Tag Archives: Travel

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Use InterCity Buses to Explore New Zealand Without a Car

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Buenos dias everyone! Today, I want to tell you about InterCity, the bus network we used to travel around New Zealand during our 3 weeks on the islands.  InterCity is the largest bus network in New Zealand, and is jointly owned by 3 different bus operators in the country. In addition to its own Intercity-branded buses, it also uses coaches from its subsidiary brands (like Gray Line and GreatSights) and its parent companies. You can buy tickets for individual routes on their website, at very reasonable prices (like Megabus in the United States, some routes start at $1).

A map of Tonei's route in New Zealand, as described in the article Continue reading →

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Step by Step Guide for Wyndham Rewards to/from La Quinta Returns Status Matches & Points Transfers

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Good afternoon everyone.  Yesterday, it was announced that Wyndham Rewards and La Quinta Returns were allowing status matches and points transfers between both programs.  This is great news if you have status or points in one program and want to get status or move points over to the other program.

Since I recently signed up for the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Visa Credit Card and received the 45,000 point sign up bonus, I have a lot of Wyndham Rewards points.  I do have a few La Quinta points that I would like to transfer over to my Wyndham Rewards account.  In this post, I will show you how to move points between Wyndham Rewards and La Quinta Returns and how to status match from one program to the other.

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How to Combine Citi Thank You Points Accounts (Spoiler: Just Call Citi)

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Good morning everyone.  Long story short, I have a Citi Premier Credit Card and 3 Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards (I’m trying to spend $10,000 on each credit card every year to get the bonus 10,000 Citi Thank You Points every year).  I only applied directly for one of these Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards (thanks for the $650 AT&T phone credit) and converted my old Citi Forward Credit Card and Citi Prestige Credit Card into additional Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards.

But somehow one of my Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards had a separate Citi Thank You Points account.  Why is this a problem?  Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards do not have the same transfer partners as my Citi Premier Credit Card.  I will show you what I mean below.  In this post, I will show you why it is better to have all of your Thank You Point earning credit cards linked to the same Citi Thank You Points account and show you how easy it is to combine your accounts (spoiler: just call Citi).

To demonstrate why having 2 Citi Thank You Points accounts is not better than 1, I clicked the blue Select button at the top of the page that only had 1,480 Citi Thank You Points.

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AMEX Cash Back & Membership Rewards Changes: SPG Transfers, Extended Warranties & More

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Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  Over the weekend, I reviewed my recent American Express credit card statements and spotted some major and minor changes to the terms.  A few months ago, I wrote about other changes: AMEX Membership Rewards Changes: No Points for Cash Equivalents (Gift Cards) & Person-to-Person Payments (Venmo).  Usually, whenever American Express makes a change to their program, it usually benefits American Express more than their cardholders.

In this month’s updates, there are some major and minor changes.  I reviewed the changes to my American Express Blue Cash Everyday Credit Card and there are some changes that affect cash back credit cards.  I also reviewed the changes to my American Express EveryDay Credit Card that earns Membership Rewards Points, and there are some changes there too.  Lastly, some changes affect all types of credit cards.  There is a lot to cover, so I will try to bold the most important stuff.

  • American Express will look at your credit report and may use the info for marketing purposes, to evaluate your account, and more.
  • American Express (and their affiliates and partners) may contact you at any phone number or email address to service your account or collect past due amounts.
  • American Express will specify when and how frequent you can use the Plan It feature.

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Fun in America’s Finest City… Any Time of Year!

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The change of seasons is certainly one way to mark time. Many would say here in America’s Finest City AKA San Diego, the seasons are subtle and there isn’t much change of seasons. I’ve heard people label the seasons in funny ways such as “it’s either drink beer indoors or drink beer at the beach season”. We do get our June gloom, and in the summer when the AriZonies escape the heat, tourism does seem to pick up. In the month of January I’ve had people ask me, “Is the weather like this all the time?” And recently when some friends from Buenos Aires were in town and I was showing them around, they couldn’t get enough of the fresh air and sunshine. Continue reading →