So, why start a blog in 2022? I’ve often thought about it, but never taken the plunge. I’ve followed along as great blogs like One Mile at a Time, View from the Wing, Frequent Miler, Miles to Memories, and God Save the Points have set the pace in the points and miles world. Then of course there’s the 800-lb gorilla of this space, The Points Guy. Ask most inexperienced points and miles users (like that friend who didn’t know you could book a flight from LAX to Hawaii with British Airways Avios) and this is the site they will mention. While many of us have graduated from the more basic articles, it has a broad reach among the public. There are also many Facebook groups that give great advice to members (both beginner and expert) about how best to leverage their points and miles.

I started becoming serious about collecting points and miles back in the late 90’s. In fact, I’ve been a Flyertalk member since 1999. I was traveling every week from South Florida to various cities as a consultant and racking up large amounts of airline miles and hotel points. I also had to put all my travel expenses on a Diner’s Club card (there’s a reference for the kids!) Once a year, there was a double points promo with British Airways so I moved all my points over and had enough to book two round-trip business-class tickets to New Zealand and Australia. My wife and I took that two-week trip in 2001, just before 9/11. We also stayed for free in Auckland, Sydney and Cairns. It’s still one of our favorite trips. Not long after that, we had our second child and moved to the Atlanta area for a local project. I wanted to get off the road permanently, so I enrolled in law school at night. Because we had young kids and because of my school schedule, we traveled less frequently – just a few trips to Disney or to see family when our schedules allowed. I lost my focus on points and miles.

Around 2015, as our kids were older and we had a bit more flexibility (I had started my own law practice in 2011), I started rekindling my interest in points, miles and travel. I learned about which credit cards we should open, which points are good to collect, and how to leverage all of this into gaining status with airlines, hotels, and rental car companies.

Back to the question, why start now? I find myself giving advice and direction to many family members and friends as the only “points and miles” person that they know. I thought it made sense to start putting this advice in writing and sharing it with a broader audience.

Now, I would like to share that knowledge with you from the perspective of empty nesters who like to travel comfortably (i.e., business class on longer flights) and stay comfortably (i.e., use hotel status for upgrades and extra amenities), but keep one eye on that retirement account (i.e, be frugal). I plan to blog about deals, credit cards and our own trip reports. I’ll start by sharing some recent reports from our travels during the covid era.