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My experience with Trampolinn (hint: it sucks)
ByDCTA July 21, 2015
2 Comments

Travelisfree wrote an article a week or so ago regarding Trampolinn, a French-based home sharing network, similar to AirBnB. Unlike AirBnB, the active currency is points rather than money. You can easily earn points just by signing up, and could buy a set of 3500 points for as low as $99 euros (for reference, you could get a nice apartment in an ideal city location for around 400 points). It looked like an incredible opportunity for us travel hackers. I tried it out, and my experience shows that it sucks.

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Anecdote

Champagne makes you a better person
ByDCTA July 20, 2015December 28, 2023
1 Comment

One of my favourite hobbies is to read random academic articles (besides being a travel nerd, I’m a nerd in many other aspects!). Tonight, I came across a rather intriguing headline: Phenolic acid intake, delivered via moderate champagne wine consumption, improves spatial working memory via the modulation of hippocampal and cortical protein expression/activation.

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Tricks

Sunday Reader Question: How to Refund Aeroplan Ticket Within 22 Days Before Departure
ByDCTA July 19, 2015
7 Comments

Aeroplan award tickets are generally refundable. However, Aeroplan has a pesky term that states

Unused and valid flight rewards may be refunded and miles reinstated up to 22 days before the scheduled date of departure. A C$90.00 fee plus taxes per ticket will apply. This fee is non-refundable.

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Tricks

How to check flight coupons and tickets
ByDCTA July 16, 2015December 28, 2023
1 Comment

A flight booking is a complicated thing. There are multiple parts, and all parts have to be in sync with each other for you to be able to board your flight. There is: a booking (your PNR), tickets, and; flight coupons. It’s usually quite easy to check your booking by using your reference number on the carrier’s website. However, checking the tickets and flights coupons is a harder task.

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Anecdote

A most frustrating experience
ByDCTA July 11, 2015December 28, 2023
3 Comments

Regular readers of this blog might notice that I like to complain. I’m a complainer. Get over it.

Now that we have that covered, let’s get on to my new complaint: British Airways. To summarize my feelings, in a most English way: wankers. Absolute wankers.

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Trip Reports

Review: Intercontinental Austin
ByDCTA July 10, 2015December 28, 2023

Several weeks ago, I stayed at the Intercontinental Austin using an Ambassador BOGO certificate. It was quite a nice stay, and being the time that SCOTUS announced their gay-marriage decision, a stay certainly encompassed by celebration.

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