Often when I swam in the Open Sea, I dreamed one-day I would spend thousands of dollars on a .jpg,
But what's the right avatar profile pic for me? Read my blog and you shall see!
Travel Tiger Club by Travala.com
All Travala links are my referral. Sign up and help make me richer.
Travel Tigers are a collection of 1000 NFTs that were created by Travala.
For those who want to just want to FOMO into the #TTC without wasting any more time, here's the Open Sea link. For the rest read on.
Travala.com is a travel website, similar to Expedia, where you can get deals and discounts for package tours, transportation, hotels, activities, etc. And, it also accepts many different cryptocurrencies, including BTC Lightning Network and meme coins, but not $HIVE :(
It even has a native token Travala AVA which is a utility token that is BEP20 (classy) but was previously NEP5 (ugh).
Besides saving (3%) when you pay for trips with the Travala native token, AVA is good is because of a "Smart Program".
To be a smart club member you stake AVA and there are several ghetto levels requiring from 50 to 2500 AVA ($70 ~ $3,500 with ava at $1.40) and one SVIP level requiring 2500 AVA + an NFT, which is called Diamond Tier.
Anyway, I'm going to assume people reading this want to hear about my NFT, if you want to hear about AVA, 
Travel Drops, Metaverses, Ambassador Bonus, Concierge Acess baby - that's what I'm talking about. source
Smart Diamond Tier
For the longest time on Travala.com there were only 5 smart tiers. It was a relatively equal society where the peasants, the commoners, the merchants, the gentry and the nobility would coexist hand in hand. Upwards social mobility was only a matter of patience.
Eventually, the nobility got annoyed with the nouveau rich who were like, "eh we're the same", so they invented a new class with a requirement that wasn't just a matter of stacking more AVA - enter the TTC NFT, an eloquent ERC721 masterpiece.
If you think my description is arrogant, check out the official description of the club
The Travel Tigers are nomadic travelers who roam the world to their heart’s content, savouring the bountiful luxuries of rich cultures in every corner of the globe. From sunbathing on the Riviera to scaling Mount Everest, the Travel Tigers use the Earth as their personal playground, letting their instincts dictate their adventures. Private jets to secluded islands? Check. Palatial yachts in the Mediterranean? Naturally. Helicopters above the Andes? Only every other week. Collectively, the Travel Tiger entourage pushes the definition of ‘bucket list’ to its limits, leaving no stone unturned in their opulent escapades.
Opulent escapades indeed!
The NFT Sale
The sale started about 10 days ago and it finished earlier this week with the reveal only a few days ago and the rarity scoring just the other day.
It was announced there would be a new tier in November 2021. By late December it became clear that it would be an NFT sale and one required Smart Platinum Tier (level 5 with 2500AVA locked) and whitelisting to join. A few weeks before the sale, it was announced that the NFTs would cost $3500 to mint and there would be 1000 with 100 reserved for Travala and No.1 for the CEO (ie. 899 to loyal supporters).
Due to popularity and interest, more than 900 people were whitelisted, so they announced 3 rounds. Round 1 required long-term loyal support, round 2 required a beating heart and round 3 was for anything left that made the list (the undead?). Once all round 1 people managed to buy a tiger, round 2 would have a chance for any leftovers, then round 3 would be a free-for-all. Fortunately, round 3 never happened.
The cost of 3500$ was about 1.2 ETH during the sale and before the first round was even done, some tigers had sold for 4 ETH. Needless to say, those who got in on it were smiling - great investment.
The Controversy
No ICO, and apparently no NFT sale, would be complete without some dodgy issues and problems. This is crypto after all.
During the sale, 941 Tigers ended up being minted instead of 900. leaving 59 for the project (CEO has #1). A bunch of round 1 people bitched about having "technical difficulties". The team empathized with them and allowed anyone who could prove technical difficulties to buy from the 100 in reserve.
How dare you accuse some members of the "crypto community" of being unscrupulous!!!
Now to be fair, it was the paperhand purchasers that were lying and not the Travala team or those who really had technical difficulties. However, if that group was already 2X more likely to sell, chances are more than a few bitched about missing out because of FOMO - a legit disease but not a technical difficulty. The price of the NFTs immediately jumped 200%~300%. Most likely they were unsure about buying initially, but never wanting to miss a chance at a quick buck, jumped at the last moment and got stuck on the blockchain (it happens).
I thought it was funny because there were people in their chats explaining it as altruistic. Don't be so naive. The NFT marketplace and crypto sphere, in general, is a cesspit of get-rich-quick scumbags - a basket of deplorables. Put it simply, the team doesn't want sore losers shitting all over their project.
The results of the Sale
As mentioned the sale only started 10 days ago and it's been only a few days since all of them were minted and displayed. However, so far so good. For something that cost $3,500 + gas or about 1.2 ETH, the floor is now 4.67ETH, or $13000 + gas)
Out of 1000 tigers, there are 836 Owners, and 92 tigers already sold again collecting around 339 ETH. If you consider Opensea takes 2.5% (8.475ETH) and Travala takes 10% (33.9ETH), that's some decent income.
So you can't pay 1.2 ETH anymore, but do you have to pay 4.67? Not necessarily, 12 tigers sold for under 2 ETH (lol) and 32 for under 3 ETH. Currently, there are around 5 under 5ETH.
So if you want to join the Diamond club now, that will be 3500$ for the AVA, $12,700 for the cheapest Tiger NFT and another $100 or so for gas.
Only $16,300 - get in while it's cheap.
My Tiger Clan's Tigers
Speaking of cheap, my tiger clan got one for under 2 ETH (lol) on Open Sea, and minted 2 for a total of 3 tigers. How did your tiger clan do?
How did I mint 2? Well, as I said I'm in a clan. Don't worry, we are both legit, albeit deplorable, users.
I don't really feel like showing my tigers, however, if you comment and want to talk on discord, I may talk.
I'll like your NFT if you like mine.
My Thoughts on Travala NFTs
I bought it for the utility and the investment. I didn't buy it because it looked cool (it wasn't even revealed when I bought it). I didn't buy it because it was rare. I didn't buy it because I like the number. I don't think it matters that much.
According to rarity.tools, this tiger has 8826 points.
Out of 1000, 2 are considered ultra-rare, 18 are considered rare and the rest are common. For example, the rarest tiger *(Tiger 978 above) has over 8000 points, but the 8th rarest tiger has 2000 and 9~1000 has less than 2000.
Maybe I'm just salty cause out of three my rarest is like 400s, 2nd is 700s and third is 900s.
Personally, I think for $3,500 the design is kinda shitty, but in Travala's case, it's really the utility that matters, especially that 10% ambassador bonus paid out as a dividend on profits in the form of travel vouchers. Current predictions are $800 a year, but after this COVID shit is over, it could easily get to $2000 per year, not bad for a $3500 NFT.
However, for an exclusive travel tiger like me, $2000 barely covers my limo ride to the airport. So it's more about prestige.
I'm more concerned about the people who sold for like 2 or 3 ETH. What are you thinking? I'm sure you need the money, but jeez is my tiger I bought tainted by poor people? Yuck! Fortunately, I have freshly minted ones, I hope it doesn't degrade the value. I'll probably sell that one to a nouveau richer person.
My Thoughts on NFTs
Overall, I think NFTs are a great and exciting development.
Hive has Hive Punks which I missed out on. I also missed out on awesome NFTs on Ethereum like Crypto Punks and BAYC which are trading for crazy amounts.
I don't suffer delusions thinking most NFTs will be worth a shit ton of money. Most of them make shitcoins and meme tokens look alright.
Some people think NFTs will be useful for ID or passports or diplomas, but you don't need NFTs for that, that's why SHA-256 and cryptography were originally created. Those can't be transferred or sold. Also, no way the Ethereum network will be used for this.
I think it will be useful for well-curated collections (think Baseball or Pokemon cards), actual art (trade-in for the real piece), games (either as item drops or like magic cards), or for a utility like the avatars. I'm probably missing some other ideas.
I like the idea that the marketplace gets a cut and the designer can get a cut for resale. I think this is where the true potential lies.
I'll definitely be researching and exploring NFTs and NFT minting sales more.
TL;DR
I bought 3 tigers for under 5 ETH. Each tiger is worth just under 5ETH less than a week later. To me this was obvious.
I'm hodling 2 of these extra Tigers until about 20 ETH, but you'll have to pry my last one out of my cold dead hands (unless it goes BAYC ape shit, but it won't). If you want your own, read up first on what you are buying on Travala.com.