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Ryan Smith on Muck Rack

Ryan Smith

Verified
(He/Him)
California
As seen in: Upgraded Points, Forbes Advisor, USA TODAY Blueprint, CNBC Select, BoardingArea, The Points Guy, AwardWallet Blog, The Military Wallet, Miles To Memories, The Points Guy UK, VCP Travel and
Covers:  Credit cards, reward points, award travel, points and miles, travel
Doesn't Cover: Travel trends, data studies
I've visited every country! News Managing Editor @upgradedpoints Bylines at: AwardWallet, CNBC Select, Forbes Advisor, TPG, USA Today Blueprint & Tripadvisor
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Ryan Smith’s Biography

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 AwardWallet, CNBC Select, Forbes Advisor, Miles to Memories, Point.me, The Points Guy, Tripadvisor, and USA Today Blueprint. 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 & miles stuff is illegal.