Points Nerds Unite

I spent the past weekend on a quick cross-country trip to Washington, DC. There was a 2-day convention for points and miles junkie frequent fliers and I somehow convinced a couple friends and my Sister to join me. 

I know lots of people who go to events and conventions for their hobbies …. comics, knitting, gardening, etc, but as my Sister pointed out – it’s a pretty rare thing to voluntarily sit in learning sessions with notepad and pen on a Saturday and Sunday all the way across the country by choice.

I didn’t have expectations that I would learn a ton of new things; I’m good about keeping up via the blogosphere, but rumor had it that many secret tips and tricks were shared in person. Previous attendees also said you would end up creating great relationships that might become good resources later.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of cliques and more than anything, I overheard a lot of people just parroting things they had read before. Lots of organizational things were poorly planned (don’t visit a conference with a trade show planner! and I missed out on a couple sessions I was interested in. Even worse, I heard some attendees presenting themselves as “experts” and trying to tell newbies how to work the system. Sounded okay, unless you knew what cautions they left out and how their advice might really cost someone down the line – not great.

It was still a great trip and I got some quality time with my Sister, Emily and Michelle. Plus the trip gave me some perspective about what is possible in terms of traveling the world for free! [yep, totally doable] The question is: can I make a living helping other people travel the world for free?

Global Entry | TSA Pre-check

Let me just say that I don’t get anything for pushing this, but if you fly alone on a semi-regular basis, you NEED this. It’s $100 for 5 years and gets you “membership” in both the Global Entry program and the TSA Pre-check program. For Global Entry that means when your return from overseas you don’t have to do the immigration lines – which can be crazy long in places like NYC and SFO or LA – you just visit a kiosk and then head right out to your luggage and customs..

Here’s where it gets even better. If you apply and get approved for Global Entry, you also are enrolled in TSA Pre-check. This means you have a Known Traveler number to enter in your reservation and will present your boarding pass at the super short Pre-check line at many DOMESTIC airports. 90% of the time you’ll be scanned and waived into the Pre-check line. This means you do not have to remove jackets, shoes, belts and so forth. You do not have to take out your laptop or toiletries, and for now, most of these lines are the old metal detector style which many people prefer.

If you are not waived into the Pre-check line, you’re usually moved into the first class/elite line so still saving a ton of time, but just having to take things off and out of your bag. I just did this at Dulles and it was amazing. Almost like the old days of flying!

If you travel with others, they do need to have it to use these lines as well. I’m not certain about minor children. $20 a year is a bargain for me since I fly so regularly, but I’m guessing even a couple times a year would be worth it.

Yee Haw

For those that say they’re never invited … I booked a trip for Labor Day weekend. Just a quick hop to Austin, TX for some BBQ and music. It’s just $161.60 round-trip from Portland (saw as low as $159). Let me know if you’re joining! Dates in May, September and October if you want to go another time. Both United and Delta have flights.

Decisions, Decisions

I realized I’ve got a three day weekend coming up with Memorial Day just under 2 months away. The question is: do I board a plane for the long weekend (and join the throngs of others who are traveling)? Or do I keep all fingers and toes crossed that it’s going to be nice weather here in the PNW and stay home?

I found cheap airfare to SoCal to visit family and get some vitamin D. Or perhaps a jaunt to Vegas? It’s been ages since I visited my money that the casino is keeping for me. Anyone else have a brilliant idea?

For Travel’s Sake

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

My last month or so has had me on the road with my boss, my friends, and my family. The biggest takeaway: constant travelers like myself are a funny breed. We all have our quirks and you don’t realize it until you travel with new friends or co-workers for the first time. It’s no surprise that I have friends I adore, but simply cannot travel with. There are others who have on-the-go quirks that match up with mine and travel is a breeze.

So which kind of traveler are you? Two-day trip checked bag or carry-on at all costs? Early to the airport “just in case” or waltz on the plane during final boarding call? Research, research, research or lets see what happens?

One of my favorite stories was from a trip nearly 10 years ago to Vietnam. I had other obligations for the night so my friends ventured out to dinner on their own. I had repeatedly told them to look for places without tourists, and frankly – the sketchier the place, the more likely the food would be great. They somehow ended up in a “restaurant” that was probably someone’s home and when they ordered the proprietor was trying very hard to steer them to specific things. When they selected cashew shrimp instead, they saw a young guy go running out to buy the ingredients for the food they wanted. Now I don’t know that the food was that great, but it was an adventure and a great memory to take home. To me, THAT’s what travel is about.

There’s no right way or wrong way to travel, but stop stressing over the baggage allowance or which hair gel you absolutely have to take. Just go and enjoy the ride!

My niece this past weekend: she’s just enjoying life!

History Lesson

Supposedly the site of the Boston Massacre (conveniently located on a traffic island rather than in the middle of the street where the actual site was). Sadly, the 5 deaths that day don’t compare to the massacres of modern day.

I’ve been meaning to post photos and a short recap from my Boston trip last weekend so forgive the slight delay. The trip was great and in hindsight, I wished I’d overnighted there. The flight out was pretty uneventful, although I walked away from a $300 “bump” due to my PDX>LAX leg being oversold. The only option they had was to take a flight the next morning, but if I chose to do that I would have zero time in the city since it arrived in Boston 1 hour before my flight back to PDX.

When we were descending over the city with the sun rising, I looked out the window and immediately thought, “what a great looking city!” Something about all that water and the smaller footprint was really inviting. Because my plane landed shortly after 6am and I figured the city wasn’t awake yet, I headed to the American Admirals lounge for a bit more sleep (comfy chairs, but no full recliners), a light breakfast, and most welcome: a shower! Closer to 9am I took the 20 minute free Silver Line into the city and from the South station walked less then 15 minutes until I reached Boston Commons. It was beautiful sunny, but crisp and cold day!

My aptly dressed guide. He’s a history professor at “the school they make fun of in Good Will Hunting”

People were everywhere and I knew there was a walking tour of the Freedom Trail handled by the small visitor center building. I read online the first walking tour was at 10:30am. The lady behind the counter told me it was 11am and suggested I grab some coffee and a snack nearby at a local coffee shop.

It was so nice to walk up and see Portland’s Stumptown coffee being served!

I won’t bore you with all I learned on my 90 minute tour, but let me say that the entire time I felt awed and woefully underinformed. As it was wrapping up I kept thinking: I need to quit my job, apply to Harvard and come study American History. Truly fascinating stuff!

Street performers, a “food court” and a few restaurants … one of the nicest looking quasi-malls out there.

The tour ended at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market and I decided it was a great time and place to grab lunch before making my way back towards the airport. What to eat? Seafood of course! I had some delicious raw oysters and good – although not great – clam chowda and started my walk back towards the rail station. A short ride back to the airport and I was on my way back to the Pacific NW just like that.

This copper building was gorgeous.

Other than those crazy cold winters, Boston is a city that really appealed to me from the moment I saw it. History, educated population, pride of community, food, so many great things … I’ll definitely be going back!

Paul Revere’s grave(s). On the right: original. On the left: post-Longfellow’s epic poem. Lesson? The power of good PR.

Even the hotels have great histories. Not only for dignitaries and rock stars, a bus boy named Malcolm Little worked there along with a pastry chef from Vietnam. One went on to be known as Malcolm X, the other was the catalyst for the Vietnam war – Ho Chi Minh – cake maker.

The Freedom To Go

My Soccer Star Nephew

Sometimes it’s easy to forget how lucky I am! Even though my last post was whining about not enough vacation days, I’m blessed with the ability to just pick up and go if that’s what I choose. The scads of points, miles, and travel knowledge I’ve learned the last few years make the world readily accessible and super affordable for me.

I just booked a trip to glamorous Sacramento for my Mom and myself in mid-March. It’s one overnight and we’ll be luxuriating at the Hampton Inn. The reason? My nephew’s soccer team has qualified for a soccer championship and we’d like to be there to support him. Once we made up our minds to go, I cashed in 9,000 British Airways miles (18,000 total for both of us)  for two round-trip flights on Alaska Airlines and 30,000 Hilton points and we’re all set. My out-of-pocket was $5 each and I’m going to pony up cash for the $17 all-in car rental (although I suppose I could have used points for that too).

A semi-last minute trip to cheer on my nephew is a great reason to travel, but without my arsenal I’d be spending over $500 to get us there and back. How truly amazing that I have the freedom to go!

How Do You Do It?

I’m dying to learn how you all limit yourself to two weeks of vacation a year and battle scores of other travelers on the rare long holiday weekend? How do you do it? Or more importantly, how do I do it?

It’s been just a couple months of “regular” life and while I’m working from home, my job requires my attention for the bulk of each weekday. I have to limit my jaunts to weekends or plan out a longer vacation not to exceed those precious 10 days.

Here’s the dilemma. In the past few weeks the Marriott, Hilton and now Starwood loyalty programs have de-valued their points for future hotel stays. In the extreme cases hotels are going up in cost from 50,000 points per night to 90,000+ points per night. All three programs have given their members a chance to redeem points before rates go up (for hotel stays later in the year), but I don’t have nearly enough vacation to maximize the tens of thousands of points of I have!

So you brilliant folks who make vacation days work and know how to do something akin to a staycation: where should I go to spend a few weekends burning up hotel points?

Finding Nemo

Well, if you haven’t heard – there’s a big ol’ storm headed for the East Coast with up to two feet of snow dumping on Boston. I was already feeling a bit frazzled because this trip was stacking up against last minute business travel and am one of the few out there happy about the chance to change my trip.

Typically airlines charge exorbitant fees to make changes (sometimes eating up the entire value of the ticket itself), but there are a few reasons you can make changes that I’ve used to my advantage.

The first is when an airline has a schedule change. If you book your ticket way in advance, it’s likely – especially with Delta – that they will change their schedule and notify you. If that change is more than an hour, you can make changes without a fee. And here’s the kicker – you can typically pick a more desirable flight including switching to a non-stop. Michelle and I did this when our flights to Puerto Rico changed. Instead of a 4 hour layover arriving close to midnight, we got in about 7:30pm after a much shorter layover in Atlanta.

If weather disrupts you and they start waiving fees to make changes in advance, you can often select any other days in the future as well as other times or switch to non-stops. They’re usually just looking to get you from departure city to destination and back and you can have any flight where there’s space. I just scored on this as well.

So now the Freedom Trail and I will be meeting up on March 2nd and because I’m coming home on a Saturday night instead of a Sunday night I may just try to get bumped and turn the whole trip into a moneymaker

 

Back To School

A friend asked me where I was going next and I mentioned a trip to DC in April. She wondered if it was sightseeing museums and taking all that rich American history. I felt pretty lame when I told her that I was going to “Frequent Traveler University.” It’s a 2-day seminar filled with frequent flyer/miles and points nerds who get together to learn how to game maximize the system.

There’s a ton be learned if you’ve got time to read all the blogs and wade through the message boards. But I’ve heard all the super-top-secret best-learned-by-networking tricks are shared in person and other people go to ‘camp’ or ‘school’ to enjoy their hobbies, right?

I’m hoping to learn things to top my current favorites like:

• How to book short distance trips on Alaska or American for 4,500 instead of 12,500 miles
• How to get a free one-way trip when you book a round-trip award ticket
• Why to buy everything I can online through portals

Wanna come? It’s just $99 for the two days and I’m guessing you can get there on points