I'm at 41,000 feet flying over the Pacific Ocean. Out the window, all I see is blue. Blue sky. Blue ocean. It's fitting as I fly around our blue planet.

I'm on the first of a series of flights around the world. From SDF to ATL to LAX to BNE to SIN to LHR to ATL to SDF. 53 hours of flying. 24,541 miles flown. First class. And it didn't cost me anything.

No credit card points. No airline miles. No sponsorship (not exactly). There was a cost. The tickets were a combined $14,995.30. They just didn't cost me anything.

Before I explain how it didn't cost me anything, let me explain why I did this. Traveling around the world was on my bucket list. Technically. I'm flying around the world. Outside of Brisbane, I'm not stopping anywhere. Just airport to airport, until I've flown all the way around the world.

I flew westward. I did a little research and flying eastward is faster (jet streams). But for my schedule and expected budget, westward worked. I flew out of Louisville (SDF) to Atlanta (ATL). Then ATL to Los Angeles (LAX). Then LAX to Brisbane (BNE). I spent 6 days in Brisbane speaking at Laracon AU. Then I continued flying westward from BNE to Singapore (SIN). Then SIN to London (LHR). LHR back to ATL. And, finally, ATL home to SDF.

Here are the flight stats:

	Flight Time	Miles	Nautical Miles
SDF → ATL	1h 25m	321	279
ATL → LAX	4h 45m	1946	1691
LAX → BNE	14h 49m	7162	6223
BNE → SIN	8h 08m	3816	3316
SIN → LHR	14h 15m	6764	5878
LHR → ATL	8h 55m	4211	3659
ATL → SDF	1h 20m	321	279
Total	53h 37m	24,541	21,325

As a reference, the circumference of the Earth at the equator is 24,901 miles. Flying around the world, doesn't trace the equator. Flights are optimized between two points. As such, you typically fly a bit less.

Now back to the cost. Since I was speaking at Laracon AU, I had a stipend of $1,800. This was enough to cover an economy round-trip ticket from SDF to BNE.

Since I would already be in Brisbane (roughly halfway around the world) I looked into flying back the other way (continue home west, instead of back east). It was an additional 10 hours of travel, and another $2,100.

Seemed worth it to cross off an item on the bucket list. But the conference wasn't going to pay for it. I would need to pay the difference.

So I made myself a deal. If I could earn the money, I would continue west. Then, I set a stretch goal. I looked into flying first class. If you're going to dream, dream big, right? Let's be real, who wants to fly economy for 53 hours.

Flying first class was roughly 4x the cost. I will say, I got a good deal flying on Singapore Airlines from BNE to LHR. The currency spread between USD to AUD was also in my favor. And (magically) Delta lowered their ticket price after booking. So I got a partial refund.

So the total ticket cost was $14,995.30. An $1,800 travel stipend from Laracon AU meant I needed to pay $13,195.30. But I said it didn't cost me anything. So how did I come up with the additional $13,195.30? The Stock Market.

I turned my deal into a game. I allocated an initial investment. Using that, I traded the stock market in an effort to earn the difference. To make it a bit more fun, I didn't trade the broad market or an AI meme stock. No. I decided to go full circle and trade Delta (DAL) - the primary airline in my flights around the world.

Now, you wouldn't expect a lot of movement in a stock like DAL. But as we'll see, it had some major swings. I'm going to go deep into my trades. So, if you only generally wanted to know how I paid for the tickets, you're welcome to stop here.

I started trading in April. That gave me 31 weeks to invest. Given my target, I needed to earn $500 per week.

Now, the saying goes, you need to have money to make money. One strategy might have been to take the $1,800 stipend and invest it all in DAL. Had bought in April and sold at its high ($40 - $63), I would have made $1,035. A 57.5% gain. Again, not something you would expect in a stock like DAL. Especially over 6 months.

But it's not enough. To earn enough with that strategy, I would have needed to invest $8,400. That's 6x more than I had. And more than I would have been willing to put "all in".

So great gain, but not the right strategy for this game. With any game, you want to maximize your chance of winning. An "all in" trade really only wins one way - in this case DAL goes up. I needed a strategy that would increase my chance of winning.

Now, there's really only three movements for a stock price: up, down, and flat (no movement). So the stock price can go up. The stock price can go down. Or the stock price stays the same.

Combined with the smaller initial capital, trading options instead of the underlying stock gave me more leverage (buying power). Now, again, we're going deep here. Trading options may seem like dark magic. Hang with me a few paragraphs and I'll walk you through the basics.

One stock option represents 100 shares of the underlying stock. Options are offered at a much lower price compared to the stock. This means I can effective own 100 shares of the stock at a certain price, then participate in any price movement from there.

Let's analyze a real world example. Let's say I buy 10 of the $40 DAL call options. I pay $0.50 per option. That's a $500 investment (10 options x 100 shares per option x $0.50 per option). Compared to $40,000 if I bought the underlying stock directly (1,000 shares x $40 per share).

So, I'm investing $500 versus $40,000 to have the same upside. That's true. But buried in this simple example are a few important differences about options. First, you have to pick the price. This is the strike price. Your options only earn if the stock price passes your strike price.

Second, options are for a specific time frame. After which, they expire. So you're not only picking a stock price, but also picking when it will pass the strike price. Your not just say the stock price will go up in the future. You're saying exactly when the stock price will go up. This is much more difficult.

Finally, you never get back the amount you pay for the options (premium). When you purchase the stock, you have the underlying asset. When you purchase an option, you have the right to buy the stock. There's no asset. Just a contract. That contract only has value if the strike price and expiration are correct.

The first two points demonstrate the higher risk of options. But, as they say, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. The final point can actually work in our favor. Although we never get the premium back when we purchase an option, it does define our risk.

Going back to our example. Worst case with options is we lose $500. Compared to a $40,000 loss in the worst case when owning the underlying stock.

Options also open the door to a lot of strategies. Strategies which increase our odds. Getting back to my specific investments, I initially started by selling puts. Put options are the opposite of call options. They basically mean you think the stock price will go down, instead of up.

By selling put options, I'm actually saying the stock price won't go lower. An alternative would be to buy call options. That means I think the stock price will go up. But saying "it won't go lower" is not the same as saying "it will go up".

By selling puts, I achieve two things. First, as a seller, I collect the premium. This allows me to build up my investing capital. Second, I may do so in a way which allows me to own the stock at a lower price. This is called selling naked (cash secured puts).

Naked is more risky because it means I could be forced to buy the underlying stock. So I have to have the capital to do so. For example, if I sell 5 $40 DAL puts naked, I need to have $20,000 available (5 options x 100 shares per option x $40 per share).

In fact, this was my first DAL trade. I sold 5 $40 DAL weekly put options, naked. I sold for $0.57 per option collecting $285 in premium (5 options x 100 shares per option x $0.57 per option). This meant by market close that week (4:00pm US Eastern Time), the DAL stock price needs to be $40 or above.

Let me break this down again. Using this sell puts strategy, I win for two of the three price movements (66% chance). I win if the stock price goes up (above $40) by the end of the week. Also I win if the stock price is flat (at $40). I only lose if the stock price goes down (below $40) by the end of the week.

Now, a final point about options is they do not have to be binary. I have options if my trade is losing at expiration. Said with no pun, I can keep playing. For example, if DAL was below $40 at expiration, I could roll my options. This means I would resell the same options for the next week. Ideally collecting a bit more premium or selling a lower strike. Either way, increasing my odds of winning.

Now if the market were to move dramatically, I could also double down. For example, if DAL went down to $35 and I could not roll as is, I could double my position. In our example, selling 10 options. This too would increase my odds of winning.

But, doubling down also increases my risk. Especially in the case of a naked trade as it doubles my capital requirement. This brings us back to choosing my specific strategy. In April, DAL was near its 52 week low. Delta is one of the premier US airlines. It also pays a dividend. I'd be willing to own the underlying shares at $35. As the memers say, I like the stock. I would have lost my game. But, in time, DAL likely would have gone back up. So I wouldn't have lost money.

Fortunately, DAL never went that low. I was able to sell naked options for the first few weeks, earning around $1,500. This effectively matched my Laracon stipend. In doing so, I gained some confidence. Not only in my trading strategy, but also knowing I could set the stipend aside to fly economy to Laracon AU.

I continued selling 3-5 options of DAL each week. I averaged $300 of premium each time. This wasn't quite enough. I needed to bring in $500 of premium. While I was comfortable selling puts, I was leaving premium on the table.

When selling options, you can sell both directions. Doing so collects more premium. While it is a more complex trade, only one trade can lose. For example, the DAL stock price can't be both above and below $40. By only selling puts, I was only collecting one side of the trade.

Given DAL was closer to a 52 week low its chance to rebound was higher. So at first, I didn't want to sell calls. Those would have lost had the stock moved higher. April was also a volatile time with the Trade Tariffs. But, after a few weeks, I felt DAL proved its bottom (~$38). Then it indeed popped 20% (~$47). So, as it moved up, I started selling the call side as well.

Once I earned enough, I began selling credit spreads. This is still selling a call or put. However, instead of doing so naked, I buy a farther out strike. This decreases my risk dramatically.

For example, in July, I sold a credit spread of 5 call options at the $57 - $60 strikes. This meant I sold the $57 call option and bought a $60 call option. The spread is $3. So my risk is only $1,500 (5 options x $3).

I can also sell a put credit spread. This creates what's called a condor. Similar to the strangle, it avoids leaving money on the table as I'm trading both sides. In the same example above, I sold 5 put options at $55 and bought 5 at $52. Combined, I collected $1.89 in premium (earning $945.00).

So, the credit spreads allowed me to collect far more premium. Which ultimately led to me winning my game. However, these trades didn't have the best win rate. Given how volatile DAL was during this period, it often move past my stike prices. This forced me to roll or even double down multiple times. So, while I collected more premium on the initial trade, the rolling trades didn't collect much.

Alright, thanks for hanging with me. Below is a table of all my trades. Each row shows the expiration (week), type (Call/Put), strikes, number of contacts, and premium. I also noted the strategy (naked, strangle, spread).

Expiration	Type	Strategy	Strike	Qty	Price	Gross
2025-04-17	PUT	NAKED	40.00	5	0.57	285.00
2025-04-25	PUT/CALL	STRANGLE	38.50/44.00	5	1.64	820.00
2025-05-02	PUT	NAKED	40.00	5	0.82	410.00
2025-05-09	CALL	NAKED	47.00	3	0.69	207.00
2025-05-16	CALL	NAKED	48.00	3	0.11	33.00
2025-05-23	CALL/PUT	STRANGLE	48.50/48.00	3	0.64	192.00
2025-06-06	CALL/PUT	STRANGLE	49.50/47.50	3	1.26	378.00
2025-06-13	CALL/PUT	STRADDLE	50.00/50.00	3	0.79	237.00
2025-06-20	CALL/PUT	STRANGLE	49.00/48.50	3	1.17	351.00
2025-06-27	CALL/PUT	STRANGLE	49.50/47.50	3	0.82	246.00
2025-07-03	CALL/PUT	STRANGLE	49.50/49.00	3	1.16	348.00
2025-07-11	CALL/PUT	STRANGLE	55.00/49.00	3	0.89	267.00
2025-07-11	CALL/PUT	STRANGLE	57.00/55.00	2	1.05	210.00
2025-07-18	CALL/PUT	STRANGLE	57.00/54.00	3	0.21	63.00
2025-07-18	CALL	NAKED	58.00	1	0.79	79.00
2025-07-25	CALL/PUT	SPREAD	57.00/55.00	5	1.89	945.00
2025-08-01	CALL/PUT	SPREAD	56.00/54.00	5	1.44	720.00
2025-08-01	PUT	SPREAD	54.00/50.00	5	0.53	265.00
2025-08-08	CALL/PUT	SPREAD	54.00/53.00	20	0.50	10.10
2025-08-15	CALL/PUT	SPREAD	54.00/53.00	10	0.50	500.00
2025-08-22	CALL	SPREAD	59.00/62.00	10	-0.14	-145.00
2025-08-22	CALL	SPREAD	57.00/60.00	20	-0.05	-110.00
2025-08-22	PUT	SPREAD	59.00/56.00	10	0.53	530.00
2025-08-22	PUT	CONDOR	58.00/55.00	10	0.57	570.00
2025-08-29	CALL	SPREAD	59.00/63.00	20	-0.57	-1140.60
2025-08-29	CALL	SPREAD	60.00/63.00	10	0.57	570.00
2025-08-29	PUT	SPREAD	60.00/57.00	10	0.63	630.00
2025-09-05	CALL	SPREAD	60.00/63.00	10	-0.17	170.00
2025-09-05	CALL	SPREAD	59.00/63.00	20	-0.32	-640.00
2025-09-05	PUT	SPREAD	60.00/57.00	20	0.38	760.00
2025-09-12	CALL	SPREAD	61.00/64.00	10	0.07	70.00
2025-09-12	CALL	SPREAD	60.00/63.00	20	-0.06	-60.00
2025-09-12	PUT	SPREAD	59.00/56.00	10	0.67	670.00
2025-09-12	PUT	SPREAD	60.00/57.00	20	0.82	1640.00
2025-09-19	CALL	SPREAD	61.00/64.00	20	0.36	720.00
2025-09-19	PUT	SPREAD	59.00/56.00	20	0.51	1020.00
2025-09-26	CALL	SPREAD	61.00/64.00	10	0.56	560.00
2025-09-26	PUT	SPREAD	59.00/56.00	10	0.73	730.00
2025-09-26	PUT	SPREAD	57.00/54.00	5	0.82	410.00
2025-10-03	PUT	SPREAD	58.00/55.00	10	-0.51	-510.00
2025-10-03	CALL	SPREAD	58.00/61.00	10	0.69	690.00
2025-10-10	CALL	SPREAD	59.00/62.00	10	0.82	820.00
2025-10-10	PUT	SPREAD	57.00/54.00	10	0.98	980.00
2025-10-17	PUT	SPREAD	58.00/56.00	10	1.01	1010.00
2025-10-17	CALL	SPREAD	60.00/63.00	10	0.29	290.00
2025-10-24	PUT	SPREAD	59.00/56.00	10	0.39	390.00
2025-10-24	CALL	SPREAD	61.00/64.00	10	0.47	470.00
2025-10-31	CALL	SPREAD	62.00/65.00	10	0.29	290.00
2025-10-31	PUT	SPREAD	60.00/57.00	10	0.69	690.00
2025-11-07	PUT	SPREAD	58.00/55.00	20	-0.17	-340.00
2025-11-07	CALL	SPREAD	59.00/62.00	10	0.57	570.00
2025-11-07	CALL	SPREAD	59.00/62.00	10	0.69	690.00
2025-11-14	CALL	SPREAD	59.00/62.00	10	0.67	670.00
2025-11-14	PUT	SPREAD	57.00/54.00	10	0.17	170.00
Total						20,400.50

Some notes. If this weren't a game, I may have closed some positions a key targets. For example, when a trade was 40% profitable. Instead I let things go to expiration. Often pre-rolling them to the next week. This doesn't allow a lot of wiggle room. The stock may if an event happens, or it moves into earnings. In my case, this happened in August. You a series of losing trades that took almost 4 weeks to get out of.

Here are also some trading stats stats:

Total earned

$20,400.50

Total trades

55

Weeks traded

31

Win rate

52%

Rolls

23

Double downs

6

Now, from my perspective, the win rate was 100%. While technically a specific weekly trade may have lost, the overall trade never lost. This goes back to the ability to roll or double down. As noted in the stats, I did so a lot. More than necessary. Had I been more disciplined in closing my trades at a profit target, instead of pre-rolling, my win rate would have been much higher.

And, as we see from the math, I won my game. I achieved my stretch goal. Even passed it. Allowing me to fly around the world, first class. All paid for by trading DAL and Laravel.

---

Addendum

I attempted to gamify my leg on Singapore Airlines. There is a Singapore Exchange. Not all their stocks have ADRs - meaning they trade in U.S. exchanges. From the charts, I tried FLEX. But they only traded monthly options. So I had less opportunities to make money. They had a big move coming out of April. After that, they were essentially flat (~$55). I did make an additional $1,100. But not enough to actually cover my Singapore Airlines ticket. Delta paid for the rest. Then, I flew from LHR on Delta.