I'm Ed Vasquez — The Travel Tipster

I didn't grow up traveling. My first international trip wasn't until June 2013. That's it. That's the whole head start I had.

What I've had since then is thirteen straight years of not stopping — 35 countries, 100+ international cities, and a seat on more long-haul flights than I can count, almost always in business class, almost never at business-class prices.

Here's how that happened.

From courtroom logic to carry-on logic

I run my own business, which means my calendar runs in cycles: brutal stretches of work, followed by a window where things finally exhale. A while back, a work acquaintance told me about his father, a trial attorney. When a trial ended and he finally came home, the family didn't just relax — they packed up and took a road trip together, every time. It was how they reconnected.

That logic clicked for me immediately. Work like it's a trial and earn the money to enjoy life. Then take my wife and young son somewhere far away and make up for lost time — properly.

What started as a way to reconnect became my son's best classroom. He's learned more about culture, tolerance, and humility on the ground in Cairo or Tokyo than any textbook could teach him. He's learned that Americans aren't better than anyone else — just one more story among billions.

That's the entire reason this site exists. I don't want the way I got to travel — hard-won, self-taught, one mistake at a time — to be the only way anyone gets there. I write down what works so you can skip the trial and error and go straight to the trip.

Incredible global adventures shouldn't be a luxury reserved for the few. Discover what you've been missing.

Points, miles, and premium travel without the premium price

Just about every single International flight my wife and I have taken has been on points. Not a few. Nearly all of them.

It's not one trick — it's a combination. Some of it came from accumulating points through years of work travel. The rest came from being genuinely savvy about credit cards and how the miles-and-points game actually works. Between the two, we've earned real elite status with United, Hilton, and Marriott — the kind that gets you upgraded to business class, or into a hotel room with a free breakfast, or lounge access with evening food that quietly replaces dinner. It adds up fast, and it saves real money.

Here's the part most people don't expect: none of this requires being young, or being a road warrior, or starting early. I didn't book my first international trip until my 50s. If you're 50, 60, or beyond and think this system was built for someone else, it wasn't. I'll show you exactly how to work it, starting from wherever you are right now.

We just do our thing, at our own pace

My wife and I are older now, and yes, she travels with a bad back. But we don't spend much time thinking about it that way — we just move at whatever pace the day calls for, and adjust as needed. It's less a limitation and more just... how we travel now.

If you're at a stage where your body doesn't move like it used to, you won't find any hand-wringing here. You'll find two people who've quietly figured out which flights are worth the extra legroom, which cities are kind to tired feet, and which "must-see" hikes are better admired from a bench with a good view. Getting older changes the plan a little. It doesn't end the story.

The trips I still think about

Safari in the Masai Mara. There's nothing quite like being eye-to-eye with a lion, a cheetah, an elephant, a rhino — fully aware they could end you if they chose to, and they simply don't. It reorders your sense of scale.

Cairo. We sat on the floor of a mosque not long after the uprising, when Americans were told to stay away entirely. A young couple with a baby sat beside us. We shared no language, but they shared their soda and their food. We arrived braced for caution and were met with open arms instead.

The Scottish Highlands. Vast, wild, and somehow bigger in person than any photo suggests.

Carnaval in Nice, and Carnaval in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Tens of thousands of people in the streets, and nothing like a festival back home — no aggression, no obnoxious drunks, just genuine joy at scale. It changed how I think about what a "party" can even be.

The small details that stay with you

- Japan's vending machines — unlocked, overnight, in the darkest and most remote neighborhoods. Nobody vandalizes them. Nobody breaks in. A small detail that tells you everything about a culture built on quiet trust.
- Snow monkeys in Nagano, soaking in hot springs like they own the place.
- Penguins on Phillip Island, waddling home at dusk on a schedule you could set a watch to.
- The Ghibli Museum in Tokyo — pure, unfiltered wonder, no matter how old you are.
- Christmas markets across Europe, with Salzburg and Strasbourg leading the pack, Vienna close behind.

My current short list of favorite cities: London, Cairo, Tokyo, Puerto Vallarta, Izmir, and Rome — though ask me again next month and it may have shifted.

— Ed Vasquez, The Travel Tipster