We bring you the news of credit card churning going mainstream, how airlines are making a killing from miles, Facebook introduces crypto Libra, break out the news how another blog sells out, reveal the most visited websites worldwide and sadly report that my blog is not included, get into the Vogue archives, try to sell good Amex Delta cards, an amazing volcano explosion photo, a shocking story about Megan Rapinoe’s brother, how AIDS-free North Korea is definitely not, reveal the best restaurants, visit the Halkidiki region in Northern Greece, a fantastic personal finance article, a poem from Mile Nerd and more for you for freee!
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You know this hobby is getting popularized to extinction when you see articles like this in the mainstream media: What Is Credit Card Churning? Written at US News & World Report found at Yahoo Finance. I am shaking my head to oblivion right now…I wonder why The Points Guy and the other commercial blogs do not write posts like this…oh wait, the banks don’t let them! At least, the article has some dangers outlined which is positive.
“There is a small group of consumers, often people who identify as ‘travel hackers’ or ‘card hackers,’ who are far more aggressive and strategic about the process,” says Lauren Anastasio, wealth advisor at SoFi, a personal finance company. “Some cardholders may churn five, 10 or even more cards in one year.” [Dude, we used to do this a heck of a lot more frequently than one year!]
“We have gotten creative in hitting the spending thresholds in ways most people may not have thought of,” Herrig says. “One easy way is that you can prepay utility, cellphone or subscription bills with your credit card, often months in advance, which can really add up.” [Amazing creativity smh]
There were a couple of interesting articles at the Wall Street Journal about rating the frequent flyer programs, the interplay between proprietary bank cards and pure airline cards, the huge importance of the banks to the airlines’ balance sheets and things of that sort. DansDeals had some interesting thoughts: My Thoughts On 2 Fascinating Mileage And Credit Card Articles In The Wall Street Journal And What Chase And United Can Do To Fix Their Problems. I like it when bloggers get upset at the people running these programs doing what they think is best for the company and its shareholders. Bottom line is, bloggers sell less credit cards when there are no award charts around! Heck, I just burned 140k United miles to fly Business Class to Greece round trip and I am about to cry when I think how much that will cost after November 15 when United goes all in with dynamic pricing. Back to coach I go, sad! Dan continues to pound on arguments that make sense from a blogger and miles/point enthusiast perspective. No, the guy quoted in the second article does not need to have the United card too, come on! Funny how I just received an email from a client wanting to cancel his Chase Sapphire Reserve card telling me he just finds keeping track of it all in addition to his hectic life way too time costly. Hey, keep that in mind going forward. But I do agree 100% about this:
I believe that cashback cards and banks offering hybrid points are going to continue to steal market share away from airline cards…
Airlines are becoming flying credit card marketing companies, making billions of dollars on selling miles to the banks:
May I do my own “LAST CHANCE” pump for a short paragraph to get you to use my links? Thank you. It appears all the high Amex Delta card offers have not expired, they expire on July 2nd. So, you need to hurryyyyy 🙂 We are talking Delta Gold (60k Personal, 70k Business), Platinum (75k Personal, 80k Business), Delta Reserve (75k Personal, 80k Business).
The area south of Thessaloniki in northern Greece is Halkidiki. And it is very nice there! The A-Z of Halkidiki: 26 Reasons to Visit this Stunning Region.
Yes, another list: The best restaurants in the world.
Been a while since I had something from North Korea. I guess I could be making fun of Trump and Kim shaking hands again but I don’t want to bang my head any more so I won’t. I will just post this here while waiting for this doctor to be executed. North Korea reveals explosive HIV outbreak — after claiming to be disease-free.
You know I am no fan of all the crypto bitcoin stuff. So this latest effort by Facebook will likely fail too. But maybe it doesn’t as they are taking a little different approach: The Ambitious Plan Behind Facebook’s Cryptocurrency, Libra.
When I first read that someone is named Marijuana Pepsi I did not believe it. And then she got a Ph. D. and is now called Dr. Marijuana Pepsi!
I present to you the complete Vogue Archives. Why not? Much better than the xx reasons I love the credit card that pays me the highest sales commission that has the best ever offer and it is last chance to apply so you need to hurry! 🙂
For your personal finance fix, this is great: Third Rail. How the author’s email inbox gets bombarded when he writes about these four contentions:
1. Budgeting is for the irresponsible
2. Children aren’t cheap
3. An emergency fund is an unemployment fund
4. Paying down a mortgage is a solid investment
I have always admired Megan Rapinoe, the US National Soccer Team player. Amazingly talented, she is a joy to watch on the pitch. And she is also very outspoken and super funny as well, a rare combination! And then when I read this about her brother who can’t stay out of jail, well, it was shocking indeed! Megan Rapinoe’s greatest heartbreak, and hope.
The most visited websites worldwide. Pornhub bigger than Instagram, wow!
When I first saw this I thought it was a nuclear bomb detonation. Or something like that. Incredible Photo from the Space Station Shows Raikoke Volcano Erupting.
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.
It appears RenesPoints (the blog permanently placed in the top of the Blogs to Avoid) has been sold to some dude named Chris Carley who discovered the hobby just five years ago and therefore feels qualified to continue to try to sell credit cards teaching readers “tricks” how to travel for free. Yeah, we have seen that movie numerous times. The former owner is now a contributing writer and has “retired blogger” in his personal twitter profile. It also appears that the direct (where the real dinero is!) Amex affiliate credit card links are gone as the site is now fully backed with the same indirect credit card links most bloggers have. Maybe that had something to do with calling it quits? Rick/Ingy, the Frugal Travel Guy founder, who sold way too early is now followed by the founder who sold way too late and likely for not much. All the above is pure personal opinions and I invite yet another email threat to sue me like the two previous attempts by this blogger. I wish them all the best. This blog started to bring you the Travel Blogger Buzzzzzzzz, get it? 🙂
What, no links to the above story? You can check out that blog’s “About Us” page for the gory details. Or, just ignore it. Thanks to Alan H. for the tip!
Breaking: Rick/Ingy wrote a blog post at Pointchaser, former coworker at Frugal Travel Guy. Giving his perspective over 30 years. Same old newbie yawn material. Since the site does not have credit card links we were spared the “apply for seven credit cards in one day” advice 🙂
Every time there is a bonus transfer to Lifemiles I wonder if the program will devalue the day after said bonus expires again 🙂 One day I will figure out how to earn money from these buy/transfer miles/points links so I can also do endless enthusiastic posts about these bonuses so I can make money from you #NOT.
I am still jet lagged…And I am catching up fast…And it is hot as hell and thank the Lord for air conditioning!
Breaking again: It is early Monday around 4.30 am drinking my coffee at my back yard deck listening to the birds. You have no idea how much I missed that. Feeling so serene and content that people reading my blog get the same feeling (I hope) and I think THAT is the primary reason I have not quit yet. It sure is not the money lol! So, lets get you smiling more after you read Mile Nerd‘s monthly post which is a beautiful poem “A Day at the Beach” #Respect
I’d heard some stories of vacations for free
Those tales were nothing but white noise to me
Society taught fancy trips cost a mint
And my net worth was roughly 3 stacks of lint
So I stared at the TV eating pop tarts
Amusing myself with occasional farts
While others would fly to exotic locales
I’d strike out at bars with weird local gals
Until one random day I awoke from my coma
With a vision of Maui…or possibly Kona
But island vacations seem far away
When sweating small payments to Chevrolet
I flipped on my laptop, hoping to learn
Millions of miles I wanted to churn
But quickly discovered with some dismay
The points blogging world is full of foul play
Looking for wisdom, I found lie after lie
So much clown worship (see: the points guy)
Were all websites dirty and all readers blind?
Wasn’t there someone outside this grind?
After digging for answers, I figured shit out
Launching my blog with so much self-doubt
The goal was quite simple: don’t be a douche
Would there be just one reader…a dude named Anoosh?
Quickly, however, I found many ears
Not that the goal was hearing loud cheers
I never did get that Mercedes Benz
But found something richer…new non-shady friends
For years it kept going…I wrote my own way
You stood in my corner through the last day
Millions of miles have now been redeemed
Maui and Kona were all that I dreamed
I write you today from a beautiful beach
Travel now orbits in this nerd’s reach
The gift of adventure came through a niche game
For you I wish it has given the same
Maybe one day it ends (possibly out of the blue)
But until then…
This hobby has been a dream come true.
And I leave you with this…
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
What a lot of links!
Thanks.
Quality is job #1
Just like at Ford Motor Company 🙂
Looks like the new RenesPoints owner is getting started the “right” way, he is a good fit:
PROCRASTINATORS – Last call for the BIGGEST EVER Delta Amex Card Offers!
smh
Looks like the perfect fit smh!
How about a post from you on “must do’s” during the Ann Arbor Art Do? I am attending for the first time and have found my way to the better IHG fast breaks hotel, but not much else at this point.
Great suggestion but I will probably never get to it #catchupmode #quarterend
I usually have a gathering at my home on Friday night. Where I spend all the blog’s profits on you guys 🙂 But I am supposed to have an outside painting project done and the painters keep pushing back the date with all the rain downpous we have had…so at this time I am not sure if it will happen.
Welcome back to the US of A!
Gracias senor!
Buzz Carl is Italian ….. I read his comments…..dual passport Italia……Capisce?
Welcome back, Buzz. Where to start?
So René finally cashed in his chips (or maybe chip-I never hear anything about his blog). He shouldn’t sue you he should thank you for keeping him in the spotlight. It’s about time-as the old country western song went “How can we miss you when you won’t even leave?”.
Speaking of leaving (way too soon), here comes Ingy with an article that would have been informative around-oh, 2011. I read through his list of achievements-they left out inventing sliced toast and selling annuities. Well, as far as I know, Ingy never sold annuities but…
But the Rolling Stones do:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/01/business/rolling-stones-social-security-retirement.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage
Hugh fees, outrageous pricing, little benefit, can’t get out early. Annuity or stadium concert? You make the call.
Thanks for the welcome back!
Just scheduled the Rolling Stones NYT article ten minutes ago to tweet it out at 2 pm today in my other account…with my comment in the end of it: “Disturbing…Hell no, I won’t go…to see them!”
I am not sure he got a higher offer than the low 3 figures Ingy has offered for my blog 🙂
Maybe Pointchaser is aiming for cc links so she called on the old cc expert to pave the ground…
Today is my final jet lag day…I think.
So, I just got back from our latest trip. About 10 months ago, my husband comes to me and says – I know that we are going to Moscow and St. Petersburg next June, but the Women’s World Cup will be played in France. It’s really not that far from Russia, is there anyway that we can swing by to catch a game? I finally agreed and he had to buy a 5 game set of tickets so that we could get seats for the Friday night game in Paris.
when the draw happened, he was incredibly excited because there was a good chance that it would be France vs USA. When our seats hit $1,200 per seat, I could not convince him to sell as he felt that this was a once in a lifetime experience. It was definitely that! The intensity was the highest that I have experienced at a game. I don’t know enough about soccer to comment on the game play, but it was clear that neither team let up.
That’s just great!
That was the only Quarter final shown on regular TV (Fox). I had to watch Swe-Ger on Telemundo (also a very good game that fortunately did NOT contain any VAR derived penalty shots). And they wonder why female soccer players make less than men in the WC.
Glad June is over
July is Jailed Violent Felon Month. Let’s open all the cell doors and let then free, after all they are just misunderstood. AND of course, like OJ, innocent. George ( Hey Everybody I’m Now Uber Liberal) you probably admire them too.
How many times do you think they can coerce “Bigot” Biden to apologize before the DNC convention.
Stock Tip….if you are in the Market it may have a short turn bounce higher, but I am betting the mere possibility (God Forbid) of a Democratic Victory ( our path to becoming a Third World Nation by the next Century) in Nov. or signs of a slowdown will send people rushing to get out. Any trade deal will probably be underappreciated. I say take the profits do not get greedy and go to a 90/10 percent cash/gold portfolio. 80/20 is ok too.
Editors Note…. Ramsey is debatably sane and is not a certified financial planner and all advice give here should be taken with a grain of salt. Or should it?
HT: MR. Maples Donuts
Debatably?
I LOOKED IT UP ON GOOGLE BEFORE POSTING, SERIOUSLY
debatably – Wiktionary
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/debatably
Debatably (comparative more debatably, superlative most debatably) In a way subject to challenge or worthy of debate.
AS IN Ramsey is debatably sane and is not a certified financial planner and all advice give here should be taken with a grain of salt.
debatably – Wiktionary
OH i get it, not a subject that needs debate……touche Buzz
Can someone tell me the psychological disorder that animals like Ramsay, Big Orange Baby, FTG (ret.), etc. have? You know, that thing that makes them insert themselves where nobody wanted them-because they enjoy making life negative? There was also this guy in college years ago, he just liked to cause problems and trouble, he literally had no friends for obvious reasons.
I don’t get it.
I am not an animal
@Anonymous if you have an opinion, then put your name on it or you are worse than Ramsey,
at least he has balls to say how he feels
Hi, George! Chris Carley (the new RenĂ©’s Points owner) here. My first official day and already I’m receiving attention!
Thanks for mentioning the blog *and* putting it at the top of your list of blogs to avoid or ignore or hate or whatever it is. Clearly, if something is so controversial that it tops a list like that, people are compelled to visit the site — and we appreciate the page views you refer to us. (I see some of your readers have already visited the site today!)
We’re also fans of BestOffersPatrol.com.
Thanks, George. I hold no hard feelings and look forward to meeting you in person some time.
Best regards,
Chris
Thank you for not threatening to sue me Chris.
Enjoy the free publicity.
Dear Chris:
This is the comment you could have added instead:
Thank you for the mention. It is a new day at this blog and I am going to do my best to earn the trust of my readers going forward. And I hope to earn yours and one day see the blog off the Ignore list. I am going to start unblocking so many that have been blocked for whatever reason. As I said, it is a new day ahead for this blog.
Thanks for all you do.
Sincerely,
Chris
——————————————–
But you did not.
Looks like a great fit with the previous owner.
You sure have potential with your first post being:
“PROCRASTINATORS – Last call for the BIGGEST EVER Delta Amex Card Offers!”
What is next, threaten to sue TBB to make it a trifecta?
JohnS
P.S. Hope you did not pay more than $100 for the blog. Certainly the bestofferspatrol.com url was thrown in for free!
Did he get access to Rene’s twitter account as well?
more like Chris Farley……great investment Chris…..I have some Nigerian Bearer Bonds I will let you have at a killer deal price…..special price for you, today only.
Hey Carly…….will you be getting a pencil portrait sketch of yourself to replace the one of Rene still residing at this boarding area homepage?……Mr. Gorbachev take down this sketch
https://boardingarea.com/our-bloggers/
Wow, there are like 100 blogs on boardingarea. Insane!
Is there going to be a re-branding? RenesPoints = Worst. Blog. Name. Ever.
Maybe go back to DeltaPoints.com is what I’m sayin’ here, since you know, Rene is a retired “travel expert” and now blogs as a side hustle in between driving for Uber and Lyft in Southbend.
Hell no!
I clicked on your picture Chris in the comments reply section of your brand new blog…..you are easily the best looking most handsome travel blogger yet…………Stevie Wonder
It said this as your resume…..Writer, producer, traveler, VO talent, baseball junkie.
I am guessing you are not going to be able to add successful investor to that resume any time soon……I hope you got a money back guarantee
Now, now, can’t we all just get along?
Yes.
What I can not figure out is why would this guy leave a job being an assistant of William Shatner to write for a blog named after Rene!
Another lesson here is to never name your blog after your name!
Chris: Hi, I am Chris.
Dude1: Hi Chris, what do you do?
Chris: I am a travel blogger.
Dude2: Really? What is your blog?
Chris: RenesPoints
Dude: Who is Rene???
I have seen Shatner in public, what a condescending Dick towards his fans. George Takai hates him too. Cannot imagine working for him. I would buy myself a cash cow like Renes Points too. Chris can just sit back and lets the dough come in hand over fist for years and years to come. just scan the internet for a Delta article or press release, re word it and publish as your own research piece. Or hire Drew.
Actually, the Shat has a travel connection too.
Years ago when Priceline was just getting started, they hired Shatner to do commercials. He took stock instead of cash.
The number I remember his stock grew to is $680 million.
Of course, he also had a hit record:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ainyK6fXku0
can you believe they hired the most overpaid – undertalented comedic actress (she is NOT funny) to replace him…….the dough she makes is Shatneresq
Sam LIVE LONG AND PROSPER
His Mr. Tambourine Man version always cracks me up
From Pointchaser Facebook post:
“Excited to have Rick Ingersoll as a contributor. Like many of you, I learned a lot from Rick as a newbie. He inspired me to blog and made it possible for me to earn a living as a freelancer. This is a full circle moment.”
Maybe he needs the money.
Anyone care to guess how long it will be before the credit card pumping starts?
Must admit the name of this blog is way better than….RenesPoints!
Who is Rick Ingersoll
I’m back bitches!
Yawn
Who is Rick Ingersoll
“William Shatner Tweets About René’s Points!”
The end of days is near folks 🙂 *
(* Christianity only, other religious beliefs are available except in states where prohibited by law etc)
Welcome to the club! Now you can sit back, spend most of your day at a coffee shop browsing the internet or going narcissistic on Twitter. And after a long hard day of that, you can go home and count all the credit card conversions. Welcome.
With Rick/Ingy coming back to be a writer at Pointchaser, some questions arise:
When will Pointchaser join the TBB Blogs to Ignore list?
Any doubt he sold too early as he now comes back to write because he needs the money as, you know, “it’s all about conversions”?
Did you notice they are not mentioning FTG much?
Meanwhile, same old at Renes points. With a bit better grammar and less blocking on Twitter.
And Drew Travel is Free can’t get enough of linking to his idol Gary Leff…makes DoC just a fan lol.
Still boggles the mind anyone will pay ANY money for a blog with the name Rene in it!
Welcome back George, in for a Delta Gold card yesterday…for the only family member who did not get the shitty popup!
I say lay off Chris. He’s already done a good deed in sending René down the road. Let him stand or fall on his own record and merit.
Just read that post about W Shatner over at Delta points. I felt a little nauseous afterwards.
Just read that post of Ingy at Pointchaser and it made me yawn so much I fell asleep, thanks!