Eight Great Rocks of the World

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Brad Christensen

We like to feature what we see as some of the great destinations around the world from time to time in a series we define as “Eight Great…(insert something here).” I am a fiend for finding cultural celebrations, and historic havens are heavenly, but I also happen to believe that geologic gems are great.

I’m going to tease your travel palate with a feature on some amazing sites, many of which I’ve personally visited.  Listen up and get ready to add to your bucket list.

El Peñol

The inspiration for this post, la piedra de peñol has a way of making you believe that you could spend a lifetime visiting interesting rocks around the world.  In the Guatape region of Colombia, a lone rock towers over a verdant, lake-lorn landscape.  740 steps wind back and forth in a crag along one edge to escort visitors to an impressive 360 degree view that is hard to match. I took my family there in 2011 and only paid $574 for airfare for six.

Blarney Stone

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Probably the smallest of the bunch, but no less exciting, the Blarney Stone is a block of bluestone that was built into the tower of a castle near Cork, Ireland.  The legend goes that kissing the stone will endow the kisser with rhetorical power.  The trick is that kissing it involves a bit of flexibility as you have to hang underneath in order to reach it.

Haystack Rock

Cannon Beach in Oregon would be an amazing destination even without it, but Haystack Rock does more than invoke reminiscence of the Goonies movie, its shadow leaves you awestruck in the setting sun.  If that weren’t enough, the tidepools below are an entire ecosystem for starfish, crabs, clams, and other sea-life.  This is simply a place that must be visited, even if it’s not along the way of scoring 188,000 Club Carlson points like I did.

Ayers Rock

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Also known as Uluru, Ayers Rock is a sacred place for the Aboriginal people of Australia – an interesting culture in and of itself. It looks like a petrified sand dune, though it is actually a solid remainder from an alluvial fan of sediment among others which eroded and dissolved into nothingness.  It is a World Heritage Site, one of almost a thousand “must-sees” around the world.

Devil’s Tower

The state of Wyoming isn’t exactly a tourist mecca… but it does have its jewels, and Devil’s Tower is one of them.  Easily drawn into a loop through Mt Rushmore and the Black Hills, the enormous shaft of uplifted basalt will razzle you… watching climbers scale it will dazzle you, and knowing that at its summit are dozens of rattlesnakes sunning themselves… will frazzle you.

San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

If you’re wondering what language combines Zs and Ts, and Ts and Xs so casually, I’ll point you to my post about my First Foreign Love – The Basque Country.  On the coast of Northern Spain, you’ll find this rock outcropping – topped with (what else?) a Catholic church. Picnic in the narrow green strip of grass, ring the bell at the church, or relieve yourself into the vast openness below in the public restroom perched on the edge.

The Rosetta Stone

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Of all the free museums in the world, the British Museum in London has to be the most impressive.  My favorite item was the Rosetta Stone (and that says a lot for a place that houses the better part of the world’s antiquities).  I’m a bit of a linguiphile and it was pretty intriguing to think that I was staring at the key to understanding Egyptian Hieroglyphics, and thus centuries of previously-unintelligible history.

Stone Mountain

Combining geology and history into one, Stone Mountain was the secondary highlight of my trip to Georgia last year (the first being watching Boise State put a beatdown on the Georgia Bulldogs).  Carved into the side of the enormous monolith is a scene depicting the great Confederate Generals of the Civil War (and their horses).  (Another interesting bit is that it was Gutzon Borglum, the Idaho-born sculptor who was initially commissioned to do the work before he abandoned the project in order to sculpt Mt. Rushmore).

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I hope you enjoyed our sampling of eight great rocks of the world.  If you have another in mind, please comment below and let us know about it.  You can also check out other posts in our “eight great” series and keep wanderlusting with us.

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WorldWanderlusting Photo Contest

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Brad Christensen

Photographs are a frame of time and space – a moment, captured, to be kept.  Images unlock our minds and then shove them – shove them into the wide open space of imagination and hope and dreams.  Nothing induces wanderlust like a great photograph.

Rather than ask the question, “have you ever seen a place and pictured yourself there?,” I find it easier to ask, “have you ever seen a place and not pictured yourself there?”  Such is the power of these captured moments.

It’s our mission to make you, our army of wanderlusters, absolutely blood-thirsty with travel-desire – then we seek to equip you with the armaments of frequent flyer miles and points, voucher-tactics, and cheap-flight strategies.  But we don’t pretend to have a corner on the market of wanderlust-stimulation.

We asked for your photographs – your captured moments – in hopes that we, too, would imagine ourselves in different places.  And we got them.  We got far more than we could include, so we selected the “sweet sixteen” for you, our followers, to evaluate.

Please take a look, be inspired, and keep following WorldWanderlusting for a series on how you can put yourself in these pictures.  If you’d like to vote, please “like” our Facebook Page, then choose your favorite from the contest folder.

 

Make us wanderlust – post your favorite travel photo to our Facebook page.

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Club Carlson Baltic Trip

Posted on July 18, 2012 by wpengine

Racking up 188,000 Club Carlson Gold Points within the last two months has started a fire in my pocket. As always, I’m looking to optimize my usage of the Gold Points with low level redemptions.

I’ve put together a Club Carlson Trip through the Baltics.  This trip takes advantage of hotels in St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, Vilinus, Kaunas, and Klaipeda.

My only personal experience in the former Soviet Union was a quick trip to Moscow in 2007.  A small taste definitely left me wanting more of their culture.  This trip would give you a virtual immersion – visiting four countries from the former Soviet Union.

Club Carlson Hotels in the Baltics

The Baltics is an area which is rich with history and unique culture.  To be honest I didn’t know much about the area until I started this post.  For some reason I had assumed that their languages were all very similar to Russian as they had been a part of the USSR, but I was very wrong.

Languages

This trip will take you to four countries, and you’ll get to experience at least four different languages.  Although Latvia and Lithuania have similar languages, they are not mutually  intelligible.  Estonia is more like Finnish than any of the other Baltic countries, but I get the sense that you won’t be learning Estonian overnight if it is anything like Finnish.  Finnish is categorized as one of the most difficult languages in the world.  Good luck on your language studies before the trip!

History

As you might guess, your Baltic adventure will take you through a series of invasions and takeovers.  Estonia, for example, has been ruled by the Danish, Swedish, Germans, and Russians.  You’ll find evidence of Nordic people as this area was used commonly as a port for the Vikings.

St. Petersburg

Welcome to the city where Lenin arose to power to lead the Soviets against the Germans in WWI.  This is the northernmost city in the world with over a million people in population.  The Russian culture is a very different to that of most of the Western world.  Leave your smiles at home and your round-toed shoes in the closet if you have any interest in fitting in here.

Palace Square in St Petersburg, Russia (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Parks are plentiful and are usually well manicured.  The Soviet styled housing brings back feelings of the Communist Regime that ruled for over 40 years.  You will love their beautifully decorated metro stops, which are attraction in and of themselves.  Study up on your architecture before you go to learn about styles and identify them on your trip.  Try to learn how to pronounce the Cyrillic alphabet before you go too.  Some words sound similar to English if you can learn to pronounce them.  Remember that their signs are going to be in Russian only, don’t plan on reading anything in the greek alphabet.

Find yourself tonight at the Park Inn Pribaltiyskaya (good luck pronouncing this place).  It is a Category 1 Club Carlson Hotel, which means it is only 9000 Gold points.  Hit up the close waterpark or take the free shuttle to downtown St. Pete’s.  Either way this place is not going to cost you a single Ruble with your recently acquired Gold Points.

Tallinn, Estonia

Medieval Tallinn Estonia (Courtesy of Tallinn City Tourist Office & Convention Bureau)

Hearing about Estonia will always remind me of the 1992 film, Encino Man, with Pauly Shore and Sean Astin.  They claim that the Neanderthal that they found in Sean’s backyard was an exchange student from Estonia.

The city center has a Medieval feel, and it has named itself the “Best Preserved Medieval townhall in Northern Europe.”  They have a living history museum (one of our favorite kind of attractions) just outside the city and if you go during midsummer or Christmas they have traditional food, music, and dance.

This is one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world.  You’ll find free Internet everywhere in the city, so you can upload your photos to Facebook and Twitter and Skype your friends.

Helsinki is just a few miles directly north of Tallinn, so if you’ve ever dreamt of visiting a Finnish sauna (who hasn’t?), this would be the time to make the hop over to Finland.

Tonight you’ll be staying at the Park Inn Central Tallinn hotel for a measly 9000 Gold Points.  Plan on staying a couple of night to soak in the cultures, foods, and sights, because your 188,000 would get you almost 21 nights free at this hotel alone!!

Riga, Latvia

Riga, Latvia City Center (Photo Courtesy of www.bturn.com)

This will be your most “expensive” hotel of the trip.  There are three to choose from and all are Radisson Blu hotels.  Each night will burn up 28,000 Gold Points here, so plan on keeping this place to just a couple of days or you’ll burn through the points quickly.

Latvia is loaded with museums and the history of its various occupants.  Plan on spending some time at some of the museums and enjoy their history, arts, and culture.  Old Town Riga will impress you with its history.  From Tripadvisor…

The Soviet War Monument (with fresh flowers still laid daily) is a must and highly controversial, as is the Occupation Museum (free entry,but give generously, its very moving), Also, visit the Museum of the Latvian People Front, whose exterior gives the impression it’sbeen closed since 1967, but this tiny tiny place is great because of the enthusiatic staff and eccentric painter, whose studio is above this third floor museum.

Lithuania

Castle in Trakai, Lithuania (Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia)

You’ve got three cities to visit in Lithuania that all have low level redemptions for the Club Carlson hotels.  The hotels in Kaunas and Klaipeda are both category 1 hotels for 9,000 Gold Points per night.  The hotel in Vilnius is a category 2 for 15,000 points.

Unfortunately, this place was entirely steamrolled in the 1940’s.  Germany came in an killed thousands of Jewish people.  When The Russians booted them out they sent lots of Lithuanians to Soviet camps in Siberia to do who knows what.  It should come to you as no wonder that Lithuania was the first country from the USSR to declare its independence.

Summary

Summertime is the best time to visit the Baltic countries.  Sunlight will fill your days and nights because of its longitude.  Hit the beach and enjoy the soft sand of the Baltic Sea.

I find it interesting that these countries have been strong enough to stand on their own despite the barrage of occupations from Russians, Germans, and Swedes.  Countries like Spain and Italy roped in various diverse cultures and made them one country, yet the Baltic countries have managed to maintain their own identity.  Each country still uses their own currency and speaks its own language.

Fortunately for you the hotels are free because of your diligence on the Radisson Big Night Giveaway Promotion.  Take those 188,000 Gold Points and put them to use in this wonderful trip through the Baltic States.

Score $500 toward your flight with the Chase Sapphire Preferred

Posted in Club Carlson, Hotels, How to Wanderlust | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

British Airways 100k Avios Efficient Uses

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Brad Christensen

The offer for the The British Airways Credit Card will help you to receive up to 100,000 British Airways Avios is nearing an end (July 17th).  While actually getting the full 100k miles is a tall order for most consumers (the first 50k you get right away, the second 25k come after spending $10,000, and the last 25k come after spending $20,000 in the first year).  But even though you may only land 50-75k Avios, this is a deal to look at seriously.

In its time, we’ve looked at two amazing ways to use these benefits, on flights from SLC to LAX, and BOI to SEA.  These are close in proximity to where we live, but here it is straight: if you live near any American Airlines hub (Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, New York City) and you like the idea of taking multiple trips or multiple people on a shor, this card is an absolute “must-have.”

As we’ve mentioned before, the best use is on short, direct flights, so I took the liberty of defining some of the best deals on routes for which to use these Avios.

Obviously these won’t make sense for all of you, but these are the kinds of flights that are perfect fits.

If you have other ideas, you can try them out with the British Airways’ Avios Calculator.

Tier 1 (4500 Avios)
From To
SALT LAKE LOS ANGELES
BOISE SEATTLE
LOS ANGELES SAN FRANCISCO
MIAMI CANCUN
CHICAGO WASHINGTON DC
CHICAGO TORONTO
DENVER DALLAS

We summarized some other options, including potential international flights, in another recent post.   Again, we never expect you to be reckless in using your good credit to obtain frequent flier miles, but so long as you can be diligent in the way you manage it, this is an amazing way to buck the tendency to say the abhorrent phrase “I’d love to travel, I just can’t afford it.” (cringe and wince…)

Also remember that the annual fee($95) on this card is not waived for the first year… not really an issue when you save at least $1000 on flights, but still something to consider.

Here are some more details and don’t hesitate to comment if you have any questions or thoughts.

Posted in American Airlines, British Airways | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

How World Wanderlusting’s Free Travel Ideas Really Work

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Brad Christensen

Armed with loads of miles and points, my husband and I took a vacation to Panama in June and this is how we did it.

We flew on Continental for FREE, both of us got the Continental credit card (now United), which offered 50k miles), so we redeemed some of those miles and still have many left over.

The taxes ($65 each) for our flight were paid by the reimbursement program of our Capital One Venture card reward points (this card pays you 2 points for every dollar spent on any purchase, and gave us a huge upfront match based on the points we had in other programs). Is that technically tax evasion? Oh well…

Our Alamo car rental was also paid this way.

We stayed at the Houston Country Inn and Suites on a stopover en route to earn 44k free miles from the Club Carlson promotion going on right now (though it has since been reduced to 15k).  So that night would have cost us $90, but we also paid with our Capital One Venture Card (which was reimbursed) and earned 44k points for more free stays.

We stayed 3 nights at the Marriott in Panama City.  The 1st night was a FREE night stay for signing up for the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card.  The other 2 nights were FREE for redeeming 10k points each night for 20k of the total 50k we received on our first purchase. If that sounds dreamy to you, you should have felt the sheets and comforter at this hotel.

We stayed 1 night at the Four Points Sheraton in Colon for FREE, we used just a fraction of the total of 25,000 bonus points earned from signing up for the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express.

We stayed two more nights in different hotels for a total of $130 – a cost that was also reimbursed through our Capital One Venture Card.

The most magical place and “expensive” night of our whole vacation was staying at Dog Island, in the San Blas Island Chain, which we actually had to pay cash for (blush).  It was $12 to enter the island area, $20 to catch a ride back from the island, $40 for our cabana, $60 for the RT boat ride, and $20 for a fresh fish dinner.  This island is sublime.  All you need is your bathing suit and snorkel, some food and water and you are in paradise.  I learned to snorkel here, but more importantly, I learned to forget the cares of the world – even if it was just for a moment.

As you can see, this was a dream vacation. (A dream in the sense that our out-of-pocket-costs were ridiculously low).  All we paid for was food (which is very cheap in Panama, most meals were between $5-7 for both of us combined), the San Blas area($152), gas money, and our car parking at the airport ($67).  Yes, the single most expensive item was the cost of parking.  How can that even be possible?

We’ve never been the kind to abandon travel for the expense.  We’ve found ways to make it work, and taken our family to incredible places, but WorldWanderlusting has shown us a whole new way of seeing the world.  If you have never been to another country, get your passport and take a small vacation to Canada to get comfortable being in another country (Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Edmonton Indoor Water Park are all amazing).  Then take a cruise to see more countries.  Then take the plunge and head to another country for a week.  Culture is waiting for you, memories are waiting, adventure is waiting… but they won’t wait long.

We hope we inspired you to take a “cheap” dream vacation… I know we inspired ourselves.

I love wanderlusting,

Amy

 

 

Posted in Central America, Fun Travel Stories, Guest Post, How to Wanderlust | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

What is a Visa and When do I need a Visa?

Posted on July 11, 2012 by wpengine

If you’ve never traveled abroad you might think that a Visa is the small logo on the corner of your credit card.  Although that is one type of visa, it is not the only kind of visa that you might need when traveling to other countries.  Stay tuned to learn more about what they are and when you might need one.

What is a  Travel Visa?

A visa is permission to visit a foreign country granted usually by the consulate.

Is a Travel Visa required for all foreign travel?

No.  The USA has a reciprocal agreement with hundreds of countries where we don’t require them to get Visas to visit the USA, and they don’t require Visas for us to go and visit them.  If you want to read on the Department of State’s website you can look under the category “Enter/Exit Requirements for US Citizens.”  This will tell you whether or not you need to apply for a visa before arrival, upon arrival, or if there is no need for a visa.

My Cambodian Visa for $30

How do you get a Travel Visa?

Each country is different.  Cambodia is a country that allows you to purchase your visa upon arrival.  They simply charge you $30 at the border and they send you on your way with a pretty visa in your passport.

The absolute worst nightmare is when you have to apply for the Visa before arrival.  You fill out a page of blablabla information explaining why you are visiting the country.  Then the nerve racking moment comes when you stick your passport in the mail to the consulate with a check for an outrageous amount and a postage paid envelope that they can use to send it back to you.

Other Travel Visa Tips:

  • Because I’m too darn cheap, I have yet to pick the “Track & Confirm” option, which has always left me worrying if my passport would ever arrive before the trip.  For that reason I always recommend paying a few dollars more to make sure the passport is tracked to the consulate, and back to your house.  It’ll save you a bottle of Tums.
  • Make sure you look up on the Department of State’s website after booking your trip to make sure you know if you’ll need a visa or not.  Make sure you have enough time to mail off the visa tot he consulate, and then have them mail it back.  Booking a trip that leaves tomorrow without a visa wouldn’t be a good idea even if the trip was really cheap!!

How much does a travel visa cost?

It really depends on the country that you’re visiting.  Russia has a nightmare visa program.  I can’t even remember how much the visa was, but I think it was $150 or something like that.  It seems like Vietnam was about $75, which is probably about average.  Cambodia’s visa was $30, which wasn’t too bad of a price.  A lot of South American countries require visas and they seem to cost about $100 per country.

Travel visas can be a cost that could easily be forgotten when booking a trip.  Always remember to factor those costs into your overall trip budget if you plan on moving from country to country.

How long does a travel visa last?

Most countries will allow people to use their visas from 30-90 days.  At which point they require you to get some form of residency, or to leave the country and come back.  I met an expat once living in Thailand who had to leave every 90 days.  He had been to Malaysia almost 25 times and usually just flew into the airport, ate lunch, and caught the next flight home.

Always do your research before heading out on the trip. Enjoy your destination and wanderlust with us on Facebook and Twitter.

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When Should you Start Getting Miles and Points?

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Brad Christensen

I’m going to tell you what you already know – that you can’t wait to start piling up miles and points and then expect to get them when you need them.  If you’re joining our army of wanderlusters, arm yourself now so that you’ll be when ready when it’s time to battle monotony.

Pamplona City Walls (Photo from PensionPasadena.com)

I’ve told you that I have a bit of España-philia (please pardon my dramatic metaphor), so I’ll illustrate with the story of the Siege of Pamplona.  Pamplona is a city in the Basque country near Pyrenees, better known for the San Fermin festival, wherein a cadre of angry bulls chase white and red-clad drunks down cobblestone streets.  It’s also a fortressed city, which was nice to have in the early 19th century when Napoleon battled for control of Europe.  French troops occupied the city in 1813, but Henrey O’Donnell and the Kingdom of Spain wanted it back.  The city was so well-fortified that with a little pinch, the Spanish were able to simply cut off supply lines and leave the French to starve.  Once they had exhausted their supplies and eaten pets and pests, they had no choice but to give up.  Their fortress was worthless once it was empty.  The moral? Prior planning prevents poor performance.

Now, if you don’t have 100,000 Ultimate Rewards you won’t wind up starving, encased by the walls of a stone fortress, with armed oppressors outside.  But… you may find yourself in a vegitative state, surrounded by a sound-dampening cubicle while your friends put their toes in the sand.  I don’t know about you, but to me that actually sounds worse.

But I will say this, I was able to pounce on an incredible combination of deals to get my family booked to Panama in January.  I’m not sure whether it was a glitch or what, but for a moment in May, AA had $300-$400 flights to Central America (50% of normal fares).  Because my UR rewards spend like cash, I effectively doubled their value and booked 6 RT flights to Panama for 54k UR, 60k US Bank points, and $240 out of pocket.  Not bad for flights that would normally cost $4800.

I can’t tell you how many people come to us in urgency, hoping to swing something at the last moment and have found themselves having to spend their hard-earned money on flights and hotels (shameful, I know).

Now, I’m not suggesting that you be reckless in your credit card applications.  We want you to follow the same good advice that we’ve been giving about being prudent, but sensible when it comes to making those decisions.  Ask yourself the important questions:

  • Will the effect on my credit cause me to pay more in interest on other debts?
  • Can I meet the spending requirement making purchases I already intended to make?
  • Do I have the discipline to pay off the card immediately?
  • Is the annual fee tolerable (or is it waived)?

If you’ve already decided, and you know what you’re going to do, do it.  We’ve seen reward bonuses shrinking lately, and there’s not much to suggest that it will change for the better.

When it comes to registering for promotions we pass along, you’ve got to do that with all the recklessness of a teenage boy.  Shoot first, ask questions later.  We sent so many of you to the Club Carlson promotion, which only took the first 100k and 40k registrants, to pile up massive Gold Point accounts (I’m sitting on a cool 222,000), and yet we still didn’t get enough in the door.  Two weeks had passed before I realized that my parents and my brother had yet to get in on the action (by the way, we’ll soon be helping you spend them).

You need to have an email that you’re not afraid to dole out to every promotion that comes around.  You need to be willing to be spontaneous when glitches drop commas off airline prices.  You need to learn how to think “how can I make that happen” in lieu of “I can’t make that happen.”  These are the traits of wanderlusters.

Chase Ink Bold Business Card Offering up to 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Posted in Credit Advice, How to Wanderlust, Travel Tricks | Tagged , , | 8 Comments