Author Archives: Shelli

About Shelli

Shelli Stein is a health and fitness entrepreneur who travels the world in search of culture, food, and fun! Besides contributing to Travel with Grant, you can find her at Joy in Movement.

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Best Meal at the Singapore Changi Airport? Visit the Staff Canteen

A while back, I asked for advice about how to spend my time at Singapore Changi Airport. After all, it’s been the number one rated airport for many years and I wanted to find out for myself why. TWG readers are the best, and they offered me many great ideas. One reader, Donald, left a comment that I found intriguing.

He wrote, “You should visit the staff canteen. It’s where the airport workers get their meals–dirt cheap. It’s where you can really get the local experience and eat authentic local food prepared by and served to locals. It’s open to the public so you can sit shoulder to shoulder with baggage handlers and flight attendants while you enjoy your meal together. Skip all that silly stuff (butterfly garden, free movies, etc). This is the true insider experience for travelers.” Continue reading

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Hyatt 40% Bonus on Purchased Points (Expires May 23)

Whether or not you buy hotel points when promotions are running, it’s good to know your options. We all like to travel more for less! Topping up accounts for an upcoming stay can serve us well when we can get more value from the cost of the stays then we spend on buying those points. I use up my Hyatt points way faster than I drink my flat whites, so I keep a list of hotel point promos handy to see if they’ll work for me.

Currently, Hyatt is running their buy points promotions. Depending on your travel plans this might be worth checking out.

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I Just Discovered Another Travel Agent Super Power

I recently read about a Super Power that some travel agents possess! Don’t you hate it that some airlines make it difficult and near impossible to get preassigned seats? I know many travelers simply won’t fly these airlines, preferring instead to choose airlines where you can (even for a fee) have a preassigned seat.

Ah yes, that superpower. I read that when it is difficult to get preassigned seats, some travel agents and agencies, particularly Virtuoso agents, have access to seat assignments on these airlines that are not available to ordinary travelers. Good deal all around for both the travelers and agents. Continue reading

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Amazon Prime: Keep or Cancel? Help Me Decide!

A while ago Amazon announced an increase to their Amazon Prime fees. And even though there are ways to keep the fees at the $99 yearly for a bit longer, it still seemed to me I should take a closer look at whether or not I was getting value from having Amazon Prime even at the $99 rate.

I always say, “Let math be your friend” and in fact, I enjoy math. And I enjoy using spreadsheets, too. I’m not exactly Don in The Rosie Project, but I can come awfully close to his obsession with tracking things.

So let’s take a look at what I actually DO use Amazon Prime for, because I think a lot of people see all the potential uses of Amazon Prime but don’t really use them. Continue reading

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Does Citi Really Know Where and When I am Traveling?

Looks like all the credit card companies are jumping on the bandwagon. A while ago, American Express told me I don’t need to alert them when I travel. Now I’m getting similar notices from Citi. The weird thing about this notice is that it says it’s based on my airline ticket purchases, but I don’t put airlines tickets on this card. I do put hotel charges on this card and save a big bundle each year  using the Citi Prestige 4th night free benefit. But I also cancel those and sometimes rearrange the dates on my hotel stays.

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