Greetings! I'm Adam from Iowa, I've been lurking for a while and absorbing all there is to learn about points/miles/MS etc. My RSS feed is up to 47 travel and points blogs (!). At first my head was spinning with so much to learn, but I've quickly been bitten by the travel bug.
I did my first AOR 6 months ago and picked up:
- American Express Everyday Preferred
- Club Carlson Visa
- Chase United MileagePlus (50k offer)
- Discover It
I got in on the tail-end of Amazon Payments to help with my minimum spends, and squeaked in a few CC loads via Serve on the Club Carlson card before USBank started charging cash advance fees.
My first trip with points and miles was just booked for this fall: round trip on United to London and Dublin, with a stopover in Toronto on the way back. Club Carlson points (and the free night with the credit card) is getting me 8 free nights in London and Dublin.
I've also been eagerly learning about airline alliances and the "sweet-spots" of the various programs. Until 6 months ago, I had no idea you could use United, American, etc. miles on partner airlines. (What a newb!
) Learning about using Avios for short-haul trips on American has been a highlight. I took advantage of the Membership Rewards 40% bonus in January to build up a nice stash of Avios.
I'm planning my next round of applications, and will be taking advantage of the Barclays US Airways 50k and Citi American 50k offers. Surprisingly, I received a pre-screened offer from Barclays in the mail. I originally tried to apply for the Barclays card 6 months ago, but was not able to because I live in Iowa. Barclays has not allowed Iowa residents to apply because Iowa restricts the amount of fees card issuers can charge.
It has been truly exhilarating to jump down the rabbit hole of this hobby, and I am looking forward to many new places to visit.