I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[calypso726]

Some random thoughts:

While I am happy to return to some of my favorite staycation spots (thankyouHiltonAspirecardthankyouHiltonAspirecard) this year, I gotta say I was surprised to find so many interesting places to visit in Florida that I have never been to. For those who have DVC points to burn, can travel but may not be comfortable with going to the parks, there is something to be said for resort only stays. We stayed at VGF for 4th of July weekend, the weekend before the parks opened. It was such a nice and relaxing trip. There's also the Concierge Collection to consider. We've used points for what is listed there too and the Concierge Collection can provide some who live near those places a nice getaway with their DVC points if visiting Florida is totally off the idea list.

Normally, we do F&W every weekend during the fall and stay at BCV. Well, I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of F&W at this time. So, we are still keeping all of our reservation dates but have modified the resort part and will be checking out other resorts we rarely or have never stayed at. Riviera, Poly, Boulder Ridge and BLT are all on list now. Also looking forward to some AKV savanna view stays. I could happily not leave the room and watch animals from the balcony.

Anyhow, our current plans are a far cry away from the excitement of staying in a castle in Ireland, falconry walks, an all inclusive in Dubai with my own private pool, safaris in Africa and having breakfast with giraffes eating from my hand. Yes, I'm disappointed that these things aren't on the table any longer. However, rather than wallow in disappointment over things completely out of my control, I am choosing to make some lemonade out the lemons this year.

 

[Judique]

Thinking about getting new sheets and have my plat saks credit so I thought I'd look there. Omg over 1k for sheet sets. I started sorting by price and there wasn't anything under 50 bucks, even the pillowcase sets were almost 100. I can't even fathom. I'll be sticking to my Target sheets

I'm happy with under $50 sheets when I can find them in the thread count and materials I like. And they always have to be light colored. I need a couple of sets and will be watching for some.

1K is not sheets - it is the start for a vacation.

 

[Judique]

We just stayed at Vero Beach for the first time this past June. We enjoyed it so a return trip is in order. We chose Sanibel since neither of us have ever been there. We found the Sanibel Inn on the UR portal available for the dates we chose. There are quite a number of properties available to choose from.

Just in case you didn't know, there is/was an Inn Oceanfront that has a king bed at Vero. I've done Inn and 1 bedroom and studio and always prefer Inn. I've stayed at least a dozen or more times. Would prefer Beach Cottage but my points won't manage that one.

 

[Judique]

Some random thoughts:

While I am happy to return to some of my favorite staycation spots (thankyouHiltonAspirecardthankyouHiltonAspirecard) this year, I gotta say I was surprised to find so many interesting places to visit in Florida that I have never been to. For those who have DVC points to burn, can travel but may not be comfortable with going to the parks, there is something to be said for resort only stays. We stayed at VGF for 4th of July weekend, the weekend before the parks opened. It was such a nice and relaxing trip. There's also the Concierge Collection to consider. We've used points for what is listed there too and the Concierge Collection can provide some who live near those places a nice getaway with their DVC points if visiting Florida is totally off the idea list.

Normally, we do F&W every weekend during the fall and stay at BCV. Well, I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of F&W at this time. So, we are still keeping all of our reservation dates but have modified the resort part and will be checking out other resorts we rarely or have never stayed at. Riviera, Poly, Boulder Ridge and BLT are all on list now. Also looking forward to some AKV savanna view stays. I could happily not leave the room and watch animals from the balcony.

Anyhow, our current plans are a far cry away from the excitement of staying in a castle in Ireland, falconry walks, an all inclusive in Dubai with my own private pool, safaris in Africa and having breakfast with giraffes eating from my hand. Yes, I'm disappointed that these things aren't on the table any longer. However, rather than wallow in disappointment over things completely out of my control, I am choosing to make some lemonade out the lemons this year.

I've always seen the 'other' Florida and really do love it. There is more to Florida than just Disney.

I'm going to want to be in Florida for sure once January rolls around. It will be so much warmer there!

The big 'but' is I have to see changes to make me feel comfortable - not just at the parks. Changes in enforcement, numbers and attitude and even then stuff happens.

I realize each day that I'm not even comfortable here. I held the door for a lady using a walker the other day while buying my donuts. I somehow managed to get close to her and her friend who was behind her. It was awkward. I was entering first and she rolled up before I let the door close - couldn't let it slam while both her hands were on the walker. Then friend took the door and I moved away but meanwhile there were masks but no 6 feet. At home I did everything but take an immediate shower.

Everybody in my area wears masks. It's gotten to be a way of life. But we are heavily populated and although flattened, it can rise again.

Which all means I'm pretty close to canceling November and letting my AP go and missing F&W for the first time ever. If it wasn't for food and wine I'd already be canceled.

 

[Alexle2007]

DS and I will be checking out MK tomorrow! We missed hitting that park in March so while we are so close we decided to check it out. Hoping it is less crowded on a week day.

 

[georgina]

Used my sock-drawered BOA premium rewards card at the grocery store to take advantage of the $50 credit. Even though the fine print says it can take 14 weeks for the credit to show, it did arrive a week before the due date, so that's a relief.

 

[apollodi]

Booked a stay at the Grand Wailea over the 4th of July next summer! I used 2 weekend night certs and booked 5 nights on points for 7 nights total. DH will hopefully have a conference in Honolulu in late June, so we are hoping we can tag along and go to Maui afterward. Fingers crossed this trip happens, but I'm fully prepared to cancel.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Decided to do some site seeing around town today. Started off early with a bike trip to Lake Ontario. Missed a critical turn and ended up taking a nice detour for an extra 5 miles along a really pretty stretch of the lake. I ended up cycling for a little while with some people I met along the trail so didn't stop to take pictures. Took a few on my way back home; I left the house pretty early, so the beach wasn't busy, but I would think on a hot, sunny day like today there will be a lot of people there.

For fans of the television show Schitt's Creek, dd and I decided to drive to Goodwood, where the show was filmed (approx. 35 minutes north of our house). I researched the area last night and learned that there is a nice bakery / delicatassen opposite Rose Apothecary, so we had lunch there before taking a few pictures! Food was delicious (which we figured by the line to order and steady stream of customers) and they had picnic tables outside. It was a nice way to while away some time on a Sunday afternoon! There were several other visitors to Goodwood (population 600) doing the same thing we were.




Schitt House



Cafe Tropical (apologies to the owners of the house for taking the photo -- sign in the window says No Pictures!)


Bob's Garage


Rose Apothecary



Town Hall (formerly a church, then a Lion's Club, now a private residence)

 

[calypso726]

Just in case you didn't know, there is/was an Inn Oceanfront that has a king bed at Vero. I've done Inn and 1 bedroom and studio and always prefer Inn. I've stayed at least a dozen or more times. Would prefer Beach Cottage but my points won't manage that one.

We sprung for the Ocean view Inn room. Looking forward to it!

 

[disfanforlife]

We just stayed at Vero Beach for the first time this past June. We enjoyed it so a return trip is in order. We chose Sanibel since neither of us have ever been there. We found the Sanibel Inn on the UR portal available for the dates we chose. There are quite a number of properties available to choose from.

That is great to hear. I really want to go to Vero. Hopefully, it will work out for us. I will have to check out the Sanibel Inn. I have yet to book a stay with URs.

 

[Alexle2007]

Booked a stay at the Grand Wailea over the 4th of July next summer! I used 2 weekend night certs and booked 5 nights on points for 7 nights total. DH will hopefully have a conference in Honolulu in late June, so we are hoping we can tag along and go to Maui afterward. Fingers crossed this trip happens, but I'm fully prepared to cancel.

Nice! We should be there right before Christmas as long as HI reopens to the mainland. And Christmas morning we are at the Grand Hyatt Kauai then 5 nights in Kona.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

We just stayed at Vero Beach for the first time this past June. We enjoyed it so a return trip is in order. We chose Sanibel since neither of us have ever been there. We found the Sanibel Inn on the UR portal available for the dates we chose. There are quite a number of properties available to choose from.

I hear that somebody among us is SUPER high on Sanibel and Captiva... haha!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Just catching up after a fun weekend...

@brownhaired_girl - hope all is going ok. Sorry to hear about the recent issues with your mom.

@Haley R - thanks for sharing those amazing pics of that little guy! I hope you guys are enjoying your summer (somehow).

@Alexle2007 - enjoy the MK. Hopefully you have a great weather day since it sounds like you only have tomorrow

As for me... this week is bible school week coming up. We are actually holding an in person VBS. Perhaps that's the luck of having a super small church. We didn't advertise or invite friends so we'll have less than 12 kids in a church that can hold 150+ in the sanctuary and 70+ in the fellowship hall so we know we can pull it off safely. I gotta write all the skits and such since I've been procrastinating lol! Nothing like doing things at the last second to bring out my best work!!

 

[Judique]

Just catching up after a fun weekend...

@brownhaired_girl - hope all is going ok. Sorry to hear about the recent issues with your mom.

@Haley R - thanks for sharing those amazing pics of that little guy! I hope you guys are enjoying your summer (somehow).

@Alexle2007 - enjoy the MK. Hopefully you have a great weather day since it sounds like you only have tomorrow

As for me... this week is bible school week coming up. We are actually holding an in person VBS. Perhaps that's the luck of having a super small church. We didn't advertise or invite friends so we'll have less than 12 kids in a church that can hold 150+ in the sanctuary and 70+ in the fellowship hall so we know we can pull it off safely. I gotta write all the skits and such since I've been procrastinating lol! Nothing like doing things at the last second to bring out my best work!!

Sounds like that will be nice for the kids.

And your procrastination reminds me of when I was in school....always last minute getting assignments done - like 4am in the morning. Doing stuff early didn't work for me - could never think of what to write. Put the pressure on and it spilled right out.

 

[Alexle2007]

Sounds like that will be nice for the kids.

And your procrastination reminds me of when I was in school....always last minute getting assignments done - like 4am in the morning. Doing stuff early didn't work for me - could never think of what to write. Put the pressure on and it spilled right out.

This was me in college but not as an adult. And this is so DS. He’s like mom it’s not due for another. No, just get it done, I keep telling him.

 

[calypso726]

I hear that somebody among us is SUPER high on Sanibel and Captiva... haha!

Yes and that somebody was quite the inspiration. The kickoff to places I haven’t been to in Florida starts with Sanibel!

 

[nhgirl]

We have been traveling closer to home too. A couple of pictures from our recent day trips.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Have fun! Topsail is such a great place. My uncle built a beach house at the southern end in 1973 and my family has gone almost every year.
Do you ever go to the turtle hospital there? We also enjoy the aquarium down by Kure Beach.
No beach for us this year. We leave tomorrow for Michigan

Went to Topsail but none of the public bathrooms were open. My 15yo DD and I weren't too keen on using porta-potties in 100 degree heat, LOL. So we bolted to head back to Emerald Isle. Bummed as I've yet to do the beack at TI. We did Atlantic Beach, Carolina/Kure Beach and Emerald Isle.

Well, heck, I sure don't want a divorce lol! We are just doing a straight refi. No cash back. Hoping that safeguards the marriage lol!!! I'm really sorry you ended up divorcing, I don't mean to make light of it.

Oh the divorce was a long time coming, LOL. He was hoping to buy me off w/ a $45k pool, LOL.

So I am 4 years into a 30 year fixed with a 3.5% rate and am very curious about switching to a 15 year myself....Where did you "look" to start this process? Any experts want to give some advice on here? I was also going to consider just making extra payments to finish early which I have been doing but figure that is leaving some money on the table.

I used Costco. It's who I used for my last refi and now this one. They seem to have the lowest rates and super easy to use!

Strike all that. They just moved us to a 1:25 flight that doesn't get there until 6:50. Nope, that's taking too much of my park day. Moving us to the 6:45 after all. There are now no direct flights AUS to MCO.

I was just reading this morning about airline bailout.

---
Back in April, airlines got $25B in bailouts from the US government so they could continue paying their hundreds of thousands of employees. Under the terms, airlines can't make any layoffs or job cuts until September 30th. The hope was that the funds would be enough to tide airlines over until October, when travel was expected to pick up again. Reality check: it's still bad.

• While travel has ticked up since mid-April — when airlines had 96% fewer US passengers than they had in April 2019 — it's still pretty abysmal.
• On July 16th, the number of passengers passing through TSA was down 74% from normal times a year ago. COVID cases are surging again, so it doesn't seem like this will trend well.

Honestly just sad... With depressed travel demand and high expenses, US airlines are burning through their bailout bucks. Now tens of thousands of employees are fearfully waiting for October 1st, when the ban on job cuts expires:

• American warned 25K employees (almost 20% of its workforce) about potential cuts, citing an 80% drop in sales.
• United told 36K employees (almost 40% of its workforce) that they could be furloughed.
• Southwest, which has never had an involuntary furlough, told employees that cuts will happen unless passenger numbers 3X by the end of the year.
• Delta, which took a $5.7B loss last quarter, might have to cut pilots' pay to avoid furloughs. CEO Ed Bastian called the pandemic's effect on the (formerly thriving) airline "truly staggering."

The BF is a captain at Spirit. So I've been privvy to all the fun w/ the bailout/travel etc. He got a layoff notice. I think he said all of them did. He got to change seat in Feb. He's pretty sure with all of this he'll have to move back to the right (FO). He said it'll equate to about $100k paycut. They were forced into flying so many routes each month as part of the bailout. They did start to ramp up flights. He's a reserve pilot in June he brought like 5 planes out of storage and into the rotation. But they went back and cut flights again for August. And he barely flew in July.

Okay back to reading 15 more pages, LOL

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Just catching up after a fun weekend...

@brownhaired_girl - hope all is going ok. Sorry to hear about the recent issues with your mom.

@Haley R - thanks for sharing those amazing pics of that little guy! I hope you guys are enjoying your summer (somehow).

@Alexle2007 - enjoy the MK. Hopefully you have a great weather day since it sounds like you only have tomorrow

As for me... this week is bible school week coming up. We are actually holding an in person VBS. Perhaps that's the luck of having a super small church. We didn't advertise or invite friends so we'll have less than 12 kids in a church that can hold 150+ in the sanctuary and 70+ in the fellowship hall so we know we can pull it off safely. I gotta write all the skits and such since I've been procrastinating lol! Nothing like doing things at the last second to bring out my best work!!

That’s great you get to do vbs in person. We did ours this week virtually but the videos are available for a week. Sad we couldn’t do it in person as the kids and adults look forward to it each year.

 

[mom2elal]

Used my sock-drawered BOA premium rewards card at the grocery store to take advantage of the $50 credit. Even though the fine print says it can take 14 weeks for the credit to show, it did arrive a week before the due date, so that's a relief.

Wait, what's this?