Miles and points,time machine, Athens

Last week  had shown me once again, that you absolutely have to have thick skin and learn to compartmentalize if you want to be a blogger. The truth is, not everyone will love or even like your blog and that’s OK. And some will downright hate it and that’s OK too. We all have  unique tastes and preferences. Also, your blog and you as a person may get shredded to pieces for everyone to see, when you least expect it.  By a person you least expected it from. You have to shake it off and move on.

One of my readers had recently asked, that I put together a list of secondary card bonuses. Did you know, I saw comments on the web indicating, I was now a sellout and  a credit card pusher for fulfilling my reader’s request? Sigh. The remarks were intended to hurt, but they actually made me laugh instead at the absurdity of it all. You literally can NOT win as an affiliate blogger. 🙂

Unlike  a normal work environment that takes place in an office, ours is set behind the computers.   Its much easier to say things you would never say to someone’s face. And I am guilty of that myself, I admit. It’s also hard to judge people’s character. Some are not at all who you thought they were. And some were your  friends all along, though hiding in the shadows of internet anonymity.

I said last week, how not everything is always black and white, when it comes to  this industry.  One of the bloggers had faced the worst possible conflict of interest there is. One, that goes beyond just money. I’m not sure what I would have done in their position. Which is why I should have given that person a break. But I didn’t.

If you are reading this, I meant every word I said, when I  supported you publicly and truly wish you well. At this point, I think we both feel, we should go our separate ways, virtually speaking. But I wanted to go on record and tell you,  I’m truly sorry. I should have given you that one break. As soon as they invent that hot tub time machine…

Trip report.

Athens, Greece, 2006

Part of our tour through Europe. For my long time readers, the code word is “Stefan”. For new readers I have picked up from Milenerd mention, I like to see a lot in a short amount of time. Me and my husband were traveling with my in-laws and had a couple of nights in Athens before going to Santorini.

My father-in-law doesn’t read this blog so I think its OK for me to say this. He is the cheapest man I know. When we went to tour Acropolis, he actually wanted to save 10 euros on admission and just admire it from afar. We had to convince him that it would be crazy to spend all that money to get to Greece and not to go to its star attraction. Reluctantly he agreed.

A fun fact for those who have read “The innocents abroad” by Mark Twain. You may remember how his ship was quarantined near Athens port, but he snuck out on a boat with a couple of other people so that they could tour Acropolis at night. In the book he described how there were many dogs howling like  crazy on the steps, leading to the ruins. Well, nothing changed when we were there! Those dogs’ descendants were doing the same thing.

I was very excited to tour the National Archaeological museum. Oh, and my father-in-law didn’t want to pay for that one either, even though he loves museums. I said it would be my treat so he would go for it. And he did! While you can see Greek sculptures in other museums throughout Europe, Athens is the only place where you can find an extensive collection of artifacts from Mycenaean civilization, which predated Classic Greece.

This is what Wilkipedia has to say about their culture: “The Mycenaeans buried their nobles in large circular burial chambers with a high vaulted roof and a straight entry passage lined with stone. The nobility were frequently buried with gold masks, tiaras, armor, and jeweled weapons. Mycenaeans were buried in a sitting position.” You can see some of those masks on my photo from the museum.

Overall, out visit to Greece was fascinating and the people were probably the friendliest in all of Europe.

Miles and points.

1) December 31st is the last day to get a 20 percent transfer bonus to British Airways from Membership Rewards. On a related note, if you have a BA household account, now you can redeem for people, who are not part of it.

2) Via Deals we like blog, some ways to save on Amazon gift cards.  LINK

3) Wyndham 45000 points sign-up offer from Barclay’s expires on December 31st. The annual fee of 69 dollars is not waived. Its listed on my “OK” deals list and pays me no commission. Doing a quick search, I found quite a few options in Orlando, running between 5500 and 10000 points per night. If you are not picky and don’t mind staying in a motel, you can potentially get between 4 and 8 hotel nights from the sign-up bonus. There are other redemption options, which you can see HERE 

4) December 31st is also the deadline to apply for Chase BA Visa with 100000 miles sign-up bonus. It’s listed in my “Best deals” and pays me no commission.

5) Via TPG  you can get $50 off Expedia App hotel bookings. LINK

6) One of my readers told me about BankAmericard Better Balance Rewards card. It doesn’t come with any sign-up bonus, but you may consider converting another BOA card to this product. That’s because you get 25 dollars each quarter if you pay more than the minimum balance and extra 5 dollars if you have other accounts with BOA. I found a thread on Fatwallet , which you can read HERE

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