I swiped ~₹11.5L on my credit card to buy a Škoda Kylaq. The reward points turned into ₹3L+ in hotel stays, a return of nearly 30% on a routine spend. 🚗 Car: Škoda Kylaq, about ₹11.5L 💳 Card: Magnus Burgundy 🏨 Reward Points: ~2L edge points converted to 1.6L ALL Accor at then conversion ratio of 5:4 (about ₹3.4L) Last year, around the festive season, we bought our first car. As a cc geek, I was more excited about the reward points than the car itself 😂 Here's what I did. First, I timed the purchase in an AEP month to get maximum value. Then actual purchase below: A. MDR negotiation The dealer wanted 2%, to cover MDR charges, to take a card. I negotiated it down to 1.25%, about ₹14k. B. Paying the card bill 1️⃣ From savings No loan and no extra interest. Only cost is the ₹14k fee. Net benefit: about ₹3.25L in travel value. Trade-off: ₹11.5L of savings gone in one go. 2️⃣ With a personal loan instead of a car loan (my pick) A car loan pays the dealer directly, so a card swipe isn't possible. A personal loan gives you cash, and cash can be used to pay card bill. Net swipe cost: MDR fee: ~₹14k Interest earned on the loan money (~40 days till the card bill was due): ~₹7k Net cost: ~₹7k The personal loan was about 10%, against 8% for a car loan. Net benefit after the extra interest: 1 year: ~₹3.2L (extra interest ~₹13k) 3 years: ~₹2.9L (extra interest ~₹39k) 5 years: ~₹2.7L (extra interest ~₹67k) Either way, the car cost the same, and the card paid for my stays in Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Japan, Hong Kong and Laos in 2026 ✈️ C. Things to consider - Be extra careful with the MCC. Do a small dummy swipe first and call your card issuer to confirm which MCC the dealer's terminal is coded under before you put the full amount through. - Accelerated points run only up to your credit limit + ₹1.5L in a month, so check your limit first. - Axis has since cut Burgundy to Accor from 5:4 to 5:2, so the hotel return on the same swipe today is half. Savvy redemption experts can still get similar value by moving the points to airline miles and booking premium-cabin award tickets. - The maths changes with other cards, but with the right earn rate and transfer partner it can still work in your favour.

In moments like this, I wonder if I should have given up my Indian passport when I had the chance. Every visa application since has been the price of that decision.

Schengen visa as an unemployed solo traveller: worth applying, or a waste of fees?

That was one big swipe. For everything else, from rent to vouchers to flights, here's the full stack and what each card does 👇 xitter.cf/NotesEnRoute/status/21…

Penultimate step towards my dream card stack ✅ HSBC Premier account opened, debit card in hand. One step left: the credit card 🤞

Follow-up on my Europe-in-December plan. Pricing a business class award, Bangalore → Rome: ✈️ Air India miles: 125,000 ✈️ Same flight via KrisFlyer: 68,000 (≈45% fewer miles) Almost crazy that with miles, a business class ticket to Europe costs just ₹2,900 in taxes and fees.

One wrong 4-digit code just cost me free flights worth ₹15,000+. ✈️ I bought a MacBook at Imagine Nexus, Koramangala, in my AEP month on the Axis Magnus Burgundy. I’m always careful with MCC on big purchases, but this time I got lazy. It’s an electronics retailer, what could go wrong? The transaction came through as telecom/utilities. I tried everything to get it fixed. Even Axis couldn’t help. Zero reward points. 😫 Lesson: Always test the MCC even at a “safe” merchant.

Hello, I’ve been trying to book an Air India award flight using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, but I’m unable to. I’ve checked Maharaja Club and seats are available on Air India, but they don’t show up on KrisFlyer. Any suggestions on how to get this fixed?

Some of India's most "Indian" foods are actually immigrants. ✈️🥔 🥔 Potato: Andes, South America 🍅 Tomato: South America 🌶️ Chilli: Central and South America 🌽 Corn: Mexico 🥜 Peanut: South America 🍍 Pineapple: South America 🌰 Cashew: Brazil 🍈 Papaya: Tropical Americas 🍐 Guava: Tropical America 🟤 Chikoo: Mexico and Central America 🍏 Custard apple: Tropical Americas 🫘 Rajma: Central and South America 🥦 Cauliflower: Mediterranean region 🥬 Cabbage: Europe and the Mediterranean 🍒 Litchi: Southern China ☕ Coffee: Ethiopia 🍵 Tea: China and other parts of Asia, with tea also native to northeast India Many of these American crops reached India through Portuguese trade networks after the 1500s, as part of the Columbian Exchange. Others arrived or spread through different routes and at different times. The British later helped expand commercial tea plantations and popularised several European vegetables. 🚢 Your rajma chawal and masala chai have more complicated travel histories than most of us. 😂