TME 10 | Travel Like a Billionaire: The 90% Off Secret to a First-Class Lifestyle with Eli Facenda

Title: Travel Like a Billionaire: The 90% Off Secret to a First-Class Lifestyle with Eli Facenda

In this conversation, Eli Facenda shares insights on maximizing travel experiences through strategic use of points and credit cards. He discusses his nomadic lifestyle, the entrepreneurial journey that led him to travel hacking, and the importance of understanding the value of different points systems. Eli emphasizes the need for a structured approach to travel, focusing on maximizing points, optimizing travel upgrades, and effectively using credit cards to enhance travel experiences. The discussion also touches on the significance of having a clear strategy for business owners and how to navigate the complexities of travel rewards. In this conversation, Eli Facenda shares his expertise on maximizing travel experiences through strategic use of points and credit cards. He discusses the importance of community in travel planning, innovative solutions for entrepreneurs, and his personal journey in the travel industry. Eli emphasizes the significance of experiential wealth and actionable steps listeners can take to enhance their travel experiences.

Links to Watch and Subscribe:

https://youtu.be/c7QqSscsajc

Bullet Point Highlights:

• Seth and Eli kick off with casual banter about van life, audio gear, and the nomad lifestyle.
• Eli shares his background going from broke entrepreneur to travel-hacking expert.
• He explains how he got obsessed with using points after a free trip to Thailand changed his mindset.
• Eli now helps entrepreneurs take $20K–$50K luxury trips for 90% off using credit card points. His 3-part system includes maximizing points, optimizing travel perks, and redeeming for bucket-list trips.
• He gives a real-world example of booking a $20K ANA business class flight to Japan for just $12.
• Seth dives into a real-life org structure and Eli explains how points flow to the guarantor, not the LLC.
• Best practice: 2–3 business cards and 2–3 personal cards tailored to your biggest spend categories.
• Eli introduces his new “DreamTrip Alert System” that delivers full trip itineraries at massive discounts.
• In the Million Dollar Monday segment, Eli shares how he made, lost, and remade his first million.
• His next million will come from scalable digital products and a wider reach through content and community.
• What makes Eli top 1%: He walks the walk, traveling the world and running a business around it.
• His #1 tip: Pick your dream trip, put it on the calendar, and commit, then let the how figure itself out.

Transcript:

Eli Facenda (00:00.059)

What's up, Seth?

 

Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:01.43)

Yo, what's going on, brother?

 

Eli Facenda (00:03.237)

How we doing, man? How we doing?

 

Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:05.141)

Excellent man, what's happening?

 

Eli Facenda (00:06.893)

Not much. you, how's the audio coming through here?

 

Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:11.032)

Sounds good, sounds good.

 

Eli Facenda (00:12.547)

it clean? Okay, because I'm, it's basically we're in the middle of a Nomad trip here, so I normally have like a, like a shirt mic like you have, but on the road I haven't had, so I haven't had to test this yet, but I figured the DJI's are pretty solid, so I wanna make sure it's actually coming through decent.

 

Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:16.962)

Okay.

 

Yeah.

 

Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:26.732)

Nice. Yeah, no, it sounds good. Sounds good, man.

 

Eli Facenda (00:29.425)

Okay, cool, awesome. Awesome Dave, we'll get to connect with you.

 

Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:33.802)

Yeah, brother definitely, so I don't butcher it. How do you pronounce your last name? Facenda, okay, cool. Cool Awesome, man. Yeah, we've we've crossed paths on social media. I think or maybe our va's have crossed paths who knows

 

Eli Facenda (00:39.077)

for sender. Yep, yep.

 

Eli Facenda (00:47.663)

Yeah, think that was where, yeah, think we were initially connecting, yeah, totally. Instagram, I think, was the place. Yeah. Because you're out in California, right? Nice, I'm in West Palm right now. And I mean, normally based in Austin, but we're in the middle of a like, six to eight month nomad adventure. And so we are, we're on the road here, and we go to Europe in a few weeks for like the next severa