Best Travel Spots Monthly

Do you want to have the best travel experience? Its not just about choosing the best destination but also choosing the best month of the year. And on the month of December or January is the best time to go to MIAMI.

Winter has always been the high season in Miami, largely because that's when Northeasterners need to shed their parkas and thaw out. As a result, "it's when all the new restaurants, bars, and shops open up in one go," says travel writer Mark Ellwood, author of the Rough Guide to Miami. But in early December it's also the locus of the international art world, when Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB; in 2008, December 4 through 7) and dozens of satellite art fairs spring up all around town.

Read a complete guide to Best Travel Spots of the Month

Plan well in advance for holiday travel

If you're planning any travel over the main holidays - Thanksgiving weekend or the longer Christmas-New Year's break - don't wait until the last minute to make sure you're ready and organized. Here's a checklist of the most important items.

If you don't already have air or hotel reservations, you're probably facing some serious sticker shock at the airlines' and hotels' asking prices. To be sure, you've seen promotions for great fall prices, but those deals disappear for both the peak periods. If you want to avoid paying top dollar, I suggest:

Go opaque. I've been writing about the big "opaque" travel buying sites - Hotwire and Priceline - for a long time now. Those are the sites where you buy "blind," without knowing the name of the hotel, airline or car rental company until you've made a nonrefundable purchase. I've recommended them highly for hotels and rental cars, and they're still the best single strategy for finding good accommodations deals.

But I did not favor them for airfares, mainly because you have no control over schedules. Now, however, airfares on many routes are up some 25 to 40 percent above last year's, and the opaque model might make a bit more sense than before.

Choose a low-cost day to fly. The obvious and well-worn "be flexible" advice is a cliche by now, but it's still valid.

Priceline used to put out a press release about this time of the year indicating the holiday season days with the best airfares. Instead, it now posts an ongoing list on its Web site, updated in accordance with changes in the marketplace. Chances are you'll find yourself traveling on a major holiday day or in the middle of the holiday period rather than the weekend before or after the main holidays.

Resorts and family hotels are apt to be full, but big-city business hotels are usually hungry for holiday guests.

Keep up with the last-minute deals. Dozens of online travel sites feature last-minute deals - typically that means anywhere from a month to a week before departure. You find lots of deals for air/land packages, tours, and cruises, fewer for straight airfares. Many of those online sites provide some sort of "fare drop" notification programs, and I suggest you sign up for several. Also, sign up for the weekly deal newsletters from SmarterTravel.com.

If you're planning a trip anywhere outside the United States for the holidays, make sure you have a passport (or one of those new passport cards for Canada, the Caribbean or Mexico). I've heard several recent horror stories about long waits for passport processing, so if you don't have one yet - or you have one that will expire within six months of your planned trip - don't wait any longer. If you're leaving soon, consider using one of those passport services: They're expensive, but better than not getting your passport in time.

Make sure your frequent-flier programs are up to date. As far as I can tell, none of them operates on a calendar year basis, but several have shortened the shelf life of accrued credit: The maximum time to retain your credit with no activity in your account is now 18 months on American, United and America West; 24 months on Alaska and Delta.

Fortunately, you can "reset the meter" easily: If you don't add any miles through your credit card or other nonairline purchase, you can still keep your account current by requesting an award, transferring a few miles or buying a few miles. But you have to keep track.

Continental and Northwest don't specify a maximum validity time with no activity, but I suggest you do something with your account at least every 18 months.

Make sure your credit cards are ready for any trip you're planning. That means an adequate reserve to take care of everything you plan to charge. If you have more than one card and you're heading outside the United States, find out which adds the lowest surcharge for foreign purchases.

from sfgate.com: Plan well in advance for holiday travel

Get 25,000 Airline Miles Just for Spending $750

This column is always looking for smart ways to save, make or earn you a dollar. And with airline tickets skyrocketing due to fuel costs, I looked into frequent flyer schemes and bonus plans for an angle.

This one seems hard to beat.

The skinny: Use a credit card to pay $750 worth of your bills, and you can get enough frequent flyer miles to save about $400 or more on a plane ticket.

I know, I know. It sounds crazy.

A few caveats. Credit cards generally only make sense if you pay off the balance each month. They are a terrible source of debt because the interest rates are so high. If you open too many new credit lines, it can negatively affect your credit score. That might not be helpful if you are hoping to take out, say, a big mortgage anytime soon.

Still, assuming you were going to spend $750 in the next four months on bills, gas, and other necessities anyway, a $400 plane ticket is some reward.

The cards: The Citi Select AAdvantage American Express Card or the Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage World MasterCard. The deadline for new applications is June 30.

If you sign up for a new card and spend $750 within the first four months, you will collect 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles. This deal only applies to those specific cards; lesser cards in the same program will earn you fewer miles. This bonus is a one-off for new customers. You can't spend another $750 and get 25,000 more bonus miles.

But 25,000 miles is enough to fly round-trip between New York and Los Angeles – even in July. As always with frequent flyer miles, you may need to be flexible about times and dates. It's best to try to book well in advance.

Nonetheless I am looking at the American Airlines rewards website as I write this, and if I were so minded I could use 25,000 miles to take a 9:15am non-stop flight from Newark to Los Angeles on July 16 and then, say, a 3pm flight back to New York on August 6. (By the time you read this, of course, these will presumably have been booked.)

Those are pretty reasonable times to travel. It's not a flight that leaves at 4 am and involves a three day layover in Gaudalajara.

A glance at Sidestep.com, a travel website, reveals that if I were paying cash, the cheapest round-trip between New York and LA on those dates would be aboard Virgin American and would cost $399. With American Airlines the cheapest would be $499.

The card also earns you one frequent flyer mile for each dollar you spend, so if you were a program member and wanted to top up your account, buying another 25,000 miles would cost you $625.

The Citi/AAdvantage cards charge no annual fee for the first twelve months. After that they will cost $85 a year. Whether you want to cancel the card before that arises is up to you. Credit card companies, of course, may not like it.

from Yahoo News: One Credit Card Deal That's Hard to Beat

Related Posts:

• How to Maximize Your Frequent Flier Credit Card Points
  
  
• Comparing Airline Frequent Flyer Credit Card and Generic Miles Rewards Credit Card
  


• Starwood Credit Card - Ideal for Traveler Entrepreneurs
  

How to Maximize Your Frequent Flier Credit Card Points

To get the most from your frequent flier credit card, you need to rack up those points. In this article, we’ll discuss tips on how you can get more from your frequent flier card and how you can maximize the benefits from it.

What Kind of Travel Reward Credit Card do You Own?
If you own a travel reward credit card, take a look at it and see if it’s a frequent flier card or a generic mileage credit card. Remember that generic mileage credit cards give you the option to purchase tickets or redeem your travel reward points from several choices of airlines. On the other hand, if your credit card uses a specific frequent flier program, you’re only allowed to redeem your miles points from one particular carrier.

Racking Up Your Points
Applying for a frequent flier credit card is recommended for those who travel a lot. If you’re not a frequent traveler, it may be best to apply for a different type of rewards credit card. For instance, you can earn rewards more easily with a cash back credit card or a gas station credit card.

Find out more on: How to Maximize Your Frequent Flier Credit Card Points

Comparing Airline Frequent Flyer Credit Card and Generic Miles Rewards Credit Card

In this article let’s consider pointers for both airline frequent flyer credit card or a card with generic rewards:

Frequent Flyer Credit Card

When it comes to choosing a frequent flyer credit card, one thing you’ll want to consider is your traveling options. Do you have a particular airline that you prefer to fly with? In which destinations do you frequently most travel to? Naturally, it’s practical to choose a credit card that has affiliations with your own chosen airline and one that gives miles rewards to the places you frequently travel to. Usually, every brand of credit card has a partnership with one specific airline. Choosing a frequent flyer program that best fits your needs will enable you to make the most out of your rewards. Remember, when you choose a specific Flyer Miles Program, you are bounded to one particular airline or carrier including the travel privileges it offers.

Generic Miles Rewards Credit Card

Some people don’t have one particular carrier or airline in mind. Instead, they prefer to fly with an airline that offers the best rates. If you’re the type of person who prefers to shop around first for the cheapest travel fare for your travel, then you should definitely pick a credit card with Generic Miles Reward program.

Instead of affiliating with a sole airline company, there are credit card companies who offer generic miles rewards for clients. This option enables credit card holders to get their free ticket or purchase their ticket at a discounted rate at any airline company they prefer. However, the card holder must remember that a generic miles reward card cannot be used together with another frequent flyer miles program. You can’t combine the rewards you earn from both cards.

• compare airline credit card offers
  

Find out more on: Airline Frequent Flyer Credit Card or Generic Miles Rewards Credit Card – Which is for You?

Free Honeymoon Trip with Travel Reward Credit Cards

All newlywed couples want to celebrate this special time by going on a great honeymoon. However, such trips can be very expensive. If you plan to go on a romantic travel destination, there are some things you can do in advance to prepare for this special occasion. One ideal preparation for a honeymoon trip would be to acquire a travel reward credit card.

A travel reward credit card isn’t difficult to have. All you have to do is fill up an online application and wait for an approval. Getting an approval is easy especially if you have a good credit history. Once approved, you can start earning points to get a free travel.

Of course, travel reward credit cards require higher points than other reward credit cards because travel expenses are more expensive. Usually, travel reward credit cards require its card holder to make purchases from affiliate stores and establishments in order to get points. However, some credit cards also give a corresponding point from general purchases made using the card. These points are converted into mileage points until the minimum amount is reached which earns you a free travel ticket.

Find out more on: Honeymoon For Free With Travel Reward Credit Cards