TravelBloggerBuzz

An eclectic journey through the Travel Miles/Points blogosphere

Google Flights Tricks, Skyborn Babies, Airbnb Scams, Caesars Rewards

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We bring you several Google Flights tricks, more info on skyborn babies, even more Airbnb scams, a complete Caesars Rewards guide, more on Kobe, TSA confiscated items that will shock you, amazing images of the sun, an amazing presentation on technology, biases of our times, a very touching story about a heart transplant, tsetse flies phucking around, all the Superbowl ads, an underwater camera to help you make fishing less boring, my feelings on the Superbowl, The Points Guy branching out to personal finance—->be very afraid, and more for you for freeeee, you are all Titanium Elites here with the membership fee of ZERO!

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MILES & POINTS

This is an excellent post on How To Use Google Flights to Find Cheap Business Class Flights (and Cheap Economy Flights Too!). Rock that “Date Grid” view!

We have a comprehensive 2020 Caesars Rewards Guide Plus Earning and Redeeming Tier Credits, Rewards Credits and Benefits. I guess I am Diamond until January 2021 and I have never stayed in any of their hotels. And the last time I gambled in a casino was in the 90s lol. The merry go round (as in getting a free match to Diamond status via Wyndham Rewards) is up again. And I would like to apologize for contributing to finally getting this deal killed. 🙂

Starting April 1st (really?) 2020, American Airlines will no longer partner with these hotel chains: Hilton, Choice and Best Western. Which should not mean anything to you because you know better. But still…found it surprising. Maybe it is a trend to have airlines get closer to one hotel chain. In the case of American Airlines it will of course be Hyatt.

Over the weekend miles and points action is always slow. So, lets read Mile Nerd‘s monthly post: Laker Town. Wonderful write up about losing Kobe and what it means, always a must read. Ever since he moved on from miles and points he still blesses us with now monthly posts that are always wonderful.

But Los Angeles does have one institution that fills its people with pride. Something so powerful that it can even pull this city together with a semblance of community…I am, of course, referring to the Lakers. It’s hard to describe just how much this city adores their team. More than Dallas loves the Cowboys…more than New York loves pizza…hell, even more than Alabama loves illiteracy.

TRAVEL

I found this read fascinating: What Happens to Babies Born on Planes. There are almost 50 “skyborns”, as they are called. The first one was in 1929: “The father was an airplane enthusiast, and a doctor whose wife was heavily pregnant, so when she felt she was about to give birth, they got into his plane and kept circling at 2,000 feet until she gave birth…They called her Airleen.” The chance to be born in flight: 1 in 26 million! Then it goes on about which country has jurisdiction and what you write down as birth location.

The more I read about Airbnb the more I think “Why would I take the chance to perhaps be subject to one of these?”: Here Are the Most Common Airbnb Scams Worldwide.

Which one is your favorite? 🙂 TSA Instagram Account Posts The Strangest Things They Confiscate.

What We Can Tell You Is That Chainsaws Are Not Permitted In Carry-On Bags
What We Can Tell You Is That Chainsaws Are Not Permitted In Carry-On Bags by TSA

Amazing images of the Sun! Just released first images from the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope reveal unprecedented detail of the Sun’s surface and preview the world-class products to come from this preeminent 4-meter solar telescope. NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope, on the summit of Haleakala, Maui, in Hawai‘i, will enable a new era of solar science and a leap forward in understanding the Sun and its impacts on our planet.

Sun's Surface

PERSONAL FINANCE

This is a great presentation on technology by Benedict Evans.

In my line of work, well, we must worry about biases all the time. And here are even more of them than you imagined. I had no idea that these have been expanded! 50 Cognitive Biases in the Modern World. Google and IKEA effect anyone?

50 Cognitive Biases in the Modern World

ODDZ & ENDZ

Amazing video showing tsetse flies having sex and giving birth, it will shock you!

If you read the whole thing and you are not crying, well, I am going to think you may be an alien. Mars? Their Son’s Heart Saved His Life. So He Rode 1,426 Miles to Meet Them. You have been warned!

Watch all the Super Bowl Ads. Are ads getting worse or is it just me?

Morons are everywhere. Watch these women celebrating Brexit, WTF to oblivion!

I only went fishing once. Lets just say, I found it excruciatingly boring. Hey, we are all different. But I recently saw that you can now fish by watching what happens in the water with an underwater camera. Well, that sounds a hell of a lot more appealing to me. Because I am a visual person lol. Here is the Amazon link for the GoFish underwater camera <—-AFFILIATE LINK.

BLOG BUZZ

We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.

So, bloggers blog to death how you can spend money on booking “meetings” with Marriott in December to achieve certain elite statuses (and of course pumping their Marriott credit cards in the posts!) and then Marriott in late January starts applying their new rule not to allow any elite nights awarded retroactively. Bloggers get mad, call out the shady Marriott move, but WAIT! They still think all the Marriott credit cards are amazing and you can get lots of Bonvoy points so you can stay for freeeeeeee. The Points Guy has made millions this way, so many suckers out there…

The Points Guy pivoting to personal finance, brace yourselves! “What is an emergency fund and why does it matter?“. Just had to check that one to make sure they did not say something like “an emergency fund is a stack of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards and Citibank Thank You Points and here is how you can do it! LINKLINKLINKLINKLINK…to oblivion!

My daughter was just accepted straight into the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, which was her main goal. So, needless to say, she is very happy and so are the proud parents. Still waiting to hear back from three east coast schools but it will take some amazing offers to pay…out of state tuition when we can handle in state tuition at the school her brother went and…we can keep an eye on her living a few miles away.

I am still in awe of what I saw at the SuperBowl. Shakira and JLo I mean lol. Nice to see Andy Reid finally win a trophy.

One of the bands I liked growing up was quirky (hey, fits my personality!) Gang of Four. We lost the awesome guitarist Andy Gill at the young age of 64 over the weekend. Here is one of their songs:

Gang of Four – Damaged Goods

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.

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Comments

  1. Bethany says

    Thank you! And love the apology. I worry more that “Us bloggers” will kill the Mlife match and then people will really be pissed.

    • Brenton says

      People get surprisingly upset when they stop being able to get things for free b/c too many other people got the same thing for free and the policy changed…

        • Brenton says

          It seems that Southwest only raised the requirements to correspond to increases in sign up bonuses, so I have a feeling it’s here to stay unless bloggers try reallllllly hard to kill it.

  3. ABC says

    back in the late 90s a baby was born on my transatlantic flight to JFK. Always wondered if that child would automatically be a US citizen since the baby first touched ground in NY.

    Congratulation to the state of Kansas for winning the fossball game.

    I was hoping for shakira/Jlo wardrobe malfunction.

  4. Carl Pietrantonio says

    Gotta say here that there are never articles about *good* AIRBNB experiences, of which more than 99% of them are. Why? Good news is no news. Just got back from a LONG trip, as you know. Other than a few nights in hotels here and there (Freeeeee!!), I stayed in 10 different AIRBNBs. One of them for 6 weeks, even!

    Were all of them great? No, there were a couple problems, but all minor and mostly all fixed after I contacted the host. One I would not stay again, but I was warm, safe, and all so not that big a deal. One needs must be a bit flexible…

    AND! Read carefully both the descriptions and look at the photos and be ready to complain or contact AIRBNB, but only if necessary. If one pays close attention to the listings, and also reads how AIRBNB works, if one is a newbie, then the chance of being scammed is very low indeed, as well as a low chance that you will not get what you are looking for.

    It’s a pretty good system, really. I had one of my stays in Bologna that was SO much better than what I had signed on for, and that was pretty good that if that place is ever available when I return, I’ll stay there again.

    That, plus after having been an AIRBNB host for most of the last 3-4 years, I have to say it has made my life a lot better as well.

    So if you have not tried it, I would say to do so. You might be surprised!

    • Brenton says

      How often do you see articles written about something working the way it’s supposed to, most of the time?

      • TBBTheDude says

        Guys, sure, great points.

        But lets just say you are looking forward to a special vacation. And then it comes down to booking lodging. Just reading the ordeals laid out with these scams compared to a chain hotel and points you have…and you have a VERY solid idea of what to expect and boom, you book it and be done with it…instead of having to carefully read the reviews to make sure there are no scams involved…

        Having said that, I have had about 5 stays in Airbnbs, all in Greece. And they were fine. But I am kind of liking the predictability of a hotel lately…plus the fitness/exercise availability too.

  5. Sam says

    Hey Buzz-

    I don’t get it. On Twitter, I’ve seen very negative comments about the halftime show. Most of these complaints are by women, in many cases women of achievement-head of a financial planning firm, CEO of a tech company, a doctor who specializes in exotic diseases.

    Now these gals are often flying around the country preaching inclusion for women, and yet when the NFL tries to give women a prominent place in their big party, we get the complaints. “Almost naked”. Well Shakira was not almost naked-I clearly saw her red G string. And they got to be in on the sports side too-J Lo is a lock on winning to over 50 pole dancing gold in Tokyo.

    What up with this?

  6. TBBTheDude says

    Wife applied for a Chase Freedom Unlimited card on January 21st. Recording STILL says “in two weeks”. Wow…come on Chase!

    • ABC says

      CC is probably made in ChInA. Everybody is working from home there. And sadly, there’s no way to ink CCs at home.

      Who was trading from home in Shanghai and pulled down the market 7%???? Communists need better control over their traders. Meanwhile Dow Jones is immune to the corona virus.

      WTF was Elon thinking when he tweeted Tesla 420. He’s clearly underestimating the growth potential of his own stock. GM must be wondering wtf is happening.

        • BigMikeIsFrisky says

          wonder what happened in 2016? We need Mike more than ever. Tell me more about that racist stop and frisk and how we are gonna bring that to all cities in the US when Judge Judy and Mayor Mike rule the land.

            • BigMikeIsFrisky says

              knock knock
              Who’s there?
              Mike
              Mike who?
              The racist NYC mayor who stopped and frisked people of color
              why?
              Because they were people of color?
              But isnt that racist?
              No because he says he is a democrat

  7. Craig at Middle Age Miles says

    Many thanks for the link to our article on the Wyndham-Caesars match, TBB. Hopefully the deal will stick around for a while, for those who are industrious and smart enough to read our outstanding sites 🙂 Also, great graphic on cognitive biases – really enjoyed that one. ~Craig

  8. GringoLoco says

    Congrats to your daughter!

    I have no complaints with AirBnB but just last week discovered a Craigslist vacation rental scam. Guy is offering a place in Hawai’i in March for $100/night. Every other unit is $350+ or occupied.

    And … I’ve known the actual owner for over 25 years.

    #TBBon

  10. FullMoon says

    This professional, accomplished female found that halftime show AWESOME.
    I, for one, cried like a baby over the Google Loretta ad.
    And congrats to your daughter for gaining the specific university entrance she most sought!

    • TBBTheDude says

      Gracias…

      I did not have the same reaction with Google’s ad…

      It was the best show since…Prince 🙂

      Nice come back from Moroon 5 which was…traumatic lol.

  12. IowaCaucus says

    Cant even get the Iowa vote right. I guess sometimes its harder to rig their election than it was in 2016. Yeah! Democrats

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