We get to yet another article about that now infamous Rolling Stone article, we worship the all mighty Chase Sapphire Preferred card, check out great cheat sheets on Fuel Surcharges and United Airlines, get a list of all 3rd Party Amex Cards, watch US Thunderbirds fly over Niagara, marvel at the magnificent Greek Islands, scream at potholes, and go WTF with Moldova and more!
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Well, since we have been following the mind-numbing media free for all of The Hobby lately, here is another take on FREE travel and the Rolling Stone article appearing at the Huffington Post: “Another False Rolling Stone Magazine”. I think the allegations “I don’t stand for free travel” blah blah blah are a bunch of weak BS. If not, nobody would get hooked on this and the media pumping it as, well, FREE travel. The damage to this little weird hobby can not be measured, it is vast and the consequences severe!
Come to think of it, Personal Finance Digest has some thoughts on that amazing superb old credit card: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. It’s a new landscape folks…We love it when readers fight back against the 36 plastic affiliate links in a single post blog world and help out the smaller blogs who feel dirty even mentioning their own crappy creditcard dot bomb link/banner #hint
I have had a few readers apply with my links for a credit card who let me know about it. But no credit has appeared. What can blog readers do to ensure the credit goes to the blogger intended for? We have learned that some cookies may exist if readers have applied at a different blog that may still be valid for crediting up to a certain point…It is confusing as hell and I just have this conspirational tendency to think I am getting screwed. And I have the proof now, what to do?
If you have any advice on this, please let me know. Oh, Matt of Saverocity let me know on Twitter that Credit Karma is shutting down the affiliate side of their business, hmmm….
Fuel Surcharge Award Cheat Sheet. A great reference chart at MileCards.
An even more thorough list of all the Third Party American Express Credit Cards by Doctor of Credit.
Another great Cheat Sheet, this one for United MileagePlus: Airlines, Fees, Alternatives and More. This is great stuff by MileCards. The site sells credit cards but has really good content. Wow, what a concept!
The World’s Poorest Countries by Gunnar Garfors.
US Thunderbirds flying over Niagara Falls. These pictures are mesmerizing!
9 Greek Islands you ‘ve never heard of.
Cities with most potholed roads in the US, charted.
Greece is a clusterphuck, sure! But then there is Moldova, talk about THAT financial crisis, wow!
How much money do you need to save per day or per month build #1,000,000 by age 65.
The 99 rules all men should live by. I don’t agree with all of them but sure makes for an interesting read.
And I leave you with a question I frequently ponder…
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Good one.
Gracias. Welcome to an Elite First Group 😉
MILF-tastic second.
Umm, ok.
The cheat sheet says I’m 3rd
On, and #HailHydra
All the medals you have won at TBB one day will go for mega bucks at an auction. Just so you know. Been to Hydra?
Nope. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hail-hydra
Oh…that makes sense now, thanks!
Well credit karma is dropping all their affiliates. Will this be the first of many “HOBBY” links that will be going bye bye.
I used to run into Credit Karma but not sure lately how many were using it. I met them at a conference almost 2 years ago and they promised to get back to me. Never did. So I emailed, called & left a message and sent message through Linkedin. They never responded. So I am not shocked about this at all. You just don’t do stuff like that, WTF!
Nice HuffPost article, but all he does is plug his book, and not point out that the blogs write about free travel to get cc signups. Oh well. Yannis is also writing a book.
Yeah, that guy is good in plugging his book! I even bought it back then and thought it was so over rated.
Oh you got that dude’s name spelled wrong. It is with one “n” as he likes to point out. Yanis, the rebel economist—–>only in Greece an insane narcissist can become Finance Minister. Never has anyone in that post in the history of humanity done as much damage in history….The insanity is he thinks he is just awesome. Don’t get me started about this guy. Wow
And what exactly did Mr. Kralev tell us besides how awesome his own book is? So there is no such thing as free travel, but read my book, it’s better because, hell, I don’t promise anything. Huff will let you plug anything with buzzing keywords as long as they don’t have to pay writers.
And then this in the end:
“In its December 2014 issue, Rolling Stone published a story titled “A Rape on Campus,” which the magazine later retracted. The article claimed that several members of a University of Virginia fraternity viciously raped a woman, identified only as Jackie, as part of an initiation rite during a chapter house party.”
Why? Bad copypasting?
I agree with your points. I thought it was good to feature here because, you know, it complemented and added to all that RS media blitz. Oh, by the way, long time RS editor was canned yesterday. I wonder if the OMAAT feature had anything to do with it. I wonder why it took so long after that horrible rape story.
I sent that email to my “manager” who I have never heard from ever since the nice gal working with me got a well deserved promotion.
While I certainly think that new folks are coming into the hobby, sorry HOBBY, as a result of the media onslaught, I am starting to question if it is as bad as our paranoia. When you read the comments in some of these articles, like the Yahoo article for instance. The comments are mostly negative. People are either skeptical or think spending your life in an airplane is stupid/sad.
I don’t think Ben did a great job of selling his image. He appeared more pathetic than anything else. An airplane being “home” landing in a country and never leaving an airport? If all that is true it confirmed my suspicions that Lucky is a very superficial traveler. That is not something I can relate to.
Let’s be grateful Drew was not profiled. Way more people would have related to that. A profile of Drew would have been way more damaging.
No doubt we are paranoid. Because we care too much for it!
The point is there are and will be a LOT more people who would be finding out about The Hobby. I mean, wouldn’t you wanna travel for free in luxury? Who wouldn’t? Of those, yes most will never do anything, we know that. But more than before will get into it. The few who take their time to study will do well. But many will screw things up for themselves and some undoubtedly will do things that will bring unneeded attention to some of the stuff we do. Which will likely not have positive consequences….It’s the law of the numbers! And the numbers are getting bigger! More on the next edition of TBB, I keep shaking my head how many are coming out to teach us how to travel for free by paying them lol.
I think Ben gave wide and lasting access to his “craft” to the RS newbie writer. Writers want to make splash. And he did. Ben calling out sour grapes is like Tom Brady expecting to be adored 24/7 when he does crap like deflating balls lol. This is how the media works. You take chances that the final product may not portray what you were trying to convey. Happens every day. But hey, I bet you the clicks have been worth it $$$$.
I am not sure Ben ever made his blog a pure travel blog. The dude stuck to his branding and has worked wonders financially for him. I got no problem with that. What I have a big problem is that this happens to MY Hobby and PR stunts like this does NOT help prolong it. I also despise the hypocrisy that nobody comes out and flatly says I blog and make my money selling credit cards! It’s buried somewhere in some “disclosure language” (which has improved lately as Amex makes them stick it in top now).
It’s just very entertaining to me to see how an obscure hobby and the American entrepreneurial mindset takes hold and keeps developing. I am not quitting my day job and I have never regretted it. Do I know more than so many charlatans out there and could have made more money than them? Sure. But that would have kept me from getting better in what I do in real life who I know will certainly last much longer than this Hobby.
Check out PFD’s post about the CSP and his car. Mega LOL material!
Isnt that retire with 1m chart based on a ridiculously high 12% rate of return.
Yes. And the article states it a high rate of return (and of course it is ridiculous!).
But I think the main point that I hope comes across is how much more you need to invest by waiting.
The earlier you start the better…
That’s all.
I completely agree with Scott. I’m just thinking of the number of people I’ve tried to tell how to make the system work for them, and the blank stares i got back. I think we can thank Dave Ramsey for scaring off a big percent of the population. Also, Despite all the coverage of blogger in “THE HOBBY”, I don’t think most people really understand what long haul first class is. If they do, they search it on expedia and see all the extra 0’s and are scared off…
Ditto on the blank faces. Especially when they ask about how I meet the min. spend requirement.
Yep, we have all seen them.
Two friends we have & know what I do. The one has gotten several cards, again slowly, here and there and has gotten several free trips over the years. The other one is still stuck on the notion that opening a card for the miles and then canceling it before the annual fee comes is somehow bordering to criminal. She NEVER got past that point. I think she is always jealous when me and the other friend talk about our scores. The other friend is going to Europe soon via Iceland (flying Iceland Air) and then to Paris and Rome. I did not ask how much she is paying because we told here how much we paid for 3 weeks in Greece lol. And the show goes on…
haha 12% return
See above.
Waiting…
OK, anybody read that guy’s book ? But it seems good that he’s telling people it isn’t all tea and crumpets, perhaps it will avert a stampede. Well probably not but anyway I’m just saying.
Next point, about the cookies and credit cards. I’m just wondering about going in and wiping out the cookies from other sites before applying from here . . . maybe just wipe out all cookies because they may not be clearly labelled, right?
“Adjust cookie and site data permissions
Click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
Select Settings.
Click Show advanced settings.
In the “Privacy” section, click the Content settings button.
In the “Cookies” section, you can change the following cookies settings:
>Delete cookies”
Hey I wonder if there is a cookie that could wipe out everyone else’s credit card cookies ? ? ? That would be worthwhile looking into methinks. Do you have a techie guy who helps you run this site ?
I read the book. Save your money.
Thanks for the info on the cookies. That may help. Bottom line is…don’t let that keep you from applying here 🙂
We have no tech guy, no interns, no other staff. It’s just a lean and mean operation here and the reason is that management of TBB Enterprises just can not afford any!
I just want to thank buddy down in Florida for buying enough for me to get a Greek salad at Panera AND coffee. Wow, superb day around here 🙂