TRIP - Buffalo for March Break weekend 2015.03

First March Break (sort of) for Ella and Chinese school, so we decided to go somewhere - Buffalo (it was initially Detroit, but Buffalo was closer & easier)

Saturday

• IKEA Burlington
• Lunch - $20
• Butterfly Conservatory with $20 Niagara Pass (+WeGo bus 48 hours)
• Dinner - $45 USD @ Teton Kitchen
• Hotel - TownePlace Suites Buffalo Airport - FREE, courtesy of Chase Marriott credit card

Sunday

• Explore & More Child Museum in East Aurora, NY (3 hours)
• Cheesecake Factory - used up $25 gift card and 2 free Cheesecake slices
• Crossed the border with NEXUS, paid the toll with EZPass
• Journey Behind the Falls - only upper deck viewing area is open, cool but meh
• Walk around, took the WEGO Blue line back to Fallsview Casino ($5 parking) and head home

Credit Cards in My Wallet - American Express, VISA, Master Card

I decided to review and clean up my wallet of Credit Cards. I only applied for some of them due to the signup bonuses and some turned out to be much better than I expected

My favorite card - AMEX Platinum charge card, due to the 15K referral bonus

Cards to Keep

AMEX Gold Rewards Card

• 20,000 Bonus Points after $500 spending within 3 months
• No annual fee for the first year. $150/year after (I may cancel after 1st year)
• 2 points per dollar for travel/grocery/drugstore/gas purchases
• BEST USE - Gas, Grocery, Travel - including some gift card purchases. e.g. I buy GC at SDM/Sobeys to double dip

The AMEX Platinum Card

• 60,000 AMEX Membership Rewards Points after $1,000 spending within 3 months. This is 10000 points more than the regular 50K MR after $1000 spending offer, and can be worth more during transfer bonus like 20-25% for Aeroplan, or 50% to British Airways Avios
• $699 Annual Fee ($499 effectively if you deduct the $200 credit) << Luckily I still only pay $399/year, for now
• 2 x $200 Annual Travel Credit (for first year only). Use $200 credit before end of this year and then again starting Jan 1, 2014. It's $200/year after the first year
• Access to AMEX lounges in Canadian airports, and Priority pass VIP for unlimited access to 600+ lounges when traveling
• Hotel: Starwood Gold, Club Carlson Gold
• Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Club Gold membership = OneWorld Sapphire elite
• 15000 AMEX MR Points PER REFERRAL <- I've earned way more than I could ever spend
• BEST USE - I use it where AMEX Personal Gold don't earn 2X points, as I get 1.25X point on this card

Capital One Aspire Travel World Master Card

• 2% return on Travel and 1.5% on cash back. I signed up with $350 worth of points.
• $120/year fee, effectively $20/year with 10000 anniversary points
• I use it where AMEX is not accepted

TD First Class Travel Infinite VISA

• $120/year fee, waived due to holding TD Select Service account
• I keep it only for the Expedia For TD service, where I can earn 4.5% return on bookings

TD Gold Elite VISA

• $99/year fee, waived due to holding TD Select Service account
• I keep it only for the free Deluxe TD Auto Club. I used it in 2011 to tow my car (200 km allowance) and several battery boosts!

Cards I plan to cancel upon renewal

I would cancel below cards, wait 3~6 months and re-apply for the welcome bonuses (churning)

AMEX Gold Rewards Card - Oct 2013

• Even earning 2X the points is not enough to justify the $150 fee.

Chase Marriott Premier VISA - Nov 2013

• I applied for the limited promotion of 50K Marriott points + 1 free night at Cat 1-4 hotels, 1st year fee waived.
• Anniversary bonus of 1 free night at a Cat 1 - 4 hotel <- this has lost its value since Marriott increased categories 5/16/2013
• You become Marriott Silver, but it doesn't have much benefits
• $120/year, waived for first year
• I redeemed the free night at $150/night hotel and used 30K points for NYC Manhattan hotel ($360/night)
• This card has NO Forex fee, so it does save you ~2.5% which is only significant if you spend a lot to recover the $120 fee
• BEST USE - 5X at Marriott hotels, 2X at Restaurants, and USA/International due to no Forex fee

CIBC Aerogold Infinite VISA - Cancelled

• I only got it for the 15000 Aeroplan bonus with no 1st year fee in Dec 2012
• $120/year

MBNA Smart Cash Master Card - Cancelled

• I only got it for the $100 gift card bonus
• No annual fee

ELLA - Y2.M2 (24 months) and visiting New York

Oh my god it's been so long since my last post on Ella
so here I am, trying to capture what has happened since February when Ella turned 2

• Ella is still 90 cm and 14 kg, on diaper size 4(basically unchanged since 6 months old, pretty strange)
• She can understand us very well and somewhat speak okay to express her thoughts
• New passport fee ($57 for 5 years) starts July 1st, so I'm debating whether to renewal her passport now ($22 for 3 years), even when it expires in June 2014
• It's always travel time for us, and we're going back to the Big Apple (New York city) again. 
• First time was Dec 2010 on Expedia's -$300 price error (Ella was 7 months in the belly), and this time almost free using mostly vouchers, credits, and hotel points!!
• Hotel for 3 nights 
• 2 nights at Radisson with free night certificates (I got them for about ~$80/night, redeemed for $350+/night at NYC!!)
• 1 night at Marriott (30000 points, obtained from Chase Marriott credit card signup of 50K points)
• Flights
• YYZ-EWR is $460 for 3 (using $500 United vouchers)
• Return LGA-YYZ is $228 for 3 (using $200 AMEX Platinum's annual $200 credit)