The HfP chat thread – Sunday 21st November

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• James says:

  21 Nov21 November 03:31

  Good Morning (evening) from San Antonio, Texas to all HFP, especially Yorkshire Rich.

  • Yorkshire Rich says:

    21 Nov21 November 07:22

    Good morning, first one in this morning. Hope you”re having a great time.

  • Anna says:

    21 Nov21 November 07:30

    Good morning! We visited San Antonio 25 years ago while staying with a family friend in Texas, is there still a MacDonald’s across the road from the Alamo?! (The historic mission, not the car rental office 🤣)

    • James says:

      21 Nov21 November 13:34

      There is one down the street from it Anna yes, next to the RiverCentre mall, not one opposite. Lovely place though.

  • Polly says:

    21 Nov21 November 09:10

    Loved SAN Antonia our fav place to visit when we lived in Dallas. Padre island was so lovely, stayed there many times.

    • Anna says:

      21 Nov21 November 09:44

      Wow, when did you live in Dallas?! My grandma’s best friend went to live in the US and retired to a quaint little town called Uvalde. We had an amazing few days driving around the desert and crossing into Mexico. I recall the night sky was incredibly clear. We went to the town fair one weekend where the raffle prize was a shotgun!!

      • Polly says:

        21 Nov21 November 15:51

        80-82 worked in the ER at Parkland Hospital, big county hospital, served huge indigenous population. And the odd Dallas Cowboy as patients, coming in with torn muscles etc.. we had a Great ortho dept so it attracted all sorts…interesting state to live in. Friends we knew, barely even left the state to holiday, it had such variety. Staycations very big over there, then.
        Used to do outreach clinics once a month, which people queued round the blocks for days to attend. Such health poverty, unknown in the U.K. better now with Obama care, l believe…

• Andrew says:

  21 Nov21 November 07:11

  The Tesco offer for, those who benefit from PAW, has returned. Not quite as generous as the 25% rebate a few weeks back. I’ve got 10% on one PAW login and 8% on the other.

  Morrisons is still on there of course at 8%, and continues to potentially blend with the Barclaycard and LBG rebates.

  There’s 40pts/£ at Laithwaites on Nectar Connect. Potentially combines with the white label offer on Amex.

  For those who like a bit of Crew Clothing, their black Friday sale should combine with the 5% Airtime rebate along with the 15% on LBG

  • Sam G says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:22

    I’m new to “connected cards” – my spending at Tesco last Friday hasn’t tracked yet- is that normal?

    • Andrew says:

      21 Nov21 November 08:43

      First of all make sure that the branch of Tesco you used is on the valid list. It’s only a few stores participating.

      Up to 10 working days is the normal. There’s a query process on PAW to follow that works well when rebates aren’t triggered.

      • Sam G says:

        21 Nov21 November 08:49

        Yes double checked that & kept the receipts. Will wait patiently then, just seemed a bit too good to be true !

    • Reney says:

      21 Nov21 November 09:13

      My saturday spend normally tracks the following thursday if that helps.

      • Magic Mike says:

        21 Nov21 November 20:05

        data point: my 25% PAW spend on Thur 11th tracked sometime over this weekend, so at least 6 working days later…

  • Dr Lee says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:48

    What does PAW stand for?

    • Andrew H says:

      21 Nov21 November 08:51

      I think it’s Perks At Work. Only available to people whose employer runs the scheme

  • Andrew H says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:54

    LBG? Lloyds Banking Group? Not on mine… don’t forget BA portal with its 100, 200, 300 Avios bonus scheme.

  • Chrism20 says:

    21 Nov21 November 10:10

    Just on the subject of Tesco. There is a message on my airtime app this morning that their Tesco offer ends tomorrow

  • Ryan Gill says:

    21 Nov21 November 12:08

    Thx for taking the time to show some stackable opportunities. My connect has Avery’s at 40/£. Are there any promo Airtime codes this weekend?

• Polly says:

  21 Nov21 November 07:13

  Well, l joked yesterday thinking the call here in Singapore about my inconclusive PCR result was fraud. Despite having a negative emailed result. Turns out l have a possible high shedding level, had boosters 3 weeks ago. So, and they are carting me off to a medical facility now in the next hour for a further PCR. They assure me it’s precautionary to ensure my original PCR is indeed negative. Not at all concerned about my OH, his also negative. Keeping me in some gov approved place til result comes back, possibly 1 day? Who knows. Unreal. Neg in LHR, neg here supposedly, but then they do this. Could just have done without this.
  If they were really concerned, they would have collected me yesterday morning l think, but we just didn’t believe the caller. Just goes to show… l know, we were warned!

  • Anna says:

    21 Nov21 November 07:32

    Fingers crossed you get confirmed negative and released to enjoy the rest of your trip, @Polly!

  • Tracey says:

    21 Nov21 November 07:33

    Oh dear! Hope all goes well. Just to be clear the vaccines are all inactive, don’t blame the booster. If you have a high shedding level it indicates covid, whether that is the end or the start of an infection is anyone’s guess.

  • Blenz101 says:

    21 Nov21 November 07:44

    Really sorry to hear this, have been following your excitement. Fingers crossed for your follow up test.

    As infuriating as it must be don’t let any of your frustrations show with the authorities (e.g. even putting them on the spot as to why not your OH who you have been sharing a room). Culturally any ‘loss of face’ generally will go down badly and may put you to the back of the line.

    Big smiles, compliance and think of the next dip in the pool!

    • Polly says:

      21 Nov21 November 08:00

      Tnx all of you.. let’s hope..they are now apologising for all the confusing phone calls the last two days, it’s 4pm here, and they hope to expedite my case. The next level up have now asked for my test and booster certs, and my pre departure result a few mins ago…so maybe they will revise their decision. Am not hopeful tho…and yes Blenz, have worked in the ME, used to big smiles and compliance, whilst seething inside! Have been out and about, albeit minimally for two days now tho…they should be more worried, really.
      Weirdest thing is, all this was already submitted to even get the SGAG card and all tests scrutinised at immigration. But it appears that the MOH don’t have this info…thought Singapore would be more joined up really… anyway, fingers crossed…

      • Blenz101 says:

        21 Nov21 November 08:17

        Hope they revise the decision. And boy can I relate to the big smiles whilst seething!

        As I am sure you learnt from your time the in ME on the surface things can look very slick / smart city / digital first but look behind the curtain there will be an army of people pushing pieces of paper around with layers of bureaucracy the west could only dream of.

        Genuinely hope they get it sorted for you this afternoon. Extra large Singapore Sling when they do tonight!

        • Polly says:

          21 Nov21 November 09:24

          They say the test takes a day to come back, asked if they do express tests?
          But one thing l will do is ask the doc on my fit to fly test for a breakdown of that PCR test result . It was the 3 hr one at T2. Now, if that one showed a high level of whatever, why wasn’t l advised then. We would happily have cancelled if the result was positive and isolated..….everything was planned a fully cancellable, shame really, but ever the optimist….

        • Sam G says:

          21 Nov21 November 09:34

          Doubt it will actually take a day, if you have it today you’d very likely have the result by the time you’ve woken up!

      • Sam G says:

        21 Nov21 November 08:19

        Sounds quite Singaporean to be honest 😂 hope it gets sorted out quickly for you

        • Polly says:

          21 Nov21 November 09:19

          Tnx guys, Sam G, are they likely to reverse the decision and deem me ok, or they really need to save face and re do the test… telling me now my paperwork will help…

        • Sam G says:

          21 Nov21 November 09:30

          Hard to say really – if they’re taking you to a medical facility (likely a hotel) then I would imagine another PCR test will be done and if that’s negative then all good to go. Don’t be afraid to (politely) chase up if nothing is happening

          As Blenz101 says behind the scenes there are multiple agencies & private providers trying to work together and the spike in cases last couple of months locally means these resources are stretched at times (especially as 18 months+ of telling people this thing is absolutely terrible means that anyone with even a slight fear of having it seeks medical / govt attention which does not help!)

      • AJA says:

        21 Nov21 November 08:47

        @Polly, This is awful. I am so sorry to read your posts. I wish you well and hope that you do not have Covid.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:41

    Ouch. Sounds like a nightmare. Hope it all comes back negative

  • HH says:

    21 Nov21 November 09:32

    This surely has nothing to do with boosters – covid vaccines don’t make anyone test positive on a PCR/antigen test as they don’t use a live virus. In any case, good luck!

  • K says:

    22 Nov22 November 16:12

    Can’t help but think you’re being treated like a Guinea pig. Unreal. Such a shame but for me it confirms zero interest in travel for the foreseeable future (2023 earliest….but suspect the ‘fun’ has disappeared for a loooong time). If you fly home rather than be an experiment, I’d do it. Take care and keep well.

• Anna says:

  21 Nov21 November 07:36

  Polly’s post reminded me that someone (Josh?) was asking about going to GCM for a month over Christmas. If you’re reading, they announced that (in addition to the pre-travel PCR tests), the LFT tests you will be required to take on days 2, 5, 10 and 14 will be supervised and cost you $25CI each!

  • ChrisM says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:55

    I’m going there for a month over Christmas and TBH, if it wasn’t for the new grandchild arriving, we’d put it off now. That and the fact that 1 in 20 Caymanians have covid. I’m still waiting for my quarantine hotel to refund, since we don’t need that (but do need somewhere to stay for the first week. Our great priced airbnb cancelled on us when the pause in reopening was announced in Sept and is now strangely not available) On a happier note, we have 5 reward nights booked in the Kimpton which are now selling at over $1200 a night!

    • Anna says:

      21 Nov21 November 09:50

      Ah, I think there was another poster trying to find flights for family members to go and see his sister.
      Yes, I’m glad we’re not going till next summer (also got 5 nights at the Kimpton on top of our 2 weeks at Morritt’s). It sounds like a complete shambles with the government drip feeding new info every few days.
      I’ve been astonished by how many fellow timeshare owners (from the US) don’t normally take out travel insurance and are totally stymied now they need to do this!
      There’s a place called Cobalt Cottages over at West Bay which has self contained units which seem to be reasonably priced. You’d need a car but it looks quite nice, I thinking of trying it out at some point.

      • Anna says:

        21 Nov21 November 09:53

        Also Morritt’s has lots of empty units at the moment – I know Caymanians have been doing staycations there during the pandemic so it might be somewhere the whole family could go for a few days? It’s very family friendly, baby would love the 3 pools.

        • Josh says:

          21 Nov21 November 10:23

          Im the Josh from the other week!

          Thanks for sharing this. We knew we had to the testing for 2/5/10.

          In terms of getting there, I’m splitting the family up and myself and my SO are flying virgin LHR > NAS, staying overnight before doing an avios redemption NAS > GCM.

          We are planning on staying in the Kimpton but I have cancelled our bookings as it requires 30 days minimum notice and we are now less than 30 days from travelling.

          Hoping that there will be availability once we get there.

          Looking also at spending part of our stay in a family style airbnb. Thanks for mentioning Cobalt/Morritts. Will have a look into them.

        • Anna says:

          21 Nov21 November 12:35

          Hi Josh, glad you sorted out your travel! I’ve thought about doing a 2 centre Bahamas and GCM, let us know how your flight goes. I’ll warn you though that you don’t get much in the way of F & B on that leg as they offload most of the food and decent booze at NAS (I always wonder if they have a massive party with it all that night!). It’s only 90 minutes though so not the end of the world. I love the views of the island as you come in to Georgetown.

        • Anna says:

          21 Nov21 November 12:39

          Also – the old Comfort Suites as the far end of 7 Mile Beach has been refurbished and re-opened as a Hampton. It’s a reasonable option by GCM standards (i.e. less than $400 per night!) and has kitchenettes plus free breakfast – as far as I know the ONLY hotel which offers this!

• Zara says:

  21 Nov21 November 07:44

  Good morning. I have seen the enterprise car club £50 cash back on £60 on amex. Does anyone know about it as the price plans don’t seem any better than just hiring a car but we haven’t looked into this much. We just sold our car as it wasn’t ULEZ compliant so thoight this might be useful for the short term as they have a Black Friday offer too for the annual plan. Any advice much appreciated.

  • Blenz101 says:

    21 Nov21 November 07:52

    This is something you need to look into to see if it is right for you. It’s pay as you go rental, like Zipcar. First step is to find out if you have vehicles near you to make this practical. Then read the website and work out which plan works best.

    Not sure how you have come to the conclusion that hourly rentals with cars picked up off the street is comparable to a regular hire car from a depot with a fixed contract. It’s much more akin to renting a boris bike.

    • Zara says:

      21 Nov21 November 08:02

      Thank you. I am not very clued up with any of this as I don’t drive, my husband does. I will get him to look into it.

  • Richie says:

    21 Nov21 November 09:36

    Have a good look on their website regarding where there cars actually are near to your home. Zipcar is better and one ways to Heathrow using Zipcar Flex are very good. For insurance look at iCarHireInsurance for an all in annual policy to cover car club and car hire. Cash back is pissible through the well known websites.

  • Rob says:

    21 Nov21 November 10:08

    If you search ‘Zipcar’ on here you will find numerous articles on here, and ECC is similar.

    We use Zipcar and have no car. There are about 10 cars within 10 minutes walk of where we live at around £7.50 per hour. For weekends away we do a standard rental. Our entire driving costs for the year are well under £1,000 (excluding taxis which we’d still take even if we had a car due to lack of parking).

• Paul says:

  21 Nov21 November 07:51

  Covid has not gone away no matter how hard the U.K. tries to bury its head on the matter. The difference here is that we have become inured and accepting of death rates of 150 plus a day, not all of of whom are unvaccinated!
  There is a self centred, self interested streak within a large percentage of the English population that will ensure this only gets worse in the weeks to come as winter hits and maskless hoards celebrate because they deserve it! No doubt too, Europe will be blamed, as the narrative on MSM seems to growing that Europe bad, U.K. good on Covid.

  • Blindman says:

    21 Nov21 November 07:57

    And a cheery good morning to you!

  • Blenz101 says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:11

    What is your point or just a bit of light trolling to get a reaction? Cases are rising sharply in some European countries with a focus on Austria (65% full vaccinated) and the Netherlands (70% fully). The UK coverage is generally watching what is happening on the continent in terms of lockdowns and indeed protests as previous waves spread here and resulted in similar actions.

    Your figures prove that there is little to worry about. 150 people is a tiny blip in the overall number of people who die per day and as I’m sure you are aware the 150 is just those who tested positive in the previous 28 days, not 150 sucomming to Covid. This is less than 1% of people who die in any event. More people currently die per day of smoking related illnesses. Like allowing people to smoke we allow people to get vaccinated or not. Some people vaccinated may still get covid and suffer complications, some people who never smoked may still get lung disease. The numbers do not however justify draconian interventions.

    I presume your narrative is to cancel christmas, ban all international travel, lock down the country and resume furlough payments so you can sit at home on the internet being paid by the government until this thing blows over?

    • Mikeact says:

      21 Nov21 November 09:07

      +1 Here we go again, so very annoying with the same old stuff.

    • Ryan says:

      21 Nov21 November 10:25

      Dont forget that these ‘150’ deaths are far from 100% avoidable. It is true that there might be a few more deaths than of covid didn’t exist, but I would guess 90%+ would have occurred anyway at some point, covid was just the final straw

    • The Savage Squirrel says:

      21 Nov21 November 10:30

      Just one small point as misinformation annoys me despite agreeing with the broad sweep of the post. 150 deaths per day is roughly 10% of the total number of deaths in the UK, NOT less than 1%.

      • Blenz101 says:

        21 Nov21 November 11:04

        Sorry, stand corrected, was not the intention to mislead! I just recalled that at least 10k plus people per week die in E&W each week and did a very quick bit of metal arithmetic on the 150 number. Obviously that 150 people should have be multiplied by 7 first. So 10% as you say. Add in Scotland & NI plus the real number is slightly about 10k and perhaps we get to 7-8%.

  • Anna says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:14

    You’re starting to sound a bit desperate, Paul. If you read reports from other countries, many are having problems getting sections of the public to comply with Covid safety measures, hence the coming lockdowns in Europe – which, incidentally, I haven’t seen anyone “blaming” for anything!

    • Anna says:

      21 Nov21 November 08:17

      I read a very interesting article yesterday, the general gist of which was that because we allowed our infection spike to occur in the summer and autumn by abandoning many restrictions (amid howls of outrage from some quarters), we now will have a much easier time through the winter when we would have been in a much worse place to deal with it. Time till tell, I suppose.

      • Polly says:

        21 Nov21 November 09:17

        Very true, let’s hope that theory holds up for our NHS. Really need to see some non COVID related patients treated. Know they are, but some patients being left behind.

        Now 5.15, they still haven’t carted me off yet, wonder why not. Saying now my re submitted! Documents will definitely help my case. What can they mean. They have to save face and re test me l guess… like being in labour this, without the pain….

  • John says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:52

    We don’t have a vaccination against death.

  • John T says:

    21 Nov21 November 11:27

    Hundreds of people die in the UK from preventable causes everyday.

    Should we stay home and hide forever? It’s been almost 2 years

  • Dave says:

    21 Nov21 November 15:03

    500 to 2000 people die every day in the UK and have done for years. Suddenly testing those people for Covid then blaming Covid for the death (which is what has mainly happened) is disingenuous and what has got us into this mess. For example the 2nd week of this year had the same amount of people die as we did in the 2nd week of 2015, around 22,000 (Check ONS website if you want). We did not lock down, force people to wear masks or other stupid things in 2015. Why are we ok with 22,000 deaths in 2015 but not in 2021?

    Now we know its mainly seasonal Flu that causes that rise around that time of year and overwhelms the NHS every year. Covid would look insignificant if we had played the same game for Flu as we did for Covid. Imagine mass testing the public for Flu you would have found it off the scale! Quick, lock down stop that Flu spreading it’s killing people.

    We won’t get out of this mess until bad science stops. Labelling positive tests as cases when they are not seeking medical care needs to stop for a start, as well as mass testing.

• Can says:

  21 Nov21 November 08:30

  I vaguely remember seeing it here that Hilton has a dedicated complaints email for Diamonds. Anyone has it?

  • David D says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:49

    One quick Google search brings up diamond@hilton.com

    • Can says:

      21 Nov21 November 09:10

      Thanks. Mine brought phone lines.

  • John says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:51

    Diamond at Hilton.com

• Froggee says:

  21 Nov21 November 08:43

  Result! The day the news came out about Amazon and Visa, I used my sole Visa credit card to buy a £1 bar of chocolate from Amazon (having never used it there before). Amazon have now added a banner offering me the £20 to register a debit card, MasterCard or Amex. I bunged in my Revolut as def haven’t used it on Amazon before and immediately got the £20 credited to my account. Happy Sunday.

  • John says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:51

    My revolut is a visa

    • Froggee says:

      21 Nov21 November 08:55

      It will probably count as a debit card which I think would be fine. The £20 shows as a promotional credit when checking out so I’m considering a fire stick but need to check if it would work with the big old tv which is two floors upstairs. Weirdly Amazon is still showing the promotion. I wonder if this could be the gift that keeps on giving? I think I have two supplemental cards on my wife’s Amex.

  • Can says:

    21 Nov21 November 09:10

    Well done

  • Lady London says:

    21 Nov21 November 15:32

    Good one.

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