Scuba Imagery: Welcome

Welcome to the Scuba Imagery blog. This will run off my main photo site but will varied in scope.

The majority of it will be "points" based.

I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to travel significantly. Before hand I dreamed of paying for enough flights to get me a free flight to somewhere far and away. Those days have changed.

In about a year and a half I have accumulated about 500,000 points from various Hotel and Airline programs. The majority of these points were earned through lucrative credit card bonuses. Although many were earned via checking accounts, shopping malls, signing up for a trial offer, and even 3-minute surveys.

You can easily make 500,000 points a year and with a bit of work 1,000,000 points. As I mentioned earlier this is very similar to a game, sometimes the points dont seem worthwhile but with careful planning you can easily get a trip that will cost thousands of dollars for 1/10 of the cost by just playing with points.

In the mean time here are some worthwhile deals

Have an American Express ?

Here is a deal to get a statement credit and support a small business.

You can receive a one-time $25 statement credit when you register any eligible American Express^® Card and use that Card to make a purchase of $25 or more at a small business on November 26, 2011.

Here is where you register the card : https://sync.americanexpress.com/sbs2011

Radisson® Gives Away 50,000 Nights to Celebrate The North American Debut of Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, Chicago

The Radisson Big Night Giveaway awards 50,000 Gold Points®, enough for a free night stay at any Radisson hotel in the world, to the first 50,000 Club Carlson members who register for the promotion and then stay at a Carlson hotel.

The promotion begins Nov. 10 and runs through Dec. 30, 2011. Club Carlson members must register and stay one night at any Radisson hotel in the U.S., Canada or the Caribbean during the promotion time period. The bonus Gold Points they receive can then be used for a stay at any Carlson hotel worldwide. Members who register after the first 50,000 giveaways will receive 15,000 bonus Gold Points.

This deal is only for a RADISSON hotel, not comfort suites etc. Unfortunately we have no Radisson in Miami, closest one in Florida is in Vero beach. There are 3 in Orlando and they are peppered around the United States. (map located here http://www.radisson.com/destinations/). You must register for this before you stay (register here https://www.radissonbignightgiveaway.com/)

50,000 points can be worth at least one night at a hotel that costs $450+ a night (Tokyo, Moscow, Chicago). Or 3 days at a regular hotel (Bangkok, Cairo etc)

If you need a card now before the holidays I highly recommend the Chase Sapphire. I love it. Not only is it beautiful, it offers a great setup for points. Chase uses its own proprietary shopping mall which allows you to either shop for flights, hotels, ipods or to transfer the points to another program; which they have a ton of partners. Off the top of my head, hyatt, Continental, United, British Airways, Korean Airlines, Marriott, Priority Club, Southwest. The fee is waived for the first year, there is no foreign transaction fee and you get double points when used for dining and travel. Did I mention you get 50,000 points? (worth $650 in travel) Apply here https://applynowdc2.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/renderApp.do?SPID=DKWM&CELL=6H8X&AFFID=PPkX79_c.b0-1VVYAj1FTsL4jkoZI3Cnqw&pvid=161213FOF497619680

Speaking of shopping malls....

Airline and credit card shopping portals make it very easy – all you have to do is click their simple link to your retailers website and they’ll automatically kick you back a certain number of points (usually based on how much you spend).Credit card and Airline shopping portals make earning points very easy. You sign in with your frequent flyer ID (or your credit card login) and then you click on the retailers website link. It will then transport you to their website and you shop like you would normally. However you are now given a bonus.

For example, Chase Sapphire offers 3 points per dollar at Best Buy. Sign on and buy the flat screen tv that you were going to buy anyways. If it was a thousand dollars you then get three thousand points instead of the original 1,000. Sometimes they offer even more bonuses, on Black Friday Best Buy will be bumped up to 10x points per dollar. These are very easy points which you would have spent anyway.

Here are the links

Delta

http://www.skymilesshopping.com/l____.htm

America Airlines

http://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/

US Airway SkyMall

https://www.dividendmilesstorefront.com/

Continental OnePass/United Mileage Plus

https://www.mileageplusshopping.com/s____.htm?WT.mc_ID=267

The most lucrative

Chase Ultimate Rewards (you can only get in if you have a card)

www.ultimaterewards.com