I have been in this game for about a year now. In this past year I have flown around the world several times and stayed 50-100 nights in 5 star hotels. I am looking back now and wondering, is it worth it?
I go to a hotel now and I will not stay there if I do not get a decent room. I will walk out and be upset. I now get very irritated when I have to wait in lines anywhere. I can no longer fall asleep in economy class. I have raised my lifestyle. This lifestyle has cost me financially more than I wish to admit. I will now pay a lot more for comfort than I would have a year ago. The feeling is amazing and I do not think I can go back.
The average several star DDFer has spent days, weeks if not months of their time on DDF. Yes, hobbies are great, but this is more. This eats up so much of our time. Conversation topics with other travelers always end up being about this lifestyle. Which airline, which hotel etc. All of these hours used (wasted?) playing the game could have been used better elsewhere. In retrospect, if I had spent all of these hours really working hard at work, I would be able to afford to pay the full cash price of this lifestyle. (ok, not a 20k flight to MLE and 2k per nights, but there are more affordable options)
Here is the main problem: I think the ethic standard I set for myself also lowered in the past year. My business ethics have not changed, but I now do some things that I would have never done. I am afraid it will only get worse. We can give excuses for ourselves for SBS and CC sign up bonuses, even MS and corp codes with fake corp ID's. But those are just excuses. At the end of the day, if it was in a different context, we wouldn't do it.
Is it worth lowering my ethics level to save money? I feel like I am trading my soul for comfort and pleasure.
#RANTOVER #IAMTOOADDICTEDTOLEAVE
Ugh, where to start?
A. Don't lump together SBS, signup bonuses, and fake corp codes.
-SBS is legit within every term of the offer. Making up fake names is wrong, but most don't do that.
-Churning may or may not be allowed per Ts and Cs, but is something banks can decide on whether to award the miles or not whenever they feel like it.
-Lying about which company you work for is something completely different.
B. It's nice to live a lifestyle that would require an income many times what you can get otherwise, but there's no need to stoop low to achieve that. Ultimately the chinese farmer sleeping on the ground is content with his lifestyle too, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have aspirations.
But I'll wait in line or sit in coach and not be irritated, the key is to remain grounded and not become arrogant.
