Updated November 8, 2017

In the last four years, I've spent about 18 months total in Argentina, so I wanted to give a quick update on the money situation down there.

From 2010 until December 2015, Argentina had an official exchange rate that was a complete fiction.

I've always been a terrible photographer, which you might have noticed from my reviews of First Class flights, but I've enjoyed others' photography more than any other visual art.

I finally decided to learn a bit about photography and bought myself a used full-frame DSLR and a good 50mm prime lens.

I'm a big fan of Alaska miles, because of the free stopovers on one way awards and great mix of partners from multiple alliances.
Alaska Mileage Plan Basics
Before we get into potential redemptions and stopover destinations, let's go over some basics about the program.

Partners

Alaska has a varied array of oneworld, SkyTeam, and non-allied airline partners:

Here are the award charts for flying Alaska and its partners.

LATAM and Cathay Pacific award space cannot be found on alaskaair.com. Search with British Airways award search engine instead.

As a reminder I'm bumping this post to the top of the blog since today is your last day to redeem United miles before the devaluation kicks in tomorrow!

Back in June I wrote about the changes United MileagePlus announced to go into effect November 1, 2017.

United, American, and Southwest are all offering bonuses for shopping through their portals. The bonuses are in addition to what you’d already be earning by shopping through the portal. Shopping portals allow you to earn miles by making your normal online purchases through your favorite online stores. Just by starting at the loyalty program’s portal and using its link to your favorite online retailer, you can get extra miles for your purchases.

With each holiday shopping promotion, the more you spend, the higher your return is.

I tweeted this deal first from @MileValueAlerts. Follow @MileValueAlerts on Twitter and follow these directions to get a text message every time I tweet from that account.

The brand new PointBreaks list allows us to book hotel rooms beginning tomorrow morning, Monday, October 30, for stays through January 31st, 2018 for $30 per night.
InterContinental Mendoza (Argentina wine country): on a previous list

This post will tell you how to book any hotel on the list of IHG Reward Club’s PointBreaks hotels for $30 per night, even the ones that ordinarily cost $200 or more per night.

What’s my strategy to make the most of PointBreaks?
What are the top properties on the newest PointBreaks list?

IHG Rewards Club Pointbreaks
IHG Rewards Club is the loyalty program

Barclaycard is teaming up with Uber to issue a credit card called the Uber Visa Card. While technically co-branded with the ride share company, there are almost no Uber related benefits, which is kind of confusing. Nevertheless this card, which will earn rewards in the form of cash back, has impressive cash back rates that (in most ways) beat other cash back cards.

You can't apply for the Uber Visa quite yet.

Update 10/26/17: This offer is ending next week, on Wednesday, November 1. Looking back historically, there is a decent chance this is the last elevated offer we will see for the SPG Business card if Chase takes over as the card issuer instead of American Express moving forward with the SPG/Marriott merger.