Wild Card Challenge card draw | Ask Us Anything Ep90 | 9-9-26

Frequent Miler on the Air

In this live episode of Frequent Miler on the Air, hosts and contestants Greg, Nick, Tim, Stephen, and Carrie participate in a Wild Card Cha

Key takeaways

• Randomized destination selection adds unpredictability and realism to travel planning scenarios.

Main topics

• Randomized travel challenge
• Credit card selection for points and miles

Notable quotes

"I'm going to pick the one that is on the left. In the middle. So middle left." – Greg, selecting his first destination.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with all contestants having drawn their travel cards, setting

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:01) This is a Voyescape podcast. You can find all of our travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. Speaker 1 (0:17) Welcome to FrequentMiler's Wild Card Challenge Card Draw. For this year's FrequentMiler Team Challenge, our judges, Kerry and Steven, have prepared multiple wild card decks. Decks of cards that they have destination decks, credit card decks, and with the help from our audience, they prepared power-up decks and obstacle decks. And for tonight's live stream, they shuffled up all those decks, so they're thoroughly random. And the challengers, which are Tim, Nick, and me, will pick cards randomly from those decks, and those cards will then tell us for the challenge where do we need to go, how many, and what kind of points we can use to get there, and what advantages we'll have from the power-up cards. Speaker 1 (1:14) what obstacles will stand in our way. I'm excited. Let's get this going. And don't forget, wherever you're watching or Speaker 4 (1:22) listening, please like, subscribe, enable notifications. We always appreciate that so you can hear about the next live stream because there will be several coming during the challenge, as you'll hear about today. And for those listening in podcast form, all five of us are here today on today's episode. So, of course, you just heard from Greg and this is Nick and Stephen and Carrie and Tim are all here as well. So you'll hear us describe what's going on. But if you want to see it so you can kind of see our reactions, you want to check this one out. YouTube as well. All right. I think with that out of the way, it's time to turn this over to the judges. How Speaker 2 (1:56) are you guys feeling about this draw? Are you nervous? Are you excited or both or something else? I'm Speaker 1 (2:02) excited. Speaker 4 (2:03) Curious to see what's being cooked up here. So we've been, you know, it's been an interesting challenge in the sense that there's nothing really we've been able to do to prepare because. We don't know where we're going. We have a rough idea of when we're going, but we don't know where we're going. And there are a lot of the smaller details still need to be worked out, which are going to, of course, be dictated by the countries or destinations or whatever it is you have, however you have this organized that we pick out today and the credit card bonuses that we pick. So I'm sure we'll hear more about that in a second. Speaker 3 (2:33) Yes. And I actually am ready. But Tim, we got to hear how you're feeling before we move Speaker 5 (2:38) on. Well, I was feeling pretty good until I saw Nick, because Nick says that he's not prepared. But here he is. Nick looks like he's in some sort of underground hideaway. He has a white bucket hat, a white frequent miler hoodie, and a wild card themed water bottle all there. And while he shuffles his cards and he looks pretty prepared. So now I'm a little worried. I feel like I sat down at the poker table and didn't realize what I was getting into. You know, Nick Speaker 3 (3:12) looks equally prepared to go see Niagara Falls and not get wet. Speaker 4 (3:17) That's a pretty accurate description, I think. Well done. Well done. Speaker 3 (3:22) All right. Well, I think we're ready to start drawing cards. And so, as Greg said, the cards will dictate everything. So no one knows what their trip is going to be like until they draw cards that tell them what their trip is going to be like. And we are going to start with destinations. As a reminder, our contestants are going to have two destinations that they draw from wildcard deck and a final destination that's assigned to them by the evil judges. I mean, the judges. So first things first, Stephen, walk us through the card draw. We're going to start with Greg. Greg is going to pick his first destination card. Speaker 2 (4:05) Anyone who's listening rather than watching, we have a card deck set up where it's a square grid of cards where it's three by three. And so nine cards total. And they're just going to pick a card at random. So Greg, which card would you like for destination number Speaker 1 (4:22) one? So I'm holding up my card deck that matches exactly what is in front of us on the screen. And I think I'm going to pick the one that is on the left. Speaker 1 (4:38) In the middle. So middle left. Middle left. So where are you off to, Greg? I'm going to Panama. Speaker 3 (4:47) Panama. Speaker 1 (4:48) Right. Speaker 3 (4:49) So here's a question. Have you been to Panama before? I Speaker 1 (4:51) have not. So that's exciting. Speaker 3 (4:53) New Speaker 1 (4:54) destination Speaker 3 (4:55) for Greg. Okay. So next up. I have one follow-up question Speaker 5 (5:00) for Greg. Have you heard the Van Halen song Panama before? Speaker 1 (5:03) I have, but I'm not going to sing it for you. Nick will probably Speaker 3 (5:07) sing it at some point. We'll let Nick sing it sometime. I'll Speaker 4 (5:10) pass this time. I'll pass. Speaker 3 (5:12) Speaking of Nick, it is your turn now to pick a card and Panama is no longer an option. Speaker 4 (5:19) I'm a Panama hat guy, so I'm disappointed about that, by the way. But it occurs to me that, did we recap at the beginning exactly what's going on for anybody who is not familiar with the challenge? Because I'm not sure if we did. So if we didn't. do that, then what's going on right now is that Greg and I and Greg and Tim and I are all picking random destinations. So we're going to pick two random destinations and then a third destination, like Carrie said, then we're going to pick credit card bonuses. So I'm excited to see how this works out. I think Carrie did explain a bunch of that before, but I just wanted to recap. So if you're listening and you're not new to this, you'll want to check out the blog, of course, on frequentmiler.com, where we've got more detail. Now that I've stalled as long as I possibly could over this decision as I stare over. The deck of cards. Eeny, Speaker 3 (6:04) meeny, miny, Speaker 4 (6:05) moe. I'm going to pick out the top right corner, which is Guadalupe. And I Speaker 3 (6:14) happen to know that you have been to Guadalupe. I'm not even going to ask. You have been to Guadalupe. How do you feel about that? I Speaker 4 (6:21) have. I took an MSC cruise out of Guadalupe. So I spent a day before or after, maybe both, I think, a year ago or two years. There's been so many cruise matches that it's hard to keep track. So I'm curious to go back and try to find something different that we didn't see last time. So, and of course, I always love some sunshine and a tropical location. So I'm excited to go back for that. Speaker 3 (6:45) All right. So we've got Greg with Panama and Nick with Guadalupe. Maybe readers and listeners are seeing a theme here. Tim, your turn to pick a card. Speaker 5 (6:58) So can you guys tell me before I, so I'm going to hold these out here. Which one of these is the easiest to get to from the West Coast? Speaker 3 (7:06) That is unknown information. I don't remember which card is oriented where. Speaker 2 (7:11) It's one of the cards in your hand. Okay, Speaker 5 (7:14) one of the cards in my hand. So here's the second question. Is the better strategy to take my own row or to go right next to Greg or Nick? This is like that kind of slot playing. Do you want to have somebody who's already played the slot machine so that you have a better chance of winning it? Or Nick, what do you think? We can give you absolutely no. That's tough to say. Two cards. I Speaker 4 (7:40) think you want the one that you can get to with more than like two different airline programs. Cause that's, I think what I'm looking at with Guadalupe right now. Speaker 5 (7:48) So, so good luck. Okay, well, I'm going to go, I'm going to pick this one, which is the bottom middle one. Speaker 3 (7:57) The Speaker 5 (7:58) bottom middle card. Costa Rica. Speaker 1 (8:01) Costa Rica. Speaker 3 (8:02) And Tim, have you been to Costa Rica? I'm guessing yes, but let me know. Speaker 5 (8:06) I have not. No, I have never been to Costa Rica, but I do know that it means the rich coast. Speaker 3 (8:12) Ah, cool. To recap, we've got Greg with Panama. We've got Nick with Guadalupe and we've got Tim with Costa Rica. Next up, we don't have a single destination challenge here. We need our second destinations. So. Are we ready to draw our second destination? Speaker 2 (8:31) Yeah, let's do it. We have destination two grid up. So once again, it's a three by three grid and they'll pick at random. So I believe Tim is going to be going first this time. Nice. Speaker 5 (8:44) Well, as anybody who's ever played Tic-Tac-Toe knows, what you do first is you go for the middle. Speaker 3 (8:51) That's true. Speaker 5 (8:52) Unless you're playing a two-year-old that you want to let win. And in this case, neither Greg nor Nick are two years old and I don't want to let either of them win. So I'm going to pick the middle. Which means you get South Korea, which is a natural bedfellow of Costa Rica. You can almost very, very. Speaker 1 (9:14) This was this was a surprise because seeing that we all got sort of Central America ish on our first picks, I was expecting South America next. But South Korea is not in South America as far as I know. Speaker 5 (9:29) Well, but what's nice about South Korea in South and Costa Rica is it's well known that there's quite a few nonstop flights that easily go. From both coasts of Costa Rica, either the San Jose or the Liberia side, and this goes straight over to Seoul, it'll be easy. Right. Absolutely. Speaker 3 (9:49) Which, you know, we designed these challenges to be easy, really. So I forgot, did I already ask, have you been to South Korea before? Speaker 5 (9:56) I have been to South Korea many times. Speaker 3 (9:59) Okay. All right. So it's when you know well. So now... Next up is Nick. Speaker 4 (10:07) Oh my goodness. Shuffle these up for me. Let's get a good shuffle. Come on, dealer. Give me a good wash here. Let's see what we can get. So I think, if I'm not mistaken, the only two airlines that fly from the United States to Guadalupe are American and Air France, both out of Miami. So I've got to hope that the next place I go to really combines well with one of those so i think that's going to mean that it's going to have to be uh my goodness i feel like i gotta go top left but uh but top right's at least moving in the direction of europe i could fly air france let's go top left let's do it top left top left precaution of the wind Speaker 4 (10:57) That could work with Sky Team somehow. Speaker 3 (11:00) And now, Speaker 4 (11:01) have you Speaker 3 (11:03) been to Vietnam, Nick? Speaker 4 (11:05) I have. I've been to Phu Quoc and just a very, very brief stop in Saigon. So I'm excited. Actually, I was there, I guess, again, during the SAS challenge as well, just for a night though. So I look forward to exploring something more. I've been really curious. There's some really cool hotel options that I've thought, oh man, it'd be neat to go, but it's so far. So I haven't been able to put that on the list yet. And I'm excited here because like I said, this is a place with the Sky Team carrier. So now I'm excited because all of the transferable currencies transfer to Air France KLM Flying Blue. And since Air France operates a Miami to Guadalupe flight, now I'm getting curious about a stopover. So we'll see how that can work out. But anyway, so yes, I think that was about as good of a pick as I could have hoped, I think, in round two. Speaker 3 (11:57) All right. Always looking for the stopovers. Greg, it is your turn. What card are you going to pick? Speaker 1 (12:02) All right. Well, I am kind of hoping for getting Hong Kong because I have flown through Hong Kong numerous times, but have never actually visited Hong Kong. And it was so frustrating during the Party of Five challenge when I knew we were flying to Hong Kong. And I thought, I'm finally going to get to see Hong Kong. Nope, we went to Macau. And we got Macau. And Speaker 3 (12:29) then Speaker 1 (12:29) nothing went well. So I am going to complete the three across and do the bottom right card to get my Hong Kong. Speaker 3 (12:39) We'll find out. Oh, so close. China. China would say Hong Kong is Speaker 1 (12:45) China. Yeah, I was going to say. I'm going to need some judge. Special administrative region. I mean, Speaker 2 (12:53) it's... Hong Kong is a separate country by our token, so I'm afraid Hong Kong will not be eligible for this. Oh, no. You could likely transit Speaker 3 (13:06) through if you want. I mean, Nick is talking about stopovers. Maybe you can toss in a stopover. All right. Now we have our destination recap. We've got Greg with Panama and China. Nick with Guadalupe and Vietnam. and Tim with Costa Rica and South Korea. Speaker 4 (13:26) I have Speaker 3 (13:28) a Speaker 4 (13:28) quick clarification question. Speaker 3 (13:29) Does Speaker 4 (13:30) that mean I'm the only one who drew a country that requires a visa? Speaker 5 (13:35) China Speaker 4 (13:35) requires Speaker 1 (13:36) a visa as far as I know. Now Speaker 5 (13:38) for under Speaker 4 (13:38) 72 Speaker 5 (13:38) hours, right? Speaker 1 (13:40) That's true. Yeah. Speaker 5 (13:42) I Speaker 2 (13:43) think so. Speaker 4 (13:43) So now I have to scramble to get that worked out. For what Speaker 2 (13:47) it's worth, they're like in the selection of destination two countries. five of them need a visa of some variety. Vietnam is one and China is the other, but there were three that didn't get picked. So, all right. Speaker 3 (14:03) So we're going to take a moment to just reflect here. How are you all feeling so far about your destination selects selections? Greg, what do you think overall with your combination of Panama and China? Speaker 1 (14:16) Yeah. Wow. That's that's. Hard. Because I think sending us to, I mean, it's not going to be hard to get to Panama, I don't think. But, you know, sending us to Central America area and then to Asia, it just, you know, getting to Asia is kind of hard enough from the U.S. And I think it just adds another obstacle. China, I mean, the nice thing for me for China is that I think that if award flights are, relatively easy to get to kind of anywhere in Asia. It's maybe a little bit easier to get to China than to places that Americans can go to more easily. Speaker 3 (14:59) All right. Nick, how are you feeling about your selections of Guadalupe and Vietnam? You talked about it a little bit with the visa, but any other thoughts? Speaker 4 (15:07) Yeah, you know, well, I think that, like I said, I'm now at least somewhat hopeful that I'll be able to book something with an Air France stopover. And the nice thing there is because they do partner with so many transferable currencies, it almost won't matter which transferable currency card I draw. Now I say that I know I'm going to jinx myself somehow in saying Speaker 5 (15:27) that. Speaker 4 (15:28) I'm less sure about which individual airline currency is. of any material importance for me at this point with those two destinations, but it'll be interesting to see what the third destination ends up being. But, but so far I feel like that was, if I was going to get Guadalupe for number one, then a sky, a country with a good sky team presence was a really good pick for number two. Speaker 3 (15:51) All right, Tim, how are you feeling about Costa Rica and South Korea? Speaker 5 (15:58) Costa Rica, I'm feeling great about. South Korea, I'm feeling great about. Getting from Costa Rica to South Korea, I'm a little less great about. Speaker 4 (16:09) You're welcome. That was, Speaker 5 (16:12) there's sort of a dastardly repositioning us to South America or to Central America before we have to go to Asia that I think, again, It betrays your tomfoolery, let me put it that way, of the judges. But yeah, you know, and honestly, what's funny is I'll be interested to see how, like this is one time where Central America from the East Coast is much easier than Central America from the West Coast. So it'll be interesting to, if I were flying my home airline of Alaska, it's easy to get to Central America or to Costa Rica. I'm not sure how it is outside of that. So it'll be interesting to see what... I'm curious. I'm curious to see what options will come up. I've never tried to get from Costa Rica to South Korea before. Speaker 3 (17:00) All right. Well, you're about to. You Speaker 2 (17:02) are about to. So we have the first two destinations sorted out, and there is a third destination that they're all going to meet up at at the end. That's something we're going to reveal at the end of, after they've drawn all of their other cards. absolutely stay tuned for that. But we're not going to reveal it quite yet. We're going to be moving on to... Can we at Speaker 1 (17:23) least guess? I'm betting it's Morocco. It has to be Morocco. Speaker 2 (17:27) Nick and Tim, quick guesses. Where do you think they're off to? Where do you think you're off to? Well, Speaker 5 (17:32) based on what you've been doing so far, I'm going to guess it's like somewhere in eastern Brazil. Speaker 3 (17:37) The Amazon? Speaker 5 (17:38) Yeah, somewhere. It's the Amazon. Somewhere on the Amazon, far up river. Nick? Speaker 4 (17:44) Boy, you know... It would seem like we might continue around the world and end up in Europe, but that seems almost too predictable. So I'm going to guess Canada has to be the last one. Speaker 2 (17:59) No Speaker 3 (18:00) one guessed West Virginia. Okay. So that we are done with our destination portions till we reveal the final. Now we are ready to draw the. airline credit cards. So as a reminder, the contestants will get to choose credit cards also, starting with the airline credit card. Speaker 2 (18:24) So I was just going to say, once again, we have a three by three grid. So all of the card decks tonight are going to be three by three grids for anyone who's listening rather than watching. So they're going to get to pick from a selection of nine different cards. So Kerry, who's getting to pick first? Speaker 3 (18:38) This time Nick gets to go first. Nick. What is your airline card pick? Speaker 5 (18:44) Before you pick Nick, I'm assuming that before you pick Nick, I'm assuming that you want something with some Sky Team mojo attached to it. Is that what you're looking for? Speaker 4 (18:58) I think it probably is. I say that hesitantly