Category Archives: Trip Reports

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What’s on my Mind: Tucson, Orange County, San Diego and my March App-O-Rama Results

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday Thursday!  I’ve had a pretty busy week this week: Monday I was watching NCAA March Madness Final (bummer the Zags lost); Tuesday I went to see Bassem Youssef (the Egyptian Jon Stewart) speak at UC Berkeley; Wednesday I got $202 loge/mezzanine tickets to see Hamilton in SF; and tonight I am flying to Tucson for a wedding this weekend.  Even though I haven’t had much time to write this week, I have a few blog posts brewing in my mind.  Before I get to what’s on my mind, I wanted to share some travel plans for the rest of April.

  • Tucson, AZ (Friday-Sunday April  7-9) for a wedding.  Anyone have any recommendations for restaurants, bars, hikes, or other activities that are close to Tucson?
  • Orange County, CA (Friday-Sunday April 14-16) for Easter weekend.  I will do an OC miles and points meetup on Saturday afternoon, stay tuned for more details.
  • San Diego, CA (Saturday-Sunday April 29-30) for fun.  I am seeing my friend/writer Shelli and organizing a SD miles and points meetup on Saturday or Sunday, stay tuned for more details.

A few weeks ago, I wrote Which 10 Credit Cards am I Considering for my March App-O-Rama?  In that post, I shared the credit cards I was considering and you guys gave me some good feedback.  I don’t have all the credit cards in the mail, but I have a good idea of which credit cards were approved and which ones were denied. Continue reading →

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Reminder: Points with a Crew & Travel with Grant Travel Meetup in San Francisco (Sunday April 2 @ 7pm)

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Good morning everyone.  I hope your weekend is going well.  This is a friendly reminder to everyone in the SF Bay Area that Dan from Points with a Crew and I are hosting a miles and points travel meetup tonight in the Bay Area.

  • When: Sunday, April 2, 2017 from 7-10pm
  • Where: Staybridge Suites San Francisco Airport, 1350 Huntington Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066 (Google Map)

StayBridge Suites Near SFO

The hotel is a short drive away from SFO or a short 2 minute walk from the San Bruno BART Station.  This is a free, very informal travel meetup.  I will bring some name tags, wear my infamous Travel with Grant shirt, and bring some snacks.  If you are interested in attending, please go to Dan’s post and fill out the Evite registration so we can let the hotel know how many people are planning on attending.  The only request that Dan has is that every should bring some snacks or drinks that we can share with the group.

I’m looking forward to seeing a few Bay Area travel hackers tonight.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great weekend everyone!

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Indulging in Mate and Dulce de Leche in Buenos Aires

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Two of my favorite fun eating adventures in Buenos Aires are drinking Mate and enjoying Dulce de Leche. On my recent trip to Buenos Aires, I overindulged enjoyed both, but realized I still had a lot to learn about Mate and Dulce de Leche.

Let’s look at Mate, first!

A quick tip: When you order mate (pronounced, mah-tay) be sure to order the classic mate. Otherwise you’ll get a mate teabag! Mate is the symbol of friendship and was originally a traditional “gaucho” (local cowboys) drink. Then the Spaniards adopted it, and so it goes throughout its five centuries of mate history. In Argentina, it is the beverage of highest consumption, second only to water.

Mate in Buenos Aires

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Travel Meetup: Points with a Crew & Travel with Grant in San Francisco (Sunday April 2 @ 7pm)

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am heading to Portland tonight for a quick weekend trip with my brother, but I wanted to get the word out that Dan from Points with a Crew (yeah, that guy that has 6 kids) and me (the guy that sometimes acts like a 6 year old kid) will be co-organizing a miles and points travel meetup in the Bay Area.

  • When: Sunday, April 2, 2017 from 7-10pm
  • Where: Staybridge Suites San Francisco Airport, 1350 Huntington Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066 (Google Map) <– Dan picked this location, I would have gone with the usual In-N-Out…

StayBridge Suites Near SFO

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4 Less Traveled Sites to See in Buenos Aires

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It’s easy to come up with a list of the top sites to see in Buenos Aires as there’s a lot to see and do. It’s a fascinating city and according to most lists, the most visited city in South America. On a recent trip, I enjoyed 4 sites that either don’t come up on many lists or are at the bottom of lists, but I think they deserve higher ranking.

  1. El Zanjón, which is in the San Telmo area of the city. If you like architecture, archeology, and history, this tour of a historic dwelling puts it all together. As with many tours, it depends on who leads you through your experience. The tour lasts about an hour and the older woman who guided us had a wealth of information, not just about this site but about Argentine history as well. She also had a great sense of humor!
Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tanenhaus/2400379236

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tanenhaus/2400379236

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