Episode 35: "Hobby" Churning & Award Travel Basics

In this episode I talk about my latest haul from Best Buy, some strategies to stay under the radar with multiple accounts at Costco, and a couple of weekend trips to San Diego and Yosemite. 

I discuss the latest Amex shutdowns along with the upcoming changes with Southwest Airlines and Emirates. It was another solid month at Best Buy where I was able to get a combination of laptops and Pokemon cards, and meanwhile I am steadily working on buying more gold.

The meetup was a success, and thanks to everyone who came out! In this episode I dive into my churning and buying group activities for this month, including some Bank of America success and ordering the usual items from Best Buy. I am also starting to work on scaling up Costco gold, Walmart, and figuring out Pokemon cards.Head over to churninglife.com for more information on the Patreon & private Slack group.

We spent President's day week visiting the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar in the Bahamas, Tampa, and Orlando. While I have been putting a lot of work into Amazon, it has not been going well and it is hard to see a clear path forward. I also discuss my current situation in the midst of Amex shutdowns and what we can learn from them.

This episode covers a 3 week trip that we did to Taiwan, Bali, Niseko & Kyoto, as well as the usual buying group activities. Niseko Hotel: https://nisekohakuunso.com/Kyoto Restaurant: https://www.kaland.co.jp/yata_honten/Austin Meetup Sign Up Form: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alignedincentiveschurning-life-meetup-tickets-1218491895059?aff=oddtdtcreatorHead over to churninglife.com for more information on the Patreon & private Slack group.

This is the 2nd beginner-focused episode and is about the mindset of churning as a hobby and how to get started with award travel. I also talk about some tips for Qatar Airways and how to book with EVA's own mileage program.Head over to churninglife.com for more information about the Patreon and private Slack group.

Celebrating the first full calendar year of this podcast. Best Buy had a few more good laptop sales this month and there was an "unlimited" deal with the Xbox controllers. I also talk about some annual stats for the year and how I feel about the state of the podcast/Slack.Head over to churninglife.com for more information about the Patreon and private Slack group.

Starting with a layover in Vegas, we spent a week traveling around Marrakesh, Morocco and ended in Paris. This was my first time on Air France & KLM (booked with Virgin Atlantic miles), which were both decent business class products. I also had a few mishaps on the way including multiple traffic violations from the Moroccan police, almost denied boarding for losing my paper boarding pass, and forgetting to select seats, but it still turned out to be a great trip.For a full library of the podcast and a link to the private Slack group, head over to Patreon.com/churninglife.

In this episode I talk about two trips I did in September in central Italy and Kauai. Both were really amazing trips! Highlights include Turkish, ITA, and Hawaiian business class, WA Rome, GH Kauai & Vacasa as always.Important podcast update: Starting 12/1/24, most episodes will be moved from the public channels over to the Patreon. The latest episode will always remain public for at least 30 days from the publishing date. 

This is the long awaited tax episode! In this episode I have a special guest Tonei Glavinic, who is a tax professional and long-time churner. We do a deep dive into taxes on reselling and manufactured spending for miles and points, discuss how various methods of earning points should be treated, and also discuss tax ethics and tax-preparer responsibility. To connect with Tonei, visit their website https://travelhackertaxes.com/. You can also find them in the Slack :)