TBB Mission: To Entertain, Educate and Inspire. Aim to at least do one well!
If you like what you see here, please let others know by passing them a link to my blog, thank you!
TRAVEL
13 classic travel moments. By Matador Network. At the end, this is what is all about…This is so good.
Urban Nightscapes: 11 Near-Surreal City Skylines. By Dashburst
15 Amazing World Sites (for Design Lovers). By Seriously for Real?
Had to share this. Found at Frequently Flying who does a daily roundup of airline, hotel and travel news. I always scan it. This was just a gem 🙂
MILES/POINTS
Public 50,000 AA miles link again. Have at it. End of an era…until Citi changes its mind…again. A never ending saga goes on. For up to date information check the wiki in this FlyerTalk post. Churning interrupted…for the moment.
In the footsteps of the great Portguguese explorers with United Miles. By Miles Adventures. You can burn United miles and fly TAP Portugal to the remote islands of Sao Tome, the Azores and Madeira. Oh, something new and interesting. Naturally, some readers will ask “How are the flat beds on these flights? They do have them right?’
ON MY MIND
Ok, here is the deal. I need to come up with yet another TBB “thing”. This one is killing me, I just don’t have the time to go through so many blogs. It hit me when Randy said 287 blogs expressed interest in joining Blogging Area and he is looking to have at least 75 BA bloggers next year. It is a losing battle for me. Tonight I already started being more eclectic and I let some stuff go when before I would add here and add my digs (it is so much fun!).
I am leaning towards accepting this new prospective client I met over the weekend. I am very blessed to live a comfortable life and do something my own way without being accountable to anyone but myself and clients (yeah no big banks telling me what to write or not write!) and to a higher power (call it whatever you like). Yeah, credibility is my most important asset. I keep postponing the decision hoping they go away so I can continue TBB which has morphed into quite a beast for me. Maybe it is time to dial down and if this client comes aboard I need to zero in to the work to untangle an epic mess (darn you salesperson broker). I am looking at options: possible tech help, reducing frequency of posts (very possible), doing away with the review thumbs down angle, just sitting down and going off on epic rants about something that bothered me (easy), along with longer posts on other stuff to educate readers (personal finance, catching up on trip reports, nuggets of wisdom, i.e. how I win contests, etc.)
Blogging is indeed very hard when you don’t go at it full time & you get no help at all. I am extremely proud of what I have accomplished here and love every blogging minute of it! Made so many friends, made enemies who keep amusing me, learn things daily and almost made gazillions from that nifty Filipino women dating ad that did not last! Most importantly, I keep entertaining myself, keep reducing my therapist bills and, most importantly, hope I have done my part to Entertain, Educate and Inspire.
TBB is not going away, it does need a little mental break to decide how to keep my sanity…Like I said, it’s a journey.
I am just talking to myself to talk things out…Thanks for listening but you don’t have to.
I am keeping it real. I am doing my part to change the world. This is my venue. There is another venue much bigger than this that will have me ranting about despicable practices in the finance area coming to you early next month. At that venue all the fan mail is positive. Wish it wasn’t! I always liked the negative ones, so amusing! That was a real yawn and it was mine!
ODDZ & ENDZ
Nada
BLOG BUZZ
Noob Traveler is busy traveling. Contributor David posts about Nights & Flights in SPG program. Hey Noob, looking forward to meet you at FinCon blogger conference in St. Louis. I will be sitting in your presentation to review it for my readers. For Q&A, I am going to ask you “So how much do you get paid for the Amex Platinum?”. Just a heads up.
Points Summary wrote “Travel Blogging is not easy“. It sure isn’t! It’s a brutal world out there. So many blogs, they just keep coming. What makes yours new blogger different? Do you know how many I see every day? Umm, let’s just say, a lot. Do you know how many make it here? A few. Next! And please please all newbie bloggers do not, I repeat, do not quit your day jobs! Come to think of it, are you sure this is worth it? I am at it for almost ten months and all I got is less sleep, less eyebrows, less time to other hobbies (missed movies!), etc. “It takes a toll but I like it”. I think it comes down to…passion…#developing
It is interesting how one big blogger does a separate post on the public AA 50k link you see the other bloggers follow. Don’t jump in the comments you jumpy blogger. I am just saying it is so interesting. That’s all. Nothing here!
Ariana still blogs once in a while now at her PointChaser blog. I did not hide that it was a fantastic blog. And I was fantastically disappointed she moved to run the Frugal Travel Guy blog. She has definitely stopped its slide of it to oblivion but still. I find it quiet interesting how she has adjusted her content to fit the FTG readers (no names please!). I am just going on to get my No 1 fan to come and rant in the TBB comments. Come on, we missed you! Hey, was that a yawn? 🙂 Excuse the long intro but she wrote “How Lucrative is Travel Blogging?‘ Good stuff , especially for new bloggers to read. It would have been much more informative if we would know what is the compensation arrangement at FTG. Without it, we are left to guess…I have a lot to say about this subject but it is already 1 am. I may just save it for another day.
first?
Giving up on Jeff, too much traveling:-)
second… again!
Seriously though, George, time to prune your feedly list of feeds. Just read less of the cr@p and blog whenever something excites you, be it good/terrible content or the filipino ads you saw on some blog.
Thanks. Yep, I am moving this way…
That diagram of Group A boarding at the gate is spot-on. However, that is still preferable to the scrum / death match that has been my experience trying to board a Ryanair flight.
Never experienced a Ryan flight yet and not looking forward to it either!
“I am looking at options: possible tech help, reducing frequency of posts (very possible), doing away with the review thumbs down angle, just sitting down and going off on epic rants about something that bothered me (easy), along with longer posts on other stuff to educate readers (personal finance, catching up on trip reports, nuggets of wisdom, i.e. how I win contests, etc.)”
Yes, do a little bit of each of these except “doing away with the review thumbs down angle” although that may get covered nicely when you rant.
I say cut back as needed but keep at it.
Given my current traveling schedule, I have stopped checking in at BA, F2B, FT and Twitter. I just check in here and get not only caught up enough for now but have a lot more fun doing it.
Gorgeous morning in Jerusalem. It will take a lot to top yesterday’s visit to the Dome of the Rock (first time for this NJG) and Sunday’s full day at the newly renovated Israel Museum where we saw some incredible exhibits which ranged from modern artists like Picasso, Modigliani, Klee and Matisse to amazing finds from Herod’s tomb and a fine explanation of his building prowess in this part if the world. On today’s agenda is riding on the new light rail across the city and back, a new park honoring a beloved mayor, a visit to the repurposed train station and dinner with family. The great thing about returning to a place we know and love is that there is little pressure to cram all the sites into two or three days. We love just getting into the rhythm of the place, seeing what has changed, connecting with old friends, and relaxing a bit. Better hop to it.na good day to all.
Dang auto correct on this iPad – I meant “and a good day to all!”
Dont have time to check the blogs, but you have plenty of time telling us your travel itinerary for today? As if anyone cares what you think or where you are going. Pathetic.
Paul: Dude, chillax a little bit. The comment was addressed to me. People may think you are angry or something. Love hearing about, you know, traveling stuff!
Yikes, Paul. Drink some coffee before you start posting.
I think my “review thumbs down angle” features are popular:-)
TBB is not going down. It just needs to adapt to reality of life outside of blogging…#developing
Thanks for the update. Almost bought one of those fare last year to TLV.
Points Summary takes a very US centric world view. The truth is that there are large chunks of the world crying out for a localised miles and points blog – and this is a good niche. You CAN regurgitate content on Marriott promos etc because no one else in your market is doing it. You can have local affiliate links for local credit cards, which generally wont have a minimum page views requirement etc.
Tom, who contributes to Head for Points on the comments side, runs Malta Points. Come on people, if Tom can run a decent blog (and it is decent) for a country of 415,000 people then there are plenty of other gaps to fill.
You also need to target the gaps. Is there a blog aimed at college students? At retired folk? Perhaps run a pure credit cards site but promote it via the financial press? One thing is clear – there is little point in running another ‘me too’ US blog.
Agreed. Little point in running “me too” blogs, but that doesn’t deter dozens of wannabes – they all think they have something “special” to offer. And sadly, morons reward their cut and paste “efforts” by clicking on affiliate links.
I prefer non-educated to morons, for the record. When you see them please send them here to get educated. It’s a huge target market!
Raffles: I think you are right on!
Maybe I should run a blog targeting people in finance and then I can speak to them at FinCon blogger conferences and not Noob Traveler! But then I am “out there” and may prevent potential prospects. But the market is there and some colleagues know what I do, heck, they read me now!
You are giving great ideas. For my reader W. in that big Midwest city, u hear?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>there is little point in running another ‘me too’ US blog.
Absolutely. Just take a look at past MMS interviews. Not that many stand out…
Maybe you can start a UK aggregator site and be UK’s Randy:-) Business wise, it is probably the best move…for the aggregator….after it is built:-)
Another idea. How about someone starts a ‘Disney for free’ blog? This is the sort of sideways thinking you need to do. Push cards that will give free airtravel to, or hotel nights around, the US Disney resorts. It doesn’t need daily updates – just a few good background articles – and will pick up inbound traffic from the various Disney forums.
Think creatively!
Anyone? Hey my friend W. What you were talking about PLUS Disney. Two subject areas: Hit them hard.
But, I am warning you, it is rough out there. Prepare to lose sleep, lots of it…
We certainly need more creativity in this space!
Thanks Raffles, your contributions are always great here!
MileValue isn’t letting the end of your SPG contest prevent him from making absurd SPG Amex posts
“A Chance to buy Starpoints at 1.1 cents”
Of course when you get into the body of the post, you realize how ridiculously misleading it is –
You’re not actually buying the points. You’re just making a C&P booking. And it only applies to Category 5 peak bookings. Except if it is peak time, there probably isn’t C&P availability
So yes, if you have a Category 5 booking, that you were going to make anyways, and you would’ve paid the 16K/night rate for that Category 5 hotel, and C&P availability is open (despite it being peak period), and you ignore that taxes are paid on the cash component of C&P, and you ignore the fact that you’re not actually buying points…..
Then the headline “A Chance to Buy Starwood Points for 1.1 cents” is spot on!
It’s in the queue. Or maybe I should just start posting my readers’ review of absurd blog posts. Remember “I will always promote the best offer” Lol. It’s about credibility…Yawn:-)
I told you what you should do. Quit your business ( or go part-time).Then rename your blog “The point guy”, as the one pointing at bloggers, get it? Get affiliate links, seriously. Heck, when I lose mine, I’ll support you.
But I love my business. It is small by design, very satisfying and pays well. Allows me to be independent and do the right thing without being influenced by others or institutions. Clients have been with me for years. People find me, never did any marketing. I turn down 9 out of 10 people who contact me to work with them. The fit must be perfect (or close to it). This new couple may be it. Down for a challenge!
If I had a dollar every time I was told to get affiliate links 🙂 What’s the rush anyway.
You worry too much about affiliate links. You need to worry about finding your unique voice and working on your content.
I am so sore from my soccer game. And we got mauled 6-2. Bummer
Alright than! I get it, I really do. You do realize this is the 5th time you told me to find unique voice and work on content, right? 🙂 I got it the first time, I’m not dumb. Anyway, I hope everything falls into place for you. Sounds like you have a ton on your plate.
It can not be emphasized enough.
Take ALL feedback as a blessing. If people did not care, they wouldn’t do it! Laugh on the mean comments, there WILL be many. Blogging is a rough sport.
ABC is not angry.
I always had lots on my plate. Now it is two tons
@ travelbloggerbuzz Actually I do agree! It is HARD to stand out with good content currently. So many good blogs, its crazy. I actually doubt I will be able to “bring it”. But I will try. But there will be many “dud” posts, its inevitable.
There is still a niche out there for family travel that I have not seen: all the special arrangements needed to earn and burn points for groups of 3 or 4 people, which includes the kids. How to get 4 seats. How to fit 4 in a room and get free breakfasts. Great family destinations that you can attain with our hobby. Great family destinations that our hobby *doesn’t* hit directly, such as cruises. There is a *lot* out there for the regular family person. IMO, there is no one covering this well.
@ bluecat That is exactly what i’m after. Just what you described. I have seen a small gap in the market which I’m hoping to fill. There is no way I could ever cover stuff as well as Mommypoints, but I’m hoping to add a little bit. The problem is we don’t travel often, so I might enlist family members for trip reports. And we are going on a cruise in November. In fact we love cruises, but money is limited. If i don’t do it well, someone else hopefully will step in.
>>>>>>So many good blogs, its crazy.
Not really, just lots of very bad and bad blogs:-)
I am going insane trying to get to them all…
Duds: Start giving away drink coupons or stuff like that:-)
Regarding milesforfamily “finding your unique voice and working on your content”.
Why ask a question in your title “Does Barclaycard Carnival credit card have the best sign-up bonus?” and answer it in the first sentence “The answer is NO, no it does not.” and then continue writing 1000 words?
If you’re going down this path, I suggest you use some of the tricks perfected by Huffington post (epic!), NY post and national enquirer.
Just read through Milesforfamily’s blog
Pretty good read
Thank you! Is it a compliment? Hard to tell in this hobby when one is serious or not.
I wasn’t serious. I didn’t actually click on your blog.
Has anyone?
hahaha, I wonder who reads that blog.
This was actually an inside joke directed at George! I asked him what would it take to feature me in his rant. He said to profile Carnival card. So there!
I got the joke. I was kidding. My readers would not get the joke:-)
Hmmm, lots to think about. Honestly, I think you’ve answered your own questions about where you’re going to put your energy. You don’t need to have all the answers. Just keep doing the next right thing and everything will fall into place. FWIW, I think that if you end up working with your new client, the “burden” to create a financially rewarding blog will be lessened. Then you can dial it back and just talk about what’s on your mind whenever you get around to it. 🙂
Yeah, late at night i pour my soul and let it go….and the answers come.
There has never been any “burden” but sure loved to cover my costs and turn a tiny profit. IRS does not like seeing losses consistently.
I am started going through Feedly much faster now. No reason for me to read trip reports or other stuff. Paring it down. And I may just delete a few blogs that clearly do not belong.
Alexa numbers keep improving. Which gets me excited to continue…It’s like a vicious circle. Waiting on client now. Deep down I hope they go to my colleague so I can keep working it here to change the world or at least get myself to post my first “My Top 10 Credit Card offers Without a waive of the annual fee” lol.
Whatever I do, it will be unique, at least I hope so.
Artistic expression through blogging.
Thanks for the feedback!
PS: How pissed am I? Day 6 on that f*ing card.
Love readers expressing themselves, it does make you feel better, doesn’ it? 🙂
I’m of the opinion that people who are unnecessarily nasty and mean to no end are pathetic and insecure. Taunting and attacking other authors for no good reason would make me just another troll, and the internet’s already at full capacity with those.
This hobby impresses me less every day. Sure, one could click every 30% off coupon for electronics and sit on eBay and resell them, or get $10 in restaurant.com gift certificates for free, or enter personal information in a tweet for a sweepstakes giveaway, or do a mileage run to be elite so that one could get free sodium packs when in the back of the plane. Or one could instead learn a language, read a book, take a walk, exercise, or watch a sunset, and in general live a more filling life. Too much of this hobby, and the content of these blogs, focuses on the former set, which is why I have less and less interest in reading blogs. I look at some of the headlines and think, “Yes, but I don’t need that crap and I have no interest in spending time going there.”
An occasional glance at Flyertalk, churning cards three times each year, and feed subscriptions to about five different blogs seems to cover everything. (The four I mentioned before and the Wandering Aramean.) The rest is noise. (Apologies to A.R.)
>>>>>>>>This hobby impresses me less every day.
At the first Chicago seminar I came back disgusted with what I saw. Too many people taking notes, booths giving away little knick knacks, speakers bloggers mostly positioning for future business and don’t get me started about the Nightline TV crew. Don’t get me wrong I loved the socializing and most people. But sitting there listening to the Pudding Guy…who said “I have moved on from the hobby…I now do marathons”. I wondered if the hobby is detrimental to the health and well being for the hobbyists. I came back determined I will be better off cutting off all the time that goes towards this hobby and do it like you: do some churning & read a few blogs that make an impact in my life and stop bothering with all the nonsense…Well, guess what. Lasted a few months. And then I went back at it…
So, I guess, this blog was a fruit of my journey and just a way to deal with it all. Speak about the absurdities of it all. I wonder how many of these bloggers who labor away to make their businesses successful…if they would be better off actually learning new or improving current skills (i.e. the Extra Pack of Peanuts guy: very hard working and some creativity or Milevalue who I think is a lawyer?). But hey, they may all say…travel is my passion. Ok, maybe find another passion, something you spent years going go school for? All these years laboring away at this online business stuff (I know how hard this is, got in as a personal challenge and to amuse myself mostly) creates this huge gap in a resume. How do you go back to…being an attorney? The newly wed Scott at Hack My Trip should be careful & not let his brilliant education go away. Would you want to hire a Ph.d in some Biology stuff who has been hacking trips online for the past xx years?
I think this baby I started (do not underestimate the enjoyment I get from challenging myself to do something everybody told me is crazy!) will veer towards being my own corner of shouting to the community, becomes its conscience in a way. Or something like that. Or continue to try to make readers laugh. Just a mental escape from the madness around us:-)
I signed up for a Financial blogger conference in October in St. Louis. Noob Traveler is speaking to my colleagues about….credit cards and how to travel for free. Looking forward to learn how to do that lol.
When I find some time I will do a post titled: “You miles enthusiast, are you out of your mind?” or something like that!
Thanks as always. Your contributions are always so well thought out and valuable. Cheers.
NOOBTRAVELER is going to speak there. WoW can I come as your guest? How were they able to snag him??? Who else is speaking Colin Powell, Anthony Robbins and Zig Ziglar?
@milesforfamily ditch the mommy/family angle for a travel blog. BORING>>You can use my idea for a successful blog (a gift from me to you), take the name too. THE HORNEY TRAVELER, it will be internet gold, sex sells. I was going to use but as my wife says to me all the time “you’re too old to get it up and going”. …………Hefner Ramsey
whatever happened to Familymiler? MMS did an absolutely mind blowing brilliant, riveting, breathtaking and fascinating interview with her 6 months ago? She now posts once every 3 months.
I thought Family Miler had folded…
We are in need of unique niches, yours is a good one. When somebody does it, I wonder how many commenters will say “Hey, what is your full name…who are you to hide behind your anonymity?” lol
@ Ramsey First, thanks for commenting on my site. I don’t know if you signed up for follow up comments, but I responded to you on my blog. Oh, I am seriously thinking about your suggestion on renaming my site. THT, has a nice ring to it.
I have stated several times in my blogs about a niche for an “alternative lifestyles” miles & points blog. I would read the trip report at them places like Hedonism resorts lol.
Or maybe religious focused. You know how well Dan at DansDeals has done focusing towards catering to the Orthodox Jew community. How about Lutherans, they do have a financial division, imagine how easy credit card selling will be then:-)
Miles for family does not excite me. Many of us have families…kids too. Niche is oversaturated.
In my humbly blunt opinion as always.
Is anyone else wetting themselves with anticipation that we will soon know whether Frugal Travel Guy (the blog)’s #1 credit card is Ink Bold or Sapphire Preferred? And whether Ink Bold and Ink Plus get their own separate entries or share the #1 or #2 spot? This senior citizen needs to change his Depends!!!
Maybe I should have a contest to ask readers to guess FTG’s Top 3 credit cards. My guess:
Ink Bold
Ink Plus
Platinum AMEX
Why these? They pay the most:-)
I am so excited, we are getting so close!
I’m looking forward to the day when one of the “Top 10 CC’s” linkfests that all the bloggers pump out with regularity only have….. 10 CC’s
Count CIB and CIP as one
Lump all the 2 hotel night signup bonuses as 1 (remember when the Hyatt Visa didn’t have to share space with other CC’s?)
Put all 3 Carlson cards together (haha just kidding, they only include the Carlson card that pays them affiliate $$)
Toss in the Alaska Airlines Visa just because
And voila…. a “top 10 CC’s” list actually contains 15+ links!
That’s a great point actually;-)
Your open invite to share a link to TBB… Does that mean that I can email a link over to your potential new clients? Would they be entertained, educated, and inspired? Just sayin’…
S&S: Not following, please elaborate.
Are you angry? Are you a blogger? What is your agenda? Just askin’ 🙂
Hey! I live in STL. Is this conference double secret? If so, don’t post here, just email. 🙂
Can’t believe I just “wasted” so much time reading all these comments. I have to stop… I have to reiterate to keep your day jobs and don’t depend on points and miles or blogging.
But it’s probably to okay to make a little dent on student loans or the mortgage:-)