Showing posts with label 2013 Year in Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2013 Year in Review. Show all posts

January 18, 2014

How Many Miles Did We Earn in 2013?

I keep a pretty organized (happy to share if you'd like just let me know below) spreadsheet containing a ton of information about my mileage earning.  It also helps me keep track of our credit card applications, minimum spend required, etc...this is very much a team effort as Emily earned roughly 48% of the total.

I looked back at the spreadsheet this morning and summarized it below.  We earned almost 1.7 million miles and points last year with almost 90% of that coming from credit card bonuses.  We applied for (and were approved for all but one) 24 credit cards in 2013.  Read this post first if you are new to the concept of earnings points/miles through credit card bonuses.

The rest of our earnings were a mix of goodwill from service issues, promotions and other random sign-up bonuses.


We earned over 500,000 Hilton points which (enough after their devaluation) is good enough for 6 nights at the Conrad in the Maldives.  This property can retail for over $1,500 per night so that is almost $10,000 in value!

We have already burned the 321,500 American Express Membership Rewards points we earned to fly Singapore Airlines Suites Class back from Bali in July.

Conrad Maldives

This doesn't include the miles we earned by flying/staying which amounted to another 225,000.  We also purchased a handful of miles (25,000) during a couple of promotions across the year and earned around an additional 150,000 or so miles and points for our "everyday" spend including category bonuses and shopping portal bonuses.

All in, that is over 2 million miles and points generated during 2013!  So where do things stand in terms of point balances now?  According to Award Wallet, we have over 1.6 million miles "in the bank."  We are planning a few trips for later in the year so hopefully we'll be able to put them to good use very soon.  All in all, it was a very good year in terms of earning and burning!

January 5, 2014

2013 Year in Review - Hotels

I spent some time over the holidays compiling a few stats from 2013.  We stayed in some awesome hotels (and had some great flights) all over the world.  There was less business and more personal travel  I ended the year with 55 total nights across Starwood, Hyatt, Hilton, and IHG.  About 8 of the nights were business travel and I earned 10 total "night credits" with my Starwood American Express credit cards.  I closed out the year with four "mattress runs" to re-qualify for Starwood Platinum for 2014.

The four incremental stays brought me to 25 nights and cost about $250.  I'll have more on on the value of Starwood Platinum in a future post but for me...the combination of the renewal gift, free internet, upgrades, and free breakfast during each stay for the next 14 months far outweighs the $250 spent to re-qualify at the end of this year.

Here are a few of the highlights and pictures from 2013:

January 2, 2014

2013 Year in Review - Flights

Happy New Year!  I spent some time over the holidays compiling a few stats from 2013.  Overall, it was a was a really fun year in flight.  There was less business and more personal travel.  I still managed to fly over 87,000 miles after flying 107,000 in 2012.

I redeemed United miles for two amazing award trips to Singapore and Dubai/Istanbul.  I flew both Singapore (thanks to the July 2012 mistake) and Lufthansa First Class and thoroughly enjoyed my United 1K status throughout the year. 

Here are a few of the highlights:
  • Visited 7 countries (6 new)
  • Visited 2 continents (Europe & Asia)
  • Flew on 6 airlines (United, Frontier, Thai, Singapore, Lufthansa, & Turkish)
  • Flew 56 segments
  • Flew 87,361 miles
  • Visited 30 airports in 10 countries including 13 US States
  • Shortest flight was Phuket to Bangkok at 417 miles
  • Longest flight was Istanbul to Houston at 6,388 miles
  • Favorite flight was Lufthansa First Class Dallas - Frankfurt
And the visuals:

2013 Domestic Flights



 2013 International Flights

I am excited to see what 2014 has to offer.  We already have some great trips planned!