I just received an email from Kimpton to inform me that IHG has acquired them. This is interesting news since IHG themselves were the subject of a failed acquisition just a few months ago, as SPG made a bid for them. Often, as a consumer, mergers and acquisitions are bad things. It is typically the […]
How my Hotel stacks up against my House
I’m traveling again, it seems like forever since we have done this, and it is fantastic! As I walked into this latest hotel room, the Radisson Blu Madrid Prado, I had the same thought strike me again – how does this stack up against my home? It is especially relevant now as I am wrapping […]
TSA Precheck with Global Entry
I signed up for Global Entry because it was free with the American Express Platinum. Since then the Amex now offers you a choice of TSA Pre Check ($85) or Global Entry ($100). They will issue a statement credit for the amount of the application. I just used my Global Entry to get free TSA […]
How to apply for a Baby Passport
I recently applied for a Baby Passport. These are needed for Babies that are United States Citizens traveling oversees only. For domestic travel a Birth Certificate is sufficient, and from what I can gather from American Airlines support and a lot of other parents, the certificate is not as a form of ID. The birth […]
Retiring on a Cruise Ship
Would you like to spend your retirement, or even a very early retirement, traveling around the world on a cruise ship, while earning money in the meantime? I’m not suggesting becoming an employee, rather a long term, highly valued guest . There seems a spot where you can find arbitrage within renting out your accommodation via […]
Rail and Fly Tickets using IATA Railway Codes
IATA is a company that issues the airports with the three letter codes. Interestingly, they have also issued some Railway Stations with IATA codes. Using these can create innovative itineraries. You could start a route from your home town, and bake the price of the journey to the airport into the ticket, or perhaps once […]
Feeling blue about missing the BIGGEST FLIGHT SALE EVER?
This morning I noticed I had missed some huge Etihad sales, I’m not sure why they would run a sale during the window of 1am and 6am, which I like to call ‘quiet time’. Twitter was ablaze with people finding new routes and prices. The ballpark seemed to be around $500 from the West Coast to […]
Getting to Hawaii from DC
A reader recently asked me for ideas on getting to Hawaii from DC for her honeymoon. This is one of those questions that can be endlessly repeated, so I am trying to address it instead as how to get to X from Y and use Hawaii as an example. This may be a bit tricky for me […]
Using Twitter to get VIP level Customer Service from major brands
This post is a confluence of recent thoughts and experiences, as such, I hope it makes sense! This week we swapped a phone over from AT&T to Republic Wireless. In doing so the number ported over before we migrated the contacts. As such we received a text (SMS) message asking my wife “how was your […]
#westcoastDo auction winner SJCRussell at $350!
I’m really excited to announce the winning bid for the #westcoastDO was reader SJCRussell. As mentioned, 100% of that has been forwarded on to Rachel and Zack ( family of Drew and Carrie over at TravlisFree) for their adoption fund, and I’ll be covering the ticket to the event myself.I’d like to thank everyone who bid […]