Archive for the ‘Cash and Points’ Category

Kauai’s Na Pali Coast, photo by Andrew

Rick,

I first met you at the LaGuardia DO in April. Until that day, I thought I was a savvy world traveler. Then I listened (dumbfounded) to you and the other speakers and felt like a recluse in comparison. Since April, I have earned over 700,000 miles/points through the advice you’ve given and the links on your blog (Mommypoints, Pointsguy, Milespoint, etc.), and by attending the October Chicago Seminar (which was awesome!).

Here’s what I did just last week alone and why I love American Express:

*Used American Express Membership Rewards to book a 7630-mile ticket for a mileage run that pushed me well into A Platinum. I’ve never achieved more than silver.

*Booked three more mileage runs through December for an additional 18,000 miles that will get me to 100K for the UA/CO merger. Unbelievable!!! Last year I had to buy EQMs to get to Silver!

*I used vouchers and points from my credit card churns. Total out of pocket all in was $220. Sleeping on planes and lots of Exec Lounge cheese meals. A few longer layovers planned for yummy meals in Seattle and San Diego.

*While on a layover in LAX, I called Amex to ask for a retention bonus on my Platinum card. They offered me $100 off my annual fee or 15,000 miles. Guess what I took? If you don’t ask, you’ll never get.

*With some time to spare, I asked them to transfer me to the Starwood Preferred Guest card account. I had opened that with a 25,000 sign-on bonus after a $15,000 spend in six months. Wow, that was a lot of dough. I called to confirm that I met the spend and to gripe a bit about the 30,000 card with a $5000 spend that I could have gotten a few weeks later. Well, to my amazement, I had NOT satisfied the spend. I was $1200 short and the six months was up last week. I had previously called and was told I DID meet the spend. After a few reiterations of my surprise, disappointment, and offers to buy $1200 in gift cards on the spot, a manager awarded me 15,000 miles for my trouble and waived any additional spending requirements on my part.

Two phone calls yielded 30,000 MR points and $1200 in savings.

2012 will find me traveling in style to places I’ve dreamed about. I’m going on more of the DOs (KIVA, Austin, yours) and have met great traveling buds at the ones I have attended (including the Star Mega DO). My family thinks I joined a cult, and my friends think I’ve won the lottery. In a way, both are true.

On a professor’s salary, my take-home pay hardly takes me home. This new hobby takes me everywhere else.

Thanks for giving my wings more lift.


– Kathy
 
It is these emails and success stories that make blogging so much fun for all of us. We have helped change Kathy’s life in a positive way. What better Christmas gift could anyone receive?
 
To all my fellow bloggers and Frugal Travel Guy readers, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and thanks for the opportunity.
 
New Ink Bold  with Ultimate Rewards Card- see the link below

•50,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 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

Registration for Radisson’s 50,000 point giveaway is live! If you aren’t one of the first 50,000 people, you’ll still get 15,000 points

Dan’s Deals discusses transferring as little as 40,000 StarPoints for a roundtrip ticket to Israel on Air Berlin with absolutely zero taxes! Business class is only 55,000 StarPoints with no taxes.

The Points Guy has all of the details on how to win a free night at Hilton if you live near San Francisco.

This is a reminder that if you have a British Air Visa card, you can save 10% on all BA flights including taxes

The LAST Day for this Double Offer Two FREE Flights. The Link is Gone Tomorrow. Copy and Print the Offer

It took one hour to get my computer up and running this morning. It is so old that some of the keys are missing and I have so much junk on it, it is very temperamental.  Once we got going things were ok but a few surprises.

I started with my Chase United Explorer app as a United 1K and all went well. I got the “we are reviewing you stuff” page which I expected. I decided to add the Business version for another easy 25K but the application would not load, so I had to go to another computer and it would not load there either? Finally I Googled United Explorer Business card and got an application completed. (pending as well)

The Amex Business Gold card went easy and just took a five minute phone call to verify my info. I was approved and will reveived 50,000 Membership Rewards points after completing the spend.

Next I jumped over to the Citi Thank You Preferred Card and got an instant approval. Hooray for Hollywood. 50,000 Thank You points

I then did my US Airways Debit card application for the 3000 miles and Grand Slam hit. That was a “we’ll let you know” as well? For a debit card???

Katy was next with surprising results. The Citi Premier Card pended her application as did the INK Bold card. The surprising change was that the United Explorer card no longer offered her a bigger bonus for having Premier status. She’ll have to wait and do the Explorer card in November when the increased promo comes back, we hope.

In place of the Explorer card we slipped in a Hawaiian Airlines Visa card from Bank of America for 35,000 Hawaiian miles which we will convert to 70K Hilton Honors points. It cost $79 but we had the room for the card application. It took a phone call to B of A but we got an approval on that one as well.

Total for sure haul this morning was 135,000 points putting us 5000 points or miles short of 1 MILLION for the year again. I have no doubt we’ll score that we need to reach our goal.

Deal of the Day

National Car is running a buy two weekend days, get one weekend day free!

Living Social has a great deal on a tour to Beijing. $899 per person from LAX including airfare!

The Points Guy gives you the answers to get 100 Free Southwest points on the weekly video.

If you don’t have a TripAlertz account sign up for one here! You can learn more about TripAlertz here

50,000 Marriott Points Annual Fee Waived First Year No Minimum Spend

We were close to Turkey and neither Katy nor I had ever been, so I made the effort to add another country to our list. It was easy as could be.

I went to the hotel’s front desk to ask about a tour of the island of Kos and was told none existed per se. But when she brought out the list from Harriet Travel, Bodrum was staring me in the face for 25 euros each. That included hotel pickup by bus, transportation to Kos, and the ferry to Bodrum. A cab from the hotel to Kos was 40 euros one way so we really couldn’t turn down the deal. The bus arrived promptly at 8:15 and we were the second to the last stop.

It was a decent bus with air conditioning and the trip took all of 40 minutes. While on the bus, we were given our Visa for a day at no charge. All we had to do was enter our name, country of citizenship and passport number. At passport control in Greece, they just looked it over and stamped the one-day Visa that we had to carry with us. In Turkey, our entry was just as simple.

The Maria Star made the crossing to Turkey in one hour and it was quite comfortable with food and drinks available and upper and lower decks. The skies were perfectly clear with a cool breeze blowing, but we were warned it would be very warm when we got to Turkey. I can attest to that fact. It was at least 15 degrees warmer and without the benefit of a cooling breeze.

Upon arrival, we cleared immigration in minutes. Two boats were there at the same time and they needed to process the dollars and euros hitting the port city ASAP. We arrived in a modern port adjacent to a castle from who-knows-when and a fleet of the most beautiful wooden sailboats you have ever seen. They ranged up to 25 meters and were all built in Bodrum. If there were 10 there were at least 100 of these beauties all available for hire for four hours, a complete day, or three to seven days. They were magnificent.

We took the free tour of the city (45 minutes) with the catch that they would drop us off at the Gold Center for some retail time if we wanted. We had a beautiful view of the city. We saw Black Island and the Isle of Kos in the distance from the highest peak in town, we went by the amphitheather that sat 5000 in the good old days (BC), then we were dropped off at Gold City (or whatever they called it). First-class place and absolutely no pressure whatsoever. We just walked to the exit sign and caught the shuttle to the city market.

The market was just what you would expect — full of teeshirts, blue jeans (Levis were 22 euros per pair), scarves, and other junk. I was disappointed as I was hoping for something more out of the ordinary. The only thing I found was a stall of bongs, but that was a previous lifetime ago…

We headed down the main shopping street, which offered more upscale shopping as well as the typical tourist stuff. When I saw a McDonalds and Burger King in Bodrum, I knew we weren’t at the end of the earth. Most of the signage was in English but we saw very few American tourists — Brits and other Europeans primarily. We were the only Americans on our bus.

We felt safe the entire time we were in Bodrum. People were extremely friendly. An orange and juice vendor was intrigued by my Challenge coin that I got from the US Army. When our guide explained that I got it for helping our servicemen and veterans, he ran over to give Katy and me each a free, fresh orange with a warm smile and thank you. I guess we’re on the same side now, or have been in the past. It was a touching gesture.

The most interesting moment came while we were sitting in a falafal shop eating a sandwich. The haunting, chanting sound of the call to prayer came over loudspeakers — just as we’ve heard so many times on CNN and Fox News. We knew we were not in Kansas! But we still we felt safe and secure. The people were so friendly.

I saw many people drinking a small, tan, hot drink in uniquely shaped glass containers, so I asked a vendor if we could try one. It was Turkish black tea served in the small glass on a saucer with two cubes of sugar and a very small stirring spoon. Several elderly local gentlemen cleared a space for us and asked us to join them. Although we could not converse, their hospitality was genuine and warm. The tea was tasty and strong, but it really didn’t make much sense to me in that heat. But, “when in Rome…….”

We found the Mosque as we continued down toward the harbor. It was built in 1720 and featured a minaret on top or beside it. (I think minaret is the right word.) There were numerous shoes lined up outside the Mosque. We didn’t attempt entry.

So — add another country to the list. Don’t expect to see many Americans, but since this is a tourist town most of the shopkeepers speak at least broken English. Of course, their English was sure better than my Turkish. I think that’s typical of Americans: So few of us speak another language and the rest of the world seems to know their way around ours.

But what we do have is an adventurous spirit. And by keeping our eyes open for the next great promotion, we can see the world at prices we all can afford. So far: free airlines tickets to Greece, free hotels, and a 25 Euro tour ticket to Turkey. 

The next two days are going to be all about rest by the pool and the Aegean Sea.

50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points with the Sapphire Preferred Card, No Fee 1st Year, Transferable to Many Programs