Building a Sustainable Lifestyle Takes Planning (Part 4)

One of the biggest misconceptions about long-term travel is that it’s spontaneous.

People often imagine waking up, throwing a backpack over your shoulder, and deciding where to go next. It makes for a great Instagram photo, but after more than eleven years on the road, I can honestly say that’s rarely how we’ve traveled.

Our lifestyle today is built on planning.

Not rigid planning that dictates every hour of the day, but thoughtful planning that gives us the freedom to be flexible.

Behind almost every destination, apartment, hotel, and visa is hours of research.

And that’s where Libby comes in.

While I’m out recording sounds or sitting behind my computer editing, there’s a good chance she’s researching our next destination. She’ll compare apartment rentals, look into long-term hotel stays, search promotions, calculate whether it makes more sense to pay with credit cards or use points, and somehow figure out combinations that I didn’t even know existed.

It’s something she’s genuinely passionate about, and over the years she’s become incredibly good at it.

It almost became a game.

A little over two years ago, she looked at me and asked,

“Do you think we should join the IHG Rewards program?”

I shrugged and said,

“Sure… why not?”

Neither of us realized that one simple decision would send her down an entirely new rabbit hole.

Before long, she knew more about hotel loyalty programs than I ever thought anyone could. She learned which promotions were actually worth chasing, and how different hotel programs could work together.

Within a year, we’d reached IHG Diamond Elite status.

Then one day she looked at me again.

“What do you think about trying for Hyatt Globalist?”

I smiled.

“Let’s do it.”

That decision eventually took us to places like Shanghai, not because we wanted to tick another city off a list, but because the numbers made sense. We could reach Globalist status while recording sounds, exploring an incredible city and making new friends.

Today we’re Hyatt Globalists as well.

But here’s the thing.

This story isn’t really about hotel status.

It’s about building a lifestyle that works for us.

For some people, comparing hotel promotions, credit card offers, collecting points, or working out the best redemption sounds incredibly boring.

For Libby, it’s fun.

She loves figuring out how to stretch every point a little further, how to combine promotions, and how to find opportunities most people simply scroll past.

One of our favorite examples is staying at a Hyatt Regency for just 3,000 points a night instead of paying around $150 in cash.

Or take our stay at the five-star Crowne Plaza Da Nang City Centre.

We spent three and a half weeks there for an average of 10,500 IHG points per night. Had we paid the regular cash rate, the stay would have cost us close to $3,000. Instead, our points covered the room, and our IHG Diamond Elite status gave us complimentary breakfast every morning, lounge access with drinks and snacks, room upgrade, and, perhaps most importantly, an incredibly warm and welcoming team who made us feel at home.

If someone asked me today what my favourite hotel has been after more than eleven years on the road, this would probably be it.

By making thoughtful decisions long before we arrived, we were able to enjoy a fantastic hotel, spend less than we otherwise would have, and stay long enough for it to feel like home rather than just another stop on the journey.

The goal was never to stay in luxury hotels.

The goal was to spend less money while living better.

Every dollar we don’t spend unnecessarily is another dollar invested for our future.

Every point we redeem wisely gives us more time to explore, record, and create.

That’s never felt like being cheap to us.

It’s felt like being intentional.

The funny thing is that this has become part of our lifestyle.

I get excited when I discover a sound I’ve never heard before.

Libby gets excited when she discovers a hotel promotion that makes our next month possible.

They’re completely different things.

Yet together they’ve allowed us to build a life that neither of us could have imagined back in 2015.