It’s a new month, and that means potentially more transfer bonuses from bank points/miles to airlines and hotels. Sometimes, these bonuses can help make expensive awards more reasonable (like my flight to Asia I booked last month with the help of a Chase 25% transfer bonus to Flying Blue). December Transfer Bonuses American Express: 30% […]

In 2017, my kids and I traveled on the Amtrak California Zephyr train from San Francisco to Denver in a sleeper car (see my post here). Since then, my kids have repeatedly asked for another overnight train trip. We finally made that happen when we traveled on the Amtrak Texas Eagle from Chicago to Dallas […]

Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Overbooked, Guests Left Behind: This is not the first time that Royal Caribbean has overbooked a cruise. But, in the past, guests were notified in advance of arriving at the port. These guests didn’t find out until they arrived at the port to embark. See this post on Cruise Hive. Redefining […]

I traveled to Chicago with my two younger kids last week for a short trip before Thanksgiving. We had a lot of ideas on what to do during our short visit. Here is what we accomplished. Magnificent Mile Lights Festival We didn’t plan on this activity, but the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival parade happened to […]

Last week, I went on a quick 3-night trip with two of my kids to Chicago. I booked a Regency Club room at Hyatt Regency Chicago for just 14,000 World of Hyatt points a night (off-peak rate). Overall, we had a great experience at the hotel and found it to be a tremendous value on […]

I’ve been inspired to start exploring countries in Asia, as some of you may remember from my previous post. Of course, I’d love to spend a few weeks exploring multiple destinations. But, due to my family’s schedule, I’m going to compromise with a shorter trip with just me and my daughter next fall. To maximize […]