Uber and Starwood just last week announced a new partnership. Now you can earn one Starpoint for every dollar you spend on Uber rides. Sign up here: https://www.spgpromos.com/uber/ Greetings to everyone from Abu Dhabi! Hat tip to Kirsten for the heads up on this promotion.
Greetings and Happy New Year. The New Year has me flying to Calgary for work again. The current temperature there is a balmy five degrees Fahrenheit. Just a quick post today with a travel tip for the readers who travel internationally: Always have an extra customs declaration form in your bag. My flight today has…
This week I’ve been doing a bit of thinking about why I blog, inspired by some discussions I had with Point Princess during a trip to St. Maarten. (Some fun videos and pictures coming soon from that trip, by the way.) Just like everyone else, I have bad experiences with travel. If you read the blog,…
When you travel, baking becomes difficult. Visiting a branch bank to deposit checks is tedious. Finding an ATM that is “in-network” so you don’t have to pay a fee always seems impossible when you need cash. If you travel internationally, you’re slapped with currency conversion fees. In my experience, Charles Schwab Bank has the best…
What went on in the travel blogosphere this week… Lots of Drama and misinformation on SkyMiles cuts. At first, a few blogs announced that stopovers were gone from international award tickets. Fortunately, FrequentMiler did his homework before posting and discovered that the award stopovers are only partially broken. Substantial cuts to SkyMiles without notice seems to…
This may win the award for coolest hostel ever… and I have a feeling that I might need to make a trip just to stay here. Jumbo Stay Hostel is a unique hostel built in a Boeing 747 jet. http://architizer.com/blog/spend-a-night-aboard-this-jumbo-jet-turned-hostel/ Thanks to Kirsten for the heads-up.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with Point Princess, Frugal Travel Lawyer, and many others at the First2Board Seattle sessions. The reasons I love going to sessions like this are two-fold: I get to see many friends that I only see once every few years and I learn something new every time. Here…
This weekend I am off to Seattle to spend a few days at the First2Board Seattle Sessions. Unlike some of the other gatherings I’ve attended, this is a more intimate gathering; only 50 people are expected. One of the most rewarding things about coming to gatherings like this is seeing old friends and their stories about…
I am quite a fan of sending an email to customer service when I get notable service, both good and bad. As I told American in a recent letter, “Good companies use their customer service to identify areas for improvement, not simply to placate disgruntled customers.” Having worked in customer service call center, I truly…
The Chase Freedom credit card offers a flat 1% cash back on all spending, plus additional cash back on up to $1,500 spent in a few spending categories, which change every quarter. The categories for January-March are: Gas Stations Movie Theaters Starbucks The catch is that you must “activate” your bonus categories before each quarter…
The Flying Consultant 