Welcome back to our Sunday Summary Series where we review the stories that were covered throughout the week.
Sunday Summary
Southwest 50,000 Point Offer Still Here
The last round of Southwest 50,000 point offers expired last week. These offers for the 4 different Southwest cards come around every few months at the 50,000 point level. Otherwise, they are at 25,000 points. However, one of the Southwest 50,000 points offers is still here but only for one personal card – the Southwest Personal Premier card. Even with the upcoming Southwest devaluation of 15% reduction in point value (March 31), this card is… Read more…
Marathon Monday: St. George Marathon Registration
I ran the st. george marathon in 2012 (and just realized I never did a real review of the race – it will be coming!) and really enjoyed it. It is a race that I had wanted to run for quite a while and finally got to get in for the 2012 edition. Tens of thousands of people try to get into this marathon every year. It has so many interested entrants that they have a lottery system to select the runners that will end up on the starting list. Read more…
Increased Hilton Credit Card Offer + $50 Statement Credit
Without a doubt, Hilton HHonor points are the easiest hotel points to generate through credit card bonuses. There are so many Hilton credit cards that feed into the HHonors system, and they are offered by different banks which makes it easier! One of the best Hilton cards to get (and keep) is the no-fee Citi Hilton HHonors Signature Visa. I have written about it before and if you want HHonor points, this is a good card to add to the mix. Some of the high points of the card are… Read more…
Guide To International Travel – Driving
When it comes to visiting new places, nothing can give travelers more of a headache than driving in a new place, trying to find where to go. At the same time, nothing can give travelers more flexibility and (sometimes) comfort than having their own vehicle to travel around in. Having driven in many countries around the world (some of them listed as some of the worst places to drive in the world), I have seen both sides of it! However, I am the type of traveler who wants to see and do what I have an interest in and to do it as quickly as possible. Read more…
JetBlue Offering Status Matches and Challenges
Today, JetBlue sent e-mails out about an opportunity to receive their Mosaic status through a limited-time promotion. JetBlue only has one level – Mosaic – and does not offer upgrades like other airlines offer with their levels. However, there are some pretty good perks for JetBlue travelers that you may find will come in handy – not to mention the possibility to receive an incredible bonus of… Read more…
Half-Marathon Tuesday: OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon
I think it is only fitting that our first Half-Marathon Tuesday post be about the largest half-marathon in the country! This race sees 35,000 entrants each year! This is a great opportunity to be surrounded by a ton of fellow runners the entire length of a course. Think about it – the half-marathon is a distance of 13.1 miles and you have 35,000 people within that distance. This translates to the first few miles being absolutely packed with people! If you like running with… Read more…
Amtrak Fare Sale – To NYC As Low As $37
Amtrak is running a fare sale through Thursday, March 20. I have to be honest – the last time I used Amtrak was about 29 years ago (in other words, I don’t remember it), but I wouldn’t mind using it again. This sale is for the following city pairs for these prices (travel is from or to these city pairs): Boston, MA and New York, NY – $37 Baltimore, MD and New York, NY – $38 Washington, DC and New York, NY – $42 The dates that are valid for this sale are… Read more…
Roundup – Great Discounts on Shoes
This is the perfect time of year to start stocking the closet with new pairs of shoes – especially running shoes. Most of you are coming out of the nasty snow and approaching the time of mud. You can never have too many new pairs of shoes! Here is a roundup of some great discounts on shoes (of all kinds, but obviously I am looking at the running shoes). Read more…
Two Big Days Coming For Award Travel
One of the worst feelings (when it comes to award travel booking) is to wake up one morning and realize that the last day to book certain awards at a lower rate was yesterday. Yes, I have had that happen to me before and it is not a good feeling at all! In fact, there have been sometimes that I have fallen asleep on the couch with every intent to finish a booking I was eyeing – only to wake long after midnight not having completed my planned booking. That is one good thing about currently living 6/7 hours ahead of EST – I can actually wake up in the morning now and still get the bookings in before midnight in the US! But, we have two of those days coming up and they will be here before you know it! Make sure you are… Read more…
10K Thursday: Medved Lilac 10K
For the first 10K Thursday, I am actually circling around to a race in my hometown. I am not just being biased to my hometown. The Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY draws tens of thousands of people every year due its beauty and art. The festival draws artists of all sort to display their wares throughout the Highland Park which has the famous Lilac bushes. There are more than 1,200… Read more…
Confirmed: No Elite Miles From US Air To Aegean After March 30
I wrote last week about if earning Aegean Gold (and thereby Star Alliance Gold) was about to get harder after March 30th. This is because US Airways is exiting the Star Alliance that day and entering Oneworld Alliance on March 31st. US Airways has been the easiest airline for US-based flyers to use to earn Aegean Gold since all of their fare earning classes credited to Aegean at 100%. Based on an e-mail sent out by US Airways that said they would continue a relationship as partners with certain airlines (including Aegean) after March 30th, many wondered if that would mean that it would still be possible to earn Aegean Gold on US Airways flights. Unfortunately, the chart has been updated at Aegean’s website to note that… Read more…
The One Flight I Really Want To Take – And I Can’t Use Points
We are fortunate enough to be able to earn miles and points quite easily – especially in the US. I cannot tell you how many times people here in Europe ask me how I can get so many miles and they just assume that I must fly A TON! Fortunately, we are able to earn a lot of miles through credit card bonuses and credit card spending. Thanks to the many ways that we can use to generate more credit card spending (with Bluebird and with buying and reselling), the sky is really the limit… Read more…
5K Friday: Illinois 5K
The actual, full name of this race is Presence Covenant Medical Center Illinois 5K Run/Walk. That certainly is a long name! It seems like you could be well on your way to completing this 5K before someone could actually get through it all. This race is part of a multi-race weekend in Champaign, Illinois. This city hosts an amazing set of races and is really a great place to consider running. I have raced here twice and would easily go back again. The city is a large college town, but really gives across more of… Read more…
The Agony Of Following A Race…
…that you were planning on running and ended up having to skip is pretty severe :). All runners that have a planned race on the calendar and have had to pull out know what I am talking about. With many races, especially marathons, you have trained for a long time to get to the starting line and then you have to pull out – that is hard to do. That is why many runners run marathons even when they have the flu, pulled muscles, nagging injuries, etc. They want to do it anyway, even if their goal time has vanished. Read more…
Help Me Plan The Most Unique Meetup
Meetups are fun – it gives a chance for people of a similar interest to meet (sometimes for the first time) and share stories, tips, and information. Mostly, it is just a nice time to get to know people better. Thanks to an expiring airline certificate and a desire to meet some readers of BoardingArea blogs, I came up with what I think would be the most unique meetup. To make it work, I will need your help and suggestions. It would be fantastic to… Read more…
Weekend Giveaway!
Here is another giveaway! We had some interest in last Sunday’s flash giveaway, so I wanted to have another one for this weekend. Thanks for reading and good luck! I will be giving away the prize to 3 randomly drawn winners! The prize is for a 1 year subscription of Runner’s World Magazine. If you already get it, let me know and… Read more…
