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

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Since many of us are going to Staples this week - they are running their promo where if you recycle an old electronic item, you get a coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase. My Staples is also currently doing 50% off all the clearance items in their yellow bins, and my store had a lot of things in them that are good to keep little ones entertained on flights, in restaurants, etc. They had Hot Wheels, packs of playing cards, small notebooks, pencil cases, and these large, brightly colored 4 function calculators that toddlers love for some reason. The clearance stacked with the $10 off coupon. My brother and and my SIL are flying with their 2 year old for the first time to visit us after Christmas, so I'm putting together a "flight survival kit" as part of my nephew's Christmas gift. Plus I stocked up for my 3 year old. Worth a look if you are going to Staples anyway and have young kids with travel coming up.
 
I think I was trying to fit all 3 in just because Disney offers that itinerary. It doesn't seem like that's likely with most other cruise lines. I think we'll either stick with just Norway or the British Isles. I'm not sure if 14 days would be too long or not. Do you have an opinion on that?

That's good to know about the tour buses. I was planning on just walking around or taking a private car like you're planning to do. I didn't even think about taking a tour bus. If my parents go, we might need 2 cars so that could be an issue.

What did you like most about the 7-night Norway cruise with RCL?

With a baby, I am thinking 14 days would feel too long and the logistics of getting from one cruise to the next would be possibly difficult. You could consider doing the 7 night Norway cruise and then adding a few nights in Denmark or Sweden. We did a few nights in Copenhagen (where the cruise left from) and it was great. Though I was just pregnant at the time and we didn't have the logistics of a baby in tow on that trip, everything was really family-friendly.

It is possible to get a larger private vehicle that would accommodate all of you and allow the installation of a car seat. It is really going to depend on what options are available at the port, but that is the kind of thing I would always arrange ahead. Some ports will lend themselves to walking around nicely, while some won't be nearly as nice because the cruise port is far from the major attractions. That is the case for our Spain/Italy/France trip. Everything is at least a 1-hour drive away from the port.

For our Norway trip, we loved pretty much everything about it. The ports were all amazing. We did city walking tours or hikes for all but one port. Everything was gorgeous. It is just one massively gorgeous country. I will take some time and write up a bit of a review of each port later for you.
 
AA Award booking question. If I book a British Airways flight and pay the ungodly fees to LHR but then something opens up on AA, I know I have to pay a change fee, but will they refund ungodly fees?

Having just done this, the answer is Yes. You will get your fees refunded if you pay the change fee. For my trip to Glasgow with DD in March/April, I originally booked a round trip on British Air in Economy using AA miles on a saver award. Then I decided I really wanted to take advantage of the Business savers I saw, so I rebooked to a one-way in Business. I paid a $175 redeposit fee for the change, got my first set of ungodly fees refunded and paid a second set of ungodly fees, lol. I can confirm that I do already see the refund of the first set of fees on my CSR.
 
Upgrade success! For the return for my March/April Glasgow trip with DD referenced above, I booked Economy flights on Lufthansa, using United saver awards (after I cancelled out my original BA roundtrip so I could use my AA miles to go Business on BA to Glasgow, also on saver awards). Well, last night, I was able to change these return flights to Business class using United Business saver awards. This makes me very happy :) It's going to be a very short international trip (arrive Monday morning, leave Thursday morning), so doing it all Business class makes the short turnaround feel less gruesome, lol.
 


We did the 7 night Norway cruise as our babymoon and loved it! If you are planning for a 1-week trip, then I honestly wouldn't try to include all 3 countries. RCI usually has British Isles cruises, so you could try to do Norway + British Isles over 2 weeks. I have a few friends that did Iceland with their toddlers and they said to make that a 1 week trip just in itself and it didn't seem to lend itself to cruising so well. Iceland is on our bucket list, but I am thinking we will wait til kids are a bit older.

This got me thinking - and I wouldn't recommend Iceland with a baby. Iceland is an activity destination to me - trekking on glaciers, hiking and jeep tours on rough volcanic terrain etc. I think you would have to miss so much of the best Iceland has to offer if you had a baby in tow.

Also, don't overlook Cunard or P&O Cruises. They are less well known in the American market, but are good cruiselines and have some nice ships. Prices can be reasonable if not travelling in peak season.
 
With a baby, I am thinking 14 days would feel too long and the logistics of getting from one cruise to the next would be possibly difficult. You could consider doing the 7 night Norway cruise and then adding a few nights in Denmark or Sweden. We did a few nights in Copenhagen (where the cruise left from) and it was great. Though I was just pregnant at the time and we didn't have the logistics of a baby in tow on that trip, everything was really family-friendly.

It is possible to get a larger private vehicle that would accommodate all of you and allow the installation of a car seat. It is really going to depend on what options are available at the port, but that is the kind of thing I would always arrange ahead. Some ports will lend themselves to walking around nicely, while some won't be nearly as nice because the cruise port is far from the major attractions. That is the case for our Spain/Italy/France trip. Everything is at least a 1-hour drive away from the port.

For our Norway trip, we loved pretty much everything about it. The ports were all amazing. We did city walking tours or hikes for all but one port. Everything was gorgeous. It is just one massively gorgeous country. I will take some time and write up a bit of a review of each port later for you.
Yeah I was thinking 14 days would be too long too, especially because it’ll be the first trip out of the country. I think we’ll just need to look at both Norway and the British isles itineraries and decide which sounds better. Then we can do like you said and add a day or two on each end of the trip. Does a baby need a passport?

You don’t have to do that! I’m just happy to hear you liked pretty much everything about it. We don’t know much about Norway but I’ve heard such good things about it. It’ll just take some research and time (like our Japan trip) to see what there is to do. My dad mentioned being interested in Scotland. I’m not sure how he feels about Norway but I’m sure they’d enjoy it anyway.
 


This got me thinking - and I wouldn't recommend Iceland with a baby. Iceland is an activity destination to me - trekking on glaciers, hiking and jeep tours on rough volcanic terrain etc. I think you would have to miss so much of the best Iceland has to offer if you had a baby in tow.

We hike with our baby in a soft-sided carrier. It is definitely doable, but I just feel like it will be more enjoyable when our daughter is a bit older. My friend that took her two toddlers definitely didn't seem to miss out. Her pictures were AMAZING.
 
This got me thinking - and I wouldn't recommend Iceland with a baby. Iceland is an activity destination to me - trekking on glaciers, hiking and jeep tours on rough volcanic terrain etc. I think you would have to miss so much of the best Iceland has to offer if you had a baby in tow.

Also, don't overlook Cunard or P&O Cruises. They are less well known in the American market, but are good cruiselines and have some nice ships. Prices can be reasonable if not travelling in peak season.
I think we’ll just take Iceland off the list and save it for in the future. So now I’m in between Norway, the British isles, or maybe even an Alaskan cruise.

I actually have both Cunard and P&O on my list of options. Both were listed as baby friendly cruises.
 
Yeah I was thinking 14 days would be too long too, especially because it’ll be the first trip out of the country. I think we’ll just need to look at both Norway and the British isles itineraries and decide which sounds better. Then we can do like you said and add a day or two on each end of the trip. Does a baby need a passport?

You don’t have to do that! I’m just happy to hear you liked pretty much everything about it. We don’t know much about Norway but I’ve heard such good things about it. It’ll just take some research and time (like our Japan trip) to see what there is to do. My dad mentioned being interested in Scotland. I’m not sure how he feels about Norway but I’m sure they’d enjoy it anyway.

The baby does need a passport. The easiest way to get a photo is just to lay baby down on a white bed sheet. There are apps you can download that help you get the right proportions for the photo to ensure that it will be accepted.

Just let me know if you want any tips on either Norway or the British Isles. I have been to Scotland 3 times and love it there, as well as England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Wales twice each. The British Isles is on our travel list for possibility 2022, as DH has never been.
 
We hike with our baby in a soft-sided carrier. It is definitely doable, but I just feel like it will be more enjoyable when our daughter is a bit older. My friend that took her two toddlers definitely didn't seem to miss out. Her pictures were AMAZING.

The cover picture for this group (Hike it Baby Travel) is one that my friend took on her Iceland trip. That is Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hibtravel/
@Haley R I highly recommend checking out your local Hike it Baby branch (https://hikeitbaby.com/). It was a great group to hook up with when the baby is young and you want to get out of the house and meet other families with babies/young kids. You can also join hikes for branches anywhere, including when you travel.
 
Anyone a Lands End shopper? They are currently having a 50% off sale with code: Preview50 and they are 11% back through Rakuten (today only), plus they take paypal as a form of payment online. I'm stocking up on snow pants and mittens!

I already ordered my daughter's coat, snow pants, snow boots and mittens from Land's End, but they sent me a $20 gift card to apologize for an issue I had with a return. Maybe my daughter needs something else? Thanks!
 
But what we often do is book our next cruise while we are on our current cruise. Then I call Chase within 30 days and have them transfer my booking over to them. This lets me take advantage of the lower cruise deposit for booking with RCI onboard. And then I can pay the entire cruise balance with UR points. Though I usually wait until closer to the final payment date in case the cruise fare drops. If so, then I call Chase and have them adjust the fare price to the lower cost.
Have you had success finding a Chase agent who doesn't make you pay as soon as you transfer the booking? I have been made to pay immediately upon transfer each time I have used UR's.

We got home last night from a fabulous trip to SWFL. We were joking around about flying back down next weekend. Found 99% off with Frontier. Booked it for Sat-Sun! Back to the sun! Great deals if anyone can fly soon . Code: BOOKNOW Fly by 11/25, book today.
Thanks for the heads up. I just did a dummy booking to DLR for next week, flying Tuesday and returning Thursday. From PDX it would take 23 hours and 2 minutes to get there and 20 hours and 9 minutes to get home. Google says I can drive there in 15 hours. 🤔Hopefully your flight times are a little faster!
 
Having just done this, the answer is Yes. You will get your fees refunded if you pay the change fee. For my trip to Glasgow with DD in March/April, I originally booked a round trip on British Air in Economy using AA miles on a saver award. Then I decided I really wanted to take advantage of the Business savers I saw, so I rebooked to a one-way in Business. I paid a $175 redeposit fee for the change, got my first set of ungodly fees refunded and paid a second set of ungodly fees, lol. I can confirm that I do already see the refund of the first set of fees on my CSR.
Excellent! Thank you, and fantastic you now get to go business RT 👍🏻
 
The cover picture for this group (Hike it Baby Travel) is one that my friend took on her Iceland trip. That is Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hibtravel/
@Haley R I highly recommend checking out your local Hike it Baby branch (https://hikeitbaby.com/). It was a great group to hook up with when the baby is young and you want to get out of the house and meet other families with babies/young kids. You can also join hikes for branches anywhere, including when you travel.
It looks like we would have to go to Orlando for hiking which is about an hour drive with tolls. I go to a women’s only gym with a play area so I’m hoping to have lots of play dates and stuff come from doing that. Otherwise I’ll probably go to the library a lot and things like that.
 
This was a very bad idea. Not only did you put eyes on your accounts and “business,” you potentially increased scrutiny over this method for the rest of us. Don’t call the bank! This is why we can’t have nice things. Why didn’t you come and ask here first?!

@mefordis, I say this from a deep and sincere desire to help you. I’ve implored you to come to us for help and advice before you apply for anything. This is meant to help make sure all your i’s are dotted and t’s crossed. As I’ve said numerous times before, it’s a lot easier to avoid mistakes than it is to correct them and figure out what to do after the fact. It’s also intended to keep sensitive information here and not let the banks get wind of it and shut it or you down. I didn’t see you pop in to mention that you were applying for a Chase business card because if you did I or someone here would have done a checkup to see if your card count, velocity, and credit limits are looking good for automatic (if not instant) approval, so you could just check your status on an automated line and be 99.9% sure you’ll be approved eventually instead of calling the bank and having a banker grill you about your application and “business,” and looking into all your other cards, spend and credit limits on them.

Congratulations on your approval.
 
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