We go on another wild ride through the IHG Rewards Pointbreaks list, ponder about the “urgency” of getting Chase Ink cards, letting you know I finally joined Spirit and visited Charter One bank, travel to Hong Kong, Thailand and Whittier Alaska, share with you three incredible articles about life, investing and Google searches, and we end the ride letting you know about some blog changes and the Whistler DO in February 2015.
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order
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MILES/POINTS
TRAVEL
Hong Kong. At On the Roofs. WOW!
33 photos that will make you want to visit Thailand NOW. At Matador Network.
This Tiny Isolated Town In Alaska Is Only Accessible By A 2.6 Mile-Long Tunnel That Closes At Night. This is kind of fascinating to me. It starts with…”On the southern coast of Alaska, located on one of the many bays of the Alaskan Gulf, the town of Whittier might be the most remote and hard-to-access towns in the United States. The only way to get to Whittier by land is through a 2.6-mile tunnel that closes at night.”
ODDZ & ENDZ
Why The Last Five Years Of Your Life Have Disappeared. At Fast Company. One of the best reads I have come across lately. Sure made me sit back and wonder about my own life. I think you will enjoy it too.
Unlearning from Peter Bernstein. At A Wealth of Common Sense. Fantastic read about personal finance in general. “I don’t know” is one of my favorite phrases 🙂
9 Easy Tips For Finding Exactly What You Want On Google. I guarantee you will learn something very useful here and I am certain next time you go buy something at Amazon you will return here to use the amazing TBB Amazon link 🙂
BLOG BUZZ
I deleted about 200 blogs from my Feedly list and now down to just 347 blogs. I am already seeing the benefits as the Unread number is much more manageable. I will be unfollowing some accounts over at Twitter. Sorry, nothing personal. Just trying to make this baby manageable. Thank you.
TBB Buzz posts will become shorter. No more than three entries in the Travel and Oddz & Endz sections. The Miles/Points and Blog Buzz sections will be as long as I find them since the last Buzz post. Goal is always to entertain, educate and even inspire sometimes.
At the same time I want to make this passionate endeavor manageable and continue blogging even though it really does not make much sense to continue doing so. But it’s not the first time I am doing things for pure personal satisfaction and so anti-commercial lol. I see this as a journey and a form of self-expression and a chance to add value to readers’ lives because I get a kick out of being told “Thanks for letting me know about this and that”. Good things happen when you do the right thing. When you put the money in front of any decision like some bloggers in this space you just become a servant and an entitled asshole at some point and you don’t even realize it. You would not see such language in a blog where Chase pays the bills by the way. So, don’t be a Tool, Think! 🙂
Miles Abound is having a Whistler DO in February 2015.
I am not sure if I will even keep this section. It is tiring talking about the blogs in the Ignore list as they will keep on pumping credit cards to oblivion because they do not want to stop getting paid by the banks. I wish there was an affiliate company out there who puts readers’ interests first at all times. But I am afraid this does not exist yet. I have no respect for these bloggers anymore and will be deleting them off my Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. It’s not like I am going to miss anything that better bloggers will not cover. In their own minds they are doing it for their readers. We know it’s bullshit. I have one word for you: churning LOL.
As always, we all evolve (no affiliation with that company) and so is TBB. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Brace yourselves for the 70k Chase Ink credit cards. Stay Chase-y my friends 🙂
You would not believe how much time it takes to fix the spacing problems now that I started the section headlines again, what a pain this is! Ok, I feel better now.
And I leave you with these…
Ok, I can’t stop laughing with this one…
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs I Ignore
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TBB
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Numero Uno?
First? No way…
Last in the Purge movie trilogy: “The Purge: TBB”
FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE…….I SECRETLY shot this video of 2 Walmart employees unsuccessfully trying to get my Bluebird deposited………………………..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkwrIZQDt50
Haha, good one.. Hah, you beat me by a minute though 🙁
First on July 28th. Hehe..
As for point breaks, if you want the beach, South Haven. Gaylord looks nice if you want to drive north about an hour for the beach. Both have good reviews!
I have been to Whittier multiple times over the years. Quite an interesting place. Most visitors go there for the Prince William Sound glacier tours or to depart/arrive on a cruise ship between Whittier and Vancouver. The tunnel is quite fun to drive through.
“You become a servant and entitled a*hole at some point and and don’t realize it”.
That explains exactly who was offended why my “Vendoming” piece. Lack of self awareness.
Vendoming. Vendoming. Vendoming. Make that word stop appearing!
Ok, make the Chase Ink credit card links stop appearing too! You go first 🙂
OK, I cannot keep it in any longer…It’s Vendôming. Accents matter. I am still recovering from yesterday’s post on PPM using very bad French. Just a pile of merde. Check out the comments.
But it takes so long to do that formatting thing to add that accent. Greek used to have those accents in so many places until one day in the latter half of the 1900s the powers decided no more accents. And people were relieved. So I say the French should come up with something like that. Until there is an o with an accent as a separate key in the keyboard it is likely not happening 🙂
Oy, do a Atatürk on Greece and get them to use Latin script, then life will be much better (for the German tourists visiting). Adding an accent is easy on a European keyboard :@
It takes one second on the iPhone/Android. Hold down ‘o’.
Learning something new every day…but probably would still not do it…because I use a Samsung Note phone, that’s why 🙂
It’s a slow day! Ten! I’m interested in the house if it’s still for sale.
The “last five years of your life have disappeared” article is interesting:
“If you’re prone to overanalyzing every minute decision, consider this: research shows that the more options you weigh, the less satisfied you’ll feel about your eventual choice.”
So I guess we shouldn’t spend too much time calculating the real value of an Ultimate Rewards point?
wow, you had over 500 blogs in your queue?! thats insane!
glad you are keeping up the blogging (in any form) since you continue to remain one of the most interesting reads on the internet
Oh no! not another one! I started to comment as james to tell myself apart from James. What’ll I do now? Post as jAmes?
So who is “laid by james” then? 🙂
@ kryton: Love the handle, lol.
@ Brian: Close, but kryton got the cigar.
@ Spencer F.: I like your commentary on thirds!
@ RAMSEY: Lol, classic.
@ Kumar: Almost…that Ramsey guy is sneaky!
@ Shannon: Thanks a lot. I will attempt to book the South Haven one..hope I get a Pointbreaks room, weekend and all.
@ John: Sure looks like an interesting place. I just wanna go and pet that reindeer 🙂
@ Dia: In the height of “must reach Platinum at all costs” days, looking back now, I did and thought about things that were assholy-ish (hmm, what’s the right spelling in this anyway?). And had no dough rolling in from credit cards. So you can imagine the level of holy assholiness that exists in this space these days! 🙂
@ Mel: Lol, good one. I bet that realtor got lots of calls on that one 🙂
@ Nick: Posts about valuation tend to bore me a lot as you know. Case in point is number of choices in 401k plans. There has been a substantial move towards decreasing the number of options and that is a good thing (unless the only choices you have left completely suck that is…so then you are screwed lol).
@ james: The highest number my Feedly got to was 626 I think. Feels so much better now with under 400. Would love to get to under 300. Working on it…Thanks for the kind words.
Family getaway amongst the 3 PointBreaks hotels? Easily South Haven. Laid back town with some nice beaches although the water temperature is colder than normal this year due to the late ice (mostly in the 60s). There are also some walking/bicycling trails in the area and maybe a maritime museum? I had a friend who was vacationing there recently and she said the water was refreshing when it was hot/sunny but would only wade in up to her waist. Her kids, on the other hand, were all-in. Looking at the FB pictures I’d say they had a good time. In the past, I usually take my family to the Holland area because I’ve had free Hilton or Marriott nights to use, but might do consider a long weekend at South Haven if I can get it on PointBreaks. I don’t think Gaylord or Three Rivers compare…I can’t remember anything being terribly exciting around there, they are mostly places that you drive through going somewhere else, LOL.
Been trying to get the South Haven property but not available in the only weekend we have available in August. Too bad. Will be trying again on and off just in case someone cancels. Yeah, looks much better location than the other two. Thank you.
You and Spirit? I’ll try not to hold it against you? But you are aware that the next logical step is the BoA card, aren’t you? Oh humanity! 🙂
One of the better IHG redemptions people might not be aware of is Holiday Inn Resort Batam. A short ferry ride from Singapore, a few decent beaches, and cheap, cheap, cheap everything!
You are as logical as me. By having the card we can extend the life of the points correct? I need to read your posts on Spirit again to get a better handle on it.
Yes, indefinitely, if put a small recurring charge on it. And you get 15K to begin with.
Listen to me, I sound like infomercial, LOL
I meant PointBreaks, of course.
BTW, I think that Ma Ya Bay picture must have been taken early in the morning, before the majority of the boats have arrived. It IS a beautiful place, but really gets crowded during the day. Best advice is to take a boat that will get you there at breakfast time. I highly recommend visiting Thailand. We spent 3 weeks traveling around and our last stop was Phuket and with a day trip to the Phi Phi islands. We left about 2 weeks before the tsunami hit and it was weird waking up that morning to see destroyed places on TV where we had actually been. Then you wonder about what happened to the people you met briefly – the bartenders, hotel workers, boatmen, shopkeepers, etc. Sad post-note to a great trip. BTW, we flew Malaysian Air biz class to get there (they were fine).
Thanks for the feedback on Ma Ya Bay, sure looks so pretty. Thailand is on my target list of course. I am afraid I may like it too much and want to stay there. Retiring there is definitely a possibility, even with the occasional flareups between yellow and red and other shirts!
I am traveling to Hong Kong for 5 nights in October and am wondering if I should just fly out right away to a nearby destination for 2 nights and then return to Hong Kong for 3 nights. Staying all 5 nights in HK may be overkill I am sensing. And Macau just does not do it for me.
I haven’t been outside the airport in Hong Kong but from what I’ve heard, I might agree with your assessment. I think Phuket or Singapore are almost a 4 hour flight, so you probably don’t want to waste half a day flying. Chiang Mai in northern Thailand might be do-able and you don’t need a visa. You could also take advantage of the 72-hour visa free rule to visit Chengdu and see the large number of pandas at the research center…and it is the capital of Szechuan province, which is awesome if you like spicy food. I had the most amazing flavorful spicy chicken wings there and have never found them elsewhere. Also under the 72 hour program are Beijing (see the Great Wall/Forbidden City) and Shanghai (modern China). Taipei (no visa) is probably a short flight, there is the Taipei 101 building and some cultural attractions like the Chinese national antiquities museum (which was relocated from Beijing before the revolution). Philippines are also nearby, you could possibly visit the beaches near Cebu or Boracay (use Kalibo airport) or Manila, no visa required and the locals speak English. Hilton has a resort in Cebu if you have HHonors points to burn.
Pretty good ideas, thanks a lot. Been to Singapore several times, like to see something new. The thing is I get to HK later in the evening…so doing another flight somewhere else may be tough….I have some time to figure it all out.
Why the heck is TPG writing about AP today? I wouldn’t be surprised to see AP’s demise soon.
He is paying Jason Steal to do that. The only content he posts himself is the copying and pasting of useless posts to push more credit cards.
I agree with that but my point is AP has been around for ages and what is the need for him to post now? I sense something weird as this is totally out of place. Better be prepared as he is known in the past to kill deals.
He needs an excuse to push more cards. There hasn’t been much doing on lately but bloggers always need to push more cards for more affiliate dough. Promoting AP is a means to achieve this.
Sadly, yes, it may bring unwarranted attention but it will weed the lazies out of this game. Same with the VR debacle. A lot of those people are not bothering anymore.
The name of the game is…keep pumping content with gazillion internal links and everything written for…Google. It does not matter if the content blows, what matters are credit card conversions. Must keep bringing more newbies who have no cards yet and hook them so they can too travel for free…their family and friends too LOL.
I noticed yesterday that a fairly mainstream personal finance blog (Modest Money, I think it was) posted an article on Amazon Payments. Probably doesn’t bode well for the future of that one.
I don’t normally read TPG but I am glad he did the post on Garuda. I’ve been hoping they would get an Aussie credit card (not yet, so far) since we are one of their major tourist markets but what a PITA to make a redemption!
Yeah once a while needs to pay somebody how much he makes from just one card to pump some more content out there. Every once in a while something may be okay. But never be mistaken what is all about folks: “Conversions”
I’m down to just a few blogs.
I’d like to suck up and say TBB is my #1, but in no particular order:
TBB
MMS
Angelina
Gary
MileValue
Every so often:
Pizzaman
Coins
TBB, forgive me if I’ve offended you, but my goal, as a brutally honest New Yorker, is to be, well, brutally honest.
dh
It’s a free country so people can do what they want.
But I am very disappointed to see so many in the TBB Ignore list. At least FTG did not show up in there.
After all this time blogging away at TBB my message I guess did not reasonate with you:
Just today by MMS:
Post on IHG Rewards Pointbreaks (if you think he himself wrote it…)
Some crappy AMEX dollar off deals (same as above)
Selling the Marriott card (amazing how all of a sudden this card is mentioned by these salesmen huh?)
Just today by Gary:
Post messing with Chris Elliott (because controversy is good for clicks always)
Post selling the Ritz-Carlton card which sucks but inserting the CSP because it rocks now with no 7% dividend even more!
Flights to Venezuela post. Shocking development if you did not see this elsewhere in the news
Post about Andaz Maui. Zzzzzz. You should read mine, I have no relationships with the Hyatt people and dont get invited to functions.
Post about the Virgin Atlantic card. Let me tell you what you need to know: Don’t do it. At least not for a while if you were thinking about it.
Milevalue:
Really Dan? Really? Click my Barclays card!
Oh screw it. Like I said, its’ a free country. I am just disappointed. I think the blogs in my Love and Like list are infinitely better than these.
I like Angelina so I can’t say anything bad about her blog. Besides, she got the cutest baby so I am okay with that choice 🙂
I appreciate the brutal honesty.
But why?????
As long as we’re being honest, I’ll go on the record as saying I like Gary’s blog. Not saying it’s perfect, just saying I like it.
Seriously? I used to like it too…Now it has its own deserving place in the TBB Ignore list
I’m not saying I like the hard-pitch approach to credit cards. But he’s pretty knowledgeable and does put out interesting stuff.
Bizarre list. See Dan’s comment about MMS below. Today it’s template #7.
Unbelievable huh? Wow. This guy is such a piece of work!
Get your tickets to the Chicago Seminars, I hear Template #8 will be presented!
%*(^%$*@#
Thanks for the google post – the photo upload feature is new to me and kind of exciting!
And the Hong Kong photo – in a gives me the shivers kind of way……
Taipei is fun for a couple of days – amazing food, and incredible National Palace Museum.
I did not know about photo upload google future so I thanked myself about it too 🙂
I will look into Taipei, thanks!
A user on FT posted about this, but the link was gone so I grabbed the cached version. It is MMS’s template for Southwest fare sales. From the wording, it sure looks he finally hired someone!
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:AKZgFZ4569oJ:millionmilesecrets.com/2014/07/29/southwest-sale-fares-as-low-as-49-template-5/%3Futm_source%3Dfeedblitz%26utm_medium%3DFeedBlitzRss%26utm_campaign%3Dmillionmilesecrets+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk
Well this is just wonderful.
Insert this $%&^*(U&%$%&*(%^#@#%&
Get your tickets for the Chicago Seminars to watch this guy. Expert templater!
Hey Dan Hammer, how do you feel about this? I feel like I am a tool clicking on this assembly line of a blog! Expertise my big fat greek behind!
I flattered for the (as you young people say) SHOUT out. 😉
George, we’re all begging you to get cc aff links. Please!! We’d like to see you earn some drachmas.
😀
I just can’t do it. Then I am on a pedestal and watch what I type and blasting readers non stop to click on them so they do not cut me off. It is like that hamster on wheels.
I also know that Amazon pays ridiculously little and at some point something will have to give. So I keep going until that moment arrives 🙂
If this ever happens it will be done the Frequent Miler way. And then I think of all the work needed to get that page up and deal with these banks and affiliate companies, arrgh….So I keep pumping my Amazon link and telling the truth 🙂
Also, in other news, deltapoints is trying like crazy to get his pageview numbers up since his posts have been so few and small. You can tell because he is using a ton of pictures which he actually buries in another page. That way, he gets multiple page views just because you are trying to click the picture to make it larger. Just think, if he can’t get enough people to click his pictures, he won’t be able to talk about how his numbers keep going up month after month. 🙂
Hmm, maybe I should do this here too to be “successful”? LOL
Wait, schedule change post! Oh wait. My ride from luggage carousel in Stockholm to rental car counter Part #2A
Giggles