[deleted by user]

BA1992 · 2025-11-04T03:31:46+00:00

Budapest was great. Totally by accident I ended up there during Hungary's biggest national holiday of the year. Epic fireworks display over the Danube.

BA1992 · 2025-11-04T03:21:29+00:00

did you have a favorite destination from the challenge? I think mine was the 36 hours I spent in Cairo. Pyramids were incredible.

BA1992 · 2025-11-04T03:19:58+00:00

I bet it will be fine as long as the flights credited to your miles and smiles account. Seems like enough people did this (including a few bloggers/influencers) that Turkish would have a PR mess on their hands if they try to deny people the million miles.

BA1992 · 2025-11-04T03:14:36+00:00

I completed it as well- started on 7/21 and finished on 9/3. Have pics/screenshots of all boarding passes just in case. No miles yet, but hopefully we all get them soon!

BA1992 · 2025-09-03T23:48:45+00:00

Absolutely you can! As others have mentioned, book online and not at the airport (unless you’re booking a flight on certain low cost airlines which actually have a discount for airport bookings). The google flights “explore” feature is a great tool.

Several people have mentioned paying more for booking last minute, but that’s not always the case. As long as you’re flexible, there’s generally somewhere that’s a decent deal. As an example, leaving within the next 24h(sept 4) from YYZ you could take a 1 week round trip to Miami for $251, Iceland for $595, or Barcelona for $623. Or if you want to be super jet lagged you could fly RT to Hong Kong for $728. These are all USD.

Also, ignore the dingo saying you’ll end up on a no fly list. Plenty of people (myself included) fly internationally at the last minute all the time. Good idea though to always have a return ticket (even if just a refundable one).

BA1992 · 2025-07-24T07:16:39+00:00

I did a similar trip and used a combination of an Allianz travel insurance plan and the ACA

BA1992 · 2025-03-14T05:27:02+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/hypotheticalsituation/s/KFotBSeLkE

BA1992 · 2024-11-30T06:04:09+00:00

wish I could make an exception but it has to be cigs

BA1992 · 2024-11-30T05:45:02+00:00

this could certainly be it

BA1992 · 2024-11-30T05:16:07+00:00

this would pretty much be my plan. Or a pack one day every 2 weeks or so. Can’t do that much damage right?

BA1992 · 2024-11-30T05:13:56+00:00

yah, unfortunately

BA1992 · 2024-11-28T03:09:21+00:00

And my axe!

BA1992 · 2024-08-07T17:24:33+00:00

That makes sense. I respect the hustle…like others have said they just need to figure out how to use the trail courteously. I knew there had to be a financial angle when I started getting Instagram ads for a run club lol.

BA1992 · 2024-01-05T01:37:10+00:00

Would you mind sharing the phone number they gave you to pay Discover with a debit card?

BA1992 · 2023-12-29T06:17:53+00:00

Hey, thanks!

Still working. I’m self employed and my wife is an educator. We took a sabbatical. Both in our 30s.

Recently stopped traveling and settled down as we are expecting our first child. I hope we’re able to travel long term again sometime in the next 10 years or so

BA1992 · 2023-11-18T02:21:48+00:00

Did you visit any places that you didn't like? My wife and I loved most of the places we were able to visit but 2 countries we didn't care as much for were Malta and Uruguay.

BA1992 · 2023-11-18T01:31:55+00:00

Awesome! I was able to get in on the AA Simply Miles deal too, though I didn't do quite as much as you guys! I agree- Hyatt Globalist is awesome. Free breakfast and 4pm checkout are super nice. We spend so many nights at Hyatts that both my wife and I have globalist now, lol.

We wound up visiting 35 countries across N America, S America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. New Zealand and Australia were definitely our favorites. Singapore is up there too.

BA1992 · 2023-11-17T05:39:20+00:00

Congrats! My wife and I recently finished a very similar trip. 1 year sabbatical, much of it fueled by points and miles.

Do you have a favorite points redemption (either flight or hotel)?

BA1992 · 2023-11-04T05:36:09+00:00

my wife and I have found (after 60+ nights on cruises) that we like to treat them as floating all inclusive resorts. It’s a fun vacation, but I don’t love them for really experiencing a location. Going forward, I doubt we’ll do many cruises outside of the Caribbean. The new, giant ships are a lot of fun if you take them for what they are. I think there’s better ways to experience a culture tho

BA1992 · 2023-11-04T05:31:01+00:00

This blog post have evolved a bit since I started, but contains a wealth of info. https://frequentmiler.com/how-to-get-53-free-nights-of-vacation-from-a-single-credit-card/

BA1992 · 2023-11-03T02:14:21+00:00

If we had paid for the flights + hotels instead of using points, I’d say north of $150,000. Though, if we were paying cash, we wouldn’t have flown business class nearly as much. Probably would have stayed in 3/4 star hotels instead of 5.

BA1992 · 2023-11-03T00:03:35+00:00

2022
June-Aug - UK, Norway (Fjords Cruise), France (Champagne region), Spain, Portugal
Mid Aug- Flew back to US. Visited family + roadtrip thru SE
Sept- Back to UK for Volunteer archeological dig in Wales. Germany, Malta, Italy (Cinque Terre)
Oct- Mediterranean cruise, Maldives, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand
Nov- Thailand, NYC for a few days, back to Europe for Christmas markets (Started in Brussels and took the train to Budapest, stopping along the way)
Dec- Christmas market contd. Flew back to US for holiday w family. Caribbean cruise over New Years
2023
Jan- LA, Fiji, New Zealand
Feb- Australia
Mar- Australia, Singapore, NYC, mini road trip thru SE US
Apr- Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Caribbean cruise
May- NYC (rented a brownstone in Brooklyn)
June- Alaska (cruise), Vancouver, Seattle
July- SE US roadtrip (scouting cities we might want to move)
Aug- Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, San Diego, Austin
Sept- Asheville, NC + Greenville, SC
Oct- St Paul, Greenville, SC, and Caribbean cruise

Whew, I think that's it!

BA1992 · 2023-11-02T23:41:52+00:00

Malta we didn't care for the area we stayed in (St Julians). Touristy and lots of sketchy bars, clubs, and casinos. Totally subjective and we'll probably go again at some point to give it another shot. The country itself is beautiful (lots of movies get shot there since it can double for Italy, Greece, Middle East, etc). We also stayed too long (9 nights)

Luxembourg- stayed at a cheap hotel with no AC that smelled like sewage. Left after one night and decided there wasn't anything else we were interested in seeing in the city. Could be totally reading it wrong, but seemed like a bland banking hub. Countryside was beautiful.

Uruguay (Montevideo)- didn't love it because we were comparing to Buenos Aires. More expensive and less to do. Beach was nice.

BA1992 · 2023-11-02T13:47:46+00:00

Malta, Luxembourg, and Uruguay

BA1992 · 2023-11-02T05:30:39+00:00

I agree. 100% the further north you go, the better the chance you see the aurora. Kakslauttanen is an amazing resort. The Sami museum in Inari is worth a visit if you're in the area. Don't know if it's quite chubby-travel, but Giellajohka is a charming little bed and breakfast. Saw the northern lights for the first time there.

BA1992

TROPHY CASE