Attending TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange)

Posted on February 23, 2012 by wpengine

Brad and I recently signed up to attend the Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) in Keystone, CO for 2012.  This is an event where hundreds of travel bloggers, companies, and travelers join together to learn more and to share what they know about traveling.

Here is a direct quote from their website explaining more:

Travel Bloggers/Writers are a unique breed of people, part explorer, part chronicler, all insatiable curiosity. But we are not all the same. Travel Bloggers have as many unique interests as there are places to visit around the globe. And TBEX is the perfect place to share your blog, pictures, experiences and to ask questions.“

We’re excited to go and share our knowledge with others, meet new friends, and get more ideas that we can share with you.  We keep this blog partially as a hobby, partially because we would love to make some money from it someday, but mostly because we want to share our passions for traveling with you.  We want you to enjoy the watching the sunrise over Angkor Wat, hiking to the top of the Temple IV in Tikal, Guatemala, and more.

Transportation

Brad on the BAR at Glacier

As Brad and I both purchased motorcycles last year we might be making the trip to TBEX on a motorcycle.  We have written about our “BAR” ride from the summer of 2011.  It was a blast, and we look forward to doing many more rides in the future.

The ride would be 1200 miles round trip, which is less than the BAR that we did last year that encompassed about 1700 miles.  I’m hoping that the weather is good so we really can make a ride out of it.  Either way we’ll be there, will you?

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Wanderlust Movie Trailer

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Brad Christensen

This is totally unrelated to what we post about here, and yet completely related at the same time.  I went to watch “The Grey” at the movie theater the other day (skip it, by the way, unless you’re already a manic depressive and it’s soothing to see a stranded group of oilmen slowly get devoured by a ravenous group of oversized wolves). Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised to see a posterboard for a movie entitled, “Wanderlust.”

Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd star in this comedy in which a Manhattan couple, tired of the stress and rigmarole of everyday life, seeks an escape.  If I had written the script, I’d have sent them out of the country, but as it is they find themselves in a hippie nudist colony (yes, it is a Judd Apatow movie). Before you watch, I will warn you that the movie is rated “R” and the trailer doesn’t hide it.

Obviously, this isn’t exactly what we’re after with WorldWanderlusting, but the way the average couple tires of the stress and tediousness of day-to-day life is true to form. And it is exactly that which is our enemy.  We are arms-dealers in the war of monotony vs. adventure and excitement.  It is a sad fact that most people simply raise their white flag in surrender to boredom and sameness.  They’re overpowered by the battle-call of the humdrum, “we can’t afford to do things like that.”  They cower from the challenge with phrases like “we can’t find a babysitter,” and “traveling to those places isn’t safe.”

We just won’t tolerate weakness like that.  We won’t let them win. We soak in the refreshing springs of civilizations’ celebrations. We gorge on the sweet variety of global gluttony. We learn the intriguing history of local legends. We wanderlust.

At times we’ve questioned our decision to use the term in the name of our blog, yet it is so central to what we’re after, we have no choice but to use it.  Most people are fairly unfamiliar with the word, and unfortunately, the concept. “Wanderlust” is a loanword from German, and is defined as “a very strong or irresistible impulse to travel.”

We’ve got it, and we hope you do, too.

 

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Researching Your Trip

Posted on February 16, 2012 by wpengine

Anytime I book a trip I’m always the one to do the research. My wife loves coming on trips and really never complains about the activities, but she doesn’t do much of the planning. It is “my department.” I really enjoy finding the fun things to do. In our upcoming trip I’ve been doing a lot of searching out activities, it made me think….How does everyone else do the research for their trips?

I’ve been a huge fan of Barnes and Noble bookstores.  My wife has almost always had to allow me to spend a minute looking over the books about international travel.  My thirst to travel has never quite been quenched.  I’m always looking for new places to go and great things to see.  They have always been a great stop for me to look at the ideas of things to see and do.

Books I Checked Out


I just recently found out that our public library has TONS of travel books that can be checked out.  We found books on Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and more.  Some are Fodors, others are DK, Lonely Planet, and more.  Our public library allows us to check out up to 50 books at a time.  I had no idea that they would allow you to check out so many.  I settled for a few books and figured that I would use until I returned these ones to check out more.

They also had a few videos to choose from.  You can see that I spotted Rick Steve’s European travels.  It came with 12 discs showing some of his travels all across Europe.  The activity of the night tonight is to watch the videos that correspond to the locations of our trips.  His stops have given me ideas of things to see on my upcoming trip.

Tripadvisor.com is always another great place to research.  I almost always prefer the forums over the “things to do.”  The forums are nice because they are designed for people like you and I who are going there for the first time.  You can ask questions to other travelers who have been there before, or those who are experts on the area.  It always inspires me to look at my own town or things that are close to me so I can contribute to others who would like to see my hometown.

Pile Driver

I’ve also found Netflix offers a few travel shows that might catch your interest.  I watched a show the other night about the island of Venice.  It explained that the people who built the city did so to avoid the barbarians who were attacking them so easily on the mainland.  They found refuge on the swampy marshes of the Adriatic, but discovered that they could build on the marshes if they were to drive huge spikes down into the silt to secure up a foundation for the buildings.  Essentially they built the city by driving these pylons into the ground and then pouring concrete on top of them.  Fun fact to learn, and now I can understand why they say that Venice just might be sinking.

Knowing more about your destination can make it much more fun than a surprise sometimes.  Especially if you know what kinds of food to order and what sites to see then your trips will be filled with many more experiences than if you try to figure it all out upon arrival.  Either way it will be fun, but knowing about your destination can definitely make it more interesting.

What sources do you use to research your trip?  Do you watch movies, read books, or search the web?  Which do you find most useful?  What secrets can you share with us?

Get the card that gets you hotels all over America and the world. The Starwood Preferred Guest Card From American Express can get you free hotels all across Europe.

 

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How to Earn Over 400,000 Hilton HHonors Points

Posted on February 12, 2012 by wpengine

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When it comes to Hotels you can find a Hilton property almost anywhere.  The Hilton family has hotels all across America and all across the world too.  Their redemption scale isn’t always amazing depending on the property that you’re staying at, but this is a way that you might be able to accumulate tons of HHonors points.

Right now you have 7 different credit cards that are issuing points either directly to Hilton, or can be transferred to Hilton HHonors points.  I’ll outline each of them and show you how to accumulate over 400,000 HHonors points and get Gold Status too!

100,000 from the Virgin Atlantic Bank of America

Daraius from MillionMileSecrets.com showed me that you can transfer these points from Virgin Atlantic to Hilton HHonors points at a 2:1 ratio.   The bonus from this card is 50,000, and if they give you a 2:1 transfer ratio then you are paying $90 for 100,000 HHonors points.

  • Sign on Bonus: 50,000 Virgin Atlantic Points which are transferable 1:2 to Hilton
  • Spending Requirement: $2500 in 3 months
  • Annual Fee $90

60,000 from the Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass

This card is issued by American Express and gives an initial sign on bonus of 40,000 HHonors points.  It will also issue you an additional 20,000 points when you spend $3000 within the first.  It also offers automatic Gold Status for the first year of having the card.  Gold Status isn’t worth too much, but it can give you opportunities for upgrades, free breakfast at certain hotels, and a few other minor amenities.

  • Total Bonus: 60,000 HHonors Points
  • Spending Requirement: $3,000 in 3 months
  • Annual Fee: $75

40,000 from the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature

This is the weakest offer of all, but it still gives you 40,000 and Citi is good about issuing credit cards to people with good credit.  It also comes without an annual fee, which is nice for those people who are trying to do this on a tight budget.

  • Total Bonus: 40,000
  • Spending Requirement: $1000 in 4 months
  • Annual Fee: None

70,000 from the Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card

Daraius also posted about this deal.  He has actual done the transfer to know that it actually works too!  It is a great option for those people like the FrugalTravelGuy who have been running out of options as they have already gotten all of the best offers from the big banks.  Bank of Hawaii is far from here, and as long as they are willing to dish out the points, they you should take them!

  • Sign on Bonus: 35,000 Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles. Transferable 1:2 to Hilton
  • Spending Requirement: $1000 in 4 months
  • Annual Fee: $79

70,000 from the Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card

This offer also came by way of Dariaus’ suggestion.  This is another annual fee card, so you aren’t getting all of the points for free, but you’re paying pennies on the dollar.  They give you HawaiianMiles as well, which are transferrable 1:2 HHonors points.  Great Success!

  • Sign on Bonus: 35,000 Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles. Transferable 1:2 to Hilton
  • Spending Requirement: $1000 in 4 months
  • Annual Fee: $79

Starwood Preferred Guest(R) Credit Card from American Express

I haven’t actually seen this one done, but I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t work.  Starwood will allow you to transfer to Virgin Atlantic (as shown above) at a 1:1 ratio.  Once they’ve been transferred to Virgin Atlantic, you’ll be able to turn around and transfer them to Hilton.

  • Sign on Bonus: Starpoints transferable to Virgin Atlantic then to Hilton HHonors

Summary:

You can rack up some serious Hilton HHonors points with a few credit card sign up bonuses.  In total you would accumulate over 400,000 points which can get you some serious Hilton Hotels.  With judicious use of your excellent credit, and a measly $323 in first year fees, you can accumulate thousands of dollars in hotel expense savings.

Hilton Category Costs

There are seven different tiers of Hilton Hotels.  Their search function isn’t my favorite, but you can look at their website to see the hotels on each tier.  You could basically live at a tier 1 hotel for 53 nights.   It would equal 32 nights at a tier 2, 16 nights at a tier 3,  13 nights at a tier 4, 11 nights at a tier 5, 10 nights at a tier 6, and 8 nights at a tier 7.

The bottom line is that there are tens of thousand of Hilton HHonors points out there for the taking.  In the off chance that I needed to stay at a hotel for 53 days, this is exactly how I would do it.  Hahah.

Let us know what you think.  Share our website with your friends.  Tweet about us or make a post about this, just keep wanderlusting.

 

Posted in Citi, Credit Cards, Hilton, Starwood Preferred Guest | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Cruise Activity Preview: Crystal Maiden Cave in Belize

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Brad Christensen


One of the stops we’ll make on our Western Caribbean cruise in March is Belize City.  It will mark my second visit to Belize, and it will be hard to top in ten hours what we did last time in ten days… even so, we’ll try.

Our last trip was an epic trifecta.  We spent roughly 3 days in the San Ignacio area, visiting Tikal (across the border in Guatemala) and partaking in more than my fair share of soy ice cream.  My brother’s father-in-law, an incredibly interesting tour guide, then took us on an excursion deep into the jungle.  If that weren’t enough to make memories for a lifetime, then my wife and I went out to Caye Caulker, where we learned how to scuba dive.  Someday I’ll tell the story in a better format (complete with pictures and the rundown on how I booked the flights for $240 round-trip from SLC (yeah, no typo).

But for now, I’ll try to limit my wanderlusting to the ten hours we’ll have in Belize.  We’ve got a good-sized group going, so I arranged to rent a 12 passenger Hyundai Van from Budget Belize for $105 for the day… not a bad deal for what is essentially a bus.  Our timeframe is tight, so they’re meeting us at the cruise terminal, ready to go.

We’ll drive to Teakettle Village, a little over an hour away, where we’ll meet up with our tourguides, PACZ Tours, for the adventure which I’m sure will be the marquee experience of our trip – the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave tour.  I doubt if I’ll be able to improve much upon the description of the experience they offer in their overview, except to say that it combines all of the elements of travel that keep me thirsting for more and more: cultural/historical significance, awe-inspiring natural beauty, and adventuresome physical exertion.  After a hike through the Belizean jungle, we’ll swim into the darkness of the mouth of a cave system that it will take some three hours to traverse.  The highlight of our journey will be to view the crystallized skeleton of a teenage sacrificial victim – known as The Crystal Maiden.  

I’ve hardly scratched the surface of what the experience will entail, but I can tell you that anticipating it, along with everything else we’ll do, does occupy a good 10% of my subconscious mind at any given point.

I’ve already bragged about how I’m getting to New Orleans for the cruise for $10 and 25k miles which I got from applying for the Continental One Pass card (which we’ve been advertising at the top of our blog for some time, now).  Obviously I’d welcome you to do the same thing.  Or you could also consider using 35,000 miles to get directly to Belize City – a launching point for this and many other unforgettable adventures.

Here’s the rundown on the Continental Card:

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My First United Airlines Experience

Posted on February 6, 2012 by wpengine

You may also want to read our post on “How to Write an Airline Complaint Letter” – a great synopsis on how to handle the complaint filing process.

Until yesterday I had never flown on United Airlines. I had to take a trip for work to Cincinnati and it just so happened that United had the best flight for my scenario. I booked the ticket and was excited to try out their customer service, their aircraft, and everything else they have to offer.

Let’s be honest, it wasn’t the best experience I’ve ever had when it comes to an airline. First of all my flight was delayed because the plane had mechanical problems the night before.  I missed a connecting flight and was forced to take an additional route on my way to Cincinnati.

To make matters worse, they also lost my bag that I had checked and it did not arrive at Cincinnati with me. Luckily the hotel gave me a toothbrush toothpaste and other things I needed so that I could go to sleep without my bag.

I’m willing to give United Airlines the opportunity to try again. However I’m still going to ask them if they will compensate me for the difficulties that I had on my first flight with them. I’ll include a copy of the letter that I sent and I will let you know as soon as I hear from their customer service representative.

On a good note, I am staying at a Springhill Suites by Marriott. Their fitness center is excellent, the breakfast was delicious, and the room is clean. It is my first time staying in one of these hotels but I really like it. It is nice to start accruing Marriott rewards points as they are very valuable for small-town locations.

Here’s my letter:

I’m always leery of trying new companies.  Sticking with the status quo is generally just easier. Since I normally fly Delta or American, I went out on a limb booking my ticket with United for my this trip. I felt somewhat excited as I would be trying something new, and hoped for a good experience.  Unfortunately, so far I’ve been let down.

The first incident was that my plane took off two hours late from IDA because of a mechanical problem.  I obviously missed my connecting flight. Missing the connecting flight meant that I needed to take an additional leg of the flight and made me reach my destination almost five hours after I was originally scheduled to arrive. The time that I had planned to spend catching up with friends and watching the Super Bowl was drastically reduced.

On top of arriving late to my destination I also had a problem with a lost piece of luggage. I had checked it in Denver and they promised that it would be checked to my final destination. I took their word for it and to my dismay the bag never arrived on the carousel. Disappointed, I approached the lost bag desk.

The gentleman at the desk located my bag and discovered that it had been left in Chicago (my unnecessary stop). He explained that there were two additional flights coming to CVG and it would probably arrive on the first flight, which would be arriving at 9:30 PM. Realizing that mistakes can be made I explained that I understood, and he mentioned that I would probably have my bag by 11:00 or so. It never showed up until 6:00am.

Needless to say, I wish that my first experience with your company would have been a good one, but unfortunately it was disappointing. I understand that there are issues from time to time, but I feel like I got a triple-whammy. I wouldn’t be so bold as to say that I’d never fly United again, but I can’t help but feel like I’d hesitate.  Perhaps I’m out of line, but I do feel like I’m due some sort of compensation. Would you please review my case and see if I’m entitled to a voucher or some other form of acknowledgement?

Posted in Marriott Rewards, United | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments