“For the first time, my miserly father is staying in hotels that aren’t named with a number.”
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Welcome to the next interview in our interview series where renowned mile and point gurus share their insights on having Big Travel with Small Money!Miles & Points Interview: World Wander Lusting
Brad has been traveling the world along with his brother Sheldon. They also write the World Wander Lusting blog, so I was looking forward to our chat on Friday!

We come from a family that bargains for garage-sale items. Our tight wad-ness has been carefully cultured over centuries, and while such attitudes generally wane over generations, in our family it has done exactly the opposite. It is in our nature to think cheap. It is not, however, in our nature to travel… we found that on our own. The wanderlust seized me before a steady job did, and points were the only way to bridge the gap.
Why did you start your blog? What’s special about it? Brad: I got to where I was telling so many people what to do that it just made more sense to put it out there and let people read it. We didn’t invent travel-hacking and we’re certainly not the best at it. If the traditional “Travel Blog” is Spain and the “Miles and Points Blog” is France, then we must be Andorra. If we have a niche in this world, its showing people what amazing trip itineraries they can build with optimized point usage. What’s the one single thing people can do to get more miles? Sheldon: Ask for them. Whenever a company has given you terrible customer service, or when the flight has mechanical problems that causes you to miss your connecting flight, ask for some points.Use Twitter to contact the customer service team and explain your situation. In three instances of airline errors I’ve scored 27,500 miles. I’m batting three for three at 100% and averaging 9000 miles per complaint.
What’s your most memorable travel experience? Brad: I took my family of six to Medellin, Colombia for a total of $574 and 150k AA points. We spent a month there and made Colombian friends for a lifetime, indulged in more than our fair share of “bandejas paisas,” climbed to the top of El Peñol, traced the history of Pablo Escobar, visited the historic city of Santa Fe de Antioquia, and paraglided over the Andes.

You’ve got to capitalize on every promotion and every opportunity. If you knew where a treasure chest was buried, you’d go to great lengths to dig it up, but far too many people opt out because “it will hurt my credit,” or “I don’t have time to figure it out.” Investing time in understanding these things pays immediate dividends.
What would your readers be surprised to know about you?
I’m a hopeless romantic and I write and read extensively (finally getting into Hemingway at the moment). I love motorcycles, languages, and architecture… and I have a thing for blue turf.
Sheldon: I spent two of my prime years in Paraguay doing a service mission, which was totally worth it. I received my degree in Business Finance and had a 3.96 GPA. My only B came from the class in which I met my wife (it was worth it). I spend most days calming people about their health insurance rates going through the roof, and convincing others that it’s worth the hefty premium. Any parting words? Both: We are arms-dealers in the war of monotony vs. adventure and excitement. It is a sad fact that most people simply raise their white flag in surrender to boredom and sameness. They’re overpowered by the battle-call of the humdrum, “we can’t afford to do things like that.” They cower from the challenge with phrases like “we can’t find a babysitter,” and “traveling to those places isn’t safe.”We just won’t tolerate weakness like that. We won’t let them win. We soak in the refreshing springs of civilizations’ celebrations. We gorge on the sweet variety of global gluttony. We learn the intriguing history of local legends. We wanderlust.
The opportunities that are out there for absolutely free travel justify banishing those despicable phrases forever. Come see what we’re doing, come do what we’re saying. Wanderlust with us. www.WorldWanderlusting.com
Brad – Thanks for sharing your thoughts on having Big Travel with Small Money!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! :)
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