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). Iguazu Falls, on my first trip to Argentina in 2011 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 ...

If you're a routine flyer around North America, you may have heard today that United Airlines dropped a bombshell on its loyalty program members. But chances are you didn't, because it seems that they chose to release the information at night. You know, during Halloween, when everyone is reading the news. The long and short of it is that many people with accumulated mileage, myself included, are facing a pretty severe devaluation of our mileage. On some international routes on other Star Alliance airlines, it will now take almost twice as many miles for the same flight. Their domestic routes fared ...

While I own several guitars, I previously have never attempted flying with a guitar. A quick Google search on the Internet reveals a lot of confusion about the process, as well as a few horror stories about damaged or stolen guitars. An infamous story of breakage ended in a viral internet video known as "United Breaks Guitars": When I was in Argentina in 2011, I ended up having more free time than I thought I would have. In those moments, I really missed having access to a guitar that I could pick up and play. I went down to a local guitar store thinking I would buy something cheap, ...