I love credit cards so much! v5.0 - 2022 (see first page for add'l details)

[iujen94]

Does anyone here had a Gap Visa now Barclays MC?
I have a $300+ credit on my Barclay account, I can't figure out why.

Of course I can’t remember where, but I feel like I read in one of my miles and points Facebook groups that this happened to someone else. I remember checking my card (the Banana Republic version), and not having any credits.

 

[iujen94]

I’ve got my eye on the Barclay’s AAdvantage Aviator Biz card as my next card. (Son is heading to Penn State in the fall, and American is our best option from the tiny State College airport.) I’ve got a Barclay’s Wyndham Biz card, and now my personal Banana Republic card has been converted to a Barclay’s card, but wondering if Barclay’s has any weird application quirks I should be aware of? I’m 4/24 and have opened 5 new cards so far in 2022 (1 personal AMEX, 1 Biz AMEX, a CIP, my Wyndham Biz and a SW Biz). Each application was roughly every 30 days.

 

[becauseimnew]

Of course I can’t remember where, but I feel like I read in one of my miles and points Facebook groups that this happened to someone else. I remember checking my card (the Banana Republic version), and not having any credits.

I can't even login to my old account to look at statements.

 

[becauseimnew]

I’ve got my eye on the Barclay’s AAdvantage Aviator Biz card as my next card. (Son is heading to Penn State in the fall, and American is our best option from the tiny State College airport.) I’ve got a Barclay’s Wyndham Biz card, and now my personal Banana Republic card has been converted to a Barclay’s card, but wondering if Barclay’s has any weird application quirks I should be aware of? I’m 4/24 and have opened 5 new cards so far in 2022 (1 personal AMEX, 1 Biz AMEX, a CIP, my Wyndham Biz and a SW Biz). Each application was roughly every 30 days.

I think i've read that Barclay has a 6/24 rule, so you should be okay on that end just not sure about the 4 hard pulls this year, I don't think they are sensitive to that, maybe even just 3 if Amex didn't pull your report.

 

[tink1970]

I'm thinking about upgrade the first leg of our Delta flight to 1st, we have plenty of miles and relatively inexpensive. I assume we'll have access to the Delta Lounge on during our connection?

Where are you flying? Delta first class domestically doesn't get you anything, skyclub wise UNLESS it's branded as a Delta One flight. International business class departing the US (delta doesn't have an international first class, although their international biz class is confusingly called Delta One) will earn skyclub access, however.***

***unless it's to the Caribbean, Guam, Palu or Saipan.

Here's the fairly confusing chart...

https://www.delta.com/us/en/delta-sky-club/access

This is a good article which delineates Delta One and Delta First Class and the vagaries of those routes (they do change).

https://scottscheapflights.com/guides/delta-one-and-delta-first-class

If you have a Platinum (business or personal) or Delta Reserve (business or personal) you'll have access to the skyclub too, of course.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Trying to stay awake for a couple more hours to help with jet lag so I figured I would share about our trip to Hawaii
We were a party of 8, we paid for my parents' hotel room and flights, my sister paid for niece and nephew.

We flew TUL to Maui on Southwest, using a combination of Luv Vouchers, miles, Amex Plat airline credit and 2 companion passes.
Stayed 5 nights at Marriott Wailea Beach resort followed by 4 nights at Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach.
We really LOVED Maui, would love to go back to do some real hiking, we didn't get much hiking because my parents were with us. I'm okay never going back to Oahu.

At Wailea Beach Resort we were in building 7 ground floor, the pool was right off our patio it was perfect for us. DH and I are both platinums,no room upgrades but each room received breakfast vouchers for everyone. The breakfast is at Starbucks or the Beach bar, includes a tall drink, cup of fruit and a pastry, all which can be upgraded at Starbucks. You can upgrade the drink size, pastry to a sandwich and fruit cup to a parfait. Starbucks opens at 5:30AM which is perfect for all those early mornings.
The first day we watched the sunrise at Haleakala, we left the hotel at 3AM made it there at around 4:30, we didn't get a parking spot at the top crater parking area but plenty of parking at the second lot. The temperature was in the upper 30s, so pack a jacket. Stayed until about 6ish, then went back to Wailea for breakfast. We spent the rest of the day at the resort.
The next day we did Road to Hana, used the Shaka App and it was perfect. We left the hotel at 7AM and got back to Paia at 7PM, where we had dinner. Didn't make it to the resort until 9PM. Very long day.
On day 3 the kids took surf lesson in Lahaina, booked through the Chase portal. I called all the vendors to confirm our reservations. Kids liked it but they aren't in a hurry to surf again.
Day 4 we did a morning snorkel tour to Molokini and Turtle town booked on the Chase portal, the weather didn't cooperate so we didn't make it to turtle town. It was nice, they had pastries for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch, nothing special but kept us from starving.
Day 5 we slept in and moved to Oahu. I am Hyatt Globalist, both rooms were upgraded to Ocean View and we all had access to the lounge. We took advantage of the free valet benefit. That night we had dinner in Waikiki and enjoyed the area.
Day 6, spent the day at Waikiki Beach and Paradise Cove Luau for dinner. We booked the Luau and Kualoa Ranch through the Navy's MWR office so we saved a little money. For those able to use the MWR make sure you call them at least 6 weeks in advance, the current call back wait is 2 weeks. The Luau food was not good, I didn't enjoy it at all. The show was nice, glad we did it just because of FOMO, but never again.
Day 7 we booked an Intro to Scuba Diving tour on the Chase portal for everyone but my parents. We all loved this, thinking about getting certified, we just need to find time to do it.
Day 8 we headed to Kualoa Ranch for the Hollywood Movie set tour, I had originally planned on doing the Jurassic adventure tour but it was sold out by the time the MWR got to my order. The tour was fun, wasn't impressed. Then we tried to hit some beaches on that side of the Island but the weather was terrible. It was raining and the tide was strong.
Day 9 was our last day, our flight departed at 7PM. We started super early with a 6AM hike at Diamond Head. Then we went back to the hotel to shower, finish packing and check out. We had 11:30AM reservations for the Arizona Memorial, I am so grateful we were able to experience this.
How we paid for this:

Marriott Wailea Beach Resort	2 rooms	480,000	$400
Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach	2 rooms	178,000	$0
Cars - Chase portal	2 Suburbans	130,000	$131
Scuba - Chase portal	6 people	32,000	$0
Snorkel - Chase portal	8 people	59,000	$0
Surf Lesson - Chase portal	4 people	15,000	$0
SW Flights TUL to OGG	6 people	46000	$0
SW flight to HNL	8 people	7920	$0
AA flights home	6 people	135000	$34
Hawaiian Luau	8 people		794
Kualoa Ranch	8 people		339
			$1,698

Our family of 4 spent about $3,000 on food, gas, parking, souvenirs and clothes shopping. Because my parents were with us we spent more time in Waikiki instead of hiking, therefore spent more money shopping then we normally spend on vacation.

Glad to have checked off Hawaii from our travel list. Next big vacation in Paris & Disneyland Paris.

Still catching up... I too have no interest in ever visiting Honolulu again, ever. We only really visited because I wanted to visit Pearl Harbor, and like you, am so grateful to have had the experience. But I would like to visit Aulani someday, so I could see HNL in our future, but not actually Honolulu.

Would you recommend the Molokini snorkel tour? We ended up canceling while we were there and I've heard it ranges from meh to OMG, best thing in the world.

Global Entry question because I know a lot of you have it as well. I do, my husband does not, but he does have pre-check. Is there any advantage for me to go through the GE line without him? Like would that allow me to get the luggage and then recheck it to our final destination? We are flying CLE-JFK-FRA, then coming home AMS-BOS-CLE. Thanks for any tips, I haven't had the chance to use my GE yet.

Do you have a card you that would get DH GE? How long is your connection? Almost our whole family has GE and never check luggage, so I think I'm really sensitive to having to wait for luggage. I absolutely hate it. So if you could do anything that speeds that along, I would definitely do it.
Once when using the GE kiosks, we got our printed slips from the GE machines and stood at Passport control in the U.S. The customs & immigration officer asked us how many in our party and I say , "Four." Well then our young, but adult son pops up behind us and says "Five." Then the officer is asking us a bunch of questions, like did you purchase any alcohol, etc, and I'm saying no, but apparently my son does have these things and he's saying yes. Betting you can guess where this is going, because then they decide they want to have us do secondary screening. So then the four of us were stuck waiting for my son's bag, which he checked because of this bottle of alcohol, and I'm just steaming, because I hate waiting for checked baggage, and he doesn't live in the same household with us, so we shouldn't have even been in the same party in the first place. And then it turns out it was me who had a forgotten apple in my bag. And this isn't the first time. And my kids don't let me live it down, ever.

Also, just last week when using the GE kiosks in FLL, my husband kept getting some error like "No person identified" when he would push the button for it to snap his photo and do facial recognition. He's brown and extra brown from our vacation. He had to find a kiosk that had an overhead light shining on it to show up for the photo/facial recognition. Found it surprising that better lighting wouldn't be more of a consideration for a variety of skin tones. But hey, it's 2022 and the standard bandaid is still for only one skin color. We don't take ourselves too seriously, so just blow that stuff off, but if you really think about things like that, it's sad.

 

[wed100105]

Update-I applied for the Alaska Airlines BoA card and received a notification that the application is under review. Ugh.

 

[AndreaDM]

Still catching up... I too have no interest in ever visiting Honolulu again, ever. We only really visited because I wanted to visit Pearl Harbor, and like you, am so grateful to have had the experience. But I would like to visit Aulani someday, so I could see HNL in our future, but not actually Honolulu.

Would you recommend the Molokini snorkel tour? We ended up canceling while we were there and I've heard it ranges from meh to OMG, best thing in the world.



Do you have a card you that would get DH GE? How long is your connection? Almost our whole family has GE and never check luggage, so I think I'm really sensitive to having to wait for luggage. I absolutely hate it. So if you could do anything that speeds that along, I would definitely do it.
Once when using the GE kiosks, we got our printed slips from the GE machines and stood at Passport control in the U.S. The customs & immigration officer asked us how many in our party and I say , "Four." Well then our young, but adult son pops up behind us and says "Five." Then the officer is asking us a bunch of questions, like did you purchase any alcohol, etc, and I'm saying no, but apparently my son does have these things and he's saying yes. Betting you can guess where this is going, because then they decide they want to have us do secondary screening. So then the four of us were stuck waiting for my son's bag, which he checked because of this bottle of alcohol, and I'm just steaming, because I hate waiting for checked baggage, and he doesn't live in the same household with us, so we shouldn't have even been in the same party in the first place. And then it turns out it was me who had a forgotten apple in my bag. And this isn't the first time. And my kids don't let me live it down, ever.

Also, just last week when using the GE kiosks in FLL, my husband kept getting some error like "No person identified" when he would push the button for it to snap his photo and do facial recognition. He's brown and extra brown from our vacation. He had to find a kiosk that had an overhead light shining on it to show up for the photo/facial recognition. Found it surprising that better lighting wouldn't be more of a consideration for a variety of skin tones. But hey, it's 2022 and the standard bandaid is still for only one skin color. We don't take ourselves too seriously, so just blow that stuff off, but if you really think about things like that, it's sad.

I do, BUT there are no appointments available in our state until November and that one is over 4 hours away. We are headed to Europe in Sept.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I do, BUT there are no appointments available in our state until November and that one is over 4 hours away. We are headed to Europe in Sept.

If you are interested, there are scanner services and twitter accounts that will alert you to appointment openings. I had the same situation and I just kept the calendar up on my screen, and checked it a couple times a day, and was able to stumble on an appointment in about a week.

There's also Mobile Passport, which a free alternative to Global Entry. I've never done it but it seems easy peasy and could be just the solution your husband needs. https://www.afar.com/magazine/what-travelers-need-to-know-about-the-mobile-passport-app

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Can anyone tell me some of their favorite things to do in London? I'll be there for four days at end of September into October. One day we'll be going to an NFL game but the other three we're looking for things to do. I really want to do the Harry Potter tour but not sure if that will happen as I doubt the other people we're going with will want to and I would like to stay together as much as possible but we'll see.

Would it be best to bring cash and have it exchanged or use a no foreign transaction fee credit card or a little of both?

We loved the Harry Potter studio tour but it's not in London proper. It's a bus or taxi ride. We liked Borough Market (plan for a meal there, it's loads of food purveyors); Winston Churchill tour/Churchill war rooms, and Thames boat ride. Hop on hop off bus is great for getting to a bunch of sites in 1 day.
As for cash, we used none. I planned on getting some there but never did. Tipping there is more of a rarity and not expected or we added tip to fee. Definitely take a card (or 2) with no FTF. We used it a lot for transportation (Uber, Underground, train). FYI for Underground you can tap a CC, but it won't let you use the same card for two people going thru together (it won't take 2 charges on same card that quickly and denies the second). We ended up giving DS a card to tap through.

We just got back from London. We visited the Churchill War Rooms, Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London. My boys did a stadium tour at the Chelsea soccer stadium. I highly recommend getting tickets to see a show. The tickets are quite a bit cheaper than Broadway. We had lunch at Borough Market one day. We took 100 pounds out when we got to the airport and honestly we had to force ourselves to spend it. Using a credit card was so much easier. We made sure that everyone in the family (4 of us) had a card with no foreign transaction fees that they could use with tap and pay for public transport. It was SO easy!

As far as phone service, we ordered a free sim card from GiffGaff and used it in an unlocked phone. We were able to pay 10 pounds for 15 gigs of data.

I can't help much on the things to do. My plans got a little derailed, but the Tower of London was a good few hours. If you have interest in historical arms or the crown jewels it was interesting. Also saw a changing of the guard outside the jewel tower. I chose to walk through the Superbloom exhibit in the moat, but they have public viewing spots if you don't have enough interest for the separate charge to walk through it.

As far as cash, I personally bring a debit card and withdraw from an ATM. Has the best exchange rate and I don't have to wait in line at the exchange counters. I have both Fidelity and Schwab checking accounts that have no FTF and reimburse ATM fees, so I only take out a small amount of cash as backup. If I need more, I find the nearest ATM. Everything else, I put on a no FTF credit card.

Also, just a word of caution about cash, don't hang on to it for 15 years! The last time one of us was in London, it was my husband and he had to leave under unexpected circumstances. London had a terrorist threat the day before he was supposed to leave that shut down the airports. Fortunately, they reopened for his flight the next day, but it was chaos as they were advised to get to the airport so many hours ahead of the flight - which for him put it around 3 or 4 am - but they didn't open the airport so it was just hundreds of people loitering outside the terminals for hours. When they did open it, it was just a crush of people and you weren't allowed to take any bags as carry-on so lots of repacking at the check-in desks. Last thing on his mind was exchanging his cash - if the desks were even open! Well, we didn't think much of it as we expected one of us to be back for work in the next few years AND didn't realize how much he actually had in his pockets (about £50, not too terrible but more than we remembered!) We pulled it out for this trip and made the interesting discovery that nearly all of it was withdrawn, i.e. not accepted tender, so couldn't be spent!

Not something we're used to here in the States. When money changes it gets pulled out of circulation and we don't think much of it. In the UK you're supposed to exchange it for the new currency and after a certain point it's not valid anymore. Now bank notes are easy enough, the Bank of England guarantees all genuine notes indefinitely, you just have to exchange it at the Bank of England Counter. We were also stuck with a bunch of withdrawn £1 coins, which are from the Royal Mint and has no such policy. For people with a UK bank account, it's easy enough to exchange, most banks will let you deposit them into your account. However, if you don't have an account, at this point you're fairly SOL since they were withdrawn 5 years ago. I got lucky and found a Barclay's bank with a sympathetic money exchange teller who was kind enough to exchange mine!

My long winded way to say, I wouldn't bring/withdrawal a bunch of cash. The exchange rate back to $$ isn't favorable, either at the ForEx counters or your bank on the return. And you never know what will happen to it later, so you don't want to hang on to it. Plus, some of the tourist places only accepted card payments and it was hard to find a line that took cash. I like having some as backup in case something goes wrong - like the one pub that disliked every single one of my husband's cards, even the true chip + PIN one - but just enough to get by.


For data I got a local SIM. Made it cheap and easy for the few local calls and texts I needed. The lowest price PAYG Sims at the airport were £30 but had unlimited calls, texts, and a large amount of data - like 100 GB. Way more than I needed for a week. I stopped at an EE store near my hotel and picked up a £10 pack with 5GB of data, 500 call minutes, unlimited texts. (they had a promotion and gave an extra 15GB of data but I don't know how often they do that. I don't think I even used 2GB though) I couldn't text/call US numbers without adding credit to the pack but I just used an IM app to communicate with everyone over data. My husband was there for work so he just used his company phone, otherwise it would have been just £20 for the two of us. Cheaper than adding the international passes to our Vzw phones and only added an extra 20 minutes or so to my itinerary.

We’re in London now. We added the TravelPass plan to our Verizon family plan as there are 3 of us here, it’s about $10 a day but only charges on days you use it. DD flew in separately and used it to let us know she arrived safely. We got a message of when it was activated and when our 24 hours would end. Only used it the one day so far. We downloaded offline google maps and have wifi at the Airbnb.

my PNC account reimburses me for ATM charges, I got 20 pounds at the airport which DD promptly used for an acroyoga class so I got another bit out to have.

I think our favorites so far have been the Tower of London and Churchill War rooms. Skipped the Crown Jewels because the line was long and it’s been close to 90 degrees here! Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s were nice. DH wants to go up in the Shard which is expensive but we’re doing that tonight. Taking the train to Oxford tomorrow.

@Isutigers03 Sounds like you've gotten some great advice already, but I thought I'd chime in on a few things. I just got back from a short Oxford/London trip to pick up DD22 to bring her home after almost 5 years in England. Crazy how fast time goes. I spend quite a bit of time in the UK--4 to 5 times a year--and will be heading back when you will be there in Sept/October.

Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and at least a walk by Buckingham Palace are all first time must-dos. I love Churchill war rooms, and it took me way too long to visit there the first time. I go to the British Museum almost every time I'm in London. If you go to Stonehenge, I recommend going in conjunction with a British Museum exhibit they are having right now on Stonehenge. I also love the Markets in London--Borough Market is incredible. I've even done cooking classes at the Bread place there As a PP said ... go hungry. I went to the Harry Potter studios the first few months it opened, and keep meaning to go back in the winter when they have snow, etc., but I always forget to get tickets. If you want to go, you may have to book ahead.

I would definitely try to go to a show while you are there. You can probably go to the box office the day of and get cheap tickets at that time of year, especially with the shows that have been around a while. My favorite of the past few years is SIx. It's kind of a girl power take on the six wives of Henry VIII and the lyrics are awesome. It's also short and cheap so very easy to work into a short trip. If you have nice weather, I love walking around the Royal Parks. You could do the Diana walking trail and see parts of Hyde, Green, and St. James. Regent's park is also great. Kensington Palace and the V&A are also possibilities. Years ago we did an RIB tour on the Thames and it was a blast. If you have the energy, I love the pub walks and Jack the Ripper tour via London Walks. They have great tours, although COVID has changed a few things (not sure if you have to pre-book).

Have you looked into doing tea? You can probably just drop by at Fortnum, Harrods, or Liberty, but if you want one of the prestige ones like the Ritz, the Savoy, Claridges, etc. you'll want to pre-book. My family loves doing tea, so we tend to go once a trip.

Not sure if you are a shopper, but Harrods is something to see (don't miss the foodhalls--highly recommend the rotisserie chicken sandwiches). I kind of have a love/hate, as it's hard to actually shop there, but definitely something to see. Regent street is great for window shopping--don't miss Liberty of London--and covent garden is also great for walking around. Love Soho for restaurants.

Definitely use no FTF cards for the tube--super easy. I had to laugh about the currency story from PP. I had the same thing happen. Lots of old £20 pound notes that I had to use my daughter's Barclay account to convert. You really don't need cash. Everything is card. If you want notes for tipping wait until you get there and use an ATM (like a PP I used Schwab and never get his with fees; I also have BofA and they charge a couple bucks but it was still better than the horrible exchange rate).

I have used a GiffGaff SIM in an old iPhone for years. Years ago, I ordered it a few days before we left and it was waiting for me at my hotel. EE is also a good choice as a PP mentioned. Data is so cheap there it will blow your mind I sometimes use the AT&T $10 a day for short trips if I want access to any non-imessage texts.

@georgina have a great time in Oxford. I just left there a week ago. My daughter has been there the last couple years, and it's one of my favorite places in the UK. If you have time, the Ashmolean is my favorite museum. It's so well done and easy to see things. If you like cider, try Rosie's Pig Rhubarb at the White Horse pub (across from the Bodliean and Sheldonian).

 

[amcc]

I’ve got my eye on the Barclay’s AAdvantage Aviator Biz card as my next card. (Son is heading to Penn State in the fall, and American is our best option from the tiny State College airport.) I’ve got a Barclay’s Wyndham Biz card, and now my personal Banana Republic card has been converted to a Barclay’s card, but wondering if Barclay’s has any weird application quirks I should be aware of? I’m 4/24 and have opened 5 new cards so far in 2022 (1 personal AMEX, 1 Biz AMEX, a CIP, my Wyndham Biz and a SW Biz). Each application was roughly every 30 days.

I just applied and was approved for the Citi Aadvantage Platinum for 75k AA miles when you spend $3,500 in 3 months. Seems to be a high offer so you might consider it.

 

[becauseimnew]

Here's the fairly confusing chart...

Thanks for the detailed response, this is my favorite part.
In that case I'll just upgrade us to Premium Economy.

 

[elgerber]

Update-I applied for the Alaska Airlines BoA card and received a notification that the application is under review. Ugh.

I am still waiting on an answer from P2 US Bank reserve from 6/29. They send him prequalified offers all the time, including today, for other US Bank cards. I have never gotten an offer from them yet got instant approval for the reserve. Go figure. Who knows what these banks do.

 

[becauseimnew]

But I would like to visit Aulani someday, so I could see HNL in our future, but not actually Honolulu.

Same, I told DH the exact same thing. We cant to cross off all the Disney things from the list and this is one.

Would you recommend the Molokini snorkel tour? We ended up canceling while we were there and I've heard it ranges from meh to OMG, best thing in the world.

There are better places to snorkel. Maybe I didn't enjoy it because we were there longer than we needed, we were supposed to go to Turtle Island but it was bad visibility in that part so we didn't. So I guess not worth it.

 

[wanderlust7]

I’ve got my eye on the Barclay’s AAdvantage Aviator Biz card as my next card. (Son is heading to Penn State in the fall, and American is our best option from the tiny State College airport.) I’ve got a Barclay’s Wyndham Biz card, and now my personal Banana Republic card has been converted to a Barclay’s card, but wondering if Barclay’s has any weird application quirks I should be aware of? I’m 4/24 and have opened 5 new cards so far in 2022 (1 personal AMEX, 1 Biz AMEX, a CIP, my Wyndham Biz and a SW Biz). Each application was roughly every 30 days.

Barclays can be inquiry sensitive, but they tend to pull Transunion for most people, which other issuers don't tend to pull. Do you only have 1 TU pull from the Wyndham app?

 

[wanderlust7]

Would you recommend the Molokini snorkel tour? We ended up canceling while we were there and I've heard it ranges from meh to OMG, best thing in the world.

We went to Molokini years ago, thought it was meh. The coral's pretty dead. The crescent shaped island was interesting to see though.

Best snorkeling I've done in Hawaii was with a boat tour to Kealakekua Bay (Captain Cook monument) on the Big Island.

 

[Albort]

speaking of the UK, anyone recommend a tour(multiple days) for Scotland? dont really want to drive...

 

[georgina]

@Isutigers03 Sounds like you've gotten some great advice already, but I thought I'd chime in on a few things. I just got back from a short Oxford/London trip to pick up DD22 to bring her home after almost 5 years in England. Crazy how fast time goes. I spend quite a bit of time in the UK--4 to 5 times a year--and will be heading back when you will be there in Sept/October.

Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and at least a walk by Buckingham Palace are all first time must-dos. I love Churchill war rooms, and it took me way too long to visit there the first time. I go to the British Museum almost every time I'm in London. If you go to Stonehenge, I recommend going in conjunction with a British Museum exhibit they are having right now on Stonehenge. I also love the Markets in London--Borough Market is incredible. I've even done cooking classes at the Bread place there As a PP said ... go hungry. I went to the Harry Potter studios the first few months it opened, and keep meaning to go back in the winter when they have snow, etc., but I always forget to get tickets. If you want to go, you may have to book ahead.

I would definitely try to go to a show while you are there. You can probably go to the box office the day of and get cheap tickets at that time of year, especially with the shows that have been around a while. My favorite of the past few years is SIx. It's kind of a girl power take on the six wives of Henry VIII and the lyrics are awesome. It's also short and cheap so very easy to work into a short trip. If you have nice weather, I love walking around the Royal Parks. You could do the Diana walking trail and see parts of Hyde, Green, and St. James. Regent's park is also great. Kensington Palace and the V&A are also possibilities. Years ago we did an RIB tour on the Thames and it was a blast. If you have the energy, I love the pub walks and Jack the Ripper tour via London Walks. They have great tours, although COVID has changed a few things (not sure if you have to pre-book).

Have you looked into doing tea? You can probably just drop by at Fortnum, Harrods, or Liberty, but if you want one of the prestige ones like the Ritz, the Savoy, Claridges, etc. you'll want to pre-book. My family loves doing tea, so we tend to go once a trip.

Not sure if you are a shopper, but Harrods is something to see (don't miss the foodhalls--highly recommend the rotisserie chicken sandwiches). I kind of have a love/hate, as it's hard to actually shop there, but definitely something to see. Regent street is great for window shopping--don't miss Liberty of London--and covent garden is also great for walking around. Love Soho for restaurants.

Definitely use no FTF cards for the tube--super easy. I had to laugh about the currency story from PP. I had the same thing happen. Lots of old £20 pound notes that I had to use my daughter's Barclay account to convert. You really don't need cash. Everything is card. If you want notes for tipping wait until you get there and use an ATM (like a PP I used Schwab and never get his with fees; I also have BofA and they charge a couple bucks but it was still better than the horrible exchange rate).

I have used a GiffGaff SIM in an old iPhone for years. Years ago, I ordered it a few days before we left and it was waiting for me at my hotel. EE is also a good choice as a PP mentioned. Data is so cheap there it will blow your mind I sometimes use the AT&T $10 a day for short trips if I want access to any non-imessage texts.

@georgina have a great time in Oxford. I just left there a week ago. My daughter has been there the last couple years, and it's one of my favorite places in the UK. If you have time, the Ashmolean is my favorite museum. It's so well done and easy to see things. If you like cider, try Rosie's Pig Rhubarb at the White Horse pub (across from the Bodliean and Sheldonian).

Thanks! Just doing one night in Oxford so we will see what we can do. Picking up a rental car tomorrow and stopping in Bath on way to niece’s wedding near Dartmoor. I’ve been averaging 20,000 steps a day in London and need to slow down!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

If you are interested, there are scanner services and twitter accounts that will alert you to appointment openings. I had the same situation and I just kept the calendar up on my screen, and checked it a couple times a day, and was able to stumble on an appointment in about a week.

Ditto this. I had 3 airports I was willing to drive to, earliest appointment 4 months out. I refreshed while I was watching evening TV, ended up grabbing something that was about 10 days out. I saw at least one other that was even sooner but I couldn't do the date with my child care schedule.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

We went to Molokini years ago, thought it was meh. The coral's pretty dead. The crescent shaped island was interesting to see though.

Best snorkeling I've done in Hawaii was with a boat tour to Kealakekua Bay (Captain Cook monument) on the Big Island.

Ditto this about Molokini. We went in 2018, and it was just meh. I wouldn't do it again. We saw nicer stuff at 2Step on the Big Island, or off the shore on some beaches in Maui where turtles were everywhere!