Straight To The Points, Status Matches And Planning 2022 Travel

Ed Pizza: Jeremiah, can you clip that last part where I can't speak?

Spencer Howard: It was a fun learning experience. It just kind of an amusing story now with friends who are really into this and just reiterating that again, that I'm nuts about points. my older brother tells me that I try to idiot proof booking points.

Speaker 3: Climb aboard. This is the Miles to Go podcast, your source for the latest in travel news, reviews and strategies you can't afford to miss. Now, here's your host travel expert and road warrior, Ed Pizza.

Ed Pizza: Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Miles to Go podcast, flying solo this week as Mr. Kerr is off doing Christmas-y stuff. But don't be disappointed, we've still got a great show for you guys, so no need to hit the skip button until next week, the last episode of 2021, as we round out the year. It's been a heck of a year with just another whole host of travel complications that we didn't see coming. I think everybody, not everybody, but I think lots of us thought that we would be fully past the pandemic with it in the rear view mirror, but it continues to complicate how we travel. We're going to chat a little bit about that in the final two pennies today. I've got a quick listener question that I need a little bit of help with, and I've got a couple of things that are topical right now in the world of travel as we get ready to hit 2022, and I do hope anybody who's listening did not get caught up in the holiday cancellation.
To date, this is the day after Christmas that I'm recording, United has canceled some 350 flights and Delta has canceled somewhere in around a hundred with more cancellation, still going. It looks like things are calming down today. So I really hope nobody missed the holiday with their families due to one of these cancellations. It's testimony to the fact that the airlines are still stretched way too thin from a staffing standpoint. Given, I don't think anybody saw this coming with how viral Omicron would be and how contagious it would be, but boy, they weren't canceling hundreds of flights a day in early December, so the fact that this happens around a holiday, again, around a peak time, just really points out to me that the airlines are still stretched way too thin on staffing.
So that gives us two things to keep in our back pocket. One is, make sure you're flexible with your travel plans and by flexible, make sure you have other alternatives planned. If you've got a host of flexible currency, Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards, Cap One Build Rewards, one of those guys. Think about what your backup option is, especially because there's almost no cancellation fees right now. So if you've got a flight planned somewhere, keep an eye on what your backup choices are, and by all means, keep checking your flights. I've seen so many last-minute cancellations over the holidays and like I said, I don't think we're done. The other thing I would say is pack a bucket of patience. Not all the rest are rounds are open in airports yet, so we still see long, long lines for food. Around the holidays where you might be traveling with kids, great idea to make sure you've got a snack bag.
Maybe you're bringing an Uncrustable or a Lunchable or a deli sandwich, but I would not plan to get a quick line for food through the airport. It's really surprising to me how hard hit the staffing of these restaurants is, so just keep that in mind. That's another important thing to consider as we dig in here. Quick note, before we talk a little bit about Hilton Status Matches and then bring on our interview with Spencer from Straight to the Points. You guys can shoot us questions. Email is ed@pizzainmotion.com. You can call or text us at 571-293-6659. You can leave a voicemail or a text message there. Lastly, you can always hit me up on social media, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, all @pizzainmotion. So I want to talk a little bit about Hilton Status Matches, but first, a listener question that I could use a little bit of help with.
Lee writes in that she's, unfortunately, tied up in a corporate travel card. So she's only allowed to use one credit card that her company issues her, and it's a U.S. Bank Corporate Visa, and I've done some Googling on this. This is not a card I'm familiar with. She was wondering if there was any way for her to earn points off of it similar to some other programs out there where if you're on a corporate account, sometimes you can pay to have a points earning card yourself. After doing a bunch of research on this, I did not find any way for her to be able to earn points, which is a bit of a bummer. If anybody has experience with the U.S. Bank Corporate Visa and has different information, please let us know. As we round out the year, I'm going to be linking to a story in the show notes for folks who are looking for Hilton status.
Now, a lot of the other bloggers out there will tell you "Look, you can get Hilton Diamond just by holding a credit card." I don't disagree with that theory, but those credit cards have high annual fees, and especially when we're not traveling as much, there's a really good chance that you're not putting the spending on a card that you might otherwise to justify all of those benefits. So while I don't mind getting Hilton Diamond Status from a card if you can justify the annual fee, the Hilton Status Match is live again, and because we're right at the end of the year now, I think the timing is great for this. So, essentially, you can match to gold or diamond status. Ideally, if you have status, it'll match the diamond, that would be the way I'd be shooting. Gold is not a terribly rewarding status for Hilton Honors folks. You've got 90 days to qualify for the status match from the time that you enroll in it and you can match status from Marriott, Hyatt and IHG, as well as Best Western and Choice Privileges.
You need five stays for gold and nine stays for diamond. Now, the interesting thing here is these are stays not nights. So we get back to something that we used to do a decade ago, which is hotel hopping, where if status is really important to you and you've got a call it a three-night road trip somewhere, maybe you're staying at a Hampton Inn day one and a Home2 Suites on day two, and then back to the other Hampton Inn on day three to get yourself three stays. A quick reminder for folks who might not remember that a stay is defined as one consecutive number of nights at a specific property from check-in to check-out, even if they're on separate reservation numbers. So just having separate reservations on back-to-back nights at a hotel, generally doesn't qualify as two separate stays. The hotels will generally merge those for consideration of what a stay is.
So you actually have to check out, go somewhere else and then check back in. So that's where I say Hilton, just based on how many thousands of properties they have, you can probably find a couple that are close by to each other, and if you have a multi night stay and you're trying to make this easy bounce back and forth for a trip or two to get your nine stays in 90 days. Once you hit your nine stays, they'll extend the status through March of 2023. So if you got this done in the beginning of the year, you've got Diamond status for all of 2022, and then for a few months in 2023. While I wouldn't say that Hilton Diamond is as rewarding as Hyatt Globalist, it is still a decent status. Now that they have an automated upgrade process in place it's actually gaining a little bit more value. I've had two stays since they instituted the automated upgrade process and I actually got upgraded on one of them.
The other stay, I don't even know that there are any upgradeable rooms. It was a limited service property, but I did stay at a full- service Hilton and without asking, was upgraded to a family suite. So I'll call that a win and it certainly bumps up the value for Hilton Diamond, if things like that keep happening on a somewhat regular basis. So if you've got status in another program and you can meet the qualifications for the Diamond Status Challenge, I would totally be looking into it for 2022, especially because a year of Diamond, no matter how you get it, even status match does count towards the lifetime status requirements, which I'm always high on trying to get as much credit as you can towards those things if you're a road warrior so that when you finally do step off the merry-go-round, you've got something left to show for it.
All right, guys, I'm going to step aside for a quick break. After the music, we'll have Spencer from Straight to the Points. He joined me on Mosquito Island a few months ago, and we're going to sit down with Spencer and refresh your memory on what he is working on. After that, I'll be back to close up the show with the final two pennies. We are still in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. We are on Mosquito Island, sitting in the pool, poolside bar, podcasting, or pool casting as it were. We've got another mosquito bite with my buddy, Spencer, who has been on the show before, but remind folks, Spencer, where they can find you hanging out on the internet.

Spencer Howard: Yeah. So you can find me on Straight to the Points, straighttopoints.co is the website; also on Instagram @straighttothepoints. I share a lot of tips and tricks and help people use their points for luxury travel.

Ed Pizza: So, and Spencer is incredibly approachable when it comes to answering questions. I would say at least once a week, I see something on your Instagram thread about soliciting for questions so you can figure out what your next topic is that you're going to cover.

Spencer Howard: Yep. Pretty much every Monday, Q&A thread, so I'm there.

Ed Pizza: All right, well, let's get through our five questions so you can get back in the pool. What's one of the favorite places you've ever visited?

Spencer Howard: For me, it's Taiwan. I think it's a hidden gem, even though it shouldn't be that hidden in Asia. I think so there's just an amazingly friendly people with amazing food, a rich history. If you want nature, you can get out to the mountains. If you just want to go to night markets and eat everything, you should. Honestly, just go do it all. I've gone through, I think, four different cities up and down the country and I think it's amazing. So I think more people should get out there and check it out.

Ed Pizza: I still haven't been.

Spencer Howard: Most people I know haven't. It's a lot of Hong Kong, a lot of Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, there's Thailand. People, when I say Taiwan, they think Thailand and it's not. Thailand is wonderful in its own right, and it has amazing food too, and also a bunch of friendly people, but it's just another place that I think people should definitely check out. I think it's pretty easily accessible for Americans. I found a lot of people speaking English, or could help you in English, so I think sometimes people get intimidated going to countries where they don't have any idea what people are saying. But I think it can be an easier one, so I definitely recommend it.

Ed Pizza: All right. People look to us for our expertise, but I lost track of the number of times I have really just done things the wrong way. So I'm sure there's something in your past that you're like, "I wish I could have a do-over on that." So what's a mistake that you can remember that still stings a little bit.

Spencer Howard: I'll give you two, one from the credit card side, and one from the actual travel side. The credit card side was right before I got into points. I opened an Delta AmEx Gold with a 30,000 mile bonus, which was, that was 2015. Even then, it was a bad bonus. There was no way to like, excuse this, other than the fact that I didn't know what I was doing, but it definitely reinforced my opinion that people should do a little bit of groundwork and learning before they dive in just getting credit cards. The other for travel is a birthday trip that I took to Singapore in 2019. I had been debating which dates to stay in Singapore, and I was coordinating flights and hotels all at the same time. I had two windows open for this hotel with a third night free booking.
I booked a date earlier than I thought and showed up the next day, and they were like, "Oh yeah, you were supposed to be here yesterday," and I was like, "Yeah, about that." I realized when that happened and my friend, Tim, was with me and he looked at me like, "You're such a fool," but they were actually very nice. They did not give my room away, and so we were still able to stay there. It was a pretty packed hotel that night. It was the Conrad in Singapore. Definitely, funny. They were nice. Basically, I booked an additional night and I was like, "So much for getting the third night free," but it was still an amazing experience. But again, make sure you double check things and I just should have double checked that one, before I booked and two, I should have checked that at some point between the time I went there. I don't know why I didn't, but I didn't. That was just dumb.

Ed Pizza: I've been there more times than I can count.

Spencer Howard: Yeah. I still haven't missed a flight though, so that's good. I'm still hoping to keep that streak going where it's not my fault. Sometimes there's delays and you miss connections, but I haven't just overslept or just forgotten how long it'll take to get to the airport. I'm sure that day's coming, but I'm going to put it off as long as I can.

Ed Pizza: I've done the opposite, which is, I have shown up to the airport on the wrong date because I booked the flight for a Wednesday, and it's Tuesday. I've done that more times. Back when I did some work travel the people booking the tickets for us booked me a day earlier than when I was supposed to be booked. So I just showed up at the airport and the airlines was like, "What? No, we don't have a flight. You're not flying today, and there was no room on that flight. There was space on one Southwest flight from Denver to D.C., and I sprinted through the airport. I was just sweating profusely, got the middle seat, felt really bad for everybody sitting next to me. All right. So you've been doing this for a while now. When you think about how you're redeeming miles and points, what's one of your favorite loyalty programs?

Spencer Howard: I feel like this one's always tough, because I don't really choose favorites with royalty programs because they all offer something different. I know this is not the answer that people want. Everybody wants to hear, "American is the best," or, "United's the best," but I think it really depends where you want to go. American, I think has been great for Asia, Middle East, terrible for Europe, the vast majority of the time. So I just think it's very gold dependent and I know it's probably not what you want to hear, but that's the way it is. It's not as cut and dry as I think people won. But if I had to pick one, I'd say, I enjoy that Alaska has not gouged its members-

Ed Pizza: Yet-

Spencer Howard: We'll give them a shout out. Yet, yeah. Give it time.

Ed Pizza: So when you think about all of the redemption options out there, another question you're going to try to avoid giving me a straight answer on, of course, but what's one of your favorite redemptions?

Spencer Howard: I actually have a good one for this one. In December of 2016, Garut Indonesia, which at the time, Garut Miles is a partner of Citi Thank You points. I've long been the champion of Citi Thank You Points. They ran a 90% off award special during the holiday season in December. And you could book round trip first-class from Amsterdam to Jakarta for 38,000 miles and $320 in taxes and fees.

Ed Pizza: Wow.

Spencer Howard: I booked that and, yes, I was willing to position to Europe because Garut Indonesia doesn't fly to the U.S. and I really wanted to try this amazing first-class. It took me 50 phone calls to get it done with problems with their program linking and seeing the points, but not being able to use the points and me learning that I should call the Amsterdam office instead of calling Jakarta to figure it out. But it was a fun learning experience. It just kind of an amusing story now with friends who are really into this and just reiterating, again, that I'm like nuts about points.

Ed Pizza: All right. So we're sitting here in one of those beautiful destinations I've ever been to. We are sitting in a pool, podcasting on an island, and I think about all of the great places I want to go to and I want to go back to. So when you think about that, as we sit here, hopefully, on the cusp of things starting to open up again, what's a place that you're looking forward to going to in the near future?

Spencer Howard: Yeah. I have a trip to Southeast Asia booked for January 2022. I'd originally booked this ticket for July of 2020 in January of 2020, and the ticket has a two-year validity. So I've re-booked it three or four times now, and this is the last chance; cautiously optimistic, hoping for the best, but I'm really excited to go back to Southeast Asia. It's been, obviously, because of the pandemic situation, it's just been a long time, so I'm excited to go back and see some more.

Ed Pizza: Wow.

Spencer Howard: Yeah.

Ed Pizza: I'm looking forward to you going on that trip because if you can, it means things are returning to whatever the new normal is. It just means that things are getting a little bit easier to get around.

Spencer Howard: Absolutely.

Ed Pizza: I think I'm on my fourth COVID test or fifth COVID test in the past two days just being here.

Spencer Howard: I've lost track of the number of COVID tests, but they've gotten gentler. It used to be like the brain poke and-

Ed Pizza: Yeah, no brain pokes.

Spencer Howard: They've lightened up on that.

Ed Pizza: No brain pokes. I'm going to ask one more question before I let you get back to the pool though, because I-

Spencer Howard: Surprise question.

Ed Pizza: Yeah, no. It shouldn't be a surprise to you, but talk a little bit about the newsletter. We've had you show before to talk about it, but let's remind folks about it, because I think as we come out of the pandemic, there's, obviously, just a ton of points and miles that are chasing these award seats.

Spencer Howard: Yep.

Ed Pizza: Well, I won't steal your thunder, but the high level is I think this is a great way for folks to figure out how to use their points before everybody else finds the best deals.

Spencer Howard: Yeah, I think so for those who know, my Straight to the Points Newsletter is all about finding business and first-class award space that can send you somewhere outside the U.S., just international flights, you're crossing oceans, having fun. So I find the space, share all the dates. I do a breakdown on the best ways to use the points you have and just give a little context for what we, why you might book with one program versus the other. My older brother tells me that I try to idiot-proof booking points and that's because I was sending him instructions before I created the newsletter.
But I'm trying to make it a little bit easier and more digestible. If you just want dates, I've got that for you. If you're still trying to get a handle on, "What are the best ways to use points?" I've got information in there for you. Hopefully, in the coming months, we'll start to see things opening up and that will mean more opportunities for people to travel. I think one thing people have not thought about in a while is that award space is not always that easy to come by in premium cabins, especially on in these international routes. For those who were looking at space during the pandemic are like, "Oh wow, four seats everywhere." But yeah, that wasn't the case beforehand and don't plan on it being the case long-term.

Ed Pizza: No.

Spencer Howard: So it gets tougher. So I'm always looking for those two seats, four seats, six seats, eight seats in business. If it's two to four in first-class, like I'm always looking for those opportunities so that people can travel with friends, families, or even just get away if it's just a couple, so-

Ed Pizza: Yeah, when I think about our listeners and how many family travelers tune into the podcast and send us your questions, knowing when there are four premium cabin award seats on something before most people know about it is hugely valuable. Even if you just sign up for Spencer's basic service and start there, I think you'll start see the level of detail. We've talked about this when you launched on the show. I think one of the things that's unique about the product that you're offering that I love is that most of the folks who listen to the show they haven't done complicated transfers just yet, and so you really do lay those steps out for them. I think for folks listening, that's the value. It's "Hey, we talk about all these great places we go ... " and maybe you heard Spencer talk about Amsterdam to Jakarta and the 40 phone calls and you got scared away.

Spencer Howard: Yeah.

Ed Pizza: I can assure you that that's what the newsletter does. It demystifies how to get from point A to point B. He's going to break down those steps for you and help you redeem those points.

Spencer Howard: Absolutely. It's great redemptions if they're only great in theory don't mean anything to you as a traveler, so I try to bring us from just the theoretical into the practical and simplify it.

Ed Pizza: Awesome. All right. Well, I'm not going to keep you out of the pool any longer, man. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Spencer Howard: Always appreciate it.

Ed Pizza: Tell folks where they can find you.

Spencer Howard: Straight to the Points on Instagram. My website is straighttothepoints.co. Feel free to shoot me a DM on Instagram or email me if you have any questions.

Ed Pizza: Thanks, man.

Spencer Howard: Thanks again.

Ed Pizza: Hey, guys. Back to wrap up this week's show with the final two pennies and a quick ask. If you're listening to this show somewhere and you haven't left us a rating or a review you on that platform, take a minute and do that. It's a super big help to us on Apple. It's one of the few ways that shoots us up the charts there for other people to find us, and Spotify has actually started, allowing reviews and ratings of your favorite podcasts. So big help from folks out there, if you can take a minute and do that for us. I would greatly appreciate that. So last show of the year, and for those that have listened, we've hit some milestones this year in terms of the number of shows that we've put out there and some milestones in the travel world, just in terms of all the things that have changed in the pandemic.
By the time this comes out, I'm hopeful that the Omicron numbers will have peaked. The early data that we're is that the Omicron variant is nowhere near as lethal as previous variants, even though it is incredibly contagious. So lots of people are getting it, but thankfully, it doesn't seem to be leading to a similar increase in deaths; still plenty of hospitalizations and death going on, but not commensurate with just the sheer volume of increasing cases. So what does that mean for us in 2022, and how should that affect our planning? These are great questions and I can't say I have all the answers, but this is how I'd be planning it. First off, I would absolutely be prepared for changes. Thankfully, most airline tickets have very liberal change in cancellation policies still in place. You'll want to make sure you do your own research to make sure that you've really got flexible policies.
When I say do your research, I recall a tweet recently. I want to say it was Gary Leff from View From the Wing, who noted a first-class fare on American Airlines that was a refundable fare that still came with a $500 fee to "refund it." So it was definitely not a fully refundable fare, so make sure you read your fare rules so you understand what it is your're getting into. I've seen some really good prices both on cash tickets and award tickets pop up periodically, especially on a new service that the airlines are establishing or service that they're reestablishing that's been gone for a while, so I definitely think there's things to watch for. We're going to talk a little bit more about this in the next episode, based on a listener question that we have in regards to what we should be doing for travel in '22, but a couple of quick notes to remember at The Flight Deal on Twitter is a great account to follow for daily flight deals from various cities around the U.S. to places around the world.
They also have a paid service, which I think at a nominal price is a reasonable investment, if you're trying to hunt down a great deal for next year. If you're more interested in redeeming points than finding cheap tickets, as we just talked about, Spencer, our guest Straight to the Points has a great newsletter and his paid service there gives you really early access to the deals. He's always out there hunting for stuff. I think it makes a big difference to have a jump there on when these things pop up, they can be available for dozens and dozens of different dates. But as soon as the word starts getting out, that inventory starts drying up pretty quickly. So what I would be doing is a few things. First off, I would absolutely be hunting for deals right now.
There's tons of points and miles is sitting in people's accounts. People have been sitting on the sidelines, so award tickets might be a little bit difficult to find. So be looking for cheap flight prices and maybe you're using your flexible currency to redeem for hotel stay. This, by the way, is the benefit to those flexible currencies, the Chase Ultimate Rewards, et cetera. So if you've got flexible currency like that, you don't necessarily have to use them on airline tickets right now, when a lot of people are chasing cheap award seats. You're likely to find better availability using those points for hotel rooms, but either way, you want to keep your eye on both, both award tickets and pay tickets to find your best deal. The other couple things that I would have in your back pocket is I would absolutely order some COVID tests.
BinaxNOW is my preferred test, and there's two different versions out there. There's the home version that you can take. These are cheapest on walmart.com and it's like the Hunger Games to get them. You got to check the website a couple times a day. They pop in stock. They disappear fairly quickly, but Walmart has a pretty generous limit. Typically, recently I've been able to buy as many as eight at a time. I am testing frequently as I'm traveling. Each of those boxes has two tests in it, both of which can be taken at home. They're not supervised tests, so they don't meet the requirement for coming back into the U.S., but they do give you an idea of whether you're actually positive for COVID or not. For me, traveling on a daily basis where I'm in and out of our businesses, our restaurants, it's important for me to know before I go in that I'm still negative so that I'm not putting the staff in a situation where we got to send a bunch of people out for testing and quarantining and all that fun stuff.
Anyway, so it's always good to know what your status is, especially if you're going to be traveling overseas, because you just don't know what the rules are in terms of what happens if you test positive. The other test that you can seek out are from a company called eMed. These are, essentially, the same BinaxNOW tests I just mentioned, but eMed.com will sell you the test. They're about twice the price, so 25 bucks, if I remember correctly, 30 bucks, I think actually 30 bucks, no 25 bucks per test. It's a proctored test, so you essentially take the test via FaceTime, video camera on your phone or on your laptop. Somebody witnesses you take the test and 15 minutes later, they determine whether you're positive or negative. Then, they send you a result that's valid for coming back into the U.S, and for entering some other countries, though, not countries like Canada, who still require a PCR test, which is a more detailed, more accurate test.
So those are good to have in your back pocket. Why? Well, if you're thinking at all about traveling internationally, eMed, at times has had delays in shipping. I had one delay in shipping that wasn't really attributable to volume. They just be messed up my order, but it still took me three or four weeks to get tests. Volume of orders is very high right now for eed because of all the Omicron cases, so it wouldn't surprise me if they had back orders. But if you already have tests in your back pocket and a really awesome deal pops up, well, you're all set, and sure you can test overseas at a clinic or something like that. But that's not necessarily something that I would rely on. Certainly, a lot of the hotels in Mexico and the Caribbean have testing available right there on site, but I've heard of horror stories where tests didn't come back in time.
So I wouldn't rely on someone else if you didn't have to. the eMed tests are right way to be able to test yourself essentially on your schedule and make sure you can get back into the country without a problem. The regulations are changing very rapidly. We've seen some countries institute new shutdowns over the past handful of weeks, both to specific countries, like people coming from Africa, where the Omicron variant arose from, and then also, just general shutdowns just based on total counts. So you'll definitely want to keep an eye on that, and that's why we want to keep our eye on flexible cancellation tickets, whether they are paid or award tickets. So bottom line, you want to be looking for deals and I'll give you a couple of places to remind you of where to find those great deals. You want to have some COVID tests in your back pocket and you want to be looking for generous cancellation policies.
That's the way I'd be going into 2022, and I would absolutely be thinking about traveling. Everybody's going to have their own comfort level. I'm somebody who's been fairly conservative throughout the majority of the pandemic. I'm not worried about Omicron terms of getting me sick to the point that I have to be hospitalized. I'm vaccinated, I'm boosted, I'm safe. I wear an N-95 mask when I travel but I do think we're all going to get Omicron at some point, just based on how widely spread it is, or at least we're all going to be exposed to it, to the point that we could get it. So I'm not scared of that coming. I think that's almost an eventuality at this point. I'm more scared about having a positive test, whether it's a regular bonafide positive, false positive when I'm traveling somewhere where I can't get home.
So that's where having the tests to know ahead of time what's going on and also to understand what my flexible options are, so that if I do get stuck somewhere, I know what my backup plan is, whether that's having to quarantine in a foreign country, or if I'm somewhere where I can drive, understanding that I can actually drive across the U.S. border from Mexico or from Canada without actually having to have a COVID test. Oddly enough, no matter who you are, as I learned a handful of months ago, not just for people who cross the border on a daily basis, but anybody, any U.S. citizen can come back into the U.S. via Mexico or Canada without being COVID tested. So plenty of strategies there to make sure that 2022 is a more normal travel year. Who knows what the word normal really will mean in 2022? But you do your research, make sure the places you want to go are open and accessible because there's still so much stuff that's closed.
But I'm seeing pictures and stories from friends who are out there traveling and having a great time, and I'm excited to get back out there. My son and I took a trip to Disney World just a couple weeks ago on our own, and boy, it was just so much fun just getting to see him enjoy things. Certainly, there was some concern about COVID and it was before Omicron really ramped up. So we were careful, but we had a great time and I'm just looking forward to more of that, to travel because my kids have always seen travel as an escape, something we do on a regular basis, they love to explore. So while we've certainly meandered our way around the country in an RV and try to do some innovative things during the pandemic, they're ready to be out there traveling again.
My daughter wants to do Iceland very much. My son is so keyed up to go to Asia. I think Iceland's a lot more likely than Asia in 2022 for us, but we're keeping an open mind and we've got an open playbook. I've got lots of points. I've got vouchers with airlines, and I've got lots of free night certificates. So we're raring to get out there, we're just making sure that we're doing it safe, and I hope that you guys are raring to get out there and do it safe as well. That's a full wrap on 2021 for the Miles to Go podcast. Quick reminder to folks, you can shoot us an email, ed@pizzamotion.com, and you can leave us a voicemail or text us, 571-293-6659. We love answering listener questions, and you can always find us on social media, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, all @pizzainmotion.
Like I said earlier in the show, if you've got a moment, leave us a rating, or a view. I've got a link in the show notes that makes it super easy to do that in a bunch of different platforms. It maybe takes you 30 seconds or a minute, and it really does help us out. Since the show is completely free every week, that's the one small thing that you guys can do to help keep us going. Can't wait to be out there in 2022. We'll be back next week with, hopefully, Mr. Kerr running sidelines with me. We've got a couple listener questions to cover. We've got some other travel news that is brewing out there that may be ready for some pretty cool announcements in early of 2022. Until we upload again, we've got Miles to Go.