It occurred to me as I was writing some blog posts that as much as I talk about various individual hacks, Iāve never actually detailed a real set of redemptions I made, how I constructed a trip, and the final costs. I think itās because they arenāt the most fun to write (because usually they’re not all that novel), but they can actually be pretty fun to read because they demonstrate whatās really possible with travel hacking.
Category: travel
Driving on the wrong side of the road again – Japan edition!
AfterĀ my first driving adventure on the other side of the road, I went on another trip to a country where you drive on the left side of the road, the land of the rising sun, Japan. Now with some experience, would my next time driving on the left side be as easy?
Before all of that, you might be asking, “Why drive in Japan? Isn’t there a great public transportation system over there?” And the answer is, normally you wouldn’t. The train system in Japan is very extensive, and with options like theĀ JR PassĀ for tourists, you should be able to get to the majority of tourist areas for free or just with a charge for the last local connection. Plus, driving in Japan is expensive, with pricey car rentals and highway tolls.
AA 767-300 Business Class JFK-MXP
The second leg of my outbound to Europe was in Business class on American Airlinesās newly retrofitted 767-300s. Itās a two-class plane (i.e. no First class), with eight rows of seats in a 1-2-1, staggered configuration. Basically, this results in all the seats being forward-facing, with cut outs for your seat in the ottoman of the seat in front of you. My seat looked something like this:
Well, it looked exactly like that. I was seated in 4A, which is a window seat on the left aisle. This gave a really private feeling, as there was a table between me and the aisle which minimized disruption as the flight attendants walked up and down the aisle.
AA A321T First Class SFO-JFK
Hello from Milan!!! Iām here (well, in Europe) for a week visiting my sister, and for the first time, I booked all of my travel into premium cabins! Iām not usually one for trip reports (here was my first admittedly patheticĀ attempt at one), but I want to say thatās mostly because no one wants to hear me talk about how comfortable my economy class seat was or how the person next to me had bad body odor (hey, I call it as I smell it). Anyway, here goes:
Trip Suggestions: San Francisco Bay Area, California
By popular demand (well, like 2 people), I am starting a series of posts on my infamous (to like, 3 people) trip suggestion lists/guides. I’ve had various lists in my Dropbox that I send to people, and I want to clean them up, update them, and post them for the general public.
This may not be helpful to you now, but hopefully it will be at some point! When that point comes, I recommend going through the list, markingĀ what sounds interesting to you, starring thoseĀ favoritesĀ on Google Maps, and then planning an itinerary based on what’s close to each other. My friend MichelleĀ callsĀ this “trip tetris.” Or if you’re a P instead of a J, keep the list handy and see what you feel like doing when you wake up, and map itĀ when you go out the door. š
How not to explain your mileage running to immigration
I’m currently in the Admiral’s Club in JFK, finally going home after 10 days in Japan with Esther and her husband and a brief stop in Dublin.
Why Dublin? I jumped on a Dublin to USĀ business class sale and bought a couple of round trips. I would have flown to Hawaii for extra miles but I value actual time spend in the office, so I’m just going back and forth between Dublin and San Francisco.
Keeping Myself Honest
I was doing some bookkeeping on Mint tonight, and I decided it would be both fun and educational to look at my travel expenses from last year and do an accounting.
Let’s start with a graph:
$4,473. That’s a big number.
Granted, I got a ton of trips out of my $4,473 (Phoenix, India, Japan, Chicago, the U.S. Southwest, Bogota, Bali, Vegas, LA, and NY x 3), but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a lot of money.
We Are Titans
Hi everyone!
As follow-up to our photoshoot from our recent trip to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, a reader suggested that it would be great to offer a way for everyone to share their travel-hacking successes with others. So whether it’s a photo of a credit card that helped you out, a landscape you particularly enjoyed, or a selfie that you had to contort your arm to frame, send it on over to us at demflyers [at] gmail [dot] com, or tweet at us (@demflyers) with the hashtag #wearetitans.
I drove on the wrong side of the road – and I liked it!
Hello! This is a belated post from the DEM Flyers crew from our recent trip to New Zealand (and Australia, Fiji, and Hawaii!)
We knew we wanted toĀ visit some of the more scenic parts of New Zealand like Milford Sound as well as Hobbiton, and without an extensive public transit system, what else was there to do but to rent a car? As the most confident driver, I volunteered to do the rental and all the driving. But I had never driven on the left side of the road before, and was worried about how easy it would be to adjust. So how did it go? I’ll talk about what was easy to get used to and what wasn’t so easy.
How to get tickets to the Studio Ghibli Museum
The Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo is an anime lover’s dream. Unfortunately, it is very popular, and significant advanced planning is required to get tickets at a reasonable cost. Side note, the museum will be closed fromĀ Monday, May 9 through Friday, July 15, 2016 this year.
I’m finallyĀ going to visit the museum on my upcoming Japan trip with E, and wanted to share tips on how to actually secure a ticket.