anywhere in the world and racking up credit card points to use for free flights).

The rest of our trip was spent planning as we went. 

The planning process on the road looked a little something like this:

We would sit down after a day of exploring and talk about where we wanted to go 5 days from then, do some research about where to stay, what to do, and how to get there. 

Then, we would book our flights, trains, cars, hotels, etc. once we knew where we wanted to go.

It really was that simple! Sometimes you need to plan further ahead than that and book tickets for major tourist attractions or popular activities. But, usually you don’t need to plan very far out! 

As someone who has dealt with anxiety her whole life, I understand the need to over-plan or be hyper prepared. 

But, I will share with you that I felt less anxiety while we traveled than ever before, even when I didn’t know where we would be sleeping the following night. I found some sort of freedom in the flexibility we created.

How We Decided Where To Visit on Our 6 Month Travel Itinerary

Most of what drove our decisions of where we would go next was money and convenience. 

When we were ready to move on to the next destination, we would look at the map, notice nearby cities or countries, and then look up train or flight prices to get there. Likely, we would choose the cheapest option or the closest one, and go from there!

Budget

Easily the most important factor that determined our 6 month travel itinerary was cost. The cost of transportation, the cost of food, the cost of accommodation, all of it. 

We made a spreadsheet pretty early on into our planning where we collected all of our research about what it would cost to visit x country. I ended up putting some pretty estimated costs because it can be pretty hard to tell how much it costs to travel a country based on other people’s stories. Everyone travels differently, so you have to take it all with a grain of salt.

It’s better to overestimate how much it’ll cost to travel long term than to underestimate how much you’ll need.

I put in the estimated daily cost, multiplied by 2, and then multiplied again by the number of days we might want to travel there in order to give us a general idea of how much we might need for 6 months of travel.

This process helped immensely in visualizing the money aspect of our trip. I was able to see how quickly the cost could add up and how being frugal in certain places would save us money and help us to travel for even longer.

READ ALSO:
What 6 Months of Travel to 18 Countries Cost Us
14 Simple Tips To Make Your Next International Flight A Breeze

Transportation

We traveled by train to a lot of places, just hopping to the next country over. For example, Slovenia and Hungary share a border, so we took a train from Ljubljana to Budapest.

Traveling by train in Europe is one of the best ways to get around, and is often very cost-effective, too. 

My favorite ways to search for available train routes and tickets are Omio and Google Maps.

Sometimes, flights can be very inexpensive, but you just need to look at the itinerary. Most of the time, those €15 flights are a horrible itinerary. Other times, flying was a great option for us, so it just depends.

There were some times that flying was our only option, like when we traveled to Ireland or Scotland. 

In other instances, where we traveled to next was determined by our family coming to visit us. We met up with my dad and stepmom in Spain, Colton’s parents in Austria, and my mom, stepdad, and siblings in Switzerland. We planned around those meetups and tried to make it a logical progression of our trip.

Make A Logical Travel Itinerary

You can decide where to go next based on a number of factors, but I believe the easiest way is to approach it logically. Not only will this be the easiest way to plan, it will also probably save you money.

Instead of flying around Europe in a path that resembles a 2 year old’s scribble drawing, travel in one direction and do short hops from one place to another. You’ll spend less time on trains or planes, and more time exploring. 

You’ll likely save money by doing this as well, as longer flights tend to cost more, as well as train tickets. 

If you’re traveling to multiple continents and doing a full round-the-world trip, the best idea is to decide a travel direction. Like, East to West, or vice versa. 

Traveling that way isn’t always possible and sometimes an awesome flight deal can be too good to pass up on, so don’t beat yourself up about it. 

It’s just going to make your travel planning that much easier, and will likely be the most cost-effective method of traveling. 

Bucket List Points of Interest

Before you ever leave on your trip, have an idea of your must do activities and must see locations to help guide you. 

We had a master list of places we were open to visiting, plus some must-do activities, like a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, the thermal baths in Budapest, or the Bernina Express in Switzerland.

Having an idea of what you want to experience on your travels will help guide your decisions about where to travel to!

If you’re looking for some incredible experiences to add to your bucket list, check out these blog posts and our YouTube Channel.

READ ALSO:
A Magical 10 Day Trip to Turkey
How to Get Around The Five Villages of Cinque Terre
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Climate

If you’re planning to travel long term, you’re likely to run into a few different seasons and climates. 

We traveled with these carry-on suitcases, so we initially packed for one season and type of weather: warm. Because of that, we stayed in the Mediterranean climate as long as we could before Fall arrived. 

When we met with Colton’s parents in Austria, they brought us a suitcase with our cold weather clothes, and that’s when we made the switch to colder weather.

If we wanted to, we could have designed our trip around chasing the warmer weather, but we knew we wanted to experience Fall and Christmas in Europe. 

Not everyone will have people that will come visit and bring them a new wardrobe, but you can purchase clothes along the way and leave other items behind. That’s what we did during the transition season of Fall. 

You could also pay to have a family member ship you some clothing items in order to make the change between seasons, but I really think you can find good, cheap clothes in most places abroad, so make the switch that way!

Building an itinerary with the climate and your wardrobe just makes sense, and jumping back and forth between warm and cold just won’t work!

Once we decided we were going to Thailand in January, we sent clothes home with my family at Christmas time, and bought a bunch of clothes in Bangkok!

READ ALSO:
What & How To Pack For Long Term Travel
Packing For One Week In Europe, Summer & Winter
10 Tips to Pack Efficiently in Your Carry-On
10 Essential Items To Pack For A Trip to Europe

How To Get Around While Traveling Full Time

Transportation to, within, and from each country you visit will be different everywhere.

You may fly to one country, then take a train to another. For us, we made those decisions based on price. You may value comfort or convenience more, so you should make your decisions with that in mind.

In Europe, train travel is not only cheap, it’s also easy and efficient. That makes traveling by train one of the very best ways to get around in Europe. We also traveled by ferry, scooter, taxi, and by foot. Planes, trains, and automobiles!  

While in Asia, we found that flying is affordable and convenient, and often much more efficient and comfortable than other modes of transportation like buses or trains. That being said, we also traveled by tuktuk, scooter, ferry, van, and taxi.

Apps like Rome2Rio or Omio are super helpful when trying to determine the best way to travel to your next destination. They’ll show you what routes are available, likely cost, and transportation providers to book with.

In Ireland, we decided to rent a campervan, while in Scotland we rented a regular car for our one week Scottish road trip. While in Slovenia, we traveled to Lake Bled on a bus. In Thailand, we took a ferry to Koh Tao. It all just depends on your needs and your budget!

You’ll need to look at how you want to travel and what type of travel is available to you, then make your decision from there.

Plan Ahead Or Make It Up As You Go?

Your greatest asset when traveling for a longer period of time is flexibility. 

Now, some people need to have a plan in order to feel secure, and that is totally fine! But, I want to give you some reasons why I think you should not plan your long term trip out entirely before you leave home.

We chose not to set our itinerary before we left for our trip for this reason alone: we wanted the flexibility to change plans if we wanted or needed to. 

Imagine you booked a hotel for 5 nights, and about $600 in Barcelona, 6 months from now. You’re currently in Positano, Italy and flights are looking to be $300 one way. For some reason the price of flights has gone way up!

But, you have an ‘appointment’ in Barcelona with that hotel you booked months ago! You have no choice but to spend the $300 a person for your flights, or cancel your booking and not get your $600 back. 

If you left your itinerary open, you would be able to take a train to Florence for so much less and get to explore Italy more, then travel on to Barcelona later when it’s cheaper.

This may seem like a trivial example, but that’s just one of the reasons flexibility is important when traveling. 

I promise you’ll be able to find a place to stay even if you book at the last minute. There were plenty of days where we didn’t book a hotel for that night until the day of. And it was fun to be so spontaneous!

READ ALSO:
How to Save Money for Travel – Budget & Save for Your Next Trip
Travel Camera Gear – What’s In My Camera Bag | Travel Blogger Edition

Resources To Use For Long Term Travel Planning

Google Drive is my best friend and second brain when it comes to travel planning. I create tons of spreadsheets, dump my chaotic thoughts into Keep, track bookings with Google Calendar, and share all of it with Colton so we can be on the same page. 

For flights, I always use Google Flights or Skyscanner to find the best deals. They make it easy to search, and you can even track flight prices on your phone using their apps to keep an eye on the routes you’re interested in.

To book hotels all over the world, use Booking.com. There is no better website that does it all. In Asia, you can also check Agoda, but Booking.com is how we booked all of our accommodations in Thailand. It’s so easy to book a hotel right in the app the day of and have all the information you need right there. For unique accommodations, use Airbnb.

For travel planning, Wanderlog is my favorite website to keep my thoughts organized. You can plan a very in depth trip, or use it to brainstorm ideas and keep them organized. It’s free to use, and there is also an app you can download to your phone. 

For transportation planning, use Omio, Rome2Rio, or Google Maps. You can find available itineraries, transportation options, and prices. Plus, Omio and Rome2Rio will show you what types of transportation are available to you from point A to point B, how much it would likely cost, and what provider to book with.

Of course, blogs, YouTube, and TikTok are also fantastic resources for planning and learning about travel!

If you’re planning a 6 month travel itinerary, or longer maybe, drop any thoughts or questions you have in the comments!