After four amazing days in Skye, we made our way to the picturesque river town of Inverness. We rented two apartments with lovely views on the banks of the river to use as our base of operations for the next five days. Here are some of the things we did and saw during our time there. Obviously, the big attraction in the area is Loch Ness. While not the most beautiful loch in Scotland (according to the guidebooks), it nevertheless remains the most famous due to a mythical creature that purportedly inhabits its waters. The funny thing is it doesn’t seem like anyone takes the idea of a Loch Ness monster seriously anymore, especially the people who run the tourism industry there. Instead, it feels like more of a wink [...]

I've been thinking lots of thoughts about Chase's 5/24 guideline so I figured I might as well write them down. If you are unaware, it is Chase's arbitrary automatic declines of credit card applications for anyone who has opened more than 5 cards in the 24 months. Notable exceptions are Chase Private Clients, in-branch pre-approvals, and for some reason certain Chase cards like the Ritz Carlton card are unaffected by the guideline. I've finally given up on reconsideration for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, my wife was approved and I'm tired of talking to CSRs <= get it? I did speak to a Customer Resolutions Specialist (CRS!), who does seem to have more power than the regular reconsideration people. Still, she didn't have enough power to overturn my denial. As she and [...]

Four years ago I started this tiny little blog to, what else, help my friends and family! Four years later...I remain a tiny blog. I am not exaggerating or being humble. But other than that, tons of other things have changed! Here are my pithy thoughts and observations. (Note: the original intent of this post was to say my observations were pithy but then make DEEP MEANINGFUL AND INSIGHTFUL comments about the state of our game, but I mostly ended up reflecting. In case you don't want to waste your time.) On August 26, 2012, my wife was four months pregnant. Now I have two beautiful kids who have changed my perspective in more ways than I can count. Looking back on the past four years, it's been amazing to [...]

We spent four nights in Skye, but I would have happily spent more. It really is the type of place where one can just enjoy taking their time and exploring. I covered the first half of our time there in my last post; here are a few other things we found worthwhile. There are a lot of well known hikes on the Isle of Skye. One of the most famous ones cuts from the Fairy Pools through the Black Hills and ends at the Sligachan Hotel. That looks like an amazing hike and the only reason why I regretted (for a split second) bringing my kids on the trip. It takes 4-6 hours and there is cold beer waiting for you at the end if you stop by the hotel [...]

Back in June, I wrote about passing on the Jetblue/Virgin America mileage run deal. Basically I said it wasn't worth the time or extra effort. Oops. I'll blame @robertdwyer for corrupting me and convincing me that the deal was indeed worth it. In the end, I earned 75,000 Jetblue points and 50,000 Virgin America points for 20,000 SPG points, 25,000 TYP points, and $150. Time will tell whether it was worth it, but what's done is done and I can't go back! In other news, I took the first mileage run of my entire life this morning! We found a $114 fare from Boston Logan to Nantucket, MA. The outbound departed at 6:35 AM and the return departed at 8:00 AM. Since this might be my last mileage run ever, [...]

To do: Examine the credit cards in your wallet and try to determine which type of rewards they earn. One thing I've noticed writing this guide is that beginner's guides are difficult to write! How best to cover the plethora of information? I guess the options are write briefly or try to cover everything and have people use it like an encyclopedia of sorts. I've chosen the latter :P. But I digress... Before we get to applying for credit cards, we need to understand the four types of credit card rewards out there that are relevant to travel hackers. Each reward type deserves a place in your overall strategy when utilized correctly. The saying "cash is king" applies in the miles and points world as it does in the rest [...]