Tag Archives: Travel

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Convert JetBlue TrueBlue Points to Air Canada Aeroplan Miles (Transfer Time Less Than 24 Hours)

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few weeks ago, I wrote Too Many JetBlue Points from Amazon Shopping? Convert them into Other Miles & Points.  In that post, I showed how you could convert your JetBlue TrueBlue points into Air Canada Aeroplan miles, Amtrak Guest Rewards points, IHG Rewards points, & La Quinta Returns points.  Aeroplan is a great option if you can find Star Alliance saver award space.  I had not tested the speed of transferring JetBlue TrueBlue points into Air Canada Aeroplan miles with Points.com, but I decided to test it out this weekend.  The good news?  The transfer takes less than 24 hours and there are no fees.  The bad news?  1,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points will only get you 425 Air Canada Aeroplan miles.  With that said, let me show you how to transfer JetBlue TrueBlue points into Air Canada Aeroplan miles.  Sign into your Points.com account and click on the JetBlue TrueBlue square.

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March App-O-Rama: Which 7 Credit Cards am I Considering?

Good morning everyone, happy Saturday! Thanks for the comments on yesterday’s post regarding which non-5/24 Chase credit cards I should get. I think I have narrowed down my App-O-Rama (AOR) credit card list to these 7 credit cards. I plan on applying for these credit cards sometime next week. Please let me know if you agree or disagree with any of the credit cards on this list. If there are any credit cards that you think are worth applying for, please share them in the comments and I will check them out.

Based on yesterday’s post, I will apply for these 2 Chase credit cards:

  • Chase Marriott Business Credit Card: This is the only non-5/24 Chase business credit card and who couldn’t use more Marriott points? The current sign up bonus is 75,000 Marriott points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. The $99 annual fee is waived the first year. I already have the Chase Marriott Rewards Credit Card, so the annual category 1-5 Marriott free night certificates will pair nicely with each other. I don’t plan on spending much on this credit card after meeting the minimum spend requirement. As long as I can redeem the Marriott free night certificate for more than an $99 hotel night, this is a decent credit card to hold on to for a long time. *snarky comment alert* If Marriott keeps devaluing their program, by the year 2029, there will not be any Marriott category 1-5 hotels left…
  • Chase Iberia Credit Card: Since you can get 1 personal and 1 business credit card from Chase on the same day, I have decided to go for this personal credit card. The current sign up bonus is 50,000 Avios after spending $3,000 in 3 months and an additional 25,000 Avios after spending $10,000 in 12 months. The annual fee is $95. I don’t plan on booking any Iberia flights in the near future, so I won’t be able to take advantage of the 10% discount on Iberia flights. I don’t plan on spending much on this credit card after meeting the minimum spend requirement and will close the credit card when the annual fee comes due the following year.

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Top Travel Mistakes & How to Avoid Them: Part 3

I’m declaring this week Travel Mistake Week here at TWG. Sure, it might be way more fun to talk about all the room upgrades we score, the elite status benefits we enjoy, or the deal for flights that DIDN’T get away, but let’s face it, we’ve all made a bunch of mistakes. So let’s air them and have some fun laughing at ourselves and commiserating with each other.

No matter how much we plan or how well we assume we’ll carry out those plans, there’s always a lot that’s not under our control. I started asking around and found that some travel mistakes are more common than others. And some people agree on how best to avoid those mistakes, but not always. Based on my own experience as well as that of many other frequent travelers, here are the mistakes and how to avoid them. There are so many of them I’ve actually made this a 3 part series!  Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Not buying souvenirs right when you see them

I buy souvenirs, and by that I mean chocolate, for people from every place I travel. You’d be surprised how many times I don’t get back to that certain best chocolate bar store or to a certain area of town even though I say I will. So this mistake is easy to make and easy to fix! If you see it now, buy it now.

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Image source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/souvenir-buying-guide/index.html

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Top Travel Mistakes & How to Avoid Them: Part 2

I’m declaring this week Travel Mistake Week here at TWG. Sure, it might be way more fun to talk about all the room upgrades we score, the elite status benefits we enjoy, or the deal for flights that DIDN’T get away, but let’s face it, we’ve all made a bunch of mistakes. So let’s air them and have some fun laughing at ourselves and commiserating with each other.

Most Common Mistakes

No matter how much we plan or how well we assume we’ll carry out those plans, there’s always a lot that’s not under our control. I started asking around and found that some travel mistakes are more common than others. And some people agree on how best to avoid those mistakes, but not always. Based on my own experience as well as that of many other frequent travelers, here are the mistakes and how to avoid them. There are so many of them I’ve actually made this a 3 part series!  Read Part 1.

Not printing the details

I’m pretty conservative when it comes to printing paper, but there are still times when I do. It’s not that I don’t trust technology. Particularly when traveling alone, I just feel better knowing that I have paper copies of some items.

Spending all your time in transit

I learned this lesson when I took an overnight sleeper train in Europe. It was so great to be able to sleep on the train and then wake up the next day in my next location. It makes good sense not to spend the main parts of the day transiting from one location to the other when you’d rather be out seeing the sites. If it’s possible, traveling early in the day or later in the evening makes more sense. Of course, if the transit trip is part of the experience, then daytime hours can lead to some amazing scenery. It just helps maximize your days when they aren’t filled with being at airports, train stations, or on buses.

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Image source: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/chronicles-amateur-traveler

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Amtrak Quietly Makes Big Negative Changes to Cancellation & Refund Policies

Buenos dias everyone,

For a long time, Amtrak has had a very generous cancellation policy, similar to Southwest Airlines – as long as you canceled your ticket before departure, you could get the full amount paid back as an eVoucher valid for one year. And depending on the type of fare you purchased, you could even get a refund back to your credit card (possibly with a 10% service fee depending on when you canceled your ticket).

This has all changed. For tickets purchased starting March 20, 2018, most tickets will be hit with a 25% service fee when refunding to an eVoucher. Unfortunately, the news of these changes is buried in the fare rules on Amtrak’s website and on their Refunds and Cancellations page – and even that doesn’t note that there’s been a change, or when it went into effect.  Here’s the breakdown of the new policy (credit to AmtrakLKL on Amtrak Unlimited, via NovaEngr on Flyertalk):

Advance Purchase Saver Fares

  • Full refund to original form of payment (or eVoucher) within 24 hours of purchase
  • 75% refund to eVoucher after 24 hours, as long as you cancel before departure
  • No refund for no-shows

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