It’s been a month since I wrote a weekly update, though I did squeeze in a few blog posts in that time. I’ve been almost nonstop on the road and working on our family plans for summer travel. Since early March I’ve been to Vegas (twice), New York and New Orleans (twice). Probably the most notable travel in the past month was a last-minute trip to the Final Four. I’m a lifelong Duke fan and they made a surprise run to New Orleans. I decided to go with them. While […]
Travel
My Votes For The Best In Airline And Hotel Loyalty
Every year for as long as I can recall I’ve cast my vote for the best travel loyalty programs. I generally write a story about who I voted for each year. This year, as with so many other things, I’m running behind sharing my ballot. That being said, you can still vote for a few more days in this year’s Freddie Awards. If you’re not familiar with the Freddie Awards, I’ve heard them referred to as the “People’s Choice Awards” of the travel world Each person gets one vote, there […]
Painful Spirit Airlines Fees And Everything Else I Learned Last Week On The Road
It was an interesting week on the road, for sure. My original plan this past week involved four airplane flights, which changed into five (across four different airlines), and then ultimately four flights on three airlines. This is the unfortunate cross-section of business travel, COVID and crazy airline schedules. Amidst this was the realization that Spirit Airlines has some pretty oppressive fees. Flight schedules took another sharp turn against effective business travel. For my date of travel I couldn’t get to my destination (Reno) until after 12pm no matter how […]
Saying Goodbye To The Middle Seat
Alas, if this was only an article about the dreaded worst seat on the plane going away. Instead, it’s a bit of a sad day as we say goodbye to a column that’s been a part of my weekly required reading for over a decade. The Middle Seat is a weekly column published by Scott McCartney. After 20 years he put pen to paper from the middle seat for the final time. His final column, a list of his favorites over the years, follows a piece where he chronicles his […]
The One Key Factor That Has Made Hundreds Of Trips Easy For Me
It’s crazy to think that I’ve been a road warrior for over 20 years. Prior to that I loved traveling for fun but only occasionally traveled for work. Over the years, I’ve had more elite status than I can probably remember. The very first loyalty program I signed up for was the Best Western Gold Crown Club. Even back in the early 90s I understood these loyalty programs had value. Along the way, I’ve had top tier elite status with: American Airlines (I think that was the first program I […]
Why This September 11th Is Just A Little Bit Different For Me
It’s a day to stop and think about the bravery it must have taken for first responders in lower Manhattan to watch the first tower collapse, then run up the stairs into the second tower to try to rescue survivors. I started forming the thoughts for this story a few weeks ago. My plan was to publish it last week, but as with so many things lately, time got away from me. So, here we sit on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. In some ways, September 11th is just another […]
A Week In Maine In A Stinking RV!
In case you haven’t been keeping up on our extended summer vacation, here’s a list of previous articles I’ve written over the past couple weeks as we’ve meandered around the Northeast in our RV: 9 Hours of Driving Gilmore The Merrier One of The Greatest Roller Coasters I’ve Ever Ridden Moving Our “House On Wheels” To New Hampshire Mount Washington Auto Road Cog Railway To The Peak of Mount Washington Hiking, Time With Friends, And A Broken RV(Of Course) Rolling To Maine For Some Lobster A Shopping Day In Freeport […]
The RV Day From Hell
I kinda missed a day 10 update. With the lack of quality sleep in a trailer and the myriad issues with the RV, suffice it to say my production has dropped a bit. 🙂 If you want to see previous updates on our trip, links below: 9 Hours of Driving Gilmore The Merrier One of The Greatest Roller Coasters I’ve Ever Ridden Moving Our “House On Wheels” To New Hampshire Mount Washington Auto Road Cog Railway To The Peak of Mount Washington Hiking, Time With Friends, And A Broken RV(Of […]
Summer Vacation Day 9: A Shopping Day In Freeport And My Pathetic Attempt At RV Repair
A quieter day and a quick recap. Here’s a look back at the rest of our trip: 9 Hours of Driving Gilmore The Merrier One of The Greatest Roller Coasters I’ve Ever Ridden Moving Our “House On Wheels” To New Hampshire Mount Washington Auto Road Cog Railway To The Peak of Mount Washington Hiking, Time With Friends, And A Broken RV(Of Course) Rolling To Maine For Some Lobster We continued our trend of meeting up with friends along the RV route. One of our daughter’s high school classmates ended up […]
Summer Vacation Day 8: Rolling To Maine For Some Lobster
The Pizza train was on the move yesterday to Maine. If you’re just catching up you can see the first week of our trip below: 9 Hours of Driving Gilmore The Merrier One of The Greatest Roller Coasters I’ve Ever Ridden Moving Our “House On Wheels” To New Hampshire Mount Washington Auto Road Cog Railway To The Peak of Mount Washington Hiking, Time With Friends, And A Broken RV(Of Course) Yesterday was moving day, again. Our time in New Hampshire had come to a close and it was time for […]