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2019 has been an incredible year.
I started off celebrating New Years in Europe visiting my fiancee and enjoying the likes of Vienna, Budapest, and Paris. 3 months later I managed to nest an engagement into a whirlwind weekend that involved a night in New York seeing friends, Club World to England so we could celebrate my future inlaws 40th anniversary, an Upper Class flight back to New York to get engaged at the Peninsula, and somehow kept it all a surprise. Never could I have imagined doing all of that, but without points, and the experience with my award booking service would I have had the knowledge or point base to execute
Flash forward two weeks and I was incredibly blessed to fulfill a lifelong bucket list trip for my parents and accompany them to Israel. We not only saw the Holy Land, but took geographical advantage and saw the Pyramids and Petra. It was a trip of a lifetime and ended with a flight back to the states in QSuites.
In July we launched a weekly YouTube channel and have been posting every Tuesday at 2pm. We’d love it if you subscribed and experience some of the amazing things you can do with points and deals.
My fiancee ended an important chapter in her life, and to celebrate, we took a trip around the world. Starting off with Japan Airlines First Class and a few days in Singapore, to Bali and Alila Villas Uluwatu , Etihad First on the 77W to Abu Dhabi, and Apartments to Paris. IF that wasn’t enough we were able to snag Lufthansa First Class back from Paris aboard the A380. Aside from hotel nights under $200, we used points for every single piece.
A month later we flew to England and and en route experienced the TWA hotel and the new Virgin Atlantic Upper Class on the A350
If that wasn’t enough we were also able to fly Emirates First Class aboard the A380, a long time bucket list flight for me, en route to a work event in the middle east. It was nothing short of epic and I’m looking forward to really digging into the review on here and on YouTube.
We’ve also hopped on Tik Tok and are having an immense amount of fun posting videos like this to inspire and motivate people. It’s so fun to interact with people and that platform is explosive and I believe will be the most talked about social media platform in 2020.
@zacharyburrabelI will teach u #fyp #tiktoktravel #luxury #howidothings #turn #totheleft #viral #foryou #4u #etihad
I’ll be ending the year with a flight on British Airways 747-400 First Class with my best bud Dave on an new year’s adventure – my flight upgraded with 25k Avios and his booked all on points.
Thank you so much for following along on our adventure. We love hearing when our tips or tricks have helped you achieve your travel dreams.
Our 2019 Stats – miles flown, cabins, and miles used
- Miles Flown – 130k
- First Class cabins
- Japan Airlines First Class
- 75k Alaska Miles
- Etihad First Class 777-300ER
- 90k AA
- Etihad Apartments A380
- Same 90k as above ( same itinerary )
- Lufthansa First Class
- 70k Aeroplan
- Emirates First Class A380 + Emirates First Class 777-300ER old cabin
- 150k Alaska
- British Airways First Class 747
- 25k Avios upgrade from discount biz
- Japan Airlines First Class
- Business Class
- Etihad Business Class 787-9
- 70k AA + $70
- Etihad Business Class A380
- Same itinerary as above
- American Airlines A321 JFK to LAX
- Same Itinerary as above
- Japan Airlines Business Class 777-200
- Part of 75k Alaska used on Japan First above
- Air France Business Class
- 55k Air France flying blue
- British Airways Business Class A380
- Purchased out of Paris on discount ( $1500 give or take )
- British Airways 747
- 57.5k AA
- Virgin Upper Class A350 – new cabin
- 57.5k Virgin
- Virgin Upper Class A330
- 57.5k Virgin
- Etihad Business Class 787-9
- Countries Visited
- Hungary
- Austria
- France
- England
- USA
- Canada
- Egypt
- Jordan
- Qatar
- Israel
- UAE
- Saudi Arabia
- Japan
- Israel
- Indonesia
- Singapore
- Germany
Thank you again for reading, hitting us up on social media, and helping us continue to create content and entertain!
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back. .
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
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