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
  • Starwood Preferred Guest AmEx (Personal)
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred
  • Continental OnePass (no longer available)
  • Hawaiian Airlines Bank of America Visa
  • Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii Visa
  • REI Visa
• 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

• Food: $472.54
  • Average cost/day: $15.24
  • Groceries: $236.76
    • Farmer’s Markets in Santa Fe and Vancouver (WA); Rouse’s, Algiers Point Grocery, and Whole Foods (NOLA); Sprouts Market (El Paso); Whole Foods (Santa Fe); Chuck’s Produce Market (Vancouver); and Safeway (Seattle)
  • Dining Out: $235.78 (wow, eerily similar…)
    • Tout De Suite, SuperFood Bar, 13 Restaurant, Cafe Reconcile, and Dookie Chase (NOLA); Villa Del Mar (Juarez); Cafe Pasqual’s, Il Piatto, and Flying Star Cafe (Santa Fe); Julia’s Kitchen and Mountain Sun Pub (Boulder); and Potager (Denver); plus teas at a number of cafes
  • Total
    • Last Month: $402.36
    • Difference: +$70.18
• Travel: $280.87
  • (see above)
  • Last Month: $163.00
  • Difference: +$117.87
• Lodging: $46.06
  • Arrived in Santa Fe at night, and my Couchsurfing host didn’t respond to my messages until the next morning. I didn’t want another Columbia!
  • Motel6 was nearby and reasonable; decent enough, but got out as soon as I could!
  • Last Month: $0
  • Difference: +$46.06
    
• Nomad Life: $15.00
  • Haircut
  • Last Month: $39.46
  • Difference: -$24.46 
• Cell Phone: $86.04
  • Verizon Wireless and (to landlines in US + Canada)
  • Last Month: $81.48
  • Difference: +$4.56
• Entertainment: $50.00
  • New Orleans: Bicycle Rental, Museum of Art, and Haunted History Tour
  • Last Month: $8
  • Difference: +$42
• Health: $177
  • Insurance Policy (premium increased— yay…)
  • Last Month: $161.21
  • Difference: +15.79
• Technology: $13.57
  • Boomerang for Gmail and additional Mozy upgrade
  • Last month: $433.71
  • Difference: -$420.14
• Other: $47.00
  • Tipping on Amtrak, Yoga Class, and Your Big Beautiful Book Plan sale
  • Last month: $15.50
  • Difference: +$31.50

•  Total Expenses: $1188.08

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