We bring you news about controlling Covid-19, the best Chase card duo, travel to Chernobyl and SpaceX, how Robinhood kills, register for promos, best Covid-19 coverage, best photography, best of everything but conversions sad lol, airlines going bankrupt, hotels firings en masse, must watch documentary about the 2008 financial crisis, we talk about race, boogaloo disturbed individuals looking for meaning in their lives and finding it in absolute shit, amazing finds in the Oddz & Endz section you only can find it in my blog while others are busy pumping you with XX reasons they love this card or/and that card that pays them fat sales commissions, my daughter graduates from high school so no more emails from the school district hooray! And more always for free for you and me…
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I’ll see you Monday. Enjoy the weekend. Be excellent to each other.
COVID-19
If we had only handled it like Vietnam! Vietnam, Population 95 Million, Has Recorded 0 Deaths from Covid-19. And Vietnam even shares a border with China!
Example #6,838 how we have totally screwed up our response to the pandemic: Daily Confirmed COVID-19 Cases between USA and European Union. Be angry!
If you wanted to get more visually scientific about this virus, this article is it! A Visual Guide to the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus. I am starting to feel like an amateur epidemiologist by now you guys.
Some good news at last! U.K. approves use of life-saving coronavirus drug dexamethasone in ‘biggest breakthrough yet’. These are early results from an unfinished clinical trial that has not been peer reviewed yet, fyi. I expect to see more of these small victories way before a vaccine materializes…
Michigan is the only state that is doing a great job in fighting the pandemic: For now, Michigan is a success story in flattening the pandemic curve.
Controlling this virus is so hard it must be maddening. Even Beijing just had a recurrence! And they have no idea how it all started again, was it fish shipped from Europe? Source of Beijing’s big new COVID-19 outbreak is still a mystery. Notice how they are handling it and how we here have the President never wearing a mask and holding stadium rallies and disturbed individuals protesting how not having a haircut is so limiting to their freedom, WTF! We need to attack this HARD so we can get back to normal SOONER, hello? If not, the first wave may not end for a very long time, how many dead do we want? It is just so deadly absurd how we are handling it here. Fear of Infection Hurt the Economy More Than Lockdowns!
Beijing’s confirmation of a COVID-19 case on 11 June ended a run of 55 days without reported local transmission. Since then, the outbreak has burgeoned and the city has responded with fierce determination to rein it in. As of today, it has tested 356,000 people, confirming 137 cases, according to a news report by Xinhua, the state-owned news agency. The city has locked down some residential compounds, closed all schools, and canceled hundreds of flights.
CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta goes on a tweetstorm and takes lying Mike Pence to the woodshed.
This is relevant to the travel theme of the blog: How Covid-19 could change plane boarding. I have been around long enough to have seen so many boarding schemes that I could go on forever…Maybe this one will stick. Probably not. Time will tell.
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: The Citi Business American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard offer is 65,000 AA miles. The IHG Rewards Club card offering 140k points too, highest ever. For a standard workhorse card I recommend the 60k Chase Sapphire Preferred card. For a standard premium card I recommend the 50k Chase Sapphire Reserve card. For a standard 2% cash back card I recommend the Citi Double Cash card. Available with my links. Lets move on!
I have added above the 65,000 AA miles offer for the Citi Business American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard. If you decide to get it, please support the blog by using my links, thank you. Ask in the comments or email me with questions.
Yeah, this is a good combo if you got to have a premium travel rewards credit card: Chase Freedom Unlimited And Sapphire Reserve Is The Best Card Combo Around For Now. CSR is available with my links, I think I can refer you to the CFU card, contact me if you decide to go for it.
I am not sure the point behind Marriott’s move here, I guess they decided it can’t hurt their evaporating bottom line too much: Marriott gifting elite night credit & dropping many redemption rates.
No surprises here that an airline will try to cash in with its frequent flyer program: United taps frequent flyer program to back $5 billion loan, sees cash burn easing. United used to burn $50 million per day. It managed to get it down to $40 million and now aims for only $30 million per day. Don’t be shocked if we see yet another consolidation in this industry…If you wanted to do a deep dive into the United Mileage Plus program, I have a deal for you! Go through all 47 pages and write a summary as a guest post here, go! 🙂
Good to see all the policies laid out in this post: COVID-19 Hotel flexibility policies compared for future trip planning.
We all know that the travel industry is going to be much smaller. Hilton is not kidding around: Hilton Cuts Nearly a Quarter of Its Corporate Workforce: Will It Regret the Deep Layoffs? And we have another two airlines grounding themselves to what it appears to be…insolvency oblivion: LEVEL Europe and LATAM Argentina. Google them if you want more details…
If you must really stay at a Wyndham property, might as well register HERE to get 2,000 bonus points per stay.
TRAVEL
Breaking: Yomadic finally posted again! Chernobyl With Zero Tourists.
Breaking2: Not only Yomadic finally posted again but it looks like The Bohemian Blog is also starting to post regularly again, hooray! Željava Airbase: The Abandoned Yugoslav Airport Inside a Mountain. Well, I had no idea this existed so that just goes to show you I am no thought leader on anything lol.
Andy takes awesome photos! My Weekend Watching SpaceX Launch NASA Astronauts into Space.
Not doing much flying these days so let’s enjoy these photos instead: Here Are The 30 Best Photos From Our #Aerial2020 Contest.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Great documentary: Panic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial Crisis. There is a lot of bitter taste in the aftermath. But, history will be very kind to all of these guys for how they managed to accomplish to keep…us…afloat! I expect hate email next, oh boy!
One of the most tragic stories in the news lately: 20-Year-Old Robinhood Customer Dies By Suicide After Seeing A $730,000 Negative Balance. Trading stocks is NOT entertainment, you can hurt yourself. I always despised Robinhood for doing this. I could have made a lot of money for my blog by pushing Robinhood affiliate links like so many other bloggers. Who knows, maybe this kid opened his account from one of these bloggers. Well, he sure did not open his account from my affiliate link and that makes me sleep better at night that I had absolutely nothing to do with his tragic death. So, next time you see another blogger selling his Robinhood affiliate link and making you look like an idiot for NOT opening an account and NOT claiming “free” stock…tell them to screw themselves!
CURRENT EVENTS/POLITICS
This is great: Race and Origin in the United States. Check out Hawaii! I am all in for diversity, which I believe is the greatest strength of this country.
Batshit craziness is going full speed: Conspiracy nuts, gun nuts, QAnon and now this Boogaloo Bois crap! The Meme-Fueled Rise of a Dangerous, Far-Right Militia. It appears the world is getting crazier or is it just me?
I was so glad (and surprised!) of this Supreme Court decision: Supreme Court Rules Against Trump Administration In DACA Case. We need them here living without this cloud over their future. Then again, they have become a political football for so many years…we have failed them!
ODDZ & ENDZ
Must click: Total Area of Land Surface of each country. Click to enlarge, wow.
Some amazing figures from Harper’s Index. Some I selected:
Estimated number of undiscovered viruses infecting wildlife: 1,670,000
Number of times the average person taps, types, swipes, or clicks on a smartphone each day: 2,617
Percentage by which U.S. college enrollment is expected to decline this fall: 15
Very insightful interview: Jon Stewart Is Back to Weigh In.
BBC has a podcast about the Apollo 13 Mission. Its name is: 13 Minutes To The Moon.
Amazing! And they are still so young to do…this? A Table Tennis Rally So Good Even the Other Players Stopped to Watch.
BLOG BUZZ
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.
The Lazy Traveler is THE thought leader on all things ANA! The Awesomeness and Quirks of the New ANA Fuel Surcharge and More!
End of an era! My daughter graduated from high school! From a crying machine when she was growing up to a young lady ready to start her next phase at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business in the fall…Very different graduation ceremony, no walking, just driving around in a very long line of cars at the high school and then going online with Zoom. So weird doing this during a global pandemic!
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.
Good morning!
The benefits of masks were obvious from simple cross country data plots at the beginning. Some societies use masks, some don’t. Behold.
But don’t need experts for that.
What Arnold said:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/06/18/arnold-schwarzenegger-covid-19-masks-arent-political-issue/3219308001/?fbclid=IwAR2chp5dWVVHl0Y5MISch-pxpFy2-eDY_ci6GpA7VV0jUi-TqVSc_0piwwQ
Fauci got that wrong. He should have recommended using masks from the beginning. And led by example at every briefing. Yea, I know, there was a mask deficit and the gov response sucked. At least the Chinese leadership got this part right. Apparently some communists follow scientific advice.
Fauci lied. The Surgeon General lied. WHO lied. CDC keeps lying even now. They were all hoping that by lying in unison they would be able to preserve precious PPE for health workers. Didn’t happen. What did happen was extra pseudo-scientific ammunition to maskholes as if they hadn’t already had enough.
Let’s quarantine all the maskholes and don’t let them out of it until they are dead or beat the virus 🙂
What’s not fake news it’s lies, can’t believe in anything. Truth and trust are extinct, I’m anxious!
Buzz-
Biggest congratulations to your daughter on her high school graduation. “The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades”.
To you and Mom, too.
Boulder had a big Memorial Day weekend. Yesterday there were 50 new Covid cases in a county of 300,000 people. There were about 450 new cases in France, which has 66 million people. France also has a functioning government and an intelligent, mature president.
New word of the day: Maskholes.
Thanks Sam.
That trip to Greece in November is looking like a dream right now. Actually, I may escape there if somehow Biden loses!
We need to do a TBB blog reader meetup in your mansion in Paris to celebrate the end of this 🙂
Buzz-
Sure, bring the whole TBB staff-there’ll be plenty of room.
But we might have to wait a while as I don’t think France or Europe is letting Americans enter right now. Something about the virus spooks them.
Not to worry too much about Boulder. The local hospital (BCH) has almost no cases and hasn’t for awhile. Anyway the increase is almost solely due to college kids’ group partying and they’re much lower risk.
Sure. And it’s just like a flu anyway. No need to worry.
I’ll repeat: because of the testing debacle(s), the Number Of Infections is a meaningless number-literally. The news outlets play that number up, because scaring people gets ratings/clicks and it’s an easy number to track and understand.
And so it’s ubiquitous, the hot topic of conversation, and freaks people unnecessarily.
None of this is as simple as the broad brush that righties AND lefties are using.
The righties are just stupid, look at the obvious empirical evidence. Clearly there should be concern, clearly masks should be worn.
But the lefties aren’t correct either. It’s not the Andromeda Strain. And chances are likely that most people will get it before a vaccine is available. The concern is not getting it when ICUs are full, etc. but that’s not nearly widespread presently. And we learn more about best treatment practices as we go along.
Unfortunately many of my kindred on the left are phobic about this instead of rational.
Seems you didn’t understand my point, which was behavior differences produce big differences in infection rates.
And I didn’t understand your points. High percentages of infection are ok if they haven’t reached the point of hospitalization? Infected people walking around is ok as long as they’re college students? What happens if they take a semester off? How about adult education? Any impact of pulling an all-nighter?
My point is that using “number of cases” as a metric is just plain stupid. Be smarter and quit trying to scare people. Everyone.
The only indicators worth looking at are deaths, hospitalizations, and positivity rate. All of these are super low for Boulder, so don’t freak.
The problem with righties seems obvious, not taking things seriously enough.
The problem with lefties is they’re taking it too seriously-freaking like this is the Andromeda Strain. It’s not, by far.
Everyone take a breath. Peruse your actuarial tables. Your chances of death/injury from cars is astronomically higher than from Rona.
We are going to be, likely tomorrow, at 9 million cases and 500,000 deaths worldwide. I don’t know man…maybe we should take this one seriously perhaps?
I took many breaths during my 10 mile run this morning by the way. Sad 120,000 of our own are not going to take another breath though. If we could only handled it in a better way instead of all the batshit craziness around us…
Here’s the old false equivalence argument. As long as you can find something-anything-with a higher death toll, the virus ain’t that bad.
How about this one: 9 million people died in WW1, 20 times COVID-19 (so far). You didn’t see people standing 6 feet apart in those trenches, did you?
This just in: Trump found the way to keep infections down-just don’t test. He really said that. On TV.
I gotta go wash my hands. And my brain.
I think I’m the target customer for the Marriott elite credit promotion. 30 nights from holding Amex personal and biz Bonvoy cards + the promo = 43 nights without stepping foot in a hotel in 2020.
Only 7 nights to platinum so you start considering irrational decisions to get “free” hotel breakfast in 2021 (maybe?).
And don’t forget theoretical upgrades – because sitting in a larger hotel room sure is the best part of traveling to a new destination (yeah, yeah. I know sure there are situations where it’s great and an actual difference maker i.e. bigger room when traveling with a family or getting that overwater bungalow – so don’t @ me).
Just for you:
https://milestomemories.com/marriott-platinum-status-2020-worth-it/
I’ll try to get back to all other comments later today, hopefully by 6 pm, thank you!
Counterpoint:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
Love it:
Betteridge’s law of headlines is an adage that states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”
Thanks for the #5 conversion.
Good morning Buzz,
Congratulations to your family, a great way to start the weekend.
Only 2500 +/- new cases in Arizona yesterday…Ducey is crushing it here…or should I say Deucey…? I have not seen 1 single person here wearing a mask yet. Granted, I don’t get out much.
The Catalina mountains are ablaze, I’d say it’s just a bang up week all around.
Thanks again for another great post, my best to the family, have an awesome weekend!
Congrats to getting your last one finished with high school. I feel very sorry for the kids graduating this year, with everything they miss out on. But they are alive, so that’s a good prize in itself.
A bittersweet moment when you are nearly done raising the kids—-for you and the Mrs, I’m sure. Happy Father’s Day!
Congrats from me as well!
Are you and Mrs. TBB thinking about any post-coronavirus trips for just the two of you? I’m not saying I’m looking forward to my kids moving out of the house, but at some point in the future it certainly will be nice to book only one hotel room, or to entertain the possibility of booking two first class flights on points instead of six economy fares.
Another congrat to the graduate. But who’s that skinny guy next to her? Geez, I only saw you a few months back, but after this pic I’m even more reluctant to look in the mirror. Thanks so much, dude! 🙁
Tip: Wearing darker clothes helps! And…inhaling!
Thanks man…who knows when we’ll meet again…phucking virus
Most of the time in my Bashas I’m the only customer wearing a mask. Crazy!
This morning after my long run I went to Panera. I usually sit outside enjoying my coffee from the Coffee Club membership I have. But today was too hot. Three people inside, all of us sitting way more than 6 ft apart. Of course most customers coming in with masks. And then, out of the blue, six girls, high school age come in together without a care in the world. No mask in the vicinity, giggling and some touching each other….basically, pre Covid days. I take a look at the other two people and we all three shook our heads as we all put on our masks. After a minute (as the girls taking their own sweet time to order) two of us patrons left…
And now do Tulsa!
@ David: Thank you again. Yeah, the whole situation in our country is even more nuts. Can you imagine the Dotard was saying that they were laughing at us under Obama?…LOL.
@ Bluecat: Definitely NOT the kind of year they were expecting…March 13 was the last day of school, we all thought one to two weeks. We are going on Monday into the school to return a few books and clear everything…on June 22! Weirdest graduation ever. It is what is is, at least we are all healthy and alive. Thank you.
@ PFD: Thank you. I still can not believe I was rickrolled by you on Twitter, you got me 🙂 Actually, right now we are not even thinking about traveling at all. If we talk about travel is finding a local beach or even driving across to the west part of the state to Lake Michigan. My daughter is going on a girls only Airbnb getaway weekend later this month…I had suggested we do this for a week and both kids ignored us lol. At this time, it all depends on the virus. I need to see how to blow some Chase UR points on groceries and dining out…no point of keep adding to the balances… It’s crazy. I am shocked not more bloggers have quit yet.
Sad to see Loyalty Traveler not posting…It is not worth it anymore with ad revenue collapsing. You add the bank cc beatings too…and not sure how many can keep going. I envy you for walking away sometimes man…I need help to do the same. Maybe you can start a consulting business or sell a course “How to walk away from your blog” 🙂
Lots of stuff to read and…it is only Friday around 5 pm!
10 mile run on my to do list tomorrow…
I, too, miss Loyalty Traveler. You and he are my favorite reads.
Thank you.
It is economics. Boarding Area page views (ad related) revenue has, I am guessing, gone down 50%. He never had credit card conversions.
I never had ads. Bezos continues to squeeze affiliate payouts. A few paypal donations trickle in. The credit card conversions have not only gone down but some credit card affiliate links have vanished AND the payouts for the ones that are left have gone down substantially. It is a struggle and instead of one day making minimum wage blogging….that now remains a fantasy.
I am thinking to go down to once a week when they take my credit card links away…It should not be long as this month will be a third straight month I do not have ten conversions (2, 5, 5 in June so far)…
Blogging is HARD when you focus on quality and staying independent.
I hate to hear that reality. You are my must read, and I have given you three, maybe four, cc conversions. You must read a ton of stuff to be able to distill it down to the good bits for us readers. That takes time. And coming up with all your witticisms. I appreciate your hard work and hope, selfishly, that you continue.
PS Thinking of that AA MasterCard. Missed the 70k one.
Do you think if I take an unnecessary leisure flight to Las Vegas and then travel to somewhere in rural Arizona, I can write a blog post and complain about how irrational everyone is who doesn’t wear masks? Forgot to mention I am coming from a hotspot, Miami, but let’s focus on everyone else and not me, please. I am not being a hypocrite!
Josh, you are going to start a blog? 🙂