Christine was born in Northern Michigan but spent most of her career operating her own business developing and managing insurance and financial services offices throughout the state. Her previous experience involved building and writing business plans in the mergers and acquisitions sector in New York, as well as staffing in the insurance and financial technology software field.
Her successful insurance and financial services career has been an excellent foundation from which to source her knowledge for many of Upgraded Points’ travel insurance articles.
Additionally, Christine has a collection of over 2 dozen current credit cards, including those issued by American Express, Chase, Citi, Discover, U.S. Bank, and previously Barclays and Capital One. Her goal is to learn every aspect of the cards’ attributes with a hands-on approach in order to translate that experience to her in-depth comparison and benefit articles. Beyond using the cards for earning and redeeming rewards, we won’t even mention the hours she spends reading each card’s Guide to Benefits.
Although Christine applies for cards on a consistent basis, she keeps a close watch on her credit score to maintain an excellent credit rating averaging between 820 to 840.
Her favorite use of points includes purchasing premium class fare tickets with The Business Platinum Card® from American Express to receive the 35% points rebate. Keeping a healthy balance of hundreds of thousands of points allows her to purchase several business class flights each year. She’s also a fan of the Chase Sapphire Reserve® which she uses to purchase bargain business class fares with Chase Ultimate Rewards points to receive 1.5 cents per point in value.
Christine now makes Northern Michigan her home, but she also travels over 200,000 miles each year, most of it internationally. She uses her miles to position to cities where deals can be found, preferably in business class, and uses rewards points to pay for the flights. She also uses her earned systemwide upgrades to fly in business and first class.
For over 10 years, Christine has been writing about her weekend travels, personal finance, and travel tips. She has been a contributor to various online travel blogs, a regional men’s magazine, travel newsletters and lifestyle blogs, and authored a book, “How To See the World in a Weekend,” about her weekend travels.
She has nearly 5 million flown miles, elite status on all 3 major domestic carriers, and is a 3-million miler with Delta Air Lines.
You can follow Christine on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Countries Visited: 98
U.S. States Visited: 45
Highest Hotel Status: Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite, Hilton Honors Diamond
Highest Airline Status: Delta SkyMiles Diamond Medallion
Favorite Airline Alliance: SkyTeam
Favorite First Class: Emirates First Class A380 Suite
Favorite Business Class: Delta One Suites
Best Redemption Value: Avios for short-haul flights
Favorite Type of Points: Chase Ultimate Rewards
Top 3 Cards in Wallet: Chase Sapphire Reserve®, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
