I learned a lesson earlier this year: blog readers take things too seriously. For all the nice comments I receive, I still remember the rude ones that may or may not be uncalled for.
Specifically, I’m talking about the United Airlines post and the overdone Denmark fare. I made a joke about United honoring the fare (from DTW to ORD mind you) and the reaction was far from pleasant. That is why this year I’m skipping an April Fool’s joke. The fact of the matter is some readers can’t discern when I’m being sarcastic and when I’m being real. I get that people read points blogs to find out where Lucky is hiding Cortez’s treasure trove of points gold and do not have time for antics but what’s wrong with a little comedy from time to time?
The content of blogs, especially points blogs needs to be put into perspective. Apart from affiliate links (which I’m not lucky enough to have), the information on a blog is completely free and the trips planned as a result of the content is, for the most part, free. So using ‘bait and switch’ and ‘unprofessional’ to characterize a post’s contents are off target because nothing was ever for sale.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
I call ’em April babies ’cause they fools.
Everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold. You’ll be fine when you get it.
This quick blog post is in response to a reader who asked me how I keep all my credit cards straight. Missing payments can ruin your credit and cause you worlds of pain, effectively taking you out of the credit card game.
These are two simple hints to ensure that you never miss a payment along with a backup safety measure in case you somehow overlook the first two:
Safeguard 1: The Bookmarks Bar
Right in the center of Google Chrome I have my bookmarks bar with the folder Points. The first sub folder is called Banks. Here is the list of banks I have cards with or have had cards with (just in case they try to say my account is open.) I go one by one and check each account as the due date draws near to make sure I’ve paid my balance in full.
Khan bank is probably bankrupt now.
Safeguard 2: The Due Date
Some people like having multiple due dates so they get points bonuses a few times a month. That’s a surefire way to miss a payment. Whenever I get a new card, I do my disorganized self the favor of changing the due date to the 28th. Some banks like Bank of America refuse to give me the 28th, making me agree to the 2nd or 3rd. Though I agree to it, in my mind the due date is still the 28th. It hurts to pay late, not early.
Safeguard 3: The Excel Spreadsheet
What else do we have besides Excel to save us from ourselves? Even with the same due date and the OCD of going bank by bank, I still need another safeguard to make sure that I pay this month’s bill. This simplified spreadsheet where blue field indicate cards I use for daily and pink is for MS keeps me protected. I put an x when the bill has been paid and I’ve received email confirmation. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I paid the bill but for some reason it never went through. Don’t let that happen to you, check the box after the confirmation.
The Balance field is for making sure I don’t overdraft on my checking account and the Date is the due date in case I have a sneaky BOA date. January is the balance due for the next month.
Now for what you should not do: First, the obvious that becomes blurred like a copyright infringing Thicke rendition of Marvin Gaye: don’t get arrested. Though I have no experience myself, Locked Up Abroad does not paint a pretty picture of Thai jails. Leave your drugs at home.
Being from Michigan, Northwest Airlines was my airline. Nothing was more exciting than taking that endless drive from Flint to DTW waiting to go on whatever magic surprise my father had planned. What made it all worthwhile was getting off the exit and seeing the Northwest 747 livery painted on a hangar.
Simply that ThePointsOfLife will stop pushing book sales (click here to buy my book) and focus on what the analytics have shown to be of interest to the readers: points and travel.
A couple of years ago I was a professor of tax law and had to write a final exam on the subject. Since April 15th is right around the corner, I thought I’d share with you the question:
‘Unlucky’ is a small business owner and world traveler. He recently signed up for credit card offers that give him points that he can use to purchase airline tickets, hotels, or simply redeem for cash. Most recently he signed up for a U.S. Generic Bank personal card and U.S. Generic Bank business card. The business card has a spending requirement of $5000 within the first 3 months of opening and awards him with 50,000 points. The personal card has no spending requirement but charges an annual fee of $75 for first use. The reward is 30,000 points.
The 50,000 points is redeemable for $500 cash or a round-trip flight overseas ranging in value from $5000-$10,000. The personal card’s 30,000 points is worth $300 in cash or five nights stay at a resort worth $500 a night.
Explain Unlucky’s tax implications for the personal and business cards. Assume rewards cannot be combined. Please focus more on the policy implications for your answer.
Woke up this morning ready for the new American Airlines to take flight. Step 1 was to check my shiny, new AAdvantage balance to see the treasure trove of miles. AwardWallet showcased the demise of Dividend Miles. However when I went to American Airlines, the balance had yet to update. I’m slightly nervous as to how smoothly this transition will go especially since my British Avios have disappeared, hack or no hack.
I’m sure eventually the miles will show up making me feel good about having hundreds of thousands of miles that can take me anywhere around the world.
That feeling will quickly pass when the inevitable AA devaluation hits leaving us all scrambling for Etihad Apartments from JFK to AUH. The fact that I still had any US Airways miles in my account means I did a poor job of following my own advice: Shut Up And Book!
So before every blog goes crazy and condemns this for profit airline for making our miles worthless, ThePointsOfLife recommends spending a few minutes planning imaginary trips for when disaster strikes.
I’m ready to fill out my bracket now! A few years ago I was lucky enough to go to Atlanta to see Michigan beat Syracuse in the Final Four but come up short to Louisville. Today Syracuse is sanctioned and Michigan is still hobbled by injuries.
Overall my sports predictions aren’t worth reading as all of ThePointsOfLife picks have yet to come true. For example, Argentina didn’t win the World Cup and Blount wasn’t the MVP of the Super Bowl.
This brings us to the PTI Toss Up question: Kentucky or the field?
After that beat down of West Virginia, it’s basically impossible to bet against Kentucky. That is why I’m picking the Wildcats and the Wildcats to advance to the Final Four. My picks from the East and South are Michigan State and Duke.
From there let’s all agree that Duke should be hated as much as Ohio State. Accordingly, I’ll give the nod to MSU. This leads us to the battle of the 1997 championship between Arizona and Kentucky. In that classic, I pick Kentucky to win.
Enter the showdown: Wildcats vs. Sparty.
Even as a devout Wolverine, I still have a lot of respect and admiration for Tom Izzo who hasn’t won the tourney since the Flintstones in 2000.
Ahh! Damn birds are everywhere! Like watching Hitchcock’s classic, I am in a state of fright from having to manage all these accounts.
While I’ve developed an easy system for what cards to keep/cut, debunked myths about credit card churning, and developed a fool proof plan to get to the Maldives in 30 days or Costa Rica in 30 minutes, my full-time job as the CEO of MS has been turned upside down by The Birds!
Though life was vanilla with CVS and nothing short of a gift at Walmart, the shifting of the target to RedBird despite its overwhelming advantages has proven to be a bit overwhelming. Beyond the annoyances of the fraud department who still has me on hold and the wary looks of the customer service desk lies another problem: how to not overdo it.
I am writing this post to warn that open season on MS with the easy prey of redBIRD is no reason to be greedy. I’ve been so giddy with the combinations of what I can do with this new ammunition (push hard for Hilton Diamond, risk FR via SPG) that I’ve been a bit reckless. Not every transaction should be a perfect 1k and not every payment should come a day later. Ultimately this behavior may or may not matter but when I heard my friend file a complaint with a bank because he was sick of going through the fraud department every time he tried to MS, I knew I had to issue the following warning:
Only hunt what you will eat. Otherwise you may find that the prey has become the predator.
I am an idiot when it comes to visas. No matter how much I try to pay attention to the rules, I still end up with visa issues. It happened in Sudan, it happened in China, and it happened in Brazil. So obviously I wasn’t going to let it happen to me for Myanmar.
STOP HERE! Before you waste your time reading this, take note that there is a visa on arrival program for Myanmar now which can be done online. If you like torture or overlooking details, then read on for how the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok almost ruined my trip and that of many others.
If you want a same day visa and you happen to be in Bangkok then head on over the Myanmar Embassy. All you need to bring is your passport. You don’t need the forms or passport photos or proof of travel. The documents are provided at the scene and there’s even a guy to take your photos. Hypothetically speaking, all you have to do is arrive in the morning and wait in the endless line. Then come back in the afternoon at the designated time to pick up your unimpressive Myanmar visa.
Of course it isn’t that simple. First, realize that the embassy is closed on national Thai and Burmese holidays. Next, realize that it is also closed randomly with no prior announcement anywhere.
December 19th: Bright And Early
We arrived on a Friday, December 19th to go through this arduous process and were excited that there was no line outside the embassy. We soon found out it was because the embassy was closed. We and other angry would-be travelers were frustrated because nothing on the website had warned us of this inconvenience. Furthermore, believing that we had to book an outbound flight to Myanmar, we had a booking from Chiang Mai to Yangon on the 25th. Our plan was to leave to Chiang Rai on Sunday the 21st (which was delayed till the 22nd) then go to Myanmar from there.
What directions?Republic of the Union
Rule #1: The website for closings is not to be trusted.
No worries we thought. We will return on the 22nd in the AM, pick up our visas in the afternoon then head out via a late train to Chiang Rai. (I’m not using Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai interchangeably. There is a train to Chiang Mai then a bus to Chiang Rai.)
Rule #2: Only do an on-site visa application from your departure city. If you’re going to Myanmar via Chiang Mai, do it at the embassy in Chiang Mai. If you are going via Chiang Rai, then go to Chiang Rai first and return to Chiang Mai or Bangkok to do the application.
Rule #3: If you are doing an on-site visa application, don’t believe it will be completed the same day even if you weren’t tripped up by Rule #1. If you didn’t follow Rule #2, this may cause you to miss your plane or train.
Dec 22nd: Bright And Early
We arrive at the embassy. Looks like everyone who was disappointed from Friday and then some are here to wait in this endless line.
The line
Dec 22nd: Bright and Still Early
The line isn’t moving but the forms are filled out. I scribbled this and that on the form because there’s no reason to go into great detail about who I am and what I do. SCH (Straight Cash Homey) was my employer.
The applicationThe bus and white board for photos
Dec 22nd: Bright
Waiting in line forever and ever we finally make it inside where we have to wait forever and ever for our number to get called.
The misery
Dec 22nd: Approaching Noon
Success! We have paid for our visa and must return at 330PM to pick them up. Our train to Chiang Mai leaves at 7.
Dec 22nd: Afternoon
Lunch is served!
Red curry to forget the embassy.
Dec 22nd: 330PM
We return to the embassy promptly and the line is even longer than it was from the morning. The line is split into two: one for Thai Nationals and one for foreigners. The doors are not open.
The line for pick up
Dec 22nd: 430PM
Doors are still not open. No one is moving. Suddenly there’s an announcement. Thai Nationals will receive their passports first.
Dec 22nd: 530PM
Doors are open, people have been inside for an hour, no one is coming out. Am I crazy? Is there a back door? Panic is setting in. We are not going to get our passports back in time to make the train. At this point, I skip the long line and head inside to see what is going on.
Bad news: Everyone is huddled inside. There is no line, there are no counters open, nothing is happening.
Dec 22nd: 6PM
Some Thai lady is in the front on the phone. I observe her talking simultaneously to an American girl. The American girl is yelled at by a gentlemen. The American girl leaves.
Dec 22nd: 6:02PM
I approach the same Thai lady and tell her my problems being mindful of the angry gentlemen. I show her my train tickets. She takes my passport receipt and motions for me to step away.
Dec 22nd: 6:09PM
A few more desperate gazes later, I approach the Thai lady again. She gets back on the phone. She approaches the customer service counter. She retrieves a stack of passports. There are two blue ones on the top.
Dec 22nd: 6:09:30PM
I take my passport! I thank the lady! I get the hell out of the embassy! We are on our way to Chiang Rai!
Dec 22nd: 6:09:35PM
Oh shit, I forgot about Bangkok traffic.
Tick, tick, tick.
We are stuck.
Tick, tick, tick.
We are stuck.
Tick…
We are moving!
Tick, tick, tick.
We are stuck again. After all this are we really going to miss the train?
Stop, go, stop, go, go forwards, go backwards, go through side-streets, go to Wall St, back to Main St, no way this is happening.
Then when all hope was lost, the taxi driver made a quick maneuver and dropped us right at the train station. Scrambling to figure out which train was ours we asked for directions and were escorted aboard.
Moments later we were on our way.
The Golden Rule: Don’t rely on me for visa advice unless you are an idiot.
Who doesn’t love pho? Each time I go to Vietnam I buy another variation of the classic I Love Pho shirt. Well thanks to Teespring I’m going to love pho some mo’.
If you love Pho then click here and check out this fun design.
Leaving NYC that is, if and only if this crazy taxi driver doesn’t kill me first. For those in need of immediate Hotel Reviews on where to stay in New York, here’s a quick summary:
Sheraton Times Square: terrible
Four Points Soho: recommended
Sheraton Tribeca: delightful
Le Parker Meridien: When can I move in permanently?
Maybe I should’ve used Uber for the first time in life instead of Mr. Yellow Cab, but like my Blackberry, I’m stuck in the past.
I’m ready to fill out my bracket now! A few years ago I was lucky enough to go to Atlanta to see Michigan beat Syracuse in the 
Ahh! Damn birds are everywhere! Like watching Hitchcock’s classic, I am in a state of fright from having to manage all these accounts.
