Image courtesy: Loco Steve Learn more about our journey from Chicago to Portland on Empire Builder After a few hours in Portland, it was time to continue our epic train journey across the country. After several days on the Empire Builder line coming from Chicago, we were ready to continue south to San Francisco on […]
Learn more about Amtrak’s on-board experience here! We left Chicago in the early afternoon and began our trek west. Checking the route’s timeline, it seemed likely I’d head to bed sometime after the St. Paul-Minneapolis stop, and that we’d have daylight through Illinois, Wisconsin and a portion of Minnesota. After we’d settled into our roomette, […]
Image courtesy: Amtrak I was a little nervous about beginning our train adventure. My only previous Amtrak experience was a two hour hop from Washington to Philadelphia, and now we were about to embark on a three day land voyage from Chicago to Portland on Empire Builder and on to San Francisco on Coast Starlight. […]
Image courtesy: Bruce Fingerhood I wasn’t happy about the prospect of flying right home. I was planning to fly up to Chicago from Jacksonville with my girlfriend to accompany her for a grad school interview and had booked our flights on Southwest. For the flight up, I used Southwest gift cards purchased using our American […]
We’ve spoken at length in the past about Chase Ultimate Rewards. As you probably know, it’s our favorite points program thanks to the versatility of 1:1 transfers to a variety of airlines and hotel chains, the ability to combine points earned on multiple Chase cards and the ability to accelerate earnings by making purchases through […]
