Tag Archives: Travel

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What’s Your Funniest Travel Story? Here’s Mine!

Happy Saturday, everyone! It’s the weekend, so let’s relax and have some laughs. I was thinking about how there are certain experiences we’ve all had that no matter how many times we conjure them up in our memories, they ALWAYS make us laugh. And since we all travel a lot, I wondered if any of your “always make me laugh out loud” experiences are travel-related. I have one that’s travel-related to share with you!

A few years ago, I was staying in an Embassy Suites. I was working while I stayed there, so I preferred to have housekeeping as little as possible. After a few days, it seemed to me that my room needed to be vacuumed. I looked in the hall and didn’t see a housekeeper. I did see a vacuum, though. I thought, why bother the housekeeper when it would only take me a few minutes to vacuum. Turns out the vacuum was broken and barely worked.

a vacuum cleaner on a carpeted hallway

This is not the vacuum I found and this is not the hotel I stayed at. Image source: https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g255069-d257801-i231589895-Pullman_Cairns_International-Cairns_Cairns_Region_Queensland.html

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Riding the Rails of China’s High Speed Train Network

During our trip to China over the winter holidays, we took three trips on Chinese high-speed trains:

  • Shanghai to Hangzhou – 99 miles, 52 minutes
  • Chengdu to Leshan – 62 miles, 1 hour
  • Chengdu to Xi’an – 528 miles, 4 hours, 15 minutes

I was really impressed with our experiences. The trains were clean, modern, reasonably comfortable, very punctual, and extremely reasonably priced – the shorter trips cost $8-12 USD per person, and the longer one was $62 USD in first class – much cheaper than flying.

Photo of a panda in an outdoor enclosure.

Taking the train is a great way to visit the pandas in Chengdu.

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Convert 20,000 JetBlue TrueBlue Points into a Free Wyndham Rewards Hotel Night (15,000 Points)

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  A few days ago, I showed you how to status match and transfer points between Wyndham Rewards and La Quinta Returns.  But what if you wanted to rack up Wyndham Rewards Points for free nights at any Wyndham hotel (including all-inclusive hotels)?  Wyndham Hotels are not the nicest hotels in the world and paid rates can often be very cheap, but every now and then, paid rates can be extremely expensive.  For example, Travel at One Mile At A Time found a Wyndham Hotel that was charging $1,500+ for a 1 night stay during the big eclipse last year.  Granted, that is very extreme, but I am sure you can find some hotels charging $300+ a night if you looked hard enough.

How do I get more Wyndham Rewards Points?

Wyndham does sell points, but you can only buy 10,000 points per year…

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Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Upgrade Bonus & Courtesy Adjustment Points Posted (30K Instead of 20K)

Good morning everyone.  A few weeks ago, I upgraded my Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card to the Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card.  I upgraded to the new credit card since I was offered 20,000 bonus Marriott Rewards Points.  However, when I confirmed the upgrade offer with Chase, I was told I would only get 10,000 bonus Marriott Rewards Points for upgrading.  I then sent screenshots of the 20,000 bonus Marriott Rewards Points upgrade offer to Chase via Secure Message (SM) and the Chase rep honored the 20,000 bonus Marriott Rewards Points upgrade offer.

Fast forward to yesterday when my Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card statement closed.  On the statement, it showed that I received 20,000 bonus Marriott Rewards Points from “Bonus on Premier Plus Upgrade” and an additional 10,000 bonus Marriott Rewards Points as a “Courtesy Adjustment.”  I also earned 20,000 Marriott Rewards Points from a referral (thank you whoever you are), but let’s ignore that in this post.

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Trip Report: Holiday Inn Rotorua, New Zealand

During our trip to New Zealand, we spent four nights at the Holiday Inn Rotorua. I chose this hotel because I could expect a consistent experience, and the price was in line with other properties in the area. Rooms are available for 20,000 IHG points per night, but I chose to pay cash (since our rate was about $94 USD/night including tax, using points would have gotten a value of 0.47 cents per point, which is below average even without considering the points we earned on the stay.)

a building with a parking lot

Holiday Inn Rotorua. Photo from hotel advertisement in Franchise New Zealand magazine.

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