Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as an updated travel restrictions database, a child tax credit FAQ, how I depleted my Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, some other major award bookings I did, exploring Greece and so many cows in some states, exploring retirement, title insurance is a hideous scam, more on the lab leak theory and the ones who are dying now are the ones who for some reason refuse to get vaccinated, some amazing stuff in the Oddz and Endz section and lots more!
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TRAVEL
This site supposedly keeps track of the ever changing Covid related travel restrictions around the world.
Had no idea about these: Exploring Greece’s Unseen Corners. For several years, a photographer has documented local Greek customs and attire, turning his lens toward his country’s vibrant traditional culture. Archive.is link.
There are more cows than people in the states colored blue. Moo!
![r/dataisbeautiful - There are more cows than people in the states colored blue. [OC]](https://i.redd.it/cpoqb86n3v671.png)
PERSONAL FINANCE
Warning: More money ahead! What You Need to Know About the Child Tax Credit. In mid-July, millions of families will get the first of six monthly payments of as much as $300 per child from the U.S. government. ArchivedLink.
Well, that was something! The “R” Word. As in Retirement. Some really good thoughts about this retirement thingie…
We all pay it and hate it. Entitled To Profit: In Texas, Title Insurance Is a “Total Scam”. If you live in Texas you should be very upset, stop the scam!
COVID-19
Yet another deep dive on the origins of the virus: Where Did the Coronavirus Come From? What We Already Know Is Troubling. This one from Zeynep Tufekci, someone who I really respect. I hope we find out what happened one day. Do not let this take away from the fact that the US response was beyond disastrous and killed so many people who could have been saved! Article ends with a good message for the future:
But a better path forward is one of true global cooperation based on mutual benefit and reciprocity. Despite the current dissembling, we should assume that the Chinese government also doesn’t want to go through this again — especially given that SARS, too, started there. This means putting the public interest before personal ambitions and acknowledging that despite the wonders of its power, biomedical research also holds dangers. To do this, government officials and scientists need to look at the big picture: Seek comity and truth instead of just avoiding embarrassment. Develop a framework that goes beyond blaming China, since the issues raised are truly global. And realize that the next big thing can simply mean taking great care with a lot of small details.
Having said all that, here is what the only foreigner working in that Wuhan lad had to say: The Last–And Only–Foreign Scientist in the Wuhan Lab Speaks Out. It is a Bloomberg archived link, hope it works for you.
Convince someone to get vaccinated!
ODDZ & ENDZ
Having some unique material today, how about Empathy Lessons…from a Hitman.
50 Interesting Things People Didn’t Learn At School And Decided To Share Them In This Online Group. Bet you didn’t know there is a pillow fighting tournament in Japan huh?
So many of these sites are long gone! Social Medial Platforms with the Most Monthly Active Users from 2004 – 2021. Pretty cool to watch this…
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 100k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 100k CHASE United Quest, 100k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 75k CHASE Ink Cash, 75k CHASE Ink Unlimited, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 60k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 60k CITI Premier, 20k CHASE Freedom Flex & CHASE Freedom Unlimited, 125k CHASE IHG Rewards Club Premier (& a free night) and many more, including many American Express cards! Please check out my Affiliate links. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you? Contact me!
This section is about my hobby addiction of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points since the early 1990’s! Feel free to skip this section and parts of the next one if this is not for you.
Newbies: The 100k Chase Sapphire Preferred card is now available with my links. This is a NO brainer! Get it, do the required minimum $4k spend, get the signup bonus, cash out for $1,250! For the annual fee of only $95, COME ON! Just ALWAYS make sure you NEVER carry a balance ok? If you have it, you can refer your spouse or significant other or third cousin and you can earn 20k Chase points for the referral alone and the referred still get the full bonus. You may even get the annual fee waived if you go inside a branch if you are that brave and have much free time…
It is time to BURN some of these miles and points, see next section. I don’t do the boring Amex offers or how to save $1 or 5% on stupid crap, focus on the BIG bangs!
BLOG BUZZ
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.
The miles finally posted on that AA game celebrating the 40th anniversary of its frequent flyer program. I earned 38,410 mile. Not bad, not bad at all.
I did some major miles/points burning this weekend. I had about 145k expiring Singapore Airlines Krisflyer miles. Expiring as of June 30 after having been extended a few times due to Covid. So I got me a return ticket from Greece in early December flying Aegean from Thessaloniki to Frankfurt and then Lufthansa directly to Detroit. That cost me 72k miles in Business Class. Then I moved on wife’s Singapore Airlines Krisflyer account and managed to find two economy tickets to return from our Kauai trip in late January 2022. But from Honolulu instead. Not looking forward to a red eye on United to Houston and then to Detroit. Two tickets costing 60,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.
I then burned 15k AA miles for two tickets from Kauai to Honolulu flying Hawaiian Airlines. We are stopping in Honolulu for two nights to see our son and my wife to see her best friend who lives in Waikiki. Not sure if we are going to stay with son or I have to book two hotel nights, time will tell. Hope to have son drive us around. I still have to book a car rental for the Kauai trip I booked long ago, we are going to spend five nights at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa, all on points of course and a confirmed Hyatt Globalist Suite Upgrade! That left 12,500 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles left and I managed to find a one way ticket Detroit to Newark on United in August for my wife to go see her brother. So, right now our two Singapore Airlines Krisflyer miles balances are both ZERO #winning! Warning to newbies: These miles expire in three years PERIOD!
I spent another 55k Hilton Honors miles for a night at the Frankfurt Hilton Airport on my return from Greece, I love that hotel. I still have some gaps in the Greece and Kauai trips, I need to find a way from Frankfurt to Athens and will likely stay a few nights at the Thessaloniki Hyatt Regency again on my return. I also need to find a way to get my wife back from the New York City area in August. Next target to book is a trip to Utah to see Arches and Canyonlands in late September.I sent my Hyatt Concierge an email about it, thinking to blow some Cat 1-4 free night certs there. Still waiting for a response…
I have now burned 632,000 miles/points year to date, hooray!
Question: If you have a joint Schwab account, can the primary owner go for the Schwab Platinum card AND (this is important) have it show up in the Schwab Joint account AND (you know this was coming) be able to cash out Membership Rewards at 1.25 1.10 per point?
Let me leave you with this, I usually post something funny but this time here is an amazing pic of a kingfisher fish:
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TBB
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Good morning!
Particularly good.links today. The retirement analysis was especially interesting.
Good stuff to get through this morning – thanks.
The travel restrictions link is especially useful for my upcoming Iceland trip. I’m still holding out hope that the need for a test to reenter to US gets waived. But if that’s the biggest thing I’ll deal with, oh well. One month till my first ‘real’ trip since March 2020.
I have to admit I thought the Bucks were complete toast. I doubt they get past the Nets with one of Harden or Kyrie at anywhere near full strength. Giannis is an incredible player but I’m not sure you can win a title with him as your best player. Though he could easily this year.
England vs Germany game today…After all the drama yesterday, let’s all hope this one is as good.
Going with Germany and Sweden today. I would love England to win but I am not seeing it…
Will these LA Clippers ever die?
I totally agree if Nets had one of the other big two they would beat the Bucks easily. The thing with Giannis is…the dude will not stop working at his craft. Them Greeks are incredibly stubborn like moi here still blogging for peanuts 🙂
I think Iceland is not a bad place for first ‘real” trip!
I am on a roll today, I may book the Kauai rental car or at least have something and then push it to Autoslash.
Over 24 hours last I checked and still no response from my Hyatt Concierge. What’s the point, I could just book what I need myself!
Will be doing a 30 mile bike ride in Chicago over Labor Day and trying to get us a nice suite at the Fairmont. For freeeeee 🙂
Thanks Sam for the CSP and another reader for the IHG Premier card conversions. Hit 10 so I guess I better find time to go back in time to do that Tehran trip report.
Can’t believe half of 2021 is gone already but I am feeling that travel bug like it is 2019 all over again lol
Since you mentioned Chicago bike ride: Are you doing Bike the Drive? I am! I will look for you there!
Yes, on the bucket list for years! See you there hopefully, booked the Fairmont already.
Thank you for blogging! As for CS accounts, we have a joint account, and we have two separate logins and both of us can drop MR points to $ into the same account. I hope that helps. I just picked up 3rd round of CS cards, as I wanted to get in on this $.0125/pt before Sept. Pick up $200×2 United Travel Bank, $80×2 (June) Saks clearance items (paid with PayPal) and $50×2 (July), and $60 UberEats credits for June/July, of course will close these cards before $550 fee needs to be paid.
Cheers,
PedroNY
That helps a lot, thanks! Good to see you still reading my blog. I should circle back to Amex, I know I am leaving lots on the table but my bandwidth is limited these days.
$695 Annual Fee for AMEX Platinum. Can’t wait to hear bloggers justify that fee. Let the spin begin.
I have ONE word for you:
EQUINOX
I guess we’ll have to wait until the moment when Biden starts emitting a stream of actual gibberish, or answering the press using sock puppets, before our media acknowledge the obvious: Since our president isn’t fit to find his way home after dark, do we really believe he’s the one running the country?
Nice. Completely offer nothing to the general conversation about points, travel or anything else basically sane or germane to anything TBB posted today. Just general ranting about stuff that is not so.
You’d be better off playing your wah-wah on a political forum instead.
Every day I delete comments by the resident blog troll. This time I changed his ridiculous handle to his name and will let this one stand so readers can laugh and shake their heads about how these “Patriots” think.
Covfefe 🙂
My first hotel stay in 20 months is this weekend and I am stoked. Hopefully everyone’s burning those free night certs? All my Hyatts are now booked, I have plans for the Radisson ones, but no plans as of yet for my IHGs.
Well, tried to burn some Hyatt ones at that nice HP in Moab but no availability. I blame Frequent Miler for posting about it 🙂
That one’s on my Hyatt Place bucket list. I need to get out west again.
Hyatt Concierge came through, it is booked!
That Sherpa link is a very useful resource…thanks!
Sure is easy to discern who watches a network that “no reasonable viewer” would take seriously.
Well, I feel for Sweden and Germany today. I went 0 for 2.
This France team exit reminded me of this study from a few years ago that basically found you can have too many good players:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-surprising-problem-of-too-much-talent/
I’m not saying that’s what happened here since Kante is probably the world’s best glue guy in central midfield. But it’s still an interesting thought.
Interesting finding!
You can tell they let their guard down after they scored the third goal…How many times have we seen this?
Any blogger using creditcardsdotcom? Did you get that letter about getting paid in this “improved” method? WTF is that all about? I need to move on and make this what it truly has been all along, a non profit 🙂
I’ve been reading for years, but this is my first comment. I saw a headline at a certain other blog and thought “TBB outlasted another one!”. Unfortunately, it was just hype. A show of support from your silent majority.
Thank you for commenting after such a long time! And thank you for reading. Another blog reader alerted me to it and I almost got out of bed to do a new post with the title “TBB won, my mission is complete” but…it was ruined by that rebranding spin. I guess the new blog owner finally had enough of that “name” lol.
The Sherpa link is awesome.
When you say that you have X number of points and miles, is that strictly you or does that include your wife? It’s no big deal but I find it kind of interesting when you state your running total.
Why the Hilton Frankfurt Airport? I like the Sheraton because of the lounge, rooms are nice, you don’t have to step outside to get there from the airport if the weather sucks, there’s quick serve restaurants and a grocery store nearby, and it’s near the trains.
The new HGI and Hilton are also connected to the airport, very similar to the Sheraton.
It includes my wife, son and now 18 year old daughter. Both kids are not as attentive so it is hard doing it all 🙂 So, I am no whizz here….Trying to lower the bandwidth this “hobby” is taking on us, got many things on my plate and now the travel bug has returned…if only my wife paid more attention on helping with the travel planning to help with the bandwidth issue 🙂
I have stayed at the FRA Sheraton a few times. I do not like it and have been on a Bonvoy free diet. I love the FRA Hilton, love the modern design, how you can watch the airplanes come and go, the great lounge (hope it is open).
Can I get some ideas here for a question I got via email:
A bunch of my former team mates are pooling money together to send our old highschool track / cross country coach and his wife on a summer 2022 vacation to Europe. We have about 6k, so I am looking for advice on a good travel agency, or ideas where we should send them. They have been to Ireland once, but no other travel to EU.
Keeping it very, very simple if they want to visit one place and experience as much as possible:
Barcelona has a great mix of everything. Great culture, water, beach, excellent food, easy to travel too, metro system, nearby mountains etc. Some track coaches like visiting Olympic sites (1992).
A lot of Rumsfeldian unknowns here. But if they really are completely wide open and cost is a primary determinant, I would just throw their dates into Google Flights from their home airport and put in ‘Europe’ and let that lead you.
Great suggestions, thank you!
I hear there are wild parties in Baghdad because a dude named Donald died…
Different ways of being remembered:
“ In a separate statement, Bush praised Rumsfeld as “a man of intelligence, integrity, and almost inexhaustible energy” who “never paled before tough decisions, and never flinched from responsibility”.”
Or
Iyad el-Baghdadi, president of the Kawaakibi Foundation, a research and activist group focused on liberty in the Arab world, said “Donald Rumsfeld was a war criminal who presided over illegal wars that involved wholesale massacres of civilians, systemic torture and plunder, and massive corruption”.
“The country he helped break has still not recovered. This is his legacy. May he burn in hell for all eternity.”
What kinds of places do they like? Urban or rural? Mountains or coast? Hot or cold? Urbane or down-to-earth?
No idea, I think they will be happy with the free trip. Just looking to make it easy as they are not experienced at all. I think Barcelona may be a perfect fit actually.
I should have a post tomorrow. Busy times around here.
I can not wait to see bloggers spinning how valuable Equinox is LOL.
If you are looking for an AmexCard that is not available in the TBB Credit Cards page please email for a referral so I can pay the imaginary intern 🙂
And Hyatt Concierge came thought for the Hyatt Place Moab. I am finding out flights Detroit – Salt Lake City are not that cheap!
Wait until you look into the car rental options! I ended up with a giant TRUCK. Very hard to park and scary to drive in a very, very tight parking garage! Only thing they had left. Take it or leave it.
Schwab Platinum, seems like I can’t get the bonus. Will I have to start a family with PedroNY to cash out MR?
That comes next. And I am scared 🙂
Yeah, the Plat card situation is a giant mess right now…And so many bloggers pumping the public offer HARD totally keeping mum on the much better offers not paying them a sales commission. Hey, this is how conversions work.
“Its’ all about conversions” said a troll who gave up years ago…
Should be two awesome games tomorrow.
I wonder what happens tonight, which Bucks team will show up.
If Suns vs Hawks in the Finals———>zzzzzzzz
You mentioned Donald Rumsfeld so in case you missed it:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/how-donald-rumsfeld-deserves-be-remembered/619334/
Rumsfeld was the worst secretary of defense in American history. Being newly dead shouldn’t spare him this distinction. He was worse than the closest contender, Robert McNamara, and that is not a competition to judge lightly.
Rumsfeld was the chief advocate of every disaster in the years after September 11. Wherever the United States government contemplated a wrong turn, Rumsfeld was there first with his hard smile—squinting, mocking the cautious, shoving his country deeper into a hole. His fatal judgment was equaled only by his absolute self-assurance. He lacked the courage to doubt himself. He lacked the wisdom to change his mind.
Rumsfeld started being wrong within hours of the attacks and never stopped. He argued that the attacks proved the need for the missile-defense shield that he’d long advocated. He thought that the American war in Afghanistan meant the end of the Taliban. He thought that the new Afghan government didn’t need the U.S. to stick around for security and support. He thought that the United States should stiff the United Nations, brush off allies, and go it alone. He insisted that al-Qaeda couldn’t operate without a strongman like Saddam. He thought that all the intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was wrong, except the dire reports that he’d ordered up himself. He reserved his greatest confidence for intelligence obtained through torture. He thought that the State Department and the CIA were full of timorous, ignorant bureaucrats. He thought that America could win wars with computerized weaponry and awesome displays of force.
Rumsfeld had intelligence, wit, dash, and endless faith in himself. Unlike McNamara, he never expressed a quiver of regret. He must have died in the secure knowledge that he had been right all along.