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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Purchase Hilton Honors Points at 50% Off (Expires October 5)

If you have any Hilton stays planned, or have been looking at Hilton properties and comparing hotel chain award stays, this sale will interest you! Hilton Honors promotion of 50% savings when you purchase points is ending on October 5th. To receive the 50% discount, you must purchase a minimum of 5,000 Hilton Honors points. This means $5.00 per 1,000 Hilton Honors points. Hilton members are allowed to purchase up to 80,000 Hilton Honors points a year. So if you need to add to your stash of Hilton Honors points for some planned stays, or are tapped out and need some points, this is as good a deal as Hilton offers. Your points will post to your account within 24 hours.

My favorite use of Hilton Honors points was for a 5th night free stay in Budapest where I enjoyed 5 nights for the cost of 4 nights worth of points. They have my favorite Hilton lounge! I’ve also learned a lot about how to maximize my Hilton points from reading Ric at Loyalty Traveler. He’s great at creating category charts that show the Hilton properties around the world. I particularly enjoy the value of Hilton points in Europe.  Here are some pics of the Hilton Budapest lounge:

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Saturday Reader Question: What Dish Would You Travel For?

Do you and your friends talk about food and amazing meals you’ve enjoyed, places you’ve been and places you have yet to visit, and your airplane experiences? Sure you do! Last week, my friends and I were having just this type of fun conversation and we asked each other three questions: what dish would you travel for? Where are you embarrassed to say you’ve not yet been? And what is your dream plane? So since it’s Saturday and the last day of the month, let’s relax a little and have some fun with these questions. Here are my answers to these 3 questions:

What dish would I travel for? The hummus in Jerusalem came to mind first. Then the mussels in New Zealand. They are amazing. The osso buco in Milan was the best ever. I could eat the pesto, made in the Cinque Terre area of Italy, every day.

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Southwest Refundable Ticket Changes: Refundable No More

Seems like we all need to do a better job of reading the fine print. Why? Well, here’s an example from Southwest. I don’t fly Southwest as often as many people I know do. And I’ve made plenty of mistakes and epic fails when it comes to their rules and regulations. Many of my family members are Southwest devotees, so I’ve started keeping a closer eye on Southwest and their programs. Because, after all, I know I’m going to get all the complaints questions from my cousins if I don’t keep them informed :)

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Is there REALLY nothing to hide?

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Aviation Geek? You Need to Check Out Skift’s History of Online Travel

Skift means “Shift” or “Transformation” in Nordic Languages. Skift is also the name of a company that provides media and marketing to the travel industry. They also have a lot to say about global travel industry news and trends. They launched in 2012 and though I don’t follow them and what they’re up to very often, I did come across a podcast I found interesting. I enjoy history, so for me the story called The History of Online Travel was well worth a listen. Dennis Schaal, Skift’s news editor, interviewed more than two dozen people who were instrumental to the early days of online booking. These online travel pioneers whose names and businesses you’ll recognize gave him more than 24 hours of interviews that created this 30 minute podcast. You can also read the interviews here.

Do you follow Skift and their insights and analysis of the global travel industry? Do you enjoy this sort of podcast? Grant has 2 Podcast Picks: Abroaders (Travel Hackers) & How I Built This (SWA Founder Herb Kelleher Interview). What are some of the travel related podcasts you listen to?

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IHG Flash Sale: 100% Bonus on Purchased Points (Expires September 29)

It must be bonus season! IHG Rewards Club just announced a four-day flash sale on IHG points. The offer ends on September 29. I’m a new Chase IHG Rewards Credit Card holder, so these kinds of sales definitely get my attention. A 100% bonus on at least 5,000 points purchased… yes, thank you! You’ll recall that I got matched to the better Chase IHG Rewards Credit Card offer when I sent Chase a Secure Message (SM), and then got some great ideas from you all about which IHG properties to use my points at. I’m just about done meeting my minimum spending on that credit card. Between those points and flash sales on IHG points like this one, I’m all set to make next year an IHG one!

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