Trekeo

A group of friends and I will be in Roatan (Honduras) the next several days.  Most of our time there will be spent under water. This is my annual mancation where some of my pals and I unplug, catch up on life, and SCUBA dive.  While there we will be staying at Anthony’s Key Resort.  Internet will be limited but I will give a full report on my return.

For a play-by-play (until internet runs dry) follow me on twitter or facebook.

I’m a happily married family man but not afraid to admit that I have a man-crush on Matt Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity.  Makes me want to jump like a little girl.  Chris just reported that he played the game and stuck it to the man. His reward:  frequent flyer miles out the yang.

Read all about how Chris did it here.  If you are a hard core travel hacker, his blog is a must. 

Also, check out our review of Chris’ Frequent Flyer Master.  By following his advice, we scored enough Frequent Flyer Miles for a trip this fall.

Barbara Weibel from Hole in the Donut has a great little post on driving.  How can you see better hen driving in the rain?  You may be surprised at the answer. 

Barbara has a great blog and an inspiring personal story that speaks to the vagabond inside all of us.  Check out her blog here.

Thanks!

We thought we knew all the best sites to find the cheapest fares.  Wrong.  Enter vayama.  We used vayama to book tickets for my annual mancation (more on that later).  The end result was round-trip tickets to Roatan, Honduras from Indy for $335.  We have an overnight in DC which is kind of ugly but for that price, I will deal with it.

Next time you need to book tickets (especially international), give vayama a try.  It appears that they frequently have specials on international fares.

I find myself moved to tears with the situation in Haiti.  My daughter, Mariah, and a high school team are scheduled to be in Haiti in July.  Though I have yet to visit Haiti I have spent a considerable amount of time in the 3rd world and know the challenges when things are normal.  I cannot simply get my head around the disaster.  If your like me you wonder, “Sure, but what can I do?” 

As you know, I am a huge fan of Compassion International.  They have a strong presence in Haiti.  They are asking for donations for their efforts, as they work with over 6000 children there. 

If you can’t give, would you join hundreds of us in praying for Haiti.  The eyes of the world are turned to the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.  I am praying that the church will rise up.  My hope is that in years to come, an old man will sit on the beach with his grandson and say “The earthquake of 2010 changed where I lived and whom I lived with.  Then God came along.  He changed my life.”

You can donate here.

In a word: Yes.

I’m all about security and regulations, but as a response to the terrorist on the Christmas Day flight into Detroit, has the FAA over-reacted?

The FAA states that passengers on international flights must remain seated the last hour of their flights with no bags on their lap. I even heard something about banning paperback books.

Come on.

Guy sneaks a bomb in his shoes and we all take our shoes off at the airport.  Guy tries to blow up a plane with liquid and we have liquid restriction.  Guy tries to light a fire on approach to a city and we can no longer go to the bathroom one hour prior to landing.  What’s next?

Again, I am all about security, but I bet we will feel different when Grandma Louise pees herself an hour before she lands in Oakland because we were afraid she was going to go to the bathroom and ignite her plan for world destruction.

Rant off.

photo by ocean yamaha

Chris Guillebeau from The Art of Non-conformity is offering his e-book, Frequent Flyer Master for $49.  Chris claims that by following the advice in FFM, you can easily score at least 25,000 air miles (one free round trip airline ticket).   Beyond that, he claims that you continue to get free flights by creatively gaining frequent flyer miles.

Really?

Steph and I got our hands on FFM and put it to the test.  With thousands of people claiming that their product will help you travel the world, we wanted to know if there was anything behind the hype of FFM.

It is worth your hard-earned cash?  Can you really get enough frequent flyer miles to score a free ticket?  Multiple free tickets?

Short answer:  Yes.

Long answer:

I like Chris. He is down to earth, personable, and is living what many people dream of.  He is highly organized, has insane knowledge about travel hacking, and is open to sharing it with others.  I may just have a man crush on him.

The good of FFM.  It is laid out well and is clear and easy to follow.  I don’t want to give away the content as Chris makes a living on his resources, but I will say that Stephanie and I followed some of his steps and in 3 months will have enough frequent flyer miles for a free ticket.  Free is good. Very good.  Right off the bat, Chris’ claim is true.  Follow his steps and get a free ticket.  If you are a traveler, that’s worth the price of FFM.

When you purchase FFM for $49, Chris offers to throw in a second resource, Travel Ninja , for a package total of $79 (a savings of $29).  Travel Ninja is for the serious traveler.  Chris breaks down some tips for travel (much of it international) on a scale that I have yet to experience.  Travel Ninja makes you realize that Chris isn’t playing games.  I half-way expect to see him setting some nunchucks on the airline counter as they rush to give him an upgrade to first class for free.  He’s the man.

The challenges of FFM.  If you don’t want to follow directions or if you want something handed to you, don’t buy FFM.  You will have to do some work.  You will have to be organized. 

Much of the game of gathering frequent flyer miles involves the use of credit cards.  If you do not pay off your balance every month, do not play this game.  Trust me.  In my younger days I racked up tons of miles along with a mountain of debt.  Two free tickets to Hawaii ended up costing me . . . well, that’s for another day.  Take my word here, if you can’t organize your finances, you will sink deeper in debt for “free” airline tickets.

We ran into a slight challenge with a credit card company that Chris suggested (not his fault).  We applied for a card, were approved, and began to charge some expenses on the card.  Three charges were denied because they were suspected to be fraud.  When I called the company, they said they would approve the charges since I called.  I could not call to pre-approve any future charges.  They stated that once they learned my spending pattern, they would loosen up.  I informed them that of this continued, I could not continue to do business with them.  Time will tell how this turns out.

Beyond that challenge, we are on our way to more frequent flyer miles and more travel.  All in all, FFM is a solid product for those who are organized and serious about travel.  In addition, I highly recommend adding Chris’ site to your RSS.

Yes, these are real sharks (Caribbean Reef Sharks, to be exact). That’s me in the video; warming my wetsuit.

Yes, I would do it again.  In a heartbeat.

On a recent cruise, we stopped in Nassau, Bahamas.  While there we connected with Stuart Coves.  They are known for their shark dives and did not disappoint.  While the operation was larger, the staff was friendly and personable.

My favorite quote from the dive master: “If a shark knocks out your regulator . . .  .”  I really didn’t hear much after that.

The shark dive is a 2-tank dive, the first being a wall-dive with the occasional shark, the second being the shark feed.  If you are a diver, this is a must do.

Sound to good to be true?  Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity has a new e-book called Frequent Flyer Master.  Chris claims that by following some of the suggestions in this 40 page document, you can travel anywhere in the world for nearly free.  He goes so far as to guarantee that by following his advice you can score a free ticket.

It it too good to be true?

Chris has sent us a copy of Frequent Flyer Master for our review.  Stay tuned as we dig into the content and see if it will live up to the promise. 

Yesterday Steph was bumped from a Continental flight and was awarded a $300.00 voucher.  Interestingly enough, she had purchased her original ticket with a $300 voucher that I scored earlier this year.  It’s free on top of free.  Bam!

How did she do it?  It’s all explained right here.  Give it a try and you could be flying free.

photo by richard moross