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Wow – what a year!
I’ll be posting a more complete account of all my travel, including a video with highlights, but 2017 has been a pivotal year. In 2016, I flew a little over 100k miles and thought that was a lot. I figured, maaaaaaaybe I’d do 130-140k in 2017, but things really got cray towards the end of the year ( I flew over 50k miles since November 20th). In total, I’ll end up with roughly 170k miles, and at 500mph, that’s the equivalent of flying 24 hours a day for 14 days. WHAT?! Never, did I ever imagine I’d be doing this. Truly where there’s a will, there’s a way. What made it even crazier was that the vast majority of my travel was aspirational. Places, experiences, and cabins I’d always wanted see and share with those close to me. And did I…
Trips with loved ones are the most meaningful.
I was able to take my mother and father on an incredible $125k around the world surprise 75th birthday trip, surprise my girlfriend with a birthday trip to Tokyo, hit up Vietnam, Cambodia, Shanghai, and Hong Kong with my besties, go to a weekend wedding in London, go through Europe 4 times, see Stockholm, launch #weekendwarrior trips, see the Great Wall of China twice, and fly a ton of first and business class products ( I think 14 different premium products this year).
In 2018, you’re going to see a new Monkey Miles.
We are launching a redesigned site in a few months that will be easier to navigate and will align with streamlining content to help you achieve your travel goals. YouTube is going to be more prominent, showing video reviews, tutorials, and Q&A features. We are also active on a daily basis on Instagram – and are seeing more and more interaction – so please follow and comment!!
Your support and recommendations are important to us, so if you have things you’d like to see – leave us a comment. We are very grateful to you all, and realize the blessed position we are in to continue to do this. Happy New Year!
Our flights this year!
I’ll update the spreadsheet with how we did our flights, but this is the overview.
My Mom’s Surprise Around The World Trip:
WeekendWarrior Trip to Tokyo
Other Highlights:
Cathay First 70k Alaska
Cathay Business 50k Alaska
Japan First 80k AA
BA First 20k upgrade avios
Singapore Suites and First Class – 97.5 Singapore
Lufthansa First Class 80k Singapore
Swiss Throne 70k United
Putting my parents on Etihad’s Apartments
Don’t forget to follow us on Instgram!!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 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℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. 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.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
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.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.