I type as it comes…Mostly I ask for feedback from you and stuff like that. It is Saturday, the day with the lowest web traffic.
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There was another mistake fare for tickets to Europe by Air Canada yesterday. When this happens, you get a rash…and then you try to find dates while seeing reports of “deal is dead” all over the place. It is a brutal process and disappointment is likely in the cards. If you somehow book a trip, then you spend the rest of the day waiting to see if the airline will honor the tickets. In this case, Air Canada announced they will honor all booked tickets. To the ones who booked the tickets successfully, congrats! To others like me you.just.go.on.
I have some United Lounge passes. But I have canceled the Chase United cards. Last time I used one (with the same scenario) the lounge lady gave me lots of grief as she checked and found out I am not a current cardholder and just made a “one-time exception” because of my charming nature and great looks. Of course I am lying about the last part of the previous sentence! Question: Can I or the people I give the passes to use these passes or will they be turned away and do the walk of shame back towards the common people in the airport area? 🙂
It appears I get more emails selling me stuff. I am not sure if this means anything, just a lot more “press delete” button action for sure. But along with the definite crap there may be some potentially legitimate opportunities and I would love to get some feedback on these:
- cardbenefit
- TravelMassive: Apparently, people in the travel industry meet locally. I am not sure I…belong 🙂
- Jetlagfx: Apparently to help you fight jet lag. Anyone used this? I ordered a sample. For free.
At the next update of the world famous (or infamous if you prefer) TBB lists there would be a substantial shake up! I need to take out several as they have not made it into a regular Buzz post here in a very long time. Some of them are there because of their history, respect or whatever but I better include blogs that I myself truly enjoy READING! Some will be disappointed, not my problemo. I aspire to be the Roger Ebert of the travel miles/points blogosphere, a blog critic. Critics take a lot of shit but move on as we have perfected the bullshit shield!
Can you give me some ideas for the second half of June next year? I need to be in Kuala Lumpur to attend father in law’s 80th birthday. Wife and daughter already got their tickets (with miles of course, come on!). Maybe I could stop over somewhere on the way if I can make it happen. I have plenty of AA miles and that is my primary choice of miles to burn. Maybe stopover for a few days in Tokyo? Seoul? No China. Maybe Taipei? Where can I spend a few nights to get a good feel of the city? Maybe fly some top “product” (oh how I despise this word!) and stay in some awesome hotel to drive the message that I am indeed an expert and not faking it? lol. Of course if anyone can help with availability it would be great! Leave Detroit around June 18 and must be back by June 30.
There is a new miles award calculator out and it brings in the MS related action. I hope I get a chance to play with it soon #developing.
Mrs. TBB got the Discover card, I need to read up on the mega deal. I wish there was a way I can make it happen with a few clicks #fantasy
The British Airways Visa for UP to 100k Avios offer is now in my Credit Card tab above. Click on the link or banner, click on “Card Type”, click on “Chase” and scroll down and there it is! I am sure you can find anal-ysis of the card all over the blogosphere. Thank you.
Looking back to the early days of Flyer Talk and where we are now, it has been an incredible ride and so many changes! Someway someway somehow the Flyer Talk community keeps going. It has been part of my daily life for over 15 years. I am blessed. If you ever want to meet other miles addicts in a casual atmosphere check out the FT Community Buzz for a meeting near you. No need to pay fees to learn how to travel for free, it is this sense of community that is special. If you intend to pay, I would recommend TravelCon and Family Travel for Real Life. I would NOT recommend FTU and Chicago Seminars, way too big and commercialized now…My 2 pennies. For the record, I have not been to MilePoint for over a year now, maybe two!
I need to make my Buzz posts smaller. I was aiming to not go over 10 items/links but, as usual, I did not adhere to it. I will try harder now. Maybe try a format of the top miles/points entries of the previous day (no limit) and then add two travel text links, one oddball link, one personal finance link, two or three links with awesome photos and of course end it with a funny pic or gif. Something like that. We shall see.
One thing that has worked in making this whole thing manageable and less stressful is that I draft next week’s posts during the weekend so the only edits/additions I make into the daily weekday Buzz posts are the miles/points entries. Keep evolving…
This blogging thing has been fun. Of course there are some frustrating days with it, it comes with the territory. But overall, it has been a really fun experience. You should not do things you do not enjoy deep down.
I had more things to say but I forgot them.
It appears my lower back injury is just about healed finally. Good to be back in the gym and actually…sweating once again!
I am the one most surprised I am still blogging! I will try to keep going but not sure how much stamina there is left. Sometimes, especially after absolutely nobody clicks on my links, I feel awful, like I am not good enough or something. Definitely could use some professional help lol.
Beware…the cat!
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Also roughly 2 years since I went to Milepoint. Leo Durocher was right-nice guys finish last.
But that’s not me-First.
Golden!
Last in a 2 man race… Second again
You are on track to become the new…Spencer F. 🙂
I have to agree on the FTU. Never been, but having watched the evolution of certain bloggers the commercialization is astounding. Disappointing is the nicest word I can come up with.
Disappointing is a nice word…not angry 🙂
North Korea, George.
I am serious about that suggestion due to your fascination with that country.
Despite the number of trip reports pertaining to North Korea which already exist, it is almost guaranteed that you will enjoy an increase in readership for that article; and you can visit China for up to 72 hours each way without a visa.
http://www.airkoryo.org
That is at least two countries to visit at once!
Think about it…North Korea trip report by George…our good friend Ramsey would have a heyday with that; and you might get some clicks for your links…
Thanks for the suggestion Brian. The obstacles on making a trip to North Korea are formidable even if they were done by itself, let alone making it a stopover! I would have a hard time making the original flights happen to KUL and then dropping a trip to this place in between…just a little disruption and I am a dead man…if I miss father in law’s birthday lol. And I don’t want to lose my laptop/smartphone which means I should probably have to leave it behind in my hotel room which means more points spent for that room in China until my return. In addition, them NK hackers may have marked me as a “state enemy” and arrest me and then…who is going to update TBB? 😉
Is there not a way to do the side trip to China and North Korea after the birthday of your father-in-law?
I believe that there are tours of North Korea which last as few as two days, if you are pressed for time.
As fur who is going to update TravelBloggerBuzz, that is an easy question to answer: your soon-to-be new friend, Kim Jong-un.
I am looking forward to that photograph of the two of you sporting the Kim Jong-un hairstyle…
There are two non negotiable days in June…so working around them is just not feasible.
My photo with Kim Jong-uno will have to wait 🙂
What’s your opinion of upcoming seminar in Vegas by Travelcodex. I agree FTU ( been to 2) is not worth airfare for me living in the Midwest.
You mean TravelCon II? Yeah, all speakers know their stuff and appear to be more into The Hobby than to online marketing business operations. If you can swing all the travel costs (airfare/hotel/etc and FEE) it should be a great time…especially if you can combine it with some fun before and after the conference as well.
I say Vanuatu for your getaway. I have heard some great things about that place (Glenn from Military Frequent Flyer has been there) and is not overrun by tourists at all. In fact, the big hotel chains still try to buy the beachfront property but the people do not even care or know about money to sell!
CNN had a great video about it on the Wonderlist show.
Never crossed my mind! Not sure how I can make it happen with miles and points. Was looking for more regular places, you know, where they have Hyatts 🙂
Check out Rich’s recommendations as he lives in Japan. His FB group is Travel Hacking 101. If you’re looking for a fun city, we loved Osaka. Just felt more accessible than Tokyo.
Thanks for the FT4RL shout-out.
Thanks for the feedback. Need to learn more about how feasible and how far it is from the Tokyo airports as I have never left the NRT airport 🙂
Lkhttps://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/watch-a-conversation-with-luigi-zingales-c5ed3601a8f0
Worth reading, touches on Greece and the EU situation.
Thanks. Appears Medium site is down on Sunday morning, will check out later.
Ok, it’s back up. I bookmarked it. Will make great reading at the gym later today.
Why not go to Tioman island off the east coast of Malaysia?
Warning, it’s a Hyatt free zone.
I have been there! In my first time in Malaysia, after meeting the in-laws, we escaped in Tioman. Pretty nice getaway resort we stayed in (we paid!). Not thrilled about the sea water though. Actually not many places compared to the sea water in Greece #biased
TBB- I work at Expedia, and TravelMassive is more of an industry convention. No The Hobby stuff. Don’t worry about missing it (I wish I could miss it) (wouldn’t say I’m missing it, Bob).
Thank you! That was my initial take on it, thanks for confirming it!
I amnew to this hobby and really appreciate the blog. Only one I check for sure daily. Great mix of helpful and fun.
Well, thank you for the comment!
FWIW, I had a nearly 16 hour layover in Taipei one time on a business trip. China Airlines was selling biz class seats to Asia really cheap so I decided to save money for my company and build in some time for exploration, because I heard the airport had a free tour (http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/tour/index.htm). Except my flight landed late and I ended up making my own tour. But it was still fun. People were very friendly and willing to help you out. I enjoyed visiting the Taipei 101 tower, the Memorial Hall, and eating the local food. There was lots more that I could have done. Apparently they have some very precious Chinese antiquities on display in a museum that China wants back. There were some decent deals on electronics – like cameras – but I wasn’t really in the shopping mood.
Taipei is a possibility, thanks.
Nobody gave me any ideas on the dates/airlines though
Travel Massive is active in NYC, each event is sponsored, usually by a destination travel promotion group. Venues often are nice, the key is free drinks so that brings in people wanting free drinks. Mostly various freelancers looking for sponsored trips, the same people anytime I have gone so not sure if any of them succeed in getting out to travel. Smattering of PR people and industry people. Not a miles and points crowd. Gary came to one this summer when he was in NYC, no one but us knew him, they all knew Nomadic Matt.
Thanks a lot. Sure sounds like not a fit for me at all.