I have several photos in my laptop that I do not think I ever posted. I also had forgotten where I found them and any detail behind the pics. I will post them all here to clean up my laptop. If you know any details about the photos please let me know.
TRAVEL
7 top tourist countries that are suddenly cheap(er) due to currency fluctuations Japan, South Africa, Australia, Egypt, India, Brazil, Turkey
MILES/POINTS
Pizza in Motion had the best post to date in his blogging career imho. “I Don’t Think American, Delta and United Will Actually Compete With Each Other“. Excellent big picture analysis…for a moment there I thought I was reading Gary Leff at View From The Wing🙂 I agree with the sentiment expressed for the most part. I also think Doug Parker is right (this is the time when AA elites cringe) and he will prevail. I also have been around long enough to realize that stuff (PG 13 restriction, smile) happens in life and sometimes when you least expect it. So maybe, just maybe, the steady progress towards revenue based awards and benefits for only those who truly deserve them (and not for cheap mileage run fare manipulators) will not become the norm. And very smooth way to pass the Amazon affiliate link for the book…so smooth. Update: That was no affiliate link, I eat crow. I should learn more about affiliate links so I will know what I am talking about from now on, hehe. I think there ought to be a law that a $ dollar sign and the words “affiliate link” should be placed next to every affiliate link. I have seen it elsewhere, not sure which country mandates this (if any).
View from the Wing also had a big picture post “Are Revenue-Based Changes to Frequent Flyer Programs a Shift in Strategy or the Economy?”. Interesting perspectives but nothing new. Sometimes I feel Gary is terrified he will lose all the caviar and champagne flying up front and is trying desperately to get it through the airline execs’ thick heads to not…abandon him:-) Bottom line, the landscape has changed, the airlines have the upper hand…get used to it! Free agency anyone? Join me! Oh and I do like the ending “In any case, the changes we’ve seen so far are just the beginning.” Oh yeah!
This is quite a story. Did you know that you can get unpublished elite benefits from your friendly US Air pilot? Keri at Heels First wrote “When Pilots Offer Unpublicized Elite Benefits What They Really Mean is…” What a Casanova weasel this engaged guy is, wow! I must admit if an airline offered a benefit of Mile High Club for their highest Elites I would seriously think hard retiring from my free agent days and getting back in the elite slut status game. Now that would be a true enhancement. Kidding, relax:-)
No more Priority Club. It is now renamed IHG Rewards Club. Still the ugly odd duckling of hotel loyalty programs!
Club Carlson devalued the rate of transferring CC points to miles. It will now transfer 10 CC pts to 1 frequent flyer mile. Should you care? Of course not because you know better than to transfer your hotel points to miles! Should you be concerned that this is NOT a good precedent to do changes with no warning like this? Yes. Should you be very concerned about what is coming down the line? YES!…It is clear that the very generous earning and redeeming ways in this program just can not last!
BLOG BUZZ
One Mile at a Time said “I am a big fan of Club Carlson..” Really? Since when?
Milevalue is on a tear, four US Air card links just because a few got a targeted email. And this is an inferior offer than the one found here in post #1. Sickening if you ask for my opinion! Oh, I just learned Frontier added a nonstop Denver-Jamaica flight…oh oh, you know what this means…
ON MY MIND
I need to finalize my Canada trip details…
Feedly is not Google Reader. But it is adequate for my needs. I did major cleaning up…I am down to just 568 blogs:-)
ODDZ & ENDZ
There is not enough money in the world to pay me to do this job…free climb 1768 feet to fix a radio antenna!
Number 1!
You cheater!
For a second there, I thought I’d won.
Maybe next time.
Close but no cigar!
That’s not fair 🙁
Almost an hour late…what is the matter with you??
Thanks for that! It’s just the answer I nedede.
milevalue has QUICKLY gone downhill
Global boycott against Hyatt to end soon, as they reached an agreement with UNITE HERE allowing hotel workers to vote to organize/unionize.
http://www.unitehere.org/detail.php?ID=3706
Key detail: “As part of the accord, upon ratification of the union contracts, UNITE HERE will end its global boycott of Hyatt.” [My emphasis.]
Good to know. I expect a full blog post from a blogger about this…cough
A dispute with a labor union? That makes me want to stay at Hyatt even more now!
I find the item more blog newsworthy than the latest Gateway deal that has a great shot in hurting your fingers from hitting Refresh so many times;-)
So what do we make of VFTW not posting a single time about Daily Getaways?
He knows better than to have their readers develop finger cramps for marginal “deals” which turn out to be…waste of their time trying to get them. So kudos for him for adding filler content on these
So….darn…close to the truth. Except I don’t actually have any Amazon affiliate links. That’s just a plain old link. I went to Amazon, clicked on the search bar and whammo, a link. If I do get paid from people clicking generic search links on Amazon I could be a rich man! 🙂
We do agree that the relentless march to revenue based programs may take a sharp left-hand turn somewhere and end up looking like something else. Especially since the airlines are still soooo hungry to sell more miles to the credit card companies. In fact, I have an affiliate link to a new card with a great offer, and it’s only good for another 6 minutes. Just kidding. 😛
Sorry about the Amazon link dig. Goes to show you how much I know about affiliate links:-) I will update the post!
Yeah, also hoping for a left-turn too;-)
Hey, no worries. Just figured one good dig deserves another. 😉
And, you’re right about really good content building good blogging. I’m working on a couple more longer posts but they’re damn hard with all the travel for the day job.
I agree- content over clicks!
Reading the best-of-june crappola from MMS’ blog and his other Wyndham post today of purchasing points “This won’t be easy. I do NOT expect it to be easy to get these points because a lot of folks will be after them!” “The end result is that you’ve bought 12,800 airline miles for $192 or 1.5 cents per mile. And the price reduces to 1.35 cents per mile (1.5 cents per mile – 10%) if you pay with an American Express credit card!”
That doesn’t sound like a very hot deal where people are refreshing their pages to buy points at this price?
I am just wondering when will bloggers fall down further (ahem get smart) and start resembling street side vendors. 50000 UR points but first 50000 applications only!!!! Hurrry!!!!! Go ahead bloggers work this out with your handlers.
I do not see this post? Can someone please provide details of this deal. Thanks in advance!
It’s there
In almost 9 months of blogging I see more and more it is all about content…it is so darn hard to produce quality good content consistently! This is why you see so much wasted bandwidth wasted on stuff like Daily deals!
At least I got my content down. I review blogs…and with so many it is always easy to come up with stuff to comment on:-) What is hard is separating the stuff worthy to comment on:-) So…catch 22!
So true George! There are still good blog posts daily though. You just have to sift through the ones that are now actively engaged in regurgitated advertisements. No one is able to do it consistently because it is very very tough.
And that is why your job is easy 🙂 But we all like coming here.
“I am a big fan of Club Carlson..” Really? Since when?
Since that time MommyPoints, MMS, Gary, TPG, FTG and all the other bloggers became fans too
If we’re going to diss bloggers (deservedly), then let’s be accurate. Where does Gary say he is a fan of Club Carlson? He does include a link to the card in his recent top 10 list, but it was also in his top 10 list before there was a commission. Apologies in advance if I’ve missed it. I just think we angries have to get our facts right if we’re going to make our case!
“We angries” LMAO. Correct usage is “Us angries” but still laughing at this ….
Also trying to guess which blogger this might be posting as an Anonymous “angry”. I think I know which blogger(s) use this more frequently to dismiss the general audience.
I have been a fan of Club Carlson for about two years now and have run many, many posts on them in that time. I don’t like what they did to their airline miles award chart yesterday (and worried about future devaluations), but I’m not a new fan in the slightest. Used points to stay at the May Fair last summer in London during the Olympics and thought it to be a tremendous value. Have had the credit card for a while now myself…long since before affiliate links came out.
So I am absolutely a fan, but certainly not a new fan.
“So I am absolutely a fan, but certainly not a new fan”
you might’ve been a fan of the program, you certainly were not of the credit card, at least in public
You gave a few token posts to it, but for every time you mentioned the Carlson card, how many times did you mention SPG or CIB cards? 200? 300?
Whenever you wrote a trip review about an SPG property, you always made sure to “remind us how we can stock up on SPG points” if we wanted to stay there.
Never gave us such a “reminder” when reviewing Radissons
Here’s a perfect example: 2 weeks apart, you give reviews for a Westin and Radisson in the same city
http://boardingarea.com/mommypoints/2013/03/29/european-trip-westin-dublin-review/
http://boardingarea.com/mommypoints/2013/03/16/european-trip-review-radisson-blu-royal-hotel-dublin/
From the SPG post:
“If you need to beef up your SPG account for a stay likes this, then SPG Personal Amex and the SPG Business Amex are both great ways to do it.”
How come in the Radisson post, you didn’t tell people how they could “beef up their Carlson account for stays like this”?
Some hotel posts get card links, some don’t. No real science behind it. That is true whether or not I have an affiliate link. If you want to dig around the site you will easily find that I was indeed a fan of Club Carlson and the card long before the recent intro of aff links.
http://boardingarea.com/mommypoints/2012/12/03/more-details-on-new-club-carlson-credit-card/
http://boardingarea.com/mommypoints/2013/03/18/enter-to-win-500-club-carlson-gift-card-elite-status/
-This was even starts with the quote “I have been a big fan of the Club Carlson Visa ever since it came out last year.”
http://boardingarea.com/mommypoints/2013/02/23/un-planned-credit-card-churn-day-results/
There are many more that were all written way before anyone got paid for promoting that card. I’m all for constructive criticism, but it isn’t overly constructive when it isn’t accurate.
If Gary has ever included it in his top-10 list beforehand, feel free to show me the link
He’s been called out several times on not giving CC coverage, and he always said that he didn’t post about it because he prefers “aspirational” travel
Once they started paying affiliate $$$, Carlson just became a lot more aspirational
But I agree with your general idea – Gary is pretty small beans compared to the practices of others. Lucky’s in particular (mostly because TPG and FTG are unsurprising)
@Anonymous “If Gary has ever included it in his top-10 list beforehand, feel free to show me the link”
George doesn’t let us post links in the comments, right?
See Gary’s April 4 post “The Best Credit Card Signup Bonuses: Big Miles to Fly Free Quickly” and you’ll find Club Carlson included with no referral link.
I’m a big fan of Club Carlson. I’m not a huge fan of all the property *types*. But I’ve written on the card with no affiliate links. And I had my wedding block/rehearsal/post-wedding brunch at a Radisson property, and Tiff and I are trying to find time to check out the Radisson Blu Mall of America, which we are both excited about for two reasons. (The stay… and… shopping 😀 )
Actually, dear readers, my dig was at…Lucky as I remember sometime ago he had stated he did not care much about Club Carlson properties which are not too aspirational (probably an accurate statement). Then suddenly he became a big fan of. That’s all, full disclosure:-)
“I am a big fan of Club Carlson” Really? Since when?
Tough love GP, tough
(Newsblur is (way!) better than Feedly. Try it out.) (I found I even like it BETTER than Google Reader — something I could never have imagined!) (Not *affiliated* {wink} in any way, just a user of Newsblur.)
I think Newsblur does not have an Android app. And I am not sure the user base is there to sustain it. I got burned by a tiny startup company before so I am very weary of signing up with another one. Feedly has big enough user base that chances of survival are greater. It works fine but a bit slower…
Thanks!
Newsblur has an Android app and it is pretty good.
Good to know, thanks.
Here’s another take on the demise of google reader and why Ezra Klein is not replacing his:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/01/google-reader-dies-today-heres-why-im-not-replacing-it/
Yes I read it, he is in my 568 blogs list:-) When this happens with me it will be the day I retire from blogging. When this happens I need to find another obsession:-)
Buzz, I have been feeling really sick to my stomach for the last 2 days. First I thought that those ribs I bought at the Dollar Store might of been the case. Then i realized it started when I first read that Martha Stewart admitted she like threesomes.
PS Love the picture at the top of your blog of the 2 kids flying kites from a Motel 6 Maldives hotel room.
If Martha Steward is into threesomes she should track down that US Air pilot, I am sure he is too:-)
Have you had deep dish pizza from Hungry Howie’s with sesame crust? Wow, almost as good as ribs!
That looked to me like a Best Western instead of Motel 6:-)
Will catch up later tonight!
Capital One has a two day sale on their savings accounts (former ING). Used to be $25 free but it is now $76 if you open one between Jul 1-3. I think this is a much much better deal than the $25 or $45 Uber links!!!
My referral link below (I do not want to insert this in my blog post). I only recommend products I fully endorse. There has been only two in almost 9 months of blogging (this one and ebates). Give me a break, thank you for your support and enjoy $76 for FREE:-)
https://home.capitalone360.com/referafriend?save=uZJAyQ2nTT$T
As a courtesy to your readers, the T&C:
360 Savings Account: Bonuses are only paid for accounts that are opened with an initial deposit of at least $500 between July 1st – 3rd. Initial deposit does not include bonus. The $76 bonus is available only for new accounts with a new Customer as primary owner. Bonus starts earning interest upon account opening, but is unavailable for withdrawal for 30 days. Variable 0.75% APY effective since 7/2/2013. After July 3rd, you can still open an account through Refer a Friend, but the bonus will go back to the original $25 with the minimum deposit of $250.
Thanks for posting the T&C, I assume my readers will read them:-)
For someone who does not have an online savings account or an account with Capital One and can spare $500 for a month they can pick up a cool $76. Pays for more than an Uber ride and still have some $$ left over…maybe.
Got to this in my email today as it sat there because I was too busy…reviewing blogs:-)
Might want to let people know that Crapital One does a hard pull for many of their banking products…Do no harm?
There’s already a post on DDF of someone who even tried freezing all 3 of their credit reports and Crapital One rejected him as they couldn’t do a hard pull.
Welcome to the referral business George 😉
What? I hear they may be doing that on the Checking account but not on the savings account? That’s awful!
Still great for a newbie who does not do cards and does not have an online savings account and wants to make $76 plus interest on $500 for a month:-)
Been an ING customer for years, they still got the best website and Capital One has not messed with it too much.
Guess won’t be pushing that anymore. Eat crow again, that is twice the same day. Wow!
” I only recommend products I fully endorse”
Which bloggers WOULDN’T claim that?
Maybe I should have underlined or wrote in CAPS the word fully. These two products I have been using for years and in fact do FULLY endorse. Are you saying that bloggers really FULLY endorse the Lufthansa card? The Frontier card? The Discover card? The Top Cash Back outfit?
I could have added Uber, TCB, Big Crumbs, and a gazillion others…but I either do not use them or have had a not too pleasant experience so I don’t.
George,
I hate to add more to your plate but if you are promoting things on the blog and you have a financial relationship with the products you endorse FTC rules require you to have a disclosure statement on your blog. God forbid me from saying this but right now FTG is doing it more correctly than you are 😉
Add more to my plate?? Huh, you ain’t kidding! So…obviously saying “My referral link” does not count then?
Ok, I will stop then.I will get to this part when I figure out how to add the two referral links on the right hand side and then learn how to add a disclosure statement somewhere on the home page (and every page of my blog. like the trip reports too?). And can I copy yours, it reads so excellent:-)
Or maybe IB can buy my blog too so its legal dept can do it right? lol
You would probably have to ask a Lawyer if calling it your referral link is enough. My take on it is that it is not enough because not everyone understands what that means. Feel free to copy mine, especially if you also referred to them as your Cannon Marie’s, she would find that to be very funny.
Sorry, thought it was Matt from Saverocity! His disclosure statement does read so excellent for sure:-)
You see dealing with getting paid for blogging is so…time consuming and provides so many headaches? Which takes time away from content! It does get to a point where I say “Is it really worth it?”. Sometimes I feel like pulling a MV move on all of you, so sick of doing it all for free:-) But I just can’t do that…so I keep going.
Bottom line, $76 for a month sounds like a deal to me.
Full disclosure: I get a benefit…frankly, did not even look how much it is! I think it is $10, pays for a large deep dish pizza from Hungry Howies. Sesame is my favorite crust. Yum!
You get $20, new account holder gets $76.
Read above, Capital One does hard pulls on savings accounts per Dan at DDF. You won’t see me pushing this again here! #eatcrow And yes it is $20, used to be $10. Thanks
George – why are you trying to make me sound like a Valley Girl?
and thank you very much. I will NEVER let him live it down.
Lol, I knew that was coming!
Glad you’re getting used to Feedly 🙂
It does some annoying things sometimes but it is okay…Hope it gets better from here!
Maybe it is just easier for us to send you a pizza. I say forget the affiliate links and the fine print and the disclosures and the lawyers and all the other hoops and we can just call in a pizza for you at Hungry Howies. Hey, I just sent $$ to AwardWallet when my six months ran out, so why not TBB. I have a feeling they will know where to deliver it. Scratch that. Maybe Uber can deliver it. Sesame crust. Got it. But you may have to wait til I hear if my husband’s Ink Bold was approved. I prefer use the pizza to help make the minimum spend. Given that I live in a CVS-less state, every little bit helps.
>>>>>>>>>>>forget the affiliate links and the fine print and the disclosures and the lawyers and all the other hoops
Maybe add a tagline: “Will blog for pizza” Lol
I am not sure out of all these entrepreneurs that have entered this space no one has developed a business in partnering with idiots like me in helping monetize their blogs. I mean, they develop the techie aspects of it (while I have full editorial control, primarily, do no harm practices) and they do the techie stuff links in a SEPARATE tab. Plus consulting on all the chaotic aspects of this thing, disclosures, legal crap, etc. I just need to devote my time focusing on what I do…got no time for all this extra stuff. It is getting awfully hard to keep this pace up…and my eyebrows can testify to that!
I guess you haven’t heard of Boarding Area, First2Board or Upgrd?
Upg what? Just kidding.
Yes of course I considered it. But I am such a loner and loose cannon that I just can not be “aggregated” so easily:-) If I do go to one of these aggregators my editorial integrity will be undoubtedly compromised and I may go easier on all the fine bloggers who blog there. You see, I do not want to be “categorized” and lose my identity. This is TBB, it is my baby. I am proud of standing alive with my eyebrows coming back, yeah! I like to say whatever I want and I like to fight my fight to make this world a better place:-)
If Randy wants me, he can ask me. You have no idea (well you do) how much burden and stress all these technical crap/disclosures/possible monetizing routes add to my life. It is 12.47 am as I typing this and I do have some material for the new blog post but nowhere near done with it. It’s insane really…heck, I think I am insane. And now I will have Rick FTG pull my leg for doing harm pushing the Capital One account and turning me to the FTC for lack of disclosures. Oh the humanity…Lol!
I am one week away from Month 9 anniversary. I wanted 3 months when I started. I want my preblog life back actually in another late night like this. Sometimes I want my mommy:-)
“Will Blog For Pizza”? Sorry, I’m not taking applications right now. 😛
Lol, very funny. Good one! Do you have Hungry Howie’s pizza near you? They opened a store within walking distance from my house and I pass it many times a day….VERY dangerous!
Affiliate links=Bad?
Begging for donations=Arguably worse?
But why not have AdSense at least?
Won’t pay much but it’ll be more than 0 and there’s great entertainment value from what Google thinks is contextual 😀
I definitely think begging for donations are worse. They remind me of…Chris Elliott, lol.
Affiliate links are bad but they are not going away. They can be done better I think….I just need to learn more about them. I have a name to contact. It is somewhere on priority list item #79. Getting to it…some day.
I added AdSense to the list. Another blogger told me she made $1. 13 in a recent month. Maybe I can get a Hungrie Howies pizza from it annually?
Not sure about this contextual thing…every time I go to blogs that have it they tried to make me Date Asian girls….is it because they know I married one or is it because they know I am Greek and probably want more? Ok, don’t answer that please:-)
Thanks for reading and commenting as always Dan. The thing we talked about is on my list..getting to it…someday.