Originally Posted by
flashware
The link doesn't work - I've posted it here
https://onemileatatime.com/ethics-policy/
Originally Posted by
belfordrocks
He's 29 yo and a millionaire because he took something he was passionate about, worked hard for a long time and combined with luck, turned that into a very successful business. I feel like I'm in the minority here when I think that's worthy of commendation and not ridicule...
There was no ridicule intended in my post, neither did I imply that what he is doing is not worthy of commendation.
I've learnt a lot from reading his blog.
To put it very bluntly (though I have not met him in person), he needs to take better care of himself. He's 29 but he looks much older.
It's a known fact that air travel is bad for skin & if you travel every other week then you should be doing double or triple time on your skin care routine.
It only gets worse (drier skin, more tiring) as you get older.
Originally Posted by
oliver2002
Kylie Jenner just beat Zuckerberg in becoming the youngest billionaire at 21 years.
Kudos to Ben, but you can still make a comment that the sudden success also spared him a few experiences that make you a bit more mature at 29 years. To each their own.
One danger of him dialling down his travel will be that is not the first kid on the block to review a new product, which is the USP of the site.
Eh .. KJ's annual sales turnover is $300m but her company is valued at $900m therefore she's termed a billionaire.
Valuations are just that ... an estimate. Case in point - Uber & the ride hailing apps (Grab in ASIA) that are valued at billions with fresh funds being injected every other month & they have yet to turn a profit.
But I must say Lyft is doing very well since it IPO'd
But hurray for KJ - happy that she's doing well
And +1 on the cutting back on travel bit - just look at his current trip reports in SE Asia (SIN, KUL) - that's a regular commute for some of us living in this region for work or to visit family & friends, and not trip report worthy ...
And seriously, MH Business Suites to NRT. LOL ...
Originally Posted by
rankourabu
Was his blog ever about travel though?
I agree, he sure has flown a lot, but traveled, I don't think so (wasn't there a few awkward posts when he was taken out of his chain hotel comfort zone?).
But good for him turning his passion into million$ (although I do see some sort of weird jealousy towards TPG who clearly has made more millions, and has created a more profitable brand of himself)
I guess in a loose sense it is .. travel could mean different things to different people
Some visit tourist traps in the most famous cities of the world, but for him I guess his idea of travel was to the airport & taking flights out to all over the world?
On some trips, he does stop & spend some time in the cities that he flies into (especially if there is a 6 star resort on the beach that he can use points to redeem for stays)
Travel blogging is a business at the end of the day, Ben is not yet 30 so his priorities are different. When he gets older, he may decide to monetize his blog & sell out (oops, I meant diversify) like TPG did.
Originally Posted by
Adam1222
I dunno, Ben has Ford to share his life and millions with. Brian has a jacket made of credit cards and his most recent intern.
Wouldn't assume jealousy.
Ben is also younger and made his millions while retaining a lot more authenticity and independence.
Some would say that's something he's rightfully proud of, not the "jealousy" term that gets thrown around here all the time whenever anyone criticizes a blogger.
What is a jacket of credit card & interns? Is Brian making a jacket out of credit cards & wrapping it around his intern?
Yes absolutely, with in depth, probing & definitely award winning articles like this one -
https://onemileatatime.com/free-bottled-water-hotels/
And this one -
https://onemileatatime.com/review-tr...nning-process/
Which then gets parroted on another one of his buddies blogs.
Anyway the life that he's living is not sustainable (hence his 2 mth break from travel), and definitely not for me.
I can't imagine packing & unpacking, only to start the process again every other week.
Definitely no jealousy on my part, it's not the kinda life that everybody wants to live - no matter how glamorous it may sound.
Originally Posted by
oliver2002
It's tough to write up a meaningful blog post about experiencing a new destination when you didn't have training in writing.
Aircraft cabin and hotel experiences can be described with some templates and a bit of creativity.
I'm sure Ben did something outside the aircraft and hotel but didn't get it to publishing quality.
Exactly, it gets boring & repetitive after a while even for the readers - same format, cut & paste text & pics to a template & wham bam, u have a trip report.
But for the writers, I guess it's relatively easy to churn out a trip report every other day using this approach.
And yes, some travel writers/bloggers out there really need to go back to school & take some serious writing classes.
Originally Posted by
jiaogulan
I do not get the feeling at all from Ben that he is trying to portray himself as a traveler who is looking to really authentically get to know places or possessing the grit to not use the products he enjoys and reviews. He seems to own the fact he is most comfortable in premium cabins, hired cars, and hotel lounges.
Surely you jest, nothing less than a chauffeur driven limo for Lucky!
He did mention before that he's an introvert so perhaps that explains why he likes doing the travel blog
Originally Posted by
kokonutz
I think that Ben is a skilled enough writer that if he was passionate about travel the way he is passionate about transportation he could do a bang-up job of writing about it.
I concede it's a bit pedantic...but he keeps using the word 'travel' when he means 'transportation. '
In what context is he using "travel" when he should be using "transportation"?
Are u one of those people that corrects others for using transit, connection or transfers when talking about flights on 2 separate tickets that connect to more than 1 city/airport?
Originally Posted by
skywardhunter
As said he's at TPG, and thank god. His writing style is terrible. Not that Lucky's is amazing but James went out of his way to write about nothingness and to do it in an especially ignorant and uninformed manner.
Almost every ONE? of his articles was corrected within the first few comments as people pointed out errors and false assumptions he made because he never bothered researching
Can you tell me which blog you read that you think is informative & well written, in your opinion?
I'm not sure about the frequency of his articles being corrected by readers but it happens to other established bloggers too
And how was his writing style terrible?
James wasn't a right fit for OMAAT, as it's positioned (or rather Lucky's position) to only review First & Business class & very rarely, if at all Premium Economy or shock ... whhhYYY class
https://onemileatatime.com/why-we-do...emium-economy/
When he first came on-board, he was the blue eyed boy (literally) of OMAAT & everyone was gushing about how well he wrote & that his articles were informative & relevant.
In actuality, it was because he
wasn't always & only writing about first & business class like Lucky was. And I guess that spoke to a lot of readers out there.
This was one of his better articles though it wasn't original to or conceived by him -
https://onemileatatime.com/emotional...-mistake-fare/
The other ones were about his packing list & research of bags for his HBO only 4 month world tour.
https://onemileatatime.com/perfect-c...age-only-trip/
https://onemileatatime.com/hand-lugg...el-challenges/
Originally Posted by
zeer0
James got an offer from TPG, likely for a lot more money to blog full time.
I personally won't miss him. I wasn't a fan of the way James wrote, and many of his articles were borderline off topic for this blog.
His stuff will fit right in with the rest of the drivel at TPG.
Kerr ching $$
Yup, exactly. Because TPG is trying to dominate the travel blog industry by reaching out to the masses to generate even more clicks & ad revenue.
It's not for the sophisticated & experienced travelers that FT is full of @:-)
They publish all types of reviews including Economy & PE, thus making it achievable and relevant to the mainstream readers/travelers.
Coz seriously, who flies first & business class all the time (rhetorical question - please don't reply)
Originally Posted by
stufalk
Does anyone know why James left OMAAT and where he is working now? I thought he was their best contributor..his posts were always insightful, helpful and devoid of the self entitlement and smugness that can sometimes appear there?
Here you go - welcome to the party
Throwback to last April when he just joined -
https://onemileatatime.com/welcome-t...at-team-james/
& his last article for OMAAT after his 4 month world tour -
https://onemileatatime.com/should-pa...te-for-delays/
Which begs the question to ask - is he on some sort of writing ban/moratorium by OMMAT that he has to wait like 3 months before joining & writing for a competitor blog (TPG UK)?
And TPG UK must be paying him enough to join them full time, more or less the equivalent to a lawyer's salary + the added perks of free travel.
Though it's not clear what kind of lawyer James was but it did seem like he wasn't really into his day job & to be able to take 4 months off from work to travel ..
Wow ...