Ways To Earn Frequent Flyer Miles

           Greetings, everyone! This is Stephen Gaiber: The Autistic Traveler. Today we are going to talk about a subject that will benefit YOU and your future travels. One of the biggest factors on deciding to take a trip is airplane travel. Luckily, there is a way that one can save big on travel… frequent flyer miles! In this blog, I am going to tell YOU about the frequent flyer miles programs, ways to use/earn frequent flyer miles, amount of miles needed to fly, and Orbucks available from Orbitz.

           I am a member of the American Airlines Advantage, United MileagePlus, and Delta Skymiles programs. I always try to use frequent flyer miles to go on a trip once a year. Some of the trips I have used frequent flyer miles were for Hawaii, San Juan, Thailand and, most recently, Germany! Frequent flyer miles originated in 1979 with the now defunct Texas International Airlines. In 1981, American Airlines started their own brand, AAdvantage, and then United Airlines introduced United MileagePlus.

         United MileagePlus is my favorite program because it is the easiest program to earn frequent flyer miles as well as easiest to redeem them. One domestic flight starts at 25,000, Mexico 35,000, Hawaii 45,000, Europe 60,000, China/Japan 70,000, rest of Asia/Australia/New Zealand 80,000. Members can also redeem miles on United partners Star Alliance members such as Air New Zealand, Eva Airlines, Lufthansa, Air China, and Air Canada. For more information on Star Alliance and United MileagePlus, please visit:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/mileageplus/default.aspx and

http://www.staralliance.com/en/home.

          United also makes it easier for members to earn frequent flyer miles other than through air travel. If you own a Smartphone, there is an app called MileagePlus X. For every dollar you spend, you could earn 0.5-5 miles. If one is a MileagePlus credit card, they would earn a 25% bonus. The easiest way to earn United frequent flyer miles if one is online is by taking a survey at Opinion Miles Club. It’s free to join and one can earn averagely 50-60 miles for every survey taken. To get registered and learn more go to https://www.opinionmilesclub.com/.

          American Airlines partners with the Oneworld alliance. Some of these airlines include British Airways, Cathay Pacific, JAL (Japan Airlines), and Qantas. For those members of AAdvantage, flights can also be redeemed for flights using these airlines. I will give you a personal tip to save money on taxes when redeeming your frequent flyer miles…don’t book a flight using British Airways because they charge more for taxes than American Airlines or other European Airlines. Feel free to visit https://www.oneworld.com/ and https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/aadvantage-program.jsp to learn more!

          The Delta Skymiles Program is a little more complicated to redeem miles as the cost to redeem them fluctuates more often than the others. There's no set system as how many miles to redeem a trip as there is with American or United, so the best bet with this is to plug in the dates that work for you and see how many miles a trip is. It’s still a good option to use Delta Skymiles as it opens up more opportunities for vacations. To learn more about how to earn and redeem miles on Delta Skymiles, please visit https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles.html

            Delta also works with the Skyteam Alliance (https://www.skyteam.com/en). Some of the partner airlines include Air France, KLM, Aeromexico and Korean Air. One of the most common ways I earn frequent flyer miles all the time is by using my credit cards. I have the Chase United Milegeplus Explorer Card, Citi AAdvantage Airlines Miles Card, and the Gold Delta Skymiles Credit Card. Every month I switch cards so I get miles on all three of them. The benefits include 2 miles/dollar for airline purchases, 1 mile/dollar for every other purchase, priority boarding, and a free checked bag. For those who sign up for the credit cards and spend a particular amount will be awarded bonus miles. There is a $95 annual fee for all three cards, but the cost is worth it to have a particular airline brand. To learn about or sign up for the three cards, please visit:

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/united-mileageplus-explorer, 

https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/credit-card-details/citi.action?ID=citi-aadvantage-platinum-elite-credit-card, and

https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/airline-credit-cards/american-express-personal-cards.html#gold.

            Another excellent way to earn frequent flyer miles is to go out and eat. All three frequent flyer miles all have the dining program. You type in a location and it tells you what restaurants are available. The choices range from your local fast food restaurant to a fancy dinner. There are three different types of memberships. If one is a general member and doesn't elect to get emails then it's 1 mile/dollar, if one does elect emails it's 3 miles/dollar (online member), if one does elect emails and dines out 12 or more times a year, then it's 5 miles/dollar (V.I.P. Member). To sign up or learn more, please visit:

https://aa.rewardsnetwork.com/ 

https://dining.mileageplus.com/

https://skymiles.rewardsnetwork.com/             

             For those who want to redeem money off hotels as well as earn frequent flyer miles, there's Orbitz Orbucks. If you sign up for Orbitz emails and you get a promo code, you can redeem both the promo code and use Orbucks. For every Orbitz purchase you make, you earn a percentage of dollars spent. You can earn 1% for flights and hotel packages, 3% for hotels, and 5% for hotels using the Orbitz app. There is also a credit card and dining program to earn Orbucks. To learn more, feel free to visit https://www.orbitz.com/rewards/earn/. 

         I hope that this was helpful in showing you all the ways to earn frequent flyer miles. To summarize, the best ways to earn miles are surveys, credit card purchases, gift card apps, and even dining in. It also is a good idea to use Orbucks to save on that expensive hotel room. I'm Stephen Gaiber: The Autistic Traveler and I look forward to reviewing Hong Kong with YOU next week!

China

                                 
     Greetings, everyone! This is Stephen Gaiber: The Autistic Traveler! This week I am going to discuss my all-time favorite trip since graduating high school...my trip to CHINA!!! I am going to talk about what I liked the most about China and what YOU the reader can explore if you ever go there! I went to China in the summer of 2008, right before the Summer Olympics in Bejing. I felt very enriched by the Chinese culture as I went on an organized tour and learned about the history of the cities of Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai.

 

        The first city that we checked out was Beijing. On the first day, we went to Tiananmen Square, which is the biggest square in the world! Did you know that the Tiananmen, also known as the Gate of Heavenly Peace, was built in 1415 during the Ming Dynasty? It was a gate in the wall of the Imperial City. In 1954, the Gate of China was destroyed, which allowed expansion of the square. This square has been a place for many political protests. The biggest protest was the 1989 protest, after the death of Hu Yaobang, a high-ranking official in China. 

       After Beijing, I visited the city of Xian.  An interesting part about this city was when I saw the Terracotta Army of Soldiers.  They are a collection of sculptures, depicting the armies under Qin Shi Huang. The art is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor to protect him from the afterlife. The soldiers were discovered by farmers digging a water well. I felt it was very interesting seeing these soldiers live in person and learning about their history and significance.

 

       The final part of the trip was Shanghai. It is known as the "Paris of the East." To be honest, even though I liked Shanghai, I feel it is more modernized and less historical than the other parts of China. We went on a tour of the city and went to the Shanghai Museum. The most memorable excursions in this city for me were a jade statue of Buddha and an acrobatic show! 

      The biggest highlight of the trip for me, by far, was going to the Great Wall of China!!! Did you know that the Great Wall of China is about 4,000 miles long?!? That's farther than the distance from Los Angeles to New York!!! It's great for anyone that wants to exercise for their next marathon. Here's some history of the wall. The wall started being built as early as 7BC and was made with brick, tamped earth, stone, wood and other material. The purpose of the wall was to protect the Chinese state as well as the empires and raids and invasions from the Nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steepe. The most famous part of the wall was built during Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. The wall was constantly rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced from lots of dynasties. The most famous part of the wall was built during the Ming Dynasty and much of this part of the wall remains standing today.

      The tour company that guided me through China was called smarTours. SmarTours is a tour company that offers guided tours, which includes airfare from select cities, hotels, tour guide, as well as optional excursions. The tour I went on to China was called the China Sampler, which was 10 days and included Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. It is very reasonably priced and if one is single, the single supplement option is also very reasonable.  Some of the places SmartTours offers tours to are to Asia, India and Nepal, Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean and Israel, as well as to Australia and New Zealand. For more information, please visit https://www.smartours.com.

        I hope you will get the opportunity to experience China now that you have heard about it from the mind of someone with autism. I felt this was one of my favorite trips and being in China made become even passionate about travel. Imagine what a trip to China can do for you! I will in the upcoming weeks be making a video highlighting my trip to China.  I look forward to sharing with all of you how to make the most of your travel adventures! Stay tuned for the upcoming video!

Stephen Gaiber: The Autistic Traveler Introduction

         Greetings, everybody! My name is Stephen Gaiber and I am known as "The Autistic Traveler!" Every week I am going to write a blog of a particular place that I have visited, the highlights, and what I recommend from that particular place to YOU the reader. 

      One of my major passions is traveling. I have traveled all around the world including to China, Europe, Thailand, Mexico, Israel, and Australia as well as 10 out of the 50 states. In this blog, I am going to talk about my struggles with autism, my successes, and my motivation for travel. I am hoping to encourage those who have autism to achieve their goals and be successful, too!

   

    Where do I begin to tell you about my struggles with autism? I was diagnosed at 3 years old with Asperger's Syndrome. Some of my challenges growing up included being like my peers with social skills, paying attention, talking to women and paying attention. I, however, have been successful at getting my driver's license, graduating CSU Northridge in 4 years, being independent, and holding a full-time job at Trader Joe's. I am hoping the more you read and get to know me, the more I can inspire you to take my story as hope for yourself or someone you know with autism.

     The purpose of this blog is to give you an introduction about my travels. I have traveled around the globe from a very young age and my favorite trips were my overseas trips such as China, Europe, Hong Kong, Australia, Mexico, Thailand, as well as cruises to the Caribbean. Throughout my blogs, I am hoping to give YOU the courage to travel independently. If I can travel on my own, so can you! For those who have autism and/or are interested in learning about how to travel on their own, the best advice I could give someone is to realize that if you want to feel alive, you must do something everyday that scares you!  This includes going to places you've never been, meeting unfamiliar people, tasting new foods, etc. You may surprise yourself!

  

  I hope to explore more places with you and give you the inside scoop of what you can do when you visit a particular place. I am hoping that by telling you all about my struggles and my advice, you can feel inspired to overcome your challenges whether you're on the spectrum or not. I'm Stephen Gaiber: The Autistic Traveler, and I look forward to seeing you in A Whole New World! Please click on the link below to see my introduction video! 

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnsrqSWWmCU&t=6s