If you could give just ONE piece of advice......

[Mark3000]

I know this web site is about working out if 1 mile equals $0.07 or $0.12, my personal philosophy actually goes against that.

Don't worry about $200 difference between Air Asia X and Singapore Air. .

A wonderful philosophy and many would agree in principle. Except for those who like business class the difference between Air Asia and Singapore is more like $2000

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I know this web site is about working out if 1 mile equals $0.07 or $0.12, my personal philosophy actually goes against that.

Don't worry about $200 difference between Air Asia X and Singapore Air. Don't worry about 10000 miles difference between Singapore Air and Virgin Atlantic. These are really small amounts when you look at the total cost of a trip. Spend your energy on making every trip meaningful for yourself, worry about whether you should die sky diving or die in the cold at Milford Sound in winter., not $200 or 10000 miles. You will be thinking about your life, the time your have with your loved one, the fun you had, when your time is up. No one, ever, thinks about $200 extra they paid xx_ airways when they look back at their lives.

I get what you are getting at.

But by maximising my earn and burn I actually get to in indulge in my travel fantasies more often, and more richly.

Travel is food for the soul. But if you are clever with how you "pay" you can dine more often.

 

[Chicken]

Travel is food for the soul. But if you are clever with how you "pay" you can dine more often.

Oh yeah, being financially smart is pretty much a requirement to live on this planet (since everything is about money), and this is why we are all here on AFF.

But treat points as a game to save some money and a challenge, don't be obsessed and try to chase down to the very last 10 miles.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Oh yeah, being financially smart is pretty much a requirement to live on this planet (since everything is about money), and this is why we are all here on AFF.

But treat points as a game to save some money and a challenge, don't be obsessed and try to chase down to the very last 10 miles.

I don't chase a point unless it is effective for me to so and money involved to after considering any of my time it. And with companies like WOW, being selective actually trains them to supply more generous offers.

However having said that small and large earns can coughulatively add up to a sizeable sum.
I actually treat my Points Running as a part time job, and just as I would not work for peanuts, I do not not chase points for peanuts either.

 

[harvyk]

I know this web site is about working out if 1 mile equals $0.07 or $0.12, my personal philosophy actually goes against that.

Don't worry about $200 difference between Air Asia X and Singapore Air. Don't worry about 10000 miles difference between Singapore Air and Virgin Atlantic. These are really small amounts when you look at the total cost of a trip. Spend your energy on making every trip meaningful for yourself, worry about whether you should die sky diving or die in the cold at Milford Sound in winter., not $200 or 10000 miles. You will be thinking about your life, the time your have with your loved one, the fun you had, when your time is up. No one, ever, thinks about $200 extra they paid xx_ airways when they look back at their lives.

I agree, ultimately it'll be the sum of your experiences you'll remember on your death bed, not how you paid for those experiences (unless it was one of the aforementioned experiences which put you on your deathbed).

Whilst this whole site is geared towards getting the most out of your traveling dollar / point, I also agree that sometimes you do need to actually step back and smell the roses, preferably whilst on some foreign shore, and unable to actually speak the same language as the florist.

That said, thanks to the advice of this website, I now know what long haul J is like. I've lazed away afternoons in the FLounge, I've had the courage to just dive in so to speak, and do / see things I could never have imagined seeing, and all that has come about from learning how to save $200 here and there on my travels.