Replacing my stolen backpack
In June, my backpack was stolen from the trunk of an Uber in Santiago Chile. We used my Airpods (which have AirTag technology) to chase the bag all over Santiago, but without luck. The...
Finally, a Hyatt Award Availability Calendar: A look at Rooms.aero, Seats.aero’s new hotel search...
Seats.aero has been one of my favorite new flight award search tools over the last year. It's not perfect and requires a little bit of previous knowledge to maximize, but the power and speed...
Sheraton Grand Salzburg: Bottom Line Review
Over the summer, my wife and I spent some time in Salzburg during the opening weekend of the six-week annual music festival, Salzburger Festspiele. Salzburg is packed to the gills during festival weekends and...
Two for the price of one: How to get a free companion ticket
Whether you've got a partner for life or a freeloading friend, this week we talk how to bring a companion for free when you fly via one of the many companion tickets on the...
Things to love and hate about Vacasa vacation rentals via Wyndham Rewards
Last week, I wrapped up a nice Vacasa vacation rental in Girdwood, Alaska (here's the listing). We've written numerous times about the partnership between Wyndham and Vacasa (See: Wyndham Vacasa: value is real!). It...
Tools for finding impossible hotel awards
Hotel points and free night certificates can be incredibly valuable. With Hyatt, it's possible to pay 45,000 points per night, or less, for stays that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars per night (a...
How to book business class to Southern Africa for 70,000 miles
Africa can be a difficult destination to find award flights for and, the farther south you want to go on the continent, the more expensive (and challenging) it becomes both in terms of availability...
The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel In New York: Bottom Line Review
My wife and I recently spent a couple of weeks in the Finger Lakes region of New York and had a wonderful time. During our stay there we found out that a couple of...
Do it yourself Alaska cruise excursions (what we booked)
A couple of weeks ago, I set sail on an Alaska Cruise on Holland America's Niew Amsterdam, which was one of the many "free" cruise offers we've booked thanks to the magic of casino...
LATAM Airlines 787-8 Business Class: Bottom Line Review
When Nick and I were researching destinations in the Americas for this year's Party of 5 Challenge, we really wanted to spend some time in South America and, at the same time, spotlight the...
No, Southwest Airlines is not a valuable transfer partner
In the comments on a post last week, a reader named Andrew mentioned the fact that they found Southwest Rapid Rewards to be a "valuable and unique" transfer partner. The justification for that rationale...
American Express clawing back points, JetBlue hiking Spirit fares by 40% and American Airlines...
The American Express Rewards Abuse Team (RAT) is on the prowl, JetBlue accidentally tells the world that it plans to hike airfare on Spirit and American Airlines will begin upgrading pilots before customers. All...
10 tricks for spending fewer points for flights & hotels (game show edition)
Get your pen and paper ready and see how many of this week's 10 tricks for spending fewer points for flight and hotel rewards you can guess -- and see whether or not you...
Complete Guide to Airline Companion Tickets for 2023
If you ever travel with others, companion tickets offer the possibility of saving a lot of money or points for the second passenger. This guide describes each companion ticket option available.
Aer Lingus Commercial Companion...
