Category: Other

Passport Book via Priority Mail 0

My Online US Passport Renewal Experience in 2024

Renewing your passport has traditionally been a hassle. However, starting June 12, 2024, the US Department of State launched a beta program that allowed US citizens to renew their passports online, initially limiting applications to 1,000 per day. As of yesterday (September 18, 2024), the program has officially launched and...

Bridge to TIJ from USA 1

Cross Border Xpress (CBX) from San Diego to TIJ (Tijuana)

Flying out of Tijuana for Mexico domestic flights instead of San Diego can save you money and CBX (Cross Border Xpress) makes it easy to access the Tijuana Airport. It costs $45.95 roundtrip for access to CBX. If you are staying in Mexico for more than 6 days you will...

Mount Yōtei, Hokkaidō 0

Happy New Year! 2023 Review

Happy New Year! 2023 continued to improve and saw strong travel demand over 2022 as COVID restrictions are now nonexistent. During 2023, I was able to fit in a few fun international trips. I flew 94,000 miles and visited 10 countries. This reflects a ~8% increase in miles from 2022....

Big Sur, CA 0

Happy New Year! 2022 Review

Happy New Year! 2022 was a significant improvement over 2021 as most COVID restrictions were lifted. During 2022, I was able to fit in an international trip in April, October & November! I flew 87,000 miles and visited 7 countries. This reflects a ~30% increase from 2021. Below is an...

Lufthansa A350 @ SAN 2

8 Year Anniversary

8 years, 3,000+ photos & 250 posts later… I still enjoy contributing to my travel blog. The past 2 years have been different given COVID-19, but we are seeing the world back to normal for the most part and travel is open 🙂 I’m truly blessed with the opportunity to...

Nā Pali Coast 1

Happy New Year! 2021 Review

Happy New Year! 2021 was an improvement over 2020, but still restricted due to COVID-19. During 2021, I was able to fit in an international trip in March & November, but all of my other trips were domestic. I flew 67,000 miles and visited 2 countries. This reflects a ~49%...

Oahu, Hawaii 0

Happy New Year! 2020 Review

Happy New Year! Wow, 2020 was a major curveball. Travel was upended in March due to COVID-19. During 2020 I was able to sneak in an international trip in February, but all my future travel plans were canceled and I needed to plan “safe” domestic trips. I flew 45,000 miles...

Alaska First Class A320 0

Alaska MVP Gold 75K Status Recap for 2019

I was very fortunate to hold Alaska MVP Gold 75K status from October 2018 until December 2019 via a status match from AA Executive Platinum. Alaska MVP Gold 75K status is their highest tier offering upgrades to First Class, Lounge passes, instant Premium Class upgrades at time of booking, no...

SFO 1

Happy New Year! 2019 Review

Happy New Year! During 2019 I was able to limit my business travel to just 3 trips domestically, but it was another busy year with over 80,000 miles of flying and visiting 7 countries. Below is an overview of my 2019 travels… Accommodations (22, 1 more than 2018): AC Hotel New...

REAL ID 0

Renewing your ID? Get the REAL ID

In less than 18 months, you will be required to present a REAL ID or passport at TSA checkpoints within the US for all flights. Your current non-REAL ID won’t be valid starting October 1st, 2020. If you are renewing your driver’s license, it’s worth the extra hassle to provide...