H O L Y C O W ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Hello from Chicago, where I cannot even begin to process this week. To give a bit of context to the week, there has been a huge influx of media attention here on the blog, but more particularly on my travel…
Continue reading: This Week Is Insane — Weekly Review: July 25, 2015
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In front of a camera for what? Coverage of coverage? Makes no sense, like Kim Kardashian......God, I hope you dont turn into that kind of garbage. It is so sad that American culture destroys everything with celebrity.
Lucky
I really hope your blog does not change! I really love your old Blog. Please don't get star struck. But enjoy your short term fame but please come back to us.
Ben, I'm a loyal reader. Like every post (or just about). And this is the first time a post made no sense to me. What are you talking about? Why have inquiries spiked?
You start by saying, "To give a bit of context to the week, there has been a huge influx of media attention here on the blog, but more particularly on my travel consulting service."
But that doesn't give any context. AT ALL. What happened that gave you and your blog sudden interest? We're loyal followers, we wanna know. This tells us nothing.
It's been a sad week - Ben has sold out and now his blog will be just like all the others.
He already sticks credit card referrals wherever he can and he's given up with writing trip reports like he used to.
@ David H. @ Martin -- That's the gist of it. The main story has been in the print edition all month, but just hit the internet on Monday. Several international media outlets ran a rather sensationalized version on Tuesday, and well...it's been a very interesting few days.
I'm sure Ben will explain more once he's had a chance to breathe, but if you want to watch the circus I'd recommend following along on Twitter or Facebook. It's just madness.
Classic blogger problem. Blog gets bigger and bigger. Eventually the conversation generalizes to the point where the original readers are too advanced to even look at it. Case in point: The Points Guy. Number one pet peeve — when the pop-blogger hires so many interns that hotel reviews no longer reflect any status recognition. TPG: "I'm just a Hyatt Platinum from the credit card ... loved the free Internet!"
The TPG Mandarin Oriental review was priceless. Dude is raking it in. Can't wait for the Ben Schlappig Etihad SELF-FUNDED Residence review.
Ah Ben - Fame could not have come to a nicer & more helpful guy! Of course with it, comes some insanity, but the positive impact is worth it. You have helped so many of us through FlyerTalk, Milepoint, Boarding Area, your newsletter+blog, FTU seminars, etc., that I for one, am very glad to hear your consulting business is reaping fame rewards! Time to get a permanent abode!
a long-time fan & follower,
Maureen
aka Travelsavant
Hi Ben,
So like all the other newbees I found out about you from the recent article. Went way down the rabbit hole reading your old blogs and researching your interesting style of working the system to your advantage, inspiring stuff.
I was very impressed to see you respond to people's comments in spite of what is obviously a very demanding schedule.
Cut to the chase... I want to learn more, I am ready to travel far and wide and am positioning myself to do so.
Is it still possible to access your knowledge?
I wanted to sign up on your PointsPros.com thingy but it was overwhelmed and shut down due to your new found fame.
I guess my question is, will I be able to join up to PointsPros at some time?
So many questions, would love to get on board.
Aloha and respect!
Aaron
@Aaron Anawalt: the PointsPros section is for people with miles who need help booking award tickets. Unless you need help with that you will find more information on the main page of the blog.
This appears to be a week of progression for Lucky n team in terms of exposure n readership hit rates, but regression in terms of content. (Every post is about bare basics which to be honest can be found everywhere. Omaat's differentiation is about how advanced the blog posts are. Like "breaking" reviews of Apartments on EY.)
There was no real content for the loyal readers to read in the past few days though i am happy to join others to give my applause for Omaat's breakthrough, but real content needs to be back soon.
Hopefully the new found fame increases funding sources that will allow Omaat's team to review more things like GA F, Hainan Int'l J n domestic F, Meridiana's longhaul J and they award redemption availability, etc. Was China Airlines new J covered or China Eastern F/J?
I look forward to a new advanced era, n progressive content going forward.
Lucky, please be back soon.
Hi Lucky!
Congratulations on the article!! It was amazing! Anyway, I just wanted to give you a restaurant recommendation. I recently moved from Chicago to SW Florida. And so when we lived there, there was only one pizza place we would order from, and that was Lou Malnati's. So, while you are in Chicago (and you have the time) you should try the deep dish sausage pizza from there. I hate sausage pizza, but this is an exception! So I hope you have the chance to check it out, and I promise it's going to be the best deep dish you've ever had. And plus, who goes to Chicago and doesn't get any deep dish pizza?? 😉
Calm down, get over it, and go back to posting regular, substantive content that your long-time readers actually care about. Enough of the pandering to the newly acquired masses already.
Regular subscriber here who was attacked by a wicked pop-up inviting me to subcribe to your site. Almost wasn't able to read it.
Also I wish your other writers would be identified at the top of the story. It's very confusing, the different voices.
@ Ingrid -- Uh oh, that shouldn't happen! Do you mind sharing what browser/operating system you were using?
@ Ingrid -- Thanks for the feedback. Hmmm, you should see who the writer is at the top of each story. Is that not displaying for you?
@ flyingfish -- I think I've proven over the past 7+ years that my true passion is writing and sharing the deals/tips that I enjoy most. I've literally been doing a dozen hours a day of media the past week, and I'm certainly going to do what I can to convert as many of the hundreds of thousands of new visitors this week into long term readers.
My hope is that long time readers will look at my track record over the past 7+ years and realize my passion (hopefully that's why you read my site), even if it's a slow week on the new content front. I think anyone else in my position would do the same.
@ stvr -- Hah! Seriously, I'll let my passion/content over the past 7+ years speak for itself. I don't write this blog because it pays my bills, but because I want to. It was years before I made a dime from the blog. Heck, even if I could retire tomorrow (which I definitely can't) I sure wouldn't want to, because I'm not sure what I'd do with my life. So unfortunately you're stuck with lots more content from me -- sorry! 😉
@ Gene -- No, not coverage of coverage, but rather general travel/points tips. Stay tuned!
@ - Gaurav I was hoping to get help using my miles for booking tickets by using PointsPros, I guess my question actually was: when might the site be open to new subscribers again?
Thank you for your reply and I'll keep reading my way through the blog(s)... fascinating stuff!
I'm actually impressed that despite all the media attention Lucky had managed to post himself and pitch in in comment.
Actually, seeing a confirmation that Lucky spends a ton of time blogging & answering questions was one of the nice things about RS article.
@aaron anawalt, I think PointsPros is a great resource for booking award tickets but as lucky mentioned they seem to be a little swamped right now. You could try posting your question on the ask lucky page and if it is straightforward someone might be able to give you pointers on how to book it yourself. If this is urgent you could email Ben directly to see if someone can help or wait a little for things to calm down so that someone can help you. Alternately, you could look at other award services if you need something right away, other options do exist.
@ aaron anawalt --Gaurav is right that we've been a little swamped (and have had some tech meltdowns which have made it all more exciting), but if you want to share a general idea of what you're hoping to do I'd be happy to point you in the right direction. We will hopefully be back up and running shortly!
@ Tiffany & Gauvav - Thank you for your advice, I am new to blogs and find it very cool that you take time to read all this and reply personally, very cool indeed.
No need to continue this conversation though, I have realized I have a lot of homework and basic financial restructuring to do before I begin my travels. To that end I will be learning all I can about what it is that Pro travelers do and setting things in place so I can do a baby version of that when I am ready.
Again, thank you for your time and I look forward to reading your blogs.
All aloha!
Aaron