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.
Here are the show notes from TravelCommons podcast #45:
- Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
- Recorded in the Renaissance Madison Hotel in downtown Seattle
- On a big 3-day triangulation — Chicago-Houston-Seattle
- Dreaded the Monday Continental flights, until I found that my complimentary Northwest Airlines Silver Elite status gave me status on Continental
- Bridge Music — Trees by Tamara Nile
- Orbitz’s fare matrix on the web is best-in-class, but their live customer service is at the bottom of the heap
- Monday morning’s TSA screener dove into my toiletry kit, only to be disappointed in her zeal to keep airplanes free of toothpaste
- Check out Hilary Baumann’s ClothingCult blog for a list of solid toiletry replacements so that you too can play “Fool the Screener”
- Updated the fly-vs.-drive break-even point from T/C #23, taking into account the added hassles of the TSA no-liquids rules
- Bridge Music — Can You Hear Me? by The Stirring
- Looks like Congress and the Dept of Homeland Security want to keep the no-liquids ban in place for some time
- These rules force more people to check luggage, pushing the system to its breaking point and causing security problems of its own
- Expect to wait at least 45 minutes for your luggage to appear at the end of your flight
- Stories of lost luggage from Hilary Baumann and Chris Christensen of the Amateur Traveler podcast
- Bridge Music — Railroad Car by Sara Shansky
- Scanning my blog posts over the past 30 days and you get the sense that the travel experience has taken a turn for the worse — it’s just a grind, a trial to be endured
- Enjoyed finding the Bay Trail running along the back of the SFO Marriott
- Direct link to a Flickr picture of the City of Burlingame Shorebird Sanctuary
- Last month’s NPR Music podcast carried a story about Peter Mulvey, a “modern-day troubadour”, in which he talks about loving travel
- Closing music — iTunes link to Pictures of You by Evangeline
- Bridge music from the Podsafe Music Network
- Feedback at comments[at]travelcommons.com, the comment board on podcastalley.com, or right here in the comments section below
- Direct link to the show
2 comments on “Podcast #45 – Waiting for Luggage, Enjoying Travel”
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Similar to your Bay Trail discovery I stayed at the Hampton Inn Columbia, SC located on the banks of Lake Harbison. There was 11 miles of trails and the hotel had bikes that you could check out and cruise the trails with. It was an unexpected surprise.
I thought of something to try to maybe replace hairgel – aloe vera powder. It’s basically freeze dried aloe that can be reconstituted with water.
Also, if you look up “homemade hair gel” I found a couple of suggestions to use unflavored powdered gelatine.
Not sure which will work best – you’ll probabaly have better success with it on your short hair than I will on my long hair – I have gelatine here so I may actually try this one myself sometime soon.