Travel Blog

Travelocity and Kayak both take a heavy-handed approach. They set up a security gate, where Javascript dogs sniff each incoming request. If Javascript is disabled, the guards kindly give you a customer alert.

Last week, MediaPost printed results from some Gen-Y research. There’s a sweet sweet list of the top 15 brands according to 100 of the most trend-forward individuals. Wow…100 people! And they’re trendsetters so I have to believe them! First of all, here are 15 of the top brands (note, this was before the whole Jet Blue fiasco, but I’m still down with Jet Blue. Sure I may have to wait a long long LONG time, but hey - DirecTV!):

Well I got the situation escalated to a coordinator ( who is the equivalent of a manager?? ) at Delta. A southernly woman named Carla without any of the southern charms or hospitable manners. She was far less helpful than Robin and started to talk to me about policies. When I pleaded to her sense of empathy and asked her if she wouldn't be upset if she were in the same situation, her response threw me over the edge : "I don't let little things like this get to me."

Just a couple of hours’ drive outside Bangkok in the Kanchanaburi province, not far from the world famous Bridge Over The River Kwai, lies the Tiger Temple of Thailand, formally known as Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno.

I’ve written about using travel/tour podcasts before (just think, your kids are plugged in but they only look like they’re not learning anything as you walk the streets of New York or Paris.) There are language podcasts, a whole list of travel podcasts on the UK’s Guardian site, podcasts from Europe expert Rick Steves, plus a bunch more tips here on iPods and family travel.

If you gotta go, why not give something back. Websites such as www.causetravel.com are popping up all over the internet. Cause Travel is actually an online travel booking engine for the “National Foundation for Cancer Research”. Non for profits and charity’s are using such sites in an ingenious way to raise funds for their cause. The built in commissions on every plane ticket, hotel, or car rental that would usually go to massive conglomerates such as Travelocity or Orbitz are sent to the organization instead.

Before I get into the bulk of what happened over the weekend, two quick notes:1) I’ve touched on this before, but it’s worth mentioning again: getting drunk on a train is fucking spectacular, and perhaps my new favorite pastime. In fact, I may not take a proper vacation this year and instead ride Amtrak across America, getting bombed and watching movies on my laptop. On the ride up to Boston on Wednesday night, I had a ton of beers and watched "Tombstone," a movie that simply does not get old.