ATX Fun — Austin-San Antonio Fun, Travel & Educational Opportunities
How Austinites Can Have Fun, Travel Cheap, Learn Something, Save Money and Enjoy Life!
http://www.secretflying.com/2016/05/miami-san-francisco-istanbul-turkey-468-roundtrip/
Istanbul, Turkey, sits on the border of Europe and Asia. The people are friendly, the city is fascinating and English-only speakers will not have difficulty being understood.
Fly from New York to Sofia, Bulgaria for only $344 round-trip November to March.
http://www.secretflying.com/2016/05/error-fare-new-york-sofia-bulgaria-344-roundtrip/
Fly on Brussels Airlines and/or Bulgaria Air.
Sofia is a beautiful city, long hidden from Western travelers until the collapse of the Soviet Union.
http://www.secretflying.com/2016/05/mega-post-us-cities-dublin-ireland-427-roundtrip/
Winter travel, from a variety of U.S. cities, on Air Canada, Lufthansa or United.
While you may not want to spend a lot of winter days in Dublin, remember that it is the hub city for ultra-low-cost Ryanair. Ryanair flies to numerous European destinations, sometimes for just a few dollars per ticket plus miscellaneous add-on fees.
This blog post has the information.
Flights: Texas Cities to Europe $560-$740 r/t – UA / AA + Alliance Partners
Both American Airlines and United Airlines are participating, unknown if Delta will follow.
Earlier today there were reports that American Airlines has opened up lots of award availability for Business Class travel to Europe.
This sale is only good today until about 1 PM Eastern time.
Departing Germany, Vienna and Zurich, arriving Chicago and New York.
Best bet: Fly to Europe on WOW, return on AirBerlin.
Available next month, fly from San Francisco to Liberia, Costa Rica for just $329.58 round-trip.
http://www.secretflying.com/2016/05/san-francisco-liberia-costa-rica-329-roundtrip/
Costa Rica has volcanoes, coffee plantations, native tribes and beautiful beaches. If you venture up to San Jose be prepared for cool nights, due to the altitude.
Book on the United Airlines website. Other airlines may match from other United States cities.
Scott Grimmer has put together a helpful summary of the credit card application rules of the major banks.
http://www.milevalue.com/issuing-banks-rules-for-approvals-and-new-bonuses/
Credit card issuers like American Express, Barclay, Bank of America and Citi give large bonuses for new holders of some of their credit cards, but each has its own rules for how often those bonuses can be received.
Scott’s post lists those rules.
Scott Grimmer of MileValue has put together a good summary of the current credit-card application rules for the important banks.
http://www.milevalue.com/issuing-banks-rules-for-approvals-and-new-bonuses/
Many frequent-flyers know about Chase bank’s 5/24 rule (no more than 5 new credit cards in 24 months), but not everyone remembers the rules of American Express, Bank of America, Barclay and Citi.
Wells Fargo issues a few credit cards of little importance, and they are not included in the blog post.
I carry an inordinate number of gadgets and cables when I travel. Camera(s), phone, tablet & laptop (yes, both), cables and chargers…it all adds up.
This blog post has a handy list that I plan to use for my next international trip (to Iceland).
My tablet is an iPad Mini set up for T-Mobile, and it has a Simple Choice account which provides unlimited (but slow) internet data in almost every nation in the world. The T-Mobile account costs only $20 per month.
For voice I use a Republic Wireless phone.
You need some Amex Membership Rewards points to convert to Etihad miles to use on Brussels Airlines.
You have to call in to Etihad to get this done, but it’s a heckuva deal!
You must be logged in to post a comment.