Rapid Travel Chai

On my mind: I’ve been giving some thought to the new lineup of Hilton credit cards. I was planning to upgrade my Ascend to an Aspire if a good bonus point offer comes around. I’ve not received any upgrade bonus offers or seen any reported. Instead, I may apply for the Aspire on its own and hold two Hilton cards. One anniversary weekend cert is not much use to us. Two certs are useful, so $15,000 of grocery store spend on the Ascend for a weekend night and 90,000 points is winning me over.

Hacks:

• New Ritz Carlton redemption – a luxury cruise.
• Find Hyatt award availability or cash rates faster.
• Why I changed my mind about Avianca LifeMiles Vuela Visa.

Travels:

• Everything you need to know about eco-friendly sunscreens.
• Phoenix rises at Kolkata heritage hotel.
• Wyndham Hotels CEO on life after company split: ‘La Quinta will be transformational’.

Events:

• Bermuda court overturns same-sex marriage ban in win for tourism industry.
• Ethiopia’s PM says ending war, expanding economic links with Eritrea key for regional stability.
• Covering the North Korea summit while trapped in a warehouse in Singapore.

Ideas:

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: this is how we can really make America great.
• 3 questions about Americans and money.
• Why are Hong Kong’s ‘localists’ on their own?