Updated Loyalty Traveler Trips and Destinations page with Norway and Minneapolis

Today I updated the Loyalty Traveler Trips and Destinations page with 24 articles from my Norway trip last month and 12 articles from Minneapolis in February. I added some articles for Iowa and Chicago too.

From a blog perspective, pages are the static pages that are always listed on the home page. I have three pages on Loyalty Traveler with

1. About

2. Loyalty Traveler Trips and Destinations

3. Monthly (October 2014) Hotel Promotions Guide

Here are the Norway articles all in one place, along with other destination posts for 2014.

Norway September 3-17, 2014 Trip Posts

Norway for two weeks on a budget with a $541 United Airlines round trip ticket SFO-OSL, 216,000 Choice Privileges points for 13 nights with $6,000+ in hotel stays and $300 spending cash for the trip.

1. Oslo, Norway walking on a summer day (Sep 6)
2. Hotel Review Clarion Royal Christiania Oslo, Norway (Sep 6)
3. Hotel Review Clarion Collection Hotel Bastion Oslo, Norway (Sep 7)
4. Think before you eat whale meat (Sep 8)
5. Six days in Norway and $6 spent on food (Sep 9)
6. Hotel Review: Farris Bad, Ascend Collection Larvik, Norway (Sep 10)
7. Hotel Review Farris Bad Kaupang Suite upgrade (Sep 10)
8. Hotel Atlantic Sandefjord offers whaling culture experience and beds too (Sep 11)
9. Hotel Atlantic Sandefjord, Clarion Collection (Sep 13)
10. Oslo Sandefjord Torp Airport low cost flights (Sep 12)
11. USA Branded Bergen (Sep 12)
12. Oops! Radisson Royal Bergen hotel damaged Bryggen UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Sep 12)
13. Walk like a Norwegian up Floyen in Bergen (Sep 13)
14. Think before you eat Norwegian farmed salmon (Sep 13)
15. Biked, hiked and psyched about Bergen (Sep 15)
16. Clarion Collection No 13 Bergen, Norway (Sep 15)
17. Clarion Collection Havnekontoret Bergen, TripAdvisor #1 hotel – Part One (Sep 16)
18. Clarion Collection Havnekontoret Bergen – Part Two (Sep 16)
19. Bergen Line to Oslo, 500 km by train (and bus) – Part One (Sep 18)
20. Bergen Line to Oslo 500 km by train part two (Sep 19)
21. How I stole 2 nights at The Thief Oslo with points (Sep 23)
22. Hotel Review The Thief Oslo Room 603 (Sep 23)
23. The Thief Oslo by design (Sep 24)
24. Clarion Collection Folketeateret Oslo is recommended Nordic Choice Hotel (Sep 27)

Road Trip Posts from $105 one-week rental car deal Jacksonville, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia May 3-11, 2014

1. Jacksonville and the St. Johns River (May 4)
2. St. Augustine, Florida: History in Black and White (May 5)
3. Casa Monica St. Augustine, Marriott Autograph Collection (May 6)
4. $15 to $20 per day in May for one-way rental cars out of Florida (May 7)
5. Notes from the Atlantic Intracoastal Road (May 9)
6. If I’m Ever Back This Way (May 9)
7. Images of Historic Charleston South Carolina (May 10)
8. Hotel Review: Savannah Andaz Suite (May 11)
9. Road tripping Highway 17 St. Augustine to Savannah, Georgia (May 13)
10. St. Simons Island of Georgia’s Golden Isles (May 14)
11. Hotel Review Bohemian Hotel Savannah Riverfront, Marriott Autograph Collection (May 14)
12. Southern City in Green: Savannah’s 22 Squares (May 17)
13. Savannah’s ’Crown Jewels’ Monument Squares (May 18)
14. Red wolves, alligators, dolphin and birds at Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge South Carolina (May 24)

Iowa and Chicago for #IPW 2014 (April 1-8, 2014)

Iowa sponsored tour

1. Iowa, more than a four-letter word? (April 2)
2. Hey L.A., looks like Fenelon Place Dubuque beats Angels Flight for shorter incline railway (April 3) – historic funicular in Dubuque, Iowa by Mississippi River rivals Los Angeles historic funicular.
3. Hotel Julien Dubuque and Al Capone Suite (April 4)
4. Bald eagles and eaglets in Iowa (April 5)
5. Iowa Farm Country Shopping
6. Iowa Ag Tours–Embrace the Tractor (April 14)
7. Hotel Review: Upgraded, Hilton Garden Inn Ames, Iowa (Free sponsored hotel night on Iowa tour)

Chicago for U.S. Travel Association #IPW 2014

1. 360 Chicago Views (formerly John Hancock Observatory) (April 7)
2. Historic Renaissance Blackstone Chicago (April 8)
3. Inn of Chicago, Ascend Collection one night for free – successful Choice Hotels Best Rate Guarantee claim. (April 12)
4. Palmer House Hilton history of Chicago’s oldest hotel (April 14)
5. Hotel Review: Chicago Downtown, Autograph Collection, Marriott brand hotel (April 15)

Minneapolis, Minnesota February 13-21, 2014

1. Beating Priceline again with a Minneapolis Hyatt Suite BRG (Feb 10, 2014)
2. Hyatt Regency Minneapolis hotel review (Feb 19)
3. Largest hotel fitness center I’ve seen (Hyatt Regency Minneapolis) – (Feb 17)
4. Hilton Minneapolis in pictures (Feb 21) Photo essay from visit to 821-room downtown Minneapolis hotel. Hilton has two other higher rated hotels in city.
5. Chillin’ Minneapolis for Valentine’s Day (Feb 14)
6. Freezin’ for a Reason with Cupid’s Undie Run Minneapolis (Feb 15)
7. Bridging the Great Divide in Minneapolis (Feb 15)
8. Craft Beer Revival in Minneapolis (Feb 16)
9. Down by the river Minneapolis, then and now (Feb 17) is a story about the city’s industrial past of timber and flour mills and urban renewal of the Mississippi riverfront.
10. Depositing Points in the Westin Minneapolis BANK (Feb 18) The Westin Minneapolis BANK restaurant occupies a former bank lobby and the wine is stored in a bank vault.
11. TripAdvisor #1 attraction is Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Feb 22) A fine art museum founded in the gilded age of Minneapolis. Well worth time to visit.
12. Hotel Ivy Minneapolis, Starwood Luxury Collection in photos (Feb 28, 2014)

Detroit, North America International Auto Show (Jan 9-15, 2014)

Ford Motor Company invited me to be their guest in Detroit for the auto show. By chance I stayed two days at The Henry, an Autograph Collection hotel of Marriott before the start of the Ford event and I spent one day at the Henry Ford Museum. Great museum.

Ford trimotor airplane (1920s) – Henry Ford Museum

Ford Clay Modeling exhibit featuring Ford technician-artist modeling a Ford Mustang on site at 2014 North America International Auto Show Detroit.

1. From Monterey to Detroit NAIAS flying United on Ford’s Dime (Jan 9, 2014)
2. The Henry, Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan (Jan 10)
3. Aviation History at the Henry For Museum – Part 1 (Jan 11, 2014) I did not know that Ford Motor Company was one of the powerhouse manufacturers of aircraft in the 1920s – until I went to the Ford museum.
4. History of Early Commercial Aviation at Henry Ford Museum – Part 2 Travel Remembrances of Things Past – discovering my life memories in Henry Ford Museum exhibits kind of blew my mind with the realization that I am getting old.
5. Detroit in my Pictures – a few snaps of Detroit.
6. World’s First Airport Hotel, historic Dearborn Inn, a Marriott Hotel (Jan 16)
7. Intro to Dearborn Ford Land and #FordNAIAS (Jan 16, 2014)
8. Hotel Review: Westin Metropolitan Detroit Airport (blogger disclosure: Ford Motor Company paid for two nights at Westin DTW hotel for attendance at North America International Auto Show.)

 I still need to write some articles about my trips to California’s Gold Country in Calaveras County and Tuolumne County and tell a bit more about Iowa. There are also many California articles on the page from the past couple of years.