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Say Hello to Team Member Jason! He Was Introduced to Miles & Points by the Sweetest Ride on Earth!

  • Jason Stauffer

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    Hey everyone, I’m Jason.

    I approach travel the same way I approach food – I’m always looking for something new.  And my favorite meal is the one I haven’t had yet.  I’ll try squid ice cream because whether or not I like it isn’t as important as the experience.  So whenever I’m in a new city, I’m always looking for a local delicacy to sample or an iconic restaurant.

    And outside of always being on the lookout for delicious food, I find inspiration to travel in the strange quirks of a place.  For example, there is an episode of the short run HBO comedy series “Flight of the Conchords” where they mentioned the Toothbrush Fence in New Zealand.  That sounded amazing!  So I just had to go.

    The Toothbrush Fence! When You Achieve a Dream, You Just Have to Let It All Out!

    I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, home of the Amish and Mennonites.  And I never did much traveling until after I graduated college.  I had a friend who had a friend who was hired to drive the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.  Getting paid to drive a giant hot dog across the country seemed like the pinnacle of life.  It became my obsession.

    I applied for the job and didn’t get anywhere close to being hired (1,000+ applicants for 16 jobs isn’t good odds).  But that pursuit led me to learn about mobile marketing.  And it turns out that lots of companies pay people to head out on the road to promote their stuff!

    I landed a gig traveling and doing events for Verizon, which eventually led to me becoming a Chocolate Ambassador behind the wheel of the Hershey’s Kissmobile.  Which, let’s be honest, is a much sweeter ride!

    The 3rd Kiss Is Refrigerated and Holds a Metric Ton of Hershey’s Kisses, Which Makes You an Instant Celebrity Anywhere You Go!

    Traveling for work gave me a taste of what miles & points could do.  Although, I didn’t know how to effectively earn or use them.  So for the most part, the rewards I earned from all company paid hotel stays went to waste.

    Now that I’ve learned a bit more about the best ways to use and earn miles, it has opened up a world of new experiences.  I’ve been able to travel to places I wouldn’t have gone.  And have experiences I couldn’t have afforded (hello First Class).  So I love helping other people use miles & points in the same way.

    For the past 5 years I’ve been sharing adventures with my wife Jessica.  I couldn’t ask for a better partner in crime.  She’ll often get bored hearing me talk about the newest credit card bonus or hotel promotion.  But once she experienced what it could do, she fell in love with the power of Big Travel with Small Money!

    Seeing Is Believing! It Usually Only Takes One First Class Experience to Get Someone Hooked on Miles & Points

    Before I joined the Million Mile Secrets team, Jess and I sold our house and spent ~2 years traveling across the US as a mobile marketing team (not for Hershey though).  During our breaks from work, we traveled overseas, including 4 months on New Zealand’s long walk – Te Araroa.

    I like to use miles & points for experiences I wouldn’t pay cash for.  That usually means traveling in Business Class once or twice a year!

    But the best part of travel is the people you meet.  And I’ve found that the cheaper the accommodation the more likely you are to make a new friend.  So in between visits (with points as much as possible) to the Park Hyatts and Conrad Hiltons of the world, I love staying at hostels, campgrounds, and Airbnbs.

    I’m a sucker for a good road trip, and once I get to Alaska I’ll have visited all 50 states!  And some day soon, I will see a Platypus in the wild!

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)