This is an article for beginners, so I apologize in advance for those of you who are more well versed in these matters. I’ve mentioned manufactured spending a number of times over the past couple of weeks, and some of my friends have told me that they have no idea what I’m talking about, nor…
I’ve successfully converted a number of friends to points and miles earning credit cards, but I sometimes worry about what I’ve done. In general, the credit cards I recommend to my friends have minimum spending requirements (like $3,000 in the first three months for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which is the card I normally recommend…
I wrote previously about the newly enhanced benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but I thought I’d today share some of the more interesting tidbits from the Guide to Benefits. 1. Trip cancellation insurance applies if a terrorist action or hijacking cancels your trip, but not if your trip is cancelled due to declared…
Breaking Down Two Mileage Runs for 30,000 EQMs to get AA Executive Platinum Getting a Chinese Visa Planning a Mileage Run to Shanghai Vegetarian Economy Meals on American Airlines Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza Shanghai Eating in Shanghai Getting a Chinese Massage aka Tui Na First Class Lounge (No. 69) Shanghai Pudong PVG Concluding Thoughts on…
I like food. When planning trips, I’ve been known to plan itineraries around what I want to eat, and then filling in the rest with perfunctory touristy activities. A friend recently asked me for food recommendations for Seattle, given that I grew up in the area. Here’s a modified version of what I sent her….
The Chase Sapphire Preferred was the first miles/points credit card that I ever applied for. And I still recommend it as a great intro card for people looking to get into the miles and points game. The sign-up bonus of 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points and waived first-year annual fee is one of the best sign-up…
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is the card that I’m most likely to recommend to people starting out in the miles/points game: the 2x points on dining and travel is great, there are no foreign transaction fees, it has a good sign-up bonus with first year annual fee waived, and Ultimate Rewards points can be…
Links to stories #1, #2, #3, and #4. Continuing on the Hungarian theme, this story takes place in Szentendre, a sleepy, quaint town a short train ride north from Budapest. An Asian female friend and I were walking around Szentendre. It was November, so it was quite cold and there weren’t many tourists. Since the town…
One of my friends is headed to Budapest, and he asked me for some advice about navigating Budapest, given that I lived there for a time during college. And my biggest recommendation is to learn these three magical phrases: 1) Jó napot kívánok 2) Beszél angolul 3) Köszönöm szépen These mean “hello”, “do you speak English”, and…
In a previous post, I talked about why travel is a good use of money, which is largely because people tend to underinvest in experiences and overinvest in material goods even though experiential purchases tend to make people happier than material purchases. Taking this another step, I’ve realized that it doesn’t really make sense for me…
