Easiest $50 I Ever Made

Today I made a cool $50 worth of TripAlertz Trip Cash for submitting the "best overall travel deal of the day" to one of my favorite travel blogs, Frugal Travel Guy. You can visit his blog now to see my triumph. Apparently, this is the hobby that keeps giving and giving.

Aside from making easy money today, I began preliminary work on a 3-city Italy vacation set for some time in early 2014. Planning this far ahead, I think I'll be able to at least secure us business class, if not first class, tickets and world-class hotels all for a few measly nominal fees. I also called Virgin America to inquire where in the world my 10,000 bonus points were for signing up for their credit card. It'd be nice to book my December flight to New York with them since I already have a returning flight from LaGuardia booked (more on this some other time). I quoted the representative I spoke with fine print from their own agreement and he responded like a deer in headlights. Apparently, my miles are forthcoming, though. I'll give them two more weeks, then they'll receive one of my dreaded letters in their corporate inbox and be forced to give me much more than 10,000 Virgin frequent flyer miles (I once wrote a letter that saved me over $5,000).

Frequent Whitewater Rafting Miles?

This week, I went whitewater rafting for the second time in my life. I only fell out of the raft once this time; I think I'm about ready for the Class V's on the Colorado. The Kern River is no joke, though, as we hit plenty of Class IV's and some pretty tricky Class III's. The only way to go whitewater rafting is with Kern River Outfitters, though: the guides are great, the food is better, and they actually make camping tolerable for those of you, like me, who prefer to vacation in 5-star hotels.

Now, despite traveling 20 miles down the lower Kern River over two days, I couldn't directly accrue any miles. However, this trip did net me well over 2000 travel points. Like always, I offered to pay for my entire party's trip (6 people) up front on my credit card, which as you can guess was about a $2,000 charge. Then, each member of my party could pay me back at their convenience. I've found that most people either don't use credit cards or don't collect points, so they never mind when I offer to front the money. Obviously, this works in all sorts of situations and should be used as often as possible (as long as you trust that you'll be reimbursed).

Anniversary Trip: Hotel Maya in Long Beach

For $254, we received 2 nights at Hotel Maya ($500 value), a $25 food and beverage credit, a two-hour bike rental for two ($50 value), and free parking ($34 value) = $609. How did I get such a good deal? Living Social, of course. I subscribe to nearly every service of its kind. Anyway, we returned home yesterday from this lovely trip, which matched my high expectations (see all pictures). But this vacation almost didn't happen. Right before I purchased this package from Living Social, I noticed our anniversary was one of the very few blackout dates on the voucher. Then I recalled my time researching this hotel on TripAdvisor, specifically that Hotel Maya's general manager responded to each and every customer review, suggesting a high level of customer service. Hence, I took it upon myself to email her, detailing my situation:

Mrs. Allen,

I took considerable note of the Living Social voucher offered by your hotel today, as I've been looking for a nice destination to spend with my wife for our 3rd anniversary. In the course of my research, I thoroughly enjoyed your hotel's website and TripAdvisor reviews, especially your meticulous and helpful replies to each review. Unfortunately, after deciding on your hotel as our getaway, I read the voucher's fine print, which indicated blackout dates from June 19-23. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, our anniversary happens to fall on one of those dates: Tuesday, June 19. I had been planning to stay at your hotel on the nights of June 18 and 19, and was wondering if it might be possible to use the voucher on only one of the blackout dates. I have not yet purchased the voucher and would usually not go through this much trouble; however, I would be remiss if I didn't at least inquire. Regardless of your decision, I hope to stay with you some time in the future.

And that did the trick: blackout date waived. Below are a few pictures (see all) from our trip and my review of the hotel.

Our Room

Fresh Baked Cookie Upon Check-in

The View from Our Balcony

Biking Along the Beach

Our Pool

Our Hotel's Restaurant, Fuego

Aquarium of the Pacific, Right Across the Water

Room: Nice and clean. Very modern style but you could tell it's been refurbished. The television was a brand new flat-screen yet didn't have the option to purchase in-room movies...or anything else for that matter. I can't remember the last time I had to go to the front desk to check-out. We did enjoy the Keurig coffee maker, though. And the awesome view of the harbor. (8/10)

Service: The front desk staff couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating. I bet the general manager has a lot to do with that. Room service was prompt. However, the service in the restaurant was quite slow and not all that attentive. I mean, the food was great but I expect more from a restaurant of this caliber and price point. (8/10)

Location: This may be Long Beach's best located hotel. From anywhere on the hotel grounds, you could throw a stone and hit water. From most walkways, you could dip your foot in the water. Not to mention the amazing views from...everywhere...of...everything. You can walk to The Queen Mary, Rainbow Harbor, The Pike, Aquarium of the Pacific, Shoreline Village, etc. Or you can take the Aqua Bus which stops at 4-5 major attractions...and this hotel -- it costs a whole buck. (10/10)

Overall: If you're in Long Beach, stay here. But unless you have a discount, you'd better save up. (8/10)

Staying Classy on a Staycation

We had to postpone an East Coast adventure due to this summer's astronomical airfares. I could have used frequent flyer miles, but all of our current miles are linked to airfare prices, thus diminishing their intrinsic value. Hence, I had to find value elsewhere. I mean, I'll be damned if we're to spend an anniversary with anything less than the finest accommodations while being surrounded by the most picturesque scenery. So, gauging a hostile airfare climate early on, I began tracking Groupon's (and Living Social's) travel deals within driving distance in March for our June anniversary. By early May, I landed a Long Beach resort on the water...at half price! Details and pictures to follow after our trip, including how I booked this hotel smack dab in the middle of the voucher's blackout date.

Radisson Detour

We were supposed to embark on our anniversary getaway on Monday morning, but Radisson's "Big Night Giveaway" promotion warranted an adjustment to our itinerary. Now, we will be leaving tonight to stay at the Radisson LAX for one night before reaching our final destination. While this stay isn't necessarily inconvenient, as it's directly on our path to Long Beach, it serves nearly no practical purpose other than to take advantage of this offer. However, if properly exploited, one can do exactly that: take advantage. The Radisson is offering 50,000 bonus Gold Points (thru July 15th) for staying one night at a Radisson property, which is enough points for up to 5 free nights. Aside from the convenient location, I chose the Radisson LAX because of its affordable price: $89/night. My next decision will be how best to use these points, which never expire, by the way.

My Recent Resume

For those skeptical about my travel aptitude, here's what I've received for free in the last 6 months:

- 2 round-trip tickets to Europe. I had to redeem 100,000 miles for cash (which I used to pay for the tickets) because European travel rewards are a bit tricky to negotiate. I'm learning, though.
Value: $1,500

- 2 round-trip tickets to Orlando. I also managed to score free dining for the entirety of the trip (7 days) at any Disney restaurant, which are quite prestigious even among epicures.
Value: $2,000

- 2 round-trip tickets to Chicago and 4 nights at The James Hotel on Magnificent Mile.
Value: $1,500

These three trips cost me about 200,000 miles, yet I still have 100K miles left. And, remember, I haven't really been putting any effort into collecting miles until recently.

100K Miles

I've amassed 97,969 frequent flyer miles, and that's without really trying. If you assume each mile is worth 2 cents per mile (which is a pretty standard estimate), then my travel cache is valued at $1959.38. These numbers are soon to be small fractions of my rewards repository, though. As is typically the case, when a subject interests me, I read every piece of literature on the topic I can get my hands on. I mean, I'm an English graduate student and my coursework readings paled in comparison to my travel rewards readings this quarter. But now I consider myself an expert...in travel rewards, not English. However, I didn't start this blog to write disquisitions on the various matters concerning travel and travel rewards. I started this blog because...

1. I wanted to boast about our travel and how my ingenuity procured such for little to no cost. Facebook wasn't providing enough grandstanding opportunities for my liking.

2. If I had a dollar for every time I was asked a question about travel, I wouldn't need my frequent flyer miles. Hence, instead of offering countless small lectures on the subject, I figured I'd aggregate the information here.

3. That being said, I don't intend for this blog to be a comprehensive collection of knowledge. Rather, like always, I'm going to write whatever the hell I want. And maybe some of it will even be useful.

4. This project could potentially serve as an informal historiography of our holidays. I'll need something to occupy my time on my deathbed.