What can you do with all your frequent flyer miles?

Perhaps Hire The Rewards Nerds??

One of the most common questions I get and frustrations I hear, from clients is: How can I use my miles to book a flight? I sympathetically listen to many stories of hundreds of thousands of miles going unused or hours on hold trying to book an award flight. I share a few tricks I have learned, but they aren’t a real solution. Imagine how I perked up when I came across this article about services that say they can help you use your miles.

Disclaimer:  I have never used any of these services/companies.  I am not recommending any of them.  All I am doing is passing on some information I came across. If you decide to use any of these, I would be curious to know of your results. Please feel free to share your experience. You will be doing all of us a favor.

Award Expert  

Matthew Klint and his merry band of miles gurus are research maniacs. Services start at $150 for the first traveler. Kick in an extra $50 per ticket and they’ll also take care of booking.

Award Magic

All-inclusive miles/points booking service co-founded by Tahsir Ahsan, a.k.a. the Bengali Miles Guru. Standard one-way and round-trip tickets (including one stopover) cost $159 per person; awards involving three or more destinations are $279.

Book Your Award

The service uses proprietary technology to search 56 airlines in one shot; hacker staffers, meanwhile, know the nuances and loopholes of more than 420 routes. Award booking costs $165 per person.

Cranky Concierge Air Travel Assistance

Brett Snyder’s travel agency books both traditional revenue and award tickets. For one-way international award travel booked more than a week out, Cranky charges $105 per person; for round trip, it’s $145.

Flightfox

Present it with your best flight quote, and Flightfox promises to beat the quote by more than the cost of its own fee ($50 and up) — otherwise the service is free.

Flystein

Co-founders Roman Kalyakin and Vladislav Protasov offer personalized flight consultations starting at $29. They handle the research, then present clients with instructions to complete the booking. If a client doesn’t have enough miles for a trip, they’ll explain how to buy them directly from the airline (preferably during a promotion).

Juicy Miles

Each of Adam Morvitz’s 32 consultants has a regional specialty. Booking services start at $125 per person, and his team handles everything from start to finish. They can even craft mileage runs to help elite fliers maintain their status or jump to the next level.

PointsPros

Ben Schlappig of One Mile at a Time has a team of consultants who can transfer points, lock in the bookings, and even choose the best seats. Services start at $200 for the first passenger and $100 for the second and target travelers seeking premium cabins on international routes.

If you don’t have any luck in using your miles..

Call us – we will help you find a great airfare! 

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Father's Day Travel Ideas

The last thing Dad wants for Father’s Day is another tie.  Give him an adventure he’ll remember for a lifetime.  He may even invite you along!

Craft Brewery Tour : There’s more to beer than Bud. Have Dad experience the subtleties of craft beer all over the world. Let’s plan a craft beer tour for your father. He’ll toast to you forever.

Deep Sea Diving: Does your Dad need to unplug?  No better place than under the sea. No Wi-Fi there! Just incredible sights to see. Let’s plan a dive vacation he’ll always remember.

Sky Diving: Is your Dad a daredevil kind of guy? Let him experience the exhilaration of a parachute jump.  That’s a high he’ll never forget.

Golf Getaway: Is golf your Dad’s sport? Has he played St. Andrews? Has he hit balls on the highest altitude golf course in the world, La Paz, Bolivia? What’s on his golf course bucket list?  We can make one of those dreams happen for him.  You’ll score big.

Sailing: Does the open water call your father? Does he dream of taking off on a sail boat?  We can arrange a bareboat or captain supplied sailing trip anywhere he’s dreamed of sailing. You can be his first mate.

Fly Fishing: Is your Dad the quiet type who likes to be with his thoughts on a beautiful lake or river. Fishing is a way to relax and un-stress. Let’s plan a stress free, worry free retreat for him. He’ll come back rejuvenated.

Rock Climbing: Is the outdoors your Dad’s happy place? Is hiking a mountain to see the view, his idea of joy. We can send him to some of the most beautiful, natural places in his world. He may reach some new peaks.

Foodie Getaway: Is your dad the best barbecue guy around? Well let’s have him throw a few shrimps on the bar-be in Australia or grill like a gaucho in Argentina. Maybe some Caribbean hot sauce will spice up his recipes? This would be a very tasteful gift.

These are only a few of the many trips that you can gift your Dad this Father's Day.

Call Me - Let's Talk ! 415-931-1945
Prefer to Email? info@WeMakeTravelEasy.Com

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Did you leave enough?

Memorial Day Weekend is the “Unofficial Start” of summer travel.  Whether it’s a weekend getaway, a post-graduation trip, honeymoon or your dream vacation, “tis the season”.

A common question I get asked is “What should I tip?”. There is no simple answer, since it varies from country to country. But one thing to remember is, that the way we tip in the US, is not like any other place in the world. 

In fact, tipping was not common in many places until Americans starting tipping like they were at home and now there are expectations for tips, that didn’t exist before. I believe, one should do as the culture and practice of the country you are visiting. After all you are a guest in their country and you should respect their traditions.  Many countries pay their service employees a good salary for their jobs. Therefore, they are not expected to supplement their income with tips, as we do in the US.

Since most Americans travel to Europe, here is a quick guide to tipping in Europe. Tipping practices vary considerably from one country to another. If you are on a multi-country trip, be aware of international differences.

France - A standard 15% gratuity is included in the bill, a few coins for a drink or two to five euro for a restaurant meal (depending on the total price) is sufficient to reward especially good service, even in aris; in other situations - in taxis, museums and theaters, and hotels - tipping practices vary.

Germany - Rounding up to the nearest euro at cafés or tipping 10% at restaurants is a common practice, whereas tipping at hotels is less so.

Spain - it's possible to round up the total amount of the bill as a tip, but the practice is rare. Only an upscale restaurant bill would warrant a tip, provided that the service was satisfactory.

UK -  Tipping 10 to 15% is standard at a sit-down restaurant or large pub, unless a service charge is included. At smaller pubs in Ireland, offering the bartender to pour himself a drink on your tab is an acceptable form of tipping.

Scandinavia - Tipping practices vary from country to country. 

Denmark - includes gratuity in the bill, but visitors can show their appreciation by rounding up the bill or tipping up to 10%. The same is true for Iceland. Sweden -Tipping by rounding up or adding 5 to 10% of the bill is less unusual. Norway - Tips are left in a wider variety of situations.

Tipping 20 to 25% is unheard of in most of Europe.

Don’t be the unsophisticated American when you tip. 

Traveling outside of Europe? Feel free to contact me for more Tipping Etiquette. 

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No need to take these home with you!

On my travels, I always come home with a collection of shampoos, soaps etc. from all the hotels I stay in.  I even leave the maid nice tips so they’ll replenish the bottles I stash away. I never use any of the things I bring home. Is this some weird compulsive behavior?  Well maybe.  I do this because charitable organizations I support, collect these items for people living in shelters or are homeless.

No need to take these home with you!

Clean the World (CTW), an Orlando-based company, collects used hotel soaps, shampoos..Read more!

On my recent trip back from Cancun, one of the bottles of shampoos opened. Fortunately it was in a plastic bag (plastic bags are a staple on my packing list) and only the other bottles of shampoo got wet. Easily washed off and ready to be donated. So, when I read about what many hotels do with the left-over shampoos and soaps, I’m rethinking my "collecting", thanks to Clean the World.

Clean the World (CTW), an Orlando-based company, collects used hotel soap, melts it down, and makes new soap to send to impoverished countries, through a process called rebatching. Thus saving landfill space locally and lives globally. Worldwide, thousands of children die every day from illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrhea, which the World Health Organization finds are largely preventable with proper hygiene.

Hotels pay CTW 50 cents/room/month to have soaps recycled. CTW provides bins, pickup, delivery, shipping, and training to the housekeeping staff. CTW then trucks the bins to one of the company’s processing plants in Orlando, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Montreal and India. The bins arrive at giant, fragrant warehouses. The hotel soaps meet reject soaps from companies like Unilever. The soap is melted, reformed and packed into new bars and sent to NGOs and charities like the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

CTW also works with hotels to recycle partially used shampoo, conditioner, and body wash bottles. At the warehouse, the bottles are examined to see if they’re over three-quarters full. If so, the bottles are cleaned and included in hygiene kits along with toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, and other items, then sent to homeless shelters around the world. Empty bottles get recycled. About 5,000 hotels participate in the program in the United States; all of Disney's properties, most of the Vegas strip, and dozens in New York and Chicago. Internationally, most of the Macau strip, as well as hotels in Hong Kong, London, and pretty much anywhere else people travel. The company gives hotels placards and information cards to put in rooms, so guests know.

United Airlines just agreed to donate the unused items out of its first-class passenger kits for use in hygiene kits, including sleep masks and ear plugs for people staying in bright, noisy shelters.
 
There’s still a lot of room to grow, only 20% of US hotels participate. The next time you get a pang of guilt because you used only a bit of your soap, check to see if your hotel is part of Clean the World. If not, ask them to check into this program.

Happily, leave that soap and shampoo, knowing you might just save a life around the world.

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