Big Island on a Budget

  Hawai’i is notoriously expensive but there are lots of ways to keep your trip reasonable, not limited to sleeping in your rental car, eating nothing but pb&js, and showering at public beach parks. PSYCH! Okay, we dabbled in those things. Greg and I just spent an awesome, like ready to move there, 8 days/8 […]

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40+ Ways to Travel More this Year

  I love helping people travel more. Not as much as I love helping people get their finances under control, because that always takes precedence over vacations, but almost. Obviously the Warckens love to travel, and we are massively fortunate to be able to do it so often. We make it a point to set […]

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2016 World Series

  Unless you don’t have a pulse, you probably heard the Chicago Cubs won the World Series last week.   Greg and I got to go to games 4, and 6, and were incredibly, undeniably, unbelievably (I won’t say lucky because it wasn’t luck) fortunate to have seen the Cubs’ 108 year drought come to an end […]

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New York City for (mostly) Free!

  I’ve written all about Southwest’s Companion Pass, and I earned mine February 2016, allowing G.Hammer to fly with me for $5.60 each way any time I fly Southwest through the end of 2017. In a nutshell, I had to earn 110,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points in one year to qualify which I did by […]

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Things to Consider Before Applying for a New Credit Card

  Credit card sign up bonuses are a great way to travel on the cheap, but of course applying for new credit cards all willy-nilly can be a great way to get yourself in some hot financial water, too. If you think you’d like to apply for a new credit card, or especially several new […]

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25 Easy Ways to Meet Credit Card Minimum Spends

  Full disclosure: This was written in 2015 when we were apparently millionaires and spending thousands of dollars on our credit cards every year. We have scaled way back, mostly to fall under Chase’s 5/24 rule so we are eligible for Chase cards again.  Carry on. So think you’d like to apply for a new […]

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Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan Hotel, Paris Eiffel

After I picked out our IHG stay in Paris- the InterContinental Paris Le Grand– Greg got to pick out our Carl Rezidor property and after I read “stunning Eiffel Tower views” in the hotel description he was sold. The hotel was only one Paris block (about five regular blocks) from Trocadero and really did offer […]

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Buying IHG Rewards Club points

Purchase points to stay at any of these hotel brands for cheap cheap cheap! IHG Rewards Club points can be purchased from points.com in 1,000 point increments, up to a maximum of 60,000 points in a calendar year. 60,000 points would cost you $600.00 out of pocket, but sometimes IHG has promotions that offer up to 100% […]

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InterContinental Hotels Group

Our Chase IHG Rewards Club credit card was the second dedicated hotel card either of us signed up for, but the one I’m most excited about. Of course like all these programs, you can earn points not only by staying at IHG properties, but also by renting cars, going on cruises, or by going to […]

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InterContinental Paris Le Grand Hotel

Contrary to popular belief we’re not dirtbaggers all the time (and we do shower on a regular basis although certainly not every day). Greg and I have stayed in hostels, crashed with friends, and slept in airports all over the world, spending less so that we might travel more. But that was before we started […]

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