Stephen and I have been working hard on this year’s annual challenge for the last months…while Greg, Nick, and Tim have been staying intentionally in the dark. Why? Because this year the theme is last-minute travel and we didn’t tell our three contestants where their Wednesday night destination was until Monday night!
You can check out the information below for more general details about this challenge, but in this post, we’ll talk all about how our contestants scored for their first stage: domestic convergence in LA.
Next Live Check In: Friday, June 7th at 2PM ET via YouTube Livestream. (Check out our Monday night livestream revealing the domestic convergence destination here, our Wednesday night livestream to reveal the international divergence destinations here, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for notifications! Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and this blog to keep up with all the action, and to see who will win this last-minute travel challenge.
In addition to getting to LA last-minute and in style, our contestants also had these additional goals:
- Contestants had to try and get to the hotel in LA first to get a King room all to themselves (while the other contestants shared a room.)
- To level the playing field for our East Coast and West Coast participants, no one was allowed to arrive before 3pm (or they’d be penalized with a half hour wait time, not allowed to leave for the hotel until 3:30pm.)
- Once in LA, they’d have to find a meal that represented the country they expected to be sent to next.
Greg’s trip summary
Despite searching many different options, Greg ultimately paid:
- 15K Turkish + $5.60 for United First DTW-IAH-SFO, leaving Tuesday, (and therefore requiring an overnight.)
- A category 1-4 cert for the Hyatt Regency SFO overnight
- $153.47 for his SFO-LAX United flight. $25 of that was paid with UA credit given automatically by the IHG card every 6 months (which was going to expire soon, unused) and the remaining $125 was paid with his Altitude Reserve to double dip: counting towards his annual $325 travel credit (plus he could pay with points through Real Time Mobile Rewards to get 1.5cpp value.)
For the above itinerary, Greg got just 1 point for value (mostly because of the extra overnight layover), but 3 points for experience (because he had a nice long first class flight and a very un-rushed experience.)
His trip was noteworthy in a few ways:
- He visited two Centurion lounges, one in Houston and one in SFO.
- He made use of his SFO layover to film a podcast with All the Hacks.
- He made use of a (not always easy) Turkish sweet spot, which earned him 1 bonus point.
And for the additional challenges, here’s how Greg faired:
- His flight, scheduled to arrive at exactly 3pm, was early and he got to the hotel first at just 3:17pm! This earned him 1 bonus points – for getting to the hotel first, and for finding a flight that landed at exactly the allowed time!
- Greg guessed “Greece” as his destination, symbolized with a gyro (which…in hindsight we saw suspiciously no video evidence of…), winning him 3 bonus points for being the closest guess only 167 miles away from his actual next destination of Croatia!
Greg’s Total for Stage 1: 9 points
Nick’s trip summary
Nick also had many considerations, and ultimately paid:
- 13K AA miles + $5.60 for ALB-PHL-PHX-LAX, where Nick got an upgrade to domestic first for the longest segment
For the above itinerary, Nick got 3 points for value but just 1 point for experience. It was a pretty straightforward flight…which works better in real life than it does in a challenge, so we gave him 1 bonus point to acknowledge the realistic factor (or really to avoid punishing a flight that was realistic).
His trip was noteworthy in a few ways:
- He also visited two Centurion lounges.
- Two of his segments were upgraded.
- He stayed competitive the whole time, attempting to get a bump in order to increase the value of his flight even more.
And for the additional challenges, here’s how Nick faired:
- His flight was scheduled to land only 18 minutes after Greg’s, and actually landed only ~12 minutes after Greg’s…but it took him awhile to actually get off the plane. He made it to the hotel second.
- Nick switched his guess at the last minute, guessing “Sweden” with a box of Swedish Fish ceremoniously purchased from the CVS across the street mere minutes before our live checkin. This won him 2 bonus points for being the second closest 1,716 miles away from his actual next destination of Morocco!
Nick’s Total for Stage 1: 7 points
Tim’s trip summary
Tim worked hard to figure out how to make his short-haul interesting, and ultimately paid:
- 11,000 Avios + $5.60 for his favorite domestic non-lie-flat product, First Class Alaska E-175 Sea – SBA
- 950 Hertz Points for Hertz Car rental (a Malibu to Malibu, so to speak!) for his SBA – LAX journey. The fun pun (and the fact that he didn’t get Hertz-arrested) won him 1 bonus point.
For the above itinerary, Tim got 2 points for value and 2 points for experience.
His trip was noteworthy in a few ways:
- Despite having less to work with in some ways with just a short-haul flight, he added flair by flying his favorite product, down to the seat.
- He turned the rest of the trip into a fun road trip, leaning into the food challenge in a fun way.
And for the additional challenges, here’s how Tim faired:
- Despite having the least distance to travel, Tim made basically no effort to score the King bed, and arrived basically just before the live check-in.
- Tim decided to guess the destination he hoped for instead of the destination he expected. But…at more than 5,000 miles between Thailand and his actual destination of Switzerland this put him at just 1 point for the bonus, (though he embraced the spirit of this one more than anyone else by sampling so many different options!)
Tim’s Total for Stage 1: 6 points
Current standings heading into Stage 2
Greg: In the lead with 9 points, Greg will now be making his way to Croatia and tackling these 3 challenges:
- Eat something that either still has eyeballs, still has tentacles…or both.
- There are many ways to enjoy the water in Croatia – show us one of them.
- Teach us what makes Croatia’s black risotto black…
Nick: In second place with 7 points, Nick will now be making his way to Morocco and tackling these 3 challenges:
- Find an authentic, Moroccan dish, served in a tagine.
- You impressed your kids with a visit to Santa…now can you do something that convinces them you’re Indiana Jones?
- Can you do what we failed to do in Macau and find a place to enjoy some live music?
Tim: Last, but just behind Nick with 6 points, Tim will now be making his way to Switzerland and tackling these 3 challenges:
- Switzerland is notoriously expensive. Can you eat something authentic for under $20?
- Get high…er than the hills so you can see if they’re really alive with the sound of music.
- We know you like a nice glass of wine…but see if you can find this drink, (which originated in Switzerland): Absinthe.
This piece of the challenge will not be easy (especially for Nick, who got assigned “Morocco” after an off-handed comment during one of our Ask Us Anything’s when he said “I just hope we don’t get sent to Europe.”) If you have any tips for our contestants, make sure and comment on their individual journal posts here!
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