Splash Cashing in fancy award redemptions in up front cabin space seems like a right of passage within the travel hacking community.  Facebook posts, Instagram pics, major blogs posts, and articles in various magazines and other media sources and have an assortment of first class cabin selphies complete with champagne toasts while lounging luxuriou...

Homeward Bound After 2.5 weeks in Eastern Europe it was time to return home.  I didn’t want to go, and neither did my buddy that I was traveling with, but we can’t always get what we want.  If I could make it happen, I’d still be over there now.  Which reminds me, I should probably

Ooo-Kraine In over 30 countries of travel throughout Europe, I had never been to Ukraine.  Even though I’ve been to other former Soviet block countries in the area, the violent conflicts with Russia over the past several years brought some big questions marks up for me.  Although I wasn’t sure what to expect, I didn’t

Un-photogenic Minsk isn’t very photo friendly.  The city itself is a bit of an architectural eyesore, and in some areas photos aren’t permitted.  The airport is definitely one of those photos restricted places, so getting some pictures of the (international) Business Class lounge there wasn’t easy.  If you do take photos in the Mi...

Backpacked When I was in my 20’s I backpacked Europe for over a year.  I traveled through Western Europe, Scandinavia, Great Britain and Ireland for 6 months, and then came back not long after to do a similar length trip through Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe.  At that time, I was within close proximity to

Paranoia I get a little spooked when it comes to bad news in the points world.  I used to joke about starting a blog called “Paranoid Points”.  The website would be a stream of credit card and bank shutdown fears as well as news linked to dying deals and other bad mojo. I’m not paranoid,

Evolution The evolution of cheap fares through phone apps is underway.  Recently Jetto launched from ExtraPackofPeanuts, and now I know the Pilot.  Jetto is an interesting app, as I’m familiar with Travis Sherry’s website (EPoP) and selling prowess.  The problem I have with Jetto, and it’s a pretty big problem, is that the flight ...