Tag Archives: Free Stuff

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Have you Ever Gotten Lost in Venice? Bet it Didn’t Cost you a Marathon!

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Have you ever gotten lost while on foot in a city? Sure you have! And some cities are more confusing than others to navigate on foot. New York City… easy. Rome… not so easy. Venice, Italy… whoa, who hasn’t gotten lost there? And not just wandering through the canal streets, but the whole city boggles the mind. Here’s a great story that intersects a few of my passions. As a long-time running coach and long-time lover of Italy, and having recently been to Venice, I can feel for the elite runners who this past weekend got lost during the Venice Marathon. I can also cheer for the Italian fellow who was able to take advantage of the situation and win the marathon. It’s been 22 years since an Italian won the race. See for yourself. It’s a fun story!

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I Made $570 Last Month Renting Out my Car with Turo

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Hello everyone!  It’s been a few months since my last post.  I had a bit of a hectic summer but I’m hoping to get back to regular posts now.  It’s been about a year now since I’ve had a regular job.  I’ve been subsisting on a few different side hustles and my newest side hustle has been renting my car out via Turo (get $25 off your first Turo rental with my referral link).  I’d like to share my experience thus far with you and why I think this applies to frequent travelers.

Turo is like Airbnb but for cars instead of housing.  It’s a car rental marketplace where travelers can rent any car they want directly from a community of local car owners throughout the US, Canada & UK for as much as 30% less than traditional car rental agencies.  Obviously, this applies to frequent travelers who need to rent a car wherever their destination is.  However, I believe it can also apply to frequent travelers who are leaving their personal vehicle behind when traveling.  Why not make some passive income renting your vehicle out to others while you are out of town?

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Say Hi to Grant at the Chicago Seminars Travel Conference this Weekend (October 20-22)

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Good afternoon everyone.  This weekend, October 20-22, I will be at the world famous Chicago Seminars in beautiful Chicago Elk Grove, Illinois (near Chicago O’Hare International Airport).  I love going to travel conferences, especially the Chicago Seminars.  It is great to see so many familiar friends, both readers and bloggers alike.  I will be there from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening wearing my Travel with Grant shirt.  If you see me, please stop by and say hi.

Every year, I go to several travel conferences and wear my Travel with Grant shirt, so I am very easy to spot.  But I always get emails the Monday after the event saying something along the lines of, “I saw you at the travel conferences and wanted to say hi, but I was too shy.”  Please don’t do that, if you see me, or any other travel blogger that you recognize, please stop and say hi.  We are there to meet and talk to you.  You flew or drove all the way to the travel conferences, so you just have to go the last 5-10 feet and make an introduction.  Trust me, it is worth the initial awkwardness (everyone feels like that at their first travel conference).

While you are there, keep a lookout for this guy pictured below.  His name is Ray and he knows a thing or two about churning credit cards. I hope to see some of you this weekend.  Safe travels everyone.

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Grant and Ray @ Chicago Seminars (October 2014)

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1,500 Membership Reward Points Posted Fast for $100 Grocery Store AMEX Offer

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Good evening everyone.  A few weeks ago, American Express released an AMEX Offer where you could earn 1,500 Membership Reward Points after you spent $100 at grocery stores before November 30.  This offer is really good, but unfortunately I only had this AMEX Offer on my American Express Everyday Credit Card.  The nice thing about this AMEX Offer is that you didn’t have to complete the spending requirement in 1 transaction, so you could make several grocery store purchases that added up to $100.  If this AMEX Offer did require a single grocery store purchase of $100, I would have just bought a $100 grocery store gift card to Safeway, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.  Here are the complete terms and conditions of the AMEX Offer:

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1,500 FlexPoints or 2,500 Club Carlson Points for Setting Up Automatic Payments

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Good afternoon everyone.  Yesterday afternoon, I received 2 promotional emails from US Bank to receive FlexPoints and Club Carlson points for setting up an automatic payment and paying with a specific US Bank credit cards.  The promotional emails came from US Bank (1800USBanks@email.usbank.com) with the subject line “Act now and earn 1,500 FlexPoints” and “Act now and earn 2,500 bonus points.” Here is what the emails look like.  If you have other US Bank credit cards, you may have received a similar offer.  Please share your offers in the comments.

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