TRAVEL
The Underwater Waterfall Illusion at Mauritius Island. By Twisted Sifter. This photo from above, wow! I must admit when I see Twisted Sifter it reminds me of that ridiculous metal band Twisted Sister 🙂
Here is Alex Honnold again, the crazy mountain climber doing his thing in Yosemite National Park. My heart drops every time I see him up there with no safety ropes!
5 Things Everyone Should Do Before Checking Out of a Hotel. By Hotel Chatter. In complete agreement here!
1. Do a sweep of the room
2. Grab your chargers
3. Collect your souvenirs
4. Review your expenses
5. Tip your housekeeper
Looks like (from the Facebook page of the Detroit Airport) that: “DTW’s Wi-Fi network is now more than twice as fast, and no-cost access has been expanded to unlimited use. Set your SSID to AWG WIFI and launch your browser for more info next time you’re passing through!” Which is great news! (HT to Frequently Flying)
MILES/POINTS
Frequent Miler wrote “The single best credit card and why my favorite cards didn’t make the list“. Great reasoning process and I agree with it.” Did you notice all these non existent credit card links? This is how all the other credit card salesmen bloggers reacted seeing all these missed opportunities to sell more of them:
Travel is Free (is not) explains all about the IHG Status System. Yeah, Platinum is a joke and Royal Ambassador is… He follows it up with the “The Greatest List of Hotel Best Rate Guarantees“. This dude is on fire or in the zone if you prefer!
The Points Guy had a massive post about all things Canadian (mostly credit cards). I almost spilled my coffee when I read this “These are not my affiliate links”. Anyway, if you are from Canada perhaps you should read this and follow some of the bloggers mentioned at the top.
126 Flights from Chicago that can be booked with British Airways Avios points. By Dans Deals. Yes, there are affiliate credit cards links on the top. But it is tolerable because this is GREAT content that was NOT mailed in! Besides, he has a baby girl joining their household, congrats. Them diapers are not cheap!
Do It For The Points wrote a hilarious post about “The Negative Effect of the Miles Game“. Posts that make TBB laugh will always have a leg up on being featured here #hint. Excerpt: “…I no longer can have long-term relationships. The need to increase my miles/points account balance consumes me. I spend my nights reading blogs and surfing message boards looking for the newest and latest trick to earn points. My weekends are spent on mileage runs or hunting for ice cream at drug stores. There is little time left to truly invest into developing relationships.” ” I just think its best that we see other people.” I hear you lol.
Apparently there is a new affiliate offer for the Delta Amex Gold credit card. Watch how bloggers sell this one. Just 30k Skypesos, seriously?
Priceless Cities program for World Mastercard (think Barclays US and Arrival cards, along with a few others) credit card holders. Some discounts and things in major cities around the world. I like this Visa vs Mastercard competition going on! Good to finally see Visa having to sweat it a bit! More on this in the Blog Buzz section below.
Best Buy devalued its program. And apparently Cost Plus World Market (no I don’t have an account here!). And this is basically the rule of the land these days, get used to it. Ran across these somewhere online but forgot where!
This has been in my paper pile for a while. It is from the August issue of Inside Flyer Magazine interview with Dave Andreadakis, VP of Loyalty Strategy at Kobe Marketing. Excellent interview and here is the last Q&A:
Q: Do you think that the legacy carriers will create a loyalty program based on revenue and move away from mileage-based programs?
A: Yes, I think they have to. From a profit perspective, the way they reward customers doesn’t make a lot of sense. The last-minute traveler who might have paid twice as much for his airline ticket is getting less of a reward than someone who booked three weeks out-so profitability has to come into play. Programs will have to be smart about how they implement changes because altering their long-established standards means the nature of the relationships they’ve had with customers will also change. Right now, we’re saying to them, “if you travel to an obscure location that requires more stops, we’re going to reward you. And if you go someplace cheap like Florida or Vegas, it doesn’t matter.”. What we need to be saying is, “we understand that you’re giving us your money, something precious to you. The more of that precious good you give us, the more we will reward you for it”. And moving toward a program that is based on revenue is the best way to say that. I think that’s fantastic.
I will let you ponder about that for a moment.
ON MY MIND
I did not publish a blog post yesterday. It sure was weird. It is quite liberating when I do NOT bust my butt to publish the next day, I think I should stick to this schedule. Dear readers, remember this is a labor of love so far! Doing my best to stick to the mission.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Artist Marc-Antoine Locatelli featuring dancer Lucas Boirate. I guarantee you have not seen anything like this. Originally found at Dashburst. Blown away to smithereens!
Nuance from Marc-Antoine Locatelli on Vimeo.
Architecture at its best: 35 of the most wonderful (and original) museum designs of the world. By Blog of Francesco Mugnai. These are some awesome buildings!
1 minute timelapse of the Costa Concordia operation. Pretty cool.
Here are “5 Tips To Survival When Bullets Start To Fly“. They may be common sense but good to reiterate because ya never know in the US! I don’t like politics or religion discussions but most of you know where I stand on gun control. Will have more at the next mass shooting, you know it is coming! Where are you Ingy of the NRA? 🙂 My deepest condolences to the victims of this senseless madness!
The 15 Most Disturbing Images from Google Street View. You have been warned. Totally gross. I am not posting a picture for obvious reason. Even TBB has some standards lol!
BLOG BUZZ
Mr. Pickles blogged about the Costco policy to refund with cash or check items you purchase online with a cash back or mileage earning credit card. He has done it with diamond engagement rings. I am not linking to the story here because this crosses my threshold. We are all responsible for our actions. While there I almost got hit upside the head with Barclays credit card adds and read an incredible comment posting policy. I am not going to comment there because I do not want to give permission to edit my comment (understandable if it contains foul language or just a personal attack) and certainly do not want to give permission to post my comment in “all media“. Seriously? Are these (huge credit card ads, posting of schemes and comment policy) exclusive to this blog or apply to all of First2Board?
I am not sure whether to laugh or cry. Extra Pack of Peanuts is at it again to get people to sign up for its course “Frequent Flyer Bootcamp”. I am shaking my head at the client “Testimonials”. It all feels so salesy…so much marketing crap. Guess all you need to become an expert is take this course! I can’t believe people pay $249 (if you hurry, no ginsu knives included!) for this stuff. Then it featured a podcast with some dude who traveled the world with a bike. Ok.
Jason Steele (guest writer sometimes at The Points Guy) in his personal blog, interviews, well, The Points Guy. Nice interview. More than a few softball questions this time. But what got me was the disclosure line on the top that this post was “sponsored by Capital One”. Seriously?
I am very confident that I can accurately predict which cards will be pushed when I see each headline by Milevalue!
On the Mastercard feature above I was shocked I saw it first at The Points Guy. And I had written so until an alert reader, well, alerted me to it that there is no coincidence that it first appeared at Million Mile Secrets (MMS) yesterday and then TPG and then, well well, Extra Pack of Peanuts decided to feature it along with three nicely placed creditcards.com affiliate links. So, what is going here? A promotion by Mastercard? Where is everybody else writing about this? Are they all queuing the MC posts now?
I was very surprised to see the same Online Shopping Maximizer also appear at Hack My Trip. I was under the impression that the guys at Pick2Pay were working exclusively with MMS on this. Apparently not. If the reward info can be accurately loaded AND updated this could be the killer app. #developing
Frugal Travel Guy (the blog) has this number of comments in the last five blog posts: 4,2,1,0,0. The four comments was on a blog post written by Drew M. They sure don’t get angry at all over there! I just made an observation, that is all. TBB reviews blogs. Was that a yawn? 🙂
Sad to see bloggers pushing the new Delta card offers. Will the 12 part series on how to burn your Skypesos be far behind? 🙂
I could get myself an Uber referral code and pound it to you guys. But I won’t until I use the service and approve of it. Which may be…never!
I swear if I see another stupid rubber duck from the Lufthansa First Class Terminal I am going to lose it. Enough with them, down with the Lufthansa ducks, all together now!
I am too lazy to write something on my site so I will comment on your blog. 🙂
Sounds great to me 🙂
Are Canadian kilometers bigger than the rest of the world?
Should I be flattered that I am in the same league as MMS? Clearly not. I just benefit from proximity.
It’s an interesting idea, and when I saw MMS, I immediately thought it would be cool to talk to the guys who are working on it. Fortunately they contacted me first.
It does have some bugs to work out. I’m hoping more exposure can help identify them.
Scott, you don’t have to explain yourself to the angries! They can’t be made happy!
There are many interesting ideas coming from startups. Key is in the execution…like no bugs 🙂
This will be very interesting to watch.
Nobody contacts TBB 🙂
Thanks.
EXCLUSIVE AWESOME Video of my main man TBB (Buzz) at his SOCCER game last night! WOW!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR02hY5gMA8
GGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLL!!!!!
I must state I look better than this…most of the time lol.
Seth Klarman—> lol
The post from Mr Pickles was disgusting to say the least, i never expected this from him. I hope people do not try to emulate and get burned!
I would not use the word “disgusting”. Just clearly over some people’s threshold. More warning language on the body of the post would have been more welcome too.
First time to comment here… I really enjoy reading the blog. Keep it coming… 🙂
thank you, good to see you around here!
Mr. Pickles is terrible. I’m not one to comment on someone’s unattractive, sloth-like appearance but this guy is starting to make me sick and I’m going to start with some low blows soon. I actually would feel sorry for him and his attention seeking ways. Except he just makes me mad.
So running to a CVS 40 times to buy vanilla reloads is OK, but doing the same miles with one single trip is not? I’ve not done the manufactured spend so far, since my regular spend usually takes care of the min spend to cover the sign up bonus, but IMHO pretty much all manufactured spend options are borderline. Mr P pretty much points out that fact by that blog post. Unusual way of doing it, but still…
It seemed more an excuse to reminisce about his fleeting 15 minutes.
I think it all comes down to intent…imho.
I am sick of running around Ann Arbor to CBS for ice cream. Looks like we got plenty of people who do this nowadays. Hitting nothing now for the past two days! All the gas I waste…
What do mean, gas you waste?! Aren’t you using an Ink card or Amex PRG for gas? If so, that is just another means of manufactured spending (although a little higher in cost:) )
Of course I am using an Ink card, come on 🙂
Hit 3 on my way again, nada! This is getting ridiculous…waste money on gas to earn 2 points for gas to buy ice cream for points to load on BB to pay the cc bills
Insanity 😉
You think 249$ is atrocious? Mr A. Koenig of’First Class & More’ is offering a day in a sky box in the Allianz Arena (no match or game that day) a memory coach session and FFP 101 for 1499! Euros, not Bushpesos. Tells you how much money can be made out there.
BTW, Ben posted a picture of half a dozen LH ducks in one frame yesterday. I’m currently on my way to FRA for a day of meetings with LH. You want one for your blog? I could take it with me and shoot a time lapse video someplace and photoshop it to death to bring out the waterfall or something else you like in a better way :p 😉
WTF, 1,499 euros!!!! I am shocked. But you get a sky box in Allianz Arena, hope food and drinks are included! Wow, sure it tells you how much money can be made in this space…still!
That was the pic that set me off. All the effort to line them all up so neatly…still shaking my head.
every time i see the “is not” after “travel is free” it cracks me up.
i was wondering if you or other readers have any blogs that explain the math in the mileage game? when i was younger i was good at math, but after leaving uni i’ve been a slacker. i’m often left to blogs and other readers to judge the actual money and numerical value of deals, churns, transfer rates, etc. and would like to be more independent in the numbers side of it.
i’m very comfortable deciding what things i enjoy and that subjective value, but since you mention how many blogs are on your radar, do you have any suggestions on ones that focus on or explain all the math? t.i.a.
The ones who get into math more than the others, off the top of my head (dangerous), are:
Frequent Miler
Travel Summary
Mileonomics
I am sure there are others but as of 7.03 am these are the blogs that came to me. I need my coffee!
Apparently you are missing the satire in many of my posts. Some people take these things way to seriously. Really now, try to buy and return one of those watches today. You would get shut down very fast.
@vram- I too hope people don’t try to emulate
@Oliver2002- Thank you apparently YOU get it!
Um, yeah we heard about the watch return. You bought coins too. Remind us what year that was? Time to move on.
I get it too….I think…sometimes. I just found this post a little too much for me, that’s all.
You are always welcome to post here and I promise I won’t take your comments to “all media” 🙂
HAHA! That’s just for the haters. Remember we see IP addresses and know who you are Mr Anonymous.
There’s *satire* in that post? Went back and re-read it….guess I missed it….. ??
Me too. Seems not really kosher to me to discuss what I agree is an over the line strategy and then just say oh, it was a satire. Sure did not read like one; compare to the Do It For the Points post – now that is satire and beautifully done satire.
Ahh… So Mr P is morphing to become the Onion?
TBB morphing into Onion—–>my dream 🙂
How do you get 4, 2, 1, 0, 0 comments on a blog post?!
I had 15, 9, 15, 43, 13, 5, 43 and I serve a very small (by comparison) market.
I don’t know 🙂
You don’t interact with your commenters. There’s very little interaction, especially from the authors, that goes on over there, so people don’t post. Responding to your commenters makes them more likely to post (and has the added benefit of inflating the number of comments you have).
I may be slow on these online marketing stuff. But some things have stuck with me: It is all about content and you need to take the time to respond to each and every comment/email. I have been doing my best to keep up with that. And you know what, I really enjoy having this interaction with my readers. You know, it is like that Mastercard commercial…priceless!
Travel Is Free made a poor call in criticising IC Ambassador – especially as the fact that so many of us have it and pay for it proves the value.
LeGrand in Paris was a bad example to pick as well when saying that the guarantees upgrade has little value. The Classic rooms are so small you can basically stretch out your arms on the bed and touch both walls. Unworkable for 2 people or 1 person for more than a night, in my view. The extra space in a Superior is well worth it and you are guaranteed that as an Ambassador.
The 4pm check out, which is guaranteed, is also very handy on weekend breaks. As is the free pay TV film.
Renewal is an even better deal. One option now is $200 for renewal, 15000 points AND a 10 per cent rebate on redemptions for a year. Effectively makes AMB free with a few redemption nights.
That guy is so stupid it hurts. Turns out, he’s never even been a plain Ambassador. So there is absolutely no reason to be writing commentary on a status never had. But this is what dumb people do – talk when they shouldn’t.
I also hear he doesn’t even watch movies or TV… so he’s missing out on the free film every stay! That easily has $1 value (by redbox price and cheaper by netflix pricing out). So no wonder he wouldn’t pay $200 for AMB. He doesn’t even make it back in movies. O_o
But in defense, the point is that Platinum members get upgrades too, so why pay for AMB when Plat is free. But with Platinum, you don’t get the person at check in calling you Ambassador.
“I see you are an ambassador.”
“Freaking right I am! Take me to the superior rooms!”
I am not sure if Drew is Drew M. 🙂
Anyways, I liked that post and I mostly agree with it. It will NOT be true in all cases of course as with most of these things we like to deal with. Raffles is one of these cases and he sees the value. This is how we roll!
Wife and daughter got Superior room in IC Le Grand last month. She is Platinum. She never pushes. If It was me I would have demanded the Presidential suite and settled for a step below that….just kidding. They were perfectly happy with the room as they hardly spent any time in it!
Yep, Paris and NYC are the worst for any loyaly program. BTW, I doubt I would watch TV in my room after travelling there??
I’ve got 2 little kids! Sitting on my own in a hotel watching a decent movie is a real result, I promise you 🙂
Same here, the last movie I watched in a theatre with my wife was Pirates of the Caribbean p.II 😉
Well, I for sure don’t have kids… One of the many ways this is a different strokes for different folks kinda thing.
See, you get the same upgrade as a Platinum!
And Drew M? Tons of those. You can’t even write my last name George?
No respect, no respect at all I tell ya.
You are one of the few bloggers who have earned TBB respect. But watch it now 😉
I’m waiting til you take another vacation to start my pimping. :-p
Good strategy!
I now need to bluff my way that I am traveling…and then just…start blasting.
TBB Expose Special LOL!
I am out almost all day in meetings. I will not be checking back in until evening or night most likely. Email too.
Thank you and you all have a great day!
From the second link:
No it doesn’t. Not at all. Having seen that video, I can skip the rest of these links/posts. I think I’ll go watch that video again.
Never heard of this kid until I saw that epic piece on 60 Minutes. He is something…hope he survives what he does!
Buzz, I have to say I have put TRAVELSORT on my daily read list, I like her………………………….. Also apologies to GRANT, I was tough on the kid after the MMS interview (thinking he was going to cut and paste his was to affiliate links). My mistake, I think he has shown that he is putting in all the hard work needed to become very successful at this. I wish him well, he is not one of those looking for an easy buck without the work. GRANT, MEA CULPA……….comment-er formerly known as….c.r.
Could you imagine getting stuck in a broken elevator with the MilesAbound guy? Oy Vey, I’d shoot myself.
Was following Travelsort for some time. Turned me off as it was a mega copy job & sell sell sell back then. I haven’t been back there in a very long time. Maybe things changed? Ok, I will add her back.
In an elevator:
MilesAbound: P stands for Procter & Gamble. Now tell me why you own…
Me: You spent how much on your diving excursions in the Maldives again?
Last time I checked the stock ticker today (I do it by accident once in a while) stocks had hit record highs. No, I am not going to say anything knowing full well that I may eat my words at some point…eventually. Maybe I should cash in a bit to get me a better car & give our 13 year old Camry to son 🙂
Thanks Seth, ever since I wrote “Why I Blog and my Future use of Credit Card Affiliate Links” (http://travelwithgrant.com/2013/08/18/why-i-blog-and-my-future-use-of-credit-card-affiliate-links/) last month, I haven’t included a single credit card link in any posts, but my cc links and commissions have risen to new highs. I am following the FM blogging approach.
Since I started working a normal 40 hour work week, I create less posts and rely less on the cc income. I try to find time to write a few times a week, but sometimes I just don’t have the energy everyday. Kudos to TBB for his constant work.
Grant,
You came in and we all thought you were a carpet bagger like so many. You have done a lot to earn credibility in this space. Great to see it is working $$$ wise too, that’s just great!
Also great to see you got a full time job 🙂
Kudos to me too..I think I am insane doing this all for love 🙂
Insane? Maybe. Dedicated? Definitely.
Another congrats on the new job.
“I did this mostly for myself, but figured this could be very useful for other people” – How refreshing that Drew did not do it to “help my family and friends…”
The report and quote from Dave Andreadakis is most timely for me. Having arrived home after a month of travel that was partially paid for with US Air miles and Carlson points, I have been reflecting on how best to pursue this new hobby.
We are not big business travelers and search hard for the best fares, and so airlines make very little money off of us from paid tickets. Much as I’d like to fly up front, I am more interested in getting there and then being able to spend more time exploring wherever we are, which hotel points can help me do. I can put up with coach. The tickets we managed to find using US Air miles were not the best itinerary (ironically, the 5 leg outbound was smooth as silk and the two leg return was a nightmare in terms of missed connections) and the booking process took lots and lots of time. Ditto for babysitting the reservations, calling five airlines to make sure they had ticket numbers, selecting seats, etc. The award night hotels were easy to book and made for terrific stays in great locations, with lovely gold perks. We did not need to change them after the first go round as we planned the vacation, but we could have with no fees or hassles at any point up until the day we were supposed to check in.
So even before I read Dave’s comments which confirm what we have all suspected, I was considering that perhaps with churns going forward I should focus on ways to get the hotel points most valuable to me and some cards with good cash back – cash that we can then just put towards buying tickets to the places we want to go.
Someone (Gary, I think, but I am seriously jet-lagged and sleep deprived) blogged yesterday about cards to pick based on your personal spending habits and two comments mentioned Amex Blue Cash Preferred as being good for middle class families. Six percent cash back on groceries? Sign me up. I have immediately recycled offers from them because there was no sign up bonus, but I will look into that card again. Perhaps Ink Bold, CSP, Club Carlson and a good cash back card are the way to go for us, with occasional new cards when there is a really fabulous bonus.
Among the many things now on my agenda after a month away is a review of how many points I have (which will be easier when I add our newest programs to AwardWallet) and to construct a strategy for going forward.
While we are home, it was not without last minute drama: We arrived finally in Houston about 9:30PM local time on Tuesday night and TK staff were there to give us boarding passes for the next day as well as hotel vouchers for the night. The hotel was unexpected and we were glad to have that. While I was also handed a boarding pass, my husband was told to get his from United. We did get one from United before heading for the hotel – which despite what TK said, turned out to be far away with an every 15 minute shuttle that actually ran just once an hour – but when we tried to get better seats on Wednesday morning, we were told that TK had never paid for my husband’s seat and that we had to go to TK to straighten it out, which meant we’d probably miss the flight. That, or pay $550+ and try to get it back from TK.
As we were gathering our belongings to try to make a run to TK to see if it could be fixed in time to make the flight, the gate agent who had helped us called me back. She was digging around and found that TK had actually booked him two tickets in slightly different names, and one was indeed paid for. My husband had gently criticized me for waiting at the gate agent’s desk to try to get better seats, but my being there saved his day, along with the resourceful agent who in addition to solving the problem had actually helped us before the desk opened because by some fluke the gate was double staffed to greet an arriving plane.
So we ended up not only getting economy plus seats but solving a problem we did not even know we had. Chalk up one more reason to steer clear of TK bookings in the future. I also vowed to build in time for delays, which is my nature anyway. If my husband has a not-to-be-missed meeting on his calendar, I cannot let his optimism that it will be fine deter me from booking us more of a cushion.
Well, it is 4:09 local time. Despite my best efforts to stay awake at least until 9PM last night, I collapsed at 8 and was then up at 2. I guess I better resign myself to some jet-laggy days ahead.
Welcome back.
Many in this hobby are reflecting on how to approach it going forward as there is always change. I decided to become a free agent as far as airlines are concerned and no longer play the (diminishing) elite status game. Fly the cheapest (in dollars or points, prefer points) domestically and try to score best bang I can get for my points flying internationally.
This will soon lead me to getting the Barclays Arrival card and make it my go to card. Or another true cash back card too. Keeping our two Ink Plus cards and Fairmont cards too. Maybe keep a IHG Rewards card for the one night cert for $49. Leaning towards keeping at least one Club Carlson cards. Been churning the Starwood cards every other year for a while, intend to continue. Oh, keeping the Freedom cards too. The rest are hit for the signing bonuses…been running out of cards to get lately! We need another major player to get into this market to shake things up!
The hotel cards remain a good value in comparison to the airline cards. But devaluations are creeping up there too. I expect Hyatt to come through with one. It is economics, no company to be trusted! Club Carlson eventually too.
Try to see if you could somehow get miles/points for the flights and hotels on your way back. Ya never know;-)
I can handle the rotating bonuses for the Freedom cards. Not sure I can add more cards for the rotating bonus. There is a fine line between simplicity and drowning in complexity. I prefer to keep it simple and then hit it hard:-)
Time to get me more cards but been too busy to sit down and decide what to go for next.
Looks like all bloggers are selling the Southwest card lately…the more you read you wonder how this card can even…do your dishes!
Thanks for the reply. I do plan to write TK although not being part of their club or wanting to fly them anytime soon, not sure I want their points. I was actually thinking about writing Star Alliance to see what if anything they would do for us. And I made sure our Club Carlson number was put in the record at the airport hotel which was a Rezidor. I think I forgot to mention that my husband’s entertainment system on the 13 hour flight was broken too.
Totally agree about the simplicity/complexity issue. Even though I do not work and have more flexible time than many others who pursue this hobby, I do not want it taking over my life.
But I am looking at that SW card. SW does seem to offer easy award bookings and so I may give them a spin.
Next up for us in the way of trips: maybe Las Vegas over winter break (got in on one of the really cheap Excalibur offers which is booked), and someplace to use a free night at any SPG hotel, from a stay one night in any SPG and get one night in any SPG, an offer from last December that expires Dec 31 or perhaps Feb 1, but soon enough to start thinking about it. But with the academic year starting up for Prof. Mr. TWA44, we will be homebodies for the next couple of months. Which actually sounds just fine. When a return trip is rough, I usually need a while to forget the misery before feeling ready to venture to the airport again. Plus it takes a lot of time to plan the longish trips we do and I need a break from that too.
@TWA44 you probably know the iconic Saarinen designed TWA terminal at JFK is a historic landmark. Did you know that they are turning it into a hotel? Legally the exterior must remain exactly as it is, so I am anxious to see how it turns out. It was pretty much neglected the 27 years I flew in and out of there (TWA was always broke and on the verge). Can’t wait to stay there someday.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_Center
Yes, I too have been following the latest developments re: the TWA terminal. I remember my dad talking about how they poured the concrete for it since it had to be done continuously. Many great trips for me started there for, along with a good number of nail-biting moments while we waited to see if we’d get on as non-revs. The best times were when we knew the flight was light and we’d not have to sweat our non-rev status. I think the last time I was inside was in 1993!
🙂 actually if you redeemed 50,000 SWA for Walmart gift cards ($500) and used them at Sams club to buy:
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/finish-gelpacs-orange-scent-85-ct/prod7180064.ip?navAction=
You would get 2363 load run or almost 6.5 years of each day loads in your dishwasher 😉
Really I would love not to do dishes for over 6 years for 1 credit card!
Good one. At least here it is a reason we have NOT heard before about this card lol.
Actually, there was a ridiculous deal at Sears on slicksdeals late last year…bought several of these huge boxes of detergent…Think we are all set for several years for laundry!
I wish the SWA card would mow my lawn…
” All the effort to line [the ducks] all up so neatly”
Okay, maybe cause I’m still new to all this stuff (since last Feb-Mar?) — but I thought the little line of duckies was cute as hell! (Or maybe it’s cause I’m female, not male?) Would I fly with an airline to get a duck? No, but I understand “collectors” — who will pay a high price to get some never-seen-in-a-movie Star Wars figurine or an elephant made out of beer cans — and try to never come between them and their desires. If piling up ducks — or first class pjs — makes someone happy? Go for it! (Isn’t it better than photos of the loo?!)
If I had a dollar every time I saw a stupid rubber duck someone collected at the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt I could afford to pay an intern for TBB. This goes back…years. I made it there once and looked for one but they were all taken…so maybe I am still pissed about it lol.
Hey Travelbloggerbuzz,
Maybe a little off topic, however, I have been offered a job in Mauritius, but it’s not really a job. I will be a nanny for a family over there helping the mum look after her children, in exchange I get a bedroom, food and possibly a bit of money. But whether I get a bit of money depends on how much they will need me, and they wont know until nearer the time I go (September), so I may not be getting paid at all.
so what kind of visa could I get?
I can visit the island without a visa for 3 months but I will be there longer than that with the family, and for a buisness visa you have to be earning more than a certain amount, which I am no where near because I may not even be getting paid. So what visa?
Please don’t answer with a website as I have visited two official Mauritius visa pages both of which were useless and I can’t find the answer on any forums or expat websites.
This would help a lot!
Thanks!
Catch you again soon!
Lonnie Gibson