Category Archives: Trip Reports

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2024’s Must-Reads: Have You Read My Most Popular Posts Yet?

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Good afternoon everyone, happy New Year’s Eve!  As we wrap up 2024, it’s time to take a look at my top 10 most popular blog posts of the year. Barring any crazy last minute spikes in blog readership today, these are the top 10 blog posts written in 2024 and top 10 blog posts written in previous years. If you are curious, here were the most popular posts from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

2024’s Most Popular Blog Posts (Written in 2024)

  • PSA: Bank of America Won’t Automatically Send a Replacement Debit Card when your Card Expires (2/20/24) – I realized my Bank of America debit card had expired in July 2022, and I never received a replacement debit card until I requested one in February 2024, despite having it stored in ApplePay. My frustration grew from the lack of notifications and outdated PIN change process. Judging by the number of pageviews this post received, I guess I wasn’t the only one with this problem.
  • My 2023 Peloton Bike Rental Year End Review (Total Cost of Ownership & Workout Class Stats) (1/21/24) – In 2023, I rented a Peloton bike instead of buying one, opting for the flexibility of a monthly rental with the option to pause or return it. Although I didn’t meet my fitness goals, I appreciated the variety of classes, the ability to create multiple profiles, and the affordability of the rental option, especially with my employer’s fitness reimbursement.  I wasn’t planning on writing a 2024 Peloton year end review, but since this post was so popular, I will work on a 2024 update in the coming days.
  • Attention Coinstar Users: Not All Kiosks Offer Amazon eGift Cards (1/19/24) – During a recent trip to SoCal, I used a Coinstar kiosk to convert a bag of change into an eGC, only to find that Amazon was missing as a redemption option. After researching, I discovered that not all kiosks offer Amazon eGCs, with availability varying by location and grocery store chain.  I wish all Coinstar kiosks had the same redemption offers so this issue would be avoided.

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Track IHG Nightly Award Rates & Rebook When Prices Drop (My Recent NYC Example)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Last week (Thanksgiving Week), Laura and I spent 4 days in New York City.  We stayed at the conveniently located Crowne Plaza Times Square IHG Hotel which is close to Times Square, the Theater District, the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, and several subway stations (which you can take to JFK via Jamaica Station and the AirTrain).  We stayed at this hotel last March during Laura’s Spring Break, so we knew the area well.

I used 2 IHG Free Night Certificates from my Chase IHG Business Credit Card and the Chase IHG Select Credit Card (no longer available) along with IHG Points.  Nightly award prices vary dramatically (see the nightly prices for award stays in December 2024), but I closely tracked the nightly prices over a few months and rebooked my stays a few times whenever the award price dropped.  Whenever I book a hotel stay of more than 1 night, I always book my stays in 1 night increments since it is much easier to cancel and rebook 1 night at a time.  At check in, the front desk agent linked the stays together and kept us in the same room for the duration of the stay.  You could also call, email, or text the hotel ahead of time to let them know about the multiple back to back stays.

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ExpressVPN Cyber Monday Deal: Get 6 Extra Months Free with 24 Month Plan

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  Cyber Monday is here and ExpressVPN wants to get the party started.  ExpressVPN normally offers a 1 month free trial when you become a member, but during this promotion, you can get 6 extra months free when you purchase a 24 month plan.  I have been using ExpressVPN since November 2016 and I love their desktop, laptop, and mobile app.  With data breaches occurring frequently, I think it is very important that we do our best to protect ourselves when we are online, whether that is at home or on the road.

I always use ExpressVPN when I am on free public wifi at hotels, airports, and lounges to protect my data.  ExpressVPN works very well when I travel internationally.  I connect to a VPN in the United States and then I can access streaming services that work in the US but are restricted / blocked internationally.  Lastly, since I am on the West Coast, I occasionally connect to a VPN in New York and watch TV shows that are airing on the East Coast.

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Around the World in 24 Days: Quick Update

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Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand!

It didn’t take long for me to fall way behind on blogging about my quest for a million SAS EuroBonus miles – with all this travel, it’s been harder than expected to find time to get work done, especially since flying in economy there’s rarely space to work on my laptop. But I wanted to give you all a quick status report.

Literal Data Points

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  • Number of flights taken since November 10th: 14
  • Number of qualifying SkyTeam airlines flown: 10 – AeroMexico, Virgin, KLM, Air Europa, SAS, Air France, TAROM, Saudia, Garuda, and Vietnam
  • Number of flights posted to my SAS account: 7 – AeroMexico, Virgin, Air Europa, SAS, Air France, TAROM and Saudia
    • I’m getting a “route not eligible” error when trying to claim my KLM segments. This seems to be a common issue, but nobody’s had any luck contacting SAS about it
    • Everyone else except Air Europa (UX) has posted automatically, and I was able to get instant retro credit for my UX flight through the SAS website
  • Shortest flight: Saudia JED-MED, 201 miles, 32 minutes air time
  • Longest flight: Garuda MED-CGK, 4,972 miles, 8h46m air time

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Around the World in 24 Days: Day Two

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Buenos días everyone, reporting in from Day Two of my quest to become a SAS EuroBonus Millionaire! Today is the most intense travel day of the entire journey, with four flights on three different airlines (and three separate tickets). Fortunately, everything has gone off pretty much without a hitch.

Day Two: LHR-AMS-MAD-BCN-CPH

Although I’d set my alarm for 5am, I woke up at 4:20am and didn’t feel like sleeping any more, so I took another shower and ate the rest of my snacks from Marks and Spencer before rolling out of the hotel around 5:10am. I quickly swung by the ticket counter to pick up a paper boarding pass and confirmed that my SAS number was on the reservation, then headed to security.  Security was quick, and I was at a newer machine where I only had to take out my bag of 100ml liquids (my electronics stayed in the bag). I picked up a bottle of water at WH Smith and then headed to my gate to board. Continue reading →