Let’s go on a wild ride again and travel to Dildo, Scotland, bunch of scary places, learn more on why United is struggling, hack Starbucks, the Family Travel for Real Life seminar speaker list is out, laugh at an interview with Citibank’s CEO, watch Alex Honnold climb up a storm. And the popular new TBB Frontline Report exposing the ridiculous influence credit card marketing operations have unleashed into my dear hobby.
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order
You can support TBB by clicking/forwarding any of our Referral Links and starting your online shopping at our Amazon affiliate link . Or click on the Amazon Banner on the right, thank YOU!
I can still refer readers to the following cards: Starwood SPG Amex Personal, Starwood SPG Amex Business, Chase Freedom. These do not pay me any dinero other than 5k points. You still get the highest offer out there (30k SPG points/ 20k Chase UR points). So please email me with your name and email address or send me a Direct Message on Twitter or use my own link from twitter. Thank you and a huge thank you for the ones who have allowed me to refer you already!
If you see a blogger pumping these cards without stating this opportunity they are only doing it to pocket the big $$ if you use their affiliate links (5k pts from referral? Pffft). As long as you are aware of this, and you still decide to use their links, that’s cool. It does not stop me from thinking you are perpetuating relentless marketing barrages inflicted to the masses…so thanks! You are still welcome here, there is still hope for you if you stick around 🙂
Online Travel Review wrote “Do We Even Know Why United Airlines is Struggling Relative to its Peers?“. Great commentary and imho right on target. But what do I know? I do “tabloid journalism for the .2% of angry’s” around here LOL.
Travel Blawg wrote “My ULTIMATE Starbucks Tips List! 18+ Tips To Enjoy Starbucks And Save Money” – If you are a Starbucks customer you should read this!
Looks like the new “Family Travel for Real Life” seminar speaker line up is all set. And it’s looking pretty darn good, great job Dia of Deal Mommy!
Personal Finance Digest with a funny interview with Citibank’s CEO. You can read stuff like this or you can read all the endless credit card pumping blog posts (see Frontline Report below) masquerading as “travel expert” advice!
24 of the most creepy places on the planet to look down. By the CHIVE. Wow, incredible views, I have even done some of them.
25 Reasons Why Scotland Must Be on Your Bucket List. By Bored Panda. Amazingly beautiful pictures!
Living true with Alex Honnold. At The Adventure Blog. The rock climbing legend in another video.
The Town Named After a Sex Toy: Dildo. At priceonomics. It actually exists! This is some funny stuff!
How to Respond to criticism. At the Toast. This is hilarious!
TBB BLOG FRONTLINE REPORT
Full Disclosure: I am very biased against travel blogger “experts” who have turned into a product distribution arm of the credit card marketing departments of major banks. I did a more thorough investigative report about the subject and you can read it here: The “Travel” Miles/Points Blogosphere Has Turned Into a Giant Credit Card Pumpization Scheme!”
The entries below are posted in chronological order, from earliest to latest as they gouged my eyes in Feedly. I list the blog and the headline and my comments in brackets. This is for pure educational and entertainment motives, definitely not inspirational lol.
Million Mile Secrets – Limited Time: Earn Bonus Points Referring Credit Cards to Friends & Family [Wow, is this slick or what? I am going to post about how you can earn 5k points if you refer others to credit cards. While I show you how to do it I am going to insert twenty (yes 20!) affiliate credit card links for the same cards (plus a few of the mucho dinero paying Chase Ink cards) hoping (expecting) that some of my idiot readers will apply from my own affiliate links increasing my bottom line. I like to keep my readers in the dark how I get paid. Hey, I am the blogger who has a disclosure up front. I took out my lame reference to my mother in law and added the vague “American Express is a blog advertising partner”. I ignored the 11 comments posted because I am too busy preparing more credit card posts (see below)]
Deals We Like – Amex Daily Getaways: Stay at The Palazzo or The Venetian for Less [ Hey, it is easy content. We just want to tell our readers how they can get a “deal” for suites for $300/night at The Palazzo and $250/night at The Venetian. We decided not to pump our affiliate cards again hoping to get this weird TBB guy to give us a break. Doing so (not getting paid) it hurts…it hurts so much #sadface]
Deals We Like – 10% off Travel Pony Hotel Reservations [ We just could not hold ourselves back from earning some more money towards our own hotel expenses from yet another obscure travel startup website that is likely not going to stick around for another year. 10% off, what a deal! First 1,000 only so hurryyyyyyy! So gracious to allow readers to post their own referral links in the comments…but nobody bothered. Next!]
Milevalue – How to Book Singapore Business Class to Europe This Summer [ Look, we only get paid by pushing credit cards by Barclays Bank. So, we spend all day thinking about excuses to make posts pushing Barclays cards and making an ass of ourselves trying to sound informative and helpful to our readers who don’t know any better getting them to click on our Barclays affiliate links. All Barclays credit cards are amazing, who needs Amex or Chase credit cards, they suck! Long live Barclays!]
Mighty Travels – Introduction Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® – Sign-Up Bonus, Reconsideration Numbers, Application Links [Cut and paste from Barclays. I actually like this better than to try to find excuses to sell the card. Here it is, buy it. Please. ]
Million Mile Secrets – Today Only: Save on Las Vegas Packages [Hey, great excuse to pump six of our Amex credit cards so our readers can save 10% buying these crappy deals. I bet my Amazon link that this crap would have never been posted if the blog did not have Amex credit cards to sell. At least no Emily pics lately, so I see this as a positive. I am so sick of this Daily Getaways crap, I can’t wait to see them end! ]
Frugal Travel Guy – My Bucket List Vacation Plans for 2015 [ Bad advice again by a paid writer who just happened to be writing “thinking out oud”. Gets called out in the comments and doesn’t take it very well (see a pattern?). Hey, get your facts straight and maybe you would not get called out! Needless to say comments critical of content would be deleted and get you banned at Delta Points…proudly I may add! Who cares anyway, some sucker probably clicked on the Barclays Arrival and the two Starwood SPG Amex cards. So…don’t be a sucker. Or a tool.]
Mommy Points – How to Pick up a Hotel Loyalty Program: Club Carlson [ Of course we are going to write about this as the Club Carslon credit card is the one we sell, click it. Oh wait, let me squeeze some more money from TopCashBack and ebates referrals too. Actually, this post had decent content to go along with them but….talk about what drives content these days huh?]
Mommy Points -Saving More on Hotels with Travel Pony 10% Off Code Returns Today [So, what was I saying?…]
Million Mile Secrets – Act Quick! First 1,000 Customers Save 10% on Discounted Hotel Bookings With TravelPony [Okay, you knew that was coming right? Only this blogger (so far) managed to insert two credit card links in addition to the Travel Pony referral link. ]
Frugal Travel Guy – Reminder: Register for Chase Freedom 5% Cash Back Quarterly Bonus [ What did you expect? Today’s product to push out the door is the Chase Freedom card. Did you know this site gets paid a couple of hundred dollars (guessing) for every credit card it sells? No? Well, you are a tool. Applying for it from this site only assures you will get pumped more credit card product till the cows come home! One more thing: Of course do not expect to be told that you can have a current Chase Freedom credit card holder refer you and have him/her earn just 5k Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Take a stand, let me refer you and bypass these credit card marketing departments!]
One Mile at a Time – Register For 5% Cash Back On Dining With Chase Freedom [ They are all getting into it now! I am a luxury travel blogger and I pretend I like the Chase Freedom card for just 5% on $1,500 spend on a few categories per quarter. I want to be like MMS so I am going to insert a few other Chase credit card links hoping some reader will buy these cards too! Nada on the 5k referrals of course.]
One Mile at a Time – Buy One Get One Free Movie Tickets With Visa Signature Card [ The only reason this post was published was to pump most of these cards. WTF!!
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card
British Airways Visa Signature® Card
Chase Freedom® (some versions – check your card)
Chase Hyatt Visa Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Reserve Card
Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature® Card
Fairmont Visa Signature Credit Card
Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card
Southwest Airlines® Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
The New Virgin America Visa Signature® Credit Cards
United MileagePlus® Explorer Card
The Points Guy – Can I Earn Multiple Signup Bonuses for Southwest Cards? [Click on my Chase Southwest credit card links!]
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TBB
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First?
Knew it…that it was a matter of time!
Gotta stop doing things not on my computer. Losing my touch.
Get it together!
Monkey knife fights just got some upgraded weaponry!
Pardon?
The last .gif, it looks like a monkey knife fight but one of them got a lightsaber
Yeah sorry about that. For some reason I thought I had the monkeys queued up for Wednesday’s blog post. This is what happens when you see so many credit card links. And so many soccer games!
Airfare Watchdog is on a twitter “carry on bags limit” rampage. Good stuff there.
Ok, thanks for the heads up.
Must have been a slow news week that all those CC link filler posts come out 🙂 I take it your feedly is working again 😉
Feedly is back….still not as stable as it was…Hey good luck today, hope the Germans slap the Ronaldo gang silly!
Stop linking people to the inferior Hyatt card offer! You can get a $50 statement credit still by doing a mock US booking. See the FT thread. I bet you’ll censor this….
Oh, and I got the bonus for a second time last week.
Great, I updated the post. I thought the $50 credit was over.
U saying u got the 2 free nights again? Same hyatt GP #? Canceled the first one first (and waited how long?).
Thanks for the heads up, TBB and TBB readers appreciate it!
Looong time between apps, but same Hyatt GP account. Applied 10/10, cancelled 11/12, applied for the new card last month. Nights posted about four days after spending $1K (with Serve).
Sweet, good to know!
Fairmont #hint
Will take the gamble with Fairmont as soon as we’re heading back to Maui/Big Island.
That is called churning and you are not supposed to do that you naughty person!!! Good blogs that want you to travel well for less money will not tell you about this, they are looking after your welfare
Remember when blogs actually used that term?
Yes 🙂
Vintage TBB!
And the last gif was TBB beating bloggers into submission I presume 😉
Hahah, nice thought process 🙂
This Frontline stuff is not sustainable as they just never stop pumping.
Kind of sad to watch these marketing departments…
At least I am trying to make it a little fun. If they don’t like it, they can stop pumping so much #hint
Catching up on blogs. Hmmm.. No weekend FTG piece from Andy. Maybe he finally got smart and got away from that epic trainwreck.
I believe Andy’s in Brazil for the futebol at the moment.
Yeah, he is having a great time in Brazil. He is keeping up with his own blog.
George, it sounds like you don’t think those fact checkers that IB got for the blog are doing their jobs well. They must know as much about the game as Howie knows about redeeming avios. Oh boyy..
They NEVER get the credit card links wrong, you can bank on that (pun intended)
TBB writes “One Mile at a Time … The only reason this post was published was to pump all of these cards. WTF!!” and proceeds to list a bunch of non-affiliate cards (Alaska, Hyatt, Fairmont, Virgin America) WTF!! At least get your facts right, George 😀
If just one clicked on a Chase card link the post achieved its purpose 😉
I sent you a coffee on Thursday 🙂
Thank you!
What a compliment to make TBBs “DOs I like” list. Now click my link…to buy a ticket 😉
I liked the line up! Gotta watch that Phil guy before he goes all Maldives on you guys 😉
The Maldives won’t be around much longer. It’s an opportunity for the kids to experience the consequences of global warming first hand. One could make the argument that a visit to the the arctic would be more impactful and allow them to really experienced the rapid consequences of global warming and also envision how maps will be redrawn in the next few years http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UFZJDPUyvm4
During the summer the kids can intern at a newspaper (while this is still an opportunity).
Excuse me I am still on Cloud 9 from the USA win in the World Cup and my own team’s proudly named “Gasping for Air” subsequent beating of our nemesis 6-2. Yours truly scored 2 goals and assisted in another. Felt so inspired by Team USA what can I say?
RE: DeltaPoints (or “Rene’s Delta Points”) and Southwest… I also find WN to be great and used to be a CP holder. Not using them as much lately but the “Greyhound of the skies” comment makes me laugh as I’m actually on an $15 Greyhound trip ($17.50 after fees) to Portland because it made more sense than Amtrak or a flight. Also enjoying WiFi and fairly comfortable seats… In Portland my SO and I will be staying at a $40 a night Airbnb apartment in an actual neighborhood… So talking smack about WN (and Greyhound) may serve to reinforce DP’s delusions of grandeur, but I am happy using the likes of WN and even Greyhound if and when they make sense. Fitting, I suppose that WN overflies DP’s home airport of SBN — on the plus side, he would be able to catch an actual Greyhound bus from SBN, as well as several other bus options (and even the South Shore line) which works really well for trips between SBN and downtown Chicago.
Also, thanks for the link about UA. That airline just seems to keep getting worse (so much for “United Rising”) but I also enjoyed Rohan from Upgrd’s rant about United: http://upgrd.com/aerospace/talk-is-cheap-so-it-works-perfectly-for-united.html
Have a good week!
@Hua, you should also look at BoltBus. It’s another great way to move up and down the Pac NW for very little money. Have fun in Portland! Bring umbrella this week. 🙁
Thanks — I narrowly missed getting soaked during a stop in Centralia. I have looked into Bolt Bus for other trips but they didn’t pick up from where I originated (Tacoma in this case) but I view it as a viable option for possible future trips.
Do you know what the relationship is between Greyhound and Bolt? I seem to remember seeing a Bolt Bus parked in Seattle awhile back that said “Operated by GLI, Dallas, TX” or something along those lines. Found the answer myself… According to their FAQ “BoltBus is owned by Greyhound Lines, Inc. and is operated in the Northeast region in partnership with Peter Pan Bus Lines, Inc. of Springfield, MA.”
This Portlander is taking the Bolt Bus r/t Philly-DC in Sept, after a tip from The DealMommy (thanks again, Dia!). Super cheap (one ticket was $1 and another $3). I just hope it will be safe; the safety record could be better…. but we decided to go for it.
With Hua’s arrival, the TBB Fan Club, Portland Branch, just got even bigger. Hua, Welcome to the Rose City, aka Stumptown, aka the Bridge City, aka Little Beirut, aka the Carousel City…. there are more but they escape me at the moment. The weather should improve as the week goes on.
I love Portland…I also loved the 90s too 🙂
We have Megabus in the Midwest. I usually get tickets to Chicago for $5.50 one way. Nice ride, nice bus, wifi, dropoff at Union Station.
Never tried Megabus, either — sounds like a great deal, though! Although I did once get a WN flight from MDW to DTW for $25!
Thanks! I love it here… today’s weather, not so much — I swear a helmet and a shield would have been more appropriate for the downpours and hail. 🙂
Woot! This makes my day.
TPG says today that he is about to hit 1m unique visitors per month. On that basis, based on data of my own, I am slightly spooked to say he could be grossing $5m per year.
If he is even making half that, it would be a good guess that numbnuts kickstarter Benlucky would be north of 7 figures. The gall and the balls of that whole affair piss me off so much. ……. Buzz, good work as usual, take the rest of the week off and enjoy some futbol…………Buzz, I have to admit i don’t know my ass from my elbow as far as soccer goes. I worked a charter in 1977 for the NY Cosmos, which supposedly was made up of international superstars. I didn’t recognize any of them except the guy from the Coke commercials, who happened to be wearing a full length white fur coat that would make Liberace envious (Pele). All that was missing was a pimp hat. Nice man, nice smile, didn’t speak a lick of English.
One of the Boarding Area bloggers told me straight out in Charlotte at the DO there that Lucky made over a million. I have no idea why that was shared with me, but it was…
That is crazy. Please donate in my plea to fly the Residence because it is so ridiculous as I can never pay for it lol.
He’s quite full of it. He likely doesn’t know what a ‘unique visitor’ is. I’d believe page views. Even adding up each day’s sessions seems like a stretch.
Don’t be so sure. I do 100k uniques a month in a country 20% of the size. 1m is not crazy given his media profile – I do almost no promotion at all.
I am waiting for ingy to tell me my blog’s metrics 🙂
We clearly don’t know. Everyone can say whatever they want. We can make educated guesses. TPG is over 7 figures and Lucky easy mid 6 figures. Not bad hey, click my links lol
Ramsey: I am all soccer. I live it, I breath it. I grew up with a soccer ball next to me. At summer time that is what we played, from morning till dark. Heck, sometimes we will play after dark under the street lights. I had professional aspirations but was not really that good. I did get a call up for a tryout for the Under 14 Greek national team for our region. Never made it, broke my ankle in an awful way a few weeks before it. Still hurts me to this day.
I was not here for the Cosmos. I have been watching the World Cup since 1978, there is nothing like it. It gets WAY more intense in the elimination games! Buckle up!
I’m surprised there are so many goals. What happened to 1-0 and 0-0 games? An Italian game with 3 goals!
Yeah, I know. This WC has been super awesome so far. I hope it continues…This is like watching three Superbowls every day!
I’m tired of you beating up on milevalue. Well, not really. I’m tired of your never, ever beating up on him for always misspelling the name of the bank with his only credit card affiliate link (apologies if I missed such instances). There is no apostrophe in Barclays. The name is even misspelled in one of the ‘best’ credit card dropdown links. Sometimes lazy proof-reading is worse than recommending low-value personal financial services products for one’s own financial gain; I’ve heard it can kill.
That apostrophe gets me too sometimes, I better highlight it in today’s meeting with the TBB intern team. Just finished making another entry in the Frontline Report about said blog making reference to said bank lol.
Lucky about to shell out $2K for recliner seats on a 5 hour flight, but because he has to pretend he’s an average joe, he needs to “ask his readers” whether he should do it, as if he hasn’t already decided
Not the first time
“Should I take the Seattle to Chicago flight, or should I fly first class to Chicago via Tokyo and Istanbul without ever actually leaving the airport”
I had the exact same thoughts.
The BS meter is about to drown the TBB staff….so click my two links lol
He is so full of shite…..I can’t believe all the fan boys he has. They think he’s some sort of God. “Oh Lucky, you are so cool and you do all of this for us, your fans”. Geeesh.
He’s also deciding which hotels to stay a in Iceland, Hilton, Radisson or both?
That’s an easy answer and he’s already made the decision. Of course it will be both, and of course he will “remind” us what cards can rack up points for them – well except the multiple hilton and radisson cards that don’t pay him
In the First Class Award Space release by airlines he says something like…I can guess the Lufthansa FC award space 99% of the time or something like that…”no wonder I can not get a job”….Spare me the BS Ben, you have the best job and we know it…spare us the “out of college looking for my first job and doing this which is my passion blah blah blah…”
Unbelievable!
As of 2. 23 pm Tuesday I have the following for tomorrow’s Buzz:
1 link to miles/points blog
1 link to a pure travel blog post from a known blog network
3 awesome links to travel/photography blog posts
2 links to videos (one travel, one soccer)
31 references to blog posts we all know and expect to pump their readers with affiliate credit cards. Many of these businessmen present in known seminars.
Speaking of fairness, Saverocity is losing all its links at the end of the month. Which goes to show you how perverse this field has become. It is sad to watch. Waiting for ingy to look like, well, ingy 🙂
“I Heart Chase: Why I Love Chase Cards”
If Matt ever has regrets about the fact that his site didn’t bend over and be Chase’s bitch, all he has to do is look at headlines like that on the website founded by, named after, and prominently featuring Rick Ingersoll, and I’m sure he’ll be at peace with his decision
Sucks that he’s losing his links. He’s a smart guy though – hoping he can find a way to continue building on the success they have had to date
Yeah I feel really bad about that. Like I said earlier this whole space and the economics behind it is just super absurd. My Frontline Report now has close to 40 entries, miles/points entries? 3
WTF!!!
Buzz why aren’t you watching North Korea VS. Russia?
I did. But not on my TV. Online at espn3.com. Split screen. The 1st half bored me to pieces, 2nd was good. Fair result