We bring you a great guide how to use IHG Rewards points, we go on some incredible drives around the world, fly Singapore Suites on award tickets, we have fun with some airport codes like FUK, SEX and WOW, we learn what happens with all the fountain coins, learn what to do when we find a wallet, some hilariously brilliant definitions of personal finance terms, we whine some more about the state of blogging and stuff like that.
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
IHG Rewards Cheat Sheet For Using Your Points. Great reference post!
The Wandering Aramean goes on a rant about all the AA Elite changes and the noise from the blogosphere. For something that could have been summed up like this:
If you buy expensive tickets the changes are likely good for you. If you buy cheap tickets the changes are likely bad for you.
This was fun, a list of funny, weird and inappropriate airport codes. Some of my favs are:
- BOO: Bodø, Norway
- BUD: Liszt Ferenc airport, Budapest, Hungary
- COW Coquimbo Chile
- FUK: Fukuoka Japan
- OMG: Omega Airport, Namibia
- SEX: Sembach Germany
- WOW: Willow, AK, USA
Mesmerizing video of all trans Atltantic flights on a single day, 2464 flights to be exact.
What to Do When You Find a Wallet on the Ground. Really good advice here. If there is one takeaway…it is NOT to return it to the local business it was found in!
What happens to the coins people toss into fountains? I always wondered about that! The legend in Rome, “D’Artagnan”, used to make $1,000 a day until he was finally arrested by police in 2002. Darn euro, it killed his haul as it was immune to his magnetized wand.
Explaining Investing in Ways That Make Sense. Some writers are just talented. And this is a brilliant post. Here are some of my favorites:
- Financial planning is like designing a bridge. You don’t calculate exactly how much weight the bridge will be able to hold; you build it with so much room for error that there’s almost no chance it will ever be overloaded.
- Compound interest is like planting oak trees. One day’s progress shows nothing, a few years’ progress shows a little, ten years shows something big, and 50 years creates something absolutely magnificent.
- Derivatives are like Gucci handbags. They have some practical purpose, but mostly they’re an attempt to impress other people at the benefit of sellers and middlemen.
- Investing is like being a pilot. As a pilot once said, his job is “hours and hours of boredom punctuated by brief moments of terror.”
- Investing is like running a marathon. As the saying goes, “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” But most people don’t have the endurance to run a marathon because they try to sprint.
28 Incredible Roads to Drive your Lifetime. Amazing!
Love this shot. Wildlife. A baby armadillo. If only this eclectic stuff paid as well as a pumping blogger’s credit card affiliate link #crying
BLOG BUZZ
This is how it typically works in the blogosphere. A hard working blogger finds something. This time, it was Lazy Traveler discovering Singapore Airlines Suites award space, posts about it and then mega bloggers see it and post it by pasting text of their previous posts about the subject and then inserting the same old lucrative affiliate credit card links where they can make thousands of dollars. Some may do a HT post back to the original post but almost NEVER on the top where their readers may notice it. It is usually buried somewhere in the middle or at the bottom. With such a short attention span these days, their targeted readers do not notice that this “tip” was again not originated by the so called travel “expert” or “travel thought leader” who get to enjoy enhancing their expertise brand, counting the moolah coming in while the original poster wonders why life is so unfair. And it is! Only YOU can change it!
Apparently, it appears that Amex now allows 5 credit cards (not charge cards) instead of 4.
I had a brain MRI for the first time ever yesterday. I was freaking out and could not wait to get the phuck out of that tube! I guess sitting still is just not my thing…
Miles Math yesterday in the epic TBB comments section had a comment that just resonated and stayed with me:
With economy and business class fares to Europe approaching $400 and $1,500 RT, respectively, we’re now seeing miles approach the $0.01/mile mark even for business class. Plus you don’t have to spend days trying to piece together award availability into a sub-optimal routing. British Airways and VA look particularly crappy when their fuel surcharges on award tickets are basically the same price as a revenue ticket.
And I leave you with this…
Please help bloggers you appreciate & make a positive difference in your life by spreading the word about their blogs, emailing and commenting and using their few $ links, thank you!
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Follow TBB on Twitter @FlyerTalkerinA2
You can subscribe to TBB below, winners only!
Sure Happy It’s Thursday.
SH!T Day…
#TBBon
I prefer Fridays actually!
I think SUX deserves mention. Sioux City, Iowa
On another note, I finally got my 50k from the Citigold promotion. I signed up in October, met the terms in January, was told that I’d get the miles within 90 days. After 100 days, I checked in and was told that I wasn’t targeted. 3 calls later, each with a waiting period and written decision, and finally I was told that the miles would post within 10 business days (this was 20 business days ago). They offered to waive my monthly fee as a courtesy. As it stands, I have $46 in the account, no citibank branch anywhere near me, and don’t expect to stumble into an extra $200,000 so that I’m eligible when they start downgrading people this fall…
Wow, you signed up in October!
Citi blows!
Thank you Citi for fattening up son’s AA account for 50k (targeted) Platinum card 🙂
Bronze!
I play the game doing a points outbound… Paid biz return. Gets some points off the books, but decent paid biz can’t be overlooked, esp if you want to fly biz over Christmas- first week of Jan
Paid biz fares are the new “fly free just like me” sales angle of the big bloggers…
Hope your MRI shows all is well, TBB.
You serve an important niche in the blogosphere.
Good Luck with whatever it is you’re dealing with, Buzz.
:-/
I will post an update when I know more.
Too much buzzing lately…literally!
Going to lunch, combining a Rewards Dining dine to extend wife’s AA account and paying with Discover for 5% cash back quarterly promo #maximizing
This blog made enough to pay for medium coffee at Panera yesterday so I am not going to whine today lol.
TBBon!
I have posts scheduled Saturday and Sunday.
I ran out of time for Monday.
See some of you in NYC.
If anyone is around LGA and needs Centurion lounge access I get in about 11 am Friday. Time for lunch!
Here in Europe, when you have Qatar selling J class to Asia for £800 out of Amsterdam, Brussels etc (with enough tier points to get you 90% of BA Silver / oneworld emerald) those £550 of BA fuel surcharges don’t look so hot I agree.
I got swiped yesterday. Found a really cool 90% off hotel site on my own and put it on my personal FB page to show my friends and said in the post that I was blogging it later that day. One of those friends then chose to write a post before mine was even published so there was no post to even direct to! Only when I pointed it out did it get fixed. #Liveandlearn.
On the upside, Doctor of Credit does a great job with hat tips.