I can remember it clearly like it was yesterday. One year into my travel hacking journey, I looked back to see my progress. I had been telling people that I had accumulated 200,000 – 300,000 points during that time, but the actual number was exactly 500,000 points…and that was only the sign-up bonuses from the credit cards. It did not include the miles earned by spending with the credit cards, nor any flights that I took, nor any referral bonuses for telling others about certain cards. A half million points just for signing up for cards and meeting their minimum spending requirements.

I was blown away. I wan’t even that aggressive in my card opening plan. I have to admit that it helped to have a wife that was on-board with our plan as each of us were able to open cards in our names, thus doubling our potential points. One important side-note is that you don’t want to add your spouse as an extra card holder for any cards you open as that would count against them in terms of the number of cards they can open in a given time span (it’s called the 5/24 rule as Chase says you can only open 5 new cards in a 24 month period..but more on that later).

When I saw how many miles we had accumulated, it was like a physical pat on my back saying, “Well Done!” It felt good to see the time I put into the planning and the extra organization paying off. So how did we celebrate? The next day we booked two plane tickets from Denver to Minneapolis and reserved three hotel rooms at the downtown Marriott Residence Inn for a total of $22.40 in taxes and fees (that’s for airfare AND hotel combined). Plus, we still have a ton of points left in our accounts to explore even more!

That’s a great way to spend a 1 year anniversary!!!

Even if it is small, comment below with how many free miles you’ve earned so far from credit card sign-up bonuses. It can be an encouragement to others along your same path.