May 2025 – NorthAmericanDarrell

Playing the credit card points game and winning!

I have been back and forth to Hawaii several times in the last few years collecting points on my credit card.

I even worked remotely there for four months, which was amazing. A few of those trips were taken on Hawaiian Airlines, where I signed up for their credit card bonus offer on a flight. I received 70K points with a $100 yearly fee which was waived the first year. I accumulated over a $100K flights with purchases and flying around the Islands.

I have already used some of the points, but I still had $103K to book my 2025 fall Japan/Korean trip!

Look at this GEM of a booking below!

#NorthAmericanDarrell

You read that correctly, 30K points and a measly $5 plus tax!

Hawaiian Airlines also uses beautiful, updated planes with amazing service, too!

I was also able to transfer the needed 7,500 miles from Hawaiian Airlines to Alaska Airlines to get from Phoenix to Seattle. It worked out perfectly as they are working on a merger.

If you’re keeping track, it cost me $11.20 to fly from Phoenix to Tokyo, Japan. 🙌

I still have plenty of time to find an Airbnb, and here are the current prices and availability.

I also still need to book a flight from Tokyo to Seoul and find a flight home, which will also be on points.

Either way, I am so stoked to hit two more bucket list Countries on the cheap! I can see myself eating inexpensive Ramen and Sushi every day in Japan. I am also stoked for Korean food, too, and their BBQ is the absolute best!

Norse Airlines – It’s cheap and worth it!

I have flown Norse Atlantic Airlines twice and booked another round trip for the fall. Here is a sample of their current prices from Los Angeles. Keep in mind I have paid even less and round-trip flights can be even cheaper so make sure you check both depending on your flexibility.

Make sure you go to their website and sign up for their Tuesday takeoff mailer! This one starts with $129 to London to grab your attention.

They are always sending out teasers that may not fit your schedule, but you never know! I booked my return flight from Los Angeles to London for only $402 return! 👍🏻

I would also check flying into one airport and departing from another airport. That would be more adventurous and possibly cheaper too. Fly into Athens and leave from Paris, using Los Angeles as an example. I have blogged/bragged about the deals I have taken advantage of in the past.

These are the two one-way flights that I have already taken, which included a carry-on bag and a personal item:

LAX-LGW $109

(Los Angeles to London Gatwick)

FCO-LAX $216 Euro/USD

(Rome to Los Angeles)

This is the return flight I mentioned above for fall 2025, $402, which is also an incredible deal.

Watching those prices drop and get out of Dodge!

My YouTube channel @NorthAmericanDarrell

I have had a YouTube channel since 2011 as a viewer only. When I started this Blog in January 2025, I had one subscriber and one video with no views. I started posting all the videos I had saved from my devices over the years, as well as adding new ones during my travels.

My channel has started to grow:

- 985+ videos

- ~120 subscribers

- 100+ posts and growing daily

- ~70K views, which blows my mind!

Growing my YouTube has been just as fun as working on this blog. I will often embed YouTube videos into my posts to share my experiences. I have separated the videos by Country to make them easier to browse.

Please consider giving me a follow and a thumbs up by clicking this link: Darrell – YouTube

Here is a cheat sheet to get a glimpse of my YouTube channel:

Click to subscribe to @NorthAmericanDarrell’s YouTube channel

Click to view a list of all the 850+ videos on the channel

Click to view a list of all the short videos on the channel

Click to view the fast-growing posts on the channel.

Click to view the playlist of all the videos broken down by Country.

Click to view the featured videos on @NorthAmericanDarrell YouTube channel

Here are the current featured videos and shorts that are often updated by the YouTube algorithm:

Please take the time to become a subscriber and ring that bell to see if I can grow my channel even more.

Darrell – YouTube <— clickity click

https://www.youtube.com/@northamericandarrell <— clickity click

Finding flight deals! It’s too damn easy!!

I am always looking for a deal and get such a rush when I find one on a flight!!

The first place I look is Google Flights – Find Cheap Flight Options & Track Prices, as it points me to any airlines that might have a sale on at that time. You can click this link to get to the above screen to start your search.

The first think you are going to want to take care of is setting up your home airport and Country. I will often check the prices in other countries to see if there is a better price as every site uses cookies to set their prices.

You can enter your departure and return, but I normally start with it empty to get an idea of the best prices. I am currently looking at flights for Europe and Southeast Asia, and below is what I found.

This simple search tells me about the best round-trip prices at that exact time. If the prices interest me, I click on the city, and it will tell me the dates and airlines for that price. I can then move forward with checking certain dates or just take note of the current price and keep checking until I find the lowest price for my preferred dates.

Last year, I was able to fly from Los Angeles to Cebu, Philippines, and from Los Angeles to Saigon, Vietnam using this process. I decided to book one-way ticket to Vietnam as I was unsure of my exact plans, but I paid ~$375 for a one-way ticket.

Always check return and one-way tickets before booking. Often times two one-way tickets will be cheaper than a return ticket. Even better, you have an option to fly home from a different city making the adventure even better. Make sure you check bag prices and policies on your flights as it is a deal breaker.

The best part of it was that I paid with my PayPal credit account and did not have to pay for the tickets for six months.

If you made it this far and are paying attention, you can see that prices were lower in Asia last year, so I will keep on checking.

Flights to London from Los Angeles are almost always under $200 one-way and $500 round-trip on Norse airlines. I did find a great deal today for a return flight for $402 which I will continue to watch. The catch with buying a one-way ticket for cheap is that you are taking your chances on how much the return flight will cost.

I also have an ace-in-the-hole with a friend who will fly me home on a buddy pass if needed, which is awesome!

She got me an emergency exit bulkhead with extra leg room and free drinks too!!

Well, finding that deal while blogging about it today escalated quickly!

$402 USD from Los Angeles to London return is a phenomenal deal.

Booked it so I can use my Wizz all you can fly pass once more!

Rocky Point – Taco Tuesday, Wednesday …

Celebrated taco Tuesday with fish tacos, followed up by hard-shell chicken tacos!

Just when you think life could not get any better when the Edmonton Oilers are on a run …

Humpday happens!

Fresh tortillas, beans, salsa, and the best breakfast burritos in town! LFG Oilers!!

Wing Wednesday hits are different when you are at the beach on that glorious Humpday!

The Edmonton Oilers knock out Vegas and are headed to the Western Conference final!

A City that never sleeps?

Goodnight Vegas!!

Wizz Airlines – all you can fly update

During September 2024, I purchased a year long an all-you-can-fly pass with Wizz Air for USD/Euro $499 (they were basically at par).

It was a leap of faith since I had to get to Europe to use the pass. So far, so good, as I have made it to Europe twice already for a reasonable cost on Norse Airlines. I have paid anywhere from $109 to $250 each way from Los Angeles.

I do not plan to renew the pass, but I am planning one more trip before the pass expires at the end of September, as there are so many Countries left to explore. I have gotten great value from the pass, using it 15 times (~$33 a flight) on the first two trips to Europe to use the pass.

That works out to about 30 dollars a flight, which is incredible in itself. The part I enjoy the most is the spontaneity of using the pass. I log in to the website, and I can choose from 52 different countries based on availability. There is a three-day window for bookings, so it can be the same day or within three days when you leave your departure.

Here is a list of the Countries available for booking:

Since I will be traveling during the Summer, I hope to visit some Northern countries. Here is my wish list keeping in mind that it is standby so I will not be able to reach them all.

– Norway (Wizz flies to ten cities).

– Sweden (Wizz flies to three cities).

– Poland (Wizz flies to ten cities)

– God willing, Ukraine, if the war is over. (Wizz flies to Kraków, which is a short bus ride to Lviv).

– Portugal (Wizz flies to four different cities).

– Spain (I have been to Madrid and Barcelona already, and Wizz flies to fourteen different cities in Spain).

– Germany (Wizz flies to eight cities).

– Czechoslovakia (Prague only – I hear the Czecks make the best beer in Europe!)

– Saudi Arabia (I have been to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the Middle East. I would love to go back to the UAE too!).

Other countries will be substituted in trying to get to these, which will be incredible too!

First things first; I had to find a cheap return flight to Europe in August or September as the pass expires on September 25th. So far, Los Angeles to London (showing below on Google/travel, my go-to) is the cheapest, $475 return. I am also watching Los Angeles to Paris and Las Vegas to Paris as they are all around the same prices right now.

I can also choose to book one-way trips, keeping my options open, which may also be cheaper too!

EDIT: I ultimately found an amazing round trip flight for $402 USD for the month of September 2025.

NorthAmericanDarrell

Monthly Archives: May 2025