Legends of Credit Carding

Posted on November 18, 2011 by wpengine

I’ve been involved in using my credit to secure free travel for the last year an a half.  I’ve learned a lot in that time frame, and hopefully it has benefited you.  Sharing the information has been a lot of fun for me, and I’ve enjoyed helping other people accomplish their goals of seeing the world.  It seems like everywhere I go I’m known as the insurance guy who loves to travel.  I don’t mind this stigma.  I really enjoy both, although I really enjoy traveling more.

I have taken a very conservative approach to the whole credit card approach.  I think that it has been good for me to make sure that I don’t make any mistakes.  I’ve been able to learn from some great people out there like frugaltravelguy, millionmilesecrets, and thepointsguy.  I read their blogs on a daily basis.  It seems like more and more are popping up everyday.  It is fun seeing other people get excited about the same things that drive you, it brings a feeling of camaraderie to the whole thing.

Over the course of the last year and a half I’ve only applied for four credit cards for me and four for my wife.  We’ve still been able to accumulate a lot of points, but not near as many as a lot of you guys.  It has been very lucrative and I’ve already been enjoying the fruits of my labors.

A New Legend is Born

I was reading through some material tonight about traveling when I came across someone who made a goal to earn 500,000 points/miles from a single churn.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the audacity that this guy had to make the jump. He has actually proven that it can be done as you can read about his results on his results page.

He compares himself to Evil Knievel, and I see the comparison right off the bat.  I am very impressed and he did a great job lining out how he has done this work.  He has quite a hill to climb as far as the minimum spending requirements.  He has created a great tool to track all of your spending requirement goals.  You can find it on his resources page.

I am grateful for his willingness to share the information of how this will affect his credit with all of us.  Hopefully it can help us to find out how to combine inquiries with all of the credit card agencies and how it will affect his credit in the long run.

I’m also hopeful that these credit card companies still continue to make money off of someone besides me so I can continue to take advantage of their offers.  It is exciting to apply for a new card and start working toward a new spending requirement.  I enjoy accumulating and spending.  This has been great because it has nothing to do with the hard earned dollars that I make at work, but has become a side hobby that has allowed me to learn how to get my travel for free.

Remember that sharing this information with others will always benefit you.  Help them to get started as maybe Ben, Rick, Darius, Brian, or I have helped you to learn how to travel for free.  You will get more excited for them as they sail off and see the world.

Thanks for Wanderlusting with us.


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Join our Facebook Group!

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Brad Christensen

Our avid readers number in the hundreds, but we’ve only managed to scrape together 50 fans on Facebook thus far.  Because Facebook fanhood is the modern-day popularity contest, we’re ramping up our efforts with a little shameless self-promotion.

WorldWanderlusting holds these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created explorers, and that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unquenchable thirsts, that among these are history, adventure, and the pursuit of unique cultures.

Paying to pursue these objectives is often difficult with so many other demands tugging at your billfold – which is why we’re trying to help you build up an arsenal of frequent flyer miles and hotel reward points simply by carefully and effectively managing your credit as you seize opportunities provided by zealous marketing campaigns.  If you’ll stick around, we’ll show you how you can go from wanderlusting to wandering, and we’ll also point you to many other bloggers who are discussing these very same issues.

If we have a niche, it’s in trying to give you ideas for once you’re “in-country.”  We’re not as well-traveled as we’d like to be, but we’ve seen a good chunk of the world and learned (sometimes the hard way), what to do and what not to do.  If you’re after something different than the all-inclusive resort experience when you leave the country, then bookmark us in your favorites.

If you’re reading this and enjoying it, we already consider you a fellow wanderluster, and we’d like you to “like” us, and then tell your friends to “like” us, who will then tell their friends to “like” us.  It’s like a chain letter, but instead of winding up with stacks of letters with dollar bills, we end up with lots of “likers” on Facebook and a broader audience to share our travel tips for cost-conscientious wanderlusters around the world.

We’d also welcome you to follow us on Twitter, though admittedly we’re light on Twitter posts.

We appreciate your continued interest and invite you to send us any thoughts or suggestions as to how we can be more effective in providing information that pushes you past the brink of daydreaming about travel and makes you go through with it.  We also hope to be useful in your planning.

Get the Delta Gold card while the bonus has been increased temporarily!

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Virginia Creeper Trail

Posted on November 14, 2011 by wpengine

downhill bike trail

Railroads were huge in the late 1800’s.  Sometimes they went to great lengths to build railroads over mountains that probably should never have been built.  This is the case of the Virginia Creeper Trail. They built a railroad that went up and over the hills of Western Virginia. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. I can’t believe the effort that it must have required to build this trail. They had to build over hills and valleys. They didn’t use as much steel because the wood was so abundant.  We went over 24 bridges that were built of wood within the 17 miles that we biked.

Luckily the ride is almost completely downhill. You don’t have to be Lance Armstrong in order to make it to the end. It took me about two hours to do the ride, and I only really pedaled for the last 10 miles or so. The first part almost requires brakes more than it does pedaling. The curves are gentle and you never get going too fast as it used to be for a railroad. You know that they never would have built a railroad with steep declines and sharp corners.
bike ride
Fall came earlier here than it did in Knoxville.  So keep in mind when you are trying to visit that the fall season here comes earlier, so if you want to see the fall colors plan on coming at the beginning of October. The whole ride is filled with beautiful valleys and trees surround you almost the entire time.

How to Ride the Virginia Creeper Trail

The ride begins and ends in Damascus, Virginia. The town probably has a population of 1000 people, but has some fun shops and is located directly on the Appalachian Trail. I’m sure lots of hikers have found their way to a pizzeria on their long journey.

downhill biking

Fall on the Virginia Creeper Trail

I completely recommend you taking a trip on the Virgina Creeper Trail.  It was a lot of fun and would be easy to do with children.  You can rent a cart for your children to ride behind you, or you can add on a bike to yours so your child can pedal as well.  They make it all available to you.  It runs about $22 for them to shuttle you to the top of the mountain and let you use one of their Specialized bikes.  It seems pretty reasonable for a three hour span of fun.

They also have signs all along the way that talk about the vegetation and the landscape.  It is definitely recommended!

Score the Starwood Preferred Guest card while the spending requirement has been lowered!

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Get Wholesale Prices with Cheap Cruises from www.vacationstogo.com

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I had given up on trying to get an extraordinary deal on a cruise.  I had concluded that the pricing was so finely coordinated that I’d never be able to really scalp a bargain.  Last time we went, we ended up booking directly with Carnival, thinking that if anyone could sweeten the pot, they would.  No such luck.  Sarvia was helpful and she booked our cabins, but didn’t offer so much as a free pack of gum.

We were looking at booking a cruise with a few other couples next spring, but to coordinate schedules and demands, the spectrum of available cruises got pretty narrow. We had to leave on a specific weekend, the preference was for stops in Roatan and Belize, and the consensus was that New Orleans would be our best launching point.  It essentially left us with one option – the Norwegian Spirit.  The only problem was that the price listed everywhere I could find it was $699 for an inside cabin.

Never content to take the first price, I tried haggling with Priceline Cruise Outlet… I may as well have been negotiating with a brick wall because the only thing they offer are these Priceline hotel bucks which are about as useful as those three-night timeshare vacations that you can use only on a full moon on the third week of a month that ends in -ber.

Calling Norwegian was also fruitless, even when I tempted them with the idea of booking a group of 5-6 cabins.

Cheap Cruises with Vacationstogo.com

But it’s always darkest just before the dawn.  “The dawn” for me came in the form of my co-worker leading me to www.vacationstogo.com, where I found same exact the cruise listed for $579. Vacations to Go is essentially a clearinghouse for last-minute cruises, but they’re also a “cruise wholesaler” with preferential rates that you just can’t get when you book through a “cruise retailer,” of which the bulk of online cruise agencies are.

Rather than bother with the online booking, I dialed up the sales desk and got ahold of an extremely helpful salesman named Jonathan.  This is absolutely key.  You need to have someone who cares not just about the sale, but about making you happy – and I did end up very happy.

I explained to Jonathan that I’m probably the cheapest bastard he’d ever talked to, and I wanted a slammin’ deal on this cruise.  Right off the bat, he told me he could work me $100 in onboard credit in addition to the $579 rate.  Not wanting to lose what was already a good deal, he offered to put the rooms on a non-committal 2 day hold while he researched any ways to make it cheaper.

I got a voice message within a few hours explaining that he’d locked down a couple rooms at $499, three at $509, and an Oceanview for the $579… if I wanted to get them booked, I just needed to call and put down a $500 deposit that is fully refundable until 90 days before departure.

If that weren’t thrilling enough, he was able to nudge the onboard credit up to $125 and kick in a bottle of wine for each cabin (which will only be ornamental in our case, seeing as how we’re not drinkers, but a nice gesture nonetheless).

Why you need to take a cruise

If you’ve never been on a cruise, I’d tell you to get one booked ASAP because it is a phenomenal way to travel.  Think of it as lodging, food, transportation and entertainment all rolled into one.  When you see the some of the prices you can get these cruises for, especially on Vacations To Go’s 90 day ticker, you’ll be in awe.  You can do the math and still never figure out how it is possible for these cruise lines to be profitable.  Cruise ships can take you to places you’d never get otherwise, and Vacations to Go is a great way to book them.

If you do find something you like, call Jonathan and tell him that WorldWanderlusting sent you his way.

Jonathan Mares – Travel Counselor
Vacations To Go
Toll-free: 1-800-338-4962 ext. 7289
UK: 0800-279-8084 ext. 7289
International: 001-713-974-2121 ext. 7289
E-mail: jmares@vacationstogo.com 
In the Office: Mon-Fri: 4pm-1am (CST)

Thanks for cruise wanderlusting with us.

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Couple of Travel Deals

Posted on November 10, 2011 by wpengine

I’m going to highlight two different ideas that I took from the Frugaltravelguy.  He posted them and I felt like they were worthy of sharing.

Club Carlson 50,000 Point Bonus (No Credit Card Required)

We have a lot of people who are worried about their credit.  This is an offer that doesn’t require any good credit at all!  It is limited to the first 50,000 people who register, and it will be available today, but wasn’t available at the time that I made this post.

The requirements are simple.

  1. Enroll in the Club Carlson rewards program
  2. Register for the promotion using their link
  3. Stay in a Radisson hotel between November 10th and December 31st

The result?  50,000 Club Carlson points!  That isn’t a bad deal at all.  The programs that are included in the Club Carlton program are:

  • Radisson
  • Country Inns and Suites
  • Park Plaza
  • Park Inn by Radisson

Points Required for a Night

Here is how the points value shakes down.  You can stay in a Category 1 Club Carlson hotel for only 9000 points.  This means that you would have five nights in a hotel.  The downside is that they don’t have a ton of hotels in the Category 1.

The Category 2 is still a great option and they have a lot more that fit within that list.  Check out the Category 2 list here.

 

American Airlines Sweepstakes

I’m not the kind of guy that usually enters into a sweepstakes.  However, this one was pretty easy.  It only took a few minutes and gives you the option of getting 150,000 AAdvantage miles or Alaska Airlines Points.

I entered for both myself and my wife.  So I’m sure that one of us will win.  Hahah.  I read through the fine print and didn’t see any red flags.  It looks like we are good to go!

Thanks for reading the blog.  We really hope that you are enjoying the information.  I hope we are helping everyone to travel affordably.

Score the Amex Platinum Card to get lounge access, $200 in airline incidentals, and more..

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Brad- The New Ammon City Council Member

Posted on November 9, 2011 by wpengine

My brother and co-author of the blog was elected last night to serve on the Ammon City Council.  It was a big win and he won in a landslide election.  He captured 65% of the votes and the rest was split evenly by two other candidates.

www.christensenforammon.com

Congrats to Brad the Wanderluster on his new seat in the city council of Ammon, Idaho.

 

 

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Biltmore Mansion Experience

Posted on November 7, 2011 by wpengine

Wow.

I’ve visited some elegant places in my life. NEVER have I experienced the luxury of living until today. George Washington Vanderbilt knew how to build a chateau. Let me tell you some facts about the Biltmore Mansion. It was completed in 1895.

  • Has a two lane bowling alley
  • Has a 70,000 gallon indoor swimming pool
  • An elevator that STILL WORKS!!!
  • 2,152,782 Square Feet!!
  • Boasts 250 rooms
  • Has over 40 bathrooms
  • Much, much, more
amazing castle

The entrance fee is pretty steep at an amazing $60 per person.   I would try to plan ahead because you can get in for much cheaper if you can plan in advance.  It is amazing because The Biltmore Mansion has over 1,000,000 visitors a year.  That means that they probably revenue about 50,000,000 in visitors from entrance fees alone.  Keep in mind that they also have a luxurious hotel, vineyard, winery, food, and more.  I’m pretty sure that they are still turning a profit. 😉

History behind the Vanderbilt Family

Seeing the huge house has inspired me to do more research.  Essentially his grandfather, Corneilus Vanderbilt, started business after business.  He was a cutthroat business man who allowed nothing to stop his progress.  Legend has it that he borrowed $100 from his mother to start a ferry business in New York when he was 16.  He was then hired by a man who had a large ferry business in the area to be his personal assistant.  Working alongside a businessman who taught him the ropes allowed him to gain vision.

Mr. Gibbons, his employer, was filing a lawsuit against another ferry operator who had been given a monopoly.  Corneilius learned so much about this business from his research that he performed as he prepared to present to their case to the courts.  This knowledge proved to be very useful to him.  He then broke off and began building his empire.

It was small at first, but gained steam.  He would choke out compeitition by lowering prices until the compeitition went out of business.  As he learned more about the ferrys and steam boats he saw a great opportunity in the railroad industry.  His business skills he had learned earlier made the transition smooth to building his empire.

Corneilius decided to give the majority of his business to his oldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt (95%).  At the time of Cornelius’ death he had amassed a net worth of $100 Million Dollars.  At that given time it was 1/87th of the US GNP.  Wow!

amazing chateau

Passing on to the next generation

Incredibly William was a smart businessman and he turned the 100 talents into 200 talents within 10 years!  He was able to double the value of the family within a very short period of time.

English: William Henry Vanderbilt (May 8, 1821...

English: William Henry Vanderbilt (May 8, 1821 – December 8, 1885) was a businessman and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

William had eight children, and his youngest was named George Washington Vanderbilt.  He inherited a ton of money from his father, and decided to build a masterpiece with that money.

Being a part of a very affluent family he had some connections to some of the world’s best architects and designers.  He tapped into Richard Morris Hunt as the architect and Frederick Law Olmsted as the landscaper.  Construction lasted only six years and his masterpiece was completed. It was equipped with the latest of technology including indoor lighting, a swimming pool, an elevator, a dumb waiter, a refrigerator, and more.

At one point the estate amassed 228 square miles!  Most of it was later sold, but they still have a large chunk of land left.  The descendents of George still own the land and employ approximately 1700 people!  It was first opened in 1930 during the great depression and people stopped living there in 1956.

Today the Biltmore is the largest privately owned home in America.  It is a sight to be seen, and I recommend visiting when they have Christmas at the Biltmore, as it enhances the experience, and helps you to remember what it might have been like when they opened the home for the first time Christmas eve in 1895.  This place was incredible.  It is totally worth the visit.  They have worked really hard to restore the home and make it look as it did then.  We also did the audio tour, which was recommended as well.

Make the trip one day.  You will not regret it.

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