We read about The Hobby and profile of a Titan blogger in Rolling Stone, get the Citi 75k HH Visa, register for Sheraton Free Nights, learn of the new IHG Rewards top tier elite name Spire, visit Uberoi Udaivilas, Bani and more!
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Ok, this is a must read. It is an article to appear in Rolling Stone magazine in mid July about Ben, the One Mile At A Time blogger. The article can be downloaded here. And you can follow the discussion in this Flyertalk thread when the article link appeared on Post #430. Reading it raised my blood pressure and had to physically restrain myself at times while I kept shaking my head, violently at times. I understand this was the writer’s first piece for the magazine and it shows. The angle for sensationalism and controversy (and sex) I guess it sells more magazines. Hey, in the cover we have one of them Kardashians! #deep. I was going to do a special blog post dissecting it but I just can’t justify the time. Unless you guys get five credit cards today with my links, #BOOM! Hey, I want to buy my mom a condo too you guys lol. Anyways, apparently our hobby is now (according to the writer) The Hobby, the story involves a hand job, love quarrels, a tragic event in his childhood, obsession with planes, a ridiculous work ethic (18 hours a day, no thanks!) and becoming a millionaire by age 25 (hey, congrats!). I think this is one of those articles that our hobby does not need! Calling airline executives idiots, really? After reading it I felt a sense of…sadness. I have seen people in this hobby (small h) who just can’t stand still, they are always moving flying. Settling down just seems impossible for them which undoubtedly will likely affect health and relationships…Ok, let’s move on!
Frequent Miler wrote a post titled “My job? I blog. Here’s the answer to your next question…” I tweeted this and meant it! “@FrequentMiler is a blogger. TBB is a joke 🙂 If all bloggers had the same $ policies as he does the world would be a better place!”
I just realized that the Citibank Hilton HHonors Visa card used to be only 40,000 points and the new offer is 75,000 points. The spend in this card always sucks but hey 75k HH points for no annual fee for only $2k spend is not too shabby. Is Citibank the new Chase lol? If you plan to get the card please consider using the links of a blogger you appreciate, thank you.
While every Titan blogger is massaging credit card links, Loyalty Lobby gets the scoop on the name of the new Top Tier Elite in IHG Rewards. It’s, please sit down and contain your enthusiasm boredom: Spire
Register for Starwood’s Free Sheraton Weekend night promotion. Stay 5 nights by September 30, earn 1 Free night. You can earn three free nights to be used by December 13 in any hotel up to Category 7s! This may come in handy for some of you.
To my Ann Arbor readers: There is a Hyatt Place coming on State Street!
Travel & Leisure named Oberoi Udaivilas the best hotel
The seven mosques of Bani by Roads and Kingdoms. Screw Krug, this is real!
The Top 10 Questions to Ask a Financial Advisor. This is excellent.
F*ck That: A Guided Meditation. This is so hilarious! “Breathe in strength. Breathe out bullshit”
And I leave you with…
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First?
Peer pressured 2nd
What annoyed me about rolling stone piece is that the last thing this hobby needs is more national media attention. Since Chase changed policy I’ve certainly noticed an even greater focus on newbies, this seems to be in that some mold. Show how sexy, cool, trendy, I am and bring in more
suckersnewbies for conversions.I think you nailed it!
Rolling Stone isn’t very widely read. More of a vanity brand than anything. Don’t think many people will be running to the blogs after reading it.
Well, you don’t need that many more streaming into the hobby to make deal killing/devaluation/etc more prominent as we have it appears reached that threshold where it is not ok to ignore these “travel hackers” anymore…
Hey, as long as it leads more to click on their credit cards links…the blogger wins while we all lose.
That Rolling Stone article is a fascinating read for those of us in the, um, “Hobby.” Other than the fact that the techniques discussed are hard (for most people) to master, the lifestyle portrayed seems more sad than attractive. Heck, compared to most folks, I travel a mind-boggling amount, but compared to Ben I’m a homebody. Who the heck wants to live in airports? For most of us, even though of us who know a lot about The Hobby, there is the self-limiting factor of how much travel we want to do.
Definteily agree it makes him look sad.
+1. Thought it would make me cringe, instead just made me grateful for a home base and a loving family.
I would like to know how in the world the writer thought that Ben knows anything about MS, let alone practice any of it LOL.
Publicity hurts this hobby…any publicity is bad for it and good for the plastic salesman blogger.
That Rolling Stone article is terrible. I like it more than I like Ben though.
It was the writer’s first article for the magazine it appears. Looks like he/she traveled with Ben….hey, not bad, free trip and all with employer paying for it lol.
500+ posts on that FT thread. My head hurts after a few pages. There was nothing new in that article, just a few more details. My perspective would be on his business. Just like my focus on Kim Kardashian would be! How long does your average customer stay with you? Why do they keep reading your 5th trip report to HK on Cathay Pacific? How young is your average reader? What % are fanboys? How successful are your readers at using their points?
The same type of questions could be asked to KK but at least my primitive brain wonders: WTF did she do with her body?
No shocker here, I got tired reading OMAAT a long time ago. It’s a very sterile blog and I could very rarely get anything useful out of the blog.
I used to read every day. No wonder the kids has a passion for it and he still remains a posting machine. About less than two years ago I noticed a turn towards more credit card pushing….which has continued in force! I had stopped reading the trip reports a long time ago, I mean, I find them as boring as a 35 part MMS trip report. Then guest writers were added to capture more of the newbie demographics for the most part. And then there are the 14 posts about such momentous events in aviation as the Korean Air nutgate incident. I felt sad reading it as this lifestyle is probably not the healthiest. I believe he recently wrote about some health issues and he recognizes that. The key is to recognize it AND do something about it. Which may lead him to sit at home, hire ghost writers, pump the shit up with plastic and get his parents a vacation home…you know, blog like MMS lol.
I have been to Udaivillas. Henry Winckler was there at the same time.
Seems he is one of the forgotten victims if the old East Germany regime, because my Ossie wife had no idea who he was!
Did u give Fonzi 2 thumbs up and say AAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?
Full disclosure: I googled “Henry Winckler” 🙂
Re Henry Winckler: I learnt of ‘jumping the shark’ via FT/EM&PR this year. And I’m exposed to ‘murrican lingo since the early 1990s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark
Lets hope the titan bloggers are jumping the shark this year. If the CC referrals dry up, the ad revenue drops, etc, then the end may be near 🙂
The ad revenue may be well on its way it appears. If the cc referrals dry up I see a mass extinction of bloggers going back to what they were doing before ( I talk about the full timers mostly AND most of the part timers will slowly quit too). I mean, it will make the internet stock bubble bursting seem like child’s play. I am talking 90% body count. Then we can go back again in our own obscure ways in small groups instead of having FTU “seminars” and articles in mainstream media.
In the last year or so, I’ve noticed that the bigger bloggers nee “Titans” have been getting more and more public media exposure. TPG and MP seem to regularly appear on ABC News. I believe Gary and Ben have frequently been on Fox News and/or CNN. Even Randy Peterson makes an occasional appearance. Haven’t seen MMS – maybe he’s not interested or the media shuns bow ties? At the end of the day, despite your opinion of what has happened to the hobby, I think you need to give a little credit where credit is due. These people have a passion that they followed and figured out a way to turn it into a career which they presumably enjoy. People who can achieve that dream of “I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do something I love” are decidedly in the minority. You might disagree with the methods of how they got to their level of present success, but I think anyone could say that about many successful people across industries. If the hobby ever has a big decisive crash, it will be interesting to see who survives and who withers away.
I don’t have any animosity for being wildly successful at something they love. My issue is out of pure self interest. I want this to last as long as possible and I don’t like all the publicity. This lasts as long as we remain a small community. I don’t mind newbies who come into the fold by exploring the internet and stumbling onto a blog or flyertalk. I have a problem with floods of people who learn about this on Nightline, NPR, or Rolling Stone.
Erik: Scott sums up the way I feel very nicely.
Kudos to the financial success of the Titans, hey it is the American way. I just wished they did it in another area and not my hobby damnit lol.
I think most of these guys will leave if/when cc referrals stop. Then you will see the true passionate hobbyists who remain and…go back to posting the way they used to instead of concentrating on how to hook more newbies and get them clicking on their cc links. I think Gary and Ben will not go away by the way. MMS and TPG are gone pronto.
We all wish I guess.
For the record, I no longer read the blogs I list in my “Blogs To Ignore” list. Of them, I get Gary’s posts via email and Ben’s digest email once a day. And I do my very best to not click on them save the occasional post.
I will never be able to trust the Rolling Stone after the UVA rape story debacle that rocked my alma mater. And the worst of it is the possible ramifications for legitimate rape victims. So, say what you want about the credibility of this genre. I think sensationalism sells and they border on the shameless in terms of what they chose to emphasize in print. Yes, I did read the story. I still read Ben and respect him for his work ethic. I found the article sad in part because it is really hard to fit into high school when you are a child trying to figure out your identity. So, flying on planes was certainly easier than fitting in with one’s peers. I did not know about the personal family tragedy. That revelation he chose to share with the world and it must be so very hard to lose someone so central to your life at such a young age. I think I do admire his parents for not being incredibly overprotective of him as a result. I think it took a huge amount of courage on their part to actually give him the space to explore his passion. And say what you want about his blog. I don’t travel the same way as he does, but I do see his passion there. Sure, he sells too much, no doubt about it. The main beef I have with the article is that it was not smart to call airline execs idiots. That is just asking for it. And the article brings more unwanted attention to “The Hobby”. I finished reading the article and wondered how bad the fallout would be. That remains to be seen.
Great points on Rolling Stone. Figures they used Kardashian in the cover of the issue with Ben’s piece.
I don’t read Ben and the amount of blogging he does is legendary, wow! I am worried about his health, doing this can’t be too healthy ya know. I think he hinted of making changes in lifestyle to give more priority to his health which is great. Without health we got…nothing!
I think the tragedy had a significant impact. Does not want to reattach too close again because there will be…hurt. Or whatever, who am I trying to psycho analyze another person, WTF!
Calling the airline idiots was douche baggie. As there were quite a few things in the article. But that is what writers do I guess, especially Rolling Stone writers!
This hobby is for obscure low key super organized/detailed introvert (in general) types. ANY attention is not good for it. Especially when you call the airline execs idiots you come off as an arrogant jackass.
You don’t need to go far to see the fallout, it has been happening every day. The latest Chase bank policy change really hurts. Today I canceled wife’s Ink Bold and now I am REALLY thinking about my strategy going forward. Of course I transferred all Chase UR points to United knowing it may be a long time before I get to do that again because 5 apps is, well, an afterthought! #sosad
Oh, and the endless Greek saga still goes on…yikes!
The new Chase policy hurts for sure, At this point I am just worried about it bleeding over to co-branded cards. I was going to wait to do the companion pass on SW until 2016, to maximize the two year period, but right now I am not so sure that is wise.
Oh man, that is a tough dilemma! I think it may spread to the co-branded cards by the end of the year #WILDguess Good luck.
Guess this is when we get to be glad we’ve been in “The Hobby” for an extended period of time…? Wouldn’t want to be starting out now, that is for sure.
LOL = hobby is for “obscure low key super organized/detailed introvert types” (totally nailed that)
Even the brother story is part BS: pointspro is registered to an address near Tampa which is owned by a Michael S. Who is alive and kicking and works for Blackstone. So there where at least 3 brothers.
Oh yeah, how come we never hear about that other bro…
Anyways, can you please get that Schaueble dude to come down a little, gee sh 🙂
Looks like that Blackstone bro married into a wealthy Manhattan family.
George–a couple of sports analogies come to mind re: Schauble: 1) Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and 2) Moving the goalposts back as the other team is about to score.
There is a more malignant interpretation of his outrageous behaviour of recent days: The Press Project has done some digging on the Luxembourg “Institution for Growth” to which the 4-page eurogroup paper demands that €50bn of Greek state property must be transferred. Guess what. This Luxembourg “institution” is wholly owned subsidiary of German KfW and the chairman of its board is a certain Wolfgang Schäuble.
Only the German financial elites are pigheaded and stupid enough to seriously fracture the EU and actually generate sympathy for Tsipras at the 11th hour. I’ve been in London and France for much of the last month, and in both countries its seems as though there has been a remarkable shift of public opinion against Germany over the weekend.
Yeah I think the Germans may have over played this a bit….We shall see what happens…In the meantime, Greeks will likely implode…again.
I have to admit that article was an entertaining read, even though seeing “The Hobby” (really? this is what it is known as? Sounds pretty douchey) brought to the surface made me cringe. I can’t help but feel sad for Ben though. That lifestyle sounds like a lonely existence.
It was definitely entertaining, no doubt!
There is so much info that you can get from a little web browsing. He did not buy the house for his parents as according to public records the house is in his name, if he purchased it for them it would be in their name.
Read his first posts in FT. He was flying around the world by himself when he was 15. Sorry, I wouldnt let my child do that. he wasn’t going to see anyone, visit relatives or see sights. He was just doing it for the flights. That is not what most 15 year old boys do. Most are doing sports or clubs or hanging with their friends or dating. Not to get into too much psychobabble but even an armchair psychologist would say he was running (or flying) away from something and he still is. He has an odd last name, he is gay and teens can be cruel. Maybe when he was in HS he was teased or worse bullied, who knows but he seems to have wanted to spend as little time as possible on the ground. Still seems the same way.
I too use to read his blog but it just got so repetitive. The final straw was when I found out about how he was scamming UA and reusing certs I lost a lot of respect for him. Calling airline execs idiots is not a mature or a wise thing to do when you are such a well known figure in “the HOBBY”
I always have gotten my best info from FT. The blogs were not really around way back then. If 95% of the “Hobby” blogs disappear tomorrow I could care less.
If you buy a house and you let your parents live in it…it’s probably the same thing 🙂
I think 95% of the commercial “Hobby” blogs will disappear tomorrow if cc revenue stopped.