AlmostFreeFamilyTravel.com

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

It's Back! Kids FREE San Diego In October

It's back! Kids FREE San Diego the entire month of October. This promotion is valid at the world-famous San Diego Zoo, Legoland, SeaWorld, and Safari Park plus dozens of other hotels, restaurants, and activities.

Kids are considered ages 3-11 and must be accompanied by a paying adult.

You can check out the list of all the FREEBIES here.

Some of the most popular options:

The New Children's Museum
SeaWorld San Diego
LEGOLAND California
San Diego Zoo
Birch Aquarium
Fleet Science Center

Dining freebies for kids with a paying adult include:

Humphreys La Jolla Grill
Courtyard San Diego Gaslamp
Hotel Republic San Diego
Catamaran Resort
Galaxy Taco

The promotion is valid Oct. 1-31. Have fun!

Monday, September 20, 2021

How You Can Get A $10 DoorDash Credit

If you use DoorDash for food delivery, you might be eligible for a $10 credit. Chase announced today that select cardholders who already get a FREE Dashpass membership will also get a $10 credit.

Back in May, Chase gave most cardholders a year-long FREE Dashpass from DoorDash food delivery service. The Dashpass offers FREE delivery and reduced fees on orders over $12.

Now those same cardholders will receive a $10 credit, but it will be awarded in two $5 allotments and will expire September 30th, 2021.

The cards eligible for the promotion are:

Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards: This includes the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card and the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card.

United Credit Cards: This includes the United℠ Business Card, United℠ Explorer Card and the United Gateway℠ Card.

IHG® Rewards Cards: This includes the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card and the IHG® Rewards Club Traveler Credit Card.

Disney® Visa® Cards: This includes the Disney® Visa® Card and the Disney® Premier Visa® Card.

Other eligible cards include:

This is in addition to the two flagship Chase credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Both of the cards come with the same DashPass benefit. However, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® gives $60 in DoorDash statement credits through December 31, 2021.

If you haven’t already activated your DashPass membership, or you need to add your Chase co-branded card as your primary payment method, you can do so here, or in the DoorDash app. To claim the $10 credit, cardholders will need to activate their DashPass membership by Sept. 30, 2021.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Ultimate Adventure: Swim With The Leopard Sharks

Ever dream of swimming with the sharks?

Every year around mid-August to late September, you can swim with the Leopard Sharks in San Diego, California. And it won't cost you anything, not even an arm or leg.

Leopard Sharks are bottom feeders and not interested in snacking on humans at all.

So the good news is you can swim with them without worrying about being bit, but they are big and scary looking so you may need some encouragement to get into the water.

The Leopard Sharks are in the waters year-round off La Jolla in San Diego, but during August and September, they come into the shallow water for mating season. They tend to congregate in the marine nature preserve at La Jolla Shores.

The water is so shallow here that you don't have to be a strong swimmer, in fact, you can probably stand.

I recommend wearing a wetsuit, snorkel, and mask. The wetsuit is optional, but the water can be chilly.

Leopard Sharks are not an endangered species and you can fish for them with a license. However, they tend to have a high level of mercury so it's not a good idea to eat them.

They can grow to weigh as much as 40 pounds and 5 feet long. They can live to be about 30 years old.

La Jolla is the only place in the world that the sharks actively breed offering a great chance to observe and swim with them.

The best place to spot them is in front of the Marine Room restaurant at La Jolla Shores.

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Wow! Southwest Companion Pass Promotion

If you are planning to fly in the next few months, then register for this promotion first. And if you aren't planning to fly, perhaps, you should.

This is the latest promotion from Southwest Airlines. It's similar to the one last year and involves a mini companion pass.

The companion pass is the best travel perk in the industry. It's a buy one, get one FREE on any flight anywhere Southwest flies. Normally, you need to earn 125,000 Southwest points in a single calendar year to earn the pass, but this promotion lets you earn a mini pass with just two flights.

I just booked a quick trip to Phoenix for lunch with a friend. $49 each way for the flights so for $100, I'll earn a companion pass good for January and February 2022. If I fly to the East Coast twice, the pass will have at least $650 value. If I fly to Hawaii, I can bring someone along for FREE.

Worth it and I get to spend the afternoon with a friend.

Win, win.

Remember to register for the promotion first, buy your ticket by 9/9/21, and travel by 11/18/21. Also, you have to buy the flights, you can't use points.

Monday, August 2, 2021

How You Can Earn 1,000 Marriott Points By Dining Out

Did you know that you can earn extra Marriott Bonvoy points just by dining out? It's called the Eat Around Town by Marriott Bonvoy program. You just register your card and then use that card to dine at participating restaurants and cha-ching, bonus points.

Now, Marriott Bonvoy is sweetening the deal by adding 1,000 bonus points every time you dine 10x at a participating restaurant and spend at least $30 including tax and tip. There is no limit to how many times you can earn the bonus.

The promotion runs through December 31, 2021.

How You Can Earn 1,000 Marriott Points By Dining Out

Marriott Bonvoy points are my second favorite after Chase Ultimate Reward points because you can transfer them to dozens of airlines and use them for hotels. And when you transfer the points to airlines (most of them transfer at 3:1), Marriott will give you a bonus of 15,000 points or 5,000 miles. So 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points are equal to 25,000 airline miles.

Helpful when you are trying to fly a family or group somewhere. One of my favorite travel hacks is to transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Singapore Airlines to book flights on United Airlines. You can check out my blog to find out how to do this.

As always, that's how we do it at almostfreefamilytravel.com

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Two Promotions You Need To Know About - Hilton and Wyndham

Two interesting promotions that you should know about. They are not earth-shattering, but may be helpful depending on your travel plans.

Two Promotions You Need To Know About - Hilton and Wyndham

The first is a Hilton promotion where you can buy points and get a 100% match. Hilton does this promotion about 2-3 times a year and it is tempting. With the promotion, the points are valued at .05 cents each. You are allowed to buy a minimum of 20,000 points for $200 up to 80,000 points for $800. So you could max it out at $800 for 160,000 points.

What can you get for 160,000 points? That's the real question.

Well, the photo above is from our Eastern Europe trip a few years back. We used Hilton points to stay at Hampton by Hilton hotels across Poland. Even now, on the Hilton website, the hotel lists a standard room at 10,000 points per night or approximately $119. This includes breakfast.

A year later, we stayed at the Hampton by Hilton in Panama City, Panama for 10,000 points per night.

So if you had 160,000 Hilton points, that's 16 nights and at least a $1,600 value. Now I'm not a big fan of buying points, but if you know your travel plans and you can squeeze the value out of it, it could make sense. This promotion ends July 29th.

Two Promotions You Need To Know About - Hilton and Wyndham

The second promotion is from Wyndham. It is offering a stay 2 nights, get 1 FREE promotion. This one is a bit misleading because the hotel chain is not giving you a FREE night instead it is giving you a bonus 6,500 points.

Wyndham rates its hotels in three-point categories, 7,500, 15,000, and 30,000 points. So the bonus plus the hotel stays will only give you 7,500 points enough for one night at the lowest tier category.

Wyndham used to be one of my favorite hidden gems because you could find awesome hotels for just 15,000 points when they only had one-tier. Now, a lot of those hotels are priced at 30,000 points, ouch.

So what can you get for 7,500 points? You can stay at the Tryp in Panama City and a few other international locations. Domestically, the 7,500 hotels are mostly Super 8 type budget hotels. Perhaps good for a college road trip or other driving trip.

I would look at this one closely before booking to see if you can squeeze value out of it. You must book by September 2nd and complete the stay by September 6th. You can earn the bonus up to three times.

Monday, July 26, 2021

Get Up To 2,500 Miles FREE On United, Southwest, Alaska and American

Even when you are not traveling, there are still ways to earn points and miles. One of the best is to use online shopping portals for your everyday purchases. You are going to make these purchases anyway, so why not earn some miles and points towards your next vacay.

Right now, the online shopping portals are sweetening the deal by offering bonus points. Alaska, Southwest, American, and United are all offering bonuses if you spend a certain dollar amount by a certain date.