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Circumnavigating the Globe

by Brian on August 6, 2014 in Travel

It took us almost four years to drive our motor home from the East Coast of the U.S. to the West Coast. We didn’t set out with a specific goal to drive across the continent. We just started heading west, connecting one cool-looking destination with another. 43 months later we arrived on the West coast having seen most everything we wanted to see in the United States. In March 2014, we flew off to Europe.

Having spent four years crossing North America it seems a little insane that it will take us less than one year (354 days to be exact) to circle the globe. But that’s precisely what our current plans have us doing.

Europe, a Tour for All Your Senses

by Brian on August 4, 2014 in Travel

What makes this style so distinctively French? A certain je ne sais quoi!

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: we’re at a dinner party with some Russians, Germans, French and Dutch when the parrot asks an intriguing question.

Ok, the parrot didn’t ask this particular question, but I had to work the parrot in somehow. Surprisingly he was not part of the menu.

A Roman Coliseum in Nimes, France

by Brian on August 1, 2014 in Europe, France

The Arena de Nimes was built around 70 A.D.

Don’t Wait for the Louvre

by Brian on July 30, 2014 in Travel

An ordinary day at the Louvre. Photo Guia Besana for The New York Times

“One cloudy afternoon this month, the line to enter the Louvre stretched around the entrance pyramid, across one long courtyard and into the next,” according to yesterday’s New York Times article about the ever increasing crowds at premier art museums. Scenes like that are why we regretfully decided not to revisit the Louvre on our most recent trip to Paris.

The Times focuses mostly on worries that such large crowds may start damaging the artwork. It goes without saying that these crowds also routinely ruin what is supposed to be a peaceful and contemplative experience for visitors. But they don’t have to. There are ways to beat the crowds.

How to Save 20% or More on Hotels

by Brian on July 28, 2014 in How To, Travel, Travel Tips

(Update: The Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal no longer offers bonus points for booking through Hotels.com)

I’m writing this partly as a Public Service Announcement for our readers and partly as a reminder to myself to stop being so stupid. Hopefully putting this down in pixels will help me get my head out of me bum, although that might be asking a lot.

So what’s got me so ticked? Before I get to that, I need to fill in some background first.

If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, and you probably should if you do a fair amount of traveling (to see why check out our Best Reward Card for Travelers article) and if you book lodging with Hotels.com (which you should at least consider for reasons we’ll explain momentarily), it’s possible to use the two together to get discounts and benefits totaling more than 20% of the cost of your hotel. It’s also possible to book the same hotel and not get those benefits, which is partly what I’ve done a couple of times now. And I’d really like to stop doing that.

So here’s how you can learn from my mistake and save 20% or more on lodging.