All things travel.
Freddie Awards voting for 2017 opened a few days ago and your favorite travel programs may have already tipped you off with an early plea to vote. The Freddie Awards recognize excellence in travel loyalty programs and are highly coveted by airlines, hotels, and credit card issuers. Winning a Freddie gives a program bragging rights for marketing. Also, the awards often…
The prodigal blogger returns, after a seven week absence, to explain how coach is an upgrade. Yes, that is a thing. I didn’t intend to have such a long gap (yet again) between posts but life happened. We had a significant reorg at work along with eight business trips. I also had a second surgical procedure for the melanoma…
We are three days into the new year and my calendar is surprisingly free of personal travel commitments for 2017 which is highly unusual, almost suspect. I’m not entirely free of commitments as I have several business and volunteer commitments already penciled in and am awaiting decisions on projects that may largely direct the…
Each year I like to set travel objectives for the new year to help me focus my travel planning. I achieved most of mine in both 2015 and again in 2016. The clock has turned and it is now time to set goals for 2017 travel. Maximize my actual travel time – Whether it is…
I’ve spent many a Thanksgiving away from home – some of them in interesting locales creating a truly exotic Thanksgiving indeed. Its the byproduct of having a career where getting away for long stretches of time isn’t always feasible. Combining paid time off with scheduled holidays is a great way to stretch the time off budget…
Sometimes you face the inevitable. Either a situation takes a turn for the worse or continues on a downhill slide. Eventually you find yourself wondering if what you want is realistic. Or facing the reality that the goal you’ve been working toward is perhaps not worth the hassle. That’s when you have to figure out…
Its no secret that I hate waiting in airport security lines. If I am to ever be arrested, it will happen at airport security. Some who have traveled with me may actually have odds on it. My penchant for efficiency and my smart mouth are not a good combination, it seems. I have a couple…
Many frequent travelers I know have certain rituals or routines that punctuate their trips. Two different friends have each amassed a large collection of Starbucks city mugs. Others collect snowglobes or Hard Rock Café pins. I collect Alexander Calder. Its not (for the most part) a physical collection – although I do own two handsigned epreuve d’artist…
Agnostic ag·nos·tic /aɡˈnästik/ – having a doubtful or noncommittal attitude toward something. I used to care about loyalty. I was a slave to the loyalty programs I had chosen – sleeping in inferior hotels (sometimes changing properties in close proximity to increase my stay count), doing an occasional mileage run to top off my account…
True confession – I love Instagram. For me, it is a great easy way to share random snaps from what may be going on my life on any particular day. I am particularly fond of airplane window seat views (particularly sunrises and sunsets, as well as takeoffs and landings), food porn, and an occasional selfie. I…
Some people are the worst travelers. Ever. The reality is that anyone can be among the worst travelers on a bad day. I’ve encountered plenty in my day. There are all those folks featured on passenger shaming sites. There is that guy who threw trash at me in the airport that one time. There is that…
I am I used to be a raving fan girl for American Airlines. But that has not been the case in 2016. For the last 24 months, my patience with my hometown airline has been wearing thin. Its time to make American great again. First it was the short-lived changes to inflight service that cut out food…