Author Archives: misterselfish

Visiting Kyoto’s Free Shrines

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Asia, Japan, Kyoto

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As the long time capital of Japan, Kyoto has no shortage of sites.  Designated as a UNESCO world-heritage site, Kyoto actually has 17 UNESCO sites within city bounds, and contains roughly 20% of Japan’s National Treasures.

But a lot of these sites cost money – usually 300 – 500 yen a piece, which can add up quickly – especially once you factor in transportation.  With that in mind, Mrs. Selfish and I quickly set out to find the best free sites Kyoto had to offer.

Heian Shrine 08

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Relaxing at Ryokan Sanga

28 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Food & Drinks, Japan

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During our previous trip to Japan, Mrs. Selfish and I had the pleasure of staying at a ryokan in Hakone.  A Ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel, known for a three things: kaiseki meals, traditional rooms and garb, and onsen.

Last time we only stayed for one night, so this time around we decided to splurg and stay for two nights at the Ryokan Sanga.

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Unplugging in Kurokawa Onsen Town

27 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Asia, Japan

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Bidding a wary goodbye to the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka, Mrs. Selfish and I packed our bags and prepared for 2 days in charming Kurokawa Onsen Town.

The Japanese take their hot springs very seriously, and onsen bathing is a tradition that goes back several centuries.  Over the years, the experience has become more and more modernized, and people have taken to bath houses as well, so we were particularly excited to go to Kurokawa Onsen Town.

While everyone else modernized, Kurokawa stuck with preserving tradition, and the result is a stunning, traditional town with dozens of ryokans and onsens in an spiritually soothing environment.

This is a place you come to relax.

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Use British Airways Avios to Save Major Ca$h

26 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in Travel Hacking

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Since starting our Selfish Year voyage, Mrs. Selfish and I have flown a total of 58 flights, 28 of which we paid for with points.  The remainder of the flights we paid for with cash, and while none were completely cringe worthy (other than, perhaps the Air Tahiti flight to Bora Bora), they added up to a sizeable sum when combined.

So when I started looking into booking our additional flights in Japan I turned to an often under-appreciated currency – British Airline’s Avios miles.

ba-award-chart

When to use Avios Miles

British Airway’s Avios miles are almost completely worthless when flying British Airways themselves, thanks to their extremely high fuel surcharges.

However, they are superb points for saving money on short haul flights, especially if your flight matches the following criteria:

1. A short distance flight, ideally less than 1150 miles, or better yet, less than 650 miles. As always, use a tool like the Great Circle Mapper to determine the distance between city pairs.

2. Are you flying in a market where British Airways has strong partners? For instance, are you flying Japan Airlines in Japan? Quantas in Australia? American Airlines in the States?

3. Is the market you’re flying in expensive? Japan is a really good fit here, as is America in some cases.

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18 Hours in Fukuoka: The Grand Hyatt

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Hyatt, Japan, Travel Hacking

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After bidding farewell to the Westin Chosun in Seoul, Mrs. Selfish and I boarded the 5am airport bus for Incheon Airport.  Two flights and 9 hours later we arrived in Fukuoka Airport, Japan!

When looking at Japan, Mrs. Selfish and I knew we wanted to spend the majority of our time split between Kyoto and Tokyo, and about a week in less visited areas of Japan.

After further research, we determined we’d spend 2 nights in Kurukawa Onsen Town – a charming town on the southern island of Kyushu. The most direct way there involved flying into Fukouka for a one night stay.

Within moments of hitting the city, I knew we’d made a big mistake.  Fukouka is an amazing city, worthy of at least a few days of exploration, and is considered by some to be the food capital of Japan.

And the Grand Hyatt is no slouch either. Coming in as a category 3 hotel, the Grand Hyatt cost us a paltry 12,000 Hyatt points – which I transferred from our Ultimate Rewards pool.

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Staying at the Westin Chosun

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Seoul, South Korea, Starwood, Travel Hacking

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Since we were spending our 4-year anniversary in Seoul, I decided to book us in a hotel I knew Mrs. Selfish would love: the Westin Chosun.  After staying at the Westin Munich and the Westin Bangkok, Mrs. Selfish and I were solidly in the Westin camp, thanks largely due to their “heavenly bed.”

The Westin Chosun was a great pick.  Not only did it match the Westin brand (even maintaining the Westin smell, which is kind of creepy), but the location is extremely convenient.  It’s within walking distance of many of Seoul’s historic sites, and only a short metro ride away from Gangnum and other areas.

It also gave me an opportunity to take advantage of Starwood’s buy 4-nights, get 1-night free redemption policy. The Westin Chosun is a category 5 hotel, so booking a room cost us 48,000 SPG points.

Getting There & Check-In

Seoul 036

Getting to the Westin from Incheon Airport was a very smooth process, thanks to the airport limousine bus service, which departs from bus stop 4B/11A.  Mrs. Selfish and I purchased two tickets on the bus for about 15,000 won each (around $14.50), and only had to wait 5 minutes.  An hour later, we arrived at the Westin!

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5 Observations on Crazy South Korea

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Asia, Rant, South Korea

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Mrs. Selfish wasn’t particularly keen on South Korea when I booked our Asian flights.  I wasn’t sure what to expect myself – would it be like a knock off version of Japan?  Just how popular is Gangnam Style anyway?  Is eyelid surgery really that prevalent? And what’s going on with those crazy k-pop idol groups?

Although we only had 5 days in South Korea (in the midst of nuclear tensions, no less), we definitely saw some strange things in Korea.

1. South Korea is totally bad ass.

From what we saw, South Korea seems prepared for any craziness the North might inflict upon them.  Most subway stops seem to have gas masks, and many of the underground malls double as shelters.

Gas masks in the subway for fires… and presumably more!

When the s*** goes down, it’s time to hit the ‘bucks!

During our time in China we received tons of worried emails from relatives (thanks mah!), so I was a little nervous when we hit South Korea.  South Koreans, on the other hand, didn’t seem to bat an eye at the antics of those crazy ‘ol North Koreans. Ice. Cold.

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Greatest Wall Ever!

16 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Asia, Beijing, China

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While planning our trip to China, Mrs. Selfish and I determined that a trip to the Great Wall was mandatory.  I mean, how could you go to China and not visit the Great Wall, especially if you’re staying in Beijing?

After a little research we discovered that there are numerous sections of the Great Wall ripe for visiting, all in various states of disrepair.  From Datong we could have visited a dilapidated section of the wall – it’s bricks stolen by local farmers to use as building materials – but the more famous sections are near Beijing.

The Great Wall is big business for the Chinese government, so sections near Beijing have been restored to match what they would have looked like back in the day.  Instead of holding back throngs of Mongul hoards, however, many sections of the Wall now house throngs of Chinese tourists and hoards of Chinese merchants hawking crappy t-shirts and calendars.

With that in mind, Mrs. Selfish and I quickly settled on the Jingshanling section of the wall – and while we did spot a few hawkers, the wall was blissfully empty for the 6 hours we hiked its heights.

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Hair Lost in Translation

14 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Asia, Japan, Living Abroad

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One of the odd realities of long term travel is that you still have errands to run and chores to do.  Laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the bathroom, taking out the trash – definitely not things I associated with traveling abroad, but definitely things that all need doing should you stay in one place for more than a few days.

At home, we handled these chores without thinking.  Abroad, they’re an adventure!

Hunting down Tex-Mex ingredients in Paris? Check. Looking for a good laundromat on a remote island in Thailand? Check. Getting a haircut in Japan?

Wellllll…

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JW Marriott Beijing – One Classy Category 4 Hotel!

11 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Beijing, China, Marriott, Travel Hacking

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Redeeming for miles and points is a strange beast.  On the one hand, part of me (and I suspect part of many miles & points addicts) wants to redeem my points for the most expensive hotel I can get. On the other hand, another part of me wants to stretch my miles and points across as many days as possible since we’re in this for the long haul.

Sometimes there’s a happy intersection where a quality hotel, for whatever reason, is a complete steal at its current redemption rate.  The JW Marriott Beijing is one such hotel.

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Saving money by renting apartments

07 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Travel Hacking

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While staying at luxury hotels can be quite exciting, nothing beats the feeling of coming home.  Before we started our selfish year of travels, Mrs. Selfish and took tons of weekend trips, culminating in our once-a-year international trip over the Thanksgiving holiday.

While getting out of the States and traveling to new countries was exhilarating, it was also exhausting. If you’re from the States, vacationing is about three things: maximizing, maximizing, maximizing.

By the end of each international trip, we were more tired then when we had started.  Coming home in itself was a treat – a chance to catch up on sleep and get back into the ol’ routine.

Traveling for a year straight is the same deal, except now there is no home to come home to.  It’s exciting, but also tiring – not to mention expensive.  Fortunately, that’s where apartment rentals come in.

Our loft in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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Additional ways to Earn Miles and Points

01 Wednesday May 2013

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This is the twelfth and final post on earning miles and points.  Check out my intro post on the topic, “How to Travel Hack your way Around the World.”

While credit card sign up bonuses and banking represent the easiest way to collect miles and points, there are any number of ways one can earn miles and points on a daily basis.

Below is a list of different ways to earn miles and points, along with links to additional information.

Shopping Portals

Earning miles from online purchases is one of the easiest things you can do to earn extra miles on a daily basis.

Buying flowers for Mother’s Day?  Earn 30x AAdvantage miles or United Miles per dollar spent, by shopping through American Airlines or United’s shopping site.

Next time you need to buy something online, I highly recommend using sites like evreward to determine how to get the most bang for your buck when shopping online.

Car Rentals & Hotel Stays

Renting a car, or staying at a hotel can often earn you airline miles or hotel points in addition to points you’d normally earn.  Be careful, however, as some car rental companies will charge you more money if you use a hotel or airline promotional code.

Frequentflyerbonuses has aggregated a ton of data on bonus offers for just about everything.

Dining Programs

Earn miles or points by registering for affiliated dining programs.  Register a credit card and earn bonus miles by eating at one of the many restaurants in the Dining Program.  There’s usually some sort of bonus when you initially sign-up, e.g. earn 1000 extra miles by spending $30 at one restaurant in the first 30 days.

This is an easy way to earn miles & points, but personally I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat at any of the participating restaurants unless it was a place I wanted to eat at any way.  It does stack well with other offers, however, like American Express’s Small Business Saturday.

The Points Guy has a great breakdown of the current dining programs.

Advanced Techniques

The following are additional ways to earn miles and points.  These are extremely *hardcore* techniques, and I would spend a decent amount of time researching how they work, if you’re at all interested in the black arts of travel hacking.  Be warned, they involve a lot more effort than the methods I’ve outlined above, and can involve a decent amount of risk.

Double Dipping

This technique involves clicking through a shopping portal once to buy gift cards, then going through a second time with those gift cards to buy what you really want.

Mrs. Selfish and I have tried this a few times with some success, but if you’re really interested in how this works, please do yourself a favor and check out the Frequent Miler, who is the authority on the subject.

Gift Card Churning

Not to be confused with double dipping, gift card churning is a very labor-intensive way to earn extra miles and points.  The basic principle involves buying gift cards through a cash-back portal with a miles or points earning credit card, then selling the card through a third party site.  You earn miles and points when purchasing the gift card, and hopefully sell the gift card at a small loss or, even better, a small gain.

Again, the Frequent Miler is probably the best authority on the subject.

Manufactured Spending

Simply put, this involves making purchases to earn miles or points while spending little to no actual money. Some techniques involve buying large value gift cards ($500+), depositing the money into a debit account like Bluebird, then use the gift card money to pay off the credit card bill. These techniques get shut down frequently, but seem to spring up just as frequently, thanks to ingenious travel hackers.

Other techniques involve using free-after-rebate purchases to help meet minimum spend, or to rack up spend in a bonus category.

This technique has become so useful in the last year that Flyertalk has opened a new forum to handle the topic.

Does anyone have any additional techniques?  If you have any tools or tips (especially ones that work while traveling), we’d love to hear them!

The Costs of 8 Months of Selfish Traveling

19 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by in Travel Hacking

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If you’re just joining us, Mrs. Selfish and I have been traveling the world for the last 8 months – largely on miles and points – or are we? While Mrs. Selfish touched on our favorite memories yesterday, today I thought I’d take a look and see what our trip has meant from a cost perspective.

Within our Selfish Year of travel (or 369 days) we’re visiting a total of 91 cities – 78 we’re staying in, while 13 are day trips.  Here’s what that looks like:

Of those 91 cities, so far we’ve visited a total of 66.  So we still have a lot of fast traveling ahead:

So far we’ve visited 21 of the 25 countries we set out to see.  I was a little surprised by that number myself, considering we’re only 66% of the way in.  Then I looked at the country breakdown:

It turns out our upcoming stays in Japan and Australia account for 21.6% of the amount of time we’re spending abroad – probably two of the more expensive countries on this trip – whoops!

We spent the least amount of time in Monaco (1 day), followed by Switzerland, and Austria.  Interestingly, we’ll have spent 3 nights in the air – 2 nights on our way to Singapore (a red-eye + the time change), and 1 night on our upcoming leg from Japan to Australia.

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Earning Miles with Banking & Brokerage Services

15 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Travel Hacking

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This is the eleventh post on earning miles and points.  For a list of other posts, check out my post on how to travel hack your way around the world.

While credit cards represent the easiest way to collect miles and points, changing the way you bank can be a really easy way to passively accumulate boatloads of miles.

Banking & Brokerage Services

If you have money to invest or save and you live in the United States, you have a few options for earning miles.  Especially if you are interested in accumulating American Airlines miles:

BANK DIRECT

Earn up to 23,000 AAdvantage miles by opening a Bank Direct account:

  • 1,000 miles for opening a new account
  • 1,000 miles if you are referred by a friend (plus 1,000 for the friend)
  • 1,000 miles if you open the account with $100,000 or more
  • 10,000 miles for enrolling in direct deposit
  • 5,000 miles for using their debit card 12 times a month for 3 months
  • 5,000 miles for using bill pay for at least 3 payments a month for a year.

*UPDATE* Bank Direct has reduced the cap on the amount of miles you can earn based on the money you have deposited from $200,000 to $50,000. So you’ll only earn 100 miles per $1000 for the first $50,000, after which you’ll earn 25 miles for each additional $1000 in your account.

This reduces the maximum you can (easily) earn in a month from 20,000 to 5,000. You can also open a Money Market account, which earns 50 miles per $1000 in your account for the first $50,000, which will net you 2500 miles a month.

I can still do referrals if anyone is interested, but with the new changes BD isn’t quite as attractive as it used to be. 

Additionally, you’ll receive 100 miles every month for every $1,000 you have deposited in your account, up to the first $200,000. Mrs. Selfish and I bank with Bank Direct and thus far I can offer up two downsides:

1) $12 Monthly Fee – this occurs no matter how much money you have in your account, and cannot be waived.

2) Unfortunately Bank Direct has to have the clunkiest interfaces of any banking site I’ve ever seen.  If you can get around that their customer service is decent, though expect to speak to one of 6 representatives – seriously, their company is that small.

Analysis: If you’re a high roller with a lot of money in savings I would strongly consider opening a Bank Direct account. Being able to earn 240,000 miles for little to no effort definitely outweighs the $144 you’ll pay in annual fees in my opinion, and interest rates are at an all time low.  To put that in perspective, 240,000 miles is enough for 9 round trip tickets across the continental US, or for a first class ticket to anywhere in the world with points to spare.

If anyone is interested in a referral, leave a comment and we’ll hook you up – Mrs. Selfish and I could always use the extra 1,000 miles!

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The 1.34 Billion Oddities of China

14 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in Asia, China, Rant

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Prior to our Selfish Year of travels, I had never been to China, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I guess I was thinking traveling in China would be similar to wandering around Chinatown in San Francisco – dirty, pungent, and delicious.  Everything in a mixture of Chinese and English (well, maybe less English), and everything at dirt cheap prices.

The reality, of course, is that things are much, much different from what I was expecting.  If you’re thinking of planning a trip to China, here’s what you can expect.

1. Air pollution is everywhere.

Although Beijing is the most dramatic example, every city in China is much more polluted than Western cities.  The air quality index in Shanghai as I write is 165 (Beijing can get as high as 750).  For reference, the air quality index back in Orlando is an average of 38, and in San Francisco is a whopping 30.  What this means is that even on clear days, the sky is more of a white-blue, than a blue-blue.  It also means that we’ve breathed in the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day – if we’re lucky.

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