TRAVEL
Attention, attention! Pedro Almodovar’s new movie is titled “I’m so excited” and it is “90 minutes of campy laughs in economy class on a flight from Spain to Mexico City”. The two trailers have lines from the flight attendants such as: “I need a booster to face those savages”. Hilarious! “LA Times describes it simply as “a freewheeling sex farce set amid a trans-Atlantic airline flight.” I love Almodovar’s movies and I can’t wait to see it!
Horizons. Timelapsed. Any questions? Wow.
An absolutely gorgeous video about mountain bike riding. It gets better by the minute! Found at the Adventure Blog here
First digital issue of WickedWorld is out, looks great!
MILES/POINTS
Get many United miles by getting, surprise, its credit cards. Amol at Hack My Trip wrote the best blog post about it, so easily explained I thought I was reading Million Mile Secrets for a second:-)
I applied for the Southwest Premier Business credit card last night and put it in the name of my blog business. I should be getting a Federal Tax ID at some point too. I am aiming for $20k in revenue in 2013. You should never lie in a credit card application. Thank you in advance for clicking on my shiny new (coming to a screen near you soon) Chase affiliate credit card links. I am not just a user but also a client…forgot how this saying goes. I will likely call the Reconsideration line tomorrow and offer to sacrifice my Sapphire card which I really do not need as I have the Ink Plus (and the Freedom card). Oh, the Fairmont card too. I really like Southwest and being a free agent. No more elite status slut and going on mileage runs to requalify. I.am.done.
Here are all four Southwest credit card offers direct from Chase’s website
BLOG BUZZ
Frugal Travel Guy admits he took a car comp from another private car service company (an Uber competitor). Nothing wrong with full disclosure, we readers can make up our minds. He told them he would write the review “straight up”, so nice. After the not so glowing experience the company asked not to have the company name mentioned and he was “okay with that”. Excuse me, did I just read what I just wrote down??? In the whole post the Uber affiliate link is passed twice and readers still do not know the name of the company to avoid it in the future! ___________________________________ Sorry I was out trying to attach my head back to its right place. Grrrrrr……
Extra Pack of Peanuts has a brag blog post listing his trips on miles/points. Looks very nice. Starts out with: “My first trip with frequent flyer miles was in August 2011“. I think I took my first award trip before he finished High School!!!
So much of the same crap in the blogosphere…I am tired. And it’s getting late and have all day of meetings tomorrow. Cut me some slack por favor.
ON MY MIND
Son is out of school. Daughter graduated from Elementary School, hard to believe she will be going to Middle School. Kids grow up so fast. I can’t wait to get them out of the house but, you know, we will sure miss them when they are gone. I still can’t wait to get them of the house:-)
I think this is the final weekend of graduation parties. Thank God. Too much eating of other people’s food, it is getting old after a while you know.
In a week I am 46 years old. Dangit, I really don’t feel like it!
Darn Miami Heat tied the NBA Finals series. Come on Ginoooobli, where are you! 3 game series. I think the team that wins game 5 will win.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Indian Ferris Wheel. WTF!!!
Japanese Underground Bicycle Parking. Only the Japanese would do stuff like this!
A cheat sheet for meat treats. Awesome infograph for grilling lovers! By Memolition.
19 Pictures of War Photographers Working. True heroes if you ask me.
17 of the best pieces of advice you will ever hear. These are great!
Buzz it up, way up!
I am always the first to comment! There are some bloggers who just always seem to make it into your blog buzz side… buzzzzz….
Wow, 20k projected revenue?! Even more ambitious than me, LMFAO!
at the rate you’re killing good deals, i’m sure you will have new revenue targets soon.
Ok, my Southwest Business credit card was approved:-)
What good deals did I kill?
Loved Amol’s rectangles and H/T to Flyertalk. Well played.
He could have done what the eternally dumb sycophant Scott does to MMS. His article about the GCs being able to set PIN had a hat tip to MMS first, lmao. Always gets first in line whenever there is an opportunity to suck up for the SEOs/ratings and in general.
“I redeemed millions of miles since last year and showing my family how to travel for freeeeeeeeeeee”
I stick with the content and how it makes me feel:-)
All that foreplay to see if “The Chase Ink Cards will have a higher sign up bonus”, I can barely focus at work……..
Reminds me the Almodovar movie coming out “I am so excited”:-)
Very disappointed by the FTG post. I have never seen anything like that before–it comes across as a blatant advertisement for Uber.
Have you ever seen a review of any product where they say “don’t buy it , buy this other instead?” Well, it would be a “review” if they did that. If they get paid for promoting the other, in this case Uber, it is just a commercial.
Boo, Rick. Don’t you see the loss of your integrity here?
You must be one of the angries hiding behind a computer keyboard without disclosing your real name!
You do not have to read it, it is capitalism.
Everything is disclosed.
Blah blah blah
Ariana: How do YOU feel?
I must grill this weekend!!
Wings AND Ribs!!!!
lol, anyone remember Rick’s soapbox after TPG took a hotel comp? Here is a snippet:
“For me, if I took one free comp I would want another and another after that. I have never disclosed at a hotel or airport check-in that I am a travel blogger and never will. The temptation for me, to use my position as a blogger, is just too great to start down that long and winding road. I may just like traveling for free on someone else’s dime too much to resist asking for it again and again, with the unspoken possibility of them receiving a positive review in return.
To my readers, be assured that when I jump on a plane or stay in a hotel, I have either paid for it with my own money or earned the miles and points to do it for free. To my fellow bloggers and friends that have started down that path, I look forward to revisiting the topic with you as the years pass. It will be interesting to see the results from both our perspectives. There is no right or wrong answer here, just two different flights down the same travel highway.”
I guess Rick really didn’t mean it because the pledge has magically disappeared from the blog post.
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2011/06/sponsored-trips-as-blogger.html (note the “sponsored trips as a blogger” title in the URL no longer bears any resemblance to the content of the blog post)
But thanks to the internet archive here is the original post in its entirety:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110608145812/http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2011/06/sponsored-trips-as-blogger.html
Get it while you can. No doubt Rick will be seeking legal action to get the archive removed. 😀
TBB does not censor. Whatever is posted here does not in any way represent the views or opinions of the owner of this website!
Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment.
Oh my, how times have changed.
My point was that readers should know the name of the car company to avoid having to wait at least half hour for the car! DO NO HARM!
I feel I am having some anger feelings invading my brain cells right now so I am going to escape to the gym and then Starbucks:-)
FTG is now claiming his website censored him. Oh the mental gymnastics (speaking of escaping to the gym). 🙂
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20924094-post200.html
Yep, “The Shaggy Defense” … Wasn’t Me.
I noticed.
I kept quiet.
I have been accused of Tabloidism. Them tabloid publications eat this stuff up…not here.
Tried a newCVS, no Vanillas, boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Traveling Well For Less has manage to piss me off more than even The Free Travel Guys carpetbloggers. Every week (they’re always the first to comment) on the MMS weekly interview comment section they make a short worthless mind numbing comment hoping to get a few hits from the link showing their site name. It’s a joke, they do it every week. The Miles Professor stopped this practice (but her comments were at least intelligent). I posted a comment to them on MMS today(was it deleted yet) suggesting that they post comments in their birth names instead of site name w/o link to show some integrity. ribs. zoloft. wingz.
The quality contrast behind the MMS inteviews is so….vast sometimes! Genuine carpetbloggers vs some quality ones. Kind of a downer they all use (for the most part) the same old boring questions, this could have been a much better blog feature! You just need to wait until I get there to do my own to…buzz it up, way up!
I am going to do some grilling this weekend and will devote some ribs in your honor.
Wingz too!
Mile Nerd’s “Welcome ESPN Magazine readers” headline had me doing a double-take – so much like interviewees’ followup to an MMS Friday interview. I like Miles Nerd and was sad to see him appear to go that way, but the blog and piece in ESPN were wonderfully refreshing to the same-old, same-old stuff we see when a blogger tells us their back story. And I am not even that much of a sports fan. TBB, I think you’ll like it!
I noted this. I first thought he was making a joke. I read his welcome blog post. I have not read the actual espn post yet. Looks like a nice guy with a unique background. Interesting he pushes his realtor business. You are not going to ever see me here push my financially related business because miles/points enthusiasts is definitely NOT my target market lol.
Let’s see whether TBB has the intellectual integrity to call out Frequent Miler tomorrow? “What’s the best business card?” Ka-ching!
He has his links on a separate page, to they’re one click away. So what? He discloses his financial relationships well, but so does OMAT, MMS, VFTW, MommyPoints The only difference is the link itself isn’t in the post. Meaningless distinction.
FM’s post BOLDS the best business card… Chase Ink!. And he includes a bunch of links to his other credit card posts in this one. All his Ink links are just a click away. Either TBB calls out FMer tomorrow or admits he’s a hack. Only a dozen hours or so and we’ll know the truth. We’ll be watching…
Wow, interesting post Buzz Buzz.
TBB is all for content and…Do no harm while providing full disclosure. I have not seen the post you cite yet but now I will especially look for it. I have told FM he is being way too bashful and he should in fact sell more. Why? Because his content is one of the best, if not THE best. And no I do not think having or not having links in the body of the posts is a meaningless distinction! To me, at least, is a HUGE distinction!
Nothing to do with intellectual integrity…What I do here is not a science. BEST content should be rewarded. I thank you in advance for clicking FM’s and my links (whenever they appear lol) for adding value to your life:-)
Admit I am a hack? Lol, good one. Have you noticed my ranting has gone way down? Why? Because I could not keep up even if I did not have a full time job and family!
So…what do yo think about receiving a comp, reviewing the service and then agreeing NOT to reveal the name of the company huh?
Ok, I just read it. See first sentence of comment #2. THAT is THE gigantic difference, how can you say “meaningless distinction”????
Besides, I LEARNED something too!
Lets’ make a deal, I won’t feature it as I do not want to encourage readers to start ebay businesses and lie on their business card applications:-) I think it is a fair deal:-)
Why is TPG always LAST among he blogs with new information? The guy has a staff, he doesn’t write many of his own posts, and we give *MMS* a hard time (since we haven’t gotten an answer, it’s still speculatively, but probably deservedly so).
With that staff, they should be monitoring everything and on top of everything. Instead TPG is barely worth reading, since we’ve seen it all before. Only the “top 10” linkfests are kind of original.
I have made this point several times since the start of TBB. I do like the destination posts too. I save them in my Evernote and when I visit I pull them up and do a quick review of the available hotels.
What interests me about TPG is that is has got very impersonal. And, at the end of the day, if you want people to actively use your links you need to build some sort of relationship between blogger and reader.
I think it makes him look like an authoritative source. Like wikipedia. O.o
TPG has almost taken this hobby to the NEXT level. It is what it is. The PR his business does is unmatched for. He is trying hard to remain “one of us” but it is getting harder to do so. And dog Miles was a brilliant move.
I hope he makes enough after paying staff and puts the dough to good use for the future. And I think he probably does.
He can hire me to do daily buzz posts (minus the ranting of course, lol) but I will demand more than Jason and Drew demand combined lol. Or he can send me a staff person to do a page of affiliate links or something…
Oh…is this entertainment or what???
Happy Fathers Day !!!
Thank you.
Actually, Surprised we haven’t seen a blog post some where telling us which Chase Ink card is best for fathers 🙂
Me too…but I am sure they are being queued up!
No one should post an Ink link until next week when we see if a bigger offer is coming
I only make bets I am 100% certain I will win. I will NOT take this bet:-)
A reader submitted to FTG the free Virgin Silver status as ‘deal of the day’ It was clearly from VFTW,and that was pointed out in the comments.
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2013/06/deal-of-the-day-awardwallet-june-12-2013.html
So today the free Virgin silver gets highlighted… H/T to DAN’S DEALS! (which even h/t’s VFTW).
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2013/06/deal-of-the-day-june-14-2013.html?
Coming on the heels of Gary’s comment being deleted there it sure seems like a policy there to refuse to acknowledge his work. More scumminess from the (second?) biggest pimp site of them all!
My point about this has been that…it is impossible to trace where something is seen as the same thing pops up everywhere. So, in fact, maybe it WAS seen at DD? You see, there is no way to prove for or otherwise!!
So…readers are left to make their own conclusions. It is capitalism:-)
That link has been doing the rounds in the UK for months. I kept it off my blog and we kept it off FT as well, because it would have been killed otherwise.
The promo was due to finish on May 31st. None of the bloggers have bothered to mention this, and all ran it after May 31st.
It is only for members of the Institute of Directors, an austere business body with a fat membership fee, in the UK. If you did this after May 31st and/or with a non-UK mailing address then I can’t see it sticking.
Good to know, thanks!
After much work we have found the elusive TheMRPickles………… http://www.mrpicklesinc.com/
Hahaha…what a great find!
I guess I’ll take that as a compliment 😀
Yes, I should have made it clear. Because, you know, you just never know with controversial MMS;-)
The current FT thread about censoring/comps/Uber is pointless insofar as the subject under discussion has made it loud and clear that he’s not going to change and that he doesn’t respect his own work or his readers enough to work hard and be transparent. It’s like watching a political discussion on Facebook in which no one’s going to change their mind.
I’m watching to see whether the Marriott 70k link is dead; FT reports it might be.
Just posted a piece of my mind there:-)
Got the Southwest Business card today and closed my Sapphire Visa. So now I have these Chase cards: Freedom, Fairmont, Ink Plus (keepers) and Southwest Business. Rolling, rolling, rolling…
Still no definite answer to the PC Visa churning. It’s been four years plus for me. I think I will wait for 5. Wife has it and will keep it for the night for $49.