Category Archives: Trip Reports

(Hotel Review) Radisson Blu Amsterdam (50,000 Club Carlson Points/Night)

Radisson Blu AMS Home Page

(Hotel Review) Radisson Blu Amsterdam (50,000 Club Carlson Points/Night)

Good morning/evening (whatever time zone you are in) from Amsterdam!  After a smooth US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Amsterdam, custom/immigration was a breeze.  Apparently everyone who sees two 24-year-olds travel together asks if we are on our honeymoon.  If it leads to free room upgrades or bottles of champagne, I won’t complain.

Anyways, from Amsterdam Airport, Google Maps said it would take about 30 minutes to get to our hotel.  That would be true if we didn’t get lost for a few minutes, but it is really a pretty (short) walk from Amsterdam Centraal Station.

Directions to Radisson Blu AMS

After a few right turns, left turns, and u-turns, we made it to the Radisson Blu Amsterdam!  Continue reading →

(Hotel Review) Hilton Bayfront San Francisco Airport and Executive Lounge

Hilton SFO Home Page Image

(Hotel Review) Hilton Bayfront San Francisco Airport and Executive Lounge

Good evening everyone, happy Friday from the elite lounge at the Hilton Bayfront San Francisco Airport Hotel.  (I am on the top floor, waving, can you see me?)  Ok, I am not a fan of hotel reviews for basic hotels, but I am trying to get in a flow for my upcoming trip to Europe (SFO to AMS tomorrow morning).

I want everyone to lower their expectations before going any farther.  There is nothing special about my room and I apologize for the bad lighting of the iPhone pics.

Hilton SFO Bed

What’s on my Mind? CES in Las Vegas, Napa Valley, San Francisco, ABC Gift Cards, 2 Free Movie Screenings, SWA Customer Service, Club Carlson Forex Fees, Citi Dividend, and Staples Easy Rebate Headaches

SF Bridge Sunglasses

If you look closely, you can see a naked guy in the background, hey it is San Francisco!

What’s on my Mind? CES in Las Vegas, Napa Valley, San Francisco, ABC Gift Cards, 2 Free Movie Screenings, SWA Customer Service, Club Carlson Forex Fees, Citi Dividend, and Staples Easy Rebate Headaches

Good evening everyone!  Sorry I have been so quite over the last few days.  I’ve been unbelievably busy with CES, SF, and Ebay.  Here is what is on my mind right now:

1 – Cool things at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) at the Las Vegas Convention Center

Cool iRoad from Toyota:

Cool Audi laser show:

Singapore Airlines in the Panasonic Avionics booth (lovely flight attendants too):  Continue reading →

Travel with Grant Interview on Mighty Travels

Mighty Travels Logo

Travel with Grant Interview on Mighty Travels

Good morning everyone, Torsten from Mighty Travels reached out to me a few weeks ago about an online interview.  You can read the entire article here.

Here is a taste of what the interview is about (I really don’t know what I am doing with that giant Galapagos land turtle):

Mighty Travels Post

I promised that I would talk about my trip to the Galapagos a few weeks ago (I was there in early October), but that hasn’t happened yet.  If anyone is interested, please let me know and I will try to get to that trip report soon.  Happy Monday morning everyone!

What’s on my Mind? Bluebird and Walmart, Credit Card Sign Up / Spending Bonuses, Mercedes Benz Key Rings, Panda Express, Panera Bread, AMEX Statement Credits, BA Avios, and the Grand Canyon

2014 New Years

What’s on my Mind? Bluebird and Walmart, Credit Card Sign Up / Spending Bonuses, Mercedes Benz Key Rings, Panda Express, Panera Bread, AMEX Statement Credits, BA Avios, and the Grand Canyon

Instead of posting several small blog posts, I decided to post everything here in 1 giant post.

1 – Which gift cards work at Walmart to reload a Bluebird Card?

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post and shared their recent successes and failures of loading gift cards to Bluebird.  I compiled the results below. From looking at the list, it looks like every Visa gift card that you guys tried worked, so I am going to switch from buying $200 MasterCard gift cards issued by US Bank to buying $200 Visa gift cards issued by Metabank (Gift Card Mall).

WM BB Successes

I went to Walmart today (January 6) and loaded 2 $200 and a $500 Visa gift card successfully.
20140106-075543.jpg

Continue reading →