Yesterday, I finished editing and posted my latest Debrian Travels video. You can check out my experience on Thalys high speed rail from Brussels, Belgium to Paris, France. We made this journey last year and will repeat it this summer when we return to Paris via Brussels!
Read MoreSince my pursuit of points and miles has resulted in many open credit card accounts, I recently began a top-to-bottom review of my overall credit card portfolio. In today's entry in the series covering this review, I will consider the American Express card products I hold.
Read MoreWhen pursuing points and miles using credit card sign-up bonuses, you soon accumulate a lot of credit cards. I was accustomed to carrying multiple cards before I became immersed in these rewards, but the number of cards I currently hold has tripled. As an early-year task, I decided to undertake a top-to-bottom review of my open accounts in order to decide if any should be closed, and I want to strategize how to adjust my card portfolio in 2018. Today, I want to provide a little background to frame my analyses.
Read MoreI have begun planning my family's summer trip to France and Norway. While my wife and I have visited Europe annually since we met, this year we are taking her oldest son for his first visit. Our vacation was originally conceived as primarily a Scandinavian adventure. However, as I dove into the planning process, our general itinerary evolved. Because I want to writing more about maximizing travel experience, I wanted to address this morphing of our trip’s initial concept as the result of honestly assessing a trip plan that risks a shallow experience by trying to do too much.
Read MoreIn October 2015, I was interviewed by the One Mile at a Time blog as part of a series on points and miles bloggers. In the comment section of that article, reader Maria asked if I had a template of the spreadsheet I use to track my credit cards. I replied that I did not have a template per se, but that I would try to post an article about my tracker. Unfortunately, I never got around to that, but since I am about to write a few articles evaluating my current credit card portfolio, I thought now would be a good time to talk about how I keep track of all my cards, their payment dates, sign-up bonus progress, and spending category bonuses.
Read MoreUntil recently I was not eligible for most Chase credit cards due to the bank's 5/24 rule. Being back in compliance, I was recently approved for a Chase Ink Business Preferred card. The sign-up bonus of 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 in the first three months of card membership is very lucrative. On top of that, the travel and telecom spending categories ensure that this will be a card I will actually use in the future.
Read MoreIf you actively collect travel points and miles, you want to leave no stone unturned when looking for ways to earn these rewards. Making as many of your purchases as possible through online shopping portals is one of the best methods for accomplishing this. A portal I frequently use is the American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping site, where last year I earned 11,827 miles by starting shopping "trips" on the site.
Read MoreLast June, Hilton announced it had entered into an exclusive agreement with American Express to issue co-branded Hilton Honors credit cards. Previously, Hilton had a dual agreement with both American Express and Citibank. Until last week I held a Hilton card from Citibank, but I called and closed the account. In today’s post I want to discuss my reasoning behind this decision.
Read MoreLast week, I debuted the new look of Debrian Travels and discussed why I would say I am not relaunching the blog but rather tightening its brand. Part of that process was defining my Hedgehog Concept, a framework developed by renowned business author Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. While the business analysis of my blog does not fall within the branding I outlined in my previous post, I think a deeper dive into that thought process could be useful to better understand the focus I will have with the updated Debrian Travels. An ancillary benefit is that it can serve as an example for other small businesses or bloggers.
Read MoreEarlier this week, I debuted the new look of Debrian Travels. While I would not deem this a relaunch, the update is part of a tightening of my blog's brand. Unfortunately, given my status as a hobby blogger, over the last month, the effort took most of the time that I can devote to Debrian Travels. However, before I return to travel posts, I want to touch on why I decided to undertake this update, then get into a little detail of my thought process as I worked on the rebranding and, finally, what that will mean for future content.
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