Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
As of Sunday at 3pm ET, Nick is way ahead of the pack. That is, if we measure only the distance traveled and not the quality of the travel, then he’s way ahead. Here’s the Sunday afternoon tally (images and computed distances courtesy of Great Circle Mapper):
Nick has traveled approximately 17,613 miles:
Nick has now slept well in two separate pod hotels, but has also had some unfortunate mishaps. In Bangkok he wasn’t allowed out of the airport during his long layover due to the type of ticket he bought. More recently (not represented in the above map), he biked far to get to a ferry, but missed the departure. Sadly, he didn’t have time before his next flight to wait for the next one. He reported an even sadder story about biking to a pizza place only to find that he couldn’t cross the highway. My heart (stomach) breaks for him.
Greg has traveled approximately 12,455 miles:
Greg has slept pretty well in a couple of CouchSurfing hosts’ homes: first in Madrid and then in Dakar. He has also eaten well at each stop. A sunrise breakfast in Jo’burg was a major highlight (I’ll publish details about this soon-ish):
Stephen has traveled approximately 5,340 miles (not counting the dozens of miles he has hiked within the towns and cities he has visited):
Those following along on social media channels know that Stephen has been hopping from place to place around Europe and has walked great distances at each stop. Unfortunately, he has mostly slept on concrete floors, until he finally got some sleep at a hostel…
Not done yet!
So, it’s looking good for Nick! But we’re not done. Nick will continue travelling through Tuesday. Greg will continue through Wednesday. And Stephen will keep plugging away through next Tuesday October 15th.
And, of course, there’s more to this contest than distance alone. In the end we will summarize all 3 journeys and let our readers vote. Who really won? I expect that readers will want to factor in things beyond distance such as: How interesting was the trip? Who got the most bang for the buck (e.g. slept in the best places, ate the best food, had the best experiences)? Who had the most creative itinerary. And so on. It’s all subjective.
I realize that it would be helpful to have full summaries of each trip. We will get to that! For now, we’re each too busy travelling to blog. But if you want to keep up with us, don’t forget to follow us (particularly our Stories) on Instagram or Facebook! Search for Frequent Miler and click “follow”.
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Nick is doing great though it seems he wasn’t able to plan every little nuance of the trip, like getting stuck in the airport on a long layover. If you were planning your own similar trip you could take more time to look into little things like this. (Or drive yourself crazy with it like I do!) There are always surprises when traveling which is part of the fun. Sorry, sleeping on concrete is not quality travel IMO.
Ya… Stephen is getting blown out of the water by Greg & Nick. Seems like he didnt think outside the box much. Maybe he has something else up his sleeve but it seems improbable he could have much miles left to get somewhere outside of Europe.
Though we are all following the posts to the minute detail, we would love a summary of the trip in terms on how was the $$/Miles used. Which leg was booked with what. That will give us a good idea of the big picture of the scheming/planning you guys did to arrive at this grand plan. It would help us in the voting process as well. So far #40Kfaraway has been awesome for us
Regards
Raghu
What’s gonna be the next destination for Nick? Antarctic?
So far, Greg’s itinerary is REALLY impressive in my mind.
Thanks! I’m enjoying it too!
Yep, liking what I’m seeing!
Here’s what I love about it; yes the speed is a bit silly but you are going to some really offbeat places. I’d have LOVED to be able to do your itinerary with a lot more time as broke college student just by signing up for a credit card and scraping together living expense money.
How did Nick pay for his flight from HNL to NRT? I’m not sure why he went to BNE via BKK though. Was the fare that cheap? Why not just fly HNL to Australia?
VA miles on delta
Food, of course, is kinda important. And seems to be the weakest link for all. A separate documentary might be made on living on processed/pre-packaged food for a week!
Do couch surfing rates include meals prepared by locals?
couch surfing implies free stays by willing hosts. any food provided is a bonus
As bryan said, CouchSurfing is free. You can’t count on free meals but it’s apparently pretty common. And I can’t speak for Nick and Stephen, but I’ve been eating pretty well!
It’s a formal service though, right, you sign up for? Am confused, anyway, thought no free assistance?
Or you seriously stay with somebody & offer no compensation??!
https://www.couchsurfing.com/
It’s a real thing.
When I was younger, I almost used this option and might decide to become a host one of these days.
Thanks, Nathan, got it now (how awkward otherwise!) “We do recommend that a guest show their appreciation by cooking a meal, taking the host out, bringing a small gift or offering some other gesture.“
I thought that the idea was that it’s reciprocal (on the honor system, I think) – if you use it you’re supposed to host couch surfers too.
Maybe you could find out how Couchsurfing works before you start lecturing people on how they’re not doing it right.
Stephen doesn’t seem to be even trying to win at this point.
And someone guessed right you used your united excursion fare for intra africa.
But he is travelling for an entire extra week! He definitely is losing right now, but he is making an entire vacation out of this. I am curious to see what develops.
Disagree – I think Stephen’s going to have a lot more touristy/vacation-type time. (Except for sleeping on floors!)
Lisa
I think ur right lets see IF the Brit can out do them . I can’t sleep on a carpet let alone a Concrete floor and my shoes are $$$ so I can walk HaHa… Lets see some great photos and some great advise too in the 2st week.
CHEERs .