Sunday Success Story



Miami Beach, Florida



 Rick-

I will try to keep this brief, but each time I start to think about this "success story" it seems to get out of control...

My sister-in-law is a realtor in the Fort Myers area and had shown us several properties there that we just couldn't resist.  We ended up purchasing one in early 2011 as a rental.  During our several trips down there to furnish & set up the home for renters (and ourselves of course) we were able to accrue quite a few miles and points, and easily meet the minimum spends on several cards with sign up bonuses.  AND this is all able to be written off on our taxes since the rental home is a business.

This past summer my wife suggested a family trip to somewhere tropical for Christmas this year.  Being frugal it sounded like it was out of my price range until I started to look at using Rick's methods to parlay small amounts into large travel.  This wouldn't be too bad for most - but I was looking at booking a family of 8!

Using our rental home as a base for our trip we were able to do the following:
fly delta from near home for 320,000 miles
stay at the rental property for free for 5 days
stay at Marriott properties in Key West for 2 days, and Miami for 1 day using points
stay at Westin property in Tampa Bay for 1 day using SPG points

All I had to use money to pay for was the big juicy rental van, admission to tourist venues, and food.
AND it was a Christmas present that our family will never forget!

Thanks for providing information on your blog that we can all use to see the world at a price we can afford!

Roger

Limited Time Offer! First Year Fee Waived: 50,000 Points Transferable to Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Continental and British Airways

Brooklyn Reality Tour June 2, 2012

The world famous Dan Hammer is conducting and leading the 12th annual Brooklyn Reality tour. The seating is extremely limited (25) and will sell out quickly. Most people have never experienced the life of a true "Brooklander", "Brooklinian", maybe its "Brookie" but Dan takes the gang to the place of his birth, local eateries and shops and shows what it is and was like to grow up in world famous Brooklyn. I'm going to try to get it on my schedule as Dan is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.

Here is your official invite:

Announcing the 12th annual dhammer53 Brooklyn Reality Tour aka BRT.

Date: June 2, 2012

Time: 9:30, with pushback at 10:00.

Theme: Returning to our roots with a 25 passenger van.

Dedication: BRT 12 is dedicated to newself (Dave) who passed away last year. He rode on BRT 1.

Theme: We're going to anty up some money to the Captain Jason Dahl Foundation. http://dahlfund.org/ Details to follow.

The first 11 Brooklyn Tours were sellouts. BRT 4 - 7 I rented an airport type shuttle van. Last year we had a 50 passenger coach bus. We split the cost. This year, the cost will be about $60. per person.

Pick up 10:00 Saturday morning in the Grand Central Terminal neighborhood. Drop-off at 10:00pm. We have a tradition of departing ontime.
Besides touring Brooklyn (my home town), we eat, and eat, and eat. Can you say 'real' Brooklyn pizza? Can you say 'delicious' bakery goodies? Just ask any of the folks who have been on this tour. We drive. We tour. We eat.
If you're new to Flyertalk or Milepoint, the tour is a great way to make new friends.

At the end of the BRT tours 2 - 11, we went for dinner at an authentic Italian place in an authentic Italian neighborhood. Lots of jewelry showing.

Figure about $25- $30 a person if we do a sit down lunch or dinner. This is less than what you would pay in Manhattan; and twice the portion. The show is better than the food. Pizza is at L&B Spumoni Gardens.

Start planning now. Springtime in New York is beautiful. Consider yourself invited.

Past tour highlights include:

2001...poor AnnaS having a cold.
2002...Lisamcgu making us stop for White castle hamburgers.
2003...mjm insisting on a Starbucks break. After I stopped laughing at him for thinking that Brooklyn would even have a Starbucks... we found one.
2004...gorging on food at marysunshine's house...and this was a snack!
2005...cawhite knocking on the door of my childhood home; while I ducked for cover. It was a priceless moment. Details towards the last page of the 2005 thread. Also, a Tony Soprano type sitting at the bar added some extra flavor to our experience.
2006...Our van squeezing past a doubleparked car on a side street. You can just imagine the typical Brooklyn swearing. Also, the tour getting its 15 minutes of fame on Cable television News 12 Brooklyn.
2007... When cawhites 'friend' Larry (the guy who always sits at the bar), checked us out!
2008... "I had no intention of stopping at my childhood home. As we approached, I told the driver to slow down, then stop. Seems the front door was wide open. I took this as a sign from above. I stopped the bus.
A couple of years back, cawhite knocked on the door. I ducked for cover. This year I was apprehensive as I approached. When I told the woman that she bought the house from my Mom, she said in typical Brooklyn fashion whats her name? When I responded, she had a big smile for me.
This may have been the moment on BRT 8. Every year, there's always one moment that's noteworthy".
2009... We were filmed throughout the day for a documentary. Maybe it'll even come out one of these days.
2011... the bus went MX (mechanical). 90 minute delay.
Note: We rotate seats on the bus. Seat 1A is reserved for a couple of long time attendees.

We make plenty of stops.
No talking miles and points when I'm (ahem) lecturing on Brooklyn.

It takes a certain type of person to put up with other Flyertalkers/Milepointers for an entire day. If you're looking for an excuse to visit NY (Brooklyn) in June, the dhammer53 Brooklyn Reality Tour is it.
Note to new riders... I would suggest reading the 2011 thread to get a peek at what you can expect. 11th Annual Brooklyn Reality Tour - June 4, 2011. Saturday

Have a question? e mail dhammer53@aol.com

Limited Time Offer! First Year Fee Waived: 50,000 Points Transferable to Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Continental and British Airways

Rookie Travel tips and where to go next?

Rookie Travel Tips

with Shannon

Last weeks winning tip goes to Miles, Thanks for a great one!

"It's nice to have some local currency when you arrive at a foreign destination, and even nicer to have some small denomination coins and bills for tips, cab, etc. You can sometimes find foreign currencies for sale on Craigslist. If you don't see the currency you want for sale, then just post that you want to buy some.In advance of a trip to Viet Nam, I was able to purchase a million VND (worth about $50 USD) and the seller tossed in some small-denomination bills at no extra cost.- Miles"

 My mom and I had a conversation not long ago about where she should go next as she was trying to find some interesting locations to put on the travel calander. My advice was to find places hosting festivals or destinations with activities she wanted to try. I'm sure many of you avid globe trotters have sat down and asked your self the " now where, now what?" question. For you here is a list of ideas. Check these places out.

1. The Holistic Day Spa
- Jackie's on the Reef Negril, Jamaica.
- Rancho La Puerta California

2. The Amazon Basin
- Chalalan Ecolodge in the Madidi National Park, Bolivia
- MARAPAJO ecotourismo Indigena, Rurrenabaque Bolivia
- La Selva Amazon Ecolodge Brazil

3. African Game Park 

 -Kruger National Park, South Africa

- Okavango Delta - Island safari ,Botswana

- Bwindi National Park, Uganda

4. If you haven't gone, Go.

-The Great Wall of China

- The Taj Mahal

- Machu Picchu

-Angkor Wat

5.For the Ladies Only

- Call of the wild

-Ela Brasil Tours

-Women's Quest

Women Traveling Together

Wild Women Expeditions

6. Odd Museums

-The Museum of Bad Art , Massachusetts

-Museu de Carroses Funebres (museum of funeral carriages), Barcelona Spain.

-Erimo Wind Museum, Hokkaido Japan- underground museum which uses natural wind to power music and light displays, also a wind tunnel you can experience 56mph gales (on a calm day).

-Songkran Niyomsane Museum , Bangkok Thialand. Medical Museum not for the weak of stomach, this museum houses the corpse of a cannibal, remains of accident victims and forensic evidence.

7.Island Escapes

-Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

-Koh Rong Cambodia

-Ilha Grande Brazil

8. Go by Rail

-The Sunlander Queensland, Austrailia
-Welsh Highland Railway Wales
-The Old Patagonian Express Argentina

9. Wine and Beer Festivals
- International Pinor Noir Celebration McMinnville, Oregon
-Vino al Vino Panzano Panzano, Italy
-    Real Ale Festival Skipton, England

10.  To the Wilderness

- Leirhnjukur Lava Fields Iceland

-Nunavik Canada
-Lake O'hara

Remember there is always somewhere else to explore and something else to do. Never stop.
Are you going on any amazing vacations this year? If so comment on your destinations below, I'm so curious to see where our readers are traveling.

Shannon, The Rookie

New Ink Bold with Ultimate Rewards Card

•50,000 bonus points after you spend $5000 in 3 months – that's $500 in rewards of your choice, or $625 towards airfare when you redeem online through our Ultimate Rewards booking tool.
•No limit to the number of points you can earn – and points do not expire.
•5X points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent annually on eligible business purchases.
•No foreign transaction fees and Free Employee Cards.
•No interest or over limit fees.
•No Annual Fee in the first year – that's a $95 savings.

Deal of the Day

If you’re flying to Salt Lake City, you can get a free lift ticket at Park City, Deer Valley or Canyons!

You can stay at the luxurious New York Palace hotel for $250/night which includes up to $100 in resort credit + a free upgrade. The hotel is about a block from Rockefeller Plaza and across the street from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

You can get an SUV from Avis for $22/day on weekends or $129/week!

It seems that the 50,000 point bonus for the Southwest Premier card is back! Sign up now if you missed the chance before!

The Points Guy has broken the story on the Q1 Hyatt Promo! They’ve finally announced the details of their Q1 promo, which every other hotel chain has already started!

50,000 Thank You Points!

I'm Now a Creditsesame "Excellent Guru" ?

PITA? Yes. Husband, father, and recent grandpa? Yes. Frugal Travel Nut? Guilty. But now I have been classified as a "Guru" by Creditsesame for how I handle my credit. I just got the upgraded rating last week. In essence, it means that Creditsesame recognizes that I have excellent credit and they can not find any means to improve my financial situation. I earned the excellent rating for a score of 740+.

For all you new to the credit card game, I hope this confirms for you that you can, if prudent, apply for a few credit cards and keep an excellent credit rating. It takes discipline, patience, and a plan, but the rewards are many, the travel exciting, and at a very reasonable cost. We have been around the world twice on business class tickets that cost us taxes only and at the same time have almost 100 credit cards in our credit file (no, they are not all open now). Katy and I have over two million frequent flier miles in our accounts combined, and have visited 63 different countries with the vast majority of the trips coming from credit cards.

I get many, many, many emails per week from people asking me to review their credit situation and I'm glad to do it, with the understanding that you are responsible for your own decisions. And as some of you know, I can and will suggest that if your score isn't high enough to generate approvals for these premium travel cards, I'm gonna send you back to work on your credit, correct errors on your report, or establish a more complete credit file. It is such a waste of time to just apply for cards without a plan or the credit score to support it.

If you read the Sunday Success Stories in the blog, you'll see that plain old ordinary folks like you and me can see the world at prices we all can afford. Start by getting your credit score from one of the free offers on the left hand blog column, then drop me a note (rick@frugaltravelguy.com) with your results, and a few other things I suggest in the Rookie Tips and FAQ tab above.

I've spent years approving mortgages as a FNMA, VA, and FHA underwriter, done credit counseling for my local VA office, and used these techniques myself successfully for years.

Your credit is one of your most important assets. Please be careful but excited by the possibilities -- if you treat your credit right.

New Ink Bold with Ultimate Rewards Card

•50,000 bonus points after you spend $5000 in 3 months – that's $500 in rewards of your choice, or $625 towards airfare when you redeem online through our Ultimate Rewards booking tool.
•No limit to the number of points you can earn – and points do not expire.
•5X points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent annually on eligible business purchases.
•No foreign transaction fees and Free Employee Cards.
•No interest or over limit fees.
•No Annual Fee in the first year – that's a $95 savings.