TBB Mission: To Entertain, Educate and Inspire. Aim to at least do one well!
This blog has been a labor of love so far. If you like what you see here, please let others know by passing them a link to my blog, thank you!
TRAVEL
Parliament Building in Budapest By Hole in the Donut Cultural Travel
10 Spectacular Movable Bridges. By THE WORLD GEOGRAPHY
A view from inside the cockpit of various flying machines. From TheChive. For my aviation geek readers! More on the link, you will enjoy!
Building with a View. Patagonia. By Twisted Sifter
Sunsets Around the World. By Wild Junket. I had a hard time to pick one picture…so I picked two!
On the Merits of Flying Coach: Cultivating Gratitude. By the Efficient Asian Man. Short and I think right on. “Flying coach helps cultivate gratitude just because it’s such a crappy experience that you can’t do anything except expect nothing;… I don’t think I’d be able to cultivate this same gratitude if I were always flying in business or first, and it’s also easy to forget how to be grateful for these other things if you’re always reading other people’s trip reports about constantly flying in business or first.”
MILES/POINTS
For my Canadian readers, here is a detailed explanation of Air Canada’s “Earn Your Wings – The Amazing Race Canada Edition” by Frequent Flyer Bonuses. And the Wandering Aramean shows how Air Canada Aeroplan continues to chip away at any value from this program! It is incredible how this program has been gutted in the recent past!
4 Business class awards seat together to Europe possible. And Asia. Good stuff from View from the Wing.
Fishing 4 Deals with another discovery: Check Inn -CLC Lodging and savings of 20% to 40%. May come in handy if you are looking for a specific hotel and this one has some decent brands. The catch: No points/stay credits (anyone verified it?). I expect other bloggers to blog about this in the near future now…
Loyalty Lobby again is first with the scoop about the (finally) upgraded elite benefits of the Le Club Accorhotels program!
View from the Wing shows how you could get 20k Etihad miles, it could get you a couple of wallets. Sounds a bit complicated. TBB is going to pass. If it was in the pre blog days I would get me a new wallet and gift the other one for Christmas 😉
Nordic MegaDo 2013 video. Thanks to the Wandering Aramean for editing and posting it. So many familiar faces in it!
ON MY MIND
I receive more offers lately in my inbox to make me some income. And I delete them all. I don’t think an online casino ad belongs in my blog!
Prepare for some changes coming soon at TBB as this ride is nearing 11 months old. Which I find incredible I am still standing!
ODDZ & ENDZ
Brave Storm Chaser Captures Mothership-Like Supercell Storm Photography. By Dashburst. The photos are totally sick!
Mountain Biking A Dream Trail. Found at the Adventure Blog
JUST A DREAM TRAIL from Slavik Petr on Vimeo.
This is very moving. 9,000 Fallen Soldiers Carved into the Sand of Normandy Beach to Commemorate World Peace Day By Dashburst. World Peace Day everyone!
National Geographic 125th anniversary photos.
Miles to the Wild is doing a series on 10 Real Life Angry Birds. Here is the Yelling Bird. Looks to me may be a good fit for a TBB mascot? 🙂
BLOG BUZZ
Million Mile Secrets better hire the two employees fast! Appears a bit burned out? Posts with a (noble) charitable cause and the free entry to museums deal! Followed up with a “7 Business Cards with 50k miles bonus”, some other supportive post about some guy competing for a travel related job and then a short post about a Hyatt chat on Twitter. THIS is the toughest part of blogging, how to come up with quality content consistently! I like my niche as there is always something to say 🙂 But with 600 blogs on Feedly plus all the other online action somehow I run like a chicken with my head cut off!
Johnny Jet is really into the credit cards now. New tab “Travel Credit Cards”. 11 of them, including the amazing Carnival and Best Western cards…smh Or maybe it was always there?
One Mile at a Time‘s review of the Amankila Hotel in Bali was too much to handle. It would make a great difference if we see how much these cost on the TOP of each post (in cash or miles/points). This must have been over $1,000 per night. Even if I won the lottery I would still have a hard time paying this much! If it was hotel points that is a totally different matter of course. To win the lottery I must be be playing the lottery…which I don’t.
Frugal Travel Guy (the blog) instituting some positive changes due to the continued pressure of TBB (joke, please laugh). Seriously, a few non affiliate cards made into a “5 Highest Current Hotel Credit Card Offers” post! Sad to see Ariana’s name next to Travel “Challenge” which is nothing, in my own opinion, but an excuse to pump more cards! As is…ahh screw it.
Deals We Like with a post about “What is the Difference Between Chase Ink Bold and Ink Plus”. We are not even pretending what it is all about anymore.
Mommy Points about “Most Rewarding Credit Cards for your small business”. For all mommies running their own businesses out there!
Delta Points answers if it is smart to use Skypesos to book a hotel? Why is that even asked in the first place?? Amex
Apparently the current card promo must involve the FlexPerks Visa signature. Expect to see more of it!
I think I am getting tired of this, it is exhausting! Counting the other day 71 affiliate links was, well, epic! I am working on a permanent place of the blogs I approve and do NOT approve! I heard you bluecat!
And I leave you with this:
I remember seeing that building/home when I was at Torres del Pine. I kept thinking how awesome it would be to wakeup to that view every day!
Yeah…I wonder how much it costs and who owns it!
first?
You missed it by that much! Actually two minutes that is
I loved these pictures of airport art: http://gizmodo.com/7-pieces-of-freaky-airport-art-that-defies-explanation-1380146433
George, how did you fix it so Fishing4Deals’ link got posted automatically but you aren’t getting spam links posted? A previous commenter’s comment went to moderation because there was a link in it. I have my blog set up so that only the first comment goes to moderation, then subsequent ones get posted automatically but something isn’t working.
F4D: These are great, thanks!
Tara: I remember checking a box somewhere in the Commments or Setting section in WordPress. Comments with links were going straight to spam so I found that box somewhere, I checked it (or unchecked it) and now they all post fine. Sorry not sure where but..it is there 🙂
I am grateful that you blogged about Efficient Asian Man’s post about gratitude.
Yeah, really. I keep seeing posts about how some people hate flying Southwest and making derogatory comments and it is starting to get to me. And I used to be one of them, an elite status slut. Then I came to my senses and became more…human 🙂
Lots of negative excitement in the nordics this week. Annother bad day for the ‘community’.
If you’re gonna be a hater you gots to at least tell the rest of us what you’re hatin’ ’bout.
Oliver: You can elaborate here if you want you know, I am sure readers will be educated to read about it 😉
The HOM pulled another MP on two FTlike bbs in Sweden and Norway.
friday night brain deadness…HOM?? bbs?? The rest I get 🙂
Um. I understood Sweden and Norway… The rest? whaaaa?
HOM=Homer Airport?? 🙂
HOM = Randy Peterson’s office, aka the House of Miles.
Oh yes yes of course…had a rough day. what I was thinking? Obviously, was not!
I will probably get a lot of shit for this, but to me Amankila and this trip report is very underwhelming.
The hotel looks very dated and not special at all, there is nothing even remotely close to any
“magical” experience there, the beach sucks, the views are average and all his 100 photos are
simply terrible. There are tons of more magical places in Bali.
Aman is so overrated it’s not even funny. They created a cult following of snobbish older guys
who don’t even look at other places.
I don’t mind paying for amazing experiences, but there is no single Aman which would even
make my top 100 list of top hotels to stay…
If you’re going to play that game you need to at least say what properties you’ve been to that you think are better and why, not just ‘aman sucks’.
Most rooms in Bali do not have great views, they do not build very high and there’s usually distance from the beach or trees blocking. These views look pretty good. The beach doesn’t “suck” like you say. I’m not impressed by the rooms. Sounds like the service was very very good.even accounting for this is Bali.
The place may not be worth it compared to some others in Bali (would love to know which ones you think are), but “suck” isn’t a word I’d use to describe the place. Hyperbole much?
Amankila looked very sterile. Perhaps it’s OMAATs style that makes look more sterile than it is. I looked at the pics and said no thanks. I know many, many better ways to spend $1000 per night (you’ll be asleep for most of the time anyways). On the other hand, I don’t appreciate customer service as much as some of these “fancy pants” travelers. I spent most nights on the road in youth hostels when I was that age (teens+early 20s). Perfectly fine in my book. It didn’t hurt my wallet much and you meet fellow travelers ready to explore the area.
LOVE the variations in views in the comments. From healthy exchanges we ALL benefit!
Andrew: Good to see another view. Loved the “cult following of snobbish older guys
who don’t even look at other places.” LOL.
I don’t bother with these places unless they start a frequent guest loyalty program 😉
Anon: We all have different standards and preferences. I also thought the views were pretty good!
ABC: I have been reading OMAAT’s trip reports for ever. Sterile comes to mind. Wouldn’t add a bit of reality if there was a pic of him and his mother, just one? Anyways, he does his thing and he is very successful at it. TBB reviews blogs and speaks his mind. My mother will kill me if I told her I paid so much for a night 🙂
I wish I could claim credit for the photography, I did link to the original blog I saw it on. Maybe you could photoshop a couple of credit cards so it looks like he’s holding one with each tiny little wing! LOL.
@Andrew, We stayed at the Cendana Resort in Ubud for about $50-60ish (incl bkft) a night and loved it! Who needs all that excess?
LOVED that yelling bird!
Interesting perspective on the flying in coach and gratitude — I’ll try to think about that one as I’m flying UA down to TPA for FTUTampa…
I found lucky’s posts on the Aman properties to be interesting. Quite expensive, yes, but a different niche than really anyone else on the main circuit has covered… We hear quite often about SPG, Hyatt, Hilton, Intercontinental…. Much less about Marriotts (although I have a handful of trip reports on them). I find it refreshing to see what smaller chain properties are out there… Its hard not to stay at a chain one is loyal too until you make status, but I made the jump on a recent trip to India, staying at the Oberei, and was quite impressed and happy I did.
There is a reason you don’t read much about Marriotts 😉
Yes, it was good to see something else than the usual hotel reviews we see daily. So, kudos for that. Just not my cup of tea of hotel, way too expensive, could use the money for better experiences imho. We are all different.If you enjoy it, GREAT!
Why is there a reason we don’t read about Marriott, to me it seems like a popular hotel brand with a really good customer satisfaction. Is it due to no hotels in exotic places?
Non affiliate Marriott cc’s offers are much better. Come to think of it…there may not be any Marriott affiliate cc’s offers…The reason you don’t see much about Marriott is because bloggers are NOT getting paid for it.
TBB, Lucky did mention how much he paid for this trip – it was probably part of his other Aman review…if I remember right, it was a 5 night package for 6 grand all told.
I must have missed it. Then again, I speed through his trip reports nowadays. I still think putting the cost information ON TOP will go a long way to stop wasting readers’ times 🙂
MileValue tries to trick his readers again.
http://milevalue.com/should-you-convert-starpoints-to-avios-with-a-56-bonus-through-october-15
“Should You Convert Starpoints to Avios with a 56% Bonus through October 15?”
It is not a 56% bonus. That implies the offer is 56% better than normal. He adds the standard transfer rate of 20,000 Starpoints into 25,000 Avios and calls that a bonus and then adds the actual 25% bonus on top. That makes it seem like a strong offer.
He uses this to push the SPG Amex when there is pretty much no chance that the signup bonus from that card would post in time to take advantage of the bonus MileValue is hyping. So even if it was a great bonus, signing up for the card because of it is simply not a good idea.
What a sad, sad, disingenous, bad man he is.
This blog is in my list of blogs to avoid. Coming up in the near future. You can easily guess which others one appear there. Probably does not make a difference in the big picture but makes me feel so much better in trying to educate my readers (who are pretty sharp anyways).
Thanks.
Really? On MY list, it is one of the most useful blogs when I research how to put my miles to good use. If you really wanted to educate your readers you could say something to the tune of,: look folks, this blog has great content and great educational value, but you are well-advised not to click on his credit card links because I think his motivation might be questionable. See? That’s education. Telling people to avoid a good blog altogether because you don’t like his business model is hardly educational. in my own opinion, of course.
No offense to you. I like your writing style, and it seems you’ve found a unique microniche within an already tiny microniche, but it feels sometimes as if that old infamous FT hatefest thread has found a new home.
Andy: We differ on what qualifies as “good blog” and we have different lists, that’s all. I respect your opinion and I definitely support mine 🙂 This blog USED TO have great content, not anymore. Again, in my own opinion of course. With so many blogs around TBB tries to educate its readers to read and support worthy blogs. I am sorry but you are not going to like it when I get to posting it. FTG (the blog) used to qualify as a “good blog”…but that was a long time ago!
Thank you for the compliment!
Regarding “microniche” —-> I don’t care really. I tell it like I see it.
“old infamous FT hatefest thread has found a new home” – I respectfully disagree. There have been beautiful things here in TBB comments. For sure, it is entertaining (part of the mission).
I don’t get the hate. MV at least provides original content worth reading – unlike 99% of the rest of people out their pimping away with filler pieces as an excuse to pimp more cards. How about incompetents like Rom’s Deals offering advice and needing an intern to write more fluff? Or MMS and his ridiculous never-ending trip reports, or stuff blatantly ripped off from FT – all stuffed with affiliate links at every opportunity?
The reasons have been stated here numerous times. Let me give you just one or two: “I will never promote an inferior offer”. When it is brought to the attention of doing exactly that, commenter is censored faster than you can say Ink! And the past several months it has been an absolute cc sale fest over there. I mean, check today even…Used to be a great blog and then greed took over. In my own opinion only 🙂
Really? Informing his readers about a new transfer bonus that wasn’t there before makes him a “sad, disingenous, bad man”. That’s rich. No, strike that. That’s beyond rich.
Andy: Thanks for coming here and taking the time to post your comment. I would definitely not choose the words the other commenter chose but, in my own opinion, his statement was valid (except the name calling which I always felt it is not necessary and NOT in my control). Remember, TBB does not censor. Say hi to Rick 🙂
OK, fair enough. I respect your opinion, but I disagree. I don’t think the SPG transfer to Avios with 50% bonus is such a terrible deal that it can be called misleading. It’s not. In all actuality, it’s quite a decent deal if you live or travel to the markets where you can take advantage of their mile-based chart. I would not have felt this way last year, but after SPG GUTTED their program in the Spring, and reduced transfer ratio to LAN, I believe this offer is reasonable; even more so that he gives you the pros and cons. Nothing misleading there.
P.S. Last time I talked to Rick was almost a year ago in Chicago. I think he will see your regards on this page before I have a chance to convey the message :).
I think the number of times the SPG Amex cc link was thrown around the body of the post may had something to do with it 🙂 And we have found the same pattern REPEATEDLY in that blog. Others may disagree and you can always state your disagreement about anything I and/or other readers may say in this section. This section is for dialogue. I wish the name calling was not present, not necessary but if someone feels better if he/she let’s go…I just can not censor it!
It may but again, I believe, we must separate the motivation (getting CC referral money) from the content. He might be motivated by the affiliate money, but he DIDN’T lie or promote a lesser CC in order to get it. Is Amex SPG a bad card? Is there a better sign up bonus? The answers are ‘no’ and ‘no’. I’m sorry, but I simply don’t see how that post rises (or perhaps lowers itself) to the level of trickery.
Liked the Efficient Asian Man post. It gets to a number of ideas floating around in my head about the downside of this hobby. The FT forums and blogs are full of people who gripe at length about the minor inconveniences of travel that 95% of travelers simply endure, and then feel good when comparing themselves to stories of “DYKWIA” people acting up.
As to Lucky in Bali, eh, I don’t read that blog anymore. We stayed here on our honeymoon. It’s recommended. It’s a one kilometer walk to the beach past several families’ houses and a pretty good restaurant, in a very quiet part of Bali with regrowing reefs. Iluh, mentioned in the reviews, is a smashing chef. The problem (and sometimes benefit?) with luxury hotels is that, in my view, they isolate visitors away from the surrounding area and people. I personally wouldn’t want that in Bali.
Oh, and by the way, George, I used one of your photos from Norway in a lecture on oil and Dutch Disease yesterday. Thanks. Expect residual checks in the mail on the next Saturday of never.
We travel for unforgettable memories and amazing moments. Something we will never forget,
something which will give us enough fuel when we have to go through our every day “drama”.
I’m willing to pay my hard earned money for those experiences. They might include
some kind of indulgence if that increases the magic of our experiences.
It seems like more and more people travel to feel “better” than other people. Less and less
focus on destinations, views, nature, “feelings”.
More and more on the endless meaningless details about the first class cabin or the suite
furniture. Looking to prove themselves they’re experiencing “better” so, of course, they are better.
The fact how easy it is, followed by repetition and getting used to. It also leads to entitlement.
We deserve all this because we are better…
I hope I will never forget what my real priorities and values are. Gratitude not entitlement.
harvson3: Been around for a while and I am starting to see more clearly about the downsides of this hobby too…To the point where I am seeing lots of harm being done. But I have enough enemies already so maybe I should keep my mouth shut lol. Great my Norway pic proved useful and I really can’t wait for the residual check to start coming finally, woohoo!
Andrew: Had some hot button words for me “Gratitude not entitlement” “unforgettable memories and amazing moments”. And I still prefer not to pay to go and have them you know 🙂 At least airfare and lodging and (preferably) car rental too!
There is a lot of nonsense in the elite status game and I think now the airlines have the upper hand completely on it. The situation on the ground (pun intended) has changed.
Oh my, what a saint you must be to be around. Traveling for the “right” reasons, not for those ‘shallow” things like comfort or convenience. Tsk tsk.
Thanks for the link! I’m grateful to get the TBB stamp of approval every once in a while.
As you should, not given out lightly 🙂
I am also sure that one day TBB will piss you off. When that happens it will be well deserved and I just want you to remember the good times here 🙂
Thanks again for that short post, it was beautiful. Well said and thank you for saying it.
Love the supercell pic… have a very similar one on my computer’s desktop from the NASA pic o’ the day website, which is a great place for cool pics: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Yo TBB–Did my comment go into the spam folder? I included a link to NASA’s astronomy pic of the day website, which I could see tripping a spam trigger.
Nick:
Yep, it was in the spam folder. No idea why it first went there, must have been the nasa reference? I had to dig through gazillion spam comments by “Canada Goose”, geesh! So I approved it of course and it now shows. Thanks for letting me know.
To all: If your comment does not post right away it happens because it contains a link. If that happens, please let me know here or shoot me an email so I go dig it out of the spam folder. I apologize for not seeing your comment right away! When that happens to me I feel like some North Korean arshehole general just censored me or something; not cool!
You can adjust spam settings in WordPress to change the number of links that make it spam. I set mine to 2, so readers can post a link. Multiple links get blocked.
Tara: What Raffles said!
I still love you for the Akismet plug in, saved me from spam!
Sometimes I’ll see a spam comment that is so complimentary and/or has such hilariously weird syntax that I want to let it through… but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
Yeah sometimes I laugh with some of them. I had one earlier today that was so long it was UNBELIEVABLE, almost took an entire screen. And all complete nonsense! Spammers must die, no excuses for such lowlife scum!
Some of the spammers are pretty clever about using my key words such as a bird name or “eco-tourism” but when I look at the website attached to it they are selling designer sunglasses, running shoes or something. Some spammers “carpet-bomb” my blog. They spam 30-40 of my posts and the only way to stop them is IP block from CPanel. None of them make it to public view but I still have to go through the pending comment list periodically to make sure no real comments are in there. I can’t imagine what big bloggers MMS, TPG and similar must be going through with spammers if they have to review all of them before deleting or approving.
I do have the right boxes ticked but my spam blocker must be really sensitive because even my own pingbacks such as when I link to another of my posts get sent to moderation.
This spam fest almost made me lose my eyebrows. My problem was solved when Raffles told me to install Akismet plug in. Now one or two spams get through the Akismet spam blocker in a month! Every once in a while a good comment goes to the Spam…which is totally manageable unspamming it. I was going crazy with all this spam crap!
“even my own pingbacks such as when I link to another of my posts get sent to moderation”
Yes! Why the hell does that happen? I do use Akismet.
I have no idea. My experience with Akismet has been FANTASTIC! Own pingbacks come through fine as soon as they post! I am not sure why some have the same problems. Frequent Miler also has spam problems and he uses Akismet…
Maybe it’s because my little blog just does not get enough traffic to attract the spam hacking kings…
As many tech things online, it is a mystery…
George who are you hosting your blog with? I am actually running into trouble with my hosting and need to migrate to something beefier… am actually getting enough traffic now the site is falling down! Anyway in researching I have always been skeptical as seems all the host companies have affiliate schemes. Found this interesting post, particularly toward the bottom I think you’d enjoy
http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-hosting/
Go Daddy 🙂 I went with them because of the Superbowl commercials lol. Seriously, i did not want to pay much and I never thought I would get much traffic anyway. Am I happy? I guess in an overall sense yes. But sometimes there are issues and can’t save the draft blog posts and it takes me forever…that drives me nuts. Does not happen very often. Other than that I have not logged into GD for a while. I should to make sure domain does not expire! Never looked into anything else. Heard good things about bluehost but then they had a massive outage recently. I thought GD is big enough they will not vanish. Thanks for the link, I bookmarked it.
I am considering migrating Head for Points to Synthesis. There are 2 options, I think – Synthesis and WP Engine. Synthesis would let me run two sites for the one fee, and purely for that reason they are better for me.
It is $97 per month, though, so a sizeable chunk of cheese compared to $5 with GoDaddy!
Ironically, HFP runs very quickly on Go Daddy. My traffic spike is UK AM when the US is asleep, which helps. A 2nd unrelated site I am currently beta-ing on Go Daddy runs pretty slowly, though, despite having zero traffic.
I am looking at moving to Synthesis. Fortunately – or not- my traffic is sufficiently low to fit into their first tier pricing, at least for now. But if I end up going over 2.5k uniques a day yeah that puts it in the $1.2k a year camp and oh yes I will need some income on the other side of that balance sheet!
The reason I posted the link though was the point about affiliate income and bloggers posting great reviews of products as a result. $150 just to sign up for a $5 a month hosting plan. Sounds familiar right? I was quite suspect when I saw so many blogs with so many ISP reviews.
I never heard of Synthesis! I still have not read that article. Dealing with this tech stuff gives me a headache. Go Daddy works for me, price is right too.
I’m running a VPS with Bluehost, I think the price is around $30 per month which thus far is working fine. There is a notable speed difference but it is self managed and they actually provide less support than for shared at $5…
The left me to my own devices to increase /tmp swap file sizes using a command line Apache server with VIM as an interface (none of which I had used before).
Linodes is supposed to be one of the best options, but is a completely blank slate and requires daunting tech knowledge, even beyond the VPS since they expect you to build the LAMP stack prior to WP installs.
Synthesis might be interesting, since they indicate they are managed, but it would be good to know how hands on they are before engaging.
Frankly, I think most of us just want a stable site with zippy load time and a low monthly cost. And there seems to be a real market gap for that.
I have no idea what you just said but I really liked this part:
Frankly, I think most of us just want a stable site with zippy load time and a low monthly cost.
Do you seriously review 600 blogs? I always thought you were exaggerating with those numbers but I’ve seen you claim around that number several times. Are there really that many travel blogs? And even if so, why in the world do you continue to review them? From the reader’s perspective, would there be any difference if you only reviewed 20-30? There are a pretty limited set that show up here. You should exercise a sort of Turing test of relevance. If an outside observer can’t tell the difference if you review the blog or not, maybe you should delete it from your feedly.
Also, Andrew, what is your deal with One Mile at a Time? You actually do sound angry.
602 as of right at this moment. BUT many of them are personal finance related. And many are probably dead (not updated any more) and I just have not had the time to review and delete them. I would say at least a good 40% are pertaining to TBB…if not at least 50%. It’s crazy actually. And it is not going to get better as they keep coming and coming. Just like email…it just never stops.
603
Why not cut back drastically? 95% on your list must be a complete waste of time. The once-in-a-blue-moon time the 95% might offer something worthwhile surely overwhelms your ability to pick out good content from the rest. Whenever I hear people say they look at hundreds of anything, I know they have no time to look at anything in detail – and it’s all in the details, isn’t it?
Time to get out the pruning shears…
I have 602 on my list and many are just dead so those blog posts never show up on my unread list anyway. I need to find time to keep the ones that at least get updated and then some more time to delete the ones that are truly hopeless that one day will ever produce something worthy.
I read the owners remarks, and he is spot on. More Barilla pasta please.
Sounds great to me!