Travel Tips
Personal tips for saving money and enjoying your travels more.
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Travel Tuesday: Transferring Points Between MGM Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy
Last year, MGM Resorts announced that it was breaking off its long-standing partnership with Hyatt… but then nearly immediately revealed a new deal with Marriott Bonvoy. At the time, I was hopeful that pact would mean enticing status matching as it did with Hyatt, but that sadly turned out not to be the case (MGM…
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Travel Tuesday: I Hate Southwest’s Boarding Process – But Now I’m Going to Miss It
As you’ve probably heard, Southwest Airlines is getting ready to make some big changes. This includes moving to a reserved seating model sometime in the near-ish future. In other words, the carrier will start to look a bit more like the vast majority of its competitors — and I have some thoughts on that. Look,…
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The Ultimate Road Trip: A Helpful Guide to Saving Money on the Open Road
Is there anything that says “summer” more than a good old-fashioned road trip? Whether you’re looking to experience our vast and beautiful country first-hand or just want to save a few bucks versus flying, there are many advantages to hopping in your car and hitting the open road for your next vacation. However, while road-tripping…
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My Initial Experience in the Overwhelming World of Travel Hacking
Over the past few years, my wife and I have had the good fortune of getting to enjoy an increasing amount of travel. This includes heading to domestic locations such as Los Angeles for the D23 Expo and Orlando to visiting Walt Disney World, as well as international travels to Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Heck, we…
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Travel Tuesday: The Club CLE Lounge Review
Last fall, my wife and I kicked off a multi-city excursion by flying out of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. As we arrived for our short flight to Detroit (before an extremely long flight to Hong Kong), I was surprised to find that a lounge we had access to was available at the airport: The Club…
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Travel Tuesday: Delta is Changing Its Boarding Procedures… Kind Of
As a loyal-ish Delta customer, I like to think that I have a pretty good handle on what to expect when flying the airline. This includes knowing the order of their boarding groups — and even what I’d need to do in order to move up the food chain. Well, soon, that’s all changing… at…
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Travel Tuesday: Hilton Grand Vacations Tuscany Village Orlando Review
When we returned from our trip to Hong Kong, we didn’t go back home. Instead, we headed straight to Florida for a friend’s wedding. But, with a week to spend in Orlando, we decided to try a few different places during our time there. We also happened to wait until just a few days before…
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Travel Tuesday: How I Earned $50 with MGM’s Resort Hopping Offer for Las Vegas
Last week, I attended my fourth CES in Las Vegas. Ahead of the show’s actual start, I had a chance to check out some of what was new on the Strip — or at least new to me, since I haven’t been there in 18+ months. Incidentally, something new to me happened to fall into…
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Travel Tuesday: Matina Lounge ICN Review
In the time that I’ve had my American Express Platinum Card, I had only ever visited one lounge via the Priority Pass that the card comes with — and even that wasn’t a real lounge (it was a Minute Suites where my pass got me one hour for free and a discount on the second).…
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Travel Tuesday: Using Octopus Card on Apple Wallet in Hong Kong
If you’ve ever been to Hong Kong, you’ve probably seen a logo that looks reminiscent of the infinity symbol. You may have spotted it at a convenience store, grocery store, train station, or even a vending machine. This logo actually represents the city’s Octopus card system — which, as I alluded to, is not only…
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Travel Tuesday: Amex Centurion Hong Kong Lounge Review
Even though I’ve been an American Express Platinum cardmember since 2019, prior to last month, I had only been to three Centurion Lounge locations: LAS (multiple times), PHL, and CLT. That’s partially because my travel took a bit of a dip soon after gaining my card (for obvious reasons) and also because my Delta loyalty…
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Travel Tuesday: Alaska Airlines is Offering a Status Match Challenge to Delta Elites
A few weeks back, Delta announced numerous changes impacting their most loyal customers. While I personally focused on the SkyClub entry rules and restrictions that are on the way, the adjustments made to the SkyMiles program were arguably even more disruptive. Not only did the airline move to a model that’s based purely on Medallion…