Miles and Points, Guitar

1. If you live near Rite Aid, you may want to read this post on The Deal Mommy. There is a potential to get a free 1-week vacation rental (flexibility on dates required) after you buy $250 worth of certain products. There are hoops to jump through, and I don’t know how all of this will work in reality. But it certainly could be lucrative as long as you play it right.

2. If you book by January 11th, you can get 5% cash back on your Marriott reservation made through Topcashback (my link). (h/t Millionmilesecrets)

3. I got an email from Virgin Atlantic saying  that through January 22nd, you can get a 25% discount on economy seats redemptions. Valid through the end of schedule. The miles transfer from Membership Rewards, SPG (takes a few days) and Ultimate Rewards. In spite of fuel surcharges, this could be a very good deal, especially for summer travel.

The taxes on outbound flights are not terrible. For example, Orlando-London route will run 22,500 miles (before discount) and $130 in  taxes, per one-way economy ticket. If you live near an airport served by Virgin Atlantic, I do recommend you at least look into it. Availability is usually very good.

1. New list of SPG Hot Escapes, valid over next 6 weeks. (h/t Loyalty Lobby)

2. The sign-up bonus on all 3 Southwest cards has been increased to 50,000 points. The only one that pays me commission is the Premier version that comes with $99 annual fee (not waived). You can find the other cards’ links, including business version on Southwest.com (h/t Millionmilesecrets)

3. Amazing saver level award availability via Delta on select partner routes, though it may not be there by the time you read this post.

On my mind

This is a story of how I almost stole $5 from a poor Mexican vendor. So, a couple of years ago, we took my parents on a cruise and stopped in Cozumel. We paid for a tour of the island, including San Gervasio Mayan ruins and had about an hour to kill before leaving for our next tourist attraction.

The guide told us to go ahead and do some shopping in the local plaza. And so we did. My husband took my daughter to some stores, and when he brought her back, she had a little guitar in her hand.  I forgot to ask about it, and before I knew it, he was by the bus motioning for me to come. I yelled back and said I just needed a few more minutes to take my kids to the bathroom. I also pointed to the guitar and asked if he paid for it. He nodded in agreement and gave me thumbs up.

After the kids were all set, we headed towards the bus. Out of the blue, this lady runs after me and starts talking to me in broken English: “Guitar, guitar! Pay for guitar! Only $5.” I told her my husband already paid for it and she just shook her head emphatically and kept saying No. I didn’t want to fight, so I just handed her $5.

When I got on the bus, I told my husband how I just got ripped off. He had no clue what I was talking about. Apparently, he never noticed or paid for guitar. I asked him why he was nodding his head in agreement when I asked him about it. He told me he just wanted me to come and couldn’t hear what I was asking him. So he just said Yes.

Men. You can’t live with them… you just can’t live with them!

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