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Happy Blogiversary! Travel with Grant Turns 3 Years Old + Amazon Giveaway

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Update 5/7/2016 at 11am PT: Here are the 3 winners I selected:

  • Adam said “I actually was inspired by yours to have my own Amtrack train trip! Thought about it in the past, pulled the trigger after your reports ;)”
  • Christina said “I love your blog and also I loved meeting you at in Chicago at FTU Advanced (you’re really a friendly and modest fella). Congrats on your anniversary Grant! I learned all about AmEx offers and Serve from you. I earned enough AA miles through MS to take my daughter to Paris this year. Thank you and keep up the good work!”
  • Seth said “You had a contest one time to have people come up with the best weekend trip you could take for a single sign up bonus (or something like that). I actually ended up taking a trip very similar to the one I came up with, and I never would have thought of it without the great prompt and information from your site!”

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest and for all the great interactions over the last 3 years.  Happy Mother’s Day weekend everyone!

Good morning everyone, happy Wednesday!  Oh, by the way, Travel with Grant turned 3 years old yesterday.  Pretty crazy, right?  I can’t believe it’s been 3 years already, time sure flies by.  I sometimes get asked for advice about blogging and I always tell people the same thing: “Starting a blog is easy, but keeping it going day in and day out takes a lot of work.”  During the first few months of blogging, you feel like no one reads your blog or cares about your blog.  I used to get jealous of other bloggers who had tons of readers and received several comments on each post.  Why was no one reading or commenting on my blog posts?  Over time, I learned that readers like to read and not leaving a comment does not mean anything bad.  If I had written something wrong/bad, I’m sure the commenters would have let me know right away.

Looking back at my first month of blogging, I had a total of 3,314 total pageviews, now I can (occasionally) pass that number in a single day of blogging.  My blog traffic quickly climbed the first year during the golden age of MS (Bluebird, Serve, Vanilla Reload Cards, PayPal My Cash Cards, churning credit card, retention bonuses, etc.).  My blog was off to a great start!

TWG Stats May 2013

During the second and third year, traffic continued to grow as I moved from an independent blogger to the Prior2Boarding network to the BoardingArea network.  As of today, I have just over 2.5 million pageviews, but my monthly traffic has decreased from my peak in February 2015 as the MS opportunities have slowly disappeared.  Living in the Bay Area since December 2014, the MS opportunites have almost dried up entirely.  Through and through, I always enjoyed writing blog posts and helping readers.

TWG Stats 5-4-2016

I have had a few guest posts scattered in throughout the years, but the vast majority of my posts have been written by me.  How do I pick the topics that I write about?  I have a few simple rules that I follow:

  • I write about stuff that I would want to read about.  If I don’t care about a topic, I am not going to write about it.
  • Be the first to write about something.  Everyone loves breaking news, but lately, it’s been all bad breaking news.
  • Be the best at writing about something.  If something has been written about 50+ times, there is no point for me to write about it too, unless I have something new to add.

With that said, I’ve written close to 900 posts, but here is the list of top blog posts/pages of all time.  The PayPal My Cash Card post continues to get 50-100 pageviews everyday, it’s incredible!

TWG Top Posts 5-4-2016

Writing good content is great, but it doesn’t mean anything if no one can find/read your blog posts.  Search engine traffic is my greatest source of traffic and represents 40% of my total pageviews (1M / 2.5M).  Social media (Twitter and Facebook) are essential in the travel hacking space since information is so timely and can be easily shared with millions of people.  Lastly, and most importantly to me, connecting with fellow travel bloggers is essential.  There is no greater compliment than when another travel blogger links to your posts and tells their readers to read your post.  Thank you to all the travel bloggers out there who have linked to my posts.

TWG Stats Referrals 5-4-2016

Long story short, Travel with Grant is 3 years old and I want to thank everyone who has read, commented, emailed, tweeted, or talked to me at a travel conference.  You guys are awesome!

To thank you, I want to give away 3 $10 Amazon eGift Cards to readers.  All you have to do is tell me what deal/trip over the last 3 years was the most important to you.  Do you reminisce about the days when you could buy $5,000 of VRCs from Office Depot and CVS?  Did that first class trip around the world on miles and points make the last 2 years of hoarding miles and points worthwhile?  Did you get to see friends and family scattered around the world that you haven’t seen in years?  Leave a comment below and let me know.

I will pick the winners Friday morning at 7am PT.  Good luck to everyone who enters and cheers to the next 3 years of blogging!


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104 thoughts on “Happy Blogiversary! Travel with Grant Turns 3 Years Old + Amazon Giveaway

  1. Brad

    I learned how to MS with Serve and Visa GCs via this site.

    If anyone has any new tips since they cracked down it would be greatly appreciated!!

    Reply
    1. Grant

      I’m glad to have helped with Serve and VGCs in the past, but I’m not sure what the future MS opportunities will be :(

      Reply
  2. Liz @ Yes/No Films

    Learning about Southwest and their system was most important to me :) I was able to save some miles/points by booking all my summer trips one-way, and checking SWA’s website occasionally to see if the price had gone down (and for a lot of them, they did!).

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Awesome, nothing like finding a cheap SWA flight get even cheaper. It’s a pretty good return on invested time when SWA has fare sales.

      Reply
  3. seth

    You had a contest one time to have people come up with the best weekend trip you could take for a single sign up bonus (or something like that). I actually ended up taking a trip very similar to the one I came up with, and I never would have thought of it without the great prompt and information from your site!

    Reply
    1. Grant

      I know the post you are referring to. Could you MS during the week to pay for a quick weekend trip? Great comments in that post :)

      Reply
  4. Scott G

    Congrats…I do enjoy your blog a lot!
    I definitely miss the Vanilla Reload days….got so many points and was so easy to hit spend requirements on new cards.

    Reply
  5. Maddy

    Learning about the amex deals and southwest airlines was the best thing that I learned today. I got into the game late and so can’t comment about the VRC days. It was worthwhile for me to learn about points and to get to see folks that I have not met for years.

    Keep up the good work.

    Reply
  6. Tonei

    I think my most important trip was the super cheap fare I got from MEX to SCL, since that’s when I met my partner for the first time – and now I’m getting ready to move to Mexico!

    Reply
  7. Angela Park

    Congrats!

    I’d have to say using my points and miles for a first class RTW honeymoon trip (Paris, Abu Dhabi, Maldives, Hong Kong, Japan) was definitely a highlight!

    Reply
  8. KJ

    All of it is still kind of new to me and its a little overwhelming and I am not sure I will ever be able to do it all but trying to pick out the best bits for me…….so far its Southwest, the tips and the companion pass……what a deal thank you

    Reply
    1. Grant

      I always say getting the SWA Companion Pass is easy, but finding a travel companion to go with is hard. What’s your favorite SWA destination?

      Reply
  9. TT

    I love the personal interaction from you. If I had an urgent question, you were always there to answer through emails. Thanks for making it so easy to get in touch with you.

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Thank you for all the emails and questions, I’m always happy to help. If readers take the time to write to me, I will make the time to answer their questions :)

      Reply
  10. Scott

    I learned about the ins and outs of miles and points from you and other bloggers beginning in February 2014, and later that summer my wife and I were off on our first European trip — to four different countries. We haven’t looked back since and are planning to go to Southeast Asia in a couple months.

    Reply
  11. Nick

    I get interesting MS tips here, things that only Grant would pick up on. What was especially helpful to me was leaning about certain VGCs having a pin (the ones from US Bank, commonly sold in supermarkets). This has increased my MS plus they are very easy to liquidate.

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Glad to help, just be careful buying VGCs from grocery stores, I’ve run into a few VGCs that were tampered with before I purchased them.

      Reply
      1. Nick

        I realize, you have always emphasized that point. What I usually do is go directly to “MegaLo-Mart” within 15 minutes of buying the USB VGC.

        Reply
  12. SL

    Learning about flexperks has really saved me money for expensive tickets to fly home over the holidays, when award tickets are never available.

    Reply
  13. Pam

    Started researching how to pay my freelance “employees” and earn miles and happened across your blog. Earning miles off MS with Amazon Pay and Serve was great while it lasted and earning me a ton for money I had to spend anyway. On to the next opportunity!

    Reply
  14. Christina

    I love your blog and also I loved meeting you at in Chicago at FTU Advanced (you’re really a friendly and modest fella). Congrats on your anniversary Grant! I learned all about AmEx offers and Serve from you. I earned enough AA miles through MS to take my daughter to Paris this year. Thank you and keep up the good work!

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Haha, friendly and modest fella perfectly describes me. I’m sorry that the ANEX Offers have sucked so far in 2016. When AMEX gets desperate after the loss of Costco and SPG, I’m sure they will pump out the good AMEX Offers :)

      Enjoy your well deserved trip to Paris, one of my favorite cities

      Reply
  15. Darlene

    I am still trying to acquire enough miles so I can go with my daughter and share a first class experience. I think I need about 50,000 more. I read all the time, but have not found that deal yet!

    Reply
  16. Ryan

    My wife and I took a trip to Thailand last summer for our first wedding anniversary. I’ve always enjoyed travel, but that trip really brought the travel bug on in full force. After that trip, I dove into travel hacking as much as possible. Thanks to some MS and sign up bonuses, we’re heading to the Maldives and Bali next month with a mixture of Singapore and Cathay business class.

    Thanks for the wealth of information you provide and being a breath of fresh air among some of the other BoardingArea blogs. Keep it up!

    Reply
      1. Ryan

        I’m looking forward to snorkeling in the Maldives. I’d love to scuba dive there but neither of us are certified, and I know it’s very expensive. We’ll be in Ubud in Bali so plan to enjoy the nature and scenery. My wife isn’t the biggest fan of hiking but we definitely want to explore the rice fields/mountains around. Any suggestions?

        Reply
  17. marc

    I shall always miss the ease of redbird. I thought vanila reloads were easy, but this takes the cake.

    Reply
  18. Luke US

    I had an amazing RTW trip to Europe and Singapore last year, booked taking advantage of an error fare! That’s my most memorable adventure until now! :)

    Reply
      1. Luke US

        I paid about $290 (Rome FCO – SIN – LAX) and used AA miles for the rest (LAX-FCO)!
        Congratulations on your great work with the blog! And thank you! :)

        Reply
          1. Luke US

            I loved Singapore, I had never been there before – while I had already visited Europe! :) Grant, may I ask you a favor? May I send you an email and ask you for some brief advice about a credit card? I would really appreciate it to receive your input!

  19. Bexho2000

    Congratulations grant – learned a lot from your blog through the years. Keep up the good work and hopefully I get to wish you for many more years to come!

    Reply
  20. Spencer F

    Deals wise for me, it was dabbling with the US Mint dollar coins and the whole VR craze at CVS.

    Trip, using a combo of Avios/Hyatt Card nights for a 5 day trip to Maui last year

    Reply
    1. Grant

      BA Avios from the west coast to Hawaii is a great deal, 1 I have booked a few times for myself and friends. I have a 5 night trip to Maui in October that I’m looking forward to :)

      Reply
    1. Grant

      Thanks George for all the help blogging and your financial advice. Great talking to you at WestCoastDo in PHX last year. That was my highlight of the conference :)

      Reply
  21. William Pisor

    Happy Blogiversary!!! You were the first blogger we followed and received so many great hints and directions….it really hit us when we took our first Business Class flight late last year using points. Thanks so much for your help and support!

    Reply
  22. Jennifer

    I agree with Nick. The info about gift cards having PINs, and how to use that info, was the most useful to me. We’ve used that info to meet our minimums for the spend waiver for United Premier status and to amass enough miles to take some epic trips with a stopover.

    Reply
  23. Peter

    I was in the miles and point hobby before, but in the last 2 years I extended it big times and saving up for some great trips. Blogs like yours help a lot to find useful information quck.

    Reply
    1. Grant

      I’m glad you learned a few things from my blog. I wish there were more deals to write about and more time to write about them…

      Reply
  24. Krystyna

    Learning about, and subsequently using, the Target “Redbird” was the best deal I have come across in a while. Especially since I double dipped by buying Amex gc through portals for cash back.

    Reply
  25. todd s.

    Earning the beloved Companion Pass from Southwest Airlines by simply getting two credit cards. It has saved me thousands of dollars over the almost two years that I’ve had it.

    Reply
  26. Raj

    The Southwest companion pass has been very lucrative for me and my family. Definitely one of the most valuable things I’ve learned.

    Reply
  27. Heather

    Birthday trip entirely on points and miles to celebrate a milestone with my dad. Italy was one of his top destinations and we did it in style. Damn I miss those VRs!

    Reply
  28. MrDioji

    I miss the RedCard CC load days! And figuring out that we were hitting the same Target – and also the Staples/Rite-Aid/Smart-&-Final complex in PH.

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Haha, the Pleasant Hill Staples / Smart & Final was my go to location along with the Target in Walnut Creek. Good times indeed!

      Reply
  29. Kelly S

    I can’t pinpoint one particular thing. But I do like that you are timely with your posts and I have used all the info to help me and my family travel free! Each year we go to Hawaii and haven’t paid for tickets in many years! And that includes free nights also!

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Free trips to Hawaii sound like a great way to spend your miles and points. I am spending 5 nights on Maui and 5 nights near Kona in October. That will be a fun trip :)

      Reply
  30. Adam

    I actually was inspired by yours to have my own Amtrack train trip! Thought about it in the past, pulled the trigger after your reports ;)

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Awesome, I’m glad you pulled the trigger on “premium” class Amtrak travel. Did you do the Coast Starlight (Seattle to Los Angeles) or the California Zephyr (Denver to San Francisco)?

      Reply
  31. julianna

    I’m inspired to category spend better and smarter. I pay attention to all the little details more. My hubby has earned companion pass the last 5 years or so with business trips alone. But we pay more attention to his spending and flights so he gets Alist preferred too. Makes his business trips easier, and those 25% bonus points make a big difference flying a family of 5 all around the country for camp, vacations, sporting events, etc. Then when he makes those, we immediately switch spending to other cards. We’ve done yearly ski trips to great places and even went to the Bahamas, all on Southwest. My spending goes other places so we can save up miles for big trips. Like Hong Kong as a family for Spring Break to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Award tickets booked, the whole family is going!! Yippeee!

    Reply
  32. Juangui

    Congrats on the anniversary! I got a lot out of your blog when I was first starting off and appreciate our interactions via Twitter. Keep up the great work!

    Reply
  33. Mike H

    Happy Anny! I was able to turn over the SW Companion Pass twice in 4 years thanks to some guidance from your site. I rock that pass, thank you!

    Reply
    1. Grant

      That sounds love. What was your favorite city to visit in Italy? I preferred Venice over Rome, but I loved visiting the Coliseum.

      Reply
  34. David Toste

    I got into this hobby for mostly free travel. I’m currently saving points for a fancy trip to Italy (for my wife) and Ireland (for me!). Your blog has been great for education when Serve was available to build points. I also really appreciate the updates on AMEX offers!

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Thank you David, have a great time in Italy and Ireland. Ireland is very beautiful if you do a road trip outside of Dublin.

      Reply
  35. Chris

    I missed the days of Redcard when you can load up 6k in a month… that really helped out my MS. Oh well, just redeeming miles now whenever I can. Just got back from my Japan/Korea trip where I used 50k AA miles. It was sweet :).

    Reply

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