We’re super excited to announce that Bald Thoughts will be featured on BoardingArea.com for the next 7 days. We appreciate the opportunity to share our tips, tricks, and strategies towards traveling more, spending less, and living better with a wider audience. Follow along this week and watch out for some great giveaways each day.
In This Post
Lee – Husband, Father of Two, Loves Kimpton & Southwest
I’m Lee and am the founder of Bald Thoughts. I started writing BaldThoughts.com as a way to show people that traveling is possible, no matter your budget if you incorporate miles and points into your vacation planning.
Affording to travel gets tougher when you have kids. Kids are expensive when you’re paying for diapers, daycare, and everything else. Without miles and points, there’s no way I’d be able to spoil my wife with yearly international business class trips or share the world with our children multiple times a year.
My favorite airline is Southwest because of how much the Companion Pass saves our family. I recently earned the Companion Pass through December 31, 2018, which will be my 11th year in a row of holding the Companion Pass!
And Kimpton is my favorite hotel brand. I can honestly say that I’ve never been so spoiled in all my life on such a consistent basis. Check out a recent stay at the Kimpton Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco. I was upgraded to the Sir Francis Drake Suite, which would have cost about twice as much as the room that I reserved.
Here are some of my recent posts:
- Awesome surprise from the Southwest Airlines Twitter team
- Holiday Inn Resort Jekyll Island: A Perfect Beach Getaway
- 7 Best Things to Do on Grand Cayman with a Child
Charlie – Travels for work. Loves SE Asia. Delta & Hilton Diamond.
Charlie started writing for Bald Thoughts in August 2016 sharing his travels across the US for work and his quick trips to SouthEast Asia. Charlie uses his military intelligence background to sniff out deals, so be on the lookout for some super cheap airfare.
Even though Charlie loves SouthEast Asia, he travels to wherever the deals are. He’s a lot like me where he extends his vacation time as much as possible by doing long weekends, even if it means flying to Australia for just a few days.
Check out some of Charlie’s recent posts:
- The 3 Best Things to do in Aruba
- Taiwan Taoyuan Airport Hidden Shower Room
- Dnata Lounge Review in Singapore Changi Airport
Tyler – Finds the best deals & how to maximize points.
Tyler joined Bald Thoughts in September 2016 with his unique ability to earn points in unique ways. Most of us are satisfied with earning miles and points through credit card bonuses, spending on our cards, and the occasional bonus opportunity. Tyler takes these to the next level and focuses on maximizing your spend to earn the most points possible. I like to joke with him that he earns the points, while I spend them.
Unfortunately, Tyler’s travel is somewhat limited these days now that he’s back in school and trying to finish his degree. He still finds time to enjoy golf tournaments when they come into town.
Here are some recent posts by Tyler:
- My favorite lounges accessible with the Amex Platinum Card
- Book United flights for less using Aeroplan Miles
- Charlotte International Airport Admirals Club Review
Brett – Avoids Chain Hotels. Trains Service Dogs. Teaches Travel 101.
Brett joined the Bald Thoughts’ team in February 2017. At his previous job, he traveled the US hosting networking events for aspiring professionals. He hated the cookie cutter approach of chain hotels, so he focused on independent brands that offer character, charm, and unique style.
In Brett’s spare time, he trains service dogs for veterans with PTSD. Dogs like Duke are so handsome, I doubt I’d be able to give him up when the time comes to go to his new home.
Brett is a Millennial and he knows that younger adults often don’t know much about “travel hacking”. And Millennials might need the savings more than most with the piles of student debt and poor job prospects for people coming out of college are facing right now. So, Brett is helping us create a Travel 101 series that educates people about some of the topics that many travel writers overlook because “they are too basic” or are bits of knowledge we may take for granted because “everyone knows that.”
Here are a few recent posts by Brett:
- 8 Disney hacks to save time & money at Disney World
- Service animals – who needs them & who are the fakers?
- Hotel Review: Hotel Derek in Houston
The Bald Thoughts
Thanks for reading. We hope that you have a little better understanding of who we are and the travel knowledge we focus on. Please let us know of any questions you have. We’d love your feedback on our site and the topics we write about. See you around!
Congrats! Enjoy the week!
Hi there,
I would like to know how to get into the boarding area or prior2boarding network. I wrote them many times and they were even actively recruiting new bloggers. But never heard back from them. Not even a single response, which I consider as rude.
Even tho they deny the request when I emailed them on my own, way before they started recruiting actively. For me, this is not very nice. Just reply to a request even tho it’s a negative answer but that’s still better than no answer at all. That is called customer service.
Hey Peter, sorry for your negative experience. I was introduced to BoardingArea from a fellow BA blogger and the process took a year for me to join. Each person has a different experience and story to tell. My advice is to continue producing great content that people want to read and keep trying. However, the last thing you want to do is bash them in a public forum. I hope things go well for you!