We bring you the most opaque countries, visit sulfur springs in Ethiopia, travel on the Alaska Highway, see the new Amex Business Platinum offer, climb with Alex Honnold, check out some border control stations in the US and some more non sense.
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TSA added eleven more airlines to its TSA Pre program. And just when you wondered why TSA Pre lines are so long…bang!
9 most opaque and mysterious countries on earth. Yeah, of course North Korea is on top of the list. Followed by Turkmenistan and Laos. Discuss.
Here is Alex Honnold again climb Solar Flare with Emily Harrington. Wow.
Mile Nerd answers another five questions from readers in the hilarious “Dear Mile Nerd” series. The last two answers…I am still laughing #entertainment.
There is a government phone helpline in Kabul, Afghanistan. Helping citizens with sex related problems. “I cannot do it without Viagra”.
You are probably not going to find this personal finance article as interesting so I just cut and paste what I would like you to read, some of the unfortunate realities of the investment business:
- All else equal, a talented sales staff will trump a talented investment staff when attracting capital from investors.
- The products that sound the best are often the worst ones to invest in.
- There are way too many investment products to choose from.
- It can be difficult to find good advice.
- Increased activity does not necessarily lead to better results.
- Specialists are not always the solution.
- You don’t always get what you pay for.
- It’s very difficult to understand the total amount of costs you are paying.
- The stock market is not rigged, but our emotions are.
- There are no guarantees.
Dallol Volcano sulfur springs in Ethiopia. Nothing like it. No Hyatt in site!
The Alaska Highway. Wonderful post!
Beautiful US border control stations.
BLOG BUZZ
This section is for advanced level hobbyists and veteran blog readers.
The hobby is so boring lately. I was thinking the other day how many miles it now costs to fly first class or stay in a nice Hilton and it just made me so depressed I ordered another skinny mocha at Starbucks and drank it fast.
Have you also noticed how the minimum spend requirements keep going higher? The Amex Business Platinum standard offer now is down to 75,000 Membership Rewards points after, please sit down, $20,000 spend. Wow!
How to book Aer Lingus flights with Avios.
Miles Per Day recaps 2016. Gives some hint on a deal. I need to recap my 2016 in burning, I don’t keep track of my earning, Award Wallet says I still have 3.4 million miles/points in the bank, WTF!
After reading these blogs for so many years, you see bloggers repeat the same old stuff. Over and over. And over. Yawn….
With so many bloggers double dipping working for other bloggers it is interesting to see when there is a deal whether they post it in their own blog first or to the one they work for.
Why do brokerage 1099 forms take so long?
And I leave you with this…
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
TBB
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What?
So I post 2 minutes late due to a moronic malfunction in WordPress and you all go back to sleep after 6.30 am huh?
Slackers!
Ssssshhh! Nobody post until 10am EST. Pass it on.
Ummm… second?
Solid bronze for me, assuming George doesn’t give himself a medal
I’m pretty sure we all know he’s keeping all his gold for himself.
Back to rin tin tin
5th ? thats my highest finish evah !!!
Gold for Buzz !
Spaghetti for everyone !
$20,000 minimum spend. That’s a lot of reselling just for one bonus. Meh.
Agreed, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
Many pumping bloggers will disagree that the commission they earn is worth it…for them!
I think ScottCastle connected with his groupie and are on a Lufthansa F class on the way to Frankfurt for that ride to the First Class Terminal…
how long/terrible is LHR transfer terminal 3 -> terminal 4 on one ticket?
Anybody can share some info? Flying EY First will give me access to Fast Track right?
Do I need any special pass or boarding pass is enough? long bus ride?
Paging Raffles!
You need to take the train between the terminals. Certainly not the quickest transfer ever.
Fast Track only needs your boarding pass but remember FT is more of a mental thing at Heathrow – you usually can’t see the other lanes so you don’t actually know if it is faster or not, you just feel superior.
So even staying airside I’m taking a train?
I thought it’s the stupid bus system instead….
Funny stuff at Milenerd! The one about forgetting the girl’s name…first thing that came to mind was that Seinfeld episode – Mulva! Dolores!
Lol, yeah the last two were hilarious!
http://loyaltylobby.com/2017/01/27/ihg-rewards-club-pointbreaks-january-30-april-30-2017-full-list/?omhide=true
The full IHG Pointbreaks list. Thanks for the HTs…bitches 🙂
I’m not sure why Denis Sassou Nguesso — president of Congo-Brazzaville — is depicted in an article about the DRC. Actually, I am sure: they didn’t do their research.
You are probably right 🙂
And the way you get between Brazzaville and Kinshasa is in a boat! Best ride between countries by Boston whaler !
What’s the BA portal deal associated with AMEX MR?
I don’t know, I was hoping someone will tell me 🙂
So I am up too early for the new post (jet lag) and want to make an observation. On the home page of BA, there is a post from Travel Update with the headline “Trump is putting international travel at risk” and when you click on it there is no longer an article. So Christopher Elliott posted about this same topic recently and got hammered by Trumpsters in his comments. I do wonder what the unintended consequences of his leadership will be for travel.
Obviously not good.
I feel better for going to Iran last year and not taking a rain check to go this year because I think the Americans who did that are likely not going.
When the Iranian leader comes out says that the time to build walls has passed….we have entered another dimension here.
Brother in law from Malaysia never got his citizenship…I fear he gets stranded in an airport entry point with his green card!
And it’s only been one week
Methinks I’ll be seeing many more Maple Leafs around the world – they love to flaunt their alleged moral superiority by being distinctly “not an American” with the display of their flag.
Practically speaking, I see the problem being one of inconsistency and impulsiveness. Pretty sure I do NOT want to be in China when President Orange declares diplomatic relations with Taiwan nor in the Middle East when he decides to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. And those things could happen without warning in an early morning tweet!
We live in interesting times, eh?
We definitely live in interesting times. I have lots of Canadian friends and I remember a time when many Americans traveling did the same with the maple leaf. I don’t think it is about moral superiority as much as being tired of being assumed to be American. At the moment, if they want to be smug, who cares? I speak French so I can pass, if I want to. If you haven’t been abroad when anti-American sentiment ran really high, it might not make sense.
Yep, I was denied the chance to go and I knew it was then or never. You are fortunate to have done it. Seth Miller has a good post about the times we live in and I just posted a comment over there. Comments on his post are worth a read. The points and miles community is about as split as the nation.
After 46 consecutive hours in LH F and/or the FCT with my groupie I’m starting to think he or she might be a stalker!
Some of you may get the reason for my absence. It’s been a cRaZy bid-week. I’ll be back!