$200/year on Uber and $200/year on flight incidentals (baggage check fees, plane change fees, any food or drink ordered on board, etc.). So assuming you take advantage of that, the fee is now $150/year. If you take two round-trip flights and use lounges, that easily takes care of the remainder.
This is, of course, not even including the intro offer of up to 60-100K points, which you can transfer to airlines or hotels. Nor does it cover Amex’s own offers.
Yeah, you need either Platinum (easy to get) or Centurion card (can only get if you spend $200,000+/year). I’ve posted this here before, but I’ll mention it again: the Platinum is an incredible card if you fly even twice a year. Between the $200 Uber credit, the Amex lounge access and all other perks, that $550/year fee is def justified.
I used to have a regular Amex Gold so I’m not sure if it’s the same as the Delta Gold, but there was a $100/year credit for flight incidentals that you could use toward any lounge access.
Airport lounges are where it’s at. A few years back, I took a trip to Ecuador and had a 5 hour layover in Houston after taking a 6 AM flight out of SFO. Went to the Amex lounge there and they specifically have an area with beds so that you can nap. Took a glorious 2 hour nap there. After that, I’ll only do layovers if the airport has an Amex or Priority Pass lounge.
Any kind of meal on a first date is an awful idea, especially if you’ve never met the person before. If you don’t like them and want to end the date, you can’t really do that because you’re eating. It’s just too much of a commitment. I’ve had many dates where I was sitting there, eating and wanting to poke my eyes out because of how awful the date was going, but I couldn’t leave because my entree hadn’t come yet.
Weeknight drinks in the early evening is the way to go. That way there’s no real commitment, you both haven’t eaten so you can get buzzed quicker, and if the date is going great it’s super easy to parlay it into dinner.
Also, brilliant move on Girl’s part to make Todd put everything on his credit card because he’ll definitely send Venmo requests to everyone but her so she gets to do this whole thing for free.
Yea, but have you done that in Philly with the Eagles playing? There’s something in the air there that makes people go crazy. Kinda like whatever makes dead people turn into zombies in The Walking Dead.
Wedding crasher chick: have a talk with your friend and lay it all out. If he feels toward you the same way you feel toward him, he should absolutely not go through with the wedding with his current fiancee. It’s completely unfair to her that her future husband may be currently in love with someone else. Their break up will be brutal, no doubt, but their inevitable divorce down the line will be far worse.
If anything, I feel like being married results in the best of both worlds for celebrating Valentine’s Day. You don’t have to spend a lot of money because your budget is now also your wife’s budget, but you also don’t have to make dramatic overtures of love to her because you’ve already done that. So you can get away with doing something simple, yet elegant. She feels special for the day, you get laid at night. Win-win.
For once, I’m thankful for busy season because it’s my get-out-of-jail-free card if Valentine’s Day falls on a weekday (like this year). So instead, my girlfriend and I have been doing things either before or after – this year we’re doing brunch followed by a wine/paint thing the weekend before. She still gets her date day and I don’t have to sell a kidney to pay for food; it’s a win-win.
I never acknowledge the other passengers so I never have this problem. I get in and have my face in my phone from pickup to dropoff. Is it rude? Probably. But at least I don’t have to bother with forced small talk with strangers I’ll never see again.
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Forget coffee because of work? I think you’re working too hard.
$200/year on Uber and $200/year on flight incidentals (baggage check fees, plane change fees, any food or drink ordered on board, etc.). So assuming you take advantage of that, the fee is now $150/year. If you take two round-trip flights and use lounges, that easily takes care of the remainder.
This is, of course, not even including the intro offer of up to 60-100K points, which you can transfer to airlines or hotels. Nor does it cover Amex’s own offers.
Yeah, you need either Platinum (easy to get) or Centurion card (can only get if you spend $200,000+/year). I’ve posted this here before, but I’ll mention it again: the Platinum is an incredible card if you fly even twice a year. Between the $200 Uber credit, the Amex lounge access and all other perks, that $550/year fee is def justified.
I used to have a regular Amex Gold so I’m not sure if it’s the same as the Delta Gold, but there was a $100/year credit for flight incidentals that you could use toward any lounge access.
Airport lounges are where it’s at. A few years back, I took a trip to Ecuador and had a 5 hour layover in Houston after taking a 6 AM flight out of SFO. Went to the Amex lounge there and they specifically have an area with beds so that you can nap. Took a glorious 2 hour nap there. After that, I’ll only do layovers if the airport has an Amex or Priority Pass lounge.
Everclear: when you’re too busy to argue because you’re on your way to the ER for alcohol poisoning.
Damn the patriarchy!
Enjoy the sex and sleep. All you need now is some El Tiempo prior to checking in to set the mood.
The best is those rooms with two king beds. One for having sex, one for sleeping.
Any kind of meal on a first date is an awful idea, especially if you’ve never met the person before. If you don’t like them and want to end the date, you can’t really do that because you’re eating. It’s just too much of a commitment. I’ve had many dates where I was sitting there, eating and wanting to poke my eyes out because of how awful the date was going, but I couldn’t leave because my entree hadn’t come yet.
Weeknight drinks in the early evening is the way to go. That way there’s no real commitment, you both haven’t eaten so you can get buzzed quicker, and if the date is going great it’s super easy to parlay it into dinner.
Someone’s not woke.
Just when I thought that Duda’s takes couldn’t get any worse…
This is true. I tried to rationalize the behavior of Eagles fans, but should’ve known better. I own my mistake.
Also, brilliant move on Girl’s part to make Todd put everything on his credit card because he’ll definitely send Venmo requests to everyone but her so she gets to do this whole thing for free.
“P.S. Todd said he’d put everything on his card and send out Venmos afterward and everyone can pay him directly.”
Todd is going to be swimming in credit card points.
Yea, but have you done that in Philly with the Eagles playing? There’s something in the air there that makes people go crazy. Kinda like whatever makes dead people turn into zombies in The Walking Dead.
When you’re that drunk/on drugs, you probably don’t think.
Wedding crasher chick: have a talk with your friend and lay it all out. If he feels toward you the same way you feel toward him, he should absolutely not go through with the wedding with his current fiancee. It’s completely unfair to her that her future husband may be currently in love with someone else. Their break up will be brutal, no doubt, but their inevitable divorce down the line will be far worse.
If anything, I feel like being married results in the best of both worlds for celebrating Valentine’s Day. You don’t have to spend a lot of money because your budget is now also your wife’s budget, but you also don’t have to make dramatic overtures of love to her because you’ve already done that. So you can get away with doing something simple, yet elegant. She feels special for the day, you get laid at night. Win-win.
For once, I’m thankful for busy season because it’s my get-out-of-jail-free card if Valentine’s Day falls on a weekday (like this year). So instead, my girlfriend and I have been doing things either before or after – this year we’re doing brunch followed by a wine/paint thing the weekend before. She still gets her date day and I don’t have to sell a kidney to pay for food; it’s a win-win.
I never acknowledge the other passengers so I never have this problem. I get in and have my face in my phone from pickup to dropoff. Is it rude? Probably. But at least I don’t have to bother with forced small talk with strangers I’ll never see again.