My beautiful, old, extra-pages-added-later passport was set to expire in May 2016. Since many countries don't allow entry unless your passport has at least six months remaining validity, I knew I should aim to get a new passport by November 2015. I was in Argentina from October to December 2015 before coming back to Hawaii for 10 days before heading to Asia for a month.

Those 10 days in Hawaii would be my only chance to get a new passport, so I would need to apply for and get the passport within 10 days.

The three best uses of ThankYou Points are:

Transferring to Singapore miles to book Singapore Suites

Transferring to Singapore miles to book United First Class to Hawaii
Transferring to Etihad miles to book American Airlines flights

Singapore Suites
Singapore Suites is inarguably one of the nicest First Class in the world.

The brand new PointBreaks list allows us to book hotel rooms through April 30, 2016 for $30 per night.

Even if you’ve read other posts on the PointBreaks list, read this.

The ThankYou Premier's offer has expired. See the current top credit card offers for free travel here.

If you want to fly Singapore Suites, your best chance to do it may be on flights within Asia Pacific.

I know, I know, you live in the United States.

I just walked to the airport for the first time in my life in Da Nang, Vietnam. The 3.4 mile walk took about an hour and 20 minutes including a 20 minute stop at a KFC along the way.

I have been wanting to walk to an airport for some time for the novelty factor.

Avianca LifeMiles are awesome because you can use them to book any Star Alliance carrier with no fuel surcharges at a fair miles price.

I have used LifeMiles to book Europe to the United States in Business Class for 63,000 miles, Japan to Thailand in Business Class for 36,000 miles, and the United States to Cuba for 17,500 miles.

My two main complaints with LifeMiles were:

The only way to get the miles easily is to buy them for 1.32 to 1.5 cents each during frequent sales because there is no credit card that earns a lot

I just booked myself an award from Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile in Business Class for 35,000 Asiana miles + $24. United would have charged 55,000 miles for the same flights!

Why Asiana Miles
Asiana has really cheap awards to Europe and South America and really expensive awards elsewhere.

Award space is wide open in Turkish Airlines Business Class between the United States and Europe for four people per flight over the heart of the Summer.

This is amazing news because normally award space over the summer is the toughest to find, finding four seats on the same flight in Business Class is almost unheard of, Turkish flies to more countries than any other airline, and you can book the space for as cheap as 40,000 miles one way with no fuel surcharges.
Turkish Routes
These are Turkish's routes to the United States.

From Istanbul, there are great

I just spent one night at Le Meridien Chiang Rai, in Thailand for 4,000 Starpoints, and it was incredible. The property sits just 1.5 miles outside of downtown Chiang Rai, overlooking the Kok River.

We arrived at the Chiang Rai airport from Bangkok at about 3:30 PM and took a $2 taxi to the hotel.

The open air lobby is beautiful.

I recently redeemed 12,000 SPG points for one night at The Westin Singapore.