Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as trading stocks, AI Darwin awards, the Lonely Fans company scaling, the long awaited AMEX Platinum Card refresh is finally here, US interest rates history, AI making us rich or not, tax shelters are back, movie twists, tallest hotels, trips to take in retirement, the best photography links and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of frequent flyer miles and points at the lower half of the post. Enjoy the weekend and stay cool.
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This blog started way back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of traveling with frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to curated posts featuring the best web content along with my commentary.
Due to new severe credit card affiliate restrictions, there will not be any credit card links in the body of the blog posts other than Capital One Bank and personal referral links going forward. You can always get to my credit card links by clicking on “CREDIT CARDS’ at the menu on the top of the homepage or the big beautiful “We make finding a new credit card simple” banner on the right sidebar. Or, preferably, you can receive new offers in your email inbox by signing up to receive alerts HERE to avoid clicking to find the one credit card you want to apply for. Or you can always email me, thanks for your support.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
Currently traveling in Larissa, Greece.
PERSONAL FINANCE
We are living in a meme world. And it appears many are just taking shots with their money trading non stop. Including the financial advisors of Congress members: Why You Don’t Want to Trade Stocks Like a Member of Congress. The opening paragraphs of this article by Jason Zweig of the Wall Street Journal is great writing:
The peak of a bull market and the bottom of a bear market have one thing in common: Buy-and-hold investing starts to feel like a waste of time.
Just look at how many investors seem unsatisfied that stocks are merely setting record highs day after day. They want more and more, faster and faster.
As the cartoonist Walt Kelly’s character Pogo said back in 1970, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” For some individual and professional investors, the fruitless pursuit of fantasy profits never stops—although it should. Sooner or later, the quest to get rich quick with rapid, risky trading ends in tears.
And these crazy stats:
Out of 672 launches of new exchange-traded funds so far this year, according to FactSet, 28% are tied to a single stock and 25% are leveraged, amplifying the daily gains or losses of the underlying asset.
Retail traders account for about 50% of daily trading volume in zero-day options tied to the S&P 500
And this final excerpt is something you should think hard about how you invest. I stick with enterprise and leave entertainment in other ways, like say…travel 🙂
Investing can be an enterprise, or it can be an entertainment.
Investing as an enterprise is a lifelong endeavor to build wealth with patience and prudence; your long-term odds of making money are close to 100%.
Investing for entertainment is a roller-coaster ride of trading ups and downs. It’s sure to give you thrills in the short run but likely to leave you shaken in the end; your long-term odds of making money are close to zero. That’s why fast money should be, at most, only a tiny slice of your portfolio.
You can invest both as an enterprise and for entertainment, of course. Just make sure you don’t fool yourself into thinking that investing for entertainment is the enterprise.
Let’s continue with the same theme that investing can be very complicated…only if you let it: Inventing Problems.
Complicated investments are often hard to categorize, and that makes them less-than-ideal from a risk perspective.
To the extent that funds are pursuing so-called tactical strategies, that should be of particular concern. According to a study by Morningstar, tactical funds are among the most risky out there. This is how Morningstar summed up the performance of this category: “They Came. They Saw. They Incinerated Half Their Funds’ Potential Returns.” [LOVE this headline by the way lol]
Read more in the article beating up on interval funds and all kinds of “alts”. And at last:
Fundamentally, the challenge with all of these new funds is that no one has a magic wand. Especially when there are more funds than there are stocks, there just aren’t that many new ways to combine investments into something new and better than what already exists. Despite that, Wall Street continues to roll out new offerings every day. How should you respond? Morningstar’s Jeffrey Ptak puts it best: “The more rhapsodic the sales pitch, the more you should plug your ears.”
Some very interesting stats in this one: Stocks, Housing & Social Security: What Matters Most?
The top 10% owns 87% of the stock market in the United States and 44% of the housing market.
The bottom 90% owns 13% of the stock market and 56% of the housing market.
The bottom 50% has been consistent. The biggest change is a shrinking share of wealth in the 51-90% group and a growing share for the top 1%. The remainder of the top 10% has been more or less unchanged. So basically all of the wealth inequality we’ve experienced has gone to the tip of the spear.
The way I would summarize all of this data looks like this:
- Stocks are the most important financial asset for the upper class.
- Housing is the most important financial asset for the middle class.
- Social Security is the most important financial asset for the lower class.
Since the Fed and interest rates are in the news, this is relevant:
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
I really liked this balanced article: AI Will Not Make You Rich. Which goes over the history of prior technological innovations in great detail.
And I like how the article concludes:
There is nothing better than the beginning of a new wave, when the opportunities to envision, invent, and build world-changing companies leads to money, fame, and glory. But there is nothing more dangerous for investors and entrepreneurs than wishful thinking. The lessons learned from investing in tech over the last 50 years are not the right ones to apply now. The way to invest in AI is to think through the implications of knowledge workers becoming more efficient, to imagine what markets this efficiency unlocks, and to invest in those. For decades, the way to make money was to bet on what the new thing was. Now, you have to bet on the opportunities it opens up.
Of course smh: Trump Administration Halts I.R.S. Crackdown on Major Tax Shelters. The Treasury Department is rolling back efforts to shut down aggressive strategies used by America’s biggest multinational companies and wealthiest people.
The administration, bowing to pressure from industry groups, right-wing activists and congressional Republicans, is quickly rolling back several I.R.S. law enforcement efforts, including one aimed at a lucrative tax shelter used by companies like Occidental Petroleum and AT&T. The I.R.S. crackdown was projected to raise more than $100 billion over 10 years. [This should make you furious…I am trying to calm down right now…Serenity now, serenity now.]
Part of my blog mission is “to entertain”. Ladies and gents, I bring you the 2025 AI Darwin Award Nominees. Lol! Remember the Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru?
Taco Bell Corporation for deploying voice AI ordering systems at 500+ drive-throughs and discovering that artificial intelligence meets its match at “extra sauce, no cilantro, and make it weird.”
You like my blog? Send a link to someone please!
ODDZ & ENDZ
The business numbers of the OnlyFans company are unreal. Scaling up to the nth degree: Lonely Fans.
Loneliness is lucrative. Leonid Radvinsky, the secretive owner of OnlyFans, received a $700 million windfall last year, while the platform’s top tier of content creators — mostly women — earn millions annually. With $7.2 billion in annual gross revenue and just 46 employees, OnlyFans may be one of the most profitable companies on the planet. [I added the bold font for emphasis]
Yeah, we are addicted to our phones. Isn’t it great when we put the damn thing down out of sight? You’re being rude. Put away your phone.
We are ruled by our phones. The phone sets the pizzicato of Americans’ daily lives — a constant, unignorable mental plucking that sounds at all hours and shapes the substrate of our days. It has bestowed on us an infernal mental itchiness, and it whispers, ceaselessly, to take a break from whatever else we’re doing and look at the phone again. This is an unacceptable, horrendous way to go through life — and if we’re being honest with ourselves, it has been unacceptable and horrendous for years now.
The author continues with some solutions how we can address this. And I have no issues with any of them. Actually, I am going to implement more of them. I suggest you do the same. And put that damn thing down while you read my blog. Oh wait, you are probably reading it on your phone lol.
Missing going to the movies back in the US. So, here you go: The 31 most mind-blowing movie twists of all time, explained.
Amazing photography link: The 2025 Audubon Photography Awards Emphasize Epic and Endangered Migrations.
TRAVEL
Interesting find: 10 of the Tallest Hotels in the World. Been to one of them, you?
Another one which suddenly became relevant to me as I am (shockingly) checking a bag when I fly back to the US: What really happens to your bag after you check it in? It’s a wild ride from check-in to cargo hold.
Need to get going on this: 17 Trips You Need to Take as Soon as You Retire.
The obligatory Thailand link: Where Locals Go in Thailand.
Interesting: Destinations Where Tourists Outnumber Locals. And not too surprising.
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This blog started with a focus on miles and points and travel. It has evolved since then. Everything below deals with the hobby of collecting frequent flyer miles and points and maximizing your travel experiences. If you are not interested, you can stop here, thank you.
MILES & POINTS
Here we go again.
Amex is back with the major refresh of its flagship Platinum cards, see separate section below.
Let’s begin with a complete guide of the Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards program.
Sticking with Alaska miles: How to Unlock Alaska Airlines Milestone Rewards.
If you are traveling to London and looking for a hotel: Did you miss any of our 30 London airport hotel reviews?
Register for the latest IHG One Rewards promotion HERE to earn double points on your second stay and triple points on your third stay and beyond, from 1 October to 31 December 2025.
I guess you can still find some decently priced SLH hotels to burn your Hilton Honors points: Cheap luxury: SLH properties for 40K or fewer Hilton points per night.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
First, do this: Q4 2025 5% Quarterly Categories: Activate, Offers & Suggestions (Freedom/Flex, Discover, Dividend, Cash+ & More).
Chase would not be doing this if the Sapphire Reserve cards did not need such “edit”: Chase Sapphire Reserve Enhances $500 ‘The Edit’ Credit + Adds One-Time $250 Hotel Credit. I need to find a way for me to take advantage of this before closing this (business) card, thanks for the 230k points already in the bank (pun intended).
Some playing this addictive game are just totally against paying ANY credit card annual fees. I never understood it but hey, we are all different. If you are one of them you should be primarily interested in Citi credit cards then: Citi Has Some Fantastic No Annual Fee Cards – Here’s the Best Strategy for Getting Them.
AMERICAN EXPRESS PLATINUM CARD REFRESH
After suffering numerous online content pieces with ridiculous rumors about what Amex will announce, the day finally arrived in a huge relief for all of us. Well, my take on it in a few words, please allow me. I think Amex knocked it out of the park. This is coupon overload. In a good sense by the way. So many coupons thrown at us that it is highly probable that the new $895 annual fee will not make you blink. At all. And it has totally trashed the Chase refresh of its Sapphire Reserve card. I mean, has Chase CEO Jamie Dimon fired the execs responsible for CSR card initiatives yet? If I were them I would be working on my resume right now.
Anyway, just a few select links from gazillions of them about this topic:
First, to get all the details about the refreshed cards, see: American Express Refreshes Platinum & Business Platinum Cards ($895 Fee, 175k/200k Bonus, Many New Credits).
I am posting this from my studio Airbnb apartment in Larissa, Greece just an hour or two before publishing it Friday morning. There are so many travel reward credit card related news and ever changing offers that it is hard to keep up you guys. And making this section of my blog posts ridiculously long. So I think I am just going to cut listing all the features of the cards, you guys know where to find such info (and the links to apply). I just realized that keeping up this blog has way too many personal costs and I really need to make some tough decisions ahead. Well, I think you may have heard this before smh…
For a bit deeper analysis, see these two Frequent Miler posts:
Introducing the $895 Consumer Platinum card
Introducing the $895 Business Platinum card
And do this: Attention, Amex Platinum Cardholders: 8 Things to Do ASAP.
Amex not only kept all the benefits but enhanced some of them and added all the following new benefits, wow:
- Hotel Credit of US$600 ($300/semi-annually) up from previously $200/calendar year
- Leading Hotels of the World – Leader Club Sterling Status (Enrollment Required)
- Lululemon US$300 ($75/quarter) for purchases of Lululemon active wear
- RESY Credit US$400 ($100/quarter) for eligible purchases at U.S. Resy restaurants
- RESY Restaurant Platinum Nights with preferred reservation at select dates
- OURA Health Appliances US$200 credit
- UBER ONE US$120 annual credit for monthly renewing subscriptions
Looks like we will change our ways and look into staying two nights annually in a nice FHR hotel to use the two $300 credits. And visit a nice restaurant every quarter to use $100 credit. And buy some nice piece of clothing every quarter from Lululemon to use the $75 credit. OURA ring, WTF is that lol. RESY Platinum nights and Leading Hotels of the World Sterling status are inconsequential. No idea about this UBER ONE thing but if it is totally free why not I guess. You add the higher and expanded Entertainment $300 credit, the standard $200 airline incidental credit, the standard $200 Uber credit, the $100 Saks credit (shocked this one survived), etc. You add all these up and it is hard to resist imho.
The Signup Bonus offers remain the dreaded “Up to 175,000 points” for the personal card (most getting 80,000). And a solid 200,000 points for the Business card.
A few words about the Business Platinum card. In my opinion, this card has become vastly inferior to the personal Platinum. Did it also improve? Yes of course, by finally adding the $600 FHR hotel credit. I never figured out why this benefit was never part of the business card. Anyway, this was finally fixed. It even added an earnings enhancement by now earning 2x on purchases of $5,000+ in selected categories. Which is certainly welcome. Which does not change the fact that all Platinum versions are designed to not be used for earning points, there are numerous travel reward cards out there so much better in earning power. Don’t even think about reaching for much higher spend of $250k to gain a few extra perks/benefits.
But the sad fact remains that so many benefits applying to the personal card do NOT carry over to the business card, such as: $400 Resy, $300 Digital Entertainment, $200 Uber, $300 Lululemon. Anyway, the business card still has the $200 airline credit, the $150 Dell credit and the quarterly $50 Hilton credit which I mostly use. Add a few FHR hotel nights in the mix and I decided to keep the Business Platinum card. I got no retention offer at all which hurt my feelings. So I am actively looking for a way to apply for the personal Platinum, maybe the Schwab version since I may be getting another credit for doing all my investing with Schwab. If anyone finds a no lifetime restriction offer on the Schwab Platinum please let me know. After I squeeze every credit I can before the end of the year. Oh wait, just ordered two monitors from Dell for daughter #winning.
NEW OFFERS:
So many new offers so little time. I still think the two 90k no annual fee Chase Ink Business cards below are a no brainer. Below them I am adding the new 120k Chase Southwest Performance card and the up to 100k Chase Aeroplan card. Just mentioning them right now as I am running out of time here in Greece to add all the card features you guys…
And they are back! Two NO ANNUAL fee cards from CHASE, the CHASE Ink Business Cash and the CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, for 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for $6,000 minimum spend. Thanks for supporting the blog, you know what to do.
The 90K CHASE Ink Business Unlimited card is back. This is a NO ANNUAL FEE business card that earns 1.5x on everything, unlimited. The minimum spend required to earn the Signup Bonus is $6,000 in the first three months. Don’t use this card abroad as it has a foreign transaction fee. Chase may advertise this card all over the place as a cash back card but it does pay the Signup Bonus in 90,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points. Of course, extended warranty, purchase protection and primary CDW when renting a car for business purposes also apply. All these goodies for no annual fee, wow! Needless to say you don’t have to book travel in the Chase travel portal to get the travel values above. You can transfer your points to airline and hotel partners and possibly get even more more value than what you can get at the Chase travel portal, assuming you do have one of the cards mentioned above (Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred). But that requires a little more legwork from you to transfer, find availability, book award trips, etc. I like to transfer to Hyatt, Air Canada Aeroplan, United and sometimes Southwest. Available from my favorite bank links above.
The 90K CHASE Ink Business Cash is a NO ANNUAL FEE card. The card now offers the 90k Signup Bonus after $6k spend in the first three months. It earns 5x on office supply stores and internet/cable/phone services on the first $25,000 and 2x on gas and restaurants on the first $25,000 and 1x on everything else unlimited. Don’t use this card abroad as it has a foreign transaction fee. I usually go to Office Depot and buy gift cards of the stores I usually shop at, hello 5x Amazon! You can transfer your points to airline and hotel partners and possibly get even more more value than what you can get at the Chase travel portal, assuming you do have one of the cards mentioned above (Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred). But that requires a little more legwork from you to transfer, find availability, book award trips, etc. I like to transfer to Hyatt, Air Canada Aeroplan, United and sometimes Southwest.
NEW: Attention all you Southwest Companion Pass lovers and seekers: Chase Southwest Business Performance Card 120,000 Points Signup Bonus (Companion Pass With Single Card Signup). $299 annual fee. $10k minimum spend in 3 months. If you time this right, you can earn the Companion Pass for all of 2026 AND 2027! Offer expires 10/22/2025 by the way. So if you apply in early October you can get the bonus posted in early January 2026 and boom!
NEW: Chase Aeroplan 100k Bonus Points. $95 annual fee. 75k points for $4k spend in 3 months. Additional 25k points for $20k total spend in 12 months.
BANK OF AMERICA ALASKA AIRLINES THREE ATMOS CREDIT CARDS
100K AND 25,000 Point Global Companion Award Bank of America Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite Card: The new premium credit card we have been waiting for a while. $395 Annual Fee. Fairly low $6k minimum spend in first three months. Earns 3x on Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines purchases, dining and foreign transactions, 1x on everything else. 10% bonus points if you have an eligible Bank of America account, so the 3x becomes 3.3x oh la la. Can earn 100k Global Companion Award cert if spend reaches $60k during the year. 8 Alaska Airlines lounge day passes and 8 Wi-Fi passes every year (2 per quarter). Free checked bag for cardholder and up to six on same reservation. 10,000 status points every anniversary. 2 status points for every $1 spent, uncapped. Waived partner award booking and same day change fees. $50 vouchers for cancellations and 2+ hour delays. One free cocktail drink at each lounge visit (through 2026). Points sharing with up to 10 Atmos Rewards members. 20% off in flight purchases. $120 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre. If you had requested to be waitlisted for this card you should have received an email with an application link that can earn an additional 5,000 points (on top of the 100,000).
80k Bank of America Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Signature Card: $95 annual fee. Comes with a $99 Companion Fare. $4k minimum spend in first four months. 3x on Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines purchases. 2x on gas, EV charging, cable, streaming and local transit, 1x on everything else. Earns 1 status point per $3 spent (up to 30k status points in 2025 and uncapped starting in 2026). 10% bonus points if you have an eligible Bank of America account. Free checked bag for cardholder and up to six on same reservation. Preferred boarding. 20% inflight purchases. $100 off annual Alaska Lounge membership. No foreign transaction fees. Here is a link to get you 85k miles instead of the 80k affiliate link.
80k Bank of America Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards Business Visa Card: $95 annual fee. Comes with a $99 Companion Fare. $5k minimum spend in first three months. 3x on Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines purchases. 2x on gas, EV charging, shipping and local transit, 1x on everything else. Earns 1 status point per $3 spent (up to 30k status points in 2025 and uncapped starting in 2026). 10% bonus points if you have an eligible Bank of America account. Free checked bag for cardholder and up to six on same reservation. 20% off inflight purchases. $100 off Alaska Airlines Lounge membership. No foreign transaction fees. Here is a link to get you 85k miles instead of the 80k affiliate links.
EXPIRING OFFERS:
125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve: Chase raised the Signup Bonus to 125,000 from 100,000 points. Which is great of course. But it also withdrew the $500 statement travel credit in the original offer, boo. Then again, you know, getting an extra 25,000 point is certainly a lot more flexible. The minimum spend is $5k in the first three months. As with all cards, you know what to do to help the blog, thank you. You can read a lot more about the Sapphire Reserve cards HERE.
30k CHASE United Gateway: One of my favorite no annual fee keeper cards. Just $1k minimum spend in the first three months. Earns 2x on United purchases, gas stations, local transit and commuting, 1x on everything else. You get expanded award availability and 2 free checked bags after $10k spend in a calendar year. 25% off in in-flight purchases. No foreign transaction fees. Many spend based promos with this card from personal experience, there is always a spend based promo going on, it is surprising and love it.
We have a great REFERRAL offer from Capital One: 75,000 Points + $300 Travel Credit Capital One Venture. If you value simplicity, this card earns 2x points everywhere (and 5x on hotels and rental cars booked on the Capital One travel portal) with a $95 annual fee. No foreign transactions fees, Visa Signature benefits and credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.
Capital One is at it again with a revised offer for the Capital One Spark Cash Business Card $1,000 Signup Bonus With $10,000 Spend. The card has its annual $95 fee WAIVED for the first year. No annoying credits to deal with, it just earns 2 points everywhere. And you can earn 5x on hotels and rental cars booked on the Capital One travel portal too. And when you have a Capital One Venture X or the Venture card above, the $1,000 can be turned into 100,000 miles.
After waiting for Citi to introduce a premium credit card, it finally arrived. Please click the link below to get all the info you need about the card and email me if you want to apply.
Citi Strata Elite Review: 80,000 Points Bonus, $595 Annual Fee, $300 Hotel & $200 Splurge Credit
Citi has a new offer for 30,000 Thank You points for its Strata no annual fee card. Very good earning rates for a no annual fee card: 5x on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com, 3x spent at Supermarkets, Select Transit, Gas & EV Charging Stations, 3x spent on an eligible Self-Select Category of your choice, 2x spent at Restaurants and 1x on All Other Purchases.
My still favorite bank Chase is at it again. We have two new 100k offers on United business cards. Actually, the United Business card is decent, especially for people who have United elite qualification aspirations. I have it myself and not keeping it past the first year by the way. Ends November 5, 2025.
Brand new elevated IHG and Delta SkyMiles offers just launched yesterday:
- Chase IHG One Rewards Premier: 165,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Chase IHG One Rewards Traveler: 2 Free Nights + 40,000 Bonus Points after spending $2,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months from account opening. Each Free Night is valued at up to 50,000 points.
- Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Business: Earn up to 200,000 Bonus Points. Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, earn 60,000 Bonus Points after spending a total of $9,000 in the first 6 months from account opening for a total of 200,000 Bonus Points.
If you love IHG, the Premier card always made sense to make it a keeper imho. If you hate annual fees, the current Traveler card also makes sense, especially if you have targeted a particular property for a two to three night getaway. Lots of IHG points to score if you can swing the very high (for a hotel card) minimum spend for the business card. Don’t have the time to list the other benefits of these cards while traveling you guys, you know what to do and thank you.
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!
THIS CARD STILL PAYS FOR ITSELF:
The 75K CAPITAL ONE Venture X card has a minimum spend of $4k in the first three months. If you like simplicity and looking for one (premium) card, I highly recommend this card (and yes, I have it myself!). It has an annual fee of $395 but it comes with an easy $300 statement credit for travel booked on its own travel portal, essentially turning it into a $95 annual fee card. But wait, there is more! On each card anniversary you earn 10,000 points essentially making it FREE! Every dollar of spend earns 2 points and flights booked on the travel portal earn 5 points per dollar. You get access to Capital One and Plaza Premium airport lounges and a Priority Pass Select lounge membership and, this is important, you can add four authorized users FOR FREE who can also have their own Priority Pass Select airline lounge membership and, this is BIG, they can bring in unlimited guests with their FREE Priority Pass card! You can transfer your Capital One points to up to 18 Transfer Partners. No foreign transaction fees. Free Hertz President’s Circle rental car top elite status. Cell phone protection and PRIMARY rental car coverage. Awesome seats at baseball stadiums for just 5k points each. And lots more.
BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
Would you like to be automatically notified every time a card comes out with (or is about to remove) an elevated welcome offer? If yes, I highly encourage you to sign up if you haven’t yet. And when you apply for a credit card from a link in these emails you help support the blog.
Elevated Card Offer Notifications
All you have to do to receive these free notifications is:
1. Click on the link above
2. Create an account
3. Subscribe
MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
This latest family trip to Greece has been magical. Reconnecting with my first cousins and all seven second cousin kids got together again after several years apart. And they clicked like, well, magic. The wedding was beautiful by the way. We all promised we will get together at the next wedding to come along. And the trip arrangements have been superb without any interruptions at all, thanks to me again lol. All flights were great with no delays. All lodging arrangements were also great, especially the Villa property in Kefalonia island. Even the small Airbnb in Larissa I am staying now which is downtown and next block to where I was born. All the cars from Sixt and Hertz I rented were equally great so far as well. My girls really enjoyed flying Austrian Airlines business class from Athens to Vienna and then to Washington DC.
The only arrangement that remains is me booking me a return ticket back to the US which will come along with a final night at my favorite Thessaloniki Hyatt. And I am starting to get really worried now that just a week out I am seeing absolutely no award availability. I mean, zilch! And crazy cash prices as well. Hopefully this weekend I settle this. Update: I have a 40k United award booked to fly me back in economy on Aegean to Zurich, on Swiss to Washington IAD and then on United to Detroit. First flight is at 7 am and, shockingly, the Thessaloniki Hyatt appears sold out that final night…and I may have to stay somewhere else, oh no! Absolutely nothing on Alaska, Aeroplan and American miles, just pathetic. I will be checking over the weekend of course, I am six days out now.
My mother is doing really well and I wish my AEL FC soccer team was as well. But it is not going well with a huge game this Sunday at home. If we don’t win, this new young coach we have is going to be looking for another job. This will be my second game to attend this year with another one on Wednesday September 24 and then I am going to leave the next day or two after that. I wish I can witness two wins, especially on Sunday against one of the top four Greek teams.
Pics from the Greece trip on my Instagram page in Kefalonia island.
Myrtos Beach, Fiskardo and Assos
Beach day at Antisamos, taverna stop in Sami and Drogarati Cave in Kefalonia island
Some random pics from Argostoli, the main town in Kefalonia island
Random pics, including cats and the last set is from The Seasons Villa where we stayed for 8 nights
This Mondo Duplantis dude is the GOAT of pole-vaulting, another world record.
I DO have a separate page listing my affiliate links HERE for:
Proton VPN, Uber and Lyft.
I am giving myself a challenge to average 5 credit card sales and 15 Buy Me a Coffee sales per month. If I can’t even hit these low targets after almost 13 years of blogging I am out. We now have:
July:
Credit card sales: 6 Buy me a Coffee sales: 24
August:
Credit card sales: 8 Buy me a Coffee sales: 22
September to date:
Credit card sales: 2 Buy me a Coffee sales: 10
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
200k CHASE Sapphire Reserve Business, 125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 175k AMEX Platinum, 90k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 90k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, 100k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash, 200k AMEX Business Platinum, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 75k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 30k CHASE United Gateway, 100k AMEX Gold, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 120k CHASE Southwest Performance Business, 100k CHASE Air Canada Aeroplan, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
As of today, I have burned 1,471,212 miles/points year to date (2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,079,939 miles/points in the bank.
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance!
Let me leave you with this:
Some of the links are behind a paywall. You can try to read them using Archive.is.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy it please forward it to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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First.
Quality of the content here has not been impacted by my trip to Greece. At all. Imho. But the impact on me has been a bit too much, I need to concentrate on more important people and things here in my last 6 days you guys. So, judging from history, let’s see what appears here next Friday.
As always, the cc apps and coffees help soften the blows this blog inflicts in me busting my fat ass (don’t ask, have not see the gym yet, sad lol) to bring it to you.
Enjoy the weekend, off to my mother, got her new winter flip flops 🙂
Enjoy the last of your time in Greece. I’ve been looking and redemptions are a bit lean at this time. Worry about busting your butt in the gym when you get home. Live in the moment and you won’t regret it. I’ve deleted Instagram and Facebook off my phone as found having current events thrust in my face constantly was stressful. And I have found it to be a success, I have more time to do other tasks and I do think I feel lighter.
Great to hear that your mom is doing well! Yeah!
And such a great trip!
The complexity of the upgraded cards is remarkable. I
think of the distinction that Herb Simon made between
optimization and satisficing. Do I really want a full-time
job trying to figure out how to use the coupons?
I let my last Platinum card go a while back. Too damned much trouble trying to use the credits, some of which I had less than zero interest in. I’m slowing down on the travel planning as well and thinking maybe time to just relax and pay cash when I do go places. But then I have a stash of points to use yet and start getting itchy to go somewhere, so the sycle begins again.
I am glad you have had such a wonderful trip! You certainly do deserve it. Enjoy the rest of it and hope your return to the USA goes smoothly.
TBB, I found this post full of good stuff….probably because you touched on more-than-usual things I’m currently interested in.
Happy to hear you are having a fantastic time with your kids on vacation–it’s getting so hard to do now for me, as they grow older and have SOs that may tag along. And, of course, I’m the go-to guy for all the logistics (planning and paying!…thank god/allah/younameit for points and miles)
BC, are you still buying those discount Tacos? Check out La Valentina on Hwy 99 in Hazel Dell, es muy fab-u-losa
Don’t dunk on Taco Bell just yet… I have some experience with AI drive-throughs since Bojangles was testing it in our area. Two observations: (1) My wife, who is a non-native English speaker, likes it better than the human-operated drive-through because it’s easier for her to understand. (2) I also like it better because it’s easier to understand since you don’t get the distortion and cracking inherent with the normal two-way communication. We don’t go to Bo’s that much but we never had an issue with the AI order-taker. I think AI drive-throughs will be the default soon enough.
Hope you have a great time in Greece! Looking forward to the trip report!
Hey Buzz,
I heard that UA may restrict Business Class redemptions to holders of the UA credit card. That’s a real coupon for you.
I don’t have time to keep track of all that Amex Plat stuff. Too busy watching my stocks go up.
Finally uploaded a video to my YouTube channel! This is where we stayed for 8 nights in Kefalonia island:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYJX0vkitBY
@ Vicky:
Award availability still sucks…five days out. I may keep the 40k UA economy ticket; SKG Hyatt still sold out. Been checking every day now with all my different miles stash 🙁
I need to thank Elon Musk for buying Twitter and forcing me to get rid of it. Lost 12,000 followers but gained back part of my life. I do IG for TBB now and still have FB but only post once a quarter at best. I have a relevant link in next post, maybe hopefully by next Friday. We all need to spend way less time on our phones.
@ DML: I think the bang from all the new Amex Platinum credits is bigly enough to withstand the “pain” of tracking them. I find the value for the personal Platinum compelling now, imho of course.
@ Carl: Finding that I can easily “force” myself to take advantage of the credits now. Which more than make up the ridiculous $895 fee. I just now need to find me a no lifetime language offer for the Schwab Amex Platinum version…
@ Bluecat: This trip came out so beautifully that it is almost magical. I am so blessed, kids just loved it all, especially reconnecting with their five 2nd cousins. The only icing on the cake that remains is me finding a Business class award ticket combined with another night at the SKG Hyatt Regency. Now if my AEL FC team wins tomorrow a huge game that would be so lovely.
@ Nick: OK, taking a rain check on Taco Bell’s AI then 🙂 Oh, yeah those trip reports from the past, they were great as they lasted. Now they are on to IG posts, something about attentions spans and lack of time you know.
@ Sam: Valid point on the UA restrictions.Managed to easily go over $10k on the no annual fee UA Gateway card so it’s all good. With all these new Amex coupons, I think I can take it. Or maybe I am just hopelessly addicted and need to enter an AA like program (not American Airlines) lol.
@
Hey Buzz-
How about going home through London using BA Avios? It ain’t free and BA is barely business class but it’s better than lasagna in UA coach.
Issues has always been departing from Thessaloniki SKG. I think I can stick with lasagna for now,did another round and found nada. Next is to check United again.
Great post Buzz, and great to hear about your trip with the family.
Have a great time at the game today and good luck to your team!
Enjoy the rest of your trip and time with your mom.
Thank you. Four days out now and it always gets hectic. We need lots of luck in the game today.
One personal theory I have on stocks in this current age is that there are so many intuitional investors and managers of huge 401k blocks that have to put that money somewhere. I think this serves to give long term success to long term investors, even with short term falls like 2008, etc. Day traders may get burned at times but long term blue chip type stocks should hold and gain value long term.
Add to that the supply and demand issue. Relatively speaking, there are fewer publicly traded companies today than 20-30 years ago.
Buzz,
Can you get to Madrid? From there you might find room on AA, IB or BA (thru LHR).
Getting Yelled At by Dumbasses
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/getting-yelled-at-by-dumbasses
Rest in peace RIP Jonathan Clements
I can not believe in late September I could not book me a Business Class award to get back to the US from Greece. To add to the insult, my fav Thessaloniki Hyatt Regency is sold out! Both of these facts are shocking to me. And they lead to me thinking this hobby is on its way out. Judging also that this site sold only two credit cards and 10 coffees this month to date and also losing another subscriber and…
going to be doing lots of thinking in my Swiss airline transatlantic coach seat you guys smh.
@ Sam: Don’t want to be splitting pnr’s, family stuck me with a big luggage to check.
Got the Thessaloniki Hyatt Regency day before I needed it, phew! For only 6,500 points per night that is #winning.
If I could get me a business class award seat to open up in one PNR SKG-DTW on 9/26…hours remain before I can cancel my coach UA award.
I can cancel and get miles back up to actual departure or is there a 24 hour no cancelation period/lose my miles period…Never cut it so close!