Category: Travel Journal
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Top 10 Holiday Travel Tips
Snow, ice, and cold temperatures have hit North America a lot earlier this year. With the crush of Christmas/New Years travel starting this weekend, here’s the TravelCommons’ top holiday travel tips… Fly Direct — This is the top tip every time I put this list together. Holiday travel stacks up problems — high passenger load Continue Reading →
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Video – What to do in Madrid… in 180 Seconds
Here’s a 3-minute summary of what I liked best during my Spring 2013 visit to Madrid, Spain. Some of the places mentioned include Reina Sofia museum Plaza Mayor Mercado de San Miguel Mercado de Antón Martín Viandas de Salamanca Malasaña District Fábrica Maravillas Madrid Food Tour Continue Reading →
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“Heads In Beds” Review — The Story Behind The Front Desk
I read Jacob Tomsky’s Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality during my Christmas ski vacation in Park City, UT. It’s a fun, easy read. Just looking at the cover, you can tell that Tomsky wants to give us the hotel version of Anthony Bourdain‘s Kitchen Confidential — the flawed insider with Continue Reading →
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Video – ORD Layover Excursion: a 6-Hour Tour of Chicago
A long layover can be an impromptu vacation or a mind-numbing marathon of CNN Airport Network shows. Inspired by my own 5-hour layover excursion through Frankfurt, I grabbed my iPhone and shot what I’d recommend you do and see on a long layover at O’Hare Airport. Using foot power and a one-day unlimited pass on Continue Reading →
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How Much Do You Want to Tip?
For a simple calculation that can be performed on a four-function calculator with buttons to spare, determining the right tip seems mystify a large portion of the traveling public. Searching Apple’s App Store for “tip calculator” returns almost 600 apps for the iPhone. The Hospitality Management Schools’ web site just published a comprehensive tipping Continue Reading →
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American Airlines Reaches Out to Apologize… Again and Again
American Airlines has been a bit more forward over the past month in letting me know they care about me. A phone conversation, replies to my Tweets – I haven’t had this level of attention from AA in the prior 27 years and 2.4 million miles that I’ve flown them. However, I’m not sure this Continue Reading →
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Best Hotel Amenity? Free Breakfast
Recent surveys by TripAdvisor and Hotels.com report that the most popular hotel amenity is free WiFi. If they both didn’t misplace a decimal point, then they surveyed the wrong travelers. Experienced travelers know that the most important amenity is the free hotel breakfast. Now I’m not denying that the growth of mobile devices — smartphones, Continue Reading →
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Table for One: Eating Alone on the Road
Dinner time on my last visit to Philadelphia and I was sitting at the bar of Tinto, a Spanish restaurant in Philadelphia. My dinner was a couple of plates of tapas — one of grilled octopus, another of sautéed wild mushrooms and caramelized shallots. I put in the order for mushrooms and shallots immediately after the Continue Reading →