I love credit cards so much! v7.0 - 2025 (see first page for add'l details)

[Haley R]

What do all of you do for phone data and internet in England? In Japan we rented a mobile wifi.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

We are in Switzerland! Put this trip together a little over a month ago. Not my typical style. I like to plan 2 years out. It started with plans to go to Lake Como. I set some parameters just to see if I could make it happen. They were no more than 150k each way in business or first lie flats with no more than $200 pp in taxes/fees. I found a flight back to Miami from Milan using Alaska miles and booked that. I figured we could take a train from Lake Como to Milan. I was stumped with trying to get flights to Milan. I widened the search for basically anything in Europe. Using Alaska miles again, I found the absolute stupidest way to get to Milan. I booked a flight to LAX, overnight connection with a hotel stay to SEA the next morning, onto Condor with the next connection in FRA and then landing in Zurich.

I kept searching for something better and then transferred Chase URs to book a flight on United to Zurich. It turned out to be phantom award space. There were tons of flights from different airports to position to and none were bookable even with an agent. The agent could see them all but was unable to get the booking to process. Then I found flights using Air Canada miles but had to change airports upon connecting. I booked and canceled those too. I eventually decided to take a peek at Delta which I never do because … SkyPesos. Much to my shock, they had a flight that worked with no positioning. 100k miles each way pp and a total of $143 in taxes. So I canceled the Lake Como idea and now it’s just Switzerland.

Hotels were a no go on points. I did find the one we are at on the Chase UR portal but we paid OOP instead of UR points. We are on Lake Lucerne in a village called Beckenried at the Nidwaldnerhof Hotel & Restaurant. Our room has a view of Mt. Rigi
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We are here for two nights then it is off to Murren for 2 nights and then Zermatt for 2 nights. We have one night in Zurich before our flights and that is the only one booked using a FN cert from our $49 AF IHG card. When you get used to not paying anything for hotels and doing everything with points, the sticker shock is a bit much But I think the views will be worth it.

We are located about the middle of Lake Lucerne. Today we took a boat ride to Lucerne proper. The views were stunning! We visited Old town and Musegg area in Lucerne today. Tomorrow we will go the opposite direction and head towards Flüelen to see the other side. Here’s a few more pics from visiting Lucerne today.

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I have been here! I opened this thread up this morning and smiled BIG when I saw your photos. Thank you for sharing. I hope you're enjoying your trip!

 

[reliev]

What do all of you do for phone data and internet in England? In Japan we rented a mobile wifi.

ive been using google fi for everything. I used to switch back and forth between the 80$ unlimited North America and canada for 4 lines to the international one, one time i forgot to switch so I just leave it as is. you can do it for the month if you want way cheaper then i remember Verizon charging me before i switched I want to say it was 10$+ a day.

 

[calypso726]

I have been here! I opened this thread up this morning and smiled BIG when I saw your photos. Thank you for sharing. I hope you're enjoying your trip!

We are thanks! We left Benckeried and Lake Lucerne this morning. Amazing stay and would happily stay there again.

 

[Haley R]

@calypso726 Dh got us tickets for the Ceremony of the Keys just now! He got in right away. He said when he was done checking out it was sold out. I showed ds pictures and explained the history behind it and he thought it was really cool so I think he’ll like it

 

[calypso726]

@Haley R OMG! That’s amazing!!! Congrats! Give yourself a cushion of time to get there. We wound up with unexpected traffic delays and narrowly missed getting there too late. So excited for you guys!

 

[StephPlum]

What do all of you do for phone data and internet in England? In Japan we rented a mobile wifi.

For Italy and Switzerland I got a regional eSim from Airalo. It was $9.50 for 2GB of data over 15 days. Worked fine in both countries.

Haven't done this for England yet but planning to. I'll get another regional one as I'll need for England, Belgium, Norway and Iceland. They also have country specific ones.

 

[calypso726]

We arrived in Murren today and the weather graced us with some sunny moments in between the light sprinkles of rain. We took the new cable car that is supposed to be the steepest one in the world to get here. The views from our room are amazing One moment there’s the spectacular views of the mountains and the next moment we are smack in the middle of a cloud.

We are at the Hotel Alpina which is considered budget friendly. It is well kept and spotless but very basic with a very retro vibe in a charming way. The staff is very nice and lunch onsite totally hit the spot.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

What do all of you do for phone data and internet in England? In Japan we rented a mobile wifi.

We went into a Three shop & bought a short term sim card there. They even installed it. Felt like they were used to tourists doing that.

Won’t work if your phone is locked to carrier though.

 

[GZanta77]

Got an email from British Airways that there is a 30% transfer bonus from Amex MRs until 15 July. Will probably be taking advantage of this to top up my balance.

 

[LadySarathano]

Haven’t seen anyone mention this yet, but I noticed the U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa Business Card is down to a $500 SUB (It had been $750 last I checked).

 

[Sheree]

I've used a Glocalme device, portable hotspot. works with multiple devices
I've als just added the Verizon international plan.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

AF on my CIP just posted and I was thinking of downgrading to a CIC. What are the rules/best practices for cancelling after a downgrade? Do you have to wait a full year or could I cancel it after a couple of months? I’d like the CIC now, but also plan to apply for a new one in early August. I’ve been denied my last two inks, so would like to have only one open when I try again. (I have another CIP still open).

I’m pretty sure you can cancel before a year is up, but if you aren’t going to use the CIC for the 5x catagories I’d just cancel it now

 

[mmmears]

What do all of you do for phone data and internet in England? In Japan we rented a mobile wifi.

We have AT&T and just pay the daily fee to keep our phone numbers. It's easy for us and much easier for people at home to contact us.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Got an email from British Airways that there is a 30% transfer bonus from Amex MRs until 15 July. Will probably be taking advantage of this to top up my balance.

Awesome! Thanks so much for the heads up. I've been waiting for that Wish we could go back to the old days of 40%, but I'll take it. Very worried about a BA Avios devaluation at some point so need to figure out how much to do...

 

[GZanta77]

We have AT&T and just pay the daily fee to keep our phone numbers. It's easy for us and much easier for people at home to contact us.

That is one of the main reasons we left AT&T for Tmobile. We spent more than $400 on ATT International pass last year across 3 lines and thats only using it about 1 day in 3 whilst overseas.

 

[LadySarathano]

AF on my CIP just posted and I was thinking of downgrading to a CIC. What are the rules/best practices for cancelling after a downgrade? Do you have to wait a full year or could I cancel it after a couple of months? I’d like the CIC now, but also plan to apply for a new one in early August. I’ve been denied my last two inks, so would like to have only one open when I try again. (I have another CIP still open).

Newbie question - why not just cancel the CIP from the start? Is there a benefit or other reason to downgrade before canceling?

 

[catsinawindow]

Anything I should be aware of before putting in a business card application with either Wells Fargo or BOA? I am at 4/24 and want to stay below 5/24. I'm giving both Chase and US Bank a break for a bit and am in Amex PUJ last I checked. Plus, cash back seems most useful for our immediate travel plans. Between Wells Fargo and BOA which would you choose (or feel free to suggest another if your answer is neither)?

 

[KPK02090]

Newbie question - why not just cancel the CIP from the start? Is there a benefit or other reason to downgrade before canceling?

Normally I would just cancel, but I’m considering downgrading to the CIC instead because I have a bill due in July that I’d like to pay by buying visa/MC gift cards at staples when they are fee free. There’s a 2.95% charge for paying by credit card so by buying the gift cards with 5% back, I’m at least making 2.05%. I wanted to wait until August for my next ink app so would have to downgrade to get an immediate CIC. But the more I think about it I’m leaning towards just cancelling the CIP and applying for the CIC sooner than August.

 

[georgina]

Ugh, another data breach letter, this time from LexisNexis. DH and I both have our credit frozen, I guess I will sign up for the 2 years free Experian credit monitoring offered.