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How Your Love of Shopping Can Benefit Your Love of Travel

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I am a person who always wanted to learn how to obtain the perks that a frequent flyer enjoys. I thought that these perks were out of reach for me because I don’t fly frequently. I don’t have a job that requires me to travel a lot. During my entire working life, I have only had to fly for work two times! So far this post sounds like a downersad but what I discovered was that frequent flyer privileges can be obtained by anyone who can harness the power of the points game.

While many have learned how to leverage credit card sign-on bonuses to their advantage this particular post will be focused on using the shopping portals of major airlines. When I discovered how to receive miles through online shopping I was hooked.

Because airlines such as American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, British Airways, Delta, and United all have shopping portals. When you make online purchases through their portals at your favorite retailers you receive miles on your airline reward account.

Unquestionably my favorite shopping portal is Southwest. But I have accounts with Delta, American, and British Airways as well. When I want to make an online purchase at a retailer, I check to see how many miles per dollar spent each portal is offering for that retailer and go with the portal offering the most miles. If they are all offering the same number of miles then I go with the account that has the most points in it. The goal is to top off the account closest to qualifying for an award flight.

Example: I want to purchase something at Macy’s. I check all the portals for how many points per dollar they are offering at Macy’s. I see Southwest is offering 7 miles per dollar spent at Macy’s. I sign on to Southwest Rapid Reward Shopping portal. I select Macy’s. It takes me to the Macy’s website. I complete my purchase on the website and it is registered with Southwest. I receive 7 miles for every dollar spent with Macy’s in my Southwest Rapid Rewards account.

In order to use these portals, you need to have a frequent flyer account prior to registering on the shopping portal. Obtaining frequent flyer loyalty numbers are free and don’t require a flight so there is nothing stopping you. Go get your miles!

SIDE NOTE: THIS IS ALSO A GREAT WAY TO KEEP MILES FROM EXPIRING.

American Airlines

Southwest 

Delta

British Airways

United

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Savvy Travel Girl

Hello I am a single mother of four who travels the world on a budget. My hope is to inspire others to travel and live their best life. To date I have traveled to 13 countries on a modest budget.

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Why You Can’t Ever Find a Travel Deal: Finding a Cheap Flight

Disclosure: This post contains a link, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a credit if you click through and register with Airfordale. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and I receive no compensation other than that disclosed. 

"I can't ever find a travel deal!" I hear this all the time. People frequently ask me how I am able to travel so much. The short answer is I know where to look for a flight bargain. The way I like to book my travel is to purchase flights first and then build my trip around the ticket that I have purchased. Where do I find these flight deals? I subscribe to several travel newsletters. The three I read religiously and on a daily basis are secret flying, thrifty traveler, and the flight deal. Once you locate a flight deal you have to act quickly because airfares aren't guaranteed until booked. Access to these newsletters allowed me to purchase roundtrip fare from Atlanta to Tokyo for $554. 

Let's say you find a flight but don't have all the cash to purchase the ticket and don't want to put it on a credit card you can use a service like airfordable to put the ticket on layaway. I have used this service many times and I have never had any problems. 

I like to search for the advertised airfare using Momondo or Skyscanner make sure that you search using an incognito tab or that you clear your cookies because cookies will affect the price of airfare on all sites if you have searched the same route several times. 

Once you find your flight you can use the tools I discussed here to book your lodging. 

 

 

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5 Things To Always Include When You Pack A Carryon


Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash

Five things to always include in your carryon are as follows:

  1. Water Bottle– Always carry an empty water bottle with you. Once you get through the security check-point fill it up. This will save you from dying of thirst on the plane while waiting for drink service to begin.  You will also avoid absorbent airport water prices.

  2. A change of clothes and underwear– This is only applicable on long haul flights. If you get to your destination and find your luggage didn’t arrive you still have at least one day of clothing to wear while you hunt down your checked baggage.

  3. A good quality reusable bag– I like to take a reusable bag folded up in my pocket or somewhere in my carryon luggage. This comes in handy when you get to the airport scale and find out your checked baggage is too heavy. Just take a couple of items out of the checked luggage and you can place them in your handy reusable bag.  This bag also comes in handy when you purchase too much stuff in dutyfree and it can’t fit inside your carry on. I like to purchase my reusable bags from Marshall’s or Ross. They fold very well and last a long time and at only $1 it is a steal.

  4. Trail mix– Bring trail mix or some sort of snack that travels well and is non-perishable. Once I was on a flight with no meal service. I did not eat before I got on the flight. Once I got to my destination the weather made it impossible to land. Our plane was rerouted to the alternate airport to wait out the storm. The food service at the alternate airport was already closed. I was hungry and tired and it was on this day that I developed tip number 4!

  5. Your camera- ALL expensive electronic equipment should be placed in your carryon.  I would think that #5 is self-explanatory but I was on a South African safari once and a fellow tourmate had placed her camera in her checked bags. Needless to say, she made it to South Africa but her camera did not! This tourmate is also the reason I implemented tip# 2. 

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5 Travel Essentials You Shouldn’t Be Without

Photo by Boxed Water Is Better on Unsplash

The first step to becoming a renowned world traveler is having the right tools. I have compiled a list of 5 Travel Essentials You Shouldn't Be Without. (thank me later)

1. Tripcase-

Tripcase is a travel app that serves as a sort of virtual suitcase for all your reservations. I love this app because it is practical.  Have you ever been waiting to check in somewhere and can’t find your confirmation number? You sit there digging through 50 million emails trying to find it? Yes I know you can sort and highlight emails but somehow mine always get lost or deleted etc etc….You get the picture. Well, Tripcase holds all your reservations for you. When you get your confirmation email you forward it to tripcase who keeps track of it.  When you forward flight confirmations it even alerts you of flight delays etc. (the alert part needs some work. I get flight delay alerts but always after I already found out via other means.)

    

2. Award Wallet-

I have a subscription to Award Wallet because I need someone to keep up with all my frequent flyer and loyalty points info. Awardwallet is very useful. It helps keep track of all those member numbers as well as activity and expiration dates. When points are about to expire it will send you an alert. 

3. Newsletters-

 Access to the following newsletters has made me the traveler I am today. 
THRIFTY TRAVELER, TRAVELZOO, SECRET FLYING, THE FLIGHT DEAL, and SHERMANS TRAVEL. Why would someone need access to all these newsletters? So you will know how to spot a deal. I scan these newsletters every day. I pick my travel locations because of these newsletters. When I see a flight to Tokyo for $500 I know that is a deal. Why do I know the flight is $500  because I read these newsletters! You can sign up for all these newsletters for free albeit I subscribe to the premium edition of Secret Travel. 

 

4. Space Bags for Travel-

After trying a couple of different brands I prefer ZipLoc Space Bags. (no all space bags are not created EQUAL)These things are a must! I honestly did not know how much I needed these bags until I had to fit 14 days worth of clothing into one suitcase!

 

5. Guidebooks-

I have tried a couple of different guidebooks and I prefer Rick Steves guidebooks. His books are usually only good for locations in Europe. I have perused  Lonely Planet and Frommer’s Guidebooks and I am not impressed.  What I really want to see is a guidebook geared towards black and brown People. Maybe I will write one.

 

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