I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[gottalovepluto]

We loved China. Visited Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou. One night in HK on the way home, so we only saw it for the hotel windows but views were gorgeous. Pollution in Beijing wasn’t bad when we were there. Loved Forbidden City and toured a hutong, climbed the wall at Badaling which wasn’t too crowded when we were there, mostly Chinese. Would like to see Summer Palace and a few other historic sites. There’s so much I want to see, I’d love to be there for a month Sadly neither my job or wallet will allow it. China is so huge and diverse, to me saying I’d never go back is like someone saying they’d never go back to the US after visiting one city. I felt like our trip was similar to traveling to NYC, Chicago and somewhere in Florida but we missed the whole rest of the country...

This! 99% (it would have been 100% but I too did Badaling and was plowed over by like 90 year olds in massive Korean Tour Groups. At the age of 20. My embarrassment will never end and the amount of people made the whole thing suck.)

Warning: digressing into my China travel hopes and memories!....

Being from the CA Central Valley the Aug-Dec I spent in Beijing on study abroad pollution wise had nothing on what I’m used to. Weather was nice as fall came quick but cold by the end. Also cold when the government accidentally made it snow on Halloween but I learned cloud seeding is real and not easy. March however (I did a separate one week trip in March for a conference in college) pollution was next level. I wore full length boots under slacks and each night my socks were black. Throw-them-away-level black from the coal soot in the air. It’s been a decade or so since then and my understanding is they’ve cleaned it up some since. Still, Fall was a lovely time to do Beijing (just stay away from Oct 1, National Day is not particularly tourist friendly).

You MUST see the Summer Palace if you ever get a chance to return! It was one of the last places I went when I studied in Beijing for a semester and I completely regret I didn’t go there earlier so I could have returned every few weeks and just relaxed, maybe studied and basked in the beauty & calm. It wowed me more than the Forbidden City and the Great Wall actually. You just need to be in a chill mood to soak it all in.

There is so much more I would love to see in China! I did Nanjing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Xi’an. I didn’t get to do a panda interaction in Chongqing so I’d love to go back and do that. I also want to see Harbin during the ice festival! And Yunan Province. I could spend a couple weeks exploring Yunan Province I have no doubt, it’s supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on earth!

Ack! You make me want to go back to China!! (Although I will be the first to admit it is not for the faint of Travel Heart, lol. I don’t miss you one bit squat toilets!)

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Most mornings... 1 alarm set for 8:45 am...

The morning of a SW flight release:

 

[Andysol]

I saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun to do here. Name one place you've travelled to that you wouldn't return. For me it would be the Bahamas. Been there, done that. Not impressed. There are much better islands in the Carribean to visit such as Turks and Caicos, Aruba and Grand Cayman.

The blog responders said :Thailand, Dubai, Qatar, Bahamas and Ireland.

Loved reading the responses. Most of the Caribbean, specifically Jamaica and Bahamas seemed to be the leaders. I agree there. The Caribbean; for all its beauty, just does not hit for me.

That said, I could almost say anywhere. There’s so many places I haven’t been to yet that I want to see that going back to somewhere I’ve been means one less trip to somewhere new. Except Disney World... that, I’ll always go back to.

Got on this morning and have tickets for Moonlight Magic Typhoon Lagoon for our October trip.

I’ll be at Moonlight Magic TL in September. Just after coming back from Vero Beach and before going to the... Bahamas (Noooooooo!!) It was free. Don’t judge me.

@Andysol shared his 1099 story with Chase on r/churning. Something is definitely amiss with Chase on Marriott clicks. It seems like Chase is having issues accurately tracking the points people earned via Marriott support clicks.

An excerpt of his comment:

So the Marriott card went from $1,000 to $1,800 on mine and $1,000 to $1,200 on P2. I received no retention credits or anything last year but did do a 50k upgrade... but that was for P2, not me. So that makes it even weirder.​

​

Adding for clarity: Andy later confirmed that both he and his wife maxed out at 5 clicks for 100k Marriott points so none of this makes sense...

Eh, it’s so confusing I have half a mind to do nothing and just see where the chips fall.

Chase’s 1099 department is utterly useless and not helpful. They’re even in a non-US call center and know very little about anything tax related. “Whatever you get is what it was supposed to be. I’m unsure why the numbers changed”.
Thanks, that helps me a lot “Craig”.

 

[orangecuse]

@smmco @gottalovepluto @CyndiLouWho @LuckyMamaInDE thank you!!!!

 

[Alexle2007]

Hmm ... keep us informed if you learn more. I thought he said that he could use it for any medical reason easily, or even to buy a car (or whatever) pretty easy. Can't remember if age was involved or what.

Here’s a good article about it: https://dpath.com/medicare-enrollment-hsa-eligibility/

The issue is that Social Security retirement benefits and Part A are currently tied together and once you have Medicare you can no longer contribute to an HSA so you have to delay SS benefits in order to defer Part A. Part B can be delayed but you pay a “penalty” for it. So the idea is to decouple SS benefits and Part A.

So he can certainly buy a car but that is considered income.

 

[Albort]

ppl who know Southwest. if i book a Wanna get away, i can still cancel it and/or change it with penalty? want to plan this trip but currently unsure if the dates will work out... will use cash(SW gift cards ready to be used)
Am an A-lister.

 

[Alexle2007]

ppl who know Southwest. if i book a Wanna get away, i can still cancel it and/or change it with penalty? want to plan this trip but currently unsure if the dates will work out... will use cash(SW gift cards ready to be used)
Am an A-lister.

If you book a “wanna get away” fare, you will get a voucher that will be good for a 1 year from the day of purchase. The voucher can only be used by the ticketed individual. So if you buy a $267.90 ticket for Johnny Smith on 8/15/19 and cancel on 3/2/20 then Johnny will have a $267.90 voucher to use by 8/15/20.

 

[amalone1013]

Thanks to everyone who sent kind thoughts for MIL. The official diagnosis is lymphoma, stage II. We are very thankful that there are a lot of treatment options & she is otherwise in good health. Can only hope for the best there.

I am about to take off for London with my mom & feeling kind of lousy about leaving DF alone with this relatively new situation. He is totally fine with it, though. Just a guilt thing for me.

Prayers for your family

 

[Alexle2007]

Most mornings... 1 alarm set for 8:45 am...

The morning of a SW flight release:
View attachment 425875

Gasp....I have to remember to book DS a ticket since we won’t have CP again to mid Jan or so.

 

[disfanforlife]

@Ngwira - here's an article that preceded yours.

https://10xtravel.com/10xtravel-team-our-dream-destinations/
What is everyone's dream destination?

Mine would be the Adriatic Coast- I would love to sail from Venice down the coast of Croatia, Montenegro, Albania to Greece. I love water, sailing and doing nothing so it's the perfect fit for me.

Me too! I actually work at a marina. I have never been to Europe but would love to go on a sailing vacation there.

 

[Alexle2007]

Does anyone remember the technique to see the SW schedule early?

 

[disfanforlife]

Got our March WDW trip booked—-3 nights BLT lake view and 3 nights KIdani savannah view First trip for future daughter-in-law!

Awesome, we have BLT lake view for March too. Love BLT!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Does anyone remember the technique to see the SW schedule early?

I was trying to figure that out too.

 

[Alexle2007]

I was trying to figure that out too.

I thought it was changing the link to the date you wanted. But when I do that, it keeps just reverting back to the URL I had used to modify.

https://www.southwest.com/air/booki...ay=ALL_DAY&reset=true&returnTimeOfDay=ALL_DAY
https://www.southwest.com/air/booki...ay=ALL_DAY&reset=true&returnTimeOfDay=ALL_DAYETA: Ok that worked but didn’t in my notes app.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I hate waiting for SW

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I thought it was changing the link to the date you wanted. But when I do that, it keeps just reverting back to the URL I had used to modify.

https://www.southwest.com/air/booki...ay=ALL_DAY&reset=true&returnTimeOfDay=ALL_DAY
https://www.southwest.com/air/booki...ay=ALL_DAY&reset=true&returnTimeOfDay=ALL_DAYETA: Ok that worked but didn’t in my notes app.

is that working for you? All I see is a page that shows that flights aren't available for that date.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

is that working for you? All I see is a page that shows that flights aren't available for that date.

I saved SWW's post where he explained the method, tried it myself, and the flights (at least from BWI) haven't loaded yet.

 

[Alexle2007]

is that working for you? All I see is a page that shows that flights aren't available for that date.

Correct. SW hasn’t loaded anything yet. Once they start loading the flights, it will populate like 9/16/19 would.

ETA: I just keep refreshing now until they load.

 

[Alexle2007]

Of course, I am frantically trying to finish packing while I keep checking on the SW flights.

 

[Jax1023]

Come on southwest, I have to go to rounds at 9 am. I need to book March flights before then!