Lets visit Moraine Lake in Alberta Canada, revisit a legendary Flyer Talk thread with Dovster & BEYFlyer, watch a beautiful video on Iraq, a last rant on them credit card bloggers, look at some powerful photos, check out the amazing power of what compound interest can do for you and other funny pics/gifs
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Thread Tripping reminds me one of my all time favorite and legendary Flyer Talk threads: “Before Twitter and the Arab Spring, there was Dovster and BEYFlyer“. Reading their posts while bombs were flying and landing (sounds familiar?) was riveting! Makes you believe in humanity amid the war chaos!
I continue to burn! Another 27k Southwest points for RT flight Detroit to Phoenix for the WestCoastDO in November. I even covered the $5 fee from a prior $10 credit I had for an earlier award cancellation. I booked two nights at the conference Kimpton Firesky Resort while already status matching myself as an Inner Circle member. I understand Kimpton’s loyalty program is about to have some major changes. This assures that my TBB blog business may endure yet another loss so please excuse future pimping coming your way lol.
Iraq is beautiful, too. Stunning video at Matador Network.
This blog is going to get shorter it appears as I don’t find anything that worthy to share. I am just bored about the current state of the hobby and the ridiculous number of blogs I follow. Hey, it is not me, it’s the blogs šĀ And I am not going to be wasting more time on the blogs that pump credit cards 24/7 and maybe neither should you!
Last word on the credit card salesmen that have taken over this hobby. If you click on their links or help patronize them in any way YOU are part of the problem as it only encourages them to pump more credit cards! Heck, I would not be smiling next to them and posing for a picture either. Attend their presentations? Hell no! Why? Because you are implicitly approving their chosen practice to keep pumping credit cards ads and basically sell out their readers to the highest bidder Chase. Eeeeeek. Mind you, it is the same freaking cards from the same freaking banks that are being sold every day…again and again and again. If not that, it is the same referral links you have all seen repeatedly. I am taking my own advice to ignore these blogs and only continue to look at them in Feedly for TBB purposes only! It will likely mean nothing to their revenue targets and that is perfectly fine and am very content with my decision to not be part of the problem. These businessmen are making a choice to put profit BEFORE their readers and repeatedly bash them with the same credit card posts while reaching even higher levels of ridiculousness to justify yet more credit card pumping! Just from yesterday, take a look at this below:
View from the Wing: āStop! Donāt put your spending on that airline or hotel credit cardā
One Mile at a Time: āBest Credit Card for Maximizing Hyatt Points & Benefitsā followed by followed by “Which Credit Cards Are In My Money Clip Now?”Ā WTF!!!!!! [the day before it was “Which Credit Cards are in my Wallet? LOL]
Mommy Points: ā5 Rewards Credit Cards I use the most for everyday purchasesā
Frugal Travel Guy (last two posts by founder/former TBB blog troll): “Top Cash Back Taunted Me Back Into Action”Ā Ā and “Shameless Plug for Uber with Free Rides for New Member”
What a pathetic joke!
There I go again wasting my time with these blogs I have no respect for. Sorry, nothing personal. I just absolutely despise the non stop selling. Don’t get me started about the rest of the pumpers here. If you attend their seminars or click their links,well it’s your right of course. I guess you like to be pumped. For an in-depth look at what this whole field has become lately please read this blog post.
That’s it. Think!
21 Powerful Photos Of Peopleās Eyes That Say More Than Words Ever Could Some very strong photos here, you have been warned. At Bored Panda.
These 3 Charts Show The Amazing Power Of Compound Interest. I ‘ve been doing this financial planning for a while and the power of this compound interest thingie just completely amazes me!
Hate when that happens!
I am all for nature but…
This gif pretty much epitomizes what the Brazilians experienced after that historic World Cup 7-1 loss at home to Germany #sadface
First!
You are #1, you are yuneeq!
First?
Darn, it could have been me but I spent too much time reading. I couldn’t believe when I got to the bottom it was still empty.
It could have been Scott, it could have been you…
Since it hasn’t been claimed, 2nd!
Was just up at Lake Louise and Lake Agnes two weeks ago, still so beautiful
Yeah I miss it too. I should do the full trip report one of these days…but so many pics it will take forever and I keep putting it off! all I have is a teaser under Trip Reports.
Welcome to my world, George. Welcome to my world…
I was first the other day, so my life is complete! I no longer have the need to watch my Twitter feed late at night to see when George posts! š
Just used your sites advice to save $$ on a cruise (Discover), thanks!!
Life is not complete if you do not get a First in TBB comments…for sure!
George, if it’s so terrible, stupid and various other things to attend seminars and click on links and blogs, then why are you flying to PHX?
You must not have attended CLT DO.
Well, I wrote a review of that DO. Sure felt different than the mega cc pumpers reciting the same old crap they blog about. Plus, I like to get away from my kids once in a while to…relax lol.
I can’t believe I want Germany to win on Sunday. Darn it, I have to see Merkel again #sadface
CARDINGAREA.COM WILL NOT BE STOPPED. MORE CONVERSIONS NEEDED. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
—-END TRANSMISSION—-
yay! you are back!
What’s the next bonus? When will the Southwest cards expire only to magically reappear again? š
stay tuned for Lucky’s next post – “What card do I keep in the secret compartment in my boxer shorts?”
“I wear my boxer shorts everywhere I go, and that is where I keep the one card that I absolutely definitely need to have on a second-to-second basis and that I cannot survive without. Not only does this card offer lucrative everyday spending opportunities, but since it is made of metal and is heavier than the usual card, it provides an appropriate resting place for my privates. Not to mention the resulting bulge does not go unnoticed ifyouknowwhatImean…of course, I am referring here to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa card …”
Cue Gary’s post…”Lucky whispered in my ear that he carries around the Chase Sapphire Preferred card in his underpants. Why stick to 1 card when you can fit multiple cards in there? Here are the top 5 non-stick, non-chafing credit cards that I carry around in my secret compartment…”
haha.. Couldnt control my laughter. Nice one.
LOL….Really funny stuff The Common Man!
Tweeted this today:
Coming soon: Dropped my wallet in the trash. Which credit cards in my wallet smelled the worst, rated from 1 to 10
Which credit cards have the roundest corners for maximum comfort?
George you are missing the forest through the trees. If you use ANY affiliate link you are part of the problem.
I understand this position and I am okay with it if you practice it.
Even though the truth is that over 90% of the blogs will go away if the bank affiliated system went away (if not away, current posting frequency will be drastically reduced), the unfortunate truth is that many good blogs doing it the right away without resorting to ridiculous pumping practices would ALSO go away. Frequent Miler would not be doing this for free you know.
Besides, I may even go away as my blog “business” would not be sustainable either to keep it afloat so I can generate more miles for it/me š
Having said all that, no orders came in from Amazon the past two days #sadface
You say that like its a bad thing. What would be left would be the few blogs that are doing because it’s fun. FM would still be around he would just have a day job.
I doubt it. Maybe post once a week…
I would rather there be a few great blogs that post once or twice a week than the current state of affairs.
One post a week is all we need. FM has long since run out of compelling material and now he’s phoning it in (actually, merely recycling old posts while on vacation).
And yes, the best thing for this hobby would be for people to stop clicking on any links for any reason. Then we’ll see how fast all the charlatans who profess to pimp, er, post for the “love of it” have to go and get another dead end job.
I cant wait…I am tired scrolling through all these darn blogs in Feedly…they keep on coming and coming
Register the domain prior2blogging.com.
Each visitor should walk through steps:
Step 1: Go read the vast variety of miles/points travel blogs out there.
Step 2: Do you know more about hotels than LoyaltyLobby, more about airplanes than the Wandering Aramean, more about manufactured spending than the sausage fest at Saverocity or MileageUpdate, more about soulless luxury travel than LuckyCoins, or more about family travel than the existing twelve family travel blogs?
Step 3: If your answer to the above is “no,” then congratulations, you don’t need anything more than a personal blog for friends and family, or to practice and display your writing or photography skills. We have enough miles/points blogs, thank you. Most of them are terrible.
Step 4: If your answer to the above is “yes,” then answer this question: “Really?”
Step 5: If your answer to the question in Step 4 is “Yes, really,” then, fine, blog, see if we care.
Like, like, like
If I was doing the TBB gem comment posts this would be the MVP one
So true, so true
On the many blogs in Prior2Boarding area…saw one that may have a niche: Muslim Travel Girl
+1!
LOL
LMAO!
How about a blog devoted to commentary on blogs and commenters who discuss points and miles blogs? Like TBB, except covering TBB. Maybe call it TBBBuzz?
“This blog is going to get shorter it appears as I donāt find anything that worthy to share. I am just bored about the current state of the hobby and the ridiculous number of blogs I follow. Hey, it is not me, itās the blogs.”
Toward your point, and toward harvson’s comment above, I haven’t been blogging as much lately because I just haven’t had anything to say. I’m not sure if it’s burnout, or something with the pointsandmilesosphere, or all of the above, or what.
We are on the same boat I think. I am very underwhelmed with the recent state of the miles/points blogging world. Not much original stuff lately, just everyone repeating the same old “news” and credit cards. And funny how all the big bloggers don’t blog much about credit card churning LOL.
Most of the pimps at BA have nothing to say but that doesn’t seem to stop them.
Plus, it’s SUMMER guys! Go crack a beer and sit out in the sun (for a short while, not mid-day…)!
sounds good to me!
Hey TBB what is your favorite strain? (THC wise) LOL
Painfully…funny š
Oh my.. Couldnt take even the one photo of Bored panda displayed above – 8 year old boy holding such a big instrument as if he is going to do some artwork. Really disturbing to see the growing rate of human stupidity. Hate these sucking people who hand over guns to small kids using them as shields and hide behind them. Didnt bother to look at the remaining photos, George – this one is enough. Thanks for the warning. The problem is more people dont even try to empathise with these kids as they are just one among the numerous photos in our IT centric world. Had it been 1980s, more people would have been shocked to see this kind of photo in say, a newspaper. Growth of technology does have its own disadvantages.
On the other hand, loved your other photo of your kid enjoying nature. Beautiful.
Sometimes I like to post some stuff that shocks people to…think. You know, pretend that this stuff can satisfy the “inspire” part of the TBB mission.
Yes, those pictures were very disturbing.
That is one of my favorite pictures of my son trying to find himself…
You sure he’s not looking for a rock to throw at Dad for “always takin’ stupid pictures of me!”? That was what *I* thought he was thinking… {wink}
I scout the territory for rocks before we go there hehe
I’m a little late to the comments, but I agree about there not being much in the points/miles game these days. I see 2 diverging areas here: credit cards and their incessant pumping by blogs; and manufactured spend and its rabid secrecy.
If you think about the average person (even the average miles collector), that person probably isn’t looking to spend a ton of time learning about how to net extra miles on existing credit cards. CC bonuses have been good so they probably care more about maximizing that, which doesn’t take much time or investment and has a fairly good payoff. On the other hand, MS takes a lot of time and devotion. Even if you know of good opportunities, there’s a good amount of time involved in executing on those opportunities. I got fairly big into it, but frankly, I no longer care enough to invest much time outside of some of the easier options or to hit a minimum spend. I prefer to spend my time focusing on family and work that I enjoy than trying to drive around town to make it worthwhile.
I think for those 2 reasons, you see the content you do on blogs. This is a natural outcome of the bifurcation of “opportunities” to lower the cost of travel. Most people who prefer to spend their time differently are going to gravitate toward the CCs and essentially maximize their benefit/time ratio.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I think you nailed it. And I am with you too!
“manufactured spend and its rabid secrecy”.
Yes, you did nail it! That’s what I’ve been talking about for the last two years, well, with an exception of a brief romance with VR, right before it died an ugly, violent death!
Rabid secrecy? You’re joking, right? How many programs have been widely, incessantly touted on blogs and FT? And then are quickly killed?
The easy stuff is pimped to death by scumbags looking for conversions. Even guys who barely know their elbow from the backside when it comes to MS tell us how amazing it is for Serve and BB load limits increase to $2500/day. And then slip in that it’s so helpful to meet the minimum spend on X, Y and Z Chase cards (click, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here….).
Pox on all of them.
So ironic reading Milevalue (in Feedly) bitching about…bloggers killing deals.
conversions…it is what is about…
Let’s see how much more they are going to beat up on the Chase Sapphire card and that 7% dividend “it is not showing up online, maybe this is it for it…so click my csp affiliate link”
Yeah, what’s up with MV constantly tweeting and retweeting about bloggers killing deals? He retweets the same message and linking the same article every 6hrs for the past two days.
Totally nailed it.
Any content that is useful for actual travel hacking is few and far in between these days, sadly.
So the Fairmont card jacks up the spend requirement from 1000 to 3000 on July 1. Hear about it anywhere? What if the Hyatt card did the same?
The Hyatt card did do that. There was no minimum spend requirement when the card was first introduced.
james
followed by
Laid by James
hmmmmm š
Thanks so much for linking to that epic thread on FT. I have family in Israel and follow the news there very closely, and while I have not yet read the entire FT thread, I surely will. We actually arrived in Israel just hours after the cease fire in 2006 and heard many first hand reports, but to read posts written in real time, by such smart, witty and caring FTers, was fascinating.
As for reading blogs, lately I find myself spending my time on Saverocity’s Forum with only an occasional click for BA, P2B, F2B or an independent blogger I like. If I see something on Twitter from a blogger that peaks my interest, I’ll check it out, but, with a few carefully selected exceptions, the blogs are simply no longer the place I go to for my daily dose of info.
It’s a very long thread, you have been warned!
The blog stat of the union is indeed….very sad.