Posts with a Crew: why I didn’t spend $9,144.92, how I got us 16 hours in Rome for free, the Top 10 miles and points tools and more!

This has been a crazy week.  As a “featured blogger” on Boarding Area this week, I have tried to post more often to take advantage of the increased readers.  I hope that you’ve enjoyed the week – I’ve had fun, but I might go take a nap this afternoon 😀

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Featured stories

Why I didn’t spend $9,144.92 on my vacation: A listing of our travel expenses for our recent trip to Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone.  It’s amazing what miles and points can do for you

How I got us 16 extra hours in Rome… for FREE! – the magic of an involuntary schedule change by American let me change our flights to get us an extra 16 hours in Rome!

You might be interested in my Rank of the Top 10 miles and points tools, as well as the top miles and points tools honorable mentions

The big news of the week was that the Amtrak Guest Rewards 2.0 details were leaked – it’s bad news.  We later did some sleuthing to figure out which bank is (probably) going to issue the new Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card.

Family Travel

• Simple trick to find hotels along a route – there are a few hotel chains that let you search for rooms in cities along a given driving route
• Ranking the 8 hotels we stayed at on our vacation – on our recent stay, we stayed 9 nights across 8 hotels in 5 different brands across 3 different chains (Hyatt, IHG and Choice).  Find out which hotel we ranked #1
• The comprehensive guide to Amtrak: everything you need to know
• Trying to plan a European airport lounge strategy
• Every Kid in a Park – FREE national park access for families – If you have a child going into the 4th grade, you are eligible for a new program that gives FREE entry into EVERY National Park!
• When hotel day rooms make sense and how to find them

Miles, Points and Credit Cards

• My first forays into trying to resell gift cards
• 100 Free Marriott points – takes 10 seconds – great way to extend the life of your Marriott points!
• Citi reconsideration phone number and website
• Making sure you are getting the best credit card offer
• Current credit card signup rules and best practices
• Planning my next credit card signup – it’s time to signup for 4 cards I’ve got my eye on!
• SPG Amex 30K offers for personal and business cards
• REMINDER: 30,000 Club Carlson points for any stay
• Alaska Airlines status match: MVP Gold 75K status without ever flying a mile

News and Notes

• 2 #giveaways, a Singapore award sweet spot, #ChildFreeFlights, tax ripoffs, back to school shopping and more
• Planning a #Cincinnati / Southwest Ohio miles and points meetup – we’ve already got at least 7 people coming, so if you are looking for an in-person hangout to talk miles and points, make sure to sign up!
• Well how long would it take YOU to hike 58 mountains? – keeping travel expenses down, fighting lack of Hyatt award availability, a nightmare Frontier experience, and the Alaska / Emirates relationship

If you’re still up for more travel reader, here’s last week’s recap: 8 headlines you might have missed – Best Western card, 500 free miles at 2 different places, a multi-date search for IHG and Google Maps Transit on steroids