Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the undefeated stock market, tech jobs new reality, the most curious museums, Delta basic BS, more warnings on alternative investments, wild story about the King of X, fantastic podcast on grief, RIP Norm from Cheers, the longest train journey, fog tsunamis, 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!
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PERSONAL FINANCE
I have a pretty interesting collection of diverse quality reads for you today, here we go:
The Stock Market Remains Undefeated. Indeed. Compares three times in the past that the stock market forced changes in policy and a change in direction. Looks like it is happening again with the moronic tariffs and most likely the new tax law being debated on these days. We’ll see what happens, no one has a crystal ball. Good excerpt below:
Show respect to the collective insight of the market when it comes to setting prices, integrating risk factors, and summarizing the crowd’s collective expectations. Recognize that current equity prices reflect the probabilities of corporate revenues and profits a year or so out, a future discounting mechanism times some multiple, which itself is driven primarily (but not exclusively) by collective investor/crowd psychology. If you imagine yourself more powerful than Mr. Market, take just him on directly. Imagine yourself as smarter, more powerful, able to direct events with greater alacrity and influence. Surprise the markets and watch the results. You will quickly learn who is the market’s bitch. [Goal in my personal and professional investing life is to avoid becoming anyone’s bitch].
It is amazing how the older we get (and the more money we have “on the line”), the more risk averse we get. In general always of course. But at what point do you make a huge change in reducing your high (relatively speaking) allocation to equities? This short article addresses exactly that: A Good Time for the Sleeping Point Story. And I love this excerpt:
J. P. Morgan once had a friend who was so worried about his stock holdings that he could not sleep at night. The friend asked, “What should I do about my stocks?” Morgan replied, “Sell down to the sleeping point.”
Just be careful out there when you start seeing flashy “alternative” investing choices in your 401k Plans. You can just say no you know: This New Investing Idea Isn’t Right for Your Retirement Plan. Why don’t ‘alternative assets’ like private credit belong in your 401(k)? Let us count the ways. Its conclusion sums it up perfectly:
Assets that don’t trade every day aren’t low risk just because they don’t trade every day. And, until costs come down and conflicts of interest are ironed out, stuffing private assets inside a fund that does trade every day is a rotten idea for retirement savers.
If you don’t have the stomach for such steep losses buying individual stocks, perhaps you should avoid them…
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
My son and his software engineer friends should must read this article: Why Jobs in Tech Are Getting Tougher to Land: AI, Layoffs and the “Great Hesitation” in Hiring. We went from the Great Resignation to the Great Hesitation.
Key Points
Tech workers face uncertainty due to the economic climate, AI’s rise and continued layoffs.
Companies are requiring candidates to share salary requirements at the earliest stages and are increasingly using contract hires.
AI is affecting hiring, with increased demand for AI skills and elimination of entry-level IT jobs.
Always beware of self-proclaimed thought leaders and online influencers. Because they are always trying to sell you something. And most likely what they are proposing is definitely not for your own benefit but to enhance their own pockets. Plato vs. Porsches. Gen Z is questioning college. Hucksters are taking advantage of them. Please stay the hell away from every single person mentioned in the article. Be mindful of your attention online and your media diet. Ask me or anyone in the comments, this blogs exists primarily to educate. And, for the love of God, do not ever call me “influencer” ok?
Love these in depth Texas Monthly stories (and yes, I am a subscriber of this publication I would love to see existing #hint): The King of X. The Texan Who Built an Empire of Ecstasy. As Texas led a global revolution in designer party drugs, one restless club kid built an empire of ecstasy. His life is an all-American story of entrepreneurship, moral flexibility, and the heedless pursuit of happiness. What a wild life story. If he had only devoted his talents in legal endeavors…
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ODDZ & ENDZ
This could be useful for some of you or maybe I use it to share with you a long video or something: Haasie.com. Upload a file and get a sharable link. Supported files:
- gif, png, jpg, webp, avif, mp4, webm
- Max. size 200MB
Long amazing podcast all about grief. And how to deal with it. Howard Cooper interviewing Stephen Colbert. Both have had some super traumatic sad moments in their life and they talk (and cry) about them. Grateful for Grief.
If you are into linguistics, I have THE site for you: Ethnologue Languages of the World. A reference for making informed decisions in every language context worldwide.
It is never too late. Especially if you are a turtle lol: At 97, Endangered Tortoise Becomes Oldest First-Time Mom of Her Species With Four New Hatchlings—and Potentially More on the Way.
RIP to one of the most likeable TV characters: Supercut of Every Time Norm Enters the Bar on Cheers.
Amazing photography: An Astrophotographer’s 20-Day Adventure Under the Darkest Skies in the World.
TRAVEL
I have posted links to strange museums here over the years. Here is another list: From fairytales to food and wine: World’s most curious museums. Can’t wait to visit the David Hasselhoff Museum, Berlin, Germany you guys #notreally.
One day maybe this is possible to do. Until then, we can dream about it I guess: The world’s longest train journey is epic — but nobody’s ever taken it.
The world’s longest train journey takes you from a sleepy town in Portugal across 13 countries and eight time zones to Singapore.
The current route of this epic journey was made possible by the completion of the Laos-China Railway in 2021.
Nobody has ever made the journey — not because it’s impossible, but because it’s tangled in logistical snags, practical concerns, and philosophical questions.
If you had never heard of fog “tsunami”, you can actually see one playing the video in this article wow: Fog ‘tsunami’ rolls across Lake Michigan shoreline in lucky video capture.
For Thailand lovers, I really enjoyed this video from Bangkok Pat exploring the new public transportation MRT Purple Line extension. Gotta love the quality of the public transportation in this megacity, it keeps expanding and getting better.
Not seeing any trip reports from this place, it looks so nice: Inside São Tomé and Príncipe, One of the Least-Visited Countries in the World. The ‘Galápagos of Africa. The small island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is home to incredible wildlife, uncrowded beaches, and four stunning boutique resorts from HBD Príncipe, a Travel + Leisure 2025 Global Vision Award winner. And such an interesting sustainability model as well. If HBD ever sells out to Hyatt, I am there; I just could not help myself.
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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…
Leave it to Delta to confuse and screw its own customers while BSing how great yet another change is. This the company that brought Basic Economy to all of us. And it looks like they are intentionally confusing their own customers for their own benefit enhancing Delta’s pockets. Don’t feel bad about not getting it from the first pass, just go back and read this until it all sinks in: Basically, Delta’s New Classic Fare Brands are a Little Extra. Bottom line, what is happening here is this:
This feels like just laying the groundwork for future change. Considering how many people have reached out to me to ask about what’s going on, it seems like Delta may have failed in its job to simplify initially. Eventually, this will not be an issue. It really feels like someone in marketing just decided the reorganization and standardization was necessry for what comes next. It’s what is likely to come next that will be far more notable. [Hello Basic Economy Business Class, coming soon #beveryafraid]
Here is a timeline with all the changes ahead coming at us from Southwest Airlines: The Times are A-Changin’ at Southwest: What Happens When?
The devaluations will continue until morale improves we say phuck it and just settle down on one cash back credit card? United Airlines Making Negative Changes to MileagePlus Program, Axing Excursionist Perk & More. Good riddance on the stupid Excursionist name, I always made fun of it calling it Executionist. United is well on its way to become Delta, boo.
Register for the latest Choice Hotels promotion to earn up to 8,000 Choice Privileges points (Ignore the $50 gift card reference, it is really up to 8,000 points indeed).
We now have a definite date: American Express Membership Rewards Transfers To Hawaiian Airlines Will End June 30. I recently did this to the tune of several hundred thousand points. And many other bloggers are doing it or contemplating it, like Travel With Grant in this post.
Added Gondola in the mix: Which hotel award search tool is the best.
We all know JetBlue (and Spirit Airlines) are scrambling to find a way to make it in the crazy competitive airline industry. And with the economy and travel appear to be softening, maybe this year is the year that one of these two airlines does not make it or no longer stands alone. So, in a yet another “decisive” move by the JetBlue executive team, they huddle and come up with, please sit down, the bizarre decision to partner with, drum roll, Dunkin’ Donuts to unveil coffee themed plane, wtf.
Helpful post: How to Use Hyatt Pay My Way and Points + Cash Options –And What to Do if It Isn’t Showing Up.
If you want to get a complete rundown of what happened in the past week, these recap videos from the YouTube channel “Traveling on Everyday Spend” are the best, here is the latest one. I was reminded that the new Andaz in Bangkok opens in December this year, I will try to check it out.
I am announcing the opening of a new lounge at JFK airport. Access is free, no bigly premium type credit card needed, say what? Well, you know airline lounges are in vogue lately…when you see retailers entering the space, welcome to the Marshalls Lounge lol.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
Citi never stops doing things in its own bizarre way: (Update: Workaround) Citi Reducing Citi Strata Premier ThankYou Rewards Cashout Offer (From 1¢ To 0.75¢ Per Point). And this move does make a little sense I guess aiming to solidify the new Strata brand with a new no annual fee card: New Citi Strata Card to Replace Rewards+ Card (Benefits Added & Removed). The new no annual fee Strata card will become available later this year with a Signup Bonus of 30,000 Citi Thank You points, zzzzzz. This was a card with two unique features, rounding up to the nearest tenth (you charged $1.16 and you earned 10 points) and, more importantly, you got a 10% rebate on up to 100,000 points redeemed annually. So, for those in the Citi ecosystem, it was a no brainer card to get and keep. Well, both of these features are now gone. Admittedly, the earning categories have been improved and the changes make it a solid no annual fee card. Which will complement the Strata Premier card as we are all waiting for the debut of the premium Strata card to eventually come one of these days (years?). Can’t wait for the debut of the Strata airline lounges in 2039 at this pace lol. Note: If you want to apply for Citi credit cards to help this blog continue to exist, email me for a link.
The final death date is here in about a year, brings back so many memories. RIP to my beloved Bluebird card: American Express Bluebird & Serve To Be Discontinued In June 2026.
Yep, Bilt keeps getting worse smh: Bilt now awards points when paying rent with most credit cards (Rates for many to be cut by 50%). But hey, here is Qatar as another 1:1 transfer partner to soften the continued blows…
There is an elevated offer for the Chase Aeroplan Card: New 75K Bonus and More Pay Yourself Back Categories. This is a solid airline credit card and one of these days I am going to circle around to it and pick me up some more Air Canada Aeroplan miles. But I would prefer it if it gets to 100k Signup Bonus of course. Annual fee is $95 and the minimum spend is a reasonable $4k in three months. Earning structure is 3x on airfare, restaurants, groceries and 1x on everything else. You can redeem points for 1.25 cents a piece to cover travel-related purchases. And this card also has unique rotating Pay Yourself Back categories. For every $2k in spend per month, you earn 500 bonus points (up to 1,500 maximum points per month). You do get the lowest 25k Air Canada Aeroplan elite status for benefits like 20 eUpgrade credits to premium cabins on Air Canada flights, two passes to Maple Leaf lounges and more. No foreign transaction fees. Free checked bag for up to eight people in the same reservation. Up to $120 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Precheck. Up to $800 cell phone protection. And other miscellaneous benefits/protections. Aeroplan miles can be very valuable. Can be accessed from my Favorite Bank Links.
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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. If you prefer, this is my personal referral link.
Click on my TOP CREDIT CARD OFFERS to see a DETAILED explanation of the features of these cards.
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The 75k Capital One Venture X card. It is amazing what you get for FREE with this card!
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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
I have two major family trips to plan for this year, Greece and Thailand. I now have firm dates and Google Flights alerts have been set. Latest complication is that son’s passport expires about 7 months after the trip to Greece so he is going to get it renewed asap. And likely go on a separate reservation as he plans to visit another place in Europe on the return. Always exciting when you have firm dates and lots of miles to pull from. I have plenty of Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and some Air Canada miles to pick from, the value of diversification not only in investing is obvious ladies and gents. And if I see a low cash fare I am going to pull the trigger.
I also bookmarked this to study later: 10 Alaska Awards to Book With Amex Points…Before It’s Too Late. Very handy since we wiped out our Amex Points to Hawaiian Airlines onwards to Alaska…
I enjoyed my quick weekend getaway trip to Cleveland where I burned one expiring World of Hyatt Free Night Cert and 15,000 points to stay at the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade hotel to stay two nights. I wanted to finally visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Which was ok and a bit underwhelming, they could have done so much more with it. I post pics from my trips on Instagram, please follow me there:
Pics from a West Side Food Tour
Pics from Cleveland downtown and visit to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Pics and review of the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade hotel
Video of the suite at the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade
Blog reader let me know that this hotel was used in the latest Superman movie
Spring and summer again are moving way too fast. Around Memorial Day weekend in Detroit we have the awesome Detroit Electronic Music Festival. As a longtime fan of electronic music I still remember the days when a bunch of fans, including yours truly, worked hard to make this a reality. We started it back in 2000, wow, 25 years ago, it seems like yesterday. Anyway, if you are a fan of this music you should visit. I am not going because my ears can not take loud music anymore. So, protect your ears everyone.
Game 1 between the New York Knicks vs Indiana Pacers was an instant classic, wow!
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As of today, I have burned 366,156 miles/points year to date (2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,666,819 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.
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Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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You are having a bit of a slow burning points year in 2025 though guess those 2 trips you have planned might help to burn the stash. I’m interested as to whether Andaz Bkk opens in Dec because if so will move part of our stay there to try it. Will be interested to hear more of the Greece trip as think we are going to Crete in 2026 and probably Athens on the way out of Europe. Has anyone been to Shanghai and have any recommendations? Since the toddler started with his carry on I have fallen down the Instagram rabbit hole on what is going on in China and it is mind blowing how far advanced they are vs us dopes in the western world. So planning to go and see for ourselves. Bit hilarious as 6 months ago I did say I have zero interest in China now I am keen. Thank god for that Australian passport so we don’t have to be humiliated and identify as American.
I added the link to the video of my suite in the HR at the Arcade property. Is it working for you guys?
I updated my latest miles/points balance.
Strange morning, had to post and then go to the airport to pick up daughter. Her Alaska Airlines flight was not only late but luggage was also late, I think she can get some miles for that.
Will respond to all comments probably on Saturday.
5 credit card sales month to date. 7 coffees sold month to date, including the first monthly coffee buyer, thanks to Carl! Who I offered my Cat 1-7 Hyatt cert to use in Paris but he was not able to…is Vendome now Cat 9 or what? 🙂 Blog year to date revenue at this pace will be 1/5 at best of 2024…so this venture is failing. Which is my only regret. Something will have to give eventually, maybe when I get to Greece I step away and vanish like Drew did 🙂
Thanks for the great links today! The curious museum site is a hoot!
Got home from 2.8 months of travel, school, a cold, lots of good food and an amazing amount spent at Mailboxes Etc.! All week been catching up on stuff and chores and tasks. Fired my CPA as the daughter bought him out for his retirement and instantly added a 3% fee for paying with a credit card. Called and said, “hey Dad never did that, what is up?” She said if I didn’t like it to find someone else. So I will!
Good stuff here as usual and as usual (also) I’ll get through a lot of the articles over the weekend. Home coffee breaks and the blog make perfect companions, says Carl! BTW, Thanks again for the offer of the hotel cert!
I read a lot of places are starting to try to tighten up the Airbnb market. Makes me sad because I like them. Don’t feel like going to a restaurant? Cool, I can cook at “home”. No worries about maids or housekeepers with sticky fingers, either.
Said before my trip was likely my last big long trip. Now I am starting to think about another, this time to stay in one place, go to more school, and really do an in-depth visit.
BTW! If you leave Milan to go to Busto Arizio, use the Domodossa station. It’s a regional. When you leave Busto Arizio, be careful as to WHICH Domodossa station you buy a ticket for. The wrong one will take you almost to the Swiss border and is definitely in the wrong direction! This happens especially if you fall asleep on the way. Just a Helpful Hint!
Ciao from Sicily. On a 11 night cheap cruise before the tourist hordes swarm the Med. Heading to Crete, Santorini, Mykanos, Istanbul, and finishing up in Athens. I was hoping to continue on up the Adriatic but the next leg of the cruise sold out. So haven’t decided the next move, but have another week to decide.
Saw a Giro d’italia stage near Pisa and visited the Maradona shrine in Napoli. They go for the Serie A table this evening! Big!
Texas Monthly has had a lot of interesting stuff over the years.
There was a trip report on Sao Tome on Flyertalk not too long ago. It looked pretty interesting. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/2168018-sao-tome-angola-finishing-off-portuguese-african-colonies.html