Monthly Archives: December 2013

Travel with Grant at CES Las Vegas (January 9-10) and FTU in Seattle (April 25-27)

CES 2014

Travel with Grant at CES Las Vegas (January 9-10) and FTU in Seattle (April 25-27)

Good evening everyone, sorry for missing so many days of blogging, I’ve been very busy with work lately and went to see Anchorman 2 last night and got home late.  Now that I finally have a few minutes to blog, here’s whats new.

I will be at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas on Thursday and Friday (January 9-10) – will anyone else be there?  It is my first time and I have always wanted to go, so I am really excited.

Secondly, it’s time for another FTU (Frequent Traveler University) aka travel-blogging conference.  If you read the big blogs on Boarding Area, Million Mile Secrets, The Points Guy, etc and want to meet the bloggers in person, this is the event for you.

Ticket Options:

Tickets to the event, held Friday-Sunday April 25-27 at the Seattle Airport Marriott are $100 and include alcoholic drinks on Friday night, as well as lunch on Saturday and Sunday.  You can purchase tickets here (tickets will sell out quickly since only ~400 tickets will be available).

FTU SEA Ticket 2

Continue reading →

Make $252 in January with your Citi Dividend Platinum Select Credit Card

This is an updated version of my previous post (thanks for feedback guys!)
Citi Dividend Platinum CC

Make $252 in January with your Citi Dividend Platinum Select Credit Card

My new Citi Dividend Platinum Select credit card will come in handy in January.  For that quarter, I will get 5% cash back at Macy’s, Drug Stores, and Fitness Clubs.  Unlike the Discover It and Chase Freedom credit cards, there is no quarterly spending cap (like the first $1,500 spent per quarter).

5 Cash Back Citi Dividend

The last time I checked (10 minutes ago), CVS Pharmacy’s were classified as Drug Stores.

CVS Drug Store

By my calculations, if you buy 12 Vanilla Reload Cards at CVS, you will max out the $300 annual cash back limit for your card.  Subtracting the activation fees of $47.40 (12 x $3.95 = $47.40), you make a net profit of $252.  Not too shabby for a no annual fee card.

# VRC Amount Act. Fee  Total Charge  5% Cash Back Cash Back – Act. Fee
1 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
2 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
3 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
4 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
5 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
6 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
7 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
8 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
9 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
10 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
11 $500.00 $3.95 $503.95 $25.20 $21.25
12 $452.60 $3.95 $456.55 $22.83 $18.88
        $300.00 $252.60

To learn more about the benefits of rotating cash back category credit cards, please check out this page.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

The Flight Deal: Use British Airways Avios for Flights To/From CLT / DCA / PHL / PHX (Starting 3/31/14)

The Flight Deal Logo

The Flight Deal: Use British Airways Avios for Flights To/From CLT / DCA / PHL / PHX (Starting 3/31/14)

It is no secret that I love The Flight Deal.  I have scored some great deals from that website including my round trip flight from Miami to the Galapagos Islands for $380 and from Mexico City to Easter Island for $550.

They have done it again with this epic post All Nonstop US Airways Flights from Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Phoenix and Charlotte with British Airways Avios Starting March 31st, 2014.

Here are some of the gems they identified:

  • Charlotte -> Toronto (4,500), Montreal (7,500), Cancun (7,500), Grand Cayman (7,500), and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (7,500)
  • Washington, D.C. -> Bermuda (7,500), Halifax (7,500), Montreal (4,500), and Toronto (4,500)
  • Philadelphia -> Aruba (10,000), Bermuda (7,500), Cancun (10,000), Freeport (7,500), Grand Cayman (10,000), Montreal (4,500), Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (10,000), Punta Cana (10,000), Quebec City (4,500), Santo Domingo (10,000), St. Marteen (10,000), San Jose, Costa Rica (12,500), and Toronto (4,500)
  • Phoenix -> Anchorage (12,500), Honolulu (12,500), Lihue (12,500), Kona (12,500), Maui (12,500), Puerto Vallarta (7,500), Cancun (10,000), and Cabo San Lucas (7,500)

You can go from Phoenix to all 4 airports in Hawaii for 12,500 British Airways Avios each way!  That’s pretty sweet dude!

PHX to Hawaii Avios

Are there any routes you are especially excited about?  Let me know in the comments below.

Final Payout from Great Bridge Group (Check your PayPal Account) and AMEX Statement Credits

GBG Logo

Final Payout from Great Bridge Group (Check your PayPal Account) and AMEX Statement Credits

Good evening everyone!  Great Bridge Group honored their word and payed out their final payout today (December 12, 2013).  Here is a copy of my PayPal receipt (please keep in mind that I had earned $5 referral bonuses for every person who joined, that is why my payout is so large):

GBG Payout

If you did receive an email last weekend from Great Bridge Group (see this post), hopefully you did or will receive your final payout soon.

Here are my statement credits from the Neiman Marcus American Express promo ($50 back on $200) and my Toys R Us American Express promo ($5 back on $25).

BCP Offers Statementr Credit

HH Surpass Statement Credit

If you are curious, I bought 3x $200 Neiman Marcus egift cards for $200 (received $50 statement credit) and sold them online to cardpool for $160 (plus shopping portal bonuses).  For Toys R Us, I bought 3x $25 Subway gift cards for myself.  Happy holidays to everyone!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

Chase’s Secure Message Customer Service is Awesome (Converted Chase Sapphire to Chase Freedom)

Chase Logo

Chase’s Secure Message Customer Service is Awesome (Converted Chase Sapphire to Chase Freedom)

My 2014 New Years Resolution was to get a cash back credit card from every bank and I am working on my resolution early this year.  I have already called Citibank and requested that they convert my Citi AA American Express Credit Card to the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Credit Card.  I am still waiting for that card to arrive in the mail, but you can read about the 5% rotating categories here.

Anyways, my next credit card on my list was the Chase Freedom Credit Card.  This card is great for many reasons (5% cash back this month on Amazon.com orders and on select department stores – see this list).  I did not want another credit pull, so I sent Chase a secure message asking them to convert my Chase Sapphire (basic, not preferred) Credit Card to the Chase Freedom Credit Card.  Here was the process:

My first message:

Good evening, I would like to convert my Chase Sapphire credit card into a Chase Freedom credit card. I want to take advantage of the 5 percent cash back categories for this quarter. If possible, please rush delivery the Chase Freedom credit card. Thank you for your help and have a great day.   Continue reading →