Tag Archives: Travel

Have You Read My Top Blog Posts from 2018?

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Good morning everyone, happy New Year’s Eve!  What a crazy year it has been.  Based on Google Analytics numbers, here are the top 10 blog posts written in 2018 and the top 10 blog posts of the year (written before 2018).  If you have a favorite post of the year that is not listed, please let me know in the comments.  Without further ado, here is the first top 10 list:

1: PSA: Do NOT Use Zelle or Venmo to Pay People on Craigslist, eBay or Strangers Online

I’m surprised my Zelle / Venmo PSA post was so popular, but I’m glad that the word got out. It’s important to know what kind of scams exist and how to avoid them. Learn from these mistakes to keep your money safe.

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Are 2 Gogo Accounts Better Than 1? (Spoiler: Yes!)

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  According to the news, yesterday and today are 2 of the busiest travel days of the year (roughly 3 million people are projected to travel both days).  If you are traveling this holiday season and especially if you are traveling with friends or family members, I highly recommend creating a second Gogo account.  Let me explain why.  A few days ago, I got the following email from Gogo regarding my 10 free Gogo passes for having an American Express Business Platinum Charge Card (if you have this charge card, I will show you how to get your 10 free Gogo passes below.)

I tend to fly Southwest Airlines often and they do not offer Gogo, so most of my Gogo passes expire at the end of the year.  But of the few times when I am travelling on an airplane that offers Gogo, I am usually travelling with my girlfriend and Gogo only allows you to use 1 Gogo pass per flight.  If you have more than 1 Gogo account, you can use passes from each Gogo account on the same flight.  Pretty novel idea, right?

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Carry-On Bag Guide: What’s Allowed, What’s Not

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Do you travel with only carry-on luggage? If you do, I congratulate you. I’m not there yet, but I’m heading in that direction. That means learning about the pitfalls of packing lessor-known forbidden items in my carry-on bag.

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Keep, Cancel or Convert? Chase Southwest Airlines Plus Credit Card ($69 Annual Fee)

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Good morning everyone.  As part of my “Keep, Cancel or Convert?” series, I like to evaluate and reevaluate credit cards to make sure they still deserve a spot in my wallet.  This post is a little different because this post is about my girlfriend’s Chase Southwest Airlines Plus Credit Card.  She got this credit card last November when Chase & Southwest Airlines were running a promo for California residents: Sign up for the Chase Southwest Airlines Plus Credit Card, make 1 purchase and get a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass.  It was a no brainer.  The 50,000 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Points sign up bonus was just gravy.  We got great use out of the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass this year, but sadly, the $69 annual fee just posted and it’s time to decide if she should keep, cancel, or convert this credit card.

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Maybe You Can’t Avoid Resort Fees, But You Can Pay Less For Your Hotel Room

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Resort fees, destination fees; call them what you want, they all stink. Hotels have a menu (except we don’t get to pick and choose) of junk fees that are attached to our bills for all kinds of “services and amenities” that used to be complimentary or something we could choose to pay extra for. I don’t think any of us really believe hotel claims about why they’re now adding on these fees. From what I’ve read, it seems like these fees enable hotels to still claim their rates are lower and also pay less to travel agents since commissions are paid based on the base rate, not the total rate.

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