Podcast #75 – Can’t I Fly Unplugged, How I Got Here
Recorded in the St Louis Airport Marriott courtesy of a blown connection by Southwest. We clean out the TravelCommons mail bag, going through listener comments on disabling in-flight electronics, eating alone, and finding good non-chain food on the road. We talk about the sudden collapse of the CLEAR registered traveler program and if in-flight WiFi...
Podcast #74 – Looking Back Over Four Years of TravelCommons
Recorded in the Seattle Marriott Waterfront, this special 4th-year anniversary edition collates the best bits from four years of TravelCommons podcasts. Starting with the “hotel medley” — the roll call of all the hotels that have served as TravelCommons’ recording studios, we move on to excerpts from stories about the TSA, Bose headphones, memories of...
Podcast #73 – Eating Alone on The Road, More Things You Never Want to Hear
Recorded somewhere over the Atlantic in the business class toilet of a South African Airways A340 and the Rosebank Hotel in Johannesburg at the start of a week’s stay in South Africa. We talk about inconsistent rules for mobile devices on planes, the value of renewing my CLEAR registered traveler membership, the three things that...
Podcast #72 – Breaking Travel Rules, What You Never Want to Hear
Recorded in the TravelCommons studios outside of Chicago at the end of a full week home, decompressing after 6 weeks of straight travel. We talk about some “travel rules” violators — the woman whose airport meltdown is a YouTube hit and an Amazing Race couple whose violation got them eliminated. A listener suggests a topic...
Podcast #71 – Winter Travel, Last Year’s Travel, Tatty United
Recorded in the TravelCommons studios outside of Chicago, back doing my thing to support the travel industry with lots of travel in January. We talk about some recent TSA observations, good and bad; my latest spin of the “travel roulette” wheel, trading the plane for a train in an East Coast snow storm; a look...
Podcast #76 – Real Benefits of Being Super Elite, Instant Vacations
Recorded in the Washington, DC Marriott as I wrap up a week of business travel before heading out for a week’s vacation. My recent trip back down to Johannesburg, South Africa provides a good bit of content — on-plane security in Dakar, South Africa Airways’ unique ban on in-flight use of iPhones and Blackberries, and...