All posts by Point A

Getting there is half the fun! Day Job during the -uhh Day- and Travel Blogging at Night. It's all about the journey …
Old School

Postcards to Ourselves

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When I woke up this morning I shuffled over to my computer and as part of my morning ritual logged into my Facebook account. After 7-8 hours offline (aka “sleep”) reconnecting to the world via my various social media accounts has taken precedence over such basics as brushing my teeth or brewing a cup of coffee (though in my case it would be popping open a can of Diet Coke).  Bleary-eyed, I glanced to my right and noticed a few new additions to the wall next to our computer.

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My Partner F had taped up several of the postcards we had mailed ourselves from our recent trip to Europe.  I was about to wake him up for a lecture on the possibly permanent damage he had done to the paint finish when I stopped myself.  The postcards sparked a wave of memories ….

… Of how Vacanze Romane (Roman Holiday) was the movie playing on the flight over …

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… Of buying the set of vintage Italian postcards at the San Lorenzo market in Florence right after we had each purchased our leather “man purses” (which have yet to see the light of day on the streets of Chicago) …

… Of how we rerouted our return home from Italy via London so we could attend the David Bowie show at the V&A … and how we spent a good 45 minutes sitting at the center of the exhibit immersing ourselves in the artist’s music as we watched concert footage of him through the years on giant video screens …

… And buying the following card:

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Just so we could mail it home with a Doctor Who stamp.

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Our trip has been well documented with photos from our iPhones.  We updated family and friends in real time on our travels via Facebook.  We’ve left quite a few digital footprints over the course of our journey.  However, those little postcards we mailed home to ourselves sparked more memories than all of those electronic media combined.  The postcards represent a very tangible link to the great times we had on vacation.  The very act of putting pen to paper created a physical link back to those moments we were recording.

Writing postcards is definitely Old School.  However, those cards from each of our trips are our most treasured vacation souvenirs.  They all communicate the same warm message and elicit the same nostalgic feeling… “Wish we were there.”

Awards, Credit Cards, Pointing

Feeding the Points Kitty

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Wikipedia has this to say about a Kitty:

1) May refer to Cat (animal), a small carnivorous mammal of the subspecies Felis silvestris catus
2) In poker terminology, a pool of money built by collecting small amounts from certain pots, often used to buy refreshments, cards, and so on
3) In Pointing terminology, refers to the place where travel fanatics like me stash their hard earned miles and points

Yes, I have a Kitty (refer to Definition #3 above).  As a matter of fact, I have several Kitties where I store the miles and points I’ve accumulated.  Oh, and to help fund the dream vacation I mentioned in my last post, I even tapped into the Kitty maintained by my Partner F. You see, in the world of Pointing it pays to diversify AND join forces to achieve your travel goals.

For F and I, United is our preferred airline.  The carrier’s MileagePlus program is one of the industry’s most versatile frequent flyer programs.  Here’s what is currently in our MileagePlus Kitties:

Me:      100,323 Miles
F:           95,103 Miles

How did we get here? Well, part of those balances came by travel the old-fashioned way – BITS (“Butt-in-the-Seat”).  However, the vast majority of those miles were earned through the use of miles and points earning credit cards.  Check out my earlier post on What’s In My Wallet – My Workhorse Cards for how your everyday spending can rack up your points totals pretty quickly.

In that post, you’ll see that MileagePlus isn’t the only program that we’re using.  Another foundation of our Pointing strategies is the Chase Sapphire Ultimate Rewards program. Here’s what is currently in our Ultimate Rewards Kitties:

Me:      22,051 Points
F:         71,143 Points

Ultimate Rewards points are incredibly useful in that they can be transferred to a wide array of airline and hotel programs. There are a lot of options for how you can structure an award.  In other words, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Ewww … probably not the best analogy to use in feline-themed blog post.

So, how would this all work if you wanted to structure an award?  Well, let’s say that F and I wanted to spend Valentine’s Day in Paris.  Two Business class tickets require 200,000 MileagePlus miles total.  In fact, here’s what’s available (check out how much these tickets REALLY cost!).

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Since we need to top off F’s account he could transfer 5,000 Ultimate Rewards points on a 1:1 basis into his MileagePlus account.  This would give us enough miles to book those two Business Class tickets.

Of course, we’ll need a place to stay.  So, with the remaining miles we could book 4 nights at the Park Hyatt Paris for 88,000 points by transferring what we need from our Ultimate Rewards accounts into our Hyatt Gold Passport hotel programs.

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As this example shows, you can mix and match airline and hotel programs by using a combination of both MileagePlus miles and Ultimate Rewards points.  In addition, since United is a member of the Star Alliance airline network, you’re not restricted to just one airline.

In general, premium cabin awards get you the most bang for the point buck. However, although, F and I have enough points for 2 Business Class awards, I think we’ll be holding out for First Class. You see, for “only” 17,500 more points per person we can go from …

This (United Business Class)

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To This (United First Class)

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Or if you play your cards right … Maybe THIS (Lufthansa First Class)

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A redemption on Lufthansa First Class is the “Great White Whale Award” for many in the miles and points world.  It’s out there …. But you have to jump through a few hoops (or be lost at sea for several years) to achieve it (sorry for going overboard with the Moby Dick references).  I’ll recount how I was able to do this in a future post so stay tuned!

However, there’s a new award redemption which I predict will be the next “must have” for miles and points collectors. Eva Air (of Taiwan) has recently joined the Star Alliance.  As a result you should be able to redeem for awards for this ….

Hello Kitty Eva Air

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I MUST fly this plane one day.  Of course, I do need to warn you.  Five minutes listening to the Hello Kitty music on the website is equivalent to riding Disney’s It’s A Small World ride for 10 hours. You will NOT be able to get this tune out of your head. You’ll also have an incredible urge to eat cotton candy and sushi formed into “cute” shapes. Mmmm … pass the goldfish shaped wasabi … I think it’s time for lunch!

Awards, Pointing

I’m Spent – What I Did On My Pointing Vacation

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Dear Blog Reader forgive me for I have not posted.  It has been eight months since my last entry and in that time I’ve …

  • Experienced Cirque de Soleil overload in Vegas
  • Checked out Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers and Marilyn’s white dress in London
  • Conducted a tri-state tour of the deep fried foods of New England
  • Geeked out at the Comic-Con of the frequent traveller and points collecting world in suburban Virginia
  • Amassed a huge collection of mini paper umbrellas in Hawaii

However, most importantly, after a year of planning, obsessing and collecting I’ve cashed in my points. A LOT OF POINTS.

We’ve just come back from a two week trip to Italy where we celebrated an (ahem) “Milestone Birthday” for my Partner F.  Although my miles and points didn’t cover the whole tab, they did pay for some great experiences that I could never imagine paying for on my own.  As I sit at home waiting for the first wave of credit card bills to roll in from our trip, I can at least take some comfort in the fact that we did get a lot of cool stuff for a fraction of the actual cost.  Here’s what my Pointing got us …

 United Airlines First Class

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Redeemed 135,000 MileagePlus Miles
2 First Class Tickets from Chicago to Naples, Italy
Estimated Value: $19,200

Hilton Sorrento Palace (Italy)

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Redeemed 100,000 Hilton HHonors Points
2 nights – King Guestroom / Sea View
Estimated Value: $920

Lufthansa  Intra-European Flight

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Redeemed 25,000 MileagePlus Miles
2 Economy Class Tickets from Florence, Italy to London England
Estimated Value: $3,200

 Andaz Liverpool Street London

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Redeemed 54,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points
3 nights – King Room
Estimated Value: $1,260             

 Lufthansa First Class

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Redeemed 135,000 MileagePlus Miles
2 First Class Tickets from London to Chicago
Estimated Value: $21,000

Now that we’re home again, I have to admit that I’m going through a bit of Pointing withdrawal.  After a year of planning and points accumulation I’m now in search of my next big award.  As the “reservation window” for Summer 2014 award travel is starting to open I’ve already started playing around with scenarios for possible award redemptions.  In addition, I’ve been trolling the internet and sifting through my junk mail in search of another great credit card signup bonus.  I’m also still daydreaming of all the great experiences I was able to achieve through Pointing. Sigh, there’s nothing like being driven up to a 747 in a Mercedes.

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How many points do I have left? How do I plan on earning more? What do I plan to do with all of those miles and points?  And what about that Mercedes??? Stay tuned, I have few ideas (and vacation pictures) I’d like to share with you …

Credit Cards, Pointing, US Airways

A Tale of Three Credit Card Offers – 30K or 40K Miles for the US Airways MasterCard?

US Airways MasterCard

In one of my earlier posts I talked about how credit card spending fuels my Pointing activities.  In other words, it’s not the amount of time my behind has spent in an airline seat but rather my credit card spending that has allowed me to rack up significant point totals. On top of that, the sign up bonuses associated with opening new credit card accounts have provided healthy boosts to my mileage balances.

Over the past few days, the latest credit card deal circulating through the travel blogosphere is the announcement of improved sign up bonuses for the US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard.  The bonus on this card is pretty “easy” to earn since you receive the miles by making only a single purchase of ANY size. There is NO required “minimum spend” (which you see on most credit card offers) in order to receive your bonus. The annual fee is $89 and the most common publicly available offer is available on the US Airways website.

US Airways Standard Offer

However, a number of the leading travel bloggers have reported the following signup promotion which would provide you, under generally the same terms, with an additional 10,000 miles.

US Airways New Offer

In order to take advantage of these deals you need to access the application through the links provided by the blogger.  The following are two bloggers who have posted some useful background information on the current round of US Airways deals.

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Mommy Points

Note: You will be accessing the application through these bloggers’ “affiliate links” which will not cost you anything.  However, they do provide the blogger with a “referral bonus” should your application be accepted. I DO NOT receive any compensation from the credit card companies. However, whenever I apply for a new card, I try to do so through the links offered by my favorite bloggers.

Nevertheless, a third offer exists which provides an even more generous set of incentives.

US Airways Chairmans Offer

This offer provides not only the 40,000 miles of the previous deal but also waives the first year’s fee AND provides you with an annual bonus of 10,000 miles on the card’s anniversary date in subsequent years.  You can access the application via the following link:

Chairman’s Preferred Offer

While technically this set of bonuses is targeted to members of US Airways’ top tier Chairman’s Preferred frequent flyers, several travel bloggers have reported that applicants still receive these benefits.  In my case, I applied for this card in late November, received instant approval and already have my bonus miles.  In addition, the hard copy of the Terms & Conditions which accompanied the card state that I am entitled to the benefits outlined above. However, access to this particular may be changing since a curious new requirement to enter your “US Airways Employee Number” has appeared on the application in the last couple of weeks. I’m not sure if this means that the opportunity to capitalize on this particular signup bonus has now ended.  However, you should be aware that you run the risk of not receiving the full range of these benefits if you apply via “Chairman’s Preferred” route.

So, why am I collecting miles on airline I’ve never flown on?  I have to admit I’m somewhat intrigued by US Airways’ frequent flyer program.  Their Dividend Miles program offers some pretty interesting redemption opportunities. For example, US Airways is a member of the Star Alliance which provides you access to the award availabilities of not only the foreign partner airlines but also that of United which is one of the Alliance’s major anchors.  There are also surprising “gems” in the Dividend Miles Award Chart.  For example, a roundtrip Business Class award ticket to North Asia (China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan) is only 90,000 miles vs. 120,000 miles on United.  In addition, on such an award you can potentially make one stopover, arrive and depart in different cities and even route your itinerary through Europe. US Airways also regularly offers 100% bonuses for either purchasing or transferring miles. These various earning and redemption options are what drew me to the Dividend Miles programs and served as the inspiration for adding the US Airways Premier World MasterCard to my arsenal of Pointing tools.  Hmmm, I think I’m going to need a bigger wallet …

 

Pointing, Shopping Portals

Not Feeling Guilty over Gilt – 1500 United MileagePlus Miles for Buying Designer Duds

The luxury online retailer Gilt Groupe has just announced the opportunity to earn 1500 United MileagePlus Miles.  Through Gilt.com you can purchase designer clothing, shoes, accessories, home furnishings, food or wine at discounts of up to 60% or more.

Gilt

New Gilt.com members will receive the bonus miles after registering and making a $50 purchase. In addition, for the first six months of membership, you’ll earn 5 miles for every dollar spent on the site. Bonus miles will post within 6-8 weeks. This Pointing opportunity can be accessed at this special registration link for MileagePlus members.

Gilt MileagePlus Sign Up

Furthermore, you can earn even more bonus miles by accessing Gilt.com through several of the major online shopping portals.

Gilt Shopping Portals

Source: EVreward.com

This offer comes and goes and Gilt reserves the right to close registration and/or change the terms of the deal without notice. Therefore, it’s important that you read the full Terms and Conditions. I signed up for this deal earlier in the year and managed to earn 3,481 bonus miles while simultaneously stocking my closet with age inappropriate designer clothing. Sigh, maybe I should have just stuck to buying wine and cheese …

Chicago

Points of Light – Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo

I focus many of my Pointing activities on earning awards for big, flashy trips in far flung exotic locations.  However, sometimes I have to remind myself that some of the best experiences can be had by simply walking outside my front door.  F’s Brother and his wife are in town this weekend and last night we walked down the street to Lincoln Park.  It was a perfect winter night in Chicago so we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and pay a visit to the annual ZooLights celebration.

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Founded in 1868, Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the country’s oldest institutions of its kind. The Zoo also has the distinction of being free and open to the public 365 days a year. Each year around the Holidays, the Zoo mounts its annual ZooLights celebration which features colorful luminous displays throughout the park.  Hot chocolate, popcorn and Christmas music were all in abundance as we took a nice post-dinner leisurely stroll.

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If you happen to be in Chicago over the next few couple of weeks, the ZooLights celebration would be a great option for an early evening, family-friendly activity.  The lights are currently shining on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays from 5 pm to 9 pm. From December 26 through January 6 the Zoolights will be flickering nightly.

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Everyone was in great spirits.  Plus, given yesterday’s tragic news it was just so comforting being around family, children and the simple pleasures in life.  How many points did I earn last night?  ABSOLUTELY ZERO.  And you know what? I’m totally cool with that.

Deals, Shopping Portals

Pointing the Way to Learning a Foreign Language in 2013 – 12 Miles per Dollar for Purchasing a Rosetta Stone Course

The year is drawing to a close and I’m starting to contemplate what my New Year Resolutions will be. Of course, as they do every year, such standard goals as “Lose Weight,” “Get More Exercise” and “Learn a Foreign Language” make it on to my list. As I work towards becoming a “better me” in 2013, I’ve decided to tackle what I consider to be the least painful of my Resolutions.

Given that F and I will be going to the Amalfi Coast this Summer, I’ve decided to study Italian. Fortunately, I discovered that United’s MileagePlus Shopping Portal is offering the following special deal.

Rosetta Stone Deal MileagePlus ShoppingIn addition, Rosetta Stone is offering some great discounts off the purchase price of their language courses.

Rosetta Stone Italian

As I indicated in an earlier post, Online Shopping Portals are a great way to earn bonus miles for purchases that you were planning on making anyway.

I’ve taken a Rosetta Stone course before and enjoy the company’s approach to learning languages. I’m eager to learn Italian and hope to fully partake of the culture and engage with the locals.

More importantly, our trip will coincide with the country’s annual Summer Sales period.  By the time I hit Italian shores, I want to be able to confidently stride into a store and, with my head held high, confidently inquire whether the pair of trousers I’m interested in comes in a Men’s “Husky” size.

Sigh. Then again, I should probably focus on the “Lose Weight” and “Get More Exercise” portions of my New Year Resolutions list as well …

Credit Cards, Hilton, Pointing

Hot for Hilton – A New Target for My Pointing Activities

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Lately I’ve been obsessing quite a bit over Hilton … no, not that one. Come on folks, everyone know I’m more of a Kardashian type of guy (not). What I’m talking about is another key element in my Pointing strategies.  Just as United is my preferred carrier, Hilton has emerged as the hotel chain upon which I’ll be focusing my attention.

My ultimate goal is to be able to book a few days at the Conrad Koh Samui in Thailand. This is an absolutely stunning hotel that consists of a series of one bedroom villas perched over the ocean. An award stay at this property will form the cornerstone of a Dream Trip I’m planning. Right now, the going rate at the hotel is $700 or 50,000 Hilton HHonors points per night.  Since it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to convince my Partner F to fork over the dollars to pay the standard rate, it looks like points will be the way we’ll get ourselves to this tropical island.

Over the last year I’ve been accumulating a few points here and there.  There have been a number of special offers to earn points by “Liking” various Hilton brands on Facebook and opting in to receive promotional text messages.  Surprisingly, I haven’t been overly spammed for my efforts and the marketing outreach hasn’t been too intrusive.

I was even was able to take advantage of trading in points from My Coke Rewards, Coca-Cola’s loyalty program, for 8,500 Hilton HHonors points.  Of course, that involved drinking ALOT of carbonated beverages.

Oh yeah, I even managed to squeeze in a hotel stay along with all of those other Pointing activities.

However, in order to achieve my goal of recreating the perfect Hangover 2 experience (minus the booze, drugs, sex and memory loss – umm, wait that doesn’t leave much left, does it?), I’m really going to need to up the point accumulating ante. As I indicated in an earlier post, awards earning credit cards and the related sign up bonuses play a key role in my Pointing strategies.

Hilton offers a variety of co-branded credit cards that provide both generous sign up bonuses and serve as vehicles for ramping up your Pointing through bonuses awarded for spending in everyday shopping categories.

After evaluating these various options, I settled on the Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express.  This card provides a welcome bonus of 40,000 HHonors Points after your first purchase along with the opportunity to earn 20,000 additional HHonors points after you make $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of your card membership.

The Surpass Card also earns 6 HHonors points for every dollar that you spend at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations and for communications expenses such as wireless, home telephone, cable TV and satellite TV purchases.  You earn 3 HHonors points for each dollar that you spend on all other purchases.  In addition, the Surpass Card, allows you to earn 12 HHonors points per dollar spent across Hilton’s portfolio of brands.

Finally, the Surpass card provides me with a year of Hilton HHonors Gold Tier Benefits (including a 25% points bonus, late check-out privileges, complimentary benefits) and access to reduced points requirements for awards.  For example, my Partner F has the standard Hilton HHonors American Express Card which allowed us to book an upcoming 5 night stay in London for 160,000 HHonors points instead of the usual 200,000 HHonors points.

With the Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express I’ve added another workhorse card to my wallet.  In future posts I’ll provide a more detailed comparison of the merits of the various Hilton rewards cards as well as how the Surpass Card fits into my overall daily spending and Pointing strategies.

In the meantime I’ll continue my trip research by re-watching the Hangover 2, The Beach and Brokedown Palace. On second thought, anyone out there have any other movie recommendations?

Pointing

MileagePlus 10 Million Miles Giveaway – Pointing for Worthy Causes

United Airlines recently announced a campaign to donate 10 million MileagePlus award miles to a variety of worthy causes.

United will be donating a minimum of 25,000 miles each to 38 different worthy causes. Visitors to the airline’s 10 Million Charity Miles website, will be able to vote daily for their favorite charity.  The more votes a charity receives, the greater a percentage of the 10 million miles it will be awarded.  The current Top 5 Charities are as follows:

Voting started on December 6 and will remain open until 11:59 pm on December 25. During this period you may vote once per day. The charities will receive their donated miles by January 31, 2013. Enrollment in the MileagePlus program is not required.

There are some great organizations on this list that could certainly benefit from all of those miles. During this season of giving, United’s 10 Million Miles Giveaway program is a great way to channel your mouse clicks toward doing some good.

Pointing

Earn 1000 United MileagePlus Bonus Miles by Registering with BCKSTGR

An easy Pointing opportunity has nudged me into expanding my social media footprint. Prompted by a marketing email I received late yesterday afternoon from United’s Mileage Plus program, I finally added Twitter and Foursquare to my list of “places on the internet where I waste my time.” MileagePlus has partnered with social media marketing platform BCKSTGR to offer 1000 miles for simply registering (400 points) and linking your Facebook (200 points), Twitter (200 points) and Foursquare (200 points) accounts.  This offer is valid through December 15.

BCKSTGR is a startup company that offers it members the opportunity to earn frequent flyer miles for logging their social media activities (e.g., Checking in and taking a snapshot of your drink at the Old Town Pour House).  At the current time, earning opportunities in the Chicago area are pretty limited.  Therefore, the real attraction of this deal is the ability to gain a “quick and easy” hit of 1000 miles.

In addition, by turning yourself into a free advertising vehicle for BCKSTGR, you can earn another quick 150 miles by “Liking, Tweeting and Posting” of your love of your newly discovered Pointing vehicle.

As you can see, there is the ability to earn points on a daily basis by following a “wash, rinse, repeat” approach to a couple of these offers.  Of course, by taking such action you do run the risk of sparking an “Anti-Farmville-like” backlash among your Facebook friends.

This opportunity has proved to be very popular among the Pointing community. As a result, there have been widespread reports of error messages (e.g., “Your MileagePlus Number and PIN are incorrect”) and site crashes.  For example, I attempted to register three times late last night before my details were accepted.

Nevertheless, miles earned through this program post immediately in BCKSTGR and appear within an hour or so in your MileagePlus account.  This adds to the “instant gratification appeal” of the offer (if you can get your registration accepted). Now that some time has passed, hopefully these glitches have been sorted out.  BCKSTGR, in fact, is now reporting on its Facebook page that their systems have speeded up.

Tip of the hat to Just Another Points Traveler who was one of the first travel bloggers to write about this opportunity.