An FTer birthday this week – wish kyklin a happy birthday on 30 January.

A FT Do in the next 30 days – lunch with FTers on Friday (we know what that means) in Chicago 2 February.

A FT Do in the next 3-6 months – the annual dhammer53 Brooklyn Reality Tour will be taking place sometime early May, in Brooklyn funnily enough..

Something from the talking heads, err Talk Board – no new threads this week. Discussion continues on hotel deals, post counts, Germany and Talk Board history.

Something random – On_Cloud_9 is facing the first time travelling with an infant and understandably has lots of questions. What tips and suggestions can you provide to help?

Some hard-working FTers have collated reviews and information on many hotels of the main chains.

* Starwood – check out www.starwoodlobby.com for reviews and pictures of many SPG hotels, and the FT discussion thread.

* Hyatt – Muerz‘s review site is currently down. Checking this thread for announcements it seems something new is in the wings.

* Hilton – the Hilton Family Hotel Master Thread contains information and links to the relevant threads (plus a link to the page on Hilton’s website) for every Hilton HHonors hotel.

I couldn’t find anything similar for the other chains. Please let me know (PM to Kiwi Flyer) if I’ve missed them and I’ll update the blog.

No, this is not about dirty deeds done dirt cheap, or that you shook me all night long – although that is another topic altogether.

This is about how to recognize your black luggage on the luggage carousel, whether you are at your destination or back at your home airport.

If this topic is indeed your bag, carry on over to the How do you ID your black luggage thread – that is, if you can handle rolling along with the discussion.

The title speaks for itself – a fascinating paper on how Starwood is using FT (and FTers), but has relevancy for all the airline and hotel forums.

In contrast to the previous blog entry, NickPowell77 is so annoyed with BA that he wants to give his miles away. Is this a good idea? Just how do you give miles away?

What would you do if a neighbour offers you 21,000 miles?

This public service announcement brought to you by dcmike.

This public service announcement brought to you by dcmike.

SmilingBoy wants to bring a tv from Germany to Belgium and wants to know whether to bring it as checked luggage or freight it.

What a dilemna to have – choosing the right skysuite on SQ first!? Help BenjaminNYC choose his seat on this thread.