Is Elite Status Becoming Unobtainium for the Frequent Leisure Traveler?
I’ve held top tier elite status in hotels and airlines for the better part of the last decade. While I started out earning status mostly from business travel (aka Other
The Scam Economy: ScoreBig edition
It’s natural for travel hackers (and their concerned family members) to wonder, who really pays for what we do? The obvious answer is, “everybody else.” There are enough people b..
Datapoint Pairing for fun and profit
I hope you like the catchy title.. I’m about to ™ it. I stumbled across the Frequent Miler Lab today and the first thing that struck me was the results
Smarter questions to ask your financial advisor
Last night, on Twitter, I suggested a few questions that you should ask your Financial Advisor, let’s explore them a bit more closely here, along with a few more pearlers.Note that
Delta’s 20 Minute Guarantee works even when you don’t pay to check a bag!
Last year, Delta introduced a 20 minute guarantee for checked bags, called “Bags on Time” or “Bag-to-Claim Guarantee” (I’m not quite sure, based on the Terms, so lets just go
Is dental insurance worth the money? It depends.
It’s annual benefits enrollment time, everyone! Dental insurance is not something that gets a lot of attention, possibly because it’s an afterthought compared to health insurance..
Quick note about Barclay Arrival+ redemptions
tl;dr You can only redeem Barclay+ Arrival points against a travel cost if you have enough points to redeem against the entire cost, even if you only want to zap
Hyatt Diamond benefits, ranked
I’m still plodding towards requalifying for Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status after successfully matching to the status late last year. I’ve been intentionally booking towards H..
New United Stopover Tricks! (The Roundtrip Hack)
This post is about the tricks and crazy stopover routes that you can now do with United miles… thanks to their new changes.
Yesterday I talked about the New United Routing Rules.
Earth Spirit Sandals: My $20 Sandal Secret is Now Under $10
I just wanted to take a minute to share one of my faves: Earth Spirit sandals from Walmart. Earth Spirit is now on clearance under $10. They’ve got at least
Episode 40 – Valuing Trips and Opportunity Cost with Noah from Money Metagame
Episode Description
Noah from Money Metagame stops by to settle an old argument with Trevor. In the process, we touch on how to evaluate the
The New United Stopover & Routing Rules
United Stopovers aren’t dead! Far from it!
On Oct 6 United switched stopover rules, and on paper, it seemed that all the tricks I’ve written about were dead. But every ending is
Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica: Dining
Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica
Arrival Experience and Room
Resort Amenities
Dining
Mitra International BuffetOur first experience of the food of the Westin Playa Conchal was ..
Reflecting
I’ve been hearing constantly how the points and miles game is a dead duck, so I started thinking about what’s different in my world. Thinking about points and miles today,
The Travel Planner’s Single Biggest Mistake
Part of my role at Traveling Mom involves helping folks with all things Disney. A reader recently asked “how much does it cost to go to Disney World?” which is basically
Necker Island, Delta’s Transcon Strategy, Oddest Emotional Support Animal
The Weekly News Roundup is a collection of headlines from around the internet that caught the attention of the Tagging Miles team. Content on these blogs do not necessarily reflect
Overdiversifying, underdiversifying, and practicing what I preach
I recently had the pleasure of redeeming 30,000 American AAdvantage miles for a $290, one-way domestic plane ticket, which gave me an excellent opportunity to reflect on some tra..
Is it time to get more strategic about credit card applications?
In the past few months, we have seen a bunch of developments. We’ve seen greater restrictions, great new sign on bonuses, but, yet still, a new churnable credit cards. Is
Yorktown Virginia: The American Revolution Meets The 21st Century
I did not realize they were perfectly lined up with the portrait behind them until later.
Did you know America’s true Independence Day is October 19th? Yes, I know we celebrate
Guiding your way through Long Term Care
Long Term Care refers to the period of time in which loved ones will require additional assistance to complete the routines of daily living. Importantly, it isn’t just about mon..
Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica: Resort Amenities
Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica
Arrival Experience and Room
Resort Amenities
Dining
Resort AmenitiesThe Westin Playa Conchal had a lot to like, what with being all inclusive, ..
Reminder: Starwood Preferred Guest transfers to Amtrak Guest Rewards
It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve written about Amtrak Guest Rewards! That’s mainly because the program underwent a dual devaluation in late 2015 and early 2016:On Decem..
Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica: Arrival Experience and Room
Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica
Arrival Experience and Room
Resort Amenities
Dining
Arrival ExperienceWe were very excited to be trying out the Westin Playa Conchal, having re..