Since the food at the Grand Hyatt Istanbul was subpar, we decided to venture out for breakfast at Namli Gurme on our last morning. A family friend who lived in the city recommended it. She proclaimed it to be the best place for a traditional Turkish breakfast. Situated in Karakoy, Namli was mostly frequented by locals and everything … Read more
A few weeks ago, I noticed something strange when buying money orders at Walmart. As you all know, when your purchase exceeds $3,000, you have to provide personal information so that law enforcement tracks your transaction. Previously, this involved filling out a FinCen10 form. Recently, Walmart got rid of the paperwork and instead its cashiers … Read more
When you’re not actually traveling, reading a book is about as close to immersing yourself in another world as possible. Sometimes better. Who wants to navigate the cluster**** that is the TSA line or deal with flight delays, cancellations, and packed lounges? It’s why I’m staying put this week. In fact, I can’t wait to lock … Read more
I saw this coming….#adamruins frequent flyer miles. I’m a huge fan of the Adam Ruins Everything series, though admittedly some of the conclusions are a little absurd (i.e. “Herpes is not a big deal!”). Yesterday a new episode came out: Adam Ruins Frequent Flyer miles. CollegeHumor posted a clip, titled “How frequent flyer miles are … Read more
Yesterday Whitney posted a question in the comment section about why I use Giftcards.com over GiftCardMall as my primary source for PIN-enabled gift cards. I’ve gotten this question quite a bit over the years and thought it was worth addressing, in case it helped others make sense of their manufactured spending strategy. For me, it … Read more
I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Istanbul for the first time in 2012 and absolutely loved it. I don’t know what it is about this hotel, but it has such a homey vibe. When I was still staying at the Hilton Bomonti on my most recent trip (the whole family was there my cousin’s wedding), … Read more
Thanks to the Hong Kong Airlines mistake fare fiasco, I was able to fly to Shanghai in October. I’m extremely slow with trip reports, so expect to see my review of the hotels I stayed at…sometime next year. In the meantime, I know a lot of other folks are headed to Shanghai around this time … Read more
The Capital One Spark Miles Business Card has been making waves lately with a 200,000 mile sign-up bonus. This is hands down the biggest sign-up bonus I’ve ever seen for any credit card. Sure, there was a 200,000 mile Amex Platinum sign-up bonus floating around but that was targeted – this one is public. While … Read more
Simon Mall is running yet another $1 off Visa gift card promotion, all the way through December 24. I made a stop at my local Simon Mall on Saturday and the cashier informed about this promotion. Since it hadn’t been announced, she asked me to keep it quiet until Monday. So here we are at the … Read more
While lazily trying to finalize destinations, for a summer trip starting in 3 weeks, the procrastination gave an opportunity for my mind to wander and a question formulated. If I could return to only three places, knowing it was the last time I would ever go there, where would they be? It wasn’t easy to … Read more