WorldWanderlusting.com

Q: What’s better than getting someone to take care of your house for free while you’re gone on vacation?  A: Staying at their house for free.

Yep, it doesn’t just happen in the movies.  You can actually swap houses with fellow wanderlusters around the world.  That’s right, not only are we showing you how get airline tickets essentially free by exploiting generous frequent flyer credit card offers, we’d also like to demonstrate how you can save thousands of dollars in lodging costs, and truly experience another culture as a local.

How is that for cost-efficient and travel-savvy?

Worried that people might trash your house?  While that’s certainly a possibility, there are few people who would travel around the world with the objective of leaving your house a disaster.  Chances are, they’re just like you – daydreaming of faraway lands and pinching pennies to someday get to them.  They’d respect your property just as you would theirs.

Are you afraid that no one would want to exchange homes with you because you live in a place with only 2 months of summer and a constant 35 mph wind?  While you’ve got a good point, don’t count yourself out yet (but do contemplate moving).  Help potential swappers find an inexpensive way to get to where you are.  Make up an itinerary of some of the most interesting things you’ve done in your area.  There are compelling reasons to travel just about everywhere.

While there are many sites which list home exchanges, my personal favorite is  www.exchangezones.com.  You can post your own property and browse homes around the world for free.   I’ve had email conversations with people who live in France, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Colombia, and Peru.  I’ve planted seeds that someday I hope to reap. In the meantime, why don’t you reach out to someone and make it happen?

I’m taking my family to Colombia next week for an extended working vacation – something I’ll elaborate further on at a later date.  Today my musings will be limited to the shrinking purchasing power of the US Dollar.

As I’ve watched the value of my dollars steadily lose ground to virtually all world currencies, and the Colombian Peso in particular, more than once I’ve had the thought that I’m doing this wrong.  Over the past  month, I’ve taken about a 6% haircut on the exchange rate.  In other words, a month ago, I’d have gotten 1875 Colombian Pesos for every dollar, where today I’ll only get 1760.  That’s exactly the opposite of what a cost-concious wanderluster ought to be doing.

The better course of action would be to seize the opportunity that surfaced in Iceland a few years ago when a currency collapse transformed the tiny island misnamed by dubious vikings who preferred that others steer clear of their idyllic haven.  In 2007, You’d have gotten 60 Icelandic Kronas for your dollar – today you’ll get 111, and at one point in 2008, you’d have gotten almost 150.  Essentially what this means is that your Icelandic vacation in 2009-2011 is on 50% off sale from 2007 prices.

If you’ve already had enough of currency graphs, please allow me to provide some wanderlust-Viagra in the form of these stunning photos of the Iceland landscape.

If you still haven’t had enough, and you’d like to see the most phenomenal Iceland photos around, visit www.matthewturley.com.

I wrote last week about the Continental One Pass credit card. It has a sign on bonus of 50,000 One Pass miles. This is great. I have done a little research to show you how to use the card. It’s pretty simple and you can do it. Let’s get you on the road:

1. Look at the Award Travel Redemption on Continental’s website.  I’ve done a sample search and this is what it looks like: I know it is a little tough to read, but it says that leaving the US and going to Central America, ie: Costa Rica, would cost you 35,000 miles in Economy Class.
2. Once you’ve determined where you would like to go and you know how many miles it is going to require you click on this link to apply for the Continental One Pass 50,000 bonus card.
3. Once you’ve been approved for the card your world wander lusting has almost begun.
4. Make one purchase to meet the requirements for the 50,000 bonus and it is yours.
5. Book your travel, come back to this website to find more tips
6. Tell all of your friends about this website
7. Sign up for other credit cards on this site 🙂

Guess where this is….

At times, flying for free just isn’t enough for the insatiable soul of the wanderluster.  We want more than to fly for free… we also want to earn even more frequent flyer miles while we indulge in complimentary travel.  Yet, as exhilarating as it is, redeeming frequent flyer award tickets precludes us from such joy.

Enter, “the bump.” “The bump,” as it is known, is the wanderluster version of good fortune  – the epitome of serendipity.  In their zeal to keep load rates high, airlines overbook flights with the expectation that a small percentage of travelers will fail to arrive in time for boarding.   When the airline finds itself in this peculiar situation, they solicit passengers to volunteer to have their flight re-routed.  In exchange for what will range from a mild inconvenience to a major flight-overhaul, the airlines offer their profuse apology in the form of a travel voucher – generally somewhere around $400, depending on the routing.  And here’s the kicker – when you redeem that voucher, (hopefully to a destination that’s pronounced with a Spanish accent)  you’ll earn even more FF mileage.

As someone who ranks $400 in free travel as euphoric on the ecstacy scale, I jump, nay, leap at the opportunity.  In fact, I’ve learned to pre-position myself when I’m aware of an overbooked situation, the same way an NBA forward blocks out for a rebound.  I want to be absolutely sure that I’m the first one in line when they start asking for volunteers.  Yet, you’d be surprised how little attention these offers get.  Few travelers seize the opportunity, but that’s because they don’t find what they’re not looking for.

I’ll summarize with a few key bits of advice on how to ready yourself for “the bump:”

• Book your travel with some degree of flexibility.  If two flight options are available to your destination, opt for the earlier one, so that if you do find yourself in a position to take the bump, there’s another flight soon to minimize your inconvenience.
• Arrive at the gate early enough to gauge the situation.
• Be aware of opportunities.  When you arrive at the gate, courteously ask how full the flight is.  If they tell you it’s booked full, or that it’s overbooked, you may even want to volunteer at that point.  If that’s not an option, proceed to the next step.
• Analyze your competition, is there anyone around who has a scraggly beard and more than 60 tattered patches of flags from various countries sewn on to their backpack prowling around the gate? If so, lock eyes with them, give them the alpha-male growl, and let them know there’s no way they’re going to beat you to the punch.
• Once they announce that they’re looking for volunteers, take long strides to the desk and present yourself… your time has arrived.
• Don’t be content with the measly voucher… if your inconvenienced overnight, they owe you a hotel, too.  And if they owe you a hotel, they owe you a dinner voucher, too.  And you prefer to fly First-Class, don’t you?  After all, they are at your mercy.
• Last of all, please share your story with us.  We all need inspiration.  I have a few of these already which will come in future blog posts.

Wanderlust with us. www.worldwanderlusting.com