Get A 1,500 Point Bonus From La Quinta!

La Quinta which is combining with Wyndham very soon just launched a new perks program called Redeem Away. Redeem Away is a twist on the shopping portal idea. And right now, the program will give you a 1,500 point bonus for enrolling. 1,500 points appears to be enough to cover the cost of a cup of coffee. 
So how does it work? From the Redeem Away website, here are the steps to take. I did it this morning and it took less than five minutes. By the way, the 1,500 bonus was credited to my account immediately. 

Step 1: 
La Quinta Returns members enroll in Redeem Away! by linking a U.S.-issued Visa credit card and U.S. mobile phone number to their Returns account.

Step 2: Make a qualifying purchase at an eligible merchant with that linked Visa credit card.

Step 3:Reply “YES” to the SMS notification inviting you to redeem your points for your most recent qualifying purchase. You have up to 12 hours to respond “YES” to an SMS notification invitation. Furthermore, you can only redeem points for the qualifying purchase for which you most recently received an SMS notification invitation to redeem. If you want to apply your points, be sure to reply “YES” before making any other qualifying purchase. Note that La Quinta does not control the order in which you receive the SMS notifications if you have made multiple purchases in the same day.

Step 4: 
Receive credit for the purchase amount on your linked Visa card statement in around 10 days.

I couldn't find a list of participating merchants on the website or exactly what a qualifying purchase looks like. So I'll have to keep you posted on how I use my points and exactly how I earn more points.

Which city claims to be the birthplace of the Caesar Salad?

Do you know which city in the world claims to be the birthplace of the Caesar Salad? Rome? Athens? Nope. Tijuana, Mexico. That's right the border town just south of San Diego. 

And the restaurant that claims it is called appropriately, Caesar's. It is an old style throwback restaurant environment with tableside salad service. The restaurant advertises that it was established in 1929 and is decorated with photos of famous actors dining at the establishment. 

The menu includes fish, meat, pasta and some Mexican style dishes like tacos and enchiladas. 

Expect to spend about $25 per person for soup to nuts including alcohol. Their sangria is very tasty. 

If you live in San Diego or anywhere nearby, visiting Caesar's is a great activity. Crossing the border is quick. Bring your passport or passport card. Parking is available at the border for $15 at the last exit before the San Ysidro border crossing.  

You can walk from the border crossing to Avenida Revolucion. Though the first plaza is abandoned and a bit sketchy. Otherwise, you pass by the police department and you can see a heavy police presence. 

No need to exchange money, just use your credit card. 

Right now, it's 20 pesos to the dollar. 

Avenida Revolucion was decorated with giant milk cartons painted into murals. Live music poured out of the restaurants and bars. Restaurants ranged from pizza, tacos to a wine/coffee bar. Whether you hop over the border for an evening out or stop here on your way to las playas or the Valle de Guadalupe, it's enjoyable. 

Chase FREEDOM Announces Q3 Categories

Chase FREEDOM just announced it's 5% Q3 Categories:

1. Gas

2. Lyft

3. Walgreens

Why are these important? Because the Chase FREEDOM credit card is a free credit card with no annual fee and it rotates categories each quarter that let you earn 5% in Chase Ultimate Rewards. Chase Ultimate Rewards can be cashed in for cash back, products, experiences or travel. 

It's my go-to card to maximize these categories. You can earn up to $1,500 each quarter, however, you are limited per category so pay attention to that. 

You need to activate your card through this link. 

If you don't have this card yet, you can apply here. There is no annual fee and you will earn $150 cash back after you spend $500. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

Starwood Points On Sale Until July 20th

One of my favorite loyalty programs is Starwood Preferred Guest. Besides using points for free hotel rooms, you can also transfer points to dozens of airlines for free flights. 

Starwood points are good at Sheraton, Westin, W, Aloft and more hotel brands. And if you take advantage of the 5th-night FREE option, that's a huge savings. Plus you can transfer them to dozens of airlines including American and Alaska at 1:1 and for every 20,000 points you transfer, SPG will give you a 5,000 bonus. 

SPG is merging with Marriott in August so right now, you can transfer SPG points to Marriott at a 1:3 ratio to take advantage of vacation packages or to book Marriott hotels. 

Until July 20th, SPG is selling points at a 35% discount. I don't usually support buying points, but if you need points to top off your account so you can reach 20,000 and get the bonus on the airline ticket or have enough points for a certain hotel stay, then go for it. 

Hilton just offered a similar sale and I bought a few thousand points to top off my account so I had enough points to cash in for 2 rooms for 5 days in Panama City. Woohoo!

$114 for 5,000 points is the minimum to take advantage of the discount. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

Save $$$ On Your Car Rental This Summer

If you are a Costco member, you should try out Costco Travel the next time you need to rent a car. Their rates are consistently the best on the web. Plus when you enter your pick up/drop off cities and dates, they will give you prices at the top four car rental agencies so you can comparison shop. 

You do not have to pay until pick up either so you can cancel or rebook if a better rate shows up. 

The tricky part is you need to join the rental agencies loyalty program in order to earn miles for your rental. You cannot directly enter an airline partner in the Costco booking site. 

Have you booked a rental car through Costco? How was the experience? Please share below. 

Discover Philadelphia With Kids

The city of brotherly love is the birthplace of freedom and an incredible look into America's past. 

But for kids, museums can get incredibly boring. So how do you explore Philadelphia with kids in mind? First stop has to be the Liberty Bell. A few years back, the city built an indoor museum to house the famed bell. The museum is open 9am-5pm and is FREE. However, people line up to enter and parking can be tricky nearby. 

Plan to spend an hour inside the museum and then you can move onto Independence Hall which is also FREE. The kids can ask questions and earn trading cards. Ask a ranger how to get started. 

You can't be in Philadelphia without trying a Philly Cheese Steak. The original cheesesteak started at Pat's back in 1930 so if you want the original head there. It's located at 1237 E. Passyunk Avenue. In 1966, Geno's opened across the street and the two families have waged a bit of food battle ever since. If you don't eat steak, then head to Chubbyssteaks (cheesesteak with chicken featured in the above photo) delicious and less greasy. 

Now as a budget family traveler, we are always on the lookout for hotel deals. Usually, we travel on points, but sometimes it's better to pay for a hotel room either to top off an account or to take advantage of a bonus. Take a look at this room at the Hawthorne Suites by Wyndham Philadelphia Airport. We paid about $100 for this suite plus it came with breakfast. 

 Wyndham was running a promotion if you stayed at two Wyndham Hotel Brands within a couple of months, they would give you 15,000 points. At Wyndham, all rooms are 15,000 points whether you stay at an all inclusive or the Ramada in Prague or wherever else. Bottom line, pay for the room at the Philadelphia airport and then spend your points to stay on the islands. Woohoo! 

New Elite Status Revealed With SPG And Marriott

We knew this day was coming and now more details are being revealed. The Starwood Preferred Guest program and Marriott Rewards move closer to the final merger on August 1,2018, Emails are being sent out to customers of both programs describing how the yet to be named combined program will look. 

Highlights include: 

• New Elite Status - Marriott says now it will be easier to obtain Elite status and member perks. If you are a frequent traveler, that might be true. If you are a casual family traveler like me, not so much. If you stay between 0-9 nights at any of the 29 brands, you earn Silver status. But that doesn't get you much. You need to stay a minimum of 50 nights to earn lounge access which includes free breakfast. 
• New Award Redemption - Check out the chart. Award redemptions will start at 7,500 standard in August and then move to a peak and off-peak rate in early 2019. You can still pay for 4 nights and get a 5th night FREE. 
• Combined Points - Your SPG points will be combined with your Marriott points into one new balance in August. You will receive 3 Marriott points for every SPG point. 
• Transfer to airlines - There will be 40 airline transfer partners. For every 60,000 points you transfer, Marriott will give you 15,000 bonus. This is the same as SPG existing policy. Though new airline partners include Jet Blue. 
• Earn Points- If you use your SPG credit card at any of the 29 brands, you will earn 10X points for the stay. 5X points at Element, Residence Inn and Townsplace Suites. 
• Credit Cards - The SPG credit card benefits are changing. You will earn 6x points at SPG and Marriott hotels for the basic card and 2X for everything else. With the business card, you earn the same plus 4X at gas stations, restaurants and for wireless services. And the new luxury card, you earn 6x on hotel stays, 3x on gas and airline purchases and 2x everywhere else. All the cards will come with the anniversary award of one FREE award night at a redemption level of 50,000 points or less. 

We will continue to unpack the changes as we move closer to August 1, 2018. But the best advice right now is to load up spending on your SPG card and book any hotels on awards now rather than later. 

Need Hilton Points? Take Advantage Of This Offer

If you need to top off your Hilton points, you may want to take advantage of this offer by Hilton. Through June 7th, Hilton is offering to match 100% when you purchase 5,000+ points. 

If you follow my blog, you will see there are lots of Hilton brand hotels where you only need 5,000-10,000 points per night per room. The Ramada and Hampton Inn brands even include breakfast. We stayed throughout Eastern Europe in Prague, Krakow, and Warsaw last summer at Hilton brand hotels for 5,000-10,000 points including breakfast. All the hotels were fabulous with location and breakfast. 

We are traveling to Panama City, Panama later this year. I have my eye on the Hampton Inn Panama City. Rooms cost 10,000 points per night and now that my kids are older, we need two rooms. We will be in Panama City for 5 nights before we hop on a catamaran for 4 nights. 

5 nights x 2 rooms x 10,000 points per night = 100,000 points 

5 nights x 2 rooms x $119 per night = $1190 if we paid 

We have 76,000 points right now so if we buy 13,000 points and Hilton matches those points, we will have more than we need for all 5 nights. Total cost = $130 to buy the points.
If we used the points we had, we could have stayed for 3 nights, but we would have spent $476 for the additional 2 nights.
Buying points is not always a good deal so do your math. But in this case, it's a huge savings.