Welcome to Travelling Lens Insider, where every weekend I send you a carefully curated letter of all things travel, photography and points optimisation.
Now, onto this week’s Travel + Photo letter…
✈️ Travel, Points and Miles
💰 Rakuten was thecashback portal other expats recommended to us when we first moved to the US.Watch this 11 minute breakdown from Frequent Miler to learn exactly how you can earn AMEX Membership Reward points with Rakuten and how you can optimise your Rakuten cashbacks or points earnings.
✈️ Most Australians will have a stash of Qantas points, and we Qantas Frequent Flyer members narrowed avoid some bad Emirates news this week. Emirates announced recently that First Class Emirates redemptions are now limited to Emirates’ Skyward Silver, Gold, and Platinum tier members from May 12, 2025 onward. Thankfully (for now), Qantas members regardless of status level still have access to redeeming First Class Emirates flights via Qantas!
It would have been a real shame if that was removed. I managed to snag a Emirates First Class seat last February from Houston to Dubai and Dubai to Kuala Lumpur, and it’s honestly the most impressive and aspirational award redemption I’ve ever taken (and would love to repeat one day).
🔐 In-flight theft is a real thing.Learn how to protect your valuables when flying.
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📷 Photography
📸 Try these 3 photo composition tips to capture your Travel Moments (no fancy camera required).
🖼️ Tired of Instagram? Lucy Lumen breaks down the tops ways to share your photos in 2025—including why Substack is the place to be for photographers right now.
🌄 Clouds and lighting and make or break your outdoor photography. Hot tip: Aim for high or medium clouds in the sky during sunrise or sunset. Low clouds snuffs out the light, making for a dull photo. Mark Denney shares exactly how he uses the free Clear Outside to help him take better photos outside.
Want to an easy way to plan your next trip? Get the free Travel Hub trip planning system in Notion.
👀 Lately
Last weekend we had the pleasure of staying at Excellence Riviera Cancun, Mexico. An adults only all-inclusive resort.
After a hectic March and April of travel, but also some frustrating and disappointing personal news, we were in much need of some R&R.
It was expected to rain and thunderstorm all weekend in Cancun. Thankfully the rain didn’t last long, and we still got plenty of beach and pool time.
(I’ll share my honest review of the Excellence Riviera Cancun in a future post—overall we had a good experience, though there were some aspects that could be improved upon)
📚 Travel Reading
The latest romantasy series from Sarah J. Maas (of ACOTAR fame).
The book follows the story of a half-human, half-fae Bryce Quinlan whose life was turned upside down when her best friend was murdered. She ends up investigating conspiracy that involves a series of murders that started with the murder of her best friend, with investigative Angel Hunt Athalar.
Personally I found this series more interesting and easier to get into than ACOTAR.
If romantasy if your kind of travel reading, you’ll probably like this one.
I was looking for a “beach read” kind of book for my 4-day weekend to Cancun, Mexico. This book by Sally Rooney sort of hits the mark. A story about two friends and their perspective on relationships, the meaning of life, adulting and modern day society’s expectations.
📸 Photo of the week
Houston, where we’ve been calling home for the last 21 months.
It’ll be bittersweet when it’s time for us to head home from our adventures abroad.
💬 Final Words
That’s all for today! See you next week
Janice
(p.s. I’m always looking to improve. If you have feedback, I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s newsletter. And if you enjoyed it, please let me know why!)