🌴 TRENDING TRAVEL NEWS 🌴
• VaCay: The Cayman Islands just launched a new promo, offering visitors free nights at certain hotels and resorts (some even throw in a complimentary rental car).
• Iconic Drive: California’s Highway 1 has fully reopened after landsides closed portions of the road in 2023.
• Early Arrival: A woman gave birth to a (healthy) baby a bit ahead of schedule - on a Delta flight while landing in Portland, Oregon.
• Last Chance: The elevated offer on this fan-favorite cashback card (that can become more than that 👀) is ending tomorrow at 9 am EST.
Good morning from Yining, the “Switzerland of China,” nestled deep in Xinjiang province near the Kazakhstan border.
We’ve got a big day today, so let’s get straight to the point(s):
🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday Wednesday
Which city was just named the top food destination in the U.S. by Tripadvisor? |
The answer is waiting for you a little farther down…
✈️ 100% transfer bonus to a great airline program
Bilt Rewards is back with another Rent Day on May 1st, this time with a huge transfer bonus to one of the most useful airline programs: Avios.
On May 1st only, Bilt members can get a 40-100% transfer bonus to British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia Avios based on their status level.
Here is the breakdown:
Bilt Status | Transfer Bonus |
|---|---|
Blue (no status) | 40% |
Silver | 50% |
Gold | 60% |
Platinum | 75% |
💡 Pro Tip: If you have any Bilt Cash lying around, you can upgrade your status on May 1 to unlock a higher bonus amount. Platinum members who do this will unlock a 100% transfer bonus.
Most of you don’t have any Bilt status – but you can still get a 40% bonus, which is fantastic for the right flight.
For example, Iberia flies between the U.S. and Spain for 16,000 Avios in economy or just 40,500 in business class.
Both of these are good deals even without a transfer bonus… but with the bonus, you’re looking at:
11,400 Avios in economy
29,000 Avios in business class
Those are extremely competitive rates!
But it gets even better….
You can transfer Avios to other airlines
One of the unique quirks of Avios is that you can freely transfer them between all airlines that use Avios as a currency using this online tool.
That means that in addition to British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia, this is also effectively a 40% bonus to Finnair, Qatar Airways, and even the small regional airline LoganAir.
If you’ve never heard of this airline, it’s tiny – but it has some amazing deals when hopping around the U.K.
Flights start at just 6,500 Avios, or 4,600 Bilt Points with this transfer bonus.
I recently completed a flight from Finland to China in Finnair business class. It was a 13-hour marathon flight, but it only cost 62,500 Avios in business class.
With this transfer bonus, you could transfer 45,000 Bilt points to British Airways, then transfer them to Finnair to book this exact flight.
This is why you need Bilt points
Look… Bilt’s card lineup is pretty underwhelming. But honestly, every time I see a transfer bonus like this, I regret not having more Bilt points.
You can check out Bilt’s cards on this page. They have three tiered options – so there’s a Bilt card that could work for just about anyone.
Earn Bilt points from Rakuten
Don’t forget that you can also choose to earn Bilt Rewards instead of cash back when shopping through the Rakuten shopping portal as well.
If you use our link to sign up for Rakuten and make a purchase of $50, you’ll get $50 of cash back – or 5,000 Bilt points, which is enough to book a cheap flight like the one I just showed you earlier.
Anyway, this is a great opportunity. If you have Bilt points lying around, definitely consider using them here.
If you don’t have Bilt points, get some. 🫵
💳 This $95 card is offering 150,000 miles
It’s rare to see cards with a tiny annual fee offering massive amounts of miles… especially valuable transferable ones….
But that’s exactly what is happening right now with this new Capital One card, which is offering up to 150,000 miles after meeting the minimum spending requirement.
But rather than wasting your brain cells reading more about it, we made a quick 5-minute video breaking down everything you need to know about this new card and offer.
Check it out. 👇
PRESENTED BY APPLE
🎓 The Graduation Gift That Won't End Up in a Drawer
You've sat through enough gift openings to know the difference between "oh wow, thank you" and oh wow, thank you. Most graduation gifts are thoughtful in theory and forgotten by July. The picture frame. The monogrammed journal. The thing that was perfect for who they were, not who they're becoming.
Apple Gift Card lets them decide what they actually need once real life starts:
Apps for the new job
Music for the new commute
iCloud storage for a phone full of graduation photos
Apple TV for the first night in a new apartment
Subscriptions like Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, and even third-party subscriptions
Products and accessories, whenever they're ready
It works for right now and six months from now. Available from $15 to $200 in physical and digital formats.
🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal
A few minutes ago, we asked which city just took the crown for best food destination in the U.S….
If you chose New York City, congratulations! 🎉
Dim sum in Chinatown
Photo: Sam Anthony | Daily Drop
According to Tripadvisor's 2026 Travelers' Choice Awards, New York City landed the top spot on the list of best U.S. food destinations. It also claimed the No. 1 overall U.S. travel destination, because apparently, NYC doesn't believe in doing anything halfway.
And honestly? Hard to argue with it.
The city's food scene spans everything from century-old delis like Katz's Delicatessen (open since 1888) to one-Michelin-star restaurants hidden behind coded doors inside subway stations.
Yes, that's a real thing.
New York has a Michelin-starred speakeasy in a train station, and somehow that's not even the most interesting thing on the list.
The pizza alone could fill a newsletter. Lombardi's, America's first pizzeria, opened in 1905 and is still going. Street food carts have multi-hour lines.
And if you know the right people, you can get Chinese-Venezuelan fried rice out of the back of someone's car. This is not a drill.
Las Vegas came in second on the food list, followed by Maui, Orlando, and Miami rounding out the top five. Respectable! Just not "secret subway speakeasy" energy.
👉 Read the full list here.
That’s all for this Wednesday’s edition, folks! Have a great hump day, and I’ll see you next time. 🐫
Byebye,
With contributions by Sam Anthony and April Wilson.
