Inside The New Wildlife Explorers Basecamp at the San Diego Zoo

 

Wildlife Explorers Basecamp

Looking for yet another reason to put San Diego on your short list of travel destinations? The San Diego Zoo just opened Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. If you know the zoo, this area is located where the old petting zoo was situated for years just to left of the main entrance. 

Inside The New Wildlife Explorers Basecamp at the San Diego Zoo

Now it is still dedicated to children, but with a number of exhibit halls like a butterfly garden, reptile and insect house and a play structure with rope bridges and lots of water spray areas.

Wildlife Explorers Basecamp play area

The play area takes center stage in the Explorers Basecamp. There are rope bridges, spiral staircases, a waterfall grotto, spray zone and rainfall showers. And if the kids get too wet, there are space age dryers available for $3. 

Space age dryers

Inside The New Wildlife Explorers Basecamp at the San Diego Zoo

There is also a display with monkeys in the middle of the play area to remind you that you are actually at the San Diego Zoo. 

San Diego Zoo

The exhibit halls include the Cool Critters Reptile House complete with microscope stations, Spineless Marvels Invertebrate House, a two-story greenhouse, Rainforest with caiman and tortoises, and Marsh Meadows with crocodiles. 

It's fun for all ages. I enjoyed walking around the area and checking it all out. It was very crowded, but I was there on opening day. You might want to avoid the peak morning hours if you aren't fond of crowds and screaming children. 

Be sure to buy your tickets for the San Diego Zoo online ahead of time to save a few bucks. The zoo offers value days which are any weekday so you can save a few more dollars off the regular price. Parking for the zoo is FREE. 

Inside The New Wildlife Explorers Basecamp at the San Diego Zoo

You might also want to take a look at the membership prices for the zoo. A child membership is $67 so if you think you may visit the zoo on multiple days during a year, it might be worth it to buy the pass. The regular child price for the zoo is $57 for an anyday pass and $55 for a weekday only pass. The annual pass is also good for the zoo and the Safari Park so if you are planning to do both during your trip to San Diego, you might want to buy the pass. 

Inside The New Wildlife Explorers Basecamp at the San Diego Zoo

There are also zoo memberships for adults. The Wildlife Protector membership includes both parks, two 50% off admission coupons, FREE parking and one guest pass. It is priced at $139. Since the regular day pass adult ticket price is $65, that could be a real savings.  

Remember to purchase the pass with a credit card that gives you a bonus for travel like Chase Sapphire Preferred or with a credit card where you can erase travel purchases like Capital One. 

Time To Activate the 5x Bonus on Your Chase FREEDOM

 

Chase just announced the 5x bonus rotating categories for the FREEDOM family of cards. These cards come with a different bonus 5x points category each quarter. You can earn up to $1,500 worth of bonuses which is pretty sweet. The family is no fee cards so it's nice to be able to earn 5x points without paying a high annual fee. 

I max out the category each quarter and then transfer the points to my Chase Sapphire Reserve for a better redemption in the portal or to transfer the points to airlines or hotels. 

This quarter I was hoping for a gas bonus to offset the high gas prices we are seeing, but unfortunately, that is not the case. 

Instead, the bonus is for Amazon and streaming services. Amazon is always a good bonus category since there are not too many ways to earn extra points on those purchases. 

Time To Activate the 5x Bonus on Your Chase FREEDOM 

Streaming services includes: 

• Disney+
• Hulu
•  ESPN+
•  Netflix
•  Sling
•  Apple Music
•  SiriusXM
• Spotify
•  YouTube TV
•  HBO Max
•  Paramount+
• Showtime 

You can activate your FREEDOM bonus categories here or through the Chase app. You need to activate by June 30, 2022 and you can begin earning 5x points on April 1, 2022. 

Time To Activate the 5x Bonus on Your Chase FREEDOM 

If you max out the categories, you will earn $75 cash back each quarter for $300 per year. Not too bad. And you can hold both cards like I do so that would be double. 

You can activate the bonus by clicking here.

If you don't have the FREEDOM FLEX card yet, you can earn $200 cash back after spending just $500 in the first 3 months. Right now, it comes with 5% back on gas purchases for an entire year or up to $6,000. Wow! 

Hurry, Capital One Venture X 100,000 Bonus Offer Ends March 14th

 

I just scored two round trip flights to Ireland for later this summer! Woohoo! 

Now, I want to share with you how I did it and how you can do it too before the offer ends on March 14th. This one is pretty easy so here goes. Right now, the Capital One Venture X credit card has a 100,000 point offer with a $300 travel credit and a $200 Airbnb credit. The catch is the high minimum spend of $10,000 plus the annual fee of $395. 

How You Can Score 2 Roundtrip Tickets to Europe for FREE

Before that scares you, let's talk about my secret way to eat up some of that minimum spend before you ever pay a bill. 

Capital One actually gives you the bonus before you pay the credit card bill which is different than most other offers. 

Which means, you can actually buy your plane tickets through the Capital One Travel Portal as soon as you get the credit card in the mail and then erase them before you ever have to make a payment if you time it right. Pretty sweet!

You will see the $300 credit go through within a few days. If we assume your plane tickets are similar to mine about $600 each r/t, then you are already $1,200 on your way towards the minimum spend. 

Plus every purchase you make is 2x points so you already have 2,400 points towards FREE travel. 

As long as you hit the minimum spend on your card within 90 days, which you have to in order to earn the bonus, you can erase the charge for the plane tickets.

Let's take a look at that again in steps. 

1. Apply for the Capital One Venture X card before March 14th

3. The $395 annual fee charges to the card, it counts towards your minimum spend. 

4. Charge everything to your new Capital One Venture X card including gas, groceries, property taxes (if the convenience fee is low), tuition payments, household repairs or projects etc. You have 3 months to reach the minimum spend of $10,000. 

6. Buy your flights to Europe through the Capital One Travel Portal, charge them to the Capital One Venture X credit card  Login to your Capital One account, click on travel portal, search for flights and purchase. 

7. A few days after you buy your flights, you will see a $300 travel credit post to your account 

8. When you reach the $10,000 minimum spend, you will see the 100,000 bonus points post to your account. 

9. Now you should have about 120,000 points. You will erase the plane tickets by clicking on cover travel purchases. Each point is worth one cent so 124,894 points equals $1,248.

It's that simple. If you would like to fly for FREE, this is one of the easiest ways to do it. You have until March 14th to apply for the Capital One Venture X credit card and if you would use my referral link, I would appreciate it. 

If you would like to learn more about how to fly FREE and how to earn the companion pass, we have teamed up with Families Fly FREE and would love to invite you to join the club. Click here for more information.  

Ways To Save $$ At The Gas Pump

 

With gas prices reaching record highs, what can you do to lower the cost to your wallet? We have a few ideas for you. 

Ways To Save $$ At The Gas Pump 

• Tmobile Tuesdays - if you are a Tmobile customer, download the Tmobile Tuesday app and you will get 10 cents off per gallon at Shell Gas. 
• GasBuddy.com - an app that helps drivers find the best deals on gas plus if you link your bank account to the app, you will get 5 cents off every gallon of gas. 
• Gas Rewards Programs 
•     BPme Rewards
•     Exxon Mobile Rewards+
•     Maverick Adventure Club 
•     Pilot Flying J Preferred Customer Rewards
•     Shell Fuel Rewards
•     Speedy Rewards 

• Buy gas at a warehouse club like Costco
• Credit Cards - some credit cards offer more points for gas purchases. They are Blue Cash Preferred Card American Express, Costco Anywhere Visa, US Bank Altitude Connect Visa Signature, US Bank Altitude Go and Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards. We should find out the rotating categories for the Chase FREEDOM Unlimited and FLEX soon and we are hoping gas will be the new bonus. 
• Pay cash for discount - if you pay with a debit card, you may not be getting the cash price. 
• Use the gas purchases to reach your minimum spend and get that points bonus! 

Ways To Save $$ At The Gas Pump 

Also make sure your tires are inflated correctly, slow down and reduce your number of car trips! 

Unique Ways You Can Help The Ukraine People

 

     People from around the world are coming together to help the citizens of Ukraine. We have compiled a list of relief agencies that help with medical supplies, humanitarian supplies, the armed forces, journalism, veterans and children. We also found some very unique 2022 type of ways to help. Thank you for whatever help you are able to provide and in any form you choose. #supportukraine 

• Airbnb.com has cancelled host and guest fees for all rentals in Ukraine. So people around the world are booking rentals in the country and of course, not showing up. But as soon as they are "checked in", the funds direct deposit into their account. 
• Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are promising to match up to 3 million dollars through GoFundMe.org.  This fundraiser will provide an immediate impact on refugee and humanitarian aid efforts. The fund will benefit Flexport.org and Airbnb.org, two organizations who are actively on the ground providing immediate help to those who need it most. 

Plus here is a list of relief agencies that we recommend: 

• You can donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine directly. All the funds donated directly or to either of these orgs will be used for logistical and medical support.
• Come Back Alive
• Army SOS
• Phoenix Wings
• Vostok SOS
• JCC Krakow - Providing help for Ukranian Jews arriving in Poland

Medical supplies

United Help Ukraine

Fundraiser for Sunflower of Peace

Revived Soldiers Ukraine

Hospitaliers

Helping the volunteers

• Ukrainian Red Cross

Helping the veterans

• UWVM/Veteranka

Helping children affected by war

• Voices of Children

Journalism

• You can donate to The Kyiv Independent to keep the curtains up for the independent Ukrainian English-language journalism: Patreon, GoFundMe

• Razom for Ukraine

How You Can Score 2 Roundtrip Tickets to Europe for FREE

 

Castles, the Cliffs of Moher, Guiness and whiskey. Ireland is the land of ancient sites and the beautiful Wild Atlantic Coast and I'll be heading there with my family later this year for FREE. Woohoo! 

Now, I want to share with you how I did it and how you can do it too before the offer ends on March 14th. 

This one is pretty easy so here goes. 

Right now, the Capital One Venture X credit card has a 100,000 point offer with a $300 travel credit and a $200 Airbnb credit. The catch is the high minimum spend of $10,000 plus the annual fee of $395. 

How You Can Score 2 Roundtrip Tickets to Europe for FREE

Before that scares you, let's talk about my secret way to eat up some of that minimum spend before you ever pay a bill. 

Capital One actually gives you the bonus before you pay the credit card bill which is different than most other offers. 

Which means, you can actually buy your plane tickets through the Capital One Travel Portal as soon as you get the credit card in the mail and then erase them before you ever have to make a payment if you time it right. Pretty sweet!

You will see the $300 credit go through within a few days. If we assume your plane tickets are similar to mine about $600 each r/t, then you are already $1,200 on your way towards the minimum spend. 

Plus every purchase you make is 2x points so you already have 2,400 points towards FREE travel. 

As long as you hit the minimum spend on your card within 90 days, which you have to in order to earn the bonus, you can erase the charge for the plane tickets.

Let's take a look at that again in steps. 

1. Apply for the Capital One Venture X card before March 14th

3. The $395 annual fee charges to the card, it counts towards your minimum spend. 

4. Charge everything to your new Capital One Venture X card including gas, groceries, property taxes (if the convenience fee is low), tuition payments, household repairs or projects etc. You have 3 months to reach the minimum spend of $10,000. 

6. Buy your flights to Europe through the Capital One Travel Portal, charge them to the Capital One Venture X credit card  Login to your Capital One account, click on travel portal, search for flights and purchase. 

7. A few days after you buy your flights, you will see a $300 travel credit post to your account 

8. When you reach the $10,000 minimum spend, you will see the 100,000 bonus points post to your account. 

9. Now you should have about 120,000 points. You will erase the plane tickets by clicking on cover travel purchases. Each point is worth one cent so 124,894 points equals $1,248.

It's that simple. If you would like to fly for FREE, this is one of the easiest ways to do it. You have until March 14th to apply for the Capital One Venture X credit card and if you would use my referral link, I would appreciate it. 

If you would like to learn more about how to fly FREE and how to earn the companion pass, we have teamed up with Families Fly FREE and would love to invite you to join the club. Click here for more information.  

Why You Should Cash In Your Marriott Points Now

Travel is coming back in a big way! The pent-up demand for adventure is exploding. This photo was from our trip back in 2019 to London. However, travelers are sitting on huge stockpiles of miles and points and the hotels and airlines know it. So they are devaluing points and miles as fast as they can. 

Why You Should Cash In Your Marriott Points Now

Alaska Airlines will announce a devaluation on March 1st. Marriott is announcing on March 29th. So what should you do? Spend your points and miles NOW! 

Thinking about a trip this year? Make your reservations now. Don't wait or you will end up having to pay more in points and miles. 

Why You Should Cash In Your Marriott Points Now

I just cashed in almost all of my Marriott points for 5 flights from Buenos Aires back to the US. Because Marriott is a transfer partner to dozens of airlines, I was able to transfer 300,000 Marriott points to Delta Airlines. It took a few days for the transfer to occur and then I could purchase the flights. 

I'll go into detail about how to transfer Marriott points in another post soon. 

I used another 85,000 Marriott points to book 3 nights in Belfast, Ireland for an upcoming trip. 

We hear that 50% of Marriott hotels will change redemption value when the change occurs and not in a good way. 

If it does happen in a good way for a hotel you are eyeing, then you can always rebook at the lower rate. But in our experience, it's rarely good. One good change that we hear is on the horizon is being able to top off those FREE 35,000 night certificates with 15,000 points so you can redeem them at 50,000 point hotels. But if the values are changing for many hotels, some of those 50,000 point hotels may be out of reach. 

The bottom line is book your hotels and make your airline transfers now before the change occurs. 

By the way, we have teamed up with Families Fly FREE to bring more value to you. If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :) I'll be sharing testimonials from some happy members and I'll let you know when I'll be offering webinars.