🏅TRENDING TRAVEL NEWS 🏅
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• Beach Bliss: These Caribbean islands have the most non-stop flights to the U.S.
• In the Biz: Two business cards (this one and this one) just upped their welcome offers – and they’re kinda crazy.
☀️ Good morning from my undisputed favorite country in the world, China. 🇨🇳
I’m here on my thirteenth trip to this country, where I’ll be exploring ten new regions I’ve never been to.
But whether you’re adventuring like me or just enjoying some quiet time at home, I need your advice today:
Okay. So…
We’re always coming up with new ways to deliver content to you guys. And we’re thinking of maybe starting some new newsletters to hone in on more specific types of travel.
So I’ll list out some of our ideas – and at the bottom of this section, you can click to vote on which one(s) you’d most enjoy.
If you want to select more than one, just do it twice. We might end up launching all of these, or none of them. It all depends on what you want!
🚗 Option 1: The Road Tripper
This would be content about domestic travel, mostly focused on things like road trip itineraries, rental cars, RVs, train travel, and that type of stuff.
👧 Option 2: Pack the Kids
This would be all things family travel: tips for traveling with kids, finding award flights for multiple people, booking multiple hotel rooms, and family-focused destination tips.
👔 Option 3: The Business Drop
If you have a business and want to maximize your spending and points earning, this would be the newsletter for you. We’d talk about business rewards card opportunities, business travel promos, and how to maximize larger business expenses.
👨🏫 Option 4: Starting from Zero
The beginner-friendly newsletter that starts from zero.
Rather than telling you about the best deals, big news, or epic strategies, this would focus more on general points-and-miles concepts (that you can apply to content from other newsletters).
🌎 Option 5: Get Me To…
This would be heavily destination-focused. We’d pick new destinations to tell you about, including how to fly there, where to stay, and what to do once you hit the ground.
🎤 Option 6: Mike Drop
This one is (selfishly) something I’m really excited about.
Mike Drop would be the place for unabridged points-and-miles content. Offbeat destinations, more technical points topics, extreme maximization, my hot takes on travel topics, and even some interactive travel projects. 👀
Think Daily Drop, but long-form.
Now, vote 👇
Which of these newsletter ideas sound most appealing to you?Feel free to come back and choose more than one |
✈️ Reader Win: Booking Delta flights with Virgin miles
We got a fun email from a Daily Drop reader named Marybeth the other day. She reached out to tell us about a solid points redemption she was excited about:
In summary, Marybeth found a specific flight on a specific airline that she wanted. It was a Delta Air Lines flight from Cincinnati (FLL) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL).
Then, she looked at multiple options to find which one required the fewest points:
Option 1: Book directly with the airline (Delta SkyMiles)
Option 2: Book through a bank portal (Capital One Travel)
Option 3: Transfer points and book with a partner (Virgin Atlantic)
Option 3 ended up saving her thousands of points and some cash on taxes and fees, even on a simple domestic flight.
Marybeth’s example shows that you don’t need a flashy international redemption to make points and miles worthwhile, and you don’t need to overcomplicate things to take advantage of the tips we share in this newsletter.
Thanks for reaching out, Marybeth! (and thank you for your service as a teacher 🫡)
❤️ A feel-good travel story to finish the week
We talk a lot about where points can take you. But sometimes, travel takes you somewhere you didn't even plan for.
In September 2024, Mariah and Mario were strangers sitting next to each other on a Southwest flight to Chicago. Three hours, a lot of conversation, and one very helpful flight attendant later, they exchanged numbers.
By Valentine's Day 2025, Mario was asking Mariah to be his girlfriend... at the same airport where it all started.
When Mariah reached out to San Antonio International Airport to share their story, the airport went all in.
They set up a tarmac dinner with champagne, food from a local Mexican restaurant, and a live musician performing an original song written just for the couple. Mariah said it made them feel like "the most important people at the San Antonio Airport."
We love this kind of stuff, and it reminds us why travel is worth caring about. You can watch a video of their date if you want more of that good feeling.
This story was written by our friends at Do Good Crew, a newsletter covering stories that are genuinely good for your soul.
If that sounds like your kind of thing (and we think it is), we recommend subscribing to their newsletter. 👇
Well, that’s all for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in on this great Friday, and I’ll see you bright and early on Monday morning.
Byebye ❤️
With contributions by April Wilson and Sam Anthony.
