Recommendations

If you like what we are doing – or just like us – you can support us by using the following links.  We receive referral bonuses for some of these links, but rest assured that we do use and love all of these products ourselves.

Credit Cards

  • The Platinum Card® from American Express: 60,000-point welcome bonus, $200 annual airline fee credit, $200 annual Uber credit, access to Centurion Lounge and over 1,000 other lounges through Priority Pass, reimbursed Global Entry/TSA PreCheck, $100 per year Saks Fifth Avenue credit
  • Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express: 10,000-point welcome bonus, no annual fee, great everyday spending card: 2x Membership Rewards points on up to $50,000 in spending each year
  • Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card: 75,000-point sign-up bonus, 15 Marriott elite nights (which gets you Marriott Silver Elite status and a shortcut to higher status), free night award each anniversary. 6x points at Marriott, 4x points at U.S. restaurants, gas stations, telecom services, and shipping.
  • Chase Sapphire Reserve: 50,000-point sign-up bonus, our primary credit card for general travel spending and food, purchase protection
  • Gold Delta SkyMiles Card: 35,000-mile sign-up bonus, a quick way to get Delta miles and beat basic economy.

Lodging

Booking ($25 one-time credit): our first stop for comparing hostels, hotels, etc, calculates a reliable wifi rating which is critical for us. After using the above link for a stay, use this link for future stays.

Agoda: our second stop for comparing hostels, hotels, etc., has lower prices than booking.com in some parts of the world

AirBnB ($55 credit toward your first trip): a bed/room/home rental platform that can sometimes offer a cheaper and/or more local experience, good for renting an entire apartment, often gives weekly or monthly discounts, easy to contact potential hosts

Travel Resources

Uber (enter code uahmz for $15 one-time credit): a game-changer for finding safe and reliable transport in many parts of the world

Project Fi ($20 one-time credit): a game-changer for having immediate cell and data coverage in over 200 countries and regions, $10/GB data anywhere (or try the new unlimited plan), with reasonable calling rates anywhere (free in U.S.)

Amazon Prime (30 days free): unlimited free 2-day shipping with no minimum order size, Kindle First, some free Kindle books, some free streaming videos and TV, free unlimited photo storage. Even living abroad where we don’t use the shipping much, we still keep our Prime membership.

Amazon: great for items with manufacturer warranties (Eagle Creek, Osprey) or difficult to find items

Brands

REI: 1-year satisfaction guarantee.  Within a year, return any item (except those purchased during ‘garage sale’ events) for any reason.  We’ve ‘returned and rebought’ items that went on sale to get the sale price, and we’ve had friends that returned backpacks that did not fit correctly after a few months of use.  These returned items can then be bought for 20%-80% of their original price at ‘garage sale’ events. We bought our travel packs, travel shoes, and much of our travel clothing from REI due to the 1-year satisfaction guarantee.

Nalgene: Water bottles with a life-time warranty.  If the bottle breaks – regardless of where you bought the bottle or whether it was given to you – you can fill out a form and be sent a replacement.  My 1L Nalgene broke after falling from an overhead rack on a train in Japan, and I had a  free replacement waiting for me when I returned from Japan.

Osprey: All might warranty repairs or replaces any damage or defect.  We have a S/M 70L Farpoint, a M/L 70L Farpoint, a Ozone 35L, and an older daypack – all of which we bought at REI. Our Ozone pack had a fraying strap that Osprey repaired free of charge (our only expense was shipping the pack back to Osprey).

Eagle Creek: No matter what warranty repairs product failures during a product’s lifetime.  We bought three sets of Pack-It Specter Compression Cubes from Amazon.  One cube’s material ripped within the first two months of use, so we sent it back to Eagle Creek’s North Western repair location for repair.

Other loved brands: Patagonia (underwear, daypack), Chacos (shoes), Icebreaker (shirts), L.L.Bean (daypacks, clothing, shoes)