Tag Archives: goals

Mid-year Assessment, Mileage Accounts Decimated But It’s All Good

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Well I did it!  Next year’s trip to Bolivia and Brazil is officially booked and my USA based airline miles accounts are pretty much wiped out.  This is the culmination of what I had been working towards, after all what good are miles sitting in cyberspace?  You need to use them and enjoy them!  So where did I end up?

Brisbane-Santa Cruz, Bolivia:  Used AA miles on QF & LA taking my account down to a measly 25,000 although I do have the Barclay’s Aaviator card with the annual 10,000 mile annual bonus so this account will slowly rebuild.

Santa Cruz-Sao Paulo-Fortaleza:  Used Flying Blue miles for the Gol connecting flights, account is wiped out.

Sao Paulo-Auckland:  Used British Airways Avios sourced from Ultimate Rewards, only had enough to get as far as Auckland.  BA charges a higher amount if you use 2 or more partner airlines so I had to use Latam all the way and Sydney would have put us into a higher bracket.  BA account now under 1000 miles.

Auckland-Brisbane:  Used United (husband) & Singapore (me) small balances for this short segment.  First time we have been on 2 separate PNRs but I got seats assigned in the same row (window & aisle) so no worries!  Both accounts down to less than 500 orphaned miles.

All flights are in Y, I expected that J wouldn’t be available (it wasn’t) and that was all I could afford miles-wise.

SO WHAT NEXT?

Now that the 2018 trip is safely booked, I have discovered to my shock that I don’t need the US based accounts anymore.  For the next 3 years, all trips are easily covered with miles/points earned through Aussie shopping programs (Coles-Velocity & Woolworths-Qantas) and use of my Aussie Amex 3x on grocery store shopping.

2019 – We will use Velocity and Qantas points to do some Pacific Island hopping with birding of course.  I have all the miles & points required already!

2020 – We will use a combination of Singapore, Velocity & Qantas for birding in Indonesia (with some domestic flights paid in cash).  I have about half the points required, will easily get them all by year’s end via shopping at Coles & Woolies.  For now the plan is to fly in Y but maybe I can get enough shopping points to upgrade at least the BNE-SIN segment.

2021 – I’m eyeing a Papua New Guinea Cruise which can combine birding and a bit of luxury.  Princess often has discounts on this cruise which sails from Brisbane.  No flights this year, except maybe domestic Australia.

2022 – The Last Hurrah!  I have 4 years to get as many as possible:  Amex Membership Rewards, Qantas & Velocity for one last mega-trip to South America.  This is so far ahead of the game I can’t even be sure miles and points programs won’t be obsolete.  Worst case scenario would be using the Amex points to pay for tickets on the Amex travel portal.

So I have come to the surprising realization that I no longer need the USA credit cards or mileage programs.  I have lost all interest in United due to devaluations and the routing restrictions.  If I have any Ultimate Rewards left, I will send them to BA as I can always use them for Qantas or Latam and I can keep the account alive with the shopping portal.  I’ll be cancelling the USA credit cards with annual fees when they next come due but will keep the AAviator for the annual AA 10k bonus well worth a $89 fee and the IHG card whose $49 fee gives us a free night in any of their hotels and platinum status.

It’s kind of hard and bittersweet to cut the USA programs loose as I have gotten some incredible flights out of them over the past 10 years but the Aussie game has been steadily improving and I find I can easily get what I need simply by strategic grocery shopping!

30 Parrots I May Not Be Able To Add To My Lifelist & Why

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Many birders keep a Lifelist of all the birds they have seen in their lifetime and set challenges to see certain birds or reach a specified numerical target.  I was never a Lifelist keeper until I joined eBird and I was primarily targeting parrot species so I didn’t keep track of other birds I had seen until fairly recently.  There are around 10,000 species of birds in the world and I have logged 1322 on eBird.  Of those 1322, 177 are parrots.  There are around 390 species and subspecies of parrots depending on whose classifications you are looking at so I am closing in on half the parrot species of the world though I haven’t really reconciled my Lifelist which goes back to 2007 with the latest taxonomy.

Anyway, there are at least 30 species which I may not be able to see due to several reasons such as being endemic in a dangerous country or remote island or simply being too expensive for me to get to as my miles balance runs down.  Here’s the list.

  1.  Stephen’s Lorikeet – remote on Pitcairn Island
  2.   Sula Hanging Parrot – difficult to reach
  3.   Meek’s Pygmt Parrot – difficult to reach
  4.   Blue-wnged Racket-tail – difficult to reach
  5.   Nicobar Parakeet – difficult to reach
  6.  Antipodean Green Parrot – difficult to reach, remote NZ island
  7.  Night Parrot – tiny population in QLD in restricted access area (not allowed to go there)
  8.  Niam-Niam Parrot – dangerous location in Congo
  9.  Socorro Parakeet – remote island off Mexico
  10.  Thick-billed Parrot – lives in area frequented by drug cartels in Mexico
  11.  Red-eared Parakeet – endemic to Venezuela which is too dangerous to travel in
  12.  Emma’s Parakeet – another Venezuela endemic
  13.  Rose-crowned Parakeet – another Venezuela endemic
  14. Pacific Parakeet – found in Nicaragua, not sure I can get there due miles running out
  15. Red-throated Parakeet – another Nicaraguan
  16. Azuero Parakeet – remote area of Panama
  17. Cuban Parakeet – theoretically possible in Cuba but lack of miles
  18. Hispaniolan Parakeet – theoretically possible in Haiti or Dominican Republic but lack of miles
  19.  Hispaniolan Amazon – theoretically possible in Haiti or Dominican Republic but lack of miles
  20.  Deville’s Parakeet – found in Tefe, Brazil, expensive to reach
  21. Vulturine Parrot – possible in Brazil but found in remote areas
  22. Bald Parrot – found near Rio Azul, Brazil, expensive to reach
  23. Red-fronted Parrot – dipped in Ecuador, no plans to return
  24. Spectacled Parrotlet – dipped in Ecuador & Colombia, no plans to return
  25. Spot-winged Parrotlet – dipped in Ecuador & Colombia, no plans to return
  26. Blue-fronted Parrotlet – dipped in Ecuador & Colombia, no plans to return
  27. Red-fronted Parrotlet – dipped in Panama, no plans to return
  28. Saffron-headed Parrot – dipped in Colombia, also found in Venezuela but can’t get there
  29. Sinu Parakeet – remote Colombian endemic, possibly extinct as no sightings in years
  30. Perija Parakeet – remote Colombian endemic, possibly extinct as no sightings in years

So I have had a chance at some of these parrots, mostly the parrotlets but was unable to find them.  Some of them would be possible if the country was safer to visit, some would be possible if I had more money and/or airline miles!

I do have a lot of other possible parrots in trips I have planned over the next few years as I burn the remainder of my miles and do some cheaper trips from Australia to Asian countries.  I would like to get at least 300 parrot species and over 2000 bird species so that’s 20% of the total in the world!

2017 – The African Godmother, Aussie-style Glamping & Revised Miles & Points Goals

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It’s pretty hard to top our 2016 travels………………but if anything can, it would be another African adventure.   Last year, I made plans and pretty much nailed it, but no time to rest on my laurels!   2017 will see what will probably be our last trip to Africa (unless we win Lotto) so we are going to make the most of it while we can!  Bring on the Godmother of All African Adventures!

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2017 TRAVEL PLANS

After most airline miles programs devalued last year, I was worried that if we put off our long haul travel, we may not be able to make them happen.  Turns out I was right, Velocity devalued their partner awards on Etihad both in terms of mileage required and a shocking new surcharge.  United did away with their traditional stopovers and made their new Excursionist Perk program more restrictive in terms of regions and routings.  If I hadn’t booked when I did, we would have had to cough up more money, more points and travel in economy on Etihad instead of business class.  The itinerary targets all (except Niam-Niam) parrots in Africa that we haven’t seen yet and a few old friends like the African Grey (hopefully closer up), the Red-bellied Parrot and more!  So Africa here we come……………..and not a moment too soon!

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Trip #1

Brisbane – Perth – Abu Dhabi, car to Dubai for a couple days.  Used AAdvantage on QF in Y and Velocity on Etihad J before devaluations happened.

Dubai – Nairobi – Entebbe.  Used Flying Blue on KQ in Y.

UGANDA:  Will be visiting birding hotspots like Entebbe Botanical Gardens, Mabamba Swamp, Mabira Forest & possibly Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary where African Grey Parrots rescued from poachers were released into the wild.  (FYI:  This will be my 2nd trip to Uganda and I have already visited the mountain gorillas in Bwindi and chimps in Kibale).  My main goal is to get African Grey Parrots closer up and possibly Meyers Parrots and some other cool birds like Shoebills and Turacos.

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Entebbe – Addis Ababa – Lusaka – Windhoek.  Used United miles on Ethiopian & South African airlines in Y class.  This is a one region with a stop-over that technically wasn’t allowed before but sometimes slipped through.  It’s no longer possible with Excursionist Perks.

ETHIOPIA:  Will visit either or both of Wondo Genet & Lake Langano.  Originally we were going to stay at Bishangari Lodge but it was burned down by protesters in Oct 2016.  The new plan is to fly to Awassa, then make day trips from there.  Once back in Addis Ababa, we will stay at the Ghion Hotel (their grounds are a birding hotspot) and a day trip to Menagesha Forest.  I’m targeting 2 endemic parrots – Yellow-fronted Parrot & Black-winged Lovebird plus other species.

ZAMBIA:  Will hightail it out of Lusaka to Livingstone for Victoria Falls/Mosi-o-tunya NP and the Machile IBA for Black-cheeked Lovebirds.  Then it’s on to Mfuwe and South Luangwa NP which is a hotspot for Lillian’s Lovebirds.

NAMIBIA:  We’ll pick up a rental car and drive around Namibia chasing Ruppell’s Parrots & Peach (Rosy)-faced Lovebirds near Etosha NP, Kunene River, Huab Lodge area and around Omaruru.

Windhoek – Doha – Adelaide – Brisbane  Used AAdvantage miles on Qatar Airways & Qantas in J.  This was one devaluation I couldn’t avoid but at least we are getting our miles worth!

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TRIP #2

Next year’s trip will be expensive both in miles & money so we will keep costs down on our road trip.  I’m thinking maybe a return visit to Bowra Station for “glamping” in the shearers’ quarters.

2017-goals

MILES AND POINTS GOALS

Much to my surprise, I am tracking pretty well.  2017 is booked.  I have enough miles for both a 2018 trip to South America & my solo trip to the World Parrot Conference at Loro Parque.  2019 is looking pretty good as both Qantas (Woolworths) and Virgin Velocity (Coles) are partnered with supermarkets and as long as they keep dishing out the bonus points, we are going to have enough for the South Pacific trip to Cook Islands, Samoa & Fiji from buying groceries & petrol.

But after that we will be miles-broke.  Who knows that the mileage programs will be doing by then or if they will devalue even worse so my goal for this year is to stockpile miles in flexible programs.  I have USA cards from Chase (Ultimate Rewards), Citibank (Thank You Points) and the Barclay’s AAviator card which gives an annual bonus of 10,000 miles plus 10% rebate on miles redeemed so virtually 20,000 effortless miles a year.  They often give spending challenges where you get bonus miles after achieving a goal to spend (for example) $1000 in 3 months.  I also have my Aussie Amex Platinum Edge to stockpile points that can be transfered to SPG (for now), VA, SQ, CX and a few others that I probably wouldn’t use.

SETTING MORE GOALS

In this I not only have to consider our finances & mileage accounts but also that we are not spring chickens and it is getting harder and harder to go on long walks and deal with the increasingly smaller seats in economy.  I’ve also had to do some re-shuffling of travel plans due to Venezuela’s ever-worsening situation and the Aussie dollar getting weaker making it harder to afford lodge packages in places like Tambopata which are sold in USD.  I haven’t really changed much from last year, just tweaked it a bit.

Prioritize trips to places that would otherwise be very expensive without miles such as South America.  These trips should be done as soon as the miles can be saved as they are vulnerable to devaluations.  Meanwhile, slot in a short haul trip during years we don’t have enough miles.

  1.  2018 South America  & Loro Parque – Have miles ready.  The actual destinations in South America will be chosen from Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana (which has some but not all of Venezuela’s key species), Bonaire & Mexico.  When grouping them, I need to consider the weather, easiness of finding birds, costs/exchange rates and miles to get there.  As a member of Qantas, I have searched over a whole year and business class is virtually impossible to get, especially for 2 people so we will have to cross the Pacific in economy.  I think they are now selling upgrades to elites and other paying pax.
  2.   TBD  South America – The Last Hurrah.  (Peru & Chile, Venezuela if they get their act together)  This trip requires a strong Aussie $ as birding packages in Peru are booked in USD.  We will be starting from scratch and it may take a few years to save enough miles.

Have a list of birding trips we can do using easy-to-get Velocity points or low-cost carriers.  These are completely flexible as to order and wouldn’t have to be booked 11 months in advance as the others would be. 

  1.  2019 – Pacific Islands (Rarotonga, Fiji, Samoa).  Using supermarket points with Velocity & Qantas with any spare AA for intra-Fiji flights.
  2.  2020 or 2021 Indonesia 1 (Sulawesi, Talaud & Halmahera) – using low cost carriers such as Air Asia,Garuda, Lion Air, etc.
  3.   Indonesia 2 (Seram, Buru, Tanimbar & Bali)
  4.   Philippines
  5.   Pacific Islands  (Solomons, Vanuatu & New Caledonia)
  6.   Papua New Guinea (might have to book an organized tour for safety).
  7.   New Zealand
  8.  Norfolk Island

Continue doing domestic Australian trips every year using “happy hour” deals, miles we don’t need for long hauls or road trips.

  1.  Uluru & Red Centre
  2.  Adelaide & Kangaroo Island
  3.  Gluepot, South Australia
  4.   Other NSW & Victoria TBD.
  5.   More Outback Queensland – most likely this year.

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CREDIT CARD & FINANCIAL GOALS

Not sure if there are any USA cards I can still get but I will be maximizing category bonuses with all cards.  I’ll also be on the lookout for any Aussie cards that I can qualify for although the best cards tend to be for high income earners only which lets me out.

There are a couple Aussie based survey sites that let you earn shopping vouchers with Coles, Woolies and other shops so I’ve been doing those.   Any money I can save on shopping goes into the travel budget!

Rewards Central

My Opinions

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BLOG GOALS

I’ve already made one improvement by installing Disqus for comments.  I got side-tracked with personal/family things so didn’t get my Feathered and Free stuff migrated over although the archive on the forum will be going offline when the contract expires in a few days.  I’ve had it going in one form or another for the last 10 years but just can’t keep paying for the hosting on top of this blog.

I’d like to promote myself as a guest speaker for bird clubs and travel conventions a bit more and maybe start a travel planning service for people wanting to use miles and points for eco-tourism.

Coming up, I’ll be finishing my series on the Caribbean with St Vincent, Dominica & Puerto Rico, then doing a series about Australia’s Northern Territory (Top End).  Then I still have some historical trips I can blog about with updated how-to-get-there info, maybe I’ll start with the Philippines!

Join me tomorrow as we visit St Vincent and the beautiful Vincie Parrot!

2016 – Epic Journeys, Amazing Birds While The Dust Settles On Airline Programs

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2015 has been a relatively quiet travel year as planned and we did need to take a break and get some things done around the house.  We have almost finished those projects so it’s time to look forward to an epic birding adventure around South America & the Caribbean!

sb hmbd

TRAVEL PLANS

After US Airways merged to American, I had enough miles to book the long haul parts of the Brisbane to Ecuador & return from the USA to BNE flights.  The rest of the trip has been pieced together from random accounts.  Unfortunately it is pretty much impossible to get J on either trans Pacific long haul and it’s not worth wasting miles on J for short haul flights so this trip will be all in economy albeit with carefully chosen seats!  Top birds will be parrots (as usual), hummingbirds (love these little guys), quetzals, tanagers and anyone else who flies by!

Trip #1

Brisbane – Sydney – Santiago – Guayquil on Qantas & Lan.  Planned birding in Cerro Blanco, then buses to Copalinga & Umbrellabird Lodge.

Guayaquil – San Cristobal, Galapagos – Quito.  Birding on the island and surrounds.  I had to get the LAN Visa card JUST for this ticket as I couldn’t get the seats otherwise and this is an expensive route!  From Quito either rented car or public transport to the Tandayapa/Sacahtamia/Mindo area.

Quito – Coca, then we have a 3 night Napo Wildlife Centre package.  Then we take buses to Wildsumaco, San Isidro & Guango Lodge before returning to Quito.

Quito – Bogota – Santa Marta.  We overnight in Santa Marta at a hotel I got for free on Orbitz, then we have a few days in El Dorado & Minca for birding.

Santa Marta – Medellin (the last 3 flights using Lifemiles).  Bus to Jardin to hopefully see Yellow-eared Parrots, then more buses to Manizales for Rio Blanco & Nevado for more birding.

Peireira – Bogota (cheapo Avianca flight), then day trip to Chingaza.

Bogota – Panama – Trinidad.  Planned birding in Nariva Swamp, Yerette, Caroni, Aripo & Asa Wright.

Trinidad – St Lucia (nice 5th freedom award on BA).  We’ll be looking for St Lucia Parrots and any other birds.

St Lucia – St Vincent – Dominica – San Juan.  Chasing more endemic Amazon Parrots through the Caribbean if Liat doesn’t make us crazy first!

San Juan – USA (various award flights to visit family).

LAX – Brisbane on Qantas.

money bird

Trip #2

A quick fly-self drive trip to Darwin, Kakadu & Katherine Gorge area.  I was going to use AA or BA for this but might just wait for a “happy hour” special deal to come along.

loyalty

MILES AND POINTS GOALS

Last year, I had some very specific goals to save up for and I had a certain order I wanted to do the trips.  However this past year has been a horror year for devaluations and Aussies now stand to lose our only method of collecting miles in the SPG partner programs which include AA, Flying Blue & Lan.  I am somewhat shielded by being a dual citizen who can also get USA cards but that is pretty much over as I have already had all the cards in the programs I can use.  All I can do is try to maximize 5x category bonuses to get as many miles as possible.

I think the next couple years, the major programs will sit tight and let the dust settle while they figure out what to do next with the programs.  United’s major devaluation came into effect in early 2014 and I feel reasonably safe it won’t devalue again before the end of 2016.  I don’t trust the current rates beyond 2017 though so I have decided to bring forward the “Godmother of All African Adventures” to 2017 replacing the Indonesia trip which can be done anytime using low-cost carriers such as Air Asia & Lion Air.  I should have enough United, Virgin, Singapore & Flying Blue to book the flights we need by the middle of the year.  I do need to concentrate on Ultimate Rewards, Thank You Points (for SQ) & Aussie Amex for Virgin so those cards get priority for spending.

American just devalued which takes effect March 2016.  I had to readjust the miles needed for 2018 trips to Mexico, Bolivia & Venezuela and I will probably be going to Loro Parque solo.  These trips will be booked in late 2017 and I don’t think AA will devalue again before that.  AA will probably stay the same until late 2018 while they crunch numbers on the new program.

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RE-PRIORITIZING GOALS

The end of loyalty programs as we know them is not quite here but it’s coming.  The programs themselves won’t go away, they will just become less profitable for us to use.  Already Australians can use low-cost carriers such as Air Asia to get to most of Asia for around the same cost as big airlines like Qantas & Singapore charge for the fuel surcharge on award tickets.  There is still value in redeeming business class awards – that is if you can find one!  If you read last year’s Goal Post, then you can see how my bucket list has changed slightly due to these devaluations and the lower Aussie dollar.  That’s why I keep a bucket list & you should too in case you need to swap trips around.  I have posts on how to do that HERE & HERE.

On my planned future trips, it is virtually impossible to get business class between Australia & South America.  Africa is possible mostly in Ethiopian which doesn’t have lie-flat seats on these routes so I don’t think it’s worth it.  So here is what I have to do.

Prioritize trips to places that would otherwise be very expensive without miles such as Africa & South America.  These trips should be done as soon as the miles can be saved as they are vulnerable to devaluations.  Meanwhile, slot in a short haul trip during years we don’t have enough miles.

  1.   2017 Africa (Namibia, Zambia, Ethiopia, Uganda) – 80% OK, still need some UA & SQ.
  2.   2018 South America (Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia) & Loro Parque – Have miles ready
  3.   TBD  South America (Brazil)  This trip is better for when AUD is low as we can avoid USD and use local currency.
  4.   TBD South America (Peru & Chile)  This trip requires a strong Aussie $ as birding packages are booked in USD.

Have a list of birding trips we can do using easy-to-get Velocity points or low-cost carriers.  These are completely flexible as to order and wouldn’t have to be booked 11 months in advance as the others would be. 

  1.  Indonesia 1 (Sulawesi, Talaud & Halmahera)
  2.  Indonesia 2 (Seram, Buru, Tanimbar & Bali)
  3.   Philippines
  4.   Pacific Islands (Rarotonga, Fiji, Samoa).  This one targeted for 2019, best done with Velocity & Qantas with any spare AA for Fiji flights.
  5.   Pacific Islands  (Solomons, Vanuatu & New Caledonia)
  6.   Papua New Guinea (might have to book an organized tour for safety).
  7.   New Zealand
  8.  Norfolk Island

Continue doing domestic Australian trips every year using “happy hour” deals, miles we don’t need for long hauls or road trips.

  1.  Darwin, Kakadu, Katherine
  2.  Uluru & Red Centre
  3.  Adelaide & Kangaroo Island
  4.  Gluepot, South Australia
  5.   Other NSW & Victoria TBD.
  6.   More Outback Queensland

CREDIT CARD GOALS

Last year I had to cancel a few cards due to annual fees and to free up “slots” to improve my chances for instant approvals.  Goodbye to Amex SPG, Chase Sapphire,  Citi AAdvantage, Club Carlson & Lifemiles Visa.  On a mini app-o-rama I said Hello to United Explorer (2nd time), Lan Visa (only way to get to Galapagos) & Citi Thank You Premier (For Flying Blue, Singapore, Qantas, Etihad & 3x on travel purchases.

This year I am not sure if I can get any more USA based cards considering all the cancelled cards plus I have 2 more on the chopping block.  I’d like to have the British Airways Visa again to get a nice stash of BA and a United business card but I don’t want to push Chase too far.  I do plan to maximize the 5x categories on the Ink & 3x on the Citi TYP.

We may go for some Aussie cards if the opportunity comes up.

Dream Travel

BLOG GOALS

I am finally all caught up on blogging trips we did since I started this blog in Nov 2012.  Of course we did lots of travel before that so I will be catching up on historical birding trips with current information on how to do them.  I also plan to merge Feathered and Free to this platform but before I can do that, I need to transfer over the historical travel posts.

First up for January – tomorrow – the fabulous Pantanal of Brazil!

Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhyncus hyacinthius)

Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhyncus hyacinthius)

 

Did I Achieve My Birding Goals In Africa?

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During the planning stages of “The Mother of all African Adventures“, I was targeting areas in which parrot species could be found along with many other bird and mammal species.  I will copy the targets here and give you the results to show how goal planning can affect your trip.  Of course the trip will be blogged in detail over the next few months.

I have copied below the parrot species I was targeting which represent 17 out of the 24 species that are found in Africa and the neighboring island nations.  Successes will be highlighted in lime green.

PARROT SPECIES FOUND IN AFRICA

1. Rose-ringed Parakeet – Psittacula krameri.  We have seen them in several places in India and feral populations in Europe.  Not a priority but may see them during the trip.

Result:  Not seen on this trip.

2. Mauritius Parakeet  – Psittacula echo.  Habitat in Black River Gorges National Park, easily driven from hotel in Mauritius.

Result:  Seen well in Black River Gorges National Park.

3. Gray Parrot – Psittacus erithacus.  Has large range but many places difficult, expensive or possible unsafe to travel to.  Easiest place to see them near Star Alliance airport is in Ghana at Kakum National Park.

Result: Only a pair seen flying at a distance in Kakum National Park.

4. Greater Vasa Parrot – Coracopsis vasa.  Madagascar endemic, easiest place to find them near Star Alliance airport is Andasibe National Park.

Result:  Seen well at Ankarafantsika National Park.

5. Lesser Vasa Parrot – Coracopsis nigra.  Madagascar endemic, easiest place to find them near Star Alliance airport is Andasibe National Park.

Result:  Seen well at Ankarafantsika National Park.

7. Black-winged Lovebird – Agapornis taranta.  Found in Ethiopia.  Slim chance to see them if there is a long layover at Addis Ababa.

Result:  We had a scant hour of early dawn light to try to find them on a brief layover and failed to find any.  Needed more time!

8.  Red-headed Lovebird – Agapornis pullarius.  Habitat not easily accessible, best chance is in Ghana.

 

Result:  Poorly seen in dense foliage at University of Ghana, Accra.

11. Fischer’s Lovebird – Agapornis fischeri.  Found in Tanzania, targeting them in Arusha, Tarangire and Serengeti.

Result:  Seen well near Ndutu Safari Lodge on Serengeti border.

12. Yellow-collared Lovebird (Masked Lovebird) – Agapornis personatus.  Found in Tanzania, targeting them in Arusha, Tarangire and Serengeti.

Result:  Seen well at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

14. Grey-headed Lovebird –  Agapornis canus.  Madagascar endemic, easiest place to find them near Star Alliance airport is Anatanarivo’s Tsimbazaza Park.

Result:  Seen at Ankarafantsika National Park.

15. Red-fronted (Jardine’s) Parrot – Poicephalus gulielmi.  Targeted in Arusha National Park and possible Ghana.

Result:  Seen at a distance at Arusha National Park, Tanzania

16. Cape Parrot – Poicephalus robustus.  Southern coast of South Africa.  Will try to find them as close as possible to Port Elizabeth.

Result:  Seen well in King William’s Town, South Africa.

17. Brown-necked Parrot –  Poicephalus fuscicollis.  Subspecies of Cape Parrot.  Have seen in Magoebaskloof, planning on return visit.

Result:  Seen well at Magoebaskloof, South Africa.

18. Brown-headed Parrot – Poicephalus cryptoxanthus. Easiest to find in northern Kruger National Park.

Result:  Seen well at Pretoriuskop Restcamp, Kruger National Park.

19. Red-bellied Parrot – Poicephalus rufiventris.  Found in Tanzania, targeting them in Tarangire.

Result:  Seen well at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

21. Meyer’s Parrot – Poicephalus meyeri.  Several subspecies spread out over southern and central Africa.  Best places to target them are northern South Africa and Tanzania’s Tarangire and Serengeti.

Result:  Seen well at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

24. Senegal Parrot  – Poicephalus senegalus.  Wide-spread in West Africa but easiest place to see using Star Alliance airports would be Shai Hills, Ghana near Accra.

Result:  Seen briefly at Shai Hills, Ghana.

By “seen well” I mean that the bird stuck around long enough to have a good look and get photos.  In some cases, all we could see were birds flying rapidly through the trees or scrambling through foliage.

FINAL TALLY

17 out of 24 parrot species targeted.

15 out of these 17 were seen.

11 out of these 15 were “seen well”

That’s actually not bad when you consider how unpredictable wild birds can be, and it only happened because I did TONS of research to give myself the best possible odds!

 

Re-Assessing Your Goals & Priorities For Airline Miles

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Back in February, I wrote a post about how to prioritize your airline miles.  The one thing you can be sure of in the miles & points game is that it’s always changing.  Devaluations happen.  Unexpected miles earning opportunities happen.  Things happen in your normal everyday life.  That is why it is a good idea to revisit your travel goals, note your progress and how have any changes affected you.  I will show you how I do this as an example of how you should be assessing your own goals.

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SETTING TRAVEL GOALS

I will break this down into long-haul and short-haul from Australia as this affects which airline’s miles I choose to use.  I need to prioritize long-haul trips as they are the most vulnerable to devaluations and also the most physically demanding and I am not getting any younger!  The biggest challenge is that eco-tourism can add a lot of cash cost to your trip such as guided birding trips which we will need on the Africa & South America trips.  We also have flights in Tahiti that can only be paid with cash.  So it’s not just earn & burn miles, it’s also save up cash too!

LONG-HAUL (TOP PRIORITY)

1.  Spain for World Parrot Congress with stopover enroute  in Israel and a Mediterranean Cruise on the way back.  Late 2014, no flexibility as conference is fixed and so is the cruise I booked afterwards.  I already have the short-haul intra-Europe/Israel flights booked.  I used United for TLV-NCE, Iberia Avios for NCE-TFN and TFN-VCE, all in economy as these are short segments.  We can still access lounges using Priority Pass.   I will be using US Airways miles for the main long-haul in business class since I got the miles cheaply with Grand Slam and I don’t trust them to not devalue their program before I could use any left over miles if I booked economy and with such long flights I would like to get some good sleep!

2.  The “Mother of all African Adventures” as I blogged about in more detail.  Sometime between Aug-Oct 2015, have flexibility on dates.  These are more long-haul segments using Star Alliance partners and United miles.

I will be taking advantage of a stop-over and open jaw.  BNE-ACC, ACC-JRO (Thai & Ethiopian) and JNB-BNE (South African & Thai or Singapore).  I will need Flying Blue miles for JRO-TNR on Kenya Airways, may also possibly use them on Air Mauritius for TNR-MRU.  For MRU-JNB I can use either United or Avios on South African or Comair.

United just devalued their program and while economy flights for Australia – Central/South Africa stayed the same at 50k each way or 100k round-trip, business class flights went up from 75k each way/150k round-trip to 85k each way or 170k round trip.  This isn’t as bad as some other devaluations and it is unlikely United will devalue again before I can book these seats in late 2014 so I can work with these numbers.  I do have enough miles for the economy seats.  If we are going to travel in business, I need to somehow source an extra 140k in either Chase Ultimate Rewards or United Mileage Plus.  I *may* be able to pull off 70k to upgrade the Thai & Ethiopian segments as far as Kilimanjaro but unless there is a major promo, I don’t think I can get 140k.  Chase only barely approved my Ink a few months ago so I don’t think they will give me any more cards so I need to work on category bonuses as best I can from Australia.  But the trip is secured as I do have enough for economy so it’s not a matter of not going it’s a matter of what class.  This trip will use up my Mileage Plus balance in any case since I will use any extra miles to upgrade rather than leave them to possibly devalue further.

3.  Peru, Bolivia & Chile.  This will be a revisit of Tambopata since I love that place so much, plus adding on Manu Biosphere and several places in Bolivia including the Blue-throated Macaw reserve with a side trip to the Patagonian Conures in Chile.  I need American AAdvantage miles for this trip using a combination of Qantas & LAN for BNE-SYD-SCL-LIM-CUZ and a return originating somewhere in Chile back to SYD, then BNE. There will be a few short hops between PEM, CUZ, LIM, VVI & SCL which I can use Avios & Avianca Lifemiles on.

The cash components of this trip won’t be cheap so I need time to save up money so I can’t do this trip before 2016, but we have complete flexibility as to when we do it.  It would be booked in 2015.  By then, either AA & US will have merged or remained separate.  If a devaluation happens, it will probably go the same way as United with economy being left alone and increases to business class.  Business class is extremely difficult to get so I figure we will be going in economy.  We need 77.5k each for economy or 115k each in business.  An unexpected windfall courtesy of churned Citi cards has brought enough miles to do this trip in business class at current prices with a few thousand left over.  I have no idea how hard it will be to get business class awards in late 2015 so we also have the option of traveling via the USA in economy to South America for roughly the same price.  This trip is secure, just need the cash now!

SHORT-HAUL TRIPS (SECONDARY PRIORITY)

Since short-haul trips require fewer miles, they are less vulnerable to devaluations.  Also, as my husband & I get older we won’t want to be on super-long flights so we are saving these easy trips for after the long-hauls are done.

1.  Tahiti for Ua Huka, Marquesas & Rimatara to see the lorikeets.  Can use Air New Zealand with left-over US Airways miles (if I keep the Mastercard one more year for the anniversary bonus) and also thanks to the rebate promo.  I brought a trip to India & Sri Lanka forward because the rebate basically gives us a free trip to any Pacific Island.  There are other options using Krisflyer on NZ or American AAdvantage on Qantas & Air Tahiti Nui.  The bad news is the flights to the Marquesas & Rimatara are very expensive and can’t be bought with miles so that is why this trip is on hold.  I have the miles already, need the cash.

2.  Indonesia (Maluku) – will probably use Qantas points acquired slowly over the years from grocery shopping & similar.  Alternatively, I need to watch Garuda & Sky Team for possible miles-earning opportunities.

3.  Rarotonga – my husband’s home country and also home to some gorgeous lorikeets!  Can use Virgin Velocity points built up slowly as above.

4.  South-East Asia (Vietnam, Laos) for birding – not yet on the planning stages but possible due to proximity to Australia and cheaper awards.

5.  Fiji with visits to several islands that have parrot populations.  Good candidate for either Qantas or Flybuys.

6.  New Zealand south island for Kakapo, Kea, Kaka & Kakariki.  Good candidate for Flybuys as there are usually cheap fares bewteen Australia & NZ.

DETERMINING MY GOALS & PRIORITIES

Now that I know where we want to go and which trips I have the miles already, I know where to concentrate my efforts.  I am the only one who can get credit cards since my husband is not American so I need to put the miles in my accounts and redeem for us both.  For long-haul, all trips are secure in economy and the Spain trip & South America trip are secure in business class if space is available and no devaluations happen before I can book them.  I would like to do at least half the Africa trip in business (those are loooong flights) so I need to prioritize earning United Miles.  Despite the devaluation, no other program will get us THAT itinerary for THAT price and the devaluation has only cost us 40,000 extra miles if we do it in business class.

For short-haul, the Tahiti trip is secure and based on my grocery spending patterns the Rarotonga one is too since it won’t happen for awhile.  I’d like to explore Garuda more once it joins Sky Team and hopefully they will offer a credit card in Australia seeing as they have a lot of flights here!

Next, I will look at how to achieve these goals using mileage earning strategies for both Americans & Australians.

 

How To Prioritize Your Airline Miles Goals

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I have my Top 8 programs that I concentrate on for miles collection to maximize opportunities in both One World and Star Alliance.   I am not lucky enough to have employer paid travel that allows me to earn “free” BIS (butt-in-seat) miles so I have to be more creative in using partners to earn miles.  However with limited funds, there is only so much I can do and even within my Top 8 programs, I need to prioritize whose miles I want to earn first.  Sky Team doesn’t interest me at all because I don’t like their major US partner – Delta’s frequent flyer program.  If Virgin Australia joined Sky Team, they may be of interest but for now they have nothing to offer me that I can’t already get from Star Alliance and One World.

Factors that I don’t care about but you might:  Business travel (employer’s preferences), paying for mileage runs and earning elite status.

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KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO GO AND WHICH AIRLINES CAN GET YOU THERE

I want to go to destinations that offer good birding with a high population of parrot species.  I also have family in the USA and I attend a major parrot conservation conference in Tenerife, Spain every 4 years.  If there are promos (Grand Slam, credit cards) that allow me to easily acquire miles I would spend them on business class for at least long-haul, otherwise we would fly economy if that’s all we can afford.  So here’s how this all adds up.

  • SOUTH AMERICA – can be reached directly from Sydney on LAN with connections elsewhere.  Y class is reasonably easy to get, J class is very difficult.
  • CENTRAL AMERICA – could reach from South America via LAN or from the USA via Avianca-Taca, Copa, US Airways, United (Star Alliance) or American and LAN (One World).
  • ASIA (INDIA, SRI LANKA, THAILAND, MALAYSIA, INDONESIA) – easily reached on either alliance with generally good availability in award seats.
  • EUROPE – has good connections with both alliances to major European cities, however only Iberia (One World) can get me all the way to Tenerife.  I want to avoid using BA for long haul due to high taxes.
  • USA – this is the most difficult award for me to get as there is a lot of demand from both USA and Australian based frequent flyers.  Award seats in business class are very hard to get, even economy is drying up on Air New Zealand.  It can be possible to route via Asia but MPM (Maximum permitted miles) can cause problems.  For Star Alliance, NZ would be ideal if they would just start releasing award seats!  Otherwise, we need to connect in either BKK or SIN and again in NRT or ICN to get to the USA.  For One World, Qantas has the only direct flights but since I am using AA miles, I also have Hawaiian and Air Pacific as potential award routes.  Unfortunately no stopovers are allowed.
  • PACIFIC ISLANDS – We go to Rarotonga every few years so my husband can see his family.  Only served by Air New Zealand (Star Alliance) and Virgin.  Other islands that are on our radar with airlines that can get us there are:  Tahiti (NZ), Fiji (Qantas, Air Pacific, Virgin, NZ).
  • DOMESTIC AUSTRALIA – One World has the monopoly on alliance based flights – Qantas.  I can also earn miles on Virgin with everyday shopping and partners.
  • AFRICA – I have a bucket list birding trip I would like to do with stops in DAR for Tanzania, JNB and PLZ for South Africa and MRU for Mauritius.  This trip would have very high out of pocket costs on the ground so would require years of saving or a Lotto win.  There are options with both Star Alliance (South African, Turkish, Ethiopian, Egypt Air) and One World (Qatar, Malaysian) but once again this is a major goal I would have to save a long time for.  I would most likely use United miles for this one, possibly Avios for JNB-MRU.

 

KNOW WHICH AIRLINES SERVE YOUR HOME AIRPORT

I use Google flights to look this up.  Just type in “Flights to LAX”, replacing LAX with your home airport code.  In my case, this is BNE.    Now scroll through the list and pull out the airlines which are in alliances and non-allianced airlines that you have easy access to partner earnings on.

  • Qantas – One World
  • Cathay Pacific – One World
  • Malaysian Airlines – One World
  • Air New Zealand – Star Alliance
  • Thai Airways – Star Alliance
  • Singapore Airlines – Star Alliance
  • EVA Air – future Star Alliance
  • Virgin Australia – not in an alliance but able to get free points from local partners
  • Hawaiian Airlines – not in an alliance but partner of AA
  • Air Pacific –  not in an alliance but partner of AA
  • Emirates – doesn’t partner with any airline I can easily earn miles with so not a good option for me.

 

CAN YOU CONNECT IN A LARGER AIRPORT WITHIN YOUR COUNTRY?

Brisbane is not Australia’s major airport, Sydney is.  However, since Star Alliance does not have a partner which serves domestic Australian flights, One World is going to give me a lot more options since I can use Qantas to get to Sydney, Melbourne or Perth from where there are additional flight opportunities.  Using the Google Flights tool, I now look up flights to Sydney (SYD).  Now I can see that in addition to the airlines that also serve Brisbane, I could connect on:

  • Etihad – partner of American and Virgin Australia, but not in an alliance
  • Air China – Star Alliance
  • Air Canada – Star Alliance
  • United Airlines – Star Alliance
  • Asiana – Star Alliance
  • Japan Airlines – One World
  • Air Tahiti Nui – AA partner, non alliance
  • Qatar Airways – future One World

 

ANALYZING THE INFORMATION AND SETTING THE PRIORITIES

On the surface, it looks like I should prioritize Star Alliance and seek out mile-earning opportunities on United and US Airways.  BUT, the main problem is getting award seats from Brisbane as I don’t want to pay out of pocket for feeder flights to Sydney or waste Virgin miles.  Two of the 3 Star Alliance partners (NZ, SQ) that serve Brisbane rarely release business class awards and even economy can be hard to find.  TG is more generous and when EVA Air joins in a few months, hopefully they will also be generous with award seats and routes via TPE will fall within the MPM for US awards.  On the other hand, One World has the only domestic Australian partner that allows me to route via Sydney’s international connections.  American Airlines has 2 major partners that serve Brisbane – Air Pacific and Hawaiian and also Etihad via Sydney.  So here is how I prioritized my airline programs:

MAIN PROGRAMS/LONG HAUL

1.  American AAdvantage – because of more flexibility and domestic Australian feeder flights, extra partners like Etihad, Air Pacific and Hawaiian, one way awards permitted and most airlines I use bookable online.  Also, One World and AA partners serve more of the airports that matter to me.   Can transfer from SPG at 20k SPG = 25k AA and use E-Rewards and flower partners to top up.  Citibank denied me the co-branded credit card but planning to try again in 6 months for the sign up bonus.

2.  United Mileage Plus – would have been first place if they had a domestic Australian partner or better flights out of BNE;  but I value one way awards and online booking so they edged out US.  Can get miles from Chase’s Ultimate Rewards and co-branded cards and any partners which I can’t credit to AA.

3.  US Airways Dividend Miles – good redemption levels but I find the restrictions of round-trip awards and having to call them to book awards stifling.  They have had the best ever promo – Grand Slam which ran every Sept – Nov 2008-2011 which allowed us to earn huge amounts of miles fairly cheap and they also can run good 100% buy or share bonus promos, making it fairly cheap to buy their miles.  If they merge with AA, these miles could potentially become AA miles which I personally value much higher.

SECONDARY PROGRAMS/SHORT HAUL

4.  British Airways Avios – I used them for a bargain one-way LAX-HNL and also have them earmarked for short haul domestic Australian and intra-South America awards.  Can transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards and E-Rewards.

5.  Avianca/Taca LifeMiles – Good awards within Central America and South America, sometimes offers 100% buy/share miles promos.  The credit card has an anniversary bonus of 6000 miles for $75 annual fee which is a good deal and painless.

6.  Qantas – Awards are expensive so prefer to use AA as main One-World program, also Australian co-branded credit cards can have higher annual fees.  I can get free miles from shopping and phone bills so I just let them silently accumulate.

7.  Virgin – Good for credit card bonuses, transfers from Amex and short-haul to New Zealand and Pacific islands.  Can earn miles with NAB card and Virgin mobile through everyday normal use.

8.  Singapore Krisflyer – Has the best award rates between Australia and Pacific Islands, can use Amex MR to get miles but otherwise no easy “everyday spending” opportunities.

So now I know where I want to look first for incidental bonuses for car rentals, hotel stays, flowers, surveys and where to credit them to!

What are your miles collecting priorities and why?