Random Archives - Tagging Miles

Support the Recovery for the US Virgin Islands

September 22, 2017 By Trevor 3 Comments

The Hurricane Season still has over a month left, but we’ve already had two rather damaging hurricanes that have caused massive damage across the Caribbean.

I wrote earlier this month that we can’t forget that many of non-Contiguous United States areas were severely impacted by Hurricane Irma.

A good friend of mine, Geoff has strong ties to the area, having lived some of his life in the US Virgin Islands.

Even better, he’s pulling together supplies to send to the US Virgin Islands, and you can help!

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can coordinate directly with him, he’s putting together pallets to be sent out to the islands. My wife and I will be contributing to at least one.

If you’re not in the San Francisco Bay Area, and you want to contribute to this effort, you could order to a store like Walmart, Target, or Sams in the Bay Area, and coordinate with Geoff to pick up (best to coordinate first to get a store closer to him).

I realize there are a lot of ways to support the recovery of so many areas ravaged this hurricane season. The thing about Geoff’s effort–other than the fact that he’s a friend–is the fact that he is essentially taking this on himself.

Thank you for 3 Years of Tagging Miles!

June 19, 2017 By Trevor 5 Comments

Three years ago today, Matt gave Joe Cortez and I an amazing opportunity to start Tagging Miles. Joe’s since went on to do bigger and better things with FlyerTalk, but he’ll always be part of the Tagging Miles family. So today, I thank you, our awesome readers, for 3 awesome years! It has been wonderful to be a part of the Saverocity team, to be a part of this incredible miles and points community, and to attempt to strike so many different balances between blogging, being a good steward of the community, and still having the time to travel (you might say, in style).

In what has become an annual navel gaze, I will say that in the past 3 years, we’ve had 431,816 views. I realize for the bigger blogs, this is probably not huge, but to me, it is absolutely incredible!

Looking back at the past year, here were the most popular posts:

The Plastic Merchant – A great way to resell gift cards.
A Dark Time for Amazon Sellers – and unfortunately the hits keep coming!
The Power of a Retention Specialist – Verizon Wireless Edition.
Is it time to get more strategic about credit card applications? Many contributing factors indicate yes.
Why Joe Cancelled his AAA Membership – A total blast from the first year of the blog!
My Worst Reselling Mistake – Apparently many either learned from my mistakes, or at least got some humor from them!
My secrets to complaining and getting a Gesture of Goodwill in return – An important life lesson; kind’ve like the Go Around Principle, I’d also remind you that Gestures of Goodwill shouldn’t be one way.

As I think the posts above indicate, the more popular posts seem to ironically be not so much about travel, but, other things in the miles, points, and reselling world. I’ll continue to keep spicing things up, but I am curious whether folks have enjoyed any particular writing trends over the past year. Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Its been a pretty busy year other than the blog for us too. We’ve established a Tagging Miles Facebook Page (please, check it out!), we’ll be hosting our 5th Reselling DO in August, and I’ve partnered with Phil Hall to launch the Mile High Reselling Club.

In honor of the 3 years of Tagging Miles, I’ve got a give away – 2 American Airlines Admirals Club passes. Just sign up to our new e-mail list, and leave a comment. I will randomly select the winner from the comments on 27 January.

Thank you again for 3 Years of Tagging Miles!!

Diamonde the Giraffe appears with Delta SkyMiles and Lyft

May 17, 2017 By Trevor 2 Comments

Last summer, Diamonde the Giraffe flew to United Arab Emirates and visited the Grand Hyatt Dubai. Who knew that she’d be getting involved with Delta SkyMiles and Lyft?

Diamonde at the Grand Hyatt Dubai

But, unfortunately, to get there, poor Diamonde had to fly in the baggage hold:

Diamonde at the airport

Enter: Delta SkyMiles and Lyft

Apparently Diamonde continues to get around, as she makes a pretty impressive cameo in the new Delta Airlines and Lyft commercial:

.@Delta and @lyft team up to reward customers with first-of-its-kind partnership https://t.co/ckbpi8CYgt pic.twitter.com/YHJ1W8kl3r
— Delta News Hub (@DeltaNewsHub) May 17, 2017

The program allows you to link your Delta SkyMiles and Lyft accounts. You’ll earn Delta SkyMiles on your Lyft rides now when you link the two accounts.

Initially, you’ll get triple miles on round trip ground (Lyft) transport to the airports. But its not clear how long that will last.

I suppose we should’ve kept better tabs on Diamonde at that computer….

Diamonde the Giraffe, Delta SkyMiles and Lyft

A quick check of e-mail before heading downstairs.

H/T: Tracy

Virgin Atlantic Continues to Innovate with the Dreambird 1417

April 1, 2017 By Trevor 2 Comments

Mark this as the Breaking News of the day. Virgin Atlantic continues to innovate with the Dreambird 1417. This new aircraft incorporates the latest technology for flying. Truly cutting edge technology called “Flapology.”

Virgin Atlantic Dreambird 1417, Credit: Virgin Atlantic

While Boeing has largely been viewed as the leader in innovative wing technology, what with their folding wingtips on the 777x, it sounds as if Virgin kept this development as an in-house affair.

The Virgin Atlantic Dreambird 1417

Sir Richard Branson introduced the breakthrough with the following statement:

Birds are the ultimate flying machine and it’s been a lifelong ambition of mine to harness their energy and apply it to a passenger aircraft. Engineers all over the world have been trying for years to mimic a bird in flight and thanks to the perseverance and dedication of the team at Virgin Atlantic, we’ve finally succeeded. Not only have we harnessed this but we’ve also created a faster, cleaner more self-sustaining aircraft. – Virgin Atlantic

The impressive aspect of the aircraft is the flapable wings. Just see for yourself in this video shared by Virgin Atlantic:

The wings constructed from Graphene, will not just propel the plane, but will also power many of the aspects of the aircraft, including lights, ovens, Inflight Entertainment, and will improve the overall passenger experience. The Dreambird 1417 won’t fly this year, unfortunately. You’ll have to wait until 2019, where the inaugural route will be London-Heathrow to Seattle.

Truly, the flapology of the Dreambird 1417 is revolutionary wing design. Its exciting to see an aircraft that can do what birds have been doing for millennia. Fantastically, Virgin continues to innovate, and break through barriers.

I’m just left wondering whether the Upper Class Suite will be new and improved, or will it remain as the herringbone seat on the Dreamliner?

Happy April Fools Day 2017!

My Top 4 Funny Amazon Reviews

March 26, 2017 By Trevor Leave a Comment

I happened to see a random Haribo commercial last night, and it brought to mind some random Amazon reviews that cracked me up. First, check out that Haribo commercial:

I’m not saying the commercial is fantastic, but, rather, that it reminded me of this review:

If that was enough to whet your appetite, check out more reviews of the product.

More Funny Amazon Reviews

There are a handful of truly hilarious Amazon Reviews. I have to give Saianel credit for finding this one:

As if this one wasn’t enough, the risk averse in me couldn’t help but get a kick out of the Backyard Carnival of Death:

but, its not done just yet, read more!

In case this is right up your alley, at last check, there were only 3 left, and nearly 2,800 reviews. See for yourself!

The Swiss Army Knife that trumps all knives

Next up is the pocket knife to end all pocket knives, the Wenger 16999 Swiss Army Knife Giant:

The answer to all of your Banana Needs!

If previous funny Amazon Reviews were inadequate for you, perhaps this one will do. The Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer seems like the perfect Private Label item. If only Amazon hadn’t claimed all the credit for this private label and gotten amazing reviews for this Banana Slicer got (5,649 as of this writing!):

So, lets hope that the Banana Slicer is not needed in order to save your marriage, but, in case it is (or you have some other use for a Banana Slicer), please use TravelBloggerBuzz’ Amazon link (since I lost mine)

Wrapping Up – Funny Amazon Reviews

Hopefully this brief review of funny Amazon reviews gave you a bit of a laugh! That said, from the reselling angle, we have contemplated trying to find a good price on some of the above products… if anyone is looking for the 55 gallon drum of lubricant, well, I can tell you, it does not work well as a checked bag….. but it provides more than sufficient entertainment as the baggage handlers attempt to get it into the baggage hold via the conveyor belt… and the real fun, well, that’s when it comes out in the baggage claim. But perhaps that’s a story for another time!