Tag Archives: Travel

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Unboxing my American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card: Card Art & Welcome Documents

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Good morning everyone.  A few days ago, I wrote about my American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card approval process and how quickly you are upgraded to Hilton Diamond Elite Status after getting approved.  In today’s post, I am going to unbox the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card (my referral link) welcome packet, details from the welcome letters, and show you the front and back card art.  Luckily, when I was on the phone with American Express, I requested that the credit card be expedited to me.  I received an email on Monday morning that my new credit card was shipped, and by Tuesday afternoon, the new credit card arrived via UPS Next Day Air.

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Up Close and Personal with My Award Booking Team

Do you ever wonder where the expression, “You don’t do business with a business, you do business with people,” originated? Ok, I’ve never thought about where it originated either, but after all my years in business, I can tell you it’s a total truism. When I find good business people to do business with, I love it! As a frequent traveler who likes to travel “well” and use miles and points for award tickets, I’m a long-standing client of Juicy Miles. But that’s just a business name, isn’t it? The man behind the business, and at the helm of this great group of people, is Adam.

A few weeks ago, it dawned on me that the image that many people must have of award booking businesses is that they aren’t “real” businesses. I think many people think it’s something people do in their spare time to help friends and family members figure out all the rules and regulations for using that stash of miles/points. But in the case of Juicy Miles, it’s the real deal. It’s very well run and they’re great at what they do. And they’ve just redesigned their Juicy Miles website which makes submitting your requests super easy! I want you to get to know Adam better, so I reached out to him with a few questions about what he does, why he does it, how he trains his team, and more. Hope you enjoy the interview!

  • Shelli: Juicy Miles started in what year?
  • Adam: Believe it or not, Juicy Miles went live all the way back in 2011 (I think we first communicated in 2014 or so).

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How Quickly Does Hilton Diamond Elite Status Appear After Getting Approved for AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card?

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Last week, I did a credit card App-O-Rama and applied for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card.  The credit card has a $450 annual fee, but comes with a 100,000 Hilton points sign up bonus ($4,000 spend in 3 months), Hilton Diamond Elite Status, $250 airline travel credit, $250 Hilton resort credit, 1 free weekend night certificate and a few other benefits (read Doctor of Credit’s full review).  It sounds like a great deal, at least for the first year, so I applied for the credit card.

Unfortunately, my application went pending and I decided to wait for a call or letter in the mail from American Express.  I felt pretty confident that I could get approved for this credit card because I had an existing American Express SPG Business Credit Card and an American Express Hilton Honors Ascend Credit Card that I could use for leverage to get approved for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card.  Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long to hear from American Express…

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New Southwest Airlines Flight Rebooking Process (Updated April 2018)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  On Friday, I was looking at my existing Southwest Airlines reservations and found a flight that went down by $45.  My weekly routine is to check all my existing Southwest Airlines flights every Tuesday morning – that is when Southwest Airlines sends out emails regarding airfare sales.  During my most recent flight rebooking, I noticed that the rebooking process got a (much needed) face lift.  Southwest Airlines is doing some Spring cleaning, because they recently updated their (previously broken) gift card balance checker.  For reference, here is what the old rebooking process looked like.  To get started, click on the Change / Cancel tab on the homepage, then enter your confirmation number, first name, last name, and click the Search button.

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The #1 Essential Travel Skill

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There are so many skills that are essential to traveling well, it’s mind boggling. Maybe your idea of essential is different than mine, but having just come off a three week trip to four different countries, I’m moving sleeping well to the top of the list.

A while ago, I wrote about how to get a good night’s sleep in hotels, but the bottom line really is being able to fall asleep no matter where you are, even on planes. Sleep deprivation is a chronic problem for people, and especially for those of us who travel a lot. Here’s a great, helpful article I just read about a method developed during WW2 so that pilots could fall asleep within two minutes. The article’s approach is simple and well worth trying. Take a look at the article and see what you think. Are you already someone who can sleep anywhere and fall asleep quickly? If so, share your tips with us in the comments!