I’ve never been a big New Year’s Resolution guy. Mine seem to have a 3-week half-life — they don’t even last to February. However, in the spirit of “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” (a quote which has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin and Albert…
Read MoreAs the US dollar continues to swoon, non-US friends, colleagues, and podcast listeners are doing the math and thinking it might just be worth getting fingerprinted and photographed by US Customs in exchange for a cheap holiday. The question I’ve been asked over the past 3 months is “Where should I go?” Not an easy…
Read More
After returning from a 10-day visit to Vietnam, friends and TravelCommons podcast listeners asked me a lot of questions about our trip. In this video, I answer the most common question — “How did they treat you when they found out you were American?” — and give my impressions of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon),…
Read MoreLast Friday night, my wife and I found the one theater in Chicago showing Up in the Air (it’s in very limited release until Christmas). Ever since the preview trailers hit the Web, people have been asking me — “Is this what your life is like?” Watching the opening sequence — a montage of Ryan…
Read MoreLast week, I had to get from downtown Washington DC to a Northern Virginia suburb for a client dinner. I looked at the Metro map, rang up some car services, but finally gritted my teeth and rented a car. That’s pretty much my attitude toward car rentals these days — the choice of last resort….
Read MoreA Wall Street Journal Middle Seat column illustrated how airlines can make a good thing bad — flipping the proverb to turn a silk purse into a sow’s ear. In March, American Airlines restarted their program to replace their old gas-guzzling MD-80’s with sparkling new Boeing 737-800’s. As someone who earned 2+ million American AAdvantage…
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association reported earlier this month that premium ticket purchases fell 21% globally in February — which follows January’s decline of 16.7%. Part of the drop is due to falling air traffic, but a good bit of it is from tighter corporate travel policies that are pushing mid-level executives to the back of…
Read MoreI travel frequently through Denver International Airport (DEN) to visit family and to ski. From this first-hand experience, I’ve always believed that the DEN TSA crew is among the nation’s worst. According to an internal TSA report, a key reason is the local TSA management. Denver’s NBC affiliate obtained a copy of the report and…
Read More