I love credit cards so much!

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Really fun challenge on our local news station this morning: Is it faster to fly or drive from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe?

Flying from Bay Area to Lake Tahoe

vs.

Driving from Bay Area to Lake Tahoe

Spoiler alert: Driving won this time.

My wife and I have made that drive up to Tahoe, and it's not always 4.5 hours. We've driven in snow, required chains, gotten stuck in weekend and weather inflicted traffic. Flying was never an economical option for us. But now I'm not even worried about it. Not to mention OAK and RNO, the two airports the reporter flew out of and into have Escape Lounges where entry is gratis with an Amex Platinum card. Definitely agree that driving won because they left at 6 a.m. on a weekday, in good weather, headed to South Lake Tahoe, and flying involved waiting for a shuttle rather than renting a car. Ten days of snow forecast for Tahoe starting tonight, going through MLK weekend. It's going to be a mess getting up there and back.

My kiddo has been wanting to go to Tahoe because "all" her friends always go over winter and spring breaks. I'm like, girl, you just got to spend almost 2 weeks in Hawaii!
 
Does it matter how far apart between Chase business and personal card applications are? I just applied and got approved for the SW Biz card a few days ago. Looking to get the SW Plus 50k offer through the in flight links on reddit in order to get CP. Can I apply now or should I wait 30 days? CP isn't necessarily urgent - just figured it'd be useful for a trip in November. Also figured I should get it in before those links possibly get shut down (not sure if that will happen, but I figured better to be safe)

You should be ok for a personal card. For business card you can't have any applications in the last 30 days, but personal cards allows 1, so that would be your Biz. Just make sure to evaluate your credit to income ratio with the new biz card in the mix now. And congrats on the approval!

ETA: Oh, I assumed your other Chase card velocity is good. If you got another card 30 days before the biz, maybe that looks too fast going for card #3 right away :)
 
I’ll try to keep an eye out for you guys! It’ll just be Dh and I in our group. Do you have a plan for which areas you’re going to hit first in the park once dah starts?
Last time we did clockwise, starting at Big Thunder. I'm guessing we will start in Adventureland again. I didn't buy tix yet bc we don't have DDs schedule for the day. Have to make sure they don't have her doing casting late afternoon or something. Will let you know when we find out for sure. Hopefully it doesn't sell out!
 
Really fun challenge on our local news station this morning: Is it faster to fly or drive from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe?

Flying from Bay Area to Lake Tahoe

vs.

Driving from Bay Area to Lake Tahoe

Spoiler alert: Driving won this time.

My wife and I have made that drive up to Tahoe, and it's not always 4.5 hours. We've driven in snow, required chains, gotten stuck in weekend and weather inflicted traffic. Flying was never an economical option for us. But now I'm not even worried about it. Not to mention OAK and RNO, the two airports the reporter flew out of and into have Escape Lounges where entry is gratis with an Amex Platinum card. Definitely agree that driving won because they left at 6 a.m. on a weekday, in good weather, headed to South Lake Tahoe, and flying involved waiting for a shuttle rather than renting a car. Ten days of snow forecast for Tahoe starting tonight, going through MLK weekend. It's going to be a mess getting up there and back.

My kiddo has been wanting to go to Tahoe because "all" her friends always go over winter and spring breaks. I'm like, girl, you just got to spend almost 2 weeks in Hawaii!

And all her friends are jealous, saying to their parents "we always go to Tahoe, why can't we do Hawaii?" :p
 


Last time we did clockwise, starting at Big Thunder. I'm guessing we will start in Adventureland again. I didn't buy tix yet bc we don't have DDs schedule for the day. Have to make sure they don't have her doing casting late afternoon or something. Will let you know when we find out for sure. Hopefully it doesn't sell out!
We start in Adventureland too normally. I’m wondering if we should switch it up this time but we probably will end up keeping it the same. I absolutely love btmr during the fireworks
 
You should be ok for a personal card. For business card you can't have any applications in the last 30 days, but personal cards allows 1, so that would be your Biz. Just make sure to evaluate your credit to income ratio with the new biz card in the mix now. And congrats on the approval!

ETA: Oh, I assumed your other Chase card velocity is good. If you got another card 30 days before the biz, maybe that looks too fast going for card #3 right away :)

Thanks! That's what I thought. Last Chase card before the SW Biz was the CIP in Sept. so I should be ok. I checked out my credit limits and I'm just under 40% with Chase. If i need to, I can lower the limits on one of the cards but I'm planning on canceling the card in May anyway and don't have any other Chase applications planned for before then.

Applied for the SW Plus now - no instant approval so I called and got the 2 weeks. I'll keep calling to see if it changes.
 


DH got a "very special offer" from AMEX this morning. 130 Hilton points for the Ascend. I looked online and the public offer is for 125K. So much for being special. :rotfl: Is it me, or are Hilton points sometimes like pesos - you need so many of them for a night in one of their hotels...

@1st*toright - I second this. No issues booking one-way award seats with United. We do it all the time.

I'll 3rd it and say that all of our overseas awards bookings have been one ways since if we go to Europe we typically don't end up where we start. I believe that it's different with Virgin, but I haven't booked with them.

Cool! That was actually our assessment - this offer was intended for non-churners.

If it wouldn't take up a slot I would have considered this one. We rarely fly on SW but I have a few trips this year where I could take SW. We'll just use those AMEX airline credits though.

It will actually be all 4 of us. Maybe this makes it easier to spot us.
YIDxKZ1.jpg

Beautiful pic! :)

$20/hr. is about the bare minimum here in SF/the Bay Area. I'd say most are averaging ~$25/hr., and in the $30s/hr. with nanny share.

It sounds crazy but when DD was very little the economy was booming and people I knew were fighting over the good nannies and offering them more money than I was making at my job. I resigned and became a SAHM at that point.

Isn’t the week before and after Easter like Christmas busy?? We have always had our break week before Easter and family always had week after Easter. I think those are way more popular than march breaks. We only get Friday/Monday now as our break. Technically, Thursday,Friday, Monday, Tuesday but if any snow days they take away. So have never had all 4 since we moved to this schedule a few years ago.

We've been during those weeks before/after Easter quite a few times. It is absolutely packed, but the parks were open late, we had a plan, and had a great time. Oh, and the weather is perfect (in my opinion).

Really fun challenge on our local news station this morning: Is it faster to fly or drive from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe?

Flying from Bay Area to Lake Tahoe

vs.

Driving from Bay Area to Lake Tahoe

Spoiler alert: Driving won this time.

My wife and I have made that drive up to Tahoe, and it's not always 4.5 hours. We've driven in snow, required chains, gotten stuck in weekend and weather inflicted traffic. Flying was never an economical option for us. But now I'm not even worried about it. Not to mention OAK and RNO, the two airports the reporter flew out of and into have Escape Lounges where entry is gratis with an Amex Platinum card. Definitely agree that driving won because they left at 6 a.m. on a weekday, in good weather, headed to South Lake Tahoe, and flying involved waiting for a shuttle rather than renting a car. Ten days of snow forecast for Tahoe starting tonight, going through MLK weekend. It's going to be a mess getting up there and back.

My kiddo has been wanting to go to Tahoe because "all" her friends always go over winter and spring breaks. I'm like, girl, you just got to spend almost 2 weeks in Hawaii!

Wow. I don't know anyone who flies up there, maybe because they are lugging all sorts of equipment and also because you need a car to get around. We've been able to get to North Tahoe in about 4 hours, and we are farther than you are, I believe. South takes longer and is a tougher drive, much more if there is snow on the road. We don't go there much anymore. One time when DD was little she wanted to go skiing during a school break and they wanted too much to stay at Squaw, so I used miles to fly to Maui and the GW was running a special and it was cheaper for us to do 8 nights there compared to 3-4 nights at Tahoe including rentals and lift tickets. I'm not a skier so I was thrilled. :rotfl:
 
I think the only thing we'd do different next year is I'd try to fly to Pittsburgh instead of driving. I could probably get a weekend rate rental for the same amount it costs in gas and tolls and save a couple hours of travel. (yes, we're exciting aren't we?! haha)

I happen to think Pittsburgh is very exciting! I find it to be an amazing and beautiful city and it's one of my all time favorites!

(Disclaimer: I from Pittsburgh :rotfl:)
 
Yes but they take half your income in taxes and I don't do cold. I am miserable enough in the Nashville climate. :sad:
Haha! Lots of snow, winter here is miz. But the fall is heaven. And Not to mention the ridiculous cost of living. Our tiny little house is over worth over 400k and if we lived in an even more affluent town it’s be 500-600K. I’m talking 1100sq ft, 1 bath, nothing fancy no major updates. If our families weren’t here we’d live somewhere warmer though the only other place I see myself is Cali which is even higher cost of living!!! And I’d miss my fall weather
 
$20/hr. is about the bare minimum here in SF/the Bay Area. I'd say most are averaging ~$25/hr., and in the $30s/hr. with nanny share.
In MA I pay $15/hr for hs girl. Got lucky she drives herself. College girls make $20/hr easy. Nanny’s more for sure prob about the same, maybe a bit less
 
Isn’t she only 5??!! If so you’re in SO much trouble with that one!!!

Yep, and for sure. We’re doing our best to keep her grounded; to be grateful she has everything she needs, and to be thankful for anything more than that. Parenting is hard, and she’s our only so we can’t screw this one up.
 
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So I see there are a few of you in Nursing. DD17 is considering going to college to for RN. Seems like it is a good field - they seem to always need nurses... Any input would be great.
Now see I have a very different experience living in MA and as an RN unlike @disneymagicgirl. First off I recommend a BSN because that’s what a lot of the top hospitals require now (I have mine). I’ve been a nurse 20 years and at the top children’s hospital
in the country for the past 12. I work part time but if I worked fulltime I’d make close to 200K/year. All my friends that are nurses are still working (and many the breadwinners) and have a variety of amazing different jobs. In the Pacu, OR, Er, home care, school, lactation specialist. There are so many avenues to go that it’s hard to not find something that works for you.
I work on a very sad unit. There is burnout. Sure there are long shifts. You have to earn your stripes. It’s not for the faint of heart. I work with kids that die on a regular basis. It’s not for everyone. It shapes your outlook on life and i never take a thing for granted. There is something so sacred that comes with meeting a complete stranger and helping them in there worst moments.
 
Yep, and for sure. We’re doing our best to keep her grounded; to be grateful she has everything she needs, and to be thankful for anything more than that. Parenting is hard, and she’s our only so we can’t screw this one up.
Haha! That is cute!! Yes it is def hard! I tell my kids how lucky they are all the time and they mostly ignore me!!!
 
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