Bali wasn't quite what I expected
Nobody warned me about island time — or how many Australian accents I'd hear in Seminyak.
Sydney → Malta → Sydney, September 2028
Two adults and our son, with a bit of luck a second baby by then. One Qantas Classic Reward booking. I'm documenting the whole thing — the balance, the routing, and everything I get wrong on the way.

Nobody warned me about island time — or how many Australian accents I'd hear in Seminyak.

One transfer and one sign-up bonus took the balance from distant goal to almost done.

Half of Europe was built before wheels needed smooth ground. Still working out what we take.

$32,600 of spend, and the statement cap that quietly cost me 8,000 points.

Cards aren't for everyone. The gift card trick, and how to make it run by itself.

Three generations going back and forth across the same stretch of water.

I assumed a mountain of paperwork. I had the whole thing backwards.

My kit, my shooting order, and exactly what I charged for my first paid job.

The systems that hold it up, and the one thing I'm getting wrong.
I write when something actually happens — a booking, a mistake, or a number that surprised me. No schedule, no spam, and I'll never pass your address on.
Currently about one email a month. Unsubscribe any time.
I work full time, I have a nearly-three-year-old, and I've spent three years quietly building a balance big enough to fly my family to the other side of the world.
Most points content is written by people flying business class alone. This one is written by someone counting bassinet seats and wondering whether a four-year-old will remember any of it.
Everything here is the real number, the real mistake, and the real reason I changed my mind.