JLife speaks to Nicky Kelvin, Editor at Large at The Points Guy on his love for Tel Aviv and savvy travel.
The Points Guy is a global brand which helps people travel better. Bringing people the best in points, miles, credit card advice, and nifty travel tips and tricks, it’s also known for its flight, hotel, and cruise reviews. Inspiring people to travel more and travel better, The Points Guy has a website, newsletter, social media channels, and YouTube channel to its brand name, raking in over 100 million readers on its website, 4 million social media followers, and over a million subscribers to its newsletters.
Hi Nicky! So tell us how you started working for The Points Guy?
I was always obsessed with planes and aviation from being a little kid. My sister was British Airways cabin crew and I flew all around the world with her. I took full advantage of the travel concessions, for example I would fly to Israel, sometimes three or four times a year. Back then, London to Tel Aviv was just £67 return.
My sister got married and had kids and her family were the new recipients of the benefits. So, I found points, miles, and credit cards as a way to maintain my love of travelling frequently, and in style.
I started out with my career as a lawyer at Virgin EMI Records, a Universal Music label and during that time I started blogging and vlogging about points, miles, and credit cards under the brand “The Miles Mogul” as a personal passion project.
Then through doing the Miles Mogul, I got noticed by the original Points Guy, Brian Kelly, who founded the company in the US about 13 years ago. I was hired to establish the UK franchise of the brand.
In your Points Guy profile you say your favourite city is Tel Aviv, tell us about your love of the city!
I recommend everyone to go to Tel Aviv, it’s certainly not polished by any stretch, but it has so much raw energy. The people are beautiful, the food is amazing, the cafes, clubs, bars and museums are unbelievable. There’s something so special about it that you just can’t quite put your finger on.
I’m a huge advocate for Israel. I’m a staunch Zionist, I’m very feel very deeply about the existence of a Jewish state in that part of the world. I would tell anybody to go to Tel Aviv. Everyone I’ve ever taken there, Jewish, not Jewish, whoever they are – they feel the energy.
I think my obsession or passion for Israel is deeply connected to my feelings about being Jewish. A few years ago, I was in Perth and I got invited to a Seder by a Jewish family. There was something so bizarre about it, because I was literally on the other side of the world and I was sat around the table with people I didn’t know, yet I knew the characters all around that table, they were the same people who would have
been sat around the seder table with me in England. There were the same songs, same smells the same food. And there’s something like very special about that.
As someone who is a two-time Webby award winner for content creation, what advice would you give an aspiring creator?
It’s all about authenticity, and serviceability. You’ve got to be yourself, show your passion, and help people in some way – and helping doesn’t have to just mean in the traditional sense. You might help them by entertaining them or giving them advice.
I see a lot of creators (especially those just starting out) trying to emulate what other people are creating. There’s nothing wrong taking inspiration from people, but it becomes a problem when it’s at the expense the core of the content, brand, or authenticity of that creator.
Don’t just try to be an influencer for influencer’s sake, look at your passions, your content, and think what am I trying to offer, do people want or need this, and does it make a difference?
Check out The Points Guy at Thepointsguy.com
