We bring you the new Amex Hilton cards, show you a guide to eating Korean food, an airline being the A380 savior, laugh at the ugliest buildings, the latest blog changes, list of festivals and events to visit in 2018, a collection of creepy urban legends, Wyndham buying La Quinta, wtf with Hikimori, the latest sex robots have bionic penises oh my god, travel to freezing Siberia and lots more for you. Freeeee!
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The new Amex Hilton credit cards are out, I am sure you have noticed around the blogosphere. Only the Amex Hilton Honors business card is available with my links but I hope all four to be available shortly. So I just leave this here and not going to make an ass of myself pretending I am so excited about the average 100k points sign-up bonuses (when what bloggers are REALLY excited about are the sales commissions!) No pics and arrows, you know what to do if you choose to apply for them here. If not, ask! More on the BLOG BUZZ section below.
It’s mid January and the hotel mergers continue with Wyndham Worldwide buying La Quinta! The action is in the midscale hotels lately. Wyndham CEO called La Quinta’s loyalty program “one of the best”. Lol.
Emirates may have saved the A380 with this order.
Nice list of festivals and events to travel to in 2018.
Eating Korean food like a Korean. Good guide.
Well, I had not heard of the Michigan urban legend. Creepy urban legends from every state.
Hikimori. Only in Japan…Well, I am sure elsewhere too but the Japanese are taking this mental condition to the next level #wow.
Imagine going to prison for almost 40 years for a murder you did not commit. And the witness that put you there finally had a change of heart and confessed. And then you went to meet him. You won’t believe what happened next. Oh man, what a story!
The end is near you guys. The latest in sex robots will bring them with bionic penises. Shaking my head…we are doomed as a species now for sure!
It’s so cold in Siberia it hit -62 C. Some of the pics are just crazy!
The ugliest buildings in each state. There are some reeeeeally ugly ones in this list!
BLOG BUZZ
This section is for advanced level hobbyists and veteran blog readers & personal rants & stuff. For Best Offers credit cards, click HERE
Definitely going under the 3 million number in my miles and points balances this year #lifegoals
How are you all attacking the new Amex Hilton cards? Can someone report if they got the Ascend bonus after they cancelled the Surpass card? I am definitely going at some point for the Aspire card. I would like to get the Ascend and the Business card bonuses as well. I think Mrs. TBB will go for the Ascend card. Not sure about son who is enjoying himself in Madrid these days. At the end of the day, bloggers are so happy selling them for the sales commissions and not for the 100k bonuses which does not get you far with Hilton these days. Back in the day 100k points got you 5 nights (or was it six?) in the Hilton Hawaiian Village or the Hilton Waikoloa village. Been there, done that. Most “expert” bloggers were in diapers back then! Then again, should we even bother if you are trying to be under Chase’s punitive 5/24? 100k HH points, pffft!
I get a lot of emails for my blog that I delete when I could make some money. But it’s just crap…Latest one is some dude who loved my content about a blog post that had the word condoms in it and now wants me to post his review on how to choose a condom. WTF! And there is a persistent dude who keeps emailing me to post his Bitcoin infographic, WTF!
Some blog moves. Chris McGinnis of TravelSkills is moving away from Boarding Area and going to SFGate. Best of luck with the move. You don’t see that often…
Magic of Miles will no longer blog here and instead move to Travel Update part of Boarding Area where many writers post irregularly. She explains the reasons for the move. Blogging IS hard. You know how hard it is when…never mind, help me cut down on whining, thanks!
Please send me blog news, I can’t get to everything. Help me buzz YOU up!
I may do a parody post about bloggers pretending to be excited about the new Amex Hilton cards and trying to trick readers to apply for them so they can earn the fat sales commissions. Maybe Saturday. Please stop me 🙂
Resident blog troll Ingy, who is now known as “First with links, first to sell”, never fails to taunt me. He now makes fun of me that I have only one card conversion this month. YOU can do something about that, thanks! #BOOM
The latest Friday interview at Million Miles Secrets had a new blogger who discovered the hobby in late 2014 after being told to see a mistake fare post by The Points Guy and booked the first award trip in 2016. Have we peaked yet? Just had to start a blog to help friends and family…shaking my head.
And I leave you with this…Meet the TBB cat, meow!
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
TBB
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Diamond plus. The new gold.
I am afraid it is coming…sometime this year, sad!
Anyone really surprised that “First with links, first to sell” TBB blog resident troll Ingy is a fan of Trump?
Nope
http://travelbloggerbuzz.com/best-of-web-longest-kayak-journey-world-borders-map-by-age-taxes-fun-facts-cartier-kings-ice-rescue/#comment-406954
So, Ingy and Ramsey walk into a bar…
I would buy him a beer…………………..we are not alone, most do want to deal with the internet assholes who disagree with our opinion. Watch out 2020 is coming and he IS going to campaign against Oprah or Uncle Bernie and win again.
HT RAMSEY
HT The Million Point Guy
A status war in hotels? Last night a card came from Marriott telling me I didn’t have enough points but I was being gifted Gold. People who earned Gold must be amused by us grifters.
George: I hope the taunting and making fun of you works and gets you more clicks and conversions. Your copy and paste content doesn’t seem to be getting the job done. Or maybe it’s the begging, whining and Donate button that turns your readers off? Who knows, but I’ll sure miss you if you drop to 3 days a week as you’ve promised. But then again, I don’t expect you’ll live up to that commitment either.
I’m doing all I can for ya buddy.
“Hate a conservative troll? Use George’s links”
You had me at “hate a conservative troll”…
>>>>>>>>>>>>I hope the taunting and making fun of you works and gets you more clicks and conversions.
Thank you “First with links, first to sell”!
Ingy-
The design guys came in with initial thoughts for the blow-up of you on the horse. I think it needs some work, though it does show you as a man of action:
http://www.mancostimes.com/storyimage/CJ/20150615/NEWS01/150619904/AR/0/AR-150619904.jpg&ExactW=620
Please have them attach a bionic penis to it. Thank you!
Lol
Good to see you back!
I love you man
Hoping someone can educate me, or spoonfeed because I seem to be the only person who doesn’t understand these Hilton cards. Now I see TBB is going to get one, two, or four by the time he’s done running through family members SSNs.
Am I wrong here? I’ve just never come across a good value Hilton redemption, and have been a Diamond (thanks to some fancy status matching for almost 2 years and also don’t see the value)
Well, the Aspire card explains itself. May be devalued soon…
The rest is, well, lack of cards to go for…Or boredom may be more like it.
I like Hiltons in general. And with Diamond you are not going to believe what happens next! ——>same upgrade as Golds lol.
Definitely NOT a screaming “must get” regardless of what bloggers tell you.
We have gotten the best signup bonuses that we are eligible for…Just goes to show you the struggles the hobby is going through, sad!
For low end hotels in non busy times these bonuses could be all right…
Oh, and we are VERY low on Hilton points, less than 200k…need to bump them up a little #diversify
Well, I read all the replies and come away with this… Boredom creates a massive need to try something new. You are still at a Hilton with a status that means virtually nill, and sure you can find a great redemption for a random college football game weekend but its similar to searching for a white whale. Few have seen them and those that have talked about that one time all the time, man it was amazing!
I suppose applying in March or some double dipping the airline fee, maxing the Hilton credits and really not minding Hampton Inns the Aspire is the card for you.
The Aspire will replace my CSR. Go ahead, try to convince me 🙂
Phil broke the code and found the weak link (pardon my French) with the new Hilton cards.
You wind up at a Hilton.
Better than a Hampton Inn 🙂
I am not super excited about a $95 fee for 100k HH points, but I will probably go for it eventually when I need some points. But I have definitely found great value redemptions. Some of the best HH point redemptions for me have come during super peak periods. My favorite: Trinidad during Carnival. But also college football towns (e.g. Big10) on game weekends — who forks over $300 for a Hampton Inn? But 30k easily earned HH points, no problem. Also, I’ve had good value in some expensive European cities. YMMV, of course, and they seem to be trying to put the squeeze on some of the better redemptions with moves towards making it more cost-based. But for now, I’ve been happy
I think Hilton is adapting pretty quickly on plugging such redemptions…But, overall, some good burns can still happen! It is always ymmv
Between all the new rules, I can apply for and get a bonus on a Chase British Airways card, a Ritz Carlton card (definitely not worth it based on current bonus and AF cost) or get risk getting denied again by Barclay again for the aviator. I’ve run out of good offers.
I wouldn’t touch the BA card. May bring your Chase relationship to an end.
Why do you say that?
Also, I don’t think I’d go for it anyway. I’ve had a hard enough time burning the last 80k avios I have since the 40% amex offer a few years ago, and I don’t like paying annual fees.
Only a concern if you churn and MS.
Has happened to some that are above 5/24 and going LOL/24.
The card is a BAit for Chase.
In the old days I was always LOL/24 bwahahahaha…
I have enough Avios to last me for a while, they can be such a bitch to burn!
30/24 on inquiries, but only 23/24 on cards approved.
-didn’t realize United business was a 5/24 card
-3 denials for barclay aviator (it’s apparently my white whale)
-capital one did a bait/switch on me with 15 straight months of custom mailers they had no intention of approving me for…
-bad march for me with denials on the merrill lynch and an Alaska card
I haven’t done much MS, but have done a fair amount of gift card purchases on my Ink, so I doubt they see those being very different…
I think you talked me out of the BA card, and may just do the Hilton Business card with you link one of these days…
https://www.facebook.com/garytvcom/videos/1560513210670588/
Priceless!
Amazing chicken! Honorary member of TBB!
I read that as review on how to USE a condom! LOL
Btw I skimmed the WN Monkey lawsuit and they cited a blogger!!! Dealswelike. Don’t read ’em but interesting nonetheless. Wonder if they will be subpoenaed? It is a boy? A girl? One of each? We’ll never know!
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/7r00ry/daily_discussion_thread_january_17_2018/dstkg7v/
I knew as soon as I saw WN Monkey featured in a blog that it was a matter of hours before WN sued them. WTF were they thinking! Nice find on the Dealswelike. Not sure what will happen. I think it’s a girl.
“**ALL BLOGGERS BANNED FROM OUR BUSINESS**
Following the backlash received after asking an unidentified blogger to pay for a hotel room, I have taken the decision to ban all bloggers from our hotel and cafe.
The sense of entitlement is just too strong in the blogging community and the nastiness, hissy fits and general hate displayed after one of your members was not granted her request for a freebie is giving your whole industry a bad name. I never thought we would be inundat…”
Details here.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/hotel-bans-influencers-instagram-social-media-stars-elle-darby-the-white-moose-cafe-a8166926.html?twitter
Future of social media influencers.loving it.
I had bookmarked this one to feature it here. Then I saw One Mile at a Time post it. So I lost interest…Loved it still. “The sense of entitlement” oh yeah!
still pathetically defending the “social media leechers” like himself with a quote like this.
“They didn’t need to shame the influencer in the way they did, and I get why she’s embarrassed.”
If I am running a business and some social media leechers try to contact me with literally little or no influence on my bottom line (esp the 22 yr old kid whose subscribers are most likely depends on Parents money for travel), my response would be the same.
@Brenton
23/24 I think over 20 should not be characterized as LOL/24 🙂
I did not realize United business was a 5/24 card, learn something new every day!
Did you do some bad things on the Arrival card to explain why Barclays is afraid of you?
I had the arrival and us airways cards back in 2014, no MS or irregular spend. Cancelled both. Wyndham and arrival in 2017, not a bunch of spend on either. $89 for 60k miles is just too hard to pass up! So I keep applying…
Hello all,
I started writing a mega rant last night with a play by play how bloggers are selling the new Amex Hilton cards…
But it may take me a while…the pump posts keep coming wow! When I am one it may rival my pumpization blog post:
http://travelbloggerbuzz.com/travel-milespoints-blogosphere-has-turned-into-a-giant-credit-card-pumpization-scheme/
you all have a good weekend.
Trump is Chaos. If the US can survive 3 more years of this mentally deficient dude…nothing will stop us.
We don’t need a wall.
We need people who grew up here and have lived almost all of their lives here and have fully played by the rules of our society to stay here.
We don’t need to offer EB-5 visas to Chinese investors who give the Kushners $500K each.
And we need ALL of our kids to have health care.
This is simple.
I could go on…
Holy Mother of God….we have a wanna be Titan over there at this blog named
Upon Arriving
Legendary pumping going on lately WOW!
Why I Support Donald Trump by RAMSEY
Since I consider myself a traditional conservative, many friends of mine, on both the Right and the Left, are puzzled by my unwavering support for Donald Trump.
Their bewilderment is understandable. Trump is often rude and obnoxious. His demeanor can be arrogant and dismissive. At times, he comports himself as reckless and willing to lash out prematurely, prior to fully understanding all of the facts at hand. To put it simply, he is a “wrecking ball.”
urthermore, Trump isn’t even a pure conservative in terms of policy; he is a populist. His statements over the years regarding such areas as limited government, religious liberty, states’ rights, and abortion have been inconsistent at best, and in some cases, have steered firmly to the left.
Still, given all of this baggage, I have my feet planted firmly in Camp Trump. But why? How can a principled, pragmatic, deliberate conservative be drawn to such a candidate? It is because I believe conservatism doesn’t stand a chance in this country without first delivering a very heavy dose of populism.
Populism Versus Conservatism
Populism, at least Trump’s version of it, is a platform built largely on the principle of economic nationalism. It focuses on three primary policy areas: trade, defense, and immigration.
Trump’s description of the problem for each is very clear: 1) our trade policy has decimated our manufacturing base, leaving millions of Americans economically stranded; 2) our defense policy has engaged us in conflicts around the globe that in many cases have actually made the United States less secure, and have added considerably to our bloated national debt; and 3) in 1986, Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants, on the condition that our borders would be secured and illegal immigration would be dramatically curtailed. Since that time, at least 11 million (and likely many more) illegal aliens have entered the United States, effectively suppressing wages for many working Americans, and adding tremendously to the cost of our education and public assistance programs.
Since our nation’s founding, the principle of national sovereignty has been the preeminent and driving force for what it means to be an American conservative.
Populism Versus Conservatism
Populism, at least Trump’s version of it, is a platform built largely on the principle of economic nationalism. It focuses on three primary policy areas: trade, defense, and immigration.
Trump’s description of the problem for each is very clear: 1) our trade policy has decimated our manufacturing base, leaving millions of Americans economically stranded; 2) our defense policy has engaged us in conflicts around the globe that in many cases have actually made the United States less secure, and have added considerably to our bloated national debt; and 3) in 1986, Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants, on the condition that our borders would be secured and illegal immigration would be dramatically curtailed. Since that time, at least 11 million (and likely many more) illegal aliens have entered the United States, effectively suppressing wages for many working Americans, and adding tremendously to the cost of our education and public assistance programs.
First, you need to cut and paste better 🙂
I can decimate all these arguments but I think I am going to go for a bike ride. In mid January. In Michigan. Phucking A!
I understand conservatism, I see the points. But populism is worse than communism man!
I though all Americans, apart from those guys in the woods who own casinos, were illegal immigrants?