How to Attend the Paris 2024 Olympics

HAPPY TUESDAY to all you bright and cheery morning people! And for those who aren’t functioning humans before your first cup of coffee… I’ll gently whisper a “good morning” to you all as well 🙂

You may (or may not) be surprised to hear that this isn’t Mike behind the keyboard today 😱

If you read yesterday’s newsletter, you’ll know Mike is battling a less-than-desirable parasite down in Guatemala 🐛

Instead… my name is Tiffany, and I’m Daily Drop’s second writer! While Mike is getting some much-needed rest, I’ll be taking over the travel-hacking controls.

Here’s what I’ve got on the list today:

• 🙋🏻‍♀️ Introducing Tiffany (me)

• 🏆 Attend the Paris 2024 Olympics for free

• ✈️ Let’s get to Paris for (almost!) free

• 😂 Travel meme

🙋🏻‍♀️ Introducing Tiffany (me)

Ciao everyone! You can think of me as Mike’s sidekick 💁🏻‍♀️ helping to source the best travel hacks, news, and inspo for Daily Drop. 

I’m basically the Monica to his Rachel—if you’re into the whole hit 90s sitcom gal-pal thing.

Mike may have been to more countries than I have, but I’ve got more cats than he does, so… I’ll let you choose who’s got the greater coolness factor 🙃

So if you’ve noticed an uptick in cat jokes over the last few months… you’re welcome! (Or, I’m sorry… depending on how you look at it 😅).

ANYWAY. Here are a few fun facts about me, because, you know, that travel “street cred” is pretty important!

You’ve also probably read some of Daily Drop’s travel resources over the last few months that were written by me:

• The go-to-guide for credit card transfer partners

• Our Favorite non-miles and points travel hack

• What you should know about credit card travel insurance 

There’s some others floating around, but regardless, you’ll hear from me every now and then 😊

So as they say in Italy, piacere, my friends. It’s nice to meet you!

🏆 Attend the Paris 2024 Olympics for free

Firstly, who doesn’t want to visit Paris? And who doesn’t want to see the Olympics, in person, at least once in their life?

I sure can’t run a four-minute mile, but I do love to watch it happen… from my couch… usually snacking 🤭

Even though there’s still more than a year left until the Olympics kick off, you could attend the games for free: by applying to be a volunteer.

Over 45,000 volunteers are needed for all sorts of tasks like welcoming athletes to the Athletes’ Village, transporting competitors and officials to/from venues, guiding spectators to stands, collecting tennis balls… you name it!

You can submit an application through May 3rd, 2023, and should be notified between September and December 2023 if you’ve been assigned a volunteer position!

Here are the three conditions needed to apply:

• Be at least 18 years old by January 1st, 2024

• Speak French and/or English

• Be available for at least ten days between the opening of the Athletes’ Village and two days after the closing of the Paralympic Games

Accommodations aren’t covered, but public transport and a meal or food voucher per shift is 👍

YOU GUYS. What a unique, behind-the-scenes experience that would be for one of the most iconic sports events in the world!

✈️ Let’s get to Paris for (almost!) free

So… if you’re gung-ho to head to Paris next summer, I should also probably talk about some good ways to get there using miles and points.

To be clear, my award flight searches only let me look ahead to March 2024 right now (because many airlines release award availability starting around 330 days out).

But it’s good to have it on your radar ESPECIALLY since it’ll be peak summer travelin’ PLUS the Olympics.

Here’s how I would get to Paris with options from the three main airline alliances.

Oneworld:

For those with a stash of British Airway’s Avios (or cards that’ll transfer points to BA 😏), you could book a flight from a handful of major U.S. hubs that would jet-set you straight to Paris.

The taxes and fees are notoriously higher here, but for 17,000 Avios… I’m not that mad about it 🤔

SkyTeam:

The SkyTeam alliance is likely going to have the most options for getting to Paris from the U.S. because… Air France (and its partner Delta).

As of now, SkyTeam offers flights to Paris from at least 16 major U.S. cities, including my home airport of Seattle 👌 In fact, I’ll be flying this route later in the summer!

In general, the cheapest way to book award flights is with Air France/KLM’s Flying Blue program.

Getting from the West Coast all the way to Paris for under 30,000 miles sits pretty dang well in my book.

Star Alliance:

From past searches, I’ve found that some of the cheapest ways to get to Europe via Star Alliance awards are with either Asiana Club (as low as 25,000 miles one-way!) or ANA Mileage Club.

United’s MileagePlus does a pretty good job too, though. Whereas many other Star Alliance airlines incur high surcharges, United is exempt. Ay, I see you—you adorable, minuscule $5.60 fee 👀

And perhaps the BEST PART about jumping on board with British, Flying Blue, or United? They’re all transfer partners with the 🚨 RED ALERT 🚨 card deal that broke the internet last Friday.

So if you’re working towards that stellar sign-up bonus, you could make any of these award flights happen with a little point transfer magic 😎

🌍 Sponsored by Babbel

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For real, I’m all set for my trip to Italy, Spain, and France this summer to hold deep (deeeep) conversations with the locals—all because of my newly-acquired language skills 😎

In all seriousness, it’s actually so fun to start learning a new language, and Babbel will help you do that!

As we all start to dream up our summer vacays (I know I am), now is the perfect time to make your language-learning goal a reality!

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😂 Travel meme

Perhaps not of courage… but of miles and points, eh? 😏

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Speaking of Paris, the answer to our Eiffel Tower trivia from earlier is… 600 people! A DAY. Work in the Eiffel Tower. And it’s actually one of the largest job-generating businesses in the French tourism industry!

Well… I hope you all enjoyed the newsletter today, but I think we ALL hope that Mike will beat this bug and be back at it tomorrow 💪

Ciao for now, everyone!