Affordable Adventures: Travel Tips That Won’t Break the Bank
Shutter and Compass
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Let’s bust a myth right away: You don’t have to be rich (or retired) to travel well. With a little intention and some strategic planning, you can enjoy incredible adventures without draining your savings account. From cash back tools to credit card perks to point strategies, here’s how we make travel work for our budget — and how you can too. We’re breaking down the practical and the lesser-known ways to save, plus real-life examples from our own trips.
1. Points Are Your Passport: Make Your Spending Work for You
One of the easiest ways to make travel more affordable is to earn points or miles on the money you already spend. Two of our favorite cards for this are the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the American Express Platinum.
Capital One Venture offers 2x miles on every purchase. The real win? You can erase travel purchases using points, or transfer them to airline and hotel partners.
Amex Platinum is ideal if you fly often and value perks like Centurion Lounge access, airline credits, hotel upgrades, and 5x points on flights booked through Amex Travel.
Real-Life Example: We booked round-trip flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico using American Express points, covering over $500 in airfare with points alone. I can’t remember exact flights at the moment, but I know we’ve used points for free airfare before we even started Shutter and Compass. So, If you aren’t using those credit cards in this way…here’s your sign to start. NOW!
Tip: Keep an eye on sign-up bonuses. These often range from 60,000–100,000 points when you meet minimum spending requirements — enough to cover one or two round-trip tickets!
2. Rakuten = Free Money for Travel
We try to use Rakuten every time we shop online. We’re getting better, but you can see that we have a long way to go to fully maximize it — but, we still believe every little bit helps! Rakuten is a cash back platform that gives you money back just for clicking through their site to see if where your shopping is a partner, before you buy from stores like Sephora, Walmart, or even travel sites like Expedia and Booking.com.
If you haven’t tried it yet, here’s our referral link to get started and score a welcome bonus:
👉 Rakuten Referral Link
Insider Tip: Link your Amex or Visa card to earn in-store cashback at places like Ulta and Walgreens, and if we just realized it works for Giant, too! So…all those groceries…Dominion Valley and Haymarket people, I’m talking to you…go ahead and link it for those points!
RAKUTEN POINTS
It’s not a ton, but honestly, we’re still excited we’re getting paid for literally our regular shopping trips.
If you haven’t tried it yet, here’s our referral link to get started and score a welcome bonus:
👉 Rakuten Referral Link
How we use it: When we started our Rakuten account in November, 2024, we earned 4,000 points just to start, and then we quickly added points, without even realizing it! From our regular purchases (some even in-store!) at Adidas, Giant (again - how cool!), Shutterfly, Madison Reed (because…hello, we’re in our 40’s) and legit, I JUST saw that my TACO BUENO purchases in Oklahoma earned me points…all because my American Express is linked. Like really, why would one NOT do this?! while you can convert the points to dollars, we actually send them right over to American Express to keep as points for our travel. I know that there’s a mathematical or better way to figure out what works best, but this is what we’re choosing for now. While I know I still need to thank her, I know I’ve read a lot of my travel credit card information from Jen Woodhouse - https://jenwoodhouse.com/category/travel/ - I’ve known Jen for somewhere around a decade, and she’s the real deal. Excited to hopefully connect soon (once she’s in the country for a hot minute from all of her travels) so we can learn more from her! But we highly recommend checking her site out — she is incredibly knowledgeable. Like really — not just in travel. She does it ALL!
3. Stack the Savings: Cashback + Points + Coupons
Combine these methods for serious savings:
Use Rakuten (or a similar browser extension like Honey or Capital One Shopping).
Book with a rewards credit card.
Search for discount codes or use hotel loyalty programs (e.g., Hilton Honors).
Pro Tip: Book your hotel through Rakuten, use your Amex to pay, and make sure it’s a property you can earn hotel points on. That’s a triple win.
4. Fly Smart: Timing is Everything
Fly midweek. Tuesdays and Wednesdays often have the best fares.
Set fare alerts with tools like Google Flights or Hopper.
Travel off-season or during shoulder seasons (e.g., late April or early October).
You can score $49 one-way fares on Southwest just by flying on a Wednesday in October — peak weather, low prices.
5. JGOOT: Just Get Out of Town
We’re just diving into JGOOT (Just Get Out of Town) — a subscription-based platform that teaches you how to use points and find mistake fares. So far, we’re impressed by how it encourages thinking differently about travel. Definitely legit, and depending on your needs, they can walk you through an amazing process for making your travel not only more affordable, and also getting you into those business class and luxury flights!
JGOOT teaches:
How to book flights with fewer points by transferring to partners.
How to find deals where points are valued 2-4x more than booking directly.
We haven’t booked a full trip using it yet, but we’ll report back when we do! It’s worth checking out if you want to level-up your points game.
https://www.jgoot.com
6. Look Local First
Adventure doesn’t always require a passport.
Check your state’s tourism board for discounts and deals.
Plan a short road trip to a nearby vineyard, historic town, or hiking trail.
Search Airbnb Experiences or Groupon for things to do within 2 hours of home.
Some of our favorite days have been 45 minutes from our doorstep. If you’re in Northern Virginia, this is your healthy reminder that you are likely within an hour or two from our Nation’s Capital, Washington DC. There is always so much to see and do there. And what we’ve noticed is that a lot of people who have lived here the longest, STILL haven’t been to our Nation’s Capital. Y’all are missing out! BUT, no fear. If the DC traffic and city life are either intimidating or just aren’t your thing, there are so many beautiful wineries, breweries, restaurants, hiking trails, and so much more close by.
7. Use Travel Communities for Deals and Ideas
Facebook groups, Reddit threads (like r/travelhacks), and even TikTok are full of travelers sharing real-time deals, itineraries, and budget tips. Join the conversation, ask questions, and share what’s worked for you. And as always, hop on over to https://www.facebook.com/groups/shutterandcompass to share your thoughts and questions, or even share about your latest travels and awesome finds.
8. Create a "Travel Fund" Jar (Seriously)
Yes, we love points. But nothing beats cash.
Start with $10/week.
Add every time you skip a takeout meal or cancel a subscription you’re not using. Also, if you haven’t canceled those subscriptions you aren’t using…go do that!! You may be shocked by how much you’re not even realizing you’re spending. >>>ask us how we know<<<
We’ve funded everything from cruise excursions to a new carry-on just with what we stock l away over a few months.
You Can Afford to Go
Whether it's a luxe cruise booked with miles, or a weekend Airbnb funded by cashback and a travel jar, there are so many ways to make adventure more accessible.Start where you are. Use what you have. Learn a few new tricks along the way. And remember, a good hike, a free museum…those are still in our travel realm! Enjoy what you can, when you can. And remember: it doesn’t have to be extravagant to be meaningful. Just go and make the memories. You’ll thank yourself (and us!) when you realize how much you love it.
XO,
P.S. We’re working on a future post specifically about how to maximize credit card points like a pro — so stay tuned! Let us know what questions you have so we can get some guest speakers lined up and so we can share more with you!
Disclosures: We may earn a small commission when you use our affiliate links, including Amazon and Rakuten. This comes at no cost to you and helps support future content for Shutter and Compass. Thank you for your support!