I Just Paid for Two Plane Tickets...By Blogging on Steemit!
Using Steemit for your social media certainly has its perks!
I'll be heading across the country this summer for a family member's wedding and needed to book a flight for me and my wife. We all know that flights can be expensive these days and vacation costs can quickly add up. But I have a little secret to tell you...
I paid nothing for my tickets!
OK, maybe that's not entirely accurate. I did pay something. In fact - I paid for the tickets in U.S. Dollars. I have a pre-paid VISA debit/credit card that I've been using for my internet purchases. However, that card - the Bitpay debit/credit card - is actually charged up with the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. If I want to spend some money, I transfer the Bitcoin to Bitpay, and they convert the amount into spendable U.S. Dollars via their debit/credit services.
But what if you don't have Bitcoin? I'm glad you asked!
Here on Steemit.com, you can earn rewards for blogging, commenting, and voting on the blogs and comments of other users. The Steem blockchain produces digital tokens called "STEEM," which users can earn through performing those activities - the same activities that they can engage in on other social media platforms that don't pay them. These STEEM tokens (or SBDs, which are STEEM Backed Dollars) can then be bought, held, or sold in a wallet on the Steem blockchain or on a number of cryptocurrency exchanges, just like other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
I have been fortunate enough to gain a great following on Steemit and have earned rewards for doing what most other people in the world do throughout their day for free. So, I decided to take some of these rewards and purchase my plane tickets!
I sent 480 SBDs to the BlockTrades exchange service. They automatically converted these 480 SBDs into Bitcoin and sent that payment over to Bitpay, which was waiting on these funds in order to charge up my pre-paid card. After confirming that those funds were received, I booked my flight and paid with my Bitpay card.
As you can see, the tickets totaled $749.92. But due to the current price of SBDs, I received a premium for my Bitcoin transfer. It essentially cost me $480 of earnings to buy $750 tickets.
What a deal!
What did it really cost me though?
I'm just doing what most people do on a daily basis on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, or any number of social media platforms. The decision to do these things on Steemit has given me the opportunity to purchase plane tickets...for free!
Well, at least that's how it feels to me.
I do what I would otherwise do on other websites and apps, except I actually make money here for doing it. You don't have to know how everything works. You just need to know that it does work. And tonight's purchase is a perfect example of that!
So, if you're reading this and you and your friends and family aren't using Steemit yet, I have to ask you...why not?
Cool deal man. Look forward to the first time I turn steem into something IRL. Though I have this powering up problem I'm dealing with....where is there support group? LOL ;-)
Good for you man you are living the dream. Personally I would have kept those hard earned SD's and bought a first class ticket to the Bahamas in 2018. But I think you have found your way in STEEMIT since I have not made that much so I am jealous. I wish I could tell my wife, when she asks why I am typing so fast on the iPad, that I am inputting some content to buy plane tickets. When I buy something from selling my SD I will definitely make a post about it. A lot of people are making s lot of money but they put in the work and earned it. I am not there yet, though I try. How do I get on that sweet STEEM money?
When you buy that ticket to the Bahamas, hit me up! Check out my profile to see why I said that. Haha
Haha, when you find the support group let all the minnows know!! but good luck steeming. your support group can start with me!
LOL, nice!!!
meep
Just don't fly on United!
Oh, no! I forgot about that!
Looks like I need to go cancel the tickets now...
all hail bitpay!
I'd better be tweeting this post!
or, if it goes bad, at least you'll have a story to recoup the steem dollars!
Excellent point!
Id be more than happy to have them knock out my teeth and humiliate me for a 7-8 figure settlement. The sad thing is these sh*t carriers are govt supported and basically too big too fail.
That would be an expensive story!
Thats awesome, thanks for the info. I am fairly new to steemit ( about a week) still trying to figure things out. Thanks for the informative article.
Good job you inspire me
Wait you can earn steem by simply voting? Very cool!!
Indeed you can! Just check under this tab...
https://steemit.com/@ats-david/curation-rewards
Hello @ats-david,
You are living proof to growing out of world poverty. You bought Plane tickets with steemit and that is just the begining just imagine when people that are in extream poverty have a computer and internet connection now able to buy food and get an education using steemit.
I believe we are on the cusp so something remarkable.
What are your thoughts???
With the rate of digital innovation and the speed that blockchain technology is advancing, I really think that anything is possible. Humans just have to be willing to throw away their preconceived notions of "how things work." The Digital Age is essentially just getting started and it's already revolutionizing the way that the younger generations see the world and interact with it and in it.
It's possible that blockchains like Steem can be the catalyst to something truly remarkable, but we can't just rest on our laurels and hope that this "something" will happen someday. We have to make it happen.
Right there with you on that one @ats-david
I may be new to steemit but I am all in wanting to build a comunity that will bring solutions to fundamental problems that have never had the chance to be attached at the global level. Larger problems take more people working together collectively . It reminds me much of what a honey bees contribution to the hive is. Almost nothing when you look at it individually but collectively they create large amounts of valuable honey.
Even smartphone is good enough.
Sweet! I can't wait to be able to do stuff like this :)
lol same here. Steemit has so much potential !
Congratulations! That's great. I hope I might be lucky enough one day to experience the same :)
hope your wings grow soon :) xx
I hear they always bump their crypto customers, especially if they don't add a large enough fee to the purchase of the ticket.
Joke's on them! I used VISA!*
*Debit...loaded with crypto.
That's great. Just goes to show what a little work can do! :) I'm brand new to crypto currency and I've shied away from any type of social media up to now, but putting the 2 together was intriguing. I think the founders of Steemit are on to something big here and I'm glad to be a part of it. Congrats again on the tickets man, Great job!