Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 31 seconds
Hey y’all. Welcome back to Daily Drop. Today is a very special day, and we’re going to have a VERY special newsletter.
You see, on this very day (August 10th) back in 1885, Leo Daft, an immigrant from England, opened the first electric streetcar ever in downtown Baltimore.
It was amazing, and totally changed public transit in Baltimore.
Little did Leo know that just 137 short years later, his accomplishment would be completely overshadowed (put to shame, really) when the greatest travel newsletter was launched on the very same day in 2022.
That’s right, folks - today is the 1-year anniversary of Daily Drop. And it’s time to celebrate and party like it’s 2006.
Since our debut newsletter one year ago, here are some of our accomplishments:
255 newsletters sent
593,231 new subscribers since day 1
33,000 members in the Daily Drop Lounge
2 million+ views on Youtube
78,000 Instagram followers (let’s get this number up, folks)
Too many cat jokes 🐈
It’s pretty wild to think of how much we’ve grown (in a number of ways) in such a short time, and we couldn’t be more thankful to you all, especially those of you who have stuck around since the very beginning!
As the primary writer of Daily Drop, I’ve taken you all on some pretty wild adventures around the world over the last year… Since our very first email, here is where I’ve been:
To break this down, the last year of travel for me has included:
59 countries
112 flights
247 hours in the air
272 nights in hotels
5 sinus infections
Honestly, those are some pretty messed up stats… It’s hitting me particularly hard as I sit here writing this from my hometown in New Hampshire. Ten years ago, I had never traveled anywhere, so the fact that one year can look like that is just… well… very good.
Now, this isn’t meant to sound like me gloating about all of my travels.
Rather, this is to show you that I don’t just sit down in a dark room and tell you about all these travel hacks you should be doing.
I’m VERY much doing them myself, and I hope you take comfort in knowing that you’re getting travel advice from someone who uses himself as a guinea pig on for of these travel hacks.
But don’t take it from me… We’ve had a TON of you reach out to tell us about the success you’ve had in travel hacking around the country and the world, thanks to hacks we’ve shared.
And we’ve taken note of some of those EPIC photos and success stories from the past year 👇
In fact, I also wanted to share a few highlights from the lounge:
Jay was so inspired by a trip that Kara and Nate took that he used his new travel hacking skills to recreate their trip and stay in a luxury all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. 👇
Another reader and member of the lounge was able to book the longest flight in the world… in business class… with points!!! 🤯
I get to travel a lot in my life, but man am I jealous of that flight…
Please send pics of that beautiful plane when you go…
Another win that I saw recently was this post from Madison, who booked a full around-the-world trip through Southeast Asia and Europe.
It sounds like she and her boyfriend got some pretty amazing deals. Needless to say, I am very proud. 🥲
Epic trip.
And these people aren’t doing these things out of nowhere. We’ve had some pretty epic hacks over the last year to inspire these kinds of trips…
After we told you about how to get a free(ish) Apple AirTag, we had over a thousand people take us up on the offer.
Even my mom’s cat subscribed to Daily Drop and picked up her free AirTag. 👇
But the AirTag deal looks like CHILD’S PLAY compared to some of the other hacks we’ve busted out…
Anyone remember when I told you how to get a free cruise a couple of months ago?
I know a bunch of you were able to do the same thing, and I booked my free cruise for November of this year. Maybe I’ll see some of you there. 😉
One of my personal favorite hacks was the offer to get a full year of the Southwest Companion Pass just by signing up for a credit card.
While I know hundreds of you decided to hop on that bandwagon, I don’t travel around the U.S. much, so I decided to forgo the companion pass and continue living my life with crippling, companionless loneliness.
But I still flew some Southwest…
One of my favorite hacks of all time also seemed to resonate with quite a few of you…
My newsletter about the art of Suite Talking has probably gone down as the “greatest hit” of Daily Drop.
I have people reach out to me ALL the time with success stories of using that tactic to get free hotel upgrades, even when they don’t have any status.
It just goes to show you that many of the best hacks don’t necessarily require any credit card, status, or points. 🤷🏼♂️
In more recent history, however, Bilt launched what I think is the single best travel hack of the year by offering free Explorist elite status and a fast-track path to Globalist (FYI - this expired a while back).
I jumped on this deal back when it came out, and I have been really enjoying the many perks of Hyatt status. I honestly think it’s the best hotel status out there, and I can’t be happier to know that plenty of you did the same.
Needless to say, it’s been a wild ride being a part of this newsletter, and I know I speak for everyone on the Daily Drop team when I say THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking this journey with us. 🙏🏼
Obviously, none of us would be here without all of you. And I am not kidding when I say I love you. All of you. Even those of you who hate my jokes sometimes… 😉
In fact… I love you so much, I’ve been thinking about how we can take our relationship to the next level…
Any chance you’d want to meet up sometime? In person…?
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I’m not making any promises for a meetup…
But I will say this: I’d love to meet you in person one day. So if you feel the same, respond to the poll above to let us know.
All of this reminiscing is exhausting… I think I’ll take a nap…
But I’m so happy to get to share my true passion every day, and even happier to do it with all of you.
So take care, and I’ll see you tomorrow for another normal edition of Daily Drop. ❤️