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Maui is a fun island to visit. There are many activities to do, places to eat, beaches to visit, and views to see. I’ve traveled to Maui every year for the past three years and have played tourist on those staycations, however, for this particular trip we just relaxed since it was only me and my mom. We decided to skip the Thanksgiving festivities to give mom a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday, the first time ever that she didn’t cook a turkey.

How Did We Fly?

Our preferred airline for island hopping is Hawaiian Airlines. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Diamond Resorts, Ka'anapali, Ka'anapali Beach Club, Maui, staycation, Whaler's Village

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Dec 04

Round The World: Seoul, South Korea

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Our last stop on our Round The World trip was Seoul, South Korea, a modern city with old tradition intermingled sporadically. It’s a very clean and orderly place that I enjoyed visiting for the first time. By this time, we were exhausted from the rest of the trip, so it was good we booked two activities that required very little walking.

Tags: DMZ, JW Marriott Seoul, Round the World, Seoul, South Korea

Dec 02

Round The World: Beijing, China

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China, our fourth stop on our Round The World trip, is the next superpower of the modern world, if not already. Their industrial revolution is rapidly changing cities into major metropolises, with millions of residents flocking to those cities for better jobs. While China is still constricted politically, they are opening their borders to share their rich history and culture, which is great for world travelers.

We decided on Beijing so we could visit one of the world’s greatest wonders: the Great Wall, a man-made structure that can be seen from space. I also remember watching the movie The Last Emperor when I was younger, so exploring the Forbidden City was a must for us. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Beijing, China, Forbidden City, Great Wall, Park Hyatt Beijing, points

Dining Rewards Network, Miles & Points

Dec 01

Earn Miles without Flying: Dining Rewards Network

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An easy way to earn miles is registering your credit cards to a dining program. I’ve earned thousands of miles over the years just by eating at restaurants. As you can see from the picture above, this year I’m focused on earning American (I’m a VIP Member) and United miles from their dining programs.

How Does This Work?

It’s easy to sign up. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: dining, miles, points

Nov 29

Round The World: Athens, Greece

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Our third stop on our Round The World trip was a new place that we hadn’t visited before. I chose Athens because of its history and culture, and more importantly I loved studying Greek mythology in school. It has been a dream of mine to walk where the Greek Gods once roamed the earth. I was hoping Apollo, Athena or Dionysus would show themselves during our visit, but I suppose they were too busy to grace us with their presence. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Acropolis, Apollo, Athens, Greece, Intercontinental Athenaeum, Parthenon, points

Credit Cards, Hawaiian Airlines

Nov 28

Earn 50,000 HawaiianMiles with the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard

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*UPDATED 12/4/15: offer extended to December 31st.*

Hawaiian Airlines, along with Delta, has been my preferred airline for over a decade. I fly Hawaiian to the neighbor islands, West Coast and New York, and have plans to fly to their international destinations like Japan, China and Australia in the near future. I surmise that a large number of people in Hawaii choose to fly Hawaiian as well and probably already have the Bank of Hawaii/Barclaycard HawaiianMiles credit card. I’ve had mine since college (originally with Bank of America), earning hundreds of thousands of miles and redeeming for many award tickets throughout the years.

For the few people who do not have this card, there is a great sign-up bonus of 50,000 miles, increased from their normal 35,000 offer. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: credit card, Hawaiian Airlines, HawaiianMiles, Sign-up bonus

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Nov 27

Round The World: Zurich, Switzerland

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I have been to Switzerland several times as I have family who live there, thus adding Zurich as our second stop on our Round The World trip was a no-brainer. It’s a beautiful country with scenic views of mountains, lakes and cows (who are constantly ringing their cow bells, but the noise is worth it as they produce amazing milk for cheese, ice cream and chocolate). While this particular visit was only a couple days spent mostly with family, I’ll include some past activities that I participated in while visiting Switzerland. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: miles, points, Switzerland, Zurich

Miles & Points, Shopping Portals

Nov 27

Earn Miles without Flying: Shopping Portals

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A large percentage of the miles I have earned have come from online shopping. I make the effort to purchase as much as I can online, such as appliances, clothes, office/school supplies, makeup, and more. I do enjoy shopping in stores and window shopping, but before I purchase in a store I always check online to see if the item can be bought for the same price or cheaper with free shipping or store pickup and easy exchange.

The picture above shows the three main portals that I use on a consistent basis. As you can see, I earned a lot of points in 2014 through the Delta Skymiles shopping portal. My goal was to book a Round The World award ticket for 180,000 miles, so I got close just by shopping for items that I was planning to purchase anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: e-shopping, miles, points, shopping portal

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Nov 26

Getting Started with Miles & Points

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Miles & Points

*UPDATED 12/1/15: I moved this page to the header on top, so click there for any new updates. Mahalo!*

Earning miles and points is not limited to frequent travelers. In fact, the millions of points I have earned over the years have not come from flying on a plane or staying in hotels. In the past few years, I’ve taken six international trips and a dozen mainland trips booked solely on points. Here are some ways to get started. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: airlines, credit cards, hotels, miles, points, transferable points

Nov 25

Round The World: Madrid, Spain

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