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

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Oh it 100% sounds gross. I’m extremely picky and I love them though

My mom used to make finger sandwiches almost like those. She would buy a loaf of bread and have the bakery slice it horizontally. Then she'd cover the loaf in cream cheese and add gherkins, roll it and slice (so you'd end up with pinwheels). You could always add sliced meat, though she never did! They were delicious. There is a caterer in Toronto that also has a variation of my mom's sandwiches in their "party sandwich" assortment -- yummy!

 

[amalone1013]

I figured someone would ask.
View attachment 436437
You cover pickles in cream cheese then wrap meat around them. We use the thin sliced corn beef. They are one of my favorite foods

ETA: I just realized some of you might think THOSE were my pickle wraps. That’s a picture from google. Mine were not nearly as pretty and we didn’t even cut ours because we eat them so fast lol

Lol. I didnt put it together earlier buy my mom made those with ham for get togethers a lot. I've never liked pickles so I've never tried them.

 

[Haley R]

My mom used to make finger sandwiches almost like those. She would buy a loaf of bread and have the bakery slice it horizontally. Then she'd cover the loaf in cream cheese and add gherkins, roll it and slice (so you'd end up with pinwheels). You could always add sliced meat, though she never did! They were delicious. There is a caterer in Toronto that also has a variation of my mom's sandwiches in their "party sandwich" assortment -- yummy!

I grew up in Georgia and pickle wraps were not a thing. We moved to Iowa and they are the thing everyone makes for parties. They get eaten really fast. My mom makes them for Christmas and thanksgiving.

Some other things I didn’t eat until I went to Iowa are: pork burgers (delicious!), walking tacos, and scotcheroos.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

@calypso726 whomever I was dealing with via e-mail at the WA Maldives got a manager involved; it was explained to me that with the bank link if I used my cc the charge would show as from the hotel. I put through $250.00 yesterday and it's showing as pending to the WA Maldives! I'm still waiting for the credit to show (I imagine that will take a few days). Yay!

I did fail a bit because when I was checking my AmEx account today to see how the charge posted I noticed that I had an offer that I had activated. Spend $350.00 at a WA or Conrad property and get $70.00 back (expiry December 31). So now I will have to e-mail them again and ask for a link to pay another $350.00. Oops.

 

[tink1970]

@calypso726 I am always amazed by your knowledge of award flights, especially international. Although usually it sounds like a foreign language to me. Is there one place you would suggest to start when trying to understand and look up various award flights? Like basic dumbed down information? Something about trying to look into it makes me feel very inadequate!

ETA: As I read more. Is seat guru your first suggestion?

Not Calypso but if I have any sort of idea where I want to go, assuming I don't know who flies there...I first go to skyscanner to determine which airlines fly to the desired destination.

Those airlines fall into an alliance (usually).

The alliance determines which miles currency is needed.

Then accumulate currencies, stay flexible (aka perhaps consider a back up carrier/flight if plan A doesn't pan out) and proceed.

Once you have the currency, prior to the flight dates coming up (a couple of weeks-months depending on how much you stalk the airline), you can get an idea of the flights/amounts needed.

Seat guru helps you understand the airplane/seats/seats to book.

Also, feel free to ask, there are several of us here who enjoy looking and booking and will help you if you have a departure airport(s) and desired destination(s).

 

[Haley R]

Lol. I didnt put it together earlier buy my mom made those with ham for get togethers a lot. I've never liked pickles so I've never tried them.

I’m so sorry that you don’t like pickles lol. It’s weird that I like them because I don’t like a lot of things. You know how they give you a pickle slice sometimes with sandwiches? I always made my parents give me their pickle from their meal when we ate out lol

 

[wendow]

I am not sure how old your kids are but mine are 15 and 12. The 15 year old is in marching band which really translates to "he owes the band his life" and since he can't drive, it's back and forth every afternoon between home and his school. Thankfully I live about 2 miles from the school.

The 12 year old starts soccer practice (so so grateful it's recreational only) TOMORROW, so that's two nights a week plus a game every weekend (either Friday night or Saturday... of course the schedule hasn't been published yet) for 8 weeks.

Of course the older one has football games marching band performances every Friday night from now through the end of October(?) and a competition essentially every Saturday from this week till mid-November, so between me and his dad we have to figure transportation for both of them and decide which parent is going to attend which event.

I am grateful I have only the two kids. I am not sure what I would do with more! Or if either of them was in a competitive sport!

My kids are 19, 17, 11 and 8. My 19yo is no longer doing any activities like this and she drives so she’s off my plate from that perspective.

My dd17 dances at a high level. She takes ballet (including a couple pointe classes), lyrical, modern, tap, jazz, contemporary, partnering, conditioning, barre so this means dance 4 days a week and soon will be 5-6 once they begin working on the performance. She isn't driving yet so I am hauling her around all the time. She also is in choir and has a job at Target. Again, all me running her around. She is also really active in our church youth group is on the leadership team (3 separate events a week). She’s homeschooled but takes classes at a co-op two days a week and college classes another two days. We really need her driving lol cause I spend a couple hours everyday just driving her.

My boys are busy with sports and theater for one plus co-op and church activities and play dates but all their stuff pales in comparison to my dd’s

@mamathompson In my experience, they just get busier as they get older so hold onto your hat cause you’ve got some whirlwind years ahead lol!!

 

[tink1970]

It is the Disneyland Resort and Southern California ABD. Is that the same thing? I got it this summer when ABD had the save $750 per person promo.

They are actually slightly different-the DLR and So Cal Escape ABD the hotel is only at DL and is 4 days/ 3nights.

SoCal ABD is Hollywood first, then DL, It is 6 days/5 nights. Either one sounds really good.

 

[PolyRob]

They are actually slightly different-the DLR and So Cal Escape ABD the hotel is only at DL and is 4 days/ 3nights.

SoCal ABD is Hollywood first, then DL, It is 6 days/5 nights. Either one sound really good.

Very good to know! I also added a day pre and post to the ADB. I figured in the beginning that switching time zones may make me tired so it will be nice to have a buffer before jumping right into the action. At the end the DLR ticket is good all day so I wanted to have extra time rather than leaving right away!

 

[mmmears]

I grew up in Georgia and pickle wraps were not a thing. We moved to Iowa and they are the thing everyone makes for parties. They get eaten really fast. My mom makes them for Christmas and thanksgiving.

It's definitely not something I have ever seen. I guess it's not a thing out here.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I must be the only person who doesn't like pickles. I think I ate too many when I was in jr hight and can't stand the taste of dill any more

 

[trstno1]

I've done the TKTS line quite a few times, but not in some years. It used to take about an hour to get through the line. Is it still that much time or is it longer? It's probably the only way I'll do any NYC shows unless something comes along that I can't see in DC at some point.

I'm not sure the TKTS booth is what it used to be. In recent years, I've done a lot better by using broadway box or playbill discount codes, easily found using google. TKTS might have saved me an extra $10 per ticket, but they were invariably worse seats, and the time investment just isn't worth it.

I've also used Chase UR to purchase broadway tix from their travel portal at 1.5 cents/point with CSR, but only for shows that don't have discounts available online. Got great seats for Hadestown and Dear Evan Hansen this way.

 

[calypso726]

@calypso726 I am always amazed by your knowledge of award flights, especially international. Although usually it sounds like a foreign language to me. Is there one place you would suggest to start when trying to understand and look up various award flights? Like basic dumbed down information? Something about trying to look into it makes me feel very inadequate!

ETA: As I read more. Is seat guru your first suggestion?

Thanks
It was a foreign language to me too when I started and I'm still not fluent. I only use SeatGuru to make sure the aircraft I am about to book my flight on, is what I think it is. I learned that the hard way early on. I booked a first class flight and assumed it was lie flat seats, they weren't. However, not every plane is configured the same. So now, I always double check Seat Guru before I book a specific flight.

Whenever I think about where I'm going next (2 years before the trip will take place) my first two steps are always going to be a search on Google flights or Momondo to get a general idea of what airlines fly to where I am going to from my closest airports. I may or may not utilize that information to book my flights as it would depend on what miles I have that I'm willing to spend. My next step is finding which bloggers have done whatever I am trying to do and how did they do it. Then I begin taking notes. The bloggers are pretty good about writing up which specific airlines fly out of which specific airports and often go as far as to uncover which specific planes are flying out of a given airport.

When we went to the Maldives we wanted to experience "shower class" on Emirates. Emirates does fly that route out of FLL which is 15 minutes away from me. But, the plane they fly there doesn't have a shower on board. This was why I positioned to Houston.

I don't let myself get bogged down on the idea that the only way to get where I want to go is out of my closest airports either. I can always get to another airport to hop on a plane I want to be on. Sometimes the award flight you want simply doesn't show up. I have one more travel together ticket from British Airways to use before it expires next year. I've decided we will go to Ireland and then Northern Ireland again. Although I was searching BA for award flights from MIA to LHR at 355 days out I had no luck. So, we will be flying to Boston to catch our flight with BA in first.

Anyhow, once I have an idea of the various ways to get where I'm going then I start to look at what point currency I will focus on to make that happen. Hope this helps.

 

[marsh0013]

I am in the same exact boat! I've been looking at the award redemption in anticipation of October 2020 and I think I am doing it correctly. I have an ABD and it only mentions LAX so that is what I have been pricing.

For example, this is what I see for the first saver award one way on 8/16:
View attachment 436465

And this is what I see for cash one way on 8/16:
View attachment 436466

I could get it by transferring 35,000 URs to United and booking that way with the $5.60 taxes/fees or I could use straight URs through the Chase portal with a CSR and use about 44,000 URs. So I would be saving at most 9,000 URs per person. Am I looking at this correctly or is there something very off? It also looks like a 757-200 which I believe has the nice lay flat seats from past research.

I don't see first saver awards for any other date than 8/16 right now so it looks like the book immediately as the fares are released is great advice. And harm booking each leg separately? I'm not sure how else one could do it with the current availability.

So most of the cash prices for Aug 16 were crazy high when I looked at ewr to lax, other than maybe 2 flights. I thought something weird was happening. Almost like they're not fully released. I'm not sure, I definitely don't know anything about this.

I'm going to keep watching the next few days and hope I can book an acceptable flight out on a saver rate for Aug 20. Then our return isn't until Aug 30. So I'll have even more time to watch trends before then. I know I'm really late on this. I lucked into even thinking about it before it was too late. I'm so used to Southwest and other than that I've only booked through the Chase portal. So at least I'm lucky that I have plenty of UR that I can transfer to United to make it happen.

 

[calypso726]

Thank you both! My trip isn't until October 2020 so I have about 2 months to go before I can actually see real availability.

I am just paranoid I will make a mistake so I've been looking and practicing what booking will be like. I will jump on the First Saver Awards with the best plane when the time comes. In my Aug 16th scenario, this was the plane. I saw Polaris and figured I was safe!

View attachment 436502

I also want to book for a few adults so I will transfer URs from their Chase cards to their United MileagePlus accounts when the time finally comes.

It is the Disneyland Resort and Southern California ABD. Is that the same thing? I got it this summer when ABD had the save $750 per person promo.

Make sure that the availability for all the passengers is actually there before having them transfer UR points to UA. You can't transfer back. Let's say you have 4 passengers, you may find that there is only saver availability for 2 seats and then you will need to book with URs via the UR portal for the other adults.

A bit different on the itineraries and length.

 

[calypso726]

@calypso726 whomever I was dealing with via e-mail at the WA Maldives got a manager involved; it was explained to me that with the bank link if I used my cc the charge would show as from the hotel. I put through $250.00 yesterday and it's showing as pending to the WA Maldives! I'm still waiting for the credit to show (I imagine that will take a few days). Yay!

I did fail a bit because when I was checking my AmEx account today to see how the charge posted I noticed that I had an offer that I had activated. Spend $350.00 at a WA or Conrad property and get $70.00 back (expiry December 31). So now I will have to e-mail them again and ask for a link to pay another $350.00. Oops.

That's awesome!!! I'm glad to hear it. I added the offer to my Aspire too but don't have an expensive stay coming up. My next WA stay is the one in Orlando this December using our 2 free cert nights. I doubt I'll be spending $350 for anything at the hotel but figured I'd add it on just in case.

 

[amalone1013]

scotcheroos

yummmmmm
But everything sounds very midwestern lol

I’m so sorry that you don’t like pickles lol. It’s weird that I like them because I don’t like a lot of things. You know how they give you a pickle slice sometimes with sandwiches? I always made my parents give me their pickle from their meal when we ate out lol

those are my worst nightmare leaking their pickle juice on my sandwich lol. My sister was like that tho, she ate everybody's. My least favorite place for them to be is with my cheese frenchee... that's like a deep fried grilled cheese, idk why you would want pickles sitting on top of that.

I must be the only person who doesn't like pickles. I think I ate too many when I was in jr hight and can't stand the taste of dill any more

I'm with you. Except I never ate them at all lol. The only ones I've run into that I've liked are at Homecomin. But even then I can only eat so many.

 

[Haley R]

yummmmmm
But everything sounds very midwestern lol

those are my worst nightmare leaking their pickle juice on my sandwich lol. My sister was like that tho, she ate everybody's. My least favorite place for them to be is with my cheese frenchee... that's like a deep fried grilled cheese, idk why you would want pickles sitting on top of that.

I'm with you. Except I never ate them at all lol. The only ones I've run into that I've liked are at Homecomin. But even then I can only eat so many.

Now I miss pork burgers

I’ve never heard of a cheese frenchee lol. It sounds pretty good though! I wouldn’t want a pickle on my sandwich. I like most of my food separated

 

[georgina]

DH just wandered into the room and showed me an article from one of his scuba magazines titled 'Fly Free to Your Dive Destination'. He noticed that it has all the things I am doing with points for travel. It does list many of the churning things we go by here, it was funny.

No pickles for me either. All this food talk is making me hungry. I've been doing low carb most of the summer to shed some pounds. I miss sugar and bread and pasta. Still drinking beer though! Yay Browns just won.

 

[wendow]

I'm with you. Except I never ate them at all lol. The only ones I've run into that I've liked are at Homecomin. But even then I can only eat so many.

Have you ever tried fried pickles?? We always get those at Texas Roadhouse and I have to limit myself or I can clean the whole plate fast! I love pickles though!!