a man in a suit standing in an airplane

About two and half years ago I started GodSaveThePoints.com, because introductory Ferrari’s and unlimited Amex cards working extra hours of the day, to write about travel sounded extremely exciting. I’d been working in music, was newly married and decided to tell my wife that I no longer wished to work at my real job, I just wanted to sit on the internet, start a travel site that conscientiously did not use advertisement and had zero money making prospects to pass my days. She immediately said yes.

She said yes, because deep down, she knew that anyone who starts a travel blog gets a million dollar grant from the illuminati, needs to work two jobs to give it a chance, and she’d need to work one too. Unbeknownst to even many of our closest friends up until now, for years now, I’ve worked three. I’ve run GodSaveThePoints.com full time, work an entirely non-travel or music related job and luckily enough write for Condé Nast Traveler- but things are changing. Don’t get it wrong, I’ve done that because I needed to.

I started my blog because of Gary Leff, the creator of ViewFromTheWing.com. I didn’t start it because I hated his blog (like I hated many others), I started it because I thought he was funny, quirky and relatable, and I ******** loved his blog. He cared, it wasn’t about the money. I wanted to be that too, and I thought I could present things in a way that few other “bloggers” were choosing to present things. I cared about deals, the basics, the tricks, the humor, the tools and the inspiration to just get out there and travel. I wanted to become a resource for all travelers, not just the frequent ones.

A year in, we weren’t making money, but things were happening. We’d been on Good Morning America, CNN, the BBC and all these crazy things where people “knew us”, we were becoming real. But most importantly, people seemed to be interacting and loving what was coming out on the site, in our little corner of the internet. I had found an audience. We were close. Ironically, about a year later, the guy who started it all- Gary Leff, sent me an email, re introducing me to Randy Petersen, the OG (seriously, Google him) of frequent flying, miles and points. They both wanted to help.

Months later, we’re here. Welcome to our brand new site, and our new home on the BoardingArea.com blogging team. We’re part of the group. We joined Boarding Area because they care about us-being us. We did not sign away any future children, agree to pump credit cards in exchange for endless wealth or any of the other nonsense that doesn’t exist, they said we should keep doing what we do, and they’ll use their fantastic network to help us grow. In effect, they’re making this real and giving an opportunity to go from a “travel blog” to a legitimate-money making travel site. Yep, we’ll have ads, but the content will be the same.

Joining BoardingArea.com means that this is the beginning of the best experience you’ve had with the site, because I will no longer be working at my third full time job up to 10 hours a day. I’ll still keep writing for Condé Nast Traveler, because, let’s be honest, that’s a great gig, but I’ll be able to dedicate my time to more deals, more tricks, more ideas and opportunities for you to earn and redeem points, maximize your loyalty status and maybe even throw in some humor. Welcome. You can now even just bookmark the parts of the site you care about like deals, points and loyalty, destination inspiration, credit cards, editors corner (rants), reviews or anything else you find interesting to you, though we hope to tempt you in with the exciting new sections of the site.

It goes without saying, but there are many thank you’s to be said here. We’re happy and we’re excited. In fact, we’re so excited, we’re moving to London. New York has been wonderful, but our future home is in the UK, and we can’t wait to be there, writing about travel all day every day. Thank you first to Gary Leff, the owner (and sole writer) of the best aviation/travel blog out there ViewFromTheWing.com. Thank you to Randy Peterson at BoardingArea for thinking that I am not what people say I am in the comments sections. Thank you to friend and reader Thomas Sivapatham for inspiring me to build a better user experience, and not only inspire me, but dedicate his own time (gratis) to make that dream come true by building it. Thanks to Denny Butts at BoardingArea, for making the site transition to BoardingArea a treat, helping Thomas to build the dream and throwing in some top notch design as well. Thanks to my father in law, James, for not convincing my wife to divorce me, and for helping create our beautiful new logo (amongst other cool things), same goes for my mother in law, Anne, too. And last, but perhaps most crucially, thanks to my boss, Martin, who has allowed me to be the worst employee in the world for the last two years, leaving at the last minute to check out planes, review hotels and sometimes just sit on the beach. Though I’m sure he’ll be glad to get rid of me this year, I will miss it.  Oh, and my wife, how could I forget about the only person who would’ve ever believed that writing free information on the internet could be the best way to see the world. On to the new site…

Thanks for being here.

Gilbert

gilbert@godsavethepoints.com

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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20 Comments

    1. I built something for 2.5 years without them, and to make a full time living out of it I can’t throw away thousands of dollars. In a perfect world they wouldn’t exist, but they do.

  1. Great job Gib! This post is inspiring. Welcome to Boarding Area and all the best for you and Laura in your new life in UK!

    1. Thanks dude! Hope we can catch up at a BAcon or something in the near future. If not, we’re in NY for a few more months. Come hang!

  2. Gib and Laura, best of luck in your new adventure to London and the new travel site It all sounds exciting with great possibilities. Sounds like you both took a leap of faith that is paying off. All the best and surely we will see you every so often. Proud of you.

    1. Laura. You said it perfectly. Big leaps of faith, lots of passion and now a new move. Really hope to get down to KY this summer and see ya. Lots of love. Gib

  3. Congratulations man, I’m psyched to see that you’re finally on BoardingArea!

    I look forward to reading more of your articles, now that you’re able to dedicate so much more time to the blog ?

    1. Jarvis, Thanks homie. I can’t wait to dedicate more time, travel more, all that good stuff. I always enjoy following your travels too : ) Cheers bud!

    1. Thanks John. Yeah, let’s hope that part changes. Until then, I’ll be here to have my fun with them and anyone else who screws things up for us! Thanks for being a part of it all. Always appreciate your insights.

  4. You have an eminently readable style and a cheeky sense of humor ( a tip of the hat to your new homeland). I look forward to learning a lot from your blog. As far as the ads are concerned, neither of us married obscenely wealthy wives and are, therefore, forced to work for our money. Welcome!

    1. Haha Russel, you made my day. Thanks for sharing in the humor. I hope to keep creating stuff worth reading. Very best to you!

  5. Congrats, very well deserved! Would be great to see more UK focused tips/articles, a real gap in the market for this as the only one really doing it atm is headforpoints (although he does do it very well).

    1. I’m gunning for him. Not my favorite person ; )Thanks David. I will definitely have more UK focused stuff mixed in with the US offerings!

  6. Your website is one of my favorite travel blog out there! You seem to have a different angle when it comes to miles and points! I have been checking your website daily, and i’ve been missing it during the transition! I’m happy that you’re making it your day job, so that i can be ‘entertained’ daily (i’m high maintenance that way haa! 🙂 ). I wish you the best!

    From your fan in the island of the gods, Bali!

    1. thanks! Amazing. Very nice words from a very, very nice place. I’d been missing writing and am so glad to be back. I hope we can keep you entertained! A different angle is always what I’m after! Very best.

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