We’ve been listening to several new travel podcasts and YouTube videos lately, and one really stood out. Geobreeze Travel (http://geobreezetravel.com/) is a travel hacking podcast and website that focuses on how to save money on travel with step by step instructions and interviews with other travel hackers, bloggers and service providers. Julia Menez, founder of Geobreeze Travel, is a travel hacking coach, speaker, and host of the podcast. We caught up with Julia to talk about her approach to The Points & Miles Game.
The Exceptional Traveler: How did you get started in travel hacking?
Julia: My husband and I had been interested in learning about how to achieve financial independence as early as possible. We both love our jobs (I’m an actuary, he’s a software engineer), but we wanted to add to our income and save as much as possible. I became obsessed with finding ways to travel for little to no cost. . .travel hacking. The more I learned about it and started enjoying luxury travel all over the world, I noticed two things. One, the best way to learn was to find out what others were doing in the space and contact them directly. Two, there weren’t very many people who look like me that were involved in travel hacking. . .very few women, and even fewer Filipinos like me. So I’ve tried to be very inclusive in terms of the people we include on my podcast and everything else I do.
TET: Tell me about how you started coaching people.
Julia: I found out pretty quickly that a lot of people didn’t know much about travel hacking and were missing out on a lot of opportunities. Some thought it was a scam; others were intimidated or confused by all of the different ways to tap into it. I thought that if I could coach them, one on one, they could focus on easy ways to save money. I offer everyone a free half hour conversation so I can learn about their unique situation and they can learn about my coaching style.
TET: Give us a couple of the things you try to teach.
Julia: First of all, I try to get my clients to focus on an annual plan and not get too distracted by everything else that’s happening in the travel hacking world. Probably the most important thing I try to do is to get them to work backwards.
TET: What do you mean by that?
Julia: Figure out what you want to do first. . .where you want to travel. . .and then work backwards and find the best credit card strategies and other travel hacks to help you pay for all or most of that trip. A lot of people see a new credit card offer that looks great and they jump on it, only to find that those points or miles can’t help them get to their dream destination. There are a lot of fine points to travel hacking, and I can help people avoid those pitfalls.
TET: We like your Instagram posts. . .very focused!
Julia: That’s where I like to just pick one hack, and explain it step by step so people can easily take advantage of it.
TET: What other advice would you give to younger people trying to get in on some free travel?
Julia: Just jump in and learn as much as possible by reading blogs, listening to podcasts and using me as a coach! But be careful; you need to keep your credit record totally clean and your credit score as high as possible by paying everything off on time. Without that, you can’t take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.
TET: Thanks for taking the time to talk, Julia.
Photo courtesy of Geobreeze Travel
We agree with this approach wholeheartedly, and Julia is great at simplifying things in a fun way. . .her Instagram account @geobreezetravel is a must-follow. In our next post, we’ll give you an example of her “work backwards” approach, incorporating some of the concepts we talked about in our blog post “Playing the Game. . .How to get that Free Trip”. It’s also nice to talk with someone who is trying to pull this big community of travel hackers together by referring and recommending other experts and helping our community of Exceptional Travelers learn more. Thanks for being part of our community, and be sure to listen to one of the Geobreeze Travel podcasts. . .you can find them on Apple or Spotify podcasts or link to them through the Geobreeze website.
Pingback: Working Backwards to Portugal and Spain - theexceptionaltraveler.com