We’ve had some press today from Forbes, who have published a story on my work here at Prince of Travel with a focus on the round-the-world-trip I took last month.
It’s very exciting to be featured of course, although I must say that it’s a pretty novel experience for me and it’s kind of funny to hear myself described as “YouTuber and points hacker Ricky Zhang who frequently snags first-class jaunts to far flung locations”.
(And you guys know how I feel about the term “travel hacking”, but hey, I can’t deny that it’s still a catchy term for the mainstream audiences.)
Here’s an excerpt from the article, where I talk about the process of navigating the learning curve in Miles & Points:
In addition to being highly organized, Zhang recommends doing a lot of research before getting into the points game.
“It’s a lot of time and energy,” said Zhang. “When I was first learning flight routes, I had to very meticulous… it’s a very foreign concept.”
It’s important to think about which regions you want to travel to as well as where you’re based, as that will dictate where you should acquire points. For example, Oneworld alliance doesn’t have any African airlines, meaning that it’s nearly impossible to travel there on points with their loyalty program.
However, once you get used to using points for free flights, Zhang says it can be a “more casual approach.” Now, he plans most of his trips within a year time frame, using his points for either great deals he sees, special events or to treat his girlfriend and himself.
And you can click here to read the full feature here on the Forbes website.