Match My Miles!!!

  Ok, it took me a while to share this with you guys, sorry!  I've been busy in our yard making some major changes and the hubs and I have tried to focus solely on that for the last month or so. 
 
  Anywho, another great promotion to throw your way!  A lot of you have heard about Capital One's mileage/reward programs and I wanted to speak to that in this post.  In terms of actual mileage redemption for flights, they are pretty low on the totem pole but there are other things that Capital One has going for it that rank it much higher.  

  We're not people to cash in miles for products.  30k miles equals a flight anywhere in the US with American and yet to cash that in, you could get a $50 radio or something ridiculous.  The travel portion of miles is worth much more than the rewards you can get with them.  However, Captial One is a bit different.  They base their mileage redemption on the cost of the flight and that can add up quickly. 

Here's the breakdown of their mileage redemption for travel:

15,000 Up to $150.00
35,000 $150.01 to $350.00
60,000 $350.01 to $600.00
100 x travel price More than $600.01

  The problem with this is that as airline costs rise, the mileage redemption cost rises as well.  Redeeming the "miles" for other products makes much more sense in this case because you can cash out your miles for actual cash, gift cards, etc. and the cost per mile is way better that way. 
  The best thing about the program is that you can submit reimbursements for travel and have them dock your miles based on costs.  For example, you plan on spending 3 nights at a hotel in NYC.  Put those 3 nights on your Capital One card and then submit for those to be reimbursed to you and dock your miles instead.  Makes that hotel stay even sweeter!

  A few weeks ago, Capital One announced it's newest promotion; Match My Miles.  They are so convinced that their miles are better, they are willing to match the mileage balance currently in any of the major airline's reward programs for you for free, up to 100k miles.  So if you have over 100k miles in your account right now, they'd automatically give you 100k Capital One miles for free. 

  Use this card in conjunction with your others to REALLY save some cash on a trip.  If you get this card and get the 100k mile match, use your normal airline miles for the flight and submit reimbursements for travel expenses, you're looking at a FREE TRIP.  Yep, free.  Use your more valuable miles to book the flight and then use your new Cap 1 miles to pay for the hotel/lodging.  The 100k miles is roughly $1100 in travel expenses so score!!! Combine this with no foreign transaction fee (usually around 3% for other cards) and you're truly saving some serious cash on a trip.

  So what's the catch?  Well, as I said before, unless you're redeeming these for cash, gift cards or travel expenses, the miles for travel are not valuable at all.  Plus, you don't really get a say in who you travel with or guaranteed seats on some of the nicer airlines.  (Such as with One World Alliances) Also, they are only giving out a certain amount of miles before the promo ends and you have to wait for them to send you a code so you can send in your mileage balance.  We are still waiting on this code and hoping the miles don't run out before they send it to us.  So time is of the essence here! 
  And lastly, this is a tough card to get.  If you already have a Cap 1 card, call and see if you can get upgraded to the Venture card with this specific promotion.  If not, Cap 1 WILL PULL  3 hard hits on your credit to each reporting agency.  So unless your credit is great across the board, it may not be worth it to risk 3 hard pulls for this.  If it is, and you know that, I think it's worth the risk. 
  We're waiting on a code and then we will be using this for travel expenses for Bali and Cairns!  So that's an additional $1100 savings we weren't expecting, making our Bali hotel stays and Cairns hotel stays totally free.  Can't beat free.  Ever!!!

  So, all in all, this is a great promotion they're doing to get people over to their reward program but make sure you're comparing it to the programs you're already using.  For us, it's a great addition to the savings we already take advantage from with American Airlines but we won't be booking a plane ticket using those miles anytime soon.  Especially when we've booked tickets to the Caribbean for 17,500 miles before, a flight that costs around $750 total, and that would fall under Cap 1's mileage redemption at 75,000 miles.  No brainer!

Link to sign up! http://www.capitaloneventure.com/#/Match_My_Miles

Enjoy! :)

Cathay Pacific is determined to spoil me rotten....

  It's true.  I was already on cloud 895,876,493 dreaming about the business class seats we scored for cheaper than coach on our flight from LA to Hong Kong.  And then Cathay Pacific had to go and upstage itself.  Literally.
  About 2 months ago it unveiled it's NEW business class seats.  Because the massaging, lay-flat bed with a personal tv wasn't enough for some people apparently.  (there are days I want to find those people and pinch them)  The new seats are larger (didn't know that was possible), make it easier to see out of the windows and even include power to each seat along with iPod hookups.  Apple is taking over the world.  I'm calling it now.
  Here are the old seats:

  Very roomy, lots of space and every amenity you can think of needing in a seat.  So why the replacement so soon?  Some passengers had complained about the seat being narrow and the way they were aligned made it almost impossible to look out of the window.  Since Cathay Pacific is one of the top airlines in the world, it didn't take complaints like this lightly.  Instead, it answered with a complete overhaul of it's business class seats.  And boy did they step it up!

New cabin is more open allowing passengers traveling together to talk during flight

It's a bed!!!  On a plane!!!!

Modern updates

Yes, I will be snoozing in the air.  In case you can't tell, I'm really excited about this!

  We REALLY lucked out with this renovation.  For starters, business class mileage seats go FAST.  As in, within the first week a flight is released to the public.  On top of that, any updates made to a flight means demand goes up so airlines will make less seats available to use miles for since so many passengers are willing to pay for the new seat.  So lesson learned!  Book mileage flights as soon as your travel plans are set, especially if you're flying business.  While there isn't a guarantee that our specific plane will have these seats, they are focusing on long haul flights first and the 15 hour LAX-HK is definitely a long haul flight.  (it's classified as an "ultra-long haul."  thanks for the reminder Cathay)

  Have you ever been surprised right before a trip with news like this?  Did an airline wow you recently?  Let me know!  :)

 

Why We Travel

  I am constantly amazed at the number of people who genuinely do not understand why we travel and/or choose the places we would like to visit.  I realize everyone is different and not everyone likes to be outside of their comfort zone but it's still difficult to comprehend. 

  I have always loved to travel.  As a kid, we would go on vacations and I couldn't wait to see where we ended up.  We chose mostly family friendly spots like Disney World or Gatlinburg, TN and of course, because we're the Bennetts, it was also an adventure.  As a result of that, I knew never to expect something to go as planned or as you may have imagined it because it never does.  Ever. 
  That definitely had a bearing on me during college too.  Huntsville girl moves to NYC?  Of course!  The idea never scared me because I knew it would be an adventure and I knew I could figure it out.  Deciding to move to TN after a year there?  Of course!  Moving to Dallas and knowing maybe 3 people there?  Of course!  The bottom line is that because we traveled as children, because we were exposed to different parts of the country and came across different kinds of cultures, I was never afraid to just go somewhere. 
   So when I met my now husband 4 years ago and 3 months into dating, he asks if I can run off to Canada for a quick weekend trip, I knew I had found my Mr. Right.  Not because he was taking me to Canada but because he enjoyed the adventure as much as I did.
  It's very easy to get caught up in life here, in Texas, and simply have no time to travel.  That's why we make such an effort earn miles, points and save money for some sort of trip in the future.  We seek adventure, we live for adventure and truly enjoy the feeling of being somewhere and having to figure out how to get back to our hotel at times when no one around us speaks our language.  It's at those times you realize how compassionate people are, how friendly people are and you learn so much about yourself as well.
  When people ask us why we're traveling for an entire month, our first reaction is "why not?!"  While we do laugh a bit as we say it, we truly mean it.  Why not?  You get one shot at this crazy thing we call life and I want to ride this bike until the wheels fall off.  (or until Curtis falls off of the bike and we end up in a hospital in rural Italy)
  This all leads me to answer my original question/thought.  Why do we travel.  We do so because it makes us better people.  I am a more compassionate person than I used to be and my heart hurts a bit more when things like earthquakes or cyclones hit parts of the world.  It's more than a news story to me now.
  I am a MUCH more tolerant person.  Small town Texas isn't the most tolerant place in the world :) (I say that with love) and when you're in a place where YOU are the outcast, it's truly incredible how much that changes you in an instant.  The tolerance also comes from just simply learning why people do the things they do.  I never understood why Chinese people stood so close to me before or were extremely pushy and argued about prices of goods until I went to China.  It all made sense at that point.  They don't have personal space there because there isn't room, they're pushy because no one lines up for things and they argue because they are a culture that barters for items.  As a result, it doesn't bother me anymore.
  I am a stronger woman now.  I am so very fortunate to live in a place where women have a voice and I use mine now much more than before (if you can believe it) because I don't want to take it for granted.  I embrace my femininity because I see how many other places don't allow women to do such a thing.  While I am respectful of all cultures, it really does remind me, with each new country, how very blessed I am here.
  And lastly, it makes me a better me.  I know who I am and I know what I want.  It's taken a few years to get here but I can honestly say that I know what I want out of my life, I know who I want to share that with and where I want to go.  I don't think I would be so determined, so driven and so confident in who I was as a person if it weren't for traveling.  It reaffirms things I may have thought I was in the past.  Can I really read a map in Greek?  Yep.  Will I actually try something when the person giving it to me just smiles and nods and I have no idea what it is?  Yep.  Can I really pee in a squatty toilet?  Yep.  Can I ride in a car with my brother and sister and parents through the mountains of TN, survive the worst hail storm of my life, listen to sis scream when she finds out we took the scenic route through Kentucky and are back in TN and live to laugh about the story to this day?  Yep! 
  While I know it's not easy to see the world, it's definitely something I want to do.  All of it.  It ain't cheap and that's why we have figured out unique and fun ways to travel frugally so it's not a once-every-10-years sort of thing.  Travel can be very affordable if you're willing to do a little bit of research and play the miles game!  And yes, the world is full of crazy people and places may seem unsafe right now but that shouldn't stop anyone from living their life.  An earthquake can happen anywhere, in LA, Arkansas, etc. so we're not immune here in the US.  The way I look at it is that if it's my time to go, I can't change that so I'm going to embrace every moment as if it were my last.

   I thank my family for instilling the travel bug in me when I was younger and for making me the strong, stubborn woman I am today.  I thank Curtis for sparking my interest once again for travel and for suggesting we go to places like China and Malaysia, places I may not have gone to so quickly on my own.  And thanks to whoever is reading this because it's a long post. 

  It's a scary world out there but upon closer look, it isn't so bad.  :)

Us in Istanbul

Delicious dumplings on the streets of Beijing!

Curtis in St. Croix with the beer drinking pig!

Us at the top of St. Mark's Square in Venice

Red Beach in Santorini the morning after we were engaged!

Getting out of your Comfort Zone

And boy are we ever.  I recently talked about our splurge on a Liveaboard on a previous post for the Great Barrier Reef diving we'll be doing.  A few changes have been made and along with a new boat, we have a new itinerary.  And one that includes something I swore I would never, EVER do. 

Actual photo taken from the dive we're doing.

  A shark feeding.  Yep, me, the girl who was scared to get in the ocean at one time because a fish could bite me will be watching from a distance of this picture of a full on shark feed.

  Ok, I haven't lost my marbles.  For one, there are many, MANY different types of feeds and this one involves us dropping down the bottom of the sea floor in a specific location and then the boat lowering a trash can full of food.  No one is actually physically feeding the sharks (an excellent way to donate a finger, hand or side of your body to Poseidon) but we are in the vicinity of sharks in full on feeding mode.  That somewhat eased my mind. 

  Second, the liveaboard we'll now be doing is a day longer, includes more dives but automatically does this as one of them.  It's roughly 20 minutes of your hour or so dive but those who have done it say it's something not to be missed.  When we were first looking at liveaboards, part of the reason we chose Taka was because they DIDN'T do this dive in their package.  However, after research and lots of talking, we decided it was worth it to have an extra day at sea, more dives and go with a boat that has a bit more experience than Taka. 

  Enter Spirit of Freedom.

   It's ranked very high in the liveaboard world and every person on our favorite Scuba forum swears by it.  (the other one we really wanted was full, Mike Ball, except for the $4500 pp Ocean View Stateroom.  No thanks Mike, we'd like to pay our mortgage.  For a year)  The boat is very professional, specializes in longer trips to sea and is willing to stop for Minke whales if we see any, more so than others.  Because it's only a day longer but it's going literally out to sea, this trip includes what's called a low-level flight from Cairns to a small island where we'll board. 

  So back to the sharks.  We're not spending the cash on a liveaboard to sit out any dives so we're biting the bullet and facing our fears.  I was always so afraid of these because a) most shark attacks happen when they're being fed.  Not a fun statistic to know when 3 months from now I will be sitting on the sea floor watching this. b) I feel like it could have a detrimental impact on the sharks because well, they're being fed and not looking for food.

 Some fears were calmed by watching videos of this exact dive posted by many, many divers.  Yes, the sharks are very close but why would they want us?  We're not yummy and delicious chum, that's available in the trashcan.  Note to self, do NOT dress up like a trashcan and go diving on Osprey Reef.  And I said some fears, not all.  I'm still terrified.

   As for the environmental impact, the vessels are set on a strict schedule so that no two boats are out there during the same week.  So at most, assuming weather is nice, we're looking at a feeding a week.  Throw in a few weeks of no bookings, bad weather or holidays and you're talking 30 feeds a year.  That made me feel a lot better since the same sharks may not be visiting during that time. 

  So, after watching countless videos, determining the best liveaboard for us and researching how long it takes to get a shark bite victim to shore before they're a goner, we're diving in head first.  :) 

Home Depot Slyness

So, as many of you have noticed, it's Spring.  (finally!  I'm not a winter girl) With spring comes the time when homeowners everywhere spend WAY too much trying to get their yards/house in order so they have pretty things to enjoy in just a few weeks/months.  We are in this category. 

What does this have to do with travel?  Well, we found a way to "capitalize" on the system.  See, we're frequent Home Depot visitors.  So much that every time we go in, a good 20 mins is spent just saying hi to all of the people we know there.  Just earning miles on our Aadvantage credit card wasn't enough to appease my dear hubby.  Nope, we found a way to earn even more miles.

Home Depot is an AA Shopping place where you can shop online for items and earn additional miles through the website.  So, if you go to https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/ and find Home Depot, you can earn 3 miles for every dollar spent by ordering through that URL.  Use your Starwood card (that earns you 1.25 miles per dollar) and you're looking at 4.25 miles per dollar spent.  Sweet!

And here's where we take it a step further, as we usually do.  You can order gift cards through this website and earn your 3 miles per dollar on those, paying for it with your Starwood card for 4.25 miles per dollar.  THEN, once you get the card in the mail (which is fast, like 4 days tops) you can turn around and order the items you want through the Aadvantage shopping site, paying for it with your gift card for another 3 miles.  Make sense?  The miles are earned for simply using the site, not a card, so you get miles twice over by using a gift card purchased earlier.  Voila, you now just earned 7.25 miles.

Example:  you priced out a fan you like at Home Depot and it's $100.  You have 2 options:

1) Pay for this fan at your local store and earn 125 miles using your Starwood card.

2) Order a Home Depot gift card online through Aadvantage shopping for $100 using your Starwood card.  Earn 325 miles.  Buy the fan online through Aadvantage shopping, pay for it using your new gift card and select in-store pickup to save on shipping.  Earn an additional 300 miles.  Total= 625 miles

One requires a tad more work than the other, although mostly patience, but the results do not lie.  Order gift cards in larger numbers at one time and you'll always find a way to use them if you're doing home projects!  So if you order a $500 gift card from HD and shop online, you're looking at 3,125 miles. 

Yet another simple way to max out your mileage earning potential. :D

When to Splurge

  I know I've talked a lot about how to save money over and over again by taking advantage of company reward programs but every now and then, there comes a time to splurge.  Whether that's on a special trip, a ridiculously nice meal out or an over the top pair of expensive shoes, it's ok to indulge from time to time.

  Curtis and I talked a lot about where we would splurge on our big trip this year.  To me, the trip itself is a splurge; something I am so lucky to be able to do and grateful to stay in a hostel, much less a nice hotel.  To us, the main highlight of this trip is diving the Great Barrier Reef since it's one of the top places people say you must see/do in your lifetime and we love to dive.  After looking into the locations of the best dive spots, the "splurge" portion of our trip kind of fell in our laps.

  We're going to do a Liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef.

Taka Dive GBR Liveaboard

  Some of the best diving spots on the Reef are located too far out for a day trip, unless you plan to charter a plane to a private island and then take a boat to the bigger boats already there.  Yeah...too much of a splurge!  The main sites we wanted to visit were the Cod Hole and the Ribbon Reefs, two sites that include many diving sites within and tons to see.

  We haven't booked anything yet but I think we've decided on the Taka Liveaboard for 4 days and 3 nights including 10+ dives.  The entire purpose of the boat is to dive so it will be nice to be around divers, marine biologists (who tag along to do research) and people genuinely interested in ocean life.  I'm a little nervous (my worst case scenario mind does that to me) but excited at the idea of living at sea for a few days!


  The itinerary includes:
(click on each name that's underlined to see a picture of the animal)

-Leave Tuesday night to embark on an overnight trip to the Cod Hole

Wednesday
-Cod Hole dive 1- likely sightings include the Giant Potato Cod, Moray Eel, Reef Sharks & Maori Wrasse
-Cod Hole dive 2- Cod Feed; close encounters with the Famous Potato Cod!

Potato Cod

-Pixie's Pinacle/Reef/Wall or Challenger Bay dive 3- likely sightings include Lion Fish, Nudibranchs, Garden Eels & Barracuda

-Night Dive at Challenger Bay dive 4- likely sightings include Cuttle Fish, Seat Turtles, Reef Sharks & Manta Rays

Thursday
-Clam Gardens dive 5- likely sightings include Giant Clams (200+ years old) anenome

-Steve's Bommie dive 6- sightings include Red Flame File Shell, Stone Fish, Wobeegong Sharks, Turtles & Thousands of schooling Anthias

-Temple of Doom dive 7- sightings include Flatworms & Clownfish

-Night Dive, Beer Gardens dive 8- sightings include sleepy Turtles & Parrot Fish

Friday
-Hogs Breath dive 9- sightings include Blue Spot Lagoon Ray & Clown Fish

-Split Bommie dive 10- sightings include Octopus & various Butterfly Fish


This itinerary is their desired dive plan but it can change depending on currents, weather and even time of the year.  We will probably end up skipping a few sites due to the latter.  Why?  As if this dive trip couldn't get any better, we're there during Minke Whale season!

  These whales migrate to Australia every year between May-July and up to 100 may be seen at one time.  There are strict rules in place (as there should be) to prevent harm to these animals but they're very friendly and are likely to approach snorkelers near boats.  They are the Dwarf Minke Whales but don't be fooled!  They run about 8 meters long and weigh up to 5 tons!

 

WOW!  How many times in your life can you say you swam with whales?!  There, of course, is no guarantee we'll see any but because we're with a dive group solely for 3 days, the boat will stop (by law) and cut the engines so we can jump in the water with them.  Yet another advantage to being on a liveaboard that you just don't get with day trips!

  The experience will be well worth the money and we're thrilled to get the opportunity to see some parts of the ocean most have never seen before.

Have you splurged on travel before?  In hindsight, was it worth it?

Eat. Pray. Love. Go.

  One stop I am looking forward to SO much on our trip is Bali.  Everything about this island seems picturesque!  The backdrop of many, many movies, it's the place to go when you want to unwind, relax and get to know yourself all over again.  Yoga is a big part of the way of life in Bali with many resorts offering it as part of the rooms.  Bali was also featured as the last stop by Julia Roberts in "Eat. Pray. Love." and from what we've read, the scenes from that movie barely touch on the beauty of this place!

He's real! His name is Pak Ketut Leyar and if he's feeling ok, we plan to make a stop and see what the future has in store for us.

   This is a place I have always wanted to visit and I can't believe we're going in just 3 short months! We're still trying to pick hotels to stay at (there are a LOT to choose from!) but here are a few of the sights we'll be visiting. Yes, a little Bali eye candy. :)

Pura Danau Batur

Pura Tanah Lot

Jatiluwih

Pura Uluwatu Temple

Rice Field, Ubud

Unbelievable beauty that I know pictures will not do justice!  We plan to stay on the coast for a few days to dive and then move inland to Ubud, the cultural heart of Bali.  The diving in Bali?  Considering the fact that it's relatively close to Fiji, where diving was out of the world, we're looking forward to seeing some wild marine life!

Mola Mola

Garden Eels:  Looks like grass but they're really eels!

Interesting Coral

  So many things to see and do!  We're there for a week and since it's in the middle of our trip, it will be a nice chance to relax between the bustle of Hong Kong and the thrill of Australia!  :)

  One part I'm REALLY looking forward to?  The Balinese massage.  At a top notch spa, massages will run anywhere between $15-20 for 2 hours and 2 people massaging you at once.  For once a spa that I can actually relax at instead of worrying about how much its going to set me back!! Ahhh....

Does it get any better than this?

 I'll blog more on Bali once we nail down our hotels but for now, I'm having fun researching all the things to do around the island!  Anyone or anyone you know been to Bali?  I'd love to hear from you if so!