6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XXXIV

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

• The Journal of Brief Ideas -- A new outlet for short, scholarly ideas of 200 words or less


• The Most Advantageous Places to Visit with American Dollars -- An updated report highlighting Mexico, Argentina, and some of Europe


• Nude Portraits Where the Photographer Himself Is Unclothed -- A change of perspective on the usual photography project


• The FBI’s Top Hostage Negotiator Tells You How To Save Money on Your Phone Bill -- A lesson in asking


• Adventure of a Lifetime -- A detailed guide to visiting Iceland


• JetBlue's CEO Battles to Appease Passengers and Wall Street — He stays up until 3am responding to angry emails

from The Art of Non-Conformity http://chrisguillebeau.com/6-discoveries-from-near-and-far-volume-xxxiv/

Business Class Fares Don’t Get Much Better Than This

One of the beautiful things about the airline industry -- for those willing to put in the time -- is how variable the pricing is.

Whether you're booking a revenue ticket or award ticket, pricing can vary exponentially depending on when you book, where you originate, etc.

For example, I've written in the past about how airlines publish cheap premium fares out of Cairo, Egypt, and Colombo, Sri Lanka.

You can fly from Cairo to Seattle via Doha and Miami in both directions for under $2,000 roundtrip in business class:

The post Business Class Fares Don’t Get Much Better Than This appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/02/22/business-class-fares-dont-get-much-better-than-this/

Bill Weir welcomes you to 'The Wonder List'

In his new CNN show, "The Wonder List," Bill Weir travels the globe to find people, places and creatures that might someday be lost forever.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/24/travel/bill-weir-wonder-list-welcome/index.html

Teen hooks massive blue marlin off Hawaii coast

A New York City teen made the catch of his life when he reeled in a 1,058-pound blue marlin off the coast of Hawaii.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/21/travel/feat-kona-coast-blue-marlin/index.html

Should Newbies Get Involved Collecting Miles and Points Given Changes in the Industry?

I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, […]

The post Should Newbies Get Involved Collecting Miles and Points Given Changes in the Industry? appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/02/22/how-to-get-started-with-frequent-flyer-miles/

Qantas Status Match Opportunity Available For New Zealand Residents

Qantas is offering a status match to their Frequent Flyer Gold tier for those that have gold or higher status with any other frequent flyer program, excluding Emirates Skywards (given that Emirates is their joint venture partner).

The major catch is that the offer is only valid for residents of New Zealand, which in practical terms means that your frequent flyer account has to be registered with a New Zealand address. The promotion is valid through March 9, 2015.

The process for taking advantage of the status match is quite straightforward:

If you're not a Qantas Frequent Flyer member, follow this link to sign-up and you'll receive a membership number right away.

The post Qantas Status Match Opportunity Available For New Zealand Residents appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/02/22/qantas-status-match-opportunity-available-for-new-zealand-residents/

The How’s and Why’s of Travel Insurance

our years ago I wrote a post titled “9 Ways I Break Conventional Travel Wisdom”. One of the items (which I wasn’t proud of at the time) was that I traveled for a significant time without travel insurance. I got lucky that nothing serious happened to me while I was traveling without insurance. I have [...]



from Everything Everywhere Travel Blog http://everything-everywhere.com/2015/02/22/the-hows-and-whys-of-travel-insurance/

Readers Prefer American Miles Over United Miles 2-to-1

The extra 1000 miles from Kaligo.com with your first hotel booking didn’t draw all that many clicks. Data is interesting to me in its own way, and I’m fortunate to be able to look and see what people click on and learn about my readers as a group that way. When I wrote that the […]

The post Readers Prefer American Miles Over United Miles 2-to-1 appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/02/22/readers-prefer-american-miles-united-miles-2-1/

Immerse Yourself in What You Want to Become

In reading the transcript of Bob Dylan’s speech at MusiCares, I also liked this part on the origins of his songwriting:

“There's nothing secret about it. You just do it subliminally and unconsciously, because that's all enough, and that's all I sang. That was all that was dear to me. They were the only kinds of songs that made sense.

I learned lyrics and how to write them from listening to folk songs. And I played them, and I met other people that played them back when nobody was doing it. Sang nothing but these folk songs, and they gave me the code for everything that's fair game, that everything belongs to everyone.

For three or four years all I listened to were folk standards. I went to sleep singing folk songs. I sang them everywhere, clubs, parties, bars, coffeehouses, fields, festivals. And I met other singers along the way who did the same thing and we just learned songs from each other. I could learn one song and sing it next in an hour if I'd heard it just once."

from The Art of Non-Conformity http://chrisguillebeau.com/immerse-yourself-in-what-you-want-to-become/

How to Save on An American Award Ticket and Which Card Next?

I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, […]

The post How to Save on An American Award Ticket and Which Card Next? appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/02/22/how-to-save-on-an-american-award-ticket-and-which-card-next/

Here’s the amazing, surprising and inspiring way you are changing how people travel

from Elliott http://elliott.org/advice-you-can-take/heres-the-amazing-surprising-and-inspiring-way-you-are-changing-how-people-travel/

Review: Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge London Heathrow

My morning wasn't off to an especially good start. I spent the night at the Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 4, which is quite convenient given that it's connected to Terminal 4 (which Gulf Air flies out of) by a covered bridge.

I set my alarm for 4AM, figuring I'd get up nice and early so I could get some work done before my wifi-less flight to Bahrain.

Unfortunately my body seemed to have different plans for me, as I overslept and only woke up at 8:15AM, which was 75 minutes before departure.

I literally sprinted to the terminal, and arrived at Gulf Air's check-in at 8:22AM, which was just a few minutes before their check-in cutoff.

The post Review: Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge London Heathrow appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/02/22/review-gulf-air-falcon-gold-lounge-london-heathrow/

Send Credit Card Payments Free, the Best Vacation Bargains, and the Biggest Devaluations

News and notes from around the interweb: United is launching once-weekly New Orleans-Cancun flights. I always find these routes strange and fascinating, there’s usually a backstory to them that’s not always immediately obvious. New mobile payment app that lets you send $3750 by credit card without fees. Air Canada has a promo code for 15% […]

The post Send Credit Card Payments Free, the Best Vacation Bargains, and the Biggest Devaluations appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/02/22/send-credit-card-payments-free-the-best-vacation-bargains-and-the-biggest-devaluations/

You know you live in Oz when...

Most of your income goes towards beer.



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/13-things-inevitably-happen-move-australia/

The Long Way From Abu Dhabi To Doha: Introduction

I've lived in hotels full time for close to a year now. When I started this experiment the plan was to always spend a couple of weeks in one place before moving onto the next. Unfortunately that's not how it has worked out in practice. Instead I've been horrible at planning, thanks largely to the fact that I've had commitments all over the place which have prevented me from spending extended periods of time outside the US.

Not only have I not spent extended periods of time in one place, but I've also planned super last minute. Like, I've literally checked out of hotels without anything else booked, and then sat in the lobby connected to wifi until I figured out where I was going next. Not so glam, sometimes!

As I start to write this trip report, I have no clue how to even begin to tackle this, given that it basically covers a month of my life which was full of nonstop travel.

The post The Long Way From Abu Dhabi To Doha: Introduction appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/02/22/the-long-way-from-abu-dhabi-to-doha-introduction/