Category Archives: Trip Reports

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PSA: Be Careful When Modifying Existing IHG Hotel Bookings

With two solid IHG Accelerate Offers this year, IHG has once again become my go-to hotel chain. It helps that I’ve also pretty much given up on maintaining hotel status. Since the IHG Q3 promotion just launched a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been front loading my stays so I don’t have to scramble like I did at the last minute for the Q2 promotion. Now, for the word of warning…

I had originally booked a one night stay for four people near Milan’s Malpensa Airport (MXP) due to early morning flights. At the last minute, it turned out that our group size decreased by one. In Europe especially, it is very common for hotels to charge an additional fee for more than two adults staying in the same room. In this case of the Holiday Inn Express MXP, it’s a whopping 20 Euros per person, per night extra. Clearly, we didn’t want to pay that extra fee for the guest who was no longer going to be staying with us in the hotel!

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Hazard Ahead: Enterprise $9.99 Weekend Rate Promo

Summer is peak season for rental car rates, but now that Fall is here, we’re seeing some great deals and lower car rental rates. Enterprise just brought back their $9.99 weekend promo, but don’t be fooled by this Enterprise deal. There’s a catch, which I didn’t realize. There’s a limit to how many miles you can drive before Enterprise starts tacking on a steep per mile fee. This article by AutoSlash explains it all. That’s why I like and use AutoSlash when I rent a car. Besides saving me money, they never stop educating us as to what’s happening in the car rental world!

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Have you ever used this Enterprise deal? Did it work well for you or were you surprised that your bill had extra mileage fees tacked on? Let me know in the comments below.

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iTunes Movie Rental Playback Extended from 24 Hours to 48 Hours

When you travel, do you download movies or shows beforehand so you can watch them whenever you feel like it? I’m sure you do! I do too. But there’s something that’s always bugged me. iTunes only gave its customers in the U.S. 24 hours to watch media once viewing started. Customers outside of the U.S. were given 48 hours. I know, not the most pressing of problems, but I did find it annoying. After all, whether at home or while traveling, we’re all busy and sometimes 24 hours just isn’t adequate. But iTunes must have heard me complaining because… Apple just extended it to 48 hours in U.S., too!

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iTunes movie rentals. Image source: https://www.lifewire.com/everything-to-know-itunes-movie-rentals-2000458

Now, if they’d only increase their 99 cent movie rental choices to include something I want to see :))

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Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Airport Guide & Airline Lounge Locations

Buenos dias everyone! A friend recently asked some questions about an upcoming connection through LAX, and since there have been so many changes at that airport this year, I decided to write up a quick guide in case anyone else has an upcoming trip.

The Basics

LAX has 9 terminals – numbered 1-8 and TBIT (Tom Bradley International Terminal). TBIT and terminals 4-8 are connected by tunnels and bridges post-security; terminals 1-3 are not connected to anything. Note that if you’re going to TBIT and you have TSA PreCheck, there is no PreCheck at TBIT – you can go through the PreCheck lane in T4 and then walk to TBIT via the terminal connector (which conveniently drops you off right next to most of the lounges).

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LAX Airport map from lawa.org

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Reminder: OC Travel Meetup Saturday, September 23 @ 12pm at Tustin District In-N-Out

Good afternoon everyone, this is just a reminder for my meetup tomorrow afternoon.  I am visiting my parents this weekend in Orange County, so I decided to do a miles and points meetup on Saturday afternoon.  If you are free tomorrow, I would love to meet you and talk travel, miles and points, MS, and blogging.

  • Where: 2895 Park Ave, Tustin, CA 92782 (Google Maps)
  • When: Saturday, September 23 @ 12-2PM

In-N-Out Tustin District Map

There is no need to RSVP to the OC Meetup, just show up at 12pm and be ready to talk talk travel.  I will do a reminder post later this week.  I hope to see some of you there!