OT: General OT Thread [NO POLITICS, RACE OR RELIGION]

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Excellent suggestions. I've got the CSR and a big chunk of my trip is being paid through points. But I'm definitely taking advantage of the lounge access, especially in Singapore. I just used the meal credit to pay for dinner at an airport in Denver during a layover a couple weeks ago.

Just third-ing this comment. Even if you don't travel much, getting one of these cards gives you 3-10x return on the first annual fee (you can always cancel when the second annual fee hits).
It amazes me how many people are risk averse to CCs when they are financially literate with no debt (I'm talking CPAs, engineers, etc). 5 minutes to add a new chase or amex card every 6 months to your account and would cover lodging or flights for a weekend. The same people who say "I don't travel much" then complain a month later because the highway side Hampton inn was $200 when visiting family, wedding, funeral, etc.

I used to kind of credit card cycle more. I use the hell out of CC points but haven't opened new ones much lately. I have a Citi Premeir card and currently just use it for absolutely everything possible and probably get like $700 in rewards every year and just use it as cash back since that gives the greatest bang for buck. I also have Costco, Target, Amazon, etc. cards specific to those for the 5% or whatever it may be discount.

Do you just cycle a new rewards card every 6 months or so? I probably should start doing it again. It affects your credit score but not that much?

I have $1.5k of daycare spend every month and going up with the second kid. I basically get a new card every month. I'm like at 780 from a high of 810. Only dropped 2x:
-1st time when I refinanced and paid off the student loans wiping off my longest debt history and screwing up percentage of loans paid
-2nd time was when I refinanced a second time to get the better rate on the house and took out all equity for windows.
Opening cards had very little impact and may drop it a few points for a month but creeps back up. And if you are in a position where you don't need a car or house loan any time soon, who cares what your credit score is.

[BUCKnation]

I churn when I have big spends coming to get the big intro offers. I opened quite a few when I moved and got another job last year but will downgrade from half of those (ones where I’m not getting much value) and repeat in a few years.

[stellation]

I'm headed on my honeymoon in August. Spending a week in Istanbul and a week in Bali, for a total of two weeks away.

I am really excited, of course. However, I do lot have a lot of experience with international travel, let alone with twelve-fifteen hour flights. Istanbul is a direct flight from O'Hare - 12 hours - Bali is a direct flight from Istanbul - 12 hours - and my flight back from Bali to ORD has two stops which includes a 15 hour flight between Singapore and San Francisco, and a total of 26 hours of travel time.

Any suggestions as to how to make the trip comfortable? Any tips otherwise when it comes to international travel that I should keep in mind?

Granted it's to Europe usually, but I always try to do a quick nap on the plane (2-3 hours) then stay up the rest of the day. I try being out exploring the city and avoid a dark hotel room with a comfy bed. By the time I get to the hotel I'm exhausted from being awake 18 hours, carrying luggage,and walking the city that I sleep pretty good with melatonin. Just try to wake up early and get exercise during the day.

Congrats and best of luck. How did you choose Istanbul? It's on my list but wife is not convinced. Would love feedback.

Istanbul has always been near the top of our shortlist of places to visit because of its historical significance. But I've always wanted to see the Blue Mosque, the Haggia Sophia, the Topkapi Palace, and the Grand Bazaar, and also have so much of the amazing food that's all over the city. Not even to mention the Europe-Asia connection and the gorgeous bosphorus separating the continents. Many friends and family members of mine have been there and raved about the experience.

I'll let you know how it goes when I get back!

Not a huge amount of time to get a copy and get through it (big book, but I found it enjoyable and did fly through it)- but I'd highly recommend the book Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler. It's a very well written and researched popular history book about Instanbul, interwoven with a little travel memoir of making a trip there with his kid about a decade ago.

He's a gifted writer, and I always thought it would be a good read to jog the mind on history before a trip to Istanbul (I've never been, but definitely have it on my list) with how well he brings in bits of history you'd be able to see now. Would generally recommend it (or any of his books) to anyone who enjoys a hefty tome of days of yore.

https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Empire-Journey-Legendary-Constantinople/dp/1681779013

[ReasonablySober]

Speaking of books, who here has read the Three Body Problem trilogy. Trailer looked cool and it seems Netflix is putting all their resources behind it. I see the first one won the dang Hugo award. But a couple reviews I read from people on here were pretty brutal.

[ReasonablySober]

This college WS final game is looking it's going to be a barn burner.

[jschligs]

Speaking of books, who hear has read the Three Body Problem trilogy. Trailer looked cool and it seems Netflix is putting all their resources behind it. I see the first one won the dang Hugo award. But a couple reviews I read from people on here were pretty brutal.

I bought the first one as a friend highly recommended it. Saw it's being made into a show. Been meaning to get to it but life always has other things for me to do.

[Mags FTW]

Speaking of books, who here has read the Three Body Problem trilogy. Trailer looked cool and it seems Netflix is putting all their resources behind it. I see the first one won the dang Hugo award. But a couple reviews I read from people on here were pretty brutal.

I read all 3. I liked them, particularly the 1st. The 2nd book, The Dark Forest, is the name of the theory that is the overarching theme of the trilogy:

The dark forest hypothesis is the conjecture that many alien civilizations exist throughout the universe, but they are both silent and paranoid.[1] In this framing, it is presumed that any space-faring civilization would view any other intelligent life as an inevitable threat,[2] and thus destroy any nascent life that makes its presence known. As a result, the electromagnetic spectrum would be relatively quiescent, without evidence of any intelligent alien life, as in a "dark forest" filled with "armed hunter(s) stalking through the trees like a ghost".[3][4]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis

[ReasonablySober]

Speaking of books, who here has read the Three Body Problem trilogy. Trailer looked cool and it seems Netflix is putting all their resources behind it. I see the first one won the dang Hugo award. But a couple reviews I read from people on here were pretty brutal.

I read all 3. I liked them, particularly the 1st. The 2nd book, The Dark Forest, is the name of the theory that is the overarching theme of the trilogy:

The dark forest hypothesis is the conjecture that many alien civilizations exist throughout the universe, but they are both silent and paranoid.[1] In this framing, it is presumed that any space-faring civilization would view any other intelligent life as an inevitable threat,[2] and thus destroy any nascent life that makes its presence known. As a result, the electromagnetic spectrum would be relatively quiescent, without evidence of any intelligent alien life, as in a "dark forest" filled with "armed hunter(s) stalking through the trees like a ghost".[3][4]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis

Sounds wild. I'm in. Thanks!

[Mags FTW]

Speaking of books, who here has read the Three Body Problem trilogy. Trailer looked cool and it seems Netflix is putting all their resources behind it. I see the first one won the dang Hugo award. But a couple reviews I read from people on here were pretty brutal.

I read all 3. I liked them, particularly the 1st. The 2nd book, The Dark Forest, is the name of the theory that is the overarching theme of the trilogy:

The dark forest hypothesis is the conjecture that many alien civilizations exist throughout the universe, but they are both silent and paranoid.[1] In this framing, it is presumed that any space-faring civilization would view any other intelligent life as an inevitable threat,[2] and thus destroy any nascent life that makes its presence known. As a result, the electromagnetic spectrum would be relatively quiescent, without evidence of any intelligent alien life, as in a "dark forest" filled with "armed hunter(s) stalking through the trees like a ghost".[3][4]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis

Sounds wild. I'm in. Thanks!

No prob. If you want sci-fi that's more light-hearted, I just finished Project Hail Mary (same author as The Martian). That was good too.

[Kerb Hohl]

Just third-ing this comment. Even if you don't travel much, getting one of these cards gives you 3-10x return on the first annual fee (you can always cancel when the second annual fee hits).
It amazes me how many people are risk averse to CCs when they are financially literate with no debt (I'm talking CPAs, engineers, etc). 5 minutes to add a new chase or amex card every 6 months to your account and would cover lodging or flights for a weekend. The same people who say "I don't travel much" then complain a month later because the highway side Hampton inn was $200 when visiting family, wedding, funeral, etc.

I used to kind of credit card cycle more. I use the hell out of CC points but haven't opened new ones much lately. I have a Citi Premeir card and currently just use it for absolutely everything possible and probably get like $700 in rewards every year and just use it as cash back since that gives the greatest bang for buck. I also have Costco, Target, Amazon, etc. cards specific to those for the 5% or whatever it may be discount.

Do you just cycle a new rewards card every 6 months or so? I probably should start doing it again. It affects your credit score but not that much?

I have $1.5k of daycare spend every month and going up with the second kid. I basically get a new card every month. I'm like at 780 from a high of 810. Only dropped 2x:
-1st time when I refinanced and paid off the student loans wiping off my longest debt history and screwing up percentage of loans paid
-2nd time was when I refinanced a second time to get the better rate on the house and took out all equity for windows.
Opening cards had very little impact and may drop it a few points for a month but creeps back up. And if you are in a position where you don't need a car or house loan any time soon, who cares what your credit score is.

Yeah I have no problem finding a way to spend $3k in 4 months or whatever their limits are. Maybe I'll have to get back into churning through. Might want to refinance the car loan or get a new car in the next 5 years but otherwise I'm in this house with a 3% interest rate for 20+ years so yeah, I'm good there.

I used to do it a bit more but given 3 kids, some years I may not be certain how and when I'll travel, but I can find a way to use the points on other stuff if not.

If I recall correctly, you travel for work? That may make it a bit easier for you I'd imagine.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I used to kind of credit card cycle more. I use the hell out of CC points but haven't opened new ones much lately. I have a Citi Premeir card and currently just use it for absolutely everything possible and probably get like $700 in rewards every year and just use it as cash back since that gives the greatest bang for buck. I also have Costco, Target, Amazon, etc. cards specific to those for the 5% or whatever it may be discount.

Do you just cycle a new rewards card every 6 months or so? I probably should start doing it again. It affects your credit score but not that much?

I have $1.5k of daycare spend every month and going up with the second kid. I basically get a new card every month. I'm like at 780 from a high of 810. Only dropped 2x:
-1st time when I refinanced and paid off the student loans wiping off my longest debt history and screwing up percentage of loans paid
-2nd time was when I refinanced a second time to get the better rate on the house and took out all equity for windows.
Opening cards had very little impact and may drop it a few points for a month but creeps back up. And if you are in a position where you don't need a car or house loan any time soon, who cares what your credit score is.

Yeah I have no problem finding a way to spend $3k in 4 months or whatever their limits are. Maybe I'll have to get back into churning through. Might want to refinance the car loan or get a new car in the next 5 years but otherwise I'm in this house with a 3% interest rate for 20+ years so yeah, I'm good there.

I used to do it a bit more but given 3 kids, some years I may not be certain how and when I'll travel, but I can find a way to use the points on other stuff if not.

If I recall correctly, you travel for work? That may make it a bit easier for you I'd imagine.

I travel for work (1x a month) but honestly the overlap is only that I benefit more from using lounges flying more often and the work travel helps me qualify for Hyatt globalist. For work I stay at the cheapest hotels and cheapest airlines so I usually don't get any material points from stays (1 stay is maybe 10k points versus 150k for a CC), no upgrades at say a holiday inn express and no material status on airlines since I rotate too much. We travel a ton as a family, but that's all through CCs.

As for not traveling much, it might be a good time to accumulate. Most loyalty programs don't expire now and usually it's as simple as any activity (online survey for points, a $1 purchase on the cobranded card, etc) to keep them alive for ones that do expire. With 5 people, you can burn points pretty quickly when you do use them. Also, never underestimate how many times you need a hotel/flight for a wedding, funeral, etc. even if not a planned vacation. My sister had a personal issue and I was able to book my mom on a flight the next day (points are still not directly tied to pricing) and not even consider the cost. My wife's family is in phx and the 4 of us go there every year during peak holiday travel. There would be serious arguments on whether or not we go if we were paying cash the week of Thanksgiving. Now we just book and not even think about it. Feel free to DM if you want to bounce around some questions. It's my favorite hobby after the bucks get eliminated early.

[ReasonablySober]

Read on Twitter

Damn ya'll got some good looking curds down there.

[Kerb Hohl]

I have $1.5k of daycare spend every month and going up with the second kid. I basically get a new card every month. I'm like at 780 from a high of 810. Only dropped 2x:
-1st time when I refinanced and paid off the student loans wiping off my longest debt history and screwing up percentage of loans paid
-2nd time was when I refinanced a second time to get the better rate on the house and took out all equity for windows.
Opening cards had very little impact and may drop it a few points for a month but creeps back up. And if you are in a position where you don't need a car or house loan any time soon, who cares what your credit score is.

Yeah I have no problem finding a way to spend $3k in 4 months or whatever their limits are. Maybe I'll have to get back into churning through. Might want to refinance the car loan or get a new car in the next 5 years but otherwise I'm in this house with a 3% interest rate for 20+ years so yeah, I'm good there.

I used to do it a bit more but given 3 kids, some years I may not be certain how and when I'll travel, but I can find a way to use the points on other stuff if not.

If I recall correctly, you travel for work? That may make it a bit easier for you I'd imagine.

I travel for work (1x a month) but honestly the overlap is only that I benefit more from using lounges flying more often and the work travel helps me qualify for Hyatt globalist. For work I stay at the cheapest hotels and cheapest airlines so I usually don't get any material points from stays (1 stay is maybe 10k points versus 150k for a CC), no upgrades at say a holiday inn express and no material status on airlines since I rotate too much. We travel a ton as a family, but that's all through CCs.

As for not traveling much, it might be a good time to accumulate. Most loyalty programs don't expire now and usually it's as simple as any activity (online survey for points, a $1 purchase on the cobranded card, etc) to keep them alive for ones that do expire. With 5 people, you can burn points pretty quickly when you do use them. Also, never underestimate how many times you need a hotel/flight for a wedding, funeral, etc. even if not a planned vacation. My sister had a personal issue and I was able to book my mom on a flight the next day (points are still not directly tied to pricing) and not even consider the cost. My wife's family is in phx and the 4 of us go there every year during peak holiday travel. There would be serious arguments on whether or not we go if we were paying cash the week of Thanksgiving. Now we just book and not even think about it. Feel free to DM if you want to bounce around some questions. It's my favorite hobby after the bucks get eliminated early.

Thanks. Yeah, cool.

My thing is that (generally) I am using general purpose or general travel cards where the points *are* basically tied to pricing. My Citi Premier used to be a Citi ThankYou where I'd book one trip/year through them and the points cost would be like 75% of the actual price.

So some of the other travel cards are not directly tied? I could book a flight for 2 days from now at a key time for a small number of points?

I think I have the general gist of it but I'd be interested to hear some of the cards you do to cycle this that are best...and yeah, I'd just bank the 75,000 points or whatever and use them if I ever needed travel or the annual trip.

If you have some time though, maybe shoot me a PM of a general list of your top cards/ideas (I definitely look at the points guy) and I may have questions down the line.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Thanks. Yeah, cool.

My thing is that (generally) I am using general purpose or general travel cards where the points *are* basically tied to pricing. My Citi Premier used to be a Citi ThankYou where I'd book one trip/year through them and the points cost would be like 75% of the actual price.

So some of the other travel cards are not directly tied? I could book a flight for 2 days from now at a key time for a small number of points?

I think I have the general gist of it but I'd be interested to hear some of the cards you do to cycle this that are best...and yeah, I'd just bank the 75,000 points or whatever and use them if I ever needed travel or the annual trip.

If you have some time though, maybe shoot me a PM of a general list of your top cards/ideas (I definitely look at the points guy) and I may have questions down the line.

The Banks have there own points and if you if you book through their portal it would be a set pricing. But Chase, AMEX, etc let you transfer to loyalty programs.
High-level Loyalty programs can be:
1. Tied directly to pricing (SW) - # of points will go up/down with cost of flight
2. Dynamic pricing (United/Delta/Hilton) - Flights go up and down and kind of a black box. They do have award charts with transfer partners - so you know you can get to say Europe each way for 35K.
3. True award Chart (hyatt) - These are going away but a hotel / flight is based on set parameters with no impact on price. I booked the Hyatt downtown during summerfest for 9k points (Listed price $400) by transferring chase points to Hyatt. If I booked through the Chase portal it would have been 30k points due to the pricing.

Some of the last minute flights take research and dependent on availability, which is why I like have different currencies - I check which one is the best deal for that particular flight. To get the best deals, you need to understand the nuances with the airline alliances (Say Transferring Amex to Virgin Atlantic {especially when they have a transfer bonus} to book through Virgin but flying on Delta flights for super cheap one-way non-stops) but don't let that stop you getting started. You learn more the more you do it. And even a bad redemption is still better than paying cash.

For families, I find SW companion pass to be the best value / low hanging fruit. Points are easy to understand and if both adults have companion pass you only pay 3 flights (either points or cash) for all 5 family members. Though you want to get the cards around December so you have it all of 2024 and 2025.

[jschligs]

Project Hailmary was fantastic, was my book of 2022.

I liked his other book Artemis too but it was nearly as good.

I also loves all of Blake Crouch’s recent books.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I thought the Raptors board or Drake were the 2 worst things to come out of Canada, but this air quality really sucks. Saw weather was going to be 70 and overcast. Planned to bike my kid to school, take him to the park after daycare, etc. Instead my eyes are burning even inside. Hopefully we some wind to push this into Illinois or something.

ETA: Anyone have suggestion on air purifiers with cheaper filters? It seems like you get a good air purifier at say $50 for a small room but then they want you to replace filters every 3 months at $20 a piece. That can add up for multiple bedrooms

[TroyD92]

I thought the Raptors board or Drake were the 2 worst things to come out of Canada, but this air quality really sucks. Saw weather was going to be 70 and overcast. Planned to bike my kid to school, take him to the park after daycare, etc. Instead my eyes are burning even inside. Hopefully we some wind to push this into Illinois or something.

It's already in Chicago and its brutal here.

[MikeIsGood]

AQI is 178 here today. I just went to the post office and was holding my breath going from car to inside. It's awful.

[buckboy]

AQI is 178 here today. I just went to the post office and was holding my breath going from car to inside. It's awful.

It's 248 at my house according to this:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/grafton/53024/air-quality-index/336556

Yikes. I could feel it all day and I've mostly been inside.

[TroyD92]

AQI is 178 here today. I just went to the post office and was holding my breath going from car to inside. It's awful.

It's 248 at my house according to this:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/grafton/53024/air-quality-index/336556

Yikes. I could feel it all day and I've mostly been inside.

Holy. It's 180 where im at.