Ryan Smith

Ryan grew up in Ohio but has lived in half a dozen states and multiple continents before recently returning to the U.S. and settling in southern California. After someone at his hostel in China said “I flew here for free using points,” Ryan was hooked. In December of 2023, he completed his goal of visiting every country in the world and now plans to revisit some of his favorites. Ryan has been around points and miles for several years and has published content at Miles to Memories, AwardWallet, CNBC Select, USA Today Blueprint, Tripadvisor, The Points Guy, and Forbes Advisor. He also holds Brazilian citizenship and speaks fluent Portuguese. His wife joins him on many of his trips, and they enjoy snowboarding, scuba diving, seeing animals in the wild, and hunting for vegan tiramisu. When not traveling, Ryan is probably answering questions from his family about how he travels so much and whether this points and miles stuff is illegal.