One Mile at a Time [OMaaT] discussions [merged]
Nov 19, 2017, 12:52 pm
#3436
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,588
I find the market for miles/points bloggers to be rather saturated, and it really is not my cup of tea. For me as a reader, the blog market in this space was more interesting several years ago. But in this regard, I've got way more in common with you than with OMAAT and the other FT-spawned bloggers. 
OMAAT was never really all that interesting to me, but I couldn't but be amused and satisfied by a rather young kid taking their hobby from FT and making it into a rather lucrative business venture that stays on the correct side of the law AFAIK and generated the blog/blogger a rather lucrative stream of money out of what had been the then-kid's hobby. Lot of significantly older adults who considered themselves to have "traveled extensively" and had FT as a base didn't consider monetizing their knowledge/resources and experiences. Not sure what that says about who is more naive or less.
With experience comes wisdom? I wouldn't be all that sure about that. More generally, with experience comes knowledge, not necessarily wisdom.
Rookie mistakes? I think we all make some of those. But not everyone has the confidence to expose themselves as not being perfect, even when not a rookie.
Let's make this a bit more simple: if the FBI, in the course of an investigation, asked you if OMAAT's founder had traveled extensively or not at all, what would you say?
OMAAT was never really all that interesting to me, but I couldn't but be amused and satisfied by a rather young kid taking their hobby from FT and making it into a rather lucrative business venture that stays on the correct side of the law AFAIK and generated the blog/blogger a rather lucrative stream of money out of what had been the then-kid's hobby. Lot of significantly older adults who considered themselves to have "traveled extensively" and had FT as a base didn't consider monetizing their knowledge/resources and experiences. Not sure what that says about who is more naive or less.
With experience comes wisdom? I wouldn't be all that sure about that. More generally, with experience comes knowledge, not necessarily wisdom.
Rookie mistakes? I think we all make some of those. But not everyone has the confidence to expose themselves as not being perfect, even when not a rookie.
Let's make this a bit more simple: if the FBI, in the course of an investigation, asked you if OMAAT's founder had traveled extensively or not at all, what would you say?
Not saying that in a judgey way. Just as an observation.
Shrug.
Last edited by kokonutz; Nov 19, 2017 at 1:08 pm
Nov 19, 2017, 2:01 pm
#3437
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Understanding cultures in depth by being a tourist? I am pretty sure that is a pretentious pipe dream compared to realizing that for the most part there is more diversity within a national culture than between different national cultures and thus trying to play expert cultural anthropologist is really for the academics and academic wannabes. OMAAT puts on none of that pretension, right?
Nov 19, 2017, 3:58 pm
#3438
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,588
Understanding cultures in depth by being a tourist? I am pretty sure that is a pretentious pipe dream compared to realizing that for the most part there is more diversity within a national culture than between different national cultures and thus trying to play expert cultural anthropologist is really for the academics and academic wannabes. OMAAT puts on none of that pretension, right?
But that’s just me and others prefer cruises and all-inclusives.
To each their own.
Nov 19, 2017, 6:25 pm
#3439
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
no. I disagree. I believe the point of ‘Travel’ (as opposed to ‘vacation’) is to expand my understanding of different places and cultures by getting a taste of them, trying to respect them and, if appropriate, appreciating them. That applies whether ot’s to the week I spent in Jordan last year or the weekend I just spent in rural southeast Texas.
But that’s just me and others prefer cruises and all-inclusives.
To each their own.
But that’s just me and others prefer cruises and all-inclusives.
To each their own.
Nov 20, 2017, 9:33 am
#3440
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,294
Getting a taste of some culture is far different than understanding a culture in depth. I’m certainly not the kind of person who would be considered a “managed” traveler, but I am also not pretentious enough to assume that my interests in travel make me a national cultural expert in the course of a couple of weeks or less of annual paid vacation.
Nov 20, 2017, 11:08 am
#3441
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Often, yes. Either way, it’s still not understanding a national culture in depth. Then again there is generally more diversity within the national culture than there is across national cultures, so travel may not even be a necessary condition to understand a culture in depth.
Nov 20, 2017, 1:59 pm
#3442
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,588
Often, yes. Either way, it’s still not understanding a national culture in depth. Then again there is generally more diversity within the national culture than there is across national cultures, so travel may not even be a necessary condition to understand a culture in depth.
More to the point, Ben seems to lack any curiosity or desire to learn about different countries, cultures or places. Over and over when he runs into different cultures or norms he ends up frustrated or looking foolish. Which, again, is fine: he likes the bubble he stays in most of the time. But I would say that makes him a 'professional vacationer,' not a 'professional traveler.'
YMMV!
Nov 20, 2017, 5:42 pm
#3443
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,737
Sure. But one might at the very least expect a "traveler" to read the 'history and culture' section about a country or city in Lonely Planet before leaving the confines of an upgraded western hotel room and lounge, mightn't one?
More to the point, Ben seems to lack any curiosity or desire to learn about different countries, cultures or places. Over and over when he runs into different cultures or norms he ends up frustrated or looking foolish. Which, again, is fine: he likes the bubble he stays in most of the time. But I would say that makes him a 'professional vacationer,' not a 'professional traveler.'
YMMV!
More to the point, Ben seems to lack any curiosity or desire to learn about different countries, cultures or places. Over and over when he runs into different cultures or norms he ends up frustrated or looking foolish. Which, again, is fine: he likes the bubble he stays in most of the time. But I would say that makes him a 'professional vacationer,' not a 'professional traveler.'
YMMV!
Nov 21, 2017, 6:42 am
#3444
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,678
It wouldn't be FlyerTalk if the same topics weren't beat to death though! Recently some TravelBuzz thread on the ethics of being asked to leave your airline seat devolved into another rehashing of the Dr. Dao Dragging Debacle with the same repeated re-stating of the same points of view that had been beat to death months ago. It was comical. I think the overall post count on FlyerTalk would go down by 75% if you deleted all the dead horses!
Last edited by 84fiero; Nov 21, 2017 at 6:59 am
Nov 21, 2017, 8:59 pm
#3445
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: LAS/DXB
Programs: LH HON
Posts: 1,193
Nov 22, 2017, 8:20 am
#3446
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Between AMS and BRU
Posts: 8,852
Nov 22, 2017, 9:11 am
#3447
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
I don't read OMAAT to try to get a deeper cultural understanding of any national cultures. Nor do I read SFO777 trip reports for that purpose either. But unlike with OMAAT, with SFO777 trip reports I know I'm not going to have to filter through reading a bunch of cut and paste-like clutter copy to get to the meat of a story or be targeted for a credit card sign-up.
If people want to get a deeper understanding of a national culture, reading a country's version of national and world history as taught to middle and high school children in a country will do way more to inform about national culture than reading any given FT trip report or any given miles/points blog. And you don't even need to sign up for a credit card or read social media advertisements to get that "education".
Nov 22, 2017, 3:36 pm
#3448
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: LAS/DXB
Programs: LH HON
Posts: 1,193
Yes I do, hence the question. I don't see a difference, other than SFO777 not trying to sell credit cards and actually knows how to properly articulate himself (and usually residing in more luxury establishments). Other than that, they both take guided tours for their explorations. None of them are going to the lonely planet route as adertised in this thread. There's nothing wrong with that and I'm not a fan of OMaaT, but this seems like a double standard here.
Nov 22, 2017, 4:12 pm
#3449
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,588
http://www.alongcameanelephant.com/
http://www.aworldtotravel.com/
https://theworldpursuit.com/
https://landcruisingadventure.com/
https://www.junglesinparis.com/
That said, I also get great utility from Ben and SFO777 when planning around airplane cabins and luxury western chain hotels.
Lots of great tools out there!
