Hi there! Here’s a short story about how I created Travel Summary sometime around 2011. You see, in 2011 I was working as a consultant…and that meant I was often flying and staying in hotels on someone else’s dime. Like most others I knew I needed to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points and status, because there was the possibility of something “free” down the line. I know it sounds great, but keep in mind that traveling for work is very different than traveling for pleasure!
I’m the kind of guy that loves efficiency and hates waste. I’m the guy that would rather take the staircase down on those four flights of stairs rather than wait a minute for the elevator to come. If there’s a repetitive, weekly task that takes an hour to complete, I will happily spend 20 hours on the weekend figuring out how I can do that task with the click of a button going forward. I once even schemed with a coworker at that consulting job on how to outsource our work to cheaper labor in Asia so we could either get second jobs and make more money or simply sip a coconut on the beach. I’m all about saving time and money to do things I’d rather be doing.
So when I learned that frequent flyer and hotel programs were actually more than just miles and points…when I learned they were actually a type of currency that could be built up and used for first class trips while spending economy prices, I was hooked. And with the knowledge I gained, I was soon eating caviar, taking a warm shower, and closing the doors to go to bed…all at 40,000 feet. Okay so it wasn’t that easy or quick, but it certainly was, and still is, possible.
I like to help people. There’s a happy feeling I get when I know I helped someone book the honeymoon or vacation of their dreams. That includes making the best choices on not just what airline and hotel they choose, but also what loyalty program currency to earn. I also like to teach people so they can go through the process independently next time and make better decisions for what suits their life.
And apparently, I also like to write…and that’s where Travel Summary came from. I started my own blog and surprisingly people started reading. Eventually I started getting offers to join others on their blogs. I eventually joined Boarding Area and later I joined Travel Codex, and now I’m back to being self-hosted again.
Along the way, a few online media sources wanted to interview me about this crazy world. At first I declined, not wanting to draw attention to myself since I still had a day-job. Eventually I agreed to do one anonymously with Vice, and was nervous even about that. Eventually I became more comfortable with the idea of people knowing me, so I presented at several Frequent Traveler University conferences, and even organized a couple of conferences of my own called TravelCon (this name has since been utilized by others, which I don’t care about). And when I got married in 2016, my honeymoon trip got the attention of Forbes (and I was mentioned there again). To show how far I’ve come, I’ve even started posting video reviews to my Youtube channel. Who knows, maybe I’ll be on a billboard one day!
But all that leads me back here, to this blog. I still have a day job (until I can figure out how to outsource the whole thing), so I wont be writing as frequently as I once did. In fact, I removed a hundred outdated or irrelevant old posts in this most recent reincarnation. Hopefully my future posts will continue to be something you can learn from, or at the very least be entertained by.
Cheers!