Noob Testimonial: Ryan Transforms from a Skeptic to a Believer…and Tours Europe

Posted by Noob Master on Feb 8, 2013 in Testimonial | 0 comments

[Here’s another Noobtraveler success story! If you would like to submit a Noob testimonial, email me at geoff@noobtraveler. Get ya some!]

I admit that I was a skeptic of the whole “credit card rewards” thing at first. At the time, I only had a debit card and preferred the ease and immediacy of using it rather than keeping track of and paying a credit card bill every month. The idea of signing up for a credit card, much less two, three, or four at a time, was just foreign to me and frankly, out of my comfort zone. But, after watching a couple of my closest friends go through the whole app party process with Noobtraveler, plan trips, pay for them with points and return with wild, amazing stories, I became curious. So, I emailed Geoff and asked away.

We connected and he walked me through the entire process: signing up for a card, how to get your points, transferring points, booking flights, and even helping me with my trip itinerary so that I would get the most out of my time and my points. It was truly fascinating. He has incredible knowledge of rewards travel: what to do, how to do it efficiently and when to execute. Geoff is also constantly traveling and has first-hand experience in where to (or not to) travel to and what to do while you’re there. He’s very passionate and meticulous about his work and seeing that helped alleviate any hesitation I previously had about he whole credit card endeavor.

Since I was a skeptic and a little hesitant at first, Geoff advised to me take it slow. I ended up applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred^SM and the Ink Plus® Business Card. After completing the minimum spend requirements, I had about 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, and after using these cards for everything – I was close to 150,000 points.

After getting my points and researching some more, I had an amazing trip on the calendar. I transferred my Ultimate Rewards to United to book my trip.

Here was my Europe 2013 itinerary for January 1st – 24th: London – Barcelona – Interlaken – Munich – Vienna – Budapest – Berlin – Prague.

Some highlights: In Barcelona, I visited La Rambla and attended a Barcelona FC soccer game. I went skiing in the Swiss Alps in Interlaken. While in Berlin/Munich, I indulged in German food, beer, and history! And while in Budapest, I visited the Szechenyi Baths.

I never imagined that I would be able to travel like this! When I first came across Noobtraveler.com, I thought it was too good to be true – but, it wasn’t. As long as you’re responsible, pay off your credit card bills, and follow the rest of Geoff’s advice for noobs, you can reap the same benefits as me.

My first attempt at rewards travel saw me accumulate about 140,000 points (child’s play, I know). So, in 2013, my goal is to triple that number. I’ve been thinking about South America. Any advice?

— Noob Master

Noob Testimonial: Vince Living Large!

Posted by Noob Master on Feb 1, 2013 in Testimonial, Uncategorized | 0 comments

[Here’s another Noobtraveler success story! If you would like to submit a Noob testimonial, email me at geoff@noobtraveler. Get ya some!]

It all started accidentally.

I’m in a touring comedy drumming show, and we had a run of 4 round trip flights, 4 car rentals, 6 hotel stays in a three week period.   I had a cash back card for everything, but I knew I needed to try and get: 1. a sign-up bonus with 2. great car insurance and 3. an attainable minimum spend.  I was willing to pay an annual fee to separate work from business.

My (ignorant) choice? The American Express Platinum Mercedes Benz card. For $475 and a 50,000 point sign-up bonus after $3k in 3 months.   After receiving the card, knowing about the basic perks, I start to look around more for the best way to optimize those perks.   And then…IT happened.

Churning blogs.  Miles and points. Sign-up bonuses. Minimum spend.

Card 1 – Amex Mercedes Benz Platinum: My first inclination was “wooooopsies…why did I just spend 475 dollars for a credit card??” But, it was still worth it for me and the business.  4 round trip flights on AA meant lounge access. I didn’t have status, so I’d be paying baggage fees for two each direction, two flights were international, so I applied for global entry that got reimbursed.

AND, I started the status match game.  With the card, you get some higher tier car rental programs, so I received Hertz’ Gold, and National’s Executive.  I then turned National back to Hertz, and matched to 5-star.  The card comes with Starwood Gold, which I matched to Best Western’s Gold, and IHG silver. So as of now, I’ve been in lounges 10 times, earned the full $200 in flight credit this calendar year, will earn $200 next year, got reimbursed for global entry, and I get tons of random upgrades in hotels and rentals just for using that card.  And the customer service is STELLAR.  I am 100% pleased with the card, and I feel like a bit of a baller with it.

SO –  back to what matters: the churning.  After reading that, I started to study.  And read. And read. And read.  I found three blogs. The first was Noob Traveler.  He wrote in my ‘lingo.’  The second was Million Mile Secrets, and the third was Frequent Flier University.  Those were the three I studied, literally, for a weekend.  From there, I ended up signing up for all the classics.

whoa!

My second churn was the Chase Sapphire Preferred^SM, Barclays US Airways, and two Amex Starwood SPG’s (Starwood Preferred Guest® Business  and Starwood Preferred Guest® Personal).

All of my single purchase minimum spend requirements were met at Sonic. Usually on a Sonic Blast.  I can justify 50,000 miles for ice cream all day long.

Now, it’s January and I’m getting ready for my NEXT churn.  I’m super excited.

I’ve taken one trip.  I flew from Nashville to London, picked up a friend, flew to Paris for a night, came back the next evening, spent 3 days in London, and returned.   One my way to London, there were 19 people in coach.  we all got our own row. I used my AA miles to get to Heathrow. 20k miles +40 dollars.  From London to Paris, 4500 BA Avios + 22 dollars.  I went off-peak hotel with Clarion, and got a room with a view of the Eiffel tower for 8k points (transferred from MR).
I was planning on taking the Eurostar train back to London, but what I learned, was that the price goes UP as tickets become more scarce. What I planned on a 61 dollar train ride became a 180 dollar train ride. My solution? AVIOS! Booked the last flight out of Paris for 4500 + 22 dollars, and I was back!

Things I wish I knew when I started:
1. It’s okay to have multiple credit cards (if you’re a responsible manager of your finances).  I promise.
2. Yes, your credit score will drop initially, but after a short period of time, it will end up being HIGHER than when you started.
3. Use RSS reader!  (I use Reeder for iOs)  READ THEM MULTIPLE TIMES DAILY!!! I can not stress this enough. If you want to be on top of your game, follow those who are already there. I check my feed before I check my Facebook.  IT’S THAT IMPORTANT!
4. Ask questions to the established people.  They know the answer, and they enjoy talking about it. Plus, they’re great people.
5. Bluebird - game.changer.
6. Be witty. I knew one of my friends owed another friend 2000 dollars.  I was the middle man. I paid one, the other paid me. 35 dollars later, i hit 66% of my spend in one transaction!
7. Be diligent. Do not spend money on anything you normally wouldn’t be buying. That’s not healthy or good for the cause.
8. E-rewards - If you can get a sign up. Do it. It’s not MUCH, but i’ve earned over 30k points just by doing surveys. I also have two different accounts.

 

 

As of now, I have:
60k+ Membership Rewards
78k+ Chase URs
160+ AA miles
55k Avios
50k United Miles
50k US  Airways miles
60k SPG

Not too bad for 7 months of churning!   Onto a new year full of points, travel, and happiness.

[Disclaimer: I do receive a referral credit for some of the cards mentioned in the post.]

— Noob Master

Noob Success Story: Addiction to Points Turns Into Trips, Handbags, and Hunting Bows

Posted by Noob Master on Jan 25, 2013 in Testimonial, Uncategorized | 0 comments

[Here’s another Noobtraveler success story! If you would like to submit a Noob testimonial, email me at geoff@noobtraveler. Get ya some!]

Disney Vacation!

First off, let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Jacquie and I am 35 years old. I am a teacher and am married to an awesome guy who is a youth pastor. We have a beautiful little girl, Sophie, who just turned 6.

Birthday Girl

Due to our occupations, we live rather modestly but love to have fun and really enjoy our family time! One thing I have always been is a “frugal gal.” I love to get a deal and see how far I can stretch my dollar. It makes my eyes twinkle. Haha! Now my husband, on the other hand, would much rather blow all the money and live a full life than penny-pinch like me. We joke that if I was alone I’d be rich and do nothing with it, and if he was alone, he’d be living out of his car because he’d spend all of his money vacationing and livin’ the good life.  So you can see we have a mixture of two worlds.

Less than a year ago, a friend of ours told us of the Southwest card offering 50K points. So, being the penny-pincher I am, I signed myself up for two (regular card and a business one) for both my husband and me. Then I learned of the Companion Pass. So, I went for it and signed up for an ADDITIONAL Southwest card (without realizing how potentially dumb that could be getting three in a two month time span), and the Visa Signature (black colored card) so I would instantly have my Companion Pass. To get this third card, I had to make the reconsideration call. When I googled how to handle the whole reconsideration call, is when I found Geoff (enter angels singing!).  Then, I entered a whole new world! I learned how to successfully complete the reconsideration call and scored 150,000 points for me and 100,000 for the hubs. YES! So we went to Disney. Gotta celebrate, right?

Once all the Southwest hype simmered down, I got the itch for more. I realized I wanted to keep traveling for FREE.  So, my first app party was about getting some great hotel rewards and even more flight points. I learned from Geoff all about the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card, Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, and the Citi AA cards. From these cards, we recently went to Chicago for free for the weekend because of the freebies given from these two credit cards (whenever I get a card, the hub’s gets one so we double dip!). We haven’t even used any actual Marriott points from either of these cards. We just used the additional free certificate nights. SCORE!

Chicago

So what’s next? Where are we going with all of the points we have banked? Well… eventually to Italy or France. But I don’t want that kind of trip over Spring break. For now though, we are starting small. This Spring break we are using our 100,000 Marriott points and are staying a week in Miami. Our flights are actually not through Southwest, but instead from American Airlines because we both earned 100,000 points using the double browser trick with Citi bank (thanks Geoff!). Our family of 3 is flying from a small town airport in IL to Miami for less than 100,000 points. That means we still have 100,000 points on my hubby’s Citi cards (plus a nice bank of Southwest points).  So yes our airfare and hotel stay will be free. But I am kind of greedy… so I wanted some spa time for free too at the Marriott. Therefore, during my last app party, I signed up for an Amex card so I could get 50,000 points. With this, I “bought” $400 in giftcards to spend at the spa, restaurant, and bar.  I am stoked!

Geoff has opened me up to a whole new world. But how is this effecting my scores? My sanity? My marriage? When I started, my credit score was 801. I did dip down in the 770s but it is going back up. As long as I am in the range of 760+, I am comfortable with this. Every 3 months, I am doing an app party and apply for about 4 cards. I have found that is about all I can handle, so we can meet the spending limits.

 One thing I have learned, that is SO important, is to keep log/track of all of my login info for all of the credit cards and reward systems. This includes my spending limits, and time requirements. Having this all mapped out makes life so much easier. I didn’t do this the first app party, and it was a nightmare to manage all of the logins and such. Now I know better. Haha. PLEASE learn from my mistake and keep yourself organized! I also had no idea how addicting (in a good way) this would all be.  At Christmas time, I really wanted a new handbag. I don’t mean any bag… I mean.. a REAL one. You know one that rhymes with Pucci.  My husband was even shocked I would even entertain the idea being the penny-pincher I am. Well, I hunted until I found a credit card reward that would nearly buy it for me. I found one that came with a $400 credit (they are no longer offering this, sorry! It was an NFL card) and I only had to spend $1000! SOLD! I also hit Saks on Black Friday and got a $1000 purse for $620. My credit made it $220 (the usual price I pay for purses). But this time, I had myself a REAL handbag. My husband thought I was nuts… but then he gladly spent his $400 NFL credit on a hunting bow. To each is own, right? We also bought a new dishwasher and a beautiful marble and glass backsplash for our kitchen… from REWARDS on various cards!  Oh yea!!!!!!

Oh, the joy!

So not all of you out there have to be world travelers to have fun with rewards. Would I love to be one some day? YES!! Of course! But I am very happy right now with our new life with freebies on a level I can handle. So what’s next?  I have my eye on a Hilton credit card because I want to stay at the Chicago Waldorf for a weekend for free ($900+  stay). You’d better believe that card will be on my next app party list!

I cannot thank Geoff enough for adding such fun to my life through rewards. My husband and I thank you!

— Noob Master