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HKRESS AIR Boarding Pass
ATLAtlanta
EUREurope

Howard Kress

Intrepid world traveler. Spent a career moving other people around the planet. Now mostly does it for himself — on points.

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PassengerKress / Howard
FromDetroit
CabinPoints & Miles
Countries60 & counting
StatusHe abides
HKRESS · ATL — EUR · 060

About

Howard has spent his life getting people from one place to another, and getting them a decent deal while he was at it. Detroit built him. Michigan educated him. The travel business kept him busy for the better part of four decades — airlines, agencies, the old reservation systems, and most of the acronyms in between.

Retired now, in Atlanta, though “retired” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The job just changed shape. These days the miles are his own, the schedule is nobody’s business, and the destination is usually a corner of Europe most people can’t find on a map.

He reads more than you do, watches more movies than you’d admit to, and has lately started turning out pastry that has no business coming out of a home oven. Irreverent, hard to impress, easy to travel with. He takes it easy — for all us sinners.

Howard Kress at Lebowski Lanes, in a knit cardigan, holding a White Russian.
At the lanes — the rug really tied the room together.

The map

Sixty countries, and the map isn’t full yet.

Six continents’ worth of stamps. Western, Central, and Eastern Europe on repeat — usually on someone else’s miles.

60 countries
6 continents

Tap the map to open it full-size

The full list
  • 01Australia
  • 02Austria
  • 03Bahamas
  • 04Barbados
  • 05Belgium
  • 06Belize
  • 07Bulgaria
  • 08Canada
  • 09Chile
  • 10China
  • 11Colombia
  • 12Costa Rica
  • 13Czechia
  • 14Denmark
  • 15Dominican Republic
  • 16Ecuador
  • 17El Salvador
  • 18Fiji
  • 19France
  • 20Germany
  • 21Greece
  • 22Haiti
  • 23Holy See
  • 24Hungary
  • 25Ireland
  • 26Israel
  • 27Italy
  • 28Jamaica
  • 29Japan
  • 30Kenya
  • 31Kuwait
  • 32Liechtenstein
  • 33Luxembourg
  • 34Mexico
  • 35Monaco
  • 36Netherlands
  • 37Norway
  • 38Palestine State
  • 39Panama
  • 40Peru
  • 41Philippines
  • 42Poland
  • 43Portugal
  • 44Qatar
  • 45Romania
  • 46Russia
  • 47Saint Lucia
  • 48San Marino
  • 49Slovakia
  • 50South Africa
  • 51South Korea
  • 52Spain
  • 53Sweden
  • 54Switzerland
  • 55Thailand
  • 56Trinidad & Tobago
  • 57Turkey
  • 58United Arab Emirates
  • 59United Kingdom
  • 60USA

What he’s up to

Retirement, as practiced by a professional.

Duty-free

Points & Miles

The deal hunt

Watches every fare, mistake price, and transfer bonus like a hawk. Turns credit-card points into business-class seats to Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. If it flew cheaper yesterday, he knew about it yesterday.

Fresh

The kitchen

Pastry & cake

A recent and slightly alarming talent. Took up baking and went straight past “hobby” into things with laminated dough and mirror glazes. Proficient, particular, and not shy about it.

Well-read

The reading list

News & books

Reads constantly and widely — the day’s news front to back, and a steady stack of books alongside it. Will have an opinion. Will have read the thing you’re about to mention.

Now showing

The screening room

Several movies a week

A serious, high-volume movie habit. Genre is no object, taste runs dry and a little dark, and the recommendations are usually better than the algorithm’s.

Roots

Detroit-built, Michigan-educated, Chicago-refined.

Grew up around Detroit, took his degree in Ann Arbor — where he still bleeds maize and blue — and sharpened it at Kellogg, just outside Chicago. Some allegiances survive every move, every merger, and every layover.

Get in touch

Say hello.

Travel questions, deal tips, book and movie arguments, or a slice of cake — all welcome.