Travel Blog

I spent a little time with my old socialist friend Amtrak this passed week. It was such a wonderful experience I thought I better blog a tribute. So here it is:

The poor GF she has the worst luck flying her flight to Germany left over 2 hours late yesterday(no she wasn't on NorthWorst) United Airlines but the delay wasn't their fault O'Hare was backed up by Massive Thunderstorms and when a airport like O'Hare gets knotted up it takes a while to untie it. I haven't spoken to her yet she had a 2 hour train ride after the flight so she is still in transit as I write this. But I know the plane made it to Frankfurt in once piece so that worry is over I really hate it when she flies.

If Amtrak can make stops in Elgin, Schaumburg, Arlington, O’Hare, and any other major suburb on the way (I’m not sure of what train line it would take), then it makes perfect sense. But if that train service is going to be Rockford downtown to Chicago downtown, it’s going to miss many opportunities for those commuting from the west burbs to Rockford.

Boston dignitaries are taking a second look at two airports in New England that aren’t in Boston but want to use the name. First off was the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, about 55 miles northwest of Boston’s Logan International Airport, and the site of one of the first forays more than a decade ago into the region by Southwest Airlines.

I think the world rejoiced when web-based travel sites came out. Orbitz, Travelocity and such changed our lives. I can’t even remember what it was like before them.

• Delta Airlines has very friendly service and pretty decent food. The "extras" on the plane--video service and so forth--left a great deal to be desired. Overall, I wouldn't be adverse to flying Delta to Europe again, but I'd try to book United, SAS, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, or any number of other carriers first.

So if you passed through MSY (New Orleans Int'l Airport) on Delta Airlines sometime between 1991-1993 I probably worked your flight. I was that young college kid telling you that you needed to sober up or I couldn't let you on the flight. :-P

Actually, I don’t have my passport yet, but I pulled all the documents together yesterday and applied for one. For whatever reason, this feels important to me. Other than Mexico and Canada, I have never been to a foreign country, but I desperately want to travel.

Last hours in Mozambique, I stayed less than 24h hours, but really enjoyed it to the max. Enjoying the beautiful holiday Inn, then making some dollar transaction with Bang & JD. Then going to the plane and speak lingala with a pretty stewardess…

A lot has changed over the past twelve months. The price of fuel has spiraled and the need for fuel efficiency has morphed from being important to critical in terms of airline operations. Fuel surcharges have ameliorated some of the pain. But, as pointed by Air France’s CEO, sudden fuel price shocks cannot be handled easily since airfares are already contracted. Airline operations are based around a similar business model to that of supermarkets. The customer pays cash while the supplier holds off paying vendors for 120 days or more. This is a great model when business is stable because the middle man (airline or supermarket) builds up a cash mountain. Since airfares are paid in advance of the flight, any item (like fuel) that costs a lot more at the time of service delivery really eats into that mountain quickly.

- Road trips are not out, because the price of gas is still cheaper than the price of 3 airline tickets to most destinations.

As a side note the MP3 player I ordered 2 months ago using frequent flyer points still hasn't arrived; United Airlines keep on predicting delivery dates and Toshiba keep on missing em. UA's most recent communication, 3 weeks ago, says it 'should be shipped by May 12'. No sign of it. But I can't blame UA for this; the Gigabeat S series has been delayed and delayed and most online retailers are now predicting a June 1 release. It was released in Japan on April 28th but hasn't hit the US yet. Sigh... :-)

The Whited Curse strikes again — Southwest Airlines is considering scrapping its open-seating policy:

The good thing is that they are functional down there. I wouldn’t let anything I just said about the damage stop any one from going. The service was outstanding. The people were just fabulous. The beaches everywhere looked picturesque.

Yes, I know that Cayo Hueso really means “Isle of Bones” in Spanish, but can I help it if the nickname still ends up on T-shirts sold all over Duval Street? But here’s the surprise; you can enjoy family travel to the infamous margarita-sodden island at the end of the world. Just be prepared to explain some, ahem, possibly odd sightings.

What’s there to do in the Netherlands outside of Amsterdam? Plenty, especially with families.

In a couple of weeks I have back-to-back on-site jobs with several east-coast clients. So I went onto Travelocity and booked a multi-leg trip. Simple enough. When I finished my complex reservation and booked the ticket, I was duly charged a total fare for my trip.

Of course, I thought of the obnoxious lawn gnome commercial: Travelocity. Their options for anything under a C-note a night (in the city I want to book a hotel room) were non-existent, and that’s incredibly un-helpful. I would recommend them only to people who have money to burn and/or really like lawn gnomes.