Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as investing vs gambling, Scambodia, what matters in AI right now, Park Hyatt Saigon, average rents in 100 US cities, more AI ETFs are coming, vaccines for shingles, best airport dining, the best app for national parks, Route 66 turns 100, 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. And much more. Enjoy the weekend.
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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 blog stays in business with clicks ONLY from readers for credit cards and coffees. 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 “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 . Or just email me.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
In case you missed it, I did publish my annual post: How I Burned 1,893,248 Miles and Points in 2025.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.” – Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, 1974
PERSONAL FINANCE
Well, this is true: It’s Getting Harder to Tell Investing From Gambling, and It’s Not Your Fault. When the stock market seems unstoppable, it’s easy to step over the line.
In the real world, your attitude toward risk depends partly on who you are, but also on what you’ve lived through. And the data you’ll rely on is a mix of recent history and whatever stands out most vividly from your own experience. [So true, some old timers have been through the horrific dot com and Great Financial Crisis bear markets. Therefore, we think differently than so many younger folks who have never even come close to anything like that. And they have been conditioned to always buy the dip. At some point, that will not work. I think…]
So you need to stick to an investment plan and recognize that the market will do its thing. And lately most of us keep wondering about this: No Peace Plan, No Problem: Why the Wartime Market Keeps Rising. Actually, we have been wondering about this for a while. But, again, you need to get back to your investment plan to guide your investment decisions: Deciding on an asset allocation that you can live with, stick with a low cost broad based ETF portfolio, pick a time interval (every six months or at least once a year) to review and rebalance if necessary and avoid making stupid tax moves. And go live your life instead of worrying about how the latest happenings in the Strait of Hormuz will impact your portfolio. Because it does not matter what you think, the market will do its thing. And stop comparing yourself to others, like this guy mentioned in the article:
A longtime investor who held on through the dot-com crash and the 2007-09 recession, Drake said his experience has instilled a kind of blind faith in the American stock market’s ability to recover from just about any crisis. Why are markets racing back to records? “I have no idea,” he said. “It doesn’t matter why it goes down—the Iran war, Covid, whatever,” Drake said. “All these times when the market drops, it doesn’t even matter to me, I buy more.”
This was very good: Survival is the Only Success.
It doesn’t matter what you do in life if you can’t sustain it. You could make $100 million, but if you end up in a prison cell or broke, who cares? That’s not success. In fact, it’s the opposite.
…greed is a hell of a drug. Greed drives people to behave in absolutely irrational ways. It drives some people to risk everything for just a little bit more. It’s the most negatively asymmetric payoff you could imagine—the upside is capped, but the downside is unlimited. And yet people still make this trade all the time. There are people out there doing it right now. They may look successful today, but they won’t hold onto their success. [Blogging here is greedy…this is why this venture freely shares all profits…LOL]
This is why I’m not a fan of those who “generate income by selling options.” [Same]. These people are trading immediate rewards for future risks. And when those future risks inevitably arrive, many of them get wiped out.
Some of my kids’ friends and coworkers read my blog. This is for you for your next move: Average Rent Across 100 US Cities.
CRYPTO/TECH/SCAMS
Super sad when scammers take over a whole country: How Cybercrime Became a Leading Industry in ‘Scambodia’. Crime syndicates in Cambodia corrupt officials, enslave workers and fleece victims worldwide.
Blogged here about this ridiculous crypto Justin Sun dude several times. Who bought so much of a Trump backed coin that the SEC dropped its fraud investigation against him. And now, please sit down, in a “shocking” development: Crypto Billionaire Accuses Trump Family’s World Liberty of ‘Criminal Extortion’. Justin Sun said he lost out on $276 million when the Trump-backed company blocked him from cashing out an early investment.
We are living in grifting times. Recent news headline:
U.S. Soldier in Maduro Raid Is Charged With Making Bets on Former Leader’s Ouster
AI
Of course you will find many companies in the investing world jump into AI and come up with ETF products: Looking for an AI ETF? You Might Need an LLM for That. I think we just hit 50 separate ETFs revolving around AI. It happens every time there is talk of a hot product, I remember the dot com days. We all know how that ended. Which does not mean I am implying that this is how this era is going to end. I have no idea what will happen. But back then I felt something was really wrong when the owner of a tiny Chinese food dive I was frequenting (because of its amazingly delicious low priced lunch special) could not stop talking to me about how much money she was making day trading dot com stocks symbols. Is this different this time? Well, I am not seeing yet too many doing the same thing. Maybe because they all bitch how expensive everything is, sad lol. I really like the author’s first takeaway of this article:
You Don’t Need This
The latest from MIT Technology Review: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now.
Humanoid data
LLMs+
Supercharged scams
World models
The new war room
Weaponized deepfakes
Agent orchestration
China’s open-source bet
Artificial scientists
Resistance
IRAN WAR
I can’t believe this shit is still going on! Can you imagine where we would be if it was not for two mega self inflicted wounds (tariff liberation and this war)? Anyway, pray for peace…
We are living through some unimaginable crazy things these days. You know how crazy they are when you agree with Tucker Carlson, WTF! Who said this about the Iran war: “the single biggest mistake” by a U.S. President in his lifetime.
I find it ludicrous that the US side did not plan for this, unreal! Iran Had a Doomsday Weapon All Along. Control of a vital waterway gives Tehran the deterrence power it’s always wanted.
ODDZ & ENDZ
I have been meaning to stab myself with the shingles vaccine. But I keep procrastinating. Because I hear the side effects are very strong, especially after the second dose. And my doctor never brings it up first. And I also hear that the vaccine is not very effective. Anyway, feel free to convince me: You Should Be More Freaked Out by Shingles.
Excellent article on ADHD, required reading if you are interested imho: The Hypercurious Mind. I have always been hyper and curious!——>exclamation marks are a sign of being hyper woohoo.
ADHD isn’t merely a dysfunction. It’s best understood as an impulsive motivational drive for novel information
I have heard that as you age you go to the bathroom more often. And it is true. So forget long road trips. But wait, is there a solution out there? Maybe…ok, please laugh: Chinese carmaker patents voice-controlled ‘in-vehicle toilet’.
Amazing photography: Reclaimed by Nature.
TRAVEL
Is anyone surprised that most of these were in Asia? World’s Best Airport Dining 2026. Singapore’s Changi landed at #1. And one US airport made the list, Houston George Bush airport at #10.
You love the US national parks? Bookmark this site: TrailVerse: Explore 470+ parks and sites with real-time weather, interactive maps, community reviews, and smart trip planning.
Route 66 turns 100 years old this year. Let’s take a drive, must click imho.
Spring is almost here: Where to hike in Metro Detroit: 10 trails to explore.
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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
So, here we go again…
I chuckled when I first saw this WSJ article: Five Unexpected Things People Went to War for in Their Divorce. And I fully expected to see a frequent flyer miles or bank points mentioned. Instead, it was a Walgreens Rewards account. WTF, seriously? Then again, I see a leg lamp and spices mentioned as well. Pretty funny…and sad at the same time.
Some pretty sad stats (for us who were into airline elite status years ago): First-Class Seats Drive Airline Profits. It Wasn’t Always This Way. Airlines used to give away most of their nicest seats, but they have increasingly found ways to persuade people to pay a lot for them.
Twenty years ago, Delta Air Lines was giving away its best seats. Back then, only about 15 percent of first-class passengers paid for their seats, while most of the rest were loyal customers the airline had upgraded for free. Delta has since flipped the script: Today, it sells over 70 percent of those prime seats, a shift that has helped it become the most profitable airline in the United States. [And I think the 70 percent number is too low]
Globally, each business- and first-class seat earns about 3.4 times as much as an economy seat…[This sounds about right…]
Another improvement: Google Hotels Fully Rolls Out Price Alert Tracking.
Many companies in this space do these bids for whatever. I never bother. Because I just ain’t got the time. So I checked out this new Pointsevents site with great interest. But I am not impressed. Yet? Maybe you like it more than me: Pointsevents, an awesome tool to find experiences bookable with points.
The hits keep coming: JAL & ANA Announce Fuel Surcharges To Almost Double (Tickets Booked In May And June).
The Southwest Airlines transformation continues: Southwest Lounge Updates – Up To 5 Currently Being Planned.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
For ANY questions on travel rewards credit cards, contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Really strange enhancement, just 8 properties. I guess better than nothing: Chase Announces Select Properties With 2.5x PointsBoost Redemption.
NEW OFFERS:
Several excellent new credit card offers finally and have added expiration dates to some current offers, maybe this blog can sell a few to evade the ax? You can always email me to ask anything about these offers.
150k CAPITAL ONE Venture Business: $95 annual fee. 75,000 miles when they spend $7,500 in the first 3 months, plus an additional 75,000 miles when they spend $30,000 in the first 6 months. Two separate $50 credits: travel credit and advertising/software credit. 2x on every purchase and 5x on hotels and rental cars booked on the Capital One travel portal. $120 Global Entry/TSAPreCheck credit. Shockingly, this card will NOT report to personal credit bureaus.
50k CAPITAL ONE VentureOne Business: No annual fee. $4,500 minimum spend in first three months. 1.5x on every purchase and 5x on hotels and rental cards booked on the Capital One travel portal.
Amex is going all out on both Business Platinum and Gold cards!
As High As 200,000 Points on the AMEX Business Gold after spending $15k in the first three months
As High As 300,000 Points on the AMEX Business Platinum after spending $20,000 in the first three months
Excellent new Bank of America Alaska Airlines Atmos card offers as well:
100,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Summit after spending $6,500 in the first three months. And a 50% flight discount voucher
80,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Ascent after spending $4,000 in the first four months. And a 50% flight discount voucher
85,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Business after spending $5,500 in the first three months
This great offer now ends May 20, 2026: Chase United Business Cards: 100,000 Point + 2,000 PQP Offers Or 115,000 Points.
200k CHASE IHG Business Premier: After spending $4k in the first three months for the first 140k points. Another $5k of spend (for a total of $9k) for another 60k points in the first six months, annual fee $99. For more info on it, click HERE. ENDING 4/30/2026.
25k CHASE Freedom Unlimited: After spending only $500 in the first three months, $0 annual fee. ENDING 4/30/2026.
175k AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Bevy: After spending $5,000 in the first six months, annual fee $250. ENDING 5/13/2026.
5 Free Nights AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business: After spending a total of $9,000 in the first six months, annual fee $125.
For more info click on these AMEX Marriott Bonvoy cards click here.
80k CHASE World of Hyatt Business: After spending $10,000 in the first three months, annual fee is $199. For more info, click here. Highest ever offer as well, with higher minimum spend though. ENDING 4/30/2026.
75k CITI AAdvantage Business World Elite MasterCard
CURRENT OFFERS:
125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve/150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve for Business
175k AMEX Platinum & 300k AMEX Business Platinum& 200k AMEX Business Gold
75k CITI Strata Elite card
Due to credit card vendor restrictions, the only affiliate links I can place in the body of my posts are for Capital One cards. For the rest, you know what to do. You can always email me at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com with ANY questions.
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!
BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
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Elevated Card Offer Notifications
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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
I have not been doing much in this hobby lately as my real job is still intense dealing with deaths and inheritances and aging issues in general.
Thanks to the few blog readers who take steps to actually support this effort instead of reading every post and then surfing on elsewhere. With so much enshittification everywhere around us online we all need to understand that if you want to see something online continue it must be supported. When I eventually quit I will undoubtedly get comments “oh so sad, going to miss you, all the best, blah blah blah”. Well, for 95% of you…what did you do all these years to help avoid the final outcome? Anyway, like I have always said, enjoy every post while this “venture” lasts…
I am starting to get excited for the 2026 World Cup…
I haven’t seen a good movie in a long time lately.
Home renovation work continues, we are nearing about 75% completion. They better hurry up before the World Cup starts lol.
I need to find time to book me the Park Hyatt Saigon for three or four nights before the next World of Hyatt devaluation hits us very soon.
Not much action in Instagram and YouTube. If I continue at this pace the TBB.ai IPO will have to wait you guys LOL.
It has been free classes at my gym this week. I attended a Pilates and then a spinning class two days in a row. I have been sore all over for two days straight, sad.
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Check out my page listing my affiliate links HERE including Rakuten and Top Cash Back and Rove Miles and more.
This blog ends when my 2nd credit card vendor kicks me to the curb due to “low sales volume”. Or the latest three month accounting below turns to all red, whichever happens first. Until then, enjoy my blog if you read this far.
Blog Revenue Full Disclosure:
February:
Credit card sales: 1 Buy me a Coffee: 22
March:
Credit card sales: 4 Buy me a Coffee: 7
April to date:
Credit card sales: 3 Buy me a Coffee: 11
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve Business, 125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 75k CITI Strata Elite, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 175k AMEX Platinum, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 300k AMEX Business Platinum, 200k AMEX Business Gold, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 75k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 200k AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, 175k Marriott Bonvoy Bevy (ENDS 5/13/26), 100k BofA Alaska Atmos Summit, 80k BofA Alaska Atmos Ascent, 85k BofA Alaska Atmos Business, 30k CHASE United Gateway, 100k AMEX Gold, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
As of today, I have burned 336,515 miles/points year to date (after burning 1,893,248 miles/points in 2025 and 2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,213,847 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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Comments (11)
Gold for the desert rats…perhaps.
Good morning Buzz, congrats on your team taking the title this year.
Thanks for another great post and have a great weekend.
Hiya George! I have to tell you something. GET THE SHINGLES VACCINE ASAP!!! I got it even after a mild case and nothing since and that is good because Shingles can be absolute agony. PLEASE avail yourself of any and all vaccines, yes, but that one is way important! PLEASE!
On to my usual and well-deserved praise for all the good stuff to read and look at! Gonna fill a couple mornings worth of coffee and reading! Thanks as always for the hard work of putting this together.
Looking forward to hopefully meeting up in SEA next month! Keep me posted as to what day would work best for you.
Good morning!
Those who think poorly of Delta’s frequent flier program will be amused that I was
unable to get a trip to Glasgow on miles. I was not amused. Ah well.
Thanks for all the terrific links.
I love this blog !! im sophias friend. I came to your house that one time ! great information. I find your writing style to be lighthearted but also very informational. Keep up the good work !!
On the shingles front, get the jabs. You and I are the same age. My mother was a tough, tough woman from Europe and she got shingles. They just didn’t have the vaccine back in the 80’s. She described the pain as agonizing, a term she never used otherwise for herself. As a result when I turned 50 I got the two vaccinations. After the first one I felt weird and my skin all over my body turned sunburn red and I had goosebumps over a lot of my body. It was unpleasant but not debilitating. That faded after a day and the second jab caused nothing. My wife said that the moment she turns 50 she’s getting the shot as she can’t imagine how bad it would be if the side effects – even briefly – were that intense since the real thing must be orders of magnitude worse. Smart woman.
If you have Netflix, watch The Thursday Murder Club. Amazing cast, lots of fun and a great whodunnit. My wife loves it too so it’s not just me. If you like it, mention that and I can suggest one or two other things.
The Park Hyatt Saigon rocks. you’ll love it if you haven’t stayed there before.
@ David: Yeah, we had a nice run. And looking for back to back, just got a 7.2 center, thanks to the transfer portal and our alumni money lol. If only our Pistons could get a playoff mentality ingrained that would be great, at this point it looks like we are going to go down to a Seed 8. After a 60 win regular season and #1 seed. I knew this was coming because they were gunning for the 60 wins and player season awards. Hopefully I am wrong and they can turn it around. In a few hours I am watching my hometown soccer team play a do or die game to avoid relegation.
@ Carl: So I called my doctor’ office. After enduring the phone hold and pressing button #1 several times, I got to talk to a human and she took my request and will let my doctor know and he will get back to me. After a few days a nurse messaged me back to tell me they are not doing shingles vaccines in the office and I should talk my insurance company to inquire if it is covered and which provider can administer it. I absolutely despise the US health care system, I can’t wait to get to Bangkok for all my health care needs. So I have to call my pharmacy and ask them next, not calling my insurance company…whenever I do that it drives me up the wall.
SEA itinerary is still up in the air. More like up to my daughter actually. Is there a day that works best for you?
@ DML: So, you got the trip using Skymiles to Glasgow? That was under 250k? 🙂
@ Sophia’s Friend: Hi L. Thanks for the kind words, they made my day. Thanks for the candid feedback through S. I should look into upgrading the look/feel of my blog and email newsletter. But it takes money and will surely lead to this blog turning a loss this year. And I am not sure how long it will stay alive as I will be dropped from the cc vendor (that provides 95%+ of the blog revenue) any day now. So, I just ignore it and focus on the actual content and….keep going. This has been my little escape project that keeps me busy and trying to educate/entertain/inspire blog readers. Commercially speaking, well, I don’t want to talk about it lol. I may just bite the bullet and put some money into it soon because the last thing I want is for my blog to be associated with sites that look scummy. Thanks for the push. And good luck in Seattle, visiting soon.
@ Christian: You can Carl convinced me, I will do the shingles vaccine very soon. Added Thursday Murder Club on my list to watch, not sure when I will get to it, if ever. Maybe I get to watch it on my next flight. I plan to book the Park Hyatt Saigon this week for September, plan for 4 nights, that should be enough I think.
Left my phone outside the bedroom last night. Slept in, woke up late at 5 am, got 8 full hours of sleep. I need to make this a habit!
The TBB link queue is developing nicely. There is a small chance to post on Tuesday, maybe go back to make it a mini post on Tuesdays?
Credit cards sold at 3 and coffees at 11, still under the monthly target to keep this business a “going concern”. To all aspiring bloggers, DO NOT DO IT!
Enjoy and keep healthy everyone!
Hiya George! Man, glad you will get the Shingle shot. Truly, it is not fun having them so get it done soon! I got mine at the pharmacy here as they are authorized to do vacccines and my insurance covered them, too. Maybe check with a local CVS or Walgreens?
Saturday May 9 would be ideal for me if it can be worked out. It’s a couple hour drive but what with the next day being Mother’s day, I suspect would be preferable to everyone and their cousin taking Moms out? That’s my hunch, anyhow. Lemme know! You can always message me via the book of face and if you wish, lemme know there and I’ll shoot you my phone number.
Unexpected development:
Transferred 60k Chase points to Hyatt. I see two 60k Hyatt points showing in the app now.
I am going to stay silent and try to book the Park Hyatt Saigon later today 🙂
Booked:
4 nights with confirmed suite upgrade at Park Hyatt Saigon – 80,000 points
Well, a tip to all. My Aadvantage cards just changed from Barclays to Citi. THE VERY NEXT DAY I got fraudulent charges on one of them, including the Buy Me A Coffee charge. All my monthly small subs and charges were on that card, and now in the middle of changing them all.
Watch your Aadvantage card charges closely!
This sucks. Both Citi and Barclays suck. I am glad both of these banks are out of my life (currently). No worries at all about the monthly BMAC charge.