ILA in Ottawa

I'm currently in Ottawa attending the International Leadership Association conference - it's another city on my travel map and I must say that I'm very impressed with the city (I shouldn't be surprised, right?).

You can find the conference program here: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/ila/ila19/

Today I also chaired a Concurrent session on Inclusive Leadership highlighting studies from a variety of institutions.  Overall this research space is expanding and I was impressed with the level of detail and focus on student engagement within organizations and institutions.

Air New Zealand Starting Nonstop Service to Newark in Fall 2020

While flying out of Newark can be frustrating, I'm always interested in reading about new service options where I can leverage points and miles.  The news today is pretty exciting: Air New Zealand will being nonstop service to Newark in October of 2020.  

You can read the press release here: https://bit.ly/360xxS6

Air New Zealand will fly between Auckland and its alliance partner United Airlines' New York hub Newark Liberty International Airport three times weekly, year-round, using its latest configuration Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Redemption options using United miles tend to be sparse until the last minute though occasional deals can be found.  Looking forward to this next option next year!

Weekend in PQI

More like Fort Fairfield to be exact. 

Perfect Fall weekend.

Mid-Year (fall) 2019 Travel Check-in

I'm a bit late with this post since I've been busy with end of summer construction/start of semester activities.  I feel that we've been busier than usual at work given the amount of projects we're working on including planning for FY20 learning space work.  My travel pattern really picked up in late spring as well which is nice though was unexpected from my assessment early in the year.

American

No status presently on American even though I took advantage of a brief status match in late spring.  I was able to leverage some new CC spend and have increased my miles balance ahead of some fun travel hopefully next fall.

United

United is still primary for me as I travel given the close proximity to Newark (not my favorite by any stretch).  My travel for work so far this year combined with personal travel has positioned me to get back to 1K if all holds steady.  I have one additional November trip to confirm as well.  My upgrade pattern has been about 60-70% with no real complaints as planes are typically full.  Looking forward to a full month of travel ahead plus trips through the New Year.  And I'm still leveraging MP Dining and CC use for miles regularly.

Hyatt

I've easily matched Explorist status again for the year, though there is an outside chance I may be able to get to Globalist.  I'll need to make a decision on that in a few weeks otherwise the window will close completely for next year.  CC spend for nights plus the extra 4x on stays has been helpful for future trip planning. 

I'm pretty satisfied overall on how much I've travelled this year.  Strategic use of CC's along with regular spend patterns has helped with overall points accrual as well.  Normal daily CC spend is still one of the best strategies for the points and travel game.

To SD

Greetings from over western TX!  I'm enroute to San Diego for the weekend - should be a great trip catching up with friends and enjoying the sun.  Winds might be a bit gusty during my stay too - always fun to be back. 

Adding a new airport

I always look forward to adding a new airport to my 'traveled' list.  I'll have the opportunity this weekend to increase my count with a trip to Cornell for Ivy+ Director's meetings. 

The trip to ITH is not long and involves an RJ145.  No problem!