I started my long-term travel adventures in January of 2011, almost 2.5 years ago. Looking back, I really had no idea how the airline systems worked: I wasn’t really collecting any sort of air-miles, didn’t know how to fly for free, nor was I trying to get to any type of elite status (I didn’t even really know how to be honest). After 2.5 years though, I’ve finally hit my travel groove. So lately I’ve been dedicating efforts towards taking advantage of some of the cracks in the system to make the most of my travel adventures and to fly for free around the world as much as I can going forward. Here are some of the tricks I’m using. Using Rewards Cards To Earn Free Flights Or Vacations Everyone who travels often should also have at least one travel rewards card – not only do these also let you […]

It’s hard to be in New Zealand and not eventually stumble upon some of the filming locations from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. While most of the scenic areas from the films are on the South Island, there are plenty of opportunities on the North Island to take a visit to Middle Earth, most notable is of course Hobbiton near Matamata. During our two week campervan adventure on New Zealand’s south island, we had an impromptu idea to visit Edoras, which was the primary filming location for the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It’s situated on private property, but the owners don’t seem to have a problem with tour busses and individual tourists making the trek up to the top. The actual hill where the Golden Hall was located is known as Mount Sunday in New Zealand, and that’s your destination. To get to Mount Sunday [Google […]

I posted around Christmas about a project I was starting to build an electric brewery. I realized recently that I hadn’t given an update with it basically since then, and thought it was time to share the progress. Most of the parts were waiting for me back in Canada when I arrived back from Australia, so I laid them all out on my temporary butcher block work station for assembly. That butcher block is actually a 7′ countertop from Home Depot that I got on sale – eventually it will form the base for the brewery itself. Before working on the brew kettles, I decided I would attempt to build most of the control panel. Once my 1/2″ knockout punch arrived, I decided I would knock-out the holes for all the buttons on the front of the control panel. As you can see in the photo, I wrapped some 8.5″ […]

In just a few weeks, I’ll be boarding a plane and making the roughly four hour trip to Ontario (seven if you count a quick nacho stopover in Calgary). As I’ve indicated on Facebook, my plan is to move to Hamilton, Ontario for probably a year or so, mostly to work with Dale on some projects at BraveNewCode. Without a doubt I’m looking forward to a new change, as I originally moved out here to Chilliwack to help get BraveNewCode off the ground, something that happened nearly five years ago. In terms of logistics, Ontario is actually quite a bit better for me. It’s closer to Europe, which I love visiting. It’s close to many other cool cities, such as New York, Boston and Montreal. And it’s also just a short hop to the Caribbean. My girlfriend is from Brazil, and it’s much easier for me to fly from Toronto […]

One of my main strategies for earning free airline travel that I discuss in my eBook is leveraging a travel rewards card. For most people simply using a travel reward card for day-to-day purchases is enough to earn a free vacation each and every year. I’ve been using a few different cards for three years now, and I’ve earned a full return trip to Machu Picchu in Peru, a free return trip to Auckland, New Zealand, and enough for another trans-continental trip already accumulated. And all I had to do was sign-up and use it monthly. Almost all travel reward cards include health-insurance for short-term trips (usually two weeks or less) and often flight-cancellation or trip-interruption insurance. If you were to buy these items yourself you’d often spend $50-$100 for each trip, so these cards can save you money there as well. Best Travel Reward Card in the United States […]

A recently brewed an American India Pale Ale over the Christmas break. Beer Information I’m a big fan of American IPAs, and it’s usually what I drink when I’m lounging around home and I feel the need for a beer. Here are the target stats for this brew: BJCP Style: India Pale Ale – American IPA OG: 1.064 FG: 1.010 IBU: 65 ABV: 6.5% Color: 8 Batch Size: 5G Boil Duration: 60 mins Mash Temperature: 151F Brew Date: December 24th, 2013 Grain Bill 13lb 10oz – Canadian Pale Ale Malt 10oz – Caramel 40L 6oz – Caramel 15L 6oz – Wheat Malt Hop Bill/Schedule 1oz Simcoe – First wort hopped 0.3oz Centennial – @ 30 mins 0.8oz Citra – @ 15mins 1oz Chinook – @ 10mins 1oz Amarillo – @ 10mins 1oz Amarillo – Dry-hop 1oz Columbus – Dry-hop Water Treatment I recently checked out my town’s (Chilliwack’s) water report […]

I friend of mine recently asked if I was putting all my beer recipes online, and I unfortunately was forced to answer no. When I started brewing I tried to put them all online, but the write-ups just took too long. So I’ve decided to start posting them again, but in a very limited format. That way it doesn’t take me long to post them, and hopefully I can solicit input from others. Beer Information My goal for this beer was to make something easily drinkable for some of my family that generally prefers lagers, and tend not to like really bitter ales. I find most blonde ales a bit boring, so I mashed it at 152F to add a bit of body to it, and also used some left-over hops (in small quantities) from a recent IPA I had. I’m hoping these end-up having a subtle presence (due to […]

I started brewing beers at home a little over a year ago. Having no real experience before starting, I did what most people do in this day and age and tried to read as much as I could on the internet as I could before starting. While many people start with extract brewing, I decided at the time to just dive right in with all-grain brewing. Like most beginners, I made many mistakes when I started. But over time I have slowly improved the areas where I felt most deficient and have generally been making better and better beers (at least in my mind). Like most home brewers, the part of the process I least enjoyed was bottling. Washing and sanitizing bottles can take a lot of time, as does the actual bottling process. If you make a measurement error while priming, you’ll get to look forward to drinking a […]

Over the past few years I’ve flown to many exotic destinations New Zealand, Brazil, and even Peru. Normally those trips would costs thousands of dollars, but I managed to do all three trips for free thanks to several of my travel reward credit cards. Most seasoned travellers already know this, but many credit card companies offer travel products that help their customers earn free travel. For every purchase you charge to your credit card, the credit card company will give you a credit for future travel in the form of ‘mileage’. That mileage is usually tracked on your credit card statement on a monthly basis, but can quickly add up to a free airline ticket after just a few months. Without a doubt, one of the best credit card in the United States right now for earning free travel is the Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard. Upon signing up and spending […]

There are a few privileged travelers that you encounter from time to time who don’t really seem to have any sort of budget. Often they have saved for several years and intend to continue traveling until it simply runs out. But for the rest of us, traveling for more than a week or two often means that we have to stick to a pre-defined budget for a particular trip. I know personally that spending money is the one main aspect of traveling that causes me stress, more so than worrying about theft or how to get to and from places. That’s why I try to set aside a certain amount of money beforehand for each trip, to minimize the anxiety and stress on a day-to-day basis when constantly bombarded with things that cost money. Without a budget you’re likely to spend a crazy amount of money, often for things that […]