Dia Adams – Forbes advisor

Miles and points junkies play a fun game called Chase the Fare. If you are unfamiliar when some crazy low fare shows up, don’t think you just book … and then find out what you will do when you get there. Because of this, a lot of people will be walking to and from places like Khartoum on Twitter in a short time.

For the average traveler, especially if you’re traveling with the family, it’s just an odd way to spend your precious two weeks of vacation a year. I get that. But doing what you’ve always done by default isn’t great either. When thinking about your next trip, I want you to think about the experience you want first and then choose an offer that fits your ideal trip.

A quick joke

Here in the suburbs of DC, I spent years playing small leagues, Boy Scout meetings, and the bus stop to have a variation on the same conversation:

Friend: “Going anywhere this summer?”

Me: “Yes, we are going to (Japan, Ireland, Chile …)”

Freund: “I wish we could afford this, we will probably only book a week on the beach.”

The first ten times I had this conversation, I tried to explain that with miles, points, and a little bit of imagination, I would be spending less, sometimes a lot less, than a high season week on the beach would cost.