As I mentioned last week, Milepoint is giving away an iPad every day in the month of March. To be eligible for the drawing each day, all you have to do is register for the site which is quick and easy. So far iPads have been won by the following members of milepoint.com: Kagehitokiri Raffles dcpatti IMGone joanek Marty McFry Jaimito Cartero fuseli joediver Sean Colahan Randy Petersen announced mid-stream that it’ll be iPad 2‘s being given out, not just the older iPads everyone was expecting. And there’s still about 25 iPads left to win. The earlier you register the more chances to win.
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2011.
In and Around Singapore
Touring Singapore: This is a Continuation of “Trip Report – A Private Jet Experience: Alone in First Class on ANA and Thai, Plus Singapore First, a Suite, a Villa, and Some Incredible Food Porn” Past installments:Prologue: The decision-making and booking process Washington Dulles – Chicago in United First Class and the Greatest Airport Hotel Ever, the Intercontinental O’Hare Alone in First Class on ANA, Chicago-Tokyo Singapore Airlines First Class, Tokyo-Singapore JetQuay Planeside Pickup in Singapore Intercontinental Singapore Ambassador Suite I wasn’t to bed until nearly 4am, the internet wasn’t working properly in my room and I needed to have the outsourced company that manages it for the hotel reset the connection. I had somehow gotten frozen out of my work server, and even after getting the internet going I still needed to get on Skype,…
There’s Actually Good Mexican Food in the DC Area. In a Gas Station.
Yesterday, Tyler Cowen blogged about R&R Tacqueria, the deli attached to the Shell gas station at 7894 Washington Blvd. in Elkridge, Maryland. Yes, seriously. Blogged about a deli attached to a gas station. Since Tyler is for all intents and purposes my boss, I naturally had to go check it out today. (No, seriously, it turns out that I needed to be in Laurel, Maryland just before lunch time, so it was perfect happenstance.) Tyler wrote: It is the best huarache I have eaten, ever, including in Mexico. It is the best chile relleno I’ve had in the United States, ever. They serve among the best Mexican soups I have had, ever, and I have been to Mexico almost twenty times. I thought he was exaggerating, that it would be good in a “hey, I…
Intercontinental Singapore Ambassador Suite
(This is a Continuation of “Trip Report – A Private Jet Experience: Alone in First Class on ANA and Thai, Plus Singapore First, a Suite, a Villa, and Some Incredible Food Porn”) After departing the JetQuay terminal, our driver took us to the hotel. He took a moment to call them and let the property know we were on the way. I sort of expected that would mean they would know who we were as we walked into the property, but that wasn’t the case. On arrival I walked into the hotel lobby. The entrance is to a small area with a bell desk and check-in desks, a rather unimpressive area. Off to the right you’ll find the full lobby of the hotel which is far nicer. It was after 2am and I was looking…
JetQuay Planeside Pickup in Singapore
(This is a Continuation of “Trip Report – A Private Jet Experience: Alone in First Class on ANA and Thai, Plus Singapore First, a Suite, a Villa, and Some Incredible Food Porn”) My wife’s parents are taking a cruise next month in Asia, and they begin their trip in Singapore. They’re not seasoned international travelers and I’ve wanted everything to go as smoothly for them as possible. I have them booked in Cathay Pacific First Class to Singapore via Hong Kong using Alaska Airlines miles, and decided to have them picked up and taken to their hotel, the Intercontinental Singapore. I chose the Intercontinental because the best bang for buck for someone without status, at least when I booked for them, was the Intercontinental friends and family rate for a club level room. Now, if…
Singapore Airlines First Class, Tokyo – Singapore
(This is a Continuation of “Trip Report – A Private Jet Experience: Alone in First Class on ANA and Thai, Plus Singapore First, a Suite, a Villa, and Some Incredible Food Porn”) Last weekend I began a trip report on my recent mileage redemption vacation to South Asia. Here’s my flight to Chicago, and the greatest airport hotel I’ve ever stayed in, the Intercontinental O’Hare. And here’s my flight in All Nippon First Class where we were the only ones in the forward cabin. After landing in Tokyo we headed over to the ANA “Suites Lounge” nearest to the Singapore gate. First it was through transit security, where we were asked to show boarding passes for our onward flight. I was happy to have printed my Singapore boarding pass at the Intercontinental O’Hare before departing…
BankDirect Mileage Earning Program Changes and Improved Signup Bonus
I’m a big fan of BankDirect, I’ve written about it in the past such as here, they’ve hosted my primary checking account since July 2003. I’ve found the customer service excellent and the value proposition compelling. I get 100 American Airlines miles for every thousand dollars of average balance each month, which in a low interest rate environment is a pretty good rate of return (and unlike Citibank, they don’t 1099 the miles). As long as I keep an average balance of $2500 in the account I’m avoiding fees. They reimburse my out-of-network ATM fees and give me postage-paid envelopes for mailing in deposits. Yesterday I received a letter explaining changes to their program. They’re capping mileage earning for some very large depositors (hint: it won’t affect me at all!) and they’re upping their new…
Earn 18 US Airways Miles Per Dollar for Travel Purchases
Booking Buddy is a participant in the US Airways Skymall portal and they are offering 18 miles per dollar spent. Not sure how I missed this a couple of weeks back, other than that I was in the air enroute back from Asia when it was posted on Milepoint. A $500 ticket is worth 9000 US Airways miles. As Keri pointed out to me, a W (systemwide upgrade-eligible) fare on United to Sydney for $1300 will get you enough miles for a free domestic coach ticket. BookingBuddy is a free service designed to help travelers search all their favorite travel websites with fewer clicks and in less time. And restrictions? There aren’t any: Restrictions There are no restrictions at this time. The site offers air, hotel, and car reservations. It’s hard to imagine earning 18…
Marriott Comes Forward with List of Hotels Changing Award Categories on March 8
I gave Marriott a very hard time over the weekend for announcing that hundreds of properties would be going up in rewards category, requiring more points, on March 8 — but not telling us which ones. Loyalty Traveler reports that Marriott has made good and announced which properties will be moving up (and which will be moving down). He’s got the full list. Making these details available less than a week before the price changes doesn’t really satisfy me, but it’s still huge progress, in the recent past Marriott hasn’t announced which hotels would change categories in advance at all. Let’s hope they keep this precedent, and provide more notice going forward as well.
Free Award Wallet Premium for New Registrants
I’ve reviewed the various mileage management tools in the past, mentioned my favorites here on this blog and in various media, and the one that I use is Award Wallet. Now, there are certainly others on the scene, the folks at Mileage Manager have a tool that helps you find award seats for redemption and will keep checking the websites of your programs to let you know when seats open up. And Using Miles is a new service that I’ve heard good things about and may have promise, but I really haven’t fully vetted yet. But as I say, I’ve been happiest to date with Award Wallet. They have a free service that tracks the balances on all of your accounts, and their coverage across programs is really extensive even including the rental car and…
