We bring you the latest on hotel loyalty programs, the new Emirates First Class Suites, marvel at the Albert Einstein resume and much much more!
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Lets start the week with a few promos:
American Airlines Holiday Bonus Miles
It is common knowledge that the hotel promos over the last several years are just not what they used to be. And elite level requirements have gone way up, I mean, isn’t the top Hyatt elite level at 55 or 60 nights now? WTF! Interesting read: Lack of Promotions: Are Hotel Loyalty Programs Still Worth It For The Average Customer.
Emirates unveiled its new First Class suites. Yes, it looks great. Yes, expect to see numerous blog posts you can fly it for “free” only if you click on their affiliate link credit card merchandise.
An interesting list of the 48 least visited destinations in the world.
I like inspirational stories of redemption. This one is great: Watching a poet who spent 9 years in jail join the Bar.
America’s 38 Best Restaurants. I saved the list in my Evernote archives, it may come in handy one day.
I have featured this guy’s amazing videos here before.. Here is another one titled “Weightless”. By Jean-Baptiste Chandelier.
Fixed costs is THE number indeed to watch for, your personal finance fix.
Finalists for the 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, enjoy!
The most polluted place in the world is Delhi in India. Here are some pics, yikes!
Nice timeline of the life of Albert Einstein.
BLOG BUZZ
This section is for advanced level hobbyists and veteran blog readers & personal rants & stuff
I am coming back to the US next week. Got another 70k UA award flying out of Thessaloniki Greece on Aegean to Frankfurt and then on Lufthansa to Detroit. Same route again. In Business class. I burned 8,000 points for a night at the Thessaloniki Hyatt and then 7,000 SPG points for an overnight at the Sheraton inside the FRA airport before my flight to Detroit. I am at about 760k burn for the year so far, not bad.
For the record, Citi added Avianca Lifemiles as a transfer partner in its Thank You program. Positive move I guess.
And I leave you with this…Winter is coming you guys lol.
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
TBB
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Love the list of least visited countries! I really like seeing (and going) to places not that popular. Still need to work on that! lol
I have friends that, altogether, have been to almost all of them so maybe that counts a bit, especially since I have booked tickets for most of them. 🙂
Buenos dias.
Tough luck for Greece. Croatia is a solid team, but I feel that 1-4 loss was one of those days when everything goes wrong
Italy may miss it as well!
The boys gave it all they had on Sunday. Croatia is just tough and some chances we had were barely wide. And that ref was calling the game like the Croats were are home. Not making excuses…Oh, another excuse, one of our top players got punished for some stupid thing I don’t even know exactly and missed the first game. Add a few other absences of other top players in the first game and the result was one of the worst performances of the team ever. We usually rise to the occasion but going down 4-1 was just shocking!
Greece needs to regroup for the next Euro. We have the talent, we need to become a TEAM again…which issue the captain raised before the game. Fans were singing the national anthem after the game with the players, mission accomplished.
The better team advanced, good luck to Croatia.
And in a few hours we will see the Italians advance…maybe.
Fly for free in 777 EK F … between Brussels and Dubai!
Yeah saw a few BA blogs jumping on that…yeah that huge 6 hour daytime flight is so worth it – not!
There.Will.Be.More
You always have the best links. The Weightless video is pure joy. Who knew hang gliding could be an art form?
Today’s are especially good. Thank you.
Best links and less clicks 🙂
Tomorrow’s 5 will blow you away. Oh wait, you won’t believe what links you will see tomorrow, they will shock you!
Cool list of least visited countries! Wife and I went to Swaziland this past summer, great little country!
I’ve mostly given up on hotel programs. I keep my IHG card for the annual free night and since it’s one of my older cards. I did upgrade to the Hilton Surpass from the basic card earlier this year as I had a specific use in mind for the bonus points. And of course I’ll accrue if I happen to stay in a chain hotel for work (usually non-chains for leisure). But I definitely don’t go out of my way to get hotel cards or participate in their programs. 30K for a Hampton Inn at CMH airport? No thanks.
I am going to cancel my Surpass when I get home so I can go for the reborn one to get the bonus.
Hotel points still come in handy, like for me later this week in two airport hotels.
TBB – Out of curiosity (and not looking for you to spill secrets), but given it seems like you’re not earning as much you probably had in the past, are you at all at risk of burning through all of your airline/hotel points anytime soon?
I ask specifically because I think you’ve written you don’t earn as much (either through MS or new signups) so is it just that you have a huge backlog of points you’re still going through or are you indeed still MSing/signing up for a ton of points?
For me, I still earn a good amount of points every year, but I have a ton from the past when CC signups were a lot easier (I don’t MS since I have a well-paying job and a family I want to maximize my time with). These will last my family and me for at least a few more years, but I know the day will come when I’ve exhausted all of them (or the economy will tank and banks will come begging again).
Anyway, I was just curious. Curious about the community’s thoughts as well.
Also, I don’t think a deli in India is the most polluted place 🙂 Delhi, I believe.
The guy who wrote “The Martian” worked out the economics of lunar tourism. Interesting read:
http://www.businessinsider.com/andy-weir-artemis-moon-city-economics-the-martian-2017-11
Re: best restaurants. Only one I’ve been to was the fantastic Publican in Chicago. Skip the ORD location, though.