TRAVEL
Must.Watch.Now.Wow
This is Shanghai from Rob Whitworth on Vimeo.
Best Views in the Norwegian Fjords. By Eye & Pen.
6 Things You Shouldn’t Miss (But Might) in Helsinski, Finland. By The Blonde Gypsy. Unique stuff just like her buddy Nate of Yomadic.
MILES/POINTS
I woke up to an email by Milepoint telling me I can earn 1 Million miles by this new company Wall and Main. Well, you know, adrenaline skyrocketed immediately and I started reading it. Then I saw I can earn 1 Million United miles if I paid $30,000. 3 cents per mile, not a deal to me! Heck, not a deal to MOST people! But I am sure there are some very high net worth people who may do this if they immediately turned around and burned the miles on First class tickets they were going to use cold hard cash anyway. Jeff at Indulge the Wanderlust had an initial reaction to this which highly correlated with my initial reaction.
So…I was intrigued indeed! At the very least, this company bought a crap load of miles from United and was going to market the heck out of them and sell at a nice margin. Sounds like a good business plan to me if these sell fast! Oh, the crowd funding aspect of it all. Look, this is going to be a wide open field with the Securities and Exchange Commission it APPEARS. Looks like a much easier way to raise money for smaller companies without all the necessary torturous process they had to go through. BUT it will attract a whole lot of characters in this new area. The Feds clearly believe that the advantages outweigh the negatives and are watching all the new players (there will be MANY more). I was so intrigued that I even watched a webinar the Walls and Main executives held. Even Seth of The Wandering Aramean (please get a better wall sign!) and Randy Petersen were there. I listened intently and I even asked a few questions. One was how much the company paid for the miles to United. Obviously, that was not answered and I did not expect it! I have no idea what the future holds for the company. I think these packages will sell and they will have a nice database of people who obviously have money. As a miles addict this of course is not for me and you. As an investor, I would steer clear from crowdfunding in general, just too risky. First rule of money is: Don’t lose money. The issue came up and it was reiterated that Randy Petersen and Milepoint had NO financial interest in Walls & Main. My question on that is why this appears in the home page of Walls & Main? “These packages are a ‘must buy’ for any savvy traveler.” Randy Petersen Founder of FlyerTalk and MilePoint. I pride my independence deeply as Randy Petersen mentioned in the webinar. Having this statement show on the W&M home page just does NOT look good. And learning it via a Milepoint email and then reading it again at a Boarding Area blog just does NOT look good. Perception is reality, please work at it!
Citibank’s Thank You program is going from bad to worse. I am not bothering anymore.
ON MY MIND
No mas.
Gracias.
ODDZ & ENDZ
20 Gripping Photos of Extreme Weather.By Mashable
Extreme Photographer Takes a Viral Portrait Over Hot Lava With His Feet On Fire. By Dashburst.
15 Volcanic Eruptions as Seen from Space. By Twisted Sifter
BLOG BUZZ
Note: This section is intended for long time readers and miles/points addicts who follow the blogs in this space. Readers not familiar with this crazy hobby could skip this section!
Gary Leff of View from the Wing appeared in the Colbert Report!
I found it hilarious, thank you for the laughs! Well played, well played. TBB executive team immediately decided to grant you a week reprieve from messing with your credit card pushing posts, so…have at it, you clearly earned it! When TBB laughs so hard TBB gets very charitable and tends to be less critical of blogs:-) (hint,hint). I am amazed they shot for so long, he explains what happened here. I think there was a staff meeting at the world headquarters of The Points Guy Inc; if I was employed in the PR dept I would be worried for my job! Oh, and I do not have a crush on you like that other blogger, wherever he is at the moment;-)
On a second thought, is Gary really an expert if he let his miles expire? Loved the facial expressions, you have talent! I also loved the Cello guy who “he gives as much as he receives” Lol.
Traveling Well for Less said goodbye to First2Board. Wish you the best!
The more Frequent Miler writes about Discover card rewards the more I am convinced this card does not belong in my pocket!
Mommy Points followed up a creative lead in to an article about credit cards (thanks Dad!) to another one titled “What Makes the Chase Sapphire Preferred the Best Reward Card?”.
And then I look at the credit card carpet bombing at The Points Guy and I immediately feel better about Mommy Points:-) For crying out loud…the Priority Club can be had for 80k pts instead of the cha ching 60k posts, come on!!
And this is a general trend around the blogosphere I am covering. More.Credit.Cards.Content I wonder if the banks are pressuring all you bloggers lately? How come not many blog posts about churning lately huh?
Delta Points said that Delta reps will not think outside the box for you. And we should do our own homework. Wow!! A whole post without an affiliate link, what a shame:-)
Nice try!
Close!
You can’t say that before someone else even comments…
I think he just did. He can do anything. This is his blog.
Exactly;-)
what’s with all the FTU T-Shirt pushing? They’re ugly.
Ok Fashionista!
The may not have a financial interst (ownership), but they don’t say they don’t have a financial arrangement ($$$ for that ridiculous plug).
Something tells me they didn’t email blast everyone, boarding area pimp it, and claim a $30k purchase was a “must buy” for free.
Last side note, i find it hilarious when miles are on sale for a better price, the “gurus” warn us – only buy them if you have an immediate use… cash appreciates, miles dont. But now suddenly $30k for 1 Million miles (good luck using them all immediately) is a must buy?! I’ve found this too be the most shady thing i’ve seen yet
I would not go as far as calling it shady. I just think it certainly does not look good.
I just can not believe that miles play such a central role in a new company like this. These guys may be up to something. Time will tell. At the very least, depending on the price paid for the miles, could be a great business model arbitraging the miles:-)
Question to Rick I: What do you think of this? We may not be more than halfway through the mega money involved in this business….still wide open for entrepreneurs innovating. Bank of America quarterly results were stellar, they may even get jump in…who knows?
I’d say shady. Tommy777 just posted on MP that W&M are sponsers of MP events. so thats why all the praise. and everything about this has been misleading – “investment”, “must buy for a savvy traveler”, “I know award miles and this is an offer you don’t want to pass up”
its generally a terrible deal, and they are selling it IMO bc they are sponsers. which they never disclosed
MP Sponsors? Please provide a link to that if u don’t mind
“Wall & Main are sponsors of launchpoint and the Freddies and all larger sponsors get a mailer that goes out to many mailing lists, a smaller list also receiving this offer happens to be milepoint.”
http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/randy-my-idol-has-clay-feet.66769/
post 17, from Tommy777
granted not MP specifically, but all those events fall under the milepoint and House of Miles endevors….
Thanks a lot! Very interesting. Here is the thread in Flyer Talk too:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-mileageplus-consolidated/1485315-wallandmain-fake-real.html
I agree. Other than using Discover Cashback bonus for discounted giftcards, the discover cashback program redemptions are pretty worthless.
TBB likes Eminem, Detroit home boy. Thumbs up for Eminem, not Discover:-)
When they have the 5% dining bonus, it’s usually worth it to me (but I also make sure I have the card registered to a mileage earning dining program)
My wallet is so thick it can’t get thicker;-)
Actually I found some really good Discover redemptions. Details next week.
I’m not a big fan of Mommypoints, seems like you are. She seems to be real slick and very sarcastic in her comments section.
Well, I have been accused being an MMS fan too:-)
Not very often I am called slick…silly, more often. Apologies if you get a sarcastic vibe, 99.999% of the time that is certainly not the intent. The other .001% of the time, well, I’d certainly never claim to not be human.
I can not believe MP was called sarcastic before moi:-)
Thanks very much for featuring my Helsinki post 🙂 What an awesome Shanghai video, must.go.back!
You are very welcome. I feature what I like here, it’s my little escape and playground from my stressful life:-) Going on vacation next week to Banff Springs and Lake Louise in Canada, need a break from this blogging thing;-)
Love your name, same as my hometown in Greece!
Did Gary Leff know they were going to make him look like a _____( fill in your thoughts here)? Or does he have a great sense of humor and is totally secure in himself? They flew him in but made him stay in his hotel room instead of bringing him to the studio for the shoot. Wonder if he would do it again, it was pretty funny?…….. and the camera loves him/ maybe the start of a new career, watch out Brad………………………………….ps I can see he agrees with Yogi Berra “Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel.”
Gleff certainly looked comfortable and nice publicity for sure.
Sounds like he came to a fork, so he took it !
He ran with it. I think it is time for Miles/Points cable TV talk show with Gary becoming the David Letterman of Miles on late night TV. He can have bloggers as guests lol
The Lava dude on fire was staged. He was on the local news last night (in Hawaii) explaining that he just wanted a cool photo for his facebook page. So he put some flammable liquid on the shoes and tripod, got close enough to lava to not be set on fire and had a buddy snap a picture of him. The guy does do some incredible lava photography, so that contributed to why it went so viral.
Well I sure fell for it! Still looks kind of…awesome.
http://first2board.com/travelingwellforless/
“This user has elected to delete their account and the content is no longer available.”
!!!!
too bad, she was hot! in 1994.
Yeah, as I reported, she had a final post saying good bye to First2Board. It happens.