Archive for the ‘travel’ Category

Getting annual fees waived on travel rewards credit cards

Friday, November 8th, 2013

Over the years I’ve only had one credit card that had an annual fee, it was a middle tier Citibank card and the fee was $50. A few times I called to try to get it waived, but never had any luck. At the time it was the only credit card I had that was tied to an airline rewards program, and I wanted to keep it so I always just paid the fee.

I’ve followed The Art of Non Conformity website for years, and anyone who follows the site knows that Chris is a full time travel hacker, earning hundreds of thousands of free miles each year by working credit card travel rewards systems. I’ve never been that ambitious, but last year I decided to upgrade my cards and see what I could do. I didn’t go crazy, but I did decide to finally close the other card I […]

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The Driver

Tuesday, July 9th, 2013
The tuk tuk driver

The tuk tuk driver

We had arrived in Bangkok a couple days earlier, but clearly we didn’t do our homework. With our first class sleeper tickets booked and in hand, but only 40 minutes left to get to Hualamphong Station, things weren’t looking good. The original plan was simple, leave the hotel an hour beforehand and walk over to the roadside near Democracy Monument where we were certain we’d be able to find a cab for the five kilometer ride to the station. At the time it had seemed foolproof, and as we now rounded the corner from our hotel and saw some open cabs sitting in the traffic, we thought we were in the clear.

It was our first time in Thailand and we were heading south to Koh Phangan for the New Year’s Eve Full Moon Party. To make the […]

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A week in Florida, and finally getting to do the drive through the Keys from Miami to Key West

Sunday, March 11th, 2012
Smather's Beach, Key West

Smather’s Beach, Key West

It’s starting to seem like visits to the tropics are becoming regular occurrences, and I certainly can’t complain about that! After 3 weeks in Costa Rica over the holidays, we recently returned from a week in South Florida. A cousin got married in Miami, and while normally these wedding jaunts back East are whirlwind travels, this time we decided to take our time and spend 6 nights there; 3 in the Keys, and 3 in Fort Lauderdale. [Note: weddings or other family gatherings are perfect events to turn into mini vacations!]

We flew into Miami on a red eye, picked up our rental car, and headed south to the Florida Keys, destination Key West, southernmost point in the Continental US. This drive through the Keys is one that I’ve been looking forward to for years, so having […]

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A Reminder About Living Life

Friday, January 13th, 2012
Life is Good in Costa Rica

Life is Good in Costa Rica

It’s somewhat sad to say, but I’m officially back at home and back to the grind again after an awesome three weeks in Costa Rica. But as with all trips, there are always lessons learned while traveling that can be remembered after returning to normal life at home.

One of the best things about traveling, aside from the obvious excitement of experiencing new places and cultures, is the simple act of taking a breather from life. It’s always eye opening to be able to simply walk away from the chaos and the routine of life at home, and to get back to simply living, if only even for a few days. To be able to wake up and have nothing more to do for the day than to relax, to eat good food, […]

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Saying goodbye Koh Phangan and heading west to Krabi and the island of Koh Phi Phi

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

(This is entry #6 from Thailand Trip (see entries #1, #2, #3, #4, #5))

Krabi Town Night Market

Krabi Town Night Market

JANUARY – From the Haad Tian resort on the island of Koh Phangan it’s just a 15 or 20 minute drive along the southwest coast to get to the Thongsala pier. After a great five nights on Koh Phangan, we had an early wake up so we could catch our ride down to the pier. Our goal was to head across the mainland to Krabi on the west side of Thailand, from where we would then hopefully travel on to Koh Phi Phi and perhaps Railey, depending how our time in Krabi and Phi Phi went. Knowing that after New Year’s there would probably be a mass exodus off the island, we decided to go ahead and buy our boat/bus tickets all the […]

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Riding the Amtrak from San Diego to Portland

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
View from Amtrak south of Santa BarbaraView from Amtrak south of Santa Barbara

JUNE 24 – I had previously taken the Amtrak from San Diego to New York City, and though it was a long and uncomfortable trip riding in coach, it didn’t change my view on traveling by train. Since then, I have always wanted to make the trip up the West Coast by Amtrak. I would have loved to go all the way to Seattle, but as it happened, we were planning a trip to Portland, Oregon, so only going as far as Portland would have to do. So it was settled, we booked one way coach Amtrak tickets to Portland, and then booked our return flights on Southwest. Incidentally, the total price for train plus one way airfare came to within $5 of what round trip airfare would have cost, so […]

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Koh Phangan after New Years

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Entry #5 from Thailand Trip (see entries #1, #2, #3, #4 and #6)

Relaxing in Koh Phangan after New Years

Relaxing in Koh Phangan after New Years

After a fun night at the New Year’s Full Moon Party, we finally decided to call it quits around 2AM. We weren’t sure how we were going to get back to the other side of the island, but we had a hunch we may be able to catch a ride with the truck that had dropped us off. From our hotel, they were doing runs to Haad Rin every hour until 1 or 1:30 to drop people off, and we hoped we’d see the truck and be able to catch a lift back to the hotel, and save us the trouble of finding a ride. From Haad Rin back to to the Haad Tian Resort it was a […]

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New Year’s Eve Full Moon Party, Koh Phangan

Friday, December 24th, 2010

As New Year’s 2010 approaches, I’m finally getting around to posting about New Year’s 2009 on Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party!

Entry #4 from Thailand Trip (see entries #1, #2, #3, #5 and #6)

Ao Chalok Lam bay, Koh Phangan

Ao Chalok Lam bay, Koh Phangan

We finally made it to Koh Phangan after a night of traveling from Bangkok. Then, after wading through the chaos at the ferry port we found our ride and eventually made it to the Haad Tian Beach Resort on the North West part of the island. By songthaew (truck that a bunch of people sit in the back of) it was about about a 25 minute drive, part of which was spent picking up a bunch of other people who were heading the same way, and the last portion of which was quite bumpy coming down a windy […]

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