Topic Wiki

Points Used:

UR: 133K
MR: 40K
SPG: 90K
AA: 148K
UA: 95K
Hyatt: 4 free nights
Marriott: 146K and 2 free nights (still waiting for some points to post and then change cash res. to points)
IHG: ~130K (still haven't decided which hotel in Belgium to stay at)
Melia: 22K
BA: 4.5K
And 1 BRG :)

Desired Locations: (Strikethrough means booked)

Israel
London
Paris
Zurich

Rome (Car rental booked FCO-FLR-PSA-VCE)
Florence
Pisa
Venice
Madrid (RT train booked to Toledo)
Barcelona
Seville
(Car rental booked SVQ-GIB-SVQ)
Gibraltar
Bruges/Ghent (Belgium) (Have to book trains within Belgium and RT to AMS.)
Amsterdam

Days Scheduled in Each Location
In no order in particular...

Rome 3.5
Florence .5
Pisa .5
Venice 4.5 including Shabbos (although others said it can be done in less time)
Israel 12
Amsterdam 2
Paris 4 including Shabbos
Dublin 1.5
London 4 including Shabbos (although others said it can be done in less time)
Zurich 1 (b/c it's the United <24 hour stopover, but I'm sure there's more than 1 day's worth of activities there)
Belgium 1
(Amount of days in the different Spain cities are short and were very calculated based on suggestions, as I wanted to save any "extra" days I had for other countries.)
Madrid 1
Seville .5
Gibraltar 1.5 including Shabbos
Barcelona 1.5
« Last edited by @Yehuda on June 08, 2014, 06:26:36 PM »

Author Topic: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon  (Read 108039 times)

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #460 on: May 08, 2014, 04:32:32 PM »
Just booked the train from Madrid-Toledo! 20.30 eur ($28.14) pax
I plan on doing Toledo w/o a tour guide, as he wanted 360 eur for transportation/tour, and I think visiting the 2 Shuls there will be nice (museum is closed on Mondays, which is when I plan to go), but doesn't warrant paying for a tour. Saving the $ for tours in Rome. :)
Read about the booking experience here: http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=850.msg809308#msg809308

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #461 on: May 13, 2014, 09:49:05 AM »
Posts have been slow here recently, as I'm mostly up to just planning out my daily itineraries, which I'm doing in the individual cities' master threads.

Correction to previous post:
Toledo has 2 shuls with museums in them. 1 shul/museum is closed on Mondays, therefore only 1 shul/museum is open, but I still plan on going, as it looks beautiful from Google images.

Update on hotels:
Just used mine and my wife's Marriott free cat. 1-4 certs for AC Hotel Arezzo and AC Hotel Pisa. Arezzo seemed like a perfect place to stop for the night on the way from Rome-Florence. It's an hour out from Florence, which didn't have any Marriotts anyway. Would spend the next day in Florence and then head to Pisa for the night.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #462 on: May 13, 2014, 12:44:04 PM »
What checking account do you plan on using while in Europe to take money out at ATMs to avoid foreign transaction fees? Schwab?

Offline Emkay

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #463 on: May 13, 2014, 12:47:01 PM »
What checking account do you plan on using while in Europe to take money out at ATMs to avoid foreign transaction fees? Schwab?
Schwab seems to be the best option but there is a hard pull to get one

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #464 on: May 13, 2014, 12:47:41 PM »
Schwab seems to be the best option but there is a hard pull to get one
Not if you already have an investment account with them. CMIIW.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #465 on: May 13, 2014, 12:48:57 PM »
What checking account do you plan on using while in Europe to take money out at ATMs to avoid foreign transaction fees? Schwab?
Was thinking about that over the weekend. I had originally thought I would just use SP everywhere, but I didn't think about places that would require cash. I heard TD doesn't charge forex fees either, but those are only 1/2 the fees. The ATM itself will have fees. I remember from my years in Israel that Discount bank didn't charge ATM fees. So with a TD bank and Discount, you could avoid fees altogether. I remember always looking for Discount banks, but I don't remember actually opening a TD acct, so I don't remember what I did. Either way, that wouldn't help for the rest of Europe ATM fees.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #466 on: May 13, 2014, 12:50:29 PM »
Was thinking about that over the weekend. I had originally thought I would just use SP everywhere, but I didn't think about places that would require cash. I heard TD doesn't charge forex fees either, but those are only 1/2 the fees. The ATM itself will have fees. I remember from my years in Israel that Discount bank didn't charge ATM fees. So with a TD bank and Discount, you could avoid fees altogether. I remember always looking for Discount banks, but I don't remember actually opening a TD acct, so I don't remember what I did. Either way, that wouldn't help for the rest of Europe ATM fees.
Schwab doesn't charge ATM fees either, but if you don't have a brokerage account with them they may take a hard pull.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #467 on: May 13, 2014, 12:52:18 PM »
Schwab doesn't charge ATM fees either, but if you don't have a brokerage account with them they may take a hard pull.
I meant ATM fees that come from the ATM you're standing infront of. Unless you're saying Schwab pays you back for the $1-2 the ATM takes.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #468 on: May 13, 2014, 12:52:52 PM »
I meant ATM fees that come from the ATM you're standing infront of. Unless you're saying Schwab pays you back for the $1-2 the ATM takes.
They do.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #469 on: May 13, 2014, 12:58:36 PM »
They do.
Wow that's really cool.

Now I remember what I did. My friend had a TD account. He used to give me cash from his account, and when we got back to America, I paid him back. Wow, just realized how nice that was of him. lol

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #470 on: May 13, 2014, 01:10:05 PM »
Acc. to TPG Schwab only works if you get the Visa Plat Debit Card. Not sure how to get that as opposed to the regular debit card. If you only have the regular debit, then you're limited to 6 transactions and $9 total fees per month. Citi has no fees at their own ATMs (obviously) and they apparently have a lot throughout Europe.

Offline Emkay

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #471 on: May 13, 2014, 01:22:24 PM »
depending how many times you plan on taking out money, usaa refunds up to $15 a month in atm fees and does not charge for the first 10 withdrawals

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #472 on: May 13, 2014, 01:24:02 PM »
depending how many times you plan on taking out money, usaa refunds up to $15 a month in atm fees and does not charge for the first 10 withdrawals
But they do charge a 1% foreign transaction fee. Is it worth it to open a Schwab account (assuming no hard pull) when I already have a USAA account?

Offline Emkay

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #473 on: May 13, 2014, 01:27:27 PM »
But they do charge a 1% foreign transaction fee. Is it worth it to open a Schwab account (assuming no hard pull) when I already have a USAA account?
dont assume, it IS a hard pull. equifax to be precise

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #474 on: May 13, 2014, 01:38:12 PM »
dont assume, it IS a hard pull. equifax to be precise
I thought the hard pull is just if they open the investment account along with the checking account. If you have an existing account you cannot apply online, you have to mail/bring in a hard copy of the application. I'll try to find out.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #475 on: May 13, 2014, 01:46:56 PM »
If you have an existing account you cannot apply online, you have to mail/bring in a hard copy of the application. I'll try to find out.
i didnt realize you have an acount

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #476 on: May 13, 2014, 01:48:37 PM »
i didnt realize you have an acount
So if it worth the hassle just to save 1%? I can't imagine taking out more than 500 EUR, so it's just $6-7 fee.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #477 on: May 13, 2014, 01:50:46 PM »
So if it worth the hassle just to save 1%? I can't imagine taking out more than 500 EUR, so it's just $6-7 fee.
how many withdrawels do you plan on making, if you are traveling around alot and taking out at diff intervals then the 15 that they cover will add up very quickly

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #478 on: May 13, 2014, 01:52:41 PM »
how many withdrawels do you plan on making, if you are traveling around alot and taking out at diff intervals then the 15 that they cover will add up very quickly
True. The only things I plan on paying cash for is the Jewish Roma tour and maybe tickets to different sights like the Great Synagogue/Vatican/Colosseum, etc if they don't accept cc.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #479 on: May 13, 2014, 01:54:54 PM »
True. The only things I plan on paying cash for is the Jewish Roma tour and maybe tickets to different sights like the Great Synagogue/Vatican/Colosseum, etc if they don't accept cc.
if your only gonna be in italy then its prob not worth the hassle