What does a near nonstop business traveler do when he hangs up his briefcase? If his name is Charles Veley, he keeps trotting the planet and aims for the title of World's Most Traveled Man.
Veley is no grizzled wanderer with a long white beard, walking stick and a scruffy dog tagging along. He's a good-looking, well-groomed 43-year-old who has personally visited 709 of the "757 Parts of the World." Those are the places Veley and the travelers he competes with agree they must set foot on -- not the 190 countries the United Nations recognizes.
To date, Veley has logged 3 million miles in all modes of transportation, including feet, in his relentless quest to reach his goal (for more info on the competition visit www.charlesveley.com).
These days, Veley isn't bunking in Ritz-Carltons and glitzy hotels like he did when he was a founding member of Microstrategies, a business intelligence software company in Washington D.C. Veley, a Harvard grad, estimates he was on the road between 50 percent and 70 percent of the last five years he worked at Microstrategies. He crisscrossed the U.S., visiting Microstrategies 110 offices, as well as heading an expansion into Europe.
In those days, Veley was "1K" with United, second highest elite status in its Mileage Plus program, and "platinum for life" in American's AAdvantage frequent flyer plan. But when Veley switched careers from technology exec to professional traveler, he also shifted his allegiance to JetBlue and now Virgin America for flights inside the U.S. Veley likes the in-seat personal televisions on both airlines, the friendly flight attendants and other passenger perks.
But Veley doesn't give away the frequent flyer miles he's accumulated. He couples them with cash and buys round-the-world business-class tickets at prices lower than most carriers charge for economy class going one way.
His secret? Veley is airline savvy and shops like he was spending his last dime. He takes advantage of airline alliances to piece together a jigsaw puzzle of long- and short-haul journeys that touch down at the different destinations on his itinerary. He was using the 23 member airlines of Star (www.staralliance.com) and the 10 airlines of One World (www.oneworld.com) and flying first class when he found a deal with SkyTeam (www.skyteam.com) that flies under the radar.
"Essentially, this all-business-class round-the-world ticket uses a number of the 15 SkyTeam members, such as Northwest, Continental, Emirates, Delta, Malaysian, Malev, Air Europe and seven different South Pacific airlines," he said.
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