The Best Comments Of The Month (And Contest Winner): June 2010
There were 133 eligible comments on posts written in June from nearly 60 different people. Thank you to everyone who left a comment this past month, and a special thanks to Kim, who was randomly selected to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card. Last month I promised the card to one commenter as a small way of showing my appreciation.
I hope to do more of these little comment contests throughout the year so if you have any small prize ideas, I’d love to hear them. Now on to some of the best comments from the past month.
- There was some great advice on further using multi-city flights to get good deals like hopping to nearby cities as Akila suggests, searching for fares using Momondo as Mark H recommends, and purchasing flight legs separately as James mentioned.
- Federico shares his experiences from Quito and says not to miss out on this city despite its reputation; just arrive with a good plan as Anjuli says.
- There are lots of good netbook and laptop recommendations in the comments section of my post about choosing the right laptop, like the Acer 311 Ayngelina is using.
- Stephanie adds more 3 more travel-inspiring figures that are on her personal list as does Sherry Ott.
- Looking for even more inspiration to travel – Earl echoes some wonderful advice and encouragement from none other than Helen Keller.
I appreciate all of the comments from the past month. It was interesting to see the wide variety of people who left comments in the past month, even though it was getting tough to keep track! I hope you’ll keep them coming, the conversations between all of us have been great.
[photos by: gin_able (elephants talking)]
The Reluctant Traveler’s (8 Minute) Guide To Using Frequent Flyer Miles
There are many hardened travelers who’ve been to the corners of the Earth, crossing the globe on countless flights, yet who’ve never once signed up for a single frequent flyer program. Or you could be the other type of reluctant traveler – the one who takes very few flights in the average year and doesn’t think it’s worth signing up. In 8 minutes you can be signed up and earning thousands of points across more than 50 airlines without any more magic than clicking a mouse and typing on a keyboard.
Why You Really Should Be Earning Frequent Flyer Miles
For the record everyone who travels, whether it’s a lot or a wee little, should be signed up for frequent flyer miles (not doing so is one of 10 common travel mistakes). Aside from the fact that they’re all free to join, you can easily earn free upgrades plus little perks like getting your luggage at the claim faster. Of course free flights as well, even from a single flight or sometimes without flying at all.
Common Misconceptions About Frequent Flyer Miles
Some of the reasons that people don’t sign up for miles programs are because of the misconceptions, such as thinking that nobody ever gets free flights or miles only come from flying.
Each Airline Has Their Own Program – Most major airlines belong to partner groups, the two largest being Star Alliance and OneWorld. When you sign up for a member program, you typically earn miles when you fly on any partner airlines. You can still only use the miles on the original airline (i.e. United) but earn across all the others.- You Can Only Earn Miles By Flying – Many frequent flyer programs have online malls through their sites that let you buy from familiar companies (i.e. Dell, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, etc.) to earn multiple miles for each dollar spent. Choose the right bank and you can also earn miles for every dollar you spend.
- Miles Can Only Be Used For Free Flights – More commonly, people use earned miles to get upgrades on longer flights, access airport lounges, and use the business class lines when checking in.
- Past Flights Aren’t Redeemable – You can usually redeem miles for flights you took 3-18 months before you signed up for a frequent flyer program. Just took 3 long flights to Hong Kong from New York before signing up? You’ll still be able to earn the miles for those flights, so sign up!
One point to remember is that signing up to a frequent flyer program doesn’t hurt you in any way, even if you only earn 600 miles a year. They are free and you never know when you might have an unexpected flight half way around the world.
The Quick And Easy Ways To Earn Miles Fast
Now that you know why you should get working with frequent flyer programs, we’ve got a few minutes to get you going and all set up.
- Sign Up For The Major Programs – Pick you favorite Star Alliance member, the one you fly the most (or flies to most of the places you want to go). Do the same with OneWorld and Delta SkyMiles to cover most of the world’s major airlines. Once you have your three (one airline from each partner program) find the link to their miles program on this list.
- Redeem Miles From Past Flights – All the information you usually need is the flight number and date you took the flight. Check your email for past reservation information and add it through the miles program’s website.
- Get Organized – Once you’ve signed up for the various miles programs you can use Award Wallet to keep track of all your frequent flyer miles in one place.
- Earn Bonus Miles Right Away – Most major airlines have credit card programs that come with big bonuses for signing up. (United just ran a promotion for 50,000 miles. 20-30,000 is common for most cards.) Typically you have to spend around $250 in the first 3 months to earn the bonus miles and will earn a mile per dollar on top of that. Purchase things you normally would anyway through the mile program’s online mall and earn more on top of that – you can then cancel the card after 8 months to keep the miles and avoid the annual fee, or just keep earning miles. Be careful though to avoid the hidden underbelly of traveler debt.
- Don’t Forget To Enter Your Frequent Flyer Mile When Booking – It will save you time versus having to go back and enter in the flight information after the fact to redeem miles.
Frequent flyer miles from many programs do expire from if you don’t use your account for a certain period of time. Award Wallet for example, automatically keeps track of the deadlines and will email you 90 days in advance.
You’re Set To Earn And Learn More
That’s about all you need to get started, but there are still more in-depth resources you can use to take yourself from reluctant beginner to a pro.
- Nomadic Matt’s Secrets To Successful World Travel – Get more information about leveraging specific programs and saving money to travel the world on a smart budget.
- Frequent Flyer Master – Chris Guillebeau is traveling to every country in the world using his mile program methods and guarantees you a free flight after reading his ebook.
The number of miles you need for an upgrade varies across programs but generally you can get at least that (if not a full domestic flight) just for signing up and getting some bonus miles by opening up a frequent flyer-linked credit card. That’s just the basic approach but you can also take it further by spending smart and so much more. I hope now, after this 8 minutes, you’re just a bit less reluctant and signed up to at least one frequent flyer program.
[photos by: caribb (jumbo jet at gate), Transguyjay (skeptical man), JustinLowery.com (the miles)]
Ecuador’s Government Palace At Night
June 25, 2010 by Anil P.
Filed under Pictures and Video, Travel Journal
Quito’s Independence Square in the historical downtown area is beautifully lit up at night. The square was designed in Spanish colonial style – with the presidential palace facing the Cathedral, adjacent to the City Hall. There are walking tours during the day when the square is quite active, but at night there aren’t too many tourists around. The Government Palace itself was a hive of activity well past 10pm with motorcades coming and going along with the roar of security on motorcycles who keep the palace (and the sqaure) relatively safe.
You can get an excellent view of Independence Square and its luminous churches over dinner by exploring the heights of Quito in the Parque Itchimbia area. It also happens to be a short cab ride from La Ronda Street which too glows brightly throughout the night. You can see some more of the bright buildings from Independence Square and downtown Quito in my album here.
foXnoMad 4 Years On: Updates, Quotes, And Things To Come
I don’t quite recall the first day of foXnoMad, which was 4 years ago today. It certainly wasn’t a travel blog and didn’t even have the same domain name! You can read more about the history of foXnoMad and throw yourself back to last year when I told you 15 things about foXnoMad.
A few things on that list has changed (it now takes me about 2-3 hours to complete a post, I get about 100 legitimate emails a day, and read over 400 travel blogs regularly), but I’m still typing away with enthusiasm.
eBook Sale Today
One of my proudest accomplishments was completing my first eBook, Overcoming The 7 Major Obstacles To Traveling The World, this past September. To celebrate foXnoMad’s 4th birthday it’s on sale for $5 today only. I believe it will help inspire and give you the resources to travel as much as you want – provided you’re willing to put work in to do so.
- I also started 3 new blogs in the last year: Tech Guide For Travel, How To Travel With Pets, and Travel Blog Advice
Personal Philosophies
I’ve read many travel sites and articles that post quotes from well-known people but thought I’d share two of my personal philosophies with you. (Originally this post was going to be something different with these included, but didn’t work out like I thought it would.) I hope to expand this list eventually and create something with it, but here’s a start.
- My imagination is limitless but my budget is not. If the opposite were true I would probably travel less than I do now.
- Life is like a big science project. You can live it based on the results of other people’s experiments or be adventurous and conduct your own.
I’d love to hear some of yours, feel free to jot them down in the comments. Who knows, your comment might also be selected randomly for a $15 Amazon gift card.
Things Coming Down The Road
I had also been hoping to unveil an updated About page today but as I typically am…late! I hope to have the new about page along with a nifty new logo in the coming weeks. I’m also working on several new ebooks, a contest (with a prize trip somewhere “cool”), starting my first paper-based book, and all the while traveling.
- I’ll be in New York City this weekend for the TBEX 2010 conference. If you’ll be around and want to meet up, feel free to shoot me an email or reach me on Twitter.
My bi-monthly newsletter is also a good way to find out where I am and headed – plus get contest information before anyone else. Did I mention there was a big contest coming up?
I Cannot Say It Enough…Thank You
For every comment, travel suggestion, post you read, offers to let me couchsurf, kind words – I really cannot thank you enough for your support in so many ways. If there’s anything I can do to return the favor, please let me know and I’ll do my best to help. My inbox is always open to you.
travel smarter, -Anil
[photos by: Humanoide (sleeping fox), steven n fettig (Thinker), Eric Begin (fox pup)]
