Friday, April 4, 2014

A Big Change Of Pace!!

I'm headed for pineapples and sun!!  Flying out to Honolulu Hawaii, then a puddle-jumper to Maui where I'll spend the next two weeks eating WAY to much fish and fresh fruit!  It's tough, but somebody's got to keep the economy rolling!!

I don't really fly much, but when I do, it's usually on Hawaiian Airlines.  It only took me one year to figure out how to do it at NO COST!!  Thats right ... I fly FREE to Hawaii every year.  The first year, I paid about $350 for a round trip ticket.  Last week the price was up to $750!!!  That's a pretty crazy increase.

Here's my secret.  I got an Hawaiian Airlines VISA card which gives me miles for every dollar I spend.    As the ticket prices went up, I had to charge more to the card to get the free flights.  It was THEN that I discovered if I charged practically everything to the card ... fuel, food, DMV fees, property taxes, insurance ... everything you can imagine ... that I could get FIRST CLASS tickets!!!  It's not that I'm buying more stuff ... I'm just charging more to the card and reaping the rewards.  Of course the main requirement is that you pay it off every month!!  I put enough in savings to cover everything I spend ... so a quick transfer each month to pay it in full, reaps huge rewards for me!!

The offset to this, and the main reason I use the card, is because the timeshare I own has raised it's maintenance fees to triple what they were originally.  Anyone want to buy a timeshare REALLY cheap???  I realize they are doing repairs, and the State of Hawaii has decided it needs more money, so they have raised the property tax a lot, but it's getting out of hand!!  Seems the government headquarters in Oahu collect (and usually keep) all of the property tax from EACH island!!!  Most islands get back a lot less than they contribute!!  There's that government at work again!!!

Anyway, I'll be basking in the sun, snorkeling in the warm water looking for turtles and sting rays and hopefully doing some night photography with my new camera, so come back and see a tour of Maui!!

2 comments:

  1. We do the same with Discover for cash back...I don't fly, so would rather have the $$$$....also have an Amazon Visa since not everyone takes Discover, and you can pump more gas at the pump with one swipe, and we always are needing something from Amazon. Don't know if you heard, we lost our motorhome to a storage facility fire in Florida where we live last week. About 32 motorhomes went up in flames, along with some boats, trailers and a few cars. Pretty bummed out about it since we were 32 days away from heading north to Alaska this year...guess that will wait another year as we replace and break in another motorhome. Have fun in Hawaii...I'll get there when they put in that causeway from California to Hawaii (lol) --Dave (GoingRvWay.com)

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    1. Oh Dave and Marcia ... I'm soooo sorry!! That's was a pretty devastating fire!!! Hope you are able to cash in on your insurance and get a new one soon!! Keep Alaska on your list ... it is well worth the wait. Hawaii?? well I wouldn't hold my breath on that bridge!! LOL

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