Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as petty tyrants, AI uncertainties, $Trump Coin Club, sub 2 hour marathon history, 150,000 Chase Sapphire Reserve offer, college cost facts, financial advisor compensation methods, software eating itself, Iran war energy crisis spreading, losing a daughter, best luxury hotels in US National Parks, most walkable cities, 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.
Blog Mission: To Educate. Entertain. Inspire. In That Order!
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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.
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BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
This blog is my own crusade to do my part to fight rampant enshittification on the internet. I bring to you handpicked web content worthy to pay attention to. Because nothing matters more than what you pay attention to.
Thank you to everyone who reads my blog, I am grateful you chose to stop by here in my little corner of the web that acts as my outlet for personal creativity and keeps me busy and out of trouble. When I find some time I hope I can upgrade the look of my blog because I know it sucks. And also upgrade the look of the email to subscribers. One day I promise…
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“He who has overcomes his fears will truly be free” – Aristostle
MUST READ GEMS
This is very important:
The Rise And Fall of ‘Petty Tyrants’
History shows that bad leaders can successfully undermine democracy — but the story always ends the same way.
These images will blow your mind:
Winners of the GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2026
PERSONAL FINANCE
A few college related links for you, there is plenty of great stats in each post:
Average Cost of College & Tuition
The average in-state student attending a public 4-year institution and living on-campus spent $27,146 in academic year (AY) 2022-23.
The average private, nonprofit university student living on campus paid $58,628 in AY 2022-23; $38,421 of that cost went toward tuition and fees.
I have been a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors NAPFA for almost thirty years. It was this renegade tiny group of financial planners proud to be fiduciaries who banned any compensation that did not come directly from the clients. Fee Only compensation defined us. We swore off ANY sales commissions and believed in fully transparent compensation. Paid ONLY by the clients. Anyway, after many years the brokers, insurance and annuities salesmen and all sorts of other species looking for that big sales commission started confusing the public that they too are somehow fiduciaries and now they are compensated by fees. But fee based. Which is a bunch of crap because in that way they get paid by fees AND allow themselves the juicy sales commission by selling you the fancy and totally unnecessary and incredibly expensive (hey, someone has to pay that sales commission to them!), yikes. So, if you are looking for a financial planner these days, I recommend the following:
Must have CFP (Certified Financial Planner)
Independent Registered Investment Advisor RIA
NAPFA member
Comprehensive financial planning advice
CPA or Enrolled Agent (EA), offering integrated full tax planning & preparation
Here is a resource with what questions to ask prospective financial planners you are interviewing: Financial Advisor Comparison Tool. For more consumer resources, please check HERE.
Most people spend more time planning a vacation than finding a financial advisor. Our industry has a bad reputation because it is filled with charlatans out there hunting for their next victim. Take your time finding one, it is probably one of the most important decisions of your life.
Good luck finding one these days. For the record, I am in the back end of my career and not looking for new clients.
Fee Only still matters today. By one of the co-founders of NAPFA:
“In the early years, we were simply trying to do the right thing. Fee-only compensation is a logical concept for anyone who stops to think about it. Would you rather have your financial advisor focused on their personal compensation, or on your well-being as an investor? Fee-only financial planning is straightforward. It removes the product incentive and keeps the focus where it belongs — on the client.”
To learn more if interested: The Radical (at the Time) Concept That Led to Client-First Financial Planning.
More than 40 years later, their core insight remains relevant: How an advisor is paid can influence how advice is delivered. For investors seeking advice that prioritizes their interests, the pioneers of fee-only financial planning left a simple message that still resonates today: When advisors are paid directly by their clients, the relationship starts with clarity, transparency, alignment and trust.
CRYPTO/TECH/SCAMS
This one is more about AI than software and I made an executive decision to place it here. It is amazing the speed of decisions in this venture when it is only run by just one human lol. Software Eats Its Own. A grim overview of what is taking place lately…
The people who build software are busy wiring up the machines that will build software in their place. Call it automation. Call it augmentation. Call it whatever makes you sleep. What it actually is, is software industrialization, happening right in front of our eyes.
Writer gets invited to party with billionaires at a Jeff Bezos retreat and you would not believe what happened next. Actually, what happened was he never got an invite to one of these parties ever again lol: What I Learned About Billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s Private Retreat. For the richest men on Earth, everything is free and nothing matters.
The latest Ponzi Scheme Roundup for April 2026 is out. It’s the typical stream of fraudsters promising the moon, crypto crap, etc. But once in a while we get gems like this:
Vincent J. Camarda, 62, pleaded guilty to charges that he ran a Ponzi scheme as an investment officer. He is the ex-CEO of A.G. Morgan Financial Advisors and used investor funds on plastic surgery for himself and luxury goods. [Thou shalt not steal…even if you are that ugly to do it for plastic surgery, come on!]
Taino Lopez aka Tai, 48, was sued by the SEC on charges that he was running a $112 million Ponzi scheme. Tai is a YouTuber who sold get-rich-quick advice courses. [You Tuber selling get-rich-quick advice courses…it’s a dead giveaway!]
Grifting era smh:
AI
Excellent recap where we stand in AI and pondering what happens down the road: Our Uncertain Uncertainties. It begins like this below and it gets better, enjoy:
Even the experts inventing AI don’t know what will happen next. Is artificial general intelligence even possible? Can scaling continue? Will we need massive compute centers to make AI, or can we do it with a mere 25 watts like we do in our brains? What will humans do as AI gets smarter? What does the future of the economy, of warfare, or civil society look like?
I may have posted this before, this is not a good trend: AI Articles Have Overtaken Human Written Ones.
IRAN WAR
We are doing okay here in the US, thanks to our own oil. But the world is suffering, this is very well made: See How the Energy Crisis is Spreading Across the World.
Doing okay I mean as far as no shortages are involved. But costs are another (painful) matter. Ever since this war started I spent over $65 to fill up my car. It was mid $70’s a few times before it went down to about $65 for the next two weeks. I filled up my car yesterday for $85, the highest ever, thanks Biden.
ODDZ & ENDZ
This is one of the most devastating articles I have read: On Losing a Daughter. It clearly belongs in the MUST READ GEMS category but I really did not want to place it there because it will make everyone who reads it way too sad. I hope no one feels this kind of pain, you have been warned. Think twice before you click ok?
The people we were died at the exact moment our child did
Can you imagine you run a marathon under 2 hours? And, please sit down, still lose by 11 seconds! Feel so sorry in a way for the guy who came in second. Sabastian Sawe breaks two-hour barrier to make history in London Marathon. As a (former) marathon runner, when you contemplate what it takes you just shake your head in disbelief!
Imagine running 100 metres in under 17 seconds – and then keeping that pace up for another 26 and a bit miles (42km).
I like art. This is what it looks like when a photographer decides to take photos of EVERY single object in the house and put it up in this website: KATALOG. You have never seen anything like it, I guarantee it. Creativity at its very best. I see my blog as art…
As a soccer fanatic (my #1 sport, by far) and World Cup diehard, I absolutely loved this article about the last country on earth to field a national soccer team and play in a game: Marshall Islands. The Wayfinders. The Marshall Islands’ first national soccer team discovers what “home” can mean—on a field in Arkansas.
Under normal circumstances, you’d expect a team shut out 4-0 to be disheartened, especially one built up so much over the last several weeks. And yet nothing about the atmosphere suggested failure. Even as the clock wound down, seven players subbed in within the last 14 minutes, each getting a brief chance to play for their country. The crowd poured down the bleachers and stood at the front railing, cheering on the team that had given it their all. “Marshall Islands!” the announcer yelled as the crowd burst into cheers. “Give it up for your first national team playing their first international match!”
TRAVEL
Very handy hotel list: 15 Luxury and Boutique Hotels Near U.S. National Parks. These look nice!
Nice list as well, I think I guessed them all right before I checked the article out: 6 Tiny Countries You Can Walk Across in a Day.
- Liechtenstein
- San Marino
- Tuvalu
- Nauru
- Monaco
- Vatican City
When you next visit Amsterdam, maybe you should add the Embassy of the Free Mind to the list of places to visit? Take a tour of the online catalogue to see its digitized books. Love the expression Free Mind by the way, it brings up the other expression, Free Your Mind and YourAss Will Follow woohoo.
The World’s Most Walkable Cities
Seoul at #1. And many Scandinavian cities.
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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 think if you just read Frequent Miler, Doctor of Credit and my blog you would cover most of what you need to know in this hobby…
United has been in the news a lot lately. Actually, it is more like the CEO of United Airlines is. With a huge piece in the Wall Street Journal: United’s Card-Counting CEO Made a Huge Bet—and It’s Paying Off. This industry sure attracts some characters. And this guy has been on a wild streak lately. Like, did we really need to know this?
Before he started in the airline industry, and long before he was the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby was a serious gambler. He taught himself to count cards, raking in money on trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas. To this day, he brags about getting kicked out of casinos all over the world. He’s still on the banned list in hotels up and down the Vegas Strip. With its CEO trolling American Airlines, his former employer who dumped him, .non stop.
There is no doubt that he has managed the airline very well and profits are rolling in and the stock price has more than doubled. So, no argument there. And, after copying every move by industry leader Delta Airlines, it is making a serious run to unseat them from the top. And then, boom: United CEO’s Statement About American Airlines Merger Idea He Has Floated. I agree with this blogger’s conclusion below by the way:
It seems that Mr. Kirby has some serious beef about his previous employment at American Airlines, where he was basically shown the door, and now he is on a revenge tour. There have been a couple of features about Mr. Kirby in the US media over the past week, and based on the excerpt I have seen, he comes across as a card-counting psychopath who probably should not be running an airline, but he is. He should drop his fixation on the issues he personally has about his previous employment at American and move on.
After the awful (for us in this hobby) updates from World of Hyatt and the new award charts now having FIVE different higher award levels (up from three), maybe the company should have taken a breather and not chosen to go along with its annual update of hotel award categories? Well, no mercy (for us), here we go, it is a new reality starting May 20, 2026: Hyatt Award Category Changes & “Dynamic” Awards Live On May 20, 2026. 112 hotels went up 1 category and 24 hotels went down 1 category. So, make some bookings now like I did booking the Park Hyatt Saigon for 4 nights for 80,000 using a Globalist elite Confirmed Suite Upgrade. Some of my thoughts going through the hotel category changes:
Are there any category 1 hotels in the US left?
There was just one Cat 1 hotel left in Michigan, the Hyatt Place in Flint, not anymore. Not only that, even the Hyatt Place in Windsor, Ontario went to Cat 2. No more mattress running nearby, so sad.
My favorite Hyatt property in Greece, the Thessaloniki Hyatt Regency also went up to Cat 3 from Cat 2. It was Cat 1 for years up until the last few years or so, boooooooo! Not only that, even the Grand Hyatt in Athens went to Cat 4 from Cat 3.
All Columbus, Ohio properties appear to go up 1 Cat. I sometimes stay there when I visit clients.
Wait, there is more. I was looking forward to visit the Hyatt Regency in Kuantan Malaysia but that one also went up one category to Cat 2.
The 5th Avenue Andaz in NYC going to Cat 8 from Cat 7 is a sad joke.
The Frequent Miler does a Hyatt devaluation deep dive. Yeah, it’s bad.
Maybe I should add a DEVALUATIONS section? Here we go, they never stop:
Air Canada Aeroplan Flight Rewards Changes Effective June 1, 2026 – Miles Required Up By Max 67%!
LifeMiles Strikes Again: Another Devaluation Pushes Award Deals to the Brink
As I have been doing this the past four years traveling to Thailand and Malaysia: Best ways to get to Asia using points and miles.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
For ANY questions on travel rewards credit cards, contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Whenever I hear Wells Fargo in our space, I automatically think ugly duckling. But it is getting better I guess: Wells Fargo adds Cathay Pacific as a transfer partner.
From blog reader Carl, watch out!
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!
Yes, this bank is just getting worse: Chase Points Boost is becoming a Points Bust: Some redemptions now only 1.15 cents per point.
And just when you think it is time to say goodbye to the Chase ecosystem and pick another one…and you take a look at Citi and its cards that always came with excellent earning mulitpliers. Well, again, Citi says hold my beer lol: Citi Ending Points Sharing Between People On 5/16.
Another site to check out: Pointauctions. Looks a little better than the other one I had here last week.
I think Amex is trolling Chase and showing them how to do it in this space: Amex Gold Card Adds New and Enhanced Benefits. Meaningful positive benefit changes: 5x on Amex Travel, Hertz Five Star Status and updating of the dining credit with the addition of Buffalo Wild Wings (yes!) and Wonder (what is that?) and the deletion of Goldbelly (wtf was that?) and wine.com. So, with Five Guys and Buffalo Wild Wings there is no excuse not to use your $10 dining credit every month with the Amex Gold card.
But wait, maybe the Chase execs looked at the dwindling numbers of the Sapphire Reserve and finally realized they must do something? Drum roll please…
CHASE SAPPHIRE RESERVE NEW HIGHEST EVER 150K OFFER
The minimum spend is $6,000 in the first three months. The annual fee is $795. The card earns:
- 8x points on all purchases through Chase Travel, including The Edit
- 4x points on flights booked direct
- 4x points on hotels booked direct
- 3x points on dining worldwide
- 1x points on all other purchases
Bunch of credits, the easiest are the straight forward $300 travel credit, free Apple TV and Apple Music subscriptions, along with Priority Club lounge membership and entry to Chase Sapphire Lounges. And then a whole bunch of harder to use credits, such as $500 on The Edit hotels, $300 Stubhub, $120 Lyft, $300 dining, $300 DoorDash and many more. For a complete list of all the benefits of the card please click HERE.
If you have never had this card you are eligible for it.
Is it worth it? Look, for bloggers in this space, it is ALWAYS worth it for us lol. Because we get paid by the banks to sell their product. Do I think it is worth it? For the signup bonus and some work to squeeze some of the credits? Hell yes. For this card to be a keeper after the first year? Hell no. But we are all different, learn more about it, ask some questions if you have any and make an educated decision.
Why are cards with fat signing bonuses almost always worth it? Because 150,000 points means $1,500 in cash or statement credit alone. Of course if you transfer 150,000 points out to an airline or hotel you can burn them there for a lot more than just a penny per point. But you say, you have to pay $795 annual fee. Correct. Ok, do the math, $1,500 minus $795. Of course I am pretty sure you can use some of the credits this card gives you like the super easy $300 travel credit. If you can not use $300 travel credit per year why are you even here reading this section of my blog? And I am certain you can use more of the card’s annual credits. So, the math gets better!
For the record, you can support the blog if you obtain travel rewards card with this blog’s links. Never hesitate to ask questions in the comments or email me.
LATEST OFFERS:
You can always email me to ask anything about these offers
185k CHASE IHG One Rewards Premier: $99 annual fee. 150,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months. And another 35,000 points after spending a total of $6,000 in the first six months.
125k CHASE IHG One Rewards Traveler: No annual fee. 90,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 in the first three months. And another 35,000 points after spending a total of $4,000 in the first six months.
To learn more about these IHG new offers above, please click HERE. The Premier card offer is great that comes with a Free Night cert every year that can be topped off.
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 cars 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.
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.
75k CITI AAdvantage Business World Elite MasterCard
150k 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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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
I burned 80,000 World of Hyatt points for four nights at the Park Hyatt Saigon this coming Fall. I am slowly burning all of my Chase/World of Hyatt points and coming to terms with the new reality on the ground. And just like that I am nearing half a million miles/points burned year to date #winning.
The world of this hobby has changed. The days of totally free travel are over with the continuing bank restrictions, especially by Chase Bank. No more booking Hyatts without even thinking about how many points it will cost. The past three years (and later this year) I booked Hyatt hotels in Thailand and Malaysia without even thinking as I just burned World of Hyatt points. Because Chase points were always so plentiful so why separate with my cash? Not anymore. Going forward, we will pay more cash for travel, period. So we will need to be a lot more selective going forward. I am likely going to requalify for World of Hyatt Globalist this year. Mainly because I am probably going to take advantage of a 30 day monthly rate at the Bangkok Soi 24 Hyatt Place that gets down the nightly rate to about $67 usd. In past three years I just blew World of Hyatt points, at 5k per night.
So I am coming to terms that free travel is over. It has been an amazing multi decade run that has change my family’s life. There is no doubt that my kids were shaped in such a way that they became responsible adults. Because they saw shit all over the world that taught them what travel teaches us. That we are not alone and our way is not the only way. And be grateful of what we have. And stuff like that. There is nothing like walking around in a foreign land and just stopping at a place full of locals and tasting the best fish tacos ever that we all still remember!
Travel rewards credit card churning has been impacted heavily by the bank restrictions. We are all suffering with the banks taking away our birth given right to travel for free lol. I mean, I have slowed way down in my household as well. I am taking a breather these days and focusing on more important things in my life. And coming to terms that going forward I will be paying more for travel. And I am okay with it. I remember last year I paid (for the first time in a long time) to book a villa at the Greek island of Kefalonia and it was…weird. Because there were no hotels available I could use points. And the realization that I just paid for it was a huge stress reliever that I did not have to spend any time to search for availability impacting my mental bandwidth. I need to do more of this. I tell clients to enjoy their life and I should be practicing more of this. Instead of trying to force the banks to pay for all of my travel. Then again, screwing the banks is incredibly satisfying. Especially when you know as you board the plane and turn left to business/first class having paid with miles while everyone else is paying thousands of dollars, you old timers know what I mean. But we need to evolve…
So many hackers have gone private and underground in recent years. And the manufactured spenders MS are still going strong adapting and coming up with new hacks which gives them plenty of miles/points to continue the free travel. Which comes at a great cost of their time. Heck, some do this full time and make a lot of money. Like, obscene amounts buying Lamborghini cars. And some land in federal prison, there is a fine line between the two. Anyway, be careful out there. We are deal hunting types and sometimes the thrill of a deal can mess with your brain and you start doing things that cross the line that can land you in federal prison. NEVER EVER CROSS THE LINE.
Life has been very busy, trying to get things all in order to create space to follow the 2026 World Cup, something I have been doing since the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
I am slowly de-digitizing my life, I did not renew Evernote, it was time to let it go.
I have no interns or staff here so I post when I can over at IG and YouTube. I did manage to post some pics of our staycation at the Shinola Hotel in Detroit. And a video is coming when I get to it.
I watched the movie Fuze. Which was okay. The rest of the movies in the theaters these days are pretty bad. And there is no way I am going to see the Michael Jackson movie, just not my cup of tea. I can’t believe so many were seeing it. Actually, it has been a long time before I saw my local movie theater this full since Covid!
House renovation is going very well. The cabinets and the countertops in the kitchen are all in and the wood floor is mostly installed, except the stairs. Hopefully everything is all done in time for the World Cup.
I hit a new weight low last week. Which is a good thing of course. But most of my clothes don’t fit me anymore. Which is a good problem to have I guess. On the other hand, my hearing is getting worse and I am checking out some hearing aids. Which were supposed to help but I think they may be contributing to my hearing get worse. For all the young folks out there enjoying loud music I have one thing to say: PROTECT your ears!
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Check out my page listing my affiliate links HERE including Rakuten and Top Cash Back and Rove Miles and more.
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve Business, 150k 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 416,515 miles/points year to date (after burning 1,893,248 miles/points in 2025 and 2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,136,334 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 (14)
Gold! Jeez, I made it into the blog! Wow! Tons to read so this will last the weekend as I dip in and out. Glad the renovations are coming along well! Yes, I think both point earning AND using are getting tougher and more expensive in a lot of ways. I am also slowing, not chasing SUB’s like I used to. Age has a lot to it. But now there is a non-stop from SEA to FCO so I think this fall there is another flight for me.
Thanks for all the work you do putting this together! It is much appreciated!
Saw your comment on Doctor of Credit and couldn’t agree more. I grabbed the Spirit card and they pulled out of my market after I hit the minimum spend and I was never able to use the points without traveling hundreds of miles. I am thankful that I can finally cancel the card and not feel bad about losing the miles.
Good morning!
What Carl said!
And … thanks for the ponzi update! I was impressed by the guy who was running a ponzi
while in prison for running a ponzi. Woozer!
Hi George! This really gets into the weeds on bank compliance and other topics (not a good or a bad thing, just a thing) but this is the best thing I’ve read on the SPLC fraud indictment: https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/nonprofit-indicted-bank-fraud/
I really need to buy my summer vacation tickets before they hike the prices. Jet fuel is getting scarce…
Life is weird in the points world these days. Previous 3 years I redeemed an average of 1.3 million points, this year I am sitting at 350k with no real plan for other bookings. However have to say no one in the US gets to complain about Hyatt category changes considering how lean the options are for those outside the US. Husband is halfway to Globalist and should make it to 60, however looking forward I struggle to see how it can happen in future years. However, have to say once the handcuffs are off and we are free agents well it does give us so much of our time back as no need to be looking for the golden eggs anymore.
Sad story about the death of the daughter. What made it feel sad to me was seeing a photo of the daughter thinking of all those hopes and dreams gone.
@ Carl: You made into the blog so you are famous, better hire a PR agent now 🙂 Wonder how many Atmos miles SEA-FCO are at now.
@ DML: Yeah, that guy running a ponzi from prison was also quoted but then had to cut one to keep it from getting, as a reader said, “too phucking long” lol.
@ NickPFD: I added that link to the long queue. Without Spirit Airlines, all the other airlines are salivating to increase prices even higher, just sad.
@ Vicky: I have not pulled the trigger on that 30 day rate at the Soi 24 Hyatt Place Bangkok yet. Agree on free time, in a way it feels kind of liberating. This is a defining year for this hobby I think…I was handling the daughter story okay and then the picture dropped and…I am still impacted.
No more bitching about the support clicks here. Which also means absolutely no clicks, sad lol.
How about them Detroit Pistons? Better win Game 7 now.
Blog may have a new look, any feedback?
https://travelbloggerbuzz.vercel.app/
Well, SEA-FCO as of yesterday for late September is about 70k one way so not bad if one does not mind 10-12 hours in Economy! And for a non-stop to Rome, I am OK with that!
Next TBB post, whenever it drops, will have link to post about the inaugurational flight SEA-FCO. I am assuming no awards business class seats (or two available at 400k miles one way?) 🙂
Contact me via email or FB Messenger to discuss the meetup. Looks like daughter wants to take us hiking this Saturday.
30 days at Soi 24 Hyatt Place, wow.
Sure hope to hear about that inevitable challenge to your weight loss at the Dusit Central Park Mall, home of the 17+ Michelin stalls in the food court!
Well, we’ll not be there every night…probably at least 20 though.
Been to the Dusit Central Park Mall food court and I know what you mean, I need to be strong 🙂
If your hearing is getting worse does that at least mean that your tinnitus is bothering you less?
I am not sure what is going on. Recently tried to get back on the hearing aids mode and I think instead of helping they may have contributed to hearing getting worse. It varies, it is REALLY weird. I thought I had an infection but PA said my ears look perfect. Got referral for ENT doc, called today and first available appointment is May 28, WTF! Latest hearing adjustment proved to be horrible, I never liked this audiologist, it’s like she is not hearing me (lol). She said to stick with latest adjustment for a week or two but I could not stand it after 4 days, I hear better without these things inside my ears.
I am going to also see docs for me hearing in Bangkok, can’t wait to see specialists right away instead of waiting for so long here…Despise our health care in the US, we spend so much and we get so little in return. I am starting to sound like Bernie Sanders, sad.
Your KATALOG link reminds me of one of my all-time favorite airport art exhibits (ORD international arrivals IIRC): For many houses from different countries around the world, the home owner brought *everything* out of the house to the front yard or driveway. Then the photographer took a photo of the owner, house, and contents. It was pretty cool to see, and to see the disparities between richer and poorer places.
I’ve been away from your blog for a bit (gone traveling), recently we went to Ecuador and the Galapagos. The Galapagos are a wonderful destination and we were really amazed by the wildlife.
Glad to see a reader liked something I posted here.
Yeah, Galapagos looks nice, maybe I get there one day…