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

[disfanforlife]

I freaked out and sprinted to her queue when I saw her!

Love it! And I was just at AK today. The new UP bird show is so cute!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

TGIF question:
Do you have travel plans in 2020? If so, to where?

What about farther out-2021 and beyond?

For me:

Feb/Mar-Viking Australia/NZ cruise

July-Scotland, Slovenia and Croatia bday trip

August-DH's Baltic cruise bday trip

Oct-quick Bahamas cruise for DM bday (also her grand slam cruise)

Sadly, nothing planned yet for 2021 or beyond-I suspect we might book another Viking (ocean) cruise in Feb if we enjoy our experience.

Early March 2020 weekend at USO for UCT event, club level at HRH
Late March 2020 New Orleans
June 2020 DLR and USH.

Going to try to squeeze in one more trip maybe July/August since we have CP. maybe Northern California. 2021 not planned yet. Not even any good ideas.
ETA: I forgot DS requested a trip to Washington DC. I told him that can be on the list for 2021. Plus he wants to go to China, so we will add that in 2021 or later.

 

[Artygal90]

TGIF question:
Do you have travel plans in 2020? If so, to where?

What about farther out-2021 and beyond?

For me:

Feb/Mar-Viking Australia/NZ cruise

July-Scotland, Slovenia and Croatia bday trip

August-DH's Baltic cruise bday trip

Oct-quick Bahamas cruise for DM bday (also her grand slam cruise)

Sadly, nothing planned yet for 2021 or beyond-I suspect we might book another Viking (ocean) cruise in Feb if we enjoy our experience.

What a fabulous travel year you have planned! Here is what I have sketched out so far:

2020
January - NOLA for a wedding/Disney for the following week

Some week in 2020 (date TBD) - a chill week in a timeshare in Colorado Springs with my parents (this will be just me - not enough vacay time for DH to take advantage of the free lodging)

Labor Day weekend - wedding weekend outside of Detroit

Planned, but not booked, is a potential Universal girls' trip with my sisters and/or friends, and also a trip to Universal/Disney for Halloween and Christmas festivities. In fact, I have a whole bucket list of cities I'd like to visit with DH, but our work schedules make lining up our vacation time difficult, so nothing has been booked yet. Someday...

2021
January or February - Japan! This will be DH's second trip overseas ever, and my third (!) trip to Japan, although it will have been 10 years since I visited and my first time going anywhere outside Tokyo. I might also want to go to DC at some point in 2021 but it will depend on DH's schedule and desire to deal with crowds.

After this trip we plan to give up our free time, sleep, and disposable income in order to provide our three cats a younger human sibling. My parents managed to travel internationally with three young kids but they were living that corporate expat life, so I figure Japan 2021 will be our last overseas trip for at least a few years.

 

[MountainsAreCalling]

It's fun to see how many fun trips everyone has planned! If I hadn't learned how to travel with points we would never have been able to travel as much.

2020
Jan - A week in Sedona/Scottsdale - we will mostly be hiking. This trip was actually planned for this week but had to cancel a few days before. At least I was able to rebook.
June - First trip to Hawaii
July - Camping
November - A week in Disneyland.

2021
March - Spring Break. My DD's band is taking at class trip to Disneyland. Of course I will want to come too! She can't have fun at Disneyland without me! We have our first parent meeting next month. I shudder to think of the cost since I am used to paying with points.
Summer - Lots of camping

 

[PaintsWithAllTheColors]

After this trip we plan to give up our free time, sleep, and disposable income in order to provide our three cats a younger human sibling. My parents managed to travel internationally with three young kids but they were living that corporate expat life, so I figure Japan 2021 will be our last overseas trip for at least a few years.

We’re in a similar boat! After our South America trip in May (my last continent), we’re planning on adding a tiny adventure buddy to future trips. Everyone keeps telling us to “get the traveling out of the way now because you won’t be able to with kids” but I refuse to accept that. In fact, we plan on using a month of my company’s generous maternity leave to travel Europe on a slow, relaxed pace even baby is 4-5 months. My parents backpacked New Zealand with me when I was a baby, and my brother and I grew up traveling internationally and domestically. I say, it’s all a matter of attitude and perspective!

Obviously, this comes from the naive perspective of one without kids and I know things may certainly change, but from one traveling-hopeful-parent to another, I wish you all the luck, points, and miles in the world! After all, all it takes is a faith, trust, and a little pixie dust!

 

[MountainsAreCalling]

hey, welcome, pdx is my home airport too.
i looked into the british air ways to hawaii a couple of years ago and it just got too complicated for me. however my daughter in law flew her family on british/alaska. she loves her british airways card.
looks like both you and your husband could get an alaska card. i brought up a $200 credit plus 40,000 pts a week ago when checking out on alaska, not bad for alaska. you could get part way there on points or use the companion pass. you can't combine the 2 though.

Yeah! Another Oregonian! Yes, my friend learned the hard way trying to book flights with their Alaska card. I feel Alaska has a lot of restrictions so its better to fly to Hawaii in the off season for cheaper. They go in April every year and don't have any other credit cards! Of course I picked June when rates are sky high. The British Airways redemption does sound great.

With all the talk of Hilton points.. that does sounds like a great deal. We actually got our AMEX Hilton cards just for Hawaii. I would love to take the upgrade offer for the Aspire card. We can meet $4,000 spend with visa or mastercard super easy but none of our bigger bills accept AMEX.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I used to work for a company that did electronic medical records. I wasn't in IT, but I heard this complaint all the time anyway. I think it's a mix of different problems. As you said, the programmers aren't always aware of the user's needs- some EMR companies address this better than others, but I don't think any of them truly do this well. The laws on billing, recording, and electronic medial records also change all the time, and including updates to comply with the law can make the usability problem worse. Putting all that complexity into a format that is easy for users to access is hard, even if the IT people know what they're doing. I left this company years ago, but I still observe how doctors, nurses, therapists, and other practitioners use and and like their different programs. Everyone hates them. Good thing I found another industry, lol.

If it is a company that starts with M and ends with N, I hate them too. Lol.
My sister has a friend whose business provides user supports for EMRs. So many hospitals have issues after their support contract with the software company has run out, and the friend has made a business of stepping in to provide further support.

We’re in a similar boat! After our South America trip in May (my last continent), we’re planning on adding a tiny adventure buddy to future trips. Everyone keeps telling us to “get the traveling out of the way now because you won’t be able to with kids” but I refuse to accept that. In fact, we plan on using a month of my company’s generous maternity leave to travel Europe on a slow, relaxed pace even baby is 4-5 months. My parents backpacked New Zealand with me when I was a baby, and my brother and I grew up traveling internationally and domestically. I say, it’s all a matter of attitude and perspective!

Obviously, this comes from the naive perspective of one without kids and I know things may certainly change, but from one traveling-hopeful-parent to another, I wish you all the luck, points, and miles in the world! After all, all it takes is a faith, trust, and a little pixie dust!

Every kid is different but lots of people travel. My DS traveled thru China as a 12 month old, 12 hour flight home was his first international flight. We flew to Costa Rica when he was 3. He is actually a worse traveler now (at 10) because he says the noise and pressure bother his ears. He never complained when he was little.

 

[DaveL]

Do not rely on Chase to stand by your side in a dispute. This has been horrible! Long story short, Sears delivered a Grill that was damaged and not working, they sent a random box of parts to have me fix it but not all of the parts, they also cheated me out of $300 in points I was supposed to receive, and were supposed to assemble it for the $120 I paid but did nothing more than drop it off in a box...... I disputed the charge and Sears sent back their normal return policy info, Chase called me and left a VM, I called back 5 MINS later and the lady said since I was not reachable she closed the case. So I requested it be re-opened and sent a written response. Today they reply back saying they side with Sears and there was "NO BILLING ERROR" on the account. Well @*(#), it was not a billing error, it was a failure to deliver a working product and failure to provide services paid for. I am fuming again.

Quoting myself here for more info. I called Chase today and they said they call all disputes "billing errors" and that since Sears said they would exchange it (Very unlikely as there is no stock even) they will not change their decision. They said I need to work it out with Sears or mail the dispute in again for another review. So I did a chat with Sears tonight and they are giving me the run around on all three parts of my claim, at least I have that chat now to send Chase again. They told me to contact the delivery team, but they only have a phone number so I need to call tomorrow. He also gave me their corp CS email to contact too. What a PITA. LOL.

 

[jhoannam]

What’s the best time of the year to visit DC. I really want to take our girls to the Smithsonian museums. This would be a museum focused trip.

 

[wendow]

Trips for 2020 and beyond!!!!

My dd heads down to WDW on Feb 1 to begin her DCP. Which means, until Aug at the earliest, we are locked into all PTO and money being used to head to Orlando to see her. Since I fully expect her to extend her program, I do not expect anything else to in the way of travel next year. While I feel kind of sad about that, I'm super excited to get to go to WDW so much. We've never done more than one trip a year. She will be forced out of the program in Jan 2021 so we will check out some different locations then. And I have a feeling, I will be ready!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

2020 and 2021 travel plans so far:

2020:
--WDW in January for Marathon Weekend with @CaliforniaGirl09 (and her DH and DD) [DVC points for Bay Lake Tower; URs for United flights to and from Orlando]
--Maui for Spring Break in March [SW CP for DS's flights]
--flying straight from Maui to Glasgow with DD to attend Offer Holder Days at University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh [AA miles used for BA Business Class flights to, and United miles used for Lufthansa Business Class flights from; Hilton points used for hotel in Glasglow]
--Family trip to Japan in June/July with Thomson Family Adventures [MR points transferred to Qantas for JAL First Class flights to/from for DH and me and Business Class flights to/from for DD and DS; United miles used for ANA flight from Osaka to Tokyo ; Delta miles used for First Class flights from LAX to BOI; Hilton points used for Hilton Tokyo Bay for pre-nights at Tokyo Disneyland Resort]
--Taking DD to school at either Glasgow or Edinburgh in September
--possible short hiking trip with @CaliforniaGirl09 in late 2020 unless she ditches me for Everest Base Camp!!!! ))

2021:
--hiking the West Highland Way in Scotland with @CaliforniaGirl09 in May and using the opportunity to visit DD at university pre- and/or post-trip
--family trip to be named later
--trips to Scotland to bring DD home from university for the summer and to bring her back in September

ROFL on Base Camp!!!

Here is mine so far (we recently downsized to enable more travel and time in London, Hawaii, and Tahoe):

2020:
January: WDW for Half Marathon as above with Calfan (DVC and SW companion pass)
late January: DLR for DS's birthday (DVC and driving)
February: Possible Maui (my mom's place)
March: London (our time share and BA business on avios)
April: WDW for Half Marathon (DVC and SW companion pass)
May: Hawaii (my mom's)
June/July: DD's graduation from University in England and a post grad trip to Scotland
August: Hawaii for DDs birthday?
September: London (our time share and 1st class BA from great deal recently)
October/Nov: I'm signed up for hiking to Base Camp with Stanford Alumni. I may chicken out, but it's been on my bucket list for a long time.
December: Christmas in London! (Time share and hopefully BA business tickets on Avios).

We also have a place in Tahoe so we'll spend non-travel weekends up there.

2021:
It will be someone of a repeat of above with trips to London/Hawaii/Tahoe/DVC at both WDW and DL for Half Marathons
May: Hiking West Highland Way with Calfan!
Summer: Possible family trip with Calfan if we can coordinate our kid calendars. Will someone depend on DD and where she goes to get her masers.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

Will they take Sam's gift cards? Buy gift cards with the MSR card?? I don't know - just trying to help out.

Thank you for the suggestion! I called today to ask what payment is accepted, if we need an appt, etc. The lady on the phone say they accept everything but the "sacrifice of a goat" I did actually go ahead and buy a Sam's gc though because I'm out of town this weekend with the kiddos and wanted to have my new card with me, but my DH wants to get the tires put on while we're gone.

 

[wanderlust7]

ROFL on Base Camp!!!

Here is mine so far (we recently downsized to enable more travel and time in London, Hawaii, and Tahoe):

2020:
January: WDW for Half Marathon as above with Calfan (DVC and SW companion pass)
late January: DLR for DS's birthday (DVC and driving)
February: Possible Maui (my mom's place)
March: London (our time share and BA business on avios)
April: WDW for Half Marathon (DVC and SW companion pass)
May: Hawaii (my mom's)
June/July: DD's graduation from University in England and a post grad trip to Scotland
August: Hawaii for DDs birthday?
September: London (our time share and 1st class BA from great deal recently)
October/Nov: I'm signed up for hiking to Base Camp with Stanford Alumni. I may chicken out, but it's been on my bucket list for a long time.
December: Christmas in London! (Time share and hopefully BA business tickets on Avios).

We also have a place in Tahoe so we'll spend non-travel weekends up there.

2021:
It will be someone of a repeat of above with trips to London/Hawaii/Tahoe/DVC at both WDW and DL for Half Marathons
May: Hiking West Highland Way with Calfan!
Summer: Possible family trip with Calfan if we can coordinate our kid calendars. Will someone depend on DD and where she goes to get her masers.

I love that you have something for every single month in 2020!

 

[tenngirl]

Hey. I got some really good advice a few months ago about CCs and now my DH and I have got some UR points to spend! We want to go to Ireland for the first time next May or June. We plan to fly into London, maybe go to Scotland for a couple of days, and then spend a week in Ireland. Has anyone here traveled there recently and want to share their experience? I would love to know what we should absolutely not miss! Thank you!

 

[chattadisser]

ROFL on Base Camp!!!

October/Nov: I'm signed up for hiking to Base Camp with Stanford Alumni. I may chicken out, but it's been on my bucket list for a long time.

Do it if its at all possible! A friend of mine just did it last month and it was an awesome trip. Her pictures made me jealous. It was a trip years in the planning but she doesn't regret a second of it.

 

[orangecuse]

Hey. I got some really good advice a few months ago about CCs and now my DH and I have got some UR points to spend! We want to go to Ireland for the first time next May or June. We plan to fly into London, maybe go to Scotland for a couple of days, and then spend a week in Ireland. Has anyone here traveled there recently and want to share their experience? I would love to know what we should absolutely not miss! Thank you!

@tink1970 @calypso726 @Calfan @CaliforniaGirl09 @smmco

 

[wendow]

ROFL on Base Camp!!!

Here is mine so far (we recently downsized to enable more travel and time in London, Hawaii, and Tahoe):

2020:
January: WDW for Half Marathon as above with Calfan (DVC and SW companion pass)
late January: DLR for DS's birthday (DVC and driving)
February: Possible Maui (my mom's place)
March: London (our time share and BA business on avios)
April: WDW for Half Marathon (DVC and SW companion pass)
May: Hawaii (my mom's)
June/July: DD's graduation from University in England and a post grad trip to Scotland
August: Hawaii for DDs birthday?
September: London (our time share and 1st class BA from great deal recently)
October/Nov: I'm signed up for hiking to Base Camp with Stanford Alumni. I may chicken out, but it's been on my bucket list for a long time.
December: Christmas in London! (Time share and hopefully BA business tickets on Avios).

We also have a place in Tahoe so we'll spend non-travel weekends up there.

2021:
It will be someone of a repeat of above with trips to London/Hawaii/Tahoe/DVC at both WDW and DL for Half Marathons
May: Hiking West Highland Way with Calfan!
Summer: Possible family trip with Calfan if we can coordinate our kid calendars. Will someone depend on DD and where she goes to get her masers.

This is awesome! How do you have so much PTO?!?!

 

[Lain]

This is awesome! How do you have so much PTO?!?!

She’s her own boss.

 

[GZanta77]

@Haley R - I see a new amex offer for Worlds Favorite Cruiselines $100 off $500 until 3/31/20 - includes Cunard.

 

[mmmears]

Hey. I got some really good advice a few months ago about CCs and now my DH and I have got some UR points to spend! We want to go to Ireland for the first time next May or June. We plan to fly into London, maybe go to Scotland for a couple of days, and then spend a week in Ireland. Has anyone here traveled there recently and want to share their experience? I would love to know what we should absolutely not miss! Thank you!

Can't help with Ireland (yet) but there is so much to see and do in London (I've been there a number of times and it's never disappoints). From the Tower to Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War Rooms, the British Museum, and then there's the Harry Potter Studio Tour if that interests you. We spent one day in Scotland last summer, in Inverness, and I'd love to go back. Things to look at in that area are the Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns, Cawdor Castle, Eileen Donan Castle, Loch Ness, and Urquhart Castle. There are also lots of distilleries if that interests you. Lots of us have been to those destinations, so feel free to ask about any of those places and I suspect you'll get quite a bit of advice. Hope this helps!