Podcast #21 – Science of Airline Boarding; New Ways for Travel Pictures
After a down-and-back trip to Tampa, this week’s topics include thoughts on the recently announced changes to America West’s and United’s boarding schemes — are they focusing on the right thing? Also, the need to stay home sometimes, and how Microsoft Research‘s personal black box project might change the way we think about travel pictures....
Podcast #20 – Travel is a People Business; Personal Space at 35,000 Ft
Recorded in the bathroom of Doubletree Club in Santa Ana, CA, this week we focus on what’s going on with the airlines. A listener story about the trials of getting from Wisconsin to Pittsburgh shows the importance of person-to-person interactions to the travel experience. Does Northwest’s latest cost cutting effort foreshadow the rise of the...
Podcast #19 – Colors in Travel; Visit to a Southern City
This week’s podcast is recorded in the bathroom of the Marriott Courtyard in East Memphis. I talk about the autumn tree colors coming visible from airports up North and worry about catching avian flu while breathing the same air as 150 other travelers. I talk a bit about some changes in Memphis since my high...
Podcast #18 – Trouble with Chain Saws; Sprint for Status
Emptying out my notebook with an odds-‘n-ends podcast. Traveling between Phoenix, Denver and Chicago this week, I manage a 50-degree temperature drop and have the TSA reject a checked chain saw. However, I haven’t had to take my shoes off for two weeks — are we seeing the end of the shoe carnival? We also...
Podcast #17 – Generic Airworld; Kids’ View of Dad’s Travels
Returning from a quick trip to Austin, TX, this week’s podcast talks about the 15-part Airworld series in AdAge, the behind-the-scenes view of why every airport looks the same. A recent business trip to Detroit breaks through the state tourism propaganda and gets into the city’s true nature. Ignoring WC Fields’ advice, my kids make...
Podcast #22 – Other Side of the Ticket Counter; Finding Local Food
Another visit down to Memphis prompts a confession about my obsession with pork barbecue and thoughts on how to find the best food in a new city. Other topics include “voice of the travel company” — a letter from a British Airways manager gives his thoughts on the travel experiences of some TravelCommons listeners, and...