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RIP TravelBloggerBuzz

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If you haven’t heard yet, George has informed us that he’s more or less shutting down TravelBloggerBuzz. Which is kind of a bummer, as there was always something interesting to read there, whether it was George himself, the links he offered up, or his commenters.

Another reason for missing the blog is that even if I missed out on an interesting blog post when it was published, any must-see would show up in George’s blog. I’ve noticed more and more bloggers putting together “week in review”-type lists with links to all sorts of stuff, so I guess George should take credit for that?

Anyway, with George winding things down, what blogs (aside from the Saverocity blogs, of course, which it goes without saying are amazing) are still essential to your daily / weekly routine? What’s the best way to keep up with this hobby without spending ten hours a day on the internet?

Why you should have gone to the FT4RL get-together, and how to get shut down on Bluebird

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I had the pleasure of attending the Family Travel for Real Life meeting this past weekend. It was conveniently located in my hometown of Charlotte, and in fact it was within walking distance of my house, so kudos to Dia for holding a travel hacking conference I could walk to! Speaking of The Deal Mommy, she’s got a recap of most of the FT4RL recaps, so go take a look.

I’ve been to two of these sorts of things now, the other one being the Saverocity shindig last year, and both of them were good experiences. It’s nice to meet people you’ve been reading on the internet, in some cases for years in the flesh. I finally got to meet Chasing the Points, for example. We both started our blogs around the same time and have been exchanging emails for years but this was the first time we actually met.

But it’s not just bloggers you get to meet; there are plenty of other friendly, knowledgeable, helpful people out there who know just as much as bloggers–and often more (I’m looking at you, Bret B)–but they don’t blog about it. Talking to all the different folks there inspires me both to travel more and to earn more miles with which to travel.

One non-blogger I’ve met at both conferences I’ve been to is a fellow named Eric, who has the distinction of being the only person I’ve ever met who’s had their Bluebird account shut down by Amex.

What do you have to do to anger the powers that be at Bluebird? He bought something with an Amex gift card, returned it, and had the balance refunded to Bluebird. Boom! Immediate shutdown, and it took a while to get his money back too. He certainly wasn’t trying to defraud Amex, though I can see how that transaction might have looked suspicious to them.

The good news, however, is that he was able to open up a Redbird account after being shut down on Bluebird. This was somewhat surprising to me since Amex’s credit card blacklist is, as far as I can tell, the longest-lasting one in the industry. There was a scare recently when somebody on Flyertalk claimed to have been shut down for rapid loading and unloading of his account. The consensus on that one is that this was probably fake, but hearing that you can still possibly open another prepaid product makes it a little less concerning.

Predictions for 2015

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Studies have shown that so-called “experts” have no more predictive ability in their alleged field of expertise than amateurs. Fortunately, I’m just a guy with a blog, not an expert, so I’m guaranteed to be on target–or your money back! Here are my predictions for 2015, feel free to add yours below.

  • Citi will introduce another new credit card, but it will be kind of lame.
  • Comenity will introduce a major new mass market consumer product.
  • A major co-branded card will defect from Chase.
  • Hilton will reanimate the corpse of a Weimar Republic central banker to figure out how to devalue its loyalty program even more swiftly.
  • Like Fifth Third last year, PNC will finally have a decent offer worth writing about, even after taking into account its terrible rewards program.
  • PNC will continue sending me crappy offers.
  • CHASE WILL OFFER A 50,000-POINT SIGN-UP BONUS ON THE SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CARD!!!!! OMG!!!!
  • I will keep making fun of Citi for being dumb.
  • Amex will sign a relatively minor new co-brand travel partner. Best Western Platinum Amex, anyone?
  • Great deals will continue their gradual move to more private forums and secretive groups.
  • Some new blogger nobody’s heard of will publicize an amazing deal and swiftly kill it. Nice going, noob.
  • 5% credit card reward opportunities will keep drying up, unless a big bank gets desperate and/or stupid.
  • You know what? That’s a good one. I predict some big bank will get desperate and/or stupid and will gift us with a sweet 5% opportunity.
  • Ingy will keep showing up to argue with George.

What say you, folks?

A visit from St. Nicholas, who’s really into points and miles

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(With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse
I was checking AwardWallet with care
In hope that points and miles soon would be there
 
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of gift cards danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my pajamas
Had just settled down for an epic app-o-rama
 
When out on the internet there arose such a clatter,
I opened a browser window to see what was the matter.
I glanced at stuff about pricing mistakes,
$9 fares to Hong Kong and PointBreaks.
 
Thousands of points for new credit accounts
And frequent flyer miles in increasing amounts
When my wandering eyes couldn’t help but pause,
On a Saverocity Forum user named mr_claus
 
With a forum id so lively and quick
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his credit cards came
And he typed out each one of them by name:
 
“Now, Citi! Now, Chase! Now Wells and B of A!
On, US Bank! On, Capital One! On, Amex and Barclay!
To heck with my FICO–I’m getting them all!
Not approved? Reconsideration–I’ll call!”
 
As I finished reading, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He wore Vanilla Reloads from his head to his foot,
And his carry-on was tarnished with ashes and soot;
 
A bundle of cards he had in his hands
All held together with big rubber bands
He said, “I gave toys all over the nation
But my Hilton points are worthless with that last devaluation
 
I have many Avios but I can’t get a flight
Since American’s inventory has nothing in sight
My dream vacation may now unravel
‘Cause I can’t figure out the art of cheap travel”
 
Though I wanted to watch cat videos on Youtube
I couldn’t help but take pity on this noob
I booked his hotel and straightened out his flight
And with a free Uber credit he finally saw the light
 
He said, “Thanks so much! I’ve now got the gist!
And you’re no longer on my naughty list!”
And I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

 

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Saverocity is Journalistic in Nature, please obtain Professional Representation prior to attempting anything discussed herein. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.