Which Credit Cards for Free Flights to Disney in Orlando

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One of the most common questions that I get asked is about Disney vacations, whether it relates to where to stay, how to get a good deal, or which credit cards to get to make a Disney trip more affordable. In this post, I am going to focus on which credit cards for free flights to Disney in Orlando.

How to Get Free Flights to Orlando for Your Disney Vacation:

The easiest way to get free flights is by signing up for travel rewards credit cards and getting the bonuses for meeting the minimum spending requirements (for more information see here and here). Your ideal airline will not necessarily be the same as mine, as it is based on where you live (which airport you are using). I will give some examples from my home airport (PHL) so that you can go about doing your own research into which airlines may work for you.

Orlando International Airport (MCO) is a quick and generally easy flight for those of us who live near a major East Coast airport. Which is probably why I have lost track of how many times we have been to Orlando. Sometimes the flights are reasonable, and we pay the cash rate. Other times flights are more expensive (or we are miles-rich and cash-poor), and we choose to use Frequent Flyer Miles for our flights. Each individual family situation will be unique, and only you can decide when it is best for you to pay or to use miles.

I picked a random date and did a bit of research for direct flights from my location (PHL or nearby smaller airports).

Capture3

As you can see, most of the airlines use a Low, High, Medium kind of a system, and the number of miles you will need can vary in a crazy kind of way. If your dates are flexible, you can look at the award calendar to try to choose lower redemption rates.  Here are some examples from USAirways and American Airlines:

 

USAIRWAYS Award Calendar for PHL-MCO

USAIRWAYS Award Calendar for PHL-MCO

 

American Airlines Award Calendar PHL-MCO

American Airlines Award Calendar PHL-MCO

 

The British Airways Avios “Trick”

But wait, there is yet another option! And it just may be the best one. It may sound complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really not. Check out British Airways Avios (their frequent flyer program).

The difference between BA Avios and, say, American Airlines’ Aadvantage Miles, is that BA is a distance-based program. What that means is that instead of saying, for example, that any ticket within the Continental United States is 25,000 miles…British Airways bases the number of miles needed on the distance between 2 points. You can go to the British Airways Avios calculator to find out how many Avios you need to get from point A to point B. In our PHL-MCO (Orlando) example, you would need 7,500 Avios each way. So for 15,000 miles roundtrip, it’s obviously a bargain.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself…but British Airways doesn’t fly from Philly to Orlando (or most USA domestic flights, for that matter). This is your aha moment. You can use British Airways Avios on their PARTNER airlines’ flights. American Airlines is a British Airways partner. American Airlines is in the midst of a merger with USAirways.

What’s the catch? Well, in order to use your Avios on American Airlines (for example), there has to be SAVER level availability for the AA flight.  In the AA chart above, do you see the green highlighted dates that say 12.5K? Those are the saver dates available (in that example). Those are the dates that you can get using 7,500 Avios instead of 12,500 AA Miles. Yes, for the same exact flight.  This also applies to first and business class tickets, which are obviously more.

I have used this “trick” (it’s not actually a trick, but it sounds more fun that way) a bunch of times now. For West Coast to/from Hawaii for a total of 6 different flights, for flights to Florida, and to Aruba. It’s legit.

So which airline is the winner?

So even after my detailed description of the British Airways program, I would say that Southwest is the  winner in this situation. In fact, on our flight home from Orlando in January 2014, we flew Southwest. If you haven’t flown Southwest before, then you will want to know that it is a bit different than other airlines (like USAirways & American Airlines).

Things to know about Southwest:

  • Seats are not assigned. When you check in online (as close to 24 hours before your flight if you are savvy), you will be given a boarding order number based on a number of factors, such as “first come first served” for the order in which you checked in online
  • The other factors for getting a better boarding number: people who buy the more expensive tickets, you can pay $12.50 per ticket each way for automatic check in, and elite members who fly Southwest a ton
  • To repeat the point: If your flight leaves at 9am, check in online at 9am the day before (if you don’t fit into one of those categories I just listed). The closer to 24 hours you check in, the better your boarding number will be (for example A45 or B33).
  • Southwest will have everyone line up in order (there are sections A, B, C and then numbers 1-30 and 30-60)
  • You then enter the plane in your order & choose your seat
  • They give you snacks (last week we got peanuts and crackers) and soft drinks/water/juice. You can buy alcohol if need be.
  • They tend to release their flights about 8 months out (unlike the 330 days of some other airlines). From their website:
    “We are currently accepting air reservations through January 4, 2015. On July 21, 2014, we will open our schedule for sale through March 6, 2015. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.”

We have flown Southwest a bunch of times, and even when I forgot to check in at 24 hours (gasp!),  we were still able to get seats that we were OK with. I’ll be honest, I’m not super picky about where I am resting my butt for 2 hours. As long as the kids are next to one of us parents, it’s all good. The guy who boarded at the end of the C group last week (and got the middle seat right behind me) was not happy though. He obviously did NOT know about Southwest’s seating procedures, and he was pissed that he got a middle seat. You snooze, you lose.

So why Southwest? I’d actually be happy with the British Airways scenario OR the Southwest scenario. I just tend to find it (sometimes) difficult to find the SAVER level availability. Plus I have a Southwest Companion Pass (I’ll write more about that someday), which allows me to bring someone for free when I fly. Until my pass expires, it’s a no-brainer for me.

As you plan your own Disney trip, you have to play around with your dates and your airports to see which strategy works best for you.

How can I get Frequent Flyer Miles?

The quickest and easiest way is through credit card sign up bonuses (after you make sure you are credit worthy, etc). So here are the current best offers (as of June 3, 2014 – these things can change at any time) for the airlines I mentioned (NOTE: I am not affiliated in any way with these & get nothing out of these suggestions). You can click on the links to get to the application page and also to read more about the other benefits of the card:

American Airlines:

Citi Platinum Select Aadvantage World Mastercard = 50,000 Miles after spending $3000 in 3 months ($95 annual fee waived first year)

Citi Executive AAdvantage World Elite Mastercard =  100,000 Miles after spending $10,000 in first 3 months, plus $200 statement credit ($450 annual fee NOT waived the first year)

 

British Airways:

Chase British Airways Visa Signature Card = 50,000 Avios with $2000 in spending in first 3 months ($95 annual fee)

NOTE: I have gotten this card when it was a 100,000 Avios bonus, but that doesn’t come around too often.

 

Frontier Airlines:

Frontier Airlines Mastercard = 40,000 miles with $500 spend in 90 days

 

Southwest Airlines:

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Premier Card = 50,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 in your first 3 months of opening your account ($99 annual fee not waived)

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Plus Card = 50,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 in your first 3 months of opening your account ($69 annual fee not waived)

 

USAirways:

USAirways Mastercard = 40,000 miles after first purchase and payment of $89 annual fee

 

And just to make things even more complicated for you…..

There are credit cards that offer different types of miles/points that can be transferred to different airlines

  • Any card that offers Chase Ultimate Rewards points (check out the Sapphire Preferred card for a 40,000 point bonus) – points can be transferred directly to some of your other frequent travel programs (like British Airways)
  • Any card that offers American Express Membership Rewards points (can be transferred, often with a bonus percentage, to British Airways)
  • SPG points can be transferred to many airlines. You can (for most) transfer 20,000 points and get 25,000 airline miles (if you email me at theamericantravelproject@gmail.com, I can send you the link for an offer of 30,000 SPG points that I got to send to people via email)

And if you have a business, you can pretty much double any of the above offers because there are business versions of most of these cards & you can get BOTH! I just blew your mind:0)

So how are you going to get to Disney?

 

 

Car Rental Tips and Tricks

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One of my least favorite parts of trip planning is booking the car rental. It’s just not very exciting. I am not a “car person” at any point in time, but especially not when it’s a car that my husband will only be driving for a short time. I want a good deal, a safe car, and some level of convenience. Even though I don’t enjoy the process, I will still try to get the best deal possible when booking a car for a trip. I don’t want to spend too many hours on this task, as there are much more satisfying aspects of trip planning. After doing this hundreds (dozens?) of times, I have a few car rental tips and tricks that I generally use. 

1. Compare Prices 

I like to check various sites to see what they are offering, so that I have a basis for comparison. The sites that I generally check are:

For my upcoming trip, Autoslash was significantly cheaper than all of the other sites that I checked. 

2. Check any programs or organizations you are affiliated with

I am a Costco member, so I check the Costco Travel website to see what they are offering. So far, I have found Costco Travel to be significantly less expensive than most other options for my specific car rental needs. 

If you are a member of an organization, like AAA or AARP, they often have some kind of car rental discounts. These are not often the best deals out there, but it is worth checking. I am a member of 2 organizations related to my professional affiliation, and I checked both of them because they have car rental (and other) discount programs. I checked all of the car rentals companies under both of the organizations for my dates, and both came back higher than both Costco and Autoslash (some actually were double the price!)

3. Search for Car Rental Discount Codes

After I have an idea of the lowest prices that are available at the websites above, I often search online for a car rental discount code. I usually google it and I also search for codes on Flyertalk on the various car rental company threads here:

4. Getting Miles & Points (and/or cashback) for Car Rentals

Sometimes it can also make sense to try to earn some miles & points for your car rentals. There are several ways to do this, although they do not always yield the biggest discounts. Some of these ways are great for business travelers who may be getting reimbursed for travel expenses (not us looking for the best deal).

  • Check the website Frequent Flyer Bonuses - This site gives a comprehensive list of the airline/hotel bonuses that are being offered for various car rental companies. For example, at the time of this writing,  these are the bonuses for Alamo:
  • FFB Alamo

 

  • Make sure to check the shopping portals! If you aren’t sure what I mean by that, check this post. Go to CashBackMonitor to see if any of your preferred sites (where you are booking your car rental) are listed. Unfortunately, neither Costco Travel nor Autoslash (the 2 best prices I have found for my upcoming rental) are listed on any shopping portals. When I priced out sites that are listed (CarRentals.com, Priceline, Alamo), they were significantly more expensive, and the cash back or points did not outweigh the savings.

5. Using Miles & Points for Car Rentals

You may be wondering if you can use miles & points for your car rental. The answer is that you can! In fact, this is what I decided to do for our upcoming trip. I had 6,600 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, which is a pretty random number of miles & not good for anything else. I went to this page for redeeming my AAdvantage miles:

Click to get to the Car Rental redemptions

Click to get to the Car Rental redemptions

 

Before I signed in to my account, the price (in points) was 14,000 AAdvantage miles. Once I signed in, the price dropped to 6,500. I am really not sure why because I have no status at all with American Airlines. The same exact thing happened to me when I used my AAdvantage miles to book Disney hotels. So make sure you sign in! Moral of that story.

You can also use other points for car rentals, like Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, American Express Membership Rewards, or Citi Thank You Points (in addition to other airline miles).

Also, if you have a Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard (which I wrote about here), you can reimburse yourself for the cost of your car rental if you are paying for it.

My Car Rental Research & Decision

So, as I was writing this post, I was also researching my own upcoming car rental. Keep in mind that each car reservation will be different & the best deal will not be the same from situation to situation. That’s why it is important to do your research.

This is what I found for my own upcoming trip (4 days…Tampa airport):

  • Costco Travel – about $73 for an Intermediate Car from Alamo (at the airport, no shuttle)
  • Autoslash – about $68 for an Intermediate Car from Advantage (off airport, would take shuttle)
  • Other websites above – $90-$150 various car rental companies
  • Using codes – when I put in my professional affiliation codes, the prices came back much higher ($145-$157)
  • Using points – when I checked my American Airlines redemption option, I saw that I could get a Compact or Larger car for 6,500 miles

In the end, I decided to use my AAdvantage Miles because I had a very random amount of miles left in my account (6,600). Even though I originally thought I would go with Autoslash or Costco (and use my Barclaycard for reimbursement), I realized that my American Airlines miles were kinda useless at this point. So that’s what I decided. And maybe that extra cash will go toward our next trip.

How to Save Money on RV Rentals: Cruise America Hot Deals

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rv view

 

How to Save Money on RV Rentals

Of all the trips we have planned and vacations we have been on, this one seems to be the most intriguing to most people we have spoken with about it. There is something alluring about driving through the United States in an RV, exploring the countryside and the open roads. It’s romantic, spontaneous, adventurous, and a little anxiety provoking, all at the same time. We had been eyeing up different types of RVs, from motorhomes to travel trailers to fifth wheels, for many years. We visited tons of RV shows (the Hershey, PA one is particularly good), but just couldn’t pull the trigger on actually buying one. Which was probably a great (non)decision, considering our only experience in an RV was borrowing one that looked like it could have been the meth lab from Breaking Bad. I started to do research about renting an RV to get more experience under our belts and to fulfill the RV fantasy/childhood dream of mine. But the prices just seemed so outrageous. With all of the free and cheap travel I can do with miles & points, I had a hard time justifying the expense of an RV rental. Then my research led me to this…Cruise America’s one way RV rental hot deals…and I learned how to save money on RV rentals for our family vacation.

Cruise America RV Hot Deals

Cruise America runs various HOT DEALS at different times during the year, and they seem to change often. Generally they are based on where Cruise America has an RV that needs to be delivered to a certain location by a certain date. I came across the “Rolling out of Chicago” section on the Hot Deals page (which is not there at the time of this writing), and I knew I had found “the one”.  This was how to save money on an RV rental! Below are the deals that can be found on the Cruise America website at the time of this writing, but they do seem to change often, so there may be different options depending on when you are reading this.

Cruise America Hot Deals

Cruise America Hot Deals Page from their Website

 

For the RV Rental Hot Deal that we chose, Cruise America had listed several different RVs that they needed to have delivered to various locations across the USA from their factory near Chicago. These RVs are brand new (ours had 166 miles on it) and are being delivered to different rental locations. The prices were per day, and ranged from $19 to $59 per night. We could have chosen to deliver to a handful of locations, and most of the deals said to pick up by xxx date and return by xxx date (generally about a month apart), with the minimum being a week.

Picking up our rental RV in Chicago

Picking up our rental RV in Chicago

We needed to chose a drop-off location that we could get to in a week, that was traveling toward home and also was South (wanted to avoid the ice and snow that can happen in certain areas, even in April).  We chose to travel from Chicago to Manassas, VA (near Washington DC). We spent 7 nights driving through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. I will go into detail about our itinerary in other posts (preview: it was awesome).

Review of the Cruise America RV

We had a Standard, 25′ Class C motorhome that sleeps up to 5 people (there were 4 of us). It was brand new and in perfect condition. It was comfortable for our family of 2 adults and 2 youngish kids, but I was starting to feel cramped by day 7. There was a bed in the corner, a table that converted to a bed, and the bed above the driver’s seat area. They also rent larger motorhomes as well, but this was all that was available to us. The positive was that we were able to maneuver (and by we, I mean my husband, since he did all of the driving) around in different National Parks and cities. A larger one would have given us more space but would have taken more effort to drive (and would have used more gas). So there are pros and cons to each choice.

The different types of vehicles available for rent through Cruise America

The different types of vehicles available for rent through Cruise America

Since the RV was brand new, it was extremely clean. I have read reviews of other RV rentals in which people complain about old or rundown RVs. This was one reason why we thought renting a brand new RV was a perfect solution to that problem. We experienced no problems at all with the RV. There are things that I would do differently knowing what I know now (saving that for another post), but our experience with Cruise America and this RV in particular was perfect.

how to save money on an rv rental

 

 How much money did we save on this RV Rental Deal?

You can compare the price we paid using this Hot Deal with the regular price (I picked a random week, not in high summer season).

1) The website reservations only give the cost for a roundtrip rental, so I am showing a roundtrip reservation quote from the location near Chicago where we picked up our RV. You have to call for one-way pricing, but it is generally more than roundtrip unless it is a Hot Deal price.

2) The website price only shows 700 miles (you pay $0.34 for each additional mile, so another $238 to equal our rental miles). Our rental had 1400 miles included in the price.

3) We paid $100 for a kitchen kit, so that is shown in both examples.

The cost breakdown for a random week for an RV rental from Cruise America

The cost breakdown for a random week for an RV rental from Cruise America

Our invoice from our Cruise America One Way RV Rental Deal

Our invoice from our Cruise America One Way RV Rental Deal

 

Our total was $569.43 and the above example is $1144.00 + $238 for 700 additional miles – so we saved over $800!

The View from the passenger seat:)

The View from the passenger seat:)

 

rvpark

This was one of the best family vacations we have ever had! I am so thankful that we figured out how to save money on RV rentals so that it became possible for our family to have this experience. We would do it again in a heartbeat!

Packing Tips : for People who Hate Packing

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packing tips

Packing Tips :  for People who Hate Packing

Confession: I hate packing. I don’t really know anyone who actually enjoys it, but I really hate it. I don’t have anxiety, but packing makes me feel as close to really anxious as I get (oh, and public speaking). And because we travel a lot, I have to pack a lot. I have come up with some systems that help make the process easier for us, and we have tweaked them over time.

This is a general list of packing tips and things that make packing easier for us. I have more specific packing list tips, and tips for different types of trips (Disney, road trips, cruises) that I will write about at another time. These Packing Tips are the foundation for any good packing session.

1. Get a Packing App

Unless you are old school (hi mom!) and you want to use a pencil and paper, packing apps can be a great way to get organized. The one that I use for my iPad and iPhone is the Packing Pro app. It lets you organize your lists by person and by trip. I save my repeat trips (I’m talking about you Disney) on the app, and then I can remember what I brought. I like that I can check things off as I pack them too.

There are different categories (clothes, toiletries, medicines, gadgets, etc) that you can use to sort your list, and the app will also give you tons of ideas that you probably haven’t even thought of!

Packing Pro App from iTunes

Packing Pro App from iTunes

 

2. Pack using Packing Cubes

We use Ebags Packing Cubes to make packing much easier whenever we travel. There are tons of colors and sizes to choose from. We have 4 different colors, and 6 of each color in various sizes. When you go onto the Ebags site, a 10% off coupon might pop up (for email sign up). You can also get 12% cash back (at the time of this writing) if you go through Ebates (my link).

ebags

Some Packing Cube tips:

  • Get one color for each family member & pack each family member’s clothing in their bag color.
  • OR (for a shorter trip) pack each days’ worth of clothes in a different colored bag. Saturday is pink, Sunday is yellow, etc. That way you don’t have to rummage through your luggage. This is especially helpful if you are road tripping and/or staying in different places each night
  • When you get to the hotel, you can just put the bags into the drawers (they usually fit right perfectly)
  • Roll your clothing before packing it into the cubes. It fits better and gets less wrinkled.
  • For the kids’ clothes: in large ziploc bags, pack an outfit for each day. Make sure to add underwear and socks to the complete outfit. Press all of the air out of the bag as you seal it. These can be placed in the cubes for an extra layer of organization if you are “that” kind of a person (I am sometimes).
  • Put your dirty clothes back into the empty bags. It’s a great way to keep them separate from the clean ones.

 

3. Pack toiletries in a hanging organizer

I like to use a flat-fold, hanging organizer with zippered pockets to pack my toiletries and medicines. We have two of the Baggallini Flat Fold Organizers in different colors. Ours are an older version of the one in the link, and we have been using them for many years. They have held up great. I had different medicines in one of them that I bought for a cruise (medicines are harder to come by and more expensive in that kind of location). I just keep them in there for each trip, and we rarely need them (I attribute this luck with health directly to the fact that I bring all the medicines…is that Murphy’s Law or something?). If you are going to order this bag from Ebags, make sure to go through Ebates or another shopping portal first to get 12% cash back (at the time of this writing).

baggallini

4. Ziploc bags are your friend

I use ziplocs for many of my packing needs. They are cheap, reusable, and durable. For the kids’ outfits, I like to pack an entire outfit in a bag, press out the air and seal it tight. This makes it easy for the kids to just dress themselves by grabbing a bag and getting dressed (this was VERY helpful when they were younger). I then re-use the bags either for the next trip or for things like collecting shells and sand on our beach vacations, storing wet bathing suits when repacking, etc.

5. Keep a travel binder

This is where I prefer to go old-school. Even with all of the travel apps and programs out there, I like to have paper copies of my reservations. I find it to be more convenient and it just alleviates some of my pre-trip anxiety. One of the things that I like most about the binder idea is that I then have it as a memory of the trip.  For example, when we went on our month-long National Parks road trip last summer, I made a binder with all of our different locations. Then, as I collected things like park maps and brochures, I could just put them into the “sleeve” in the binder and bring it home as a nice (and free) way to remember our trip.

 

What are your favorite packing tips?

How to use Frequent Flyer Miles for Hawaii flights

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using frequent flyer miles to get to hawaii

How to use Frequent Flyer miles for Hawaii flights

I don’t believe in coincidences, so when 3 different friends recently asked me about getting to Hawaii using Miles & Points, I felt like the stars were aligned or the universe was trying to tell me something (or maybe Hawaii is just really popular). I needed to write a post about this. Hawaii is, so far, my favorite place on the planet (specifically Kauai, specifically-er the North Shore). While I am not an expert, I have planned 3 trips to Hawaii where all of the flights were free (so I guess that does make me an expert, right? Not really).

I will start by explaining how we have planned our Hawaii trips, and then will add some other options as well. For all 3 of these trips, we are originating from the East Coast, but wanted to break up the trip by flying to/from the West Coast and avoiding a super-long flight. We (and my in-laws) have family to visit on the West Coast and places we wanted to go before/after Hawaii, so this is how I chose to book our trips.

How we used miles for our next Hawaii vacation flights (#1)

1. Used British Airways Avios (their frequent flyer mile program) on Alaskan Airlines metal (this means the actual plane you will be flying on) to get from (OAK) Oakland, CA to (KOA) Kona Airport on the Big Island.

  • I knew we wanted a direct flight from the West Coast to the Big Island, so I looked here to see which airlines fly from which airports to get to KOA
  • British Airways uses a distance-based award chart, which makes it “cheaper” in miles to get from the West Coast to Hawaii than it would with any other Frequent Flyer program (it is 12,500 Avios per person instead of the more typical 20,000 miles in other programs)
  • Because BA is in the Oneworld alliance, you can “purchase” a flight on one of their partner airlines using Avios & use the Avios award chart (which is more generous for the short-haul flights)

TOTAL = 50,000 British Airways Avios for 4 people from Oakland-Kona

How can you get British Airways Avios?
  • By getting a Chase British Airways credit card (at the time of this writing, the bonus is 50,000 miles after spending $2000 within 3 months)
  • By transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards point 1:1 for Avios (you can get UR points by getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Bold or Ink Plus Business Card)
  • By transferring American Express Membership Rewards point to British Airways (you can get Amex points from various Amex cards). Many times there are transfer bonuses of 20%-50% when you transfer Membership Rewards point to British Airways Avios
  • By transferring SPG points to British Airways (you will get 25,000 miles for transferring 20,000 SPG points). You can get SPG points by staying in their hotels or you can get an SPG personal and/or business card with a 25,000 point bonus
  • Shopping at the British Airways shopping portal

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2. Used Southwest Rapid Rewards miles to get us from Philadelphia to Oakland

(We will stay a couple of days before our flight to Kona)

  • Southwest reward tickets are based on the cost of the actual ticket (70 points per dollar, just recently raised from 60 points per dollar), so the lower fares will have lower miles “cost”
  • Southwest offers Companion Passes (maybe my favorite thing ever) – if you earn 110,000 miles in a calendar year, you get a pass where you can bring a companion on your paid OR reward flights & just pay the taxes (like, $2.50). So if you get 2 credit card sign-up bonuses at 50K bonus miles each, you just have to get an extra 6K miles (after the minimum spend requirements) to get a Companion Pass

TOTAL = It was about 20,000 miles total for all 4 of us

How can you get Southwest Rapid Rewards points?
  • Chase has 4 different Southwest credit cards (2 personal, 2 business) and they often offer 50,000 bonus miles for signing up and meeting the minimum spend requirement
  • Transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards (same as above)
  • Shop using the Southwest shopping portal
  • Transfer hotel points to Southwest
  • Earn Southwest points when renting cars
  • Rapid Rewards Dining  (see here for more information about earning miles & points for dining out)

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3. Used United Airlines miles for inter-island flights on Hawaiian Airlines – from the Big Island to Kauai (via Honolulu)

  • Each flight cost 5,000 United Miles (flown on Hawaiian Airlines) and $5.00

TOTAL = 20,000 miles for the 4 of us

How can you get United miles?
  • Chase offers United Airlines credit cards. When we got them a while back, the bonus was much higher at 65,000 miles per card (and we each got one)
  • Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points (as above)
  • United’s Dining and Entertainment partners
  • United shopping portal

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4. Used British Airways Avios to fly from LIH (Kauai) to SEA (Seattle) on Alaskan Airlines

  • Same as above. 12,500 British Airways Avios each to get from Hawaii to the West Coast

TOTAL = 50,000 British Airways Avios for 4 people

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5. Used United miles to fly from Seattle to Philadelphia

  • We were able to get first class saver tickets for 25,000 miles per ticket, which was the best option for the flights and dates that we wanted and needed

TOTAL = 100,000 United miles for 4 first class one-way tickets

So the total for 4 people is 240,000 miles for this Hawaiian vacation! 5 different flights.  And we only paid the taxes/fees!

This is how it breaks down for that trip in Credit Card sign-ups:

  1. British Airways Chase card (we got it when the bonus was 100,000 miles), but if you have 2 people you could each get it with a 50,00 mile bonus
  2. Southwest Chase card x 2 (we each got 2 Southwest cards – we booked tons of trips with these miles plus Companion Pass)
  3. United Airlines card (we each got one when bonus was 65,000 miles)

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PicMonkey Photo2

How my in-laws are getting to Hawaii (#2)

This is similar to what we did, with less credit card sign-ups and only 2 people.  They are only going to one island, so did not need the interisland flight.

  1. They got a British Airways Visa with the 50,000 mile sign up bonus.  This is enough for the 2 of them to get roundtrip from the West Coast to Hawaii
  2. They got a Southwest Visa with a 50,000 mile bonus.  This was enough to book the 2 of them to and from the West Coast

So, for 2 credit card sign-ups, they were able to get 2 people from the East Coast to Hawaii only paying for the taxes and fees.

 

How we traveled to Hawaii in 2012 (#3)

We pretty much followed similar steps as in #1.   We used British Airways Avios (that we had gotten from a 100,000 mile sign-up bonus) to book the 4 of us roundtrip to Hawaii from the West Coast on American Airlines (because of the partner alliance). We used American Airlines to get us to the West Coast so that we could spend some time at Disneyland before Hawaii and visiting family near Los Angeles after our Hawaii trip.

PicMonkey Photo3

 

Using other Frequent Flyer programs to get to Hawaii

In addition to what I have written about our experiences, you can also fly airlines such as American, United, USAirways, Delta, Alaskan, and Hawiian airlines to Hawaii from the Mainland.  Generally flights are 40,000 miles roundtrip.  They can be harder to book, and you may have various connections and layovers. There are also some direct East Coast to Honolulu flights as well, but these have not been practical for our family and our travel plans.

Here are the things to consider:

  • It can take time to apply for the card (and wait for a good bonus), get it in the mail, meet the minimum spend, have the miles post to your account, and then book the flights.
  • You may have to be flexible with dates, flights, airports (both on the Mainland and in Hawaii)
  • I have booked our 2 trips exactly on the date that the flights became available (11 months out), and my in-laws’ trip about 8 months out (they weren’t able to get the exact dates that would have been ideal, but it worked out)

What do you do if you don’t have much time to wait?

If you are looking to book a Hawaii flight, but don’t have much time to wait for the above considerations, consider getting a credit card that offers cash back for travel.  That way you can purchase your tickets and get a refund (statement credit) for your travel purchase.  I recently got the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard. This would be a great option for any travel that you have to pay for, especially if 2 spouses could each get a card.  With the current bonus, you would each get $440 worth of free travel. You could use this bonus to offset the cost of your flights. The 40,000 bonus points for this offer equal $440 worth of travel.

Here is the information for the Barclaycard:

barclaycard

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Autism and Travel : 50 Family Vacation Tips

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autism and travel family tips

Autism and Travel

April is Autism Awareness month. Those who love someone with autism are aware of it every day. For those who don’t, you probably will at some point, since the new stats released show that 1 in 68 people will be diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. I have had lots of experience, both personally and professionally, regarding Autism Spectrum Disorders, and I love and care about several people who are on the autism spectrum. As this is a travel blog, I decided to write this post about Autism and Travel. I compiled tons of great travel tips from friends who are parents of children with autism, as well as professional colleagues who work with those on the spectrum.

Before we get into the travel tips, I have to state the old adage “if you meet one person with Autism, then you’ve met one person with Autism.”  Meaning, all people will manifest symptoms differently, and people with autism are as unique as snowflakes (oh, and the rest of humans). Therefore, not all of these tips will apply or be helpful to all situations. Conversely, many of these tips will also be helpful to parents of children with other diagnoses, such as ADHD and Anxiety Disorders (which often have overlapping symptoms with Autism Spectrum Disorders anyway), or even parents with children in general. I have found many of these tips to be personally useful, and I thank, with all of my heart, the friends who shared their ideas with me. There is no one I admire more than those I have met along this journey (you know who you are). As I write these tips, I use the terms ‘kids’ and ‘children’ because that is my frame of reference and area of professional knowledge. Many of these tips can also apply to adults as well.

OK, now for the helpful stuff…

50 Family Vacation Tips

Before-Trip Preparation:

  • Consider starting out small, by staying for one night in a local hotel or at a relative’s house, so that your child will have some experience with getting used to sleeping in an unfamiliar environment if this will be a new experience for him/her. Repetition and practice can be your friend & it will be a common theme here.
  • Research your destinations carefully as you plan your trip. There are some places that are known for being easier to visit for people with special needs. Disney is known for being a great destination for those with special needs, and there are many other places as well.
  • If your child has a special interest, consider making that a part of your trip (ie a train museum for a train enthusiast, the National Portrait Gallery in DC for a fan of US Presidents). Even if these sites aren’t of interest to you, it can add so much joy to the trip when watching your child light up with excitement at seeing these places and his/her obsessions up close and personal.
  • Show your child YouTube videos of specific places (rides, hotels, inside of an airplane, buildings, etc) so that he or she can start to develop a visual picture of where you are going. You can pretty much find anything on YouTube (both good and bad, of course)!
  • Make a Social Story about your trip and where you are going, adding in things that the child will be expected to do (ie “John will stand in line while waiting to get on the ride”). Social Stories can be very effective for some kids, for most situations.
  • Make a Social Story about various aspects of the travel (ie if you are going to the airport, make a story about going through security). Be very specific with details. If you yourself are not sure of details of travel logistics, ask around (google is also your friend).
  • Show your child photos of the locations, places (hotels, amusement parks, etc), and modes of transportation (like airplanes, trains, etc) you will be visiting.  You can often order brochures and maps (like a Disney theme parks map, for example) ahead of time.
  • If visiting people the child has not met or seen in a while, make a photo book with their photos and names (ie “This is Aunt Mary”). Also, give these people a heads-up about Autism before you arrive & maybe send them some links to your favorite articles to expand their awareness and understanding.
  • Do a faux ‘run through’ (aka a role play) of a situation that might be part of your travel experience, like taking shoes off at the airport and walking through the security line.
  • Practice things that might be stressful for your child multiple times (ie When the security at the airport asks your name, you say “John”, repeat until he/she is comfortable doing this with you playing the security guard, change roles and practice again).
  • Find photos and/or articles about your vacation and make a “pre-vacation” book.  Look at it with your child every night.
  • Try to find out ahead of time where the “calm” areas are in a place that you may visit in case the child needs a quiet place to take a break, etc.
  • Write out a schedule/routine for your time away and review it regularly before the trip. You can post it right next to the daily home routine, if you have one,  so you can identify changes and practice the differences (ie we have breakfast at home everyday but on vacation, our schedule says we will eat breakfast at the hotel).
  • Some children do better with preparations that start a month or more in advance.  For others, that can be anxiety-provoking instead of calming & they do better with only a few days of advanced preparation. Know which of these methods works for your own child, and prepare accordingly.
  • There are lots of forums out there related to specific destinations – read as much as you can & ask questions to get tips from other families who may have some of the same experiences.
  • Call ahead to hotels and airlines to let them know that your child has a special need, any specific food allergies or restrictions. For example, let them know if you are in need of a quiet room at the end of the hallway in the hotel and explain the reasons why. Let the airline know about any needs that you may have as well. Most people are very helpful and want to make your experience as easy and pleasurable as possible.
  • Some airports have an Autism Access Program, like the one described here at the Philadelphia Airport.  If this is available to you, it looks like it could be very helpful for making airline travel easier.
  • Try to book direct flights to avoid layovers, plane changes, and additional ear-popping mayhem.  Also make an effort to get the bulkheads seats, as to avoid kicking the backs of seats and getting dirty looks from other passengers.
  • Speaking of other travelers, some parents swear by the “I have autism card”.  There are many variations of this (check Pinterest for some great ideas), but it is basically something that you can hand to people who are giving you a hard time that says something along the lines of “I/my son/daughter have Autism and things may be difficult for me at times. Please try to be kind and understanding.”
  • Make a “countdown to vacation” calendar at home, where you can mark off the days until you leave. Also bring a calendar along on the vacation with the day that you will be returning home so that you can mark off the days of the vacation as well. You can do this via a calendar app as well.
  • If your child uses a picture schedule at home and/or school, consider making one for the vacation as well. You can put things like waiting in line, the steps of going through security at the airport, the stops along the way on a road trip, etc). As each step is completed, you can take the picture away to show that it is complete.  You can even use the picture schedule for your practice runs at home.
  • If your child has sensory needs, consider your destination carefully and prepare for it.  For example, if your child has not been to a beach & you want to try it, set up a sandbox at home & have him/her play in the sand at home first. You can also set up a small pool outside to literally “test the waters” for a possible visit to a hotel pool. You should try on hats, sunglasses, rash guards, sunscreens, or anything else you may need for your vacation, at home before you leave. The same would be true for a cold weather destination with snow, snowpants, hats, and gloves, but why would you want to go somewhere like that? (Kidding…sort of…I’m partial to warmth!).

Considerations for Packing:

  • Make a list of the essential things that your child relies on (sunglasses, blanket, vitamins, loveys, special toy or object, etc), and don’t forget to bring those things.
  • In addition to having a list of essentials, make sure to have a check list for those essentials to make sure that they are accounted for and not left behind when you leave. I have heard horror stories about left-behind, rare, hard-to-replace favorite toys or objects. Don’t take the risk of that happening to you.
  • If your child responds to a reinforcer, make sure to bring plenty of it so that you can offer it often during the stressful times (ie I will give you a jellybean for every 30 seconds that you stand calmly and patiently in this line – airport security lines keep going through my head!).
  • Bring preferred foods along with you if your child is specific about food items & you think they may be hard or inconvenient to buy while you are on vacation.
  • For kids with food allergies, bring plenty of your allergy-friendly snack foods.
  • Bring a comfort item for bedtime (blanket, songs on ipod that they listen to at night, stuffed animal, etc) which can be a difficult time when away from the familiar home setting.
  • Bring a letter from your doctor regarding your child’s allergies, diagnoses, specific need.  Some places offer special guest assistance to those with specific needs. Many places will let you bring in your own food, even if they don’t usually let the general public do so.
  • If you are going to anywhere that has a water play area (find out ahead of time if they do), bring a swimsuit and/or change of clothes. This would have helped a friend of mine to avoid a major meltdown.
  • Pack extra socks in your day bag/purse in case feet get wet outdoors or at an amusement park.
  • Bring back-up chargers for all of your electronic devices.
  • Bring a small bag of sensory-friendly toy items for the airplane, restaurant, lines, etc.
  • Bring some new things to play with/look at for the airplane, restaurant, etc. You can wrap each item individually (aluminum foil works well) & give out one each hour, 30 minutes, 10 minutes if you are desperate!
  • Bring some old favorite toys/items that you put away for a bit prior to the trip. Having familiar items in a new place can sometimes be helpful.
  • If you are bringing a favorite item, consider getting a second one as a “back up” to leave at home in case the one you bring gets lost or broken.
  • If the child has sensory needs, consider things like earplugs, certain clothes, textures, bring own bedding if needed, noise machine, headphones.
  • If you have a tablet or ipod, load it with some favorite movies and shows for entertainment in the car, plane, etc.

 

Considerations for Safety:

  • Get some kind of identification with names, cell phone numbers, medications, special considerations (ie if child is non-verbal) made, like a necklace or bracelet. If your child will not wear something like that, you can get labels made that can be sewn onto clothing, zipper tags, or shoelace tags. There are even custom-made temporary tattoos that can be made with the identification information on them. I have friends with children who tend to elope who have purchased GPS tracking devices as well.
  • Purchase the same brightly colored t-shirt for each day of vacation so that the child stands out & you can easily remember what she/he is wearing if she/he gets lost.
  • Purchase the same shirt for the child and the parent to wear.  If the child gets lost, the parent can point to his/her t-shirt to show what the child is wearing.
  • Carry with you a recent photo of the child.
  • Make a Social Story for child about various types of community helpers (police, workers, etc) so the child knows who to go to in case of emergency.

 

While you are on Vacation:

  • Check restaurant menus ahead of time to make sure that there are food items that your child can/will eat.
  • Try not to deviate from a meal/eating schedule to avoid hunger and routine related difficulties.
  • Check to see how far your destination is from a Walmart/Target/Kmart in case you are in need of an essential item.
  • Make a daily schedule of your activities, and be very specific about what you will be doing and when. Although vacation seems like it should be more relaxed, for some kids, this will make for an overall more relaxed state of mind and a more enjoyable experience for all.
  • Make sure that you have a back-up plan in case something changes (bad weather, a ride is closed, etc).
  • Lines (and waiting, in general) can be a difficult time. Consider giving a new “thing” at the beginning/end of each waiting portion ($1.00 toy, silly putty, gum, etc).
  • As hard as it may seem after reading this long list of things to do…remember to try to relax and have fun.  If you, as the parent, are feeling extremely anxious then it can impact how the child is feeling. Have a huge cocktail and put your feet up (ok, that’s not real professional advice, but I had to put that in there somewhere!). You are a fantastic parent & are doing your best! Sometimes a good sense of humor really is the best remedy of all.

 

What are your tips and tricks for traveling with a child with Autism or any other diagnosis?

Universal Studios Orlando For Free!

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Universal Studios Orlando For Free!

Family Theme Park Vacation. For Free. During Holiday Break. Yes, we did it!

We generally like to travel around Christmas/New Years break because the schools are closed and it’s the perfect time for us to get away.  The time leading up to Christmas is the busiest of the year for me at work, and I am so in need of a vacation once Christmas is over!  Unfortunately, the rest of the world (at least those with kids or who work in schools) also seems to have the same idea! That leaves us with three chioces 1) plan ahead in order to use our miles & points for our vacation 2) be extremely flexible with where we are going to go or 3) pay top dollar.  Number 3 is not an option for us.

We really wanted to visit Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.  We have been to Disney World about a million times, but had never been to Universal.  Or, as they say on the Disboards, the “dark side” (I’m not joking, that’s really what they call it). Because we have been traveling so much in the past couple of years, we like to avoid paying for anything travel related, if at all possible.  So I sought out a way to get our flight home from Orlando (we had flown into Fort Myers to go to Marco Island), our Universal hotel for 4 nights, and Universal Studios tickets for the 4 of us.

This is what I did.  It worked out perfectly for us, YMMV (your miles may vary), literally.

1. Loews Royal Pacific Hotel

This is one of the 3 onsite Universal Orlando hotels.  There are major advantages to staying Onsite, especially if you happen to be a Harry Potter fan.  The main advantages that were important to us:

  • Get in an hour early (before parks open) to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  This perk enabled my HP-obsessed daughter to go on Harry Potter the Forbidden Journey seven times….yes 7 times in 2 days
  • “SKIP THE REGULAR LINES with Universal ExpressSM Unlimited ride access in both theme parks – a FREE benefit worth up to $89 per person, per day^ (valid theme park admission required). It’s the fastest way to ride – enjoy unparalleled access all day long, as often as you’d like!”
  • Proximity to the parks – we didn’t use our rental car for the entire time we were there.  We made the short walk or took the water taxi to the parks

How did we stay for free? We used our American Airlines AAdvantage miles to book hotels, which you can do here.  Make sure that you sign in to your account, because they somehow show much higher point amounts when you are not signed in.  We have also booked Disney hotels using this method & you can read about that here.  For our 4 nights (during a holiday, high-season period) we “paid” 21,000 – 23,000 points per night.  When I priced it out at the time, it would have been $1800.  It was so worth it for us.

This is an example of a search that I did for the Loews Royal Pacific using AA miles

This is an example of a search that I did for the Loews Royal Pacific using AA miles

 

2. Universal Studios Theme Park Tickets

Another major expense of any theme park vacation is the park tickets, especially when you have a family to pay for!  We were able to get our tickets for free using our American Express Membership Rewards points.  The price (in points) of the tickets can fluctuate, and sometimes they do run out.  When we got ours, we were able to get 2 adults passes and 2 children’s passes for 3 day park tickets.  I think it was about 12,000 points for the kids and 15,000 for the adults.  At the time, it was a buy 2 days get one free promotion at the parks.  There have also been times when you could get these tickets for just 5,000 MR points.

The current offerings on the Amex site for Universal Studios tickets

The current offerings on the Amex site for Universal Studios tickets

 

3. Flights from Orlando to Philadelphia

We were able to use our Southwest points to get from Orlando to Philadelphia.  My husband and I both have Southwest Companion Passes, which I will write about another time.  The basic gist of it is, if you get 110,000 Southwest points in a calendar year, you get to bring a companion on any of your flights (paid or points) for free.  It’s the best thing since sliced bread (which, apparently, is younger than Betty White, but I digress).  We only had to use about 18,000 Southwest points total to get all 4 of us home.

So, that is how we went to Universal Studios for free at one of the busiest times of year! And we had an amazing time & may even be considering going over to the Dark Side for good.

Hogwarts...Forbidden Journey...best ride ever

Hogwarts…Forbidden Journey…best ride ever

Some cool props from comics that the kids have never heard of...this SHOULD be Spongebob World

Some cool props from comics that the kids have never heard of…this SHOULD be Spongebob World

 

Is it a bad parenting to have your daughter's pic taken with the Duff Beer Guy, Duffman?

Is it bad parenting to have your daughter’s pic taken with the Duff Beer Guy, Duffman?

Pretty much my life motto, for real

Pretty much my life motto, for real. Thanks Dr. Seuss

 

Cheap Family Science Center & Museum Pass…..HURRY!

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Buy an Annual Pass for 4 for less than $50! Plus get admission to 300 other Museums!
Buy an Annual Pass for 4 for less than $50! Plus get admission to 300 other Museums!

How to get a cheap Family Science Center & Museum pass….limited time offer!

One of our favorite things to do as a family, whether at home or while traveling, is to visit family-friendly Science Museums.  Last week we went to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore for the second time, and we had a blast!

I came across this deal today on Living Social for an annual membership for a family of 4 to the Maryland Science Center.  I used the code 15OFFMARCH in the promo code section to bring the total down to $52.70, which is a fabulous bargain.  On top of that, I will get 6% cash back by going through the Ebates shopping portal (if you are unfamiliar with shopping portals, see this and this).

This is a limited time offer, so I wanted to make sure that you all can take advantage of this if you are interested.

Now, here is the best part of this deal….

There is a group of about 300 museums that have a reciprocal relationship with one another.  Meaning, if you have an annual pass for one museum, you can use it to get into other museums & science centers within the group.  You can find the current list here, and I can say that we have been to several of the museums on that list (including our recent visit to the Franklin Institute).  We have a trip to Chicago coming up, and there are some places on this list that I was eyeing up for our visit.  I am excited about this because I am always looking for ways to save money on our family activities on our vacations. My plan is to bring the Living Social voucher with me (since we won’t be in Baltimore again before Chicago for me to get the actual pass in hand). I may also see if there is another way that I can get the pass in hand without going to Baltimore first. I have read from others that this should work, so we’ll see!

You can also read about the restrictions here. It looks like museums within 90 miles of each other are excluded, and possibly museums within 90 miles of your home.  I have heard from others that the enforcement of these restrictions is pretty non-existent, but YMMV.  The admission is good for general admission, so things like IMAX tickets will cost extra (thanks Captain Obvious).

So HURRY UP and get this deal while it is still available people!

What is Manufactured Spending? Hint: It’s Not as Crazy as it Sounds

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ManSpend2

What is Manufactured Spending?

In the Miles & Points world, there is this thing called “Manufactured Spending” that sounds really crazy and complicated, but it’s neither of those things when you really get to the heart of the matter.  Don’t get me wrong, lots of people go beyond the norm with their ManSpend efforts, but the average travel hacker can do this pretty easily as well. I have a job, kids, and a busy life.  Therefore, I can’t and don’t take it to the extreme.  I do participate in ManSpend to the Level 1.5 degree, I would say.  So what exactly *is* Manufactured Spending?

ManSpend** (as I like to call it when I’m feeling lazy) is essentially buying a form of “cash” with a credit card in order to get points/miles/rewards for said purchase. Normally we would attempt to get as many points/miles/rewards for the purchases we make everyday.  Like using online shopping portals for buying things, and using our credit cards where they get category bonuses.  What if you could purchase money, get your points for that purchase, and then use the money to pay off your credit card bill?  What if you could pay bills that don’t normally take credit cards (like mortgage payments) with your rewards-earning credit cards? That is the essence of ManSpend.

What are some easy ways to Manufacture Spend?

In this post,  I will go into detail about the methods that I personally use.  These are not top secret.  I have not been let in on any secret ManSpend societies (yet), and I pretty much stick with the basics because I am a wimp busy.

       1. Reload Cards

***UPDATE*** You can no longer buy Vanilla Reload cards at CVS with a credit card 

These are plastic cards that look kind of like gift cards and are on the gift card racks at places like CVS and Walgreens.  I like to think of them as the middleman, a place to ‘hold’ your money until you can get it into a usable form.  You purchase the Reload card (with your rewards-earning credit card), and then you have to move on to the next step before you can use your money.

My go-to reload card is called the Vanilla Reload, and I buy them at the local drugstore that starts with a C.  You are allowed to purchase $5,000 worth per day at that store, but I am never that desperate (not that there’s anything wrong with you if you are…or, on second thought…). I purchase them for one of 3 reasons: 1) I want to earn extra rewards on a certain card OR 2) I need to spend X amount of money in X amount of days to get a sign-up bonus 3) I want to pay a bill with a credit card & they don’t take credit cards.  The fee for buying this card is $3.95 no matter how much money you put on it, so it makes sense to ‘load’ the card with the maximum amount allowed ($500 per card).

So I bought my Vanilla Reload card at the store that let me use my credit card (a challenge for some to find stores like this)…now what do I do?

        2.  American Express Bluebird

Ok, so this should really be step one, I suppose. In order to access your credit card company’s money, you need to somehow get it away from the middleman (Vanilla Reload) and into your own grubby little hands (or to your mortgage company).  For this, I have an American Express Bluebird card.  There are 3 ways that you can get your very own Bluebird card (and you should if you are serious about this hobby):

  • You can purchase a Bluebird Account Kit at Walmart
  • You can order one online here (this is what I did)
  • Register through the Bluebird mobile app

You will be asked things like name, address, social security number, birthdate, email, user name, password, etc. Once you do the registration, you will get your card in the mail in about a week.  You then have to go online to activate it.  Note: you can only have one Bluebird account per person, but you and your spouse, parent, etc can each get one.

Once you have both your Amex Bluebird and your Reload Card (that you bought with your rewards-earning credit card), you “load” the money from the Reload onto the Bluebird by going to this website.  There is a scratch off silvery strip on the back of the Vanilla Reload (pretend you are playing the lottery!) with the code underneath it.  Put that and your Amex Bluebird number into that website and, viola! your money is available for you to use.

What can I do with my Amex Bluebird?

  • You can do online Billpay
  • You can send the money to your bank account
  • You can use it at an ATM to get cash (small fee)
  • You can use it as a credit card (why?)
  • You can use the money to pay off the credit card that you bought the money with

I usually withdraw it to my bank account and then pay bills with it (either the credit card or something like a mortgage or car payment).  You can load $1000 per day (up to $5000 per month) onto each Bluebird card, so it is limited.

       3. Amazon Payments

Are you familiar with PayPal? Amazon Payments is a similar concept.  You can send money to other people for goods & services. You can go here to sign up and learn more.  You will need the same information as for the Bluebird (name, address, social security number, date of birth, etc).  You can then set up your account with your banking information (for receiving your payments). You can pay another person using your rewards-earning credit card (up to $1000 per month).

 

          4. Buy and Sell Stuff

This method is definitely not for everyone, and I have only tried it minimally myself.  If you can find a really good deal on some items that you think you can sell for a higher price or break even (after fees), you can try re-selling those items on Ebay, Amazon, or Craigslist.  You can buy those items with your rewards-earning credit card, sell them & pay off the credit card with that money.  This can be somewhat risky because you may not be able to sell the items or make enough money to make it worthwhile.  I am planning to think about this a bit more when I have time, as I have sold thousands of things on Ebay (not re-sell things, but used) and have gotten pretty good at it.  I think I can use this method for some ManSpend when I have the time (wait, when will that be?!?!?!).

 

There are other ManSpend methods out there, and I will write more about them at a future date.  For now, I only wanted to write about my own personal experiences and not just things I have read about.

 

**Most in the Miles & Points world call it MS, but the real MS (Multiple Sclerosis) hits too close to home in my family for me to refer to ManSpend that way, so I just do my own thing, as usual.

How to Travel For Free with Credit Cards (Part 2) – Sign-Up Bonuses

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Free Travel Basics Painting

 How to Travel for Free – Getting Miles & Points from Credit Card Sign-up Bonuses

The truth is, for a person (like me!) who needs to earn miles & points without actually paying for flights or paying to stay in hotels, credit card sign-up bonuses are the way to go. You can read the first installment to learn the basics about travel rewards cards (How to Travel for Free – Credit Cards - Part 1).  Once you understand the basic concept of what a travel rewards credit card is & how it benefits the person applying, you can decide how to go about building up your own stash of miles & points to use for planning your cheap trip.  In this second installment, I will discuss how I go about deciding which credit cards to apply for at any given time.

Step One : Analyzing My Current Credit Situation

Is my credit score good enough to support some credit card applications?  See my information here about understanding and checking your credit score and credit report.  I generally want to make sure that my score is over 750, knowing that it will dip a bit temporarily when I sign up for some new cards.

One thing that many people who follow this hobby tend to do with credit card applications is an app-o-rama (or AOR).  An AOR is essentially the practice of applying for multiple credit cards all on the same day.  The reason for this has to do with the fact that a new credit application gets reported to the credit agencies.  You can get turned away (even with a stellar credit score) for having “too many inquiries” recently.  If you apply for a bunch of cards on the same day, each of the credit card companies does not see the information about your other inquiries for that day.  I use this strategy, and it works for me.  Some in the hobby have a set schedule of when they will apply for new cards (something like every 90 days for a new AOR).  I don’t generally do it that regularly, but enough to have the miles & points in my accounts that I want to use.  Which brings me to….

Step Two : Knowing my Travel Goals

I like to keep a running list of places we want to go and dates when we can travel.  See here to read about how I plan our travel, in general.  Planning ahead really helps me to narrow my focus about what types of miles & points I need to work on accumulating.  For example, I knew that I wanted to plan a trip to Hawaii, and I was able to research and find out that British Airways miles would get me there.  I then applied for a British Airways Chase Visa Card, which had a 100,000 mile bonus at the time of my sign up (not right now, but these things change all the time).  That one application was enough to get all 4 of us to and from Hawaii from the West Coast.  I also applied for some hotel cards after researching which hotels we wanted to stay in once we were in Hawaii (here is one example).

Step Three : What are the best Credit Card offers at the time of my application(s)?

It helps to know what the current credit card offers are, and for this I always go to Flyertalk and/or Milepoint for my research.   Those people on the forums know everything there is to know about reward travel.  I like to read this specific Flyertalk thread to learn about the different sign-up bonuses that are being offered.  I also try to jump on any really spectacular bonuses that come along, as many of them are very limited as to how long the applications are available.  For example, last year I was able to get in on a 100,000 point bonus for the American Express Platinum card that was only available for about a day, which was a great deal for us!

Some tips:

  • My husband and I generally both apply for the same offers if they are really good, so we end up getting double the bonus points in many cases
  • We keep a spreadsheet with all of our application dates, how much the bonus is, how much we need to spend to get the bonus, annual fee (usually waived the first year, but I like to know what it is), and when the bonus points post
  • I continually evaluate and reevaluate which cards I have, which ones I’m keeping, and which need to be cancelled before the annual fee hits
  • You can often get the fee waived or an offer for a retention bonus when you call to cancel your card (more on that later)
  • If you are denied, you can call the reconsideration line to plead your case & this works for us 99% of time (more on that later too)

 

Just like we do, you can put your credit to work for you and save thousands of dollars in the process.  Free travel with credit card sign-up bonuses has become a way of life for us at this point!