Brigada

My buddy, Tim, recently acquired the United Mileage Plus Visa Signature Card (they have three levels and this is the middle). The card allowed him to gain…   1st year free then $90 a year thereafter. 1 mile for every dollar spent. Double miles on United Purchases. 40K free miles immediately. Miles never expire and [...]

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Lissa’s done it again. Although she faces all kinds of infrastructural challenges operating from her modest-sized town in Uganda, she has again discovered an item that we’re sure many Brigada participants will appreciate. This one has public transportation routes for more than 400 cities around the world. Grab it at…   http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/metro/id320949132?mt   (Thanks Lissa!)

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Brigada participant, Mark, told us this past week about a new service that offers rented rooms online:   http://www.housetrip.com   On this site you can list your house for rent without cost. They connect homeowners or second-home owners who are away with willing renters. Pay by credit card that gets credited only if you are [...]

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You know, one of the best services for tracking flights *has* to be   http://www.flightaware.com   See the logged flight path, minutes until landing, plus lots of other resources (especially for pilots).

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I’ve recently qualified for the USA’s Global program. It’s a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States. Though intended for frequent international travelers, there is no minimum number of trips necessary to qualify for the program. Participants may enter the United [...]

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Have you been bumped lately? It seems more and more common, as airlines struggle to keep planes in the sky — not only balancing passenger loads and mechanical issues, but also weather and staffing. Either way, Lissa, our Uganda Desk Guest Editor, found a New York Times article that might stimulate some ideas in that [...]

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This site just might help you figure things out: http://www.seat61.com/ Even if it doesn’t, it’ll be fun reading about it. Whoever knew there was so much information about trains in one site! :-)

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That’s a whole lot of bag-tagging. Read the whole story at… http://preview.tinyurl.com/2456usg (That’s a tinyurl that will redirect you to the longer USA Today link, but note that you’ll be able to preview where it’s taking you before you redirect.) The whole airline industry thing amazes me. I was in California on Friday when my [...]

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Try http://www.tripit.com List your airfare, housing info., rental car, and more… and let TripIt do the heavy lifting for you to keep everything streamlined and on the same page — all for free. You can always do TripIt Pro for $69/year, regardless of whether you’re in or out of the USA. The ‘pro’ version adds [...]

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Looking for a solution for carrying all those assorted items once you reach your destination? Try the $10 Kiva backpack at… http://www.amazon.com/Kiva-Key-Chain-Pack/dp/B000BNGHJO My 19-year-old says it folds up really small… and it would be very handy to throw into your luggage… then deploy upon arrival. Can’t beat the price.

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One of our member care volunteer families has just purchased a special airfare from Raptim that lets you pick virtually any airports around the world so long as the next destination keeps traveling in the same direction. So our new volunteers are starting in Indy, stopping at 8 different int’l airports. Their itinerary includes some [...]

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If you’re from the USA and you run on a network that isn’t global (like — Sprint maybe?), you’ll likely need to pick up a different phone for travel. Why buy when you can rent one for just the handful of days you’ll be gone? What’s your favorite vendor? Here’s one such vendor that Brigada [...]

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OK, maybe more than a song, but not much. Thanks to Brigada user Greg for tipping us on the fact that you can fly round trip anywhere within Africa that Kenya Airways goes (and they go all over the continent) for only 25,000 frequent flier miles (and about $70-80 reg fee) from any of the [...]

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