We show you how flexible award bookings save money, visit the Sanya EDITION hotel, address The Points Guy media blitz, get a list of all credit cards earning more than 4% rewards, learn all about Basic Economy on United, laugh at Alec Baldwin playing Trump again, look at amazing light pillars, meet the Tree Man & more!
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Master List of Credit Cards With 4%/4x+ Rewards. What a great reference post.
In case you wanted to learn everything you need to know basic economy fares on United.
This post shows why this hobby can still be lucrative…How Flexible Award Bookings With Alaska, American, and IHG Saved Our Upcoming Trip.
Because I care about your well-being and this site keeps up with the latest medical research breakthroughs, I just wanted to let you know about this news just in: Masturbating at work is a doctor-approved stress reliever. Bwahahahaha.
Since we are addressing the topic of masturbation, let’s watch awesome Alec Baldwin of SNL portray Trump in his first press conference. I look at the positive: Alec as Trump at SNL for the next four years, YEEEEEEES! We will be showered with jobs! #crying
Your personal finance fix of the day: How to Save Your Tax Refund for Retirement. “Don’t Blow It, Save It!” – TBB
Marriott has a new hotel opening in Sanya, part of its luxury EDITION brand. The property even has its own “private ocean”. Looks nice.
Incredible pictures of amazing light pillars in Northern Ontario. And in other places too. WOW, so beautiful!
“Tree Man” Is No Longer a “Tree Man”. Wow, I had no idea anything like this existed. Can you imagine living with such condition? So glad this guy can live a normal life!
BLOG BUZZ
This section is for more advanced level hobbyists, including many of us who read way too many blogs and don’t want to admit they are lifers…
One of the blogs I have in Feedly is Points With a Crew. I always associated this blog with the owner having a whole crew…representing his children (something life five or six but who is really counting after the first two really?). Anyways, there are so many blog posts from different writers there now it sure looks like THIS is the crew!
I read this article and I wanted to start beating myself up harder than the most hardcore S&M enthusiast, WTF! “The Points Guy made a career of gaming credit card rewards to get luxury travel”. Or, in other words, how some journalists fall for this crap:
- A photo of TPG in a First Class seat and the tagline: “A genius travel hacker” – WTF, are you kidding me? This is what some of us have been doing for decades and this guy is genius travel hacker? If that is true, this makes One Mile at a Time a what? Ok, lets not go there please…Wait, there is more!
- “At Morgan Stanley, Kelly was allowed to transfer the points on his corporate card to a personal card.” – Seriously? I was doing that in the mid 90’s at Deloitte. Looking back, I must say doing that was the real reason that kept me there as I was bored out of my mind. When they forced us all to go to corporate Amex, I said See ya!
- Nowhere in the article it is stated that the site was sold to Bankrate. And then you wonder why Trump seethes at media…ok, let’s not go there either lol.
- 8 person editorial staff. And why so much of the stuff in this blog is so late, wtf do they do all day long?
- Kelly has strict rules on how he deals with marketers and credit-card companies to keep the site’s credibility intact. He pays for all of his own travel, covers his employees credit-card fees, and doesnt’do exclusive credit-card deals. – Seriously, sometimes you are so deep in it you start believing and acting it is normal, wow! Out of the 1,000 credit card affiliate links that appeared in the site the last days can you come up with any that did NOT compensate the site? Exclusive may mean we don’t promote best public offers because hey, someone must pay for the 8 person editorial staff and gazillions spent on marketing hey! And exclusive credit card deals you say clueless writer? This IS the site that had the exclusivity in announcing the Chase Sapphire Reserve card release, DO YOUR JOB! [Note: This and everything in my blog is purely my opinion, thanks to the TBB legal staff (pro bono)]
- “The credit-card companies, all of them pay us and its up to us to decide which ones we want to use,” said Kelly. “My integrity is my number one asset and you can’t buy it… I think our readers respect that.” – At this point, I want to start cutting myself…One day I would like to do a survey of everyone who has clicked on a Titan site and ask two questions: 1) Do you know that the card you got in this site paid the site owner? and 2) Can you give us a range how much you think that compensation was? I think the results will …shock you! And then I will tell them all “How in the world do you think that these sites have YOUR interest in mind first and NOT their own pocketbook?” I am starting to get angry now…
- We get a typical day at the life of TPG. So much travel hacking you guys, LOL. It is all marketing baby!
- And a warning: Global expansion coming. And if you are bitching about the demise of pure travel hacking, you can blame this and so many wannabes in blogging wanting to become TPG. The end.
And I leave you with this…
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
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Strokin’ on a Monday moooorrrrning…
ScottCastle is not stroking, he is…sleeping in it appears. I think he works for the Feds 🙂
Just think – next year such an article about TPG will quote him as saying “I do a lot of travel just trying to get around my home cities, since I have homes in Miami, NYC, and London.”
BTW, why are points so good for everyone else but not for him? He flies private so much at the “great rate of only $3,000 for a one way between Miami and NYC!” so why should anyone listen to his advice on points?
I have no idea why anyone would listen to him…but hey, he is a genius travel hacker apparently according to that “journalist”.
Good morning.
Bonjour!
I admit it, this was my “main-take away” from Today’s update :
“I read this article and I wanted to start beating myself up harder than the most hardcore S&M enthusiast” <== George, do you get this feeling often? 🙂
🙂
Yes!
But don’t tell anyone 🙂
#toomanyblogsinmyFeedly
Global expansion is tricky because not many countries actually pay credit card commissions. Even in the UK, Amex is the only game in town and you’re getting under $100 per card. And the cards are all on cashback sites at the same rates.
That said, happy to take a few $m off Bankrate. Perhaps I secretly sell, so no-one know Head for Points is secretly owned The Points Guy which is secretly owned by Bankrate 🙂
I may get a lawsuit threat before I get a buyout offer me thinks 🙂
From the article on masturbation at work:
“And Sergeant warned that “introducing any form of sexual behavior to a workplace could be seen as a slippery slope…..”.
Hey, Beavis, how slippery was that slope?
Lol!
It’s only slippery when wet 😉
“They are losing hope of finding any job at all amid Greece’s eight-year depression, where only 3.7 million people have work in a country of 11 million. ”
“Greeks currently owe the state €94 billion ($99 billion), equivalent to 54% of gross domestic product, and rising, in taxes that they can’t pay”
Why is this number so big? Most governments are able to efficient collect taxes. At a minimum from salaries or pensions.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/last-lifelines-crumble-for-many-greek-families-as-new-conflict-with-creditors-looms-1484303414?mobile=y
Sad!
I have done two posts about the Greece clusterphuck. Maybe I should do an update…
A big chunk of the 94 billion is owned by businesses that have closed a long time ago and the state will never see a dime, I mean, euro.
Ever since the charade could not go on any longer with borrowed money from abroad, the Greek politicians, an absurd mixture of corrupt moron liars has chosen to keep taxing everyone (the private economy sector MUCH more) to protect their voting bases (govt sector workers and the seniors) instead of doing necessary reforms and cutting all the fat…So, they go along with blaming the foreigners while continuing the same old shit. Every previous govt makes the current one look GOOD! The current one is the pits man…This country needs to hit rock bottom. Only Greeks can sustain that process of finding and hitting the bottom. Just when you thought they reached it…they manage to dig DEEPER.
It is a tragedy to watch. Slowly unfolding…
makes me thank baby jesus Billary didnt get elected.
Garuda-ing is the new Vendome-ing. You heard it here first!