Saving for Vacations

One of biggest problems with reading so many blogs is travel envy. Most of the bloggers I follow take these over the top trips. After a while, you start wanting to mimic those trips. Travel Envy is Dangerous!

Photo Credit: Intercontinental Tahiti 

My problem is that I have a limited number of points. Also, some trips can not be paid for solely by airline miles and hotel points. Next year, I hope to travel to Antarctica to finish my 7 continent goal. Airline miles will only get me to and from Argentina. The cruise portion will need to be paid in cash and it ain't cheap.

Photo Credit: Quarkexpeditions.com

I always knew that Antarctica trip was going to be expensive, close to $10,000. Luckily, I have been saving for this trip for over three years. A little each paycheck goes into a savings account. At the moment, I have a little less than 1/2 of the trip saved.

As a mortgage loan officer, I get an opportunity to peer into the financials of hundreds of people a year. I dig through their credit card debt and peer into their savings habits. By the time my borrower's sign the paperwork for their new mortgage, I typically know more about their financial health than they do. One area that shocks me is that lack of savings for vacations. Less than 10% of my borrowers have a dedicated savings account for vacations.

Earlier this month, the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS), in a collaboration with the Global Coalition on Aging and the U.S. Travel Association, released a study that looked at how people plan and save for their retirement travel dreams. While the survey was tailored to talk about travel during retirement, the survey results produced some interesting insights into people's mindset towards travel:

70%  say travel is an important goal worth saving for,

15% place a high priority on saving,  50% place high/medium priority,

Nearly two-in-ten have explicitly factored travel into their savings plan, 

4% have dedicated savings account

Only 4% of survey respondents have a savings accounts devoted for vacations. That is kinda sad. Yes, the question was about a savings account devoted for travel; instead of savings accounts overall. Generally, most people have some type of savings account. That savings accounts becomes a catchall for emergencies, travel, Christmas gifts etc. I strongly believe you should have individual savings accounts for your goals. Without separate accounts, its hard to determine if you ever accomplish your goals.

Regardless of what others might write, trips cost money. My airline tickets to Australia & New Zealand that I recently booked with US Airway's miles came with $200 worth of taxes and fees. That's just for the airline tickets. I haven't even started booking lodging. Then there is the local transportation cost, activity costs and of course food and booze. Two years ago, I took a trip to Tokyo and paid for all the airfare and all hotel nights except 1 night with points and miles. However, I still spent $1,500.

Saving for vacations is simple. Here are three easy steps to making it happen:

   1) Open a savings/checking account devoted solely for vacations

   2) Set-up an automatic transfer from your checking account to the savings account monthly

   3) Review every few months to see if you can increase your contribution

Within a short time, you will have a small pot of money to spend on travel.  The hardest step is opening the account and making the decision to start saving for trips. After a while, you won't miss the money being transferred from your savings account. If you want to start traveling the world, start saving your money. Points and miles will only get you so far, cash will be needed to make up the difference.

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Earning Points at Hotel Resturants

In the pursuit of points & miles, you need to think about earning points constantly. One place where you might be leaving points on the table is at hotel restaurants. Many hotel chains allow you to earn points for money spent at restaurants even without staying at the hotel.

Photo Credit: Blue Duck Tavern - Park Hyatt Washington,DC

Last year, I wrote about how I earn points for a business lunch at the Park Hyatt Washington, DC. That one business lunch earned me 5,000 Hyatt points.

Starwood has a promotion going on until April 30th that earns you double points per $1 spent. Typically, you earn 2pts per $1 spent at Starwood Hotel restaurants even when not staying at the hotel. This promotion gives you 4pts per $1 spent.

To register for the promotion, go here.

Not all Starwood restaurants are participating. The list of participating restaurants can be found here. Over 1,000 restaurants worldwide are participating. In the United States, there are 98 restaurants participating. 5 of them are in Washington, DC.

Here are the rules of the promotion:

• Offer is valid from February 1, 2014 until April 30, 2014 

Members must register for the promotion at spg.com/twiceasnice to participate in the offer.

• Only eligible food purchase are allowed
• Greater than $10 charges 
• no alcoholic beverages 
• not in connection with a banquet, meeting or other function  

• Must provide SPG number at time of dine

I would register for this promotion, even if you aren't planning on using it. You never know when you might dine at a SPG hotel.


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Win 50,000 Wyndham Points or a Trip

Wyndham hotels and X-Men have teamed up for a contest.

Enter to win 1 of 2 Grand Prizes of round-trip airfare, 5 nights in a hotel, 2 tickets to the Premiere of X-Men: Days of Future and a $2,500 prepaid credit card. 5 weekly winners will win 50,000 Wyndham points.

Enter here daily until 4/4/14.

Didn't know that there was a new X-Men movie coming out!



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United Follows Southwest's Lead

United announced earlier this week that starting in April that Apple-product users will be allowed to stream free tv shows and movies.

Photo Credit: United HUB

According to FOX Business News, "The personal device entertainment system will be available on select aircrafts in April and allows users to choose from more than 150 movies and nearly 200 TV shows free of charge on their own devices. The rollout will begin on Airbus A319, Airbus A320, Boeing 747-400 and some 777-200 aircrafts, according to United’s website. Most domestic aircraft will have the system by year’s end." The system will work off of United's iOS application and its laptop browser. Wifi is not needed to download the app or broswer plug-in. 

Photo Credit: United HUB

United's personal device entertainment system is very similar to Southwest's system, which I reviewed here. There are two diffrence at the moment. First,  United's TV shows and movies are free and Southwest's charges. Second, Southwest has free live TV and United doesn't. Either way, this is the right direction for United. Unfortunately, this new advancement does not help me. I am an Andriod user. Hopefully they develop an Android application soon.

Either way, charge your devices before getting on the plane. 

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Win 250,000 American Airlines Miles

American Airlines has a contest to win 250,000 miles and a $1,500 gift card.

To enter, go to this website. Then fill out a few questions:

Here are the rules:

     - Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia 

         who are at least 18 years or older (19 in Alabama and Nebraska).

     - Contest opened from February 12, 2014 to March 31, 2014

     - One Prize consisting of 250,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® miles and 

        a $1,500 gift card, ARV $6,475. 

You can't win if you don't enter.
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7 Common Emotions of Travel

British Airways commissioned a study to determine the habits of airline travelers.

Photo Credit: British Airways

The results of the study, completed by Ipsos MoRI, uncovered that travelers go through 7 different emotions when they fly.

The emotions are:

• Enjoyment
• Conviviality
• Belonging
• Security
• Control
• Empowerment
• Vitality 

The study goes on to say there is a pattern to the emotions. The first phase being CONTROL, which starts at home and continues through security. Soon it moves to EMPOWERMENT, knowing that you have to get to the gate at a specific time and you know how to get there. On board the plane, SECURITY and BELONGING take over due to a smile from the crew and the routine safety announcements.  

While in the air, ENJOYMENT AND CONVIVIAL behaviors come into force.  "There is a distinct theme of suspending normal life for fliers with many of them admitting to breaking their own norms and indulging in
calorific food, drinking alcohol first thing in the morning and watching three films in a row 'because they can'." Somewhere in the flight, the final feeling VITALITY kicks in. Its the excitement of the vacation or family that awaits you at the end of the flight.

Personally, these are all emotions that I feel during flying. For me control starts when leaving public transportation at the airport. Get my paper ticket, dump the water in my water bottle and head to TSA-Prechek. While boarding, I know when I need to board and that the window seat in the last row of the airplane is mine. A major sigh of relief overcomes me, when the airline door closes. Flying on an airplane gives me a ton of enjoyment and I always drink a Sprite, but I never drink soda normally on the ground. Excitement occurs midway throughout the flight with the end in sight.

The question is what is British Airways going to do with this information? Improve the on-board product? Make getting to the gate easier? Information is great, but its only words if you don't act on it.

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5 Ways to Adjust to A New Time Zone

I spent most of the weekend trying to plan my trip to Australia for the fall. One of the biggest pitfalls of traveling to Australia or New Zealand is that you lose almost two days traveling there. Midnight (12am) on the East Coast is 3pm in Sydney, almost 15 hours ahead.

www.worldtimezone.com 

Typically, when I travel, I am not effected by the difference in time. My body adjusts with minimal interference. That was until I traveled to Tokyo. While in Tokyo, I was fine, but when I got home my body took a week to readjust. Sleeping at 5pm and working at 1am was the norm. FYI, Tokyo is 2 hours ahead of Sydney.

A few month's ago, Men's Health had a great piece on 5 Ways to Adjust to A New Time Zone. Unfortunately, I can't find an online version. Luckily I ripped it out of the magazine.

1. Plane Time is Sleep Time

Nap as much as you can on board in both directions. Don't try to eat bad food or watch bad movies. Sit by the window so seatmates don't bother you. Use and eye mask and noise-canceling headphones. Wheels up, eyes closed.


2. Drink Up

Stay hydrated. That means no alcohol, which will only make you dehydrated and groggy and rob you of relaxing sleep. You don't want to land hungover without the bonus of having earned it with a wild night out.


3. Make the First Day Work

Assume local time immediately and fight to stay awake as long as you can.  The longer you make it, the easier the transition.


4. Step away from the bed.

If you're in your hotel and it's not close to nighttime. Never sit on the bed. If you do, you're done.


5. Return home right

Force yourself onto your normal schedule. The longer you allow yourself to stay in another time zone, the longer you miss out on life at home.


I am going to try these when I travel to Australia. Will they work? I'll report back.

Do you have any tips to beat adjustments to time?

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