It’s the Thrifty Traveler Podcast Holiday Party, and what better way than to celebrate than with another mailbag episode?! We listen and react to voicemails from some beloved listeners and colleagues, including questions about the biggest story of the year, a bunch of incredible booking brags, the worst travel mistakes we’ve made, how our listeners (and bosses) really feel about all the Canada stuff. Plus, Gunnar kicks off the show with an extra special (cringe? brutal?) introduction. Happy Holidays, Thrifty Travelers!
It’s the Thrifty Traveler Podcast Holiday Party, and what better way than to celebrate than with another mailbag episode?! We listen and react to voicemails from some beloved listeners and colleagues, including questions about the biggest story of the year, a bunch of incredible booking brags, the worst travel mistakes we’ve made, how our listeners (and bosses) really feel about all the Canada stuff. Plus, Gunnar kicks off the show with an extra special (cringe? brutal?) introduction. Happy Holidays, Thrifty Travelers!
Thanks to HotelSlash for sponsoring this episode of the show! Try it out today: Use promo code THRIFTYTRAVELER for a free 90-day trial – plus, get $20 off your first prepaid booking!
00:00 - ‘Twas the Pod Before Christmas…
02:30 - What’s the biggest story in travel we covered on the pod in 2025?
05:35 - Trip Brags: Our listeners and colleagues brag about their best 2025 bookings
20:30 - What deals do we want in 2026? What’s left on our bucket lists?
24:45 - A word from our sponsor: HotelSlash, the easiest way to book a cheaper hotel stay - & rebook when prices drop
25:35 - Travel mistakes - Amy learning things the hard way and Grover wants to know if they’re cut out for the points and miles game after all?
33:20 - A hodge-podge of questions: How many credit cards & tipping in lounges
41:20 - Oh, Canada: Are Gunnar’s days with the company numbered?
47:30 - Sylvia puts us on the spot about our biggest mistake … and her own
52:10 - Some special holiday thank-yous to our colleagues and listeners
Produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas
Video editing by Kyle Thomas
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
'Twas the pod before Christmas in our humble studio where I often say, yo. Welcome to the show where Kyle makes us smarter about travel and such. While Sylvia makes sure that it's all not too much and to make us an adequately professional show, the other better Kyle makes our YouTube glow. Outside of the pod is the team of TT, the ones that help keep all your travels thrifty.
Nick and Jared teamed up and became our founders. While John, Katie and Peter are the flight deal Hounds, McKenna and Casey are our marketing goats. While Tracy's the one who keeps the company afloat, Erica's our rock, the one with all the wiles, and Jackson's the one who makes sure you have miles. It's a dream team of travelers, my colleagues and friends, a cacophony of perspectives in our office, it blends, but as we celebrate the holidays here on this pod, it's you, the listener.
To which we've been odd because it's you all who make our holidays brighter. You liked and subscribed, so I'm no longer a writer. Happy holidays, thi travelers, and happy holidays. Kyle Potter. How are you doing this lovely December day? I can't, that was, I think you gotta get back into writing just poetry.
I know. It was beautiful. I know. I didn't know that you had, uh, pronouncing the word cacophony in you. I'll be honest. You really nailed it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, I whipped up this poem the other day and I was just very excited to, uh, see your reaction to it. And it, it paid off. I'm crying. Not, not, I'm not joking.
I actually have tears in my eyes from trying to like stifle my laughter as you went through that. Oh, well thank you. Thank you. Um, if anybody wants that poem framed or anything, just let me know. I'll send it out, but Okay. We have a lot to get to today because it's a very special episode. It's our holiday party.
Our holiday party episode today on the show, we're celebrating the holidays by taking voicemails from our listeners and hearing from some of the thrifty traveler team as well. So pour yourself an eggnog slap on your coziest sweater and gather around the fire for a voicemail and fun filled holiday party on the Thrifty Traveler Podcast.
Alright, it's the holiday episode and I promised you we would hear some voicemails from some listeners, but the first one we need to hear is from a member of the Thrifty Traveler team. And that is a voicemail from Nick. Hey Gunner and Kyle. It's longtime listener and first time caller, thrifty Traveler, co-founder Nick Serrati.
I just wanted to send it a quick message to say loving the podcast. Uh, it's been fun to to watch it get off the ground this year. And turn into what it's turned into. But I've got a question for you guys. Um, what is, what you guys would say is the biggest story in travel this year that you guys covered on the podcast?
Uh, I'll hang up and listen. Happy holidays guys. Nick, uh, channeling his his sports radio caller I'll with the, I'll hang up and listen. What do you think, Kyle? Well, first of all, I just wanna point out that Nick, as with everybody on our team, is required and paid to say that they love the podcast. So take that with a grain of salt.
Um, I have two answers. One is, I think what is the objectively biggest and most important and has the longest legs? In, in travel that's gonna affect not just this year, but the next year. And I think that's all of the conversations we've had around all things premium travel and the way the industry is heading, as we talked about a couple of weeks ago.
I think that's gonna have pretty massive ramifications for everybody that loves to travel, everybody that loves to use points to try to travel for less. And I don't think we know yet exactly what that's gonna look like in at the end of 2026, let alone at the end of the decade. Um, but to me, I think the, the biggest story that we covered, even though I think, you know, the ramifications of it are far more limited, is, you know, our coverage of.
The solo passenger penalties that airlines had quietly begun charging some solo passengers, significantly higher fares in groups of two or more. I think that's still oddly present in the minds of some travelers and a pretty rude reminder of just the lengths that airlines will go to to get more money out of us.
Um, but yeah, those are the two that stand out to me. What, what about you? I was gonna say Southwest and I think. Southwest changes them basically becoming every other airline, uh, over the course of a few months and introducing basic economy and taking away two free check bags was such a seismic change.
And you know, it kind of all started last year even with them joining Google Flights and them kind of flirting with becoming normal and then now are just a totally normal everyday airline that charges fees for everything just like everybody else. I think just the, the last great unique airline in this country just kind of joined the pack and what that means for airfare going forward and what that means for Southwest's kind of prominence as a market driver and a really super important airline in the country in one of the biggest, the biggest airline market in the world.
Um. Is just really interesting to me and we'll have long lasting ramifications too from what is probably a really shortsighted move on their part. So that was kinda the biggest story for me. It that kind of touched almost everything we talk about as well. But I would agree that the premium travel boom and the solo passenger tax were both huge stories.
I recommend you go see all of those on our website and, and read up on what were some of the biggest stories. Of the year. Anything else jump out at you? Mm-hmm. All right. This move on, this next section, uh, I'm calling the best trip brags because when we called out for voicemails, we had a lot of people mention how good they are at traveling and what amazing bookings that they made.
And our listeners are better than us, always have been, always will be. And I want to hear from a bunch of them. And the first one is a voicemail from Anonymous who booked a really cool flight to go see a really cool concert. Oh my goodness. This year we booked the Tampa to London flight business class to go to the Coldplay concert.
We had booked economy seats originally, and then the deal came out and it was so exciting and made for the best trip ever because we ended up going a day earlier, riding in business class, having Harry Potter. As my stewardess and getting there and also going to the concert VIP, it made for the most memorable bucket list.
Wembley Stadium, Coldplay Trip Flying Lay Flat Business class from Tampa to London. Harry Potter has a stewardess. That one caught me off guard. What does that mean? I don't anonymous. You gotta let us know. I assume the flight attendant. Resembled Harry Potter, or were they a wizard? Um, I don't know. I dunno, or they, were they reading Harry Potter and just imagine these things.
But anyway, that's an incredible redemption. Tampa to London, they, they have a few, uh, nonstops a day there and if you can book that in business class, I assume Virgin. Did she say Virgin? I don't think she said, but I would assume so. Yeah. I think that was the deal we sent this year. And to go see Coldplay at Wembley is super cool.
So that's an. Excellent redemption. Very good. Booking anonymous. All right. Our next voicemail is from someone who is very much not anonymous and might be in this room. Hey, thrifty Traveler Podcast. My name is Sylvia. I'm a huge fan of the show. Um, first off, I just wanna say happy holidays to you and all of the other Thrifty Traveler podcast listeners.
This year I scored a big travel flight deal. I bought a $388 round trip ticket. Direct from Chicago to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Previously this ticket was, I don't know, between 12 and $1,800, and we got it for 3 88 a piece. Anyways, I hope you're doing well. Happy New Year to everyone and excited to see what next year brings for the show.
That is such a good deal that you booked, Sylvia. I can't even believe that. I mean, I, I assume and hope that that was from a Thrifty Traveler premium flight deal alert. But that is an incredible, incredible flight deal. The look, the look on Sylvia's face, as you said that, uh, it suggests no, it was not, but we'll just pretend like it was 'cause gosh, what a deal.
We sent Sylvia to go to Sao Paulo. Yeah. Um, just to be clear, Sylvia. Also on Thrifty Traveler payroll. Um, we are, we are bringing in the whole gang here on this episode as well as some, some everyday listeners. But yeah, what a, that'll be an awesome trip. I feel like we don't talk about South America enough, so maybe we also need a South America button in the new year.
In addition to the Canada button, we're gonna, we're gonna have a table full of buttons by the end of 2026, leaning into the bits. Alright, let's hear our next voicemail from listener Ben. Hey, thirsty Traveler team. This is Ben. Just wanted to say thank you so much for all the deals that you provide, as well as your incredible podcast.
You all are great. Um, this past year I went on a trip to Singapore and Bangkok and I was able to fly to and from on the world's longest flight in the world from JFK to Singapore, um, for about 87,000. Miles on Singapore Airlines business class. It was incredible. And it was my first redemption. So that was great.
And then basically, right when I got back from that trip, um, or soon after I got an alert from the Traveler for business class to Japan, I booked the triple seven in business class on the way to Heida. And then on the way home I was able to snag. First class availability on their A through 51,000. I'm going this February.
I can't wait. And then a later alert allowed me to get a few nights at the Park Hyatt, Tokyo. Um, so really excited about this. My points and miles strategy has always been go big or go home. Um, those are the only redemptions I've ever made with points, the ones that I just talked about. So thank you all for making that possible.
Happy holidays. You all are amazing. Oh, that's so awesome, Ben. Your first big redemption being what is blocked at an 18 hour and 55 minute flight is incredible to be like, you know what, Yolo, I'm just going for this. You've, you've taken that flight in premium economy. Yeah. What, how, how was your mental state after almost 19 hours in the air?
Honestly, because Singapore Airlines is so nice and the service is so good, it, it really didn't feel. Like mind Meltingly long. I was also flying alone. I had one of the solo seats in the back, so it was like a pretty luxurious premium economy situation. Um, but. You know, that airline's just so nice and so fancy, but yeah, I mean by by hour, that hour, 14, 15, 16, those are some long hours and you're just, you're sitting there just like, man, still in this tube.
But, uh, doing it upfront like Ben did, pretty amazing redemption. If you're. Strategy is go big or go home. Uh, it sounds like you haven't been home in a while because of how much time you spend in Agent Ben. So good work, man. That's, that's a really, really good booking and I'm very excited that you're able to put premium to use like that.
Yeah. A lot of incredible deals that you piece together, and not just one, but two different amazing trips. Well done, Ben. Okay. Uh, we have our next voicemail from the most interesting man in the world, gunner, Kyle. It's Peter here. Calling you from Columbia. And that brings me to one of the best deals I booked this year.
I think I transferred around 50,000, a little more Capital One points to Qantas miles earlier this year. And booked Emirates first class flight normally is like $3,000 or more. So, uh, yeah, that was pretty fun. Never thought I'd do that, but yeah. Sweet deal. Um, best travel hack. Beat the taxi mafia. Get off airport before you call an Uber, if possible.
If the rates are too hot, super high. Use public transport if possible. That's, that's my tip. Um. Yeah, gunner. Put on some sunscreen. Oh, Peter, just, just one little dagger in before he hangs up. My fellow Ginger sideswiping me at the end of his voicemail. Um, that was Peter Thornton. You've heard him on this podcast way back in episode something.
Episode something. It's up episode something. Uh, Peter is our. He, he's our chief award analyst, so he finds a lot of the business, class and economy, uh, uh, award flight deals that you all have been booking, and it's the reason why you've been calling it with voicemail. So for him to say that he, you know, stumbled upon that Emirates first class space from Miami to Columbia, he's the one who found it.
So, uh, that's Peter Thornton and he's always calling from somewhere in South America. That man has been to, I think, every South American country and knows more about that continent than anybody else. I know he's driven the entire continent. Yeah. In a, in a car. Yep. So, yeah. Um, he's, he's, he's well traveled.
The topic of Peter continues in our next voicemail that is from another team member Jackson. Hey guys. Jackson here, big fan of the show. Wishing you both a happy holiday season. I've got a two part question for you. Uh, first one, who is your favorite coworker and why Is it Peter Thornton? And then my second question is, if you were studying abroad in Australia, why would it involve a road trip through Calgary, Alberta along the way?
Thanks for everything you do. Keep up the great work. Thank you Jackson. Uh, Jackson's referring to, uh, an inside joke from our company retreat where Peter talked about how he had been to Calgary a few times and never Banff, and then proceeded to tell us why he had been, he had road tripped through Edmonton on the way.
Home from Peru? Home from Peru? Yeah. I don't know. I at this point, it, it is just legend. Peter travels, unlike anybody else on this team. He, he, he does like kind of the slow travel thing where he goes places for a really long time. But in his younger years, the stories we've pried out of him are. Or just some wild, spectacular road trips that he has taken.
And he's, he has seen everything that there is to see, um, in this hemisphere by vehicle. Yes. Which is one, one reason among 2089. Why he is our favorite coworker. I just, we, we talked about it before and after. All I wanted from our company trip to Palm Springs was to sit around a fire. With a couple bottles of wine and just pry whatever stories we could out of Peter and he delivered and then some and always, and you, and you also were, or maybe were not.
Overserved. I was not overserved at that point in the night, but it was earlier. I was trying to get everybody going at the fire. I was trying to get the vibe started. I tried to get everybody to share the, their mo the most recent time that they pooped themselves. Um, and then I was the only one who shared my story and then y'all stiffed me the rest of the way.
So that was tough, tough beat for me. Tough scenes. Nobody can look at you in the eyes again. Yeah, I almost got Erica to tell her story, but she didn't. She wisely went to bed. So everyone knows when the last time I pooped myself was, but not the other way around. Yeah. Well, we we have that on you. We'll play that card at some point.
If we have time at the end of the episode, I'll tell that story too. Um, alright. We have another voicemail from listener Angie. Hi, this is Angie and Eclair Wisconsin, and I wanna thank Thrifty Traveler for all of the wonderful alerts we're off to Christmas markets in just over a week on a Lufthansa business class flight alert that I believe was, uh, considered a mistake.
Fair. So just a little over $1,200 round trip for the two of us and Lufthansa business class. And we also have big Sir Aliyah Ventana. Tell me if I'm saying that wrong in the spring. Thanks to an alert from Thrifty Traveler and Japan in August on Singapore Airlines in business class as a points redemption.
So thank you all so much for all you do. We love the podcast and we love your service. Angie from Eau Claire showing you how to travel Kyle and just flexing. Yeah, that, uh, mistake fair on Leftanza was such a good deal. I almost forgot about that 'cause of how many incredible deals we've had this year. But that mistake fair, especially to go see some Christmas markets was.
Was a pretty special one, so I'm really glad you got to book that. And if you need some help on the pronunciation of Alila Ana, big sir. Did I get it? Maybe? Yeah. I don't know. I was gonna say, don't ask me. I have no idea. Don't ask us. We don't know. But what a lineup you have for 2026, Angie. I'm extremely jealous.
Okay, we have another voicemail from our team member McKenna. Hello, gunner and Kyle. It is your favorite marketing director, McKenna from Thrifty Traveler. My favorite deal that I booked this year was one of our deals to Madrid for 30,000 points to go see the Christmas markets. Um, like a couple other members on our team, I will be hitting the European Christmas markets based off of some really great deals that the Thrifty Traveler Premium team found.
And I've been meaning to ask Kyle a question, Kyle. What is your beef with Christmas markets? Oh, I thought there was gonna be more to that question. It's just what is my, you know, McKenna, I just hate fun. Fundamentally, I, I hate nice things. Um, and I don't want other people to have nice things either. So no.
To Christmas markets, the Grinch is that track. Yep. Kyle's the Grinch in this scenario. Scrooge a Grinch, whatever you wanna call 'em. McKenna has been pitching the same Christmas market story in all of our meetings for a few months now since the day that she started. And, uh, yeah, we love McKenna's pitches and we did write the story, McKenna.
We got it, we got it on the website and you don't need to tell me about Christmas markets. I'm going to a Christmas market and so are you McKenna. So I don't know what, what the hurt is. Kyle Thomas, our video editor. He is at a Christmas market right now. I mean, what else do, what else does she need from us?
You know, just for the record, let the record show the Thrifty Traveler Podcast, including yours truly, Kyle Potter Approves of Christmas Markets. Okay, we are on the record. Don't let McKenna tell you otherwise. Okay. We have one more voicemail in this section about trip brags, and it's the cutest thing that I've ever heard, maybe.
And Gunner, this is Erica and Theo in August. Yeah. Theo, do you wanna tell them about what your favorite trip has been? Mexico. Yeah. And what do you like about Mexico? I'm going on the water slide. Oh yeah. Are we gonna do that again in a couple weeks? Yeah. Yeah. Happy holidays from Mrs. Thrifty Traveler and, and.
Oh, there's so much beautiful chaos in that one minute message. Mexico. That's so good. Um, that was Mrs. Thrifted, traveler, Erica Kurowski and, uh, Jared Erica's two boys, Theo and August, who, uh, their big trip brag was going down the water slides in Mexico. And no one has matched that level of enthusiasm in any of the other voicemails.
If, hey, if I was gonna Mexico and going down water slides, I'd leave an identical voicemail to, that sounds like a good idea for the retreat next year. Honestly, we haven't done one water slide as a team, not one since I've started here. They don't have many water slides in Saskatoon. No, they don't. I've found in my experience.
Uh, let us know if we're wrong. podcast@thriftytraveler.com. Someone will let you know our Canada support is fierce and strong, and you're gonna hear more of that a little later in the show. Okay, I have another section of, uh, voicemails, and this is from, there are two voicemails. They're a little bit similar, and they're from two of our team members, and we're going to play them back to back here so you can hear from Tracy and Katie.
Hey, gunner and Kyle, it's your favorite product manager, Tracy. I don't think I've recorded a voicemail since like 2005, but here we go. First off, I wanted to say huge Happy Holidays to all of our listeners from the entire Thrifty Traveler Tech team. Hope you guys have a great holiday season, and if you're traveling, I hope it's smooth and enjoyable.
So I'm currently procrastinating all of my own holiday responsibilities in the best way possible. Um, booking another trip. So tell me what's on your 2026 travel wishlist. Are there certain flight or hotel deals you're hoping to see? Gimme some inspiration while I avoid wrapping all of the kids' Christmas presents.
Thank you. Hey, gunner and Kyle, happy holidays. It's Katie from Thrifty Traveler. Uh, my question for you is what destination at the moment is at the very top of your bucket list? Say you get a deal to this destination, you're booking it immediately. I want to know where that destination is and why you want to go there so bad.
Thanks. Bye. All right, so that was Tracy Birch and Katie Rollins. Uh, two awesome members of our team who had similar-ish questions, but a little bit different. So, Kyle, I'll ask you first what's on your your deals wishlist for 2026? And I guess Katie's question is more like, what is. So high at the top of your travel list that you're just booking it the second you see it.
I currently have a, a one way to Hong Kong for a trip to Southeast Asia in, uh, spring of 2026 and no way home. So top of the deal wishlist is help me find a way home. Katie and Peter and John and Gunner, you haven't helped me at all. I need a well, or maybe I'll just move there. So maybe I'll mix that. I'll move on.
Uh, top of like, destination at the top of my wishlist, the first thing that comes to mind is Patagonia. I need to get there. You know, my wife and I have been to Columbia, uh, where Peter is still hanging out and hopefully throwing back some beers, but haven't made it further south. And I think Patagonia is, is the place that we'll go next.
So that's maybe the top of my list. What about you? Nice. Um, I also have a half of a trip booked. I have my flights home from Italy in May, but I need my flights there and I've been. Stacking up the points that I know I need and I'm just sitting there and waiting for some availability to pop up for something comfy for my wife and I'll be our first trip away from the baby, uh, going to Italy.
And I've never really spent meaningful time in Italy, so I'm very excited for that. Hopefully I can pull something off there. And then, um. We've, it's, I'm hard pressed to say, uh, I just haven't seen the deal yet. 'cause the deal has been there. And that's to go skiing in Georgia, the country, not the state, and go into the Costco assist mountains and going skiing there where you can get five star hotel accommodations for like 20 bucks a night.
And ski lift tickets for seven bucks a day. And I, uh. I'm kind of obsessed with it. I can't stop thinking about that place and I would really love to go there. Um, but I'm just waiting for the right deal. It's a long way. So I'm probably holding out for something a little comfier than that 500 and what, $520 Delta and KLM fairs that we sent.
Uh mm-hmm. Twice now over the past three months. So those are kind of two of the ones at the very top of my list. Anything else? Do you think they sell kni in the caucuses mountains? Oh God, I hope, I hope not, honestly, for my health and safety. Yeah, you, you might just throw yourself off the top of a mountain.
'cause life can't get any better than that. Whatever the Georgian equivalent of Kni is, I'm sure it's gonna be incredible and I'm sure it'll be about 50 cents, uh, over there. So I, someday I'll get to that trip as well. Not, not quite a great family trip. Uh, I go into that part of the world at the moment, but I think someday I'll get there.
You will. Alright. We have a few more voicemails and some emails and some more listeners and friends to hear from in this holiday party. But first we're gonna take a quick break. Okay. You guys know we love a good travel hack and hotel slash. Might be one of the best. It was built by the same team behind Auto slash, which has saved travelers millions on rental cars over the past 15 years, and now they're doing the same for hotels.
Yeah. Here's one I found. A weekend stay in Miami at a Marriott property. It's on one of the big travel booking sites. It priced out around $612 for two nights. Hotel slash had the same stay. For $525 all in, that's nearly $90 back in your pocket. And on top of those savings you also earn slash cash on prepaid bookings to use on future stays.
Try it free for 90 days@hotelslash.com with code thrifty traveler, all one word. That code also gets you $20 off your first prepaid booking hotel slash built for thrifty travelers like you. And we're back at the Thrifty Traveler Holiday party and we have a section of, uh, some voicemails in an email that we're calling travel mistakes.
And this is, uh, some people who are copying to some. Of their errors from the past year and uh, we wanna start with a voicemail from Amy. Greetings Kyle and Gunner. My name is Amy and I'm still learning the Points and Miles game. About two years ago, I booked my very first flight using AA points I got with Baby's First Points and Miles card.
I hilariously thought that the 70,000 miles I earned actually translated into 70,000 miles. I got to. Fly. So I booked an economy flight from Ontario International in Southern California to Dallas-Fort Worth. And I unknowingly used over 60,000 points for what should have been a very cheap flight. But since then, I've taken a pretty deep dive into the worlds of points and miles.
I currently been making plans to vacate in Hawaii in March of next year. Our family members who are gonna meet us. They're not able to make it. And now we can think beyond Hawaii, but don't know where to start. Do you have any tropical tips where I could use my avios and Hilton points? I also have JetBlue and AA points, so if you two nice young men would like to metaphorically help a little old lady across the street, I would really appreciate it.
Thank you. First time anybody's called us two nice young men. So you know what, we could stop there. Thanks Amy. Amy clearly doesn't listen to the pod if she thinks we're two nice young men. Um, Amy, first of all, your, your travel mistake, thinking that your, the miles that you've earned would translate to actual miles.
Flown upon redemption is really funny and obviously a that must have hurt to make that redemption and figure that out. But we all have to learn somehow. And, uh, sometimes when you're learning points and miles, it is not. Pretty, but I, I think everybody has some version of this. Some of us more embarrassing than others, but I mean, failure is the greatest teacher, right?
Um, and I think what matters most is you, you make your mistake, you bang your head on your desk one time, and then you move, move on, and you learn from it. And well done for, for keeping exploring, I think in terms of, you know, how to use your American miles or Hilton points or. Avios or whatever you have.
Uh, the first thing that jumps out to me is Caribbean. Um, Avios, uh, British Airways Avios are so great for flying, uh, nonstop American Airlines, uh, throughout the Caribbean for some of the lowest rates that you're gonna find anywhere, except for if you do still have some American advantage, miles left over, you might find some even cheaper rates there.
And there are a lot of great. Hilton properties, especially in the small luxury hotels of the world collection that you can book with Hilton points throughout the Caribbean. So that's the first one that jumps out to me. Yeah. Um, first thing that jumps out to me is that I also might be in Kauai in March.
So Amy, I owe you a drink of choice for, uh, calling in and leaving us a voicemail for this episode. So maybe we'll link up there if you're in Hawaii already. Here's my thought. Try and get yourself down to. French Polynesia, take that nonstop Hawaiian flight from Honolulu to Tahiti, and then take the quick flight over to MOA and use your Hilton points at that Hilton MOA Lagoon, which is one of those hotel properties at Hilton that hasn't been touched by the crazy, uh, you know.
Price increases yet. Yes. Yeah. Yet, so maybe book it very, very quickly, but it's like over water bungalows and really cool, um, hotel rooms right there on the water in Marre, which is such a beautiful island. So maybe I would think about doing that. But Amy, thank you so much for, uh, calling in with your story.
I'm sure. People are going to learn from you. And maybe that's why you shared it with everyone so that they can, but there are a lot of people who would not have had the guts to call into a podcast and tell us about that story. And I'm sure a lot of people have made worse redemptions that they will take with them to their grave.
Yeah. Lucky for you, Amy. You're uh, talking to a guy who pooped his pants recently, so there's no shame here. Man. Okay. That, that might follow me around a while. Um, our next travel mistake comes in the form of an email from Grover. Uh, so Grover asked if they really messed up their Aeroplan booking from Boston to Toronto.
So Grover said, I just made my first rewards booking, but I think I messed up and would love to know what I could have done better or how to be better. A little existential there. Grover, uh, I currently live in Boston, travel often to Toronto. I saw that Chase was having a tiered transfer bonus, so I wanted to use that for a quick weekend trip to see my folks.
So Grover booked Boston to Toronto and back in January. Um. Grover used 7,600, or sorry, 7,600 aplan points and, uh, $28 in taxes and fees us. Um, and the normal price would've been seven. It would've been about $94 round trip in airfare. Um, basically Grover ended up transferring Chase points to Arrow plan to book this, but.
When Grover went back and looked at the redemption that could have been just using his chase points through the Chase travel portal, I think he realized that he probably could have gotten a better deal had he just booked with Chase points. Grover says, I feel like a tool. Maybe this game is it for me, Kyle, is this game for Grover.
Well, first of all, he, he wondered. How to be better. And if you are in fact a tool, then you know, try to treat people as you would like to be treated, but you're not a tool because of this. I, again, just like with Amy, I think everybody makes some kind of a mistake. And I also wanna point out, this isn't necessarily.
A mistake is the way that you book this for however many points it cost you, did that allow you to visit your family in Toronto and take a trip you otherwise wouldn't have? If the answer is yes, then conversation is over. This is a great use of points. Could you have done it better? Of course, of course you could have.
And you know what you gunner, you and I probably make points redemptions all the time and go back and see, well, we could have saved 4,000 points by using a different airline program that we didn't think of. And that's okay too. What what matters is you learn from it. So, you know, just as a matter of principle, I would say.
Unless if there's just a ton of really cheap business class saver award space, like 60 or 70,000 aplan points from Canada to Europe, booking Air Canada flights with those aplan points is not gonna be a good deal. Because the taxes that they charge on departures to and from Canada tend to be pretty high, and that negates a lot of the value.
And they use dynamic award pricing. So the amount of points that you need is determined almost solely by what the cash price of that flight is, which is exactly what you saw there at Grover. So I would just, as a matter of principle going forward, probably steer clear of using, of transferring points to Air Canada to book Air Canada flights.
There's still that tons of value. In Air Canada, there's still tons of value in this game, and I would hope that you don't give up as a result of this. Just take it and learn from it. Yeah. Uh, also, you know. There is something to, maybe it's not worth it when you do with all calculations in the end, but there is something to booking directly with the airline, which you ended up doing.
So maybe the whatever value you missed out on there maybe is worth it to have that booking directly with the airline. But you know. No one's ever had an issue flying in and out of Pearson, right? So there's no reason why you'd need to have, uh, yeah, booking straight with the airline. But I think you're gonna end up in good shape, Grover.
And I know this game is for you because you went back and kind of did the autopsy on this thing and figured out why you may have gone wrong. So that's exactly what you need to do just to. Good critical thinking afterwards, and you're not a tool. This game is for you. Thank you for writing in Grover. Okay, this next section is a couple of quick hitters of different things.
Uh, I don't have a name for this section, it's just a hodgepodge of questions, and we're gonna start with a voicemail from listener, Tim. What's up? My name's Timmy. I'm an avid listener of the podcast and a Thrifty Traveler premium subscriber. Just checking in to, uh, chime in on a couple different things, actually.
One, I booked a lot of really great travel this year. Uh, Hawaiian Airlines, first class American Airlines, first class to and from my honeymoon in Italy, Qantas first class via Atmos. So many great things, but the one thing that's keeping me up at night is I was listening to a rival. Podcast on traveling. I won't name names, but, and at one point they were talking about how many credit cards they have, and I find myself to not be a full churn, but close to it.
I have about 13, 14 credit cards opened up. One person said they have upwards of 60 credit cards, and I was like, what on earth is going on specifically nine business platinum cards. How many credit cards do you guys have? And that seems like too much. When is it enough? When is it enough is the biggest question for a lot of the people in our space.
Um, to me, I'll answer. With my stack of cards, I have 11 cards open. Um, I have two that I know I'm going to cancel as soon as the annual fee comes up. So, uh, really it's kind of a, I have nine cards. I only swipe four of them. I swipe my chase in card for gas, I swipe my Chase Sapphire preferred for dining and groceries, my venture X on everything else.
And then when I buy airfare with cash. I swipe my Amex platinum card, and that's about it. Um, my wife, my player too has six cards open. I wonder if she knows that. Uh, but we don't have, you know, uh, I don't have dozens of cards open. Uh, I think that's just a little too much, um, too much organization on for me to, uh, make that worth it.
But Kyle, what's your number? Is the next voicemail from Megan asking about all the credit cards she has? Um, so for me personally, I, I think I have. 14 and like you, there's two, if not three, that I'll cancel the next time it comes up for renewal. But I think the point of Timmy's question is when is enough enough?
And what I, what I dislike about this space, and I don't think anybody is necessarily guilty of it. I think it's just the overall mindset is that. N enough is never enough. You can always have more points. And then you start to look at people who talk about having 60 credit cards and nine Amex business platinum cards, and you say, well, I have to do that in order to do this well.
And I think when enough is enough is when you have the points that you need in order to trip, take the trips that you want to take, and anything north of that just becomes. A lot of time and money in pursuit of just piling up points that you're ultimately not going to be able to be able to use well. So I would discourage everyone from listening to this to feel like you need to add even a single additional credit card in order to travel well or to.
To do this well or to heed the, the advice that we give people on this podcast, you know, your personal travels and your personal finance way better than the two of us do. Way better than Timmy does. Way better than whatever Rival podcast does. You are the only person who can decide when enough is enough, and I would again just say it's probably quite a bit lower than you think.
Yeah. One of the first tips when I started here a few years ago, that I really resonated with me, that you all were giving. Uh, readers and subscribers at the time was to reverse engineer your credit card strategy to what your travels are going to be. So instead of, you know, I'm gonna open four business platinums and then figure out, figure it out from there.
Like, yeah, if you're, if you need to fly around the world in business class using points and miles every single month of the year, maybe you need to have 60 cards open to, to fuel your travels. But for, for most of us, uh, what kind of travel are you doing? How do you want to get there? And then open the cards and stack the points that you need to from there or, you know, you can make some calculated guesses on what you're going to want to do in the future, or use some of your travel, uh, proclivities to figure out what cards are best for you.
But you don't need 11 cards, you. I don't need 11 cards, that's why I'm pairing some of my cards down. Um, but, you know, keep, keep the number of cards that you need. Sign up for the number of cards that you need, but you don't need dozens of credit cards to make this work. You don't need a dozen credit cards to make this work.
You don't need four or five in most cases. So, uh, it's gonna be a little bit different for everyone. But, um, yeah. Thanks for the question, Timmy. It's, um, we haven't really done a what's in our wallet, uh, episode of this show, but maybe we'll do that at some point down the line. Our next question is an email from Tim.
So Tim asked, quote, the recent episode about lounges and tipping. The bartenders in particular struck a chord. Yes, we always tip them for our Proseccos, but what about the wait staff who clear and clean our tables? We make it a point to leave a couple of dollars as an expression of gratitude because it just feels like the right thing to do on the other hand.
This does not appear to be common practice. End quote. Uh, Tim, when I read this email, I had a pit in my stomach because I fear that I have never done this and am wondering if I'm a terrible person. Have you ever heard of this tipping the way the people who are coming around to clear tables and stuff? I, I have.
Um, to Tim's point, it doesn't seem to be common practice. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be. I, you know, I think. Again, it's, it's all very personal what you can afford. Um, it's probably quite a bit higher if you're spending time in lounges than it would be for someone who's not. Um, if you have that cash on hand, why not?
You're not hurting anybody. You're helping somebody. Seems like a good idea. I, I, reading this question every time I am at a lounge, I kind of kick myself that I don't have some cash in my wallet because unless if I'm abroad and I need foreign currency, I just rarely have cash on me and I always wish I did.
So I'm committing. In 2026, I'm gonna travel with some cash in my wallet so I can just do something nice for the people that are helping us. Yeah. Tim, you taught me something here. Uh, hopefully I'm a better traveler in 2026, uh, because of your question. Um, I think it's, yeah, something we don't think about and it's very easy to continue to tip the person who's pouring my red wines, but I.
Never tip the people who are are doing other really important services in the lounges. So thanks for the heads up, Tim. And, uh, hopefully some other people are actually tipping these people as well and not being like me. Um, another email we have, uh, just a little feedback from Kara on her favorite airport snack.
She says, longtime listener, first time emailer. I was excited to hear your airport snack was the same as mine. Trolley. Gummy worms are truly the best stomach ache I ever get. Kara, I just wanted to read this into the record again 'cause this is the automatic purchase that I make at the airport. Every time I always pick up a bag of trolley, gummy worms, and I've never not regretted it.
Afterwards you, you polish off a bag of trolley gummy worms, and it just ruins. The rest of your day. Food and DrinkWise, there's no, there's no drink that pairs well with a bag of trolley, gummy worms. There's no food you can eat after that. That's just the end of your day. If you have a handful of trolley, gummy worms, I just, I can't, I, if, if I have them, they get opened and I inhale them in one.
Sitting, there's like a, a bag of, um, sour Patch kids in our pantry that I can't even open because once it's open, it's gone and the lining of my mouth is just completely ruined. Like I just bit into a 450 degree slice of pizza. It's, it's. The best and the worst. Yeah. I, I will not read the nutrition facts on a bag of trolley gummy worms for that reason.
No, it's, it's free calories in the air. It's, it's good. Good traveling companion. A bag of worms. Um, okay. We have one last section, and this one is called the Canada section, Kyle, the things that people will say to me about their beloved candidate. No, no, no. Don't hit the Canada button quite yet. We have three, three different people to hear from.
The first one is Adrian in Wisconsin. Hi guys. This is Adrian from Doylestown, Wisconsin. Now the deal I'm gonna brag about today is a trip that's coming up in May. It's round trip Scandinavian Airlines out of O'Hare to Oslo, Norway, with just a short layover in Copenhagen. With, so with a seat assignment and check bag, I am looking right around 540 bucks.
Hard to beat going to Europe and back for that, and I'm ecstatic to get that kind of deal. Gunner, keep up the Canadian talk, baby. I'm all about it, uh, all day, every day. I love Vancouver as well. Looking forward to planning my next trip there next fall, and hoping to see a great deal show up in my email.
Thanks guys. What you do? If Adrian wasn't just like the typecast Wisconsin accent, I know you can't pull that off. I would've assumed that this was you calling in. Keep up the Canada talk baby. Uh, Adrian's accent is just like a warm blanket, you know? Its great. Just a, a mid-westerner to his core. Loves Canada.
Uh, that SAS deal to Oslo is a great booking as well. Adrian, hopefully you can get down to O'Hare pretty cheaply or easily and and take advantage of that one. But when SAS runs a sale, man, if, if you need to go to Northern Europe, that is the ticket. SAS has some of the best sales out there in economy, premium economy.
That's an awesome, awesome booking from Adrian, from Wisconsin, and I promise Adrian, I'm not gonna stop the Canada talk anytime soon. Okay. We have an email now from Abby. So Abby says quote. I love chasing the Northern Lights and Yellowknife has been an aspirational destination for me. After listening to your November 6th podcast and the repeated mentions of Yellowknife, I decided to check Aeroplan reward flights to Yellowknife.
I found one way from O'Hare to YZF. For 12,500 aplan points, I got a hall pass from my husband whom I left home with our grade school kids, and within 48 hours I was on a flight to Yellowknife. It did not disappoint. I also booked most of my hotel. Stay with a hotels.com gift card I got from Capital One.
Shopping portal, cashback, redemption. Keep up the Canada talk. On the show, Abby goes to Yellowknife. I'm so proud. This is extreme. Well done, Abby, within 48 hours, booking a flight to Yellowknife, a place that most Americans have never even heard of, and doing a trip to see the Northern Lights. Abby sent us some photos.
We'll put 'em in the YouTube video if you're watching online. What an incredible trip. I, I am fully in, in support of going to Yellowknife within 48 hours notice. That is so cool. Uh, huge props to your husband for saying Go to yellow knife. I'll take care of the two grade school age children. Um, that's pretty amazing as well.
But Abby, I'm so glad your trip looks so cool. I'm so happy that you sent us some photos and you wrote in to show Kyle that there is yellow knife demand out there. There is Kyle. Okay. I'm, we're gonna, you'll, you'll know when I'm running premium someday. 'cause you're gonna get a yellow knife deal in your inboxes.
I have already gotten yellow knife deals in my inbox from you. Don't worry about it. Okay. We have, uh, one more Canada related voicemail that we wanna play for you. Hey, gunner. Hey, Kyle. Uh, it's your boss, Jared. Listen, I, I just finished the latest episode of the podcast and guys, we need to talk, I mean.
Canada. Again, we've talked about this At this point, if I hear Regina Saskatoon or Yellow Knife one more time, I'm gonna pull a plug on the podcast, which leads me to my next question. Did you two cut some shady deal with Canadian tourism? As long as you're not being paid in poutine, I want my cut. Anyway, happy holidays.
Love the show. Sometimes. I want my money. That is, uh, not the voicemail you wanna get from your boss in bonus season. I'll tell you what, you know what? Love the show. Sometimes a higher bar than I think we set when we started doing this in early March of 2025. So I'm gonna take it. That was, uh, thrifty Traveler.
Co-founder Jared Kurowski. He is, uh, our CEO. He was on episode three of the show. We talked to him all about his, uh, kind of career in travel and starting Thrifty Traveler. But, um, you know, he's, he's issued me several warnings about all the Canada content that I do. Uh, and now I featured it. Very visibly and prominently on every single episode of the podcast.
He, let me start. Um, I'm on thin ice folks. It's day to day around here, so we'll see how it goes. But, uh, Jared clearly needs me to focus, uh, more of my attention on where his kids want to go, which is Mexico. You know what I'm gonna, I'm gonna set, hold my hand up and say bad job by me. I think I should have been more on the can to train based on this feedback from listeners.
So. Um, Adrian. Abby. Less so. Jared, I hear you. There will be more Canada content in 2026. The button will stay. However, just in case we need to rain gunner in, it's all about balance out there. Okay, that's all of the, uh, questions and feedback we got from everybody. I, I hope everybody enjoyed it. Um, we do, uh.
You know, we take emails every week on the show, so if you want us to answer your questions on the podcast or if you have feedback for us, hit us up at podcast@thriftytraveler.com and we might feature your question in next week's show. You can hit us up anytime. We're always trying to interact with all of you listeners.
Um, okay. We always close the show with a special on the spot segment. Every week and this week is an extra special one 'cause we are bringing on Thrifty Traveler podcast producer Sylvia Thomas to put us on the spot. Sylvia, what do you got? Okay, so on this episode, we heard from some listeners about some of the travel mistakes that they made, and I'm wondering what is the worst travel mistake you've ever made?
Whether it's the most embarrassing travel mistake or the most painful travel mistake, what do you got? What do you got? Gunner Olson. Olson. Olson. That was a tough one. I've told that story on the pod before where uh, I accidentally used autofill to put in my personal information into, uh, Avianca Life Miles's website, and so it auto-filled my middle name as my last name, so it put me in as Gunner Olson Olson.
And when I called in. To have it remedied. The, uh, agent and I had a bad miscommunication and they added another Olson to my last name. So I ended up being Gunner Olson. Olson Olson. Um, and I was, uh, yeah, denied ticketing because of that. 'cause my name didn't match my passport. That was a bad one. Um. I think I just, I've, before I got into points and miles, just the level to which I used to overpay for flights just broadly just still kills me to this day.
Um, I've made some just horrendous sky miles redemptions, like paying 80,000 sky miles for a one-way flight from Jackson Hole to Costa Rica by way of Atlanta, which was a. Just a crazy booking that I needed to make, and I just threw an entire signup bonus at that stupid flight. And I really wish that I would've done a lot better considering, uh, I probably could have gone round trip to Australia for the same rate.
So, uh, a lot of those, a lot of those, um, but, you know, my worst mistakes are ahead of me, Sylvia, there's so much time for me to blow my next trip. I, I'm, I'm traveling very soon. You know, it could happen tomorrow. Stay tuned. Um. Mine is probably very recent when my wife Ally and I were in London at a time when the entire tube network was down because of a strike.
And so we were walking everywhere and we stuck to our plan. We were gonna go to Borough Market on Monday. That was when it was scheduled for us. And so we walked there and it was, you know, from our hotel, probably about a two hour walk. And we got there and it was closed on Mondays. So do your research folks, when you plan this out and make sure that you are going at the right time to do the thing that you want to do.
Um, put in some good steps that day. And then we ultimately ended up going back the following day. So we, we made up for it. It wasn't the worst mistake in the world, but it's, uh, it's very present right now. All right, Sylvia, that those are our answers, warts and all. What do you think? Yeah, they sound, they sound like they could be worse, so I think you should work on that this year.
Having a worst, having your first, worst travel, your most, your most painful travel experience. Yet to come. I can't wait. Wait. Can we flip it on you? Do you have a, a worst travel mistake that comes to mind? Oh, well, I've made a lot of travel mistakes a lot, but I was actually thinking about this when I was thinking about this question and probably one of the ones that was the most painful was I was living in California in the Bay Area and I found this really.
Sweet deal to go visit my now husband who is in Costa Rica. And I was like, oh my God, this is an incredible deal to San Jose. And I booked the flight for like $55 and I get to the airport and I had booked it to San Jose, California. So that was kind of disappointing. Funny. Oh, that's a great one. Oh man.
What a deal. That would've been, yeah. All the way to Costa Rica. I know. And then. Like day of out of pocket, of course I had to pay like $700 to go. So yeah, that was really not that fun. Wonderful trip in San Jose, California, though. Yeah, just I'm waiting at arrivals. I I'm not seeing you. Uh, also there was no customs.
Um, that's a really good, exactly. A really good travel mistake. Sylvia, thank you for the, on the spot and, uh, thank you so much for being our producer and making our show so good every week. It's been a delight having you on. Thanks you guys for being hilarious. This is fun. All right. That's gonna be it for the show for this week and for this year.
So I wanted to extend a couple of extra special holiday thank yous to the entire Thrifty Traveler team all over the world. Uh, y'all are the best at what you do. Thank you for giving us the stuff to talk about on this show every week, uh, to Jared, Erica, and Nick, our founders, for letting Kyle and I do this show.
At least for now. We'll see, we'll see. Uh, to Sylvia, as I said, and Kyle Thomas, uh, for making our show so good on YouTube and for audio every week. This podcast has come a long, long way. And to David Strut, who was our first editor of the show when he launched, he shepherded us through like. What, 30 something episodes.
Mm-hmm. So David, you're the man. Um, reach out to David Strutt on Fiverr if you wanna work with someone to help you get your podcast off the ground. And of course, to our listeners and viewers, the support has been. So much fun. Your feedback has been like really thoughtful and useful as we get started. Uh, and your questions are always smart.
It was really fun to hear from some of you over voicemail. Uh, and I hope we can do this again very soon, but this was a blast. Any other thank yous coming to mind? Kyle, I think you covered everybody. Thank you. You guys. Thank you so much for listening to the show. Rate us five stars in your podcast platform of choice and like, and subscribe to Thrifty Traveler on YouTube.
Send this episode to someone you know who needs a vacation. If you have feedback, it's always podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We'd love to hear from you there. Kyle, tell us about the team. This episode was produced by your favorite host who got through another, just checking. Yep. Another podcast without poop in his pants.
Gunnar Olson. It was produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas, and edited by Kyle Thomas. Our theme music is by Benjamin Tissotl. See you next year. See you next year. Happy holidays, everyone.