TravelMates: Matt Schulz
Money expert and avid traveller Matt shares his best travel recommendations and money hacks to help you travel more without breaking the bank
This is part of my TravelMates guest interview series of some of my favourite travel writers and explorers here on Substack, where they share their travel tips, recommendations and mistakes to avoid.
Today’s guest is Matt Schulz from Ask, Save, Earn.
In his day job he’s the Chief Consumer Finance Analyst (AKA Money Expert Guy) at personal finance website LendingTree.com.
Matt is also the author of “Ask Questions, Save Money, Make More: How To Take Control Of Your Financial Life. Outside of work, he is a dad, husband, barely competent obstacle course racer, Star Wars nerd, food truck lover, sports fan and, of course, avid traveler. Matt has used rewards points and miles to see more than 40 U.S. states and jet off to South Korea, Japan, France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, just to name a few.
We even have special strategies and tips from Matt as a money expert on how to travel more—without breaking the bank.
Now lets dive in!
1. When did you first fall in love with travel—and what do you remember most about that first experience?
My wife and I have been fortunate to go everywhere from Seoul to Sorrento over the years, but I think my travel bug became incurable on my honeymoon in April of 1999.
My wife and I spent 10 days or so between Paris and London, the first time in my 27 years that I had left the States.
We ate, drank and touristed our way through the cities in a whirlwind of a trip, and it was everything I could’ve hoped for. One of my favorite memories from that trip came when I was able to use the French I’d learned in high school and college to get us help in the subway.
My wife had lost her ticket, back when there were tickets to lose, and didn’t know what to do.
An officer saw my wife tearing up and approached us. I told him, “Elle a perdu sa billet” – she has lost her ticket. He smiled and helped us get a new ticket and get on our way. It gave me confidence that I’d be OK in my first time in another country and made me want to have other experiences like that in the future.
(Oh, and we’ve been to France a few more times over the years, too.)
2. What’s one destination you’ve been to that completely surprised you—and why?
The Grand Canyon.
It was never on my bucket list of travel destinations, but I visited it with my parents, wife and son a few years back and was totally blown away. The canyon’s beauty is simply indescribably spectacular.
I’ve been fortunate to visit many beautiful places in the U.S. and abroad, but no place has ever left me as taken aback as the Grand Canyon did. You simply have to see it for yourself.
3. How do you plan and stay organised with your trips?
I am very fortunate to be married to a wonderful woman who is an incredible planner and loves to travel.
She does a lot of the planning when we travel as a family. When I travel on business, I tend to be largely on my own, however. When that’s the case, I make a lot of Google sheets to keep me organized.
They’re an easy way to make sure that I know where I need to be and when.
Want to an easy & organised way to plan your next trip?
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4. What’s a travel tip you swear by that most people overlook?
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.
The day before I fly off somewhere, I make sure that I drink a lot of water. It almost always helps make the travel day feel a little less exhausting. Plus, I also tend to carry a refillable water bottle with me.
That’s especially helpful when I’m on a busy business trip and don’t have time to find a place to buy a drink.
Bonus Tip: Never be afraid to ask. The mission of my Substack is to show people they have more power over their money than they realize. That’s absolutely true when you’re traveling as well.
For example, I got $135 in food vouchers from United Airlines just for asking. We were flying back from Seoul and it took forever to get through customs so we ended up missing our connecting flight home to Austin. That meant an extra 5-plus hours at SFO. Annoyed, I politely asked the customer service rep, “Since we’re going to be here for several more hours, would it be possible for us to get some vouchers for food and drink?” She said yes and gave my wife, son and I each food vouchers worth $45.
It made a stressful time feel a little less so, and it wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t asked.
5. What’s one travel mistake you’ve made that others should avoid?
I still can’t believe it happened. My wife, son and I were at the airport in San Antonio checking in for a Spring Break trip to Spain when we learned that my son wouldn’t be allowed to board the plane.
Turned out that his passport would be valid for the entirety of our trip, but that still wasn’t long enough to be acceptable.
We totally should have known about those rules before, but trust me, it is a mistake that you will only ever make once.
(I did end up writing about our misfortunes for a big news website, though. You can read my recent post about it.)
6. What’s your go-to strategy for finding great local food?
That’s such an important thing. Finding great local restaurants and trying new and different things can absolutely make a trip.
In the States, I tend to rely pretty heavily on sites like Eater or The Infatuation.
Those two have rarely steered me wrong. When I’m travelling internationally, I end up relying on guidebooks and travel sites to a degree, but Reddit can be a great source, too.
And, of course, wherever you are, there’s no substitute for just talking to people in the area. The locals know where the great local food is, so don’t be afraid to just ask.
7. How do you make long flights or travel days more enjoyable?
Other than just mindlessly playing Sudoku on my phone?
I always bring something to read—usually fiction—and something to write. Sometimes I’ll write on my laptop, but oftentimes, I just go old-school with a pen and a notebook.
I often find that my creativity flows more freely that way than it does when I’m sitting in front of a keyboard.
8. What’s always in your suitcase no matter where you go?
My portable charger.
I’ve traveled many times for business over the years, and it has been a lifesaver more often than I can count. However, it is invaluable on personal trips as well. Anytime I’m more than a few hours from home, my portable charger is with me.
9. As a money expert, what’s your top 3 tips or strategies to help people travel more without going broke?
Budget for it. A well-made budget is a living, breathing representation of your financial priorities. If you are passionate about something—no matter what it is—and spend a lot of money on it, give it a place in your household budget.
Doing so makes it far easier for you to understand exactly how much you can really afford to spend on your next trip, but it can also make it easier for you to clean up the mess you made by spending way too much on your last trip.
The right credit card, used wisely, can make a huge difference. It is impossible to overstate how helpful the right credit card can be for travel.
Points and miles get all the headlines, but things like travel insurance, priority boarding, free wi-fi, free checked bags, lounge access and other perks can be every bit as valuable. My wife and I have leveraged points and miles to visit places like Seoul, Tokyo, Maui, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, New York, Key West, London, and we plan to use them more and more now that my son is off at college.
One important thing to know: If you regularly carry a balance on your credit card, you shouldn’t be focusing on rewards. Focusing on paying down that debt instead. Once you’ve done that, then you can dive into the rewards game.
Ultimate Guide: Getting Started in Points and Miles
Earning points and miles isn’t just for frequent flyers—it’s for anyone who knows how to play the game.
Flexibility is everything. Travel is crazy-expensive. The more options you can give yourself, the better your chances of keeping costs down.
Share a room?
Have a long layover?
Split a ride to the airport?
Go at a different time of year?
Willing to make a couple of stops?
Take a seat in the back of the plane?
Drive a little bit to a different airport?
Fly really, really early or really, really late?
You get the idea. Of course, you shouldn’t make yourself miserable and extend your travel time by eight hours, for example, just to save $10 or $20. However, being willing to compromise here and there in pursuit of major savings can make sense.
10. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made or you see people make when it comes to the intersection of travel and their money? What can people do to avoid making the same mistake?
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to travel and money is overspending in pursuit of credit card rewards.
Travelers love rewards, especially sign-up bonuses. However, it is important to remember that you don’t just get that sign-up bonus when you get the card. You have to spend at least a minimum amount during a set period in order to get that bonus – often a few thousand dollars in about 3 months.
Given that, it is crucial for you to consider how comfortable you are with spending that amount of money during that period.
Spend too little and you miss out on the bonus. Spend too much and you could end up with debt, and that is not where you want to be. The average interest rate on a new credit card is nearly 24%, which is just crazy-high.
That means that if you don’t pay that card off every single month in full, any rewards that you get are going to get outweighed by interest in a pretty big hurry.
On a related note, I’m actually a believer that there is such a thing as good debt. I even believe that debt taken on for travel can be good debt, which puts me at odds with many, many personal finance types. I firmly believe that if it takes a couple of months to pay off that family trip to Disney or that romantic trip to Paris, it is OK.
Good debt is all about getting a good return on that investment, and the return doesn’t have to be financial.
It can come in the form of lifelong memories and deepened bonds, too. However, all of this comes with a HUGE caveat. All of this must be done in moderation. It is one thing to take on a couple of months of debt every once in a while.
It is something else entirely to regularly take on loads of debt, so be careful.
That’s a wrap!
I show DIY couple travellers how to unlock premium flights with points, capture photos worth framing and plan every trip without the chaos—stress-free and debt-free.
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