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How Do You Accumulate All Of Your Frequent Flyer Miles In One Place?

by | Dec 20, 2011 | , , | 23

accumulate miles in one place

Last week I talked about how to earn more frequent flyer miles without getting more credit cards but another fundamental question was brought up in the comments by JoAnna – how do you actually get all of your airline miles in one place? Scattered airline miles aren’t likely to do many flyers much good since most people tend to hop around airlines, making it tough to save up a useful amount with any one carrier.

boy with head stuck in funnelFunnel Your Miles To One Airline Per Alliance

Most major airlines belong to one of the three large airline alliances; Star Alliance (United, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines plus 25 others), Oneworld (American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas plus 12 more), and SkyTeam (Delta, Alitalia, KLM, plus 12 others). Aside from the business agreements and code-sharing flights, this often means that one airline’s frequent flyer miles can be earned and redeemed with their partners.

  • The basic concept is to not think about individual airlines so much but about alliances – that’s where you’ll try to funnel your miles across various airlines.

That said, not all airline mileage programs are as accepting as others, even within alliances, so the key is to use the most versatile airline alliance per airline.

red toy airplaneThe Airline Per Alliance You Should Use

These are the most versatile airline mileage programs per alliance I’ve found through experience – that is, the ones whose miles can be used with partners and redeemed with them too. Generally speaking, the best reward and mileage accounts are found in the US; and that’s where you’ll find the best alliance accounts as well. You ideally want to open up one frequent flyer account per alliance with these airlines.

I would note that SkyTeam miles are notoriously difficult to move between partners and if given the choice, I would stick to Star Alliance or Oneworld when possible to earn the most useable miles.

Great, But I’ve Already Got A Bunch Of Frequent Flyer Miles Scattered Across Airlines

Most mileage accounts provide you a way of redeeming miles after a flight, in case you forgot to give your number to the clerk when checking in for example. That same service generally lets you request mileage credit for flights you took 12-24 months prior – even if you weren’t a mileage member at the time. So, now that you’ve got your alliance account set up, you’ll want to begin claiming those previous flights.

lake mead panorama

Typically the information you need to request mileage credit are the dates flown, ticket number, airline, and seat number (which tends to be the toughest). You might find that data buried in email confirmations but if you can’t find something (i.e. seat number) call the airline directly. They usually won’t ask for it and if they do, wherever I’ve told them I forgot, it was a non-issue.

Here are the links to redeem past flights:

Remember to note all of the miles you’ve claimed and check that they’ve been added to your account within 8 weeks so you can call back if they haven’t. My personal favorite AwardWallet makes keeping track of all these accounts much easier. Also, you can often request credit for miles that have already been posted to other mileage accounts depending on the partner airline.

porto airportWhat About Airlines Not In Alliances And Other Exceptions To The Rule

Of course there are some big airlines not a member of any alliance, notably Virgin Atlantic and Southwest, and in those cases your miles are stuck with the airline. Those of you who fly the same route frequently, say, for business, might also want to consider sticking to the specific airline that’s flying you around everywhere. The reason is, while most airline miles can be moved around alliances to an extent, status miles (those that earn you airline-specific perks like upgrades, lounge access, and more) are not transferable.

Chances are if you fly very often on different routes, you’ll earn status with some airline or another but for regular hauls, you might want to consider making an exception to alliance funneling. Finally, if you’ve been reluctant to use frequent flyer miles in the past, here’s my 8-minute guide just for you, and for the ambitious, 7 ways to boost your earning to the next level.

[boy with head stuck in funnel photo by hyperborreal, red toy airplane by puuikibeach]

5 Common English Words That Translate Into Colorful Turkish Curses

by | Dec 15, 2011 | , | 17

galata tower Bosporus istanbul turkey

Languages are funny in how innocuous words in one, can often be quite offensive in others. And when it comes to colorful curses that are hilariously inappropriate and borderline reprehensible (you draw your borders and I’ll draw mine) Turkish is full of them. So much so that English speakers can walk right into them without even realizing it. Here are some common colorful terms to know so you can avoid calling your hotel reception a vagina or telling market vendors you love eating bastards – or not, depending on your circumstances.

1. Straight Translations to Look Out For: ‘Hıyar’ (Pronounced: Hou-yar) – Cucumber

Let’s start out with this word which means cucumber, and you might see it labeled in grocery stores or open-air markets that way. Though calling someone a hıyar is equivalent to calling them a moron or stupid prick. Remember that next time you’re yelling for cucumbers to a vendor and consider the more agreeable word “salatalık”.

calis fethiye turkey market

2. ‘Ayı’ (Pronounced: Ay-ou) – Bear

This word can go either way but mostly it goes to mean someone is an ogre or large, graceless, mentally-impaired idiot. Or something like that, Turkish curse words are like Legos, you can put them together in infinitely insolent combinations.

chicago bears

Phonetics F-U: You Say Tomato And I Say, What Did You Say About My Mom?

Translating words incorrectly is just fracking fun but so sleazy smooth when both sound pretty much the same in each language. Yes, while these words might, say, describe your health in English, they could be announcing you’re ready for intercourse in Turkish.

3. Sick (Turkish: Sik) – Translation: Rhymes With Duck

The ever popular F-word is also a single syllable in Turkish though in classrooms in Turkey, “sick” is usually translated into “ill”. You can imagine keeping a group of students from snickering as the teacher reads, “Timmy is going to the doctor today because he is f–k and coughing.”

man blowing nose

4. Um (Turkish: Am) – Translation: Rhymes With Runt

If I haven’t offended you by this point let me tell you to not, um, like, um, use “um” as a filler word in Turkey. Most Turks won’t bat an eye at it because they understand the context you might, runt, be, runt, using it…but it’s secretly amusing nonetheless. Now you can use, um, while pretending not to know what it means.

5. Peach – (Turkish: Piç) – Translation: Bastard

Piç isn’t quite the same pronunciation in English and sounds more like saying the word “peach” quickly (or “pitch”). Be careful not to mix languages if that’s what you’re shopping for in Istanbul though or you might end up with a kilo of bastards at the grocery store, rather than the juicy peaches you were referring to.

fruits at international market

Bonus: Rounding Out Some Other Coincidences

In English you don’t want to be “pushed” and in Turkish you don’t want to be one (pronounced the same, “puşt”.) There are a variety of translations on that one (don’t you just love how languages evolve) but we can settle with a male sex-toy for other men. Also, I hate to break it to rapper 50 Cent but being a pimp – or “pezevenk” – in Turkish isn’t nearly as glamorous as it is in English slang. When taken seriously calling someone a pezevenk could get you punched but among friends it’s likely to get you a chuckle.

I hope you’ve had a ball with these translations that might not go over so well and I’d love to hear what colorful terms you’ve come across in your travels or have in your native language. (The Turkish word for “ball” doesn’t always translate well either, but I digress.) Language is all about context and when you’re learning the fundamentals before your next trip, these 3 language social networks can help you discover any…unintended meanings.

[selected photos by: inflatable Chicago Bears by Chicago Man and man blowing nose by Svenstorm]

Why Does Coming Back Always Seem Faster Than Going Somewhere?

by | Dec 13, 2011 | | 16

sao bento train station porto

Many of us have had that uneasy and puzzling sensation on the way back from a trip or car ride, that somehow the return didn’t take as long as going there. Perhaps we tend to go slower on unfamiliar roads in a car, but that doesn’t explain why this happens when we take the bus or fly. Yet, it’s a very common sensation that significantly alters our perception of time on any given trip – one that we might be able to battle and bottle for later use.

It turns out that “it’s always quicker coming back” feeling is caused by brain efficiency, expectation, and evolution.

Going Somewhere And Coming Back – Is The Return Somehow Shorter?

In short, no. Studies have been done to gauge this effect with people taking trips where they’re driving and being driven equal distances to a forth from a destination. The effect was still significantly present in both groups – meaning that there isn’t some time warp speeding you up when going back home and you’re not crazy either. 73% of participants in a recent study at Tilburg University had the “return trip effect”.

glass turtle

Use Your Brain And What Happens When You Don’t

According to neuroscientist David Eagleman’s research and recent book, Incognito: The Secret Lives Of The Brain, your conscious self is a tiny fraction of what’s going on in your brain at any given moment. Intuition, hunches, and feelings are often the result of things our unconscious knows, but our consciousness (what we think of as “ourselves”) isn’t given access to. There’s a good reason why our consciousness (think the CEO of a company, aka. your brain) isn’t bothered with all the little details our brains are picking up around us.

It’s like riding a bike years after you’ve learned how. Remember the first time you got on one, concentrating hard to keep balanced and not fall off, while at the same time avoiding fences, cars, and other obstacles. Eventually you learned how to ride and all of those details got pushed into your unconsciousness. Think just how annoying it would be to notice every little thing on the road again – so, your consciousness is only alerted when it needs to be – like, “WATCH OUT FALLEN TREE ON THE PATH!”

Likewise, when you’re going somewhere, you tend to be much more focused consciously of all the details involved – using a new self-check-in, where’s my gate, what is the layout of this airport, will passport control understand my broken Spanish, etc. On the way back your brain doesn’t serve up the inconsequential observations to your consciousness. That gives you more time to focus on other things (like hacking luggage fees) and makes your brain function more efficiently too.

Einstein granada museumProblems Of Perception- We All Suck At Estimating

Time is relative and so is our perception of it. The “return-trip effect” is the result of being let down by our expectations – we often believe the initial trip will take less time than it actually does. Without having done the trip before (or in a long time) our Paleolithic brains simply fail miserably at estimating time. On the way back we have a better idea of how long a trip should take so it’s not as disappointing the second time around.

  • How Strong Is The Return Trip Effect? – According to the same Tilburg University study mentioned above, the participants felt their return trips took 20% less time than the initial journey.

In some ways this study goes against the unconscious theory but they’re really the same general idea. Now that we know how it works, we can hack it to make any trip seem shorter.

ipod on red backgroundHow To Make Your Initial Trips Feel Shorter

Participants in the Tilburn study had greatly reduced or eliminated their return-trip effect when told by researchers that the first ride would be a “long trip”. Since they expected a long trip, they didn’t feel like the return took any less time. Consequently, they felt like the initial trip took less time overall. Now that you’ve lowered your expectations, let’s shut off that consciousness when appropriate.

  • Listen To Your Favorite Album – Music has a very complex effect on the human mind and familiar music you enjoy (that’s slightly uptempo) stimulates your long-term memory. Getting your long-term memories loaded into your consciousness (aka. reminiscing) can distract you enough to make any trip seem shorter than it is. Music is an effective tool, so long as it’s familiar and the songs evoke some emotion for you.
  • Sleep – Turn off your consciousness completely.
  • Refocus Your Consciousness – When possible, use as much of your consciousness as possible to keep it occupied; reading novels and learning new tasks are two of most engaging ways. International travelers can learn these 4 universally handy phrases or check out these engaging reads (a short scroll down).

A combination of familiarity with routine and expectation can change how long any trip feels but don’t forget its benefits. Often, being overly-conscious of your path prevents you from getting lost, scammed, and hopping on the wrong flight. I tend to be zoned out into my own little world more often than not – maybe explaining why I get lost everywhere, even on paths I’ve taken multiple times. It might also explain why your frequent traveling buddies and I might not think an 8-hour flight is that long.

History Waits For History To Unfold: The Great Sphinx Of Giza, Egypt

by | Dec 9, 2011 | | 6

Sphinx giza egypt

It never occurred to me how devoid of people this sight of Giza’s Great Sphinx is until reader Jeff mentioned it in one of the comments. I know it’s ironic – considering I wrote about the lonely touts hanging around, desperate for business back in May, yet I held on to this photo. Hoping I could share it in contrast to the rare travel opportunity I experienced in post-revolution Egypt now flooded with still waiting for tourists.

Since that time I’ve followed the news in Egypt a little more closely, even when was traveling in distant places from London to Las Vegas. Spending any amount of time in a place often connects you to its people; an aspect of travel that’s not easily replicated secondhand. (I’m convinced if it were possible for every person on Earth to meet every other, the world would be unimaginably improved.)

Egypt is now going through its second uprising, waiting for (historic) election results from this past weekend. Since January 25th, the country has seen a 60% drop in tourism, so the Sphinx waits for history to come and go. More importantly, 12.5% of the Egyptian GDP will need to be filled in 2012. As the political climate stabilizes in late winter you’re likely to find even better deals than I did 6 months ago; but it will be nearly impossible to find fewer tourists.

You can see the rest of my photos from Egypt here.

How To Earn Frequent Flyer Miles Without Getting More Credit Cards

by | Dec 8, 2011 | , , | 29

colorful toy airplane

Although opening up various credit cards tied to airline miles deals are great ways to rack up points quickly, they tend to be limited to residents of the US. Regardless, credit cards aren’t the only way to earn a chunk of frequent flyer miles at once. Multiple debt accounts can also have drawbacks like potentially damaging your credit, annal fees that can be difficult to keep track of, and high interest rates.

So rather than getting more plastic, let’s use what’s already in your wallet to rack up points for a free flight or two even if you don’t fly all that often.

messy deskFirst Get Yourself Organized

One reasons the airlines are comfortable with mileage programs is they know most people don’t keep well enough track of them to redeem rewards before they expire. Luckily for us there’s free Awardwallet to keep track of all your accounts in one place and online.

  • Awardwallet recently introduced the OneCard; a physical card (that looks like a credit card) that keeps all of your mileage accounts in one place. Show it at the airport, hotels, etc. and with one swipe you won’t miss out on miles due to a jet-lagged memory. OneCard starts at a recommended donation of $10 but I’ve got free upgrade codes – the first 5 people can use free-amqrmr for a Pro account.

las vegas airport gateRemember the best strategy for earning useable miles is to stick to the most versatile airline in each of the major alliances. A United Mileage Plus account is ideal on Star Alliance since their miles work for almost all of their other airline partners. For the Oneworld alliance go with American Airlines (AA). Now, that doesn’t mean you have to always fly United or AA; just use your mileage account numbers with them for all of their partners.

  • Reclaim Recent Flights – Most airlines left you claim miles 12-24 months after you’ve flown so you might have two years of miles waiting for your account.

An exception is when you’re constantly flying the same airline (say for routine business trips); in those cases it might be advisable to break with the convention above to earn a few more perks with the given airline.

Shake What Your Bank Gave You

Chances are you already have a credit or bank card that you can put to use to earn miles. Almost all airlines and partner programs have online stores connected with large retailers like Apple, Starbucks, and Sony and more. Typically you can earn an extra mile or three for every dollar spent on things you would buy anyway. WebFlyer also has an updated list of any special online store deals that might currently be going on.

santiago dancing couple

  • Travel Related Things Can Earn You Miles – Car rentals, hotel stays, train rides…pretty much anything that you typically associate with traveling can earn you frequent flyer miles. Aforementioned WebFlyer talk has an updated list of all the current promotions. Don’t forget to ask for point credit and have your mileage account number handy.
  • Subscriptions Can Be The Path To Mileage Bonuses – Many things that require monthly or annual fees like Internet at your house, mobile phone contracts, and cable television often has mileage bonuses associated with them. You’ll need to check with your primary alliance airline store (e.g. United Mileage Plus) but keep miles in mind for anything that has a recurring payment.
  • Large Purchases And Loans – It’s surprising how many banks and airlines offer huge point bonuses on top of car loans and approved mortgages. Again, it comes down to checking and the best place to start is online with the airline.
  • Graduate College – Yes, you can earn miles along with your college degree. [EDITED: this deal is currently expired.]
  • [EDITED] Use Smart Apps – Although it’s only available in the US for now, reader Vinny points out the free reward earning app, Checkpoints which lets you earn miles and reward points by visiting stores and making purchases. Think foursquare with benefits. (Thanks for the tip!)

You can further take advantage of your existing credit cards by scouting for balance transfers at 0% interest. Many reward and point cards still offer mileage bonuses (albeit reduced by around 35-50%) for balance transfers.

hamburg airportGet Hacking

There are a number of forums online specifically designed for “travel hackers” looking for the best frequent flyer deals.

If the term “hacking” makes you uneasy, there’s a more straightforward way to accumulate miles that might otherwise go to waste.

Ask Your Family And Friends For Leftover Miles

There are probably people in your life who’ve flown in the last year or two and couldn’t care less about their accumulated frequent flyer miles. You can save those miles from falling into Vulcan’s black hole by asking them for a transfer to your account. That costs around $25-100 depending on the airline and miles but can be a great gift travelers can ask for on birthdays or around the local holiday season.

[messy desk photo by: andhij]

Discovering The Art And Heart Of Porto: The Best City To Visit In 2011

by | Dec 6, 2011 | , , , | 6

a vida portuguesa

Back in March, through 4 weeks of voting, you picked Porto, Portugal as the best city to visit in 2011. Last month I made good on a promise to explore the city before the end of the year. What I found as a guest of Visit Portugal was a city that captivated me with its artistic nature. From the gigantic battle of design and ego that was waged over Porto’s two most famous bridges to Harry Potter’s birthplace, what’s uniform in Porto is an attention to unique.

The best way to show you Porto is to look at what the city has inspired, slowly working your way back to Portugal’s second largest city.

A Tale Of Two Cities

Somewhere around 300 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement of Cale – named after Greek for “beautiful” or Latin for “warm”; either way renaming it Portus Cale. Say that 5 times fast and you can see how the name Portugal likely came about. Porto is now known as a city of bridges, one of two in Europe to have 6; all of which cross the Douro River. The other city in Europe with 6 bridges is Vila Nova de Gaia (Gaia for short) – and it happens to sit across the Douro. Yes, Porto is right next to Gaia, taking up the limelight and making up two of the 12 cities in the Porto Metropolitan Area.

luis i bridge gaia porto

For travelers, the differences aren’t obvious and if you didn’t know better, would be convinced you haven’t left town, even after walking across Luis I Bridge.

casa da musica barSound And Sight In A Little Big Fight

One of the most obvious displays of deliberate creativity in Porto is the Casa da Musica (House Of Music). The Casa da Musica is at its core a music hall; but it’s surrounded by individual rooms focused on different aspects of sound, art exhibitions, band practices, reading rooms, and things that vaguely have something to do with the giant concert hall in its core much like the lively scene at The Fillmore Minneapolis.

The Casa da Musica is free to enter, deliberately to signify that money isn’t a part of the creative process. (Although it helps to have wealthy investors.) The building itself was designed by the Dutchman Rem Koolhaas who wanted it to look like meteor crashing into the pavement. Cost and physics prevented him from making the exterior more elaborate and he almost had a fit when told his bar overlooking the concert hall required support beams. That, and the fact that the porous floor needed to be covered by glass because women in heels found it nearly impossible to walk across – and men below were enjoying more than a view of the concert hall.

sao bento train station porto tilesSmaller battles were waged however in the VIP room, which is decorated with thousands of hand painted tiles, representing scenes from other museums across Portugal. Not one to be told what to do, the artist slipped in his signature hidden in grass, quickly noticed by museum’s staff. It would take another 7 years and an 8-year old to find the other mark of the artist – a tile that’s 90 degrees in the wrong direction in surprisingly plain sight.

  • I picked up these and many other stories on a tour of the building. 3 Euro and interesting enough that I didn’t notice it was an hour long; I would highly recommend it.

You’ll get a preview of those tiles, known as “azulejo” and all over the city or if you arrive by train to the Sao Bento station. There are over 20,000 hand painted tiles throughout the station painted by Jorge Colaco in the early 1900s.

Where Harry Potter Was Born

The Livraria Lello is over a hundred years old and consistently voted as one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores. What makes it enchanting these days for thousands of tourists is it might be where Harry Potter was conceived. Not literally (you’ll have to ask his parents for that information) but it’s widely rumored to be where J.K. Rowling first came up with the series’s overall concept.

Livraria Lello bookstore porto

Rowling has never actually discussed details about her inspiration but was teaching English in Porto when her marriage to a Portuguese man failed in 1993. Prior, in 1990 the idea of a boy attending wizard-school came to her and the depression that followed her divorce fueled many of the darker tones of the Potter series (including the dementors). Rowling completed the first Harry Potter manuscript in 1995; spending two years of her free time in Livraria Lello.

calem portoControversial – especially for Potter fanatics who know about Edinburgh’s The Elephant House – so you let your imagination decide (*cough* Hogwarts).

  • By the way, the Livraria Lello is still a private shop and photos (you can see mine here) haven’t been allowed for the past 6 months since the owner found it difficult to maintain business with the influx of curious tourists. I was given special access thanks to ATTTurismo so don’t think I broke any rules. This time.

The Blood Of The Heart Is Made Of Port Wine

Although I’m very familiar with wine in a bottle (and glass), it was kind of Porto Calem to teach me where their ideas for every blend come from and the work that goes into turning grapes into goodness. A 20 minute tour of their cellars ends with tastes of their selections. 4 or 5 glasses and I’m out the door, my thirst quenched; followed by a francesinha to kill any lingering hunger.

Though despite this taste, there’s more much more of Porto to be found. Some of it you can see, others you taste, but I think the reason so many of you voted it the best city to visit is for everything that’s much less tangible.

About Anil Polat

foxnomad aboutHi, I'm Anil. foXnoMad is where I combine travel and tech to help you travel smarter. I'm on a journey to every country in the world and you're invited to join the adventure! Read More

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