The Angel

On my way to work today, an old, familiar song played on the radio. It was not the original but an even slower interpretation, as if at 5AM I needed to hear lullaby. Nevertheless, the recognition pulled me back to when I used to hum it. I was so much younger then, in high school, seemingly with an entire life ahead of me. I could see myself in the attic of our house watching the sun set over the horizon, an incomprehensible melancholy washing over me.

I will be traveling all my life. Not every day of my life, but travel will always be a part of my life. Whether it's a weekend trip to a nearby Southeast Asian country or a weeklong trip somewhere else, the moment I arrive from a trip, I cannot wait to think about where I will be going next. So I travel with the long-term in mind. I invest in my travels, so that sometime, somewhere in the future, I will reap some rewards from it. Like any investment, the rewards don't happen overnight. But when they do, the rewards can be anything from an upgrade to first class or free roundtrip tickets or to hotel room upgrades or free hotel nights in some of the most expensive hotels in the world. There are a lot of travel hacks in the Internet on how to travel on a budget for a specific destination. Those are useful and complementary to this one. But if, like me, traveling for you is embedded in your life, why not invest in your travel? Here's how I do it: