When we were there 6 years ago, I remember being a bit shocked that commercial cultivation of sugar cane and pineapples had all but ceased.  Well, a lot has changed over the last 6 years including the arrival of Mahi Pono, a farm company that has acquired 41,000 acres in Maui’s central valley between the mountains of West Maui and Haleakala National Park (roughly the area between Kahului, Maalaea and Kihei).

The company has already planted approximately 5,500 acres.  They also plan on using about 7,400 acres as pasture land for their grass-fed cattle operation.  Since approximately 90% of Hawaii’s food is currently imported, the goal is to not only support Maui with locally grown produce and beef but the rest of Hawaii as well.

This business model is very similar to other companies I represent through Alternative Ag Investors.  When a country or state imports the vast majority of their food, growing and selling produce is a winner.  Your market is obvious, transportation costs are minimized and oftentimes there is strong government support for expanding agribusiness operations.

Sold under the Maui Harvest brand the company has already planted a significant variety of crops based on the 10 most imported commodities to Hawaii.  In addition to the limes, lemons and oranges that I saw, they are already growing vast expanses of macadamia nuts, coffee, onions and papaya.

Alternative Ag Investors offers opportunities to own your own Specialty Coffee, Orange Groves and Lime Groves.  Click the links for more details.

Given that I sell managed farmland for a living, the fact that I wanted to make a tour to inspect some of these fields came as no surprise to my patient bride.   Since one of my clients grows limes, I decided to take a closer look at one of their fields.

There is nothing particularly surprising about these fields.  The trees were planted roughly 10 to 12 feet apart atop a berm covered with a weed mat.  The weed mat is important for conserving water; it reduces soil evaporation and keeps away water-sucking weeds.  Then there was a 1-inch light plastic irrigation line that ran down the center of each berm with individual drip irrigation lines running off of it to each tree.

The trees are all in nice very neat rows and seemed to be well attended.  The one thing that was quite noticeable is that the trade winds bend all of the trees in one direction, which is kind of funny.  As I drove past other fields that were still being prepped for planting, I saw what I would estimate to be 12-inch water lines being laid.

Water is always critical to a farming operation.  The best land in the world is absolutely useless without adequate water.  In this case, the irrigation canals and pipes originally used for growing sugar cane have been partially taken over by the farm company.

Maui Dragon Fruit Farm

While I enjoyed seeing all the new farm activity on Maui, the agricultural highlight of my trip was the Maui Dragon Fruit Farm.  A new Dragon Fruit Greenhouse Project has just started in Panama, so I was curious to see how this Hawaiian project was going.

The 27-acre farm is USDA-certified organic and located in West Maui, about a five-minute drive from Lahaina.  The farm specializes in growing dragon fruit and other exotic fruit such as bananas, cacao, pineapple, papaya, sapote and coconuts.  All farming is done by hand.

Native to South and Central America, dragon fruit is the fruit of a cactus.  Most farms use one of two methods for growing the cactus; either stanchions with a “head” that the cactus grows through or on an arbor.  Both methods are used on the Maui farm.

When the cactus flowers, it blooms only once and at night.  In many places bats and moths serve as pollinators, but in West Maui it is necessary to hand pollinate using a small paint brush to spread the pollen across the stigma of the flower.  This means that pollination takes place between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM each night.

As the fruit develops, it is covered with a cloth bag that protects it from insects.  The farm used to have 16 varieties of dragon fruit on 4 plots of land.  Unfortunately, a devastating fire wiped out 3 of the plots 2 years ago and only 12 varieties are now grown.  Those damaged plots have now been replanted and a 5th is planned.

The fruit is harvested May through November and, prior to the fire, they grew 800 pounds per plot per year.  The dragon fruit requires irrigation because this part of Maui only gets 22 inches of rain per year.  Interestingly, a nearby mountain is the 9th rainiest spot on earth!

Unlike most produce that is either cut or plucked off the plant, harvesting dragon fruit requires cutting a notch into the plant because other methods cause it to dry out quickly, reducing its shelf-life.  If harvested when fully ripe, dragon fruit only has a shelf-life of about a week.  That’s why most large commercial farms harvest prior to the fruit being fully mature and it ripens in transit.

I also learned some interesting things about some of their other crops.  They grow 2 types of bananas; the Apple or Manzano Banana and the Blue Java Banana (sometimes called the ice cream banana because of its creamy fruit).  The Apple Banana is found in most local stores and is a fatter variety than the standard Cavendish that most of us are used to.

Many years ago, I toured a large pineapple farm in Australia and found it fascinating.  What I didn’t remember is that it takes 2 years to grow a pineapple.  Since each plant produces a single fruit, that’s a big commitment and requires a lot of land in order to have regular harvests.

Lizzie, our tour guide, was amazing.  Her knowledge of not only the Maui Dragonfruit operations but also the crops, in general, was quite remarkable.  If you ever get to Maui, I highly recommend the Maui Dragonfruit tour.

The post Dragon Fruit, Limes and More in Maui appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

That routine has served me well all over the world.  I’ve rented cars and driven in Ireland, South Africa, Spain, Ecuador, Belize, Australia, Dominican Republic, Panama, England, Mexico and Aruba and never once had a problem.

The common theme for all of those countries is that signs use the Roman alphabet.  However, I would have no idea that  ห้ามเข้า  means Do Not Enter in Thai.  As a practical matter, many signs are in both Thai and English, but what if I wander into an area where they aren’t?

On two occasions – Burma and my second trip to Thailand – I actually hired a tour guide because I thought that would allow me to get the most out of my trip and minimize any difficulties.  In both cases, it was the right decision.

The decision to retain a guide is one of those things that is totally personal but you should consider the following:

• Are you comfortable navigating a foreign country when you don’t speak the language?
• What about renting a car or using public transportation?
• Are you confident in your research skills or would you rather leave it to a local expert?
• If leaning towards hiring a guide, do you want a personal escort or join a group?  The latter is likely to be less expensive, but also less flexible.
• If you take a tour, will you be able to see and do more than if you struck out on your own?
• Can a tour operator get you access to sites that otherwise wouldn’t be possible?

My friend Pim is the owner of Lets Tour Bangkok and did an amazing job of not just getting us into the major tourist sites in and around Bangkok, but making sure we had special experiences along the way.

In addition (and this is really important to me), if we saw something that wasn’t on the schedule but struck our fancy, she found a way to fit it in and still make our itinerary work.

We traded many emails in the weeks prior to our trip.  Pim asked lots of questions about what we wanted to see, what we like to do, whether we wanted adventure activities or were more focused on history and culture.

Is traveling by tuk-tuk or motorcycle taxi OK?  Are we interested in nighttime activities as well as during the day?  Are we adventurous when it comes to food?  Were we interested in health and wellness activities?  Do we want to spend time in the traditional markets?

She left no stone unturned in her effort to make sure we got exactly what we wanted.  And she delivered!  At one point we passed several blocks of custom tailor shops and I jokingly said I should get a suit made.  She made it happen.  I paid $175 for a custom-made suit that still fits like a glove and it was made in just two days!

Pim met us at our hotel the day we arrived and went over the week’s program.  It was mid-afternoon and our tour wouldn’t start until the next day, but she had already arranged with the concierge to have us delivered to the Royal Palace by town car the next morning and had a printout of restaurants near the hotel.  We discussed how to find the best street food and handle ourselves when negotiating prices in the markets.

Like many countries, Thailand requires that tour guides be licensed and that they undergo rigorous training so their clients can see not only the sights but understand the culture, appreciate Thai history and come away from the experience knowing that their lives have been enriched.  That was certainly our experience with Pim.

We traveled by subway, taxi, river bus, tuk-tuk, water taxi and motorcycle.  We ate “dancing shrimp” (small, live shrimp), roasted chicken feet and hot fried banana rolled in coconut and sesame seeds from street vendors.  We pretty much saw and did everything we wanted and much more.

We visited the Grand Palace, various Buddist temples, the flower market, the Damnoen Saduak floating market, and the Maeklong Railway Market in Samut Songkhram.  We had a private viewing of the art restoration project in the Grand Palace, saw a six-foot monitor lizard while on a khlong (canal) tour, and watched alms bowls being made by the same craftsman who makes them for the royal family.

For me, Thailand is almost magical.  It’s a combination of ancient history, wonderful food, friendly people, incredible sights with a touch of grittiness thrown in for good measure.  My favorite site was the Maeklong Railway Market.

The market predated the railway and the vendors refused to move.  For over 100 years, the two have co-existed.  Four to eight times per day the train rolls through the market.  When a signal is given, the vendors retrieve their wares from the tracks, pull up their canopies and stand back while the train passes.  Less than a minute later, the market is back in business.  Amazing.

If Thailand is on your bucket list, contact Pim; in business for 16 years, she can help you with whatever you need.  From airport transfers to cooking classes or tours from one day to ten days, Lets Tour Bangkok will give you a trip you will never forget.  You can also visit the Lets Tour Bangkok Facebook page.

The post When Should You Use A Tour Guide? appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

Important Disclaimer

Before we delve into this topic, I need to provide a disclaimer/warning.  Despite my 16 years working for Bank of America, I am not a credit expert.  My credit card expertise comes from my own experiences and reading everything I can get my hands on.

While I supervised associates involved with the bank’s mortgage and credit card business, I was not certified in extending credit.  In other words, do your own research regarding managing credit.  I have done a lot of studying in this area but laws, regulations and situations change, so you need to conduct your own due diligence based on your individual circumstances.

There are plenty of ways to educate yourself on credit usage, but I highly recommend the Experian website for a concise, easy-to-understand discussion of credit and how to handle it.  Also, check out your bank’s website or those of the credit cards you already have; they often have excellent tutorials on credit management.

What Is Credit? 

At its most basic level, credit is just an agreement in which one party borrows something of value in return for repaying the lender the initial amount plus some consideration.  In the case of a credit card, you make a purchase by using the lender’s money in the short term with a contractual obligation to repay the amount of the purchase plus interest or fees.

If you’re smart — and this is the only way to manage a credit card — you’ll pay the amount you have borrowed in full each month.  If you carry a balance, you will not only pay interest on the amount left unpaid from one month to the next but this can impact your credit score as you’ll see below.

Many cards we’ll be applying for have an annual fee that helps cover the cost of extending credit plus the various benefits the card offers.  I can hear it now.  “Brian – why would I want to pay a fee for a credit card when I can get a no-fee card instead.”  A perfect example of why paying a fee can be a good value is my wife’s Marriott card.

The Amex Business Marriott card comes with a $125 annual fee but offers a number of benefits such as an extended warranty on all purchases, no foreign exchange fees if using it abroad, CDW waiver for car rentals, a limited travel insurance benefit and, most importantly, one free night each year.

That last item more than covers the cost of the annual fee.  We’ve used that free night certificate to book a room at the JW Marriott in Panama City, which at the time was going for over $200 per night.

How is my credit score calculated?

There are three main credit reporting agencies:  Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.  While each of these three calculate your score using slightly different methods, the standard is set by Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO).

There are multiple FICO scores; some are generated specifically for auto loans, mortgages, credit cards and other lending.  The score we are interested in when applying for credit cards is the FICO 8 score.  The website myFICO uses this graphic to explain how that score is calculated:

Nearly two-thirds of that score is based on your payment history and the balances you carry.  Payment History is obvious – always make your payment on time even if it is the minimum!!!

When reading the fine print on a card application you’ll notice the APR can often be in the 25% range.  I couldn’t care less what the interest rate is because I always pay on time and in full and you should too.

As I noted in The Points Game Intro: The Adventure Begins, if you have a hard time managing your credit card spend you should click out of this post and ignore this part of the blog; there are big benefits to playing The Points Game, but you need to be highly disciplined and keep track of your spending and payment dates.

The Amounts Owed category is a bit trickier because it’s really a reflection of credit utilization.  So, if you have a home equity line of credit for $85,000 and three credit cards each with a $5,000 credit line, the total amount of credit you could potentially use would be $100,000.  If you have $7,000 outstanding on your HELOC and $1,000 each on your credit cards, your total credit utilization would be $10,000 or 10%.

The lower that number is, the more likely this component of your credit score will be positive.  The more credit utilized the more a lender gets shy about extending you more credit because they begin to see you as a risk.

It is generally recommended that your Amounts Owed category be kept under 30%, but to achieve a high credit score you should aim to keep it under 6%.  When you think about it, the more credit cards you have, the easier it is to keep this score low because your credit line continues to grow while your spending is likely to remain fairly static.

Length of Credit History takes into account how long your existing credit lines have been open including the age of your oldest account, an average of all of your accounts and the age of your newest account.  For this reason, I suggest that folks (especially younger people) open a couple of no-fee credit cards and hang on to them forever.

Some credit card companies will close unused credit lines because there is a cost to keeping them open.  As a result, I make sure to use every card I have at least two or three times per year, even if it is just a $10 charge.

Although these aren’t no-fee cards, I have a personal Amex card that was opened in 1996 and a business Citibank American Airlines card that was opened in 2001.  Those two cards help keep the average of my credit lines down and I will probably never close them.

Opening and closing cards willy nilly just to get airline or hotel points can hurt your score.  In addition, some credit card companies have been clawing back the bonus points you earned if you close the card before one year is up in an attempt to avoid the annual fee.  You need a plan to manage this portion of your score.

The New Credit part of your score can be impacted if you open too many credit accounts over a short period of time.  In my experience, this drop in your score when opening new accounts is generally temporary and your score will usually rebound within a few months.  That said, many card companies pay particular attention to this aspect even if you have a score over 800.

Finally, the Credit Mix refers to the blend of revolving and installment accounts that you have.  I don’t have any installment accounts (mortgage, auto loan, HELOC, student loan) so my score may be impacted slightly but not enough to worry about.  As noted above, Payment History and Amounts Owed are the two most critical elements of your FICO score.  Again, the myFICO website is an excellent source for understanding your score.

Know your credit before you apply.

Start by going to AnnualCreditReport.com and order your three credit reports.  By law, you are entitled to a free report from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax once per year.  Although you would normally be charged a fee for ordering a report more than once per year, all three agencies have committed to providing free weekly online reports through April, 2021.

Be aware that getting your three reports does not provide your credit score.  There may be a charge for that or the credit cards you already have may provide one of the scores for free.  Your credit score will help determine which cards to apply for, so make sure to acquire them.

When researching for this post I pulled all three of my reports.  I paid TransUnion $ .99 for my FICO score, Equifax was free and my Experian score I pulled from one of my credit cards.

Your scores will not all be the same because not every creditor regularly reports to all three reporting agencies.  For example, my recent scores varied by 18 points.  If I had a score that was significantly outside the range of the other two, I would do a deep dive into that credit report to see if there was some misreporting that needed correction.

Take the time to review your three reports.  The three reports are arranged very differently and that can be frustrating, but here is the type of information you’ll find:

• A summary of each open account.
• If you’ve had an account that has been charged off, foreclosed, a repossession, collection, 30-60-90-120-days late summary.
• A list of all “hard” credit inquiries made over the last two years.
• A list of “soft” inquiries made by insurance companies, employers, collection companies (these are not used to develop your credit score).
• Whether or not you have placed a freeze on your report.

So, what is a “good” score?

Remember, your FICO credit score is a reflection of how risky it is for a bank to extend credit to you.  In general, applying for affinity credit cards that will provide a sign-up bonus of points you can use for travel will require a Good score (670 – 739), Very Good (740 – 799) or Exceptional (800+) credit score.  Lower scores may still get a card issued but with a smaller credit line.

If your score is under 670, you may not qualify for a points-bearing card but don’t despair.  There are ways you can improve that score and I will address that in a separate post.

When you start actively participating in The Points Game, there are some credit security precautions you should take that, quite frankly, I think everyone should do.

Freeze your credit reports.

Freezing your report keeps anyone from accessing your information and significantly reduces the likelihood that someone can open a credit account in your name without your knowledge.  All three reporting agencies offer this service for free and you can place the freeze using these links:  Experian, TransUnion, Equifax

Note that there is a difference between a freeze and a lock.  Placing and lifting a freeze is free; a lock is a similar service provided by the three agencies but at a price because it is part of a package of “benefits.”  Whether you go the route of a freeze or a lock, you’ll need to temporarily lift the freeze or lock so the bank can access your report and score when you submit an application.

A few final notes.

In general, business credit cards are not reported on your personal credit report.  Even if you acquire the card for a sole proprietorship using your Social Security number, in most cases it will not be included on your personal credit report.

I am a fan of credit monitoring.  I use Experian, but Lifelock or any of the other major credit monitoring services should be good.  Let’s face it… you’re busy.  The key here is that you have a second set of eyes reviewing your credit activity to make sure your credit history is not impacted by bad actors.

OK… you should be used to this by now so here is your Homework Assignment:

• Get and analyze your credit reports. If you find an error, use the information provided to file a correction request.
• Get all three of your credit scores.
• If you’re under the age of 60, consider getting one or more no-fee credit cards that you will hold forever.
• Go online and review the benefits of each of your current credit cards.
• Place a freeze on each of the three credit reports.

One last item.  if you are in the process or planning to apply for a larger loan, like a mortgage or car loan, it is best to hold off on credit card applications until that process is complete.

The post The Points Game 103: A Word About Credit… appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

This was the third summer that my husband and I had traveled solo (sans kiddos).  We had started to work out the kinks in how we travel and what we prioritize.  So, we made a list to make sure we saw and did what was important to us, but also left time to just wing it.

We knew we wanted to dive at least one day and we wanted to explore the island another and we wanted good food but off the beaten path a little so nothing in the hotel, if you know what I mean.

We did our research and looked up places to eat and things to do, laid out a plan and set out on our five-day kid free adventure.  After our experience, we would go back in a heartbeat!

Our home airport is Charlotte and the only non-stop flight is on American (Charlotte is an American hub).  From Charlotte it was a bit long – a little over four hours – but not too bad as long as you download a few movies beforehand (for some idiotic reason, American doesn’t have video screens in the seatbacks).

I think we would probably upgrade next time because my husband, especially, could have used a few more inches of space.  Once we landed in Oranjestad, we got our jeep at the airport and got checked in at the hotel pretty easily.  For us, the jeep is a must and worth the extra money because we didn’t always stay on the main road as we explored the island.

The next day was our dive day and we were excited because, honestly, that is what we traveled to do, or at least me.  We’re a diving family.  All of our kids (now ages 13, 15 and 18) are certified and we have really gotten into spearfishing (check out our YouTube channel JAKLO Spearfishing or our Facebook Page).

My hubby dives a lot more than I do because he is a little more willing to dive in different, less desirable waters.  I guess I am a little more of a dive snob and only want to dive in clear warm water 😊.

The dive staff at Red Sail Sports, a 5-Star PADI shop, was awesome and welcoming but honestly, the conditions were not great.  The first dive was supposed to be a drift dive and we didn’t stay in the water more than five minutes before we decided the seas were just too rough and that they might not find us if we drifted too far so we got back on the boat.

The second dive was on a shipwreck, The Antilla, and much more enjoyable.  The site was full of life and not very deep.  The seas were much calmer at that location and I wish we had just spent both dives on this site.

We were told that this was kind of how Aruba diving was because of the trade winds so we decided that we would not do a second day of diving and instead just do an additional day of exploring in the jeep.

Good decision – it was awesome.  We went all over the island and stopped wherever we wanted to see things!  We went to the Aruba Ostrich Farm and the Donkey Sanctuary; we saw the Natural Bridge and the Natural Pool and Eagle Beach to name a few.  Having the jeep made it easy because we went at our own pace and turned down every road that looked interesting.

And then there was the food… YUM!!!  Hands down our favorite place was Gianni’s Ristorante Italiano.  So much so that we ate there twice in our short trip and both times getting the Formaggio Parmigiano.  It was our first experience with authentic Italian spaghetti… they had us at Parmesan cheese wheel!

That was actually our last stop before heading to the airport for the trip back to Charlotte and back to reality.  Until we meet again; Aruba and Parmigiano – we’ll be back!

The post Our Dive Trip to Aruba… appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

You’re ready to start building your plan for cheap and free travel.  Now we need to talk about how these points programs work and get you signed up for the airline and hotel programs that will be most helpful to you.

Let’s start with the airlines.

It used to be that points earned from flying with an airline were based on the number of miles flown.  In most cases that has changed to a revenue-based scheme; spend $300 for a ticket and you earn 300 miles.

Use your co-branded credit card to purchase a ticket and you’ll earn an additional 2X to 3X miles for the purchase.  In the best-case scenario, after purchasing that flight and paying for it with the corresponding co-branded credit card, you will have earned 1,200 miles for a flight that cost $300 (900 miles for using the credit card and 300 miles for the flight).

For the major airlines, it will usually cost somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 miles for a free domestic flight.  If you’re a road warrior and racking up the miles that’s great.  But for Jill and Joe Average, it could be years before you have enough miles to get a free trip.  That’s where credit card sign-up bonuses can really kick start your travel experience but first, you need to be signed up with the various frequent flyer programs.

Everybody is familiar with the Big Three:  American, United and Delta.  Even if they don’t all fly into your local airport, I would join their frequent flyer program because you are bound to fly them sooner or later by taking a regional or cut-rate airline to one of their hubs.

In addition, each of the big three belong to one of the three airline alliances:  Star Alliance (United), oneworld (American) and Sky Team (Delta).  The further you get into The Points Game the more important these alliances become because you can book flights on one alliance airline using the frequent flyer points of another.  This literally opens up a whole new world of possibilities!

The oneworld alliance, while the smallest of the three in terms of participants, is the one I use most often.  There are a total of 13 alliance members, but the main airlines in Oneworld are American, British, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Qantas and Japan Airlines.

My go-to airline is American mainly because they serve Sarasota and Tampa well and their hubs generally take me in the direction I most frequently travel.  As a result, over the years I have flown well over half a million miles on American.

Chase offers a British Airways card, which I have had several times, and I have flown Qantas many times to Australia.  Alaska Airlines is joining Oneworld later this year, making the alliance even stronger.

Between American, BA, Alaskan and Iberia (a sister airline to BA), Lisa and I have 643,000 Oneworld miles available to us.  That means we could book flights using those points on Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Qantas to Sydney or Fiji, Royal Jordanian to Tel Aviv or Amman, or Japan Airlines to Tokyo.  Like I said, a world of possibilities.

Sky Team has more members, a total of 19, but only a few that I’m likely to use.  I used 80K Delta miles for our December trip to Europe (we scored Delta One First Class seats to Heathrow) so we’re down to 196,000 Sky Team miles on Delta and Air France.  However, I can easily see using some of these miles to book a flight on AeroMexico or KLM in the future.

Our neighbors are retiring next year and moving to Vietnam, so there may be a trip on Vietnam Airlines in our future if I can convince Lisa to go.  Other Sky Team members include Aeroflot, Alitalia, China Eastern, Korean Air and Air Europa.

With 26 members, Star Alliance is by far the largest.  Even though there are some really solid airlines in the Star Alliance like United, Swiss, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, I haven’t typically had a lot of Star Alliance points until I discovered Avianca Life Miles a couple of years ago.

Avianca is a Columbia-based airline whose credit card frequently has a killer sign-up bonus and Lisa and I both got the card (twice), giving us plenty of points to play with.  Some of the other notable airlines in the Star Alliance include Air Canada, ANA, Copa, Thai, Turkish and TAP.

I made good use of the Star Alliance when booking flights within Europe and returning from our December trip.  The river cruise we’re going on ends in Basel, Switzerland so we booked flights using Avianca miles on Austrian Airlines from there to Salzburg, Austria where Lisa has an old friend that we’re going to stay with for a few days.  The total for both of us on that one-way flight was 25K miles.

Getting home to Sarasota we’re taking a somewhat circuitous route by flying Salzburg to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Munich and Munich to Charlotte all on Lufthansa using a total of 60K Avianca miles.

For the last hop from Charlotte to Sarasota, I used a Oneworld connection by spending 20K Alaska miles to fly on American (I got lucky on that one since it’s usually 40K miles to fly on American using Alaska miles).  In total, I used 185K miles, on four airlines and two of the alliances for the two of us, and the flight going east is in first class.  That’s the power of using frequent flyer miles and airline alliances.

So, what about all the airlines that aren’t part of the three alliances?  Again, I would join the frequent flyer programs of the most prominent airlines flying through your home airport.

If the following airlines don’t fly where you are I would still join their mileage programs since there is a good chance that they will be in your flying future:  Jet Blue, Alaska, Southwest.  The first two have partner agreements with American and Southwest has proven that you can be a modestly-priced airline and still have good customer service.

OK – we’ve covered the airlines and their all-important alliances so let’s move on to the hotel chains.

We try to avoid hotels if at all possible; we much prefer to stay at Airbnb or VRBO-style accommodations and typically only stay at hotels as a last resort or if we need to overnight near the airport for an early morning flight.  That said, some hotel loyalty programs (Marriott, Wyndham, Hyatt and IHG) allow you to transfer points to airlines in addition to using them for stays.

Other programs offer a yearly free night that more than covers the cost of the annual fee for the credit card (Radisson, some Marriott cards and IHG).  There has been a lot of brand consolidation in recent years, so with the exception of Best Western, most of the major chains offer everything from cut-rate to luxury hotels.

The hotel programs work much like the airline programs; every time you stay you earn points that can be used for future stays.  Here are the major hotel chains and the links to sign-up.  There are other chains, primarily serving the luxury market, but these are the most prominent and all have affinity credit cards so you can rack up a lot of points through a sign-up bonus in addition to staying with them:

• Wyndham – At more than 9,300 hotels across 20 brands in 80+ countries, Wyndham is the largest of the hotel chains.  Wyndham Grand, TRYP, La Quinta, Ramada, Baymont, TraveLodge, Super 8, Days Inn and the iconic Howard Johnson are amongst the best-known Wyndham brands.

• Hilton – Double Tree, Waldorf Astoria, Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn, Conrad, the Curio Collection and Embassy Suites are among the 18 Hilton brands. Hilton has 6,162 properties in 118 countries and territories.

•  Marriott – With 30 brands and 7,500+ properties across 131 countries and territories, Marriott is a well-known brand to most Americans.  Their brands include The Ritz-Carlton, Residence Inn, St. Regis, Fairfield, Courtyard, W Hotels, JW Marriott, Westin, Meridien and Sheraton.

• International Hotel Group (IHG) – IHG operates in more than 100 countries globally, and has 5,895 properties under 16 brands. Holiday Inn, Kimpton, Regent, Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental and Staybridge Suites are amongst the most recognizable IHG brands.

• Best Western – A great many independent local hotels and motels looking for major brand marketing have ended up under the Best Western umbrella. With more than 4,700 hotels in nearly 100 countries worldwide under 18 hotel labels, Best Western-branded hotels include Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier, Vīb, GLō, Sadie, Aiden, and the BW Premier Collection.

• Radisson – Radisson Hotel Group is a smaller chain with eight distinctive hotel brands and more than 1,400 hotels in operation or under development around the world. Prominent brands include Radisson, Country Inn and Suites, Park Inn, Park Plaza and Radisson Blu.

• Hyatt –Hyatt Regency, Thompson Hotels, Andaz, Miraval, Joie de Vivre and their Unbound Collection are just some of the 20 brands in the Hyatt family. If some of these brands are new to you, it’s because they have been building an international presence.  The company includes more than 900 hotel, all-inclusive, and wellness resort properties in 65 countries across six continents.

One thing you need to know about how hotel brands operate is that in addition to corporate-owned properties, many are owned and managed by independent lodging companies and, outside the U.S., may not offer the same amenities.

Also be aware that if, for example, you belong to the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program and book one of their properties through Expedia, Booking.com or one of the other consolidator sites, you most likely won’t receive points for your stay.  Book through the hotel website and you’ll earn points.  Pay with the affiliate credit card and you’ll earn more points.

Your assignment before our next class:  Sign up for the American, Delta and United frequent flyer programs plus those of other airlines that fly in and out of your home airport(s) that you are likely to use.  Also sign up for the hotel programs listed above.

Remember, it doesn’t cost you a dime to sign up for these programs.  If you have a spouse or significant other, they should sign up as well since you will likely tag-team the card-issuing banks to get the most points and miles possible.

Personally, I have found the Hilton, Marriott, IHG and Radisson programs to be the most rewarding of the hotel chains, but they all can be very useful depending on where you travel.

The post Points Game 102: Airline and Hotel Loyalty Programs… appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

The more transportation, lodging, dining and entertainment options there are, the longer and more in-depth the research will be.  I don’t like to have every minute of my trip scheduled, but I like to have some structure established so I don’t waste precious vacation time.  A list of attractions, maybe some restaurant suggestions and knowing where I’m staying are enough.

Lisa and I had a trip planned for May that included five days in London and four days in the Cotswolds followed by an eight-day road trip through Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Dublin, Charlestown and Shannon, Ireland.

A total of four Airbnb’s, four airline schedules, two rental cars, numerous museums, two hotels and multiple special restaurants, breweries and distilleries had to be researched and booked.  It took us months to put it all together and then had to cancel it all because of COVID.  Heartbreaking.

There are a lot of things I could talk about regarding trip planning – and I’ll cover trip planning in general along with lodging in the future – but in this post, I want to talk about booking airline flights in particular.

Where do you start?  For a good example of how I research and plan the airline portion of a trip, see my Spring Break Trip to Maui post.

There are several good resources that allow you to plug in your preferred dates, destination, number of passengers, etc. to narrow your search to those flights that make sense for you.

What makes sense?  Well, some of it has to do with the Homework Lesson I assigned for part two of The Points Game; i.e. which local airports offer the best connections and most convenience for where you live.  For this post, we’re going to assume we’ll be paying for our tickets instead of using frequent flyer miles.

In my Spring Break Trip to Maui example, I had to consider American, United, Delta, Jet Blue, Allegiant and Frontier who all fly out of Sarasota (SRQ).  If we flew out of Tampa (TPA) I also have Spirit, Southwest, British, Copa, Alaska, Silver and Avianca as options.  I’m afraid I’m getting lazy in my old age, so I wanted to keep it simple by flying out of SRQ and I ignored my Tampa options.

I could have just gone to the website of each remaining airline on the list and do a search.  Ugh… that’s still six websites to review, copy down the schedules and airfares and then do a comparison.  Instead, I did it the easy way by first using the free version of Flight Connections to see who actually flies from SRQ to Maui (OGG) hoping to eliminate some options.

It turns out that if you combine flights on multiple airlines and you’re willing to consider two stops along the way, all of them can eventually get you to OGG.  If I limit that to one stop, only Frontier, American and United are options.

Narrowing down the options is a good way to get started and simplify the process.  Another way is to compare the relative “pain” of the many options out there.  For me, pain is defined as price and time of travel; if either of those is too high, I’m not interested.  Using one of the many airfare comparison sites or online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Hotwire, Priceline and Expedia can help you do that.

Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of booking through OTAs; I know too many people who have been burned when using them by having reservations lost, payment coupons declined, incorrect information given and efforts to get refunds on canceled reservations rewarded with a voucher that expires in a few months.

Remember, you’re not buying from the airline or hotel when you use an OTA, so you lose some of the protections afforded by booking directly through the airline.  Even travel insurance may not help you if the OTA insists on issuing a voucher instead of a refund.  So… OTAs can be useful for research, but use caution if using them to complete your booking.

You may need to search some airlines on your own.  Southwest, Allegiant, Spirit, Jet Blue and other regional or cut-rate airlines oftentimes do not allow their results to be aggregated or sold through third-party OTAs.  I get it… they want to avoid links to commission sites and sell direct.

So, if Southwest or another airline is an option where you live but aren’t listed on the OTAs, you’ll have to do that search separately (Flight Connections will probably list their destinations but you still have to look up the price on the airline site).

OTAs are essentially resellers of airline and hotel inventory and while they will generally give you schedules and prices you could find on the individual airline websites, if you book through them you won’t receive frequent flyer miles even though you will generally pay the same amount as buying directly.

Choosing a favorite comparison site is based on your individual likes and wants.  I find some visually easier to use while others make it easier to pull up the flight details; I recommend using a sample flight search and use them all until you land on one that suits your needs.

They all use filters to narrow down your selection such as number of stops, airline, price, times, trip duration, class of service, currency, connecting airports and routing (one-way, round-trip, multi-city).  Unless otherwise noted or if you specifically search for business or first-class, the results will be for the most basic economy fare.

There are quite a few airfare comparison sites, many that also provide hotel and rental car options.  Here are some of the most popular sites for you to consider; in each case, I did a search from SRQ to OGG for one person in Economy:

Google Flights:

I’m not a fan of Google Flights’ bare-bones view, but it does break out the “best” flights (presumably a combination of price, duration and number of stops) as well as allowing you to sort based on price, duration, departure time and arrival time.

You can also see the details on each segment by clicking on the down arrow next to the price.  If you click on the Date Grid it will show the price for the same flights available on adjacent dates.  Another nice feature of Google Flights is the ability to track price changes over time.

To be honest, I just don’t trust Google to not suck up all of my search info and sell it to someone else; so, while it is a decent search engine for flights, there are others I prefer.

Matrix Flights:

In addition to doing a flight search, Matrix Flights also shows prices on various OTAs.  If you intend to book through an OTA, Matrix Flights seems to find lower prices than some others.  One nice feature is that it shows prices on adjacent dates, which is great if your travel dates are flexible by a day or two.

Skiplagged:

Skiplagged loads pretty quickly and both the duration and number of stops are readily seen on the left.  However, unlike Matrix Flights, it doesn’t show alternate dates, it doesn’t allow you to search multi-city routes and it doesn’t show different fare classes; you only get basic economy fares.

However, it does show price history, which could be useful.  By hovering your cursor over the schedule, each leg of the itinerary populates, including layover times.  The only sort options are price and duration.  Skiplagged also allows you to track prices like Google Flights.

Skyscanner:

Skyscanner allows you to search by fare class as well as include nearby airports to give you broader options.  I usually do a point-to-point search first before checking nearby airports because, in my experience, it is rare for the fare to be so dramatically less to make it worth considering.

The nearby airport search may be useful if you’re using points to book because there can be significant differences depending on the routing.  By using the “Show while month” button, it supposedly shows price options for the whole month, but I’ve found this to be spotty at best and clumsy to use.  Skyscanner allows for price tracking.

Kayak:

Kayak has the usual filters including fare class, plus the ability to filter by aircraft, cabin, airline alliance and even flights that offer Wi-fi.  Clicking anywhere on the schedule brings up all the segment and layover details.

Kayak also allows you to track prices (use their app and get push notifications).  One of the things I like about Kayak is that it clearly shows the specific fare class being quoted; in this case Basic Economy.  The only negative for me is that Kayak only shows one date at a time.

Momondo:

Momondo and Kayak both run on the Booking.com engine, so they have similar filters.  However, there are two huge improvements on the Momondo site.

Price-Coded Calendar 

First, click on your date selection and a price-coded calendar (above) appears so you can see which dates will have lower prices as you conduct your search.  Once your results have populated, there is a graph (below) that shows prices for alternate dates and you can move the calendar forward and backward in two-week intervals.

The bottom line?  Skyscanner and Momondo are my two favorites.  They are both easy to use, visually appealing and easy to read and, most importantly, they provide the full scale of information I need to make a booking decision.

Let me end this post with a word about Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).  As noted above, I generally don’t trust OTAs because so many things can go wrong.  That said, sometimes there is an airfare or hotel rate that is just too good to pass up.  If you come across one of these, double and triple-check the details.

Is it refundable and under what conditions?  Do you need to present a voucher or other documentation?  If it is for airfare, you should be able to find the flights when you sign in to your account with the airline (you may need to call the airline to have them manually add it); this will allow you to choose seats and provide assurance that you actually have a booking.

For hotels, the booking will be under Expedia, Kaligo, Priceline or whatever OTA you booked through… not your name.  Whether it’s for airfare or a hotel, you still may be out of luck if you need to cancel or even if an event like COVID forces the cancellation.

YOU didn’t make the booking.  YOU didn’t make the payment.  YOU are at the mercy of the OTA to make a refund and in most cases, the fine print (you know… those pesky rules that apply to your reservation that virtually no one reads) will state that how the refund is handled is totally up to the OTA and that you may not be entitled to a refund at all or they will assess a huge fee for “handling.”  Buyer beware.

The post Resources for Booking Flights… appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

Yup… you have to do some research before you get going so that we can focus your efforts.  By understanding the how and where of your travel patterns (or how and where you want to travel) we can make sure you have the best possible plan for getting you on your way towards cheaper, more frequent and even free travel.

There are other travel blogs out there that have extensive “how-to” courses and, for the most part, they are good.  But from my time in the hospitality business, I learned that it’s important to understand what you want before you jump into action.

I had more than a few customers who checked into my Key West B&B only to either leave early or be disappointed because we weren’t what they were looking for.  I quickly learned to vet my customers to make sure my property is what they really wanted for their precious vacation time.  You need to do the same before jumping into The Points Game.

Homework Assignment #1:  Where you live can have a big impact on the airline programs you use.

Let me give you an example.  I live in Sarasota, Florida and I love my local little airport – it’s ten minutes from my house, parking is inexpensive and it typically takes ten minutes from the time I enter the terminal until I get through TSA and arrive at my gate.  What’s not to love, right?

The problem is that while SRQ is supported by eight airlines, five of them cater to Canadian snowbirds or have very limited schedules.  That leaves me with the Big Three – American, United and Delta, although newly announced Southwest Airlines schedules may be useful.

Airlines use hub locations to minimize costs and serve the most locations possible by consolidating maintenance, catering and administrative costs.  United flies from Sarasota to four hubs that allow me to grab a connecting flight going further west (Chicago and Denver) or possibly an international flight (Washington Dulles and Newark).

I have yet to fly United out of my home airport because the schedules just aren’t great.  We almost always fly American through Charlotte or Dallas or on Delta via Atlanta.

Given those limitations, why would I have a Southwest Airlines or a British Airways credit card?  As it turns out, I have both because Tampa International Airport is just a little over an hour away and I have flown on both of those airlines through Tampa.

Tampa is a great airport, but it means having to deal with traffic and the uncertainty that entails.  As a result, my total travel time increases by at least 90 minutes each way plus it takes much longer to get to my terminal and through TSA.  Realistically, though, flying through Tampa adds two hours to my travel time in each direction.

If I return late at night, do I really want to spend another hour and a half driving home?  That said, Tampa offers more options such as Southwest, British, Copa, Alaska, Norwegian and others.  The bottom line is that I have options that include over a dozen airlines and sometimes it’s worth it.

By comparison, if I lived in my hometown of Great Falls, Montana, my choices would be reduced to Alaska, Allegiant, Delta and United.  The next closest airport of any size is Missoula, which is a three-hour drive across the Continental Divide.  Missoula adds American and Frontier, but for a three-hour drive, I doubt I would consider that to be much of an alternative.

So, your first task is to pull up the website of your local airport (and any others that may be a reasonable distance away) and find out who flies there.  Most airport websites have a route map or “Where We Fly” section so you can easily see your options.

The big cities lying at the end of the non-stop routes may be hub cities for a major airline and will likely be your jumping-off point for your final destination.  The airlines taking you to hub cities are the most likely credit card candidates to pick up a bunch of free frequent flyer miles.

Homework Assignment #2:  Where in the world do you want to go? 

This is certainly related to the airlines that support your local airport but also how airlines cooperate with each other through code-share partnerships and global alliances.  We’ll get into those topics in more detail in the future, so let’s focus on the immediate question first.

Is most of your travel to see family and friends in the U.S.?  Have you always wanted to see koala bears in Australia, eat at a café along the Seine in Paris or learn to tango in Buenos Aires but figured you could never afford it?  Do you love traveling in Europe and wish you could fly business or first class?  Are you planning a special anniversary or honeymoon and have your heart set on Maui?  Is there a particular place you go back to again and again?

Make a short wish list of destinations you want to travel to.  Be bold, but honest.  While I love the almost mystical allure of the Orient, with the possible exception of Thailand my wife has zero desire to go to Asia.  On the other hand, Europe is always a favorite and there are plenty of places we have yet to see.

We also know that we like to spend some of our vacations visiting family and friends.  I have some exotic locations on my wish list including India, Antarctica, the Galapagos and going back to Morocco.  Will I ever get to them?  I don’t know but it’s a pretty good bet that if they are not on my list, I absolutely won’t experience them.

Now use your favorite flight search engine such as Matrix Flights, Kayak or Skyscanner to see what airlines pop up.  This is important.  Enter your home airport and one of your dream destinations.

How do the airline options match up with those that fly to/from your local airport?  Do the same exercise with some of the other destinations on your list.  Is there a pattern emerging in terms of the airlines that appear most frequently?  Chances are that, especially for domestic flights, you will have a handful of airlines that will be the most useful for booking future trips.  Jot down the results so we can use this list later.

Homework Assignment #3:  How do you like to travel?

When I was younger (OK – much younger), I loved camping and Lisa used to hike parts of the Appalachian Trail every year.  Those days are long gone… we don’t need luxury but we definitely prefer some basic comforts when traveling.  So, think about the conditions under which you prefer to travel.

My sister and several friends have RVs and use them regularly.  I know others who love camping in a tent under the stars and cooking over a campfire.

I also have friends who wouldn’t consider staying in anything less than the Intercontinental, Raffles or the Ritz-Carlton.  Lisa and I enjoy “going native” and hitting the local markets in order to cook some of our meals; this has meant renting one-of-a-kind places through Airbnb or VRBO.

In 2019 we did a family vacation with Lisa’s brother’s family along with my wife’s son and girlfriend.  We were all able to stay in large Airbnb properties, which cut our per-person costs while making for some great family time.  Do you have a timeshare?  Yes, many people still have them and there are ways to maximize their use.

No matter if you like roughing it or traveling in style, there are credit cards and loyalty programs to fit your unique needs.  Between my wife and I, we have credit cards for Radisson, Hilton, Marriott and International Hotels Group (IHG).  Each of these cards has an annual fee and each of these cards offers an annual free night.

The price of that free night more than covers the cost of the annual fee.  I booked a free IHG night at the New Orleans Crowne Plaza for this upcoming Memorial Day weekend – had I paid cash it would have been $192 but I saved more than $100 because my annual fee is only $89.

Once you’ve done your homework, we can start talking about the best credit cards for you.  If you never stay at a hotel, you may not want to get a hotel affinity card (although I will show you reasons to get some of these cards even though you prefer other lodging arrangements).

If your best airline options are limited, we’ll focus on those specific airlines plus credit cards that offer their own “currency” to buy airfare or lodging.

In my next post on The Points Game, we’ll start reviewing the basics of customer loyalty programs for airlines, car rentals and hotels, with a focus on which programs to join and why.

OK, let me put on my best parent voice… “Go do your homework!”

The post The Points Game 101: Do Your Homework… appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

Retiring “elsewhere” would give me the opportunity to continue exploring and get to know more people, places and cultures.  I didn’t want life to become a downward spiral with the delivery of the first Social Security check.

I had a long list of countries that interested me but, not having any particular order to follow, Belize was first alphabetically so off I went with the intent of exploring the coastal cities and the island of Ambergris Caye (pronounced “key”).

I started in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye followed by a drive south from Belize City all the way to Punta Gorda near the Guatemala border and finally made my way north through Placencia, Dangriga and finally Corozal near Mexico.

My plan was simple: mosey through each town, check out local markets and sights, talk to locals and ex-pats and generally gather impressions of the areas as I went.  Can I live here?  Does it fit the lifestyle I envision?  Is the infrastructure sufficiently advanced for me to live comfortably?  How’s the Wi-Fi?  What level of medical care is available?

This was the same approach I would use in future fact-finding trips to Panama, the US Virgin Islands and Ecuador.

When you fly into Philip Goldson airport in Belize City, transiting passengers will be met by someone from either Maya Island Air or Tropic Air, the two domestic airlines of Belize.  If you’re early enough and there is space available, they will move you to the next available flight.

My flight for the short, 15-minute hop to San Pedro was on a Tropic Air 8-passenger GippsAero GA8 Airvan.  I sat behind the pilot and took the above photo over his shoulder as we landed.  The airstrip (I find it hard to label it an airport) is nestled between a lagoon and commercial buildings and just a short walk to downtown San Pedro.

Ambergris Caye reminds me a lot of my time living in Key West – an interesting mix of high-end condos, mid-priced hotels, mostly modest homes for the locals and lots of bars, restaurants and touristy shopping.  The big difference between Key West and San Pedro is the high level of poverty.

I stayed at the Banana Beach Resort, a mid-priced property on the Caribbean side of the island about a 15-minute walk south of town.  After getting settled I started walking into town and met an affable Canadian real estate agent who agreed to show me around the next day and take me to dinner that night.  Mike also gave me some tips on where to go and what to see.

I immediately noticed that practically everything in San Pedro is either under construction, for sale or both.  There are tons of buildings that have the first floor finished and rebar sticking through the concrete roof in anticipation of adding a second floor.  At first, I thought many construction dreams come to an end at the first floor… but that wasn’t it.

You don’t start paying taxes on the building until it’s finished; never finish and you never pay taxes!  No building can be more than four floors in San Pedro proper, so it has a nice feel to it and doesn’t look like so many other resort towns filled with condo towers.  Also, no one tried to sell me beads, trinkets, sunglasses or asked for money like every cruise port I’ve ever been to.

San Pedro is primarily a tourist destination built around water activities — diving, fishing, snorkeling and the beach.  Made famous by great diving on the Belize Barrier Reef and at such sites as Shark Ray Alley and the Blue Hole, there are a wide variety of restaurants and bars for night-time activity that ensures their tourist creds.

Locals claim that San Pedro is the inspiration for Madonna’s song “La Isla Bonita.”  Why that “Spanish lullaby” would be intended to describe a town in an English-speaking country I’m not exactly sure, but I guess it makes for a good story.

Ambergris Caye is a combination of Key West 40 years ago, third-world country, tourist haven and American Wild West.  Everyone is friendly and it seems very safe, but when it comes to business and real estate you need to keep a tight grip on your wallet.

There are only a few dozen cars and trucks on the island but most transportation is by golf cart or scooter.  I rented a golf cart to check out the island, which is 25 miles from end-to-end with San Pedro on the southern end.

The three main streets in San Pedro are cobblestone and everything else is hard pack sand.  Most of the “roads” outside of SP are little more than trails with so many potholes and ruts that you can’t go above 5 to 10 mph.  I understand that additional roads have been paved in recent years, including to the northern end of the island where new resorts and condos have sprung up like weeds.

The driving rules are interesting.  Drinking and driving, I was told, is allowed, which explains a lot.  There were times I felt safer in a Bangkok tuk-tuk than driving through downtown San Pedro with tourists, bicycles and golf carts weaving in and out from every direction.  It is a tort lawyers’ dream come true – so many accidents just waiting to happen.

I drove as far north as I could before the island becomes mostly mangroves and lagoons.  At that point, the “road” was about 5 feet wide and after seeing a crocodile run across the road in front of me, I found a place to turn around.   I’m adventurous, but I have my limits.

Back in town I wandered around for a bit, did some shopping, checked out the hardware and other stores and then headed over to the central square to find a street vendor for dinner.

After checking out a couple of food carts I settled on two chicken burritos with homemade salsa from a guy who swore that he had the best food in town.  After paying a whopping $5 BZ ($2.50 USD), I had to wonder if he wasn’t right… they were fantastic and I certainly couldn’t argue with the price.

I walked down the beach in the moonlight to grab a couple of Belikins, the national beer, at Crazy Canucks Beach Bar before calling it a night.  I got there just in time for the hermit crab races and ended up staying several hours, chatting it up with three British Royal Marines who were on leave from a training exercise on the mainland.

The next day I explored the southern end of the island which, at that time, had far fewer pricey resorts and more upscale houses.  Back at the hotel I went for a swim in the warm Caribbean and soaked up some sun on a lounge chair, enjoying the sound of the ocean lapping against the sea wall.  The waves of the Caribbean were breaking on the reef in a white, frothy line about three-quarters of a mile offshore.

Mike the real estate guy and I spent the afternoon looking at condos and villas before having dinner at the hotel restaurant; a superb conch ceviche with fried plantain strips washed down by a couple of Belikins (of course).

It was about an hour and fifteen minutes for the water taxi ride back to Belize City the following day where I rented a Suzuki Jimny for the 6-hour drive to Punta Gorda.

As we pulled away from the dock we were backing into the east wind and the waves caused a number of sprays that got several of us square in the face; a bracing way to start the day.  Despite three-foot seas driven by the morning wind, the taxi sliced through them and the ride was quite comfortable.

I have been back twice to this little island paradise in the last nine-plus years since my first visit to San Pedro and there have been a lot of changes.  Hurricane Earl swept through in 2016 and created over $10 million in damage.  On the more positive side, a couple of name-brand hotels have sprung up creating more employment in both the construction and tourism industries.  I would love to get back there someday.

About the size of New Jersey, Belize has a slower, simpler lifestyle I find very attractive.  Formerly British Honduras (they achieved independence in 1981), English is the official language and although Kriol is most widely spoken, I had no problem getting information and engaging with the locals.  Fresh veggies, fruit, fish and meat are readily available and mostly raised on small farms.

The Barney Rubble internet service was (and, I’ve learned, still is) awful.  Bribery and corruption are a part of the social fabric and I heard about it from many an ex-pat.  But corruption was also rife when I was in Key West where I had to engage the “help” of natives to get building permits and ensure that inspectors did not take an overzealous interest in my property.

I’ll write a second post soon about the rest of my travels in Belize.  Next up — Punta Gorda, Placencia, Dangriga and Corozal.

The map of Belize is courtesy of Lonely Planet.

The post 8 Days in Belize… appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

I hate spending money.  It’s not that I’m a penny pincher – I’ll pay top dollar for some things – I just want to make sure I receive the absolute best deal.  That especially applies to discretionary spending like travel and explains why I really got serious about The Points Game about 10 years ago.

The quickest and easiest way to get free travel is by applying for affinity (co-branded) credit cards that give you points or miles in the related customer loyalty program.  For example, obtaining the American Express Hilton credit card to get Hilton points or the Chase Southwest Airlines card to get Southwest Rapid Rewards points.

Road warriors are very familiar with airline, hotel, credit card and rental car loyalty programs… the ability to earn points based on your spending that can be used for future travel.  But obtaining affinity credit cards goes well beyond getting free travel and may include things like:

• Baggage fee waivers
• Car rental insurance
• Extended warranties on purchases
• Complimentary hotel nights
• Airline club access
• Travel insurance
• Discounted companion tickets
• Credits for inflight purchases
• Other special privileges that just make travel easier and a whole lot more pleasant

As noted above, this section of the blog is all about how to acquire and wisely use loyalty program points.  In fact, it’s one of the main reasons I started the blog – to share these simple steps towards cheaper and better travel.  I’ve made some truly stupid mistakes playing the game and want to save you the pain of making similar blunders.

There are easy ways to pick up large amounts of points or credit card “currencies” just by getting and using your credit cards for everyday spending and I will cover this in detail.  There are a lot of other blogs that cover this information and I will share their posts when I think they cover a topic better than I can.

How does The Points Game work?  First, you can get big sign-up bonuses when applying for affinity (co-branded) credit cards.  This usually requires a minimum “spend” to get the bonus, which is typically $1,000 to $5,000 within three months of getting the card.

If the spend amount is on the lower end, that’s pretty easy for most folks by putting your utilities and daily expenses on the new card.  For cards requiring a higher spend, I wait for a time when I have a big expense coming up so that I easily meet the bonus points requirement (there are spend tips and tricks that I will also share in future posts).

For example, right now you could apply for the Citi^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® World Elite™ Mastercard^® which provides 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after $2,500 in purchases within the first three months of account opening.  There is a $99 annual fee that is waived for the first 12 months.

Citibank frequently has better offers than that, but you get the idea.  Similar cards are available for all the major airlines.  So, what can I do with 50,000 miles?

Looking at today’s award chart I chose some random round-trip tickets flying from Sarasota for the first week of August.  I can fly first class to Seattle to see my sisters (don’t worry ladies… that’s not a threat 😊).  Or I could get a ticket to Amsterdam using 34,000 miles.  Prefer something a little more tropical?  How about Cancun in business class for 40,000 miles or Maui for 30,000 miles in the main cabin?

Most card issuers also have their own rewards cards that earn points that can be either used to purchase travel directly or transferred to your favorite airline.  For our upcoming December trip to Europe, we were short of Delta miles so we transferred American Express Rewards Points to Delta for our tickets from Sarasota to London.

Second, by understanding how these cards work, you can earn more points or miles based on “category spend.”  Let me explain.  Most awards credit cards give you 1 point or mile for every dollar spent, but double, triple or even more for affinity spending.

Use your Amex Delta Airlines card for a flight on Delta and you get 2 points per dollar; use your Chase British Air card to book a BA flight and get triple points; the US Bank Radisson Premier card yields 10 points for every dollar spent at a branded property.

Many cards are currently offering double or triple points for restaurants and grocery stores to assist small businesses during the pandemic and also to ensure you keep using their cards.  During normal times, rewards cards often have other categories where your purchases add more than one point per dollar.

If I rent a car, I’m using my Citi Premier card to get 3X points.  Booking a hotel?  3X points on my Delta card.  Office supplies?  My Barclay American Aviator card gives me 2X.  Again, the point is that you can leverage multiple cards to get the most points for almost any kind of purchase.

Now a word of caution.  This game isn’t for everybody.  I would not be much of a friend if I didn’t provide this warning:

• First, if you have bad credit you will likely need to improve your score before applying for more credit cards (we’ll cover this in future posts dedicated to managing credit)
• Second, if you have a hard time managing your credit card spending you should click out of this post and ignore this part of the blog; there are big benefits to playing The Points Game, but you need to be highly disciplined and keep track of your spending.

OK – with the appropriate warnings out of the way, let’s talk a bit more about picking up points for free travel.

I currently have 17 credit cards and my wife has 11.  I can hear it now.  “Whoa!  Brian, are you insane?  Doesn’t that kill your credit?”  Actually, it has done the opposite.

When I got started playing The Points Game, my FICO score was a respectable 723; not flashy but not bad, either.  My FICO score as of yesterday was 827.  Again, I’ll discuss credit in detail in future posts but the point is that having multiple credit cards, if properly managed, can significantly enhance your score.

Also, as of yesterday, my wife and I have just under 2 million points in the various airline, hotel and credit card rewards programs.  Over the last 10 years, I have purchased over 50 round-trip tickets and all but 5 were paid for with points:

• Central and South America – 14 round-trip tickets  (Belize, Panama, Ecuador)
• Europe – 6 round-trip tickets  (Italy, Ireland, UK)
• Caribbean – 9 round-trip tickets  (US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic)
• Domestic – 24 round-trip tickets  (Hawaii, Colorado, Seattle, Maine, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama)

Even after all that travel, we still have a large number of points available for trips in 2021 and beyond.  We had a European trip booked for this past December and each of those flights, some in first class, were paid for with points.

With all the points you can earn by getting new cards and then using the best card for every purchase, what will you do with them?  Go to your dream location like Bali, Paris or Sydney?  Travel the same amount you do now but maybe fly business class and stay in luxury hotels?  Or maybe you will just see your family more often.  Jumping into The Points Game gives you options you may not have had before.

I realize you didn’t learn much about the game in this post, but I hope I have whetted your appetite for the information that is to come.

• We’ll discuss which credit cards to acquire and in which order; your FICO score (what the heck it is and how to keep it high).
• The ins and outs of the myriad points plans with an emphasis on airline, hotel and credit card rewards programs.
• The importance of freezing your Experian, TransUnion and Equifax accounts.
• The application rules for the major credit card issuers (Chase, Amex, Bank of America, Citibank, Barclay, Capitol One and US Bank).
• What points are worth and when it’s actually better to buy your ticket.
• How to get business credit cards even if you don’t technically have a business.
• And how to leverage airline alliances to buy a ticket on one airline using points from another.

At this time, make sure your seat backs are in their full upright position and your tray tables put away.  Please make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins… and get ready to travel!!!

The post The Points Game Intro: The Adventure Begins… appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.

Well, nowadays there are lots of restrictions on travel (and I’m not talking about the recent lack of international flights).  Most countries require that you have at least ninety days left on your passport when you arrive to ensure you don’t overstay your visa.

Actually, MANY countries require that your passport be valid for a minimum of six months beyond your return date.  This requires some management of your passport.  If you have a trip coming up within that six-month window, it’s time to renew your passport because it will take more than two months to get your new one.

Now, if you’re like me, you don’t want to spend a dime more for a service than you absolutely have to and that includes renewing your passport.  However, if time is of the essence there are passport facilitation services out there but they aren’t cheap; plan on adding at least another $100 to the cost of the renewal for their service and another $60 for the State Department expedited processing fee.

According to the U.S. State Department website, most people can renew by mail and it typically takes ten to twelve weeks assuming there are no problems.  Obviously, we’re not living in typical times and Covid-19 has caused not just delays in processing but a back log that needs to be overcome.

Bear in mind that a lot of folks have canceled international trips and there is a lot of pent-up demand for travel as countries open up and that will also require a lot of passport renewals.  In fact, some experts are saying that if your passport expires in the next twelve months, it’s time to renew!

Btw…  if you owe more than $2,500 in back child support or more than $53,000 in federal taxes, prepare to have your passport revoked!

The post Managing Your Passport… appeared first on My Travel Traxx | Tips, News, Reviews & Travel for Less.