It has been a tradition in my blog to have annual Best Of lists published in the latter part of December. And it continues. Just the links and commentary will take place in the comments. My goal is for you to get something out of these lists and continue your way to greatness! Today’s lists are about news photos, movies, books, albums, year in review, things that happened for the first time, playlists, artists, songs and podcasts, enjoy!
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Top 25 News Photos of 2019
Best Movies of 2019
The Best Books of 2019
The Best Albums of 2019
AFP’S Best Photos of 2019
22 Things That Happened for the First Time in 2019
The Top Songs, Artists, Playlists, and Podcasts of 2019—and the Last Decade
CNN: 2019 In Pictures
The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s
Reddit’s 2019 Year in Review
And I leave you with this…
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.
Hi from New York City!
The midtown Conrad is crazy busy and the rooms are very nice. Suites I may say. We all had a nice dinner with son last night at a Greek restaurant that served killer tzatziki…you know it’s good when daughter says “omg, this is almost as good as yiayia’s (grandma)”.
Did a 30 minute jog around Central Park and something I was wearing (I think) gave me an allergic reaction. Something like this happened at the gym a few years back…something to do with sweat and some type of clothing? Very weird! And kind of scary. Two Benadryls later and I was good to go.
Love NYC bagels with cream cheese!
I have another Best of post lined up for Friday, will skip Wednesday (Christmas holiday).
Thanks for the support and Merry Christmas/Hanukah and whatever else you celebrate.
You could be having Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes at the Andaz rather than staying at the old The London NYC
New York at Christmas can be great fun!
Glad you zapped the allergic reaction.
Than you!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and thank you.
Bronze from Florence and Buon Natale a tutti!!
Merry Christmas to all!!
Merry Christmas George! It’s been a hectic month so I am happy to have no travel plans whatsoever at the moment. Hopefully everybody out there in TBBland is eating, drinking, and/or being merry. Or traveling first class with whatever credit card the cool kids are using these days. Or clicking through George’s carefully curated year-end “best of” posts.
Miles to Memories: A blog that posts way too often…It’s like they have a certain quota to fill trying to imitate TPG posting way too many times every day.
Hey Mark etc…If we are being honest…u post a lot of crap, like faking rants abt us being arrogant. Thanks for contributing to killing the Marriott meeting deal…faked outrage and not even a simple ‘sorry’.
Yawn
MTM wins the annual 2019 Cavendish Awards for:
A. Blog with Most Click Bait Titles.
B. Least Professional Blog.
If you don’t look around and see all the arrogant people, you’re probably one of them. Reddit churning is the epicenter of it all, but I also don’t typically read comment sections, so it’s probably happening there too.
Brenton is Jesus
So, for the record:
Conrad Midtown NYC: Free cert night I got them to extend expiration two extra days. When hotel is sold out and crazy busy. Pays to be nice on the phone. Lovely 1 bedroom suite. But you need to remember that this is New York City so do not expect a lot of space. Great location. No lounge but got them to extend $30 credit for two people each. Burned it at the restaurant for breakfast. The buffet is $39 and pretty good (but not worth $39 lol). Wife and daughter shared that with my help while I got a breakfast sandwich with bacon and cheddar which was amazing…only $20 lol. Anyways, with coffee and tips I had to pay out of pocket $14.88. Wife enjoyed the gym while I went for short run at Central Park. Got late checkout at 2 pm. I had of course registered for all promos I could find and generating a small balance to pay out of pocket was by design. The stay posted very promptly and somehow still generated 5,436 Hilton Honors points.
Walked five blocks to The Plaza on Fifth Avenue. A Fairmont managed hotel. Burned a free night here and got upgraded to a deluxe King with a private terrace. Room was not ready, got voucher for two free drinks. Platinum amenity came with our Certified butler, a fruit basket and a fantastic chocolate cake. I had $100 food certs to burn so we decided after family dinner we come back to the hotel and use it up at the casual restaurant instead of breakfast the next morning. Son wanted to try the seafood platter. Only for $79 lol. Add a french onion soup for just $19 lol2. With the free drinks (red wine for me and a cocktail for son) and the tip came out to $136.75. At checkout I use up the expiring $100 certs, used my last Fairmont $25 gift card and had to pay out of pocket $11.75, not sad 🙂 The reason I again wanted to pay something out of pocket was to trigger some points AND renewing the expiration date of my Accor ALL points. I earned 190 ALL points which now expire 12/24/2020, muy bueno. While here I managed to run around the whole Central Park, 6 miles while my wife and daughter really enjoyed the gym and the terrace.
TravelHacking. Some read TPG, smart readers read TBB 🙂
I’m surprised your wife doesn’t mind changing hotel rooms all the time. Next time, try the Park Hyatt. The pool is much better than at Conrad Tokyo.
We usually do not stay in hotels while in NYC. We have three places we can stay with relatives. But this year was different as I had a free Hilton night cerr expiring Dec 20 and a free Fairmont night expiring Feb 28. And son staying in Manhattan so we (well, I) decided to burn them back to back at the Conrad and the Plaza. We travel very light and can pack in 10 minutes or less, no problem.
Updated the comment above with this 2 night hacking details.
I was shocked to hear you didnt spend the 2nd night at the Hoboken Courtyard Inn cause you didnt wanna use those valuable points. And this is the guy I’ve loyally followed for 5+ yrs into travel battles? I thought you were the Napoleon of MS and it turns out you are the Quintus Servilius Caepio of MS
He just said that they were free night certs, not points. If you’re going to be an asshole, at least have your bases covered.
It’s all good…
for laughs——>Hoboken Courtyard/Napoleon of MS/Quintus Servilius Caepio of MS = LOL
Still a step above youth hostels in NYC. I survived them when I was young, and lived to tell stories. And then I discovered THE HOBBY and my vacation nights have since been remarkably uneventful. Maybe life’s richer without points.
Are you sure that Butler is Certified?
Business card left behind says so 🙂
In New Jersey now trying my best not to eat…but I am failing lol.
Best of lists type posts are now scheduled for:
Tomorrow Friday
Monday AND Wednesday of next week!
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It is what it is!
Be kind and grateful and pay it forward.
Je suis TBB