Category Archives: Travel

Picking a Rewards Network Dining Partner

Since all it takes is registering a credit card, it makes sense to sign up for the Rewards Network dining rewards program. The only question is which partner to sign up with.

Earning Rates / $
Program Member Online Member VIP Member Notes / Recommendations
Alaska Mileage Plan 0.5 miles 3 miles 5 miles info 12 dines to VIP status
Good value
American Airlines AAdvantage 1 miles 3 miles 5 miles info 12 dines to VIP status
Good value
Delta SkyMiles 0.5 miles 3 miles 5 miles info 12 dines to VIP status
Good value
jetBlue TrueBlue 1 point
Mosaic: 2 points		 info jetBlue Mosaic status is unrelated to the number of dines
Not worth it
Southwest RapidRewards .5 points 3 points info
Good value if you don’t dine out often (< 12 times / year) and fly Southwest
FREE SPIRIT 0.5 miles 3 miles 5 miles info 12 dines to VIP status
Good value
United MileagePlus 0.5 miles 3 miles 5 miles info 12 dines to VIP status
Good value
Hilton Honors 2 points 5 points 8 points info 11 dines to VIP status
Good value
IHG Rewards Club 1 point 5 points 8 points info 12 dines to Elite/VIP status
Good value
iDine 5% 10% info earn 10% after spending $750
Best value if you spend > $750 / year
eScript 5% Good value
Shell Fuel Rewards 10 cents / gallon / $50 Not worth it
Orbitz Rewards 5% info
Good value
Club O 5% info
Good value
Sears Shop Your Way 7% Good value
Caesars Total Rewards 1 credit
2 credits		 info Requires Total Rewards Visa to earn 2 credits
Not worth it
U Promise up to 5% no details for earning rates available
Good value

All programs do not use the Member, Online Member, or VIP Member statuses; however these are the most common terms and the earnings are placed in the closest category.

Which program works best for you depends on which loyalty programs you belong to and how much you value the various rewards currencies. If you’re not a frequent traveler, at least signing up for the iDine program makes sense.

Chripify Permissions

I was going to link my Marriott Rewards account to my Twitter and Instagram accounts to take advantage of the #REWARDSPOINTS social promotions and start taking advantage of the Extra Point Sunday Twitter trivia, but Chipify is asking too much.

Chirpify Twitter PermissionsTwitter permissions requested:

  • Read Tweets from your timeline. – reasonable
  • See who you follow, and follow new people. – reasonable
  • Update your profile. – why do they want/need to be able to update my profile?
  • Post Tweets for you. – why do they want/need to be able to post tweets?
  • See your email address. – reasonable

Chirpify Instagram PermissionsInstagram permissions requested:

  • Access your basic information: Your media & profile info – reasonable
  • Access public content: Media & profile info of public users – reasonable
  • Comment on photos: Post and delete comments on your behalf – why do they want/need to be able to comment?
  • Follow accounts: Follow and unfollow accounts on your behalf. – why do they want/need to follow/unfollow accounts?

Hotel Coffee Making

Fill Tea Bag

Fill Tea Bag

Just put two tablespoons of coffee in the a tea bag, 12ozs. of water in the coffee maker, and brew.

Story

Single Serve Coffee Maker

Single Serve Coffee Maker

I’m travel regularly for work and always try the coffee in provided in the hotel rooms even though it’s always really bad. I finally decided to do something about this and decided to find a convenient way to make quality coffee in my hotel room.

I started by figuring out that most hotels have a single serve coffee maker that takes special pre-packaged bags of coffee. These filter bags measure approximately 2.75 inches by 3.5 inches. A quick search on Amazon.com showed that No.1 Small Tea Bags measure 3.5 by 2.5 inches. In practice it turnes out that the interior width of the tea bag is only about one inch, and therefore too small to fit two tablespoons of coffee in. The Large Tea Bags appear to be the next size up. Their width is just a little over 3 inches and the height is adjustable based on how the bag is folded. These also have a 2.5 inch interior width, so it isn’t too hard to fill them with coffee.

I took two of these bags, each filled with two tablespoons of coffee on my latest trip only to find my room had a full size coffee maker. Since the coffee maker had a flat bottom, I gave it a try anyway, setting the brew strength to the strongest and putting 12ozs. of water through. It turned out to produce a pretty good cup of coffee.

Original Coffee Filter

Original Coffee Filter

Filled Tea Bag

Filled Tea Bag

Coffee Filter Comparison

Coffee Filter Comparison

New Bag in Tray

New Bag in Tray