Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as AI doubles, chasing hallucinations, planning retirement time, hidden islands, World Cup memories, inside secret family histories, weird ETFs, human web museum, profitable AI or not, chasing cheese downhill, best amusement parks, the best photography links and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of frequent flyer miles and points at the lower half of the post. And much more. Enjoy the weekend.
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This blog started way back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of traveling with frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to curated posts featuring the best web content along with my commentary.
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BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” – Aristotle
MUST READ GEMS
This is in essence my personal blog. I curate what I find worth sharing. To assist in the mission of educating, entertaining and sometimes even inspiring. And this article below may not be cup of your tea. That’s cool. But I find that it was worthy placing in this esteemed section. Which means it is a gem and I think it is meant to be read in its entirety, no excerpts here. Amazing writing. And you may find it emotional, especially if you have the same issues revolving around your roots or have a dysfunctional family. Which usually go together. So, you have been warned!
Inside The Secret History of the DeGrange Family
PERSONAL FINANCE
A lot of what I do in my job as a financial advisor revolves around helping my clients retire. And I must admit I am having a much harder time dealing with my own eventual retirement “issues”. And none are about the financial aspects. It goes way deeper which this excellent article deals with: Why You Need to Plan Your Time as Carefully as Your Money in Retirement.
…one word as the key to retirement satisfaction: mattering. [I added the bold font for emphasis]
…research suggests a higher sense of purpose is linked to various health benefits, including a lower risk of death.
Personally, I can not see myself fully retired. Maybe semi retirement is the way to go? My purpose will be to successfully guide my non retired clients to happy retirement. Anyway, it is incredibly humbling and rewarding to be able to make this choice and have the opportunity to still matter. Health benefits are the cherry on top? Or something like that, we are all trying to figure it out. The key is not to give up…
My other purpose to take this blog venture to an eventual IPO still remains you guys, please laugh, I am. I can see my kids now shaking their heads thinking “There goes Dad again laughing at his own jokes”.
Blog reader Vicky had this comment from last week I found to be worthy to post below. It points to a real problem in my industry. How to make that mental shift from being a saver to a spender. Which is really really hard!
I strongly recommend anyone who is getting close to retirement to get onto the same page as their spouse and get their mindset out of the Save mode and into the spend. I know 2 long term 35+ year marriages where the wife has walked in the past 6 months because of the husbands refusal to change from hoarding every cent and not prioritizing their spouses expressed desires instead focusing on wanting to leave a huge legacy to their kids and I see 2 other marriages going down the same path all because one spouse wants to hoard money of which they have more than enough rather than indulge their spouse with a new car or a 2 week holiday.
Very weird! How Weird Are ETFs Getting? Try UFO and Midnight-Bitcoin Funds.
For a while, this trend is going crazy and it appears the pace is even accelerating smh. Avoid this crap!
Cheap, reliable exchange-traded funds are a basic building block of investing. Increasingly, however, ETFs are becoming a high-cost conduit for concentrated, risky or weird strategies. So investors need to start approaching ETFs with caution. All too many of the newer ones are investment junk food. And, just as with candy, cookies or french fries, filling up on them can be bad for you. This year, 466 ETFs have been launched through mid-May, amassing $62.3 billion in assets, according to Morningstar. Their annual expenses average 0.69%. That’s more than 20 times those of many traditional index funds. Six out of every 10 new ETFs carry annual expenses of at least 0.5%, and a fifth charge at least 1% annually. [I added the Bold font for emphasis, yikes!]
CRYPTO/TECH/SCAMS
This is great: Museum of the Human Web. This is the introduction page and it is so beautifully written. And then click on ‘ENTER THE MUSEUM” and ‘enjoy’ what we are losing…
Remember my blog posts about this fraudster? 12 years in jail unless he gets a pardon (and yes he is on it): Insurance Executive Sentenced to 12 Years for ‘Massive Fraud,’ Bribery. Let me refresh your memory about this guy:
He spent more than $100 million on a variety of expenses, prosecutors said, including private jets, a 214-foot-long yacht, luxury real estate, and millions in payments to women with whom he had or sought to have personal relationships. The Wall Street Journal wrote about Lindberg’s unusual insurance-company investment strategy and spending spree in 2019, and later reported on his use of dozens of operatives to spy on women, most of whom he was dating or interested in dating.
AI
This is great: Is AI Profitable Yet? Tracking the spend and revenue of frontier AI companies.
We are starting to see more and more mentions in the news of doubles. You know, some of these tech bro CEOs are all over creating digital versions of themselves. If this interests you, I really enjoyed this article and I empathize and agree with the views of the author: The Copy and the Guru.
Look around and all you can see are gurus under their proverbial banyan trees, who make nothing but impart wisdom. They listen to the same podcast, and then regurgitate. They marvel at humanist manifestos. Some even read the Stoics. This is found wisdom, not earned wisdom. The twin is only possible once you have stopped being accountable to reality. The code either runs or it doesn’t. The piece either lands or it doesn’t. That accountability is what keeps thinking honest. Once you move from doing to narrating, you can be archived. Once archived, you can be distributed to the rest of the planet. The question is not about AI and its tools. It is about the culture that created a market for this. What does it mean that we built enough of these people, finished, distributable, no longer becoming anything, to make the digital twin a product category? It is a monument to a self that stopped growing.
Sign of our times? Chasing the Hallucinations. Ernst & Young (EY) Canada published a cybersecurity report on loyalty program safeguards. We chased down every citation. Most were hallucinated.
Wait, as I was about to hit Publish in this post, the latest newsletter by Derek Thompson hit my inbox titled: “The AI Boom Has Entered Its ‘Wait, Is This Worth It?’ Phase”. Which I am going to spend some time reading while drinking my coffee and walking outside…Which means this has not been vetted to be included in my weekly curated post. So, you have been warned, read at your own risk 🙂
IRAN WAR
The nonsense continues. Every day. I think everyone is tuning this whole thing out while the suffering continues smh…Deal, no deal, attacks, counterattacks, insulting everyone, TACO, red lines, cease fires, 30 days, 60 days, Bibi doing what Bibi does always escalating when TACO is close…it just never ends while oil reserves are being drawn down daily and on and on and on.
Meanwhile, the investor class is enjoying the amazing stock market bull run that keeps going while the working class is suffering much higher prices with no end in sight: Key US inflation measure posts largest annual increase in three years. Or maybe this is the TACO deal to stick, you know it is coming…eventually.
ODDZ & ENDZ
This LINK will right away make you scream “WTF am I looking at!”. I mean, really, what the hell? No idea who put this together. But I spent some time clicking around and found some cool aviation shots. And a whole lot of other mundane shots. I wonder how long it took for the creator to put this together. Art baby or something…
Every year we see photos of a crazy event where people roll down a huge hill with cheese things. And every year I think “ouch, my bones hurt just watching them!’. And “these people are nuts!”. Anyway, enjoy these intense photos: Chasing cheese downhill: Inside Britain’s wildest, weirdest race. Be careful if you think you want to do this!
So vicious, so stupid: Trump Administration to Make Green Card Applicants File Overseas. Brings to mind whoever said “cruelty is the point”. Or is it the goal? Or something like that…
Over 1,100, amazing! In a Single Year, Ocean Census Scientists Discovered More than 1,100 New Marine Species.
TRAVEL
Blog reader Sam and world expert on museums commented in last week’s post about the article listing the 27 best museums and had the following two added to that list:
-The Clark in northwest Massachusetts. Funded by Singer sewing machine money. At on time, these folks owned an entire city block in midtown Manhattan.
-The Kroger-Muller in Otterloo, Holland. Dozens and dozens of Van Gogh and Picasso paintings.
Article listing the best amusement parks in the world. According to the Tripadvisor’ s Travellers’ Choice Award:
- Futuroscope, France
- Beto Carrero World, Brazil
- Waterbom Bali, Indonesia
- Disneyland Park, France
- Beach Park, Brazil
- Garden City Water Park, Cambodia
- Puy du Fou, France
- Siam Park, Spain
- Ramayana Water Park, Thailand
- Blackpool Pleasure Beach, UK
When you wanna get away: 30 Hidden Islands Around the World. No 6 on the list is the island of Skopelos in Greece. First island getaway trip in my Greek high school years and so many memories. Involving Norwegian tourists, god bless them lol. It’s been downhill ever since you guys #notreally.
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Obligatory Thailand link: Thailand’s Deep South Isn’t What You Think (3 days in Narathiwat). Wow, so beautiful, I had no idea. I always thought that South Thailand was not a big deal. A place where separatists still roam and, well, not that safe and nothing special to see. Compared to everywhere else in Thailand. Well, wrong! I am going to explore this area more in the future for sure.
2026 WORLD CUP
The greatest show on Earth is coming…
I still remember back in 1986 here in the US we had a hard time watching the games on TV. Thanks to the Canadian TV channels back then, I got to watch all the games. Something I have done since 1978! That WC final between Argentina and the Netherlands (my favorite team since I resembled the one and only Johan Cruyff, my hero as a kid) is entrenched in my brain so vividly. Netherlands lost 3-1 in Buenos Aires in overtime and I cried for two days straight. I remember my mom pleading to my dad to take me to the hospital and him saying that I will get over it (I did…I think).
Maybe that is why I never liked the Argentina teams. It has nothing to do with that year’s team bribing the Peruvian team to lose in the first round by a five goal margin so Argentina can make it to the elimination rounds. Nope. It has nothing to do with the 1990 team butchering opponents to make it to the 1990 WC Final and, thank God, losing to the Germans. After managing to butcher their way in the semifinal against the host Italians and crush their dreams beating them in Penalty Kicks. And nothing to do with the 1994 team taking the hapless Greeks (making it to the WC for the first time) to the cleaners beating us 4-1 in Boston and me in the stands having the absolute worst luck with my tickets placing me in the middle of a bunch of Argentina fans, yikes. Oh, the memories of World Cup. Where millionaire players still take the stage carrying the weight of a whole nation.
I have been following the USA team ever since those lonely days in the 1990s trying to qualify. I celebrated finally making it to the World Cup in 1990 with that amazing goal by Paul Caligiuri at Trinidad & Tobago and really enjoyed seeing USA play Switzerland at the Pontiac Silverdome near Ann Arbor (stadium of the Detroit Lions for years, since demolished) in 1994. And I remember the excruciating heat that day inside and outside the stadium. And I really enjoyed this video: The Untold Story of U.S. Soccer’s 1994 World Cup Run. I also still remember the senseless murder of Colombia’s Escobar for scoring an own goal at a loss to Team USA. And that almost miracle against super power Brazil. I did have the honor to watch Brazil against Sweden back at the Pontiac Silverdome. Always loved the Brazil fans!
I will be dropping commentaries in the comments during the WC games, come back here to increase the page views and my blog’s ad revenues…oh wait.
This blog started with a focus on miles and points and travel. It has evolved since then. Everything below deals with the hobby of collecting frequent flyer miles and points and maximizing your travel experiences. If you are not interested, you can stop here, thank you.
MILES & POINTS
So, here we go again…
Register for the latest Hilton Honors promotion HERE.
World of Hyatt is fully aware that many people in this industry are watching the changes post May 20 devaluation. And I fully expect that over the coming months many of the changes will get progressively worse. You know, like them Marriott Bonvoy execs have been doing so for years. Anyway, you can’t sugarcoat this brutality inflicted upon us, sad lol: The Biggest Winners & Losers in Hyatt’s Brutal Devaluation.
Winners: Category 1 & 2 properties, Most (But Not All of) Asia and the Pacific, Treading Water in the Middle (& Category 7), No Big Push Into Pricier Tiers (Yet).
Losers: Category 8, Japan, Ski Season, RIP All-Inclusive Resorts
Good reference to bookmark: Hotel Point Expiration Policies for Every Major Brand.
Just when you thought these surcharges could not go higher, British Airways says they can: British Airways To Increase Cash Portion Of Award Flights.
Actually, this was very good: How to Find & Book the Best Deals with United Miles.
The beatings will continue until them hacking types are all banned. So, don’t do shit that get you banned, play the long game: American Airlines Shutting Down New Accounts of Previously Banned AAdvantage Members.
Maybe Hyatt decided to inject some good news to appease its members? Well, not really. This was already announced that it was coming: World of Hyatt to launch early access bookings for elites and cardholders June 30th. And it is a nothing burger.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
For ANY questions on travel rewards credit cards, contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
If you have a United credit card, see if you have been targeted for the “It’s The Summer of You” promotion HERE. I swear, United must have hired some former Delta marketing staffers, only they could come up with stupid names like this.
The hits against us continue unabated. It’s like we have become shooting practice or something. Another 5x avenue sidelined and gone soon: Citi Custom Cash No Longer Available for New Applications Starting May 29.
Maybe Chase is feeling the heat? And relenting on some of its latest severe practices against us? Well, this is a positive: Chase Ink Referral Bonuses Increased to 40K, 200K Annual Limit. But do not forget that Chase gives away these points ONLY if the applicant is a NEW business customer. Which eliminates many of us. So, you can be first if you use my own referral link to help support the blog, thank you.
BEST CHASE BUSINESS CARD REFERRAL LINK THAT EXISTS RIGHT NOW ONLINE BY FAR
LATEST OFFERS:
NEW: There are three certainties in life: Death, taxes and always revolving new Chase Southwest credit card offers, the latest: Chase Southwest Personal Cards: 80,000-90,000 Points Signup Bonus.
- Southwest Priority ($229 fee): Earn 90,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Southwest Premier ($149 fee): Earn 85,000 points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Southwest Plus ($99 fee): Earn 80,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
150k AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business PLUS $125 Statement Credit: $125 Annual fee, minimum spend $8,000 in the first six months. For more info on the card’s benefits click HERE.
150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve: $795 Annual Fee. 150,000 points after spending $6,000 in the first three months. Lots of benefits and credits and earning multipliers.
185k CHASE IHG One Rewards Premier:$99 annual fee. 150,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months. And another 35,000 points after spending a total of $6,000 in the first six months.
125k CHASE IHG One Rewards Traveler: No annual fee. 90,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 in the first three months. And another 35,000 points after spending a total of $4,000 in the first six months.
150k CAPITAL ONE Venture Business: $95 annual fee. 75,000 miles when they spend $7,500 in the first 3 months, plus an additional 75,000 miles when they spend $30,000 in the first 6 months. Two separate $50 credits: travel credit and advertising/software credit. 2x on every purchase and 5x on hotels and rental cars booked on the Capital One travel portal. $120 Global Entry/TSAPreCheck credit. Shockingly, this card will NOT report to personal credit bureaus. ENDING JUNE 8, 2026
50k CAPITAL ONE VentureOne Business: No annual fee. $4,500 minimum spend in first three months. 1.5x on every purchase and 5x on hotels and rental cars booked on the Capital One travel portal.
As High As 200,000 Points on the AMEX Business Gold after spending $15k in the first three months
100,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Summit after spending $6,500 in the first three months. And a 50% flight discount voucher
80,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Ascent after spending $4,000 in the first four months. And a 50% flight discount voucher
85,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Business after spending $5,500 in the first three months
75k CITI AAdvantage Business World Elite MasterCard
175k AMEX Platinum & 300k AMEX Business Platinum
75k CITI Strata Elite card
Due to credit card vendor restrictions, the only affiliate links I can place in the body of my posts are for Capital One cards. You can always email me at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com with ANY questions.
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BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
Must read for hardcore gamers: Chase Shutdowns: The New Behaviors. Did Chase hire some Amex RAT staffers recently? Or is this all AI enabled? You can play the short game and get banned at some point down the road. Or, play the long game and…keep going.
We received my wife’s Schwab Amex Platinum card. In a very nice package. After setting it up online, I was shocked to see that the Schwab credit was already in the account! Between that and the Lululemon credit (she can’t wait for that, we have a store within walking distance) and the Resy meals coming up we captured back the annual fee so easily. And the Uber and YouTube premium for the streaming credits are on top. And potential bag check fees or other fees from Delta. Yep, we chose Delta for the airline credit. With her retirement and home airport being in Detroit we are going back to Delta, in spite of them sucky Skymiles. Oh, and we have 2 nights to burn and $600 in some nice hotel to do. And many more, love them Platinum credits, are you listening over at Chase anymore?
I am having second thoughts pursuing World of Hyatt Globalist elite status again. Because the never ending stream of Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to World of Hyatt points is ending. Maybe it is time to go hotel free agent next, after doing this for the airlines back in 2012? I am at 18 nights with World of Hyatt today with 2 more coming from the Chase Hyatt Visa spend. And I have 4 nights booked in the Park Hyatt Saigon in September. I was thinking to pay for a monthly deal the Hyatt Place Soi 24 in Bangkok has for about $68 per night. Taking me to 54 nights. And then I still have some bookings to do in Singapore and Greece so hitting 60 for Globalist will be very easy.
But why? Aspiration Category 8 Hyatt properties have now become ridiculously expensive, it won’t take that long to wipe out all of my World of Hyatt points. There is some value still burning points in Category 1 and 2 properties still. Which are definitely not aspirational. Then again, holding so many points in the bank is kind of stupid, which I am aware. I just always felt comfortable having a fat balance in the bank. Which is definitely not earn and burn mode which always made sense.
I could get several Globalist Guest of Honor certs after hitting just 40 nights. Maybe pass on that 30 night cash deal and just pay or burn points for the actual nights I will sleep on a Hyatt bed in Thailand later this year. Which should not be more than 15 or 20 (was planning to use that Soi 24 Hyatt Place as a base to travel to Saigon and Krabi). Which will free me to book the other Category 1 Hyatt Place at Soi 1 next to Bumrungrad Hospital for several nights since I plan to spend a lot of time there doing health things since my US based doctors are incredibly frustrating to work with.
Maybe I should get reacquainted with my Accor Lifetime Platinum status. And its points can be valuable instead of just burning my free Platinum night in a nice Fairmont each year alone. And try to not focus as much as, you know, what I have been doing for so long and allow myself to do and pay for things I am going to enjoy without, you know, “winning” 🙂 I am getting there…very slowly.
Closing my Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card next week, it is time. Why? Because the credits suck, I did not manage to claim more than just $450, sad.
I am trying to simplify my life in this hobby. Time to wipe out some loyalty programs I track in Award Wallet I have not used in years. Bye buy Ace Hardware and Best Buy and Staples. Got under 100 accounts I am tracking, only 99 now and more wipeouts to come.
You know there is a lot of potential for beating when you see Senator Elizabeth Warren get into the mix with Bilt: Top Democratic Senator Presses Bilt on Troubled Card Transition.
To make matters worse, Bilt’s shoddy customer service – powered by an AI chatbot – led some members to spend days trying to reach a real person … all while dealing with time-sensitive financial transactions like rent and mortgage payments. Warren’s letter also points to a reported 1,300% increase in complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in February alone during the transition. That’s a pretty astounding 13x increase – no wonder the feds took notice.
And what does Bilt do? Instead of investing in customer service, the company goes out and pays Madonna to stop by and play the stupid rent day game with its CEO. Priorities I tell you smh.
Shocking to see the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. Waiting for Oklahoma Thunder who amazingly are forced to win Game 7 at home against the surprising San Antonio Spurs and its young tall star Wemby. Who at this rate could be Michael Jordan #2?
I can’t believe it is almost June. And I want my house back, this renovation is taking forever!
I have been walking over 10,000 steps a day every day since April 24 and plan to continue…
Sadly my hometown soccer team was relegated back to the Greek 2nd Division. And the owner is selling it and one day when my blog IPOs I will buy it, LOL.
Posted the final 2 batches of photos from our trip to Seattle over Mother’s Day weekend to visit our daughter:
Miscellaneous pics from downtown Seattle
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HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve Business, 150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 75k CITI Strata Elite, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 175k AMEX Platinum, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 300k AMEX Business Platinum, 80k – 90k CHASE Personal Southwest Cards, 200k AMEX Business Gold, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 75k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 100k BofA Alaska Atmos Summit, 80k BofA Alaska Atmos Ascent, 85k BofA Alaska Atmos Business, 30k CHASE United Gateway, 100k AMEX Gold, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
As of today, I have burned 421,515 miles/points year to date (after burning 1,893,248 miles/points in 2025 and 2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,157,523 miles/points in the bank.
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance!
Let me leave you with this:
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Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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“It has nothing to do with the 1990 team butchering opponents to make it to the 1990 WC Final and, thank God, losing to the hosts Italians.”
1990 World Cup.. Argentina lost to West Germany. Italy finished 3rd.
Correct! I messed up, I will fix it. Italy fell to the butchers so unfairly in PKs in the semifinal.
Thanks for the great links today!
Interesting that you are returning to Delta. I’m particularly fond of changing planes
in Detroit. If that’s your home airport, Delta is direct to so many places.