Waking up from my slumber for the past few weeks has become somewhat of an annoyance. Not the fact that I’m waking up, as I find that quite appealing and necessary to live. It’s been the repetition. We’ve all experienced days that are so busy that they almost seem to blend in with one another. With a busy schedule at work, kid’s sports and school activities, my days simply all look the same. One of the few breaks in these otherwise hectic days is my daily sampling of travel emails that I receive. I try to pick a few random blogs that will feed my addiction and also give me varied looks inside the travel world. I’m not one that only subscribes to the credit card deals as there’s only so much of that I can take. I also look for travel stories, destinations, and any other travel topic that will satisfy me.

Lately, the mood has changed. I’m literally being chased away from my email these days. To be specific, Chase Sapphire Reserved out of my email. Over the last two weeks I seem to receive nothing but updates on this suddenly electric card that has captivated the points and miles nation. And if we really want to be honest, it’s been longer than two weeks. There had been rumors for quite some time and I had heard there were insiders that were being fed information. I must have been a bit naïve or simply just too new in this game to realize there were MANY insiders, as in half the blogging world.

1117_4638231
I seem to have found myself in my own “Groundhog Day”. My inbox is littered with Chase Sapphire Reserve updates and whisperings. I’m inundated with topics that range the spectrum of benefits, approvals, denials, lounge access murmurings, reconciliation calls and of course the other hot topic of 2016 the Chase 5/24 rule. Since I mainly only pay attention to these emails during my work week, the Chase rule is truly a 5 days a week 24 hour rule. OK, so a bit of a definition change from what we know as the true interpretation of the rule. And that’s where this whole Reserve phenomenon really takes a nasty turn. I’m inundated with every angle of this card and I’m not even eligible for it!

That’s a Bunch of Experts!

For grins, I simply googled the card and came up with over 300,000 results for this topic, most from bloggers and almost every post says exactly the same thing. If you don’t watch it, you can find yourself in a tangled web of links and “first reported” stories. Hmm, first reported? I’m not buying it and I really shouldn’t even bother opening the emails that are explicitly labeled Chase Sapphire Reserve. But…I do and I continue to do so each and every day. I’m pretty sure that I can discuss every detail of this card and probably even stand on a panel of experts and stand toe to toe. It would be a standing room only crowd of over 300,000 people though so they better have plenty of water and snacks.

sapphire pic
I just can’t get enough, but I’m at the point of enough! I expect many to come at me with the just unsubscribe, or simply hit delete or maybe the dreaded mark as spam to alleviate my anxiety. But like a train wreck, I subject myself to further disappointment by calculating every possibility to see if maybe there’s that slim opportunity that… Ughh. Here I go again. So maybe I’m not over it? As bloggers you try hard to make sure you’re not stepping on others toes and plagiarise others works, but it’s a free for all when it comes to this stuff. I’m even seeing some in the world doing 6-part series on this card. Six parts? Really?

Same Response, Different Card

So is this new? Not really. We’ve seen it occur on other cards, usually with the six figure bonuses. Remember Citi Exec? Of course we do now that we’re all trying to make time tick faster to get under Citi’s 24 month rule in anticipation of another Exec fire sale on miles. It’s amusing to watch the avalanche of posts, mine included now, that devote so much time and energy to a little plastic card that holds so much promise to those who have yet to play this game.  And yet, causes so much heartache to the rest of us. But hey, that is life and if you don’t experience a bit of failure, how can we ever experience success? At least that’s what I’m telling myself. So as I rest my head and dream of a waterfall of Ultimate Rewards flowing into my river of travel, I’ll soon wake up to the sweet sounds of Sonny and Cher as they sing with directed spite, “I Got You Babe”

Yeah Chase…you got me.