Favorite Travel Computer, Ryanair’s Trolling Backfires, 3 Apple Card Features Other Cards Should Have, A Manhattan Hotel at a Hyatt Category 4, and more – Running

Happy Monday! Hopefully you are enduring all the many April Fool’s jokes out there on the internet today. Some have been funny and some have really not been funny. Then, there are others like Frontier’s and McDonald’s that actually may make people prefer that they be true!

Frontier, this actually looks way better than your real cabins so don’t joke!

Anniversary Day!

On my part, it is an exceptional day because today is our 13th wedding anniversary! Yes, we got married on April Fool’s day! After our wedding, we had embarked on a fantastic honeymoon trip on the beautiful island of St. Lucia. We stayed (without points!) at the fantastic Ti Kaye resort that is really just an amazing place with some of the best food we have ever enjoyed!

Miles, Points, and Travel

Anyway, here are the posts from the last week! Italicized titles are ones mentioned in the title of this post.

• New Amex Offer for Marriott Hotels – This is a nice offer that applies to all Marriott properties (with a couple of exceptions) that will put $40 back in your pocket on a stay of $200 or more.
• New Aeroplan Transfer Bonus of Up to 35% on Transferred Hotel Points – There is really only one great transfer partner on this list and if you need more Aeroplan miles (or really want to get rid of Marriott points), this is the time to do it!
• Details on the New Apple Card, a Credit Card for the Masses – Forget that this card is really a terrible card for all of us that love to earn rewards for travel. This card will be a huge hit with Apple fans because Apple is continuing in their goal of just making it work.
• This SLH Resort is Going Up a Hyatt Category – For a Pretty Cool Reason – When was the last time you heard of a hotel changing award categories because they decided to include air transportation in the rate? Yeah, me neither! If you want to stay at this property at the current rate, book soon!
• Running My Age for My Birthday – Last Tuesday, I turned 37. So, I decided to do something I hadn’t done in a while and run my age – but in kilometers. That translated to a spontaneous 23 mile run that actually felt pretty good! Find out about the run in this post.
• Helicopter Transfers Between JFK and Manhattan Now Run All Day – for $195 – At first blush, that price looks steep. However, if you are normally someone that prefers to go the car route on these trips, this may not cost that much more and the actual helicopter ride (above all that horrible traffic) is only 5 minutes!
• Travel Tech: My Favorite “Computer” for Traveling – I get asked many times about what are some of my favorite things I bring with me when I travel. This post goes into detail why the new iPad Pro is my favorite “computer” for traveling. In fact, I write most of my blog posts on it as well!
• Social Media Gold: Ryanair Mocks British Airways and Gets Ripped Up in Return – This was a really fun story that came out! BA flew to the wrong airport and Ryanair tried to capitalize on that mistake on Twitter. Only, people ripped into Ryanair to point out their many (many, many, many) failings!
• Hyatt Welcomes 8 Thompson Hotels in the Family – Their Award Categories and Promotions – Hyatt is making some very smart moves and their latest adds 8 new hotels into their portfolio to give their customers even more choices.
• These Two Hotels in Manhattan and Chicago are Bookable with Hyatt Free Night Certificates – For the first time in a long time, you can now use a Hyatt free night certificate (that comes with the credit card) for a stay in Manhattan! Oh, and another hotel in Chicago with that certificate as well.
• 3 Features of the New Apple Card that Other Cards Should Adopt – While the Apple Card reward structure leaves a lot to be desired by those of us in the rewards space, there are a few features of this card that other issuers should adopt. And, like with many other Apple products, there will likely be some copycats on this before you know it.
• Great Deal! 2 Nights at the Hotel Grand Bretagne in Athens and Dinner in the Sky for 85K Points – Take this opportunity to build a trip around a visit to Greece because this deal is awesome! Not only do you save 35,000 Marriott points by booking this package instead of just the two nights, but you also get an amazing dinner and round-trip transportation from the airport. Half of the packages were already bought by readers so you know you will have company with like-minded people if you jump on this!
• Great News! Southwest Has Stopped Blocking Many Countries From their Website! – I still am curious why no one else has been talking about this in the blogs (except some blogs that link to my posts on the subject) but the Southwest blocking of many mainstream countries has been a sore spot with thousands of travelers for years. Fortunately, Southwest has decided to stop blocking several of these countries!
• Which US Cities Have Non-Stop Flights to Iceland with WOW air Gone? – There was the news last week that WOW air has stopped operation and that has left a giant hole for cities with flights to Iceland, Here are several US cities that still do have non-stop service to Iceland even with WOW no longer operating their flights.
• The Credit Card That Offers Better Rewards Than the New Apple Card – If you want a card that has no annual fee and even has an introductory interest rate with better rewards than the Apple Card, then this is the card for you!
• An Easy, Fun April Fool’s Joke to Play on Your Credit Card Friends – The day isn’t over yet! If you want to make your credit card reward friends jealous about a great new “targeted” offer, find out how to display whatever kind of offer you want (but not one that can be applied for). Or, you could demonstrate an insanely cheap first class ticket (also not bookable!) with just a few clicks!

And that is it for last week! This week, I am flying Swiss business class again and, for the first time, I got the throne seat in the mini cabin! I always select the throne seats (for free) but have never had the one in the mini business class cabin so I am looking forward to that!

Also, on the return trip, I will be flying into and out of the brand new Istanbul Airport the day it opens – this Saturday! A full review and photos will be up Saturday so make sure you check that out!

Featured image is the Gild Hall hotel in NYC, a new Hyatt Category 4 property