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Flying First Class Emirates
As you may have guessed by now, I love traveling. There’s something so special and so exotic about visiting a distant land, a place so different from the place I call home. I can find something I love about all destinations but my favourite places are often the ones that are so different from where I come from. I love the culture shock. I love learning new things and meeting people from a completely different background. It’s that love for travel that led me to the art of travel hacking. Without learning how to maximize credit cards for travel rewards, I wouldn’t have been able to afford many of the flights I’ve taken, especially the fancy ones such as flying first class on Emirates.

I’m an adventurer at heart. I love scuba diving, hiking, and standing next to permanent lava lakes, such as Erta Ale in Ethiopia. However, I’m also practical and try to be as safe as possible. That’s one of the reasons why I always get travel insurance when I leave Canada. Aside from some stomach issues I’ve had in countries such as Indonesia, I’ve never had to use it, but still, it’s a great thing to have because if something ever does go wrong, costs can add up pretty quick. It’s just a great peace of mind to know that I’m covered, financially, if something were to happen. Read more

Although travel has been a passion of mine for many years now, luxury was never really part of the equation. Sure, I like a little bit of bling bling now and then but I’m the kind of guy who’d rather be sleeping in a tent in the mountains than living it up in a 5-star hotel (most of the time, anyway). So it was somewhat odd to recently find myself sitting first class on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Houston. Not just any Emirates flight either – the A380. The Cream of the crop. The golden goose of travel hacking.

After having breakfast in the Emirates first class lounge (included with the flight), my wife and I both boarded the luxurious aircraft for a 17-hour trans-Atlantic flight. It’s a long haul flying over the Middle East, Europe, the Atlantic ocean, and most of the US in one jaunt but it was made all the better by sitting in pure luxury.

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