Category: Blog

Case Studies in the 9 to 5 alternative: No. 1

Welcome to the first in a series of profiles on alternative lifestyles. If you think that you (or someone you know) would make for an interesting interview, then drop me a line. Hope you enjoy!

Meet Dan Pierson, an entrepreneur/digital nomad currently “planning world domination.” Originally from New York, Dan has been living in Buenos Aires with his dog Nevada, practicing his Spanish and running BsAs Copy, an Internet marketing firm specializing in sales copy and SEO articles.

Last year, I wrote a handful of SEO articles for Dan and we got to know each other through email and Gchat exchanges. Among other things, we chat about entrepreneurship and travel, so I was very excited to hear about his plans to travel on a round-the-world ticket.

Dan, in preparation for his future travels, used a frequent flier technique called “mileage running” to nudge himself to the top of American Airline’s elite statuses. Over the course of a week, he used my apartment as a launchpad for trips between BOS and LAX  (Dan, thanks again for cleaning up after yourself). I’ll let him tell you more.

Tell us a little bit about what you are doing. What is mileage running?

I’m flying back and forth between Boston and Los Angeles (there and back) for five consecutive days. On the sixth day (tomorrow!), I’m once again flying to Los Angeles, but only as a stop-over on the way to Maui. Aside from earning a butt-load of miles, my goal is to reach American Airline’s holy of all holies: Executive Platinum. This status entitles the holder to various perks, including free upgrades to first class more or less every flight, increased award availability, priority boarding, etc… and some bad-ass luggage tags.

First things first: I’m a novice when it comes to mileage running.

A “pure” Mileage Run (MR) is a flight taken solely for the purpose of earning miles or status on an airline. Aside from cost and whatever particular promotion might be running, the destination doesn’t matter. In fact, if the fare allows, the mileage runner will likely turn right around and hop back on the same plane to avoid having to pay for accommodation.

It’s purely an economic proposition; how many dollars will garner how many miles. That’s a bit simplified, and there are other considerations (am I really sitting in coach for that 14 hour flight to Bangkok?), but it’s a good, basic definition to start with.

It all comes down to the “CPM,” or Cost per Mile. A “good” mileage run will usually come in at under .02 cents per miles. For example, the current mileage run I’m on nets me 21,000 miles per 180 dollars spent.

I still don’t get it. What are you using these miles for, free tickets?

Let me preface by telling you a bit about my life these days. I’m pretty mobile. I’ve been living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for about 6 months, and plan to devote the next 6 months or so to travel. I have no schedule: generally, May 5th is as free as May 6th is as free as May 7th. That’s the opposite of most folks with 9 to 5 jobs.

People assign “dollar values” to frequent flyer miles, but I think that’s a mistake, on a number of different levels.

1. First of all, there are 1001 ways to accumulate miles. For example, opening a credit card could net you 25000 miles (essentially free). You could also go on an airline’s site and purchase 1000 miles for 30 dollars. Therefore, I don’t think it makes sense to say that x miles cost x dollars.
2. For the sake of argument, let’s say that one mile costs one cent (an arbitrary number). A typical “saver” roundtrip fare within the 48 states “costs” 25,000 miles. Here’s the thing: it’s only available three flights per week. Most people can’t take advantage of any of those flights due to work, family, etc. Fortunately, I can.
3. Airlines frequently announce frequent flyer sales, in which they’ll discount the number of miles needed to travel to a specific location. “Wow, they knocked Sydney down to 40,000 miles? I’m there!”.

To sum it up: the more flexibility you have, the more your frequent flyer miles are worth.

How did you find out about this promotion? Where should my readers look for information like this?

As I mentioned before, I’m a novice. The leading site for all things miles is FlyerTalk.com. You’ll find gurus who know how to work the system to a tee. This particular mileage run is pretty straight-forward, but there are others that require significant tweaking; I’m still learning myself. Don’t be intimidated by the abbreviations, acronyms, and words you don’t understand. You’ll pick it up soon enough, if you lurk for a little while.

How do you stay organized?

I entered all of the flight info into a spreadsheet: cost of each flight, miles flown, miles accrued, status points, etc.

Have you run into any problems so far?

Surprisingly, no! My third day of BOS-LAX, I arrived at 7:45 AM, only to find that I was on the 4:30 PM! Luckily, I was able to get on standby on the earlier, 8:20 AM flight, so I didn’t have to wait around the airport all day.

On the other end of the spectrum, I sweet-talked an off-duty gate agent (incidentally doing the same run to earn miles for her niece and nephew), and she “bumped” me up to the little cocoon where the flight attendants hang out on Trans-Atlantic flights. Way nicer than coach, and we enjoyed a nice conversation about the different destinations in Latin America.

Let’s talk some numbers here. How many flights? Days? Miles? Cost?

I’m factoring in some travel done aside from these BOS-LAX runs, including trips to North Carolina, D.C., New Orleans, Miami, and Europe. But the vast majority of miles earned and status gained will come from 7 round-trip Trans-Continental flights, as well as a trip to Hawaii.

Redeemable miles: 155,450
Qualifying miles: 100, 377 (100,000 necessary for Executive Platinum)
Butt in Seat miles:  (50,185)
Cost: $2,483.00

This cost includes a $100 change fee on my Hawaii ticket (“you know what, I’m gonna need that extra week on Maui after all these flights”), as well as a $150 Platinum Challenge (needed because of time constraints-normally, I could have waited for the miles to post and status to be attained organically). I also factored in the trips to both domestic and international destinations. The Pure “mileage run” cost came out to a little over one thousand dollars.

Here´s an example of what this all comes down to:

I´m sitting in an Internet cafe in southern Spain. I just got off the phone with AAdvantage after booking my flight from Thailand back to the United States. I´m going to fly Qantas BKK-SYD, and then SYD-JFK. In first class. On the new A-380.

Total cost=67.5k frequent flyer miles (three round trips BOS-LAX, or about $600).

Each of those first class tickets would normally cost about $10,000.

In a nutshell, that´s how to work the frequent flyer mile system. It´s not for everyone, but if you can make it work for you, those worthless miles you hear people complaining about can be turned into golden flights of Dom Perignon and world class service.

You can follow Dan’s travels on his personal website danpierson.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/danpierson.

Following a mere 3 hours of sleep, the transit from Minsk to Kiev was, in a word, disagreeable. The only thing keeping me awake in the airport was the cacophonous ramblings of a nervous, intoxicated flier. Somehow, she palmed a glass bottle of Carlsberg (500ml, 13.62 Ukrainian Hryvnia!) directly onto the plane. I chuckled, buckled, and snuggled against the window, proceeding to do what I do best on airplanes – sleep like the rock of all rocks.

After settling in, my colleague Catherine and I walked to the nearby Bessarabs’ka Square, where part of the Ukrainian May Day demonstration was taking place. While I couldn’t understand the speeches, I imagined that the workers were frustrated with their country’s current economic state. Ukraine is on the verge of economic collapse, and the government, as I understand it, is unable to take action. When I learn more, I’ll do my best to clarify.

And now for some pictures:

1) At a French-Moroccan fusion restaurant. Desert. Baked apple with cinnamon sticks, mint leaves, lemon juice and honey. One of the best dishes I’ve ever tasted. Catherine and I coupled it with puffs of densely packed, apple-infused hookah. Yummy.

2) On the weekend, traffic is blocked on Khreschatyk Street. Pedestrians flock to the streets for pleasant walks, street performances, and live music.

3) The main statue of Independence Square – where hundreds of university students went on a hunger strike in 1989, kicking off the movement for independence from Moscow.

4) Another shot of Independence Square. More recently, it served as the epicenter of Ukraine’s 2004-2005 Orange Revolution, a series of protests and political events in response to accusations of voter intimidation, electoral fraud, and other forms of corruption during Ukraine’s Presidential Run-off Election of November 21, 2004.

5) Independence Square, shot 3! A hubbub of pedestrian fun.

6) Stopping to admire the architecture on a quiet walk back to the hotel.

Tomorrow Catherine and I will be taking a much-needed day off and touring Chernobyl. More images to come!

This is a guest post from a close friend of mine, Chris Maury. Chris’ family left Cuba in 1961, and since then he has been the only family member to return. He is currently studying Cuban politics at Washington University in St. Louis and will be enrolling in a PhD program at the Univerisity of Pittsburgh next fall. In this post, Chris talks about the future of Cuba.

After 50 years of authoritarian control by the Castros, reform is finally coming to Cuba. The changes, though, are not coming from the Cuban government–they are coming from a government that has already changed tremendously in the three months its been in office. Ours. This may be bad news for Cuban cigar vendors hidden throughout the U.S., but many–myself included–are excited at the prospect of visiting the traditionally forbidden isle.

As a Cuban-American/American-Cuban, being able to freely travel to Cuba was a major issue in the 2008 election. It is why I voted for Obama in the Democratic primary, and it is why I have been paying such close attention to the news since they announced the reformed travel rules for Cuban-Americans back in early March.

Now, with the introduction a bill to lift the travel-ban entirely and a delegation of Senators meeting with Raúl and Fidel, the prospect of free travel–if not trade–is brighter than ever. While this means another hot vacation spot for American tourists, the majority of this legislation’s impact is going to fall squarely on the Cuban people. A significant increase in tourism–some suggest up to 3 or 4 times the amount of visitors–is likely to have a major impact. American tourism could be the best thing for the island since the poetry of José Martí…or the worst since Generál Baptista.

Tourism/Dual Currency

The tourism industry is already one of the top producers for the Cuban economy, attracting over 2 million people a year. If the travel-ban is lifted, the GDP will certainly increase. Tourism has already had a tremendous impact on Cuban society, creating a huge earnings gap between those employed by the state and those with access to foreign currencies, be that through remittance payments from the US, running a taxi, or working in tourist hotels. The effects are already apparent–dollar malls, dollar Internet cafés, and dollar lines at Copelia’s, Havana’s premier ice cream parlor. As far as dual currency goes, “separate but equal” is the rule, but hard currency gained from American tourism could potentially disrupt class economics on a more intense level.

Culture

Part of what makes Cuba such an appealing destination is its culture. More than just a chintzy souvenir shop in a dime-a-dozen port of call for Caribbean cruise-liners, Cuba has a rich history of music, dance, food and art. If this tradition is lost in order to attract more and more tourists, it would be a sad day for both Americans and Cubans. Cuba is more than just rum, cigars, and pictures of Che. Preservation of culture is definitely an issue.

The Economy

The immediate economic impact is obvious. Americans are the definition of consumers, and a sudden and massive influx of strong currency can only help the economy. Fortunately for Cuba, the economic benefits will not end with tourism. In the first wave of Americans to the island, there will be people much more important than tourists–investors. Cuba has a vast (if underfunded) infrastructure of medical and hard science research. There is a large (if under-employed) workforce of highly educated and technologically savvy individuals. Investment opportunity is ripe in Cuba for the company willing to take the risk of working under the Cuban government. If you do not see immediate, tangible investments, you will undoubtedly see relationships forming like worker exchange programs or other research co-ventures.

Politics

Cuban politics are as complicated now as they have been since the signing of the Platt Amendment. Power has successfully transitioned from Fidel to Raúl without a single uprising or coup attempt. Any change in policy in the short term is going to come from the top. It is not likely that we will see elections anytime soon, or even the spontaneous release of political prisoners. What we can count on, though, is the government’s cooperation with any interested investors willing to prop up their foundering economy.

Prostitution

Sex tourism has been a huge problem in Cuba since even before the revolution. I don’t mean only prostitution, but young girls willing to marry foreigners just for an exit visa. Take poverty, throw in a population of women whose exoticism borders on eroticism, add tourists–not the best combination. With a spike in American tourism, human trafficking will only increase. The Cuban government, perhaps even the U.S. government, need to take steps to prevent the growth of this industry in a post-embargo era.

Generación Y

If there is one group that is positioned to benefit from increased interactions with the U.S., it’s Cuba’s young and tech savvy Generation Y. They are as politically active as one can be in an autocratic regime. If we see any changes in Cuba, it will be with the strong support of Generation Y’s like Yaoni Sánchez. If you are interested in upcoming events from a Cuban perspective, I highly recommend her blog. For all you hyper-polygots out there, it is available in 16 languages! Check it out here: http://desdecuba.com/generationy.

Change was the platform that President Obama ran on in 2008, and if he supports the legislation proposed in the Senate, change is exactly what we are going to see. What do you think?

Additional reading:
US eases Cuban travel, money restraints
Obama Makes Good on Campaign Promises, Allows Travel & Money to Cuba

I received an Email last week from a coworker that I thought you all might enjoy. Visited any of these?

World’s Biggest Indoor Swimming Pool
World Water Park – 5 acres
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

World’s Biggest Office Complex
Chicago Merchandise Mart
Chicago, Illinois , USA

World’s Biggest Shopping Mall
South China Mall – 6 floors, 892,000 square meters
Dongguan, China

World’s Widest Bridge
Sydney Harbour Bridge – 2 decks, totaling 16 lanes of car traffic
Sydney, Australia

World’s Longest Bridge
Donghai Bridge – 32.5 kilometers
Outside of Shanghai, China

World’s Biggest Passenger Ship
MS Freedom of the Seas – 4300 passenger capacity

World’s Biggest Plane
Airbus A380 – 555 passenger capacity

World’s Biggest Bus
Neoplan Jumbocruiser – 2-in-1 bus, double decks, 170 passenger capacity

World’s Highest Statue
Christ the Redeemer Statue
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

World’s Tallest Building
Burj Dubai – 900 meters high
Dubai, U.A.E.

World’s Largest Palace
Palace of the Parliament – more than 500 bedrooms, 55 kitchens, 120 sitting rooms
Bucharest, Romania

World’s Biggest Stadium
Maracana Stadium – 199,000 capacity
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

World’s Costliest Stadium
Wembley Stadium – cost $1.6 billion, 90,000 capacity
London, England

World’s Most Complex Interchange
Interstate 10 Highway Interchange
Houston, Texas, USA

World’s Biggest Excavator
Built by KRUPP of Germany – 45,500 tons, 95 meters high, 215 meters long

World’s Largest Mosque
Shah Feisal Mosque – inside hall capacity of 35,000, outside overflow capacity of 150,000
Islamabad, Pakistan

World’s Biggest Hotel
MGM Grand Hotel – 6,276 rooms
Las Vegas, Nevada

World’s Most Expensive Hotel
Burj Al Arab Hotel – only 7-star hotel in the world, cheapest room is $1,000/night, royal suite is $28,000/night
Dubai, U.A.E.

World’s Biggest Church Building
Winners’ Chapel – inside seating capacity of 50,000, outside overflow capacity of 250,000
Canaanland, Nigeria (outside of Lagos)

World’s Biggest Roman-Catholic Cathedral
Basilica of Our Lady of Peace – area of 30,000 square meters
Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire

What’s going on around the world?

The U.S. policy towards Cuba is changing. Initial details may be revealed before the April 17-19 summit meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, but as of yet that is merely a rumor. What is not a rumor, though, is that soon American citizens will find it much easier to travel to Cuba. I am very interested in how this will affect Cuba as we know it today. Any futurists out there willing to make some predictions?

Italy experienced a deadly earthquake. So far, more than 150 people have been reported dead, 15,000 buildings have been damaged, and 150,000 people are homeless. My prayers go out to everyone that has been affected. To all the rescue workers, fire fighters, police officers, etc. – stay strong.

China has reopened Tibet to foreign tourists. Yep, for the last two months, Tibet (and any ethnically Tibetan areas in China) have been closed.  It has been said that China restricted access because of the culturally sensitive dates in February and March, like the Tibetan New Year and anniversary of Tibetan uprisings against Chinese rule. The Sino-Tibetan conflict is an issue that has flustered and interested me for many years, and I, like many others, hope to see a thriving Tibetan community, free enough for the exiled community in northern India to emigrate back home.

Obama traveled to Turkey. This is Obama’s first visit to a Muslim nation as president. “Let me say this as clearly as I can,” Obama spoke. “The United States is not and will never be at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical … in rolling back the violent ideologies that people of all faiths reject.” Side note: Turkey is one of COOLEST countries I’ve ever been to. Visit – Istanbul – Now.