2013 Contribution Based Rewards

We would like to reciprocate and not just thank you for your support, but also pass on some more tangible benefits.

So, with the help of some generous participants, we can offer you the following rewards.  Oh – the rewards are cumulative, so if, for example, you contribute $80, you would get the $60 award, and also the $50 award, the $40 award, the $30 award, the $20 award, the $10 award, and also eight entries for the prize drawing (one for every $10 contributed).

One more thing.  At the risk of stating the obvious, these rewards are not ‘mandatory’.  You don’t have to accept anything you don’t want.  🙂  But you are welcome to take everything you are entitled to.

Here is a summary listing of the rewards you would get.  Please read on down below the summary listing for details of each awarded item, and after having been suitably inspired, please choose to contribute at whatever level is most appropriate for your situation.

$10 and above

A copy of the current month’s issue of the SpecConsult World Threat Map; great to keep in mind when planning any upcoming international travels.

$20 and above

The $10 award plus a coupon worth 15% off any and all orders you place on the Scottevest travel clothing website between now and 31 December 2013 (great for Christmas gift buying).

$30 and above

The $10 and $20 awards plus your choice of any one of these four products

• A free lifetime premier membership of the Usingmiles.com award mile/point tracking website
• The next three issues and full access to the online back-issues of Gemütlichkeit, The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• Copies of the September and October issues of the First Class Flyer Newsletter
• A 25% discount on all purchases of Mobile Clean and Go screen and glasses cleaning products.  This stuff actually is good – I’ll review it next week

$40 and above

The $10 and $20 awards plus your choice of any two of the four products listed in the $30 award.

$50 and above

The $10 and $20 awards, plus any three of the $30 award choices, and also both a 5% discount and a $100 shipboard credit per cabin on any future Amawaterways cruise you book with The Travel Insider in December or January.

$60 and above

All the preceding awards, plus all four of the $30 awards, and a Travel Insider 18oz stainless steel insulated travel coffee mug.

$100 and above

Congratulations.   You’ve now become a ‘super supporter’.  You get all the preceding awards, a special little something from me at Christmas time, and a transferable one hour of consulting time/support with Tim Scott, a JD Edwards Enterprise One consultant.

$120 and above

You get all the preceding awards, plus a second Travel Insider coffee mug.  Now you can have a matching pair.  If you’d like more, you’re welcome to as many more as you wish, with another one coming your way for each extra $60 increment you contribute.

$200 and above

Yes, you get all of the above (including now three coffee mugs) plus a copy of Baron Wolman’s postcard book, Classic Rock – a collection of amazing pictures of some of the super rock stars of the 1960s taken by Baron, and personally autographed by Baron.

Details of the Products Offered

$10 and above

World Threat Map :  Mayer Nudell provides an array of what are discreetly referred to as specialized consulting services.  His background clearly shows him as very well qualified to provide such services.

One of the products he provides to clients is a monthly World Threat Map, and he has kindly offered to give you his most recent issue ( a 72kB GIF file).

$20 and above

Scottevest Travel Clothing :  We’ve written about this clothing regularly in the past, and own some ourselves.  It is well made and its most distinguishing feature is a huge number of capacious pockets, to the point where some people have traveled the world without luggage, but with their jacket pockets (all 24 or so of them!) bulging!  Beat airline excess bag fees – and now even airline carry-on bag fees too – with a Scottevest garment.

They are offering you a 15% discount off everything on their website, except third-party accessories.  We give you a discount code, and you can use it for anything you buy between now and the end of the year.  If you buy something and you like it so much you want to buy something more, you can use the code a second time.  And a third time, and so on.

$30/40/50 and above

Usingmiles.com :  This is a great site that automatically tracks almost all your points and miles.  It warns you when they might be about to expire, and it alerts you to special deals and offers.  You can read more about Usingmiles.com on our review, here.

A premier membership is usually $30/year.  You can get a free lifetime premier membership by contributing at the $30 or higher level.

Gemütlichkeit : If you’re interested in traveling to Germany, Austria or Switzerland, there’s one invaluable resource that you absolutely must turn to, the same resource I use when planning my travels there.  It is Bob Bestor’s Gemütlichkeit, The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which he has been publishing now for 27 years, originally mailed as a print magazine and more recently emailed in convenient PDF format.

Bob is offering to give you the next three issues of his magazine fully for free, and also to allow you access to the treasure trove of back issues he has on his website.  You’ll get the Oct/Nov issue immediately, the Dec/Jan issue in January, and the Feb issue by the beginning of February, and will have access to back issues through the end of February.

That’s ideal for everyone thinking about travel to Europe next year, and for people wanting to do some further out initial planning.  His magazines are crammed full of detailed features on destinations, and hard-hitting reviews of hotels and restaurants, giving you really sensible and invaluable advice on how to plan a trip to Germany, Austria and Switzerland – where to go, what to see, where to stay and where to eat.

Bob also has great deals on rental cars, airfares and cruises.  He can not only help you with your planning, but with your actual travel booking too.

First Class Flyer Newsletter :  Every month sees a new issue of this excellent newsletter, designed to help value-conscious travelers discover the best little-known strategies for obtaining lower-cost First and Business Class tickets; the best 2-for-1 options; elite status upgrades and strategies; free and purchased upgrade tactics; and credit card loyalty programs.  Publisher Matthew Bennett really knows how and where to find the bargains and deals, and how to put together the best strategies for low-cost premium travel.  He’s been publishing his newsletter for 16 years now.

If you subscribe to his newsletter, you get the detailed monthly publication and additional emails during the month with special alerts and additional information.  Just one single tip could save you way more than the cost of the newsletter.

Here’s a great chance to see for yourself and decide if it is as good as Matthew proudly says it is.  If you like it – great news.  We expect to have a special deal to offer you for a subscription in the next month or so.

$50 and above

Amawaterways Discount and Shipboard Credit :  Amawaterways has consistently been The Travel Insider’s preferred cruise line for something like eight years in a row, and everyone who enjoys an Amawaterways cruise raves about their experience.

Their values are excellent at the best of times, and to make them even better, they are offering a 5% discount of any/every cruise they operate, plus a $100 per cabin shipboard credit, for any new cruise you book through The Travel Insider in December 2013 and January 2014.

You can choose any cruise at all, sailing at any time, that they operate.  You just need to book and get your deposit in on the cruise prior to the end of January in order to qualify for the 5% discount and $100 per cabin credit.

Maybe our maths is wrong, but that sure sounds like an enormous value in return for a $50+ Travel Insider contribution!

$60 and above

Drinking coffee and reading The Travel Insider seems to go hand in hand.  So we’ve created what we believe to be the very best coffee mug to go with what we also believe to be the very best reading.

We’re so proud of this stainless steel traveling mug that we’ve created its own page to fully describe it.  Please do go read more about this mug, and then please do choose to qualify for one, two, or more of them!

One catch to our international readers.  We’ll ship this within the US for free, but for international shipping, we ask you to meet the extra cost of shipping.  We’ll let you know how much the shipping is, or you can check on the usps.com website and see for yourself (a one pound package).

$100 and above

Tim Scott One Hour Consult :  If you have the JD Edwards Enterprise One software in your business, or if you know someone with it, the chances are you have ongoing needs for specialist support and service.

Tim Scott is a highly experienced (17 years, variously in the US, Canada and Europe) expert in this software and is offering an hour of his time to answer questions, advise, and resolve issues, any which way, for you or whoever you transfer this offer to – his hour to be in the form of a phone consult, and at a convenient time to fit in with his other workload commitments.

To make the most of your hour, you can even email him questions beforehand, so your precious time is spent most productively.

$200 and above

Classic Rock Postcard Book :  This is an extraordinary collection of photos of some of the greatest icons of the 1960s music scene, taken by Baron Wolman, who was the founding photographer of Rolling Stone magazine.

Back then, the mega-stars weren’t so insulated from official photographers by their pr handlers, and Baron has captured some amazing raw scenes that show stars such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, and on the list goes.

Many of these prints are now available on his two websites (here and here), and if you choose to contribute at this extraordinary level of generosity, you’ll get one of these wonderful photo compilations, personally autographed by Baron himself.

The page to contribute from is here, and you can refer to the main page describing all the different reciprocal gifts you can receive here.

Do be sure also to read about the prizes that will be drawn – each $10 you contribute gets you an entry in this prize drawing, and also about our amazing auction items.