TravelBloggerBuzz

An eclectic journey through the Travel Miles/Points blogosphere

Dolomites, Prepaid Debit cards, more Sears promos, JetBlue pro family, North Korean ordinary people, secrets

By

TBB Mission: To Entertain, Educate and Inspire. Aim to at least do one well!

 

This blog has been a labor of love so far. If you like what you see here, please let others know by passing them a link to my blog, thank you!

 

TRAVEL

Ordinary people of North Korea. By Memolition. I can not stand the way they lay out the picture but hey, it is North Korea we are talking about! Fascinating pictures!

north_korea_134_1 north_korea_66_1

 

To new readers: I have been fascinated by North Korea for many years. It is the absurdity of the whole country I think…Actually, I have no idea, I think I am just an oddly weird person myself! So when I saw that there is an Instagram account of an Associated Press photo journalist based in NK I thought I would share it with you.

Nicely laid out travel guides. By The Selfish Years.

Why I ‘m never flying again. By Quartz (which I find to be an outstanding news site with non US Centric points of view). Obviously, this will not be adhered to by almost everyone reading TBB. But I think it is very important to comprehend the consequences of our actions. I repent now for all the mileage runs I have done for the sake of earning miles/status; I was a very bad man. Thought about inserting smiley but I did not think it was appropriate!  A reader speculated that the real reason was that this guy was quoted he had to spend one million miles for a trip to Hawaii on Delta 🙂

Italy’s Dolomite Mountains Timelapse video. Stunning. Found here

GoPro Dolomites 2013 from Matteo Zanvettor on Vimeo.

 

MILES/POINTS

Mile Nerd recommended Shrewd Travel for award booking. Add another one in this crowded field.

Prepaid Debit Cards Shed Some Fees, but Face Scrutiny. By the New York Times. It is interesting fascinating watching the development of this fairly new industry. Now AMEX is shooting some life into its Serve product by allowing it to be directly loaded at the cash register (waiting for the potentially juicy details!). When we are allowed to hold a Serve AND Bluebird card at the same time please someone ping me, thanks!

Up to 36x at Sears through Oct 12. By Frequent Miler. Now it is American Airlines Miles. I ran out of time two days ago to earn United Miles. Maybe I will get to this in time. I made the first step, I joined Plink! Yes, this would be a perfect place to pimp my referral link with two caveats: 1) I can’t find it and 2) Not sure this is a big deal, let’s see if this is still in business in a year. In other words, burn asap!

Jetblue started Family Pooling of miles. This programs is continuing to get away from its defining theme…simplicity.

 

ON MY MIND

First time to a blogger conference next Thursday. Full of financial bloggers. And I am a personal finance person who blogs about Travel and points/miles. I already feel so weird about it!

 

ODDZ & ENDZ

10 Types of 30 year old single guys. By wait but why. Fun read!

Cell tower after epic snowstorm. By Twisted Sifter. OMG!

cell-phone-telecommunications-tower-covered-in-wind-blown-ice

 

BLOG BUZZ

Note: This section is intended for long time readers and miles/points addicts who follow the blogs in this space.  Readers not familiar with this crazy hobby could skip this section! Do not take anything personal. TBB reviews blogs and tries to entertain above all. Call me Siskel.  Furthermore, a link appearing in this section is TBB approved! The rest are just TBB crap; don’t take them too seriously, it’s mostly entertainment!  You feel hurt the entertainment is on you? Well, excuse moi, perhaps you should try to earn the link if you are so sensitive with what appears in your blog, no one is stopping you!

It appears that there are changes in the murky affiliate world. It appears that there will be even more bloggers who can’t get any bank links as it appears that they want to deal only with mega pumpers. Which totally frustrates everyone but the mega pumpers. First, you can’t survive in this space if you do not pump. Then you can’t just do a little pump here and there, you need to keep pumping MEGA time! This explains the latest pumping going on. I also got a hold of Synergy’s creditcards.com banner affiliate program and the restrictions imposed on the bloggers are downright ridiculous! And late on Thursday Travel Summary posted this: “I’m Losing My Affiliate Links“. Next week at the blogger conference I should know more.

We are just in Part 2 of 11 of the trip report at Million Mile Secrets. It cracks me up when I read stuff like this: The architecture was so pretty. Pic is next with caption “The Architecture Of The Hotel Was So Pretty“. Come on!!! So many instances like this; if you are going to say the same thing in the caption why bother at all, once is enough! Imho of course.

Points, Mile & Martinis inserted a Delta Reserve card in a guest blog post. And then topped many many posts with the most ridiculous post in a very long time. Headline was get 15% in a Buckhead restaurant (never heard of it). That is nice I guess for you to tell us all about how to save 15% and then Bang, bang, bang…here come 14 affiliate cc links and three cards without any links (ooh, so so bad not to get paid for them too). Pump it up! How can anyone be proud of (imho) crap like this?

Holy cow, Travis of Extra Pack of Peanuts won the Launchpoint competition at Frequent Flyer University, wow! I never thought of the idea of an app to rate wifi. It would appear it is ripe for gaming it (but so it is yelp I guess). Good to see miles/points bloggers focusing elsewhere other than pumping cards. Wished more of you go this route #megahint lol.  Ok, Travis is talented and I still remember his funny video on how he loaded Vanilla Reload cards onto Bluebird cards. So, here is his video for his app idea Bolt. Imho, you are all over the field dude, focus focus focus.

The new round of Milepoint Premium Membership offers are out. All for $49. Bunch of little benefits that, if applicable to you, may add up to a good deal. If you get it through my link I get a gyro sandwich w/ tzatziki sauce on the side (I appreciate your support!). Kidding…

Finally, I apologize to everyone about letting you know about a hack I discovered and then telling you “I can’t tell you”. I can’t stand it when people do that to me…so I totally understand! I should have kept my mouth shut. But this is the first time I discover something as a BLOGGER. And I need to tell you I am struggling big time to reconcile my conflicting thoughts. Before, I would tell some trusted friends. But it would so easily create red flags. I am surprised no one has thought of it. Or they are just keeping it quiet like I should have done. And it is really not a big deal at all as this particular “vendor” is not present everywhere (all I know is they are everywhere in SE Michigan!). So, to all of you who tried to get me to spill the secret….I am sorry to disappoint you! Please do not try again. I need to sit on it for a while. I have so neglected and missed on so many earning and burning opportunities since I started TBB, let alone almost not making any money at all….at least, spare me the criticism, let me fill up my “cards” before the 15th of the month for a change without having to sweat it. Yes, I am talking about Vanilla Reload cards. Here is the spontaneous comment  I posted at Frequent Miler’s blog (comment #36):

 

I am tormented on what to do.

I have found a VR way with a unique angle. If I post it online it will not last long. If I keep quiet, I am sure it will eventually come out and some other blogger will get all the glory :-)

Friends have asked me and I told them please don’t, I have a family of four to take care of :-)

Am I being selfish for keeping it all to myself? I am not in the business of revealing secrets and this is one of the very few times I personally have come up with one. Or maybe you guys all know about it and this whole CVSing is a smoke screen :-)

And no I did not steal this from Flyer Talk.

Am I going to be painted as yet another blogger killing deals?

Seriously folks, I am having some major moral dilemmas right now.

I should have kept my mouth shut :-)

 

I leave you with this.

End the nonsense!
End the nonsense!

 

Filed Under: TBB

Comments

  3. TWA44 says

    “I joined Plink! Yes, this would be a perfect place to pimp my referral link with two caveats: 1) I can’t find it” – This really did make me laugh out loud!

  4. Oliver2002 says

    George, gentlemen don’t kiss & tell applies to secrets too. If you get to know something its time to shut up and tell your ‘circle of trust’ and no one else. Blogging about it is plain stoopid….

    • TravelBloggerBuzz says

      Sure, if I was a blogger pushing cards for $200 a pop I wouldn’t care about this at all. But this could be my “coming out” moment, the defining blog post (just like FM’s was for his Office Depot 5x). Pretty soon offers to speak at conferences/seminars and IB mega offers to buy my site so I can then mail it in once a week lol.

      I am having fun with this. You would not believe what people have tried to make spill the beans…This crowd just amazes me, a bunch of weirdo crack addicts…it resembles.

      Hi from Panera store 1135 🙂

  5. Mark says

    No conflict. No need to share. Do a little work on it, see how it goes. After you get tired of it, maybe you give a few hints. Or maybe not. Nobody can blame you or get upset.

  6. carrie says

    I agree, I am also kind of fascinated in North Korea. Ever read “Escape from Camp 14?” That’s what peaked my horror/fascination/bewilderment/what-have-you.

  7. Frequent Miler says

    George, I’d be happy to talk through with you the pros and cons of publishing your find. I won’t blog about it. Let me know when you’re available. I would have liked to have gone to FinCon but things are too hectic right now (just moved to a new house and still living out of boxes…)

  8. Steve says

    It’s Friday, which must mean it’s time for experts to show you how to have big travel with small money…

    “I’m a relative newbie to the miles and points game. I started collecting in September of 2012”

    • Steve says

      Read LL’s analysis – more or less spot-on. Nothing in there was really that far off the mark

      Those posters on MP who were “offended” by it need to chill

      MP has been a failure, and LL has no conflict of interest or bias towards either FT or MP. This isn’t like Rick talking about FTU

  10. ramsey law says

    Boy another waste of time interview on MMS. They even deleted my one word “meh” comment> MMS is a golden goose> why is it so neglected

    • ramsey says

      Just a thought on Frequent Miler, he is in a league of his own when it comes to generating points. Maybe he is in a world of his own….He is from Ann Arbor, where ALIENS landed back in 1966, It wasn’t “Swamp Gas” like they said in the cover-up. Perhaps he is a love child from that close encounter…………..My wife and I watched a show on the History Channel 2 last week named I KNOW WHAT I SAW, a film by James Fox. We never believed in UFO’s but now believe UFO’s exist, I am not kidding !!!!! Most of the show featured retired (they can now speak without fear of losing their jobs or hurting their careers) Generals, Colonials, Politicians, FAA and NASA heads, Astronauts and others of high integrity from around the world. THESE ARE NOT interviews with BILLYBOB in the woods. There are now about 4 billion cameras/phones out there and social media to share pics with …. Buzz the day is coming soon where we will know for sure….WE ARE NOT ALONE…..hey this comment is about travel, so it’s relevant. Editor note, we were enjoying our Hawaiian Vacation trip souvenir Maui Wowi while enjoying this show, made this show even scarier.

      • TravelBloggerBuzz says

        I always believed that we are not alone. No joke. And I am not under the influence of Wowi either…as I am typing this it is 4.52 pm on Friday…The weekend is almost here, Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwi 🙂

    • Steve says

      “They even deleted my one word “meh” comment>”

      I think we have a new leader for the most over-the-top censoring of a comment

      If FlexOffers removes their affiliate program, will he suddenly go back to merely being a boring writer, and not a boring writer who censors, plagiarizies and uses his mother-in-law as a pawn to pimp credit cards?

    • Anon says

      I think I have figured out his system – if you look at the first few interviews, they were with some of the bigger names in the miles and points industry (he did this to grow his own blog as he knew those interviewed would crosspost the link for the interview – and it did grow). Now, look at the interviews he has done over the past year – most of the interviewees were newbies in the points world or relative unknowns (no offense to those here who were interviewed). I mean, check out Donnie Law – the guy has been posting comments so heavily on MMS he was practically begging for an interview. The current crop of interviews are done with people that do not pose any threat to the MMS business (not like the first interviews he did to get noticed).
      So, first part was to gain recognition and blog readership – now that he has it, he only caters to the little guys as it gives him an easy filler (never changes the questions). My $.02 anyway (actually only worth about $.00765 these days).

      • TravelBloggerBuzz says

        I think you make a great point! I wonder if he will still allow mine. Not that I have taken time to answer the questions. I hate canned questions everyone else answers…I appreciate originality I guess 🙂

  11. Nguyen says

    Congratulations on finding the new “VR Hack.” You can always write an article about it now and publish it whenever you feel that the time is right. I already knew that you filed the “patent right” for it yesterday when you commented on the FM blog 🙂 Looking forward for some fillers about your Financial Conference next week. Thanks.

    • TravelBloggerBuzz says

      There are so many articles to write and so little time. I am scared to check my Feedly unread number, I have been so busy all day long…Part of it was…making miles and money lol.

      I need to regroup this weekend. I hope I learn more about this blogging stuff next week. My goal is to make it to 1 year anniversary as a blogger (November 9). I think I have proved to myself I can do it. And then get back to the real world…

      Actually, I have no idea what the future holds….

      #developing
      #always

  12. Andrew @ LenticularTravel says

    The so-called “world of bloggers” makes me sick to my stomach. When I started I had no idea. It reminds me a big kindergarten sandbox with tons of bullies and assholes, when a new shy kid comes and begs for attention, they all ignore him of course as they are so much higher, incredible.
    I feel really bad for all the new kids. I’m guilty also, I reached out to a few to help me promote my Bora Bora series. I thought I’m writing the most detailed up-to-date series about a great destination, the travel bloggers should be interested right? No way, it’s all business, they don’t want to lose any clicks. If something is shaping up to be better than their sites, it’s only seen as competition, no community here what so ever. That’s why the boarding area bloggers only support themselves. If they get kicked by all the banks big time, it would clean up the space and only those who really have something to say would survive. Wouldn’t be such a bad thing…

    • Andy Shuman @ Lazy Travelers says

      I hear you, but no matter how good you are, no one will help a newbie to get into a sanctum circle :). Not in a blogging world, not anywhere. My attitude is when you do meet someone who gives you a hand, treat it like a little miracle with a lot of gratitude. That’s why I will always be grateful to some very few people who helped me when my book got out, for example. That includes some folks who some of you guys love to hate so much on these pages :).

      • Andrew @ LenticularTravel says

        I wrote that inspired by a Florida report by a new girl “milesforfamily”, a really nice girl.
        This is a disappointing report, she is trying to be very correct, but it sounds like a bunch
        of douche bags, no doubt… She was not “allowed” to approach them for the most part…

        • Anon says

          Sorry, but she entered this “world” with a chip on her shoulder and trying to sound like the little girl swinging away at the big guys (reread her MMS interview about and just about all of her posts – she is constantly on edge and ranting about something). You walk into any company of people like that (cyber or real life) and you will have people ignore you because they do not know what to think of you. She has already created herself as a girl with a chip (maybe she could rename her blog that? 🙂 – no way she walks that back without trying for a long time.

          • Anon says

            Follow up – this is the line from her most recent post “They are too embarrassed to admit openly, that I am good, because it would cost them the coolness factor.” speaking of male bloggers
            I am not being mean, but she is not a good miles and points blogger. She mostly blogs about controversy that she tries to stir up so I wouldn’t consider her blog to be a good miles and points blog at all. If she left comments like that out and just concentrated on her stated purpose as a blogger, maybe then she would be good.

            • Anonymous says

              This is what I mean in my post below. Regardless of whether or not it would be true, the big boys aren’t reading the blogs mentioned. You think they read all 1,000+ miles and points blogs? So besides the arrogance in the statement you quote Anon, it’s not likely that the other bloggers are reading her every day. They aren’t getting their info there. They have successful award booking businesses and have been doing this for years…

              So I say, step back, chill. Then realize that they have actual lives, are busy, and don’t read 1,000 blogs daily.

              But, BA bloggers on HT BA bloggers despite original sources. I can agree to that.

    • TravelBloggerBuzz says

      This is a murky world. I think it is even murkier because it is…online! And when dollars and livelihoods come into play this becomes a very competitive place!

      I long for the day the banks get out of this space so most of these bloggers go back to their real jobs and spare me the agony looking at their crap 🙂

      Sometimes I get so disgusted I am thinking WTF am I doing here? 🙂

    • Anonymous says

      Everything you say is true. People aren’t going to write articles about your good article.

      But, you are also assuming people you are angry at have read your articles. Really, there are dozens and dozens of blogs and I personally don’t have time to read but 2 or 3, and not even regularly. So there is a good chance that the people you are hoping have seen it, haven’t. Or they didn’t actually read all of it (you compete with the back button and cat memes) and therefore don’t know how good it is.

      But never the less, it’s full of big heads and businessmen dressed like hobbyist.

      • Andrew @ LenticularTravel says

        I have to give credit where credit is due – both Daraius and Gary L. got back to me, thanks! I hope everyone plays nice to each other, it’s a small world and there is room for quite a few angles on this game, somehow I felt really bad for the new milesforfamily girl…

  13. Andy Shuman @ Lazy Travelers says

    “I repent now for all the mileage runs I have done for the sake of earning miles/status; I was a very bad man.”

    Nah. Mileage runs are not bad, they are simply stupid. Well, unless you only need that ONE flight to keep your status (please, please, please, do NOT hurt me for saying that). Now, forgive me for not having tears in my eyes, but I want you to try to imagine that instead of boarding ONE plane, all those hundreds of your fellow passengers fire up their cars and go on a cross-country trip. How’s that mental picture working for ya :)?

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