Joe is definitely the points and miles person in our family. Me, I enjoy the benefits of his hobby but really don’t care about which plane is newer, bigger and better, how many cents a point is worth at any given moment, or what hotel gives you feather pillows and a personal concierge. As long as we get from Point A to Point B in a reasonable amount of time, and as long as our room is clean and relatively quiet, I’m good.
However if there’s one thing I’ve gotten really good at for all these trips to all these different places, it’s how and what to pack. For those of you who travel a lot, you probably already know all the ins and outs of this stuff. But for those of you who only go out of town here and there, here are some things to consider:
Continue reading “Going Out of Town? What to Bring, What Not to Bring & Tricks of the Trade”
Tag: newbie
For Newbies: What Do Credit Cards Have To Do With Hotels Besides Paying For Them?
HELLO POINTS & MILES AND TRAVEL NEWBIES! First off and most important – I am one of you and you are my people! Joe is the guru about ALL THE THINGS POINTS AND MILES and I’m like, “Yeah, OK. Whatever.” Don’t get me wrong – I certainly LIKE getting the occasional free flights and plane/hotel upgrades because of his hobby but really, except for the little bit of info that’s gotten into my brain that gives me the ability to tell off people touting credit cards at airports, I really don’t have a clue.
So in order to have a better idea of what he’s talking about, I did a little studying. Not much, because I’m still like, “Whatever.” But just enough to have a clue. And now, because I’m a giver, I share this info with you.
Continue reading “For Newbies: What Do Credit Cards Have To Do With Hotels Besides Paying For Them?”
Newbies & Non-U.S. Citizens: TSA Pre-Check, Global Entry, CLEAR, NEXUS, Sentri: What’s The Best For You?
With more and more people traveling, depending on where in the U.S. you’re flying/driving/floating into or out of, the lines at TSA checkpoint and/or customs/immigration can be ridiculously long sometimes (I’m looking at you, Orlando International Airport, but there are others, too). Fortunately, there are ways to bypass the queues. Fortunately or unfortunately, there are several options of programs nowadays, some government-run, one not, and unless you sit down and read each one, it’s hard to decide if, or which one, you should consider. Hopefully, this will help.
How To Get Through X-Ray or TSA Pre-Check As Quickly & Easily As Possible (Updated October, 2019)
We all know the process of getting through X-ray has become something of a time consuming organized chaos in the past several years. In fact, I’d put it up towards the top of the more stressful parts of air travel, up there with delays and the actual flight. Getting approved for TSA Pre✓® , Global Entry or CLEAR does help tremendously, but even then, there are people who are not super familiar with the modern-day process of going through X-ray, with or without those ways to get through the line faster, simply because they don’t fly very often, and sometimes that unfamiliarity can cause the line to snag even more.
For those of you who don’t fly often, or who knows anyone who doesn’t, here’s a list that might help:
You’re Going To WDW For The First Time – How Do You Even Start To Plan?! Here Are Some Tips
With over 20,000,000 visitors in 2017 alone, Walt Disney World (WDW) is the undisputed leader in theme park attendance. It’s a huge complex, with four major theme parks, over 140 restaurants, over twenty five hotels, three 18-hole golf courses, two full-sized water parks, a miniature golf course, a shopping district, special events galore, and dozens of other options packed into a resort that encompasses nearly 25,000 acres or just shy 40 square miles.
For those who visit WDW on a regular or even semi-regular basis, they learn how to negotiate everything that the resort has to offer. But for newbies who have never been before, or who haven’t gone in decades, planning their WDW vacation can be a daunting and even overwhelming task.
Here are some things to make things easier and hopefully give you the lay of the land…
