Key Lime Pie

August 3, 2011 - Andrew

Have you every traveled somewhere desperate for the food? I can recall phoning my father (Rick) one afternoon and hearing a ruckus in the background. “Dad, where are you?” I asked.

“I’m in San Francisco!”

“What? Why?”

“I wanted good Chinese food.”

It was with this ridiculous exchange that I realized the Frugal Travel Guy had gotten himself into one crazy hobby. It may not be surprising to some, but he was on a mileage run, no doubt acquiring Elite Qualifying Miles for probably less than the cost of a night out at the cinema.

A good group of my friends spend Labor Day in Key West, Florida, every year. So when I decided I was going to make the journey from Australia to Florida for a couple weeks, I was pretty darned sure I was going to get myself a good piece of Key Lime Pie!

I flew on a OneWorld Award with Qantas and American Airlines from SYD-LAX-ORD-MIA. For those of you who have traveled to or from Australia, you can appreciate my unhappiness having ORD in my itinerary. Sometimes we have to accept a little annoyance when we’re traveling for peanuts. Despite my booking six months in advance, the nonstop LAX-MIA flights were all booked out.

Living in Oz, I really appreciate the time I spend with my American friends and family. On this occasion it wasn’t until I was driving along US 1 back to Miami that I realized I hadn’t had my Key Lime Pie. Thank goodness the Keys are riddled with excellent mom-and-pop diners, including the Key Largo Conch House. I highly recommend their award winning Key Lime Pie!

Does anyone else get cravings for certain foods only available in certain parts of the world? Kimchi in Korea? Gelato in Italy? Empanadas in Argentina? If you could recommend a destination for its food, where would it be?

Who is Azafady? The Charity I’ll be working with in Madagascar

Azafady, a registered UK-based charity (no.107121) and Madagascar-based NGO (non-governmental organization), works on conservation, humanitarian, and sustainable livelihood projects in the southeast of Madagascar. Azafady Madagascar is an independent organization, set up with help in 1996. The organization, known in Madagascar as “ONG Azafady,” is the group that actually turns projects into a reality.

Azafady focuses its work in the southeast of the island in the region of Fort Dauphin. This region is home to a great variety of unique, rare, and endangered plants, animals, and ecosystems. But, as is the case in all of Madagascar, poverty poses an enormous and immediate threat to this precious natural environment. Azafady has a bias towards projects that bring measurable benefits to the very poorest members of the village communities where help is needed most.

Azafady’s goals are to:

Promote sustainable livelihoods
Improve well-being
Protect/maintain the environment

Goals are reached by working on projects in these general areas:

Basic health infrastructure and training
Water supply and sanitation
Sustainable natural resource management
Income-generating activities
Research and conservation
Institutional strengthening

UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances (I couldn’t get time off work as previously planned), I’ve postponed my trip to Madagascar until early spring 2012. I’ve secured my place with Azafady and will advise on a new date in the near future.

megs92

What terrific tips! I've thought about using Kiva before and this is just the incentive I need to do some of my minimum spend there. They also sell gift certificates so this can be a really fun Christmas gift.

Also, a hearty thanks for the in-flight internet tip! I'll be flying cross-country in August to a new job and this will be a great help to me as I can now do course prep on the plane for free
Anonymous

That GX1 code for the Chase Saphire is going to come in really helpful if they let me use it. I'm waiting for my card to arrive any day and I have to meet the spend on a couple other cards right now, so lopping off $2,250 spend would be awesome. Thanks, Eric
Anonymous

"Just imagine the difference we could make if we did only 10% of our minimum spend with Kiva loans?"

A voluntary pledge to make n% of the required spend through either the FT or Milepoint Kiva team would be a great minimum entry into a private group/forum where we discuss the best deals and strategies before they go mainstream, ala Coupon Connection
Maren

Hello,

Just to clarify, loans done on Kiva with a CC do not get charged an interest rate by your card? Is that what you meant by interest free?
FrugalTravelGuy

the loan to the borrower in the developing country is interest free and you as lender earn no interest. you need to pay off your credit card or you will be charged interest.
Anonymous

I have a question for anyone that can answer it. I have 2 Chase CC and I want to cancel one of them and I also want to apply for a different Chase Card. Should i apply for the new one before canceling the other one or does it matter?
Arnaud

Apply for the new card first. You may need to use your existing card as a bargaining chip in case your application is denied and you need to call for a reconsideration. I also had 2 cards with Chase and when I called to apply for the Sapphire Preferred card I was forced to close an existing card before they would approve the application. If you get your application approved right away consider not closing the older card. Switch to a fee-free card or if there is no fee with the card just leave it open. Closing an old account could hurt your credit score.
JD

I applied for the Citi Thank You Premier card today via your link here and was approved. Don't know if you have blogged about this before but as part of the application they provided me with my Experian Credit Score (783) after approving. Part of the new law regarding credit scores. I got a kick out of the fact that even though I was approved they noted the following: 1)Your credit report shows too many inquiries in the last 12 months and 2) Your credit report shows the time since most recent account opening is too short. Well yes, I do churn my cards .
JD

Need to clarify 2 things on my post. 1) It was an Equifax credit score not Experian. 2) The adverse notations cited above are what caused them to have to give me a credit score under the new law. Probably a higher interest rate due to the notations. I pay all my cc bills off in full every month so that is not a concern. "New Law Will Make Credit Scores More Available to Consumers: http://www.mint.com/blog/credit-2/new-law-will-make-credit-scores-more-available-to-consumers/".
david

@JD – how many credit inquiries do you have?
I'm at 16… considering going for 4 more cards.
Jersey Guy

I applied for Chase Sapphire Preferred last year. Earned the 25K bonus, then converted the card to a fee-free non-Preferred Sapphire. To apply again, do I need to close the existing non-Preferred Sapphire account or can I have both a preferred and non-Preferred Sapphire account?
Anonymous

something about kiva seems sketchy. the lenders (us) do not get paid interest but the field lenders (middlemen) do get internet average of 23%!
JD

@david. Not a whole lot surprisingly. Just 3 now in the last twelve months that I can remember. Amex SPG last July, Citi AA last August (canceled a day before I applied for the Citi Premier) and now the Citi Thank You Premier. I probably should pull an Equifax credit report but I am pretty sure that was it.
JD

@david. Follow up. I just pulled my Equifax credit report. 3 inquiries with Citi in the last 12 months. One for the Citi AA, one for the City TY Premier, and one believe it or not when Citi themselves changed my Citi Dividend card to a WorldCard last October. This one was a change to a no preset spending limit card. Don't think I had much of a choice if I wanted to keep the card. Did not know about the hard inquiry they did with the changeover.

No credit card inquiries on Equifax but those 3 with Citi in the last 12 months. Only one other for TWC last October when I switched to cable internet from DSL.

Doesn't really matter as they approved me for the TY Premier anyway.
Angela

@MrRedskin: the GX1 promo code worked for me. Thanks for the tip!
Arnaud

Just activated my Sapphire Preferred card and tried to apply code GX1 but was told that since I wasn't targeted they couldn't apply it. I'm even more troubled now that I read Angela was successful in getting it applied. I think I'll wait a day and call back and ask again.
Bubba

Ugh. I just got my card in the mail today. Don't know if I should try calling and asking for the GX1 offer today (Friday night) or wait until Monday (during regular business hours). :/
thrashsoundly

I'm just got off the phone with Chase and got the same responses as above. At first the CSR told me they couldn't offer the promo because I wasn't targeted. After a little persistence I was told that they'd make a note and forward the request on to the marketing department and would receive notification in 7-10 days. No guarantees, but I hope it works. Thanks for the advice!
Bubba

And I just got off the phone, too – but was denied the GX1 offer. I called and activated the card, confirmed it was for the 50,000 point bonus, etc. I made my appeal to the CSR and he transferred me to a supervisor. Supervisor listened to my schpeil but just said sorry, the offer was targeted and they couldn't apply it to me. Oh well, I gave it a try. Now I'm off to go starting spending towards my $3000…
Cory

I got my Chase Sapphire card today. I tried to have GX1 applied to it, but it didn't work. If anyone calls back for follow up in a few days and it works please post. I might call back over my lunch on Monday as well.
Jason

Tried the dietcokegogo code today and it did not work. Customer service said it was a limited time? they also state there will be more promitons during the month.

Key Lime Pie

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