Tech & Travel Guru
Happy New Year! In 2024, I had the opportunity to embark on several exciting international trips. I traveled a total of 77,000 miles and visited 6 countries which is about 18% fewer miles than in 2023. Below is a snapshot of my travels from the year… Accommodations (27, 5...
As I reflect on the new tools I adopted in 2024, I’d love to share them with you to help you travel smarter. Tools that aren’t consistently maintained or updated can quickly become outdated, creating an opportunity to explore new and improved solutions. Let’s take a look at the 7...
Wow! Time truly flies when you’re having fun! It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since I launched Palo Will Travel. I feel incredibly fortunate to have the chance to travel the globe, enjoying top airlines and hotels while sharing insider insights with my followers. People often ask if...
Hawaiian Airlines started flying their brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner in April 2024 and I was able to give it a try recently. I’ve previously flown their A330 wide body plane in First Class, but the B787 is their first Boeing plane. The new First Class seat are Suites and...
Renewing your passport has traditionally been a hassle. However, starting June 12, 2024, the US Department of State launched a beta program that allowed US citizens to renew their passports online, initially limiting applications to 1,000 per day. As of yesterday (September 18, 2024), the program has officially launched and...
I was looking to use Delta SkyMiles to fly from San Diego to Cancun and found a flight via ATL for 52,000 miles and $47.52 USD in taxes for Comfort +. This was way overpriced so I knew there would be a cheaper way to get there. I found if...
Flying out of Tijuana for Mexico domestic flights instead of San Diego can save you money and CBX (Cross Border Xpress) makes it easy to access the Tijuana Airport. It costs $45.95 roundtrip for access to CBX. If you are staying in Mexico for more than 6 days you will...
Hyatt makes it easy to transfer points between members allowing you to combine points. You do have to share your Name, Hyatt #, Mailing address, Phone # and Email address so you’ll need to be comfortable sharing those details with who you are transferring the points to. This shouldn’t be...
After using United miles to fly ANA First Class twice now, I was determined to understand how to do it with AMEX points. On April 24, United doubled the cost of miles needed to redeem for ANA Business & First Class. Business Class went from 88,000 miles one-way to 110,000...
After a wonderful experience last year, I had to try ANA “The Suite” again. This time it would be an evening flight departing from Tokyo. I was able to lock in the one-way First Class flight using 121,000 United miles + $49.85 in taxes for NRT-ORD-SAN, but the ORD-SAN segment...
I’m always excited to plan a trip to Japan! My friends invited me to go skiing in Nagano in January. I was able to find award availability 5 months in advance of the trip using my Alaska Airlines miles for redemption on Japan Airlines. It cost me 85,000 Alaska Airlines...
After traveling around Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia & Singapore for 2 weeks, I was ready for my flight home. Luckily, I had a nonstop booked from SIN to SFO. I’ve flown this nonstop route once before, but this time I was flying on their Premium Ultra Long Range layout where they...
After a wonderful flight over to Europe on Lufthansa in Business Class, we decided to book British Airways in Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus) nonstop back into San Diego. Using 42,500 Alaska Airlines miles + $237.15 in taxes per person we were able to lock in VIE-LHR-SAN. Taxes are high...
Happy New Year! 2023 continued to improve and saw strong travel demand over 2022 as COVID restrictions are now nonexistent. During 2023, I was able to fit in a few fun international trips. I flew 94,000 miles and visited 10 countries. This reflects a ~8% increase in miles from 2022....
We needed a flight to attend the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this year and I was able to snag 2 Business Class seats on Lufthansa using 77,000 United miles and $41.30 in taxes per person one-way for LAX-FRA-VIE. Flying into Budapest was soldout using miles, but a few hours on...
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