By popular demand I’ve gone ahead and added an email subscription list to the blog, whereby you can get a single email daily containing all of my blog posts for the day (if there’s no blog post that day there won’t be an email). You can subscribe on the right side of the blog right under the current poll question.

And to clarify, when I say by “popular demand” I mean I received a single comment from a reader in the “Ask Lucky” section of the blog. I can’t ignore half of my readership!

If y’all have any other suggestions by all means let me know.

I’m guessing most of you have forgotten by now, but a few weeks back I started a trip report about my weekend in Paris flying American Airlines. I had booked a discounted business class ticket and upgraded to first class in my quest for Executive Platinum status with American. While I did my best to stick to posting one installment a day, I haven’t posted an update in weeks.

Anyway, just a heads up that I’ll really be wrapping up the trip report over the coming week, with one installment a day. It has been a busy few weeks for me and I haven’t had the time to dedicate to these trip reports. They’re a labor of love, and a very time consuming one at that. Between writing, resizing the pictures, uploading the pictures, etc., each installment can take hours.

Then next week, as soon as this trip report is done, I’ll get started on the trip report for my most recent trip, which was to Asia and Europe in Singapore, Lufthansa, and Thai first class, with stays at the Le Meridien Bangkok, Westin Siray Bay Phuket, Le Meridien Khao Lak, InterContinental Berchtesgaden, Schloss Fuschl Salzburg, and Sheraton Munich. It was quite possibly my favorite trip ever, so I can’t wait to share the experience.

My hope is to have all this wrapped up before my trip to India and the Maldives in October, given that I likely won’t have a lot of time to work on it while I’m there.

And next year is already shaping up to be quite an exciting year on the travel front. I’ve never planned this much in advance as I should have at least one international trip a month. I even already have enough revenue travel planed to requalify for Executive Platinum, which is a first for me (usually I don’t book any revenue travel for anything but the current year).

So thanks for your patience! I look forward to your pithy comments.

It has been a while since I’ve switched up the poll question on the top right of the blog, so this seems like as good of a time as any. The last poll question asked whether reclining a seat on an airplane is a right or a privilege. Over 6,000 of you voted, and 57% of you thought it was a right.

This topic is surprisingly controversial, though I tend to agree. I think reclining your seat is a right, though believe people should still try to be courteous. Similarly I believe talking loudly on your cell phone in public is a right, but people should still try to be courteous.

In coach I actually won’t recline on a daytime flight simply out of courtesy to the person seated behind me. That being said, if someone wants to recline, it’s entirely their right, in my opinion.

I sympathize with tall people, and understand when they say “but I already don’t have room for my legs.” Certainly true, though most airlines will allow you to purchase an exit row or extra legroom seat in advance, which they should probably be doing.

Anyway, let’s move on to the next question. If you had to decide between flying first class and staying at a five star hotel, which would you choose? Of course the simple answer is “neither, I want ‘em both,” though that’s not always an option. So while there are many variables, generally speaking, would you rather fly first class and stay at an exceedingly mediocre hotel, or fly coach and stay at a five star hotel?

Yes, I realize it comes down to the flight length, how long you’re staying at the hotel, the configuration of the first class product, whether they offer hot nuts, etc., though use your best judgment.

Cast your vote at the top right of the blog!

A couple of weeks ago I posted about Daily Steals’ offer for a “free” world power adapter, though shipping was $4.99. I figured $10 for two world power adapters sounded like a great deal, so I placed my order without hesitation.

I was excited to see them arrive in the mail today, so I opened the package only to find that the adapter had more parts than an Airbus 380. I figured it was just a defect and the other one would be better, but nope, it was the same.

The adapter was supposed to look like this, but instead it looked like this:

Well, I guess at least now I know why the website is called “Daily Steals“…

Anyone else have the same experience?

I just wanted to make a quick post to let y’all know that there will be some slight blog formatting changes coming very soon (they’ll probably be live in the next day or so). I approached the Boarding Area web design folks with a few requests:

• To put the “About,” “Ask Lucky,” “Need award help?”, and “Trip Report Index” links across the top of the blog by the header, instead of having them hidden in the sidebar. This is because I still get several emails a week from people asking me what my website is for my award consulting business, so obviously it’s a bit too hidden. The same goes for the other three pages.
• To add a link to my Twitter at the top right of the blog. Yes, I actually do use Twitter quite a bit, and realized I wasn’t doing an especially good job integrating it with my blog. Haven’t been too active lately, though when I have a tech question or am mileage running, I’m usually on Twitter.
• To make the actual text area a bit wider.

Also, in the process, they’ll be changing the placement of ads just a bit. As I start to do my “thing” full time, trying to maximize ad revenue is obviously important, though I’m committed to not littering the blog with ads. So there will be just one minor change — the ad across the bottom of the blog will be removed and replaced with an ad below the first post.

Anyway, just a heads up so that it doesn’t come as a surprise. While it will take a bit of time getting used to, I think it’s better than the current format, which I haven’t changed at all in over three years now, since I started the blog.

Earlier, while looking for videos of the infamous Hotel Carter on YouTube, I came across this video:

Basically, the guy seems to be an elevator enthusiast, much in the way that many of us like airplanes. On one hand I’m laughing uncontrollably at the excitement this guy has over elevators. I mean, he visits the Hotel Carter just to try the elevators (not that there’s any other good reason to visit the hotel), noting how smooth they are and how they’re original “Haughtons.” The guy almost seems… nevermind, I’m not going there!

So while it seems crazy to me, I do often ask myself whether our little hobby is any more normal. I mean, I take pictures of the lavatories on airplanes and bathrooms at hotels — what the heck is wrong with me? Yet it seems so normal to me.

Hey either way, the video above is still pretty darn funny in my opinion!