Spill the Tea: Bougie Miles & Juan Chat Family Travel Hacks, Credit Cards, Bet for Charity (2020)

hi hey what's up oh yeah I'm good howare you I'm good welcome this is one aka double dutydaddy aka my very good friend one also writes for the points guyamongst other people who else do you write for oneBusiness Insider Miles the memories occasionally but really just for TPG atthe moment okay and what's your specialty so I talk about points andmiles loyalty programs but I also talk about family travel and specifically Italk about how you can maximize Airbnb stays to to kind of suit your travelstyle whether you have a family whether you're single whether you want toexplore a city and you want to feel like a local and there's a strategy to findthe best Airbnb so I talked a little bit about everything but mostly those tops Ijust we have to talk a little bit more about Airbnb I'm curious do you happento have any idea somebody asked this last night in a chat if they booked tostay with credit cards and they stay gets can't with gift cards and the staygets cancelled do you have any idea if it goes back to the gift card or it doesit goes back to the gift cards yep okay so you keep the original gift cards ifyou made any purchase it's like I just booked one for Bali and I you just giftcards there but we might not go so if I cancel it little funds will go rightback to my gift cards ha that's really good to know because as soon as I usethem I throw them out I know I know but luckily the urban bees are all for themost part they're virtual so that just goes right back to that virtual cardokay that's all so key to go kind of put them in a certain inbuilt inbox in youremail address and make sure that you don't forget them because then that'syou know I have a gift cards galore from airline creditI literally just put them in a specific box in my gmail so I never forget thatcause otherwise I never thought to do that with all my dill if cards rightright you don't want to lose hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth a airlinegift cards so I have my founders card concierge go through them like once ayear and check the balance oh really yeah so I start every single episodewith our guests with something called rapid fire okay so you know it can get alittle spicy I think your questions aren't actually that bad cool so let'sget started okay so first thing is what show that's streaming would you not beable to get through this ordeal without ozarkprobably ozark season three just started yeah really I really like it honestlykeeps my I watched I watched Tiger King and it was fascinating but that's justsix episodes so right definitely definitely Ozark right nowhas got my attention okay so controversial question which one'sbetter tiger king or making a murderer I haven't seen making a murderer so I needto see it but I'm all about murder mysteries is it a murder mystery oh mygod it's oh then I need to see it it's the best thing you'll ever watch Ipromise okay I'll get on that we have what like a month more of quarantine soI am give oh yeah and there I think it's also like six episodes but it's twoseasons so okay so I'll watch both seasons perfect perfect that'll be nextafter Ozark I'm already halfway done with the Ozark season so I should beshe'll be ready to go for making murder so cool awesome yeah what would we dowithout this I don't know okay second question favorite airline for domestictravel probably jump loop for me okay what about international you have onefor international I love Japan Airlines okay good answertheir first class is like a the biggest real manner I've ever seen like so you'dsee it I've ever seen on a plane it's like your dad's leather chair from the80s it's so comfortable but then it reclines into the bedsreally comfortable I would I would argue it's it's for me it was more comfortablethan Cathay Pacific's thrown on first class but Japan Airlines for me was likespecial plus you add their Japanese service and you just feel like a millionbucks yeah um I accidentally flew it was anupgrade gone wrong situation so I ended up in the back wall in Premium Economyand I don't know much about their food because I got a hot dog and a yogurtaisle Japan I yeah neither of which I would it was the weirdest meal ever yeahthat was a big mistake anyway they give it the Japanese or theAmerican options so I'm guessing you wanted the AmericanI never would have picked a hot dog and yogurt nobody gave me an option ohreally I just remember being like oh my god I'm gonna starve maybe it was ashort haul flight was there a short flight 14 hours really Wow hey you knowwhat it was 12 it was 12 I was a bad day for the crew that day I guess oh yeah Iwas crying in the bathroom but I'll tell you that story another time okayfavorite hotel chain hi easily easy okay and give me one credit card you couldn'tlive about right now it's the AMEX gold but uh overall it's probably chasefreedom I just I always max out the five points per quarter on whatever thatcategory is so usually that's kind of my everyday forever card then right now myAmex goal just takes the cake on on all my purchases usually well my purchase ismy bonus category purchased right I hear that yeah I love the freedom card yeahokay so you and I talk a lot and I happen to know what's going on in yourlife travel wise so why don't you tell me a little bit about your crazy Asiaitinerary I mean and you kind of have to go through the airports – sure sure so Ium I booked over a year ago obviously I needed to find a water availability Ihad a goal in mind I wanted to take my wife and twin daughters my six year olddaughters to Southeast Asia I've never been to Southeast Asia so for me Iwanted to do it up big so we ended up I ended up booking us Cathy Pacificfirst-class sorry my apologies business class from Chicago no from New York toHong Kong and then a month later fly back from Hong Kong to Chicago so I wasable to secure those long-haul flights with Alaska and American miles at 331days out so literally on the day that I could book I did book and I found awater availability and out of five seats in business class that they opened up Igot four to those five so I was in heaven obviously I was super excited Icouldn't believe I'd be flying you know 30 hours total more than 30 hours totalwith my family on a live flat product that of that love that caliber and thenobviously now we are looking at a potential cancellation of that tripbecause of what's going on with Koba 19 so we are not sure we're going to do yetI'm giving myself a deadline till May first but overall I mean it's it's ahuge gap for me to be able to kind of give that to them they don't know whatthey're about the experience or what they work on an experience but I knowthat for me it's just really fulfilling and then obviously interracial we'regonna have a lot of nice hotel stays nice air be these days not flyinganything sexy internally really just like low budget AirAsia's of the worldand actually applying a fifth freedom flight KLM from Singapore to Bali wasgonna be pretty exciting for me so all these things are in jeopardy now but aseverybody else is going through so but yeah that's that's my that's my big tripplan that hopefully is not a letdown but we'll see so like what types ofchallenges do you find that you encounter when you're traveling with thegirls or when you're booking travel with the girls so there's there's no now atsix years old they're pretty self efficient they're they're big girls whatI do notice is when I travel abroad like we went to Morocco and in Portugal inNovember and like anywhere we were people would get us out of the lines andliterally be like come on you're going to the front of the line whereas in theu.

s.

that's not how it works you kind of wait your turn and you it doesn't matterif you have small kids so overall I mean I honestly it's been a it's been a parttraveling with them I'd say in this age group now I'd say when they're one ortwo or three the challenge is kind of typical of what everybody goes throughthe timeless the the hungry the habit napped type issues and I dealt with thatfor the first couple years but it's there's no problem now they're littletravelers now so everything's easy awesome yeah um yeah so I don't havekids but I do have a dog who wins the integra so I know how people feel likewhen the kids are crying because my dog is doing it the entire time and it'sawful listen I'm totally understanding offurry furry family members free kids and real kids like if I'm on a flight andthere's a crying kid I'm the type that's like hey mom you need me to hold thatkid for you I'll help you out I get it it's such a stressful endeavor for themnow the parents not doing anything to calm the kid down then I have nosympathy for them but if the parents then I my god let me let me let me seeif I can help out but I don't want to be that creepy guy that's trying to liketouch so much style but I would do it I would do it anyway I'm sure if you'rewith the girls and your wife it makes it a little bit better yeah exactly exactlyI wish I could do it alone but then I'd be the creepy it'd be guy justtravelling single guy and looking although you could always hold my dogthough you know okay cool so something that you and I tend to talk a lot aboutis how it pays to be nice in yeah what we do you hear like way too many storiesabout people complaining and you know having fights with like customer serviceor whatever and all you really sometimes have to do as you know is call like witha smile on your face say please and thank you and usually you can getsomething accomplished that somebody else said oh those people never help meso you have your own interesting story that you complete so yeah so I mean I'mnot uh I've had status with all the hotel chains and some of the airlinesbut I'm not I'm not a status chaser per se so I used my my just my kindness callit persuasiveness but I'm really just trying to be nice to people overall sothat I have a more pleasant experience and that results in a lot of timespeople doing things like offering you a better room giving you a extra economyseat with more space without you having to pay for it so I had an experience I'dbe honest Popham value of Costa Rica which I've written about exclusivelyabout being one of my favorite properties in the world and you know allI was was being friendly to the waiter and that way they're just two camerasevery every I mean every other morning every morning just by offering extrathings for my kids at no cost and everybody knows that the breakfast thereis like thirty five dollars a person including children so to be able tocommute it would just be friendly and get that warm kind of appreciation froma staff member at a busy hotel mom it just shows that it really does pay to bekind to your hospitality workers your airline workers your wherever you goreally I mean it can't I can't stress enough how to me that's the mostimportant status you can have is just the kindness asFouchet and as corny as that sounds it's worked for me so again I don't I don'tchase Marriott platinum and and globalist status I'm literally middletier and everything but it's the kindness that kind of elevates myexperiences when I travel yep and I mean also just kind of being nice people justkind of put you in a better like as a person in general right like if I canmake somebody laugh like I tell cheesy dad jokes to pretty much every customerservice agent I come into contact with because they make me laugh and then youknow they either like giggle or they want nothing to do with me whatever if Ican put a smile on somebody's face that makes me smile and then my day is betterfor it you know and then yeah like you're saying sometimes you get thoseperks just literally because you sit like thank you think about it too we'retraveling it's one of our favorite things to do in art in our lives rightand it's and it's so if we if we're on that cloud 9 and we're naturally just sohappy to be like on a flight to XYZ place if you keep that momentum goingthat happiness that oh we could checking into the hotel now and you maintain thathappiness throughout your I guess your demeanor or your ambience people pick upon that energy and then all sudden now you're upgraded to a room twice yourcategory because you were nice to the front desk agent because you weregenuinely on cloud nine so those type of things are what a lot of our folks inpoint smiles forget to forget to kind of focus on is these people they're humanjust like us and if we're if we're not in that entitled mindset then we'llwe'll have a better experience when we travel usually absolutely yeah the firstthing I always say when people ask me a question like when they say likecustomer service wouldn't help me I kind of I try to say it nicely but I say likewell did you call and ask like nicely yeah how did you word it right were youbeing in you know but that's kind of what I want to know yeah I'm with you Itell people I tell people friends and family I'm like hey let's call in 3-waydo you want me to help you talk because honestly like some people just areannoyed or they're abrasive or they don't just know how to finagle theirtheir needs in a way that's not going to come off as you're being you'll bea rude person right I don't want to say yeah we're keeping this PG yeah tryingokay I think I've edited out plenty of curses it's usually me do you is that achild I hear it orab night no no no I dropped somethingchild and pet doors closed no one's interfering this is my point thirtyminutes of my day awesome yeah it should be the most important 30minutes of everybody's day let's make it back let's make it that oh so I have aquestion well I really couldn't think of somebody that you and I kind of knowequally uh-huh because I've been doing bets with people where like will messagesomebody and it it supports charity but I couldn't think of anybody for you sobasically like what I did with Angelina was we both messaged Jeff at the sametime because we're like you know we're similarly equal friends to him andwhoever he responded to first was a winner and the other person had todonate to that person's charity okay sorry I wish we had someone in commonthat we can both just you know what we have to do more meetups where we likestrengthen our friendships of mutual friends agree oh great it'd be nice toto mingle with these folks yeah and I came to your event in Miami which wasfreaking awesome actually can't believe that you put together such a kind ofcool group of people for our happy thank you sorry good now go ahead go ahead sothey were like young interesting not saying that there's anything wrong withnot being young but in our it doesn't tend to be like young people who areinterested in miles and points right let's kill these people so these are alot of people are my network my network of my nine-to-fivemy wife's employee colleagues and some friends and and really it's just I'vebeen locally Miami promoting points and miles andlike groups and meetup so I think from word of mouth people started to want toattend these events but you're right I think overall it's pretty surprising itMiami also maybe has a younger generation that kind of is interested intravel versus in in like other states there that that is not as prevalent it'smore like you know the older older age people that really want to maximizetheir their spend for whatever but these before the people that attended oreducated and they want to like learn more and that's you're right it was acool group and my first my first meeting wasn't wasn't the same demographics asmy second one which was with you so that was cool and I hope that I alsopositioned it like you're coming from New York to help out and you're also anexpert in the field and you're a woman so like that also helped kind of sellthe idea to everyone to attend and Miami is a very fickle City as I told you sowe had 30-something attendees which for Miami for another city that would belike sixty attendees it was it was pretty cool to have those people kind ofmingling yeah I couldn't believe it I was actually like having a good time Iwas like I would hang out with these people pretty rare so I would comeanytime and I hey you know like I'm a late dinner before we have to do thatwhat I'll do it once this thing settles down and let's get you to New York islike a freakin battlefield right now I know I know what are you doing everydaylike you go outside of your house well luckily I mean this is the first timeI'm ever gonna say this luckily I moved to Long Island a year and a half ago cuzyou want to be back in Brooklyn right you want to be boppin this is so badlyyou know I mean the last couple weeks it's feeling like you know I got reallucky here because I'm seeing the pictures and like like it's not it's notfunny it's not humorous but in a way it's sort of like it's just somethingthat you never ever in life believes was going to happen especially like inCentral Park in the middle of Manhattan you know no that's not right it'sabsolutely crazy you're lucky because everyone in New York is so bottled uptogether side by side right so like you're on top of eachother and you get to be Long Island where you kind of have your own cliqueyou have a backyard you have an actual essing it's a blessing that I just hopethis I really hope this settles down and and we get we get on top of it in thiscountry so that we can start kind of moving on with our lives I can't I can'tI mean I love working from home don't get me wrong but like this likequarantine everyday is just kind of driving people mad mm-hmmhow much are you be able to go out like I haven't worked on to the food storebecause Oh No like not good here no so Florida is likeFlorida's like getting like New York South Florida especially they sayMiami's like the number-one 60% of the coronavirus cases in Florida are fromMiami so since I lived like very close to Miami I'm not going out much likeI'll do a grocery store run once a week and I'll load up right you go to a parknear my house that's always empty and I go with the girls and we run bike and Irun around but we got to otherwise I don't have a backyard my backyard islike a lake and it has alligator so I don't know Lake no but just every I justwant to get back to traveling our normal routine right third world problem surewhat our first one problem I should say I don't know man this is like in everyworld problem at this point oh I don't think you're complaining irrationally Imean my completely about wanting to travel is kind of like I mean people aredying and I'm like I just want to travel already I mean the grand scheme ofthings it's not that important but us points Emmaus folks you know travel isis our oxygen so yeah we're getting hit hard because we're not used to like mostpeople are not used to being in the house but right we're like not used tobeing in the house and not on a plane or in a hotel sorry we're stuck yeahexactly like I wasn't impressed by the HolidayInn at this point oh yeah oh yeah Holiday Inn right now I've actuallythought about leaving to like Columbia to visit my dad with the kids and bequarantined there for like a month because at least there I'm a differentsetting I'm I'm different eating different food I'm hearing a differentlanguage like Joe but then I'm like then my my other sidesays no you're an idiot get get your work done and stay here and don't leaveanywhere right so how did you get there there's still flights there still fightsthough so it's nuts they need to completely stop all flights nationwidebut they're not gonna do that good yeah but hopefully people are taking it moreseriously than they were a few weeks ago yep moving again like maybe like a tweetlike the loser has to donate to their charity so same concept okay okay sowe'll do 20 bucks you pulled that my charity is the East Coast canine rescuein Connecticut what is your charity mine is a big oneit's a March of Dimes very nice okay I mean for the last two I did ASPCA but Ifigured I'd switch to a more local one for this one okay okay so either waysomebody's getting 20 bucks and we will figure out oh yeah like hey I need likesor no we're not asking for Lex we're just saying no you can't ask for likesbut oh that's you know what that makes it a lot more fun okay cool all rightlet's do it that's awesome okay so my so it's whatdo you think we're gotta be totally random yeah let the competition beginyes right man usually I like betting yeah I'm like you I'm like you but Idon't do Vegas betting I do like online sports betting so it's are you wait didyou see the thing about tiger and and Phil and Peyton Manning and Tom Bradyknow what all right so you know how last year tiger and Phil faced off in therelike for their own money for charity yeah yeah so this year they're doing itagain so it's gonna be like a second round but they're having to amateurplayers Peyton Manning and Tom Brady joined them that's so coolbut for Tom Brady it would be the best thing I ever heard I wish it wassomebody else sorry Patriots nation but Peyton Manningand Tiger or a team like Tiger is the true love of my life reallyyes well he's the best go forever ever seen oh my god Oh chillsso I just came out today that's cool no I'm gonna look it up I'm gonna lookit up I didn't know they were doing it again yeah and you know it's really coolthat I really loved about it for us sports bettors on like each hole they dothe odds and what the Vegas bets were like like point three on this hole yeahand like you know it was like giving 110 getting 110 like – 110 Oh oh now we're going to play plead thefifth yeah so this is where it gets a little alittle dicey so I ask you three questions you get to plead the fifth toone of them I will tell you that the the second one is a gimmie so you can pickthis me the first or last to plead the fifth okay all right so first who orwhat site would you say is like a global pandemic all on their own like they'rejust such a hot mess in our industry industry yeah you do have one plead thefifth I'll plead the fifth on this one okay good choice okay now second is theopposite who would you say gives you a run for your money as the best travelblogger of all time so I have several but can I have to just give one if Imean if you have like a couple don't give me like 15 people but I'll behonest from a mass consumption I think lucky Ben from one of my lot oftime is is incredible I just I like his content and I started readinghis content as a newbie like eight nine years ago but I think I have to shoutI'm out because he's been very helpful with me throughout my years when I firststarted off Gary Gary 11 ring from the way yeah from the way Gary's always beengood I like his perspective but I like how he sometimes analyzes certain thingshe's very in the know he's not just points in miles he knows a little aboutthe aviation business and an airline industry and so I I really just I reallyadmire everything that he posts that puts out there I really did I like a lotof his content yeah I I would agree with you I think both of those guys arefreaking awesome yeah and the interesting thing aboutwell so first of all one mile at a time is that I feel like they're not theydon't just pump things it's literally like he loves what hedoes and that is so clear you know and he is amazing and then what you met heryou met her you went to an event with her recently yeah yeahI think I Drive her crazy but you know because I'm always like oh my godTiffani like I'm like I'll be like sitting like front row like during allher show like her speeches she's like at least a fan club she's cool she's coolshe's good I read her stuff too yeah she's cool and then and again Gary Ithink he doesn't have any contributors it's all him so the fact that he's ableto kind of juggle his his day job and also his sight so he stays on top of allthe news and stuff so it's very impressive honestly mm-hm and he's notafraid to say what he thinks which is something that I think a lot of peopleare like I feel like Gary he is interested in a post he puts it togetherand that's the end of it you don't like it too bad and I love that about himbecause you took the most interesting posts come from his site you know yeahyeah that's very refreshing in our hobby to not to just say what you want to sayand not worry about the repercussions yeah yeah yeah so I love that okay nowwe're gonna play shag marry kill okay this is your third one you alreadypled the fifth so you have to answer would you shag marry kill and I know hiswife so it's okay I know she won't care huh I'm writing this down I just want tothink of things like characteristics and personality okay let's go mark Osterman Gary and I'm not gonna do with you oh yeah yougonna say and Brian Kelly honey yeah alright let's do this I'm going to youknow what let's marry mark let's marry mark just because he every day would bea different day with him let's go ahead and let's go let's go on the shag Brianlet's Craig Brian I'm and let's just kill Gary cuz he's just too smart you don't meet that kind of competitionin life I don't all right good answer I like it's good that's fun that's funright it's like yeah all right well one thank you so much thanks for having mepleasure having you and hopefully we'll get to do this again soon because Ialways love hanging out with you again.