Welcome to Prince of Travel, Jayce!

The team is rapidly growing here at Prince of Travel, and I’m beyond thrilled to introduce you to its latest member: Jayce Loh.

For many Canadian points enthusiasts who have been in the game for a while, Jayce needs no introduction. He’s one of the great minds of the game, having written in-depth about earning and redeeming strategies on his own blog, PointsNerd, for many years back in the day.

Indeed, those of you who’ve followed Prince of Travel since the beginning will know that we owe a big debt of gratitude to Jayce around here – it was his “Friends of the Blog” shout-out that gave us our first meaningful boost in traffic here at Prince of Travel back in March 2017.

Since then, life has taken Jayce from the doldrums of daily blogging – through the lion’s den of working at an actual airline’s loyalty program – into a busy career in which Jayce still makes time for writing about Miles & Points, but not necessarily for all of the back-end labour that goes into running a full website.

When Jayce approached me to see if he could contribute to Prince of Travel on a regular basis, I did not hesitate in welcoming him into the fold – and bringing the “Friends of the Blog” story full circle.

Without further ado, I’ll let Jayce introduce himself to the community in his own words. Expect to see his Prince of Travel debut later this week.

Hello Prince of Travel readers, my name is Jayce Loh, but you might know me as PointsNerd. I’m a points enthusiast who’s been in this game for 20+ years and I’ve learned a thing or two about how to unlock the world of travel.

You might know me from my blog at PointsNerd.ca and you might have also noticed that I have taken a bit of sabbatical from writing ever since my time at WestJet some three years ago.

I’m still around and helping people with their Miles & Points questions. I’ve kept a lower profile due to my work commitments, but I haven’t lost the passion – which is why I’m now here as a contributor to Prince of Travel.

My passion for Miles & Points started when I took my first paid flight from Calgary to San Francisco on Alaska Airlines. I was quick to open an Alaska Mileage Plan account and credit my $300 flight to my account.

Soon after my vacation had ended, I decided to bask in the glory of the 2,500 miles that I had accumulated and called Alaska Airlines to see what I could redeem my miles for. I figured Hawaii, maybe Europe, even the Maldives was nice this time of year – who knows – the world was my oyster.

After the laughter on the other end of the line subsided, I realized that I had a lot to learn about the game, and down the rabbit hole I went. I haven’t been up for air ever since.

I’ve been able to leverage my points to visit 48 countries (and counting), and have been lucky enough to do that with my wife, Salima, and daughter, Sarei by my side. We are hoping to reach 100 countries by the time Sarei turns 18, but that might not be too likely after losing 1.5 years to the pandemic.

With those points, we have been fortunate enough to experience many of the best business class and First Class products from around the world, and have also managed to turn our points into experiences like the 2018 US Open Tennis Men’s Final and backstage at Broadway’s Aladdin.

I’m in awe of how much value you can derive from Miles & Points and have met a great many friends through this hobby. I’m a teacher at heart and love unlocking possibilities for newbies and veterans alike – there’s nothing better than being stopped by a reader and being told that you helped them realize their travel dreams.

I’m looking very forward to helping even more people through Prince of Travel.