What a nice way to end the year, looking forward and looking back to all the travel and adventures/misadventures it brings.
Who: International Development
When: July, which was much earlier for me than the usual December.
How: Primarily international trips to Asia. Company policy is to book in Y, I use GPUs and miles to upgrade. This year have been strategically upfaring when Ps were available, yielding extra PQMs and RDMs. For leisure have been exploring new Caribbean islands and Europe.
Where: Myanmar, Thailand, India, Portugal, Italy (the last two were total oddities due to conferences/invitations, I'm usually in Central Asia)
Why: I'm just too old to take 12- and 14-hour flights in Y so it's all about the upgrades and upfares. While in the past I've done mileage runs (including with a 10-week old infant to hit 1K), these days I'm flying enough to not have to do them. Being able to book them in E+, cancel award tix as our schedules change, and having the 1K desk/lounge agents have my back when things go hinky is why I track my travel in a spreadsheet and make sure I will never fall below 1K again. Because my work travel takes me away from my family for as much as two weeks at a time, I'm forever compensating by taking them on trips with my miles. So the 11x multiplier on higher fares is a nice way to give them multiple trips a year on me.
What: I have India, Costa Rica, Thailand, and Kazakhstan already on my calendar for the first six months of 2018. Depending on schedule and family, I might swing through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan while I'm in Kazakhstan. I'll probably go to India at least twice. I'm predicting I'll hit 1K between August and October.
Here's to a great travel year for my favorite FlyerTalkers here on the UA thread,
big V