Traveling with the Jones

I just recently qualified for the Companion Pass on Southwest Airlines.

We consider the Companion Pass one of the best frequent flyer perks available today.

Why?

When you earn Companion Pass through Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program, you get to designate a traveling companion. Then every time you fly on a Southwest flight, your companion can fly along for free, only paying the government or airport-imposed charges, which usually cost $5.60 for a one-way flight.

Having earned the Companion Pass means that our flight costs are slashed by half, so we can afford to take more flights. On Southwest with Companion Pass, we can fly to 97 different cities throughout the U.S. and seven additional countries for essentially half price.

How to Earn the Companion Pass

• You get the Companion Pass by flying enough qualifying flights and/earning enough Qualifying Points during a calendar year (between January 1 and December 31st.)
• To qualify during a calendar year, either:
  • Make 100 one-way flights between January 1 and December 31st. Only regular revenue flights count. In other words, if you are on a free ticket, that flight does not count to the 100.
  • Earn 110,000 Qualifying Points through Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program.  This is the easy way, as the bonus points from a new Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card from Chase counts as Qualifying Points. (Watch for when the 50,000 point bonus is offered.) If you have a business, you can also get a Business Card, and have 100,000 of your 110,000 points before you make a single flight. In addition, the points from your monthly credit card spend count as Qualifying Points, as do points from your revenue flights on Southwest.

For example, I got a new Southwest Rapid Rewards card this year – something you can do every two years. Then, in addition to the points from the monthly credit card bills, I earned points from several full fare flights purchased at Business Select Fares, and I was over the 110,000 points in October.

• As soon as you qualify for Companion Pass during a calendar year, you get the benefit for the remainder of that year plus the entire calendar year of the next year. In my case, I get a 2.5 month “bonus.”  If you truly want to maximize the Companion Pass, you try to earn it as early after January 1st as possible, thereby qualifying for the benefit for most of two calendar years.

How to Use the Companion Pass

• Once you qualify for Companion Pass, you designate your “companion.” Your companion does not have to be a family member, and you change your Companion Pass designate up to three times a year. Mr. Jones is always my Companion.
• As soon as I make a flight reservation, I also book a companion ticket, either by:
  • calling Southwest Customer Service at 1-800-248-4377, OR
  • finding my booked flight in the My Trips section of my Rapid Rewards account. When my purchased flight shows up here, it has an “Add Companion” link, which I click and follow the directions to purchase.
• Sometimes, when booking at the last minute, there is only 1 seat left on the flight when I book my ticket. If the plane is sold out with no remaining seats is the only time that I cannot book a companion ticket. Generally in this case, I choose a different flight.
• If Mr. Jones cannot travel with me, I can cancel the companion flight up to 10 minutes before departure time, and get the taxes refunded.

Do you have the Companion Pass? How do you use it?  Please share your thought in comments below, or by interacting with us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram.

Check out these other posts regarding flights using Frequent Flyer Rewards:

• Flying 1st Class on an United Airlines Award Ticket from Kansas City To Taipei
• Getting from Kansas City to Belfast
• A Flight Problem but We Got to Singapore via United First Class
• A Look Inside Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Chicago
• Experiencing Lufthansa First Class Mumbai to Frankfurt

Nevis is a 36 square mile island in the Caribbean Sea. Nevis and the nearby island of Saint Kitts make up one country known as the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Flag of Nevis, one of the Caribbean Islands that forms the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis

We will be visiting both Saint Kitts and Nevis via an upcoming cruise, so we wanted to learn a little background about the island of Nevis, a new destination for us.

10 Fun Facts About Nevis

Map of Saint Kitts and Nevis by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

1. The islands of Nevis and Saint Kitts are separated by a shallow, two mile channel known as “The Narrows”.

2. With a population of 54,191 (in 2013) and a total area of 100.8 square miles, St. Kitts and Nevis is the smallest country in the Americas both in area and in population.

A view of Nevis from the southeastern peninsula of St. Kitts. Photo by Nesnad.

3. While they are part of the same country, residents of St. Kitts are called Kittitians while the people who live on Nevis are called Nevisians.

4. Nevis is only 36 sq miles in size, and has approximately 12,000 residents. Charlestown is the capital.

5. The currency in Nevis as well as in St. Kitts is the East Caribbean dollar written as EC$ or XCD. Currently, $1 US dollar is equal to EC$2.70 (Eastern Caribbean dollars.)

6. During the 18th Century, Nevis was known as the “Queen of the Caribees” because its highly productive sugar plantations created significant wealth for the British. Twenty percent of the British Empire’s total sugar production in 1700 was derived from Nevisian plantations.

The Museum of Nevis History, Charlestown, housed in the restored Georgian building where Alexander Hamilton was born. Photo by Daniel Farrell.

7. Nevis is the birthplace and early childhood home of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States. Born on Nevis around 1755, Hamilton spent a significant part of his childhood on Nevis. His father was a trader from Scotland, his mother was from Nevis.

8. Visitors to Nevis can see Alexander Hamilton’s birthplace, which is now the Museum of Nevis History as well as the Nevis Island Assembly Chambers.

9. British hero 1st Viscount Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, of Battle of Trafalgar fame, was stationed on Nevis when he was a young sea captain. While in Nevis, Nelson met Frances Nisbet, a young widow with a five-year-old son. She and Nelson married in Nevis in 1787. A copy of their marriage certificate is on display at the Saint John Figtree Parish Anglican Church in Nevis.

10. Nevis has a 98 percent literacy rate, one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

Have you visited Nevis? What fun fact can you add to this list? Please share your thoughts in comments below, or by interacting with us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram.

Check out these other Fun Facts posts:

• 25 Fun Facts about Sitka, Alaska
• 30 Fun Facts About Montreal, Canada
• 13 Facts You Might Not Know About Whittier, Alaska
• 9 Fun Facts About Kristiansand, Norway
• 21 Interesting Facts About Stavanger, Norway

Last weekend during a beautiful fall day, I took a walk in downtown Seattle along the waterfront. At Pier 70, this ‘Father and Son‘ water sculpture lured me to explore the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Open 365 days a year and free to the public, the 9-acre Olympic Sculpture Park is a free to the public outdoor sculpture museum and green space.

A 2,200 ft. long “Z” shaped walking path connects the park’s distinctive sections from the park’s pavilion to the water’s edge. Operated by the Seattle Art Museum, the park is the unique transformation of a formerly contaminated industrial site occupied by an oil and gas corporation until the 1970s into Seattle’s largest green space.

The red “Eagle” sculpture by Alexander Calder in the photo above is one of the permanent exhibits in the park, which also features temporary art installations during the summer months.

“Echo” – the head-shaped sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa was one of the first sculptures that I passed while walking along the waterfront path.

In addition to the sculptures, walking through the Olympic Sculpture Park offers incredible views of Elliott Bay and Smith Cove.

“Schubert Sonata” is a steel sculpture by artist Mark di Suvero.

As I continued down the “Z” path toward the beach area, I could see the cruise ship in port at Pier 91.

Once you walk around the rocky beach area, you enter Myrtle Edwards Park.

Filled with green space and happy dogs, Myrtle Edwards Park offers a terrific view of the grain terminal, Smith Cove and the Pier 91 Cruise Terminal that is used by Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Celebrity Cruises.

As I headed back to Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, I lingered for the sunset over the Puget Sound, as viewed from Myrtle Edwards Park.

The Seattle Sculpture Park is open daily from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset.  The park also offers free tours for the public on various days and times; you have to check the schedule for details.

Seattle offers many fantastic walks. Learn about them with this book:

 
Seattle Walks: Discovering History and Nature in the City

Have you visited Seattle, or do you live in the area? What’s your favorite destination for a walk?

Please share your thought in comments below, or by interacting with us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram.

You might want to check out this post:

• 42 Fun Facts About Seattle, Washington