Hello and Welcome! I guess I should start by talking a bit about myself and my hopes for this blog. I’m certainly not as qualified as some of my “colleagues” here on BoardingArea.com in terms of industry experience, but I hope you’ll find my ramblings, erm, views interesting nonetheless. I’m a college student at a major university and love to travel. I spend a lot of my time over at FlyerTalk.com, so you’ll see quite a few links to threads over there, where I go by the handle “lucky9876coins,” hence the “Lucky” nickname. I fly mostly United and stay mostly at Hilton and Priority Club properties, so my apologies in advance if my posts are somewhat centric on those programs at times, although I’ll do my best to cover as many programs as I can. Last year I traveled a little over 180,000 miles, and will likely top that this year. I’m a complete miles and points junky, and can get a wee bit carried away at times.
I get asked all the time how I manage to travel so much and still be a student. The simple answer is that I spend about 30 weekends a year in the air, and several weeks during my breaks traveling. Last year I was fortunate enough to travel abroad quite a bit, including visits to Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore. As you may be able to tell, I especially like the Asia/Pacific region, although have also done an extensive amount of travel in Europe since that’s where my family is from and still where most of my relatives live.
As the subtitle of the blog says, I’ll be sharing some of my tips and tricks, as well as some of the more interesting parts of my travels, regarding both the journey and destination. Lots of times the journey is the destination for me, so don’t let it surprise you if I fly just to fly, or for that matter to accumulate points. From promotions to loopholes, I’d like to share as much information as I can. If you have any ideas, tips, tricks, comments, stories, or just want to send something my way, I’m available!
Thanks for reading and enjoy!
Regards,
Ben
Happy 15th Lucky xx
Happy 12th anniversary.
Just saw your first blog.
Wow what a difference between now and then.
Keep up your great work.
Congrats on 10 years. Now for 10 more!
Did you ever make that flightmemory page?
@ SG -- Sadly not.
I love your blog, Lucky! 615 pages as of February 15th, 2014 - that's a lot of ramblings, erm, views that I've enjoyed - every bit if it!
@ CalAggie 13 -- Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it!
Hey Lucky, been a loyal reader since early 2011. I wanted to see how you started out and stumbled on to your first few postings. It's great to see how you've evolved over the last few years! Keep up the good work!
Again, thanks for the question. You don't want to know how little I spend flying. I think you'd be surprised, so I'll leave it at that. Despite the fact that I enjoy flying/travel, I wouldn't do that much travel if it didn't economically make sense. The miles I earn are worth more than the money I spend, and that's when valuing miles at around 1.5 cents per mile, a very conservative estimate.
Who says I...
Again, thanks for the question. You don't want to know how little I spend flying. I think you'd be surprised, so I'll leave it at that. Despite the fact that I enjoy flying/travel, I wouldn't do that much travel if it didn't economically make sense. The miles I earn are worth more than the money I spend, and that's when valuing miles at around 1.5 cents per mile, a very conservative estimate.
Who says I can't have fun and travel? I don't think there are/should be any age boundaries to travel, and I really enjoy it.
With all due respect, I have to ask...
How does a college student have enough money to travel 30 weekends of the year? I was on a full-ride with a stipend, but I still couldn't afford to travel half that much.
And if you're in college, why not go have fun with your college friends on the weekends.
Once you're out in the real world, it's a whole lot different. Save the travel for later, have fun in college now. You won't get another chance to do it.
I actually don't have a FlightMemory page, but I'll work on getting one and post a link ASAP. Thanks though!:)
Hey Lucky,
I'm sure you have a FlightMemory page. That must be an impressive one! Can you share it with us here?
Cheers,
Thanks for the comment Rich. Actually, for most of these "mileage runs" I managed to sneak in a dinner with some FlyerTalkers/friends, which is always a lot of fun. I actually enjoy flying even if that's all involved, especially since I know what it can get me. Like I mentioned I managed to visit Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore last year, and when I say visit I mean spend several weeks there and...
Thanks for the comment Rich. Actually, for most of these "mileage runs" I managed to sneak in a dinner with some FlyerTalkers/friends, which is always a lot of fun. I actually enjoy flying even if that's all involved, especially since I know what it can get me. Like I mentioned I managed to visit Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore last year, and when I say visit I mean spend several weeks there and not just fly there, which I couldn't have done if I hadn't done these mileage runs.
"I travelled over 180,000 miles last year" - Didn't you fly back and forth across the country never leaving airports for most of that though? Maybe it is just me but I don't see that as 'travelling'.
Don't students have better things to do than sit on planes criss-crossing the country and the planet on trips to nowhere?
Cool -- another blog to keep up with. Thanks in advance for your tips, lucky!