Sunday Snap: Dome of the Aya Sofia is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

Saturday Snap: Hill of Crosses in Lithuania is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

Meals are fancy in business class.

Or… wait…

Well, it’s sort of true. I’ve finally, after all my years of traveling in cattle class — squished up against loud sleepers, odd Danish hand doctors, and passengers who ever so kindly steal my armrest — had a taste of the good life.

It’s a magic travel land of relaxation where you’re gifted an overflowing chalice of wine, lay-flat beds and 4 course meals. I didn’t even know you could feel so comfortable on a long-distance flight until my last flight from Sydney to Istanbul – Bishkek – Bangkok.

Guess what: I’ve done it again.

Only this time, I’ve booked the routing with Patrick, so I’ll be able to share this glorious mode of transport with another — mostly as a way to say, “See, I told you it was awesome!” but also because it will be so much fun for some thrifty travelers like ourselves.

>> We’re using these flights as part of our big 2012 trip.

While some people might spend $4k for a round-trip business class flight from Sydney to Bangkok ALONE, we got these lovely tickets for a grand total of… wait for it…

$1511.62!

We're flying business class on the long blue line.

That flight takes us, in business class, from:

• Sydney – Bangkok
• Bangkok – Istanbul (stopover)
• Istanbul – Bishkek (destination)
• Bishkek – Istanbul
• Istanbul – Bangkok (overnight layover)
• Bangkok – Sydney

For less money than we spent in cattle class going to the USA in June.

Unbelievable, right? Here’s how we did it:

Double Miles is the most popular term coming from my mouth these days

Frequent flyer programs have been a target of random attention from myself since my first trip overseas — the time where I knew I had to travel more. In college, a classmate of mine said her parents bought her plane ticket for study abroad in Italy on miles, and of course, I was intrigued. Ever since my first credit card, images and ideas of getting free travel using these elusive miles danced in my head — but the fact is simply that accumulating said miles can be difficult.

As if shopping in America isn't already cheap enough?!

I started thinking about miles again, which are sort of like coupons. Instead of dumpster diving and talking friends into giving me newspaper coupons, I had to think of ways to creatively accumulate the miles… but who has the time for that?!

Then it hit me: double miles.

I saw a deal for double miles from US Airways and started doing my research. Yes, I could buy miles (something I had never considered before) and get twice as much FREE, making those miles half as expensive. Cool.

What makes this better is the fact that US Airways is part of Star Alliance, meaning you can then use your US Airways miles to book flights on any airline on the alliance. Awesome.

The last step was to research how many miles it would take to get to different parts of the world, which is when I discovered a small blip that caught my eye. Kyrgyzstan was considered part of North Asia, and to get from the South Pacific to North Asia, in business class, only cost 90,000 miles! Fantastic.

I was able to book my flights to Bishkek in October with the first round of double miles I bought, and when I saw that US Airways was doing double miles again, I talked Pat into buying them as well in order to use on our flights this spring.

It was an exciting time when I went to call US Airways in December to make the booking for both of us, but US Airways had something else in mind…

This is where I recount the details of the few hours of stress involved with booking the tickets

“No flights are coming up on Turkish Air into Istanbul or Bishkek,” she said, unaware of the extreme disappointment and mental chaos this was about to cause for me and my plans.

“Ok, so how else can I get to Kyrgyzstan?”

I fumble around on the Star Alliance website, searching for the Bishkek airport and trying to see if any other airlines besides Turkish are now flying in and out of the country. To my surprise, BMI was now flying into Bishkek as well! I announced the find to the phone rep, and she started plugging in possibilities. Unfortunately, the only routing on BMI was through London, meaning I would have to fly from Sydney to London before going into Kyrgyzstan.

At least it’s possible, I tell myself, but I couldn’t make the call at that minute because I knew that Pat also had his heart set on going to Turkey. I told the woman I would have to call back.

My mind started racing when we hung up. I started to get worried. What if all the award flights book up? April is a very popular time to travel, and would Easter play a part in the decision? I ran the new plans past Pat and decided that we should just go for it as London would be better than nothing!

Here is where a surprise event took place

I call back and speak to another rep and tell her the story, but when she looks in the system, she sees plenty of flights into Istanbul and Bishkek. We’re going to Turkey!

We spend a very long time going through flights and picking the ones that would work on my routing until I’m pleased, at which point she sends the tickets off to be priced. Credit card in hand, I wait patiently on hold to finalize the details.

The woman comes back on the line. “The system says this is an invalid routing. We cannot book it.”

Oh my effing goodness, really? I go into panic mode again. “How else am I supposed to get to Kyrgyzstan? I just did this routing a couple of months ago. Here’s my ticket reference number. Can we get someone else to evaluate the ticket?”

I wait on hold for an hour.

Relief came over me when I finally heard back

“We had to do a manual override on the system. Please consider this a one-time courtesy.”

Wooooo!

I paid the $181.31 in taxes and booking fees per ticket, took down my flight details and ended the call in absolute elation.

Pat, we’re going to Kyrgyzstan!

I’m going to take the time to give some additional details

For the second round of double miles, we had to purchase 50,000 miles, getting 50,000 free, in order to have the 90,000 miles for the ticket. We each still have 10,000 miles in our US Airways accounts, making the cost of the 90,000 miles just 1330.31. Booking and taxes cost just $181.31, for a total cost of $1511.62.

I would keep a close eye on US Airways as they just did the double miles promo again in December! I was tempted to buy more miles, but Pat somehow managed to talk me out of it. Psh. Right now, they are offering a 50% discount on mileage purchases if you own the US Airways credit card.

The unfortunate part of this is that I believe they just also raised the price of their miles. You will not be able to do my route for as cheap, but it would still be a bargain.

Also, I recommend calling ahead and confirming you can book the routing before buying the miles since I had trouble this time around.

Have you ever used miles to get a great airfare deal?

Thrifty Thursday is seeking guest bloggers to share their very own mind-blowing budget-busting travel tips. DIY tours and gear, extreme savings, how-to-have-a-$25-travel-day posts — anything that shows the numbers and is not your standard “don’t eat out” type tips are welcome. Contact Brooke.

Thrifty Thursday: Flying Business Class to the Middle of Nowhere for $1500 is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

This is the first of a new feature here on BvtW called The Monthly Express. The goal of The Monthly Express will be to get you from one month to the next in a quick and easy blog post. I’ll wrap up the big posts of the month, share some of my favorite comments, link to guest posts and articles I’ve written elsewhere, talk about what’s popular on the Facebook page, as well as give a rundown on upcoming news. Here goes!

All aboard!

1st Stop: January Blogging

January sees lots of posts about goals and plans, and I of course had to do my share by providing a post about my very exciting upcoming trip with Patrick. Besides that, I took to writing more great posts about Kyrgyzstan, with one of my favorites being the photo essay of the eagle hunters. In terms of language study, I’ve provided posts on the fun tri-lingual encounters that happened in Bishkek, a Thrifty Thursday post on language study in Bishkek, plus a review of the Language is Music guide by a friend of mine.

To get more on edge, you might enjoy reading about the scary traffic situation of Turkey, or you might prefer reading about the negative feedback I’ve received through being involved in online life. Out of all the posts I’ve written this month, my favorite would have to be talking about anxiety, which is going to be a series on the site over the coming weeks.

Don’t forget, I’m still asking for your help to make it to Canon Island. See my latest photo and give me a vote, will ya?

Adorable Rock Wallaby

2nd Stop: Weekend Snaps

I started a new feature on January 1st called “Weekend Snaps“. So far, so good! Favorite photos of the month would have to be the adorable little rock wallaby and the boats on Lake Atitlan. Share and like if you enjoy these snaps!

3rd Stop: Favorite Comments

Sometimes I get comments from readers that are worthy of a blog post in themselves or just plain make me smile.

In reply to my How Anxiety Helps Me Travel post:

I’m really glad you wrote this Brooke! I think a lot of subjects like this are taboo, so it’s always nice to hear first hand, positive accounts that make it seem very normal… which of course it is!

-Jane from Runaway Jane

In reply to my If I Win, You Win! Canon Island Photo Submission 3 of 5 post:

Long time follower, first time commenter. Voted and shared on fb (voted last round too though.!)

Also wanted to say that I really enjoy the FTU newsletter and everything on your blog – in planning my next trip I’m giving it a go to use multi-stop flights like your trip back home instead of leaving everything in the hands of a travel agent. Whooo here’s to some savings.

-Katrina

Wattamolla Beach sunrise after the Moonwalk

4th Stop: Guest Blogging and Writing Elsewhere

I write for a number of sites other than here on BvtW, some articles of which you might be interested in reading:

GoBackpacking:

• 5 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming an Expat in Australia
• 7 Reasons to Visit Kyrgyzstan
• 11 Quick Ways to Feel Feminine on the Road

OneTravel.com

• The Grand Pacific Drive: Sydney’s Seaside Ride
• Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium
• Romance in the Rockies: Romantic Ways to Spend Valentine’s Day in Denver
• Carnival in Madrid Just Around the Corner

BBC Travel

• Moonwalk in Sydney’s Royal National Park

Lost Girls World

• Create a Video in Minutes — No Editing Required

5th Stop: What’s Hot on Facebook

A number of photos in January caught the eye of the BvtW Facebook Community.

• A photo of Kristen’s near death car experience in Istanbul: View photo
• A photo of an awesome stop sign I found here in Sydney. Look, seriously worth it: View photo

My favorite shares from the BvtW Facebook Community in January:

• How to Kiss in Mongolia – Travel Junkette
• Taking a Public Bus in India — When Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures – Hopscotch the Globe

Favorite discussion from the Facebook page:

• Peanut Butter and Jelly – yay or nay?

Upcoming News at BvtW

6th Stop: BvtW News

Well folks, I’m happy to announce, after much hard work, that BvtW is shaping up. Starting in February, I’ll be working closely with Travel.com.au to bring you information on their best deals and how the company can help you in planning your upcoming dream trip. As an official site sponsor for the next 6 months, you can expect monthly posts and timely social media updates in their name, and hopefully we’ll have a few goodies to hand out from time to time.

When Pat and I take-off on the epic trip in April, I’ll also be working with Roomorama again with some sponsored stays in Turkey, Rome, Beijing and Moscow.

Other smaller sponsorships:

• Intrepid Travel is providing a 4 day tour of Capadoccia in Turkey
• Exofficio has offered to dress me for the TBU conference in Italy

I’m absolutely stoked about being able to work with these great companies over the coming months. If you’re a travel company looking for exclusive coverage on the BvtW site, please contact Brooke.

And that’s it for the January Express 2012. Be sure to ride again next month!

The January Express 2012 is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

I worry about the most mundane parts of my life, like answering the phone when I don’t know the number on the caller ID. Sometimes I worry just about meeting up with a group of new people. I’ve struggled with these small, minor details for as long as I can remember. Most of the time, I would say my nerves have been manageable, but there have been the times where I have too much stress to subdue and I wake up in the middle of the night in full-blown panic attacks.

The doctor’s diagnosis of “generalized anxiety disorder” a few years ago came sort of as a relief and not a shock.

Finally, my fears of being put on the spot, dining awkwardly alone and riding on a new bus line were justified. Cool.

And yet, a person like myself has managed to travel solo, often to crazy parts of the world. Seems a bit unnatural, doesn’t it?

Ever since I first mentioned on my blog about my anxiety and depression issues in the past, I’ve received a fair few emails from readers who also suffer from these issues — especially the anxiety. One email I recently received talked about one man’s goal to fly despite intense anxiety and fear.

His motivation: to meet up with someone he really likes.

This example proves that people will do something scary or unbelievable when the motivation is strong enough.

Brooke with a rental car in the Gold Coast

For me, I set off to travel solo despite my own personal fears and overall desire to not have to do it alone.

My motivation: the idea that if I don’t do it now, I might not have the chance in the future.

It’s funny. My anxiety, the main factor that makes me all nervous and insecure about travel in the first place, is the same factor that forces me to get my butt out there on the road.

It is for this reason that I know if I can travel the world, you can, too.

Anxiety towards travel affects me in many ways, but I’m lucky that this worry about missing opportunities while I’m alive pushes me to get past it. I’ve mentioned before that my anxiety is also a reason why I tend to be very spontaneous with my travel plans because if I think too much about it, I may psyche myself out. Instead, I’d rather just book a ticket immediately and not plan too much than let my mind wander and race and worry.

Over the coming weeks, I plan to touch more on the different areas of travel anxiety. Those may include:

• anxiety with saving enough money to travel
• anxiety towards flying to travel
• anxiety towards traveling solo

Be sure to follow along by subscribing to my feed, Facebook or Twitter.

While we’re at it, why not mention something you have fear or anxiety towards and your motivation for overcoming it.

How Anxiety Helps Me Travel is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

Sunday Snap: Paldiski Graffiti is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

Saturday Snap: Rock Wallaby is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

Me, a year ago, after haircut

I actually had a conversation with someone a few months ago now who would like to ramp up her social media presence (because she’s got skills to share) but she doesn’t want to deal with any sort of negative feedback that comes from randoms on the Internet.

You can’t argue with her there. I’ve had plenty of feedback from randoms lately on my silly haircut video from a year ago. With surging hits that just topped 155,000 views, my inbox is starting to get regular emails from commenters saying stuff like:

• “bitch, your psycho”
• “get a life biatch”
• “Ur dumb and ugly and why do u do that u don’t even now how to cut hair and ur hair is going to be ugly and uneven”

And these are just in the past two weeks! I definitely do not understand the people of YouTube who take the time to say nasty things or make ridiculous comments — and who do so without reading my explanation that would clearly explain why, how, etc. that’s right on the same page.

People are obviously super passionate about hair.

So passionate, in fact, that it makes them unable to read.

Brooke at White Cliffs

Just this morning, when I logged on to Twitter and saw a couple of my tweets, I remembered something else that people are passionate about.

When I wrote the post, “The Best and the Worst of the USA,” several months ago, the post went quickly viral on Stumbleupon. Within the first hour, I had 1500 stumbles that actually caused my site to crash (boo)! When I prepared this little post a while back, it got some very strong responses as well.

Why? Well, people are passionate about their country.

So passionate, in fact, that they fixate on one small comment, draw their own conclusion, and fail to actually read the whole story that might be laid out in perfect English before them.

I’m referring to a couple of comments I received on my latest post on GoBackpacking.com, “5 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming an Expat in Australia.” They basically said I had a lame attitude towards Australia and had some nerve to bash the Aussie tax system and culture on Australia Day nonetheless.

After much consideration, I am sure they did not even read the article at hand. Silly people.

Comments like these are annoying, sometimes disheartening and can be harsh, but they did get me thinking: The people who made these comments have probably never lived as an expat because it seemed that those who had agreed with my sentiments completely.

So, I’m writing this post on the truth about being an expat, from my experiences, many of which have been shared with others in the same position.

* * * * *

Sunset on the Darling River

People often think that just because I live down under that my life should be amazing and easy. Look, living down under has its perks, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to work, worry about money, go to the doctor, visit the dentist, pay bills and go to the grocery store. Just like everyone else, we have to deal with the annoying parts of life down under, too, so if you think that just by moving abroad that your life immediately becomes a dream, think again.

Truth: Life is still life.

It’s hilarious when a group of us expats get together because it often involves talking about something from back in the States that we miss. I went to dinner with a group of girlfriends recently and only one of them was Australian. The rest of us couldn’t help but bring up some of the little bits and pieces we so dearly miss from back home. It’s not like any of us are planning our returns to the USA anytime soon, but still we can’t help but get nostalgic.

Truth: There will always be things you miss.

When tax time rolls around, or when dealing with work restrictions or healthcare, it is easy to get flustered with the finer details involved with living abroad. Combine that with having to plan extra hard to visit family or keep in touch with friends, and that can be stressful.

Truth: Living abroad makes some tasks more complicated.

As you can see, the truth about being an expat is that it’s not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows… but, I will still suggest it to anyone because living abroad, no matter how difficult, is a fantastic learning experience that will change your life.

The Truth About Being an Expat is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

Well, in 2012, that is changing. Pat and I are traveling together, and this trip is a doozy!

The Short Summary:

We’ll be flying business class to Turkey, hopping over to Italy for the TBU conference, heading back to Turkey where we’ll catch a business class flight to Bishkek. After hanging out in Bishkek for a few weeks, we’ll hop over to Beijing for a week before starting the Trans-Mongolian train through Mongolia and up across Russia. Finally, we’ll head back for another few weeks to Kyrgyzstan before flying home on business class (with an overnight in Bangkok).

How exciting! And we leave on April 7th!

Flying Business Class:

On my last trip to Kyrgyzstan, I managed to figure out a great deal that let me fly on business class for cheap. I loved it so much, and the entire time I couldn’t help but think about how much I wish Pat was with me to enjoy it. So, we’re doing it again! I’ll be divulging the details of booking this last round of flights in a future post, but what you need to know is that this flight will take us to Istanbul to Bishkek and back. All other flights will come off of this main routing.

Turkey:

I only spent 4 days in Istanbul, so returning is not an issue for me. Once we arrive, we’ll have a day or two to recover before heading over to Cappadocia for our 4 day Intrepid Travel tour. Further on, we’ll explore areas on the west coast — perhaps Troy and Gallipoli.

>> 23 Images of the Aya Sofia

Italy:

Sitting in Australia and hearing talk of all these travel blogger conferences happening in the far reaches of the world has been very frustrating for me. So, when I learned the Travel Bloggers Unite conference was happening in April, I got to thinking it might be the best opportunity for me to attend.

I searched for budget flights and ran it past Pat before booking the tickets! We’re going to TBU and it is going to be awesome connecting with other travel blog lovers and people I’ve known virtually for years. And, even better is the fact this conference is in Umbria, Italy — a place I haven’t been since I studied abroad in 2004, and a country that Pat has never been to at all.

Kyrgyzstan:

Pat has always thought that Kyrgyzstan sounded like the wild west. I tell him all the time that there are real cities and markets and fashion stores, but he just needs to see it to believe it. I’m excited to go back in nicer weather and get to explore more of the regions around the country I haven’t had the chance to yet.

China:

Towards mid-to-late May, we’ll be jumping over to Beijing, exploring the Great Wall and meeting up with the other members of the Trans-Mongolian train trip before setting off on May 30th.

Mongolia:

We’ll have less than a week in Mongolia, but we plan to go on a tour from Ulan Bator that puts us in touch with the more nomadic people of the country. I imagine this being a lot like Kyrgyzstan.

Russia:

After all of this talk of learning Russian and traveling in former Soviet countries, I’ve actually never been to Russia! It’s exciting to think I’ll finally get there this year, and I’ll be traversing it by train – one of my favorite ways to travel. We’re still in the process of booking things, but the brunt of the trip will involve Irkutsk and Lake Baikal.

Kyrgyzstan:

From Saint Petersburg, we’ll be popping back down to Kyrgyzstan, possibly meeting up with other friends in Bishkek, and covering more parts of the country. I also like the idea of getting over to Uzbekistan, but then again, we’re already dealing with so many visa processes on this trip, I don’t know if I’ll want to do another!

>> 11 Things (Re)Learned About Bishkek Travel

Shopping in Bangkok

Thailand:

Much like the trip I took in November, Pat and I will get an evening in Bangkok on the way back to Sydney. Shopping might be in order.

Australia:

By this time it is the middle of July, and we will have had an awesome 3 months of travel together. We might need a bit of time to recover, but honestly, I don’t know what will be after this for us. Obviously, I want to make it back to the USA later in the year, and many parts of Australia still call, but I’ll have to focus on that later because this trip is coming fast!

Do you have any fast-approaching travels? Would you be excited about travel plans like the ones above?

The “Oh-My-God-I’m-Excited” Trip of 2012 is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.

fly over to dessert island

I know, crazy, right?! It’s like all those silly contests you take part in before… ya know… the vote for me type of contests that you beg and beg for votes for… well.. you don’t really have a GREAT chance.

But for Canon Island, I do! A 1 in 5 chance, actually, and now there’s more.

For any round I win from rounds 3 to 5, I also get a Canon IXUS 115 to give away to one of my readers!

This is, of course, added to your chance of winning a Canon SX40 HS (the same camera used to take my photos in the contest) just for voting on the Canon Island Facebook app.

Round 3 Theme: Dessert Island

You read that right: dessert. Like sweet. Like candy. Like cupcakes and sugar. I wanted to make the ultimate candy paradise, and then get up-close shots of ants playing on the fun land. It didn’t work out (you can read about it here).

Instead, I got this shot, taken on the Toy Camera setting. To me, it looks cool and interesting, and if you think so, too, then I could use your vote!

I need your help!

After round 1, I was in shock as I had the winning photo! Round 2, however, was the exact opposite, with my photo coming in dead last. That means I’m tied for 3rd/4th right now, which is not getting me to Canon Island.

Please, help me out. Take a minute to vote and then share this post! It would be so awesome if I not only got to go to Canon Island but I also got some fun camera gear to give away on this site… perhaps to YOU!

Thanks for reading, and hopefully I’ll have better news after this round is over!

If I Win, You Win! Canon Island Photo Submission 3 of 5 is a post from: Brooke vs. the World. Don't forget to check out more awesomely awesome travel goodness at Her Packing List.