There’s not much to say about this deal: $40 for a $50 iTunes gift card at Staples online. This deal is available online only at Staples.com
Shipping is free, with secure, trackable shipping through the U.S. Post Office.
The cards have no expiration date.
If you are a Staples Rewards member, you can earn 5% back.
Be sure to pay with a credit card that earns extra points at office supply stores, like the United Business credit card (2x) or the Chase Ink cards (5x).
I don’t think gift card purchases from Staples earn extra rewards points via online shopping portals, but it can’t hurt to try.
We stayed in a wonderful old hotel in the heart of San Francisco that we got on Priceline for $32 a night.
Our hotel was several blocks from Japantown, and we ventured there a couple of times for sushi and sukiyaki. Japantown in San Francisco is much less touristy than Chinatown.
My Family in Japantown
There is a mall, the Japan Center, with a large bookstore, many restaurants, some boutiques, and a discount store with imported goods. The surrounding area is several blocks of residences, restaurants, and the Miyako hotel, as well as a Japanese market, a hardware store, and other shops.
This is the neighborhood to shop for manga and Hello Kitty merchandise!
One of the shops we visited was a stationery store, The Paper Tree, that had a large selection of origami papers and books. The Paper Tree is a family business, and the owner’s daughters are origami artists.
Origami Stars
We must have spent two hours in that shop.
They sell origami books and all manner of origami paper, including the beautiful handmade washi paper. One of the daughters showed us how to fold tiny origami stars from paper strips, and we picked up some beautiful origami paper and stationery to bring home.
A DIY Japanese Origami Birthday Party
When it came time to plan our daughter’s birthday party, she chose a Japanese theme.
Fishing4Deals is a travel and bargain blog but one of my most popular posts ever was the article I wrote about how to host a DIY birthday party with an airplane theme.
Travel was a common thread in many of the home birthday parties we organized for our daughter — so I thought I would share a party plan for a DIY Japanese Origami party.
Koi windsock
All of our DIY birthday parties followed the same basic plan, but this birthday party was the easiest ever. No fuss, no muss, and very little expense — just a few packs of origami paper!
Here is an easy ten-step guide to planning an over-the-top Japanese origami birthday party. You can pick and choose from these ideas and adapt the party depending on the age of your child.
My Family at the Soda Fountain at Bulloch Drugs, Cedar City, UT
If you can look beyond the chain restaurants, you will find that Cedar City, Utah has its funky side.
Most people come to Cedar City for ready access to the National Parks of southern Utah.
Cedar Breaks National Monument is a stunning park just outside of town, and Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park are within striking distance. The outdoor recreation opportunities are outstanding, whether hiking in the spring, summer and fall, or skiing, snowboarding, and tubing in the winter.
What to Do in Cedar City
Beyond the abundant outdoor recreation opportunities, Cedar City boasts some fun cultural events. Cedar City calls itself Festival City USA, so check before you go to see if any special events are happening.
Shakespeare Festival
Cedar City’s most famous festival is the Utah Shakespeare Festival held every summer on the campus of Southern Utah University. This professional theatre festival hires equity actors and features contemporary productions as well as traditional Shakespeare plays performed in a replica of the Globe Theatre.
Greenshow
The best kept secret about the Shakespeare Festival is the free outdoor pre-show entertainment called the Greenshow.
The Greenshow is an re-creation of Elizabethan street theatre, with period refreshments and a crafts fair to boot.
Kannaraville Slot Canyon Photo found here: http://rujinav.tumblr.com/image/45127013150
The Cabaret
There is also a post-show Cabaret every Thursday night throughout the summer season. Company members from the festival put on a variety show at The Grind coffeehouse on North Main Street.
Acts include singing, dancing, instrumental music, impressions, skits, improv games, magic tricks, poetry, bird calls, and juggling.
Off the Cuff Comedy Club
On Friday nights, check out the local comedy and improv club, Off the Cuff. Many of the performers are students in the theatre department at Utah State University.
Historic Cedar Theatre
Another great year round venue is the Historic Cedar Theatre. Movie tickets are just $3 for children under 12, and $4 for adults. This theatre was established in 1914, and restored in 2012, bringing some vitality to the downtown area.
Kannaraville Slot Canyon
Twelve miles south of Cedar City is is a beautiful slot canyon and a popular hiking area. The Kannarville slot canyon offers waterfalls, slides, and beautiful red rock scenery. You can find details of the hike here.
Where to Eat in Cedar City
Centro Pizzeria
Centro Pizzeria, Cedar City
The Centro Pizzeria serves just one kind of food but does it very well. The fresh ingredients are straight from that morning’s farmers’ market and the pizzas are cooked in a wood-fired oven. The food here reminded me of the famous Two Amy’s in Washington, DC.
Old-Fashioned Soda Fountain
If it’s lunchtime, you can get ice cream for dessert at the old-fashioned soda fountain in Bulloch drugstore in the center of town. There are not too many traditional soda fountains left, so I am always happy to find one.
Where to Stay in Cedar City
Cedar City has dozens of chain hotels, but if you are looking for a bargain, Priceline is your best bet. I always cheek Hotwire first, to get a sense of general availability.
Our favorite place to stay is the Best Western Town & Country Inn in the center of town. We’ve gotten this hotel on Priceline for $38 to $48 per night.
As a Reston, Virginia local, I was pretty psyched about the news this week that Frontier Airlines will be flying a regular schedule of flights to 14 popular destinations out of Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, DC.
Grab Introductory Fares on Frontier Airlines Now!
Frontier is a low-cost airline and they capped their announcement with a 12 hour sale with fares as low as $15 one way! I didn’t get in on the sale — I heard the website was pretty overwhelmed — but there is still a chance for introductory fares as low as $39 if you buy your tickets by May 17, 2014.
Beginning August 19, 2014, Frontier will offer nonstop service to:
Foxy the Fox
Atlanta
Charlotte, NC
Orlando, FL
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Tampa, FL
Beginning September 8, 2014, Frontier will begin nonstop service to:
Chicago-O’Hare
Cincinnati
Detroit
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Las Vegas
Memphis, TN
Fort Myers, FL
St. Louis
St. Augustine/Jacksonville, FL
Buddy the Badger
Frontier’s service from Washington-Dulles will operate on 168-seat Airbus A320 aircraft.
Cranky Flyer has a great analysis today about the tortured history of low cost airlines at Dulles Airport and it’s not a pretty story. Hopefully, Frontier’s entry into this market will create some price competition.
Frontier Credit Card Sign Up Good for Two Free Round Trips
Frontier Airlines has a pretty generous standard award chart, with 20,000 miles required for a roundtrip for travel within the U.S., including Alaska. The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard® offers a sign-up bonus of 40,000 miles after spending $500 in the first 90 days.
So the current credit card offer is good for two round trips, and then some. That’s because you can travel with a companion for just 15,000 per round trip.
That’s a pretty generous bonus for a very low spend requirement!
There is a $69 annual fee which is not waived in the first year. Note that Barclay’s advertises this offer as a 50,000 mile bonus, but that includes the balance transfer provision, which is never a good deal because of the fees charged.
What’s more, look at all the cute animals that you can get on your credit card!
Visa is kicking it up a notch by offering cardholders nearly a hundred discount offers on everything from LEGOLAND®, to shopping at Chicos, to dining at Pizza Hut.
Some of the discounts that caught my eye:
$5 off any purchase of $20 or more at Planet Hollywood
20 percent off Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotels in the U.K. (including the Mayfair in London)
$10 off any two entrees at Buca di Beppo
$5 off a $50 purchase at Target
20 percent off tickets to single day tickets to LEGOLAND®California and Florida
20 percent off tickets to LEGOLAND® Discovery Centers in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Kansas City, Atlanta, Westchester, NY and Toronto, Canada.
20 percent off the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas
The offers all require you to pay with a Visa credit card to receive the discount, and there may be promo codes or coupons to apply to your purchase. You can use any of dozens of Visa credit cards, including my personal favorite, the Chase Freedom Credit Card.
Be sure to read the fine print for the details on these offers, and check around to see if there are any better deals out there!
Click here to compare current rewards credit card offers.
Barclaycard Arrival Plus with Chip and Pin Technology
A picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s the graphic on the updates to the Barclaycard Arrival credit card announced today.
You can see the advertising video with an explanation of the new Chip & Pin payment feature here.
Chip & Pin is the state-of-the-art security feature that is especially useful if you travel abroad.
You can find my full reviews of the pros and cons of the fee version, and no annual fee version of the card here.
Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard®
I have the Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® which comes with a $200 credit towards travel expenses if you spend $1000 in the first three months after opening the card. This card has no annual fee, and pays two times “points” on purchases at restaurants and for travel purchases. I like the bonus earning on restaurants and on Priceline purchases. I also like that this is a no annual fee card, so I can hold on to it forever, thus aiding the length of credit history on my credit score. This card does not have the chip and pin feature.
There is another, probably better, version of the card, now called the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®that offers a $400 bonus toward travel expenses if you spend $3000 in the first three months. This card has an annual fee of $89, which is waived the first year. It pays two times points on all purchases, which is really a fantastic value, especially because you get ten percent back on all redemptions for travel expenses. This card does have the new chip and pin feature, making it useful for purchases and ATM withdrawals abroad.
U.S. Airways and Barclay’s bank have a new offer out for the The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard®. It’s a pretty good offering, with 40,000 dividend miles awarded after the first use of the the card. There is an $89 annual fee, which is not waived the first year, but there is no minimum spend requirement to earn the 40,000 mile bonus.
The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard®: 40,000 points, No minimum spend
The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® comes with alot of ancillary perks, including a free checked bag for you and up to four traveling companions on domestic flights. That alone is worth the price of the annual fee in my book, particularly for families traveling with children. The regular fee to check a bag is $25 each way.
One of the other highly touted benefits is the option to purchase two companion certificates for $99 each, plus taxes and fees.
I opened a U.S. Airways credit card last summer, and I was looking forward to using the companion certificates to take my family on a trip. The deal was, if you purchase a ticket for $250 or more, you can buy two companion tickets for $99 each. So I figured, for $450, my family of three could visitour far-flung family or take a vacation. I wish I could tell you that’s what happened.
The companion certificate had so many strings attached that we were unable to take advantage of it before it expired.
If you are highly organized and plan your travel well in advance, you may be able to get some value out of the $99 companion fares, but be aware of the restrictions.
Whereby We Read the Fine Print on the US Airways Companion Certificates So You Don’t Have To
These are the biggies:
Domestic Travel Only. The certificates are only good for travel in the 48 United States or Canada. You cannot use them for travel to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico, or to any other country.
Roundtrip Fares Only. Certificates cannot be applied to one-way travel, and they are not valid on stopovers, open jaws, open returns, or circle trips.
Tickets must be purchased 14 days in advance. A minimum two night stay is required. A maximum 30 day stay is permitted.
$250+ Fares Only. The companion certificates can only be used when the paid fare is $250 or more. The $250 is the base fare only. If your fare is $250 including taxes and fees, it doesn’t qualify. You pay taxes and fees on the base fare, and the $99 companion certificates are also subject to taxes and fees. Your full fare will be $280 to $300 depending on whether it is for U.S. or Canadian travel.
Time Limited. After you have opened The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard®, and made an initial purchase, you have nine months in which to purchase your tickets, and travel must be completed within the next three months.
In 2014, there are 28 blackout dates when you cannot use the certificates. These include many holiday weekends and other popular travel times. There are further restrictions in certain markets limiting travel to and from Mardi Gras, the Kentucky Derby, the Superbowl, and the NCAA Final Four.
United Mileage Plus Visa Signature cardholders in select cities may be invited to a free advance screening of X-Men: Days of Future Past, in 3-D. It’s one of several discounts offered by Visa Signature in conjunction with Fandango.
The offer is for up to two tickets per cardholder, and two concession coupons for popcorn and soda. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis, to those who receive an email invitation.
Synopsis of X-Men: Days of Future Past
The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The characters from the original X-Men film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class in an epic battle that must change the past — to save our future.
The cities where free screenings will be offered are:
Washington, D.C
Houston
Denver
McLean
Jacksonville
Virginia Beach
San Diego
San Francisco
Chicago
Seattle
Fairbanks
I received my invitation to the Washington, DC screening this morning. Here’s the link to register for free tickets, in case you want to jump on this offer.
Did you get an email yet?
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Before you make a purchase, feel free to check the Promo Codes tab at the top of the Fishing4Deals website to see if there are any current deals available. Five or ten percent off a Priceline reservation or an already discounted Groupon deal can come in handy!
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