Qantas has just announced that they will launch a flight from Chicago to Brisbane. This is very exciting news and comes right on the heels of American and Qantas announcing their joint partnership. The flights are not available to be book yet but should be in the coming weeks. When this route launches, O’Hare will have two direct flights to
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Testing World Elite Benefits on Boxed
Recently, Mastercard added benefits to their World and World Elite cards. One of the benefits was 5% cash back at Boxed. I’m a big fan of Boxed, its my main source of LaCroix. I wanted to see how the benefit would work considering you don’t have to register for the benefits. I went through my regular shopping experience and checked
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I Cancelled My Altitude Reserve Yesterday
I’ve been struggling with which cards I’m going to keep and which cards I’m going to cancel this year. I was really leaning towards cancelling my Citi Prestige, but my experience on my trip to Zanzibar really changed my mind. I did decide to cancel my Altitude Reserve yesterday. The main reasons I cancelled were: The customer service wasn’t the
Read MoreEbates Just Became my Go To Shopping Portal
A couple of weeks ago Ebates introduced the ability to earn AMEX Membership Rewards instead of cashback. Here’s how it works. 1 cent equals 1 membership reward point. Membership rewards are not only valuable for transfers to Airline and Hotel loyalty programs but also from a cashback perspective. The Charles Schwab American Express Platinum currently allows you to transfer membership
Read MoreZanzibar Prep: eVisa Approved
I checked on my eVisa today and it was approved. I applied on February 24th and my eVisa was approved on February 27th. I’m honestly surprised my visa was approved in such a short amount of time. When I applied for my visa for Ghana, it took about 2 weeks. That process involved someone physically going to the embassy in
Read MoreZanzibar Prep: Getting an eVisa
In my research for my upcoming trip to Zanzibar, I wanted to know if I needed a visa or not. Turns out that you do need a visa but you can apply for a visa on arrival. Looking through some of the travel forums, it seems that process can be very easy or very difficult. Usually, a single entry visa
Read MoreO’Hare is the Busiest Airport in the Country and I’m not Sure How I Feel About That
I currently live in Chicago. I love the city but not necessarily the city’s main airport, O’Hare. When you compare the amenities and the operations at O’Hare to other airports around the country, I think it’s well below par. So it was surprising to hear that O’Hare is now the country’s busiest airport. It’s quite impressive when you consider that
Read MoreIt’s Cold in Chicago
I have been stuck in the house for the past 4 days and started to come down with a little bit of cabin fever. If you haven’t heard, the city of Chicago was in the grip of the polar vortex. Temperatures reached lows of -20 degrees with windchills of -50 degrees. As of today the vortex has passed and it’s
Read MoreMy Travel Plans for 2019
This year my travel plans are not as concrete as they were last year. This is because the nature of my job has changed between last year and this year (so long #consultantlife). Given that, there are some destinations that I want to check off my bucket list this year. The biggest of which is visiting Australia. Given the relatively
Read MoreMy 2018 Year in Review
Happy Year! 2018 was a big travel year for me. I didn’t visit the variety of places that I have in previous years but I spent the most hours in the air (thanks #ConsultantLife). For perspective here are all the statuses I’ve earned: American Airlines Executive Platinum (previously Platinum) Marriott Platinum (previously Gold through American Express) Hyatt Discoverist (no status)
Read MoreLook, An Update
It’s been a few months since I’ve posted. In that time I managed to: Buy a condo Went to Bangkok Qualified for American Airlines Platinum Status for 2019 Qualified for Hyatt Discoverist Status The past couple of months have been busy but I will start posting more often.
Read More2018 New Years Resolutions
My resolutions for last year weren’t that ambitious. Basically they were: Fly on the a380 Fly on Qatar Airways or Etihad Fly Singapore Airlines After thinking about it for about for about a week I think I could do better in 2017.
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