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Tips for Aeroplan Miles redemption

5/16/2007

I recently redeemed some of my Aeroplan miles for my girlfriend to come and meet me for a weekend in Las Vegas. Here are some tips for Aeroplan miles redemption:

·         Be flexible with your dates- and check all of the different combinations. In my particular case the option was to come back on monday which would have cost 40,000 miles, or tuesday which cost only 25,000 miles.

·         Check alternative airports if there are other convenient ones you can get to- this could save you money on the taxes you have to pay.

·         Make sure that the route is reasonably convenient- sometimes you may have to transfer several times to get to your destination.

·         I used to think it was worth it to call air canada to redeem your points- but now that the website has improved I think it is better to redeem online- you have to pay an extra fee if you want to make your reservation by phone.

Remember- Aeroplan miles do expire after 7 years so it is important to use them before 7 years or face losing them. Aside from flights there are many other things you can exchange your Aeroplan miles for such as gift cards at various stores. Check out all the options at Aeroplan, or on my Getting the most our of Aeroplan page

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How to find the best hotel deal

5/4/2007

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I take a lot of weekend trips to different places and I am always looking for ways to find the best deal.

After much practice- I now use a three step approach to hotel reservations.

First, if you know the city and area you want to stay at, but not the exact hotel, your best bet is to try one of the big travel websites such asExpedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, or Orbitz. This will help you to narrow down to a few hotels which will meet your requirements in the price range you need. At this point it is not necessary to check all of the sites- just try any one.

Next, once you have a few hotels that think you may want to stay at, go toTripadvisor and find these hotels. For each of them you should click “Check Rates” and a popup window will appear, where you put in your travel dates. Tripadvisor will then show you a bunch of websites which it will be checking you only have to click on “show next offer” to get the next one- saving you the time of going to each individual website.

The third and final step is very important. When you have chosen the dates of your travel and the hotel you will be staying at. Before you make your reservation on any website, find the website of the hotel you have chosen and see if they have an even better rate- or maybe a special which includes something else, like breakfast for example.

If you find the same price on the hotel’s website or think you may need to change your plans I would reserve directly with the hotel. If you find a better price on another website and are 100% sure that you will not change your travel plans, then go with the other site. It is generally possible to change reservations made directly at the hotel, but extremely difficult any other way. See my previous article Travel Websites.

Hope some of you find this helpful.

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What I like about Vegas

5/2/2007

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Having returned from my second trip to Las Vegas, I thought I would share what I best like about the city of sin. I strongly recommend that everyone go there at least once.

There is no easy way to understand Vegas until you have been there. I guess I consider it a Disneyland for adults.

What are the best parts?

·         Choice. Whatever you want to do- it is available. From gambling, dancing, drinking, shopping- whatever you want to do for fun, you can find it.

·         Restaurants- there is an incredible variety of food at all different kinds of price levels.

·         Atmosphere- I guess because most people are there on vacation everyone is friendly and fun.

What don’t I like about Vegas? There are a couple of things:

·         Walking- there is just waay too much walking neccessary, even to go to a hotel which is nearby

·         It is very easy to spend a lot of money- especially when you can take cash advances from your credit card without even your pin number

·         Be very careful of the fees you pay at machines- I took out money three times while in Vegas- the first two times I had a fee of 4 dollars which I consider high but acceptable. The last time I made a withdrawl the fee was an unbelievableÂ 24 dolars!!! I only noticed when I got the printout of my transaction.

·         The TV channel selection in my hotel room was horrible. I know the hotels want you out of the room and in the casinos but they could at least have a couple of decent channels.

If you are planning a trip to Vegas and are on a budget, don’t miss

·         Half price show tickets at the big coca-cola bottle next to the MGM- this could save you a lot of money. The only catch is that they do not have seats for all shows.

·         The free magazines in every hotel list all of the attractions of all hotels and they also have coupons at the back.

·         If you are tired of walking the bus can take you the full length of the strip for only two dollars. If you are staying on the strip this is just as fast as a taxi for a fraction of the price.

·         If you are wanting to drink but don’t want to pay a lot, sit and play at a penny lot machine. At most casinos it does not take long for the waitress to come around. Don’t forget to tip her though.

·         Free attractions- the hotels on the strip are attractions in themselves, but there are many other attractions which are free such as the volcano at the Mirage, the fountains at the Bellagio, the moving statues at Caesars, etc…

For more Vegas info, the best site I have seen is Cheapo Vegas

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Tips for Aeroplan Miles redemption

How to find the best hotel deal

What I like about Vegas

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