Travel Blog

I landed at CDG @10:30 AM. The regular gate was not available so we parked on the tarmac, deplaned by stairs and were bussed to the terminal. Took the Air France shuttle bus to Gare Montparnasse. Traffic was horrendous. I made my train with only 5 minutes to spare. I was so pressed for time I did not stamp my ticket. The TGV train left the station at 2:10 PM; it was a non-stop trip Angouleme arriving at 4:15 PM. As I walked on the platform toward the station, Leah came to greet me. It was so good to hug my daughter again. As we approached the van, Petey did a double take. When Andy opened the door, out Petey flew—he was excited.

This morning on CNN.com there’s the story of Victoria Osteen being removed from an airplane. The FBI claims she was asked to leave, she claims she did so voluntarily. Either way, the woman caused enough problems on an airplane that she was deemed unsafe to fly. Rather than admit her mistakes and apologize, she’s argues with the FBI’s version of the story? What about accountability?

Seems Victoria Osteen, wife of Super-Mega-Pastor Joel Osteen might not be the one to count on for spreading Christmas cheer! For Victoria, it appears that Having Your Best Life Now means that when you say jump, flight attendants have to ask “how high?”

I recently loaded up EverNote with tons of content when I took Amtrak to my parent's new home (that didn't have Internet hooked up just yet). EverNote was being used on my laptop the entire train ride and I often perused material late at night. To me, it's now absolutely essential when wanting to read Web content when you don't have access to the Internet or when taking notes. The only problem that I had was that there were times when I was on different PCs when I came across content that I wanted to save in EverNote. I wanted all the content in one database instead of having three different sets of info on three different computers. After trial and error, I discovered that I could just put my EverNote database files on my USB stick and have it with me wherever I go. I just made sure that EverNote mapped to the stick and now I don't have to worry about having different content in several places. There's word that the company will have a "formal" mobile solution sometime next year, so until that happens I'll keep using my USB stick.

United Airlines somehow lost my luggage in Dulles, so it took them about thirty hours after my landing to locate the luggage. Thankfully, the doorbell at 1AM earlier tonight was the luggage delivery service. That’s a difficult job, deliverying luggage at wee hours of the morning. We also purchased a Dell computer, and a $250 off coupon to go along with it. I’ve got some dental procedures lined up for tomorrow, and hopefully, I’ll be able to get going on some of the “work” I’ve planned for these few weeks.

A week ago we were in Chiapas in the south of Mexico with no plans to venture into Central America, but again proximity got the better of us, and now we’re in Antigua quite close to Guatemala city for the next two weeks.

Officials with Northwest Airlines were worried enough to demand a recent meeting with RIM.

Waimea Bay wasn’t really breaking on December 1st, but the best big-wave surfers in the world were assembled on the sand. Propping up mean-looking nine-foot plus pintails and smiling for the cameras, the surfers were brought together for the opening ceremonies of The Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau. Known simply as ‘The Eddie’, the world’s most prestigious big wave contest is named after Eddie Aikau, the North Shore’s first full-time lifeguard, who earned the permanent guard chair at Waimea with a sterling reputation for his life-saving work. In 1978, the voyaging canoe he was on capsized, leaving him and nine other crew members stranded 12 miles east of Lanai. Aikau paddled off in a heroic attempt to find assistance but, tragically, was never heard from again, despite the most intensive air-sea search in Hawaiian maritime history.

A mission team from Belmont University has forfeited a $1,000 deposit to Continental Airlines. The airline was completely legal and above-board in its actions but somewhat inflexible. The team is now asking for contributions to make up the difference — and each contribution will generate an automatic e-mail to Continental asking the airline to be more flexible in its treatment of groups doing humanitarian work!

For those of you flying out of JFK in New York, you can visit the Oasis Day Spa at the Jet Blue Terminal. A 30-minute Mini-Classic Jet Lag Facial is $70. They also offer waxing, manicures, chair massage and full body massage.

Digby makes an excellent point in the aftermath of the Miami Airport shooting Wednesday:

A smallish room off to the side, with windows down one side that faced the concourse, and one in back that faced a closed in area of the runway, obscured by a picturesque, muted blue dumpster. If one looked carefully enough, you could also make out baggage carts and the tail end of an NWA aircrat. Not so much a “lounge” as it was a glass cubicle, a smokers aquarium, on display for the busy travellers to observe the future generation of cancer patients. Being a “lounge”, one was required to make purchase a tasty brew and/or burger in order to indulge their habit. So, I ordered a Dos Equis, and some kind of ABQ burger. After the waitress left my table, my urge to light up was quelled by a more than sufficient supply of second and thirdhand smoke.

And in case they aren’t checking their email - oops they can’t because they used my domain for the return address - so I will tell them now, Todd V******** wants to cancel his December 4th trip… oops again. Sorry guys, a little late. But here is a little trip tip for anyone flying flight United Airlines UA903 from Dulles to Denver on December 8th, Seat 39G is going to be empty…