We bring you some Marriott New York City redemptions, travel on the Trans-Siberian Railway, meet a Reselling titan, we all go on a points funk, lots of other stuff I find TBB worthy and too tired to mention in this sentence right here and always fighting alone dangerous bullshit for freeeee, sad! As long as TBB is standing that is.
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All 154 Hilton properties at 10,000 Hilton Honors points per night.
I am no fan of Marriott as you probably may have noticed. But they may work for, please sit down, New York City redemptions.
This guy manages to remain in the TBB Blogs I like list. I think he nails this one: Let’s be a little pickier in what we call a devaluation. Yeah, he delivers a beating to self-proclaimed travel thought “leader” who had a ridiculous clickbait headline on the Hilton Honors points “devaluations”.
26 bucket list hiking trails around the world.
Nice video of Moscow at night. Nope, I have not been there and I had nothing to do with that tape 😉
Just so we are clear I don’t make a penny even if you click on it! Kind of sad you know everywhere online pretty much these days. Thanks Onion, you are a national treasure! Report: We Don’t Make Any Money If You Don’t Click The FuckingLink HT PFD
What a sad story this is wow! Japan’s Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women.
Ms. O, 78
Has stolen energy drinks, coffee, tea, a rice ball, a mango
Third term, sentenced to one year, five months
Has a daughter and a grandson
“Prison is an oasis for me—a place for relaxation and comfort. I don’t have freedom here, but I have nothing to worry about, either. There are many people to talk to. They provide us with nutritious meals three times a day.
“My daughter visits once a month. She says ‘I don’t feel sorry for you. You’re pathetic.’ I think she’s right.”
Hard to believe we are 10 years away from the Bear Stearns implosion. This post nails it imho. What We Didn’t Learn From the Bear Stearns Collapse.
I liked some of the pictures here: Discovering Russia Through A Trans-Siberian Railway Tour (HT: The Free-quent Flyer)
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If you plan to use the new US Bank Mobile Rewards this is a good post. Hey, someone actually does research! And they follow it up with this must read post: From 11K RT on American: A sweet spot for North American flight redemptions. I hope I get to book some RT Detroit New York LGA trips at 11k Avios before they fix it lol. Frequent Miler gets a lot of bitching by veteran players. Look, blogging is a business (TBB intern is laughing right now!) and they are not going away. Would you rather have a business like this or these pumping machines huh?
Grant joins us in being in a points funk, welcome to the club. But please don’t start click baiting like your Boarding Area brothers and sisters (oh wait, mostly brothers lol).
Shawn apparently is full mode into reselling while he lets Mark! and others write in his blog. He has a post about his reselling experience. My thoughts about it were posted here. You make up your own mind, be responsible 🙂 Oh wait, he replied to my comment!
Scoring six business class award seats on Turkish Airlines. Good post showing how he achieved this. Apparently, flying TK out of Houston is the way!
Flipping gift cards can be harmful to your pocket, be careful out there!
Look, my blog covers primarily the miles points blog space. I follow 317 blogs in Feedly. It is ridiculous to follow this vanishing hobby because, lets face it, it has turned into big business for many of these blogs. I don’t give a shit about clicks and obviously about pummeling you to death by tricking you into clicking on my affiliate links. Would I love more support clicks? FUCK YEAH, I could be doing other things with my time you know. But will I go down this path just to make more money off you? HELL NO, I just can’t do it. My readers are priority Numero Uno. And making the world a better place. I know it is a stupid fight but we all have our issues okay? I tried to get Randy to do something to cut down on this pathetic clickbait shit that has now infested this “Hobby”. I actually have more issues with this shit than the continuous relentless credit card pumping!!!<————Three, take that Mark! 🙂
A pic of me from the Iran trip, a trip report that will be posted one day in the years ahead #maybe.
I am contributing to getting these guys post less of this crap. You are all welcome!
While others kiss ass…I am fighting a crusade. Alone. From my basement. Maybe I should come out of it one of these days.
Confession time: I miss Ingy. TBBing is not as fun without him keeping my Alexa ranking numbers respectable, sad! I miss you Ramsey too…if you were in Michigan I would invite you to my 60 Minutes Stormy Daniels interview party at my place 😉
Thanks for the plastic click of support, you know who you are!
And I leave you with this…Shit!
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.
Raffles says
OK, so the business plan for a clickbait travel website is gestating!
Let’s call it airlinemash.com
I need someone who uses lots of exclamation marks to freelance it, but that should be manageable. Let’s budget $300 per month for 20 articles.
My entire contribution would be texting over links to clickbait stories found on other sites.
Hosting costs would be nil as it could sit on my existing servers. WordPress theme would cost $25 or so.
60,000 monthly views would break even on ad revenue.
The question is whether I could run hotel affiliate links through it, as I can’t get US card links and the biggest market for this rubbish is clearly in the US! We have proper schools here in Europe. Would the readers of airlinemash actually book travel or just be gawkers?
The issue would be this. Traffic would be 80% Google so that assumes that enough people actually go to Google and search for this stuff. It would work on the United dog, which is water cooler stuff, but do people chat about orgies involving Chinese flight attendants in the same way? Or people who soil themselves in flight and cause a diversion?
This would be the driver to whether or not it got the views to make a profit. I can’t see airlinemash actually getting many regular readers ….
TheBuzz says
This is how dynasties begin…
For flight attendant orgies I just go to Pornhub first 🙂
Sam says
1. You’re not alone down here in the basement, Buzz. In fact, it’s your turn to make the coffee.
2. Kudos to Shawn for building that re-selling business. Buy low, sell high. If he did it with stocks, he’d be on CNBC like Larry Kudlow. Oh, wait a minute-Kudlow never sold anything except (sometimes very bad) advice. He should get some links and blog up.
3. Ingy knew when he was whipped so instead of posting here, he just got out. Again?? You make the call.
4. Speaking of sex dolls (weren’t we?), France is again leading the charge:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/debate-over-paris-sex-doll-brothel_us_5ab078b2e4b0697dfe19c4f4
I think those feminists who don’t like the sex doll brothel are just worried about the competition. I don’t see them protesting the shops that sell dildos. Maybe those are liberation devices.
TheBuzz says
Time to refill my cup at McDonalds, sad!
That Larry Kudlow guy…It’s like a freakshow and we are not even half way in!
Ingy is a quitter. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!
Thanks for the sex doll article, it will appear on Friday. It will follow a link to Sister Jean, the NCAA Tournament international star!
To the reader who bought the highest valued item with my Amazon link, thank you! Another conversion, sticking it to Ingy EVERY SINGLE DAY! Why sell early when you can still convert it baby!
You all have a great day!
Dml says
Lots of good links today! My son has had good luck with Marriott points in New York City so that didn’t surprise me.
TBBTheDude says
I have not had a Marriott card for 10 years #mindblown
ABC says
You’re leaving money on the table.
Grant says
Hi George, long time no see. Thanks for sharing my Funk post. It was on my mind for about a week and kept festering. Even if readers didn’t like it, I knew I had to write it and get it off my chest. I still have t nailed down my plans for Greece, still waiting for my GF to decide on locations and dates. Leaning towards Athens for a few days and then Crete for a few days.
Keep up the good work!
Charlie says
Hey, Grant, give me a shout when you firm up dates for Greece! I am in northern Greece (Thessaloniki) if you happen to wander up here during your time in Greece.
Beautiful weather around here lately – until today (50s/little rain). Still better than the northeastern US! 🙂
Grant says
Hi Charlie, no plans to make it up to Thessaloniki unfortunately. I will be in Greece in Mid June.
TBBTheDude says
I had similar funky thoughts lately!
TBBTheDude says
Thinking about getting a car from Turo since I waited too long to book a car rental. Talk me out of it please…
I miss my Barclaycard Arrival plastic, maybe it is time to get another one soon…
In case you missed, all the pimping bloggers are screaming to get the Amex SPG Business SPG card for 35k SPG points. While downplaying the 7k minimum spend because, you know, you can click your heels and open a business Gary says…
I need to take a bath, so much BS and it is not even 11 am yet!
Carl says
George, I am thinking next week you should maybe ought to remind folks that the 3X on going through JetBlue for buying stuff from Amazon ends so HEAD BACK TO USING YOUR LINK!
Plus, I want to remind folks in general that you can choose MANY charities to attach to your Amazon account and Amazon will send them a tiny piece of change when you buy stuff. My Grandson’s school band even did that and though it ain’t much, it helped buy some replacement uniform stuff.
TBBTheDude says
My intern is ready!
You use my Amazon link, you let me know and at the end of the month I ll send your grandson’s school a check. This way I think we screw Bezos and your grandson gets more uniforms. Man, I just came up with that….I have Titan written all over my forehead #kidding #kindof
IngyFan says
I am really worried about my idol. Can someone check on him please?
TBBTheDude says
He has never thanked me for keeping his name alive,sad!
TBBTheDude says
Oh man the latest post by MMS himself is WTFish to the nth degree…please don’t look though, THANK GOD THERE IS NO PHUCKING VIDEO!!!!?!
Raffles says
You made me look!
To be fair, the words ‘sex’ and ‘Thailand’ rarely have the word ‘workshop’ in there as well.
ABC says
Clickbait! I looked as well. Ashley Madison didn’t offer any workshops?
WhoisTBB? says
My knee is fat and ugly and I not only love it but hate it!
That was some bad shit, wow!
Phil says
Haha (Mark!) as a word… but so much more makes sense about m2m. Quite a while back I commented it had gone to shhh and just got the standard thanks for reading reply. If he would have been like dude I got a new job reselling from Kohl’s and so I it would have been a better reply. I do agree the not mentioning of fees and tossing around the 50% markup number was an interesting way to post that, but it’s his ship.
Flight cancelled, two more days in Cartagena (comped room thanks hyatt../story for another day) works for me!
Shawn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! says
A big correction. I started a business from scratch that grew into one that had over $1 million in revenue. A bit different than reselling from Kohl’s. Good to see you dropped the other “l” and that you continue to be so interested in the blog. As has been mentioned before I continue to oversee everything at Miles to Memories and I am very happy with the content our entire team is putting out. I’m sorry to see you unhappy as a reader, but considering you seem to be harassing us here, on the blog and on Twitter it doesn’t seem like you enjoyed our content very much anyway.
TBBTheDude says
Please don’t go to a retreat in Thailand like Daraius man! 🙂
Lost my cc links today. You need a reselling partner? 😉
What bothers me the most is…Ingy has abandoned me too,his basement must be not as cold as mine, so so sad!
Phill says
Used to enjoy… criticism is very different than harrasment. But to take a play from your own book thanks for reading and replying. Content has gone to shit… the I and T are back. Dude throwing around a 7 figure number clearly makes you feel good… so I applaud you for that anyone that has the guts to start their own business is a beast in my book. The problem is there is exactly 0.00% chance you cleared 48% of top line sales…
TheBuzz says
Brian at The Gate has a post up about reader feedback regularly. The main point is this:
If someone will take the time to post feedback on your site it IS valuable. And probably the best feedback is the one you don’t like.
Unless that is it come from certified trolls, especially ones who sold too early! Where is Ingy?????
TBBtheDude says
Bankrate kicked me out. I guess I pissed off some Titans too much.
Well, that blows.
Time to wrap this up…
Nobody will protect the newbies now
Andy Shuman says
Did they say why?
TheBuzz says
Yes…
Not a good fit anymore because bad words like penis and sex come up a lot in my blog. Apparently,sex orgies WITH video is just fine if the amount of conversions is fine…
It’s all BS.
Bottom line is, doing this for mid two digits in Amazon dinero per month is not cutting it. My wife says “think of all the extra time you will have”. So, the end is near. What I hate the most is that Ingy will gloat, sad!
Apparently some weird dude out there went too far 😉
https://twitter.com/feeonlyplanner/status/975500368145735687
MileageUpdate says
Seems like a noble fight. “Calling out the Bullshit” seems to have lost you CC links. If you cant bring back Ingy to laugh at you on this one then Im calling Bullshit on your trolling techniques.
TBBTheDude says
Maybe the reason he vanished is because…he reported me?
#tryinghard #Imisshim
MileageUpdate says
he could report you and still rub it in, no ?
TBBTheDude says
That will make it too obvious?
MileageUpdate says
I would think if he did it, he’d just come right out and tell you that he did it. Why leave any guesswork to it ?
Sexy_Kitten7 says
I LOLed when I saw it was Vinh. That poor guy cannot catch a break! Geez. He is the Job of churning.
Makes you think twice about ordering GCs. Out here in the country it’s relatively safe but in cities… I do 99% of my MS the hard way 😉
TBBTheDude says
Vinh is a legend 🙂
About to watch Markie Z to talk about FB’s screw up. Got a lot riding on that to go well…Thoughts and Prayers.
To all: Do NOT click my credit card links until I find out what the hell is going on!
Scott Castle says
I used the links on the 19th. Just got through Ink approval purgatory…. hope you get paid for that my man…
TheBuzz says
Reminder: Please do not use my credit card links until further notice, thank you!
Sam says
Buzz-
Very clever of you to not pump credit card links because that way Bankrate leaving doesn’t cost TBB that much.
So they don’t like the word “penis”. I looked that word up in Urban Dictionary and they offered some alternatives. How about we run some of those by them and offer a compromise?
I guess linking that article on the sex doll brothel shutdown in Paris must have thrown them over the top (to coin a phrase).
Hang in there, pal. We’ll be back to fight another day.
TBBTheDude says
Sam,
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for my blog 🙂
Earning something getting my own familia cards, some from my readers and the occasional donation was enough to earn a little bit which we spent eating out mostly and it was a valid excuse for me to keep this baby going. Of course, having business expenses as well too…
Still was not earning minimum wage PER hour…but it was fine, this was no Titan like operation, never intended it to be.
But without them…spending hours daily on my baby here is just TOO crazy! Shoot, it was crazy to keep it going for almost 5.5 years now!
See the landscape around us? Who lasted this long AND kept a regular posting schedule and had quality content? Not that many! Actually, can’t think of any, sad! Mile Nerd maybe but the volume of his daily post was always 1/25th of mine and he is even quitting at the end of the year. Who else? Just Titans and Boarding Area blogs that get some income from page views. I don’t want to go there because, you know, Rene and Gary and the other bloggers I have “high” respect for…
Friday post will be here as usual.
Probably Sunday as well.
Then all bets are off.
Thinking to drop my eclectic curating type stuff all together and go all out against the pumping machines posting about orgies WITH shocking videos who apparently are such a good fit for the plastic link provider lol. I guess telling readers to travel to see a unique penis monastery or to a penis festival in Japan is a no no. BS!!!!!!!!!!!<———–take that Mark!
As Ingy always said:
"It's all about conversions".
Or dropping my moronic crusade, follow my advice and IGNORE these blogs and just concentrate on the curating eclectic material I find and sharing them here. Doing them both earning two digits per month from Amazon is just not acceptable. No sane person would do it. Actually, no sane person would do what I have been doing for so long when I have prospects wanting to hire me and paying me good money…is just absurd…
Anyone who knows how this thing goes with this company please let me know? Any others who will allow me to do my thing without bothering me TOO much!
Phill says
So the links are gone forever? The Shit word did you in? Just go the BA route bring on staff… trip reports, deals of the hour, you know stuff that gets he readers really excited!!!
TBBtheDude says
Like Southwest and JetBlue sales?
Registering for 5% quarterly categories?
The amazing Southwest companion pass.
Dang, I am so excited even typing all this!!!!!!!!!!!!!
phill says
I was thinking wouldn’t it be more fun to register on the last day possible? Then it would be like this yuge reward of found points.
FYI Toys R Us has postponed its liquidation sale so I will have to wait a few more days to start my reselling empire. I hope I can find enough room in my basement to store all the board games and diapers.
TBBTheDude says
My basement is tiny, dark and leaking from upstairs…
It’s horrible…need to gtfo here!
Brian Cohen says
“See the landscape around us? Who lasted this long AND kept a regular posting schedule and had quality content? Not that many! Actually, can’t think of any, sad!”
Hmmm…if that is the case, perhaps I should consider winding things down and calling it a day…
TBBTheDude says
I said not that many!
We are exceptions…
and you are in Boarding Area 🙂
Bikeguy says
Dude, I still think you go to Boarding Area, and get paid. If your mission is truly to educate, you go to where the people are.
Sam says
I’m going with the quality curation path. You have a good eye, a sharp sense of what’s important in life, and you already have a lot of the mechanics in place. I’d continue with pictures and weird stuff but add more practical leads, like places to go and things to do that are off the grid. Maybe toss in a ‘Bozo of the Week’ article to highlight an especially egregious hawker in the CC game, just to show ‘em you’re still watching.
Now for Mrs. TBB, I must say I have no idea how blogs like that get monetized. But you could just tell her how Ingy never made that much money and that was ok because living small was ok in his little world. And while TBB takes time and the payday is down the road, at least you’re not a petty has-been.
TBBTheDude says
We’ll see what happens, I should have more tomorrow.
Fees kind of liberating there now without them I must admit.
Leaning towards your suggestion…I think. #developing
Your last paragraph made me laugh. A lot, thanks.
TBBtheDude says
To Ramsey and Ingy:
I just wanted you to know that the 3% stock market drop today was all Hillary’s fault lol.