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

[Lain]

FYI @DisneyMandC:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/d25zol/_/ezt2z7z

I’d suggest what they’re doing with setting an alert on OpenHotelAlert for standard rooms with cash, since award nights are supposed to be made available when standard rooms can be booked with cash.

 

[Lain]

I’m in St. Louis on a layover and a Southwest gate desk is having a competition and giving away prizes. For example someone who has a flashlight that isn’t on their phone, the person with the most pennies the winner had 52. What is this?? I’m not sure what they are giving away maybe a giftcard? I have never seen anything like this lol

Who carries that many pennies?!

 

[gregorykicks]

We are an ebags family too! DH is mildly obsessed with his Motherlode backpack. I got the carry on version, but it's smaller than my old one and does;t have spinners, so I am kind of wanting something new (I needed an International size carry on). Maybe I will check out the Away luggage people keep mentioning.

How do you like the backpacks - those are the professional slim, right? I have been eyeing that as well. Which size do you have and how does it fit under the seat? Can you get a water bottle in the side pocket?

Also, the motherlode backpack I see you have as a personal item - is that the full version or the weekender?

My kids have the larger Potter Barn Kids spinners for carryons (got stripes, not a cutesy print, so hopefully they won't outgrow them for a while). We usually fly SW and the PBK bags are fine for size, but I am concerned they will be too big on Hawaiian Air in Feb (spinner wheels take them over the size limit for carry on), so I may just have them bring their large LLBean backpacks. Kids are 9 and 6 and I worry the backpack will get heavy for the little one...

I just bought the professional slim and used it last week on a business trip to NYC.

It's definitely a "personal item" bag. It doesn't hold a ton of stuff, but it does fit really well under the airline seat and it is very easy to keep things handy due to all the smaller pockets and the setup.

The water bottle holder is a great size. It fits standard large water bottle fine. I have a 22oz vacuum sealed stainless steel bottle that's about 11 inches tall and it held it perfectly. I think if you'd have trouble with a 32oz or bigger bottle.

My only complaint so far is that the zippers (plastic) are a bit sticky and cheap. I'm going to try to put some wax on the zippers to see if that helps.

 

[Hoosier John]

Who carries that many pennies?!

Exactly! That's over a roll of pennies!

 

[gregorykicks]

Who carries that many pennies?!

My wife just might. Every time I grab her wallet to get something out of it I'm amazed at the change she amasses in the little zipper on it. Me personally, I don't want any change smaller than a quarter and usually I don't even want that!

 

[afan]

It is very hard for me to justify expensive luggage (which is why I don't currently have any) LOL. I almost always check a bag for WDW because I just need so much! If I had a nice carry-on and it was gate checked I would probably have a heart attack. My checked bags have scuffs, sticky remnants from tags, and massive yellow lines (I assume from the baggage carousel?). My checked/carry-on set was $99 on sale from Costco and if it breaks, I will probably replace it with something similar.

I generally get mine at TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Ross or Burlington for this reason. I can get a decent hard sided case for a price I'm willing to pay but if something happens, like it comes off the plane smelling like fish (I'm looking at you united (I think) flight BOS to SFO) then I don't mind if I have to toss it cause it got broken the first time I used it or something. I think I had a fabric, before the hard sided came out again (cause we had an old samsonite I had to sit to get it closed when I was 12 but that was a good hard sided suitcase but no wheels), that came off my flight with a rip in it, thankfully was home but it was the first time I'd used it. I had very bad luck with suitcases for a few years.

Plus those stores often have crazy patterns or different colors other than black which makes it more fun. So now I have an electric blue huge suitcase, a teal-ish color 25" or whatever normal checked is and a fun soft side carryon that's brown with owls but cute owls. It's not at all what I'd use for everyday but for travel it's totally fun and not something a lot of other people are going to have. I like my luggage to stand out and border on obnoxious if possible so I'm totally getting one of those suitcase cover things @calypso726 posted about ages ago for our trip to Asia. (and yes I realized I used an excessive amount of parenthesis in this post)

 

[afan]

Who carries that many pennies?!

More to that who has cash? Though I do carry cash when I travel for tips but generally that's it unless I'm going somewhere I know I can't use a card, like a holiday bazaar/craft show.

 

[AmyAnne]

I absolutely love Google Photos. No need to transfer photos from your current phone or worry about your photos taking up storage on your phone. Every picture you take with your phone automatically gets uploaded and saved to Google Photos. I know some people don't like the facial recognition or worry about privacy, but I love it. I currently have 10 years of photos on my phone that I can easily search and bring up a photo at any time. I am in the process now of scanning older photos.

I'm thinking that my goal is to get prints of the pictures I want to keep, and delete the rest. I confess as a former scrapbooker (I had to concede this summer that I was not ever going to get caught up, and I donated a bunch of supplies), I do like physical photos. On the other hand, I have been going through my house using the Marie Kondo method (with a little bit of swedish death cleaning for motivation), so I want to be selective about what photos I keep. I want to make sure my kids have family pictures, in the event they want them someday. I'm sure I'm quite a bit older than you, but photos on the computer don't really feel like photos to me. Although uploading the whole lot might make it easier to go through them.

 

[Lain]

According to my DS11, who is in 6th grade....everyone has one but him. So apparently upper elementary in other people's homes....just not mine.

“Everyone!”

Kids are so dramatic.

 

[gregorykicks]

I'm thinking that my goal is to get prints of the pictures I want to keep, and delete the rest. I confess as a former scrapbooker (I had to concede this summer that I was not ever going to get caught up, and I donated a bunch of supplies), I do like physical photos. On the other hand, I have been going through my house using the Marie Kondo method (with a little bit of swedish death cleaning for motivation), so I want to be selective about what photos I keep. I want to make sure my kids have family pictures, in the event they want them someday. I'm sure I'm quite a bit older than you, but photos on the computer don't really feel like photos to me. Although uploading the whole lot might make it easier to go through them.

Google has some great photo book options where you can build your book in the app (under the assistant option) and then they'll print it up.

 

[hotstar16]

Fun! There was a recent news story about Southwest gate agents playing games during a delay. Maybe it was such a success, they're expanding it?

About 2 years ago I was leaving MCO of all places, and the flight was severely delayed. After we already experienced one gate change, the gate employees started playing a few different games to keep everyone entertained. Two that come to mind are the worst driver's license photo, and a paper airplane toss. I don't recall for sure, but I think they gave SW credit to the winners.

Another time, I was aboard a flight to FLL delayed due to a winter storm. The flight attendants started a trivia game, whereby the first passenger to ding in with the answer received a drink ticket.

Reasons like these are why SW is my favorite carrier by far. Their employees usually go the extra mile to make the best of stressful situations.

 

[WardFam]

I'm thinking that my goal is to get prints of the pictures I want to keep, and delete the rest. I confess as a former scrapbooker (I had to concede this summer that I was not ever going to get caught up, and I donated a bunch of supplies), I do like physical photos. On the other hand, I have been going through my house using the Marie Kondo method (with a little bit of swedish death cleaning for motivation), so I want to be selective about what photos I keep. I want to make sure my kids have family pictures, in the event they want them someday. I'm sure I'm quite a bit older than you, but photos on the computer don't really feel like photos to me. Although uploading the whole lot might make it easier to go through them.

I used to scrapbook also and now I do digital scrapbooking and I love it. I would start now and then you can always work your way backward. I’m really good about getting my trips done - not so good about daily life! I have used Shutterfly a lot and find them pretty easy to create

 

[GZanta77]

“Everyone!”

Kids are so dramatic.

Yep, DD16 was giving a fine dramatic performance today over her iPhone SE which is 'soooooo old'.

I duly advised her she is welcome to upgrade it anytime she has a spare $600 lying around.

 

[smmco]

I just bought a luggage set off Amazon. It was 99.00 for a three-piece set. My expectation for life expectancy of checked luggage is less than 2 years. It doesn't matter how expensive your luggage set is it's not going to be protected from airline conveyor belts. I've bought luggage in all ranges of the price spectrum and the result is always the same.

 

[ten6mom]

I know I'm late to the game on the DME conversation but it's worth pointing out that this is a one-size fits all program.

Disney is planning for folks who are (a) potentially not familiar with MCO, (b) may need to check luggage, (c) likely do not have pre-check, and lastly (d) allow time for potential delays with traffic, security or other unforeseen issues. So Disney operates in that 3-4 hour window as they see fit to ensure that nobody misses their flight because the worst way to end your Disney vacation would be to miss your flight and it is the Mouse's fault.

Pretty sure you're talking about me here!

 

[gottalovepluto]

It is very hard for me to justify expensive luggage (which is why I don't currently have any) LOL. I almost always check a bag for WDW because I just need so much! If I had a nice carry-on and it was gate checked I would probably have a heart attack. My checked bags have scuffs, sticky remnants from tags, and massive yellow lines (I assume from the baggage carousel?). My checked/carry-on set was $99 on sale from Costco and if it breaks, I will probably replace it with something similar.

Exactly. My flight to Palm Springs UA put one of two or three sticky labels directly on the plastic ID spot of my soft suitcase. I peeled it off and it left SO MUCH sticky behind- but I was not going to deal with it when I had friends to catch up with. By the time I got home it was covered in hair! EEWWW!!!! Like, literally 99% of my suitcase they could have slapped it on but no, smack dab on my plastic ID holder is where they chose. That literally took extra time because the surface was the exact size of the tag.... alas they didn’t damage the bag any other way so I’m stuck having to clean it off... Eventually. Alas I still hold the belief airlines will kill my suitcase, one way or another.

 

[gottalovepluto]

About 2 years ago I was leaving MCO of all places, and the flight was severely delayed. After we already experienced one gate change, the gate employees started playing a few different games to keep everyone entertained. Two that come to mind are the worst driver's license photo, and a paper airplane toss. I don't recall for sure, but I think they gave SW credit to the winners.

Another time, I was aboard a flight to FLL delayed due to a winter storm. The flight attendants started a trivia game, whereby the first passenger to ding in with the answer received a drink ticket.

Reasons like these are why SW is my favorite carrier by far. Their employees usually go the extra mile to make the best of stressful situations.

Trivia for booze? Count me in!!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Pretty sure you're talking about me here!

Haha - exactly. It's frustrating to Disney veterans because they want every minute of park time they can get but for somebody like you, this timing should ensure a completely stress free trip back to the airport

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yep, DD16 was giving a fine dramatic performance today over her iPhone SE which is 'soooooo old'.

I duly advised her she is welcome to upgrade it anytime she has a spare $600 lying around.

Genius parenting there. If she moves on with life she realizes she can’t have everything. If she hustles up $600 you’ll know what she’s capable of...

 

[afan]

OMG looking at my mom's facebook page reminds me why we weren't friends on there until last year and why she's been on ignore the entire time. Added her so she could see the Paris pictures, went on tonight to see if she'd posted any of the trip she's on and then it was followed by meme after meme and untrue articles and other junk. I think she has me on ignore too since last week when we went to dinner she brought up looking up my wdw pictures. I hadn't shown them to her because of fb and because they were basically the same as last trip.