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Welcome

Friends,

Keeping it brief today—we’re talking about a fun travel topic in 497 words.

Let’s get going.

Links

Links are on pause as we sort out a domain hiccup—should be back tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

Story

My honeymoon in 2015 was probably the best trip of my life—or at least, up to that point. I’m sharing a bit about it today—not to gloat, but to encourage. If I can take an epic honeymoon, you can too.

I have since gone on many more ‘honeymoons’ with my wife since our actual one in 2015. To be clear: we love traveling together, but you get my gist. Epic trips are fun because they are memorable.

The downside? Epic trips are often expensive. But for me, points and miles have made them possible.

Quick ground rule: we all have different definitions of an epic trip. In my world, three things really constitute epic-ness as it pertains to travel. In no particular order, they are as follows:

1. First or business class flights, with bonus points for an extra-awesome airline. When this can be realized for little or marginal cost, it becomes epic.

2. A great place to stay, which is admittedly a vague category. Aside from Hyatt, hotel points tend to have a relatively fixed redemption value, making this piece easier to plan.

3. Out of the box destination, because while I am in full support of families who choose to spend every spring break in the same mountain or beach town, there is a whole world out there.

For Hannah and I this led to a honeymoon that started in Abu Dhabi, continued onto Hong Kong and Bali before making a stop in Sydney and then returning to the States. The driver of our wedding getaway car asked where we were headed for our honeymoon. When I said ‘Indonesia,’ he paused awkwardly before finally replying, ‘Well… be safe.’

It was a hilarious moment.

But our drivers angst aside, we’ve taken plenty of off-the-beaten-path trips since then (and plenty on the beaten path, too). Each one has been special in its own way.

My encouragement is to not think inside the box, but to let your mind wander a bit. Where else are airplanes going (beyond where everyone else goes) that could be fun?

Big Picture: Choosing more adventurous destinations helps your points go further—and makes for better stories.

Happy flying.

Remember, this life you are living has meaning. Thank you for reading. I am grateful you are here and would love to hear from you. If you'd like to write me a note, simply reply to this email. Otherwise I'll see you in the next one.

Be well today. -Tommy

P.S. If I can ever help you plan your next travel adventure (slash help make your points go farther), I’d be delighted. You can schedule time together by replying to this email.