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It’s fun to read what outsiders think of our hobby

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Remember when The Points Guy did a review of Etihad’s Residence class? Well, that video made the front page of Reddit today and it’s fun to read the reactions of people who aren’t familiar with churning, app-o-ramas, and the like. The top comment:

Anyone know who this guy is? He has 4 years worth of travelling and talking about gathering points on credit cards on youtube. How’d this guy make his money? His youtube views are < 1,000 on most videos. Seems a bit odd.

The response to that one linked to the churning subreddit, which I’m guessing will soon become a source of disgruntlement (alongside Flyertalk and you bloggers) among those who are more experienced.

Another common objection we’ve all heard and refuted:

Doesn’t that destroy your credit rating? Every time you open up a new card, it takes a hit.

Lots more links to the churning subreddit in response to that one. Wonder if they’re getting an influx of newbies?

I liked this comment in response to a link to The Points Guy’s site:

I went to that site and I still don’t know what he does or what this site is supposed to do except advertise airline credit cards to me.

Another commenter voicing a similar concern:

Does he know he’s an ad?

(No, neither commenter was named “TravelBloggerBuzz“.)

This misguided commenter wrote of TPG:

He found you could buy currency from the mint at face value, pay with a credit card, and get free shipping.

O RLY? The Points Guy was the mastermind who figured that one out?

Then there’s speculation on the how TPG can do all this travel:

The guy in the video doesn’t have that kind of money. Just an obscene number of airline miles.

I’m pretty sure he has both. And again:

I follow this dude on IG. For somebody that does cool shit all the time he’s not really that entertaining or engaging. I simply haven’t unfollowed because I want to know how he’s getting all these upgrades because there’s no way this dude makes that kind of money to be doing this multiple times a week.

The dude’s well into six figure land. Anybody want to guess seven figures?

Finally, assorted quips from multiple commenters in the peanut gallery:

THEY STILL LOST HIS BAG. Bwahahahaaaa!

So…they know the guy’s making a vid, of course they’re going to try their best. And yet…that was really underwhelming for $32k.

He got ripped off.

Leaving his bags behind just renders everything else completely pointless.

The line for the guillotine just got one guy longer.

For $32k there better be some stewardesses included in that.

This guy is a tool.

The full thread is here if you’re interested.

How to eat fast food without gaining weight

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We once again take a detour from points, miles, and travel to talk about eating! Like many Americans, I eat fast food with some frequency, usually at lunch during the week. After all, it’s cheap and convenient. But unlike many Americans, I am no longer overweight, as I have now lost about 30 pounds since I first started eating better.

I enjoy finding easy, efficient ways to achieve goals, and as others have learned fast food can actually be helpful in losing weight. I know it’s been helpful for me: I have a few go-to meals at various restaurants I can eat that will help me achieve my goal of maintaining or losing weight. Herewith, some tips for optimally managing your fast food dietary habits:

  • Use the nutrition charts to tabulate calories and decide what you’re going to eat ahead of time. It’s easy to eat much more than you need at restaurants, and in fact restaurants have an interest in that arrangement since your overeating pads their bottom line. If you’re concerned about your weight, you should already have figured out how many calories per day you need. Since people tend to be creatures of habit, your fast food consumption will be from a handful of restaurants. Go to those restaurants’ websites, look over their menus, figure out how many calories your daily caloric budget leaves for your lunch (or whatever meal), and figure out a meal that can fit within your parameters. If you plan ahead of time and stick to it, you can avoid falling prey to the various tricks marketers use to get you to eat more.
  • If there are no nutrition charts available, estimate. You may be surprised at what you find.
  • Say no to caloric beverages. If you’re concerned about your weight, be extremely careful about drinking your calories. I’m talking about (non-diet) soda, sweet tea, fruit juice, frappucinos–all that stuff. It’s a lot of sugar with little to no nutritional value. Moreover, some people will mentally discount any calories gained from drinks and then find themselves wondering why they’re gaining weight. Stick with things like water, unsweet tea, or black coffee. Is diet soda okay? It depends on who you ask. Some people can lose weight with it, but in my case it tends to make me more hungry later on, so I try to avoid it if I’m in weight-loss mode.
  • There are good options everywhere, and there are bad options everywhere. You can get a reasonably healthy chicken salad at much-maligned McDonald’s for a few hundred calories, or you can consume 2,000 calories in the form of a burrito and chips at Chipotle. Don’t think you’re eating “healthy” or “unhealthy” just because of the halo around a particular restaurant or particular food.
  • What counts as a good option or a bad option varies from person to person. For example, some people might consider Panera to be “healthier” than McDonald’s. And that is no doubt the case for some people. But their entrees which appeal to me tend to have a lot of calories, plus it’s agonizing to look at those pastries and not get one, whereas at McDonald’s I’ve found it’s not too hard to have a satisfying meal if I avoid the sweet drinks and say no to french fries. Speaking of which…
  • French fries are the devil. They are calorically dense and they are delicious. One large serving of fries will set you back almost 500 calories. That’s one quarter of the entire day’s energy needs for a lot of people, and it’s only a side dish.  Stay away!
  • Rice may be the devil too, but I’m not as sure about that. It’s easy to eat a lot of it without realizing it. And this is a YMMV thing, but it almost always leaves me hungry a few hours later if I have more than a few bites. I leave it out of my order at Chipotle.
  • You can still have “unhealthy” foods–just pay attention to the calories and don’t overdo it. It’s really hard to maintain any diet if too many foods you love are out of bounds. For example, I love pizza. I have it about once per week since the best pizza in town (it’s run by a guy from New York named Luigi, need I say more?) is right down the road from my office. Except now that I’m better at counting calories, instead of having two pieces for lunch (800-1,000 calories), I only have one piece (400-500 calories, these are big pieces). And since I’ve been eating better for several months now, my stomach has adjusted and one piece fills me perfectly.

So… who’s up for a Big Mac?

How to get in-state tuition

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Genius! Check out this gem from a Reddit thread on how to ‘cheat the system’:

I was paying out of state tuition for college in Texas. I looked up all the ways I could get in-state tuition and there were four different ways.

  1. Marry a Texan
  2. Own property in Texas for one year
  3. Hold a job in Texas for one year
  4. Own a business in Texas for one year

So naturally, I started a “business”. I registered my “business” with the state and filed taxes every quarter (I had zero expenses and zero income every quarter so I paid nothing in taxes). One year later I got on that in-state tuition. It cost me around $200 to register my business and it saved me tens of thousands of dollars.

I’m guessing that whoever did this also received some targeted Amex business card offers.

There were a few other good stories in this thread. I really liked this tale of an entrepreneurial 11-year-old:

So I was 11 years old and at a water park with my family. I really wanted to go to Burger King that day, and my dad had said repeatedly no way, he didn’t have the money for that.

They had this system where when you arrive, you bought a bracelet for $4, which you could exchange for a tube to ride around on stuff. At the end of the day, you’d return the bracelet and they’d give you $1.

It was around the middle of the day, and there were people both coming and going, and there was a really long line at the stand to get/return bracelets.

So I sold my bracelet to some guy at the back of the line for $3. He didn’t have to wait, and I gave him a dollar off, so all good. Then I took that $3 and went and bought back three bracelets from people waiting to return them (I gave them the same price they’d get at the booth, but they didn’t have to wait). I took those three bracelets and sold them to other people at the back of the line for $3. Rinsed and repeated a bunch of times, spent about a half an hour hustling.

Went back to my dad with $40 bucks and gave it to him, and explained how I got it. Asked if we could go to Burger King now.

He was like yeah, you win. Whoppers were on me that day.

 

Charlotte meet-up?

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Hi folks,

A few of us are wondering if there’s any interest in a Charlotte points / miles / travel / credit card geek meet-up. With the holidays coming up, we’re thinking January would be a better time to meet. Just to be clear, this is an informal gathering for a couple of hours–not a full-fledged Do.

If you might be interested, please leave a comment below and I’ll keep you in the loop.

UPDATE: If anybody has any thoughts on the date or the exact location, there’s a Charlotte meet-up thread in the Saverocity forums.

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