We bring you all the Hawaii award rates, yet another Sheraton redo, the most quirky passports in the world, Route 66 facts, visit the Chernobyl museum and Almaty Lake, warn you about some sleek financial product salespeople, introduce an airplane spotting place in a Greek island, the history of light, get free Amex points, what you need to go to the 2018 World Cup, welcoming the first Delta hotel in Michigan and the best read on all the latest foreign airline devaluations with no end in sight. All freeeeeeeeeee!
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Apparently, the big news in the blogosphere was a “change” in the Hyatt Place policy of giving free breakfast. You must be a World of Hyatt member (any level!) and must book directly. Big freaking deal!
Great series: Hawaii miles and points guide Part 2: Best award rates.
It is pretty sad when any hotel CEO says this: ‘La Quinta Will Be Transformational’. Really Wyndham CEO, really?
Broken news: Marriott International Announces Vision For Sheraton Transformation. This is Sheraton redo #458. Hey Marriott, you have 29 freaking brands already. You can unload a bad one to, say, Accor or Wyndham!
And Delta is coming to Detroit. Not the airline, but Marriot’s Delta Hotel, the first in Michigan.
This is cool: The quirkiest passport covers around the world, and the stories behind them. And we have VIDEO! #notreally. Actually, the Maldivian passport looks really cool.
If you are going to the World Cup in Russia, you are going to need FAN ID.
For aviation geeks only. This link is in Greek. It is the OTHER place to watch airplanes landing, you don’t need to go to Maho beach okay? It is in Skiathos island in Greece. It is actually close to my hometown and went there while in high school. You would not believe what happened next! This link has video actually and it is cool. Airport code is JSI.
The Landlopers blogger did a series of posts about driving on Route 66. Sadly, he was paid by Marriott to do it so I did not link to any post. But here is a recap which I found educational and has no Marriott links in it: Route 66 Fact & Fiction – What You Should Know About The Mother Road.
The history of light. Cool video. We don’t do moronic clickbait video crap here, only things that adhere to the blog mission. Thanks for your support! Together we can move mountains…or fly for free at least 🙂
This is very common actually. And pretty sad. Be careful out there! My husband and I are idiots. We’ve been bamboozled by a financial advisor. And never click on seven credit cards in one day too all right?
We post links to travel destinations that are not well traveled for the most part. Lately we have been going to Eastern Europe a lot. No, this blog is not being taken over by Russian bots!
Big Almaty Lake: Everything You Need to Know About the Most Famous Lake in Kazakhstan.
Amazing pictures! A snapshot of Mawson’s Antarctica expedition – in pictures. From the early 1900’s!
Okay, the above link was freezing cold. So, lets get back to warmer places. Like…in Ukraine lol. Catastrophic Kitsch: The Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum.
You may get lucky and get 10k pts from Amex doing this.
Frequent Miler makes a case to consider getting the Ritz-Carlton card right now. Yes, you are right…If this was for a card that pays a sales commission it would never appear here. Looking for the staff at the Titan blogs to copy this post….bwahahahahaha, just kidding. Will.Never.Happen! Update: Next FM post had a link to a blog in the Ignore list. Penalty box time!
To veterans of the hobby or aspiring veterans I guess, this is your must read of the day: Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qatar… Think Airlines Award Charts Can Only Get Worse? You’re Wrong, There Is an Airline That’s Made It Better! When I get to laugh, it must be a good one!
Another TBB fav song from the vault:
If your post has a link to a Titan blog, imho, it is pathetic to send your readers to those blogs where they will be pumped and click baited to oblivion! So, do not expect it to show up here! Harsh? I don’t think so. Besides, what are you going to do about it? Stop linking to me? Like that ever happens, sad 🙂
And I leave you with this…Boo! Okay, this is different…it’s like when you find out a writer in a blog you like now writes for a blog you hate, because, money…Sad!
8 days for the 2018 World Cup, hooray!
TBB
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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.
beep bop boop
He is back!
George, in all fairness, if you are talking about FM’s Hyatt Place post HT TPG (too many acronyms!),for some reason Hyatt only sent that release out to a few bloggers this time. That means that most of us learned about it from another site (probably VFTW, OMAAT, or TPG). It would not have been fair to not note where it was learned about and would have been strange to not cover as Hyatt Place breakfasts are a deciding factor to many customers when selecting properties.
Of course, if you were talking about a different post, ignore all of that above because it doesn’t apply I guess! 🙂
No, I was not referring to that one.
I just saw a whole bunch of hyatt breakfast posts “analyzing” the changes, a paragraph would have sufficed.
That TPG post…how did that get through compliance? 😉
I think this is why TBB has an Ignore list. Anyone sent to these blogs is an FU to their readers!
#928
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/external-miles-points-resources/1688934-points-guy-we-never-accept-free-flights-merged-tpg-discussions-62.html#post29830981
the latest thing they unleash is…talking about the Qatar Airways CEO…Ben and Gary LOVE to post about the guy because, you know, whatever…and of course TPG now mentions it LOL.
and now that mega copier Live and Let’s Fly has to also talk about the Qatar CEO….has this guy done anything original??
Only quixotic his quest to sue Aeroplan/SWISS over that LH F mistake fare!
Oh yeah, forgot that. Probably got 50 posts out of it #fulltimeblogger #needcontenteveryday
Wow, Bauhaus? The same guy in high school who was into Dead Can Dance was also into Bauhaus. I think they had a song about Bela Lugosi or something. What’s next, Sonic Youth? Voivod?
The situation is bad in Nicaragua, hopefully nobody is planning a trip there anytime soon. This is a few blocks from my brother-in-law’s house–it’s in Spanish, but it’s essentially local merchants telling the government that they’re not going to pay taxes any more:
https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2018/06/04/nacionales/2429940-comerciantes-del-mercado-oriental-se-declaran-en-desobediencia-civil
Bela Lugosi’s Dead was their first single. I mostly listened to the Sky’s Gone Out album back in the day.
Yeah Bauhaus, goth all the way 🙂
Bela Lugosi’s dead. Yeah, loved it. And that Sky’s Gone Out album was awesome. Never saw them or Murphy live, sad!
Big fan of Sonic Youth. Voivod, not so much.
Reading “My husband and I are idiots. We’ve been bamboozled by a financial advisor.” I can’t quite understand why the couple needed a financial adviser in the first place (sure there was limited information). Their assets appeared to be limited. It’s just your first kid. And you could listened to the Dave Ramsey show for reasonable advise.
So here’s the question for TBB, rule of thumb, when should one consider getting external help with financial planning?
yes a scary article. Problem with finding financial planning help is the massive amount of advisors that are dead broke yet dispensing advice. The waters are shark infested with people who have no business telling other how to manage their assets when they cant do it themselves.
Tough question to address in a blog comment…
The short version is…whenever the persons (couple) need someone to help them 🙂 We are all different you know 😉
A lot of people focus on the cost of financial advice. Which of course it is important. But most important is how effective it is to inflict behavioral change to the client. By getting them younger (when they start to make some good money) and putting systems in place to invest for long term goals…the sky is the limit. The problem is…by the time they look for help it may be…too late sometimes.
And don’t get me into the difference of fiduciary advisors vs pure salespeople. The “advisors” in the reddit post are in the second camp. I see that A LOT in my business.
If interested in the subject maybe answer this the other way…portray the real costs of going with a salesman again 🙂
http://www.bobveres.com/the-profession/the-real-costs-of-suitability/
Some cool passports – NZ and Maldives look neat. Say, speaking of the Maldives, is there any method whereby one can accrue miles and points through credit card links to get a trip there? I know this is a novel question that no one has thought of before so…
Yay for Finnair!
What? Are you saying I should do a post on how to travel for free to the Maldives because no one else has done it?
I will get on it then
🙂
Had a personal Citi AAadvantage Platinum Select which I closed 14 months ago. Can I go for the Business version now? Or does this fall into the 24 month restriction area (like all the Thank you cards)? Can someone confirm?
You are good to go.
Help a blogger you want to keep around by using his/her links. Does not have to be mine. If you use a Titan click, do not come back here okay? Thank you!
Your Hawaii link made me sad, cause all I can think about is how my favorite snorkeling place anywhere (Kapoho tidepools)—one I’ve been going to for years—is now just a mass of rock.
In other news, my daughter passed a link to me to some dude named Sam Huang, another MileCards/PointGuy clone. (topmiles dot com) is his business site, er, i mean, travel blog.
I can see why she (or others like her) get swept up in the allure of all of this: all his LOOK AT ME pictures and little explanation of the downsides or selling he does.
Went to that site once…I am still traumatized by it.
There are MANY sites like that…by mentioning them here…will only lead to more clicks..so I just stay quiet.
This crap sells. Like the FIRE guys…look at me I retired and you can do it too. Of course I am not going to tell you I am working my ass off, harder than ever before affecting my health and relationships, but hey, you can retire too and earn all this passive income like me…one day, click my links I am so desperate etc etc 🙂
For the record I want to say that I made a Delta redemption for the first time yesterday and was very satisfied 😉
ATL-WAS at 10 days notice – $400 Economy, $650 F. One way. On a Sunday. What are you guys smoking??
Anyway, 28k Amex and I have an F seat. Big saving.
Has limited occasions they work fine. Especially in hubs 😉
I’ve always managed to get some value out of Skymiles, though it’s not always easy and not my fav program by any means.
This just in:
Dennis Rodman is going to the Donald Trump-Kim Jung-Un summit next week. Maybe as Trump’s spiritual advisor?
This is not a joke. Well, yeah, it is a joke, but it is also true.
The picture of Trump, Rodman and Jung-Un in Singapore will be more iconic than the Yalta conference picture of Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill
Yeah, in a uniquely freakish way…
The freak show keeps going…
On another thought, got email from cousin in Greece who wants to get the hell out of there…giving up, sad!
where is your cousin looking to move to?
She is not moving but she rally wants to…Kind of late now, early 50s. There is a lot of despair back in that land, pride does not let it show too easily. I think she was just making a gentle suggestion to keep my eyes open for my niece who is about to graduate from college with no prospects whatsoever for meaningful employment
This is a good read on Greece and its byzatine communist “economy”
If anyone here clicked on View From The Wing’s post titled:
“Doctor Says Lavatory Waste Fell From the Sky and Gave His Patient Pink Eye”
You.Just.Suck!
Please.GTF outta here!
No words…
ok…two words:
Thought Leader
smh
I’d rather get hit in the eye with sewage than click on that!
I wouldn’t mind getting hit with CSP and Amex Platinum clicks with it though 🙂
What a crowd this morning! Our bot is back! And skymiles had something nice said about it!
It was the KD show last night, wow!
Buzz-
Who’s the chick posing as your wife?:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/george-papadopoulos-wife-pardon/index.html
I’m betting she’ll get his attention in that outfit.
Pardon me, indeed.
What’s the current prize of a pardon?
That George, sure knows how to pick them huh? 🙂
She loves him…because that George is a victim…lol. He got confused about a date…it happens you know when you drink so much woohoo!
Current prize of a pardon is…parallel to the bang he can get to his base of morons.
Relatives just left our house, going back to Singapore. Told them they can keep Trump if they want. They laughed. I thought about crying momentarily but it it time to go drive daughter back from school. Can’t wait until she gets her license in August!
am I to believe POTUS dont pardon people anymore? Surely this Prez is the 1st to pardon someone of questionable moral conduct?
Probably the first and only to do so after he gets a press by Kim K 🙂
By the way, he does not need to prepare for the meeting with Kim. It is all about, wait for it, attitude. LOL