Official Travel Thread

[Deleted]

We have family in Minneapolis, too. We'd try to stay longer in each of those spots, so that will hopefully break it up a bit.

[rango420]

Jan 9, 2019 13:20:59 GMT -6 scoots said:

We're going to need to be out of the house due to some basement renovations this Spring/Summer, and I'm trying to plan a road trip that wouldn't be just a straight shot to Chicago/Kentucky and back, but still doesn't add an obscene amount of time to our overall drive.

So far I've got:

Rapid City > Sioux Falls > Minneapolis > Madison > Chicago > Louisville > St Louis > KC > Home

It's staggered so we won't have to spend too much time in the car. No idea if this is too ambitious for a drive with a toddler and a dog.

If Bosma is willing to dogsit for an afternoon you should do a House on The Rock day around Madison if you have not been. I think almost everything but the house itself and the last area is stroller accessible and its absolutely insane/should keep a toddler occupied.

[thebosma]

I don’t know how dog friendly our cats are lol

[neader]

Steven definitely seems like a tame and well mannered pup, I'm sure it wouldn't be an issue at all.

edit: just want to edit it and make it clear i am being sarcastic and when we were drinking in denver and dogs were at the brewery scoots made a comment about how his dog is super spastic and wouldn't be able to behave out in public

[thebosma]

scoots you'll have to let me know when you're planning on coming through! We would absolutely love to hang out with you as well as your wife child and dog!  Our building actually has a nice little dog park next to it so that could be fun to meet some of our neighbor's dogs too

[Deleted]

Steve Perry is a very good boy who has some neuroses.

[thebosma]

Don't we all?

[Tweet]

Jan 9, 2019 12:18:27 GMT -6 llamaoftime said:

Jan 9, 2019 11:49:29 GMT -6 Tweet said:

Looking to go somewhere warm end of February/early March especially since I got a bunch of super point specials from Southwest. San Diego/Austin/Tampa are the favorites since the gf has been to none of those

San Diego will probably have the best weather around then and its a pretty great city. That being said summer is the ideal time to hit San Diego. Austin is also fun and I feel like you would enjoy it a lot but be very aware of when SXSW starts. SXSW is fun but its also incredibly busy and if you are just going for the city and not for the events you will not have near as good a time. I know nothing about Tampa but I feel like it probably isn't as great as the other two

Quoting you, probably responding to everyone: San Diego is looking like the winner since the only weekend I can go in that stretch is the start of SXSW looking at the dates. She's going to do Florida with her sister at some point in the fall

[thebosma]

Jan 9, 2019 19:58:22 GMT -6 Tweet said:

Jan 9, 2019 12:18:27 GMT -6 llamaoftime said:

San Diego will probably have the best weather around then and its a pretty great city. That being said summer is the ideal time to hit San Diego. Austin is also fun and I feel like you would enjoy it a lot but be very aware of when SXSW starts. SXSW is fun but its also incredibly busy and if you are just going for the city and not for the events you will not have near as good a time. I know nothing about Tampa but I feel like it probably isn't as great as the other two

Quoting you, probably responding to everyone: San Diego is looking like the winner since the only weekend I can go in that stretch is the start of SXSW looking at the dates. She's going to do Florida with her sister at some point in the fall

I've definitely stated this before but San Diego is one of my favorite places.  My sister lived there for a little while and it was lovely.  If you need any recs let me know!

[sick2b]

Jan 9, 2019 11:24:42 GMT -6 alady said:

You guys have a surprising amount of knowledge about the 'burgh. Thank you, I appreciate it!

I was going to recommend checking out Conflict Kitchen (a café featuring every week or month cuisine from a different country with with the US is in conflict, e.g. Iran, North Korea) but looks like it closed

In any case, I think a long weekend in Pittsburgh is next on our list with the bf, so I'll definitely steal some of the recs in here

[sick2b]

Jan 9, 2019 11:59:41 GMT -6 rango420 said:

the fries in that sandwich dont look crispy enough

Glad to hear I'm the the only one around that really value super-crispy fries

(versus awful, old oil-soaked, mellow, brownm ones)

[alady]

So it turns out my Pittsburgh trip is the same week as Milwaukee Psych Fest so I'll have to hurry back and won't have very much time at all to check out all the cool recs you guys sent I'll have to go back sometime I guess.

[Deleted]

Southwest is running a promotion on their credit cards that gives you 30k points and the Companion Pass for the remainder of 2019 if you spend $4k over the first three months.

[borracho]

Jan 9, 2019 19:38:22 GMT -6 scoots said:

Steve Perry is a very good boy who has some neuroses.

oh man. that's your dog's name?

[Deleted]

Oh yeah and we always address him by his full name.

[Deleted]

I get a ton of Steve Perry and Journey fan accounts liking his photos on Instagram.

[borracho]

that's fantastic. i love steve perry. and yes, with a name like that you have to use the full name!

[alady]

Jan 10, 2019 15:54:18 GMT -6 scoots said:

Southwest is running a promotion on their credit cards that gives you 30k points and the Companion Pass for the remainder of 2019 if you spend $4k over the first three months.

Hmm

[andrewvb]

how does companion pass work again? is it standby?

[Deleted]

You get to designate someone to be a free passenger for every flight you book. It's not standby - it's a guaranteed ticket. I had it one year and it's great.

[chvrchbarrel]

That would save us about a grand easy this year, with how much we fly to see family / for weddings - seriously considering.

Silly question - can you shift debt in a situation like this to achieve points? Like, if I'm making some larger purchases on my credit card now, could I just pay it off with the Southwest card to rack up the points, and then pay THAT card off with my cash instead?

[andrewvb]

no, i think what you're describing is a balance transfer so not the same as purchases. also usually a fee involved for a balance transfer.

[chvrchbarrel]

Jan 10, 2019 16:44:53 GMT -6 andrewvb said:

no, i think what you're describing is a balance transfer so not the same as purchases. also usually a fee involved for a balance transfer.

Thanks, I wondered if the fact that it was a credit balance would affect it. Obviously doing what I just described in any normal situation would be a ridiculous concept, figured it couldn't be that easy of a loophole.

[thebosma]

I mean a balance transfer isn’t an inherently bad idea if you have debt spread across several credit cards but yeah, it won’t count for points.

[alady]

I'm really liking this idea. Only problem is after we get back from Australia we won't have any vacation time to go anywhere requiring flights for a while *lolsob*

[andrewvb]

yeah i liked it too, but the main plan is to go to europe this year and a companion pass won't help with that, only so many things we could do outside of that big one.

the companion pass is a pretty regular thing, though. might keep my eye out for 2020.

[alady]

That said, weekend trips become pretty easy if airfare is half price. Hmm.

[neader]

Dope deal. All that's missing is a companion.

[Deleted]

FWIW, this is the first time I’ve seen this pop up as a promotion. They generally offer 50-60k in points and then you can work your way up to a Companion Pass the normal way. That’s how we did it.

[Deleted]

Also you can change the person you designate for the free ticket a couple of times unless they changed the rules recently.