Travel to Bali for 100 euros? This is how it works!

I made this video in January 2024 to celebrate the fourth birthday of my yoga studio. To fully understand the entire contents of this blog post, watch this video first. It takes less than 3 minutes.

My first business was supported and funded by my parents, but as my business developed, I started taking bank loans. Instead of taking out a traditional loan, I opted for a credit card. My rationale was that as long as I paid my bills on time, I would get a short-term bank loan with no interest charges.

My first credit card in 2010 had a limit of 400 euros. I use it to buy shop supplies and pay bills before they are due. Because my bills were always smooth, the bank increased my limit after a few months. After a few years, other banks were also interested in making me their credit card customer.

Until 2021, before I settled in Germany, I had more than 8 credit cards with a total limit of more than 50,000 euros. In other words, before moving to Germany, I had business capital in the form of a short-term loan of around 50,000 euros per month, without incurring any fees (assuming that the credit card issuing bank eliminates the annual fees when using the credit card in one year exceeds a certain target value and the payments are clear).

My other benefits of using a credit card as business capital:

1. Due to frequent use of my credit card, I often receive free round-trip tickets from my bank on a Singapore Airlines business class flight in the Southeast Asia region.

2. In addition to zero interest charges and free rewards, other benefits I receive include lounge access (free meals) at various airports and reward points that can be exchanged for various gift vouchers. My favorite is mileage credits.

I converted my credit card rewards points into miles because I always knew I would live abroad (my target used to be Australia or England).

By redeeming these miles, I save even more on vacation costs. This is a photo of my boarding pass when I flew to Germany for the first time. My flight costs were less than 100 euros. I just paid the entire airport tax.

When I flew to Germany in suite/first class in 2018, my business partner was surprised, but he understood after I explained to him how I getting a first class flight. And then he started implementing the same strategy since 2019.

In 2019, we applied for an American Express credit card to cover our costs. The annual fee for this credit card is currently 700 euros per year, but we benefit from this credit card:

1. Room upgrades in Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton hotels.

   (we save 20 to 100 euros in costs per night)

2. Early check-in and late check-out at Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton hotels.

   (we save an additional 10 to 60 euros for early and late check-out per stay)

3. Free breakfast in Hilton hotels.

   ((with every stay we save breakfast costs of 10 to 30 euros per person per night)

4. Free access to the international airport lounge.

   (on every flight we save 20 to 40 euros per person on food and drinks at the airport)

5. Travel credit of 200 euros per year for hotel, restaurant or flight costs.

6. Discount on rental cars.

7. Credit reward points with every retail transaction that can be exchanged for Payback or airline miles.

If we calculate it over a year, the benefits we receive are greater than the costs we incur

This is how I outsmart my vacation costs from flights and hotels.

As a thank you for reading to the end, here is the link to apply for an American Express credit card. If you register using the link below, you will receive up to 65,000 extra points that you can use to reduce your travel costs. Have lots of fun with it!

I recommend the following American Express card https://americanexpress.com/de-de/referral/business-platinum?ref=mATTHWvWeh&CPID=999999539

The “Terms and Conditions for Referral Friendship” apply, which you can view here.