If you could start over...

sriki

sriki

Level 2 Member
italdesign said:
... what would you do differently?

I would go for more modest trips first. I did the biggest and most luxurious trip of my life early on. That spoiled us quick.
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I agree with that a bit. Our first trip was a 6 country Oneworld Explorer award in Biz and second was CX F to HKG. Now, we are just looking at SQ Suites and EY apartments. :)

The thing that I/we would do different is start this in 2008 than in 2013.
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
I alway wondered if people who started out big would feel that way or not. I traveled economy for all of my trips including overseas for literally decades. Former backpacker here so didn't get spoiled until very recently. Indeed I was traveling the world before FF programs. My biggest regret is that in the beginning of FF programs I didn't collect miles every time I flew. I didn't realize the value in the beginning. Sort of like the notion there is no such thing as a free lunch. I for sure could have leveraged some lifetime statuses had I known back in the day.

All four of my children were big competitive athletes. I wish I had been in charge of all the hotels for all of their teams and found a way to leverage that better than I did. I didn't really have time to focus on this when I was younger. So, I guess now that I have time to travel, it makes more sense, but I wish I had known how to maximize this all along. I wouldn't have had the time anyway though.
 
MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
I would have gotten a miles/points earning card when I was traveling for my job. I hit gold with NWA for four years in a row, on trips that averaged less than two thousand miles each way. SO many more miles I would have had.

I also, because of my status, sat in front on most of those trips, without paying extra for it--so I did get spoiled. In fact, my first trans-Atlantic trip, to England and Ireland, I surprised my husband by using points to upgrade us both on the return trip.

And, like Smittytabb, I would have collected miles for every trip I took. They weren't many, back in the day, but they were at least yearly, and always, back then, on NWA.
 
Phantom707

Phantom707

Gold Member
I only recently started, but I can still say that if I stared over, if redefine my goals. My goals all along have been very realistic: funding flights to various parts of the country so that I could visit family (especially family in Hawaii, which is prohibitively costly for me). With that said, though, I realized that... I don't want to say that I don't like spending time with my family, but they can be a bit much after a while. Basically, I rolled hard and fast with one specific goal, and I very much achieved it. However, that boxes me into a particular path that poetically was not the best. Instead of focusing so much on specific airline points, I would've more focused on flexible points to give me the option to say "this time, I won't do that. This time, I have a choice".

If any of that made sense.
 
Matt

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
I don't think I have many regrets, but one might be not flying in fancy F. I'm not really regretting it yet because it remains accessible, but having a little one makes it complicated, especially on a long flight.

And Petra. I spent a month in Egypt and never made it there..
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Matt said:
I don't think I have many regrets, but one might be not flying in fancy F. I'm not really regretting it yet because it remains accessible, but having a little one makes it complicated, especially on a long flight.

And Petra. I spent a month in Egypt and never made it there..
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Oh, I have plenty of travel regrets. Petra is one of them too. Was just talking about that a couple of nights ago to someone I met in Israel who was on her way there. Every place that used to be easier to go to I regret not doing it when I could have.
 
Confectioneer

Confectioneer

San Francisco Bay Area
I was loyal to UA, to the extent of passing up all those opportunities to earn AA miles via churning just because we flew UA. If I could turn back time, I'd change that. #NotCher

But more down-to-earth, our trips used to be 2-3 weeks long. A few years ago we discovered we can still have a great time on international trips even when they're shorter. So I'd fit in more trips, doing this over.
 
S

SanDiego1K

Level 2 Member
I have a wonderful travel life. Several decades into it, I'd only change thinking about what places require significant fitness to see. I'd get to them sooner rather than later. I managed the 1400 steps at Sigirya (Sri Lanka) but it was a challenge. I went to Petra this spring. It was amazing, but I didn't explore it as extensively as I might have years earlier. Machu Picchu requires a lot of fitness. Even more, it requires tolerance of high elevation. I didn't find that a lot of fun, so took Lhasa off my travel list. I'm still debating the Galapagos. I have concerns about wet landings and getting in and out of the boats. Contrast this with safaris in Africa, where I think a 90 year old could easily go. You sit in a vehicle and have animals spotted and pointed out to you.

I remember early in my career talking to the wife of a German customer. She had never traveled to the United States, instead focusing her travel elsewhere. She always figured she would be able to travel in the US. We have good infrastructure and we are politically stable. It took me a bit to understand her perspective but now I totally get it. I'm glad I made it to Pakistan and am sad I didn't make it to Syria.
 
S

Ski4ever

Level 2 Member
Started very, very casually in 2009. Wish I would've hit the mint harder, aa harder... Heck, everything harder. I look back at 100k aa cards and wonder why I wasn't keeping spreadsheets with dates and putting the thought I am now, but you live and you learn!
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Do Galapagos now @SanDiego1K ! It is not one of the ones I would consider taxing compared to a lot of other trips. I actually tried to plan the toughest trips first when I was younger and in good shape and I am saving the U.S. highlights and more easy trips for later. I have tried to get any that are isolated, high altitude, developing country type ones out of the way earlier. I still have quite a few of those left to do, but the one thing that people don't think about is isolation. A place that is isolated is a bigger threat than people realize. I really felt that in Antarctica because you know how far you are from anywhere. But this is also true of safari. At any rate, my theory has always been to do as much as I can when I can. Some are always going to be harder and some are going to change.
 
cocobird

cocobird

Level 2 Member
My big regret is not traveling more with my mom who loved to travel. I kept telling her we would have time when I retired. While I got a couple of trips with her, little did I know that an accident would stop her from ever traveling again. I can hardly forgive myself.
 
oopl

oopl

Silver Member
If I would go pack I would credit flights to one alliance airline each instead of ending up with chunks of miles on different international airlines that's been hard to redeem.
 
J

Jm2015

New Member
We all have should-have-taken-that-particular-trip regrets and mine is a big one: my best friends (one of whom is Syrian) got married in Syria in 2010. I had a ticket that I cancelled because of a terrible death in the family. I missed not only that celebration but group trips to Aleppo and so many incredible places that are virtually destroyed today. It would have honored the person who passed more if I had taken that journey.

In terms of the larger travel/points/miles picture, my prime 20s backpacking days could have earned round-the-world trips many times over. The culmination was a $20k travel fellowship from my university in 2008. If the flights (spanning three continents) didn't earn UA miles, I earned nothing, and my CCs at the time were no earning.

Well, that and the mint deal!
 
Matt

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
smittytabb said:
Do Galapagos now @SanDiego1K ! It is not one of the ones I would consider taxing compared to a lot of other trips. I actually tried to plan the toughest trips first when I was younger and in good shape and I am saving the U.S. highlights and more easy trips for later. I have tried to get any that are isolated, high altitude, developing country type ones out of the way earlier. I still have quite a few of those left to do, but the one thing that people don't think about is isolation. A place that is isolated is a bigger threat than people realize. I really felt that in Antarctica because you know how far you are from anywhere. But this is also true of safari. At any rate, my theory has always been to do as much as I can when I can. Some are always going to be harder and some are going to change.
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Seconded. I found it super easy, and loved it. Do it now, it'll work out and is well worth it.
 
H

houstonmama

Level 2 Member
I regret not using my BB more aggressively when I first opened it. I also should have opened my siblings and parents one sooner too! There were months when I didn't load the 5k! What was I thinking o_O.

I regret not going to Croatia. I was in Spain and didn't pull the trigger fast enough on a flight so I ended up going to Prague and Hungary but cutting out Croatia.
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Jm2015 said:
We all have should-have-taken-that-particular-trip regrets and mine is a big one: my best friends (one of whom is Syrian) got married in Syria in 2010. I had a ticket that I cancelled because of a terrible death in the family. I missed not only that celebration but group trips to Aleppo and so many incredible places that are virtually destroyed today. It would have honored the person who passed more if I had taken that journey.

In terms of the larger travel/points/miles picture, my prime 20s backpacking days could have earned round-the-world trips many times over. The culmination was a $20k travel fellowship from my university in 2008. If the flights (spanning three continents) didn't earn UA miles, I earned nothing, and my CCs at the time were no earning.

Well, that and the mint deal!
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Totally agree about Syria. And a lot of other places that are now harder than they were before, if not impossible. I have some friends who went on an amazing tour of Syria with guides they had met touring Turkey. I met them when I was traveling in Bulgaria and we like the same kind of travel. I met them after their Syria trip. I would be kicking myself (like you) if I had had a chance to do it and hadn't. Feel the same way about Libya, Lebanon, Ukraine, among others.

In terms of disappointment, I was actually on a ship on the west coast of Africa and it had major problems and so we missed a bunch of countries and ports. Basically we had to get off in Ghana and missed, Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal, Western Sahara, Gibraltar, and Morocco, as well as the final destination, Malaga, Spain. It was really hard at the time (this was a couple of years ago), but then with the whole Ebola outbreak, I really am sorry not to have done it. The only destination I have made it to of those I missed is Morocco. So I guess on this trip it would have been worth it to go on the more expensive trip with NatGeo my friend and I had booked and switched to something else to save money. The NatGeo ship made the whole tour. No one is making this sailing anymore so it was a real missed opportunity.
 
Brian Knudsen

Brian Knudsen

Bknut83
I took tons of trips and didn't earn miles and points the way I should have. If I could go back with a handful of knowledge I'd be much "richer" in points/miles
 
BrandiP

BrandiP

New Member
I would not let miles expire. Started several years ago, got many Southwest miles only to find them expired when I actually wanted to use them. So sad.
 
J

justcallmeima

Level 2 Member
I've been doing this all of six months, but for what it's worth, I would stick to the 90+ days between apps and go for a cash back card a little earlier
 
S

Sweet Willie

New Member
we've always been modest with our trips, rarely booking F/J although my princess (I mean wife) has flown F/J overseas far more than I have, due to her strict vaca policy at work, I'm usually the mule flying economy the day prior with all our bags, I'm just too cheap to redeem for F/J on myself.

If I could do all over, I would have started as an AA person vs UA, being based in Chicago this would have been easy to do. UA was extremely good to us in the 90s & early 2000s but then went to crap. Getting 6 SWUs per year was nice but getting 2 extra eVIPS per year would have been very beneficial.
 
Milestogo

Milestogo

New Member
I would most certainly start much earlier and do more of it. I have friends whose parents passed after languishing 5 years in a nursing home. Their big regret was that the parents never made it to Hawaii (their lifelong dream) because of family obligations, finances, etc. I always remembered that and made sure to take the trips that were the most important to me and the rest are just gifts. I will not pass with travel regrets. I agree with previous posters about doing the physically demanding trips young. There are still lots of wonderful places to visit and I still have miles to go so it is my responsibility to find the opportunities that appeal to me and not worry about what I missed.
 
D

Domat

Level 2 Member
Mis
Brian Knudsen said:
Petra is breathtaking. You can spend as little as a few hours or days there.View media item 404View media item 403
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Missed the photos above unfortunately. My first Business class trip with points was the trifecta of Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Awesome trip. Petra was great. The Pyramids were incredible but I was an anceint egypt nut since I was a child so that may have clouded my judgement for them. The place I stayed us had our room overlooking the Pyramids and when the guy casually opened the curtains and said "so you wanted Pyramid view room"... My mouth dropped. I did once vow to never visit those places but I am glad I broke it for my nephews bday.

Link below broken
https://www.flickr .com/photos/51829832@N07/15102998619/in/dateposted-public/

back on topic.. I did like many here and never really cared about points thinking they were worthless until a few years ago. Such a waste.
 
MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
Although I do try to follow this advice, I want to emphasize the importance of seizing the day.

My mom was 3/4 Irish, and always wanted to visit Ireland. One year my BIL, who traveled a lot internationally, offered Mom and Dad enough miles to book a trip to Dublin. They never went. They convinced themselves that they didn't have the time, the cost of the hotels, etc would be too high, blah, blah, blah. And Mom, who adored her vision of herself as an Irishwoman, never saw the lovely town from which her own mom had emigrated as a child.
 
T

Trevor B

Level 2 Member
italdesign said:
... what would you do differently?

I would go for more modest trips first. I did the biggest and most luxurious trip of my life early on. That spoiled us quick.
Click to expand...
I would have been more willing to test the limits of what was possible and eaten more ice cream when I could get it.
 
Beltway Explorers

Beltway Explorers

Level 2 Member
I would have taken more advantage of MS opportunities, especially since I drove by CVS on my way to work, but only stopped about once a month if I hadn't hit spend through needed purchases.

I'm still working on convincing family to travel with us to make obli-cations a little more fun (plus no one has to play host!). My family was easy to convince, but I'm still working on my in-laws.
 
Suzie

Suzie

Level 2 Member
Wish I had understood the points and miles game a long time ago! I earned airline points the hard way - by actually buying tickets!

My dh's father passed away at 58 - owned his own business and never took that vacation that was going to happen when he retired. So it is easy to convince my dh to travel.

I used to have a hard time using miles to fly J or F. It was like spending money from my pocket. We took our first F/J trip in October. And it was my dh's goal to fly around the world. So we spent the miles - so glad we did.

That being said, I flew Y to South Africa in September (Etihad mistake fare) with my 25 year old son. I was no worse for the wear and it was wonderful to spend that time with my adult son!

I will give it up for J or F now, but am happy to grab a Y mistake fare anyday!
 
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