Game Changing News for those who collect miles and points – American Airlines One-Way Mileage Awards!!!

According to Dansdeal.com (a site I frequent for deals and news), American Airlines has just launched one-way awards. I’ve been waiting for US-airlines to allow their frequent flyer members to redeem one-way awards. Previously and on all other US airlines, if you wanted a one-way award, you would have to book the roundtrip award ticket, plan on losing half the ticket, and half the miles paid for that award. Now with American, you can get a one-way award for half the cost of the round trip. This opens up new possibilities and flexibility for me as I plan my around the world trip. Basically if I wanted to fly somewhere to Asia and Europe and do a bunch of overland travel, I could book a one-way award with American and do it without being locked into a schedule whereas with other airlines, I would have to set a return date and keep paying fees to change the return date or lose the return portion of the trip. I’m also glad to see American participates in the Starwoods Preferred Guest (SPG) program. This further validates my plan to continue to earn SPG points in an effort to maintain flexibility as far as airline partners are concerned. I might even apply for American Airlines credit cards now.

DansDeals.com » Blog Archive » AA Launches One-Way Mileage Awards!!!.

The first week of bike ownership…

To continue on with the theme of May being National Bike Month, I wanted to share some impressions and thoughts about biking after a week of enjoying my latest purchase and toy.

After a week of owning a bike and 65 miles of riding it, I’ve already learned a few things about why biking is probably going to become my primary means of staying fit. Besides the obvious reason of the fact that biking wear down my knees like running does, it has also opened up the possibility of being able to explore the twin cities from a different perspective.

I had heard that the twin cities had a large number of bike trails and when I was running around the lakes I always saw a ton of bikers out on parts of the trails. I never really thought about where those trails lead to until I round one of them last Sunday. On that Sunday ride, I made it to Hopkins, MN right along highway 169. I was able to log 30 miles and make it parts of the twin cities that I hadn’t explored when I was running around the lakes.

I’ve already started to think about what biking is going to do for me. It will let me stay outside longer and enjoy the 4-5 months out of the year where the weather is really great. It will let me explore areas of the cities from a different perspective and reach new areas that I was not aware existed. It will let have an excuse to go to my fitness club and lift weights and finally on a practical note, it will help save me money on gas because I am spending less time in my car and more time getting around by bike.

Next weekend, I plan on doing a longer bike ride to Stillwater,MN. This should be somewhere in the range of 40-50 miles round trip. I’m really looking forward to getting some exercise, enjoying the weather, and exploring where I live from a different perspective. If you get an opportunity to ride a bike, do be sure to take of advantage of it.

A link from Nomadic Matt’s travel blog – Back in Bangkok

Back in Bangkok | Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site.

Nomadic Matt is one of the blogs I subscribe to on my google reader. I’ve never been to Bangkok before and hadn’t really done any research into the city prior to reading this article. I was aware that it is considered a “haven” for backpackers, but hadn’t put much more thought into it. Needless to say, after reading this article, I defintely want to check out Bangkok at some point in time.

Seize the day and Pursue your Goals

Today, I received the unfortunate news that a friend and former colleague of mine at PwC died suddenly this past weekend.  I admit that this friend was not one of my closer friends, but when I worked at the firm, I would talk to this person nearly every day and even after I left the firm in January 2009, I still occassionally kept in contact.  My friend was only 5 years older than me. The news of this tragic event of someone 33 years old unexpectedly passing away gave me a moment to pause and reflect about things that matter.

To put it in perspective, this person never had the chance to “enjoy” their retirment savings or even most of their frequent flyer and hotel points. This person never had the opportunity not to experience what it was like to not have to work 5 days a week for 40+ hours at a time. Most importantly, this person never had the chance to pursue their goals and dreams to the fullest extent possible.

Putting this event in perspective, I had a few thoughts. Our culture is one that encourages people to work for 40-45 years and then retire and live out the rest of their lives. I have already decided that I don’t want to wait until retirement to do certain things. I have come to the realization that the activities that I am willing and want to do now as a 28 year old could be very different than what I am willing to do at 65. This is why I am doing my best to pursue my goals today instead of waiting until after I am retired to see, explore, and experience difference parts of the world….and I’m willing to do what it takes now to pursue those goals.

If you have certain goals, aspirations, and dreams, I encourage you to seize the day and  immediately pursue them. Even if it is one small step at a time. At least you will be trying to get there. You never know when your time on this earth will be up.

Good luck in the pursuit of your goals.

Another interesting Link –> Begin With a Single Step: Escape from Cubicle Hell

Begin With a Single Step: Escape from Cubicle Hell.

I just had to share and post this link. I saw this article on one of the travel blogs I subscribe to in my google reader. This guy is pretty much spot on – why should people spend the best part of their lives saving for retirement and working in an office cube? I myself want to make a change and retire from the office cube. Before making a huge transition, I do realize that there are certain things I need to take care  like  paying off loans. One of my next posts is going to be discussing how I am re-thinking retirement and life in the corporate world.
In the mean time, check out that link. Maybe you’re feeling the same way.

My latest credit card arbritrage

Boxes of Coins
Boxes of Coins

I need to provide an update on my latest credit card arbitrage. About 25 days ago, one of the sites I subscribe to in my google reader showed a deal with US Mint $1 coins. Long story short, you can use your credit card to order the $1 coins at face value. So the 5,000 coins that I ordered costed me exactly $5,000. As a kicker, shipping on these coins was free! I was surprised to learn that they were delivered via next day air (Thank you uncle Sam!). Before I address the detractors, I must say there are some limitations with this deal. First, there is an order limit. For this specific series, the mint always a maximum order of 5,000 coins.  Additionally, the presidential dollar coins are limited to quantities of 500 per order. Second, my order took around 20 days to process. I actually thought the mint canceled my order. I tried calling them but the automated system always disconnected me. Third, if you want to do this, it’s probably best to have a local bank. When I went to the bank to deposit these coins, I had them count it and they asked me why I ordered such a large quantity of coins. I was completely honest with them and said that I did it for the credit card points. Fourth, I was relatively surprised at the size of the boxes. I was expecting 1 very large box. The combined shipping weight of the boxes was 46 pounds. Needless to say, not very light!

Some people might be shaking their heads in disgust or wondering who would be crazy enough to order 5,000 coins from the US Mint with their credit card. Well there are a couple of unique strategies that you can use to make some extra $ of this deal. First, you can order the coins with a cash back card. This will give you a certain percentage of $ back based on the purchase price. Second, after you make the deposit at your bank, you can move the deposited amount into a high yield savings account. This will give you 30 or so days of interest on the deposited amount. Probably anywhere from 10-20$. Essentially, these coins are an interest free cash advance.

I am actually using the points I get to collect Starwoods Preferred Guest (SPG) points. I am definitely going to execute this deal again. I will do it with the Presidential coins next and possibly order another round of the native american coins. My local bank is somewhat small and hadn’t even received any of these 2009 Native American coins from the Mint. I am a little bit leary about dropping another $5,000 off in coins right away so I will do the presidential coins first.

My Trek 7.5 FX – 20” hybrid fitness bike

My Trek 7.5 FX – 20” hybrid fitness bike

For my posts regarding my trek 7.5 FX, check out:

– My post about the decision to purchase the 7.5 FX
– My post about the first week of owning the 7.5 FX
– My post about the 75 mile ride with the 7.5 FX
– My post about the upgrades to my 7.5 FX
– My post about some of the things I have noticed while riding the 7.5 FX
– Coming soon! Come back and check for my impressions of the 7.5 FX after 500 miles.