We learn about miles expiration policies, the effects of a strong dollar, check out all inclusive hotels, visit Madagascar, learn about falling hotel prices and more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
You can support TBB by applying for CREDIT CARDS, please consider doing your shopping with our Amazon affiliate link and clicking/forwarding any of our Referral Links. Or click on the Amazon Banner on the right, thank YOU!
Mileage Expiration And Points Transfer Chart For 38 Loyalty Programs, How To Keep Your Points From Expiring, And How To Bring Them Back To Life After They’ve Expired – DansDeals Great reference.
The countries where your strong dollars (and miles) go furthest in 2015: get to Brazil, Australia, Canada now – Mile Cards This one will make the Like blog list at the next update. Wow, with “cards” on the title too!
Barclay reconsideration phone number and website – Points With a Crew Good reference again. Barclays is a weird bank but so so glad to have them around!
Upgrade Your Chase Sapphire Preferred and Earn 7,500 UR (or more!) – Milenomics You can read stuff like Frugal Travel Guy’s “How can I get a business card?” or you can read Milenomics. The quality is like night and day! Personally, I would be embarrassed to have my name on that FTG site! #blogcritic
“All-Inclusive” Hotels Using Points – Travel Is Free Great content as usual. Click his links if you are not going to click on mine!
Planning A Visit To Madagascar – Miles To The Wild If you plan to visit this place read this!
Hotel prices are down pretty much everywhere for Americans – Quartz Love it!
Don’t fall into a tax trap – Yahoo Finance Excellent article on a very timely topic.
OMG, WTF to infinity!
Watching so many bloggers blog about the 20% Hyatt award sale made me barf uncontrollably. How is it that this industry of people involved in blogging aspire to come out and blog about something and knowingly hide something that can improve their readers’s lives (you know, FREE travel, that is what it is about supposedly right?) and NOT state how they can get the Hyatt Visa card is beyond me. Of course it has to do with responsibility….How about YOUR OWN not to knowingly improve your readers’ travel by stepping out of the bubble you live in and linking to the non affiliate public offer huh? You could show them how to get the other offer giving them a $50 statement credit but we understand that may be too much work for you and we know you are busy massaging your plastic affiliate links all day long. So shame on you. But the ones who shut up about the public offers because it does not pay them is one thing….to have the audacity to sell other Chase cards when you blog about this deal and not link to the Hyatt card is the definition of DOUCHEBAG! ( asshole may be too strong for some of you so I replaced with douchebag). You know who you are. Shame on you (one more time, feels great saying it in my little corner here!). I would rather make a few dollars per day in an honesty way than to fall to the greater depths of hell you are burning in. Eeeeek.
Ahhhhh…that felt so good. I feel better about myself. I am like the lone wolf out there, the Zorro of miles/points blogs fighting a lonely battle. All right, lets get serious. Dear readers, I am fading away. I can’t keep this baby up like this anymore. Got me surrounded by tax returns, media requests, more requests to write about serious personal finance matters, two clients I am on boarding right now, miles up the wazoo I have no time to burn (so sad), Chinese New Year Dinners every day (there goes my diet…temporarily) and out of the blue today a potential client who has been reading me since day one (not here of course, come on!) who is sold and wants to meet and get going asap…hold your horses brother! Anyways, it is amazing how much I have learned about blogging and how pouring your heart out leads people to…trusting you after a while. I mean, I can get a pretty good sense of how these bloggers I read and how I interact with them online really are in real life and it is amazing how close they are in person to how I perceived them to be online! Don’t you feel like you know some of these people you never actually met? It boggles my mind sometimes, wow! I must admit that blogging and social media (been on Twitter for many years) has opened up amazing professional opportunities to me. Heck, maybe I should hire me some help as I can really use it these days. But I like it working alone you know, from anywhere Panera and Starbucks and visiting clients at their homes to rocking the soccer court every night and winning championships (two).
Okay, I am rambling….I am at a Starbucks late Wednesday night trying to come up with enough words (300 to 500 actually) about mistakes 20 somethings do with their money…and here I am getting stuff out of my system at this little blog I started more than two years ago.
Content and posting will be affected here. Sorry folks, it’s for real this time. It’s not like you guys clicking the crap out of my links so I feel somewhat obligated to keep up the quality you know 🙂 At least please try to help blogs that are not douchebags, makes my day you know!
Ok, back to writing more important things…Happy Chinese New Year to all! It’s a special one….the year of the Goat. You know we love goats LOL.
Be excellent and speak your mind!
Thank you for reading and supporting my blog by clicking my $$ links! <——————Hello? Just checking!
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Join over 3,405 TBB followers on Twitter @ FlyerTalkerinA2 and add TBB on Google+
Pizza Uno?
Hmm, second as usual
3rd,nothing about Evolve’s “death”?
Say happy new year to your goat from me!
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Sex with a goat, not baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
No George no. Don’t quit. You r my best laugh of the day. Like yesterday’s gem: ” show support for the work we do around here”
What work is my question? You copy and paste other peoples work or whine about others work because it doesn’t match what you want to read. In two years ice only seen one post about content, the high card and a couple trip reports. Other than that, it’s copy paste and whine.
I did go to your professional site and see you are building quite a resume there. Congratulations. Why not link your websites or have your tbb readers hype this site on your wsj “expert” page?
Now that would really be fun:)
Got a new one for you:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Martinis has direct links
While George whines: “Boo Hoo”
111k and rising
Rick,
Why do you bother to show up here instead of focusing on your own site? TBB is a niche site and it’s goal isn’t just to focus on driving high traffic, while leaving the reader short on content like your own. I know what I’m getting when I come here and can count on George to post links to solid articles that I otherwise would have missed in an entertaining manner and to call attention to the extreme focus on CC conversions in our space.
If I just want generic, high level points and CC news, I would argue TPG and MMS are more timely than FTG. If I want something more in depth there are plenty of sites like Travelisfree, Travelwithgrant, DoctorofCredit and others. So I’m not quite sure where you fit in the points & miles blogging world. Please advise.
Isn’t it obvious? FTG exists to exploit a brand name that Rick spent years cultivating. It’s pretty sad really.
Scott. My comment below is n response to the mature commenter that asked above your typical type response. .
and your comment may be correct. They paid for that right now didn’t they?
They did pay for that right. It’s still makes me sad.
I don’t have a site. I’m a “has been”. I sold my site before George began this one. You are right, there are good newbie sites and sites for more advanced players.. Im here strictly because George thinks it necessary to demean and degrade sites that he thinks are below his level of expertise in the hobby. There is no need for that. It would like if I started a site that offered financial planning advice on a much higher scale than George’s index mutual funds approach and hammered him for his lack of vision in his field. I’ve yet to hear him write about private placements for real estate opportunities he can offer through his contacts, or an occasional venture capital deal for those so inclined. But there is no need for that behavior, to demean others, to make yourself feel better.
All George needs to do is support the blogs he likes, ignore the ones he doesn’t and provide content that provides value. He is great at finding unique info on the web. But his whining about not getting paid by his readers and demeaning others who write or own newbie credit card blogs out of his own personal struggle with envy is so sad to watch, and the reason his readership is in such a sharp decline.
btw, thanks for asking the question in such a mature manner without the usual snark usually found here. I hope my answer clearly explained why I comment here.
Rick – I appreciate your response. I think George created his site and it has drawn readers and commenters because of the high level of antipathy among those in the community who have been doing this for more than a few months over the extreme focus on just pushing credit card links under the guise of educating and informing. While his approach is sometimes off-color, it has helped highlight the issue and increased awareness in the community and among bloggers. Without calling out specific sites, there is no motivation to change. Conversely, he is willing to offer praise to sites when warranted and is not indiscriminately attacking bloggers in general or only bloggers who are successful.
Yes, we could just ignore the offending sites, but it becomes frustrating sifting through everything out there on BoardingArea and others to find the few quality blogs as well as seeing blogs give misinformation or only a portion of the full picture to newbies such that I wouldn’t recommend my friends or family read them in order to learn. Additionally, many sites hide behind the fact that they’re trying to inform newbies while at the same time promoting MS techniques that I don’t even engage in. I definitely fell into the trap of being a beginner and signing up for a bunch of cards without a plan for how I would use the points. Sites targeting newbies should therefore be focused on educating first and selling second. Right now it’s the complete opposite and that gives rise to the call for change that no one else really seems to be championing.
Rick – such horseshit nonsense. Piled so high and so deep you must gave a PhD in it…
To Rick Jr:
>>>>>>TBB is a niche site and it’s goal isn’t just to focus on driving high traffic…
Bingo!
>>>>>> I know what I’m getting when I come here and can count on George to post links to solid articles that I otherwise would have missed in an entertaining manner and to call attention to the extreme focus on CC conversions in our space.
Bingo again!
>>>>>>>>If I just want generic, high level points and CC news, I would argue TPG and MMS are more timely than FTG.
Your comment has just entered Gem territory! No doubt!
To all:
I just want you all to know that the troll spent just one minute making another comment here…
Things that entertain me:
Trolls whining about “demean and degrade”
Trolls whining about financial planning advice blogging about private placements and VC——>I am on the floor laughing uncontrollably right now…stopped shaking my head because my head muscles are getting sore…too much shaking going on!
Trolls telling others what “we need to do”
My whining about “monetizing” really really entertains ME
Reading about “my personal struggle with envy”——> I mean, you just can’t make this stuff up WOW!
Reading about my sharp declining readership — Not sure anything is more sad than the “award winning” Wallet “Tool”.
Dear readers of my niche site: This is entertainment…primarily my own. Gracias!
And my ability to push your buttons at will, now that’s entertaining 🙂 (3 seconds 😉
The Evolve news came after this baby was sent to “production”—>meaning, post scheduled. I am shocked the company still has money to burn!
I appreciate the goat digs, they are funny. Thank the Germans for paying for more goats LOL.
So…..I want you all to know I took the “award-winning” (LOL) Frugal Travel Guy Wallet for a spin. It is basically the “Tool” they had on the website and now made it an “app” (LOL) to get you to create an account to well PUMP THE CRAP OUT OF YOU WITH THE SAME CREDIT CARD OFFERS. Oh my God…I took some screen shots. It is the same crappy software designed to look as a trusted source tor good credit card advice and it is everything BUT that! These products should never see the light of day but, I guess, it is about personal responsibility LOL. Anyways, the post announcing “FTG Wallet for ALL” (LOL) even generated a comment (I know, I know, please contain your enthusiasm!) so here it is:
Umm, was this intended to be released? Seems like a beta at most with all the issues.
First of all, login links are wrong, first card I tried Barclays Arrival + fails because the login is directed to the banking Barclays website and not the credit card site. Additionally, there are only a handful of cards on the site, the Arrival+ was the only Barclays card that came up in search and I have two more in my wallet. Regular Sapphire is also missing from Chase. At that point I quit looking and used the contact address to send in the suggestions.
As directed, I wrote an email to CCSuggestion@FrugalTravelGuy.com, and even that failed. Got a bounce back from gmail saying that email address doesn’t exist.
I think this service could be great, but sort of a failed launch here.
To avoid legal threats here is the link,just take out the 1 in front of http:
1http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2015/02/its-finally-here-ftg-wallet-accounts-for-all.html
Award winning….WOW!
Glad you are enjoying my Madagascar series! It seems to be off the mainstream blogger’s radars as it is so hard to get there with miles and there are no points hotels there but it is an amazing place to visit! The big bloggers can keep the Maldives and Bora Bora, give me Madagascar, Rimatara & the Marquesas any day!
Sorry, I can’t see Madagascar on the Vendome map.
So much love for the Madagascar/Vendome comment. *heart*
No way I am going to Madagascar until Mommy Points does a review of all the Park Hyatts 🙂
Plenty of Parks, Hyatts not so much!
I can’t go to Madagascar because Emirates doesn’t offer chauffeur service there.
JK.
I love your blog, Tara!
Thanks Rich! Emirates is for wusses! You ain’t nobody unless you’re elite on Air Madagascar!
We actually had a chauffeur for 6 days, it gets old after awhile. That’s the only way to rent a car over there.
“You ain’t nobody unless you’re elite on Air Madagascar!”
This is worthy of a phrase to add to the lexicon of this hobby….you know, like Vendoming LOL
I can’t tell for sure what kind of knee that is on the leg photo, but the sticker price of that leg is at least $35,000. More like $60,000 if it’s got a C-leg knee. But she should have taken it apart and sold the parts on ebay, it’s not going to do her any good otherwise!
Well, even if I was the guy with the missing knee, I wouldn’t go back to her to get it lol
This one is for you, George:
http://www.vox.com/2015/2/19/8069897/kim-jong-un-has-an-amazing-new-haircut-we-have-many-many-questions
LOVE that link Brian, enjoy the safari, thanks!
Thanks for the link!! I’m glad you enjoyed the content. Only a few more until I can makey way on to the “blogs I like” list 🙂
Who’s Drew?