Trek the Planet with Kyle

New poll question added. Go and answer it please!

Noob Traveler has some great simple tips on Christmas shopping and on shopping in general. Go check out his blog post and others at www.noobtraveler.com . Remember what this season is all about. It's not about the stuff. It's not about the deals. It's 100% fully about Jesus Christ and his perfect life and death on the cross for ALL of our sins. There is no other way to Heaven but through Jesus. Though we should daily think about his sacrifice for us, this season is a good reminder of it. Let's not let commercialism, materialism and the worldly view of this season get in the way of that.

You can go here to see what Frugal Travel Guy says about ways to earn points and miles without getting credit cards to earn the bonus sign ups. They all require a little work but if you're willing to do it you could come out ahead in some situations. Photo from frugaltravelguy.com

Hyatt has a game that you can play by going here. The game is called 'The Chase' and you're trying to find the woman with the red hair and her trunks she's traveling with. When you find them you will be offered some kind of prize ranging from 15% off a night at a Hyatt to being entered into a contest to win five nights at a Hyatt anywhere in the world to winning points. If you are not signed up for the Hyatt rewards program you can go to this page and sign up. You will need this number to start the game. Hopefully you'll win a sweet award! You can also sign up for the Chase Hyatt credit card  here . It will give you two free nights anywhere in the world after you spend $1000 within 3 months, which is a fairly easy thing to do. It has a $75 annual fee that isn't waived the first year. You'll also receive one free night every year on card membership anniversary good for a night at a 1-4 category property. 

Enter today to win a trip to Jamaica! Go here to enter.

If you have 5,000 points to spare from the rewards program formerly known as Priority Club rewards you can book a night at any hotel on this list. Each one is only 5,000 points per night and they have a bunch of Holiday Inn type hotels on the list. This list of hotels is valid for booking through October 31, 2013. If you have Chase Ultimate Rewards you can also transfer those points over to IHG rewards at a 1:1 ratio to use to book hotels. Hopefully you'll be able to utilize one of these properties to your advantage and get a cheap rewards booking.

Frugal Travel Guy posted today about how you can get 500 free Southwest Airlines points just for signing up to receive emails from dish network. Once you receive the points you can always go back and unsubscribe. Also if you are in the market for getting Dish Network, you'll be able to get 12,500 Southwest points through this offer. You can get all the details and the link by going to Frugal Travel Guy's site here .

You can enter by going here and watching the short video and then entering your name, email and American Airlines frequent flier number. If you are not a member yet of the American Air mileage program you can join by going here . It is fast and easy.

What is your favorite thing to do while at the beach?! Answer the new poll question on the upper left side of the blog!

Hyatt is having a 48 hour sale right now when you book a stay between June 30-October 8, 2013. You will get 30% off participating hotels. "Hyatt announced another 48h sale for hotels in the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean. Bookable through 11:59 PM CDT June 19, 2013. www.hyatt48hoursale.com For a limited time, simply book a participating Hyatt hotel or resort using offer code C48JUN beginning June 18, 2013 and save up to 30% on a family vacation, romantic getaway, or just a holiday for you. Offer is valid for bookings only between 12:01 a.m. on June 18, 2013 and 11:59 p.m. on June 19, 2013 Central Standard Time, for travel between June 30, 2013 and October 8, 2013 at participating Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Park Hyatt and Andaz properties in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean." If you have an upcoming trip and haven't booked a hotel yet, or just want to book a trip based on this sale go ahead and check out the deals and see if it works for you.

From now until June 22 if you are approved for a Chase Ink Plus or Ink Bold business credit card you will receive 60,000 bonus points after $5,000 spend in three months instead of the usual 50,000. They are promoting national small business week and that's why there's a extra bonus. The other two Ink cards also have extra bonuses. Both the Ink Plus and Ink Bold have a waived annual fee the first year and then $95 every year after that. You get 5x points at office supply stores, cable and internet services and cell phone service as well as 2x points at gas stations. Here is the link to the Ink Bold which is a charge card as has to be paid in full each month, so there is no interest build up. (Which you should be paying your cards off each month anyway). Here is the application link for the Ink Plus card. It has the same benefits as the Ink Bold but is a regular credit card. There are also no foreign transaction fees on these cards and you can transfer the points at a 1:

1. Starwood Hotels has a giveaway on Facebook here called the "Tote-ally Luxurious Resorts Giveaway." You must first "like" the Starwood (SPG) page and then proceed to fill out the entries to be entered and then answer the question: Picture sample of the contest from facebook.com/spg "where is kate spade new york exclusively for SPG tote is hanging out at for your chance to win the tote (over 100!) and be entered for the Grand Prize trip for two to any Member Favorite resort." If you answer correctly you could win a tote bag and be entered into winning a resort getaway. You also must be a member of the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program and you can sign up by going here. It is fast and easy. Image from mybanktracker.com 2. Also if you want to earn a flurry of bonus SPG points and have a credit score of over 700, you can apply for the American Express SPG card  here . You will earn 10,000 points after first purchase and an additio

Southwest is having another one of its awesome sales on fares. It is the same as always with one way fares under 500 miles for $49, 501-1,250 miles for $99, 1,251-1,750 for $129 and 1,751+ for $149. There are other airlines matching these prices and I'm sure most of them will match before it's all said and done. Book by this Thursday and travel is valid from August 26-December 18 with a few exclusions. You can search for fares here . Hilton is also having a Great Getaway Giveaway ! You can vote for a hotel location for all four categories of Relaxation, Adventure, Culture and Food & Wine. The location with the most votes in each category will be awarded to a four winners. So go vote and enter for a chance at a great getaway. Winners will receive five nights accommodation and two free round trip flights. The first category of Relaxation is open now, and every two weeks a new category will open for voting. You can also win a trip to Australia through American Airlines

I recently took a mini road trip with my wife and mother-in-law to the Texas capital city of Austin. It is the 34th largest city in the country and has close to 850,000 people living in the city limits. The main things known to this part of Texas is the music scene and the food. They know how to do it right here in this neck of the woods! There is some great eating, including some of the best BBQ joints in the country. Also, Austin is home to one of the best schools around, the University of Texas. Texas State Capitol Upon arriving in Austin, we went straight to the capitol for a tour. They are free are leave around every 15 minutes from the lobby. This capitol was modeled after our U.S. Capitol, but since everything is bigger in Texas, they went ahead and made this one 11ft taller! Go figure. The tour was quite informative, as one would expect. They took us to both the Senate and House of Reps chambers as well as the annex part of the capitol which goes four floors underground a

You can enter to win a trip around the world to four great Radisson Blu locations. All you have to do is fill out the information as to what your desires are for a vacation and then they will show you the four locations that match those desires. You can change them is you want to as well. You can enter by clicking here. Radisson Blu hotels are the top of the line Club Carlson hotels. They are all located in prime destinations and will give you all the amenities of luxury travel! I hope one of you will win! Radisson Blu Nice, France

Every Friday til Aug 2, 2013 if you have a Visa Signature credit card you can buy one movie ticket and get a second one free through Fandango . There is a limit to one free ticket per 30 days but if you use it this coming Friday, you'll be able to get two free tickets to a movie before the deadline! That's not a bad deal considering tickets can run you up to $15 depending where you're located. So if you have a Visa Signature card (you can look on the bottom right corner of the card for "Visa Signature" to tell if you have one) you should use this to get something for free!

Today is the last day to book a Marriott award stay before many properties go up a category and cost more points to redeem for a free stay. There will be a new category 9 that has a handful of hotels in it from mostly big cities. A lot of category 4 properties that once were able to be redeemed for getting a promotion and credit card sign up free night (category 1-4) will no longer be available because they are being bumped to category 5 or 6. This is not good for the points world as it will obviously take more points to get to where you want to go cheaper. So if you have some stashed points, go out and book something before tomorrow!

Let's face it. We all want to go to Hawaii but know that going there most likely will kill most of our wallets. Or so we think. There are two credit cards out there that can help you get to the island life a lot easier and a lot cheaper. Both cards are the same, have the same benefits and bonus points, but are issued from two different banks. The first is the Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines Visa and the second is the Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines Visa . Both cards come with a 20,000 bonus upon first use of the card. Then when you spend $1,000 within four months of receiving the card you will get an extra 15,000 points! That's a cool 70,000 points if you get both cards and spending $2,000 within four months. (Remember, you should have a credit score of 700 or over before you think about applying for these cards) The award chart for using Hawaiian Airline miles is here. Round trip flights from the mainland to Hawaii will cost you anywhere from 40,000 in economy to 160

I have posted a new poll question. Go check it out!

A fellow travel blogger (Boarding Area's Mommy Points ) has a great post about obtaining a business credit card and the details surrounding it. Take a look and see if it's something you can do to start earning even more miles and points! Check out Mommy Point's blog about getting a business credit card .

Today is the first guest blog from Rhett Sandusky talking about him and his wife Brandee's experience with taking their honeymoon to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico . Rhett is a real estate agent in the greater Baton Rouge area. If you are ever looking for a house or just to rent in this area, give him a call or visit his website . The options of a honeymoon are endless. From different countries to different resorts, it makes for a pretty tough decision. My wife and I knew we wanted to be in the Caribbean and also knew we had a budget. After looking at a long list of options, we decided on an all inclusive resort called  El Dorado Maroma in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We had an awesome time so I thought I’d share a little bit about the things we liked at the resort. Image from beachsidebridesblog.com The Accommodations Our room was great. We decided to get the Honeymoon Suite which included a king size bed, couch, love seat, a balcony looking over the resort and beach, a Jacuzzi tub, a

Denver  is the mile high city and while there may be a lack of oxygen, there isn't a lack of things to see and do while here. Situated at the base of the Rocky Mountains, there is a plethora of outdoor activities to participate in from skiing to hiking to climbing to biking. They have it all. And like any other big city, there are some top notch restaurants to check out as well as plenty of museums. Denver skyline. Image from denver.org The Food We hit up a nice little breakfast joint near our hotel while there called The Delectable Egg . The place was packed and for a good reason! Most people had made reservations prior to arriving to be guaranteed a table when they got there. We didn't make any but only had to wait about ten minutes to be seated. They offer a wide variety of menu items as well as lunches and dinners. I had the banana pancakes and they were top notch. We ate dinner at  Willie G's which was a seafood and steak place. It is on the upscale/fine d

About a week ago my family and I went late season skiing at Beaver Creek resort in Beaver Creek/Avon, CO. The weather was a little warm but there was plenty of snow on the ground which made for some great skiing. Beaver Creek is approx. 2 hours west of Denver and is just 10 minutes past Vail, one of the most popular ski resorts in Colorado. The drive is not a bad drive from Denver International Airport at 128 miles and just over 2 hours. If the roads were icy, then that would be a different story. Denver International is the biggest airport in the country at 53 square miles total. This is bigger than all of Manhattan, New York! There are some interesting conspiracy theories surround the airport as well. They have some crazy paintings, statues, runway layout and inscriptions all over the airport. If you have the time Google it to learn more. There are a lot of rental car places to choose your rental from and it is just a short 5-10 minute shuttle ride from the airport to the lots.