The Travel Prize King

Are you constantly dreaming of winning that elusive overseas holiday or maybe just a free trip in Australia?

Well, here is an inspiring story to keep you trying.

@Surferboy83 from the forum has won four amazing trips over the last four years. The first one, he tells me, was through Billabong: a trip for two to Tahiti with all flights and five nights’ accommodation worth $8,000. He took his boss, a fellow surfer, and they got to surf the world famous Teahupoo Reef with pro surfers. His second win was through a Bearded Lady Bourbon competition. This time he won a trip for two to Melbourne (not overseas but still a pretty good score, eh?) to watch Liverpool play Melbourne at the MDG. He and a mate even got to met Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler and be part of a YouTube video – Liverpool Crossbar Challenge 2013. His third win was through a creative Facebook competition – five nights in Phuket, Thailand which he used as a second honeymoon with his wife.

This one was worth about $5,000. The last one, which he won only a month or so ago through a competition run by Bendon underwear, is his biggest win so far. “Worth a whopping $12,000” he tells me, “it includes eight night’s 5 star accommodation for two, all meals and return flights to San Francisco, USA.” So, what does it take to have so much success with travel prize competitions?

Well, according to Surferboy, winning these amazing trips is not just about being lucky: he works hard at it. As he tells me “to win a travel prize, you have to be dedicated. It takes roughly 60-100 entries into different competitions, to win one”. It is just as well he loves entering competitions but he mainly only enters the travel ones. Surferboy’s best tip is to just have fun with the 25WOL answers (but he does find that rhyming ones don’t work for him). “If the answer makes you laugh,” he suggests, “it is likely to make the judges laugh too. This can often better your chances of winning.”

And he also reminds me that putting the product name into the answer can help too. “It takes skilland lots of time but when you get that winning call or email or you’re heading to the airport for a free trip…it keeps you coming back for more…” So now, how do you find those great travel prize competitions? There are always plenty of current travel prize competitions on this website at any one time (at the moment there are heaps!).

Check in daily and then if you are looking for any that you think you might have missed, search the site by clicking on travel in the Category section or type ‘holiday’ or ‘cruise’ etc into the general search function on the site. It also pays to keep an eye on the websites or Facebook pages of airline companies and travel booking agencies, not just for cheap flights and holidays but also for competition promotions.

If you are a member of your state motorist association (like NRMA in NSW or RACV in Victoria etc) it is worth scanning their monthly magazines and websites for competitions and other offers. Then there are the motel and hotel chains, like Best Western and Hotel Club or camping and caravanning sites like BIG4 Holiday Parks and the major cruise companies that operate out of Australia.

Finally it also makes sense to register with as many Tourist Organisations as possible. This might mean you will be bothered in your inbox from time to time but it could be worth it. I would subscribe to both Aussies ones and any overseas destinations that take your fancy. So, good luck, don’t give up and happy travelling!