BLOG UPDATE
Over the weekend I switched this blog website to its own domain, so no more blogspot urls to deal with!
It is still hosted at Blogger and one day I will move it to WordPress. At the rate of speed I move this is likely going to happen in…2016! I almost had a major heart attack when Blogger was giving me “Error 12” messages. I managed to figure it out without shooting myself. One step closer to affiliate credit card income…just kidding! Dear God please give me the strength to survive the avalanche coming at me in a week or two. As always, I am doing my best to provide a high quality blog and make a difference!
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.
I will now show separately the “Best of Miles/Points” and “Best of Travel” sections and will continue to emphasize these areas as I have always done. Yes, I will continue to have a “Not so Best Of” section reserved only for things that really make me lose it. I am becoming so used to and a bit immune to all the stuff I see lately…so I tend to ignore most of the pure credit card push filler posts! Does anyone NOT know that you get 5 Chase Ultimate Reward points at office supplies stores anymore? I review blogs and call it as I see it, every blog is a fair game to me, so behave:-)
There will be a prize giveaway in the near future.
I always love to hear from you with any comments/feedback/insult/tips on what to cover, etc. Ways to contact me:
email: travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/FlyerTalkerinA2
Find me at FlyerTalk and Milepoint as: gpapadop
BEST OF MILES/POINTS
Mr. Pickles, the Dos Equis guy of miles/points, is blogging about his trip aboard Singapore Airlines A380 flight. Here is Part One His stuff is always most interesting…
Milevalue posted on “How to Pick a Hostel“. I have no idea about hostels! I remember as a high school student in Santorini we stopped at a small hostel there and I almost had a heart attack seeing the bunk beds. I still remember the way a guy looked at me while laying on his bed. Visions of several serial killer movies went through my head instantly! It was expensive anyway so we ended up in someone’s roof! Let me just say I have come a very long way since then, lol. If I was a single young guy now I would probably give the hostels another chance. I learned something in this post and maybe you would too if you are interested! There is a follow up post on “Ten Tips to Enjoy a Hostel Stay Ten Times More“. Hey, very smooth pick up line;-)
Mommy Points wrote an excellent post about the “Epic Meltdown of Some Wyndham Rewards Redemptions“. Now please allow me to put on my veteran hat. We all have limited time, you got to pick your spots in this game. There are some companies out there that lost the respect of their customers/users/members a long time ago. This is how I operate: I wrote off Wyndham Rewards a long time ago, I think the company totally sucks. And what the heck did you guys all expect when every blogger was pounding on the Daily Getaways deals and how awesome it was, what did you expect really???? I never did any Daily Getaways as it required me to depart with my own cash while I have plenty of hotel points available and have a hard time burning those!! This program has a history of pulling stunts like this. I do not bother with them and neither should you! To all bloggers: When everyone does this (“Daily Getaways is so awesome” and congratulating each other for the “scores”) and the program responds with moves like this…I would not feel very well about it for (innocently and with no malice of course) leading my readers to a bad deal. Off my soap box, thank you!
Ben writes about how The Delta Skymiles/Air France situation is getting worse and worse. Again, please read my Wyndham rant above, it applies here too! Ben says:
For the past several months the main issue has been how deceiving Delta has been about displaying Air France award space. [ yep, standard operating procedure…]
There happens to be Air France award space on this flight, though Delta doesn’t want you to know that. [you.don’t.say!!!]
This is downright deceptive [that’s what I am talking about!]
Best I can tell, Delta doesn’t have access to a single transatlantic Air France business class award seat between September 1 and September 29. [excuse me, let me pull out the knife out of my back!]
Ben again has one of his best trip reports “Bling it On: Etihad Airways Frist Class Abu Dhabi to New York JFK“. Wow, the detail, the pictures, the amazing food, what an experience! Thank God we all get to see what Etihad’s wet towel looks like! And what is this,NO Diet Coke?? Diet Pepsi, the choice of the new generation? 🙂
“Why airline loyalty schemes make being loyal incredibly hard? Interesting article at Quartz about our hobby. It is how it is viewed by the common man, you know, the one Chris Elliott appeals to! We can probably get around most of these but it sure is getting harder and of course devaluations will continue to run rampant! Excerpt: “Airlines, he says, are hurting themselves by disappointing and confusing loyal customers.” [Free agency baby, earn & burn, save the cash, blow them on dinner & outings when you get there!]
Does anyone really bother with CokeRewards anymore? I mean, really? Please make better use of your time. And stop drinking coke and pepsi! I am trying to quit this sugary drink crap, I have not had a single soda/pop this year!!! High Five!
BEST OF TRAVEL
From the USA Today: “Passenger has baby aboard flight over Armenia“. Happy outcome! I would be trying to figure out how to get the baby the frequent flyer miles! There must be a way:-)
Totally freakish dust storm in Australia!
New Girl in the Air wrote “Morocco in a Nutshell“. Nice write up!
Gadling reports that Wikipedia will be launching a new travel website tomorrow!
NOT SO BEST OF
Pizza in Motion passes two inferior US Air cc afiiliate links and one superior non affiliate cc link and justifies it with: “For those that don’t have an issue with using a link they don’t technically qualify for, the Chairman offer is the better choice since you could at least print a screen shot of the annual fee waiver and complain if you got charged.” [ Really? We went through this so many times! No need to complain, the inferior non affiliate offer works like a charm still and has been working for a long time! I am almost convinced that Barclay’s intention was for this card to be available to all but some idiot employee entered the “scary language” in the top line. I believe this employee was just transferred from the US Dividends Miles call center, lol.]
ODDZ & ENDZ
Screaming Sweden The culture that is Sweden 🙂
Does Wal Mart really sell a Dress Up America Adult Jewish Grand Rabbi Robe?
I don’t know if I’m really tired or what, but this post really made me chuckle a couple of times! You’re doing such a great job summarizing so much material, and with such great commentary, that I’m almost certain that I’m giving up my own daily summary posts. You simply do a much better job than I ever could!
I appreciate the kind words. I am almost certain I can not keep going like this…one day I will surrender!
I don’t understand mile people. All you do is rip on the same 4 or 5 bloggers. Then you start your own blogs and link to them. There are at least 20 better blogs now and you guys keep driving traffic to the people you constantly complain about. Weird.
Please let me know the “at least 20 better blogs” out there! My traffic driving to them is miniscule. Those 4 or 5 bloggers sometimes post some good stuff. This is an art, not a science. Thanks for reading & commenting!
To be more specific, if you all can’t stand MMS, TPG, FTG, Mommy Points, and the same gang, STOP TALKING ABOUT THEM. Milevalue, Milenerd, NewGirlInTheAir, MilesMomma, and the rest of the new crop do a better job anyway. Ok, I’m done talking. I’m tired of you people.
I love ALL bloggers, without them TBB would not exist! I am aware of the new bloggers you mentioned and make it to my blog when I think they deserve it. Hey, I had Milevalue TWICE for his hostel posts today! Again, thanks for reading & commenting. If there is something you really liked please let me know and I will take into consideration. Sometimes I miss things, I am human:-)
Milesmomma
Lol
On he new Wikipedia travel website, do a little bit of digging and you’ll see some juicy stuff beneath the surface. .
See, for instance: http://gyrovague.com/2012/09/06/wikimedia-confirms-creation-of-travel-wiki-sues-internet-brands-to-end-legal-threats-against-volunteers/
Wow, what a great find, thanks for bringing it to my attention! And thanks for reading & commenting, always greatly appreciated!
Every time I read your blog, I laugh. Cracks me up when you point out what’s so obvious.. If it walks, talks, smells like a duck, then you must sign up for a 30k bonus now…before they bring back the 70k bonus……
Thanks a lot. Good you laugh about it all, me too:-)
It’s over!!! It’s over!!!
“Our 2nd Honeymoon to Bora Bora Part infinite: Going to the post office to pick up our mail that was on hold”
I think he’s the first person in history to spend more time on his trip report than time on the actual trip itself
You.don’t.say? for real?? 🙂
Assuming there’s no trip report on him brushing his teeth after he arrived home, pretty sure that’s the end of it
I loved this comment in the report:
“Please one more on the ride/taxi from the airport to your home!
Are things the same as they used to be or have there been a lot of new buildings come up since you left?”
Very funny, I neeeded some laughs today!
Just a quick defense of Wyndham…I hate to do it but must confess. In the deep midwest where the Deal In-Laws live, there is simply no other option besides Super 8 and I used the daily giveaways to top up their accounts to redeem at a Dee-luxe Ramada Inn in Des Moines that had a Pirate themed swimming pool: http://www.ramadatropicsresort.com/
Hey, you do what you can.
I’m not sure that’s a defense of the criticism Wyndham has been receiving for increasing their point rates 200+% with no notice whatsoever
There are always isolated cases that Wyndham could work;-)
TPG with a long filler post on Club Carlson which is mostly just a copy and paste of CC’s website
In that entire post, he managed not to mention their credit cards once…. but did toss in a Hyatt affiliate link at the end of his Club Carlson post
Has anyone figured out the purpose of his Sunday Video question?
Is there really anything in there that can’t be answered in writing form?
I’m not sure why a question of “Can you transfer Avios to AA miles” required a video… or an answer longer than 1 word
Guys, I am way behind today, wife got downsized this am so it has been a little weird around here…I will get to these posts eventually. From what I read, video is very Search Engine Optimization (SEO) friendly.
during undergrad, went to my first hostel in 2007 solo. was a bit scary arriving in an isolated ranch-like area in Argentina. after checking in and seeing my living situation and the glares in the shower/restroom, quickly hailed a taxi for the nearest hotel in town. i’ve come a long way since then. spend 3-4 months each year living out of a hostel. out of all those stays, only had 2 odd/awkward experiences.
anyways, congrats on your new move! quality blogging in only a matter of weeks. it’s my go to recap at the end of the night. what’s going on at upgrd? no newsworthy material over there? i don’t read it enough
p.s. idk if it’s just me, but it’s nearly impossible to comment from my cellphone 🙁
Again, If I was young and single I would stay in hostels as much as I can too!
Ypgrd is very trip reportsy. I have featured here before. And I am sure I will again!
Thanks for the kind words and for reading/commenting!
Milevalue is trying hard to make your worst of… He continues to pimp the US 40K affiliate offer along with what now seems to be a gratuitous Ink, Sapphire, Starwood, etc. affiliate dump:
http://milevalue.com/easiest-way-to-get-on-a-dreamliner-to-europe-in-business/
“There isn’t quite as quick of a way to rack up 100k US Airways miles. You can get 40k US Airways miles on first purchase with the Barclay’s US Airways MasterCard, but the card has an $89 annual fee the first year.”
What. A. Joke.