Recorded in the TravelCommons studio after hanging around home for the holidays. I talk about yet another tough struggle to get home when a pre-Christmas blizzard shuts down Denver, a couple of listeners share their trials of sitting next to travelers with killer bad breath, and we talk about new class distinctions among frequent fliers with the emergence of the Super Elites. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Recorded in the TravelCommons studio after a week in the Bay Area and a tough struggle to get back home in the teeth of the first winter storm of the season. A listener passes along the story of a trip as an inadvertent stowaway. I walk through the timelime of my efforts to get home to Chicago and, in the Travel Tech segment, talk about two wireless applications I use every day. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Recorded in the Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa near Palm Springs, CA, we talk about a surprise at the rental car lot and some good and bad TSA experiences. My search for frequent flyer seats to South Africa leads to a discussion about how diversifying or concentrating your “deposits” into frequent travel programs yield different results. The Travel Tech segment reappears with two topics — measuring differences in hotel bandwidth and some travelers’ love affairs with Bose noise-canceling headsets. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Recorded in the TravelCommons studios after a quick Chicago-San Francisco up-&-back and a 4-day getaway to London with my mother and daughter. We talk about the adjustment from BA Club World to AA domestic coach, the increased security precautions in London, and my continuing travails with tooth powder. Then, we devote the rest of the podcast to listener travel stories — one listener has to crawl into a DFW chute to free his luggage, another listener gets some extra beach time in Miami, I interject a story about the dangers of seat-back pockets, and another listener sends along suggestions for new travel words. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Recorded in the TravelCommons studios after a 3-day Chicago-San Francisco-Boston triangulation, I left behind some torrential rains in Chicago, which flooded our basement, causing me a good bit of long-distance guilt as my wife was left cleaning up the mess solo. We continue the thread on solid toiletries — even with the recent relaxation of the TSA’s no-liquids rule, it’s less hassle to travel solid, though that tooth powder keeps fooling some screeners. We then wrap up with some things I’ve recently overheard in bars. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Recorded in the Renaissance Madison Hotel in downtown Seattle, we have some good stories about missing luggage. I have some problems with Orbitz’s live customer service, as well as an over-zealous TSA screener. I recalculate my fly-vs.-drive threshold given the added hassles and airport time caused by the TSA’s no-liquids security rules. Looking back at all this, I work hard to remind myself that there are some good things about travel. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Recorded in the Courtyard in Northwest Houston, we look at the decisions forced on travelers by the TSA’s restrictions around carry-on liquids and gels. Is it a trade-off between safety and vanity? Are frequent travelers really that shallow? Also, I talk about how “luggage economics” made me trim my technology load when packing for my recent vacaction in Sweden. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Recorded in the TravelCommons studios, I look back on my trip through SFO as I try to navigate the new TSA rules on the first full day of the new regime and gird myself for 4 trips through the gauntlet this week. A listener tops my Heathrow lines (queues?) story, and we compare and contrast European and US travel experiences. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Back in the San Francisco Marriott after my Swedish vacation, we play an ode to SkyMall magazine, talk about the amazing number of lines in Heathrow airport that were between us and the start of our vacation, and how with all these new boarding schemes, airlines are paying attention to the wrong things. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Enjoying a couple of weeks at home, in this episode we talk about the load level records being set by US airlines and its effects on travel courtesy. Also, the challenge of finding the one thing you “gotta do” when you visit a new place. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
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