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

[bernina]

No Plat yet

I cant remember, if I have a UPS account does it show everything coming to my address? Or just the ones in my name?

For me it shows all packages coming to our address.

 

[mmmears]

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 got the email with the cute penguin pic and instantly thought of you and your wonderful Antarctica trip. I have a friend who went to the Galapagos last year (Silversea, not Lindblad) and she had the best time. She saw so many birds and animals! I hope you get to go.

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'll confirm this one. We are usually looking for 3 seats, and that's been really hard. 2 is much easier, and 1 is even easier. I've never seen that many showing available on one flight.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

No Plat yet

I cant remember, if I have a UPS account does it show everything coming to my address? Or just the ones in my name?

you can add names to your account so you get notified. I have 10 names added to mine since I've had different spellings of my name thanks to vendors changing my name. plus DH and the kids so I know when to expect any packages.

 

[StephPlum]

.

Question on Universal tickets on the Chase portal: Do I need to worry about anything before pulling the trigger? I haven't been to Universal for 2 years. Are there expiration dates? Do you get physical tickets through Chase or do you need to trade in the virtual tickets at will call?

Any tips on saving on food? I thought someone mentioned there is at least one Landry's restaurant and possibility to pick up discounted gift cards for that. I guess if I knew we would eat in the park or at one of the hotels, I could pick up a discounted Universal GC.

Thanks!

 

[Haley R]

No way I would do that tour with a group, I want to be able to go at my own pace. We just went the 3 of us. You do need to book a fair ways in advance, it does sell out. You reserve a time slot, then once in, you tour at your own pace. You have a headset and a thingy with buttons, so you can listen to things.
We toured the rest of the UK on our own also, have never done a group tour. The trains make it easy to get around, once you figure out how their schedules work LOL. Trip advisor forums were very helpful.
York was my favorite city we visited.

Okay good I just wasn’t sure if it’s safe enough to tour on our own or not. When we get back from Japan and moved I’ll probably start researching a bunch.

 

[Haley R]

@Haley R I meant to comment on here and tell you that I was the one who commented about Memoirs of a Geisha on your Instagram haha. I didn't want you to think some random stalker was looking at your photos. Seriously loving keeping up with your trip!

Hah! I was wondering who that was. I’ve never seen it but I think I should watch it now. I’m laying in bed right now. We went to fushimi inari at 7 am and it was so nice. There was basically no one there and we took a side path to the top which was really cool and was all bamboo.

I also met 4 kitty friends!!!

 

[afan]

@Haley R I found the doormat you need to order for your new house https://www.etsy.com/listing/657369...o-disney-doormat?ref=shop_home_active_8&pro=1

They have a ton of cute mat's, I think I'd need a house with at least 8 doors so I could enjoy all the one's I want.

 

[Haley R]

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.

I seriously think the UK is gonna be our next trip because Dh has wanted to go to Ireland for awhile now and I have to go to the tour lol. I wanna plan now but I’m too busy

 

[ten6mom]

No!!! Im trying to get my self out of the mindset that i need to see it now! reading this does not help! But DH just got approved for his new CIP maybe the trip can help the spend i need to make. lol going to go look at flights now.

Sooo.... what did you decide?

thanks to the person who posted about lowes offers on chase cards. went today and got my disney gc for 10% off Yay

Oh gosh. I wonder if I should get Disney GC's there instead of at Kroger/Frys? Ugggghhhhh. Is it all Chase cards? Because Chase Freedom is 5% on grocery stores and home improvement stores right now....

Another BW frequent stayer! In fact my DD didn't like our upgraded hotel choice in Boston where we stayed at a Hyatt Regency. She liked being able to park the car right outside the room and not pay for parking. I've raised cheap/frugal kids. Now that we know about travel hacking and points, I'm sure she will be able to adjust and learn to love it.

I too am a BW person. Not that I don't appreciate nicer hotels but I rarely am willing to pay more for them. I wonder if that will change...

 

[Haley R]

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!

I actually meant the UK as a whole touring with a group lol. I’m not worried about finding the HP tour. I’ve really liked riding the trains here as long as it isn’t during rush hour. I just wasn’t sure how safe the UK is to travel on our own

 

[Haley R]

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.

Thanks for all of the good ideas! Dh isn’t as big of an HP fan as me so he probably won’t want to do more than the tour but he loves going on trains. I started a google doc and pasted your info lol

 

[bernina]

I actually meant the UK as a whole touring with a group lol. I’m not worried about finding the HP tour. I’ve really liked riding the trains here as long as it isn’t during rush hour. I just wasn’t sure how safe the UK is to travel on our own

I haven’t been to Ireland but DH and I toured all over Scotland and a good part of England and felt just as safe if not safer than we do at home in Michigan. We took the train into London and used our rental car the rest of the time. We bounced from one small bed and breakfast to the next and always ran into the nicest and friendliest people. We did London and the WB Studio Tour with DD (then 5) and it was amazing. I only wish we had been a bit less jet lagged for the tour. We only had 1 day prior to a cruise out of Dover so arrived via an overnight flight at 8am local time, picked up our rental car, drove the hour or so to the studio and waited for our 10am arrival window. We were running on fumes but it was amazing!! DD had only watched the first two films but was already a huge fan. She was super excited because we were there for some anniversary or another and Number 4, Privet Drive was open for touring. I’d love to go back now that she’s older and spend more time. We did get a wonderful breakfast too that we chased down with butter beer.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

My wording did make it sound like that, lol. We leave Saturday night! 2 nights Fairfield, 1 night Disneyland Hotel. Will report back!

I will miss you by a day. We booked one-night (tomorrow) at the DLH a couple days ago to take advantage of the SWGE reservations and (hopefully) low park attendance. It's seemed to have ramped up a bit during the week (I've been looking at wait times), but Deluxe passes were unblocked M-Thurs this week so I'm hoping the Ghost Town will return on Friday when they are blocked again. In any event, I'm psyched because we got the 8 am to noon reservation time on Friday--that will be spectacular no matter what. I'll report back, too

 

[ten6mom]

Oh gosh. I wonder if I should get Disney GC's there instead of at Kroger/Frys? Ugggghhhhh. Is it all Chase cards? Because Chase Freedom is 5% on grocery stores and home improvement stores right now....

Hmmmm no Lowe's offers for me, so a "moo" or "mute" point I suppose.

Do the business cards also have "offers" or just the personal ones?

 

[tink1970]

I actually meant the UK as a whole touring with a group lol. I’m not worried about finding the HP tour. I’ve really liked riding the trains here as long as it isn’t during rush hour. I just wasn’t sure how safe the UK is to travel on our own

I've been to London several times with my DD (13 at the time), parents (old) and alone. I've honestly never felt concerned about my safety, as a whole.

I thought of you this afternoon-there's a new area at HP in England- Gringott's Wizarding Bank. DD and I watch some British TV (something to do with a VPN) and after watching the commercial we want to go back!!

It's a short hop from Scotland or England to Ireland so if your DH wants to see it, then y'all should definitely do it. Ireland is a beautiful country and unlike other places, are super nice to Americans (our hotel had red, white and blue bunting on the Fourth).

 

[CyndiLouWho]

We went to see it today too! I loved, loved, loved it! I thought the music and costumes were beautiful and it very much felt like a stage production to me.

I liked it, and thought Will Smith was funny but haven’t seen the animated version. Jafar freaked the heck out of DS, he ended up leaving.

 

[Haley R]

I haven’t been to Ireland but DH and I toured all over Scotland and a good part of England and felt just as safe if not safer than we do at home in Michigan. We took the train into London and used our rental car the rest of the time. We bounced from one small bed and breakfast to the next and always ran into the nicest and friendliest people. We did London and the WB Studio Tour with DD (then 5) and it was amazing. I only wish we had been a bit less jet lagged for the tour. We only had 1 day prior to a cruise out of Dover so arrived via an overnight flight at 8am local time, picked up our rental car, drove the hour or so to the studio and waited for our 10am arrival window. We were running on fumes but it was amazing!! DD had only watched the first two films but was already a huge fan. She was super excited because we were there for some anniversary or another and Number 4, Privet Drive was open for touring. I’d love to go back now that she’s older and spend more time. We did get a wonderful breakfast too that we chased down with butter beer.

View attachment 406573View attachment 406574View attachment 406575

I didn’t even think about getting a rental car. We probably would do that. I don’t think we would like touring in a group because we like things that other people typically won’t do.

 

[bernina]

Hopefully this is a fun one for the churners.

What’s your record for credit card applications in a single month (you can use calendar month or 30 days, doesn’t matter)?

How many players (P1, P2, etc)?

How many were you approved for?

 

[Mopedmom1]

Another BW frequent stayer! In fact my DD didn't like our upgraded hotel choice in Boston where we stayed at a Hyatt Regency. She liked being able to park the car right outside the room and not pay for parking. I've raised cheap/frugal kids. Now that we know about travel hacking and points, I'm sure she will be able to adjust and learn to love it.

In Oregon they are so prevalent, so it's easy to get a room. Not too many Marriott properties to be found in the areas we go for a short getaway. DH used to travel the state and has some crazy high status level with them so it works great for us!

Yes, door and window face to outdoors walkways. Despite (or maybe because of) my "Gold Elite" status, we got a, uh... "pool view" room... on the 2nd floor! So we were basically right over the pool area, and we'd hear kids screaming and having fun when we came back in the afternoons for a nap. The pool area is not much, just kind of a enclosed space right off of the hotel driveway. There's not much to the grounds at all. But again, in terms of location, it doesn't get much better. You pass by maybe 2 other (small) hotels (and a Panera Bread and McDonald's) on the way to the crosswalk to Disneyland Resort's eastern gateway. I'd say the walk to bag check is slightly less than 10 minutes.

Oh, there's also an onsite Pizza Hut Express, where we got some personal pan pizzas for our kiddo. Charge it to your Bonvoy card though, because it codes as a Marriott hotel charge and not dining.

Thank you so much for the info. I am currently only Silver Elite so maybe I will get lucky and not have a "premium" view. LOL I will be sure to request that, but then that probably means we will get stuck way in the back of the property and have twice the walk. Just can't win!

I too am a BW person. Not that I don't appreciate nicer hotels but I rarely am willing to pay more for them. I wonder if that will change...

Same here. Now that I have Marriott points I try to stretch them as far as I can. More nights=more trips!

 

[bernina]

I didn’t even think about getting a rental car. We probably would do that. I don’t think we would like touring in a group because we like things that other people typically won’t do.

We loved having a car and DH had a blast driving on the wrong side of the road. If you want to go for the bonus round, take a UK rental car across the Chunnel and drive on the right side of the road while sitting in the wrong side of the car

DH went to our local AAA office and applied for an international driving permit. No clue if they’re actually required but we were told it was a good idea to have. So might be something to verify if you go the rental route.

And Costco offers rental cars in Europe so definitely check out the prices there for comparison. I think we used them for our 2016 trip. We used Arnold Clark for our 2009 trip (flew in and out of Glasgow). Great experiences with both.

Now I really want to plan another trip to the UK!!!