Yes, You Can Do New York City On A Budget

Driving in NYC 

Traveling to NYC last minute and on a budget, possible? Yes! New York City is one of the most expensive cities in the world, but if you plan it right even last minute, you can stay within your budget and have a great time.
Flights and hotels take the biggest bite out of the budget. For flights, using google.com/flights will let you know what flights are available and then you can check each airline to find out how many miles you will need. Sometimes, you can find last-minute flights for as little as 12,500 miles each way.
For this last minute flight, I found a flight from San Diego to JFK for 12,500, but the return would cost 20,000 miles so I opted to pay for the return. Booked my American Airlines flight using my Citi American credit card so I would get one FREE checked bag, extra miles, and priority boarding.

The Wyndham New Yorker Hotel

Now Wyndham hotels are always 15,000 points per stay so I checked awardmapper.com  to see if there were any Wyndham hotels in NYC. There are about 8 Wyndham hotels in the city and two still had rooms available including The New Yorker, an iconic relic. Awesome! This hotel runs about $350 per night so it's a huge savings. The hotel is well located, but no breakfast included.
The hotel even has a deal with the parking garage next door so you can leave your car $40 for 24 hours. You don't need a car in NYC, in fact, it's probably better not to bring a car. But I picked up my daughter from school so it made sense this time. I almost always try booking my car through costco.com since it seems to offer the best deal.  For this weekend, I was able to book a car for just $100 for the weekend and I earned American Airlines miles on that rental too. Remember to join the car rental loyalty club and give your information when you pick up your car.

Of course, we had to split the hot trend in NYC of an egglu or soft waffle cone ice cream spectacular. This one is from New Sensations. Cost $8. 

And I always head for bagels in NYC. Found this new bagel shop right around the corner from the hotel. Liberty Bagels Mid Town had dozens of bagel flavors and smears including vegan and tofu. Yum!
Check out the 1/2 price ticket booth in Times Square for show tickets or try https://www.todaytix.com/x/nyc for great online deals.
Have fun and enjoy the city!

Shop Early And Get Bonus Miles

If you do your holiday shopping early, then you can rack up some serious bonus miles. Most of the airline shopping portals are offering bonus miles like this offer above from American Airlines. Southwest, United, Alaska and American are offering very similar spends and bonuses through November 18th. 

Remember shopping portals are awesome. Whenever you shop online, use a portal to double dip on miles. 

For example, I remodeled my kitchen recently and needed to buy the backsplash. I found the one I liked at Home Depot. But instead of buying it in the store, I logged into the American Airlines shopping portal, clicked on Home Depot and earned 5x miles for each dollar I spent plus 500 bonus miles.  And I charged the backsplash to my Capital One Venture card so I can use the points to erase my travel purchases. 

It all adds up and miles earned through the Southwest shopping portal count towards the companion pass. 

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

Bonus 50,000 Marriott Points For An Upgrade

If you currently have the Marriott Premier credit card, you may be eligible for an upgrade and bonus of 50,000 points. It's a little tricky to figure out if you are eligible and what the upgrade bonus will be. Try this link and if that doesn't work, log in to your Chase credit card account, click on reward details, click on the ad asking you to learn more about the credit card and then click on upgrade. 

Be sure to take a screenshot or photo of your offer like I did above before you click accept just in case. I talked to customer service who confirmed that upgrading does not affect 5/24 status. Though you may have to pay the difference in the annual fee which is $10. But $10 for 50,000 Marriott points is a bargain. Some members are reporting offers as low as 10,000 points which may not be worth it. 

Let us know how it goes for you in the comments below. 

FREE Holiday Shipping On Amazon For Everyone

Amazon announced today that it will offer FREE shipping for non-Prime members now through Christmas. Last year, non-Prime members had to order $25 or more in order to get FREE shipping. Prime members always get FREE shipping. Though during the holidays, some items will be same day delivery for Prime members. 

Due to increased competition from Walmart and Target, Amazon needs to boost sales. 

Remember to use a shopping portal, Benefit app or Smile when you shop through Amazon so a portion of your purchase goes to charity. 

Let the holiday shopping season begin! 

How To Get Started With Miles And Points

For the past 5 years, I have been talking to you about how to travel as a family using points and miles. This weekend, I traveled to New York City last minute. Check my blog post on how to travel last minute with points and miles. 

But on the way home, I sat next to a young woman whose mom had just passed away suddenly. 

So she is now flying every few weeks from San Diego to Chicago to resettle her father and pack up her mother's belongings. A tragic story in itself. 

 I asked her if she is using points and miles to buy her plane tickets, she said no. I said you do have a frequent flier number so you are at least collecting miles? Yes, she said. Do you always fly the same airline? She said no and added that she had to pay $70 for checked bags. She told me she even looked into flying Spirit. 

I told her about the blog and she said she was just thinking that she should open a credit card. I'm writing this article to help her get started. I don't know her name so I'll call her Sarah. 

In this situation, there are a few ways to go. I call it leveraged spending which to me means that you are making every purchase, purchases that you would make anyway, work as hard as you are. So for Sarah, she is buying plane tickets every few weeks so how can we leverage that spending to get her a few free tickets or collect points/miles for an awesome trip in the future. 

1. Apply for a Capital One Venture card with a 50,000 sign up bonus for a $3,000 minimum spend and a $95 annual fee waived for the first year. Sarah should charge everything to this card including her next few flights. She will get the bonus and then can use it to "erase" at least one flight if not two flights to Chicago.  When you log into your Capital One account, you will see any travel charges listed and the points needed to "erase" them. If you fly various airlines or use trains or airbnb, then this card will do the trick. 

2. If Sarah decides to stick to a particular airline, she may want to try a co-branded credit card like the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select credit card. She would get 40,000 bonus miles with a $2,000 minimum spend and the $95 annual fee is waived the first year. She would get a FREE checked bag and preferred boarding. United Airlines and Southwest also offer co-branded cards. 

3. Another option may be to open a Starwood American Express or Chase Sapphire Preferred.  Both of these cards come with bonus offers for a minium spend. You can use the points to transfer to dozens of airlines for FREE flights or hotels for FREE rooms. 

I hope Sarah reads this. Though I didn't get her name, I did give her my website address. Prayers and hugs go out to Sarah and her family. 

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

How To Find The Best Shopping Portal

Shopping online used to be new and different, but now we use it to buy lots of things. But are you using shopping portals to maximize the value when you online shop?

If not, you are leaving FREE money or miles on the table. 

Here's the idea. When you shop online, you can go straight to the store's website and make your purchase OR you can go to a marketplace, find the same store and earn cash back or miles on the same purchase. 

It doesn't cost you any extra money, but can save you lots! 

Try cashbackmonitor.com to check the number of miles, points or cash back you will earn on a variety of portals from Southwest, United, American, Ebates and more. 

Then pick your favorite and start shopping! 

It's that easy. Around the holidays, shopping portals will offer bonus miles/points if you make a certain dollar amount worth of purchases so watch for those and watch the miles/points/cash back add up quickly. When I checked the site for this article, I noticed even Amazon was listed offering up to 10% cash back through Ebates.com. Crazy! If you use my link, for Ebates.com, you will earn $10 for signing up and making a purchase for at least $25. 

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

Take Advantage Of Hotel Promotions To Score Extra Points

Hotel promotions are an easy way to increase your points quickly for FREE hotel stays. If you have upcoming stays, be sure to look at the currrent promotions for any brands that you collect points. 

Right now, Hilton is offering up to 3x points on stays booked through its website for stays Sept. 10 - Jan. 3. You must register before you book your stay.  Look for the Moments Made Bigger promotion.

Marriott/SPG is also offering a promotion right now. The 29 Ways To Stay with a daily game and prizes of points and stays. So far, I have won 50 points. It is also offering its Megabonus where you earn 2,000 bonus points for stays of 2 nights or more and 1,000 points per brand starting with your second brand. To register, log into your account and check the promotions page. You must register by Jan. 7, 2019 and stay between Sept. 26 and Jan. 31, 2019. 

That's how we do it here at almost FREE family travel. Spend smart to travel for FREE.