Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as hedge fund losers, the OnlyFans global empire, the best places to go in 2025, the new Hyatt card offers, why we struggle, FTX business practices were a shitshow, how the mpox virus spreads, the most unique road trip ever, best hiking destinations, the 2025 Detroit Auto Show is here, and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of miles and points at the lower half of the post. Enjoy the weekend and see you Tuesday!
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This blog started way back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of traveling with frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to curated posts featuring the best web content along with my commentary.
This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
The past three Mondays I have posted an edition of the 2004 Annual Best of Lists. I will post the fourth and final edition next Tuesday. Going forward, if you see a second weekly post here, it will be on Tuesday morning instead of Monday. A few readers sent me feedback that there is way too much going on every Monday as people tend to catch up from the weekend. Which makes total sense. I listen to reader feedback, thank you.
The Tuesday after next week I am going to try to put together my “How I Burned 2,027,816 Miles and Points in 2024” post.
I have underlined the links in this post. Just to make them stand out. Nobody asked for this, did you even notice it? Just an experiment, it never ends with my blog, my baby.
This is a long post, enjoy it over the weekend.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Jonathan Clements, after his terminal cancer diagnosis, has been taking his writing to an even higher level. Which is really amazing as his writing was already top notch! His latest is a pure gem: Why We Struggle. Intro is this: “I’VE SPENT MUCH OF MY life trying to better understand the world, especially the financial world. But I wonder whether I should have spent more of that time trying to better understand myself.” I asked my daughter if she would be interested to join her dad’s firm and she said “I don’t like math”. And I am like “So what? There is so much more personal than finance in Personal Finance!”. Maybe one day this will come through. I hope she reads Jonathan’s article and his main points:
It takes years to know ourselves.
So much of who we are is innate, and much of the rest reflects early life experiences.
We’re bad at figuring out what will make us happy.
Bad habits are extraordinarily hard to break.
Life’s randomness is hard to accept.
Today’s worries are almost always a waste of time, and yet we worry constantly.
Sticking with the theme that my day job is more personal than math, this next topic is very important, especially when we financial planners and clients get up there in age: Navigating the Decline of a Client’s Mental Capacity.
This hedge fund managed to lose 32.7% in 2024. It should never happen but I guess it sometimes does when you believe in a manager. What if I told you he managed to lose another 43% in 2023? If you are still with this guy you obviously have some issues. 2023-24 is one of the best two year spans in stock market history, hello? Frankly, why this guy is still in business is beyond me. Haidar’s Hedge Fund Loses 33% With Assets Plunging by $4 Billion.
Returns have bounced all over in the past five years. Of course everyone does not mind upward bounces. When these bounces go the opposite direction and how you act/react is what matters though. Anyway, I found this great table in this article.
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
I always scan The Ponzi Scheme Blog monthly roundups, here is the one for December 2024. There are always some gems here, such as:
They promised returns from the buying and selling of large, specialized tires used in mining and earth-moving equipment. [Was there a prototype? I want to kick that tire!]
…representing that they were investing in artificial intelligence technology that could predict the future and detect a COVID-19 infection using only a video recording. The scheme targeted elderly Filipino churchgoers. [Brace for more AI scams ahead!]
The scheme involved cryptocurrency and promised returns between 1% and 2% per day, or 3,500% per year. [Dead giveaway!]
When you dig in deep, it does not take much effort to realize that the crypto industry is full of ethically challenged grifting types. And these guys will now have the inside track in the regulations against them. If any, God help us! Not just one bad apple: FTX’s practices were business as usual in crypto. Adversary cases from the FTX collapse further expose how crypto companies do business: with secret acquisitions of “grey area” businesses, buying influence, and creative accounting.
Remember that deli in New Jersey that was worth $100 million but only sold a few sandwiches per day? Well, here we go, the final chapter: Father, son plead guilty in $100 million New Jersey deli stock scheme. Like father, like son, lock them up!
This blog is not going to blog itself. I rely on my readers helping it grow as I don’t have time to do any promotion/marketing. Which leaves the content clean of intrusive sponsoring posts and stupid ads and stuff like that.
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ODDZ & ENDZ
Amazing, from a business perspective, what OnlyFans is doing: How OnlyFans turned into a global empire bent on redefining porn.
With $1.3 billion in revenue and over 300 million users…
It has just a few dozen employees even as its user base has almost quadrupled in recent years…
Created in 2016, OnlyFans says it has paid out over $20 billion to its creators, who now number 4.1 million.
Radvinsky, the owner Blair rarely mentions in public, bought OnlyFans in 2018 and is its sole shareholder. Now 42 years old, he has paid himself at least a billion dollars in dividends over the past three years…
Visually fascinating post about how the mpox virus spreads, mutates and attacks humans. Do not click if you get scared easily.
If you click you will see Rotating Sandwiches. Why not? After I gave you nightmares with the mpox virus post above you need to see rotating sandwiches lol.
Some, always awesome, photography from the 2024 Northern Lights Photography of the Year Contest.
TRAVEL
This is great. So, this guy has 5 minutes for a presentation. And he proceeds to tell his story how he managed to road trip and visit streets with names that have dates in them. And yep, he managed to visit 365 of them, wow! Started with “January 1st” street and so forth. Legend!
Loved this link, with great photography of each place: 52 Places To Go in 2025. Some places I never heard of before and they look amazing. Such as Alishan, Taiwan. Or Nangma Valley, Pakistan. Shocked and pleased to see Delphi, Greece on the list, it is the place where we went for the first overnight field trip with my Greek high school, oh the memories. And also pleased to see Detroit on the list as well.
Another great list: The Best Hiking Destinations for Every Month in 2025.
Angel Falls in Venezuela, wow.
It’s almost here, at its old renovated location and back in January, the 2025 Detroit Auto Show is ready to deliver: Highlights, surprises coming to the revamped event. Maybe I go again, take some videos and photos for the blog and deduct my costs for business expenses. Had a great time back in BC (Before Covid) at an Amex Platinum card event. I did two posts about it, check them out:
Amex Platinum Private Event 2017 Detroit Auto Show Luxury Cars
2017 Detroit Auto Show Press Day With Amex Platinum Private Events
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This blog started with a focus on miles and points and travel. It has evolved since then. Everything below deals with the hobby of collecting frequent flyer miles and points and maximizing your travel experiences. If you are not interested, you can stop here, thank you.
MILES & POINTS
We have a lot to cover, fasten your seat belts!
This is a good recap: Shortcuts to Hyatt elite status and Milestone Rewards.
Sometimes you need a PhD degree to figure out who gets free breakfast at Marriott properties. Or you can consult this post: Your cut-out-and-keep guide to the Marriott Bonvoy free breakfast benefit.
Both my kids have taken advantage of this and are now Alaska Airlines elites: Alaska Airlines Trial Elite Status & Fast Track for employees of 30 corporations.
One more Hyatt property in Bangkok, what is going on? Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Exits Accor System & Becomes Hyatt Regency On February 1, 2025.
You know how I like to beat up on Delta Airlines PR team here. I mean it is so easy. I have never seen such a collection of BS blowhards in the travel industry. And they are at it again and the Cranky Flier gives them such a savage beating it makes me look like a peace loving yoga influencer. I just came up with that, don’t ask. So here is CF’s article and, you know, I smiled when I first saw it: Delta Makes a Spectacular, Amazing, Astounding Announcement About… Nothing. Some gems:
For some reason, Delta decided a few years back that it wanted to be a big player at CES, positioning itself as a thought-leader or tech-titan or something like that. And this year, it went even bigger. The problem? It was all flash and almost no substance.
Delta says that this year “Delta Concierge will notify customers about upcoming passport expiration and visa requirements.” I don’t understand this. You don’t need AI for this. It’s easy to use a database with some simple logic to make this happen. There will also be better wayfinding, but I don’t know why that requires AI either. Wayfinding in apps is not new.
I think my favorite headline in any press release is this:
“Convening partners to create new modes of seamless, membership-unlocked travel”
This level of corporate-speak reaches a new high. Keep climbing, Delta.
I wish I weren’t kidding that this was considered a big announcement, but it is. Soon, travelers who are logged in with their SkyMiles number will be able to watch YouTube with no ads. Watching YouTube in general shouldn’t be an issue with modern, functioning inflight wifi. This just gives it to you without ads.
And Delta even paid Tom Brady to appear smh:
One of the Delta announcements was about dropping Lyft for Uber: Delta-Uber Partnership: Earn Miles On Rides & Food Delivery (Lyft Partnership Ending). But wait, there is always more. And always bad when it is from Delta! So, you earn 1 Delta mile for every dollar spent ONLY on UberX airport rides (lol), 1 Delta mile for Uber Eats orders but only if they are over $40 (lol again). I had to stop, I could not take it any more!
The experiment of farming out your loyalty scheme to another bigger program continues, this makes airline #7 for Avios: Loganair adopts Avios.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
Good post for newbies and really a good refresher for miles enthusiasts who have been around for a while too: Chase Transfer Partners: The Key to Using Your Ultimate Rewards Points.
Sadly, the AMEX Hilton elevated credit card offers all ended on January 8. We are undergoing a low stretch on credit card offers with juicy Signup Bonuses lately. I recently got an email from the credit card vendor I am using (Sign up for alerts HERE) that there new credit card offers. Only to find out it was for Southwest cards now offering 50,000 points for a minimum $1k purchase. Chase has consistently messed around and varied the Southwest airline card offers for a long time, it is really unique and kind of weird. Why all the offer variations all the time come from the Southwest cards? Anyway, 50k is nowhere near the highest offer. Obviously, if you have trouble reaching a $3k minimum spend maybe these cards are for you because there is only a $1k minimum spend requirement?
Alaska Airlines miles remain popular, not sure for how long. So, Bank of America has two pretty good offers out right now. I have no affiliate or personal links for these cards, full disclosure. The Bank of America interface absolutely sucks and watch out when you close the cards…sometimes the bank never closes them, always double and triple check with this bank.
Bank of America Alaska Airlines Card 75,000 Miles Offer + Companion Fare
Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Card 70,000 Miles
BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
Would you like to be automatically notified every time a card comes out with (or is about to remove) an elevated welcome offer? If yes, I highly encourage you to sign up if you haven’t yet. And when you apply for a credit card from a link in these emails you help support the blog.
Elevated Card Offer Notifications
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MY ACTION AND WHATEVER
I need your help: I am thinking to travel to Boston and burn three free night certs I have that are expiring soon. One will be at the Fairmont Copley Plaza. Which Hilton property is the best? And which Hyatt? I do have both Cat 4 and 7 Hyatt certs, fyi. Please let me know in the comments or email me, thank you.
The 500 Alaska Airlines miles for signing up for the waiting list for the upcoming premium Alaska Airlines credit card posted. Times 4 in my household, hooray! Which leads me to wonder if we will have more details about the card soon? Which will be way sooner than we all expected (midyear). Let’s see what happens.
Wells Fargo just hired an executive from JPMorgan Chase. Ok, so what? It happens all the time every day, people change jobs. But this guy was in charge of the branded credit cards at Chase for eight years. You know, Sapphires and Freedoms. Which is significant. It appears Wells Fargo is hell bent on becoming a legitimate player in rewards credit cards. Which is absolutely great for us. Because, you know, “when banks compete we benefit”. I actually like that slogan. For the grammar police, should I add a comma after “compete”?
Both of our Barclay Hawaiian personal Mastercards arrived and first purchases are in the books so I placed two lines for 70k each in my “Miles/Points to Arrive” sheet. I was hoping to avoid hassles with our Hawaiian Airlines numbers. Thankfully, my HA number I placed in the Barclay card application was reflected in my card when it arrived; phew, sometimes it doesn’t and BA assigns a brand new HA number. But my wife did not have an HA number and left that space blank in the credit card application. Barclay assigned a HA number and then I managed to get a HA chat rep online who guided me properly to establish a HA account for my wife and sent an email to reset the HA password. It all worked out in the end so looking forward to our 140k Hawaiian Alaska Airlines miles soon.
I received an email from American Airlines that my 6 month AAdvantage Platinum Pro elite status match has ended as I came nowhere near hitting the targets to keep it. It was good for a few flights up front to/from NYC LaGuardia. I will miss it…#notreally.
There is a 20% transfer bonus (30% if you have the CHASE Aeroplan Visa) from Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Air Canada Aeroplan. Until January 15, 2025. I should do this but I have time lol.
My daughter is a Capital One Venture X authorized user. For free of course. And when she passed through recently, I had her walk through the great Denver Capital One lounge, here is the YouTube video. Please Like and Subscribe! 🙂
So, the 5 Hyatt night credits from the CHASE Hyatt personal Visa card finally posted in my World of Hyatt account. So, I guess, the road to hitting 60 and requalifying for Globalist status is on? I put some more spend on this card, along with some spend on my AMEX Hilton Aspire, to go towards their $15k minimum spend to earn Free Night certs. Kind of split them to postpone hitting the $15k spend on each card to extend the Free Night cert expiration deadline. Well, I should have 4 more night credits hit my Hyatt account when the statement closes in early February. So, it is 9 down and 51 to go. Which seems kind of a reach right now with no future reservations in my Hyatt account. And do I really want to go at it at its lounges and breakfasts and really mess up my sexy physique again? It happens only at Hyatts and airline lounges lol. I am serious about this, I have a problem. And news like this, World of Hyatt adds the Venetian and gives it the Mr and Mrs Smith treatment (no, that’s not good), makes me seriously ponder if World of Hyatt has really started on the serious devaluation path and, you know, is it time to kick the hotel elite habit to the curb (just like I did the airline elite status habit many years ago)? #Developing.
I started the process of getting my two $100 United Travel Bank purchases refunded with my AMEX Business Platinum card, hope this keeps going. Obviously, taking a break from $50 Hilton gift cards, see below. And I will ask my kids if they want $200 crap from Dell lol.
I joked online recently that I am taking my time to plan my quest to reach Globalist status with Hyatt again and really waiting for a Double Elite Night credit promotion to arrive. And then it did. But it was for these new glamping type brand Under Canvas properties. This brand is known for “Extraordinary landscapes, safari-inspired accommodations and unforgettable memories”. Hmmm, ok. I don’t know, few locations in national parks and no wifi, really? Anyway, you can register for this promotion HERE. Let us know if you have stayed in one of these properties.
Oh no, it happened! Not shocked at all. Just as I was getting ready to get more of them: [Update: Sales suspended] Uh-oh: Hilton gift card inventory shortage (not expected to ship for “weeks”).
For a long time this song was the most mysterious song on the internet. Because no one could determine who did it. Until very recently. Here is the song, I like it.
We have decided to embark on a kitchen remodel in our home. And the choices are really adding to my anxiety levels, there are so many to make! Had no idea there were so many freaking cabinet handles to choose from!
So far in 2025 I have only drank water, black coffee and green tea. Let’s see how long I can keep this up.
I paid for unlimited snow removal service again. And I have a feeling this year I will lose on maximizing this deal lol.
Looking forward to watch some NFL playoff games this weekend hoping that they absolutely kill each other while we Detroit Lions fans are all sitting back smiling waiting for our next playoff opponent to visit us in Detroit, bring it!
So sad about the fires in LA, unreal what mother nature can bring: 55 Surreal And Terrifying Pictures From The Los Angeles Fires. Seeing so many fires and “0% contained” next to them is depressing.
As of today, I burned 2,027,816 miles/points in 2024 (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,313,766 miles/points in the bank.
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance!
Let me leave you with this:
Some of the links are behind a paywall. You can try to read them using Archive.is.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy it please forward it to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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First!
Just proofread it and…dang, it is ridiculously long. I think I am going to turn this “business” to a non profit lol.
Silver for the desert rats
Good morning Buzz, and thank you for the great weekend reading
I have been reading(very little) about trading WoH awards but don’t have time for the extra work.
I have a couple GH awards for any of your readers that could use one, expiring soon
Any readers out there been to the Park Hyatt in St Kitts? I’m thinking about a short trip on the way to Europe this spring
Great game last night, hopefully another one tonight.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks for the link to the Ponzi update. I was surprised by how many
of these fine people were given a Presidential pardon or had the
sentence commuted. One of the comments on the site counted 14.
My count too.
This was the first time I heard of this. I guess the story got swamped
by the other pardon.
Whew! This is definitely gonna last me through the weekend! Thanks, George, I do like all the selections. Great pic of you and your wife, too! Have a great weekend!
That road trip signs guy is amazing! I bet you could do it in South America too but I’m not ambitious enough to try.
Happy New Year to the peace loving yoga influencer & readers!
That rotating sandwich site feels like a high res version of a 1999 website.
Just got back from spending a Hyatt holiday vacation with the family in Europe. It cost a lot of points and certificates for multiple rooms and some substantial cash when I had to but on the whole it was worth it. First the Hyatt JFK for a night, then a week at the Hyatt Regency Mainz over Xmas then a week at the category 1 Hyatt Place Krakow (very nice breakfast included for Globalists and GOH bookings) over New Years, then 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam. I’m at 17 Hyatt nights for the year already towards renewing Globalist.
@ David: I think you have mentioned here the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, which does look amazing. Anyone visited recently? Anyone needing World of Hyatt goodies? David may have a few to give away. Looking forward to players killing each other this weekend to keep up with us Lions injuries 🙂
@ DML: I was going to add my comment how disgusted I felt about Biden pardoning all those assholes. But I didn’t. I am still shocked by it though. What the hell happened I would like to know. Was he so misinformed? Did aides fed him these names and where they compromised/bribed? Were all these over a certain age and just did a blanket pardon for anyone over a certain age or something. Very odd and bizarre and frankly embarrassing. Yeah, media was quite about it. I first heard of it from a local Michigan paper who mentioned that one of those fine scammers got pardoned was from our state who hurt a lot of people.
@ Carl: Enjoy, I may have a quiz next week here to see if you really clicked and read the links 🙂
@ Peachfront. Yes, indeed. When I first saw that I knew it was TBB material. Crazy travel feat for sure.
@ Fullmoon: Happy New Year to you too…from this peace loving yoga influencer (lol…in my dreams maybe).
@ Nick PFD: It sure does. I thought it was good to post something so “light” (not in calories) following that scary link about the mpox virus.
@ Christian: Thanks for the feedback on your European trip. Good to know about some of those Hyatts. Were any of them amazing enough to go back to them? Good to know about HP Krakow. How did you find the HR Amsterdam specifically? And welcome back to the States.
The Hyatt Regency Amsterdam is really nice. It’s not smack in the middle of the tourist area but still has a grocery store, Amsterdam-style coffee shop, and restaurants nearby and is close to good public transport.
I was bumped up to a suite as a Globalist but the regular rooms are fine. The staff is lovely. There’s an Indonesian restaurant in the lobby that has pretty great rijsttafel. Breakfast in the same restaurant is fine but unspectacular. It’s not cheap and is a category 5 so most free night certificates wouldn’t work there but I’d absolutely return.
At the risk of being overly vehement, I really can’t recommend the HP Krakow enough, particularly if you’re a Globalist. Krakow is great on value and so is the hotel. My family universally loved the city and the hotel. Some of them are already planning a return.
Thanks for the great feedback Christian, much appreciated.
Going to see if I can swing by that HP in Krakow next time I head to Greece.
Any recommendations for Hyatt and Hilton properties in Boston?
Gained 3 email subscribers yesterday, wow!
Weekly blog traffic email showed a small decrease in traffic, come on!
Lions host the Washington Commanders, the team we know nothing about. Let’s Go!
4th and final edition of the 2024 Annual Best of Lists will appear here Tuesday morning. I have nine links in…looking for at least one more.
Enjoy!