How To Travel By Not Spending Too Much - 怎樣可以很便宜去旅遊 (累積飛行里數篇 1）

Hi Steemians,

I love traveling as you all know and also want to use the cheapest and fastest method to get to one place to another. I’m going to take you through how I normally get my travel tickets, hotels and the methods of accumulating points for my travels. It will be discussed over a few series so hope you can follow me if you haven’t to know more on my strategies. As many of you know, I am based in Sydney, Australia but my recommendations will still be valid for you all as the program is worldwide

我很喜歡旅遊但會常用最便宜而最快到我的目的地。我想跟你們分享我平常怎樣訂機票，旅館和怎樣可以很快地累積飛行積分。我會用幾集來跟你們分享我的策略所以如果你們想知多一點，給以繼續留意我的文章。你們應該都知道我是在澳洲但我今天會跟你們分享的資料是所有人都可以用到的。

I used to join many airline programs like Asia Miles, Kris Flyers, Velocity Points etc but many of these programs have restrictions in terms of how long you can have your points in your account for or they only focus on their own airline or they don’t have a wide variety of partners for you to travel to different continents easily. So the first thing I have done is to consolidate all my points into the one program so I can use the points easily. Due to my constant travel to Asia previously, I used to use Asia Miles a lot but the points expire every 3 years so points can easily be forgotten and gets deducted. You can renew the points with a fee but it means that the points are more expensive to use in the future. I had once forgotten I had points soon to expire and I couldn’t travel during that period due to work commitments so I ended up using the points and sent my friends in Hong Kong a Haagen Dazs fondue set each.

我以前參加了很多不同飛行計劃好像亞洲萬里通, 星航飛行計劃等等但原來仔細看條款後，很多計劃都有規限．還有一點就是很多飛行計劃沒有跟其他航空公司合作所以想用積分非常困難．所以我決定專注用一個飛行計劃來儲積分．因為以前常常到不同亞洲國家所以用亞洲萬里通，但原來用這個計劃的里數每三年不用這些分就會被扣除的所以很多人都會忘記有這些分而會比這間公司扣掉。我有一年忘記用亞洲萬里通的分但因工作關係不可以請假去旅行所以我最後用所有積分訂了 Haagen Dazs 雪糕給我在香港的朋友當禮物給他們。

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So I have narrowed down to use one program which is Qantas Frequent Flyer Program (QFF). QFF has an extensive airline partnership and is part of the “one world alliance”. The partnered airlines are shown below.

最後我選擇用澳航積分計劃．澳航是在寰宇一家裡面所以他們跟很多其他航空公司合作。以下的航空公司就是跟澳航合作的

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As you can see, the airlines partnered with QFF can not only take me around Australia but around the world easily under the one program. Even airlines I use frequently like Jetstar, Cathay Pacific, Emirates are all under this program. If you travel to China a lot, there is China Eastern or Cathay Dragon, or if you travel to USA you can choose American Airlines etc. The options are endless.

你們可以看見這些跟澳航合作的航空公司不但可以帶我到澳洲不同地方旅行，還可以到世界每一個角落都可以．我常用的航空公司好 Jetstar，國泰，亞聯都是在這個計畫裡面。如果你想到中國旅遊，你可以用東方航空或如果想到美國，可以用美國航空等等。

some route examples

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So how do I earn my points? You would thinking flying. Normally when we go on holidays, we go online and check for the cheapest tickets which normally means we don’t accumulate miles on that flight or just a percentage of the miles for that leg. Why would I choose the cheapest option and not book the option where I can 100% accumulate the miles. Look at the picture below. There are 3 tiers of pricing for the same flight -

那我是怎樣儲積分？你會想到我應該是坐飛機累積積分的。平常我去旅行，我會先到網上看那間航空公司做特價但又時候不一定可以儲積分或者可以儲一部份的里數．為什麼我會選擇最平的機票而不訂可以儲100%的里數的？看看下面的圖片你就知道的．同一個路線，同一個幾位有三種價錢可以選擇

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A one way flight to Japan, the first column at $416, you get only 3400 points, 40 status credits and no points upgrade request. At $522， you can accumulate 4700 points, 50 status credits and you can request for an upgrade with your existing points. Lastly at $904, you can get 6400 points, 80 status credits and can request for an upgrade. As you can see, for the same flight, there is a $488 Australia dollar difference for the same flight. With my calculations, it is almost certain to pick the $416 option.

最平的單程機票到日本是＄416但只可以累積3400里數， 40等級分但不可以用現有的里數來升級．如果是＄522 ,你可以累積4700里數，還可以用現有的積分來要求座位升級．最後，同一個路線用＄904可以有6400里數，亦可以用現有的分數要求作為升級．同一個機位已經看見差價非常大．如果我是作選擇，我會付＄416買這個機位．對我來講，多付$488澳幣這個價錢買這個機位只是多3000里數，我個人覺得不值得所以選擇最低的價錢是最好的。

The place I accumulate my points is from my every day spending using my credit card. There are many credit cards around the world offering great points system so you need to shop around. Not only you need a good point collecting card, you need to make sure that the annual fee needs to be low or waived. I was very lucky and found a credit card where they give some decent points for every dollar you spend and its annual fee free for life! Yes, I never have to pay an annual fee as long as I keep it. This card is the Citibank Signature Card - Citibank doesn’t give you the best service but in terms of accumulating points, it does the job.

其實我拿最多里數的地方就是我常用信用卡儲回來的．我知道每個國家都有不同信用卡做不同的優惠所以要慢慢挑選最適合自己的．儲積分是重要但最主要看是那張卡的年費是最低或是免費的．我好幸運可以找到一張信用卡可以永久不用付年費的．是的，一毛錢都不用付．這張信用卡就是花旗銀行的 Signature 信用卡．雖然這間公司的服務不是最好的，但是可以累積很多分而且暫時我用了很多年都覺得是最好的．