Author Archives: The Flying Detective

About The Flying Detective

The Flying Detective has traveled around the world since the 1990's and has visited many countries. TFD has been involved in travel hacking since 2015 and enjoys free or discounted air travel and hotels. He writes trip reports and other articles that may be of interest to fellow travel hackers.

a close-up of a logo

Holiday Inn Resort Los Cabos – Spoiler Alert – Don’t Waste Your Time

I received an email several weeks ago about 20,000 points per night redemptions at the Holiday Inn Resort Los Cabos All Inclusive. I began thinking of the great weather, the sun, the beach, and booked 6 nights. Unfortunately, the rest of this trip report is the failures I experienced until I finally decided I had enough and left for the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos.  Prior to my arrival, I was in contact with a manager by email, and he let me know I was entitled to an upgrade due to my IHG Platinum Elite Status (I was not expecting this), and for $45 / night additional, I could again upgrade to an ocean view room with a terrace and hammock. I upgraded as the limited photos available showed what I thought was a nice room.

CHECK-IN

Upon arrival, the check-in process was the first problem; we were told to go do “something” for an hour while our room was cleaned. This was odd since we arrived around 1:30pm and the manager was aware of my arrival time. We went to the one restaurant on property that was open and had a good meal. After an hour had passed, we returned to the lobby to find complete chaos. There was a line from the desk half way through the lobby, and only some of the computers were staffed for check-in. It appeared there may have been internet or connection problems because nobody was moving it seemed. I was given a key to my room and thought I had dodged a bullet – I didn’t have to wait in that line. My hopes were short lived as I tried to get in my room and the key didn’t work, the dreaded red light. I returned to the lobby and the same faces were standing in line, not on the beach or enjoying their free alcohol. I asked an employee what was going on and was told to come back in 45 minutes. I asked to see a manager.  A manager arrived about 5 minutes later and had keys to our room, and we were finally starting to settle in.

a sidewalk with palm trees and a sign Continue reading

a close up of a bag

Personal Capital & Betterment Keep Life Simple for Travelers

When you travel a lot, like most of us do, you may have a hard time keeping track of all your different account balances, payments received and checks posting etc. Combine that with multiple accounts, each bank has a different app with unique passwords, you’re outside of the USA so some don’t work without VPN and the tasks can be time consuming and frustrating. I use a service that helps track all your financial accounts and presents them to you in one convenient dashboard. Once set up, the service updates your checking, savings, credit card, investment, retirement, and HSA accounts periodically so the totals and transactions are all displayed when you login to their app or website.

Personal Capital

I have used Personal Capital for years and think you may enjoy it as well. You can sign up for free, and there is no ongoing subscription costs to use the service. Of course, they also sell financial planning services and would like to talk to you about their products, but no purchase is necessary. Personal Capital has all the security features you would expect like second factor authentication by text, email, etc and they also identify login by browser so you can see which browsers have logged on and delete those you don’t want to allow access anymore. If you sign up using my link, we will both get $20 from Personal Capital.

a screenshot of a laptop and phone Continue reading

a black text with a white background

CryptoTab Extension: Earn Bitcoin (BTC) for Free Using Google Chrome

Everyone likes to make extra money; so who wouldn’t like to install a browser plugin and let it work to mine cryptocurrency for you while you are using your browser? If you use Google Chrome, you’re in luck. CryptoTab is a free download that you install into Chrome and it claims to mine cryptocurrency in the background while you work. When you have enough bitcoin in your account, you can simply cash out. If you are worried about the amount of processor power CryptoTab is using, you can adjust it from low, normal or high.

a screenshot of a computer

Continue reading

a hammock on a beach

Get Free Airport Parking with “Frequent Parker” Programs

I hate going to the airport for a quick meeting at the lounge, a meal with a friend passing through, or a short weekend trip and immediately facing the fact that my airport charges hefty hourly and daily parking fees. I can’t Uber or Lyft to the airport because I live far enough away where it’s not economical for me. One way I have found to park for free is by utilizing my off-site parking company’s “frequent parker” program. The program earns you points for each day you park and pay the daily rates; then similar to the points and miles game we all love, you simply use the points accumulated to park for free when you want to.

a screenshot of a screenshot of a website

Continue reading

a black text on a white background

Trip Report: Priority Pass Club MOBAY Lounge at Montego Bay, Jamaica Airport

After checking out of the butler suite at the All-Inclusive Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall in Montego Bay, Jamaica, I had some time before my flight home, so I was pleasantly surprised to find Club MOBAY at the Montego Bay, Jamaica, airport.  It was even better to find they accepted Priority Pass.  If you are not a Priority Pass member, there are several travel reward credit cards which offer a Priority Pass membership by being a credit card holder. You can also access Priority Pass Lounges without your Card (Priority Pass App + Apple Wallet).

a woman standing in front of a sign

You enter the lounge by going downstairs and checking in at the desk.  This desk is in a hallway; the lounge rooms are accessible from here, as well as the spa and restrooms.  Inside the lounge, there are several other rooms which made for decent privacy and great noise barriers.  It was easy to find a space that was reasonably quiet.

Continue reading