Category Archives: Trip Reports

Look Mom, I’m on the Home Page of Boarding Area and my Chicago FTU Advanced Review

FTU Advanced Badge Front

Look Mom, I’m on the Home Page of Boarding Area and my Chicago FTU Advanced Review

Greetings Boarding Area readers! This week, Travel with Grant will be a featured blogger on the Boarding Area home page (thank you Randy for inviting me to be a Prior2Boarding blogger). If this is your first time reading my blog, this is all you need to know:

  • I talk a lot about manufactured spend and have several detailed guides about Bluebird, Serve, and various money saving deals like AMEX Offers, Chime Card, and Staples Easy Rebates.
  • I am very disloyal when it comes to airline and hotel “loyalty” programs, but I prefer the term “free agent” instead. I have airline miles in several frequent flyer programs and hotel points in several hotel reward programs.
  • I fly economy 95% of the time and will redeem frequent flyer miles if award space is available *and* the cheapest paid ticket is more than I want to pay.
  • I believe in “earning and burning,” rather than hoarding miles/points for aspiration international first class flights or $1,000+ hotel rooms. Spending fewer miles/points allows me to travel more often.
  • Last but not least, I have 27 credit cards (link) and I am only 24 years old – pretty good credit card to age ratio, right? Credit cards are an amazing tool if used responsibly. To put it bluntly: if you pay interest or late fees on your credit cards, you are subsiding our travel lifestyle/hobby. Please don’t pay interest or late fees!

FTU

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Career Changes and a Meetup Planned for FTU Advanced this Weekend

Time For Change Logo

Career Changes and a Meetup Planned for FTU Advanced this Weekend

I debated whether or not to write the first half of this post.  I went back and forth, trying to figure out what to do.  In the end, I decided to share my story and ask for some help.  My yearlong position as a product marketing intern at a large in-flight entertainment company is coming to an end in a few weeks.  For the record, it is a paid internship, I work 40 hours per week, and I graduated 2 years ago from Cal State Fullerton, so the term “internship” is a bit misleading.  I’ve done everything possible to stay, but alas, I have run out of options.  I am debating whether I should apply for other companies in the same industry (only a few other companies in this niche industry) or whether I should look for positions in another industry.  Honestly, it would be amazing if I could work in a marketing department of a large credit card company (Chase I’m looking at you), but anything that involves marketing, traveling, and creativity would be perfect.  I would love to stay in Orange County, but I think it is time for a change of scenery and weather.  I wish I could say that my blog generates enough revenue to live off of, but that would be a lie.  At least for now…  Continue reading →

Random News: My BACon14 Journey, World of Coca Cola, Dick’s Last Resort, 38 Cent Luxor Winnings, LAS Centurion Lounge, and Several New Chime and AMEX Offers

BoardingArea

Random News: My BACon14 Journey, World of Coca Cola, Dick’s Last Resort, 38 Cent Luxor Winnings, LAS Centurion Lounge, and Several New Chime and AMEX Offers

Good evening everyone!  I am sorry for not writing anything over the last few days, I’ve been really busy working at the Airline Passenger Experience Expo (APEX) in Anaheim last week and then going to Las Vegas on the weekend for BACon14 (Boarding Area Conference 2014).  If you want to see what all your favorite Boarding Area / Prior 2 Boarding bloggers were doing this past weekend, check out the #bacon14 on Twitter (link).

First off, this is Randy Peterson, the “godfather” of miles and points.  He founded FlyerTalk, MilePoint, Boarding Area, and several other miles/points websites and services.  Without him, who knows what any of us would be doing.  You certainly wouldn’t be reading my blog and I certainly wouldn’t be writing my blog if it weren’t for Randy.  If you ever get the opportunity to meet him, go up to him, introduce yourself and thank him for everything he has done for our community.

P.S. It was Randy’s birthday this weekend.  Happy birthday Randy!

Grant and Randy Peterson BACon14

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Hurricane Odile Ravages Los Cabos / Cabo San Lucas Hotels and Community

Warning Danger

Hurricane Odile Ravages Los Cabos / Cabo San Lucas Hotels and Community

(Hat Tip to Brian Cohen for the news)

I wasn’t aware of the severity of the damage to Los Cabos, Cabo San Lucas, and other Baja California cities until I saw the photos from this article from The Daily Mail UK.  I was in Cabo last month, so seeing some of the photos from the destruction is very sad.  It was such a beautiful region of Mexico with very friendly people.  It is sad to see what this storm did to the landscape.  It really hit home when I saw the photos from the Hilton Los Cabos resort where I was staying.  I can’t imagine what it was like to stay there during the storm.  I can only imagine the hours of non-stop terror, extremely load noises, and fright-filled sleepless nights.  Here are some of the photos from the article.  If you have ever stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos, you will recognize the location of this photos.

Hilton Los Cabos Damage1

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How to Book US Airways Off-Peak Award Flights to Europe for 30,000/35,000 Miles Round Trip

All award space and screenshots were taken on September 10.  Award space has likely changed (for better or worse) since this post was originally published.
USAir-Logo

How to Book US Airways Off-Peak Award Flights to Europe for 30,000/35,000 Miles Round Trip

US Airways off-peak flights to Europe are amazing.  I went to Europe in January 2013 and visited Amsterdam, Paris, Cologne, Munich, and Brussels.  In January 2014, I went back to Europe and visited Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, and Rome.  Of course it is cold in January, but if this SoCal boy can handle a bit of snow, I’m sure you can too.  The weather in southern Europe, specifically Spain and Italy, is usually pretty good year round.  Rome in January was about 50-60 degree each day.  Amsterdam and Vienna were about 30-40 degrees each day.  Berlin was freezing, probably 10-20 degrees each day.

With that said, a winter getaway could be just what you need.  Thanks to US Airways and their off-peak awards to Europe, you only need 35,000 US Airways miles to fly from the US to many cities in Europe.  The rules are:

  • You must travel only on US Airways operated flights (no American Airlines or One World Alliance partners)
  • You must travel in economy class (no business or first class allowed)
  • You must complete your travel between January 15 and February 28

If you want to see the full US Airways award chart and other off-peak dates, please click here.

US Airways Off Peak Schedule

To read the entire post, please click here.