By Lily Appleby • The Cardinal Editorial Intern
Get to know 2022’s Bucks Happening Best Social Media Personality, Brian Kelly. He has over 275,000 followers on his personal Instagram account (@briankelly), and over 700,000 on his business Instagram account(@thepointsguy), where he gives advise on traveling with points and miles! Brian documents his world travels and gives great tips along the way! He’s been featured on many news outlets sharing his travel wisdom. Following him will make you want to quit your job and travel the world, so do so with caution!
I grew up in…Jamison, PA, and graduated from Central Bucks East in 2001.
My first international trip was…to the Cayman Islands in 1996. That was the first trip I used my dad’s frequent flyer miles to fly our family of six for free, which was pretty amazing.
My passion for travel developed when…I studied abroad in Madrid in 2005 and fell in love with travelling around Europe.
My favorite and least favorite travel experience abroad…
My favorite experience is doing charity work with an organization called Peace Champ, where we bring Nobel Peace Prize winners to kids and youth around the world, and the Points Guy sponsors these conferences in Ghana, Guatemala, Liberia, and South Africa. Those are my favorite types of trips.
My least favorite experience abroad is… I would say I generally see the good in every destination, but I’m not a huge fan of Bali. It’s so far away, and I didn’t think the beaches were that nice. I highly recommend going places much closer, the Caribbean and Hawaii come to mind.
My 3 best travel tips are…
1. Put air tags in your luggage so you can track them in real time. So, when the airline loses them, you can tell them exactly where they are.
2. Use your frequent flyer miles. They lose value over time, so use them now, and also when you use them, they give you added flexibility.
3. Book flights on travel credit cards like Chase Sapphire and AmEx Platinum that give trip delay and interruption coverage, these days with so many delays and cancellations, your credit card with help reimburse you if anything goes wrong.
The must have item I always bring traveling is… My Apple Air pods max noise cancelling head phones (Bose QC38 are also great). Screaming babies and annoying seat mates are just a factor of travel, so bringing your own form of noise cancelling headphones is a must.
My dream trip (or place you haven’t visited yet that you really want to) is… A cruise to Antarctica, to kayak with whales.
The Points Guy is… A travel website that helps millions of people travel smarter and maximize their frequent flyer miles and credit card points.
A celebrity/public figure that I’ve gotten to interact with through my Instagram/work who I really enjoyed was... After going on the View, Whoopie Goldberg reached out, she’s a TPG reader, and I often give her travel tips and she’s just an all-around amazing human and fun person to be friends with.
The Carbon Ridge is…. A personal sanctuary, it’s my farm in Solebury where I ride horses. I have goats, llamas, chickens, and by the time this article prints, probably another new animal because, like someone once told me, having horses and animals is like having potato chips, you can’t just have one.
This passion (for horses/rescuing animals) came from… In college, at the University of Pittsburgh, I volunteered at the animal rescue league, and realized that just being around animals brings my stress down and I also realized that so many animals are neglected, and even just volunteering to go walking dogs, and often the ones that people think are the meanest are the sweetest. Like Pitbull mixes, who are truly just the most soulful dogs out there.
I tell people who are traveling to Bucks County to make sure to visit… The Delaware River, kayaking is one of my favorite things to do in the world, especially now with so many bald eagles it’s just an absolutely spectacular experience, the rivers clean and the bald eagles are simply majestic.
My favorite places to go in Doylestown are… I would say… OOKA sushi bar.
If planning an upcoming trip… allow ample time at the airport, especially if you have a connection; avoid checking a bag, but if you must, use an AirTag to track it; and consider going to off the beaten path destinations and airports to avoid high levels of chaos.” “The strong demand to travel combined with the ongoing issues of staffing shortages and flight cancellations has led to a crazy summer for the travel industry.
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