Just based on the number of views of my Chip & PIN credit card post, it is clear to me that this is an issue for many travelers. While it is an issue, it’s also fairly clear from the comments to my post that if I carry some cash in Europe I should be ok, even if inconvenienced…..fully automated gas stations and some other merchants excepted.

It’s obvious to me that this is a hot button for people that travel outside the USA, and I do not know why credit card companies are not coming around to reality. One other interesting tidbit….. my go-to card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred, may have a kink in its armor when it comes to traveling outside the USA. While it’s probably fine for major hotels and restaurants, the cards lack of raised numbers may be an issue in some shops that would use a swipe and carbon copy machine to accept your card in the absence of Chip & PIN.

I wonder why card companies are not moving out on this? I, for one, would actually pay a small fee to have a real Chip & PIN card. Would you?

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MrsMJonTravel and I spent Sunday morning on the US State Department’s website filling out our passport renewal forms. Mine expires in August while her’s was good for another year, but we elected to bite the bullet together and get on the same passport schedule. We actually started this process a couple of weeks ago with a visit to our local CVS for new photos. Gosh I’ve gotten older and balder since my last picture! We picked CVS because it was close, and they have a handy coupon available online for $2 dollars off your photo.

This morning we surfed over to the State Department’s website for passport issues and started the paperwork, filled out our forms online, and within just a few minutes had our renewal applications printed and ready to go. We went with standard passports, no passport cards, and no expedite since the next time we will need the passports at best is August. The fee is $110 dollars per passport for renewal. We’ll dispatch them to the passport renewal center tomorrow via certified mail. After debating whether we could put both applications in the same envelope, we decided that would be just the kind of thing that some clerk would find fault in, so we’re even sending them in separate envelopes.

There are some great memories packed in the pages of our expiring passports. Iceland to Italy, Greece and Turkey, the U.K….and a whole host of Caribbean islands in between. We can’t wait to fill the pages of our new passports. Maybe we should expedite them….I just love having my passport in hand, ready to take on the world!

Nothing against Hyatt at all, but I am the last blogger on earth to mention this. Hyatt and Visa have teamed up to offer a free status match to Hyatt Platinum for 90 days if you hold a Visa Signature card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and others. Platinum status includes free internet, 2pm late checkout, and a 15 percent bonus on points earned for Hyatt stays. Stay 8 eligible nights at any Hyatt hotel within 90 days of enrollment to maintain Platinum status through February 2013. Register here.

As NoobTraveler points out, you will receive 2 free suite upgrades if you apply for the Hyatt Visa while holding Platinum status.

Disclosure: If you apply for and receive credit cards through the links provided in the post, I will receive a referral bonus. I appreciate all my readers, whether you use my links or not.

Note: Reader Steve commented with this link for a better Hyatt offer.

I received an email from US Airways this afternoon offering a 90 percent bonus on purchased Dividend Miles. The email states “We’ve specially selected you to receive a 90% bonus. All you have to do is buy miles May 1 – 15, 2012, and you’ll automatically receive your bonus. This offer is exclusively for you and is non-transferrable.”

I’m not a fan of buying miles historically, but certainly would consider doing so if I had a specific award in mind and needed the miles to top off my account. Since this offer appears to be highly targeted, this post is more of an FYI, check your inbox and spam filter thing than a run and register for this asap deal. Nonetheless, the registration link is here if you wish to check it out. Again, YMMV.

Just prior to posting, I did a quick scan of Boardingarea to see if anyone else had posted about this. I see Points, Miles, and Martinis was targeted for the same offer. Good comments there too. Seems some others may be targeted for an 80 percent bonus. Feel free to share your experiences here.

I’m excited to return to the NYC area this year for Frequent Traveler University. It’s a big weekend for frequent traveler news and events with tonight’s Freddie Awards ceremony, and tomorrow’s Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit. Unfortunately, I won’t make it to those events, but I will be boarding Amtrak’s Acela tomorrow evening to take in the great Frequent Traveler University seminars this weekend. If you’re attending the seminar be sure to say hello. Find me on @Twitter.

Look, I like US Airways. Yes, I realize that places me a little behind everyone else, but they really are running a reasonably reliable airline. They also sent me an email tonight that details something useful they are offering to some flyers. US Airways is calling it PreferredAccess. Here’s the scoop according to them.

Soon we will extend the PreferredAccess program to allow non-Preferred customers to add priority check-in, security and boarding to their trip during Web Check-in for a fee. This new program will not change your Preferred benefits. You’ll still enjoy complimentary priority check-in and security as you do now. In addition, you and your traveling companions will still board with the same priority – right after First Class and Envoy passengers. Customers who pay for PreferredAccess will board after you. And, you’ll continue to enjoy all the rewards of being a Preferred member, including unlimited complimentary upgrades, waived baggage fees, Preferred seating and more.

This is nothing that the other airlines aren’t doing. Offering certain “preferred” services in exchange for a fee. One thing I will say. This adds fuel to the fire of those who say that entry level elite status is no longer worth pursuing. I mean seriously, most of the airlines are offering the benefits of entry level status to all flyers, either through a credit card or these fee-added offers. Yes, I still get an upgrade to first class from time to time that these benefits don’t offer, but I have to acknowledge that most of the benefits of entry level elite status are now matched by carrying a particular credit card of your preferred airline or by paying a small fee. What do you think?

Hat tip to Gary.

Now through June 30, access the Milepoint.com message board when you are in flight via GoGo.com. You know I love me some GoGo, and the ability to access Milepoint just makes it even better. I’ve learned so much from the Milepoint boards, that I just can’t help but trumpet this access. Have fun on the road and inflight!

As you likely know, the Chicago Seminars is one of the biggest travel junkie events of the year. I attended the first seminar in October 2010, but was unable to make it to the 2011 seminars because I was on a cruise. When word of the 2012 seminars first hit the boards on FlyerTalk and Milepoint, I piped in on the blog that I couldn’t wait to attend, and I can’t! The Chicago Seminars are just a terrific forum to learn more tips and tricks to further our travel habit.

I was extraordinarily flattered to be contacted about possibly presenting at the seminars, but was truly at a loss about what I could add to such a fantastic lineup of talent like The Frugal Travel Guy, MommyPoints, Lucky, and The Points Guy. FTG mentioned that he had heard that I was something of a cruiser, or frequent floater as we cruisers sometimes call ourselves. True dat. I imagined that the majority of attendees at the seminars would be into learning about miles and points, and I expect that’s true. That said, a little alternative travel habit isn’t the worst thing in the world to acquire, and cruising isn’t just a habit for me. It’s a way of vacation life!

There are still some slots available for the Chicago Seminars this October 12-14. When you’re registering for the event, you will see an option for The Cruising Crowd with Marshall Jackson on Saturday evening (10/13) at 6pm. If you’ve had your fill of miles and points discussion for the day and are curious about cruising, I encourage you to sign up. We’ll have a great time talking about sailing the high seas for vacation. Frankly, I’m planning on a fun chat about cruising, how I got started at it, how to pick a cruise, and why it is one of the best values out there for your vacation dollar. I might even talk about how I leverage my miles and points for traveling to some pretty fab cruises too! I hope to see you at the Chicago Seminars!!!

Celebrity Cruises is running a “Summer of Modern Luxury” promotion right now that includes some decent pricing on cruises to Europe, Alaska, and Bermuda this summer as well as on board credits of up to $200 dollars. I received an email today detailing an extra deal for cruises booked on their newest ship, Celebrity Silhouette. If you book a 2012 Mediterranean cruise aboard Silhouette, you can take advantage of the Summer of Modern Luxury promo AND get a 50 percent discount of the cruise fare for the 2nd guest in the stateroom. Worth a look if you are considering a cruise this summer. Call Celebrity at 1-800-647-2251 to book.

A recent Travel Weekly article on a certain group of travelers caught my eye. A few quotes from the article just for the sake of discussion:

“Leisure storefront agencies indicated that 67% of their sales come from clients age 45 and older, and 32% come from customers who are at least 60 years old. This is in contrast to the general U.S. traveler population……….of which only half are 45 or older.”

“Leisure travel agents said that 70% of their bookings have per-person spending of at least $1,000, and that 35% spend at least $2,000. By comparison, the average U.S. traveler’s per-person spending is well below $1,000.”

While I don’t consider myself a “big spender,” (nor am I 45…yet ) I have been blessed with enough income (and a mileage collecting habit) to occasionally take trips that I consider to be much more of an experience than a simple vacation. It’s in those situations that an good travel agent can help you take your vacation from great to first rate….. an experience like no other. I’m a pretty savvy traveler, and I enjoy a lot of the logistics of planning a trip, (and of course, booking premium class seats with our miles!) but there are some things I just can’t (or won’t) do on my on.

Case in point, our 2010 Mediterranean cruise. Booking a cruise is easy, but turning a cruise like that into something that will enrich your travel life is something else altogether. One of our ports of call was Kusadasi, Turkey, gateway to the ancient city of Ephesus. Ephesus is a treasure of history, and as a student of history, I wanted to make the absolute most of our visit. Enter our travel agent, a Travel & Leisure A List star agent and Virtuoso affiliate. I simply placed a call and said MrsMJonTravel and I along with our 4 friends accompanying us want to do Ephesus right. The next day our tour arrangements were made right down to the name of our personal guide.

The tour itself should be the subject of its own blog. While others boarded large busses for their mass market tours, the six of us boarded our private Mercedes van for an experience none of us will ever forget. Our guide had all of our tour arrangements and tickets in advance so we skipped the lines and dove right into one of the most enriching travel journeys I’ve taken. (I promise, I will write a blog about it!)

My point? Don’t be afraid to use some of the thousands of dollars you save leveraging miles and points through tricks learned here and all over Boardingarea.com to do something special for you and yours. A good travel agent can help you do that.

Travel well.

-MJ

Folks, if you’ve not yet registered for this year’s Frequent Traveler University session in the NYC area (April 27-29), time is running out. I’ve been monitoring the Milepoint thread on this event pretty regularly, and they are down to less than 20 available slots (as of this past Friday). There is no other event where you can learn from experts like Gary Leff, Brian Kelly (aka The Points Guy), Daraius Dubash (Million Mile Secrets), MommyPoints, Randy Petersen, and others.

You can catch up on all the details of the event in this Milepoint thread. I’ll be there to learn from the greats, and you should strongly consider attending if you’re interested in learning more about the miles and points game. The first MJonTravel reader that finds me gets an MJonTravel key chain and a free cocktail at happy hour!