Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the hottest stock markets, AI myths, terrorist in the brain, this epic World Cup, luxury lounge wars, Mag 7 losing, AI not killing jobs, lifelong runners forced to quit, most stunning beaches, the best photography and Thailand links and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of frequent flyer miles and points at the lower half of the post. And much more. Enjoy the weekend.
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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.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“When you feel grateful, you become great, and eventually attract great things.” – Plato
MUST READ GEMS
I really like the posts with a bunch of facts and I usually post several of them in my annual Best Of series each December/January. And then I realized the trend may have morphed into doing semi annual Best Of posts. Each fact has the source linked.
Facts From 1H26
Nearly 40% of years have seen a total return for the S&P 500 above 20%.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund holds, on average, roughly a 1.5% stake in every publicly listed company in the world.
An estimated $17 billion was stolen in crypto scams and fraud in 2025 (1,400% year-over-year growth). AI-enabled scams were 4.5x more profitable than traditional scams.
In 2017, Americans legally bet $4.9 billion on sports. In 2025, it was over $160 billion.
“Google raised just $26M (~$60M in today’s terms) before becoming profitable, while Meta raised about $480M (~$800M today). OpenAI is projected to burn through a staggering $115B before it even hopes to reach free cash flow profitability in 2030.”
The state of Wyoming only has 2 escalators.
Global suicide rates have declined by 29% from 2000 to 2021.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Another good history lesson: The Hottest Stock Markets Lead to the Biggest Losses.
…a relative handful of elite stocks, headed by Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft, churned out spectacular returns that accounted for nearly all the profits for investors over the entire century. At the same time, more than 96 percent of the stock market did virtually nothing for investors. The vast majority of stocks couldn’t even match the 3.3 percent average return of one-month Treasury bills — a return you could get month by month over the 100 years through 2025 without taking any appreciable risk.
It turns out that the combined losses of the 10 companies at the bottom of the list accounted for less than 1 percent of all the wealth destruction in the stock market over the century. By comparison, the top 10 companies — including Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and other heavyweights — accounted for 29 percent of all wealth creation over 100 years.
Wasn’t it just recently that you could do no wrong if you invested all your money into the Mag 7 stocks? Ok, never do that, always diversify! And, amazingly, just like that we have a complete reversal: The Mag 7 is Losing? as “The S&P 493 is destroying the Mag 7 so far in 2026“.
TECH/SCAMS/CRYPTO
I learned a new word this week: Nomophobia. It is the fear of being without your phone. Which is really becoming the phobia of the 21st century.
This…
AI
Interesting takes here: 5 Myths About AI’s Economic Impact, and What the Data Actually Shows.
Myth 1: AI Can Never Be Profitable
Myth 2: AI Is Behind the Productivity Boom
Myth 3: AI Isn’t a Major Contributor to the US GDP Growth
Myth 4: If AI Is a Bubble, Then It Will Have No Durable Economic Impact
Myth 5: If AI Succeeds, Then Workers Are Doomed
Actually, on the #5 myth above, is the tide really turning on this? We can finally say AI isn’t killing jobs. For the sake of our children, let’s hope so.
Key Takeaways:
- Firms that adopt AI grow headcount 10.2% over the two years following adoption, but these gains are entirely driven by high-intensity adopters. Low-intensity adopters see no statistically significant change.
- Entry-level headcount grew even faster. At the companies making the largest AI investments, entry-level headcount grew 12% over the two years following adoption.
- AI adoption and the associated gains are unevenly distributed. AI adopters are already larger, more engineering-intensive, more likely to be venture-backed, and faster-growing than non-adopters. These firms then grow faster upon adoption.
ODDZ & ENDZ
From the same guy at the Wall Street Journal who brought us an article about the Ford worker who invented that sign in all our cars pointing to the side the gas tank is we now have this: This Simple White Line Is America’s Greatest Unsung Innovation. This is the unknown story of another ingenious creation that changed a nation. Blown away, I had no idea!
As a former runner, I was crying inside reading this: When Lifelong Runners Are Forced to Quit. For those who rely on the sport for identity and community, leaving it behind can feel like a form of grief. These are all so true…
For the roughly 50 million Americans who run regularly, it is rarely just exercise. It is therapy, meditation, community and identity, often all at once. When the body finally says no, the loss can be staggering.
“When you say you’re a runner, people automatically assume you are disciplined, you are ambitious, you know how to set a goal and go for it,” she said. “It has this sheen about it.” Letting go of that identity, she discovered, felt like losing a close companion. “I really thought of running as one of my best friends. I was ‘with’ running five times a week. And all of a sudden you have to say, ‘I have to step away from you.’”
Must read article if you are into dementia, Alzheimer’s and all brainy conditions: The Terrorist in the Brain. The article gets into the gory details of what Robin Williams went through and what Bruce Willis is dealing with these days. Along with the latest and evolving science in this area. I read recently about a new drug that is effective against Alzheimer’s. After reading this article, I was deflated.
The deepest lesson of the Williams and Willis stories may be the simplest. Money and access do not buy a way around the limits of current science. Robin Williams had the finest medical care in the world and died misdiagnosed, hunted by a disease no test of his time could catch. Bruce Willis’s fame turned his diagnosis into headlines that mostly got the science wrong. If two of the most resourced patients imaginable could not escape the genuine limits of what medicine can do, the rest of us will not find our way out through a blood test we do not need, a drug priced like a small car, or a bottle of glowing jellyfish.
Amazing: ISS – “Crazy Beautiful” in 4K. Marvel at a stunning display of Aurora Australis as seen from The International Space Station Expedition 74 in 4x real time. ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot provided the quote for the title of the film in her notes of the sequence.’
TRAVEL
Did I say I like beaches? Oh yes I did. So, here we go again: The World’s 26 Most Stunning Beaches. Which one is your favorite?
You almost never see any trip reports from these countries in the north of South America: Why Guyana, Suriname And French Guiana Aren’t South American. Fascinating, love all things geography.
Interesting travel post from Stephen Pepper at the Frequent Miler: 6 underrated states to visit for a domestic vacation. I must admit I was very surprised to see New Mexico at the top of his list.
Amazing photography: These 17 Stunning Photos of the Strawberry Moon Show Earth’s Natural Satellite in All Its Glory.
2026 WORLD CUP
After watching World Cup games every day, on Wednesday this week we finally had a day without one. And I gotta tell you…it was so weird lol.
So many memories from this glorious World Cup. Maybe next week I can dedicate a bit more with my thoughts. There are so many, I don’t know where to start. From the collapse of Team USA against Belgium and wondering if Trump had not interfered. From the robbery against the Egyptian team in the hands of the refs facing Messi’s never die Argentina. From that absolute classic Mexico vs England game. And this World Cup’s story, Cape Verde, I mean, what more can you say about this team? I could go on and on…For now, let me just leave you with some links that I found worthy:
The World Cup Shows What’s Great About America.
I lost it when this happened. Like so many around the world: A Moment That Will Live Forever.
And this game wow: England end Mexico’s World Cup with best win on foreign soil in their history.
Did you know? Which Countries Have Been Banned from The World Cup?
And these brilliant quotes by Jason Gay: The World Cup’s Awful Instant Replay System Must Be Destroyed.
I thought I’d seen the worst of soccer’s contentious video assisted review technology, until Tuesday’s Argentina-Egypt World Cup round of 16 game, when, late in the second half, the baffling, deeply-unpopular replay doohickey was deployed to disallow a glorious, field-crossing, momentum-shifting Mostafa Ziko goal after determining Egypt had fouled Argentina…roughly 100 yards prior. This wasn’t penalizing something Ziko did. This was like traveling back in time. This was like getting stopped by a SWAT team in Rhode Island and being told you were being ticketed for jaywalking in Oregon. In 1974.
I haven’t even gotten to the absurdity of the Croatia-Portugal match, aka the Hair of God, in which officials revoked a game-tying Croatia goal because a sensor in the ball few people knew even existed decided that the ball had grazed the hairline of a Croatia player.
We’ve turned the games we love over to zero-tolerance killjoys who would interrupt the Jupiter symphony because they think the oboe player held a note a half second too long…Everyone hates it, and yet, we’re getting more. It’s like reality television, AI slop, and social media. We’re too hooked to say stop.
Let’s laugh:
THAILAND
This Paddy Doyle YouTuber makes the best travel videos in Thailand, highly recommend. He just started an interesting project titled offreel. To get fans to connect with online creators. Maybe one day I set up a creator account and dish my expertise on the platform about Thailand (visas, locations, Hyatts, medical tourism, etc.) or travel hacking or personal finance (not sure about any regulatory compliance issues though). Just kidding, no time to start another online thing but maybe this helps some readers.
You know we like airplanes around here. And here we go: I Found a Boeing 747 Hidden in a Field in Thailand. The guy who bought it, what the hell was he thinking? I hope this has a good ending but I am not seeing it…
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
So, here we go again…
You know this hobby has changed so much lately: The Real Reason Miles & Points Are Boring Now. Well, I agree with most of these points. And, from so many people in this space who make money from it, well, they always have to find a way to keep you in it.
And there are two companies that have driven this hobby to the ground: Delta Airlines and Marriott. And they are at it again!
Gross: Delta Guts Its Premium Cabins With New “Basic” Fare Classes
Marriott Bonvoy 5% To 10% Flash Points Devaluation
When most bloggers just publish endless credit card marketing pitches masquerading as legitimate content and absolute clickbait drivel, Loyalty Lobby keeps breaking real news before every other blog who then copy it smh. Is this the beginning of the long expected AA devaluation? American Airlines Increases Miles Required To First Class Awards To Asia (+ Perhaps Business Too).
World of Hyatt keeps descending I guess: Hyatt Excludes More Properties From Suite Upgrade Awards. I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, smh. I like the ending:
I guess Hyatt could soon start keeping a list of properties where members can use these Suite Upgrade Awards, rather than listing which properties are excluded.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
For ANY questions on travel rewards credit cards, contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
You should check out this new site: Plastic Prowl. “See the real cost of 3,800+ luxury stays after your statement credit — across every major program, in one search.” I really like the interface. The founder contacted me some time ago about the site and, you know, World Cup schedule intervened until I found some time to take a look into it. He gave me a free premium account but I have not used it yet. But I did spend some time on it as a regular user and I like it, fwiw. It does help that he has been reading my blog for years so I love supporting my blog readers. Give it a click.
Where the banks are taking the battles these days: American Express and Chase move luxury lounge wars beyond the airport.
Along the same theme, in video: Why Amex and Chase Love Lounges.
You know I absolutely despise Bilt. And I would never do business with this company and I don’t see them lasting. This YouTuber goes over his experience dealing with “customer service”. Which is of course non existent. And of course it is not surprising at all that Bilt blames Cardless and Cardless reciprocates. For the gory details, start at 7.09 of this video: Billing Errors, Missing Points…Then This Happened!
100k CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED REFRESH:
This card has become a no brainer for, well, almost everyone. Especially if you are new into this travel reward cards space and absolutely do not care about Hyatt points whatsoever. Let me explain why you should get this card. Well, most of my readers either have this card or can no longer get it again due to Chase Bank’s new severe restrictions eliminating us credit card miles/points enthusiasts. This IS a great card for someone starting out by the way. We all have it in my household and are definitely keeping it. Because for just $95 dollars annual fee you get:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Primary car rental insurance
- $100 Annual Hotel Credit. (This is per cardmember year, rather than calendar year. Must be booked through the Chase Travel Portal.)
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5x on travel booked through the Chase Travel portal.
- 3x on Dining/Streaming Services/online grocery (excludes: excluding Target, Walmart and
wholesale clubs) - 3x on Gas/EV
- 3x on Airbnb, VRBO, Plum Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com, and Vacasa
- 2x on other travel
- 1x on all other purchases
- 5x on Lyft rides through 9/30/27. 5x on Peloton purchases of $150+ through 12/31/27.
- $120 credit once every four years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS.
- One time offer (not ongoing): Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year when activated by December 31, 2026.
- Transferable points (reminder: Hyatt transfers are 4:3)
- Complimentary DashPass membership ($120 value) for 12 months. Plus, DashPass members get a $10 promo each month ($120 annually) to save on groceries, retail orders, and more.
- Chase 5/24 rule applies to this card
and of course for just $5,000 minimum spend in three months you get 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points! Even if you did not do much with the points and just cashed them out for a penny per point, it means you pocket $1,000. For an annual fee of $95 plus all the goodies above, DO THE MATH! Of course, you can transfer the points out to travel partners like United or Southwest or Hyatt and get way more than a penny per point. Yes, it is a bit more work but it can make this card even more valuable.
There are many places online you can use to apply for this card. For the love of God, do not use the links from The Points Guy or any other big outfit pretending to be “in the hobby” when they are a big business selling plastic for the banks. Maybe prefer a small independent blogger who is into this for the love of the game and been doing it for decades and would still be here most likely if banks stopped paying bloggers to sell plastic for them #hint. Anyway, email me with ANY questions, thank you for the support.
LATEST OFFERS:
CHASE Sapphire Reserve for Business: 200,000 Points Sign Up Bonus
CHASE INK Cash & INK Unlimited 100,000 Points Signup Bonus
100k CHASE Sapphire Reserve: $795 Annual Fee. Minimum spend $6,000 in three months
A whole bunch of new offers for Delta Skymiles, ENDING JULY 15.
90k AMEX Delta Skymiles Gold: Minimum spend is $5,000 over six months
100k AMEX Delta Skymiles Platinum: Minimum spend is $6,000 over six months
125k AMEX Delta Skymiles Reserve: Minimum spend is $9,000 over six months
90k AMEX Delta Skymiles Gold Business: Minimum spend is $6,000 over six months
100k AMEX Delta Skymiles Platinum Business: Minimum spend is $8,000 over six months
125k AMEX Delta Skymiles Reserve Business: Minimum spend is $15,000 over six months
150k AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business PLUS $125 Statement Credit: $125 Annual fee, minimum spend $8,000 in the first six months. For more info on the card’s benefits click HERE. ENDING JULY 15.
125k CHASE Marriott Bonvoy Boundless + 1 Free Night: Minimum spend is $3,000 over three months.
As High As 200,000 Points on the AMEX Business Gold after spending $15k in the first three months
100,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Summit after spending $6,500 in the first three months. And a 50% flight discount voucher
80,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Ascent after spending $4,000 in the first four months. And a 50% flight discount voucher
85,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Business after spending $5,500 in the first three months
75k CITI AAdvantage Business World Elite MasterCard
175k AMEX Platinum & 300k AMEX Business Platinum
75k CITI Strata Elite card
Due to credit card vendor restrictions, the only affiliate links I can place in the body of my posts are for Capital One cards. You can always email me at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com with ANY questions.
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!
BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
I closed my Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card. And I had to sacrifice about $30k credit limit. In retrospect, I should have transferred most of it to my Ink Business Cash card earlier. I am still surprised I was not allowed to do this as it appears the rep was correct that this card, along with the weird Ink Cash Premier card, are the only two cards that you can not transfer their credit limits. Still learning after all these years in this space. I was able to claim only about $450 of the credits of this card in the year I held it. I know closing it I effectively shut myself off from transferring Chase points to World of Hyatt 1:1. Well, with the once per lifetime Chase card restrictions and no more points from Ink cards, so what, it does not matter anymore.
I again tried for the Schwab Amex Platinum card and I again got the dreaded jail pop up message telling me I am not eligible for the signup bonus. So I have a dilemma now. The fat $895 annual fee for my Business Amex Platinum card is coming in September. I will be in Asia then and may have only a few days after I come back to close the card and move on. But I really really want the Schwab version of the card since the credits are so much more valuable when compared to the business card.
Having said that, I have managed to claim the following credits for my Business Amex Platinum card: $600 in 2024 (obtained the card 9/2024), $950 in 2025 and $1,050 to date in 2026. Not too shabby of course. But with no more United Travel bank, limited Dell credit and really no way to benefit from the pure business credits, I am now thinking to go for the Schwab Amex Platinum card to enjoy the automatic Schwab brokerage credit (we have all our investments with Schwab), the $400 Resy dining credits and $300 Lululemon credits and of course the $600 FHR/THC hotel credits (and more). As a matter of fact, since my wife obtained the Schwab Amex Platinum card less than two months ago, we have already claimed $720 in credits (with another $300 hotel credit, $200 Resy credit, $150 Lululemon credit and more to come before 2027 rolls in!). I am not even counting her UberOne $120 credit by the way. #Winning But I must admit I absolutely hate going for a card and not earn any signup bonus at all. But I am convinced Amex will just not give me any more signup bonuses anytime soon. Something about my history with them lol.
Our SE Asia trip is coming together very slowly. I blame the World Cup and the absolutely shitty state of business class award availability preventing me to wrap up all arrangements. Anyway, I have booked so far:
10 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 1 for 45,000 World of Hyatt points
9 nights at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 for 40,500 World of Hyatt points
4 nights in a suite at the Saigon Park Hyatt for 80,000 World of Hyatt points
After returning to Bangkok from Saigon, we have 6 nights before flying to Singapore for a wedding. So I looked around and decided to book 2 nights at the Kromo Bangkok hotel, part of Curio Collection by Hilton in the Amex Travel portal with my business Amex Platinum card (last booking?) to claim another $300 The Hotel Collection credit. So I can continue the fourth year of staying for free every single night in our trips to SE Asia! #travelhackinglessons. Actually the cost for the two nights came at $306.64 so I failed for $6.64 lol. But let’s not forget the $100 hotel THC credit and of course the free breakfasts for two and some upgrade and late checkout, etc.
I finally posted some videos on YouTube:
Kromo Bangkok Hotel Premium Room
Kromo Bangkok Swimming Pool & Gym
I now need to book 4 more nights in Thailand. I project I will be at 54 World of Hyatt night credits. And I will likely spend at least a few nights again at the Thessaloniki Greece Hyatt Regency. And I still have some leftover spend for the 2nd half of the furniture purchases that are on order. So no need for me to pay for a 30 day stay at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 that will come out to about $67 per night to seal requalifying for World of Hyatt Globalist.
So, I am debating where to stay the last four nights in Thailand. Wife has another $300 Amex Platinum FHR/THC credit available and I do have a Hilton Free Night as well. Should I book the new Bangkok Andaz to continue my quest to experience all Hyatts in Thailand? Or maybe go for a few nights at the Pattaya Andaz, maybe on the way back to the airport to catch flight to Singapore? Maybe try the Bangkok Four Seasons on a FHR booking for one night? But my wife does not like to move around hotels but she has learned to tolerate it a bit with me lol. Any suggestions?
In Singapore the wedding party has a few hotel nights reserved for us near the wedding venue. And then earlier this year (before July) I booked the Singapore Conrad Marina Bay hotel on wife’s new Schwab Amex Platinum card for the $300 FHR credit. Still have to pay quite a bit over that but let’s just pretend it is mostly free lol. The price differences between Singapore and Thailand are absurd.
Also looking for suggestions for Saigon. Must do/see/eat etc.
Maybe the way to go for business class awards to Asia is to finally open an EVA Airlines mileage account and transfer some bank points to it? I don’t like dealing with foreign airline loyalty programs as I try to keep this hobby sane. It appears EVA has more award space these days, thoughts? Maybe this gets me to get back on the Citi Strata points ecosystem…
The Atlantic had an article titled The End of Reading. It was depressing and I am not linking it here because you will be depressed too. Blog readership is falling as many continue to flock to video form. Even One Mile at a Time will move towards that as well. It is like one of these secular trends that will continue. Especially with younger generations reading even less. It is incredibly deflating to pour hours into this blog and seeing readership and support clicks fall. I need to really sit down and figure out how this blog will evolve from here. Having no more of wife’s Ford paychecks, the COBRA health insurance first bill arrival and a very over budgeted home renovation project all come together and me looking at how much time I spend to bring you this product and pay out of my own pocket to do so is not sustainable. But this project does bring me psychic rewards which are important. Anyway, enjoy it while it lasts. It has been like this for years. Wife is loving her retired life without any stress and here I am up in the middle of the night to finish the final touches of this post before I hit publish. So, do NOT encourage a loved one to start a blog for God’s sake!
The home renovation project is finally done! We have some furniture on order which will take a while to arrive. But everything else is done. And we had our first friend gathering and everyone loves it. And we do too! We wanted to have a kitchen island be the hub of the activity and it is indeed. I kid myself that we will recover the money spend if we sell the house. No plans to sell but who knows? As I encourage my clients to spend more it was time to take my own medicine lol. We did a lot more in addition to the kitchen by the way. Two pics of the new kitchen:
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100k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 100k CHASE Ink Cash, 100k CHASE Ink Unlimited, 200k CHASE Sapphire Reserve Business, 100k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 75k CITI Strata Elite, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 175k AMEX Platinum, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 300k AMEX Business Platinum, 200k AMEX Business Gold, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 100k BofA Alaska Atmos Summit, 80k BofA Alaska Atmos Ascent, 85k BofA Alaska Atmos Business, 30k CHASE United Gateway, 100k AMEX Gold, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
As of today, I have burned 619,515 miles/points year to date (after burning 1,893,248 miles/points in 2025 and 2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,196,486 miles/points in the bank.
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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Hey Buzz-
1. That kitchen-Wow! Did you use a designer? The lights and windows really make it so classy!
2. What exactly is a high-intensity adopter? Does Anchor make them?
3. Loved the article on why the game is less fun these days. As we had lunch at the Morgan Library last May. I wondered what ol’ JP would think about Chase lounges today. Opiate of the masses indeed.
Yes, used a designer. Who is the wife of the contractor which made the coordination pretty smooth.
Anker chargers are great 🙂
What a kitchen! WOW! Looks just great.
Great links today … The story about the white line on the side of the road
was truly wonderful.
Having the world cup here was really neat. I think many eyes were openned.
Yeah, those two stories about the car inventions were truly special.
Which city are you in again? We had a friends gathering again (everyone loves the new kitchen) and a few watched a soccer game for the first time ever and were excited about it (Argentina game). I mean, how can you not? Also, I think all the visitors got to see our country and I think our hospitality, genuine friendliness and openness came through so it is all good. I just wished we had treated Iran’s team better.
OK, today I decided to just read the new updated version since I get both versions and I will get used to it. I must adapt. It takes me a few days to slowly enjoy all the wonderful links and please always remember that I, and I am sure everyone else, really appreciates the effort you go to in order for us to enjoy your post.
The kitchen looks great! It’s huge, too! Glad your wife is enjoying her new retired status. It’s been over 18 years for me and I am glad every day I don’t have to go to work!
Thanks as always! Still trying to dope out my next travels as it seems like every time I start to do so something else crops up, but I press onward.
Do both versions get the old logo at the top?
Next blog post will link to an article with the title: The Great Blogging Collapse
Felt that.
Loving the new kitchen, everyone is 🙂
Will try to put together the last 4 hotel nights in Bangkok and try to make them all free again. For the fourth year in a row. Maybe claim the $100 Chase Sapphire Preferred credits but one thing that is stopping me is that I may have the limit of my wife’s hotel switching moves lol.
The new version gets the new logo atop, the old one gets the old one. However, for some reason, both versions this week and last week got sent straight to my spam folder. No idea why but lately it has been eating up regular stuff that ain’t spam so I keep trying to train it better!
I am thinking a short road trip soon to get tuned up on traveling again. Got some FNC’s and hotel points to burn up on stopping spots!
One day this blog will afford a tech person to look after issues like this 🙂
A standard answer to life’s problems should always be a short trip. Bonus if cash is saved with points and FNCs 🙂
And then there were four left in the World Cup.
So, Argentina keeps making a mockery of the FIFA officials, WTF! That red card turned the game yesterday. Yes, he faked it but there WAS touch. He could have stopped after taking back the yellow to the Argentina player. But nope…And the first yellow on the same kid only came out after Messi protested. After those shameful calls against Egypt you would think the refs would try to call a game even…but nope. Messi=Money
At this point I am all for everyone BUT Argentina!
This is France’s World Cup to lose, two games left.
England vs Argentina 40 years later. It is time to revenge the hand of God cruelty!
For the record, I picked England to win the World Cup before it started.
Down to 4 games left (3rd place game does not count but it is always so much fun without any pressure).
At this point, conditioning and deepness of the bench is so important.
We set the alarm and got up to watch England vs Norway then stayed on for the Argentina match. Not being all that familiar with the rules we were totally confused as to why that Swiss player got the red card for fouling that dude as we did not think it was likely he would have even know where he was to intentionally commit the contact. We concluded that obviously it was all about keeping Messi in at all costs and are in total agreement, anyone but Argentina will make us happy.
BTW those last 4 nights in Thailand, I vote for Andaz Pattaya so you can get a taste of why we continue to return as do other loyal followers on FT. When it comes to Hyatt our thoughts are we will not be focusing on loyalty to the Hyatt program but rather on property loyalty going forward, those properties that treat us well will receive our custom. Anyhoo husband clicked over 60 nights this billing cycle so will worry about thinking about what direction we go in 2027 in 6 months time.
No Argentina, amen! 🙂
Ok, now definitely considering the Andaz Pattaya. Which is more like Jomtien Beach. I am concerned we may get too bored here and not much within walking distance? I guess Grab will work or should we rent a car to explore the area. Wife loves Andaz properties, we do not agree on this by the way lol. Do you think 4 nights may be too much and I guess it is worth blowing a confirmed suite upgrade cert (have several now). Maybe the way to go to start relaxing a bit after so many nights in Bangkok and Saigon (and before heading to Singapore).
4 nights is definitely not too much but then again we are extremely sloth like when we vacation. We never have a car when we stay there, often we don’t even leave the property as we enjoy the food there so much no need. If we do go off property the concierge hooks us up with a local driver and you go from there. After our first ride we connected with Mr Ball on What’s App and would tell him what time we wanted to be picked up and where we wanted to go then tell him when to come back for us. Definitely use a suite upgrade, go for the garden suite rather than the pool suite. They treat status guests well there, no game playing. We have used upgrades when available and the one time there were no suites available they did upgrade us to a lagoon entrance room which we really liked as well. They have a good spa there for massages and facials. We normally eat breakfast then have a late lunch/early dinner around 4 pm and we are done for food for the day. Then a walk down to the beach and watch sunset. They are trying to introduce little events for Globalists, when we were there it was a cocktail and chat with staff at the tea house one evening.
Decided to go for 2 nights at the Hilton and then unwind the last 2 days at the Andaz with suite upgrade. Got the Garden suite. I must admit the pool suite looked very good. Yeah, late breakfasts are great 🙂 This will gets us into the mode to unwind to continue on to Singapore and the relative’s wedding. It is all coming together nicely, 30 nights free. Probably the last free streak on hotels with points, sad.
Will look for those Globalist events, wife and daughter absolutely loved the cooking class at the Bangkok Grand Hyatt Erawan.
Thanks.
I knocked out flights BKK – Saigon and BKK-Singapore yesterday. First time on Vietnam Airlines, looking forward to fly them. And WTF is wrong with the Singapore Airlines website? I really wanted to give them my money to fly to Changi with them but the website kept refusing my credit cards…and I tried at least 3 of them! So phuck them, I went with Thai Airways and saved me $150 cash too. I remember my daughter had issues buying a ticket on Singapore Airlines some time ago, must be a thing…
So I have 4 hotel nights that are not booked yet. Now thinking to check out Pattaya and Jomtien Beach area of Thailand to continue the annual tradition of being based in Bangkok and checking out another area of the country. I was going to check out Krabi but we will leave it for another time. So, I am thinking 2 nights at the Hilton (about 60,000 Hilton points per night instead of $175 plus taxes/fees) and then 2 nights at the Andaz (only 15,000 points per night with suite upgrade). Hate blowing a Globalist suite upgrade on 2 nights. I considered 1 night at the Hilton and 3 at the Andaz. But leaning towards going 2 and 2. I know, not the greatest area to visit with my wife, we are totally not into the nightlife and bars and that infamous few Red Light Soi streets. But there is an area, Pratumnak Hill, I want to check out for a possible retirement place in case Bangkok gets too much. Or visit to really check off this area for a retirement destination (just like we crossed off Phuket, Hua Hin and Koh Samui in the past 3 years). Nothing against these places, glad we visited but to live there? No way.
Tomorrow Spain vs France. Wednesday England vs Argentina (40 years later, revenge for the Hand of God injustice to be delivered, we hope).
Received an email from Singapore today about there being an issue paying using saved cards. Didn’t read the whole blurb but said they are working on it. I have found that Thai is cheaper and I find them just as good and if you are travelling business class can use the Singapore lounges at Changi.
I think the airline must have issues with all foreign credit cards. I almost never store credit cards with airlines or hotels. I tried three different credit cars on the SQ website and they were all declined. It never go to the bank! With Thai Airways website I used my Venture X, went to an online verification code thing, entered it, boom, purchase done. SQ needs to get it together.
Busy weekend! I’m coming in late here but I would like to address this point: “never do that, always diversify!” Agreed! But: according to AI–and I think AI is at least in the ballpark here–“The ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks collectively account for approximately 32.5% to 35% of the total value in a standard market-capitalization-weighted S&P 500 index fund.” Two questions:
1. Do people investing in a market-weighted S&P 500 fund realize how much Mag 7 concentration they have?
2. Asking sincerely, not rhetorically: do you think the level above is a good level of concentration, or is this something that ought to be avoided?
It must be challenging to talk clients through this stuff.
1. Most people do not realize that. And frankly they don’t care, they just like the number to go up 🙂 My job is to manage expectations and frequently remind them that all bull markets end one day and this means that the number will go down eventually. And trying to time that is pointless as it does not work over the long term…
2) You are overthinking everything I think. The market will do what the market does. And it means that anything is possible short term. And valuations will fluctuate. Define “good”. As Bill Clinton once wanted us to define what “is” is, lol.
Need to stick to a process and be disciplined about it. And take the emotions out of it. It is NOT easy! Lately I have been telling clients I do not understand why this market keeps going up but I am sticking to our process and pray harder at night lol.
I subscribe to the Bogle philosophy in general. Diversify, rebalance in set intervals, make smart tax moves and keep costs very low. And not try to outguess the markets since these are inherently short term markets moves. Which if you do then you have another short term market timing move to do…when to get back in!
Now if you can not sleep at night then you need to unload some risky stocks from your asset allocation so you can sleep better. This happened to me at the height of the dot com bubble and it worked out great. In retrospect, I probably just got lucky. Am I losing sleep over this AI mania? Well, I try not to think about it and convincing myself and clients that when the eventual end of this bull market comes we all must remember where we were and everything is going to be okay 🙂
And go France and England!
Just found a great investing game for you and your clients that makes a point you like to make. Trust me and try it, takes a minute:
https://beatthecouch.com/
Not clicking until someone confirms Nick will not fool me again
#rickrolling
Not a rickroll!
Bookmarked it, looks like fun. Thanks for sending.
Hey Buzz,
Good evening and thanks again for a really great post. Loved the white line story. And I gotta ask the last photo in the post, who are these morons? Get over this shit already, it’s 2026. Oops, I’m probably on a hit list already.
Mixed feelings about this great World Cup. I have only been watching the elimination games since returning from Italy. Man, some great battles. But Johnny Infantile has to go. I actually feel bad for the players from Argentina. It’s definitely not their fault the games are called this way. Feel bad for all the teams that have been hosed this time, especially the players from Iran, yeah, it’s 2026.
Looking forward to the drama that will unfold tomorrow and Wednesday. Will the real Spain show up?
I’ve got lots of questions regarding Thailand, but that will have to wait for another day.
By the way, if I haven’t mentioned Scilla, Italy in a previous response, I will now. Great town, especially for lovers of swordfish, incredible.
Kitchen looks amazing by the way, y’all did a great job.
Thanks again Buzz!
David,
Thanks again for the 10 coffees. You are first and Carl’s 1 monthly coffee will hit later this month. If it was not for you guys this venture will not be considered a profit seeking Business allowing me to crank out some business card signup bonuses and keep myself busy trying to keep it real and educating/entertaining/inspiring. In spite of the blog world collapsing as our attention spans are being attacked by algorithms. No, do not feel bad about Argentina players. If it was not for the refs they would not be here now. Yeah, get ready for the drama…can’t wait.
France has been on a tear. All teams have a bad day eventually. Hopefully it does not happen in the last few games left. Yamal has not shown up and maybe he shows up today. If there is one team that can beat France right now it is probably Spain. I never liked Spain’s style of play so I am all with France who I always called the Brazilians of Europe. Well, not sure Brazilians is a compliment these days but you know what I mean.
But expect the drama to break all records in the England vs Argentina game. The history of these two, wow. 1986 World Cup and Maradona’s Hand of God and then that all time best goal he scored. The 1998 World Cup and the theatrics of that asshole to get Beckham a red card. England’s agony in PKs. Messi never having faced England before (which was actually shocking to me after all these years). I can’t wait and I am all for England. Which is the team I picked to win it all before the WC started.
I share your feeling about the Infantile dude. FIFA is such a racket, it is so embarrassing and yet so entrenched. If he goes ahead with 64 teams I think I am out. Having watched 100 games (just 4 left) I don’t think I can do more, it is not physically possible.
Any questions on Thailand, I am becoming an expert.
Thanks for the feedback on Scilla, maybe Carl hits it in his next trip. I had swordfish before, I love it. But I also love octopus but I hate eating it because of how special creatures they are.
Going to hit 103 today in Ann Arbor, oh my god!
Hey France, WTF was that??
Ready for an epic battle today England vs Argentina.
Some history about this rivalry you should know:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49353029/england-argentina-world-cup-rivalry-antonio-rattin-diego-maradona-hand-god-michael-owen-david-beckham