Queer and There

Category Archives for Queer and There.

Must-Haves of Travel: Affordable Razors!

by Harlan 2 Comments

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So this is going to sound like an effing advertisement. And I guess it kinda is.

asd

Yes, they are f***ing great

But. If you haven’t already heard of Dollar Shave Club, you should read about it now, they are all over, even the best beard oils reviewed mention and talk about them, they truly went viral.

That’s because they’ll ship you razors each month for really cheap. And they travel well.

What’s Dollar Shave Club?

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Kohl’s B’day Gift, Free Admirals Club Membership In, Instant FIA Credit Line Increase + Inquiry

by Harlan Leave A Comment

Just a few bits and baubles to follow up on recent posts.

1. Kohl’s $10 Birthday Gift

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August is my birthday month, and Kohl’s got their timing perfect.

Because today, in the mail, was a card/gift from Kohl’s. Right after I mentioned how much I love them this morning.

$10 birthday present from Kohl's

$10 birthday present from Kohl’s

I also just received my Yes2Rewards this morning as an email, too.

Kohl’s has a great thing going. Their rewards program is more straightforward than Sears Shop Your Way Rewards and their website is way better, they have frequent discounts (usually 30% off) and promotion codes, often free shipping, and now I get a $10 bonus.

I wish their portal payout on the Discover Deals shopping portal was 10% cashback like Macy’s, Sears, and Kmart (it’s 5%).

But free money is great. I can always buy some new sheets and towels for my Airbnbs.

2. Admirals Club Membership Materials Are In

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I Haven’t Washed My Hair in a Month – and It Feels Great!

by Harlan 8 Comments

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Yup!

I know, it sounds kind of weird. I was like, “What the hell am I getting myself into?”

But it’s been a month and I haven’t used any shampoo. And it feels great!

What’s No ‘Poo?

“No ‘Poo” is “no shampoo.” I have no idea why it’s abbreviated to “no ‘poo.” Because it sounds like you’re aren’t ever going to poop again.

But nope! No ‘poo means you cut out shampoo once and for all. And replace it with baking soda and/or apple cider vinegar.

There’s a surprisingly huge section of Reddit devoted to people’s experiences with it. And amazingly, you won’t turn into a dirty hippie!

The idea is that normal shampoo has dozens of chemicals in it, and you’re putting them into your hair every day.

All the crap in an ordinary bottle of shampoo

All the crap in an ordinary bottle of shampoo

So I picked up the shampoo I was using and turned it over. Sure enough, there was a whole laundry list of stuff I couldn’t pronounce.

What’s “Hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride?” It sounds like something that’s gone through a lot of processing.

What about “Methylchloroisothiazolinone?” I’m out.

What I did

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Complete the Hyatt Diamond Challenge in 9 Nights With the Citi Prestige Card

by Harlan 9 Comments

Random thought of the evening.

I’m going through my cards and want to dump:

And replace them with:

The hitch is that you have to wait ~8 days between applications with Citi, so I’m not sure which of their cards to get first. But I’m warming up to the idea of Category 1 and 2 Hilton hotels – there’s a ton of value to be had there.

Anyway.

Citi Prestige + Hyatt Diamond Challenge

Via The Points Guy, tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge (something that’s always tempted me). You’ll have 60 days to complete it when you sign up (so until September 30th).

And via View From the Wing, the Citi Prestige card’s 4th night free benefit is “too good” to last. (I agree.)

Hyatt hotels are easily bookable with the Citi Prestige travel program. (Here’s the link to Carlson Wagonlit to search.)

A quick search in Dallas turned up 6 Hyatts, most under $100 a night

A quick search in Dallas turned up 6 Hyatts, most under $100 a night

If you book a 4-night stay for $100 a night, you’d pay $300 (after the Citi Prestige statement credit).

Do this 3 times in 60 days, pay $900, get Hyatt Diamond status. Any many hotels are available for under $100.

If you have Hyatt stays coming up anyway, this might be something to mix-and-match with cash + points stays.

And hotels booked with the Citi Prestige card do earn elite credit.

What’s Hyatt Diamond status worth?

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Must-Haves of Travel: Activated Charcoal

by Harlan 9 Comments

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Activated charcoal FTW

Activated charcoal FTW

After reading an article by fellow Brooklynite Jenny on Healthy Crush about activated charcoal, I had to try it.

Activated charcoal is made by burning something carbon-based, like wood or coconut shells to remove all of the oxygen. What’s left is a highly absorbent material filled with millions of tiny pores that trap and bind gas and toxins and can carry thousands of times its weight.

That’s really cool.

It comes in capsules and looks like this:

Activated charcoal capsules

Activated charcoal capsules

Uses for activated charcoal

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I Use Miles Because I Won’t Pay Revenue Prices… Right?!

by Harlan 10 Comments

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Correct me if I’m being thick because I definitely have my “forest for the trees” moments.

Meaning of value... are you in there? Oh, there you are.

Meaning of value… are you in there? Oh, there you are.

I read an article on Point Me to the Plane about a flight that got 2.5 cents per Delta mile.

Then the comments read: if you wouldn’t pay cash for the flights, that’s not how much the points/miles are worth.

But… I use points and miles for flights and hotels specifically because I won’t pay cash for them.

In fact, I’ve planned entire trips (like Hawaii, Paris, RTW/Australia, and Eurotrip 2014 in Lufthansa First Class) that I would’ve never paid for if it weren’t for points and miles.

a screenshot of an airline

I did NOT pay $7,243 for this flight… but I did pay 40,000 Avios + $453 in fuel surcharges. So what are the points worth?

I thought… that was the “point” of points and miles? 

Targeting aspiration AKA value

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Whoa! Check Out This Ultimate Travel Jacket from Baubax

by Harlan 5 Comments

Did you hear about the new travel jacket that’s blowing Kickstarter out of the water?

They only wanted to raise $20,000, but as of today, they’ve blown past the $1M mark.

…And I think I want one.

They start at $109 and go up from there.

The Baubax Travel Jacket is loaded with features

The Baubax Travel Jacket is loaded with features

It comes in 4 styles (and multiple colors) for men and women:

I'm partial to the blue hoodie myself ;)

I’m partial to the blue hoodie myself 😉

All of the styles look functional and comfortable. And the company is based in Chicago. Holla!

I think it’s interesting how they’ve chosen multiple types of fabric and recommend a style based on the temperature where it’s worn.

Different fabrics for each style

Different fabrics for each style

And each one is best worn at a certain temp

And each one is best worn at a certain temp

Of all the features, I think my favorites are the neck pillow and built-in gloves.

And with all the pockets, I could definitely bring along my coconut oil and apple cider vinegar. 🙂

Thought this was cool and wanted to share.

A little over $100… not a bad price, considering all the features.

But it seems like time’s running out if you wanna get one. And I can’t make up my mind!

On the fence.

Have you guys seen this jacket? Did you (or will you) get one? 

Radius Bank + SmarterBucks isn’t gonna work for me (but could maybe help you)

by Harlan 3 Comments

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I was excited to explore this dark alleyway of the internet, because there are so few rewards debit cards left.

No bueno

No bueno

This one, through SmarterBucks and Radius Bank seemed like it was gonna be a doozy. But, unfortunately, it’s pretty worthless, for me at least. I’m gonna have to DTMFA.

I’ll explain.

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Grand Opening: Choice Hotels Opens First Cambria Hotel & Suites in Manhattan

by Harlan 4 Comments

a group of people outside of a building

The Cambria Hotel & Suites in Manhattan celebrated its grand opening on July 14, 2015.

Cambria is part of Choice Hotels, and the Chelsea location is the first in New York!

Out and Out was excited to attend the grand opening celebration, and to talk with key members of the Choice Hotel senior management team about the hotel and Choice Privileges, the hotel chain’s loyalty program.

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Is United allowing discounted 1-ways and stopovers on award flights?

by Harlan 5 Comments

I was poking around the United website and messing with the award search cuz duh that’s an awesome way to spend a Saturday night.

I noticed something weird. I’m not sure if it’s a glitch or pricing error or a legit award booking or what.

But I wanted to share it with you guys in case someone has a better answer.

Here’s what I found.

United is discounting First Class round-trip award flights with a one-way added

Here’s what I searched:

  • LAX-NYC-LAX (round trip)
  • LAX-IAH (after a stopover)

Pricing at 65,000 miles.

Now, United isn’t supposed to allow free one-ways or stopovers on domestic itineraries any more according to Milevalue (although you can still get a free one-way on international itineraries and mainland US to Hawaii award flights).

So following that logic, 50K is the standard price for a round-trip First Class award.

And a one-way would be 25K.

But instead of pricing as 2 tickets, it’s letting me book all 3 flights for 65,000 miles. A 10K discount.

Round-trip First Class award with a discounted one-way LAX-NYC-LAX-IAH

Round-trip First Class award with a discounted one-way LAX-NYC-LAX-IAH

It gets weirder when I mix cabins. A free one-way?

When I book the 1st flight in economy and the next 2 in First Class, the price it spits out is 50,000 miles.

That means I’m paying for 2 legs at the price of 25K for a First Class one-way.

But what about the leg in economy? It’s free.

A free one-way after a stopover on a domestic award booking?

A free one-way after a stopover on a domestic award booking with mixed cabins?

Also weird was that I was able to replicate the pricing with partner awards on European award flights.

When I looked into it, I can book something like:

  • AMS-CDG in economy
  • CDG-AMS in business
  • AMS-somewhere else in business after a stopover

It prices at 45,000 miles. 

Round-trip awards in business are supposed to be 60,000 miles.

Partner award flights are pricing weird, too

Partner award flights are pricing weird, too. Instead of 60K round-trip it’s 45K

So not only do I get a free one-way, but I get a 15K mileage discount, too.

What else is glitching?

This is as far as I’ve gotten. But I’m wondering if you can add the free economy one-way after a round-trip First Class award flight (I couldn’t find any examples… yet.)

FWIW, I can replicate the discount from the all-First Class example with all-economy flights, too:

This "should" price as 37,500 miles, but

This “should” price as 37,500 miles

But it’s more like a 2,500-mile discount.

On the beta website, it prices the 1st leg at 17.5K miles. And then the next 2 at 8.8K miles each.

a screenshot of a flight schedule

Same results on the beta site

Bottom line

I haven’t actually booked any awards, so it could all error out before the final pricing screen.

I tried to find info about this on the ye olde interwebs but couldn’t find anything, so apologies if this is old news.

It seems United is pricing 1-ways and stopovers as either free or with a discount. I can force this with partner metal, mixed cabins, and all-domestic itineraries.

Is this a known error… or a new glitch?

Anyone know anything about this? 

Admirals Club Passes Giveaway Winners!

by Harlan 2 Comments

Thanks to everyone who commented on Giveaway: 5 Pairs of Admirals Club Day Passes ($100 Value!)!

I was kinda blown away by the number of comments!

It came down to sheer randomness, literally. I used random.org and picked 5 numbers. The first 5 numbers were the winners!

Enjoy the Admirals Club!

Enjoy the Admirals Club!

They are:

  1. R Hirsch
  2. JamesP
  3. Allan
  4. Mary
  5. Dee

I’ll be in touch with each of you about where to send your Admirals Club passes. Congrats!

Ways to keep up with the blog

Twitter and Instagram are my personal accounts. I post on those the most so be sure to follow me on both!

I often write about things I find handy or ways to save money.  There are two ways to ensure you never miss a blog post:

Ways to support the blog

If you like what you see here, I appreciate any kind of support, whether it’s using my links for services I like, or to pick up a new travel rewards credit card.

I’m aggressively working toward paying off my student loans so any clickage is infinitely appreciated!

Bottom line

It was a pleasure being featured on BoardingArea for the week!

Thanks again to all who entered the giveaway! I hope you’ll continue to follow Out and Out.

Winners, I’ll be in touch shortly about where to send the passes – enjoy the Admirals Club, whichever one you pick!

Mexico’s Supreme Court Ruled in Favor of Gay Marriage, Too

by Harlan 1 Comment

Happy Pride Weekend!

LOVE!

LOVE!

Just wanted to put this out there. I normally don’t take to this platform to share these things, but thought this one was important.

A few weeks before our Supreme Court declared same-sex marriages are legal across the country, Mexico’s Supreme Court did the exact same thing.

Yay progress!

Yay progress!

Canada has had same-sex marriage for 10 years by now, but this month – June 2015 – saw the other major North American countries finally align with that freedom.

Yeeeees ,bravo mexico #equality #matrimoniogay #quiensequierecasar

A photo posted by Victor Amarillas (@victor_amarillas73) on

Also see: 

Huge congrats to Mexico (and to us!). I just didn’t want their victory to fly under the radar. Instead, we should celebrate our progress together!

Bottom line

The US isn’t the only place to finally join the 21st century. Same-sex marriage is the law in Mexico now, too.

Stay scrappy out there! And congrats to everyone. I am so happy about our victories and progress!