Category Archives: Trip Reports

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Travel with Grant Turns 9 Years Old & My 9 Favorite Posts from the Last Year

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  9 years ago today (back on May 1, 2013), Travel with Grant was born!  Even though I am not a full time blogger and writing this post from a tropical beach, I’m still very happy and grateful to still be writing and sharing my thoughts with my readers.  Every year (when I remember), I like to write a birthday / blogiversary post about TWG.  If you want to reminisce through the years, check out these old posts: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, no Year 7 (I forgot about it during the pandemic), and Year 8.

I cover a wide variety of travel topics and don’t tend to follow the travel blogging crowd (I think of myself as Dory from Finding Nemo, just swimming around doing my own thing).  Some of these posts were very popular and got lots of pageviews, but others didn’t get as much love as I thought they would.  But without further ado, here are my 9 favorite posts from the last year (May 2021 – April 2022) in chronological order. Continue reading →

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Travel with Grant has Moved… into a New Home & Quick Trip Report of our Maui Vacation

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday! Laura and I just finished selling our old home, buying a new home, doing a few small home improvement projects around the new home (painting rooms, changing lights, etc.) and unpacking boxes. I haven’t had much free time to write blog posts over the last few weeks, but now that the dust has settled, I have more free time now.

A few weeks ago (in the middle of packing and moving), Laura and I went to Maui for her Spring Break (she is a teacher). We flew Alaska Airlines roundtrip from San Francisco (SFO) to Maui (OGG) using my Alaska Airlines Companion Fare. Since we both have Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status, we were upgraded to first class on our return flight. In my experience, I have had good luck getting upgraded when flying on less popular routes and on less popular days (like weekdays).

We used AutoSlash to help get us a good deal on a Hertz rental car. The new Maui airport rental car facility is very nice – I wish all airports had a rental car facility and tram system like the one at the Maui airport. We stayed on the South Shore in Kihei in a Vacasa Vacation Rental. The rental cost 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points per night and I used a combination of points from my Barclays Wyndham Rewards Business Earner Credit Card and transferred Capital One Points to Wyndham Rewards to top off for an award.  Here is the view from our Vacasa Vacation Rental:

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Register for FTU Virtual Seminar on Saturday, April 9 ($25) or Free with Online Annual Membership

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  If you have no plans this Saturday, April 9, I highly recommend attending the FTU Virtual Seminar (tickets available for $25) or free if you have the FTU Online Annual Membership.  The seminar starts on Saturday, April 9 at 8am PT / 11am ET.  I have attended all of the FTU Virtual Seminars over the last year and they are always well done, educational, and entertaining – and I am sure this seminar will be no exception!  Here is the schedule and lineup of speakers:

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Last Call to Register for Frequent Traveler University (FTU) Signature Dallas (April 2-3)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  In addition to the Frequent Traveler University (FTU) virtual seminars I have written about over the last year, FTU has another in-person event this weekend.  If you have the FTU Online Annual Membership, please remember to use your $49 discount coupon when purchasing a ticket.  These events partner with the Travel & Adventure Show, so you have free access to the show along with your FTU ticket.

FTU Signature Dallas – April 2-3, 2022 at the Hilton Garden Inn Dallas/Market Center (close to Dallas Love Field).  Tickets are $249 for non-members and $200 for members (when you use the $49 coupon).  Everything is bigger in Texas and there will be a complimentary Texas BBQ dinner on Saturday night, along with a light breakfast, and lunch both days.  You can see the current lineup of speakers and the schedule here.

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Upcoming In-Person FTU Events: New York City (March 19-20) & Dallas (April 2-3)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  In addition to the Frequent Traveler University (FTU) virtual seminars I have written about over the last year, FTU has several upcoming in-person events in the coming weeks spread out across the country.  If you have the FTU Online Annual Membership, please remember to use your $49 discount coupon when purchasing a ticket.  These events partner with the Travel & Adventure Show, so you have free access to the show along with your FTU ticket.  Here are the next 2 in-person FTU events:

FTU @ T&A Show New York – March 19-20, 2022 at the Jacob K. Javits Center (in Manhattan close to the Lincoln Tunnel).  Tickets are $20 for non-members and FREE for members (no coupon needed).  You can buy the tickets directly and use promo code FTU2022 to save $6.

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