Hey, it's Ernest from Trip Astute. In this video, we're interviewing Jason from
Nomad Travel Hacker. A digital nomad with lots of experience traveling the world
using points and miles.
(light chiming music)
Jason is a fellow credit card and travel content creator
and also a great guy with a wealth of knowledge. He has some really interesting
videos on how to use points and miles to travel the world as a digital nomad, and
his format is definitely unique compared to what you'll see on many other similar
channels. For those of you who don't know what a "digital nomad" is, it's basically
someone whose lifestyle revolves around working remotely while traveling and is
not constrained by a physical office or location. It's actually a trend that's
really been growing and is especially popular with millennials who want more
flexibility and satisfaction in their life and career. In fact, countries are
even starting to invest in infrastructure and resources to help
attract digital nomads to their country. I hope you enjoy this interview with
Jason. If you're someone who is curious about or even considering becoming a
digital nomad, I think you'll find that Jason is a great resource on the subject.
Thanks Jason for making the time today to the chat I know you're super busy and
I think right now you're in Lisbon if I'm not not mistaken so super cool they
were making time to meet up and collaborate I'm really happy to have you
on the channel yeah thanks earnest thanks for having me on appreciate it
big fan of your channel and yes I am in Lisbon Portugal right now cool so I
guess before we get started I know that you have a channel that's really focused
on points amaz but also the whole digital nomadic lifestyle so wanted to
learn more about you just if you could give me just a quick background as to
who you are where you're from kind of how you got started
sure I'm so kind of the elevator speech is of I was in a lot of debt in the u.s.
I had like $80,000 worth of student loan debt and at that time I ended up selling
my house hanging off all my student loans and I've worked in like digital
marketing and basically just on my laptop for a decade now so I'd always
wanted to just work for myself as well as
so I decided to do all three of those at the same time sold my house in Colorado
started two of my own businesses and started traveling right about May of
last year April May something like that and I've
been on the road pretty much since then and yeah you know doing the the digital
nomad thing I've been to I don't know 14 15 countries something like that since
then and just awesome searching the globe for for good Wi-Fi since then yeah
I know that's always a challenge right it's just finding the right connection
especially with this type of work we're kind of produce videos and trying to get
them out it's it's a challenge very yeah on top of just finding good Wi-Fi now
finding a good place to film and good light and it's always changing so
there's always something that's not quite perfect but that's part of the fun
of it yeah I bet no I must be challenging now I know we talked about a
little bit earlier about we have a little bit of overlap in terms of our
channels because we talked about points and miles but you have a very kind of
unique aspect to your channel can you talk a little more about that
sure so I've kind of created a life around points and miles so just doing
the digital Nomad thing I think if it wasn't for points in miles like I would
still be doing this right now but it would be like considerably limited so
yeah just do it like I have like my business expenses and my life expenses
and everything and you know I'm using the credit card for all of them so I'm
able to rack up probably more miles than some people and just maximize them and
then being able to use them like I've been able to like pay my rent so to
speak on Airbnb by like redeeming you know miles and the fact that like you
know I can essentially fly everywhere for pretty close to free if not you know
totally free so I'm able to change countries and continents a lot more than
I could if you know I didn't have that ability so I've you know kind of I've
been able to really like push this digital Nomad thing further then I
probably could have before just to the fact that you know essentially like on
Monday I'm gonna be traveling to Dubai United Arab
it's and then on to Bali and you know I'm able to like a dance and additional
stops in countries just because I can use my points and miles to do that
rather than you know really looking for like the cheapest flight and whatever it
takes you know I'm able to I guess kind of do some extra cool stuff just due to
the fact that it's free or you know 95 percent off or something like that yeah
it's awesome I mean I think a lot of people don't realize like how much you
can actually do when you have points in miles like I always think of it as not
just in the neighborhood for travel but also just almost like an insurance
policy for me and then if I ever need to go somewhere I have the points to do it
and I can quickly book something and I've had situations where I've been in
really bad hotels and be like uh I don't like this I'm gonna go somewhere else
and I just been able to book using my points which is really an awesome thing
yeah absolutely you know it's kind of like something I always have in the back
of my head yeah you know something happens to my family or there's an
emergency and I need to get back to the US and I'm in Southeast Asia or
something I know that I've got points two miles to get me back there ASAP and
I don't have to worry about the insane cost that it would be to take the next
day flight no I've got that in my back pocket I could figure down the name how
you know PI not the best redemption you know I've always i'm keeping those there
and like i'll never let my balance get too low because i've always got you know
my go home free card in my back pocket absolutely so kind of a piggyback on
that question what do you see is the differentiator between your channel and
other channels yeah definitely the digital nomad thing and like i kind of
used like that hacker mentality to where i'm always looking for the hidden stuff
the good stuff that you know the the big blogs like the points guy and people
can't really talk about as much because they're you know really affiliated with
credit cards and i'm not affiliated with them and they probably don't like a lot
of the information that I'm sharing because it's it's more that stuff that a
lot of people when you find something really good you don't share it and
people worried about that disappearing but you know I take a different approach
because whenever there is you know something
really good out like I just found a way to get around you know the chase 5:24
and chase is gonna figure it out they're gonna shut it down soon enough so I want
as many people as possible to enjoy it because they're gonna find out one way
or another they're gonna close the loophole but then another one you did
the the the cat-and-mouse game goes on forever so I just like to share whatever
you know good really the good stuff that I can find out there like increase sign
up offers that you know maybe show people how to find you know increase
sign up offers for certain cards and sometimes little tricks you can do and
they don't work for everyone but I can help anyone else do that you know that's
what I really love that's kind of like my passion is finding that stuff that
maybe the the person who isn't you know as experienced in the stuff maybe they
wouldn't be able to find so I just really like you know those little like
tidbits and stuff that's kind of what I'm all about
you know it makes sense I feel like your stuff is very tactical and very usable
you know what I mean like I think a lot of the shadows including mine at times a
little bit high level we're not digging it as deep and you get really tactical
and really get in there so I think that's really helpful for a lot of
people yeah thanks cool but you can also get yourself into trouble there because
a lot of times they dry out one day you know sure enough some Oh to let me know
they don't know the longest shelf life but when I find something really good I
just like to share it no I totally and I think you find experiences to where like
the rules change all the time so what works like one day and what seems to be
kind of the general norm changes the next day and it's crazy it's all I guess
it's part of the game right yes it is so getting into more of a travel stuff like
what are your top three travel items and you know tools or gear so my pixel two
is my new favorite toy of all time it's really incredible and you know as
someone that's you know traveling full time I don't use like camera here so I
use like right now I'm using my webcam and then now I was using my old Nexus 6p
which did have 4k video and it was good but the
- the video is next-level and it's got amazing stabilization so I'm a huge fan
of that I'm able to actually take some videos on the fly and have some video
that's actually useful which is great because I do have a stable as a
stabilizer for my for my phone which in my second favorite thing but I don't
take that with me all the time and you know when you're out having fun
somewhere you're out at the beach you know I don't like to carry around all
this stuff with me all the time so yeah if I can't do that just having the pixel
is great and then my third favorite thing is definitely my laptop backpack
from Timbuktu so they make some really really cool stuff and I love this
because if I'm going to like a business meeting or something I can make it look
professional and I can like strap it over my shoulder and I'm so good because
while it's a little bit bigger than most carry-on bags usually if you put it over
your shoulder so to speak you're able to get by with that and no one has ever
questioned me about it but if I'm wearing it as a backpack which is how I
like to use it more practically when I go into a co-working space or something
like that and you know I usually have another backpack so I carry like one big
suitcase that I usually check and then I carry like a bigger backpack and then
I'm also like that this was my third one so being able to use that on my shoulder
I'm able to get away that as my personal I don't even though look it's a little
bit bigger than it should be it's a little bit heavier so that's kind of
like one of my secret hats they give them to carry around all this stuff with
me now it's a challenge I know I feel like I keep accumulating more gear to
carry everywhere and it's like I feel like I'm becoming more heavier than
light and I think that's it's a challenge it's a struggle everything
when we go anywhere I'm lugging more equipment and it's it's yeah it's funny
so most people that travel long term end up minimizing and I've yeah I'm back
some more stuff now I'm traveling with a green screen I have like a Yeti blue mic
which is like silly heavy to carry around I've got a stabilizer now and I
went got some additional clothes and stuff I didn't really have
for because I was thoroughly I was Columbia earlier this year and it was a
bit cold when I got there so I needed to have you know some clothes that would
you know suit that attire instead of - I am beach lifestyle which is usually the
kind of places I go to so I could just you know a little more choice but then
have another have had some extra clothes on me and stuff this year so I'm curing
a lot more than I took last year actually we should have smartphones
stable entities um so yeah I've got it right here
think it's like sigh oh yeah yeah oh yeah the Zune smooth it is right yeah
those are really popular I've I've only tried the eg I'm also mobile too but
I've heard really good things about this do you yeah I watched your video on that
actually yeah it didn't work out for me because I think it's more I think an
issue with the iPhone I think the iPhone has that uh-oh is that you can't turn
off and so what ends up happening is that like the OAS the phone basically
interferes with the the actual Kimble itself and then you get that weird gesso
but yeah the Kimble stuff is really cool actually I'm thinking about getting a
gimbal now for my my DSLR just cuz I think it'd be really cool to get more
cinematic shots and I really want to start playing and learning how to do
better video but yeah it's also one of the things to where I struggle with like
carrying too much gear and I worried that it's just one more thing I've to
carry and really sick people I want to take it absolutely
it's its own struggle you know how it is so definitely yeah I found out one cool
new feature that I want to try out but I didn't even know I could do but
basically I can take this mobile gimbal and like it lays flat and then I can use
basically I mean you need to have us like a second phone to do it what you do
and you can basically just use it as a remote control and get it to like move
so like it's on a flat service and it's super stable but like I started testing
and it looks really cool and really professional and that's also be
incredible what you can do with the phone these days I know it's amazing
right I mean honestly like my phone is like my backup camera for and actually
ends up being my primary camera a lot of times if I don't have my DSLR with me
and it's amazing that it's able to capture 4k footage like there's a lot of
even consumer or professional great equipment nowadays it doesn't even
capture 4k at 60 frames per second my phone can do it which is amazing yeah
exactly that's why I just use that because it's good enough for me you know
my videos are not like it's creative versus professional is like you or like
you a lot more going for like rip right to the nitty-gritty you know I'm using
my green screens I never know what kind of a back month and a half where I'm
living or getting to play and you know just using PowerPoint so it kind of just
like get to the point information based my videos are more like you don't even
need to watch and you can just kind of play in the background and listen as a
lot of my viewers have told me that they just kind of listen to him in the
background a little working or doing something else which is kind of like
what up or so I try to add in some you know some snaps here every 30 seconds to
a minute to try to make them interesting if you are watching but they're really
more information based and I'm not really doing for the super creative and
because I'm not really a filmmaker I my videos are pretty simple and well I
think they're really cool though I mean the whole green-screen thing that you
were doing is very cool and I love the fact that you're mixing it up now you're
doing some like blocking style videos which is really cool and I think you
should give yourself more credit because like I have the luxury of just using a
control studio and things are always the same it's a lot easier but you're mixing
it up you're always in different locations different connectivity you
know all that stuff and I think it's a it's pretty awesome that you're doing
all that stuff cool thanks man yeah no worries so any
favorite travel experiences or destinations yeah definitely so I'm
actually headed back there shortly but um
Changu bali my favorite place so far yeah three months there last year I
hadn't intended on being there but for maybe like a month last year and I got
there and dude I was like this is where I need to be in the world right now it
was kind of like an up-and-coming place I've heard it's really like
changed a lot in the last year and it's kind of a hot spot in Bali now so don't
go there it's just love trendy cafes and lots of places with good Wi-Fi there's
some really amazing co-working spaces a lot of like you know digital nomads
there I usually try to go places but there's you know lots of like you know
digital workers and starters unity and you know poly in general inches it's got
an energy like you know where I've ever been it's just such a cool place so
really excited to go back I think a lot of people that I know who are doing the
digital nomadic lifestyle have been working from like the Philippines but it
sounds like Bali is becoming like the new Philippines right in terms of like
work space and that whole lifestyle yeah I think one of the issues with Bali
before is just the internet was so bad up until working space opened and now
like they have that market now that they're building places that are new and
that have like better internet I just heard a really you know like five years
ago it was pretty much unworkable there but now there's places with faster
internet that I have you know my house in Lisbon that's awesome that are pretty
easy to get to so I think that's definitely helped a lot and just the new
trend of co-working spaces which is just great in general for online
entrepreneurs you know like myself because working from home all the time
gets pretty boring sometimes and it's nice to have people that know all my
nerdy tech stuff and can understand all the terms I'm talking about or the other
constant cleaners that are we're in a pretty small minority here yeah I talked
to other people doing the same thing and then understand your struggles and that
kind of stuff it's really cool in it you know really makes you feel like you're
not you know out there on their own well I think your deafening because I know
that I was just seeing I just was watching it a day that they had this
article about how Millennials are queen their job traveling and basically it's a
new thing is trying to adapt your work with your travel and being able to do
both at the same time and I think like people like you are kind on the
forefront of that and you'll be able to share information and that stuff is very
relevant I think to a lot of folks who are thinking about it or actually make
the plunge I think just the workforce in general is going more remote you just do
it like the costs of having an office now and like you're in LA so I'm sure
it's only like at least five thousand a month or you know a company to have
dolphins yeah and if you're all just working on your computers like you
really need it you know and yeah there is now having more of
these like shared offices to where you can just kind of rent them and using
them for when you need that to have a meeting with a client or when you need
to you know get the whole team together in one room so instead of having to pay
you know that huge amount of money and then you spend an hour if you're not
maybe three hours of traffic it's just like not as good of a lifestyle and like
we're here you know I'm in Lisbon you're in LA and we're chatting over the phone
so the fact that you know Skype and all these other video services have really
like close that gap so much thinking that really helped the digital world and
there's all these new different tools that people use to keep in touch like
slack is very popular and just all these different things tour it doesn't really
matter where you are as much because everything is just also online based I
think to really help to kind of close the gap and a lot of people are just
they're working on lifestyle businesses too or you know you know making as much
money as possible which is kind of been like the goal for a long time it's not
quite as important anymore and more or less you know having more
freedom I know I struggled with that as well cuz I since I left college has
always been about oh I need to have stability I need to be able to make an
income all that stuff was really important to me
and I feel like in the last couple years it's felt very empty as a goal it's felt
very under filling and being able to work on trips to and all this other
stuff has been a really good thing for me cuz I feel like it's really helped me
so better about what I'm doing find more purpose and and just adding
more value in like the times of spending at work obviously it's a lot of work to
put together videos and you know you know how long it takes but it's so
fulfilling when you produce something and it's tangible and someone can watch
it and actually benefit from so it's really cool stuff yeah
absolutely you know my my goal it was just in my head for like a decade I've
gotta pay off student loans kind of pale you know it's got to be this gotta be
that and then finally pay them all off and now I'm like okay I'm gonna work on
things that make me happy and then I'm passionate about honestly
I'm working even more than before you know while my Instagram might look like
I'm just you know sitting on the beach that's just picture and then I'm like
you know back on the grind so it's a kind of the digital nomad life there's a
lot more work than most people think it's not just sitting there making
passive income like you know it's kind of like advertised and a lot of people I
know or starting up they have startups and they're working
on several businesses and you know once you start hanging around co-working
spaces you meet new people and next thing you know you're working on three
or four things at a time which is so it's a lot of work but like it's a lot
it's a lot of fun - yeah and I think especially as an entrepreneur I think
that the equation changes with work like you're I think a lot people are just
used to giving up time for work and then getting paid for that but when you're an
entrepreneur it's a lot of it is just investing time a lot of effort and
things and not knowing whether you're actually gonna get back anything from it
but it's a lot of times just building that value and and whether it's even
skills or just something that you're working on some kind of asset that
you're building it's a different equation and I know I'm also adjusting
that as well like not I'm trying to do more freelance work now and it's it's a
different kind of mentality to say okay well I'm gonna work three hours on this
but I'm not gonna get paid for three hours of work but at least I'm gaining
something from it that's whether it's a skill or really something for the future
so um before it closes out anything that people should know about you that may
not be apparent from your channel any crazy like ninja skills or any crazy
hobbies or interests mm-hmm I don't know just from my film locations
I'm surfer you know I love to chase the waves and pretty locations and really go
off the beaten paths like you know Colombia Nicaragua
a lot of places that a lot of people don't even wanna go so I like really
kind of like untouched places which definitely makes it more challenging to
work from but I really enjoy that kind of stuff and I've been do a lot of you
know more modern places and I don't know it just like somewhere like Bali like I
just kind of like that like different style of life that's like a bit more
relaxing and the people are is like stressed without work like here in
Portugal you know like I mean it's just like that European lifestyle like more
laid-back and you know things don't open as long I like the co-working spaces I'm
at closing like six o'clock and I'm like no I need to work five more hours we're
gonna go have some beers with friends you know so it's a good lessons to me to
like go out and enjoy life a bit I guess which I spend a lot of time in cool
locations but I don't get to see as much of Nezu like so I guess just like trying
to hang out in places like that help for my me you know to go enjoy life now
definitely it's really grounding when you meet people like that and it's a
good reminder that it's not just all about the work it's about enjoying your
life and really soaking in all the experiences so thanks you can I really
appreciate it for those of you who are not checked out Jason channel definite
get out he's got a really great channel on different aspects of the points of
miles game as well as the whole digital nomads lifestyle so definitely got his
channel when you get a chance thank you Jason for making it done yeah thanks
earnest big fan of your channel and uh all the stuff you do so it was a great
to be on here thanks for having me cool thanks man
safe travels have you have a good one. As you can tell, Jason is a really cool guy
I'm so impressed that he's able to create videos while traveling, and I
love that he's trying to help people that are getting into the digital nomad
lifestyle. Definitely check out his channel called Nomad Travel Hacker and
make sure to subscribe if you enjoy his content. Even if we cover some of the
same topics, it's always good to get another perspective and approach. If
you're a travel content creator and are interested in being interviewed, please
let me know. We're always looking for new creators both from YouTube and the blog
world to feature in our series. Until next time, travel safe and travel
smart. I was hoping you were going to do a green screen now. Just kidding.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét