Travel + Finance Update: May + June 2012

 

Where was I in May?

  • New Orleans, 5/1-5/8
  • Amtrak (across Louisiana & Texas): 5/9
  • Ciudad Juarez, Mexico: 5/10-5/11
  • El Paso, TX: 5/12
  • Santa Fe, NM: 5/13-5/18
  • Denver, CO: 5/19-5/22
  • Vancouver, WA: 5/23-5/27
  • Seattle, WA: 5/28-5/31

 

TRAVEL

  • Trip costs (for May): $280.87
    • Airline: $122.80
      • One-way on Frontier from Denver, CO to Portland, OR
      • Purchased through Priceline (I didn’t have to bid)
    • Bus: $50.49
      • Albuquerque, NM – Denver, CO on Greyhound
    • Car Rental: $81.58
      • After being stranded in El Paso because of a full Greyhound bus (I had a ticket!), I wrangled up two others in this situation and we rented a car from National and drove to Albuquerque!
      • Gasoline
    • Metro: $26.00
      • New Orleans: $5
      • Ciudad Juarez: $1.75
      • El Paso: $1
      • Santa Fe: $11
      • Boulder/Denver: $5
      • Seattle: $2.25
  • Hacking Actions
    • Amtrak from Vancouver to Seattle: 1500 points
    • Used my $200 Amtrak voucher (or about $150 of it) on three trips
      • Seattle to White Salmon, WA
      • White Salmon, WA to Eugene, OR
      • Eugene, OR to Portland, OR
    • Update from last month: I called Chase again, asked if there was any way I could receive the 50K points even though I missed the $3000 spending requirement, and the points posted to my account a few days later!!! :)
  • Current Points (selected accounts)
    • American Airlines: 22,928
    • Amtrak: 21,417
    • British Airways: 107,464
    • Chase Ultimate Rewards: 54,375
    • Club Carlson: 54,125
    • Hawaiian Airlines: 20,027
    • Starwood: 26,844
    • United (Continental): 26,191
    • TOTAL: 333,371
      • Last month: 263,357
      • Difference: +70,014
  • Open Credit Cards
  • Credit Score
    • These scores are reported by two separate credit agencies. A credit union I use provides the Equifax score as an included service, and I signed up with Credit Karma (free) to obtain the TransUnion score. Since the numbers are so similar, you really only need information from one agency.
    • Equifax: 765, as of 5/25/12
      • Last month: 765
      • Difference: 0 points
    • TransUnion: 743, as of 6/27/12 
      • Last month: 745
      • Difference: -2 points
    • Experian: 783, as of 6/1/12
      • when I applied for the Hawaiian cards, they checked this score and sent it to me
    • Context: between 700 and 850 – very good/excellent credit score

 

EXPENSES IN MAY


  •  Total Expenses: $1188.08

    • Last Month: $1304.72
    • Difference: -$116.64
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About

Former life: actor/office worker/virtual assistant; lived in Los Angeles for 11 years. Since then: sold nearly everything, took a $5 flight to Hawaii, lived there for 3 months, wrote an eGuide about all of it, and still traveling. Currently: digital nomad - looking to improve myself, have fun and serve others.