At the beginning of the week I shared some web stats and plans for a Million Reader Giveaway.
I only wish I had realized the traffic milestones earlier for this blog, I could have reached out to my favorite travel providers and asked them to help me celebrate… with promises of riches beyond readers’ wildest dreams elite status and points.
Instead, I’ve had to get creative with the sorts of things I’m able to offer on my own.
So here’s part one of the Million Reader Giveaway!
Prizes will include:
- (5) Milepoint premium packages (1000 United miles, Hilton Gold status, National Car Rental Executive status, and more)
- $200 Gift Cards
- Amazon Gift Cards
- Miles in your choice of several programs
- Amazon Gift Cards
I might even throw in elite status and a club membership with an airline. There will be at least 15 prizes in this round, and probably more in round 2!
It’s a bit of a grab back of most high value prizes, half of which will be given away randomly and half will be give away based on quality or usefulness of entry.
Here’s all you need to do:
- leave a comment in this thread sharing either your best travel-related tip or advice, or the most useful thing you’ve learned from this blog.
- Since quality is key (as half the prizes will be given out based on quality), you may enter as many times as you like.
- All entries for this round must be submitted as a comment to this post by Sunday 5pm Eastern.
Thank you very much — in advance for your tips and for reading and sharing along with me, all these years!
Now enter away…!
Best,
Gary
- You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Best travel tip: “You’ll never meet a traveler who, after five trips, brags, “Every year I pack heavier.” The measure of a good traveler is how light she travels.” – Rick Steves
Instead of calling Chase to notify them of your future overseas travel, you can do it on their website after logging in. However, you can only set one country at a time.
My best tip is the trip booking process is never complete until the trip is over. Always keep checking to see if rates have gone down (cars and hotels) or the routing is better(air). If it is an award air reservation, maybe a better class is now available or an airline you prefer or wanted to try became available. Checking often does not take a lot of time but the results can be very satisfying in the end.
My best tip is for travel from KIX to NAN (UA). It requires less miles for the ticket if you want to change your plans(wink) and visit down under or eat some kiwi fruits. I know you caught this one Gary and I want to thank you for all the tip’s a million times! May you live long and travel far and wide.
If you have a lot of flights on one reservation and plan on checking a bag, make sure to check the bag tag is being sent to the right airport.
The most important travel tips I’ve learned involve using the telephone. First, NEVER call the airline or hotel when you read about a mistake fare or rate. Second, if you need to call about something other than that and do not get the answer you want HANG UP CALL BACK.
You got me started on the Chase Sapphire card–this opened up a whole new world for me on the earnings side. Love the flexibility of being able to transfer to so many partners
Most useful travel tip from the blog for hotels- “where you book matters”
Your blog is the first blog I read every day. My experiences with frequent flyer programs before finding your blog were not very pleasant. I remember trying to book my first award seat ever on US Airways from my city and not finding any saver awards available at all. I thought at the time that frequent flyer programs were a joke. Thanks to your blog I have booked numerous international premium cabin awards. Thanks for giving me the knowledge and confidence that I could “do this”.
The most useful thing I’ve learned on your blog was that it was even possible to rent a mobile wifi device for travel (link here: http://viewfromthewing.com/2013/01/13/renting-a-wireless-internet-device-for-international-travel/)
While I didn’t actually follow through with using any of these services, I did convince my husband, who needs to be connected 110% of the time (…or so he thinks) to buy one — and he now brings it along on all our travels.
Thanks for all the great advice and articles over the years, Gary!
My favorite tip from View from the Wing? Chase Sapphire Preferred + Starwood AMEX = winning combination! 🙂
You made me a Hyatt convert–can’t believe all the years I wasted on Marriott without much value. We did an amazing family road trip this year–33 days–6500 miles–we stayed at like 15 Hyatt places. You saved me thousands of dollars.
Earning double points and stars at Starbucks with my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card has been beyond useful!
If you have extra currency at the end of the trip, use it pay off the balance of your hotel bill (and if you used points to pay for the stay, maybe you have charges from food, spa, etc) and if you don’t have enough to cover the entire bill, you can put the difference on your rewards earning credit card.
I like the triple dip with Amazon gift cards, Plink and cash back/miles back. I am a frequent Amazon shopper and have leveraged this one heavily.
It is hard to pick just one thing that I have learned from your site. I have booked business class tickets for my entire family of 6 to Europe this summer (plus my mother and father-in-law from another city) all with points/miles earned in the last year. I used your advice to find the over ocean segment first; to search segment by segment; to book as much online as possible, then call United to fill in the missing segments to avoid the phone booking fee; to add a free one way from Canada onto the Europe trip; to look for better availability 6 months out (which has dropped my original 10 segment itinerary to 7, and soon to 6 segments); and especially, hang up and call again, among other helpful tips I have found on your blog.
I use ziploc bags not just for toiletries but for change, wallet, cell phone, etc. Gets me through security quicker and means I won’t leave something behind.
I’ve loved staying at the lowest rung in a hotel chain for two nights, to earn a room at a more fancy property in a chain’s portfolio. Not as prevalent a deal anymore, but can still be done with the Marriott Megabonus!
Definitely the overview of using UR /MP to get around the world. Taking wife to Bali and Sydney next year due to great advice and heads up on devaluations and whatnot. Thanks!!
Download a an app that allows you to text or call for free when you’re abroad, such as Text plus free
Hands down the best advice on this blog has been the credit card info. We’ve just started trying to work on credit cards and points. And thanks to the advice we’ve gotten here, we’ll be taking our children on their first European trip next summer, in addition to this year’s family trip to Tahiti! For all four of us, there’s no way we could’ve done this without advice I found here. Especially useful for us has been the Alaska Air card now that we’re in Seattle!
Single best advice has to be if a cs call starts going south, hang up and call back!
Use cling film under the lid of liquids to ensure no spillage when travelling.
Most of the people reading this blog probably already know this, but you don’t necessarily have to fly a lot to accumulate miles. Credit card sign-up bonuses, taking advantage of credit card and airline shopping portals and credit card catregory bonuses can build up those miles quickly!
Once you’ve had a shower in an airline lounge, step out and then put the shower on full pressure, freezing temperature whilst you towel dry yourself.
This will mean you don’t get sweaty as aircon in the showers is often poor.
If you have a spouse or partner, remember that both of you can sign up for credit cards and take advantage of the bonus offers!
Having an open dialogue with airlines/hotels regarding positive or negative experiences is extremely beneficial. Many are more than willing to help solve a problem and/or award bonus points if made aware. Same goes for complimenting their service, a particular staff member, or overall experience. They want loyal customers to stay loyal and don’t want to lose casual customers to one mistake.
Advice on VFTW spans the gamut. However, the best advice for the widest audience from the most authentic of places – a heart of wisdom – has been to be friendly and talk, really talk, with the locals. Whether it be the hotel concierge, taxi driver, folks on the sidewalk et al, when traveling on miles and points it’s often the only way to experience the “everyday” of every day wherever you’re visiting. After all, fundamentally all hotels and resorts are largely similar experiences. However, the cultural dynamic met by authentic residential personalities will add the memorable flavor and spice. Thanks, Gary, for reinforcing the human element of our joy in travel.
Contrarian advice: If your bank allows, get both an ATM card and a debit card. ATM cards require a pin and are more secure than debit cards when stolen. However, for international travel, my experience has been that non-US ATMs have a harder time recognizing ATM cards that are not Visas or MasterCards (even though they may display a Plus or Cirrus logo).
You will have a backup card in case of theft/loss.
Second best kept secret with a debit card. If an ATM is not available or not working, you can go into a bank and get do a cash advance via over the counter. Key advantage is that you can usually get a larger amount than the ATM will allow.
Even though battery life on devices is increasing, and more aircraft have AC outlets to charge devices, I always carry an external charger in my carry-on. No matter how long the flight, or how much I use my phone or iPad, I’m assured that the batteries will never lose theirm power,.
If you’re traveling alone and to a new place, sign onto meetup.com and join the clubs entitled new to the city. You’ll get to meetup with a bunch of nice people who live in the city and have organized outings within the city.
Get global entry
When traveling internationally, don’t forget to make a copy of the ID page in your passport, and keep it in a separate location. If your passport is lost or stolen, it will make getting a replacement much quicker and easier.
Pack light, then take out another change of cloth.
Pack lighter than you think. There’s nowhere I’ve traveled where you can’t do laundry – somehow. Congrats Gary!
Hang up, call back!
I learned on this blog how to get started in the miles game. Thanks!
My travel advice is to read everything you can, then decide for what is best for you. Hoard miles/points if that works for you even though they will be devalued. I have a family of six – back and forth to school, study+travel overseas, vacations, visits to family, flying in family. I can spend a lot quickly. I like knowing I won’t run out.
My best travel tip is if you are not succesful hang up and call again!
Best travel tip is always look to use avios for short haul trips
Hang up, call back. Especially useful with reconsideration lines. 🙂
Use AwardWallet. Don’t let your miles expire when you could just do a minor transaction to keep them alive.
Tip: Don’t be a DYKWIA. Be nice. A little sugar can go a long way with airline, hotel and other travel-related personnel. (Of course this applies to life in general whether you’re home or abroad.)
If you have an amex platinum make sure you have global entry!
You can get free Wi-Fi with many hotel chains just by signing up for their membership program. For free! I’ve saved hundreds of dollars with this tip!
Always sign up for every reward program for hotels and airlines, you never know when your going to be back or have to fly some obscure airline..
If you book a mileage ticket with united or american make sure to add your free one way for a later date!
Pay for Milepoint Premium! The benefits are always worth it. Even when they’re not obvious. For example the Enterprise status match to Hertz Five Star.
My travel advice is to read everything you can, then decide for what is best for you. Everybody hates Hilton because of the devaluation. I still love Hilton. With status from credit card spending I get free breakfasts at resorts. I like that. There is a Hilton Garden Inn within walking distance to Notre Dame. That is HUGE to me. Embassy Suites are great for family travel.
Lots of hotel chains and airlines will do status matches. Take advantage of them, though make sure to remember they are often a once in a lifetime opportunity and don’t do them unless you’re going to make use of them.