🏨 The winner of 300,000 IHG points
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Alright, it's time for the FINAL giveaway winner... Now I know it's sad to be ending this giveaway after we've doled out points like Oprah with cars, but I have a feeling this won't be the last time we do something like this *hint hint* 😉 |
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As much as I wish we could give ALL of you points, we only have one more lucky winner. And that winner is...
Alane G! Congratulations! You've won 300,000 IHG rewards points. With that many points, you could go live on an island in Bali for 50 nights. No, seriously, you could actually do that. If Bali doesn't float your boat, check out our post about other ways to spend your new IHG points 👇
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💰 Buy Etihad miles with a big bonus
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Until next Sunday, September 25th, you can buy Etihad Guest miles with a 30% bonus. This is one of the highest bonuses we've seen from a Middle Eastern airline like this, and could potentially be valuable to some of you.
Here are the bonus tiers:
- Buy 2,000-10,000 miles for a 15% bonus
- Buy 11,000-25,000 miles for a 20% bonus
- Buy 26,000-100,000 miles for a 30% bonus
If you wanted to max out this offer, you could buy 130,000 Etihad miles for $2,000 USD.
I can't think of a scenario where it would make sense to buy quite that many miles (unless you fly Etihad all the time and have loads of cash lying around), but there are some really great uses for Etihad miles.
Here are some of the pros of this offer:
- Etihad has more than 20 airline partners where you can spend these miles.
- Some of these partners have great "sweet spots," like flying from New York to Casablanca for 44,000 Etihad miles in business class.
- You can combine this offer with transferrable points from American Express, Capital One, or Citi.
The cons of the offer?
- Ummmmmm.... spending money on miles 😬
Basically, I think this could be a great way to top off your points balance if you wanted to transfer Etihad miles from your bank and don't have quite enough for the trip you want to book.
Generally, I would avoid buying airline miles. Unlike hotels, there are rarely opportunities to buy miles, book flights, and come out ahead. However, don't write this deal off completely - if you need to spend an extra $100 on miles to unlock a $1,000 flight, you're still coming out way ahead.
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✈️ Win 100,000 United miles and $2,500 CASH
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Before you ask, the answer is NO, this is not our giveaway. But I think United got a little jealous when they saw us give away 75,000 United miles, so they decided to show off and offer a sweepstake to award some SERIOUS free stuff.
They are giving one grand prize winner 100,000 United miles and $2,500 of cold, hard, cash money. Three first prize winners will also be awarded 20,000 United miles each.
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How do you enter? All you need to do is go to their shopping portal page and click a button. It's literally that simple.
In addition, they are offering the chance to earn extra entries in this giveaway by completing certain tasks (okay now it REALLY sounds like they're copying us...).
Here's how it works:
- Earn 50 extra entries for making a purchase of $50 or more with one of the shopping portal merchants, up to twice a day (a total of 100 extra entries per day).
- Earn 100 extra entries for installing the MileagePlus Shopping browser extension (which you should do anyway if you use this shopping portal).
- Earn 100 entries for signing up for the MileagePlus Shopping email list.
So you can earn 201 entries in this giveaway without needing to spend a cent. There's really no reason why you shouldn't do this.
Make sure you enter by September 23rd to secure your shot at winning some serious free travel. If you end up winning, I'll take my 10% commission anytime. But also, you can check out our post that breaks down the value of United miles and provides some examples of flights you can book with them.
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💜 Heartwarming travel story
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This is a sad but also incredible story. A Canadian family recently set out on a long trip for a very special reason: their kids were diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic condition that causes loss of vision over time.
Unfortunately, there's not very much anyone can do to cure this condition. But the parents decided that something they can do is to fill their kids' memories with the most incredible images ever by taking them around the world.
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The family set off in March of 2022 and has traveled to places like Namibia, Turkey, Tanzania, Mongolia, and Indonesia.
The mother said, "I'm not going to show her an elephant in a book, I'm going to show her a real elephant."
I think this is such an incredible story, despite the circumstances that led to them setting off on this trip. It's just another example of how powerful and meaningful travel can be. |
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✈️ The most expensive trip around the world
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What if I told you that there's a company that would take you on a luxurious, over-the-top travel experience on a private jet around the world?
You'd probably be into it, right?
Well, what if I told you that it would cost you as much as $215,000 per person? Would you vomit and run away? Yea... me too... 🤮
This newsletter is all about how normal people can enjoy amazing travel experiences without breaking the bank. But I thought it might be fun to share how some people in the world (who, let's just say, don't need to worry about breaking the bank) experience travel.
The Four Seasons, a high-end luxury hotel brand, conducts themed tours around the world that cost anywhere from $130,000 to $215,000 per person. It involves private jet flights with luxurious seats, spas, caviar, and more to exotic destinations with very high-end hotels and experiences.
One example of an itinerary is as follows:
Seattle - Japan - Bali - Seychelles - Rwanda - Morocco - Colombia - Ecuador - Fort Lauderdale |
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That's a pretty epic trip. But I can't help but think that it's still a huge waste of money... and I'll tell you why:
Next week I'm embarking on the most ambitious trip of my life so far - a complete around-the-world trip with the following itinerary:
Toronto - Greece - Serbia - Slovenia - Croatia - Hungary - Slovakia - Czech Republic - Poland - Qatar - India - Nepal - Thailand - Malaysia - South Korea - Japan - Toronto
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That's not too shabby for an around-the-world itinerary, and it didn't cost me anything remotely close to $130,000...
In fact, the entire 9-week trip is only costing me 250,000 points and about $1,500 in cash. And while it might not be quite as luxurious as the Four Seasons, I am flying a lot in business and first-class and staying at some hotels like Ritz-Carlton and Waldorf Astoria along the way, so it's not exactly a "budget backpacker" trip either.
This is a great example of how points and miles can unlock amazing experiences that some people in the world would literally pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for.
Oh, and if you think 250,000 points is a lot, keep in mind that you could earn that many points in a flash by opening one or two credit cards (bringing it full circle to the previous section of the newsletter).
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That's going to do it for this week, folks! Congrats to all of our giveaway winners this week, I can't wait to see how you put those points to use. Thanks for bearing with the change in schedule today, I appreciate your understanding 😁
Were you worried when you didn't get the Daily Drop in your inbox this morning? Which around-the-world trip do you think is better, mine or the Four Seasons? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media.
Have a lovely weekend <3
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Mike Dodge
Head Writer, The Daily Drop
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