Showing posts with label About Me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label About Me. Show all posts

August 6, 2017

How to Get Started

I'm often asked how to get started with this hobby.  Many people are intimidated by the vast amounts of knowledge (often times conflicting) and advice on the internet.  While I don't have any earth shattering advice, I do think the most important step in starting in this hobby (or any other hobby for that matter) is just to start.

Start learning, start reading, start asking questions, start experimenting.  The same advice could be said about a new workout, a new sport, a new skill, a new job, etc...

If you are interested in reading about how I got started, you can check out part one and part two or click on the "About Me" tab on any page of the blog.

Beyond just starting to read/learn/question, this is a hobby in which having a goal is very important.  It's key to understand how you want to travel, when, with how many people, your dream destinations, etc...

Once you have a handle on the answers to these questions, you can start to craft a strategy before you begin accumulating points.

One challenge in this hobby is the accumulation of points in disparate accounts without a goal.  This can lead to hundreds of thousands of "orphaned points" in which you have a lot of points but not enough to redeem any of them for anything cool.  Thus the need to have a goal and a strategy before you start applying for credit cards, maximizing spend bonus categories, dining out, or shopping online.

I don't believe this is a "10,000 hours" type hobby.  After a year of effort, I knew a lot,  After two years even more.  After four years of concerted effort, I'm pretty much an expert in a lot of the basic strategies so maybe more like a 1,000 hour hobby.  I've earned and burned more than 6,000,000 miles and points for my own travel and helped others earn and burn millions more to help them make their travel dreams come true.

So get started today by reading more on this blog (and others) and drop me a line if you have any specific questions.

March 17, 2017

Welcome Million Mile Secrets Readers

I've been reading Million Mile Secrets since getting into this hobby and really enjoy the blog.  They were kind enough to reach out to me about participating in their Friday interview series so there are a lot of new blog readers this morning.

If you'd like to learn a little bit more about me, check out this page.

For trip reports, start here.

You can also check out my 2016 year in review around hotel stays, flights, and points earned.

If you've been reading ATRP for awhile, check out the MMS interview!  Thanks to everyone for reading.


January 8, 2017

2017 Planned Travel

It's always a mental challenge when the year starts in January and we don't have any trips planned and the wanderlust starts to kick-in big time.

We've done a decent job of planning the past few years so that we have trips to look forward to especially during the cold/snowy Colorado winter.  It's honestly a great place to live, will be 60 degrees on Monday but don't tell your friends.  The traffic sucks already.

2017 is shaping up to be pretty great.  Here's what we've got on the books already:

We hope to return to Vancouver and I'm confident I'll be able to get in a weekend in Vegas in the Spring.

On the flying front, here's what's on tap:
  • United 787-9 Polaris Business Class
  • Cathay Pacific First Class
  • Singapore Airlines First Class
  • Delta One Business Class
  • Korean Air Business Class
On the hotel front:
  • Ritz-Carlton Georgetown
  • Intercontinental Osaka
  • Ritz-Carlton Osaka
  • Conrad Hong Kong
  • Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong
  • Park Hyatt Seoul
  • Fairmont Pacific Rim
Will share introductory and planning and booking posts for these trips in the next couple of months.  Where are you going in 2017?

December 26, 2016

How Many Miles Did We Earn in 2016?

Happy Holidays!  As I've done in the past, here's an overview of miles earned last year.

I keep a pretty organized 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 nearly 45% of the total in 2016 (up from 36% in 2015).  

We earned a little over 1.7 million miles/points from credit card bonuses alone!  Add to that flying, hotel stays, shopping portal bonuses, and everyday spend, and we earned roughly 2.3 million total points/miles in 2016!  Hotel co-brand cards from Ritz-Carlton and Hilton definitely padded these numbers - those two cards combined offered (in the form of free nights) nearly 400,000 hotel points!

That compares to 1.3 million points/miles last year and nearly 1.7 million in 2013.

We applied for (and were approved for all but one thanks to Chase's 5/24 rule) 27 credit cards in 2016 with an average signup bonus of 65,442 points.  For comparison purposes, in 2015 we earned 1.14 million points/miles from 26 signup bonuses.  


This doesn't include the miles we earned by flying/staying which amounted to another 250,000.  We also purchased American and United miles (40,000) during a couple of promotions across the year and earned around an additional 310,000 or so miles and points for our "everyday" spend including category bonuses and shopping portal bonuses.

All in, that is over 2.3 million miles and points generated during 2016!  It still amazes me that such a large portion (74%) comes from credit card sign-up bonuses.  Flying/staying (even at high volumes) won't earn you anywhere near what you can earn from a handful of sign-up bonuses across the year.

So where do things stand in terms of point balances now?  According to Award Wallet, we have 1.19 million miles/points "in the bank."  This time last year, we had 1.25M points and miles so we're doing a pretty good job of earning and burning!

In terms of burning, here's what 2016 looked like:
That is nearly 3.1 million points/miles burned (some trips were booked the year prior) in one year!!    Our miles/point value is essentially the same Y/Y meaning we burned everything we earned (and a bit more) in 2016.  

Here's to a another great year of travel in 2017!

Top 5 Flights of 2016

If you've been following me on Instagram, you've already seen my top 5 flights of 2016.

Here's the countdown starting with number 5:

5)  Etihad Airways First Class 777-200LR Abu Dhabi to LAX



December 18, 2016

2016 Year in Review: Hotels

I recently posted about my 2016 year in flight.  You can also read about my hotels stays in 2015 (46 nights), hotel stays in 2014 (45 nights) and 2013 (55 nights) for comparison purposes.

In 2016, we stayed at some amazing properties in the UAE, Maldives, Turkey, and Japan.  I ended the year at 29 total nights - way down from the past couple of years really due to less business travel.  Starwood properties led the way with 11 nights with Hyatt a close second with 8 nights.  Last year 31 nights were related to business travel so from a personal standpoint, both of the last couple of years were about the same.  

We are well setup going into 2017 from a hotel status standpoint (more on this in the status of status post).  Both of us are SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, and Marriott Gold.  All earned through credit cards with the exception of my lifetime SPG status.

Here's the full breakdown:
  • 11 Starwood nights across 7 properties and 4 brands
  • 8 Hyatt nights across 4 properties and 3 brands
  • 4 Hilton nights at one property
  • 3 Marriott nights at 2 properties and 2 brands
  • 3 IHG nights at 2 properties and 2 brands
In our early planning for 2017, we have a plethora of free nights that will expire at some point in 2017.  2 at Fairmont, 3 at Ritz Carlton, 1 at Hyatt, and 1 at Hilton.  So that is 7 nights that are likely accounted for before we burn a single point or dollar.

I predicted last year that the Starwood/Marriott merger wouldn't impact my stay habits and I think that prediction is accurate.  We are Starwood first, then Hyatt.  If there's an EDITION or Ritz Carlton that we can use SPG points at a good great, we'll take a look.

It was another great year in travel - we're both excited for a new year exploring new places!

500th Post!

It's hard to believe that I've been writing ATRP for 3 years.  This is my 500th post!

I first started the blog to share "travel hacks" with family and friends but it's become much more than that.  I've been able to post about my experiences earning and burning miles and points and review some of the amazing flights and hotels Emily and I have stayed at over the past few years.  I wish that I would/could have posted more but life and a relatively demanding full-time job has certainly been a barrier.  One of my favorite things to do is look back at previous posts (especially trip reports)

While I wish that we would have traveled even more over the past few years, we've traveled plenty and in style.  We don't have anything planned for 2017 just yet but stay tuned - I'm working on a couple of options for next year over the holidays.

As always, thanks for reading here's a look back at the 3 most popular posts of all time!

1)  Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong (2015)

2)  Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class San Francisco to Hong Kong (2014)

3)  Why I love the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

December 10, 2016

2016 Year in Review: Flights

It's hard to believe it's almost 2017!  I'm done flying for the year so here's the year in review.  You can read about my 20132014, and 2015 flying history if you'd like.

In 2016, I traveled much less for work and am going to be well short of achieving even low tier (Premier Silver) status on United.  We went on three long-haul trips including one RTW jaunt to Istanbul, Maldives, Singapore, and Tokyo.

In total, I flew 9 long haul flights (all award tickets) and flew over 63,000 miles after flying 88,000 in 2015, 65,000 in 2014, 87,000 in 2013, and 125,000 in 2012.  That's a total of 428,000 miles over the past five years.

I burned through nearly 1.3M airline miles and flew on 9 carriers across the year.  I don't have anything booked for 2017 so will have to get on that over the holidays!

Here are some of the highlights from 2016:

And maps...courtesy of the Great Circle Mapper:



November 12, 2016

7 Tips for a Long Haul Flight

Over the last four years, I've taken almost 30 long haul flights in business or first class.  At the beginning, my expectations were based on reading vs. actual experiencing myself.  It didn't take long to figure out that the journey to the destination (the flight) could be incredibly relaxing, enjoyable, and really setup the entire trip by ensuring that I arrived rested and ready to go.  That said, getting on your first international first class flight might require a bit of restraint.  You'll want to eat/drink everything and it's so much fun, it can be a bummer to go to sleep.

I have a couple of friends and ATRP readers that are headed to the Maldives later this year in Etihad first class.  They've asked a few questions on how to prepare and I decided it would be easier to write a post about it and share with everyone.  So here it goes.

Aboard Etihad First Class Apartments
 Before reading this post, check out previous posts about pre-trip logistics as well as pre-flight logistics which focuses more on being organized than actually managing the flight.)

1)  Pack Smart
We try to carry-on as much as possible.  Both Emily and I bring a rollaboard bag and a backpack.  Even for a 7-8 night trip, it's possible to pack everything into a 22" carryon especially if headed to a warm weather destination.  Not only does this save time (checking on the front end, waiting for bags on the backend) but dramatically reduces the chances that you lose a bag.  We'll typically end up checking a bag coming home after doing some shopping but it's not as big of a deal if you end up with a delayed bag upon arriving at home (as long as you get it back).

Also keep in mind that you international first class means lots of goodies.  Pajamas, amenity kits, and more.  So you'll want to leave a little extra room if you're interested in bringing these items home.

May 15, 2016

How to Get Started with Miles & Points

I'm often asked how to get started with this hobby.  Many people are intimidated by the vast amounts of knowledge (often times conflicting) and advice on the internet.  While I don't have any earth shattering advice, I do think the most important step in starting in this hobby (or any other hobby for that matter) is just to start.

Start learning, start reading, start asking questions, start experimenting.  The same advice could be said about a new workout, a new sport, a new skill, a new job, etc...

If you are interested in reading about how I got started, you can check out part one and part two or click on the "About Me" tab on any page of the blog.

Flying Lufthansa First Class - complete with tarmac transfer

Beyond just starting to read/learn/question, this is a hobby in which having a goal is very important.  It's key to understand how you want to travel, when, with how many people, your dream destinations, etc...

Once you have a handle on the answers to these questions, you can start to craft a strategy before you begin accumulating points.

Champagne in Singapore

One challenge in this hobby is the accumulation of points in disparate accounts without a goal.  This can lead to hundreds of thousands of "orphaned points" in which you have a lot of points but not enough to redeem any of them for anything cool.  Thus the need to have a goal and a strategy before you start applying for credit cards, maximizing spend bonus categories, dining out, or shopping online.

I don't believe this is a "10,000 hours" type hobby.  After a year of effort, I knew a lot,  After two years even more.  After four years of concerted effort, I'm pretty much an expert in a lot of the basic strategies so maybe more like a 1,000 hour hobby.  I've earned and burned more than 5,000,000 miles and points for my own travel and helped others earn and burn millions more to help them make their travel dreams come true.

So get started today by reading more on this blog (and others) and drop me a line if you have any specific questions.

April 24, 2016

Solo Travel to Asia

Earlier in the year I posted about traveling solo to Tokyo.  For a variety of reasons, I had to push the trip back and am now going a bit later in the year.

I added a couple extra days to itinerary and am now headed to my favorite city in the world (Hong Kong) for two days prior to four days in Tokyo.

Victoria Peak view from the Conrad Hong Kong
I'll have more details on the exact itinerary and the booking process of some of the flight segments in future posts.  Needless to say, it is so much easier booking award travel for one vs. two people.

As a teaser, here are the three first class products I'll be flying during the trip!

Cathay Pacific 777-300ER First Class

Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class

Asiana A380 First Class

February 20, 2016

Why I Travel

I've been thinking a lot about the "why" around travel for the past couple of weeks.  Scott from Travel Codex wrote an extremely emotional post about travel, life, and losing his father which really struck a chord with me.  I really enjoy his writing and was so sad to hear about his dad.

I started writing this blog to share my experiences around travel with family and friends.  Over the past couple of years, it's become more than that - more and more strangers are reading everyday.  While I purposefully write about the journey and not the destination, I wanted to share a bit of my thoughts around why I travel.

It is so easy to get caught up planning the next trip, trying to score an upgrade, or find the perfect award that sometimes we miss the purpose of travel...which is ultimately the destination.  Exploring a new place, culture, and meeting new people.

Eating street food in Taipei

February 6, 2016

I'm Going to Tokyo!

One of my travel goals for the year is to head somewhere solo.  Most of my international travel has been with Emily.  While I couldn't ask for a better travel partner, I've wanted to travel by myself for a few years.

I've been playing around with dates, cities, and flights for the past couple of weeks and finally decided on Tokyo in late May!

I am super excited.  I have the flight home booked flying ANA Square first class to Chicago and then home on United.  I'll be working on the hotels and the outbound flight over the next few months.

ANA "Square" 777-300ER First Class

I'd love to hear from you guys in the comments in terms of hotel, restaurant, and activity recommendations.  I'll have 3-4 days in the city and am really open to anything.

In addition to this trip, we're only about a month away from our trip to London and Abu Dhabi.  Some awesome trips over the next few months.

January 1, 2016

How Many Miles Did We Earn in 2015?

Happy New Year!  As I've done in the past, here's an overview of miles earned last year.

I keep a pretty organized 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 a little over 36% of the total in 2015 (down from 44% in 2014).  We earned a little over 1.3 million points/miles last year and nearly 1.7 million in 2013.

In looking at our 2015 earnings, we took home nearly 1.1 million miles and points from credit card signup bonuses/retention bonuses.  We applied for (and were approved for all) 26 credit cards in 2015 with an average signup bonus of 44,100 points.  For comparison purposes, in 2014 we earned 987,000 points from 20 sign-up bonuses.

This doesn't include the miles we earned by flying/staying which amounted to another 100,000.  We also purchased a British Airways and Alaska miles (50,000) during a couple of promotions across the year and earned around an additional 250,000 or so miles and points for our "everyday" spend including category bonuses and shopping portal bonuses.

All in, that is over 1.5 million miles and points generated during 2015!  It still amazes me that such a large portion (70%) comes from credit card sign-up bonuses.  Flying/staying (even at high volumes) won't earn you anywhere near what you can earn from a handful of sign-up bonuses across the year.

So where do things stand in terms of point balances now?  According to Award Wallet, we have 1.25 million miles "in the bank."  This time last year, we had 1.6M points and miles so we're doing a pretty good job of earning and burning!

In terms of burning, here's what 2015 looked like:

That is 2.1 million points/miles burned (some trips were booked the year prior) in one year!!  We don't have anything booked in 2016 other than a trip to London and Abu Dhabi - I'm sure that will change as the year goes on.  Here's to a another great year of travel!!

December 27, 2015

All the Right Points Turns 2!

It's hard to believe I've been writing All the Right Points for two years!  I started the blog to share my experience earning/burning miles and points with family and friends - something I'm equally (if not more) passionate about today.

This is a wonderful hobby.  Its a game that enables me to open up the world for Emily and I in a way that neither of us ever thought would be possible.  Since starting the blog, we've been on half a dozen long-haul trips together to 13 countries.  We've flown first class on 8 different carriers and stayed in some of the world's best hotels.

Here are some of my favorite posts from the 320 posts and 60 trip reports over the past couple of years:

My favorite trip report series:

A Week (Euro) in Amsterdam and Paris.  We spent a week in May of 2015 exploring Europe and exploiting the weak Euro.

Singapore A380 Suites Class - photo courtesy of The Points Guy (Brian Kelly)
Best flight:

Emirates A380 First Class from Dallas to Dubai.  We both loved this flight and cannot wait to get back on Emirates.  Once you take a shower at 35,000 feet after going to the bars on the plane, it's hard to go bak to anything else.

Emirates A380
Best hotel stay:

W Taipei for New Years last year.  We were just reminiscing about how fun this hotel was.  The New Years party was amazing and we really enjoyed Taipei - hoping to go back soon!

NYE 2014 from the W Taipei
Best lounge:

While The Pier is pretty awesome, I think I'm still partial to Cathay Pacific's Hong Kong lounge, The Wing.  The cabanas, the open-air feel, the Champagne bar...
The Wing Cabana
Best "deal:"

Citi Executive Card 100K bonus of 2014.  I was able to take advantage of this offer 3 times.  300,000 points for $750 (net) in fees.  Amazing!!

Here's to the next two years (and beyond) filled with many more adventures around the world.  Thanks to all of you for reading!!!

November 7, 2015

Checking Your (Bucket) List

We're only a couple weeks away from our next big trip.  We'll be flying 23,000 miles in a round the world adventure.  Stopping in Dubai, The Maldives, and Singapore.  While we've taken a lot of great trips over the past few years, I'm most excited about this trip.  While I'm certainly excited about ALL the flying, there are several "bucket list" items we're going to check on this trip:

1)  Flying round the world going east
2)  Staying in an overwater bungalow
3)  Showering on a plane
4)  Sitting at a bar on a plane
5)  Dune bashing

Round the world going east

I've never actually taken the time to write down a list - I've mostly just been keeping a mental checklist of sorts.  Perhaps I'll use some of the time during our 46 hours in the air to write a more comprehensive list and share on the blog.

What's on your bucket list?

September 26, 2015

Back From a Blog Hiatus

By now you've no doubt asked yourself, "when is the next post coming?"  It's been over a month since I last posted - life has been busy with the new addition, work travel, and family commitments.

Good news is Perry's got me up early this morning with plenty of time left in the day to write.

Why have you not been posting??

Looking forward to getting in more of a rhythm for all of you.

August 16, 2015

The Newest ATRP Family Member

We expanded the All the Right Points family yesterday with the addition of our brand new Coton de Tulear puppy, Perry (named after one of our favorite cities).  In true ATRP fashion, Emily flew to Chicago Friday after work (earning points on a paid stay at the ORD Hilton) to pick her up Saturday morning.  After some quick bonding at the airport, they boarded a United flight back home.

Perry scowling at all the United gate lice at ORD

She's only 10 weeks old but already has her first 888 United miles (do we multiple that by 7 like her age?) under her belt.  She did great on the plane and seems to be loving her new home here in Denver.

Licking my lips at the opportunity to fly United

Our traveling life will certainly look a bit different going forward but we're both thrilled to have a new member of our family.

July 21, 2015

Taking the Show on the Road

We're moving to New York!  Well not me - I love Denver.  My company (PaySimple) is opening an office in Manhattan in August.  I don't usually post about job stuff on ATRP but this is somewhat travel related - who doesn't love traveling to New York?

We're looking to hire 3-4 inside sales representatives to help us launch our NYC office.  We currently have 80 employees in Denver, a great product, over 12,000 customers and a phenomenal culture.

I've worked at PaySimple for over 7 years and have been afforded a ton of opportunity to grow myself as a person and a professional, work with a great team, and help grow the business into one of the biggest technology companies in Denver.  Check out some more thoughts from current/former employees on Glassdoor.

PaySimple provides some of the best t-shirts I own.  If you've been reading the blog for awhile, you've seen me rocking PaySimple tees all over the world.  Come work with us as we take over New York!!

If you or someone you know is interested in this type of opportunity, feel free to email me directly.


PaySimple on the way to Seoul

PaySimple in Singapore

PaySimple in Taipei

PaySimple on the way to Vancouver