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

[platamama]

I’m an avid HP fan so I would love to go. Just watching his video made me excited. Did yo tour on your own or in a group? I knew coming to Japan it would be safe but I don’t know anything about the UK. I guess I have a new project to work on when we get home and settled after the move

I LOVED THAT PLACE , omg we spent hours there, some of my favorite photos from our trip are from the WB Studio. Definitely do it on your own like @elgerber said, and book ahead (early time slot to allow yourself the time to immerse).

ETA: when we were there, there were school kids doing the tour and DD was so jealous THAT was a field trip for students there lol.

 

[amalone1013]

I’m an avid HP fan so I would love to go. Just watching his video made me excited. Did yo tour on your own or in a group? I knew coming to Japan it would be safe but I don’t know anything about the UK. I guess I have a new project to work on when we get home and settled after the move

We went just me and my friend. I think we had to take a train then a bus to get there from London, but it was beyond worth it. It wasn't too hard though. I took to the train schedules pretty well, though I've never done anything like that before (my friend did not... also I was decent about getting in and out of subway stations the correct way, she got turned around a lot). You'd probably be pros after Japan!

 

[havaneselover]

We went just me and my friend. I think we had to take a train then a bus to get there from London, but it was beyond worth it. It wasn't too hard though. I took to the train schedules pretty well, though I've never done anything like that before (my friend did not... also I was decent about getting in and out of subway stations the correct way, she got turned around a lot). You'd probably be pros after Japan!

We'll be doing this in 2021 for DD's graduation trip. Really looking forward to it. Glad to hear it's manageable with public transportation.

 

[striker1064]

For the first time ever, I got one of the Chase "Selected For You" offers under my online account: CIU, $500 back after $3k spend. Fixed APR and everything. A true shocker.

Now to see if I get it. The status line says 30 days. I am (counts) 23/24. We will find out just how "ignores 5/24" these things really are!

 

[amalone1013]

We'll be doing this in 2021 for DD's graduation trip. Really looking forward to it. Glad to hear it's manageable with public transportation.

Yup. It took awhile to get there, an hour and a half or so I think, so we just got up early to make it for our ticket time. I think we went with close to opening time because after we went to Bletchley park, which is also NW of London like HP but it was another hour out past HP.

 

[LynnTH]

Good memory! But alas. I did close my Arrival+, and I tried for another but was auto-denied. No hope of recon because of too many recently opened accounts. Unfortunately, I can't comment on the churnability of the card, because I couldn't pass their account-sensitivity (I was denied for the AAviator at the same time).

DH had and Arrival + from 4/2017. Closed it 4/2018. I didn't even look at my spreadsheet and opened up another card for him on 7/2018. So, it was not 24 months and he was approved for both and got SUB for both.

 

[platamama]

Did anyone see that Hyatt and Lindblad are now partners? I haven’t found all of the details but points can be redeemed for Lindblad/NatGeo expeditions. Also 5 Hyatt base points are earned per dollar on Lindblad. Ugh! Why didn’t they do this last year when we booked Antarctica! I’m wondering what the value of Hyatt points will be when used for a Lindblad expedition. I’ve been eyeing Galapagos. Depending on how it shakes out I may be giving Chase UR more love than Amex MR. Heck, I might even be motivated to be loyal to a hotel chain for paid stays! Not that I do many paid stays. But still.

I've been eyeing Galapagos too! This is exciting. And you saw that Hyatt and AA are partners now too, right? With your AA Gold, I wonder if you get status with Hyatt?

 

[wanderlust7]

I’m an avid HP fan so I would love to go. Just watching his video made me excited. Did yo tour on your own or in a group? I knew coming to Japan it would be safe but I don’t know anything about the UK. I guess I have a new project to work on when we get home and settled after the move

My impression is London is not as safe as Japan (but then very few places are), but safer than many big cities in the U.S. We took the train to WB HP studio tour, then their special bus from the train station. It was pretty easy. The Tube during rush hour can be really packed - like sardines! We saw HP and the Cursed Child too, loved it. I thought ticket prices were quite reasonable. There are HP walking tours in the city too, which we didn't do.

For the super fan, I'll also share some other info that came up in my research. You can also take the train to Scotland. Maybe the Caledonian sleeper. You can see the graveyard tombstones in Edinburgh that inspired some names. Or visit J.K. Rowling's favorite cafe. Or take the Hogwarts Express aka The Jacobite steam train. I really wanted to at least see the Glenfinnan Viaduct, the bridge they cross heading to Hogwarts, but alas couldn't fit it in the itinerary.

 

[vanjust14]

DH keeps asking if we should cancel our upcoming trips to the DR for August and Christmas. We've been 6 times and love it there. Right now we are still going but we'll see if anything further happens and re-assess.

I am not a fan of DR. I've been twice on work trips and the last time about 75 percent of our group got really ill, including my DH. Sweating, diarrhea, chills, stomach cramps....the company that took us said they were no longer going to host their trips there after that.

 

[elgerber]

My impression is London is not as safe as Japan (but then very few places are), but safer than many big cities in the U.S. We took the train to WB HP studio tour, then their special bus from the train station. It was pretty easy. The Tube during rush hour can be really packed - like sardines! We saw HP and the Cursed Child too, loved it. I thought ticket prices were quite reasonable. There are HP walking tours in the city too, which we didn't do.

For the super fan, I'll also share some other info that came up in my research. You can also take the train to Scotland. Maybe the Caledonian sleeper. You can see the graveyard tombstones in Edinburgh that inspired some names. Or visit J.K. Rowling's favorite cafe. Or take the Hogwarts Express aka The Jacobite steam train. I really wanted to at least see the Glenfinnan Viaduct, the bridge they cross heading to Hogwarts, but alas couldn't fit it in the itinerary.

We had no issues on London, and my dd spent time by herself in London a few times, and she was fine. Use common sense, but it didn't feel scary.
We took the train to Edinburgh, and spent a couple of days there also. Weather was horrible LOL, but the city was great.

 

[vanjust14]

I'll have 5 and 7 year olds with me when I go next year, so hopefully I'll figure out a decent plan and can share with you!

Thank you! I'll be following

 

[amalone1013]

My impression is London is not as safe as Japan (but then very few places are), but safer than many big cities in the U.S.

We never felt really unsafe in London. I know the Tube runs until 2am or something, we just didn't take it after 10pm or so We had two nights we knew we'd be out late for a theatre show, and it was several blocks from the tube station through some roadway tunnels, so we budgeted for taxis back to the hotel those nights. I really know very little about Japan so I did not realize it was so safe!

Paris felt strange because they had all of the armed military out at tourist sites and the train/metro stations. And things like the metro were not nearly as nice and clean as London. We came back right before the terror attacks in Nov 2015, by just a few days.

 

[calypso726]

it's kind of freaky what's going on....

I haven’t been watching the news and am out of the loop. What strange deaths have been happening?

I don't think I've ever told y'all how much I love manatees. I would straight up cry if I got to do this.

I like the idea of snorkeling with manatees if it’s in a man made body of water. I get exactly what you mean about crying if you got to do this. I adore Okapi and when we did the Senses of Africa tour at WDW I was crying as soon as we got to their enclosure. Petting one brought on more tears.

Looking for flights to Italy and need some hand holding. Is it completely impossible to book 8 business class seats on awards? If so I need to rethink my strategy.

On the same flight it would be near impossible. It all depends on how many businesses class seats are released by the airline. I’d suggest trying out some dummy bookings searching for 8 award seats that are as far out in the airlines booking schedule as possible to check.

I just watched Patrick dougall’s video of the Harry Potter tour in London and I feel like I have to go. Dh did say he wanted to go to the UK next. I don’t really have any interest except for the tour lol. What do you guys think? Should we go to the UK next?

Absolutely! I really enjoy London but the HP tour was one of my highlights and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[pillow]

Did anyone see that Hyatt and Lindblad are now partners? I haven’t found all of the details but points can be redeemed for Lindblad/NatGeo expeditions. Also 5 Hyatt base points are earned per dollar on Lindblad. Ugh! Why didn’t they do this last year when we booked Antarctica! I’m wondering what the value of Hyatt points will be when used for a Lindblad expedition. I’ve been eyeing Galapagos. Depending on how it shakes out I may be giving Chase UR more love than Amex MR. Heck, I might even be motivated to be loyal to a hotel chain for paid stays! Not that I do many paid stays. But still.

Hmmm . . . interesting. We'd love to do a Galapagos cruise; however, I think I may be too cheap to book at the going rates. I've read that you can book last minute spots after arriving in the Galapagos, so we may try to do that at some point.

I'll be curious to see how the Hyatt partnership shakes out. I suspect you'll need a trillion Hyatt points to book Lindblad - ha ha.

What are paid stays??

 

[MKTokyo]

This cracks me up because my wife is chaperoning our kid's field trip tomorrow to Old Sturbridge Village.

Okay, okay! I will try to remember some positive things!

- an interactive activity with corn... I think we got to grind it? something like that
- the people in costume were very nice, talked "old" & let us take pictures with them
- my mom let me have a Lunchable that day for the first & only time (it's so weird how you remember these things)
- rock candy

Everything else was just not interesting to me at 8 or 9 years old. I wonder what I'd think of it if I went back.

I remember being so frustrated because we couldn't pet any of the farm animals or play anywhere. There was an open grassy area & we got scolded for running around after lunch. Not by a teacher or chaperone but by some random person. I don't even know if they worked there. It was easy to understand why you had to be quiet & careful in the old buildings but that incident was just weird.

 

[pillow]

I don't think I've ever told y'all how much I love manatees. I would straight up cry if I got to do this.

Go to Tripadvisor and look at tours in Crystal River, FL. We did a swim back in 2012 I think it was (drove down prior to a DCL cruise). There was a protected cove that we swam up into - was terrific! And yes they are huge but very gentle. We just loved it!

 

[miztressuz]

For all those that missed the Rose Gold AmEx limited edition window, rumor that they'll open another window with the new update to it (the Restaurants going worldwide). Chuck from DoC posted this news from a chat a reader had with AmEx. Which normally you wouldn't want to put stock in but they gave dates and said starting 6/6 which is when the change goes into effect so that's plausible. (Or a bored chat rep coming up with a believable story)

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...n-in-limited-edition-rose-gold-from-6-6-7-17/
Take what you will from it.

 

[AmyAnne]

WHAT. I NEED MORE INFORMATION ON THIS IMMEDIATELY.

Ha I was just thinking the same thing

 

[shairpdrh]

Question, that I may have missed a discussion on. Has this wording always been on Amex Delta offers? I don't recall seeing this before, basically that you can't a new offer if you already have a Delta card? I was going to try to get DH out of pop up jail with the Delta Blue because the spend is small and we have had all the other cards LOL, but then I saw this...

"Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or the Delta SkyMiles® Options Credit Card. Welcome offer not available to applicants who currently have or have had one of the following cards in the last 90 days: Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, or Delta Reserve® Credit Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility."

I don't think so, but I might have missed something too. Hope not as I am meeting spend on my Delta Gold Business now.

 

[MKTokyo]

I just watched Patrick dougall’s video of the Harry Potter tour in London and I feel like I have to go. Dh did say he wanted to go to the UK next. I don’t really have any interest except for the tour lol. What do you guys think? Should we go to the UK next?

We're going this summer & doing that tour. It's one of the things I'm looking forward to most, along with Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey)!