Toni Southam Perkins from Nachos con Huevos and Award Travel 101 drops by the podcast to talk finding award space for a family of six (!), why she loves Guatemala, her family travel philosophy and some truly crazy stories about her experiences overseas with the kids.
Episode 107 – Parkeology, Freddies, and
Ed Pizzarello from Pizza in Motion and the Miles 2 Go podcast drops by to discuss his crazy Disney parkeology challenge for charity, the perils of overscheduling “vacation”, what loyalty might look like to consumers in the future, and why in the name of all that is good and just in this world did Bonvoy win at the Freddies?
In Final Boarding Call, Joe talks about lessons you should probably take from his semi-disastrous family trip over spring break.
Episode 106 – Delta, Dynamic Awards, and
Stefan Krasowski from Rapid Travel Chai swings by to talk about his loyalty to Delta, how miles and points have brought him to the precipice of completing his visit to every country in the world, dynamic awards, Socotra and one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and more!
In Final Boarding Call, we discuss how Stefan earns miles and points these days, rant on the state of MS in a very specific region of the country, and talk about how all this consolidation has affected the miles and points blogosphere.
Episode 105 – Eastern Europe and Free St
Drew from Travel is Free is back to writing full time and the miles and points community is better off for it. He joins the podcast to chat about what he’s been up to, Eastern Europe, free stopovers using United, and more! We chatted so much we left in some extra banter at the end of the episode. (Note: Obviously we recorded this before United announced they’re getting rid of their award chart. We haven’t seen news about how this affects stopovers yet, maybe it won’t, but it’s still bad news).
Episode 104 – Alternate Awards with Spen
Spencer Howard from God Save the Points joins us to chat about some of the more niche alternative mileage currencies to book awards. We dive into some of the nitty gritty of finding value using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Iberia Avios, Asia Miles, and much more. He also drops some knowledge about Lifemiles. Plus, what to do in Thailand.
Spencer hangs out for our Patreon only Final Boarding Call segment to chat some specific award routes and some interesting thoughts on the evolution of the miles and points gamers view of buying miles. He also makes Joe’s life and decision making as difficult as possible. Thanks for nothing, Spencer!
Episode 103 – Necker Island with Shane R
On today’s episode we’re joined by a special guest, Shane Rowley, who’s been to Necker Island, Richard Branson’s private island in the British Virgin Islands, twice. We chat about what it’s like to be a guest at such a unique location, how much it costs in money or in miles, the amazing experience that is Necker Island, and what Richard Branson smells like.
Episode 102 – Best credit cards by categ
Shawn Coomer from Miles to Memories drops by to play a little game: best no, low, and high annual fee credit cards for a “normal” user. We often get caught up in all the hacking but we found it productive to think about what cards to recommend to people who are looking to save money on travel but not go crazy. (Or at least dip their toes in the water besides deciding to get deep into it!). We also chat about planning trips to Asia, mistake fares, renting warehouses, and more!
In our bonus Gold Patreon only segment, Shawn and I chat about buyers clubs which seem to be the hot new thing. I pick Shawn’s reseller perspective brain about the potential pitfalls and breakdowns that could affect buyers clubs.
Episode 101 – Croatia, Copenhagen, and i
Seth Miller from Dots, Lines, and Destinations and lots of other cool places joins the podcast to discuss Zagreb, Sarajevo, Copenhagen, his experience on WOW Airlines (and what happens if they go out of business), in-flight Wi-fi, and much more. In a special buy or sell, Trevor has a striking realization about how to run a segment…
Episode 100 – Ice castles in Harbin, Chi
Becky Pokora from sightDOING{ drops by to help us celebrate our 100th episode! We discuss her experience with the Hong Kong Airlines mistake business class fare and how she handles building a trip around a mistake fare. Then, we discuss her trip (via said fare) to Harbin, China (哈爾濱) and their amazing ice festival. Hope you enjoy hearing about her spectacular experience as much as we did.
Episode 99 – Talking all things aviation
We mix things up a little bit with a super informative chat with Steve Kriese. While he hosts the DCL Podcast (Disney Cruise Line) in his free time, by day he flies 737s for Alaska Airlines. We discuss how he got into commercial aviation, whether certain airlines are better than others, what a typical week looks like for a pilot, what perks you get working for the airline and a whole lot more!