I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[1st*toright]

We went to Harry Potter land years ago when it first opened and got in line for Forbidden Journey 5 minutes before closing, on a Monday night in early December. I felt like I won the lottery when we realized it was completely empty!!! I was so excited walking through Hogwarts without anyone else around. We took our time walking through the queue and took so many amazing photos. I may or may not have slipped under some railings to touch the displays and take a photo sitting at a desk in the defense against the dark arts room... I would've loved a photo sitting on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, but that room is too close to the boarding platform of the ride so you can see the cast members. One of my favorite photos from that night is of me in the hall of portraits all by myself.

That sounds amazing!!!! Now I'm getting super excited about this trip!!! I say my little one is HP obsessed, but I'm right there with her. Cannot wait to see Hogwarts!!! I'm not sure we'll be doing any of the rides (other than Hogwarts Express) because LO is a ride chicken (SDMT is a bit much for her). DH can also be iffy about doing rides, and I've heard that women with certain upper body dimensions don't necessarily fit on Forbidden Journey, plus I've had some issues with feeling ill on 3d rides (looking at you, Transformers and Star Tours - no issues on my favorite ride ever FOP), but we will definitely be exploring the queues.

 

[StephPlum]

At that point, graduated to the Ford Edge, of which I have had 3. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the Edge, soooooooooo much. Went to an Escape for a couple years, gave it to my dh and got another Edge LOL. He then got another Escape, cuz he loves it LOL.

We're a Ford family as well. Mostly because DH likes Fords. I now have an Edge, downgraded from an Explorer after the kids all went to college. I loooooooove it. I feel like an Escape is too small for me, though haven't done any test drives. Next car is 4-5 years away as long as everything keeps going like it has. Who knows what will be out there then, but might look to downside to an Escape. DH has a big truck - F350 with dual wheels. He can tow all the stuff he wants. A part of me wants to get a 5th wheel once I retire and drive through the country. I don't think I would be able to drive it though so all the driving would fall to DH. We'll see if that works.

We went to Harry Potter land years ago when it first opened and got in line for Forbidden Journey 5 minutes before closing, on a Monday night in early December. I felt like I won the lottery when we realized it was completely empty!!! I was so excited walking through Hogwarts without anyone else around. We took our time walking through the queue and took so many amazing photos. I may or may not have slipped under some railings to touch the displays and take a photo sitting at a desk in the defense against the dark arts room... I would've loved a photo sitting on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, but that room is too close to the boarding platform of the ride so you can see the cast members. One of my favorite photos from that night is of me in the hall of portraits all by myself.

OMG this is amazing. Sounds like a wonderful time.

 

[Oscar Madison]

NON-expedited...what are people seeing as the turnaround time for receiving a CIC card?

That's our next application, and while we are holding our mail while gone, I don't want the card to get into that stack in case anything weird happens. I was going to try to time my application to have the card arrive no earlier than 2/5 (of course I'm assuming I'll get auto-approved which likely won't happen)...

At any rate, thoughts on that turnaround time (from approval to card in hand)?

With my CIP it was around 5-8 business days.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

My DD is abroad this semester and because of the horrible lack of information, I bought her a round trip ticket with the full understanding that I may have to eat the return and buy her another one. Unfortunately, it seems like we guessed wrong and her current return is on the last day of finals. She's going to try to rearrange things, but I will probably just get her another ticket.

One of the big benefits of collecting miles so far for me has been getting DD's one-way tickets back and forth to England--she goes to school there full time. I typically do British Air since it's easier for her to get to Newcastle, but sometimes she'll take the train to London to do Virgin (which she prefers). You can get coach tickets off-peak VERY cheap (i.e. 12,5000 miles each way) and pay taxes of a couple hundred bucks. It's so much easier to do one-way awards as they can be done at different times and are easier to change. I think of the fees as my insurance policy from buying a RT ticket. The only time we did a RT we ended up eating the return. Never again! I hope your daughter enjoys her semester as much as my daughter is loving her Uni experience. It's been amazing for her so far (1.5 years in). It's incredible to think that she's half done as English universities are only three years. She's planning to get her masters over there though, so I think she'll be gone for 4. I hope to get her back

So exciting!!

Dd started packing last night. I didn’t go up to see if she was finished this morning. We had all the bedding and clothes and shoes packed in vacuum bags and stuffed in blue ikea bags when I went to bed. Hope those bags hold up for the trip. Luckily no layover so they won’t be tossed around too much.
Here is dd and her bff when they were just getting started:

So cute!! I hope she has a blast.

 

[Lain]

My roommate and I used to find it in the student parking lot during the day and decorate the windows.

 

[mmmears]

Our next Christmas visit to Hawaii is coming together!

I booked 3 economy saver awards on UA this morning for 22.5k United miles + $5.60 per person, flying out of SFO on Christmas Eve. I don't even want to think about the cash price for these tickets over the holidays.

About a week and a half ago, I booked 7 nights at the Royal Hawaiian for 60k Marriott points a night, before peak pricing kicks in, for 360k Marriott points + resort fees total. Interestingly, the member rate here jumped up from $475/night when I booked to $802/night currently. We're also booked for 3 nights at Aulani to ring in the new year and finish off our trip.

Now I need return flights when they open up in a week or two.

Nice! It sounds like you have a wonderful trip to look forward to! And I'm impressed at your use of miles and points with this one. Xmas in Hawaii is usually $$$$$.

Have had an interesting drive this morning. Tried to get out ahead of the changeover to snow. Didn’t make it. Passed 3 accidents within first 10 miles of house. All single car. Two in ditches. One a rollover that crossed the median into our lane. It had obviously just happened. Plow truck was in front of us and he stopped to help. We were late leaving because DD does not listen to mom! I told her to be packed by Tuesday. She thought she was mostly packed but late last night I asked her about several things. She had not even thought about such things of course. Grrrr. So she stayed up all night trying to repack and clean. Her room is better, but still a wreck. Grrrr. Weighed her big suitcase this morning and it was almost 60 pounds. So then we had to unpack and repack again. Grrrrrrr. Made her take some things out. She was in tears. Fun times!

She has an 11 hour layover at Heathrow tomorrow. Has anyone ever done a short layover tour? I will be a nervous wreck about it, but I think she will have time to see a few things. Layover is 6:40 am to 6 pm. Obviously needs to allow for time getting out of and back to airport but thinking she could have 5 hours inside London? Any tips, guidance, discouragement??

It's been quite a long time since I had a 12 hour layover at Heathrow, but DH and I did one time. We took the tube into London. There was more than enough time for a visit and so many things to choose from there.

So exciting!!

Dd started packing last night. I didn’t go up to see if she was finished this morning. We had all the bedding and clothes and shoes packed in vacuum bags and stuffed in blue ikea bags when I went to bed. Hope those bags hold up for the trip. Luckily no layover so they won’t be tossed around too much.
Here is dd and her bff when they were just getting started:

Those blue Ikea bags get a lot of love from my college crowd. I don't have any but I have heard that they do hold up well for moving stuff into dorms.

That sounds amazing!!!! Now I'm getting super excited about this trip!!! I say my little one is HP obsessed, but I'm right there with her. Cannot wait to see Hogwarts!!! I'm not sure we'll be doing any of the rides (other than Hogwarts Express) because LO is a ride chicken (SDMT is a bit much for her). DH can also be iffy about doing rides, and I've heard that women with certain upper body dimensions don't necessarily fit on Forbidden Journey, plus I've had some issues with feeling ill on 3d rides (looking at you, Transformers and Star Tours - no issues on my favorite ride ever FOP), but we will definitely be exploring the queues.

We love HP, and don't ride anything fast, so DH and I enjoyed the atmosphere and the shops in the HP area while DD rode the rides (and seriously looked sick after one of them - I think it's the Hogwarts one, not the Gringotts one). We did take the train, though, and that was fun.

 

[Lain]

Didn't maybe Anthony Bourdain or Andrew Zimmern used to do a series on what to do in a city during a long layover? I swear that was a tv show.

The Layover with Anthony Bourdain.

(RIP Anthony Bourdain. )

 

[Lain]

Cruise people: we leave in 2 weeks from today. Oasis of the Sea. Just recently hit with the noro virus but not going to think about that! Two questions:
1. How much cash should I bring? 2 adults and 2 kids - they are 9&12. We don’t gamble, did the drink package onboard, not huge shoppers but will pick up a few small souvenirs
2. Tips for the kids? They are threatening not going to the kids club. At all. I was thinking card games like Uno to occupy them? Any other thoughts?

You don’t gamble, but maybe you should “gamble”? I’m always reading about cruise ship MS being quite lucrative!

 

[schmass]

@amalone1013 not sure if it was an urban legend but growing up we were told to never get in a van that looked exactly like that except white and driven by a clown. Apparently they were kidnapping children all over town. I couldn’t get in that thing for that reason alone!!!

Same!! I'm in MA, too - maybe we grew up near each other!

 

[elgerber]

One of the big benefits of collecting miles so far for me has been getting DD's one-way tickets back and forth to England--she goes to school there full time. I typically do British Air since it's easier for her to get to Newcastle, but sometimes she'll take the train to London to do Virgin (which she prefers). You can get coach tickets off-peak VERY cheap (i.e. 12,5000 miles each way) and pay taxes of a couple hundred bucks. It's so much easier to do one-way awards as they can be done at different times and are easier to change. I think of the fees as my insurance policy from buying a RT ticket. The only time we did a RT we ended up eating the return. Never again! I hope your daughter enjoys her semester as much as my daughter is loving her Uni experience. It's been amazing for her so far (1.5 years in). It's incredible to think that she's half done as English universities are only three years. She's planning to get her masters over there though, so I think she'll be gone for 4. I hope to get her back
.

Couple questions, she is not in grad school right? My dd is considering going to back to England for grad school, probably in 2020.
What miles are you collecting, BA or Virgin? And what is the easiest way to collect them??

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

On the ship, we charging everything to the room. I do bring cash for room service tips, additional service tips (sometimes I do cash, sometimes I just put in the card), if you are getting off at any of the ports, you'll want some. I think we take $1000 at most since we just use our credit cards for everything.
2. There is some much to do on the ships, even if the kids don't go to the club. My DS really enjoyed playing ping pong. I can't imagine needing to bring your own games. We did make sure DS had Wi-Fi so he could still use his iPad to play games.

Enjoy! We loved her sister ship the Allure!

Ok great! I was thinking around $500. Yeah!

We did Oasis in October with our 8 and 12 year old boys.

1 - You won't need much cash - you charge everything on the ship. You may want some while on shore for tips.
2 - My boys went to the kids club once and then never again. They liked it, but didn't feel the need. There was so much to do otherwise. They loved the pool and the arcade and just wandering. My younger one loved the ice cream machine and the rock wall.

You will have a great time. My kids declared it the best vacation ever.

Oh great ! Thanks for this!!!! Yes I see a lot of wandering and exploring to keep them occupied!

 

[Tikitoi]

omgosh. what!? ok, so maybe we won't try out that Resort. What in the world? I am now terrified of Arizona.

When we went to the Grand Canyon we were amazed at the Bison that were roaming around our resort. Almost afraid to walk up the street Just not something we are used to seeing in our neck of the woods...

 

[Calfan]

That brings back so many memories. Ok I've got one too. This one is us and the other Outlander book fans on the trip at the Callanish Standing Stones. This is before the tv show existed. Instead of saying "cheese" for the picture, the women were yelling "Jamie!" and PlanePrincess is yelling "Claire!"

For those newer to this thread and group, this trip was catalyst to my travel hacking and credit card rewards. This trip also represents the birth of a Plane Princess

View attachment 377778

Love it! I found that one, too, after I posted the Skye pic. Thought about posting it, but didn't want to unnecessarily splash my pic all over this thread, lol. Glad you posted it

@Calfan have you seen the 10k credited yet?

Nope. Not there as of this morning.

 

[Lain]

DH called Amex this morning to ask about any retention offers. He said the guy sounded genuinely shocked that there were none for our acct. He could see how long he was a customer, how much spend was on it in 2018 (I’m embarrassed to even say how much but let’s just say a lot) and that he recently opened up a few new cards. I am guessing that was likely the issue. He said to call back and try again. DH said he might do that another day. Oh well.

Has the AF posted? DH May have more luck after the AF posts.

 

[mmmears]

Couple questions, she is not in grad school right? My dd is considering going to back to England for grad school, probably in 2020.
What miles are you collecting, BA or Virgin? And what is the easiest way to collect them??

Not CaliforniaGirl, but we use MRs on BA generally when we have flown to the UK. You can also use them for Virgin. Amex puts a "sale" on points transfers to miles and there have been some very good ones in the past year. My friend's D was doing study abroad in London and I believe she flew Aer Lingus to avoid the high fees BA charges.

 

[mmmears]

Has the AF posted? DH May have more luck after the AF posts.

Yes it has just posted, which is why I was asking for new DPs since I wasn't sure if things had changed since this topic came up the last time. We are guessing that the issue is the 3 new cards he got this fall...

 

[Lain]

Yes it has just posted, which is why I was asking for new DPs since I wasn't sure if things had changed since this topic came up the last time. We are guessing that the issue is the 3 new cards he got this fall...

Ouch. Interesting if Amex is now counting new cards opened against retention offers too.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

No idea. I'm a Uni virgin too - so really its just a hope that other parts of the park will be less busy, since the only thing my daughter cares about is the HP stuff.

I can let you know when I get back! It does look like it will be less busy in general when we're there (8th/9th) than it will be over the holiday weekend. The 9th is the first night that the Mardi Gras parade does its thing, seems to be only on certain nights.

Haha! Yes I think you will def get the lower crowds. I opted to do disney before the cruise and universal after because I figured with the express pass we can get more done at universal than Disney on a holiday weekend!

1. Rarely take more than $500. There is an ATM on board, and in the ports if additional is needed. Always bring a wad of $1 bills for tipping - even on the drinks package, it is amazing how much more attentive those waiters can be if you tip them an extra dollar or two with your drinks.
2. The ship library usually has a selection of board games if you run out of things to do - but we sailed Oasis when our kids were not far off the same age as yours and they loved the kids club - we rarely saw them outside of meal times and excursions.

thanks!!! That’s what I figured more $1s and $5s for surplus tipping. We haven’t cruised in 16 years but I remember certain crew members going above and beyond and giving them a little extra.
Yeah for positive reviews much I better than leaning over the side of the ship
barfing!!

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Just figured out my expenses and points used for trips planned this year

Disney 2/5-2/12 with family and parents​

• Three bedroom at Wyndham Bonnet Creek-$1275
• Mini van rental-28,552 UR ($357 cash price)
• Five non-stop SW flights using two Companion Passes- 41,268 SWRR ($1090 cash) paid $56 fee
• 5 day Military Salute Tickets-$1285
• Disney Rewards balance from a long time ago-$136.15 Disney Gift Cards- $175 (paid $126, RMN and Chase Staples Deal)- will use for dining

My parents are paying for the tickets while we are paying for the car rental and condo, so far OOP only $1457.

4 Days Universal/1 Day Disney with family 3/16-3/23
​

• 6 nights Bonnet Creek, two bedroom-$1000
• 1 night Comfort Suites near airport-11,504 UR ($144 cash)
• 5 non-stop flights using two companion passes-54,108 SWRR + $56 fee ($1400 cash)
• Universal 4 day tickets-have to wait until next month to purchase after CIP SUB posts. Deciding between base tickets- 90,728 UR ($1134) or PTP-116, 288UR ($1454)
• Midsize car rental- 18,509 UR ($232)

OOP so far $1056. If I add in the annual fees for 4 SW cards, two CIP, and one fee to pay my taxes that adds another $619.

Possible Disneyland with myself and 2 boys 5/11-5/16
​

• Three flights with one companion pass-36,572 SWRR, $33.60 fees ($894)
• 5 day Disneyland special- 69,360 UR ($789) Hopefully I can still access tickets by the time I get my SUB from CIP in March. Otherwise we may not go or get Arrival + to pay for tickets. Will book hotel with UR as well if trip happens. We will Uber to Disney and get hotel within walking distance.

Thank you to everyone here who has been so helpful!!! I started reading this thread while laid up from hip surgery last June. I got the CSP that month and have been working on MSR ever since. Even with these three trips we still have 116,000 RR points. UR points will be close to gone, but OOP at only $3166 so far for three trips. We eat quite a few meals at the condo and only do quick service so I'm estimating another $500 more for dining, airport parking, and other expenses. We don't really do souvenirs, but rather make a trip to the Nike Clearance Center and Under Armour Outlet, but I don't include that in my vacation budget. So if $500 more/trip works out we would be at $4666 for three trips!! I love this board!!

Wow! That is great! I calculated our trip at around a $9500 cost with about $1500 oop. Amazing. That’s 3 nights Disney with 2 day tix, 7 night RCL cruise, and 3 nights universal getting APs

We are upgrading to APs at universal. If you buy 4 day tix (but not the promo ones) it’s only around $10 person to upgrade. Also I heard you want PTP otherwise you can’t ride the Hogwarts express

 

[Lain]

Nice! It sounds like you have a wonderful trip to look forward to! And I'm impressed at your use of miles and points with this one. Xmas in Hawaii is usually $$$$$.

We find that flying on Christmas Eve tends to be a bit cheaper than the surrounding dates, especially from the weekend before Christmas onward, and it works with our schedule.

I did price out the cash fare for our flight, which is currently $390 one-way. If we redeemed UR through the Chase portal, it’d be 26,000 UR per ticket, which isn’t bad, considering my wife would also earn the PQMs and PQDs (she flies enough that it’d matter), but I think burning 22,500 United miles and coffee money is a better use of my points and miles.