Points and Travel Angles I Avoid
Words often mean nothing. Perhaps you’ve noticed. I’m more interested in what people choose to do – or not do – more than what they say. In my view, how people choose to spend their time indicates what they think is important. I’m riding a streak of not doing certain things in our shared hobby, and I keep winning. Here are just a few points and travel angles where that’s the case, including my streak of avoiding them.
Rental Cars
I’d be fine never renting a car again. I find it a remarkable displeasure. The waste – time, resources, etc – is all around. Tracking down a bus to ride to an offsite location to choose a supposedly-gassed-up car which I must return full while answering no to 17 or so questions from a rental company which is pretty much the same as all the others followed by a soulless interstate drive to arrive at a hotel with hiked parking rates isn’t my idea of a good time. The past few years, I’ve predominantly chosen rideshare services and consistently come out ahead time-wise and financially despite the sprawl. My last rental was from a non-airport location and only a small portion of the overall family trip.
Current Streak:Â 14 Months
Chase Cards via New Application
Many years later, Chase still holds the crown for the most diabolically-genius bank application rule. Chase controls the behavior of countless consumers and business owners with their draconian 5/24 rule. The bank generally refuses to approve a new card for anyone who has five or more cards in the last 24 months.
Chase sycophants bend over backwards to stay under 5/24 to hopefully obtain a card via new application, often giving up superior rewards from other banks along the way. Even more concerning, many individuals, including some who do stuff on the internet for money, encourage others to bow to Chase. Not this guy.
Current Streak:Â 8 years and 4 months
Checking Bags
I focus on packing light. Most of my trips are solo. Our family vacations are often in the car. Long story short, we rarely fly together as a family. And when we do, we’ve honed our carry-on game over the years. In a minor miracle, no one in the family particularly minds lugging their stuff on and off the plane and throughout airports. The time savings have been remarkable.
The last time I specifically remember checking bags was truly magical, so much so that it was in the name. We checked bags on the way to a Walt Disney World visit via Disney’s Magical Express. We dropped them at our home airport, and they were in our Grand Floridian room the next time we saw them. RIP!
Current Streak:Â 6 years and 4 months
Cheaping Out on Annual Fees
Credit card annual fees have never particularly concerned me. The equation is fairly simple, in my view. As long as the card’s benefits in my situation are greater than the annual fee, I’m perfectly fine paying for it. I can understand that’s not the situation for many who like a simpler setup with no annual fee cards. I don’t ever think I’ll be there, though, just because I enjoy the tasty juice from a more aggressive setup. Of course, I’ll do everything I can to minimize fees within that framework, but I will not let an annual fee get in the way of obtaining a card I can truly benefit from in a superior fashion.
Current Streak:Â Unbroken
Paying for Award Search Tools
I don’t trust award search tools, and I’ve never paid for one. Does that mean I’m missing anything good there? Perhaps. I value my own experience over any award search tool at this point. I can’t confidently believe that any tool will cover all possible redemption methods at my disposal. They’ll never get to the level where I would completely trust them, anyway. I’d always want to double-check with my own manual searches, defeating the purpose of the tool.
Maybe avoiding such tools costs more of my most valued resource – time. But I’m not comfortable allowing such tools to unnecessarily, maybe erroneously, sway my plans.
Current Streak:Â Unbroken
Points and Travel Angles I Avoid – Conclusion
This certainly isn’t an all-inclusive list of what I currently avoid. However, these are the most prominent ones I’ve eliminated to come out on top. I’ve found I need to embrace certain convoluted stuff to do big things in our points and travel hobby. But I don’t do so unnecessarily. I compensate by trying to keep things simple in other aspects.
I’m therefore confounded at the amount of complication others bring on themselves, within and beyond our hobby. But I must remember that what I often see as complications others see as something different. Regardless, I’ll strive to keep things simple where I can, and I encourage you to consider doing the same.
What streaks are you currently riding and how are you benefitting from them?
