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Comment by failwhaleshark | Hacker News Reader

If you're going somewhere anyhow, housesitting is a way to get paid to live in someone's pad. Cheaper than airbnb. :) Hostels otherwise.

Freighter cruising is slow-paced, DIY/BYO entertainment, interesting, and cheap, but you'll typically have to live without as much internet.

Eurorail young adult pass if you're younger.

Get paid as a vehicle courier to drive cars from one place to another.

If you fly a lot a lot... https://www.prioritypass.com for near universal airport lounge access

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Housesitting opportunities in places you'd like to visit are extremely rare. I used to live in a mountain resort town, and there were posts in our housing FB group every week seeking "housesitting opportunities" (read: free lodging during their ski vacation). No one ever replied.

Freighter cruising is much more expensive than flying for the same distance, but cheaper than an actual cruise. You could probably simulate the experience by living in a motel 6 with a stranger (since you won't get your own bunk) and getting food from Denny's 3x a day.

I used to have Priority Pass as a perk of a corporate card. I was unimpressed with the priority pass lounge in SJC. Filthy, bad food, mediocre service. Far worse than Centurion and Delta lounges.

Their lounges in other aiports seemed to be closed whenever I was in need of them.

Based on that, when we switched to a different corp card, I did not try to get a personal card w/Priority pass access (nor did I buy my own membership).

Priority Pass is great internationally. In the US, the lounge access is usually fairly mediocre, but the airport restaurant access they have at some airports is great - up to $56 credit for food and drink each visit if you're there with another person (e.g. https://www.prioritypass.com/en/lounges/usa/los-angeles-ca-l...). It's been a while since I've last been on a plane thanks to the pandemic, but I was generally getting a few hundred dollars worth of value from the restaurant access alone each year.

When you're coming back from a busy trade show or convention like Defcon in Vegas, that Centurion lounge is almost essential for a decent place to sit, eat or nap in McCarran.

And using Delta's lounge would mean having to fly Delta. Ew.

It just depends on one's use cases. If you're primarily traveling to large conferences such that airports are especially packed, just Priority Pass is probably a poor match. But that's not everyone's scenario.

Yeah, Priority Pass lounges are generally more useful internationally given I (normally) have a Star Alliance lounge pass anyway.

Dining is very hit or miss. For example, there is (was?--who knows) a specific breakfast option at my usual home airport/terminal that's a great deal but I've not really found a use for it otherwise.

I had Eurail part of one summer when I lived in Germany. I was between broke and cheap so would sleep on overnight trains, even taking them partway out of the way and then back. I think I travelled something like 23 nights and paid for 5 nights of hostels in total.

Do you have any resources for someone interested in doing freighter cruising? I imagine right now with the mess that is international shipping, things aren't so good.

I came across:

https://www.freightercruises.com/voyages.php

https://www.freightertrips.com

https://www.langsamreisen.de/en/freightertravel/

http://www.seaplus.com/mainmenu.php

https://juddspittler.com/freighterbum/faq.htm

PriorityPasss is free with certain credit cards.

Which?

I know Sapphire Reserve offers it, have to remember to renew it each year though

Yup. $550/y. Also interesting perks:

- Pre check fees

- No foreign currency tx fees (like my uni's ATM card)

- Lyft pink & bonuses

Other cards:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/all-about-priority-pass-progr...

The Select version is pretty sweet, almost like Prestige.

https://www.loungebuddy.com/blog/priority-pass-the-ultimate-...

It's free with so many credit cards that the value has been somewhat reduced - partly because lounges have gotten more crowded, and some partner lounges will reject Priority Pass holders if they're at capacity (since they'd prefer to serve ticket holders on their own airline first).

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