Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the best year end tax moves, the Crypto states of America, the Invisible Man, the 2024 ETF Conference recap, mortgage rates around the world, Americans keep spending, vacation club scams, therapist AI chatbots, the latest World Migration report, best places to travel to in 2025, most remote spots in Europe and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of miles and points at the lower half of the post.
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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.
This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
Hello from Bangkok, Thailand! Family members are arriving and we take the show to Hua Hin next week. I will try to do another post on Friday but, you know, I may not get to it.
PERSONAL FINANCE
As we are all adjusting to the new political reality coming at us for the next four years, the fact remains that generally speaking, in a macro sense that is, Americans have money, and they plan to spend it during the holidays. Retail sales hit another record in October, as in $718.9 Billion! I usually don’t worry that much about things out of my control. When I am asked the odds of a recession coming soon, I do like to look at the jobs indicators. And the fact remains that the US economy has added jobs for 46 straight months. Ok, time to move on.
Let’s get to some things that we do control: 7-Key Year-End Tax Strategies to Save Clients Money.
Very interesting info here: Mortgage credit interest rate by country: the latest data. Turkey at 42.93% and Argentina at 29.28% is lol territory. But, Argentina was at 105.49% a year ago so there has been huge progress on this indicator.
I am really worried after seeing some of the new administration’s Cabinet picks. And I am really going to stick with it because it has been proven in the past that mixing politics and investing does not work. But, maybe this time will be different? One day it will be. Table below is from here.
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
All the major hotel companies operate scammy timeshares operations. And they have taken this to a higher level lately. As in subscription based vacation club operations. Sadly, Hyatt is all in with this after buying Apple Group in 2021 (which came with the Secrets, Breathless and Dreams brands). And the bad press will keep on coming: Lured by Luxury Vacations, They Were Stuck With Debt. Consumers claim they were duped by a vacation club managed by Hyatt. Some are locked into 40-year, $50,000 contracts that they say offer few rewards. Just.Say.No.
Well, if you had listened to me about Bitcoin. Actually, I am kidding. You didn’t lose anything if you never invested in it is the way I prefer to look at it. You add the high hopes all the Bitcoin bros have with the incoming administration becoming very crypto friendly and boom. Anyway, enjoy the ride if you hopped along and sitting on gains. So, will you sit on them? For how long? You have not profited yet if you haven’t sold. Just saying. Anyway, to get up to speed with these guys you can read the latest by Molly White: The Cryptocurrency States of America.
There have been many odd and ridiculous characters in the crypto space. Do you remember that odd couple with a Russian born dude whose last name is Lichtenstein and his wife who used to rap as Razzlekhan? They both got sentenced for the 2016 Bitfinex hack. And they got busted because they accessed some of the stolen loot by using gift cards at Wal Mart lol. Anyway, the dude got five years and his wife eighteen months. Maybe she can give some free concerts (do not google her YouTube music videos, they are bloody awful, you have been warned). in prison. Actually, that would definitely be cruel and unusual punishment inflicted on the inmates.
This blog is not going to blog itself. I rely on my readers helping it grow as I don’t have time to do any promotion/marketing. Which leaves the content clean of intrusive sponsoring posts and stupid ads and stuff like that.
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ODDZ & ENDZ
So much was made about the “huge” problem of immigration in the latest US current elections. Here is the 2024 World Migration Report. What I found shocking was this: The current global estimate is that there were around 281 million international migrants in the world in 2020, which equates to 3.6 percent of the global population. Bold font added for emphasis…Just 3.6%, I was way off too.
A writer writes about being homeless: The Invisible Man. And it is a really tough read. This guy is obviously talented, hopefully this article led to some opportunities for him and a way out of the trap he found himself in. And please let’s all be more kind to them.
Oh boy, AI is coming to replace your therapist: The Therapist in the Machine. Chatbots take on the talking cure.
Heartfelt Services lets users choose between three different AI therapists: the bearded, bespectacled, and bemused Paul; the mythical-looking Serene; and the grinning, middle-aged Joy (she specializes in the most popular form of therapy, CBT, whose basis in aggressively logical problem-solving arguably makes it easier to automate than other modalities).
Actually, reading this made me realize that this area has really made huge progress. Free chatbot therapists for all!
Let’s wrap up this section with some amazing photography: Kathryn Cooper’s Layered Photos Capture the Complexities of Starling Murmurations.
TRAVEL
Remember that bizarre looking development with Disney-style looking homes in Turkey that became a ghost town? Well, the developed did an interview and you won’t believe what happened next he said: ‘If I had the power I’d destroy the whole thing’: what went wrong with the ghost town of Disney-style castles? Just wild stuff…
Interesting places on this list: ‘It felt wild and mystical’: readers’ favourite remote spots in Europe.
Some interesting choices again: The 25 Best Places to Go in 2025. Djerba, Tunisia anyone? And how about this place below before we phuck it all up?
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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.
We have a lot to cover, fasten your seat belts!
Spirit Airlines, profitability wise, was kicking ass for a long time. And then Covid happened, other competitors made changes and just like that it did not take long to come to this: Spirit Airlines Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. I have flown Spirit a few times and it was just fine. I wonder if some Feds regret not approving the deal with JetBlue. Well, if they did they would certainly keep quiet about it.
Some gem American Airlines awards here, hurry before they too get killed: American Airlines award chart sweet spots you might be ignoring.
This link has been updated and it is a must bookmark imho: Master Chart: Here Are The Best Ways to Book Every American or Alaska Airlines Award Flight Within the US and Canada!
I have not seen a blog article about the hotel apps in a long time: Battle of the Hotel Chain Apps: Which One is Superior?
Chase is Denying Reconsideration Outright for Some Cards. Y tu Chase?
And boom, just like that, the price goes 5x fold: AwardWallet Increasing Prices to $49.99 per year (From $10 for Grandfathered Customers).
One more lounge is open: Capital One DCA is now open.
I get into my action items below after this from your sponsor, just kidding! Don’t give up reading now, there is more below.
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2024 Extraordinary Travel Festival
Most of the links below link to Instagram posts. Follow me there so you don’t miss them ok?
I really enjoyed the 2024 Extraordinary Travel Festival. I have done some crazy stuff in my life but the crowd assembled here makes my escapades look extremely boring. The attendees are hard core travelers, to the extreme. Like, you are not going to find me walking all over Madagascar and Somalia ever. Or, dragging my three very young kids all over the world alone. Or that guy who spent 10 years visiting every country in the world. Okay, I found out there are many who have done this but this guy did it without flying. Which, in my case, makes it kind of boring lol. And the Sultan of Slowjamastan was great. He actually wrote a great blog post about it here: What I Experienced at ETF–and Why You’ll Never Keep Me Away Again.
I felt kind of out of place I must admit. I learned there are so many separate groups that cater to this group, such as Most Traveled People, Nomad Mania, Counting Countries, Every Passport Stamp and more. Many are on a quest to visit every country in the world. Which is definitely not my thing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love traveling. I also do enjoy being at home with my family and still enjoy my job taking care of my clients. I enjoy blogging too 12 years into this creative outlet for me. Becoming a full time digital nomad never appealed to me. Maybe I am getting too old? Or maybe I just enjoy relaxing in a superb Hyatt suite and enjoying the free breakfasts and the lounges and getting to and from the next destination flying up front in First or Business class using miles/points?
Don’t get me wrong. If this is what people want to do I am all for it. We are all different. At the same time I do wonder sometimes if they are all running from something? I don’t know, the feeling of being committed to someone in a relationship? I also do understand people doing this who are financially independent. But youngsters in their 20’s who could be putting away loads of money in a 401k plan and getting that compounding thingie going early? Instead, they hop around making barely enough and losing valuable years making financial independence a virtual impossibility. Yeah, lots of thoughts running inside my head. We are all searching for the meaning of life I guess…
The miles and points crowd was a small part of the conference, good to reconnect with some friends and meet some new people. I did gain some new subscribers for my blog and IG followers. The Ambassador Hotel was in a perfect location and very low priced. Actually, you got a lot for the cash outlay for it. I signed up for a very interesting Bangkok Ghosts tour which I really enjoyed because it was way more interesting than doing the typical tours tourists do, like the Grand Palace and food tours.
There were parties every day and my favorite one was held at the Hyatt Regency hotel where we stayed last year and really enjoyed it.
I am enjoying the Hyatt Place hotel I am staying in. It is located on Soi 24, just a short walk to the Phrom Phong BTS Skytrain station. Everything you want is within walking distance. Right next to the Em district, which is three big shopping malls, the Emporium, Emsphere and EmQuartier. The free breakfast for Globalists is great. I enjoy walking the streets of Bangkok. The vibrancy of the city is intense. And I am the guy who loves eating cheap at food stalls and you got food stalls in almost every block here. Or you can pop in at the food courts in every mall. I really enjoy riding the BTS Skytrain, so convenient to get around the city with the hellish traffic.
I have been taking it easy since I arrived after the busy ETF conference. I am focusing on treating my feet and have identified this small massage place a few minutes away from my hotel. And I am getting amazing foot massages twice a day here. And every time the masseuse has been better than the previous one! If I do this every day maybe my feet will be fixed. I feel like running a marathon every time I leave a session but it does not take long for the issues plaguing my feet to return. I must have done a hell of a job screwing them up from overdoing the marathon running last year I guess.
I am also getting a custom fitted suit, three dress shirts and pants from a tailor who came highly recommended. Since I am at it, I got my teeth whitened. Yeah, prices are considerably lower than the US and I do love a bargain, it is in my DNA. My beard trim was adequate but I can’t wait to go back to my barber in Ann Arbor. You can ask me any questions you may have about Bangkok. We’ll be back here, it is feeling like home. Which is very strange, am I too old for more travel adventures and discoveries? Wanting to return to the same place was not in my DNA in the past.
Wife, daughter, son and girlfriend are on the way as I type this, all flying on different airlines on award tickets of course. We spend two nights in Bangkok and then head to Hua Hin. One night at the Hilton and three nights in suites at the Hyatt Regency. All on points of course. I am going to try to keep updating my IG but it is getting difficult, I am no IG influencer type you guys.
Not much action in my regular miles/points activities. Burned 19k World of Hyatt points at the Kyoto Hyatt Place for son plus 1. Nearing 2 Million miles/points burned year to date. But I think we are going to cancel this year’s Christmas trip to New York City, which will get this number lower. So, this is a first world “problem” lol.
I bought a JetBlue issued ticket to get to Bangkok, see previous posts. I have earned miles for the Detroit-Boston flight on JetBlue and Boston-Doha on Qatar Airways. Still no miles for the Doha-Bangkok flight. I will deal with it when I get back, keep your boarding passes people! Also, son is still waiting to see his Alaska Airlines miles for the Tokyo-Honolulu leg on Hawaiian Airlines. Amazing how it was no problem getting his Korean Air and JAL flights credited to Alaska and yet, Hawaiian Airlines merging with Alaska still can’t get its shit together. And this is why you double and triple check things and keep boarding passes!
Can’t wait to see how SAS handles this on all the people doing the 1 Million miles challenge for flying 15 separate Skyteam airlines. So glad this is over, it was getting really annoying seeing numerous posts from the Frequent Miler team about it. You need to understand you do this because you have no other obligations in life and have the time and money for it and you are willing to fight with SAS to get all flights properly credited. And also realize that the Frequent Miler folks doing it is because it is their job and the whole point is to wow you so you can be so impressed that you will read them and apply for credit cards at their site. I still recommend the site but I must admit seeing so many videos of them was a bit too much.
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MILES & POINTS
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As of today, I have burned 1,946,104 miles/points year to date (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,296,904 miles/points in the bank.
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance!
Let me leave you with this:
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Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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Sounds like you are having a fabulous time in Bangkok. I’ll admit I am a Thailand fan, think I might be heading there early 2025 and HP sounds like a decent place to stay. Like you, I struggle to understand the young ones who seem to be unprepared to put in 20 years of effort then spend the rest of their time costing to at least ensure they will have something in retirement years. I know that sounds boring and uninspiring, but having observed many struggling seniors without adequate resources, I’d always recommend locking in something for your financial future. FM, their challenges have bored me for a long time. They seem so ridiculous as most readers don’t seem to figure they will never have the mileage balances that the FM crew seem to have at their fingertips for the multiple first class flights, no matter how many cards they apply for.
Loving it here, all of us are here and we had breakfast at the HP. Meeting another Ann Arbor Thai friend for lunch shortly. I agree with the rest of your comment, thank you for taking the time to comment. There is no doubt FM has built a great business; I am looking for my first intern here but unpaid position does not attract many applicants lol.
Great to read about the trip!
There is much to be said about serious travel when you are young
enough to take the physical demands without thinking about them.
Yeah absolutely…It is starting to hit home as I must take a nap in the afternoon here every day 🙂
Hey Buzz,
Thanks for a great post, and sharing your info on Thailand.
You’re not missing much over here, just a bunch of grifters and rapists making America great.
Oops…I meant to say “rainbows and unicorns”.
Have a great time with the family!
Trying to avoid the news lately as many others. Because the bunch of characters joining to govern are, well, enough to trigger anyone. I wonder the ones who voted for these freaks get what they voted for…the rest of us will need to survive them. The more I am here in Thailand I wonder why I don’t move here for the next 4 years to escape the madness
You’re making me start to think about going to Thailand. Never had much urge to but it is starting to sound more appealing. Great post today as always and I’ll be muddling through articles this weekend. I did read (most of) that article by the homeless guy and it was great writing. Sad he is/was in that situation. Have a great time over there and safe travels!
Many older expats have moved here permanently, so many on YouTube. I met some in a YTer meetup. With $2k usd a month here you live comfortably. North of $5k and you approach king status lol. Yeah, the cost of living differential and quality of life here is great…but must deal with the heat, air pollution and visa issues, etc. I have learned a lot about this place, feel free to ask me ?s via email.
I disagree, I think we should like to Razzlekhan’s videos. They’re hip-hop’s equivalent of that Australian breaksancer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5s4taHrEWA
*link, not like
I am scared to click 🙂
Yeah the Frequent Miler stuff was lame, but then again if your job is to create content for people to consume it’s a pretty easy way to do it. But yeah I quit reading the stuff when it came across by RSS feed.
Glad to see people having interest in Thailand. It’s my winter home away from home these days, 4th year coming up. I’ll be back in January for my customary 90 days. I’ve spent quite a few nights at that Hyatt Place in Phrom Phong. Hell, even was quarantined in my room for 20 hours when Thailand had their test & go covid scheme going. I remember I could stay at the Marriott Marquis around the corner for around $30 a night in January 2022. Ended up staying there for like 3 weeks! lol.
But I guess I’m one of those ‘running’ away from something in your book. But after seeing the world post-covid, the division occurring even amongst families thanks to corrupt power hungry politicians on both sides of the aisle, corporations running their employees into the ground to push up the share price for CEOs bonuses, and the unaffordability of buying a home & starting a family, never mind if you have 6 figures of student debt then I don’t know why my generation wants to participate in the rat race or chase the ‘american dream’. Especially when you can go to places like Southeast Asia that are reasonably safe and insanely affordable.
I did my time in the corporate world, have a lowish-decent nest egg, and decided I would rather go see the world when I was fit and able instead of being a 65-70 year old retiree with an uncertain outlook on what that would look like for me.
End of the day we’re all going to die some day, you better act accordingly.
bob
Thanks a lot for this comment Bob. So, u spend the other three months in the US or travel permanently? Do you do hotel stays here for 3 months or Airbnbs? Covid changed everything imho. I agree with most of your comment…not sure about “corporations running their employees into the ground” though. Housing is indeed a big problem. I am sure the American Dream will be redefined in the next four years for sure. I would love to move to Thailand permanently, I love it here. But I can’t abandon my clients, they rely on me. Will be back next year to explore more places around Thailand, maybe Krabi and one more, with Bangkok as the base.
Sometimes I wonder if some of these people I met at the ETF conference traveling non stop are Trust fund babies…
It’s all good. And the HP breakfast is awesome…for a HP!
Travel permanently. I’m presently spending most of November and December in Las Vegas racking up Hyatt nights at the Rio since I need to re-qualify for Globalist and spent more time in airbnbs this year than usual. Prior to that I’ve been in Switzerland, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan since the beginning of the year. For Thailand usually will Airbnb. Chiang Mai is usually my base for at least 2 months but will spend a month at the beach if burning season gets bad or want to spend a week or two in Bangkok. The sweet spot for Airbnbs in the 28 night stay to qualify for the monthly discount so I will arrange my travel plans to make sure I am capturing it.
Thailand has recently expanded their visa program for tourist from 30 days to 60 days. But the big change is the DTV visa aka Destination Thailand Visa. 180 day visa for 5 years. I’ve been looking at it but has some hoops to jump through that I don’t currently ‘exactly’ qualify for but maybe something you should look into since you run your own shop.
I haven’t really came across many trust fund babies in my travel, most people try striking out for a year or two doing the digital nomad thing. But rare that I see the same people twice, it’s usually older millennials that seem to have more of a foothold. But that also could be because they managed to have some savings/more sustainable businesses.
But you also have to keep in mind that being a social media influencer is now an aspirational profession amongst GenZers. #1 as I recall on some surveys about what profession they would like to do. It’s only the natural evolution from travel blogs/flyertalk forums into something more consumable via instagram and tiktok. I can’t tell you the amount of people that have asked/suggested I do something like this.
Why not? I tell them the parable of the fisherman and the investment banker.
bob
Thanks a lot for your very thoughtful and detailed comment Bob. Great insights. Typing this now from the pool at the Hua Hin Hilton, falling in love with this property!
To all: I am posting on Instagram, follow me there to keep up with my Thailand trip. Son found this fresh seafood place last night, we had the most amazing lobster
Great stuff this week. I look forward to hearing about Hua Hin as I almost chose to go there once and I’m still intensely interested about the place.
I had time to do this post. But now all the familia has joined me so it will be difficult to keep this up. But I’ll try.
Just checked the cc conversions and the last officially credited sale was October 25, yikes! CO sales take months to get credited sigh.
Going for another foot massage to calm down.