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!
MVP MUST READ POST
29 Travel Writer Problems. By Matador Network. This is HILARIOUS! My favorite is 27, yours?
TRAVEL
The Water Vortex. By Twisted Sifter. I just can’t get over this pictures. In Spain’s Canary Islands “…the phenomenon comes from a ‘complex of basalt prismatic figures that have an underwater hollowness made by a volcanic tube which successively expels the water trapped inside, reaching a considerable height’.” The photographer is Manuel M. Almeida and this is one of the three pictures he took of this place. Here are the other two here and here.
Lenticular Travel has the most impressive pictures yet from Bora Bora. This time from Intercontinental Thalasso. I had a really hard time deciding which one to feature here. And I think hotel management should just make a deal with Andrew and license his pictures for the hotel website, wow!
Yellowstone/Grand Tetons. “7 Minutes of Pure Bliss”, found here. Epic beauty!
Primordial —- Yellowstone / Grand Tetons from Voortex Productions on Vimeo.
Here is another stunning picture where I spent my summers: Agiokampos in central Thessaly in Greece. I guarantee you it is much cheaper than Bora Bora, lol.
MILES/POINTS
There goes Mile Nerd on a (shorter) rant against …”Ah, yes…the newbies. The noobs. El Nuevo”
Removing Inefficiencies in your Churn and MMR by Milenomics. Great to see someone pound on themes such as: “Ensure you know what you’re doing before your start down this road” and “Bad habits burn miles and money”. I can’t stand when I see newly expert bloggers come out of the woods and encourage new people into the hobby to start with eight different cards in their first churn…That is so douche baggy!
ON MY MIND
Phenomenal response to my two United lounge passes AND $50 Amazon gift cards giveaway. Enter by asking me a question. I have no clue when I will ever get to them all, maybe do one at each Buzz post or have a separate blog post and bang 20 at a time or something. Some of them really made me laugh and some gave me ideas for future posts.
A colleague told me I should not be talking about investment related stuff on this blog to avoid any hassles with compliance people. You know, like the ones freaking out over in the banking world.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Portraits of Dogs, Mid-shake. By Twisted Sifter. These dogs are messed up!
8 Phone Etiquette Rules Every Professional Should Know. These are great, good to be reminded!
BLOG BUZZ
Note: This section is intended for long time readers and miles/points addicts who follow the blogs in this space. TBB reviews blogs and tries to entertain above all. Don’t take this section too seriously or personally, it’s mostly entertainment!
Milevalue consistently pumps the inferior US Air card offer. That to me is NUMBER 1 on what you must NOT do as a blogger! Do No Harm.
Million Mile Secrets blogs about how Everyone is applying for the Southwest Card. That made me chuckle. “Everyone”. Hmm, if everyone is doing it I must do it too then 🙂
Ariana at The Frugal Travel Guy (the blog) writing about Disney cards. And FTG Staff so graciously telling us all about the no fee cards out there. The word from above must be to diversify the revenue? What’s next, the Carnival card? Oh wait, Ariana came back with a TripAlertz referral link so reader and Internet Brands can each make $5 to make enough to stay at some of the hotels listed on this “deal” website. So, get your own referral link and spam all your friends!
At last we get a decent Friday Million Mile Secrets interview with Mark at TravelBlawg. Unique niche blending legal with travel/miles/points. It would be great if we can see some dirt on some incredible legal actions some esteemed members of this community have undertaken. Whatever happened to them? Name names lol.
I leave you with this…
The water vortex and Greece picture are stunning. You should recommend to us where or when to go to that beach in Greece. Thanks, and have a great weekend.
@George, this si what you need to do. Install AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget and copy these settings: http://travelwithgrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Share-This.png
Do not use the basic WordPress sharing settings (they look lame).
To make it even more clear, this is what unchecking all the boxes looks like: http://travelwithgrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Uncheck-Boxes-1024×684.png
You may have to remove cookies / clear cache / open new browser for you to see the changes.
LOL…Mile Nerd should do this every week!
George, RE: that last GIF, look up the Dr Pepper guy from Weds nights WS Game 1 post game. Much better, Dr. Papper must have paid the guy.
OMG, am visiting my son at Clemson this weekend and he showed me that video of his friend last night at dinner. If you are looking for a fun school for your son that gives scholarships for merit and has a great honors college, don’t overlook it especially if he is considering engineering. My son loves it and it has been a great value because of the scholarship.
Guess it’s back to Jim Cramer got financial advice ….
@Nguyen: Thanks again. I had never heard or seen about this water vortex thing, stunning is an understatement. I also need to state that the photographer taking these pics from that beach I roamed as a kid must be a genius as he/she is making the place look a lot more inviting than it probably is 🙂 There is a reason that it has not developed yet! Lack of infrastructure and decent hotels is one. Forget about hotel chains, there aren’t any! And not the easiest place to get to either as it is about 5 hours north of Athens. There is a little port fishermen use. For decades they are talking about having boats from Thessaloniki and the fantastic three islands close by. Well, you know, Greek authorities are just not well known for moving fast. I think my father was more than 50 years buying that place!
@Grant: Thanks for the help. I finally figured out how to line up the buttons outside of the box! The jetpack thing now looks fine to me, I would rather not add yet another plugin. Let me get the hang of it first. I see now what you are talking about regarding the stats. I should have installed this plugin from day one. Best lessons are learned from mistakes. And in this blogging thing I am making some every single day. Definitely not bored lol.
@Anonymous: Yeah, he should, so entertaining!
@Boon: Just found it: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1823318-guy-videbombs-espns-baseball-tonight-pours-dr-pepper-all-over-his-body
You are right, that’s even more hilarious!
@smittytabb: After watching that I am not so sure Clemson is the right place for my son to go 🙂
Thanks for the heads up.
@Another Mark: That’s really funny! In my other little blog I was supposed to answer a question about favorite financial shows on TV. I went on a rant against Jim Kramer. I have the feeling they will not publish it. Here is Jimmy at his finest moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3FVBKic5Ek
Looks better George. It’s baby steps everyday. After a week of using JetPack site stats, share what you learn, like, and dislike.
You actually got a good laugh out of me with that .gif. Thanks, made my week. Perfect combination of insanity and a smile.
Kudos for uncovering the sophisticated revenue-generating strategy of a corporate giant: Push $5 TripAlertz referral links so the execs can vacation in Reno.
Whatever keeps the light on.
@Brian: Getting good laughs out of readers keeps this blog going 🙂 And I LOVE your “perfect sense of insanity and a smile” comment! Explains TBB perfectly!
@Ariana: I blog what comes into my head, this is not a science. Would you ever blog about this at Pointchaser? Would you ever blog about this if it was not $5 for FTG? Besides, I have not heard a good thing about TripAlertz but maybe I don’t get around much.
This after a staffer showered us with 5 more credit cards, yet another post on winning miles but having to open accounts at two places (one called Wallet…really, really?). And then you wrote: “We do our best to get the majority of travel expenses taken care of with the weekly Travel Challenge, however fees are sometimes unavoidable”. So sad to see your talent go this way. But I am sure the pay and benefits are nice. Until the next post…enjoy your weekend!
P.S. I somehow doubt IB execs vacation in Reno. Name names 🙂
@ABC: Yeah really.
The Tripalertz link was my own and I have used it on PointChaser before. The $5 TripCash (notice it’s not real money) hasn’t made me rich yet. As for the credit card post, 4/5 of those links were not affiliates. Give us some credit, George.
Great disclosures, it will really help if they make it on FTG, so many others do it!
I now need to go back and read the Disney card post again. Of course it is better to use a Sapphire Preferred and AMEX Gold Reward card 😉
Credibility is earned, one post at a time. FTG (the blog) is improving but…
It’s just an opinion, it’s not a big deal. Feel free to critique my blog anytime. And thank you as always for posting here.
Ariana, don’t fall for the trap 🙂 Keep on keeping on.
In typical TABLOID Blogger Buzz fashion, George again accuses a blog of revenue enhancement without the facts. He assumes without actual knowledge that a corporation is behind the referral link when in actuality it is a writer adding a few bucks to her personal account, just like most travel hackers would.
Misrepresentation and innuendo, Tabloids two best marketing tools
8.12 am on a Sunday morning. Bored already.
FTG (the blog) defines revenue enhancement.
Dishing out personal referral links on corporate blogs. No wonder it is a dream job!
It’s so so easy getting you to engage in my blog. Old habits die hard amigo.
Just trying to disclose your realities George. It’s only fair somebody keep you accountable, or else your BS may be interpreted as facts.
I think you can do a lot better on the “disclosing realities” front in your own blog! Until then TBB will be reviewing it and calling BS where we find it 🙂 You are always welcome to post your views here.
Ariana, George is just trying to provoke you. It is a mainstay of his in creating controversy. He learned if from Seth I think. Controversy leads to attention and that is what feeds George’s ego. The more we react, the more he will attempt to provoke. Believe me, I know from experience.
BTW, I got a nice 4 night stay in Aruba with Tripalertz credits. George is just whining again. They do pay off in time.
It looks like I am finally teaching you how to respond to people who disagree with you 😉
We ‘ll let others decide who has an ego.
I just find it incredibly entertaining that FTG writers comment here in my tiny blog more than in your own blog. I meant, corporate owned blog.
I am sleepy.
“Get your popcorn here” Only 2 comments Popcorn” Try again Georgie
Unique visitors
Pageviews
Revenue
You are the only guy that counts comments as a measure of your success. Two simple reasons.
You win the comment war (but who cares)
And you’ll let anybody say anything regardless if it adds to the conversation or not, including your own “rants”
Its been a while buddy but
YAWN
I just find it absolutely hilarious that my tiny blog staffed by a department consisting of just one person wildly beats the crap of a big corporate owned blog with several staffers in ANY aspect at all. I think there are more comments here by FTG people than all comments at FTG. This wildly amuses me.
We have gone through the censoring debate many times before and I have stated my case. No reason to waste more time on it. We disagree. Again.
Besides, my blog is not even one year old yet. Thank you for keeping me in the game and not letting me fold like a cheap suit lol.
I can’t wait to read your masterpiece on Monday. Maybe you should interview me on how to blog without killing deals. I give you that, you were always good about this aspect of the hobby.
Thank you for contributing to the TBB community. Have a wonderful Sunday!
I comment here because deep deep down inside I like you as a person and believe with a refocus of your attitude and a few simple changes you could be really good for the space. We have talked about it many times as you say. Still the same old schtick here commenting on other people’s work in a negative fashion many times.
Oh well, mainstream likes us 🙂
Readership, Unique visitors, pageviews and revenue.
“Comments, Peanuts, Popcorn, Innuendo, and Assumptions” Get them here at the Tabloid Blogger Buzz
I think I am being really good for this space already, thank you for your concern. I am certainly happy with my attitude. It is mine and I am keeping it. I am learning about blogging and enjoying it. Of course I am going to comment on other blogs, THIS is what TBB is about! Admit it, you just don’t like being criticized. I like how you criticize me by the way. Part of life, deal with it.
I don’t give a sh*t if mainstream likes you. Mainstream likes McDonalds crap too.
Get it through your head that other people march in a different tune.
I love popcorn.
Thanks, George, for the comment on my MMS interview and for the idea. I’ll certainly look into that topic and entertain any specific cases you may have in mind. Cheers!
I wonder what ever happened to that 4 mile discrimination lawsuit? Cough
TBB sleepy but provoky (just made up this world, excuse me to all English Majors!)
In an Inside Flyer issue earlier this year the lead article was all about legal cases in this space. I do not remember which month and did not keep the article. Apparently there is one law firm that “specializes” in “class action” lawsuits against the airlines, Cartera, etc. It was fascinating. Maybe someone can dig it up if you did not read it.
Thanks George for your nice words! There is a couple more posts left with some nice tropical pictures 🙂 Today I’m trying to survive NYC, because it’s so freakin’ cold here. Back to reality… Not easy LOL
All good things come to an end. Welcome back. We enjoyed the Bora Bora pictures!
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