💡Fun Fact: The first-ever scheduled passenger flight took place over 100 years ago in 1914. The short 23-minute flight from St. Petersburg to Tampa is nothing compared to the 23-hour flights of today!
Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, the potato salad of newsletters - unassuming, surprisingly versatile, and, occasionally, absolutely incredible.
Here’s what we’ve got on deck today:
💳 Last Call: The best $0 credit card offer in history
It’s not often we see a no-annual-fee credit card that can offer over $1,000 in value.
On that note, I’ve got good news and bad news for you…
The good news?
There is such a card—it currently has an offer that could yield well over a thousand dollars in value.
The bad news?
That offer is ending. Soon. Very soon. 😭
Here’s the dealio:
This card currently has a welcome offer of almost a thousand dollars in cash-back. It’s a cool offer, to be sure.
But here at Daily Drop, cash is NOT king. Points are king, obviously.
Thankfully, if you own a card that earns UR points (like this one), you can turn that cash-back into points. It’s like magic, except… well… real.
Once you have those points, the sky is the limit. And I mean that literally—because those points can book you some NICE flights.
For example, you could transfer them to Flying Blue and book this 13-hour, nonstop flight on Etihad… in business class, which would otherwise cost over $4,000… 😎
Once you get to Abu Dhabi, you’d even have enough points left over (including the points you earn from meeting the minimum spend) to transfer to Hyatt and book a night or two at the Andaz for just 6,500 points per night.
Even if you use your points for these two bookings, you’d already be getting close to $5,000 in value from this card, which, again, has NO annual fee.
This is the epitome of travel hacking… The fact that a card like this can unlock travel experiences that are completely out of reach for most of us is why we like to play this game.
The offer on this card ends on January 18th at 9:00 A.M., EST, so I’d recommend picking up the card ASAP to get in on this points bonanza. 👇
✈️ A new way to fly to Mexico with points
Mexico is dope.
Mexico has something for everyone, whether you like the sandy beaches of Cancun, the bustling metropolis of Mexico City, or you just want to go to Oaxaca and drink so much mezcal that you forget your name and can’t feel your face anymore. 🥴
No? Just me?
Anyway, I love Mexico.
That’s why I’m so excited that there is now a new way to fly to Mexico with points, thanks to Virgin Atlantic and their SkyTeam partnership with Aeromexico.
That’s right, folks. You can now use Virgin Atlantic miles to book flights on Aeromexico.
This is exciting because Aeromexico flies to a TON of U.S. cities, including Boston, New York, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Miami, and more.
And the award rates are actually really solid, like this flight from Dallas to Mexico City, which only costs 7,000 Virgin Miles and $47 in taxes and fees.
Even if you live further north in a city like New York, you can still fly all the way to Mexico for just over 11,000 miles.
Of course, you can also fly from New York to London for only 10,000 Virgin miles, but I still think this is a good deal for a six-hour international flight.
I’ve flown Aeromexico a number of times and consider it to be an excellent airline.
Plus, Virgin miles are super easy to earn in the U.S. since you can transfer points from any of these programs at a 1:1 ratio:
Oftentimes, there is even a transfer bonus of 20-30%, making these reward prices even more appealing.
So next time you want to get away to Mexico, make sure you add Virgin to your list of programs to search.
🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday
The Global Peace Index is a guide to global peacefulness that analyzes trends in peace and its economic value.
According to the Institute for Economics and Peace's (IEP) 2023 and the GPI, what was the most peaceful country in 2023? |
Only Email Recipients can participate in polls. |
Unsurprisingly, the correct answer is…
Iceland, which has been the most peaceful country since 2008!
Here are some quick tidbits from this year’s Global Peace Index findings:
Global peacefulness declined by 0.42% in the 2023 Global Peace Index, marking the ninth consecutive year of deterioration. 😬
Sorry... I know that's a little depressing—but interesting nonetheless.
But on a more positive note… in the past year, 84 countries saw an improvement (yay).
UN peacekeeping funding and military expenditure showed the most improvement.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region recorded the second-largest improvement in peacefulness but remained the least peaceful globally.
Of the 23 GPI indicators, ten improved, 11 deteriorated, and two showed no change.
If you've never read results from a Global Peace Index, they're actually super interesting, and I encourage you to check one out sometime. Here are this year's stats and summaries.
We LOVE Hyatt. And we even think it’s one of (or perhaps the most…) valuable hotel loyalty programs out there 😮
This week’s video showcases some amazing and expensive Hyatt properties that you can book for $0 thanks to valuable World of Hyatt points!
That’s all for today, friends! While you process all of the awesome travel hacks from today’s newsletter, I’m going to go explore this epic city of Beijing!
Goodbye… for now 😈
