Category Archives: Trip Reports

JoeyTravel has a Local Friend in Every City (My Review from Santiago, Chile)

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Shelli. Leave a reply

There’s a new interesting concept in the travel world where you don’t just travel to a destination, but rather you enrich that experience by connecting with locals. JoeyTravel.com, co-founded by Ashley Hanson, is the newest player on the scene, and I recently had the chance to try them out, so I can offer you this review. It was a fun experience, but first some backstory.

Grant met Ashley at a San Francisco travel networking meeting and they got to talking about Ashley’s business concept: Joey. Ashley mentioned that she was looking for travel bloggers, particularly women, to try out Joey and see what they thought. Naturally, Grant thought of me! And naturally I had an international trip planned to Argentina and Chile where I could meet with local Joeys and see what the service was all about. So he put me in contact with Ashley.

Ashley was responsive and quick to reply to emails and put me in contact with local Joeys in both Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile. Unfortunately the Buenos Aires Joey wasn’t around during my Buenos Aires stay, but my Santiago Joey turned out to be a great, fun, wonderful guy!

First you connect with your Joey and share a bit about what you might be interested in as far as meeting up. We decided on a leisurely lunch-time visit. My Joey, Diego, was immediately easy to contact and connect with and showed a great sense of enthusiasm and humor. That’s a big plus in my book because travel requires a sense of humor!

Continue reading →

My 7 Tips for Using Award Booking Services

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Shelli. 20 Replies

It seems to me in the world of travel there are three phases: the planning process, the getting there process, and the being there process. For me, the planning process can sometimes be the most daunting. It’s fun and exciting to acquire all the miles and points and pick my dream destinations. And then comes booking the award tickets. Exciting, though often oh-so-frustrating.

If you’re like me, there are times when you’ve considered using an award booking service. You want help booking the tickets, planning a great itinerary, and choosing the best aircrafts and class of service. In other words, you want a great value for the miles you’ve accumulated. Who wouldn’t? After personally using various award booking services, and settling on the one I think is the best, here’s my list of 7 must-know tips.

I’ve had very varied experiences using these services and I want you to benefit from what I’ve learned. I want you to get the best possible value and have the smoothest experience when you hire award booking services.

7 Tips For Using Award Booking Services

1. Your Preferences. It clearly helps to have specific destinations in mind, as well as approximate dates. However, I’d suggest having a back-up plan both for destination and dates. Knowing what’s most important helps, too. For instance, are non-stop flights more important than class of service? Would you fly business class even if you’ve got the miles for first class if the route is non-stop and on the exact dates you want? Knowing your preferences helps the award services guide you. Continue reading →

Quick Reader Poll Question: Which Blog Posts do You Want to Read?

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Shelli. 7 Replies

Good evening everyone. We want to write about what YOU want to read about, so please take a few minutes and cast your votes! Please select up to 5 answers.

Did we miss any topics you’d like to read about? Let us know! Thank you for your help and have great evening.

Reminder/New Location: Front Range Travel Hacker’s Meetup at Bruz Beers on February 28 @ 7pm (Denver, CO)

Posted on February 28, 2017 by The Tactical Traveler. Leave a reply

***The location has been changed due to a scheduling conflict with the prior restaurant. Sorry for any inconvenience***

Good morning everyone…just a reminder that we will be having a Meetup tonight at Bruz Beers in Denver, CO. We will be hosting Stefan Krasowski from Rapid Travel Chai! Stefan is a wealth of knowledge and has visited 189 of the world’s 193 UN recognized countries!

So, if you happen to be in the Denver/Front Range area of Colorado tonight, please join us for an informal Meetup at Bruz Beers in Denver, Colorado to share a brew, some food, and talk miles and points.

We are featuring a Q&A this month as mentioned before, where each member can pose one or two specific questions to the group as a whole and tap into everybody’s knowledge. We will also be discussing the possibility of hosting an International Meetup in the future.

Where: 1675 W 67th Ave #100, Denver, CO 80221 (Google Maps)
When: Thursday, February 28 from 7pm-9pm

You can RSVP on our Meetup page, Facebook page, or just feel free to show up.

Hope to see you there…

Front Range Travel Hacker’s Meetup at Bruz Beers on February 28 @ 7pm (Denver, CO)

Posted on February 25, 2017 by The Tactical Traveler. Leave a reply

***Urgent Update (02/27/17@5:00 PM) – Due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict with the prior restaurant, the Meetup location has been changed to Bruz Beers, located at 1675 W 67th Ave #100, Denver, CO 80221. Sorry for the inconvenience!***

Good morning everyone from Seattle FTU (Frequent Traveler University). If you haven’t been to an FTU before, check out Grant’s post from earlier today about the Seattle Advanced FTU.

If you happen to be in the Denver/Front Range area of Colorado next week, please join us for an informal Meetup at Bruz Beers in Denver, Colorado to share a brew, some food, and talk miles and points.

We are featuring a Q&A session this month where each member can pose one or two specific questions to the group as a whole and tap into everybody’s knowledge. We will also be discussing the possibility of hosting an International Meetup in the future.

Where: 1675 W 67th Ave #100, Denver, CO 80221 (Google Maps)
When: Thursday, February 28 from 7pm-9pm