Insider Letter #014

New credit card offers, summer travels and demystifying airplane noises

👋 Hey friends,

Welcome to Travelling Lens Insider, where every weekend I send you a carefully curated letter of all things travel, photography and points optimisation.

Now, onto this week’s letter…

🌏Where have I been

Last week I was in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park last week.

Some crazy weather though, it bounced between warm sunny days and subzero wintry temperatures with snow fall! All in 5 days.

My highlights were the Norris Basin, seeing black bears in the wild and experiencing the roar of the falls of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

✈️ Travel, Points and Miles

🏖️ If you’re heading to sunny Miami this summer, pick up this 3-day destination guide (includes spending some time in Everglades National Park).

💳 The card talk of the town in the US points & miles space is Chase’s newly revamped (and more expensive) Sapphire Reserve personal card. Jump straight to 34:20 to get a break down from Frequent Miler experts.

💳 Another new card on the block, also by Chase, is the Sapphire Reserve for Business. But the spend requirement is huge at $30k to get 200k Ultimate Reward points. There’s definitely mixed feelings about this card deal right now, hear about it from the experts.

✈️As someone who’s lived in a few countries and travelled to 28 countries so far, I’ve got a lot of thoughts about tipping culture in the US and around the world. But if you’ve ever wondered whether you should tip at airport lounges, read this.

📸 You don’t need a fancy camera or expensive gear to get that silky smooth waterfall shot. Your smart phone’s long exposure mode works great in a pinch.

💰 If you've got an Amex credit card you might have access to this lucrative offer. Spend $1000+ on Air France KLM flights and earn an extra 20,000 Amex points! Maybe a last minute trip to Europe is on the cards for you.

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👀 Substack Finds

☀️ Right now, I’m finalising my summer Europe trip plans. I’m not looking forward to the sweltering heat waves in France and Italy, but Awakened Voyages has given me some great tips to help deal with the summer heat in Europe. Check out these 14 smart ways to stay cool whether you’re travelling this Summer or staying home.

✈️Aircrafts make a lot of noises. Whether you’re waiting impatiently in your seat to take off or when you’re trying to snooze in the air but the plane is just too loud, you’ll hear chimes, beeps and hums. Don’t be alarmed by noises. Lessons From The Flight Deck 💺 help you demystify all the sounds you hear when flying.

🧳Looking for an off the beaten path adventure? Algeria might be your next destination. Stina Gustafsson does a fantastic job sharing her time in Algeria with photos, stories and a sense of adventure.

📸 Avoid taking cliche travel photos is common advice. Fellow travel photographer Roman Fox shares his 4 big reasons why you should ignore that advice. The biggest being… they’re cliche for a reason and a great starting point!

Want to an easy way to plan your next trip? Get the free Travel Hub trip planning system in Notion.

Travel Hub, a free travel planning system in Notion

🕵️ Recommendation Roundup

🍽️ Eat + Drink

We recently treated ourselves to dinner at Tatemó, Houston.

A Michelin star winning modern Mexican restaurant. It’s a tiny restaurants with very few tables. A truly intimate experience.

Fine dining food at Tatemo, Houston

📚Reading

📸 Photo of the week

💬 Final Words

I’m on a mission to help you create memorable travel experiences, capture better personal travel photos and optimise your points & miles to travel more often in style.

If you enjoyed this, comment, restack or share it with one person—that’s the best compliment I could receive from you.

Your friend,

Janice