American Airlines Devaluation - the day is here

I hope all of you were able to get in on any last minute mile redemptions before today - as you know, today is the official day of the American Airlines devaluation for mileage awards.  There is a broad range for the changes, but most rewards are going up (some significantly).

I'm grateful to have locked in a few options later in the year - made it in time!

China Trip recap and pics

My long weekend trip to China was a success!  Beautiful, clear skies allowed me to have an enjoyable tour and I had no problems with my visa and security checks.  I also managed to keep all of my electronic devices turned off to minimize security concerns.

As a quick recap, the trip was extremely cost effective - voucher covered the flight, points covered my hotel stay at the Grand Hyatt Beijing.  

Enjoy these fabulous pics!  (click on each to enlarge)

For those wondering, I booked this entire experience using China Guide - overall it went very well from pickup to drop off.  Give them a look if you want a great experience!

CVS giftcards available at Staples!

On my usual trip to Staples this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find CVS giftcards available for purchase.  Bonus!  Since CVS is my prime go-to pharmacy choice, this definitely adds benefit for 5x points earning opportunity with the Chase Ink cards.  During my last trip to Staples, I also discovered Target giftcards on the rack.

Nice to see my local Staples location adding in a new product.  Has anyone else noticed this new availability?

Travel more now

Wanted to share this article from Marketwatch:

One of the biggest life regrets for Older Americans is...

I find it interesting that many find regret with what you didn't do as opposed to what you DID do...certainly goes against our current societal norm of "what have you done for me lately".  I'm certainly an advocate though - travel now while you have the means and health!

Upcoming trip: China!

My recent schedule has really impacted my writing on the blog, but since it's Leap Day I figured I better get back into it.  And since I'm also traveling this week it's another good motivation for me to put together a post.

That's right...I'm headed to China!  Bejing to be exact.  I will depart on Thursday, arrive Friday evening, tour all day Saturday, and fly back home Sunday.  Yes you read that correctly, I will be there for two nights and one day.

You're probably asking yourself, "why would he do such a short trip?" The best answer I can give would be that I'll take what I can get.  Truthfully I had an international voucher that needed to be used before expiry and since the amount was high enough ($700) it would cover a pretty good trip deal if I could find one. And I did on American!  I'm flying for free on the Dreamliner (upgraded to Business on the outbound) and burning points for the hotel, so the trip overall is costing little to nothing.  A score in my book.

Not only that, but I now have a Chinese Visa good for 10 years of entry (which will be valuable for future trip staging and stopover possibilities).

Stay tuned for trip updates later in the coming week!