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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

This section will start with some content geared to more advanced points and miles hobbyists. And then continue on with some items pertaining to my actions in this space and then end with some personal news. So, here we go…

I did try Mileslink and as suspected, I got me a few emails pushing blog posts from Boarding Area blogs and, wait for it, The Points Guy. So I unsubscribed and deleted the bookmark. I guess no sponsorship requests are forthcoming from this company lol.

Our SE Asia trip is coming together with 31 hotel nights booked, see below.

More changes in bold font below:

For the record, award availability opened up nicely about nine days out, fyi. With several options almost every day. I thought about adding back another United award to have three open but I stopped when I told myself to stop being ridiculous lol.

I canceled my United award and instead got me a Business Class Air Canada Aeroplan award to fly east from Detroit to Frankfurt to Munich on Lufthansa and then to Bangkok on Thai Airways on an A-350 bird. I am still leaning towards keeping the American Airlines award but will keep both of these open and then cancel one at the last minute.

And I finally confirmed my one free Platinum complimentary night at the brand new Fairmont in Bangkok (it opens August 23!). Interestingly, this new property did not allow me to use a Platinum suite upgrade cert with my complimentary night cert, boo. So I booked a standard king room and will rely on my charm to talk me into a suite again lol. This meant cutting one night from the two night reservation at the Pattaya Hilton, one night there should be more than enough. I had two reservations while the Fairmont reservation was up in the air and when I confirmed it I canceled the two night reservation (and got 120,000 Hilton points back).

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

This section will start with some content geared to more advanced points and miles hobbyists. And then continue on with some items pertaining to my actions in this space and then end with some personal news. So, here we go…

Randy Petersen is back with another venture. He elaborates here: Randy Petersen on Why Frequent Flyers Need Someone to Read the News For Them. Sounds interesting. And it is something I have been doing here, I guess I was early lol. Don’t get me started about being early in monetizing though, I have clearly failed in that department. But this is what I do here with a twist. I curate the best web content out there, period. And I provide my expert (sometimes) commentary.

The average traveler doesn’t need more information. What they need is relevance. So Mileslink starts with one question: what do you actually care about? Maybe it’s American Airlines, premium cabins, and nice hotels. Maybe it’s status matches and lounges. Once we know that, we can throw away enormous amounts of noise before it ever reaches you. Reading less, but the right less.

The site is MilesLink.

I intend to check it out when I find time. If you do please write back with your experience. When I finally check it out of course you would get my sincere opinion here. Unless Randy wants to sponsor my blog so then I can “adjust” my opinion lol (no I won’t). I am sensing this new venture may be a feeder site to all the Boarding Area blogs?

I surpassed 30 World of Hyatt night credits so another free night cert landed in my account. I hate it that these certs expire in only six months, oh well. I have been keeping track of the spend on my personal World of Hyatt Visa to make sure I hold off a bit so I can get the six month expiration to last a bit longer. But again I was off by a few hundred dollars. And I scratched my head for a while wondering where I got my numbers wrong. I think I was counting on a refund when Chase is counting the whole purchase numbers. Again, I am not sure. I also picked another award, 2 more club access awards to give away to blog supporters. I also picked 2 club access awards when I surpassed the 20 night milestone as well, so I now have 4 of them. Anyway, with booked future reservations I will be at 59 night credits, short of 60 required for top Globalist elite status. And I possibly have a trip to Greece and my favorite Thessaloniki Hyatt property is always a treat, so one more year requalifying as a World of Hyatt Globalist elite member. Will this year be my last? We shall see what happens.

I did not apply again for the Amex Schwab Platinum. After repeatedly being shown the dreaded pop up jail message informing me that for some strange reason I am not eligible for the 80k Signup Bonus due to my history, cough. And according to my records it has been just over 7 years since I last had the Amex Business Gold card I decided to go for it since the Signup Bonus is “up to 200,000 Amex Membership Rewards points”. Of course, key words are “up to”. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I did NOT get the pop up jail message, hooray! The bad news is I was offered only 100,000 Signup Bonus. I did not proceed. Only to receive an email by Amex thanking me for the application and they are working on it. Say what? I called back and this is getting to be the norm lately being confronted with Amex customer service that is just plain bad when it used to be top notch. It was over the weekend and apparently someone would call me back to discuss my application. I just wanted to withdraw it without getting a hit on my credit record. Anyway, I called on Monday and gently inquired that I would love to do this for 200k and the rep politely withheld himself from laughing too hard and conveniently suggested I apply again after 30 days.

Anyway, my efforts continue to get back in with Amex. My Amex Business Platinum annual fee hits September 3rd and I will be back from my SE Asia trip by end of September and I intend to cancel it. A few days before canceling it I intend to apply again for the Schwab Amex Platinum and proceed even without a Signup Bonus. Which you have no idea how it hurts just typing this lol. If I fail to get it, I guess I can get on my wife’s Schwab Amex Platinum as an Authorized User at $195 per year. For the record, my pay back in credits since getting the Amex Business Platinum card is as follows: $600 in calendar year 2024, $950 in 2025 and $1,100 year to date in 2026. Not too shabby imho.

I applied online for visas to Vietnam at the official Vietnam E-Visa website. The site is clunky, allow some time to do it right. My issues revolved around accepting the photos of ourselves and the passport pages. Do some googling (or ChatGPTing) around to see the workarounds. Apparently I had to send the files to Whatsapp and download them from there as that somehow strips the “scripts” in them and the system then allows their uploading. And, oh yeah, if you get stuck on a scroll down button that does not work you have to refresh the page and start all over again. You have been warned. Mine was approved, waiting the visa for my wife next (I applied for her a few days after me, I had to recover lol).

Our SE Asia trip is coming together with 31 hotel nights booked, see below.

I have been trying to book awards for my wife to Kuala Lumpur and she is getting anxious because she just wants to book a Turkish Airlines ticket again and be done with it. And I keep saying give me a few more days something will open up. Well, crickets so far. Especially with both Alaska and Air Canada Aeroplan miles which are both proved to be absolutely useless. Alaska is asking 130k miles for a one way business class flying Philippine Airlines through a short connection in Manila airport, nope. Then they jump to 255k miles.

Wait, Air Canada says hold my beer. I first got excited to see business class award for 102.5k miles. Yeah, “mixed cabin” was a concern but I thought maybe a short leg. But nope, we are talking only 2% is in Business Class. I want to lol here but I feel like crying instead. Most were in the same territory so I excluded “Mixed Cabin” from search results. And then boom, I get availability from 341.7k to 481.5k miles, are you phucking kidding me? And this is why credit card “experts” keep deluding the newbies how easy it is to fly for free. Nothing is for free and award space has gotten absolutely horrifically bad lately. I did use some Alaska miles in the past to fly on AA to New York City only for AA to bungle the last two trips so so much for that. I am finding some space with AA miles but it requires jumping through some hoops like switching from Haneda to Narita airports in Tokyo which is something that she will never ever do. So…a few more days.

The two changes in the always improving trip are in bold font below.

I did find me a business class award returning back to the US from Singapore. For 90,000 United miles. Ok, when you see that you know it is on United metal. And I intend to keep this as a place holder and do my best to avoid flying it lol. Because it requires a long layover in SFO (which is fine) but then the next leg to Chicago is in Economy. And landing close to midnight. Which will require me getting a hotel room at the airport and then find/pay my way to Detroit. Yeah, slim pickings all around, it is a sad state of award affairs.

I intend to focus on getting some more travel rewards credit cards after I get back to Michigan from SE Asia. I was thinking perhaps to go for an Alaska Airlines card, especially the one that earns 3x on all purchases while abroad. Or go for an Air Canada Aeroplan card. But judging from the horrific award availability and prices I am likely not going to bother. Probably going back to Citibank to create more American Airlines miles. At the end of the day, both United and AA are still doing much better in the awards availability department. At least in my case with my home base in Detroit, not being that flexible and not into starting/ending my trips elsewhere other than Detroit. I will let you know…if I am still blogging that is.

When I learned that the Fairmont in Bangkok is opening in 2026 I zipped quickly on the website to learn of the opening date. And it appears it opens September 1st. So, as a lifetime Platinum member from a legendary 2011 deal…I get to call a special VIP line and be greeted with “Welcome Platinum for Life member” which always sounds so sweet. Anyway, I do get a free night cert and two suite upgrades every year as well (and $100 in food vouchers and more). The rep could not attach the suite upgrade cert to the free night cert and had to contact the hotel. Things are always dicey with new hotel openings. It may very well get pushed back. But if it somehow comes through (she is supposed to call me back and I will update the post then) we will stay only one night in the Hilton Pattaya (which is more than enough). So I made a separate reservation with Hilton and if the Fairmont reservation comes through I will cancel my 2 night reservation at the Hilton Pattaya. Showing newbies how to get this done, you are welcome. You know what makes this amazing if it comes through? We will move on from the Kromo hotel to the Fairmont which is just 300 meters away, sweet!

100,000 United miles for one way Business Class from Detroit to Bangkok (via Chicago and Tokyo Haneda) flying United Polaris and ANA Air Japan

OR

110,000 American Airlines miles for one way First Class from Detroit to Bangkok (via Dallas and Tokyo Haneda) flying AA and JAL

1 night at the StandardX Bangkok for 7,500 World of Hyatt points

10 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 1 for 45,000 World of Hyatt points

9 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 for 40,500 World of Hyatt points

4 nights in a suite at the Saigon Park Hyatt for 80,000 World of Hyatt points

2 nights at the KROMO Bangkok, a Curio Collection by Hilton property, on AMEX The Hotel Collection booking fully utilizing Amex Business Platinum $300 credit

1 night at the brand new Fairmont Bangkok in a suite using my lifetime Platinum annual complimentary night cert

2 nights at the Hilton Pattaya for 120,000 Hilton Honors points

2 nights at the Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Beach for 30,000 World of Hyatt points in a confirmed Garden View Suite

1 night at the Singapore Conrad Marina Bay on an Amex FHR booking mostly covered by the $300 credit Schwab Amex Platinum $300 credit

90,000 United miles for one way Business Class Singapore to Chicago O’Hare (via San Fransisco) flying United

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

We had a big retirement party for my wife at home. She is absolutely loving not having any work related stress in her life anymore. Everyone loved the house renovations by the way. I will post on Instagram more pics from the party, here is just one:

Everything is moving along with moving on from Ford. We kept the same health insurance plan via COBRA and the premium payment is set to be paid electronically. More importantly, Ford has given us a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) and is reimbursing us the premium payments monthly electronically as well. The HRA will cover almost a full year of COBRA health insurance premiums. The Health Savings Account also stayed with the same provider but now we login to it directly without going through the Ford Benefits website. Maybe next year I am going to look to roll it over to another company, no rush. And, after a mandatory 30 day wait after separation, I will work on rolling over her 401k Plan into her IRA at Schwab. So it’s all good.

I am currently sitting at just 21 World of Hyatt night credits. But I have been putting some major spend (mostly home furnishings stuff) on my personal World of Hyatt Visa and I expect to get to 31 next week after the statement closes. With present Hyatt bookings I get to 57. And I am very close to breaking another $5k spend threshold on my World of Hyatt visa so 59 night credits is a certainty. So yeah, I will easily requalify for World of Hyatt Globalist again. I will have to think hard about doing this again next year after the recent program devaluations and, more importantly, the recent severe Chase bank restrictions shutting the flow of never ending Chase points which found their way to my World of Hyatt account, so sad.

I have not tried applying for the Schwab Amex Platinum in the past week. But this weekend I am going to try to apply for it on my phone this time. I expect to get the same dreaded pop up but ya never know until you try. After that rejection I think I am going to try going for the Amex Business Gold card to see if Amex will give it to me. If that happens (long shot), I am interested to see how close to the top 200k offer I could get. Been a while since getting a new travel rewards credit card. And of course I use my own links whenever I can. Because, like those commercials of hair transplant companies with people “testifying” that they are also clients, well, this sure applies to me getting travel reward credit cards using my own blog LLC lol.

My wife got the Schwab Amex Platinum in late May of this year. And as of today, we have claimed $911 of credits so far #winning. With more to come. So yeah, this is why I have been trying to get the same card for myself, the credits for the personal Amex Platinums are so much better. And getting an extra credit for having our money invested with Schwab is the cherry on top. I will keep trying because I am stubborn. And I could at some point go for it without a Signup Bonus. Which is fundamentally against everything I stand for lol.

Our SE Asia trip is coming together with 31 hotel nights booked, see below. I added, for reference, another one way First Class award from Detroit to Bangkok in bold font. Yes, I now have two award reservations getting to Bangkok. I am going to sit on them for a while and prefer the AA award. But I am also seeing more award space from United flying Swiss Business Class via Chicago/Washington Dulles and Zurich and I am tempted to book that and cancel the one flying United Polaris and ANA (which was changed to its discount subsidiary airline Air Japan so hell no). As expected, in the 3 weeks from departure timeline I am seeing more award space. Even an Air Canada Aeroplan business class award seat popped up flying Turkish Airlines from Detroit to Istanbul and then to Bangkok on Thai Airways. I was so tempted to book this one as well but Air Canada does not have free award cancellations (have to burn more miles for that) and the connection was just two hours in Istanbul which means no time at the glorious Turkish Airlines Business Class lounge. Then again, I still have not found award flights back to Detroit from Singapore! So I added another alert to return to Chicago instead and…still nothing (so far).

100,000 United miles for one way Business Class from Detroit to Bangkok (via Chicago and Tokyo Haneda) flying United Polaris and ANA Air Japan

OR

110,000 American Airlines miles for one way First Class from Detroit to Bangkok (via Dallas and Tokyo Haneda) flying AA and JAL

1 night at the StandardX Bangkok for 7,500 World of Hyatt points

10 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 1 for 45,000 World of Hyatt points

9 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 for 40,500 World of Hyatt points

4 nights in a suite at the Saigon Park Hyatt for 80,000 World of Hyatt points

2 nights at the KROMO Bangkok, a Curio Collection by Hilton property, on AMEX The Hotel Collection booking fully utilizing Amex Business Platinum $300 credit

2 nights at the Hilton Pattaya for 120,000 Hilton Honors points

2 nights at the Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Beach for 30,000 World of Hyatt points in a confirmed Garden View Suite

1 night at the Singapore Conrad Marina Bay on an Amex FHR booking mostly covered by the $300 credit Schwab Amex Platinum $300 credit

So I finally watched The Odyssey and I must admit that the hype did not measure up. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did I think about it afterwards? Absolutely not. And it was sooooo long.

Saw this somewhere online and I laughed a lot so maybe you would too:

Do you realize that if you are sitting on the toilet at 11.59 PM, and the clock strikes midnight…

It’s the same shit, different day.

Hard to believe it is almost August already!

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

I made an Instagram post with an update from the 2026 Ann Arbor Art Fair and attending a local wedding.

Is it just me? But not that much exciting stuff happening lately in this space. It is time for so many opportunist online creators who only came in to this space to sell plastic to finally buzz off and find something else to sell.

I am going to watch The Odyssey one of these days. We were taught all about the Odyssey in school growing up in Greece.

We are really enjoying our renovated house and we absolutely love the new kitchen. And tomorrow we are having a big retirement party for my wife expecting close to 40 people. And we really wanted to make food and gathering all around the new island counter the hub center of it all. Because, you know, friendships and all. So yes, we spent a lot of money and it was all worth it.

Our SE Asia trip is coming together with 31 hotel nights booked, see below. I added, for reference, my one way business class award from Detroit to Bangkok in bold font. Hard to believe I managed to get one more epic trip with my miles/points #winning.

100,000 United miles for one way Business Class from Detroit to Bangkok (via Chicago and Tokyo Haneda) flying United Polaris and ANA 

1 night at the StandardX Bangkok for 7,500 World of Hyatt points

10 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 1 for 45,000 World of Hyatt points

9 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 for 40,500 World of Hyatt points

4 nights in a suite at the Saigon Park Hyatt for 80,000 World of Hyatt points

2 nights at the KROMO Bangkok, a Curio Collection by Hilton property, on AMEX The Hotel Collection booking fully utilizing Amex Business Platinum $300 credit

2 nights at the Hilton Pattaya for 120,000 Hilton Honors points

2 nights at the Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Beach for 30,000 World of Hyatt points in a confirmed Garden View Suite

1 night at the Singapore Conrad Marina Bay on an Amex FHR booking mostly covered by the $300 credit Schwab Amex Platinum $300 credit

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

I always take a look at the promotions tab in my World of Hyatt app to see what promos I am currently enrolled and, more importantly, if there are any new promotions available. I just enroll in every promo that appears out of habit. Scanning the promos I discovered that there is a Hyatt Place stay promotion to earn 2,000 points every two nights until September 7. But you must always read the terms and conditions, something we in this hobby have it in our DNA to do lol. So, this promotion is valid only starting with the second stay. So I conveniently adjusted my Bangkok hotel reservations and added a one night stay at the StandardX property for the night of the day of my arrival. Why? It cost 7,500 World of Hyatt points when both Hyatt Place properties are only 4,500 points. So, for one night it is costing me an additional 3,000 points. But since the day after I go check in to the Hyatt Place Soi 1 to start my second stay for this promotion I will earn the (maximum) 8,000 bonus points. So with this small change I am earning an additional 5,000 points.

But wait, is it worth effort? Well, I get to stay (mostly sleep to recover from jet lag) in a new World of Hyatt property in a new area of Bangkok I am not familiar with and, this is important, this will count as an additional brand for the ongoing Brand Explorer promotion that will get me to Brand #13 and I need two more to earn another Free Night (you earn a Free Night for every five distinct brands you stay in).

I have a United award booked to Bangkok flying United First from Detroit to Chicago, on United Polaris to Tokyo Haneda and then on ANA Business to Bangkok. Well, I thought I did. I received one of those cryptic heavy on DOS interface visuals email from ANA telling me there was a change. In something. I think the operating airline is now Air Japan but the seat map and my seat looks the same as before. I would rather not fly Air Japan so I am now keeping my eyes open for a better award routing. I prefer going through Europe than going West. Because I think United may mess up the Detroit to Chicago flight, sad. And who wants to spend time in O’Hare. #Developing.

Other than that, no other airfare has been booked. I think I may book some activities with the Capital One travel portal one of these days. At least all hotel arrangements are done, phew. So, let’s talk about them free hotels next. Oh wait, something just opened up with Swiss Airlines through Zurich…but I have this blog to publish first smh.

Our SE Asia trip is coming together with 31 hotel nights booked, see below. Hard to believe I managed to get one more epic trip with my miles/points #winning. The bookings in bold font were completed since last Friday’s post.

1 night at the StandardX Bangkok for 7,500 World of Hyatt points

10 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 1 for 45,000 World of Hyatt points

9 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 for 40,500 World of Hyatt points

4 nights in a suite at the Saigon Park Hyatt for 80,000 World of Hyatt points

2 nights at the KROMO Bangkok, a Curio Collection by Hilton property, on AMEX The Hotel Collection booking fully utilizing Amex Business Platinum $300 credit

2 nights at the Hilton Pattaya for 120,000 Hilton Honors points

2 nights at the Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Beach for 30,000 World of Hyatt points in a confirmed Garden View Suite

1 night at the Singapore Conrad Marina Bay on an Amex FHR booking mostly covered by the $300 credit Schwab Amex Platinum $300 credit

I would love to see the Odyssey in the IMAX format it was meant to be seen. Unfortunately, these are The only 25 theaters in the US showing ‘The Odyssey’ in IMAX 70mm.

The last few days in Ann Arbor, Michigan have been miserable due to the Canadian wildfires. I mean, it is dangerous being outside, hang in there everyone…inside!

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

I closed my Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card. And I had to sacrifice about $30k credit limit. In retrospect, I should have transferred most of it to my Ink Business Cash card earlier. I am still surprised I was not allowed to do this as it appears the rep was correct that this card, along with the weird Ink Cash Premier card, are the only two cards that you can not transfer their credit limits. Still learning after all these years in this space. I was able to claim only about $450 of the credits of this card in the year I held it. I know closing it I effectively shut myself off from transferring Chase points to World of Hyatt 1:1. Well, with the once per lifetime Chase card restrictions and no more points from Ink cards, so what, it does not matter anymore.

I again tried for the Schwab Amex Platinum card and I again got the dreaded jail pop up message telling me I am not eligible for the signup bonus. So I have a dilemma now. The fat $895 annual fee for my Business Amex Platinum card is coming in September. I will be in Asia then and may have only a few days after I come back to close the card and move on. But I really really want the Schwab version of the card since the credits are so much more valuable when compared to the business card.

Having said that, I have managed to claim the following credits for my Business Amex Platinum card: $600 in 2024 (obtained the card 9/2024), $950 in 2025 and $1,050 to date in 2026. Not too shabby of course. But with no more United Travel bank, limited Dell credit and really no way to benefit from the pure business credits, I am now thinking to go for the Schwab Amex Platinum card to enjoy the automatic Schwab brokerage credit (we have all our investments with Schwab), the $400 Resy dining credits and $300 Lululemon credits and of course the $600 FHR/THC hotel credits (and more). As a matter of fact, since my wife obtained the Schwab Amex Platinum card less than two months ago, we have already claimed $720 in credits (with another $300 hotel credit, $200 Resy credit, $150 Lululemon credit and more to come before 2027 rolls in!).  I am not even counting her UberOne $120 credit by the way. #Winning But I must admit I absolutely hate going for a card and not earn any signup bonus at all. But I am convinced Amex will just not give me any more signup bonuses anytime soon. Something about my history with them lol.

Our SE Asia trip is coming together very slowly. I blame the World Cup and the absolutely shitty state of business class award availability preventing me to wrap up all arrangements. Anyway, I have booked so far:

10 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 1 for 45,000 World of Hyatt points

9 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 for 40,500 World of Hyatt points

4 nights in a suite at the Saigon Park Hyatt for 80,000 World of Hyatt points

After returning to Bangkok from Saigon, we have 6 nights before flying to Singapore for a wedding. So I looked around and decided to book 2 nights at the Kromo Bangkok hotel, part of Curio Collection by Hilton in the Amex Travel portal with my business Amex Platinum card (last booking?) to claim another $300 The Hotel Collection credit. So I can continue the fourth year of staying for free every single night in our trips to SE Asia! #travelhackinglessons. Actually the cost for the two nights came at $306.64 so I failed for $6.64 lol. But let’s not forget the $100 hotel THC credit and of course the free breakfasts for two and some upgrade and late checkout, etc.

I finally posted some videos on YouTube:

Kromo Bangkok Hotel Premium Room

Kromo Bangkok Swimming Pool & Gym

Andaz Bail walk through

I now need to book 4 more nights in Thailand. I project I will be at 54 World of Hyatt night credits. And I will likely spend at least a few nights again at the Thessaloniki Greece Hyatt Regency. And I still have some leftover spend for the 2nd half of the furniture purchases that are on order. So no need for me to pay for a 30 day stay at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 that will come out to about $67 per night to seal requalifying for World of Hyatt Globalist.

So, I am debating where to stay the last four nights in Thailand. Wife has another $300 Amex Platinum FHR/THC credit available and I do have a Hilton Free Night as well. Should I book the new Bangkok Andaz to continue my quest to experience all Hyatts in Thailand? Or maybe go for a few nights at the Pattaya Andaz, maybe on the way back to the airport to catch flight to Singapore? Maybe try the Bangkok Four Seasons on a FHR booking for one night? But my wife does not like to move around hotels but she has learned to tolerate it a bit with me lol. Any suggestions?

In Singapore the wedding party has a few hotel nights reserved for us near the wedding venue. And then earlier this year (before July) I booked the Singapore Conrad Marina Bay hotel on wife’s new Schwab Amex Platinum card for the $300 FHR credit. Still have to pay quite a bit over that but let’s just pretend it is mostly free lol. The price differences between Singapore and Thailand are absurd.

Also looking for suggestions for Saigon. Must do/see/eat etc.

Maybe the way to go for business class awards to Asia is to finally open an EVA Airlines mileage account and transfer some bank points to it? I don’t like dealing with foreign airline loyalty programs as I try to keep this hobby sane. It appears EVA has more award space these days, thoughts? Maybe this gets me to get back on the Citi Strata points ecosystem…

The Atlantic had an article titled The End of Reading. It was depressing and I am not linking it here because you will be depressed too. Blog readership is falling as many continue to flock to video form. Even One Mile at a Time will move towards that as well. It is like one of these secular trends that will continue. Especially with younger generations reading even less. It is incredibly deflating to pour hours into this blog and seeing readership and support clicks fall. I need to really sit down and figure out how this blog will evolve from here. Having no more of wife’s Ford paychecks, the COBRA health insurance first bill arrival and a very over budgeted home renovation project all come together and me looking at how much time I spend to bring you this product and pay out of my own pocket to do so is not sustainable. But this project does bring me psychic rewards which are important. Anyway, enjoy it while it lasts. It has been like this for years. Wife is loving her retired life without any stress and here I am up in the middle of the night to finish the final touches of this post before I hit publish. So, do NOT encourage a loved one to start a blog for God’s sake!

The home renovation project is finally done! We have some furniture on order which will take a while to arrive. But everything else is done. And we had our first friend gathering and everyone loves it. And we do too! We wanted to have a kitchen island be the hub of the activity and it is indeed. I kid myself that we will recover the money spend if we sell the house. No plans to sell but who knows? As I encourage my clients to spend more it was time to take my own medicine lol. We did a lot more in addition to the kitchen by the way. Two pics of the new kitchen:

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

The annual fee for my Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card posted and I called the bank to close it. Before that I transferred all of the points to Hyatt (for the last hurrah I guess) except 800 points (transfers must be in 1,000 point increments). And because I wanted to transfer the credit limit before closing the CSR over to my trusty old Chase Ink Business Cash card. And I had one of the most inane conversations with a rep ever.

She barely tried to keep me after I did mention in passing about a retention bonus (knowing full well that this bank does not do this, I was just curious). And guess what her argument was? The Edit hotel credits. LOL. My reaction to this maybe was not very respectful towards the card so it went downhill from there. She refused to save my credit limit and came up with a “you can NOT move credit limits with pay as you go cards”. And I said, say what? We went back and forth with this and I learned more things. Apparently, the CSR and the crappy Ink Premier card are the only ones that do not allow transfers of credit limits. Of course, I then asked to speak to a supervisor. And she says I am a supervisor LOL. Yeah, I could have done the old hangup and call again routine. But I just enjoyed the back and forth. So I told her do not do anything and I will investigate and will call back later to close the card. Needless to say this was a first…I will update what happened here in the comments. Please let me know if this is a new policy (she insisted it was not).

I had a placeholder United business class award to get me to Bangkok, Thailand. Unfortunately, it is flying United across the Pacific and we all know that I could do better. Actually, it is United from Detroit to Chicago O’Hare to Tokyo Haneda and then on ANA to Bangkok. Some other award openings are VERY slowly trickling in from my PointsYeah alerts. Actually just this morning as I am typing to finish this post in time to post it by Friday 8 am EST I received another alert with an intriguing alternative: the old trusty Lufthansa Detroit to Frankfurt flight, then on to London Heathrow again on Lufthansa and then an EVA flight to Bangkok. And I intend to check to see if it is still there as soon as I publish this post. It gets me to Bangkok a day early and I can book me a one night stay at the Hyatt Regency at BKK airport to check it out and unwind/recover from jet lag. #Developing.

I have 21 Hyatt night credits to date. 19 nights booked in 2 Hyatt Place properties in Bangkok and then another 4 at the Park Hyatt in Saigon. And I do have six more nights to book after returning from Saigon to Bangkok and before heading to Singapore for a wedding. So it is very likely I am going to hit 50. And then I think what I am going to do is ramp up the spending on my Visa Hyatt card since we need to finish paying for the carpet and put down a 50% deposit on new furniture to finish a large home renovation. So I guess I am going to secure World of Hyatt Globalist again. Hopefully I make more use of it in 2027.

Maybe I add the Grand Hyatt Singapore after a friend told me that he loved his stay there after it was renovated. Any feedback? I do have one night booked via AMEX FHR at the Conrad Marina Bay and we do stay at a non chain hotel for a few nights courtesy of the wedding party.

Oh, I just saw that the newest Fairmont opened in Hanoi. And now I am thinking instead of returning to Bangkok from Saigon, maybe hop over to Hanoi to check out the city and this Fairmont. I was thinking to burn my Accor Lifetime Platinum complimentary annual night at the Fairmont Singapore which we love. But maybe we save it for Hanoi. These are first world problems you guys…

I ran out of time to post pics of our home renovation, maybe next time.

Paychecks from Ford have officially stopped. Wife loves not having any conference calls or projects due, she can’t stop smiling. I am focused on taking care of my clients so I can now pay for everything, sometimes I wonder about life without stress, lol.

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

I burned another 40,500 World of Hyatt points for the Hyatt Place Sukhumvit Soi 24 in Bangkok for the next 9 nights in my Asia trip coming up. This followed burning 45,000 World of Hyatt points for 10 nights at the other Hyatt Place in Sukhumvit Soi 1, next to Bumrungrad Hospital where I will be spending some time doing full checkups and stuff like that. I have stayed in both properties on points every year since 2023. At some point, them World of Hyatt points will end, shame on you Chase Bank for doing this to me lol. For the record, these properties are Category 1 (and waaaaaay better than equivalent Category 1 Hyatt Place properties in the US, if you can find them that is). And cost 5,000 points the past three years. So, after the mega World of Hyatt program refresh devaluation massacre of early 2026, they cost 4,500 points. I think it has more to do with staying there in the low tourist season than the program’s generosity by the way.

After the first 19 nights in these two properties, we depart for the Park Hyatt Saigon, four nights in a confirmed suite for 80,000 World of Hyatt points. Then I need to book another 6 nights in Bangkok, I will wait to do this after I do some spreadsheet work comparing what bang I get for every point per dollar compared to a deal offered by one of the two properties to prepay for 30 nights at around $68 per night. I am leaning towards just doing that and canceling my 2 reservations to get my 85,500 World of Hyatt points back. To save them for some aspirational Hyatt properties next year. Before these points get eventually extinct. Hmmm, decisions decisions. I miss the days when I just burned points every single time without doing any mental gymnastics.

After that we have a 2 night stay in Singapore provided by the wedding party whose wedding we attend. And then I burned a $300 credit in wife’s new Schwab Amex Platinum to move to the Conrad Singapore Marina Bay hotel for one night FHR stay. Do you think this is a nice property, should I add my own FHR $300 credit (have to wait until July rolls in) for a second back to back night? Hmm, I also wonder how flexible AMEX Travel is by “editing” wife’s Hilton Honors numbers to mine so I get all the night credits and points (after the $300 credit is posted of course). Any tips on FHR bookings highly welcome here in the comments, thank you.

I swear, I thought that Alan Greenspan was dead for a while. So, when I learned he died last week at the age of 100 I was surprised.

I think I drink too much coffee and have been thinking about drinking less of it. Then when I learned this week that Voltaire drank fifty cups of coffee every day I changed my mind. 🙂

I have now walked over 10,000 steps a day for two months in a row. And I highly recommend it.

I will upload some videos on my YouTube channel next week from some hotels in Asia a devoted fan of the blog recently stayed in. Such as the Andaz in Bali and KROMO, a Hilton Curio Collection property in Bangkok (amazing deal for that Amex Platinum The Hotel Collection credit by the way) which looks absolutely amazing. Please subscribe so I can be more motivated to post more videos, 103 subscribers in 14 years is not very encouraging lol. Full disclosure: I took a break of about 12 years from posting any video woohoo.

Thanks to the five readers who got a travel rewards credit card with my links this month. And the two readers for the coffee sales. I think this is the first time ever that credit card sales outnumber coffee sales.

Last two days of 6 World Cup games a day and the elimination games start on Sunday. When the drama shoots way up, loving every minute of it.

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

150,000 signup bonus for wife’s Schwab Amex Platinum card is in the bank. Always feels so good seeing that, it’s like crack, the addiction is so strong and lasting lol. Not that I have ever done crack by the way, just saying.

I burned 45,000 World of Hyatt points for my first 10 nights in Bangkok at the Hyatt Place in Sukhumvit Soi 1 in late August, so just 4,500 points per night when the cash rate is $81. I am not sure if I will keep this reservation. I have more nights to book in Bangkok. And I am still contemplating paying for 30 nights at the other Hyatt Place in Soi 24 for an average of about $68 per night to pretty much secure World of Hyatt Globalist elite status for another year. Which I am contemplating whether to go for it since the gravy train of free World of Hyatt points from Chase transfers is now severely wounded #developing.

I keep forgetting how we get one World of Hyatt night credit for each Globalist Guest of Honor award we gift. Which I usually do this with my son who is currently in Bangkok. World of Hyatt night credits so far is now up to 21. With four nights booked for the Saigon Park Hyatt and now another 10 at the Hyatt Place above, so easy 35. With more nights to book in Bangkok due soon. So, hitting 40 to get all the Milestone Reward goodies should be a matter of time. But do I go for 60? If Chase had never done the unthinkable (sever that 1:1 transfer ratio) I would go for 60 easy. You think I am struggling with this decision? Yes I am.

With wife’s retirement in less than a few weeks, travel comfort becomes a higher priority. And with Detroit being our home airport it looks like we will come around to flying Delta again. And this decision has absolutely nothing to do with Delta Skymiles which absolutely suck. But flying out of Detroit using American and United has become very sketchy after both airlines totally destroying our plans in several recent trips. Because due to not having many flights, in case of travel disruptions or mechanicals, getting rebooked on other flights is very inconvenient and sometimes causing trauma. So, with the final home renovation bills coming due soon and the opportunity to put some more bigly spend on a card, maybe my wife can go for an AmeX Gold card for 90k SUB and waived annual fee for the first year. It has been more than 7 years since we had this card by the way. Maybe I go for it too if Amex decides to give it to me, which is unlikely. Based on my history, boo.

I am laying low these days and looking forward to that elusive premium World of Hyatt card. I have not tried recently for the Schwab Amex Platinum card for me, I have been constantly getting the Amex jail pop up. But I will not give up lol.

Or maybe I take a shot for another Chase Ink no annual fee card for the 100k SUB. Just for giggles to test the Chase pop up system. Maybe I sneak under it #dreaming.

No other miles/points burning going on, too many World Cup games on TV, sorry not sorry.

I did see Disclosure Day and I have mixed feelings about it.

Home renovation project is 95% complete. Maybe next week the ordeal is all over. Main floor looking really great and we love it. Considering how much we spent and what we could get in Thailand is, well, we are still coming to terms with that. But let’s not go there! Talk about inflation wow.

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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING

So, the big news in this miles hobby was the refresh of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. We all knew it was coming. And yet, it all came suddenly. And amidst all the surprisingly good news (shocked that the annual fee remained at only $95, addition of 3% earning categories for gas, EV charging and Airbnb, doubling of the hotel credit to $100, addition of emergency medical evacuation coverage and transportation) the big hurt remains the end of 1:1 transfers. And it began with the most valuable transfer partner Chase has, World of Hyatt. Which did a double whammy on devaluing its own points recently. Which absolutely hurts and changes, well, everything.

So I am reevaluating my relationship with Hyatt. I am not sure if I am going to reach 60 nights to requalify as Globalist again. Why bother when I lose 25% transferring from Chase? And no I am not going to upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve to keep the transfers to Hyatt at 1:1 because the CSR credits suck. I just transferred all remaining points from the CSR to Hyatt and will be dropping my CSR when the annual fee hits, I believe on July 1st. The Chase Ultimate Rewards points gravy is over with the introduction of severe restrictions in getting its cards more than one time. Which changes, well, everything.

Is it time to go hotel free agent route? Well, certainly now this is a definite consideration. You know, I have several free nights and hotel discounts every year. Let’s count them: 1 free Hyatt night from the personal Visa card, 1 free Hyatt night after $15k spend on the personal Visa, 1 free Hilton night after $15k spend on the Hilton Surpass card, 2 mostly free FHR hotel nights (or four if we go the THC route) with the new Schwab Amex Platinum card my wife got, 1 free Fairrmont night with my Accor Lifetime Platinum status, $100 hotel credit from the CSP card. And more free Hyatt nights are coming at 30 night Milestone Rewards and so forth. We are already up to 8 (or 10) nights. And maybe I do go back to taking advantage of my Accor Lifetime Platinum status to enhance my stays to finally let go of the World of Hyatt Globalist elite status addiction…

Chase is zeroing in on the people who never transfer any points out. And if you never transferred to Hyatt, these changes are absolutely great. And if you like simplicity you now have no reason to ever cancel the CSP card. And pull it out way more often with addition of 3x on gas/EV streaming/Airbnb and of course, dining. So, we all four in our household are not canceling this card. But I think going forward we will likely transfer to United and just focus on redeeming on business class airfare going forward. And get used to paying more out of pocket for travel, this amazing travel for free period is over. Too many of us around managed to squeeze amazing values over the years from banks, airlines and hotels. And the free ride is over. It sucks but I am grateful for the opportunity of course.

Another 4,520 United miles posted. From a 3x on gas/grocerries/dining spend promo on my United Gateway card. The last two spend promos on the card were not that good so I did not register for them. And this is the first time in a very long time I am not working on a United Gateway spend promotion. Which is kind of strange lol.

Very slowly putting the pieces together on our upcoming trip to SE Asia. We are attending a wedding in Singapore and I just proactively booked two nights at the Singapore Conrad Orchard for 150,000 Hilton Honors points. Only to find out that the wedding party has booked the M Hotel for us those two nights. So I easily canceled my Hilton reservation. All in the Hilton app, which is a good one. I might blow an FHR night at the other Conrad in Singapore, Conrad Marina Bay. Or blow my free night at the Singapore Fairmont again, a fabulous property. Have you noticed how I am no longer thinking Hyatt first? Or is there a must visit Hyatt in Singapore I should check out?

Not adding Krabi in this year’s trip to Thailand. So, it will be Bangkok with 4 nights already booked at the Park Hyatt Saigon before returning to Bangkok. And then on to Singapore for the wedding. So, I am at 20 nights plus the 4 coming, so 24. I am playing around with the Bangkok hotel stays. One of the two Category 1 Hyatt Place properties in Bangkok has a prepaid non refundable deal for 30 nights that comes out to about $67-68 usd per night. This will mean that about 5 or 6 nights will have no one in the room, ghost stays. Or I can burn only 4,500 points per night in both of these properties. Or pay about $81 or $86 per night. So, points valuation comes out to about 1.9 cents per dollar. You see, I never did this points valuation thingie. Because I had an unlimited amount of Chase points transferring to Hyatt. Now the situation has changed. And I am torn on what to do. Will be thinking about it over the next month while watching World Cup games…

Hilton Honors points still remain my alternate points pool to use. And oh did they come handy last week! I decided to meet a client in downtown Cleveland as they were heading to the Brazil – Egypt WC prep friendly game. I thought I would have no problem booking a night at a Hyatt. Well, I was wrong. All the Hyatts were completely sold out. The only room available was a premium room at the Hyatt Regency Arcades property for, please sit down, 11,500 points PLUS over $500 per night LOL. My only other choice was a Hyatt Place for 10,000 points located in Canton, over one hour away from downtown, crazy! And that Canton 10k deal was gone the morning of the day prior to the meeting. I was resigned to just drive early the day of the meeting. Fired up the Hilton app and boom, I booked the home2 suites by Hilton less than 10 miles away from Cleveland downtown for 40k Hilton Honors points. First time in a home2 suites property and I really liked it. Free breakfast (for all) even had some healthy options, great stay.

The New York Knicks comeback from 29 points down in Game 4 of the NBA Finals will be remembered for a very long time. And that last shot will be talked about for ever. It already has a deserved nickname, the Right Hand of God game.

I absolutely loved the movie Tuner. I am glad I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan where we can see such films. Also, I learned about the medical condition hyperacusis which I think I have which led me down the path of online researching. Highly recommended movie. But then again, we are all different.

Big home renovation project is nearing its end. Wood floor setting in right now, carpet installation early next week and final touches hopefully by the end of next week. If I knew how much it will all cost and how long it will take and, primarily, all the meetings and decisions and general headaches this project will bring upon, maybe I would not go for it. But I am glad it is almost over and it is looking really nice. For the record, I don’t love inflation, almost no one does!

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