Thailand with kids

During our flight to Thailand, a man came up to me on the plane and asked me why I would take my children there. I was puzzled, why wouldn't I take my children there.
Thailand is so culturally different that it is exhilirating. My children learned the history of Buddhism, they were blessed by monks, they visited a dozen temples, they learned some basic Thai, they learned to cook traditional Thai dishes, they learned how to train and care for an elephant, they cuddled tiger cubs, they drove Tuk Tuks, they had back massages, foot massages and fish massages, they explored an entire floating town, they spent the night on a train and a bus, and so much more.
Besides the cultural, once you get to Thailand, it is so inexpensive to live, eat and do that you can just enjoy.
We spent 3.5 weeks in Thailand. Of course, we used American Airlines miles on partner airlines Japan Airlines to fly round trip to Tokyo and then one way through to Bangkok. On the return, we had to buy 5 one way tickets with points from Bangkok to Tokyo on United Airlines due to availability. Each tickets cost 15,000 United Airlines miles.
We stayed at the Sheraton Royal Orchid with 7,000 Starwood points per night. While in Bangkok, we took a daytrip to visit a train market and the floating market, pet the tiger cubs and see the Bridge Over The River Quai.
We decided to take the overnight train to Chiang Mai. The other option is to fly, domestic flights are super cheap.
Chiang Mai is one of the most spirtual and beautiful places I have ever visited. We chose to pay for a homestay which was outside of town. For kids, you can train elephants, zipline and take a cooking class. The temple in Chiang Mai is amazing and highly worth the cab ride up the hill.
I would recommend flying from Chiang Mai to one of the town's in the south. We went to Phuket where we took a daytrip out to the islands. The islands are amazing! The kids got a chance to play soccer on field that floats in the middle of the ocean. They canoed through caves and jumped off the boat.
Phuket is a bit more Americanized so hamburgers are available everywhere, but I was super pleased that my kids chose to eat more Thai food.
Though we paid for hotels in Chiang Mai and Phuket, we rented out our house while we were away and broke even on the entire trip. Now that's almost FREE family travel.

*If you would like a copy of our itinerary plus contact information for all of the tours and guides we used, check out the itinerary page on the website. They are available for purchase for just $5.

500 United Miles For FREE

I love shopping portals! They are easy ways to earn points/miles on purchases you would make anyway. Sometimes I use a cash back portal and sometimes I choose to use an airline shopping portal.
And then there are portals that are independent like MyPoints.com. On MyPoints.com, you earn points that you can cash in for cash back, gift cards or travel. Another helpful feature, if you check the travel page, the site lists all the hotel deals being offered on Groupon.com and Living Social.com.
And right now, they will give you 500 United miles just for signing up. If you spend $50 in the first 30 days on a purchase through the portal, they will give you another 1,000 United miles.
That's pretty easy. It's a great way to top off an account or just move you another step closer to almost FREE family travel.

Citi American Bonus Ends Wednesday!

Right now, Citi American Platinum Select and Citi Business Advantage Platinum Select are offering 50,000 miles when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months. The annual fee $95 is waived the first year.
This offer ends March 1st so if you are collecting American miles or planning a trip to South America or Central America for next summer, you may want to grab this offer before it's gone.
What can you do with 53,000 American miles:
1. 35,000 miles can net you a round trip economy class ticket from San Diego to Lima Peru. If you were to pay for the flight, it would cost you about $800. When I took my family to Peru last summer, I was able to find tickets for 17,500 miles one way from San Diego all the way to Cuzco Peru.
2. 30,000 miles can net you a round trip economy class ticket from San Diego to San Jose, Costa Rica.
3. From the mainland to Hawaii round trip for 50,000 miles.
4. Sometimes, American will offer price breaks on their flights for Citi American credit card holders, if you can snag one of those, then of course, your miles will stretch even further.

You can check out the American award travel chart to see where your miles will take you. Remember to check out the One World partners to see if your miles will stretch farther by booking on a partner airline.
And if you need more American miles, top off with your Starwood points. When you transfer Starwood points to American Airlines, you get a bonus 5,000 points for every 20,000 you transfer.

Remember this offer ends March 1st.

That's how you get almostfreefamilytravel!

Travelocity Deal Today!

Travelocity.com is offering a 1 night or flight free if you book your hotel and flight together through their website. I tried booking a trip to New Orleans; flights from San Diego and 3 nights in a hotel in the French Quarter.
Here's what I found:

There were no direct flights and very few 1 stop flights unless you paid extra. I chose a 1 stop flight since I didn't want to pay extra. All the hotels were around $850-$1050 for 3 nights so I chose a middle range with breakfast (you know how much I like my breakfast included). So the total came to $1788.72 for 2 people. Then I activated the Ebates.com 10% back on the total. So I would get $178 cash back after my stay. So now my total was $1610 or $805 per person.

I did a quick search on google flights and found that if I just booked a flight, it would cost me about $600 per person. If I tried booking 3 nights at the Degas House hotel through the bed and breakfast website, the price quoted is $750 total. So if I booked it separately for 2 people, I would pay $1200 in flights and $750 for the hotel or $1950 total. By booking through the Travelocity deal, I would pay $1610 so I would save about $340 dollars. Basically saving the cost of 1 night in the hotel which was the promotion. Of course, I saved 10% more because I activated my Ebates.com cash back link.

And here's the fine print on the promotion from the Travelocity website:
*When you book your Flight+Hotel together, the package savings cover the cost of the flight, hotel or 1-night stay. Prices based on searches conducted by fellow shoppers within the past 24 hours. There is no guarantee that these prices will be in effect at the time of your search. Vacation package savings are based on comparison to prices on Travelocity.com of the same components booked separately. Savings vary based on origin/destination, length of trip, stay dates and travel partners, and aren't available on all packages.

So the bottom line is that you need to do your research to see if this deal can save you any money. It may depend on where you want to go, let me know if you find any sweet spots in this promotion.
Of course, if you use points or miles for the hotel or flight part of this trip, you will save more.

Amazon Discount Until Midnight Tonight!

If you hurry, you can get a 17% discount from Amazon. Until 11:59pm PST 2/22/17, enter the code "BIGTHANKS" in the promo code space and get the discount. You must have at least $50 in your cart of items bought from Amazon OR you can buy a $50 gift card. However, the gift card cannot be an Amazon gift card.
But in case you didn't know, you can buy physical and electronic gift cards to dozens of retailers including Uber, Chipolte, The Gap, AMC Theatres, Panera and much more.
Only one per Amazon account. I just tried and got a $50 Chipolte gift card for $41.37. That's like one free burrito!

Cheap Travel To Mexico City!

If you are looking for somewhere interesting to go and super cheap, try Mexico City. The Hampton Inn Hotel and Suites Mexico City Centro Historico is a category 2 hotel so it costs just 10,000 Hilton points per night and includes breakfast.
You know how much I love breakfast included.
This is a fabulous deal.
Plus if you have a Southwest companion pass, you and a friend can fly to Mexico City for less than 20,000 points. From San Diego, it's just 11,000 points for you and a friend. From New York La Guardia, it was just under 20,000.
In Mexico City, check out the Teotihuacan Pyramids, anthropology museum, floating canals of Xochimilco and the centro historico. Plus eat your fill of tacos!
Adios.

Starwood Bonus Offer Increased!

If you want Starwood points, which I consider one of the best deals out there, you might want to take advantage of this increased offer.  25,000 points when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months, but with this offer, if you spend another $2,000 in the first 6 months, they will give you another 10,000 points. This offer ends April 5th 2017.

What can you do with 35,000 Starwood points?
1. Starwood has dozens of airline partners and some of them offer a 5,000 bonus when you transfer 20,000 points. So 35,000 points could translate into 40,000 American miles or Kris Flyer miles (my new favorite workaround to book United flights).
2. 35,000 Starwood points could net you 6 nights in a category 3 hotel or 2 rooms for 2 nights and 1 room for 1 night.
3. OR 1 night at a category 9 hotel.

Now imagine if you and your spouse took advantage of this offer, what could 70,000 Starwood points get you?

1. 70,000 points = 85,000 American miles or Kris Flyer miles (one way to Europe with Kris Flyer miles costs 27,500 miles so this is almost 2 round trip tickets)
2. 12 nights in a category 3 hotel - Starwood gives you a 5th night free when you book 4 nights with award points. OR 2 rooms for 6 nights in a category 3 hotel.
3. OR 3 nights in a category 9 luxury hotel

Not too bad. Remember you are just leveraging the spending you are doing anyway. No added money to your budget. Now that's what I call almost FREE family travel.