One more blog post featuring a first date in Iceland, ransom hackers, credit card inflated offers, Dow Jones history, a woman walked around the world alone, visit topless resorts but no shocking pics or videos within because I am not that attention craving clickbait type blog, visualize government debt, how we age, latest on the pandemic and Covax and a lot more!
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TRAVEL
One day she said “to hell with it, I am going to do it”: The Woman Who Walked Around The World. Seeking a deeper connection to the world, Angela Maxwell set off to walk it alone. Six years and 20,000 miles later, she brought that connection home.
Maxwell’s journey did not sprout from a place of loss, defeat or personal crisis. When she decided to embark on a long-distance walk, she was in her early 30s, ran a successful business and was in a relationship. “I thought I was happy,” she said, “but in retrospect, I realised that I was searching for more… for a deeper connection with nature and people – by living on less and connecting with the world around me.” [We are all different!]
Very interesting trip report: Why Traveling to Topless Resorts Makes Me Feel Safe. Any one of these places we can burn points and have free breakfasts? 🙂
Or use our travel hacking powers to, wait for it, go on a first date to Iceland. Great photos, cool video too.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Some of us are older now and, well, things are different. Life Cycle. It seems age brings with it a host of drawbacks, all fraught with reminders of our mortality:
Rising Caution
Diminishing Ability
Shrinking Time
Declaring Victory
Watching this is amazing! Video of 125 years of the Dow Jones. (Via Reddit)
What a visual, wow! Visualizing the Snowball of Government Debt. You are surprised to see Greece still up there? I am not, sad!
COVID-19
We are getting there….every day steadily: These Updating Charts And Maps Show The Coronavirus Pandemic’s Impact Across The US And The World.
This ends when everyone is vaccinated. The World’s Best Hope to End the Pandemic Still Needs More Doses. The nonprofit Covax, which distributes Covid vaccines to mostly poor countries, has been saying for a year no one is safe until everyone is. Rich countries may finally be getting the message.
So, the Indian variant is now named Delta (NOT the airline!) and It is more transmissible. As in 40% more! We are not out of the woods yet…
ODDZ & ENDZ
I think I blogged here about my fear of massive cyberattacks being the thing that keeps me up at night. And they seem to keep coming lately non stop! So, I was very interested to learn about what goes down after it happens: How to Negotiate With Ransom Hackers. The guy being featured in this article sure has a nice niche! Another link. Banning bitcoin may be a good start to fight back imho.
If you are looking for inflation, well, here it is! Timeline: The World’s Biggest Passenger Ships from 1831-Present.
This guy’s youtube channel, wow! Frank Maglio Tico & the Man. He plays the guitar and the bird sings, lol! Stairway to Heaven is my fav.
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 100k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 100k CHASE United Quest, 100k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 75k CHASE Ink Cash, 75k CHASE Ink Unlimited, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 60k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 60k CITI Premier, 20k CHASE Freedom Flex & CHASE Freedom Unlimited, 125k CHASE IHG Rewards Club Premier (& a free night) and many more, including many American Express cards! Please check out my Affiliate links. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you? Contact me!
This section is about my hobby addiction of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points since the early 1990’s! Feel free to skip this section and parts of the next one if this is not for you.
Newbies: You are living through the greatest era of travel rewards credit card offers. 50,000 offers became the norm soon after we moved north of 25,000 offers in the early years. Since then…it has been surreal…75,000 offers get my attention now and highly prefer six figures 🙂 The opposite side of this is…the coming devaluations, brace for impact!
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card recently came out with a 80,000 point plus $50 statement credit for grocery spend offer. Fantastic offer indeed. And a few days ago Chase went all out with a 100,000 offer! Highest ever for this card. Remember when Chase came out with a 100,000 Sapphire Reserve offer about five or so years ago to shock the world…only to proceed to lose HUNDREDS of millions of dollars on it? Yeah, this goes hand in hand with all the other inflated craziness happening everywhere! If I knew this will happen I would advise readers to wait of course. Sometimes this happens and I sure have no inside knowledge of what banks plan to do. Again, for some strange reason, the credit card vendor I have does not provide me with an affiliate link to the card. So I am left to wait for the 100k referral link to go live, sad! Anyway, rules to get the card can get a little confusing: Can You Get the Incredible Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 Point Offer?
This is a really good newbie friendly guide on How to find incredible flight deals with Google Flights.
Another great Hyatt promotion if it works for you: Register by August 20, 2021, and complete your stay at a JdV by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, or The Unbound Collection by Hyatt property from June 15, 2021, through September 15, 2021, to receive 25% back in Bonus Points on qualifying redemptions.
This partnership was already dying and now we can finally call the end! Alaska Airlines ending Emirates partnership on July 31, 2021.
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.
For old timer hobbyists, this will make you laugh: Churner’s Guide to Bloggers. LOL!
Just in case if you do not know who pays for these rewards: The ugly truth behind your fancy rewards credit card.
Do not be like me hoarding millions of miles/points! Why you may want to use your airline points sooner rather than later. Look at how many miles/liabilities airlines have on the books, wow!
This is a positive move but it does look like Chase is not putting up a worthy competitor to the Centurion clubs: JPMorgan Chase Gets Into The Airport Game, Announces Their Own “Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club”.
I need to reduce my Chase Ultimate Rewards point balances, I have about 1.1 million of them. Thinking to transfer out at least 500k, so I think I am going to diversify and transfer 200k to Hyatt, 200k to United, 100k to Southwest. Definitely not transferring any to Singapore Airlines as I now have about 130k to burn by the end of this month!
Let me leave you with this:
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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 afternoon from London. Do you have any views on ‘future’s so bright I need to wear shades’ OMAAT redesign?!
Is it a blog? Sure looks like a giant pile of numerous shit links to me of course prioritizing the plastic affiliate links…Should be renamed One Dozen Credit Cards at a Time Every Time.
Glad the Mykonos hotel folks did not take his entitled shit.
Where is everyone? Does anybody care anymore?
“You are living through the greatest era of travel rewards credit card offers.”
For individual offers. I miss churning with Citi etc.
Why transfer to Southwest? You’ld be better off cashing out.
EC starts on Friday! Turkey will be a dark horse. So many difficult groups. Sad to see T&T eliminated from the WC qualifying round. Team USA may make it to Qatar this time around.
Only transfer I did was to Hyatt this am for 200k points. The United 110k hit so holding off. You are right on Southwest, will make more paying myself back but I like to travel :)…yeah, no rushing it to SW too.
With Greece out and NBA Playoffs I am just not feeling the Euro this year.
Saw the USA vs Mexico highlights, these are always fun games. I like how the US team looks.
Looks like a short series for Giannis.
That was such a savage beating that…smells like a sweep.
But hey, KD may go down and….they would still lose LOL.
Bucs must win game 3 or, well, same old 🙂
Coach Bud can go ahead and update his resume.
Bucks are about to 1-2-3-Cancun:
https://www.basketballnetwork.net/1-2-3-cancun-the-joke-that-got-van-exel-traded-from-the-lakers/
It is summer! Breakfast on the deck with the cat. That’s the extent of recent travel and he is interested in the cicadas.
The churners guide was terrific!
I think we are done with snowstorms here in Michigan…I think.
Getting excited about my first post Covid flight….been soooo long.
Where is everyone? I don’t know, but I am here but have been way busy with several home projects, plus helping the oldest grandchild get his first car. A grandchild not really motivated but yet wanting to drive to look for a better job or go to school. Kids! Hahaha!
LOVE the Blog guide! That is funny and fairly on point, too!
The topless resort article was quite interesting, for sure. Definitely worth reading for many reasons.
Thanks as always. Now off to drive my new Tesla!
Well, you have not driven a Ford lately…
Let me know how you feel about the Tesla car in a year. Every time I hear that name the asshole Elon comes to mind 🙂
Client younger than me about to become grandpa by Christmas…and I am all like…I hope this does not happen to me 🙂 #tooyoung!
Still no 100k CSP referral link…mfers!
Hey George,
I’m the one that plugged you on the reddit post. Hope you are getting more hits. =]
Not sure if you know but what are a couple of good picks for Greek isles to visit for a month or two with Airbnb. Looking for something low key not insanely touristy.
Was looking at north coast of Crete but wasn’t sure if there was anywhere else to look at.
Thanks!
Thanks for the heads up. Never check my stats so I wouldn’t know! 🙂
No idea about Airnbs in Greece. I am just not an Airbnb guy, too many hotel points…a good problem to have.
Another blogger asked recently and I replied with these:
Sifnos, Zakynthos, Skopelos. In that order. But…NOT easy to get to. Get more ideas here:
https://www.greecetravel.com/greek-islands.htm
Biden won
Who was advising Jeff Bezos to claim $4000 tax credit for his children in 2011?
And while growing his fortune by $16B he didn’t pay ANY taxes that year!
I hope he gets stuck in space.
I am pretty sure he did not even look at the tax returns. It is all his accountants…and they are good…VERY good 🙂
I’m surprised he didn’t max out his 401k. Missed out on the match!
I have to say that Bloomberg’s Odd Lot podcast is sometime very interesting. Never thought I’ld know this much about lumber prices, semiconductors and the housing market.
And it’s nice to see the other side of a story “Workers Are Quitting Hotel And Restaurant Jobs at the Highest Rate on Record”
Take this service job and shove it.
https://archive.is/if9Sr#selection-2907.0-2907.76
Apparently the weekly $300 unemployment check isn’t the entire story!
There are some huge societal changes going on right now. We can thank the Chinese who leaked out this virus 🙂