Frequent Miler on the Air - Frequent Miler origin story - Tim's story | Coffee Break Ep57 | 5-27-25

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

We've been gradually telling the "origin stories" of each team member in Frequent mIler. Today, we'll talk about how Tim came to join Frequent Miler.(00:52) - How did Tim get started in miles and points?(02:12) - Around 16 or 17, Tim and his brother planned out a series of roadtrips to try to see beyond their Midwestern home.(06:24) - To prepare for his honeymoon years later, Tim volunteered for medical research studies to raise money. His goal: take his new wife to the top 5 places she wanted to see. (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France, and Ireland.) (09:10) - After all that travel, Tim and his wife ended up with a bunch of United miles. He started to learn a bit about miles when he attempted to use those United miles to fly home for the holidays. (13:07) - Gradually, Tim started to learn more, starting with a Southwest credit card.(14:14) - When Tim started entering the wine making industry, he started traveling more for work and had the opportunity to join an expensed trip to South Africa if he could get himself there. As a tall guy, he was motivated to figure out a way to fly business class.(20:31) - Tim and his wife planned a trip to the Maldives, which got Tim even deeper into the hobby, especially when he sort of stumbled upon a type of mistake fare of sorts where his stay was earning points as though it were a paid stay. (23:12) - In 2021, Tim was starting to tire of working in the wine industry and was itching for something new. His wife was helping him brainstorm his dream job and he said "I'd love to write for Frequent Miler." About a week later, he saw the job posting for a new author at Frequent Miler. (27:34) - Nick and Greg shares their impression of Tim's application and interview.(33:18) - So what does Tim get most excited about now, in the points and miles hobby?Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

This is a VoyEscape podcast. You can find all of our travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. Welcome to Coffee Break, where we focus on a single topic related to miles and points. And each Coffee Break is limited to 20 minutes or less for your money back. On today's Coffee Break, Tim's origin story. We're gonna be talking with Tim Stanky, who's been working with us now for about three and a half years.

And we've previously done origin stories for Nick and for me and for Kerry, but we haven't yet until now gotten to Tim or to Steven. And we're correcting one of those two problems right now. Welcome Tim. Thank you. I'm excited about this. Good to have you here.

I mean, you know, I don't know a lot about how you got started in Miles and Points, Tim. I have a good sense of where you've been these last couple of years, but I don't really know where you were before all that. So I'm curious to hear a little bit about how you got started. I mean, how did you dive into Miles and points to begin with? Yeah, it's a murky and mysterious background. Let me tell you. There's a lot of I'm going to have to change some names and some dates so we can't report it all completely truthfully.

Keep the secret safe. Yeah, this is so just so you know. Yeah, so I mean, for me, points and miles, I think going further would be or going even further back, points and miles are kind of the drug that allows me to get high on my own supply. Because I love what I really what I love is travel. I mean, I love points and miles, I love what can happen. But really, where points and miles, how points and miles. I love what can happen, but really where points and miles, how points and miles, like the gateway into points and miles was travel.

And I grew up in the middle of the US in a state called Nebraska, which many people don't actually realize is in the US, especially Californians. I've never heard of it. Yeah, I actually went to California, a guy in California, I was bartending in California, and a guy said,

he's like, where are you from? And he said, Nebraska. And he's like, oh, you're Canadian. Well. Close enough. Yeah, close enough. I mean, almost, almost. But so I literally, until I was 16, 17 years old,

I had never left the Midwest or Florida. I had been to Florida, I had been to the Midwest. So about that time when I was 16, 17 years old, my brother and I, who is four years older than me, started doing summer road trips where we effectively carved the United States into four quarters and said, let's do a road trip and explore the whole thing each summer. Fortunately, we only got through half of it. So we never quite, I guess, who knows what will happen going on, but he has three kids now. So it's a different story. But so anyway, I'm sorry.

Did you get through the right half? I did. Yes. Wait, wait, which, which quadrants did you complete? So the first, the first quadrant that we completed was the Northwest. So I now live in the Seattle area. And the first time that we actually encountered the Seattle, this would have been about 1995. So grunge was in full effect.

We, and actually it's really funny, we, to kind of chronicle our trips, we thought it would be that all of our friends and family would love to watch a video. Because of course, who would not wanna watch hours and hours of video of somebody else just walking around cities, right? But this is all-

So, you know, way back when people used to inflict slideshows on people. I know, totally. So now it was like, well, it's all in motion. People are of course gonna like it. Yeah. But at that point, there wasn't, you know, we didn't even have cell phones.

We didn't have internet. know, internet was an emergency. So we rented one of these shoulder mounted video cameras and decided we were going to take the shoulder out of the video. But whenever we were in a city, we felt horribly sheepish about walking around with this huge video camera. So my brother pulled it by his side and then try and point it at things that he was trying. So we took it. I bet that made for some fantastic.

No, so we took it. What already was pretty boring. I still have this video of like two hours of us walking around Pike Place Market with him like trying to point this video bouncing around and all of these. And this was pre-HD as well. So it's grainy.

Totally. And one person watched that entire video nonstop or all the way from beginning to end. And that was our mom. Girlfriends couldn't even make it through. Like our wives have been doing this whole thing. So yeah, so we started with the Northwest. Then we did the Southwest

and we were planning on doing Alaska. But then stuff happened in each of our lives. So we ended up kind of putting that on hold and we never picked it back up again. But I'll never forget, I had never even seen the mountains. And so we drove into Yellowstone at night and I couldn't see a thing. Woke up the next morning and we're driving in and I'm just like looking outside the car windows and I'm like, oh my gosh. And ever since then I couldn't get enough. Like I mean, there was like, whoa, this is a big world and I just, and I'm only 10 hours from my house, you know, right? That sounds just like my story. The first time we went to Zion National Park, it was

at night, it was pouring rain, so we couldn't see anything when we were coming in and we stayed in one of the cabins there. And in the morning we come out and we're like, whoa. It was just mind blowing how beautiful it was. And I have a pretty clear picture of what that must have felt like for you, Tim, because while I joked about having only flown over Nebraska before when I was 21, I went to Las Vegas for the first time and I took the bus back. And so I got to cross Nebraska in a bus.

And I can imagine what it must have been like ending up in the mountains after having spent some time. In fact, long story, but I got stuck for hours in Oogla La La Nebraska actually on that bus trip. So I will remember the cornfield across from that gas station for a long time. So I can imagine the mountains must have been a surprise. Yeah, and that's not a part of Nebraska that's known for its tourist attractions. So unlike the rest of Nebraska, which is, and I always feel bad for people

that had to do what you did Nick, because Nebraska, there are some really pretty areas in Nebraska, but the interstate does not cross any of them. Not along the interstate. And so yeah, you end up, it's a rough thing. But yeah, so anyway, that was sort of how I got into the travel thing. And then when we got married,

when my wife and I got married, not my brother and I, one of, by that point, I had been on several international trips. I'd been to Europe, I'd been to Asia. And I knew that, one of the things I knew is that we had to go all out for the honeymoon. So luckily we had a medical research facility in Lincoln next to college campuses called Harris Labs.

I think they still exist and they're all next to college campuses because they know who needs money and was willing to sell their body for research. And that was me at the time. So I did probably five or six different medical research studies where they would, you know, inject you with things and then draw your blood and see how it was interacting with your body. And I saved up money for our honeymoon. And so my wife and I had always, like we had my girlfriend at the time, we had, I had, we had talked about places we'd like to go and we'd like to visit. And so we had kind of a general top 10 list.

And so my goal was that I wanted to take her to all, her entire top five for our honeymoon. Unfortunately, her entire top five was all around the world. It was New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France, or Paris specifically, and Ireland. So there wasn't a real easy way of, you know, combine that all into one. So we effectively did around the world in a hundred days, we got married in Hawaii, that's where her family, her mom's side of the family is all from.

And then just did around the world ticket. And it took probably, I don't know, three, four months planning it. At that point, I did have the internet, but nobody had online booking. So I was up at two, three o'clock in the morning calling bed and breakfasts in Australia and South Africa. And that's when I first really started digging into what used to be my favorite guidebooks

in the world, Lonely Planets. And I just started, and that was how I did my research. So it wasn't just about researching these places. It was like, well, where could we go that's right near these places? And so I was just reading guidebooks for like an entire winter in Nebraska. And just had a blast. And we just had a blast on that trip. And I'll never forget getting, at that point, they issued paper tickets. So I got this, you know, when I finally got each ticket it was just this stack of boarding cards, you know, this stack of tickets. And I was like flipping through and they, oh, this just looks like adventure right here. And now, but so during

that time, because we're on our honeymoon, that was when I first, that was our first time we got upgraded to, or we're allowed to go into a lounge. It was the Air New Zealand lounge in Honolulu because they found out they're on a honeymoon. So they put us in the lounge. And we got for Singapore, when we're on Singapore airlines, they actually baked us a cake and brought our cake back to our seats because we got upgraded a couple of times. And so I was like, well, how do I get more of this? And at the same point, because we were all on, it was All Star Alliance carriers, we had a bunch of United Vitals by the end of it. And I had no idea what to do with those things. I had no idea there was not an easy way. This is back in the day where, you know, there wasn't a real easy way of figuring out or even making

these redemptions. So right afterwards, so let me just pause you there, Tim, because I have to point out, I love this, that your origin story, a lot like Peter Parker's, involves medical research laboratory, right? So we don't know what superpowers you got out of it, but it was part of the genesis of where you are today. Totally. Well, I would say that the nice thing about doing those medical research is because I have that sixth finger on my left hand, I can type way faster. Way faster. That's great.

It's really incredible what it does for you. So yeah, that was that was an unforeseen benefit. Uh, yeah, I never, you know, and it is sort of, I kind of sometimes idly wonder, Yeah, I never you know, and it is sort of I kind of sometimes I believe wonder what did I do to myself? You know thus far it doesn't seem like anything terrible happened It certainly makes whatever you do to earn miles and points, but you know nowadays kind of comparison, right? What I had to do for 1500 bucks and travel back then was crazy. The kids today, they don't know. They don't know what we had to go through. But yeah, so anyway, coming out of that honeymoon, we both had a stash of United Miles that we had acquired from just traveling around the world.

And I didn't know how to use them. So I called in to United and right after we got back from our honeymoon, we moved out to Montana and we lived in Montana for several years. And I was going home for the holidays and so I was like, well, I wonder if these miles will get me a discount on something. And I called up United and I said, hey, what can I do with these? I want to go back to Nebraska for the holidays. And they're like, well, you have enough miles. You can actually get a free ticket. Like, no, I get all the way back to Omaha.

So my first frequent buyer, my world travel rewards redemption was an economy flight from Missoula, Montana to Omaha, Nebraska. And wouldn't you know it, United stuck us in the Denver Airport overnight because of equipment failure. So in between we had to like, we got in with a $15 voucher for the food court there. And we spent the night in the Denver Airport. But I was still thrilled. I like the idea that, you know, free travel. I mean, what's better than travel, free travel, you know.

Sure. Right. So. That's pretty awesome. Do you remember how many, silly question, do you remember how many miles it was? No, I don't. I'm assuming it must have been at least 12,000 a piece

or 12,500 a piece, because at that point, that's what domestic rewards cost on, you know. I do remember that's what the ticket cost. It was 12,500 miles. But I don't remember exactly what and I mean, you know, and honestly, and I'm assuming that at some point that after that first redemption, I probably lost whatever other miles I had because I didn't know that I could make those again, you know, yeah, yeah, there was more. But I mean, at the time, it just I mean, it literally felt like a like an adrenaline shot

to the veins. It's like, yeah, that's awesome. Love it. No. Okay, so so now you're interested or you you have some interest at this point, but how did you get from that to, oh, this is a great opportunity to earn, you know, how did you find out that you don't have to actually travel around the world on paid tickets in order to earn miles? You don't need the research studies. How'd you get to that point where you need the research studies? Yeah, luckily, yeah, that was, and I'm thankful I discovered that. So we ended up, my wife got her master's in California and while we're in California,

I believe that, I'm pretty sure that's when I got my first credit card and it was Southwest. And Southwest was incredibly valuable at that point in California because there were so many interstate flights and you know, we hadn't spent much time in California so while she was doing her masters like every weekend we were going somewhere in California just exploring the whole state and had a blast. And oftentimes when we were going to California we were flying. So at that point without even knowing what I was doing I started feeling like oh wait if I open this card and get the welcome bonus and then Erin opens this card and she gets a welcome bonus and then I open another card and I get the welcome bonus we can really get a lot of free travel off of this thing. And so, you know, the companion pass was, I had no idea that maybe it didn't at the point because that was, you know, when dinosaurs were in the earth. But so we started using credit cards in that way,

but we were effectively just, you know, one credit card family just rotating Southwest cards and that's all we did. But then later once we moved up to Washington and I got a winemaking degree and got involved in the wine industry and I started traveling for work at that point because I was both making and selling wine. And that was when because I was traveling all the time I'm like you know I need to start maximizing this. It's not just about, and probably right around that time, so around like 2010-ish, nine-ish, was when I first started reading Points and Miles blogs. And there weren't very many at that point.

I mean, it was, I don't, cause Greg, you started in 2014, right? 2011, actually. 2011. Yep. So I remember reading reading frequent Mylar, but it was probably around that time, like 12, 13, 14, somewhere in there. And I remember thinking at that point, being a little turned off by the graphics. So, thank God, carry Yoda exists.

Well, this is interesting, but gosh, the graphics. Yeah. But so, part of the trial, I just started learning, working how to maximize it and reading, started reading blogs and discovering that, man, there's this whole world out here. What I could started buying, you know, learned about Staples and Office Depot and things that you could do with the Chase Inc. card and get, or with the blank, Bank that Cannot Be Named Inc. card, earning five extra rewards at office stores.

And I mean, it was at that point, that's when the gamer in me started to come out and say, wow, not only can you get free travel, there's all of these ways to get more and more free travel. And then the moment that I, the trip that just hooked me specifically, like hook, line and sinker was the company that just hooked me specifically, like hook, line, and sinker was the company that I worked for was starting to make a wine in South Africa.

So they were doing a, and their family owned a kind of this luxury, a couple of luxury tourism lodges in South Africa. So they were bringing the whole team down to South Africa. We were going to spend some time in these lodges and then we were going to, you know, go to the winery and do work. But so they said, we're going to pay for all while you're in country, people pay for everything, but you need to get there. Like, man, South Africa is a long ways away.

If anybody has not flown to South Africa before, it's a long ways away. And I'm really big. I have, you know, I'm six foot three. I'm, you know, at point, I had a hip, but now I have a new hip there, but I had a bad back and a hip, and I cannot sleep a wink in economy flights. I mean, not a wink.

It doesn't matter how tired I am. It doesn't matter if I have a various business class where you have the whole row to yourself, cannot sleep. I'm looking at this, I'm like, I'm going to be wasted for the first week that I'm there, or not, probably not week, but for several days that I'm there. And then I started looking at business class and I'm like, wow, you know, I actually have enough miles for Alaska miles for Qatar business class.

And so I booked a flight. But my first business class flight ever was from DFW to Doha and then I had an overnight in Doha and Doha to Johannesburg, the with my first business class flight ever. It was from DFW to Doha. And then I had an overnight in Doha and Doha to Johannesburg, the whole thing in business class. And it was the old and it was the old Qatar 777s where it's two to two seating. So it wasn't even like this is not like even top of the line stuff. Sure. First time turning left and then sitting down in that seat.

And like the other side of the seat, the other seat was like several feet in front of me. Yeah. Whoa. I'm literally, you know, sitting there, everybody else is sitting down and getting their stuff and I'm like moving the seat down and moving it back up. Like, this is incredible. And I slept on the flight and I wasn't, I wasn't in pain the next, you know, when I

woke up in Doha. And just the whole travel experience was incredible. And it's like, oh my gosh, now I can actually travel internationally and not like pay for it. I mean, it just like, you know, in terms of how that opened the world and the types of trips that had opened up, like going to Europe for a week now is not like, oh, I have to spend the first two to two or three days recovering from my flight and then I'm leaving in another three days. So that's when it really kicked into high gear. And that's when

I really started getting into frequent miler too, because that's when Greg was really doing a bunch of fun stuff with accumulating points and miles that a lot of other people weren't talking about at the time. And that's when we also, my wife and my travel just kicked into high gear. Like we started traveling more internationally and we started seeing much more of the world. We started, you know, her spring breaks were all of a sudden fair game for Southeast Asia, you know, except that we just wouldn't have thought about like 10 days, you're not going to go to Southeast Asia for 10 days.

Well, let's go to Southeast Asia for 10 days. Right. I don't mean that sounds like fun. 10 days, you're not going to go to Southeast Asia for 10 days. Well, let's go to Southeast Asia for 10 days, right? Don't we? That sounds like fun. And so again, with the idea that points and miles allow me to travel, that really the end game for me is travel, now I'm really fucked. Because I can go all over the world in a manner of just like,

I mean, what that enabled me to do in terms of worldwide travel is just amazing. And we're not, you know, it's all funny money. Right. Like looking around, I'm like, is somebody going to catch me? Like, is this legal what I'm doing? So presumably then you got better and better, not just at earning the points and miles, but at redeeming them as well, right? Because you were getting real world experience all the time. Yep, exactly. And I was starting to travel internationally for work as well. Unfortunately, I never, I always had that purchase economy, but so I started getting better at purchasing economy fares that I could upgrade using my own miles. American at

that point was really good so I'd fly a lot on American and credit to Alaska. That's when I first started became an Alaska elite member and then started realizing well I'm getting I'm like getting upgraded everywhere I go. Every time I go to Cincinnati I'm getting upgraded. This is incredible. And so yeah and so all the the redemption started. I mean, and actually, I remember a fun one, and I'll talk about this now, but because I actually talked about this at the Freak and Mylar interview, but I don't think it's possible anymore. So if I'm spilling beans that shouldn't be spilled, I'm sorry, and let's edit this out

later so we're not evil deal killers. But the first time we went to the mall or the only time that when we went to the Maldives uh we stayed at the common rad rongali island and which is a great property and we just had a blast we loved it there a week was too short for us but the whole time i was uh and this is probably i don't know 2016 or 17 the whole time i was reading flyer talk and trying to figure out you know how do we angle the upgrades, which particular places should we stay? Because there's volumes of information on that property and a lot of these properties, especially that. And there were some people that,

like they go there like three, four times a year. Like, who are these people? Like, are they, is this like a Russian oligarch that's on Flyer Talk? Talking about like, oh yeah these people? Like, are they like, is this like a Russian oligarch that, you know, it's on flyer talk? Talking about like, oh, yeah, we were here for two weeks. And they were in front and there was some sort of, like, side mentions about, yeah, you know, it's cheaper than you might think, or ends up being cheaper than you might think, and people would kind of shush them up. And then after we stayed there, I found out, you know, I don't even remember what we, I probably used a couple free night certs and it was probably like I did a fifth night free on points and then added on to free night certificates is what I'm guessing we did. But so I, it probably would have been, I don't know, just probably 95k at the time. So I'm assuming it was like 380 for

the whole stay plus the free night certificates. And then we spent probably about $2,500 and you know, food and flights and stuff like that. And so then but then when I got home, all of a sudden, I earned somewhere around 220,000 points for the stay. Like, wait a minute, how did I and then digging into some other people are talking to some other people, evidently they were processing points stays at the cash value. And I still don't know if this was all the time, if just some people, but that's how some people are able to go over and over again.

And I don't think that's happening anymore. So I'm talking about it now. But so at that point, I'm like, there's got to be other deals like this. So then I got really now I have never found another deal like that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. You know, got to be other deals like this. So then I got really, now I have never found another deal like that. Yeah. Yeah, well that's the thing, you know, you find one of those crazy things

and that seems unlikely to happen twice, but at the same time, you know, the fact that it happens, you never know, yeah, you never know. I love the adrenaline rush you get when you find something like that. And then as a blogger, the disappointment when you realize, I can't actually tell anyone because that'll kill this deal. Yeah, yeah, totally. Well, and that's it, especially for you, like when back in the day, I mean, there was so much stuff that you did talk about, but then there

was stuff that it's like, well, just got a service to the community. You know, I'm not going to talk about this. Yeah. But yeah, totally. Anyway, all that to say, fast forward to 2021. There's in the depth of the pandemic, not really the depths of the pandemic, but it was still firmly within the pandemic and we were just coming out of it in terms of the wine industry. I had been in the wine industry for about 10, 12 years now,

and I was like, I don't know if this is really where I want to spend the rest of my life. And without getting into all the reasons why, just, you know, I owned a winery that I was co-owner of a winery, still am. I was working for a winery and I just didn't know that this was like where I wanted to be for the, you know, until I was. Sure. And but so, but I like, that was what I did.

You know, that's what I, I had enmeshed myself pretty deeply into that world. And so it was probably, it was during Thanksgiving, uh, early start, no, it wouldn't have been Thanksgiving. I probably wouldn't sometime in October. Uh, my wife and I were out, we're driving out to a family get together and we stopped in a Safeway parking lot. Not to buy gift cards or just buying something else. But I appreciate you thinking that Nick.

It was on my mind. Yeah. It's like, so did you buy 200s or 500s? What were you getting? And we were just talking about it. She said, okay, so if you could just not talk about, think about money, not think about anything else, what would you do? What would you want to do for a job? And I said, well, I want to work for freaking Mylar, write for freaking Mylar, but that would never happen. Like I did a bunch of writing for both wineries for like press releases and marketing copy

and all that sort of stuff. It's like, I don't know WordPress from a hole in the head. Some might argue I still don't. And she's like, well, and so we're just kind of telling, I don't know WordPress from a hole in the head. Some might argue I still don't. She's like, well, and so we're just going to tell me, are there other things like that? I don't know. I don't think so. Literally the next week, frequent Myler posts they're hiring for an author the next week.

That was when I found out that Greg actually was with Apple and they're Siri listening things. But so and I was in there and Aaron was like, you got to apply for it. I should apply for it. Then I went to look at the application and the application wasn't like an application anybody I ever heard of.

It's like a bunch of questions and it's not like nobody even cares. Like you could be what your background is. It was all about how do you write, how you answer these sorts of questions. And I looked at it and immediately knew this is gonna take me a couple hours. And I was busy, I was doing a bunch of stuff like, I have no chance of getting this.

And everyone's like, and I'm just, you know, this is silly. And it said, no, no, no, you should do it, come on. You gotta at least do it. So I did it, I sent it in, completely forgot about it. And then we were in later and over Christmas, we were in Maui where her family is and I was in another Safeway parking lot, again, not buying gift cards.

And again, I completely forgot about it. Do they have other things there? I, you know. Safeway. They do. Just buying money orders, is that what it was? They have, yeah. They have sparkling water. It's sparkling water and gift cards.

And I got an email from Greg the Freak and Myler saying, hey, we had hundreds of applicants and you're one of the finalists. And I don't even know if you said how many finalists there were, but you're one of the finalists. And I was like, holy. I actually, this is a Safe for Family podcast. So I said, holy something else, but we'll say holy shnikes. And I texted my wife and said, you'll never guess.

I freaking admire her once she interviewed me. That's crazy. And so I emailed back and said, yes. So we set up an interview for once I got back. I want to say it was like right before New Year's. Interviewed with Nick was not there, which is good because he since said that if he would have been there, there's no way I would have ever gotten hired. I did not remember that, that Nick wasn't there.

No, no. I was, oh, because were there two interviews with Tim? No, you were for whatever reason, I don't, I thought it was Steven that wasn't there. No, I was, I was, I was there for you. It was no, no,'t even wasn't there. I was definitely at your interview. No, no, you're right. You're right. It was it was Stephen that wasn't there.

But it was so scary, Nick and great. That's right. That is right. And when one of the things that had partially that I think I was really looking for, let the record show, by the way, that the elderly man is the one who remembered that correctly. Well, I knew I was there. I was like, was there a second interview or something?

I'll tell you why I remember I was there, but go ahead. Why do you remember you were there? Arrayus is always something other than wrong. So when we narrowed down to finalists, we had the different people we were looking at, and I had my expectations as to where I thought everybody would come in. Just based on the applications, what thought my maybe my first or second choice

might be based on the applications and I said before your interview I said this is what I think but I don't know what to think about this Tim guy yet he's a wild card he might surprise us during the interview because you had all the information that we needed and I just didn't know what your personality was going to be like and then in the interview because you had all the information that we needed and I just didn't know what your personality was going to be like. And then in the interview it was like mic drop. I mean you were fantastic and there was no doubt in my mind that you were going to be the right person for the job and it was funny because you said something in your application about having good jokes. I don't remember what it was and then I read your profile at the winery you were at that also mentioned telling good jokes.

I was like, well, this guy thinks he's funny. Maybe he will be. I don't know. And you were. And it's like, oh, okay. He does tell a good joke. And you know, for me, this was my first time hiring where the team was part of the hiring process.

And it was so important to me because we had built up such a great camaraderie between the four of us. And so it was probably the highest priority thing was to, if we're gonna add someone to the team that they have to fit in with the team. And so it was unfortunate, Steven couldn't make it to that, but yeah, I remember during the

interview, it was like, wow, Tim is just right from the get go. Even though he might be nervous about an interview, he's fitting in, you know, it just felt totally right. Yep. Yeah. But anyway, so you came to the interview. I didn't mean to hijack. Well, it's actually very similar like the thing One of the things one of the reasons why I didn't want to miss what why I didn't want to necessarily Right running my own winery wasn't necessarily was seeming less and less attractive. I really like to work as part of a team

that's one of the way and the idea of being the sole person where it's just me and And the idea of being the sole person where it's just me and everybody else is working for me and not really, you know, I'm the one that's kind of wearing all the hats and I'm the one that's making all the decisions. There's something that's attractive about that. But there's also it's like, you know, but that's not kind of how I want to function. I like to work as part of a team and bounce ideas and like the and so part of the thing about Freak O'Myler was appealing with about Freak O'M'Myler was like, oh, this could be a fun team. And that's actually what I remember about that interview

as well is I remember it very quickly feeling less like an interview and more like a conversation. And that we were just sort of hanging out after a little bit and it wasn't necessary, it didn't feel as like this kind of state. Yeah. Did you do anything to prepare in advance? Yeah. No, I didn't. You know,

I'm not sure what you could have done. I don't know. I didn't know what I could have done. It's like I could go review a war charts and stuff, but it's like, that's not gonna go. At this point, I know what I know and I am who I am. And so it's either gonna fit or it's not. Right. Yeah. Well, yeah. And at that point, you made it to that point, you obviously had the knowledge that we were concerned with. It was really just seeing, you know, how does this fit? And, and it clearly did. So it was all you had to do is come and be yourself. And, and that was, that was it. So yeah, I mean, that was you did a great job with that interview, I remember. And, and your answers on the application were terrific, too. I agree with you that Greg's application when I applied to I said this on my origin story that it was the most unique job application I'd ever filled out. I've never seen an application like one of Greg's applications and they both times I'm sure when I did it and when you did it. It was a long process trying to figure out the answers. But but that helps narrow down and figure out, okay, well, who has the right knowledge base and knows this and that and has like the right perspective on looking at things because I think it was more about,

you know, who's thinking about things in the right way than anything else. And we had a lot of great candidates and you were fantastic. So it was pretty easy choice, I think for me. Nice. Yeah. Steven still regrets. He's like, if I would have been there, I could have done something. Yeah. Yes. He has to take all the abuse from you and no recourse. He's not, no. Yeah. Poor guy. Yeah, so I mean, since then it's been a blast.

I started off part-time with the idea that this would probably be just a part-time addition to the wine stuff with the outside thing. Well, maybe at some point this could actually be a full-time gig. And then we were actually just talking about before we started recording this, we were just talking about how long it had been since I started and when I went full-time. And it was about a year after, I think I started at 10 hours and went up to 20 hours.

And then after a year went full-time. So it's now been a little over two years full-time. went full-time. So it's now been a little over two years full-time. And I think I just recently hit 1,300 blog posts or something like that. So it's kind of fun to look back and it's like, wow, there's like a significant chunk of the total output that now I've... it's been a while. It's like it doesn't feel like it's been that long, but it's been a while. Right, right. And we've had a blast since hiring you. So unfortunately now I have to give you your termination notice. Yeah, yeah.

No, but- It was a good run. But no, that obviously was just a joke, but this is serious. On coffee breaks we're supposed to keep to 20 minutes. We've gone well over that. We promised people their money back. It's on you, Tim, to give everybody their money back. I'm not your check

Totally wait. I have I have one other question for you Tim now that you've been doing this for as long as you have What do you get more excited about earning points or redeeming points? Oh, that's a good. That's a that's a good question and it's you know, which came first the Chicken or the egg I I probably, I still, I mean, it's still redeeming. And I would say the reason why I hesitate is because earning points happen so much more. It's, I mean, it's so much more, I shouldn't say so much more, it's so much more frequent because I'm constantly earning points. I'm constantly thinking about how to earn points and I continue to get better at it. You know, I'm constantly earning points. I'm constantly thinking about how to earn points, and I continue to get better at it. I'm better at earning points now than I was five years ago.

And each time I learn something and each time it's fun, and that's exciting. And so there's more frequent adrenaline hits that come with the redeeming or the earning. However, redeeming is still, that's the crack for me. When we were just going in with this trip, we just went to Taiwan and Japan and Okinawa, we just had a blast. It was incredible. And the idea that we were able to stay in these places and fly to these places and do it all in a way that allowed us to maximally enjoy our time was, I mean, it's just a blast. So I would say

that that's a tough question because of that, but I would say it's still probably the redeeming because of what it enables us to do. And it's the actual experience of that. Agreed. Agreed. And honestly, and I think too, just to do that for in terms of what we do here, probably the most gratifying emails that I read are when I hear about what people are able to do with the points and miles that they've earned and you know the honeymoon and the anniversaries and the you know first trip with the with the with the kids or whatever whatever it is

just stuff that people didn't ever think this would ever be a part of their lives and they've learned how to do it and now they've done it. So, I would say that too, the redeeming part, that's the best part of this job. I mean, outside of hanging out with the team, that's the best part of this job. Cheers to that. Well, it just cost you an extra 10% there for the last couple of minutes. Let's give people double their money back. Double their money.

It's Tim's money. Let's fipple it. Let's do a fipple discount. We'll fipple it. There you go. All right. Thanks so much, Tim. This was great. I really enjoyed listening to your origin story.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. It was fun hanging out with you guys. Hi, I'm David Brody, co-host of the Travel in 10 podcast. Together, myself and my co-host Tim Johnson have travelled over 150 countries around the world and all seven continents. Now we're sharing our favourite places, some of our best tips and experiences from

all around the world in just 10 minutes on Travel in 10. Join us at Foyascape.com.