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🧐 Throwback Tuesday: Don't forget your travel audit
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If you've been around since the early days of the Daily Drop, you may remember the time I told you about my weekly "travel audit" routine.
Earlier today while doing my audit, I saved an easy 10,000 points for doing a couple of simple re-bookings. So, since the Daily Drop family has grown so much since that early newsletter, I wanted to give a refresher on that routine.
Basically, here's what I do:
- Spend 15-20 minutes looking at all of my upcoming travel bookings
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Do a search for all of the exact same bookings (same hotels, flights, dates)
- If the prices are better than when I booked, I cancel and rebook it
The nature of travel is that the prices fluctuate constantly and there is never a good way to predict when this will happen or in which direction it will go. Sometimes the prices will go down at the last minute and sometimes they will go up. The same can happen for booking far out in the future. The only way to know is to periodically check.
Over the course of a year, I will save tens of thousands of points and hundreds of dollars. I've seen prices drop so dramatically overnight that I've saved well over a hundred dollars on a single booking just for spending a minute doing this.
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As I mentioned, I saved a ton of points earlier today just from doing this routine. A few weeks ago I booked a night at a Hilton hotel in Bangkok for later this week.
Originally, the booking cost 33,000 Hilton points. Since this was a pretty solid deal, I decided to book it. Over the last few weeks, the price hasn't really fluctuated at all. However, when I did my routine today, I noticed that the price had dropped by 8,000 points.
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Since the booking had free cancellation until the day before the stay, I was able to simply cancel and rebook the hotel in about 30 seconds. Now I have 8,000 extra points in my pocket, which is enough to book an entire separate night at a lower-tier hotel some other time.
Now, all of this relies on having a flexible booking to begin with. The nice thing about booking on points is that generally (but not always), points bookings are changeable or refundable.
When it comes to cash bookings, flexibility usually comes at an extra price. I've found that the cost of adding flexibility pays for itself because of this routine which allows me to take advantage of the flexibility.
Whether you have one trip for the year or you have a dozen, hopefully this helps you save a little cash money down the road.
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💳 Earn up to 5,000 bonus miles through the United Shopping portal
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Until November 18th, you can earn up to 5,000 bonus United miles when you shop in the United MileagePlus shopping portal.
Here's how this offer is structured:
- Earn 500 bonus miles when you spend $150
- Earn 2,000 bonus miles when you spend $600
- Earn 5,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,200
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This deal falls into the category of "sub-par, but might as well get some free miles if you can." the full 5,000-mile bonus is worth about $60, which isn't anything to write home about.
However, these bonus miles are in addition to the points or miles you're already getting from spending on a credit card and the base United miles you're getting from the shopping portal purchases already.
Let's say that you're looking to buy some gifts for the upcoming holiday season. Macy's, which is a great one-stop shop for all kinds of great gifts, is currently offering 5x United miles through this portal.
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If you were to spend $1,200 at Macy's (which may seem like a lot unless you have a big family to shop for), you'd earn the following:
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6,000 United miles for the 5x shopping bonus
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5,000 United miles from the bonus
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At least 1,200 other points/miles (depending on which credit card you use)
Once you start to crunch the numbers, it's actually not a bad deal, especially considering there are some stores that offer 10 or 12 miles per dollar.
Basically, if you're a United fan and have some big spending to do in the next few days, run the numbers and see if you might be able to rake in some extra free airline miles.
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✈️ A sad farewell to an iconic traveler
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Sometimes, I feel like I'm basically living in airports. I find myself in one every few days. Over the last few weeks, I've found myself sleeping in them more than once...
But there is someone out there who actually, legitimately LIVED in an airport... for over a decade.
If you've seen the movie The Terminal (starring America's sweetheart Tom Hanks), you know the story. But you may not know that it's based on a real-life person who sadly passed away just two days ago.
Merhan Karimi Nasseri was an Iranian national who, after fleeing Iran, found himself stateless and stuck in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, where he lived from 1988 until 2006.
Basically, he tried entering the UK without the proper paperwork back in 1988. Since he fled his home country, his passport was no longer valid and he wasn't allowed to enter either country, leaving him trapped in the international transit area of the airport.
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As you can see in the photo above, he was EXTREMELY happy to have an entire movie starring Tom fricking Hanks based on him.
He became a mini-celebrity of the airport, with staff referring to him as "Lord Alfred." He spent his days reading, writing, people-watching, and even studying various topics.
In 2006, he finally left the airport due to his poor health which required him to be hospitalized. He spent the last 16 years living a pretty normal life in Paris but returned to the airport a few weeks ago, where he claimed he was the most comfortable.
Two days ago, Nasseri passed away while in the airport, his favorite place on earth.
This might seem like a sad story, but I think differently. Nasseri was actually offered legal residency in both France and Belgium during his 18 years living in the airport, but refused both times, choosing to remain in the airport. He clearly loved being there and saw the airport as home. The fact that he was able to return to the place he loved so much before passing is also nice to think about.
Still, it's sad to see such an iconic traveler pass away.
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That's all for today! I find the life of Merhan Nasseri so fascinating. There's something both sad and comforting about a person with no country to call home taking refuge in an international transit area, meeting people from all over the world every day.
What's the longest amount of time you've spent inside an airport? Have you saved any money or points from doing the travel audit routine? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media.
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