Lets go together again on another wild ride through an epic super cell, visit the Bucharest Parliament Building and its sewers full of drug addicts, read hilarious TripAdvisor reviews, ponder about some examples of the credit card pumpization of this space, look at a very funny graph depicting assholes vs douchebags, climb to the top of the world’s tallest building in Dubai.
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Yomadic is back at it again. “Inside The World’s Most Ridiculously Extravagant Communist Building“. Over 1,100 rooms! Now think about that for a moment, shaking my head. I have always been fascinated by the things some world “leaders” do. The more psychopathic the more fascinated I am (yeah, North Korea is part of this I am afraid). How power gets to them and transforms them to brutal assholes while thinking they are the best thing ever that happened to their country. And this “Ceaușescu, what an asshole.” For the youngsters who don’t know about this dude you can learn more about him here and see the chilling video of their last moments here. There is footage online of him and Nixon, Carter and the Queen of England talking him up like he was a big shot. It is so disgusting! And his wife was a mean ugly bitch. Hey, I guess TBB “bashes” blogs but I gotta tell you, we LOVE bashing tyrant douchebags around here woohoo!
Travel is Free with some funny stuff on “Angry About Angries:Epicly Dumb TripAdvisor Reviews”
Looks like some changes are happening over at United and how routing rules are administered booking awards. I think we need to give this some time and wish bloggers would wait a little bit to ensure this is REALLY happening consistently. I think I will wait for Drew to step in with the defining word and how to get around them 🙂
Mile Nerd gives some answers to readers’ questions. Some interesting responses by someone I totally respect in the miles/points blogosphere. I find this one the most insightful:
From reader Ken:
Do you hate all bloggers?
MileNerd answer:
Haha! That one made me laugh out loud. Believe it or not, there are quite a few people I like. Shrewd Travel and Will Run For Miles are good friends, LL World Tour is amazing, Travel Summary is an awesome guy, obviously TravelBloggerBuzz and I have a lot of respect for each other, MilesAbound and I had a few nice interactions, and on and on. That being said, yes there are quite a few bloggers who are completely unlikable. I’ve mentioned Torsten in the past, and actually thought about him today for the first time in months. He finally had his first decent post via this Flyertalk deal. With someone like that, I don’t know if I like them less as a writer or as a person. Scott from MileValue is another one I don’t think much of. His once-great blog is a shell of itself, and I stopped speaking to him months ago. But, you know as much as some people want me to rant, they don’t even really understand why it appeals to them…
It’s not about hate. Being an angry blogger or a negative comment-writer is incredibly annoying. If you’re angry all the time, you’re basically just having temper tantrums like a child. There’s a guy on Twitter who criticizes blogs pretty much on a daily basis. THEN WHY DO YOU STILL READ BLOGS?? These people have no understanding of themselves or how they operate. It’s all one volume and it’s boring. What they’re saying isn’t REALLY what they’re trying to say. Of course, a cookie-cutter, opinion-less blog is just as bad. My niche comes from 4 traits: (1) I have the ability to be very real, unlike most of these weirdos, (2) I can articulate my thoughts, (3) I actually care about people, and (4) I’m an interesting writer. My rants only work because of that combination of factors. I can’t fake the rants…can’t manufacture them…and can’t plan them out. They only work because they’re real. Most other bloggers don’t know a thing about real.
For pure entertainment purposes again, I was minding my own business and stopped by FlyerTalk and made comment #41 in my usual snarky mode expressing my well known feelings about my hobby business. And then Delta Points, out of the blue, jumps on me and accuses me of pushing my Amazon link (WTF!) in comment #42. I responded with comment #46 in my usual mode and then Delta Points goes on with 47, 51 and 53. I mean, what else can you say? All I can say is THANK YOU Delta Points for entertaining my readers! #51 is my favorite. WTF!
A Few Examples of the Credit Card Pumpization of the miles/points blogosphere [Editor’s note: This is a super TINY sample!]
The credit card pumping noise is reaching unbelievable levels! Just a tiny sample of the “content” that only exists to sell credit cards follows:
Mommy Points on Saturday could not wait to inform us how long it takes to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines. The answer is really not that long, click my links.
One Mile at a Time chooses to respond to a reader’s question how to plan for a honeymoon. Magically the answers is: click my links.
The Points Guy answers a reader’s question how to protect miles from devaluation. Instead of urging the reader to earn and burn, he is advised to…yep, click my links.
Million Mile Secrets, like clockwork, on holiday Sunday is so helpful to remind us that the Chase Ink cards for 60k points are going to expire in one week. You heard it there first, remember that!
The Points Guy, again being so helpful, chooses to respond to yet another reader question about getting both American and US Air credit cards before the mergers. Silly question. The answer is always GET BOTH!
I found this graphic and I thought it was entertaining!
Since we are into Romanian history lessons today, how about the awfully sad pictures of drug addicts in Bucharest city sewers?
On top of the world’s tallest building
Not personal finance but I am all for continuous improvement. So, I found this to be excellent: “30 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Horrible“.
Yep, that beach again…so so low
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First?
2nd!
Ladies first, Jamison 🙂
Did anyone else notice that on Travel is Free one of the tabs is now titled “Who’s Drew?” Was it always that way? I think not….
I think it has been like this for a while. I would love to take the credit for TBB making such an impact 😉
I noticed this when I was on the site the last time and wondered the same!
According to internet archives archive.org it was “About me” in February. TBB can change the world, I’m off to travelisfree to donate some money for the kids adoption.
@ABC – Thanks for your detective work. The fact that the tab says “Who’s Drew?” using quotation marks made me think it was a recent thing, and that our comments here were the reason behind the change.
I missed your “off to travelisfree to donate” comment above when I went from Romanian orphans to helping Drew’s family raise adoption money in my comment below. I hope everyone else reading here makes the same connection.
All right then, I will take all the credit (pun intended) lol.
I work on a global team that includes some guys in Romania. They are old enough to have vivid memories of living under the dictatorship. We had a team meeting in the UK and went to a chinese restaurant for dinner. The waitress brought out some fish chips for the table, you know those little puffed chips that look like styrofoam and have a bland taste to match. The Romanian guys started laughing…then explained that the fish chips were one of the few things they could easily get in the communist days. Apparently, in communist Romania you spent most of your life waiting in line for the most common things that you and I take for granted. And they might wait for hours only to get close to their turn and…the store ran out. They told stories about swapping places in line with their father so he could go to work, etc. It was really neat to hear something you’ve read about from someone who experienced it firsthand. To think Ceaușescu was building a crazy palace while his people were just a few shortages away from starving – no wonder they executed him when they got the chance.
Great story Erik, thanks for taking the time to let us know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvlfRKBIGok
Here is a great video about this guy. When I see Nixon and Carter talking him up it makes me want to hurl 🙂
Power and money can so easily make you lose sense of what is acceptable…and sane. In other words, lose sense of all reality around them. This guy was…right up there. The Romanian people are still trying to get over their nightmare. There are some really bright minds there.
Okay, I think I just talked myself up for my next trip target. Bucharest 🙂 What’s the hotel situation there, anyone?
Definitely on my list. There is a JW Marriott there that is a Category 3, so you could actually use certificates for it, if you have some Category 1-4 or 1-5 Certs burning a hole in your pocket. Those are hard to use anymore. Please not everybody all at once on this or it will be a Category 5 before we blink. Have been meaning to go there for some time. Have had more than one Romanian colleague. I can read Romanian so that would help. I was planning to add it on to a Ukraine trip that will not be happening for awhile I figure.
Me and Marriott never got along. I remember reader Karyn went there recently on another one of those lightning fast weekends. Maybe she can pitch in here. #hint. But she is somewhere in Alaska this weekend I think.
I have decided that you either are a Marriott person or you aren’t. I grew up in DC where there are Marriotts on every corner. I spent my honeymoon night at a Marriott in Rosslyn, VA. Talk about initiating into a brand…I am Marriott Platinum, but I know that so many people are just so not into them. I actually did the Hyatt Diamond Challenge this year and got my 12 nights. I called my husband the first night of the challenge and told him I felt like I was cheating on Marriott!
We have had a long love affair with Hilton properties. Not so after the mega devaluation of course. But still, many travel memories in Hiltons and most of them excellent ones.
While it’s always comforting to believe that justice was served, the reality is that Ceausescu and his wife were convicted and speedily executed by his former henchmen, probably to prevent him from talking too much. Not that he didn’t deserve that, of course.
The reason why he was wooed by western leaders was Romania’s stand in Europe. While still a socialist country, Romania was not a member of the pro-Soviet Warsaw Pact. That came handy during the Cold War.
Went over to FT to look for the United changes. That thread is worth it just to watch Seth argue with the other bloggers. I love that they fight about who broke the news, as if anyone outside of their little club cares. And there’s two common UA commentators in that thread that I have seen over the past year or two and can’t stand. Just realized one of them has a blog I hate, which fits his persona. And the other mentioned she blogs, but I have no idea which blog she has. She can’t help but be rude to everyone she responds to.
As for the alleged rule changes, is it really a surprise if mileage limits or routing restrictions happen? At this point, we can’t be like your boy Jeff (who I haven’t seen here in awhile and is getting annihilated on the LM thread) and say “nothing was supposed to go wrong.” You and others say earn and burn, go free agent, etc. and it’s true in my experience. If you’re not flexible, you’re a dinosaur.
I should clarify. Hate is a strong word. Don’t read or enjoy is more appropriate. I don’t read his blog anyway. Read only one or two in the past, but I think he embodies the bad type of blogger entitlement. But I don’t hate it.
TBB readers are too intelligent to hate anything. Yes, it is a very strong word. Don’t hate anything, not worth it. Strongly dislike yes but hate no way!
Ok, having said that, I have not been in the UA FT forum in years.
UA finally clamping down on the stopovers and just general flexibility it allowed for its awards would be something that is expected. Amazing it has been like this for so long. Again, I will wait for Drew or Seth for the definitive word. It’s about bloggers you trust 🙂
When I was Jeff’s age I made a lot more mistakes. He made a big one. Hope he learned from it. There is not much else that can be said about it at this point. Yes I was disappointed.
Flexibility is KEY. And with all the new “restrictions”/devaluations it is becoming more and more crucial. Before a newbie gets in the game and starts off applying “for seven credit cards in one day” bloggers should try first to determine if these people have ANY flexibility capabilities in their schedules. If not, why bother, just stick with a cash back card. Oh yeah….right…
With Jeff’s recent behavior, I’m beginning to doubt he’s actually Canadian.
Yeah it’s gone a bit overboard on Jeff. Whether you think he ruined it for others or not, it doesn’t take 50 posts with everyone coming out of the woodwork to go after him.
Please I hope they go easy on the kid. He is a youngster. Lord knows the mistakes I made at that age. He is really smart and…young. We all make mistakes. What matters is what we do from that point. I am worried about him.
Yep and if you missed it, there were also fireworks in the comments on VFTW’s post on United too. And bizarrely, I had already seen those exchanges between TBB and DP this morning over on FT. Too much! I had always seen your Amazon links as parodical anyway.
My Amazon link I pump so much brings in over several months as much as just ONE credit card approval does. To even mention this is just beyond…ludicrous (who posts here sometimes!).
I missed the fireworks in the comments at VFTW. I think Gary is just bored, he’s been at this for such a long time. Not the same in 2014…
Well, *I* use your Amazon link! I have three bloggers I support with my Amazon patronage. (You, George, are the latest/newest, so I’m trying to throw you a bit more.)
The other two are Tom Naughton (director of “Fat Head” — the best (and funniest) documentary out there, free on both YouTube and Netflix; and Tom gives a great (shorter) lecture called “Science for Smart People” also free on YouTube!) and Dr Mike Eades of “Protein Power Life Plan” fame — his blog is also superb! Two super-great writers and amazing blogs! Alas, George, their topic(s) is/are more … meaty ({wince} pun NOT intended!) about actual *life* things, not this miles-and-points hobby! But you’re still my third Amazon linker!
But I want to be FIRST 🙂
Thank you.
I’m surprised that “e.g.” vs. “i.e.” isn’t in that list.
Also “less” and “fewer,” my personal pet peeve.
Yeah, good points.
I cringe at the misuse of “commonplace” when the writer/speaker means “common.”
Irregardless makes me cringe every time, and the fact that my computer did not put a red line under it just now is irritating. Damn you apple! Don’t you know that is not a word!
For a while I was using irregardless. Looking back I feel so ashamed #dirtylaundry
Actually, according to Webster’s on line, it is a word. However, it is used primarily as a spoken word and has not been fully accepted in the written world. So this falls under “educate” on tbb 🙂
—————————–
ir·re·gard·less adverb \ˌir-i-ˈgärd-ləs\
Definition of IRREGARDLESS
nonstandard
: regardless
Usage Discussion of IRREGARDLESS
Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.
I think that some of us at some times want to make our written comments sound like spoken rather than written English. Indeed, we do kind of “talk” to each other here. So we’ll use words that are more acceptable in conversational rather than literary circles. But I still cringe at “irregardless.”
Umpteenth?
Looks about right lol.
Hey guys, I am so sorry for pumping my Amazon link so much, it is my only original thought in yet another post with no real news, MS tricks, teaching newbies to use programs, breaking deals, etc. Last time I checked there were hundreds of blogs doing exactly that all repeating themselves.
Giggles
I don’t think DP understands the concept of satire or much of anything.
I agree with 84fiero’s comments. I ask my students to revise their papers and I penalize them for grammar, spelling, and organizational errors. I don’t enjoy giving lower grades. (In fact, giving lower grades may produce lower student evaluation scores.) I want to prepare them for a professional world in which people will judge their intelligence on their ability to communicate ideas clearly. To do otherwise would be a disservice to them, and a disservice to the college in the long run.
The current first full sentence at DP, verbatim:
I posted an Amex Sync deal at the Saverocity forum, then realized that I can’t take full advantage of it because we’re planning to cancel a card before the statement credit might post. Does anyone have experience getting Amex statement credits (perhaps as a check or direct deposit) after closing a card?
We’re going to drop the SPG card. I don’t think the SPG card is worth keeping for infrequent travelers like us, when hotels.com through a portal offers ~15% back. I’ll leave out the longer explanation.
I totally agree. I always penalized for grammar, punctuation and organization. It has gotten to the point where few people write well anymore. If I had a dollar for every confusion of its and it’s in papers throughout the years, it might be more lucrative than TBB’s Amazon link!
I wasn’t never penalised for grammer or for spelling and I think it made me a more confidant person.
Additionally, when splitting checks with the in-laws I like to ask how much they tipped and tip $1 more 🙂
Matt,
Hopefully you won’t be offended if I tell you that you spelled grammar and confident wrong:) I know that penalized is in the British version, so I’ll give you a pass there. I had to change the spelling of lots of words when I published an article in a UK journal, so I get that one. But seriously, I think that when children are learning to write not correcting has its place to increase fluency. By the time the mistakes are happening at the university level, it is pretty hard to wade through. I just find it really frustrating when I see mistakes in print. It is bad enough to see it in blogs. I find them now all the time in print journalism as well. I think some of us just notice this more or have training or bent of mind to do so.
Not at all sir! I hope you won’t mind if I claim that all sarcasm is lost on America 🙂
Matt you need to spend some time with my Paisans in Brooklyn and Jersey, sarcasm is a way of life.
That, sir, is false. I laughed out loud at your comment. I’m not sure, however, if referring to smittytabb as ‘sir’ is more sarcasm 😉
Bloody hell, you got me Matt. And KennyB I think it is sarcasm since he knows I am a woman:)
You angry’s all get along so nicely here lol
Though the irony is I do have awful spelling and grammar. Glad I got you all the same 🙂
I saw this coming.
I read this way too fast. The “wasn’t never” should have been a dead giveaway.
If communicating ideas clearly is important, why are most Anglo-Saxon college books so thick ( ~1000 pages)?
I’m a technical editor by trade, and I often found a good way to convince engineers to let me make the changes (clarifications, often) I needed to make was to show them the variety of legal-rulings where badly (or non-)edited directions or documents had actually led to a judgements against a company! Granted, WAY too many courts also make rulings where the person/user was just plain STUPID, but sometimes it really is a badly written direction that leads to a dangerous mistake. (And I worked for several years at a nuclear facility… wanna bet THOSE manuals should be exactly clear and un-confusable? <– Not a word… but a clear expression of my intended meaning! {wink})
Had a laugh on un-confusable….irregardless of what y’all thought lol.
My goodness, so much to say!
I am really glad to see some attention being paid here to grammar! I cringe so often when I read blogs with multiple grammatical and/or spelling errors, and if it’s a blogger I like, I have to hold myself back from gently correcting him or her in the comments. We all make mistakes and typos, but when a blogger does not understand the difference between “it’s” and “its” or “there” and “their” that blogger should not be in a business that demands daily articles. Perhaps that is the crux of it – the business centers around clicks!
My grandmother left Romania in the early 1900s. I have never been there, but I hope to make it someday. I was impressed with the “sewer king” who protects the orphaned children. Speaking of orphaned kids, if you haven’t already donated something to Drew’s brother-in-law, please do so!
Which brings me to TBB’s frequent reminders to use his Amazon link. I am not a big Amazon shopper which may be why the last time I shopped there, I forgot to click here first. I appreciate the reminders. They have become a bit of a joke, and if George stops reminding us, they will stay that way 😉 !
Harvson, long ago I closed an account and was assured that if a refund was issued against it, they’d find me. But cashback isn’t a refund. [I know, I know – some grammarians object to stating sentences with “and” and “but.” I find it perfectly OK. So does this guy: http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/032601startsentandbut.htm
I suggest you check the T&Cs on the offer.
Happy Memorial Day to you all!
I did not know about your Romanian connection!
My Amazon link is indeed a joke 🙂
I need to atone for my sins today. Way too much BBQ spare ribs and ice cream (Greek Yogurt flavor…just.couldnot.stop)
Based on my many years of study and research at the Art VanDelay Institute in Vienna, Switzerland, I can say with all certainty that Ceaușescu was both an Asshole and a Douchebag……………………………………………………………………btw..where’s Laura?
>>>>Ceaușescu was both an Asshole and a Douchebag…
Two thumbs up!
The dude was so out of touch he insisted on doing a final speech…his face expression when the crowd started booing him is unforgettable really…he made it to the rooftop in no time to escape with a helicopter!
I want to go see that building so bad now…
Hi George,
Speaking of bloggers, did you ever notice that everyone, or almost everyone, spells Darius’ name wrong. I’m guilty of it myself. I wonder how many people understand what I’m talking about. 😉
And speaking of bloggers, Darius was the only blogger to send me a note after my Mom died in June 2012.
dh
That is indeed a very difficult name to spell.
Funny you brought this up. Just got some material from a reader. This master marketer does not even write his own articles.
I hope the note was genuine and he wrote it himself.
I am sorry about your mom. I lost my dad in 2009. The only time I missed the Ann Arbor Art Fair DO. And good luck with your Brooklyn tour! It’s World Cup time. Maybe next year.
When i first pontificated about how bloggers would faux-obsess over SQ being added as a UR partner, even I underestimated how bad it would get
The same people who are lauding this as the biggest story of the 21st century, because of Singapores amazing availability on their own metal are the ones who are doing “test runs” of how long it takes to transfer (or in Gary’s case, multiple test runs. Because you know, 1 just isn’t enough). Of course, if the availability is even half as good as they are gushing about, the transfer time isn’t all that important since it will likely be available anyways
It’s just a matter of time before self-proclaimed “regular” people like MommyPoints books a suites class trip just so they can write a trip review about it…. and then “remind” us how we too can book it (starting with the Chase cards, and then possible “oh by the way, all the MR cards and SPG Amex too” fine print)
Steve here is MMS’ upcoming July 11 interview blogger http://www.havechildstilltravel.com/ (looks like a mommypoints clone)……………….could this author be the same Laura as LauraCMH?……………….anyone know?
Oh god here comes another one with top credit cards for beginners, apporama information, gift card “tricks” and a kid for marketing…
I have been to the Presidential Palace in Bucharest, George — complete with photographs.
Should I write a trip report or review even though the trip was in 2007?
I will certainly would like to see them. Looks like an epic place to visit.
Did you notice that the Crowne Plaza Bucharest is on the Point Breaks List?
I saw it! And then i pondered there is no way I can get there by end of July. So I moved on 🙁