This ebook, published in February 2014, is available free for Kindle from Amazon, or for iBooks from iTunes.
I love to peruse these free Lonely Planet guides when I have a long wait or commute.
Turquoise seas, white-sand beaches, palm trees and fruity drinks – all the ingredients for a dreamy, tropical getaway. So – how to choose?
Inside Top 1o Warm Water Getways:
World map and comparison chart to help you decide on your destination
Preview of selected favorites – Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico, Hawaii, Los Angeles & Southern California, Florida, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica
Highlights – the top activities and recommendations
‘Best for…’ snapshot featuring what’s great about each location
This ebook, published in November 2013, introduces 52 travel experiences to whet your travel appetite.
Paraglide in South Africa; rock climb in China; sleep in a tree-house on Canada’s Vancouver Island; take a cooking course in Jordan or a flower-arranging course in Kyoto; go clubbing in Berlin; and much more.
Inside Travel Resolutions: 52 New Ways to Experience Planet Earth:
Get inspired– highlights, expert suggestions, and gorgeous photos help you choose your ideal trip
Insider insights– hidden gems that most guidebooks miss will lead you to a richer and more rewarding travel experience
Discover more– actively engage with the world via a wide variety of suggested activities, including swimming around the Greek Islands, practicing yoga in India, learning Spanish in Argentina, rafting or kayaking in New Zealand, detoxing in Brazil, studying Tibetan culture in China, witnessing the Northern Lights in Alaska, scuba diving in Belize, falling in love all over again in Venice, and hunting Dracula in Transylvania
2/20/2014 Update: The terms of this offer were changed today. In order to earn the 40,000 bonus points, you must spend $3,000 within the first 3 months of opening the card.
IsBarclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® the Best Travel Rewards Credit Card for General Spending?
Over the last couple of months, my family has had a number of major expenses pop up some of which may resonate with you:
the check engine light came on in my 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid: $5000 repair bill
ditto for my husbands 2003 Volkswagen Passat: $3800
my daughter got braces: $4650
the heat pump finally gave out: $6995
Granted it is unusual to have so many large, chargeable expenses totaling $20,000 in a two month period. But it it is easy to anticipate similar health, home maintenance, and auto repair expenses over the course of a year.
In our case, the car mechanics, the orthodontist, and the HVAC installer all accepted credit cards for payment, but only MasterCard or Visa, not American Express. That mirrors my experience with other small business vendors where we have regular large expenditures, such as the dog kennel or the vet.
None of these household expenses are considered “bonus” categories with any credit card product that I am aware of. Except the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®, that is.
(There is a Fidelity credit card that pays 2 times points, but it is an American Express card, which is not accepted everywhere. There is a Capital One Venture card that pays 2 times points; the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®effectively pays out 10 percent more than that — 2.2 percent.)
Earn 2.2 Points on All Charges, if Redeemed for Travel Expenses
It’s a bit redundant, but the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® — pays 2 times points on everything. There is no limit on the amount of points you can earn.
In my case outlined here, with $20,000 in expenses we could earn 4o,000 points. 40,000 points can be redeemed for $400 worth of travel expenses (the points are worth half that if redeemed for cash). You earn a ten percent bonus on redeemed points, so 4,000 points are redeposited in your account, worth another $40 toward travel expenses, for a total of $440. The ten percent bonus provides an incentive to keep using the card in order to redeem all your points.
How Much Travel Can You Buy for $440?
Exactly $440 dollars worth! Depending on your bargain hunting skill and preferences, you can use this money for budget hotels, rental cars, train tickets and airfare.
You can travel when you want, and where you want, without worrying about limited award availability or blackout dates.
What’s more, you will earn frequent flyer miles and loyalty program points on your purchases!
I was an early adopter of the Barclaycard Arrival — I received a targeted offer and opened the card a year ago. I have written about it on and off, but I wanted to share my experience with the card one year out.
By comparison, with a miles earning credit card, my recent charges would earn 20,000 miles — perhaps enough for a one-way ticket on Southwest Airlines or two roundtrip tickets on Amtrak, but hard to redeem for much else.
Get a Sign-Up Bonus Worth $440 Towards Travel
Some credit cards are good for everyday spend, others provide generous sign-up bonuses.
The Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® does both!
Beyond the 2.2 percent payout rate for general expenses, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® offers an excellent signup bonus.
If you spend $3,000 within three months of opening the card, you get a bonus of 40,000 points, which can be redeemed for $400 worth of travel. Furthermore, you earn 10 percent back on all redemptions for travel expenses, meaning another 4,000 points are awarded, making the initial bonus worth more than $440.
Other Benefits of the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®
There’s a fun sweepstakes contest that will net you and a companion a trip to Hawaii to participate in the Wanderlust O’ahu Yoga Festival. What’s more, the winner will receive a year’s supply of Kind nutrition bars (my favorite)!
Contest entry is easy via this online form. The deadline to enter is January 28, 2014.
The grand prize includes:
Round trip airfare for winner and guest to O’ahu between February 27 – March 3, 2014;
Two Wanderlust O’ahu Festival tickets (February 27 – March 2, 2014);
Four night hotel stay from February 27 – March 3, 2014, (double occupancy);
$600.00 in American Express® Gift Cards;
KIND Prize Pack of yoga mats, water bottles, and t-Shirts; and
I reeled in a great deal on a round-trip train ticket from Vermont to Washington, DC for the Thanksgiving holiday.
For just 4,000 points, you can travel the entire length of the Northeast corridor on Amtrak — over 500 miles.
I transferred 8,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to my Amtrak Guest Rewards account to purchase a round-trip ticket for my daughter.
The points transferred instantaneously!
The retail price of the round-trip ticket on her travel dates is $239.
Points redeemed in this fashion are worth 3 cents apiece. This is a value proposition!
I earned these points through routine spending on my Chase Freedom credit card.
Amtrak Guest Rewards has a number of blackout dates around popular holidays when award tickets are not offered. Fortunately, there was no problem with our preferred travel dates.
Amtrak used to run a train to Montreal — “The Montrealer” — but dropped the line when Congress cut back funding.
I enter various travel sweepstakes all the time, but I never actually win anything. So when I received this email ten days ago, I presumed it was spam:
Thank you for participating in the Top Attraction Contest for the RADISSON ROYAL HOTEL by voting for your favourite attraction. I am happy to let you know that you have voted for the winning attraction – At The Top Burj Khalifa Experience – and are the winner of a 150 EUR Rezidor Gift Card. The Rezidor Gift Card can be used in over 250 hotels in 34 countries to pay towards accommodation, dining, spa treatments and much more, at Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson or Missoni hotels. The Rezidor Gift Card is valid for 2 years and has no cash equivalent.
The email was not spam! This was a legitimate contest that I had entered and promptly forgotten about. Each month, Radisson features about ten of its top properties and contest entrants must select their favorite nearby attraction. So if you have accumulated a boatload of Club Carlson points, it’s a great way to familiarize yourself with some of the redemption options.
There are several factors that contributed to my success, and which may work for you, too:
Choose an obscure contest
Enter early and often
Avoid social media
The Radisson Top Attraction Contest certainly fits the bill. It isn’t the most lucrative contest, but 150 Euros toward a hotel stay isn’t bad, if you have a trip coming up.
Last week, I needed to book a roundtrip flight from Salt Lake City (SLC) to Washington, DC (IAD) in a big hurry and airfares were through the roof: $1297 on United Airlines to be precise.
No way, Jose! Instead, I purchased the “economy” class ticket for 37,500 United Mileage Plus miles, a $7.50 fee, and a $75 close-in booking charge.
I “earned” the miles by opening a United Mileage Plus credit card with Chase Bank, by accumulating some frequent flyer miles from a few long-distance flights.
Dulles International Airport Image by Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority
I almost hit the panic button recently when trying to book a flight home for our daughter.
The Scenario
Delta Airlines runs a nonstop route to Reagan National Airport (DCA) which is optimal for our travel needs. I am trying to spend down our modest stash of Delta Skymiles because our travel priorities will be changing come September.
I have 11,000 Skymiles in my account.
The preferred roundtrip flight was available for 40,000 miles.
I have some Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Starpoints available, which can be transferred to Delta Skymiles. For each 20,000 Starpoints you transfer to Delta, SPG gives you a 5,000 point bonus. 25,000 additional Skymiles, still wasn’t enough to book the trip. I’d need to move 24,000 Starpoints over to Delta to cash in. (11K Skymiles + 20K Starpoints + 5K bonus points + 4K Starpoints = 40k points needed for a ticket).
I am stepping off the credit card application merry-go-round — for the time being.
Here are 8 reasons why:
1. I am still holding unspent gift cards. I acquired a number of gift cards to meet the minimum spend requirements for the Chase Ink Plus rewards credit card I opened last year. These include ITunes, Starbucks, Amazon, and Trader Joes gift cards. I have about $500 of credits on these various cards that I want to spend down before incurring another minimum spend requirement.
2. I need to give my credit score a break. My credit score took a hit from numerous credit inquiries and from lowering the average age of my accounts. A hiatus from credit card applications will allow my accounts to mature and give my credit rating a chance to recover.
3. I can meet my immediate travel needs with points/miles already in hand. My family has lots of travel planned for this summer, but with 180,000 points/miles in the bank, I should be able to finance about half a dozen cross-country flights. At a recent Frequent Flyer University conference, the advice from the experts was to use your miles to protect against program devaluations.
