Stacking IHG promotions for maximum value

All travel rewards programs are not created equal. While it's true that "something is better than nothing", something plus more is even better. This why I love IHG Rewards for hotel stays...the program offers many ways to maximize travel benefits.

In this post, I will describe how I recently "stacked" IHG benefits to earn about $350 in free hotels nights while only spending about $240...making a stay in Hong Kong better than free.

Anatomy of a pennies on the dollar trip

Some people are skeptical of stories of inexpensive travel. In this post, I'll share the details of a recent trip to provide a real-world example of how one can spend $20 per day...or less...on international travel and lodging.*

3 for the price of 1 travel

This week, United announced a change in how one can book award travel. The implications are significant for people who use frequent flier miles to travel for pennies on the dollar.

In this article, I'm going to do two things...some of you might find the second one useful, especially if you're interested in saving money, and turning a basic vacation into an incredible adventure.

There's more to travel than flying "The Big 3"

I've got A LOT more flying ahead of me
to make a dent in this list...

While I'm a believer in the old adage, "life is a journey, not a destination", that doesn't apply to airline travel. For me, flights are time in a big aluminum tube that I endure so that I can enjoy more significant adventures once I'm on solid ground.

What follows is a list of travel carriers I have used to save time and money while expanding the new destinations I'm able to visit. Hopefully it inspires readers to think "outside the box" when it comes to planning an adventure.

Money for nothing...in the form of hotel stays

What if someone gave you a $500 stay in the heart of London for doing what you normally do?

In essence, that's what happened to me this summer as I decided to get better at maximizing hotel reward benefits.

Travel costs for round-the-world 2014

Reaction to my most recent trip has been mixed; some have been inspired to travel more often, while others cite all sorts of reasons why they can't. 

Either way, a common concern is cost. After crunching the numbers, I've come up with a figure that should be encouraging to most aspiring globetrotters...

Round the World... for peanuts

Peanuts? I like peanuts.

They say that reading is fundamental...that includes travel blogs and forums, right?

I was all set to go to London and Paris this fall--a few months ago, I'd booked airfare using some frequent flier miles, identified which hotels were ideally located for short visits, and looked at what's involved to take the Chunnel between the two cities.

Then I ran across this*: Under $400: From Los Angeles – Visit Budapest / Prague then Tokyo, One way, including all taxes.