Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the attention economy, Bilt card 2.0, so many scams, Paris recommendations, hedge fund marketing, Enron is back, history of the internet, the perfect man in Pac-Man, new US passports, most beautiful waterfalls, TSA shoe tyranny is over, 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. 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.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
Due to new severe credit card affiliate restrictions, there will not be any credit card links in the body of the blog posts other than Capital One Bank credit card links and my personal referral links going forward. You can always get to my credit card links by clicking on “CREDIT CARDS’ at the menu on the top of the homepage or the big beautiful “We make finding a new credit card simple” banner on the right sidebar. Or, preferably, you can receive new offers in your email inbox by signing up to receive alerts HERE to avoid clicking several times to find the one credit card you want to apply for. Or you can always email me, thanks for your support.
PERSONAL FINANCE
I made a rare Thursday post yesterday educating readers all about the new New Tax Law One Big Beautiful Bill Act OBBBA of 2025, check it out.
This is a MUST read. It is the second part of Kyla Scanlon’s posts about the attention economy: From Dollar Dominance to the Slop Machine. So much to excerpt I stopped and encourage you to read the whole thing. You are welcome.
Jonathan Clements updates us on his condition and we are blessed with him continuing to enlighten us with his writing: Extra Innings.
More than 13 months ago, I was given 12 months to live.
Way back some of us who have been around for a while, there was Enron. One of the most legendary spectacular collapses in stock market history. And these guys bought the domain enron.com and in an incredibly hilarious metamorphosis they are “bringing it back”. ENRON| We’re Back. And it is so entertaining, these guys behind this are really good. Enough education in my blog these days, you guys need to laugh a little now too. Click it, it is brilliantly put together. I could not hold it together by the middle of the “Power of the Egg” presentation woohoo.
Loved this graph in this article. And yet so many fall for the hedge fund marketing smh…
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
Scams are so out of control, more warnings: Anatomy of a WhatsApp Stock Scam.
If somebody touts:
- A “trading strategy”
- A “missed opportunity”
- Future “trading products with an expected return rate of over $150”
- Then asks you if you “want to participate in the profit?”
Or any combo thereof – don’t just hold onto your wallet, digital or otherwise, but run the other way as fast as you possibly can because you are about to be scammed.
Let’s go back to history, the history of the internet that is:
An Ars Technica history of the Internet, part 1
A history of the Internet, part 2: The high-tech gold rush begins The Web Era arrives, the browser wars flare, and a bubble bursts.
So sad to see these people being deceived. Sometimes though I feel like feeling sad should not be an option. I mean, believing that Keanu Reeves or Kevin Costner is talking to you should be laughable…don’t get me started: This is Not Keanu: Inside the Billion-Dollar Celebrity Impersonation Bitcoin Scam. Victims think they’re talking to Keanu Reeves. Or Kevin Costner. Then come the pleas for cash. The brazen AI-fueled con that fleeces lovestruck fans and has Hollywood finally fighting back.
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ODDZ & ENDZ
I am not into gaming. In fact, the last video game I played was Pac-Man. And then I found out about this dude who apparently is the GOAT in this game: The Perfect Man. How Billy Mitchell became a video-game superstar and achieved Pac-Man bliss.
Maybe I am on to something with my curation blogging here? Taste Is the New Intelligence. Why curation, discernment, and restraint matter more than ever.
We’re drowning in content. Every platform, every scroll, every second—more inputs, more noise, more things trying to hook your attention. The old metrics of intelligence—who memorized the most, who spoke the loudest, who finished the book first—don’t mean much here…Because when abundance is infinite, attention is everything. And what you give your attention to—what you consume, what you engage with, what you amplify—becomes a reflection of how you think. We used to associate intelligence with accumulation. The smartest people were the ones who knew the most. But that model doesn’t hold anymore. AI knows more than anyone. Wikipedia is free. The internet has flattened information access so thoroughly that hoarding knowledge is no longer impressive. What matters now is what you do with it. How you filter it. How you recognize signal in the noise.
Curation is the new IQ test.
Great read, if you are into geopolitics and economics: The latest threat from the rise of Chinese manufacturing. MIT economist David Autor first documented the loss of millions of jobs to Chinese imports a decade ago. Now he sees an even more serious danger if the US loses the race for advanced manufacturing.
Amazing work by Dara Ojo: This photographer is celebrating tiny creatures through close-up images. His Instagram account I am following is awesome.
TRAVEL
Son got new passport in about two weeks, amazing progress: America Has Pulled Off the Impossible. It Made Getting a Passport Simple. Washington isn’t known for tech innovation. How did a team of bureaucrats put their stamp on a process that hadn’t changed in 50 years?
Wait, there is more: [Confirmed] TSA Airport Security No Longer Requires Removing Shoes. One phucking guy tries to bomb an airplane and we had to take our shoes off for almost 25 freaking years. And yet another mass shooting happens and nothing. Because. Freedom. WTF!
If you travel to Paris, check this out: The Email of Paris Recommendations I Send to Everyone.
Which one is your favorite? Or, how many have you seen with your beautiful eyes? 🙂 21 Most Beautiful Waterfalls in the World. Victoria Falls is on my bucket list. You know, my bucket list would be way shorter if I wasn’t blogging here for you guys for free #sigh.
Maybe Putin? North Korea just opened a beach resort for 20,000 people. But who will visit?
And again some gem content from Thailand: The Best Beach in Thailand.
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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
Here we go again.
Register for the latest Choice Hotels promotion HERE.
I think Amex keeps reminding everyone that it has the most Centurion lounges out there. But, come on, this one is so tiny that may make US lines look short lol: Amex Announces Plans for Centurion Lounge in Amsterdam.
So typical of Turkish Airlines lol. CLOSED: Turkish Airlines “6 Continents Challenge” With 1 Million Bonus Miles For Travel June 27 – October 27, 2025. Why are so many signing up for promos like this lately? It is weird.
If you are going, sign up for this: American Airlines Australia & New Zealand Up To 25,000 Bonus Miles On Travel Through May 31, 2026 (Book By August 7).
I enjoyed the series of posts about one of my favorite places: Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise: An Anniversary-Worthy Splurge. Brings back wonderful memories going way back to one of the most legendary travel hacks of my career #goodtimes.
It is going to be interesting to get to know how this new “Points Boost” thingie works over the next two years: With Points Boost, Chase Changes How You Redeem Points In The Travel Portal.
I don’t click on this blog much anymore. But I clicked on this post: The (Honest) State Of Travel & Points Blogging. Some valid observations:
…this space has become much more challenging over the years for just about everyone, due to a variety of factors:
- As anyone who publishes content online can attest to, search traffic has decreased greatly, due to Google’s AI Mode (and other similar features), which summarizes answers to questions, rather than linking to actual content
- The way that people consume media has evolved, especially with younger generations getting news via short form video on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, etc.; I’m actually going to talk about this in more detail in a separate post, because there are some concepts I’m exploring, and that I’d like feedback on
- We’ve seen multiple travel blogs sold, including to huge media companies, venture capital companies, etc.; there’s nothing wrong with that, but their goals are almost always focused around revenue rather than profit, meaning they might spend millions per year buying online ads
- We’ve seen mainstream media news sites get into the travel story and credit card rewards space, as this just has much broader appeal than it used to
- We’ve seen all kinds of sites pop up that are so clearly exclusively about SEO
We’re increasingly seeing sites either offer a membership where content is behind a paywall, or introduce other paid services to generate revenue.
Then he went on to justify posting clickbait shit and I threw up…
The weekly video summarizing the action in this space by YouTuber Traveling on Everyday Spend is HERE.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
Lots of action lately…
I am so sick of rumor blog posts and YT videos, this is the last one I click on: [False Rumor] Chase Ritz-Carlton Card Annual Fee Will Increase To $695, Adds New Benefits (Effective August 1st).
Chase is still my favorite bank. But…it is getting harder to stay that way. What are the “must have” Chase cards?
I will have 200k+ after I complete the minimum spend on the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business. I guess I can do these twice: 6 Great Options What to Do with 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.
Sad to see this: Alliant 2.5% Card Will Become 1.6% On All Purchases (Effective 9/1/25).
BILT 2.0
Looks like Wells Fargo had enough lol: Bilt Card 2.0 Coming in 2026 in Partnership with Cardless. Cardless? Out of all companies to hook up with next smh. But wait, they found new suckers to extract money from for a non sustainable business model, only in America:
Bilt has raised $250 million in new primary funding, valuing the company at $10.75 billion. The round was led by General Catalyst and GID with further investment from United Wholesale Mortgage. [My blog had a buyout offer for $100 years ago from old pal Rick/Ingy but based on its current valuation…Hey Bilt CEO Ankur, here is your chance to buy me out and silence me LOL]
The partnership with Bilt had been scheduled to end in 2029, but Wells decided to exit early after it became a money-losing venture, according to people familiar with the matter. [What was the breakup fee? Slide into my email inbox please if you happen to know]
Kleber Santos, CEO of consumer lending at Wells, said on an internal call last year that Bilt had become a reputational risk for the bank, according to people familiar with the matter. [You know we are in lala land when you realize that Wells Fargo of all banks is worried about reputational risk smh to oblivion]
Anyway, there is so much money floating out there trying to land on something. Private Equity/Credit, venture capital, all kinds of crypto/stablecoin/shitcoin companies, hedge funds, etc. So many of these entities are marketing driven. They are looking to extract primarily. And greedy people always fall for their pitches. I mean, when you go to a party these people love to bring out investments like these because, let’s face it, people will go away from you when you bring up your money is in a Vanguard index ETF you have left along for years…how boring. Even though boring beats the crap out of all of these “investments” by these marketing organizations every time. Unless you get that one example that of course these entities bring up every time. Because, you know, they need to sell the dream smh. Anyway, here is Bilt’s CEO in another one of his emails that makes Delta PR staff blush approvingly lol.
We’re accelerating our mission to connect where you live with your neighborhood. [The opening, I mean, is this brilliant or what?]
The numbers speak to our rapid growth:
- Will be processing over $100 billion annually in housing spend by end of year
- We’ll be rewarding members on over $10 billion in spend annually at neighborhood merchants.
- Our Bilt Points have been ranked as the highest value rewards currency in market (see here)
- Partnerships with 70% of the nation’s top 100 property managers
- Expected to cross $1 billion in revenue by Q1 2026
Impressive right? Did you see a profitability number in the above? Nope. And the site cited for somehow declaring Bilt points as the highest value rewards currency in the market is, please sit down, The Points Guy LOL.
Wait there is more, Ankur is the best at this, if I could only do this my blog would be valued at $69 Hundred Dollars woohoo!
Our AI-powered neighborhood concierge helps introduce our residents to local merchants with personalized recommendations, strengthening the local economy while enhancing the member experience. This isn’t just about transactions—it’s about building vibrant communities where people truly love where they live. [Of course, had to drop an AI reference because, you know, marketing baby.]
“Bilt’s platform will drive tremendous value for our brokers by delivering a better servicing experience and everyday rewards that create loyalty, while also creating a new pipeline of origination for our broker network” said Mat Ishbia, CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage. “We think this represents the future of how customers will engage with their mortgage throughout the entire homeownership journey.” [Matt is one of the new billionaires who has been spending money like crazy lately. He bought the NBA Phoenix Suns and spent wildly to bring in so many superstars only for the team to not even make the NBA playoffs. So, perfect match for Bilt, how does Ankur find the deep pockets is truly amazing.]
Earlier this year, we received incredible feedback from tens of thousands of our Members about what they wanted from their Bilt Card experience going forward. Based on that feedback, we have been developing new cards that deliver the depth and breadth of product experience you all have asked for. [Based on that feedback, seriously? No one asked for a $495 or a $95 card dude. But yeah, you know, putting it this way sells better smh.]
More details about the new issuing partner, enhanced rewards including points on both rent and mortgage, the broader card value prop, and the transition process will all be announced early fall. [The key word is “enhanced”, be very afraid. Also, Mesa has been doing mortgages for ever, come on!]
Our members aren’t just customers; they’re part of a community that spans from coast to coast…This is just the beginning. Together, we’re not just building a company—we’re building a movement that helps millions of Americans love where they live. [Delta and Marriott marketing people taking notes here you guys, this is how you sell the dream wow.]
Disclosure: These are personal opinions only. The writer is exercising his freedom of speech, see US constitution. Offers to sue will be vigorously defended by every single TBB Legal Department employee. Frankly, instead of going there, offers to buy the writer may work out better for both. How about inviting me to your next private island party along with all the other bloggers hey? I am still hurt I did not get the invite Ankur, do better 🙂
NEW OFFERS:
We have several new offers, they never stop.
Good luck: (Link To Check) Targeted 150K – 250K & $500 Credit Amex Business Platinum No Lifetime Language Offer. The standard offer available with my links is 150k, you know where to find it. If not, email me and thank you.
Chase keeps messing with the offers for the World of Hyatt cards. The new one is bad, stay away:
Earn 2 free night certificates at Cat 1-4 properties after $4k spending in the first three months
Earn 25,000 points after spending $12,000 within the first six months
EXPIRING OFFERS:
All the elevated Delta card offers end July 16, 2025.
The best offer is the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card offering 5 free nights (up to 50,000 points each). The annual fee is $95 and the minimum spend is $5k in three months. Note that the free night certs expire in one year and they can be topped with 15,000 points per night. Read all the details about this offer and the card HERE. I am no fan of the Marriott Bonvoy program. But, you know, this can be a free 5 night vacation.
The STANDARD Amex Platinum offer is now up to 175,000 Membership Rewards points. The annual fee is $695 and the minimum spend is $8,000 over six months. 5x on Airfare and Hotels and 1x on everything else. Superior Centurion lounge coverage and of course Priority Pass lounge membership. No foreign transaction fees. A long list of couponized credits, up to $1,800 if you took advantage of every single one. Which you won’t. The easiest credits are the $200 airline fee credit, the $240 Digital Entertainment credit, up to $200 Uber credit and $200 hotel credit…and many more.
Same deal with the STANDARD Amex Gold card now up to 100,000 Membership Rewards points. The annual fee is $325 and the minimum spend is $6,000 over six months. This card’s main appeal has always been its earning power at 4x for dining worldwide and groceries and 3x on airfare. Crazy couponing comes with it, such as $7 per month on Dunkin Donuts, $10 per month on Uber Cash, $10 per month on 5 Guys/Grubhub, Cheesecake Factory, Wine.com or Goldbelly, two $50 Resy credits for dining per year and $100 hotel credit per year.
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!
THIS CARD STILL PAYS FOR ITSELF:
The 75K CAPITAL ONE Venture X card has a minimum spend of $4k in the first three months. If you like simplicity and looking for one (premium) card, I highly recommend this card (and yes, I have it myself!). It has an annual fee of $395 but it comes with an easy $300 statement credit for travel booked on its own travel portal, essentially turning it into a $95 annual fee card. But wait, there is more! On each card anniversary you earn 10,000 points essentially making it FREE! Every dollar of spend earns 2 points and flights booked on the travel portal earn 5 points per dollar. You get access to Capital One and Plaza Premium airport lounges and a Priority Pass Select lounge membership and, this is important, you can add four authorized users FOR FREE who can also have their own Priority Pass Select airline lounge membership and, this is BIG, they can bring in unlimited guests with their FREE Priority Pass card! You can transfer your Capital One points to up to 18 Transfer Partners. No foreign transaction fees. Free Hertz President’s Circle rental car top elite status. Cell phone protection and PRIMARY rental car coverage. Awesome seats at baseball stadiums for just 5k points each. And lots more.
Here are my three TOP CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
The 75k Capital One Venture X card.
The 75k Chase Ink Business Unlimited card.
The 75k CHASE Ink Business Cash card.
BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
Would you like to be automatically notified every time a card comes out with (or is about to remove) an elevated welcome offer? If yes, I highly encourage you to sign up if you haven’t yet. And when you apply for a credit card from a link in these emails you help support the blog.
Elevated Card Offer Notifications
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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
Not much in this section you guys, just ran out of time doing two posts back to back this week. I have been busy studying the new tax law lately with no time to burn any points. I still have lots of miles/points burning to do on my two big family trips coming up and I am starting to feel a little bit of pressure lately.
I am focusing on the big Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card in my travel rewards credit card world. I am going to think a little bit before I close another Chase card because, in the new Chase popup jail world, it will matter.
Wife was faced with a 200k Amex Business Platinum offer at log in. Oh, so tempted. But no time and spend bandwidth these days, so sad.
If any blog reader has visited the Greek island of Kefalonia and has some advice, I am all ears. Please slide in the comments or email me.
The season schedule of my Greek hometown AEL FC team is out. It looks like I will be able to attend the first two home games August 30/31 and September 20/21. Sadly, I could not bring my wife and kids with me, that would have been so cool.
How are we past the half point of summer already?
I watched 40 Acres. I liked it. I love these post apocalyptic times, either from a virus like the 28 Days/Weeks/Years Later or from plagues and civil wars like 40 Acres. But I found the acting lacking.
I have let my beard grow and I think I could get a job as a Santa Claus easy like this lol.
I had a Chase personal referral in June which was shocking. And thank you to the blog reader for it. I am going to treat personal referrals as sales going forward. Trying to hit my goals, see update below:
I am giving myself a challenge for the summer, average 5 credit card sales and 15 Buy Me a Coffee sales per month. If I can’t even hit these low targets after almost 13 years of blogging I am out. We now have:
June:
Credit card sales: 5 Buy me a Coffee sales: 1
July to date:
Credit card sales: 1 Buy me a Coffee sales: 14
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
175k Amex Platinum, 75k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 75k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, 150k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash, 150k AMEX Business Platinum AND $500 statement credit, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 5 Free Nights CHASE IHG One Rewards Premier, 100k Amex Gold, $1,000 Cash Back CHASE Ink Business Premier, 90k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 120k CHASE IHG One Rewards Traveler, 80k CHASE Southwest Performance Business, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
As of today, I have burned 918,365 miles/points year to date (2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,264,588 miles/points in the bank.
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance!
Let me leave you with this:
Some of the links are behind a paywall. You can try to read them using Archive.is.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy it please forward it to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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Good morning Buzz,
Thanks for the great weekend reading.
Possible medal for the desert rats!
I have responded to the new tax law summary post comments here:
https://travelbloggerbuzz.com/new-tax-law-one-big-beautiful-big-bill-act-obbba-of-2025-all-you-need-to-know/#comment-428601
Will get back here later on, thank you.
Hi Buzz-
Well, that drop in the cash back rate by Alliant just sent me back to Go. I’ve been saying I quit the miles game for cash for years. Now it’s seems like Hotel California and I can never leave. Looks like 2% cb is the highest sustainable ceiling. As we say-on to the next deal.
Ben’s article on the state of travel blogging says a lot. And he does put out quality writing, albeit selling, selling, selling. If I only went to Abu Dhabi 4 or 5 times a year.
The H in travel blogging stands for,,,,,,,,
Marking myself present and gonna catch up on all the reading as the day and weekend goes by. Good on you to go see some soccer games! I bet that will be fun. I have never understood the game that well but because never played it as a kid, I guess. Much running!
Very late today! Good reading!
Thank you!
Thanks for the detailed info on Bilt! I didn’t see that anywhere else. Unsurprisingly, the bloggers who they take on vacation didn’t mention that WF was the one that dropped Bilt.
Best beach IMHO:
– Koh Kradan, Thailand
If Trump, puts an octagon on the White House lawn that would be comparable to the trans undressing during the Biden presidency. I wonder if it will get the same press coverage. LOL
Nice work as usual.
Unless it simply wouldn’t work I would go for the Amex Business Platinum 200K offer but I guess I’m just greedy.
OMAAT is kind of all over the place. One time Ben will talk about a $800 a night hotel he stayed at that has zero to do with points and miles and the value therein derived, then write a clickbait magnet piece, then write a quality analysis post, then write some huckster shilling posts for credit cards. I’m just not sure what to make of him.
On the goals for summer, I want you to make it but I’m not sanguine about the five applications per month. As I think you know, you have a solid core of dedicated readers who try to use your links wherever we can but there’s an awful lot of cards that are not available through your links. I completely understand why you would shut down but I would truly hate to see you do it because you couldn’t make an aspirational goal. Then again I don’t know what normal numbers look like so maybe the goal isn’t all that aspirational. Either way, I’ll keep trying to help as will others I’m sure and if we fail then at least we tried. Thanks no matter what. I’ve greatly enjoyed reading your blog and my reasons for wanting you to stick around are admittedly selfish.
@ David: Gold!
@ Sam: Well, you never heard of the Alliant card before. Watch now if this thing ever gets an affiliate link they would all come out…BEST OFFER EVER….ever? Ben should quit and enjoy the kids instead of leaving them behind to do the only thing he knows what to do. Unless he needs the money…So much for honesty, not a single mention of the bank compliance assault on the bloggers. Maybe he escaped that because, you know, sales volume tends to do that in this space.
@ Carl: I think the games are cultural. Like, to this day, I don’t get baseball. And hockey also…I had never even seen hockey before I landed in this country at 17. Legally of course, need to be careful these days. Oh America, so much freedom these days.
@ DML: Marked tardy 🙂
@ Paul: Yeah, cringy seeing “Bilt is ditching Wells Fargo” out there. I guess I am not ever going to get invited like them, so sad #notreally
@ ucipass: Koh Kradan looks amazing, wow. Anything is possible in the Trump era smh. Got to admit that Enron nuclear egg reactor clip etc is brilliant, I am still laughing.
@ Christian: Oh yes, 200k was so tempting indeed. I remember Ben in his high school days doing mileage runs and posting about them on Flyertalk. I think he must be struggling with…the labor involved to do the travel review posts and comparing it to the money he can bring in doing clickbait shit like his buddy Gary. He started it…but holding back compared to the mother of all clickbait posters Gary. Amazing work ethic…or he just likes to escape doing this for so long and not really knowing how to do anything else, you know, parenting and stuff like that. And not a single word about cc affiliate links. I totally understand that my current cc vendor arrangement does not make it easy for readers to get the cards in my site. Frankly, I can’t believe I have not been canned yet. I think five, based on history, is going to be challenging with the current trend of bank restrictions (looking at you newtopopjail Chase). But if after almost 13 years I have not created a group of devoted readers who can’t even hit this number…you know, something is wrong. I wish more were like you. This blogging thing is lonely and every time a reader goes out of his/her way to take action to show support is like an oxygen hit (or drug hit, not that I know how those feel lol) to my ego to keep blogging. Or something like that. I don’ know, you probably have seen me cry out about this so many times and, someway somehow, I am still here. Anyway, let’s see what happens this summer, we are half way through. It will take a miracle to avoid a loss in this venture and that may be a fatal shot to my ego to make me realize that, you know, now I am a loser even to the IRS lol.
I have some amazing material already for next week’s post, I could split it to two posts. Naaah, unless a flurry of cc sales or something, I can always dream 🙂 Now I am dreaming of Koh Kradan blogging from there. Sadly, no Hyatt nearby lol.
Can shed some light on Kefalona, as I have family there and have been countless times. It’s a beautiful island and nowhere near as crowded as others nearby like Corfu or Zakynthos. Argostoli is the capital which is worth spending a day in to stroll some of the streets, but otherwise it’s more reserved for nightlife. Not a huge one at that, but tends to gather the most people at the square. St. Gerasimos Monastery is worth a visit, where you can see the Saint’s body and also go down to the cave built in the old church where he lived. Aenos is the largest mountain and offers some amazing views. Heard there are also wild horses there if you are able to see them.
The rest of the island is really about the beaches and I separate them into four areas outside of Argostoli. The north includes some really beautiful beaches that are well known like Myrtos and now Fteri which was just voted one of the best in the world depending on what rankings you read. The latter is a 45min hike to the beach or a short boat ride. Fiskardo is also in the north and it’s one of the only places on the island that didn’t get destroyed by the earthquake in 1953 that pretty much destroyed everything else. IMHO it’s too crowded, overpriced (think yacht crowd) and rather small, but could be worth a couple of hours there. Assos I went to when I was young, but that’s definitely worth checking out. A bit south from Fiskardo so could do both in one trip.
South I would add Skala to your list and Lourdas is cool to check out also. Poros is where the ferry from Kyllini comes in and it’s not really worth a visit I would say. You can take the road from Skala to Poros or vice versa which is nice and about 15km if I remember right, so visiting Poros is not far if you were to go to Skala.
East you have Sami and Agia Efthimia. They are also port “cities” the former going to Patra and Italy I believe, which the latter takes you Ithaki and maybe a few other neighboring places. The place to visit east IMHO is Antisamos. That’s where they were filming Captain Corelli’s Mandolin w/ Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz. Didn’t see the movie, but remember the island couldn’t get enough of those two people when they were filming.
Finally West offers the best sunset views, obviously, but it’s like another area that often considers itself kind of independent from Kefalonia – Lixouri. I’d recommend taking a boat ride from Argostoli there if you wanted, but it’s my least explored part of the island and I think for good reason as it doesn’t offer as much as the rest. Petani is a really nice beach worth going if you go there as is Xi, which looks different from the other beaches.
Any more questions happy to answer, but that’s pretty much it. Of course there are other things like more churches you can see, a few museums, etc., but the draw is the landscape, beaches, etc. Sept if also a great time to visit as most of the tourists from July and Aug will have left and it’s not as hot.
Oh and one last thing is that the island sits on or very near a fault line. Nothing to worry about, but you may get a bit of a shake for a few seconds. Some summers I’ve gotten none and others 4-5x – barely last more than 2-3 seconds, but just something to keep in mind if you’ve never experienced an earthquake. Enjoy the visit!
Thank you so much for this great info. I had time this weekend to look into this some more.
My kids want easy access to the beach. The newlyweds are staying in Lakithra and my cousin’s family in Lourda where the wedding reception will be held. My current thinking is to split my stay in two places, one near (or on) Myrtos Beach and the other most likely in Skala. Antisamos beach is a must visit it appears and we’ll try to get to Fteri for the Instagram shots lol.
I thought a week would be plenty and I am finding out it is way too ambitious. The Lixouri side will have to wait. We’ll definitely try to make time to stroll through Argostoli and Fiscardo. And do one or two caves and maybe some hiking. Son is a foodie and loves all fish food so he can’t wait to try them all out. If you have any specific restaurant recommendations I am all ears.
Oh yeah, I grew up with earthquakes, hope we don’t experience them while there.
Thanks again.
Glad to help. If your want easy access to the beach you can’t go wrong with Skala. My aunt used to live there and it’s a great place. Lots to do and huge beach. Staying near Myrtos you may want to reconsider though. It’s a great beach, but from what I remember not much going on near there aside from traditional villages and you likely wouldn’t want to go more than once to that beach as it’s a trek to get down there vs Skala where it’s very easy. Staying near Argostoli wouldn’t be a bad idea as another more central spot. Forgot to mention last time, but Lassi may be worth it if you want quick beach access and things to do at night. Sami is another option that’s a bit lively also, but not as great with the port there.
Regarding fish restaurants I asked my cousin and he confirmed what I had thought – there aren’t many places that offer truly fresh fish. Most serve frozen fish, contrary to what they will tell you and popular belief given it would be an island and plenty of freshly caught fish. One he recommended was in Zola called Kalyva tou Psara. There is another in Fiskardo called Tassia, but that usually attracts a lot of celebrities coming in on their yachts so may be a bit overpriced for what you get. I’m sure you can find some more online as well.
If your party eats meat you will have plenty of grilled meat restaurants. There is one in Agkonas called Vista Mare, which is really good. On Saturdays only they serve suckling pig if you’re interested in that. Great views from there also and may be something to check out after you do Fteri as it’s close by. Pantheon tis Gefsis north of Argostoli is another good one. Plenty of options otherwise if your party is vegetarian or vegan, but meat is definitely more widely served than fish on the island.
Happy to answer anything else. Overall, you’ll definitely enjoy your time and smart move to leave out Lixouri on this trip, as IMHO it’s the least interesting part of Kefalonia.
You are absolutely right about staying on or near Myrtos beach. Yesterday I realized I need to rethink my original plan. Thanks for mentioning the area around Argostoli is likely the best. Also, cousin confirms the same thing and that is where they are all going to be too so I am likely now going to get one place there for the duration and then drive on day trips to hit the beaches northwest and the caves. And try to squeeze in Antisamos and Skala hopefully before they all arrive…
I have been booking chain hotels with points for so long I am a complete newbie on Airbnb, booking.com, vrbo and these sites. So many choices it is overwhelming. And I want to make the best choice because, you know, lodging can enhance the experience 🙂
Thanks for the restaurant names, I am taking notes. Apparently the groom and my son are big foodies.
Slowly doing all the reservations one by one. Bringing wife and daughter back to the US without overnighting somewhere and losing a work day is going to be almost impossible. Car rentals are done at least.
And the only reservation missing on the Thailand trip is getting us two back to the US. 22 hotel nights on points/free night certs, 20 on Hyatt and 2 on Hilton #winning
Glad to hear your trip is coming along well, and glad to help! I’m with you on the hotel points as I myself don’t know about Airbnb, booking, etc. I do know through my cousin that booking.com is much more popular than Airbnb and others in Greece, and in Sept you surely will find a good place at decent prices.
And yes, leaving the island w/out losing a day of work is not easy as the duopoly of Aegean and Sky both leave at terrible times for US connections in Athens. In the summer Aegean has an ~10:30pm that gets into ATH at like midnight (as it’s usually delayed), so spending a few hours there to get a 6am flight might work – not sure this flight is offered in Sept though.
I’ve also taken Condor and Ryanair to Frankfurt in the past, have also done a flight to Venice on Volotea and Austrian to Vienna, all which made connections to the US same day. You could do a morning flight to LGW on EasyJet and bus transfer to LHR for more US options or if you want or try to do the nonstop on British that goes to LHR that may work, usually w/ delays though you’re likely miss the connection, as I did in the past and spent a night there.
Flightconnections.com, which I assume you know, can show you what goes nonstop from EFL and maybe find something that will work.
One last thing is rent a car one-way and take the early morning ferry to Kyllini which with the 1.5 hour ferry and 3.5 hour drive would get you to Athens same day around noonish. Not ideal, but if flights fail you.
Good luck, and enjoy your time there!!
Yep, getting them out of the island will be super tough without getting them to be way too tired arriving back in the US. Crazy times and likely overnighting. And risky connections if splitting it. And realizing the odd times on Aegean/Sky out of EFL. This is going to hurt!
Booked a car with Sixt at the island, we are flying in with Aegean from Thessaloniki via Athens. Not doing the Greek ferry rides, a bit too old for that and time is precious.
Almost pulled the trigger on 5 of the 8 hotel nights at the island at a very nice hotel paying way too much money than I am accustomed to. But amazing location and place but…you know, not all nights are available. Still may split the first 3 nights at Skala. #Developing
Learning more about the island along the way. Envisioned myself in retiring 3 months here, 3 months in Bangkok, 3 months in the US visiting kids/grandkids? and 3 months FT traveling….and then I woke up lol.
Yes, for some reason it’s not an easy island to leave at a convenient time. Many years ago they had a constant 7am flight w/ Olympic which was perfect to make a connection to the US (often on Olympic as well – that’s going back), but sadly no more.
Hear you on the ferry. A huge time suck w/ the driving as well. And yes, the island has some really nice hotels. Skala is a great destination and would be worth spending some time in if you can.
Your 3 month splits in retirement are a drive I envision often as well, then get a ping at work to wake me up. haha
1,008,365 miles/points burned year to date!
After burning 15k World of Hyatt points for one night at The Standard in Bangkok. Shorter stay, it is inside the tallest building in Bangkok (not sure if it is the tallest actually but it is way up there, the Mahanakhon building). Plus, one more Hyatt brand.
And then moving on to the Park Hyatt for 3 nights at 75k points and burning one confirmed suite upgrade for the Park Deluxe suite.
Only thing remaining to complete the Thailand trip is 2 business class tickets back to Detroit.
I should be working on the Greece trip instead though!
Kind of surreal surpassing the 1 Million mile marker so early in the year.
Will be interested to hear your take on the Standard as after reading the FT thread I was totally unenthused. Lucky you snagging the PH and a suite at that. I do like that general area where it is positioned. You must have enough bookings now to cross into Globalist renewal.
As of right now, I have 53 projected night credits. Certainly at least a few more nights at the Thessaloniki Hyatt Regency. And I may just do a night and try the StandardX in Bangkok as well while staying at the new HP in Soi 1. So I will make it happen it looks like. Definitely NOT shocking lol.
Last week I lost an email list subscriber.
This week I thought I would escape such fate. Nope, a Russ unsubscribed.
You have no idea how demoralizing this is…If you build it they will come they said smh.
If I started clickbaiting to stop this bleeding…I bet I would gain readers/subscribers. Something is fundamentally wrong about this…
Grand Canyon North Rim has burned down and is closed for the season. I was supposed to be there a week from now. Feel bad for all the folks living and working out there.
https://www.azfamily.com/2025/07/13/historic-grand-canyon-lodge-destroyed-by-wildfire/
Horrible fire wow…yeah, feel bad for all the folks there.
https://www.afar.com/magazine/grand-canyon-fires-the-damage-and-whats-open-and-closed?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=071525GrandCanyonFiresx3&utm_term=Daily%20Wander%20Newsletter%20×3
My oldest son has his first paid flight tomorrow! He signed up for AA today and will be earning his first-ever miles.
Are you sure? Not basic economy? 🙂
Heh: https://www.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/comments/1m1omc6/what_happened_to_tpg/
Loved it, thanks!
I am not going to sell out until in another galaxy far out there there is an outfit that will buy me out LOL.