We bring you more SPG Marriott secrets, travel to Theth in Albania, check out a Mercedes designed plane, how bloggers do credit card sales 24/7, how Amex will fight back (we hope) with its Platinum card or a new offering, ride on self-driving chairs, more on Albania, laugh with a lawyer’s experience, freak out at some high tax rates in countries all over & more! For You!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
We are all still digesting the Marriott SPG merger and the surprising move by Marriott to allow transfers of points between the two programs, including Elite status. Here is Lazy Traveler Andy and Doctor of Credit with their thoughts:
SPG Marriott Merger and My Thoughts on Transfer Opportunities
Best Uses of Marriott & SPG Points
I agree with all 6 points! 6 Things a New Amex Card Needs Against the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Not holding my breath but I do think there will be some type of response. I should probably pick up the phone and try to squeeze some points ahead of what they will do…
$26k per year for a travel membership? Definitely not for you and me. Maybe The Points Guy will have a review lol.
Drew’s Guide to Albania (& Macedonia). Where it will take a while for Hyatt to expand to lol. Just hurts typing Macedonia…
Screw self-driving cars! Self-driving chairs are here baby!
Countries with the highest tax rates. Argentina, Bolivia and Tajikistan take the top three spots. Hmmm….
Man Bitten On Penis By Spider For The Second Time This Year. Mega Ouch! Dude, seriously?
All the ways credit card companies try to screw you over. Is it about responsibility? How about them being responsible NOT to screw you over? ^%#*@#$ Wells Fargo and all others!
Wonderful post by Carrie (Drew’s wife) at Freakin Flyers about Theth, Albania. I like the writing and the redesign looks good! Oh, great pics as well!
Water is funneled through above-ground aquifers. Fences are constructed from branches that are woven together. There are footpaths connecting the little farms and houses instead of streets.
The kind of scene that reminds you with a jolt that the very rock you’re standing on is its own thing with its own tumultuous story, rising and crashing into a landscape of confused, jagged layers
So in short, go to Theth.
Feel small.
Feel isolated.
Feel powerless.
Mercedes unveiled a stunning plane design with 5 separate rooms. Germany and Albania may be in Europe but they may as well be on different planets galaxies!
Lawyer Posts Hilarious Legal Tips Based On Things That Actually Happened During His 19 Year Practice. This is so hilarious…if you don’t laugh, maybe you are a little, ummmm, boring?
BLOG BUZZ
This section for advanced users only.
Well, instead of the first marginal bloggers leaving this space who do not offer anything other than posing as experts so they can pump their readers with credit cards…we learn of MJ on Travel leaving and going to Travel Update. Didn’t you know of Travel Update? It is another site by the Boarding Area folks where they stick bloggers who blog sparingly and do not have the traffic to be considered for a promotion. I look at them in Feedly, nothing has ever made it here. Things I do for TBB readers 🙂 Congrats on the promotion to MJ, a blogger I respected for his unique views on the airline industry due to his experience and of course the cruising. And REALLY appreciated he never went hog wild on the plastic pumping like some others!
After seeing that in your email, you would think you may learn something and, maybe, just maybe, escape another attempt to be sold credit cards? WRONG (Imagine Trump saying it. Again. And again). Post was nothing but a sorry attempt to pump the Ritz Carlton credit card again. While at it, why not try to sell a few more credit cards? And keep mouth shut about the Sapphire Reserve…wow!
Reader question: Do you follow the Points of Life?
My answer: No, deleted from Feedly way before the CNN interview.
Reader follow up question: He wrote he was misquoted in the CNN interview about MS.
My answer: Does this happen when you open your mouth to journalists? Really? Lol.
Another exchange follows:
Reader question: How come you don’t share the higher Delta card offers?
My answer: I had the cards before, I can not have them again. My readers too. I got up at 4 am and am tired. Just did not have any more energy, give me a break or give me a click if you prefer.
Reader follow up question: So many pumping bloggers are selling them right now and do not say much about the once in lifetime bonus or mention the CSR at all.
My answer: Amigo, the name of the “hobby” from the sell out out blogger side is to make CONVERSIONS=SALES! So, they hype the crap up big time and omit saying anything that will reduce CONVERSIONS=SALES. Come on now! Remember, approval MEANS MONEY! They could care less if they do not get the signing bonus. If this ever happens to you…you were SCREWED!
And I leave you with this…
Please help bloggers you appreciate & make a positive difference in your life by spreading the word about their blogs, emailing and commenting and using their few $ links, thank you!
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.
First
agreed
Amex took a little while to put the affiliate links out! I wrote about the increased Delta offers around 8am yesterday and I did not see the rush of posts until sometime in the afternoon. The funny part is how many people ended up clicking (and likely) applying through my non-affiliate links. 🙂 Wish they had been affiliate links but that is actually one of the reasons I stepped away from being a direct Amex affiliate. You are not allowed to link to any Amex card unless you go through the affiliate.
Thanks for the link again! Really hope they launch something exciting but I fear it may be not enough.
Always enjoy MJ’s posts, glad to see he’ll continue on in another “spot” on BA. Hopefully he will bring some improvement to the writing quality. Some of the current bloggers kinda fall short (though I’ve not read all of them), for example:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/27085706-post924.html
@Ryan
Unfortunately, if you’re looking for proper grammar and any kind of editorial discretion, these aren’t the bloggers you’re looking for… (ending a sentence with a proposition is worth it to quote Obi-Wan)
Drew writes like he’s having a conversation, which wouldn’t bother except most of his sentences start dropping the word “the”.
MMS seems to have a patent on the word folks.
VFTW must voice to text most of his articles, so there’s almost always a misused homonym.
And then there’s Mr TBB himself who seems to think F and Ph are interchangeable. Maybe in Greek buddy… 🙂
>>>>>>>>And then there’s Mr TBB himself who seems to think F and Ph are interchangeable. Maybe in Greek buddy…
Lol. Of course they are not. But I do not want to lose my cc links as these may get flagged by “compliance”. Yeah, I have to give in some of my dignity…because…Amazon clearly does not justify the hours spent here. It is a delicate strolling the line…this works for now. Direct affiliate links (see hint above by Chariie) require you to be a total sellout and bitch. This way does not get to that point (thank God) and somewhat justifies the time spent here.
I also think it is kind of entertaining/phunny to do this 🙂
Back to work that pays…I am thinking to start the no Saturday posts soon…like tomorrow? #developing
“voice to text” – LOL
The grammar quality doesn’t really bother me so much as the weird or poor content, which is what I meant.
If there is quality information, I don’t mind reading a very informal style. And minor errors are fine so long as it doesn’t screw up the meaning.
It is easy to spot idiosyncrasies in some of them though. One of the UK bloggers on BA has an obsession with using “whilst” in every other sentence. OMAAT is very repetitive in using certain phrases such as “In other words”.
“At which point…” OCaaT’s other favorite overused phrase!
I give major points to anyone who writes in a language which is not their first language no matter how long they have known it. It is totally understandable that a native speaker of Greek would occasionally mix up “f” with “ph”. Kudos to George for doing something well that is not easy for most. I am a linguist, so trust me.
I do not mix up the f with ph in that 4 letter word, I do it intentionally 🙂
I think at this point I speak English better than Greek!
Blogging has made me a better writer, that’s for sure!
Gracias!
Being “one of those”, I painstakingly proofread stuff I write for most of the clients since, well, I know my, um, shortcomings. I say “most” because I have a few clients who tell me not to bother since they heavily use their own editors anyway. As to my own blog … well, if that’s a labor of love (it is), then I have to admit I hate proofreading.
The link to Carrie’s story actually goes to Charlie’s Amex post…
TGIF and #TBBon
Thanks for letting me know, fixed!
I do test the links but obviously sometimes late at night….I miss things 🙂
And damnit, mess up the best link of the day!No…Charlies is not paying me per link lol.
Aw, c’mon! You just cost me like 3k views and ad money! 🙂
Sorry Charlie! 🙂
Wells Fargo: a hive of scum and villainy
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/29/news/wells-fargo-servicemembers-cars/index.html
It gets worse every day….In the meantime, his buddies in the Board of Directors decided to teach him a lesson and take away a fraction of what he earned…Amazing….To stand there and say I am accountable and then blame it on a few bad apples…what audacity and out of touch these asshole bankers are, wow! After the politicians get their 5 mins of fame looking tough…they will soon be cozying up for campaign donations
Disgusted
TPG’s holiday party in NYC is scheduled for Dec 7. Where the TBB party at?!
My local WalMart 🙂
George –
Your endearing lack of success at clickbait brought me to comment…How could that spiderbite story not have been a headline?
I thought about it, I really did!
Appreciate the note, George. Exciting times here, but moving still sucks. Ugh.
Good luck in the new digs!