I’ve been rolling out my Maldives trip report series and thought I’d share how I actually paid for it using points and miles. As you can tell from the title of this post, it wasn’t all “free.” Even with the hotel and airfare booked using points and miles, there were other costs. The Waldorf Astoria … Read more
I’ve been getting requests from people asking me to do a year-end tally of my manufactured spending activity. I’ve been sharing weekly manufactured spending reports for a few years now, though I haven’t been super consistent in 2019. In fact, I counted just 14 reports this year. I haven’t been prioritizing manufactured spending this year … Read more
While I stayed in a beach villa during my stay at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, I did get a chance to tour an overwater villa. These are located at opposite ends of the island and are pretty much identical to the beach villas in terms of layout. The difference is that these water villas are … Read more
NYC rideshare apps are a dime a dozen. If you’re visiting New York City and are depending on Uber and Lyft to get around, you may as well throw money out the window. Near the end of my trip last week, I met up with fellow points and miles enthusiast Dina. She filled me in … Read more
The Waldorf Astoria Maldives beach villa is considered a standard room. It’s anything but “standard”: This beach-front room has 2,518 sqft of space, a private pool, two cabanas and tons of outdoor seating. You can book it for 120,000 points per night or use a Hilton free night certificate. The villa features a main bedroom/living room with … Read more
Have you ever fantasized about owning a vacation home in Italy that you can escape to when life gets too stressful in the U.S.? Imagine how much more appealing this scenario is when the home costs just $1. No, this isn’t some internet scam concocted by a fake prince. You can actually buy $1 homes … Read more
Confession: I have a Trekky-level obsession with Gilmore Girls and the fictional town of Stars Hollow. I’ve watched every episode countless times – even the much-hated season 7. I got into Gilmore Girls around 2005 and have been an avid fan of the show since. Needless to say, I was thrilled when news broke about the Gilmore Girls revival on Netflix. In … Read more
Is it ok to travel to countries with dubious human rights records? In an increasingly unstable world, travelers often find themselves asking this question. It always comes up when I mention traveling to Turkey or Saudi Arabia. Between the ethnic cleansing and murder of a journalist, these two countries have a smatter of blood on … Read more
The Waldorf Astoria Maldives boat transfer cost a whopping $862.40 when I stayed at the resort, which is more than what most resorts charge for a seaplane transfer. That being said, the resort will be dropping the fee to $600 per adult and $300 per child, starting in 2020. With the 23.2% tax factored in, … Read more
It’s been a while since I’ve shared one of these manufactured spending reports. I’ve slowed down a bit with both blogging and MS, so the posts have been on hiatus. But I’ve got some 2020 travel plans I need to save up for. Also, I work from home now, which means if I don’t find … Read more