A few trips since our last episode, and two of which were new destinations, which always makes for an adventure.

The first trip was a four-day trip to Lake Forest, California. Since I fly Delta, this required a layover in Atlanta and a burger at Shake Shack.

It’s been a few years since my last West Coast visit, and California never disappoints. Gas prices were well north of $6.00 a gallon. And here are just a few reasons as to why.

Primary Reasons for High Prices

* Highest Taxes in the U.S.: Drivers pay approximately $0.90 per gallon in combined taxes. Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS): Adds roughly 17–30 cents per gallon

* Special “Boutique” Fuel Blend: California mandates a unique, cleaner-burning gasoline blend that reduces smog.

* And what they call “Fuel Island,” There are no interstate pipelines bringing finished gasoline into California. The state must rely on its own refineries or on expensive marine imports from Asia, which can take weeks to arrive.

The Courtyard Marriott Lake Forest had at least 25 EV charging stations, and we rolled in a 9-person Chevy Suburban.

The other California oddity is the clear plexiglass fences that almost every home and townhome has protecting their backyard. The reason these homes are easily $1,000,000 is that, after dropping that much cash, homeowners can enjoy the mountain views through the plexiglass fences.

The meal of the trip was at Splashes in Laguna Beach. Splashes is on the beach, as in right on the sand. My dinner choice was something that I would never pass up, Braised Prime Short Rib, and it was one of the best servings that I have ever tasted. As an added bonus, they were filming an episode of one of “The Real Housewives” shows. Since I didn’t sign a release, I will not be in an upcoming episode.

The following week, I enjoyed a trip to Springfield, Missouri. There were no standout meals, and the hotel was a standard Marriott. However, there were two items worth mentioning. First, I became that “guy” as I left my dress socks on the bed back at Chateau’ Relaxo, which required a trip to the Wall-Of-Mart, where I discovered that they sell real booze, not malt liquor and Fireball but Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Grey Goose Vodka. While I thought this was some sort of oddity, I discovered that when I filled up my rental car’s gas tank at the West Bypass Eagle gas station, they also sold high-octane liquor as well. So apparently, there is no need for a traditional liquor store in Springfield, Missouri.

The other item is a travel tip. I have been renting cars on a consistent basis for the past thirty years, and while I always did a walk-around of my rental before I left the Hertz lot, one thing I’ve never considered is whether my rental car would pass a state vehicle inspection. Let’s set the stage. I had a 6:00 AM flight out of Springfield to Atlanta, then on to Orlando. Because there is no airline that flies directly from Orlando to Springfield. It is 3:30 AM, and I am on a country road exactly one mile from the airport when, all of a sudden, the car behind me turns on an EDM light display as I am being pulled over by the Springfield Sheriff. I’ll save you all the driver’s license and proof of insurance conversation, but my Hertz rental car had no tail lights, brake lights, yes, but no tail lights. Long story short I was given a warning and sent on my way, only to find out that TSA doesn’t open until 4:30 AM so I could’ve had an extra 45 minutes of sleep.

You know you’ve hit a uniquely American travel moment when a TSA checkpoint turns into a tequila tasting. At one airport, a passenger decided her full-size bottle of Don Julio was too good to surrender, so instead of tossing it out or checking it, she started chugging it right there in line. The joke writes itself: TSA said “no liquids,” and she apparently heard “challenge accepted.” And honestly, there’s something so wonderfully chaotic about the whole scene — because this wasn’t a tiny souvenir bottle or a last-minute airport snack, it was a full commitment to the bit. According to the report, drinking that much 40% liquor in one shot is no small thing, and it definitely turned an ordinary security line into a viral spectacle. It also shines a light on the absurdity of the 3.4-ounce liquid rule, which has had travelers tossing out everything from water bottles to shampoo for years. So, congratulations to this traveler for finding the most dramatic possible workaround… though it’s probably not the kind of airport strategy anyone should be putting on their packing list.

“The internet did what it does best — turned a TSA meltdown into comedy content. Some people thought it was hilarious, others thought it was ridiculous, but everybody had an opinion.”

This came to us via “View From The Wing”

A man recently decided that 11 hours at an airport bar was the perfect pre-game for a Delta flight, only to discover that the “party” didn’t quite make it to cruising altitude. Upon boarding, he immediately tried to liven up the cabin by smacking a sleeping passenger’s head and yanking another’s headphones out, all while loudly announcing that he was creating a “party flight”.

When a flight attendant intervened, the man confidently threatened to never fly Delta again—a “punishment” the crew seemed perfectly happy to accept, promptly showing him the door. Even as he was escorted off, he tried to start a passenger revolt, begging his fellow travelers to abandon the flight and join him back at the bar. To his likely dismay, not a single person joined his movement, proving that while he had the stamina for an 11-hour drinking session, he severely lacked the charisma to lead a mutiny

And with most of these posts, much of the comedy gold exists in the comments from readers - Christian posted:

11 Hours at the bar. The guy really was trying to prove that you can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning, I guess.

View From The Wing also gave us our first “Thank You Florida” story.

On a recent flight from Zurich to Miami, a passenger named Guillaume Mattler reportedly turned a long-haul journey into a criminal case. While the victim was asleep, Mattler allegedly began groping her, an act noticed by both other passengers and a flight attendant who promptly intervened to separate the two.

Following his relocation to the back of the plane, Mattler allegedly returned to the victim’s seat area under the guise of retrieving his belongings. During this interaction, he handed her a handwritten note that read, “You look beautiful when you are sleeping.”

When confronted by federal authorities upon landing, Mattler claimed he was simply trying to strike up a conversation and exchange contact information. His defense—that his unsolicited physical contact and creepy note were just a romantic gesture—failed to impress the authorities. He now faces federal charges for sexual abuse, likely ensuring his future travel experiences will involve significantly less legroom and considerably more prison time.

“I’m Not Smoking, I’m Just Fog‑Testing the Cabin”

News flash: vaping on a plane is now the adult version of “I only tried it once!”—except instead of a grounding, you get a lifetime ban and a viral TikTok.

Our hero steps into the bathroom, fires up the e‑cigarette, thinking they’ve discovered a legal loophole, and instead sets off the smoke alarm like a DIY special‑effects team. Suddenly, the flight crew is doing a full‑scale crime‑scene sweep of the plane while the rest of us just wanted to watch Moana in peace.

The FAA’s stance is basically: “We wrote this law in 1988, before anyone knew what a vape was, but we meant it for all drama‑inducing vapor inhalers.” So whether you’re puffing a Camel or a candy‑flavored vape stick, the plane’s only job is to say, “Detected: fraud, fines, and video evidence.”

Alaska Airlines’ response is poetry: “You’re welcome to toot your vape, just nowhere near our planes, ever again.” Meanwhile, the rest of us passengers get a bonus in‑flight show: one person, one tiny bathroom, and an entire airline’s patience going up in smoke.

So next time you’re mid‑flight, ask yourself: “Is this really the setting for my personal vaping reality show?” Spoiler: the answer is always “Fly coach, not court.”

This one is a bit frightening - A United Airlines Boeing 767‑400 on final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport came in dangerously low on Sunday, clipping a light pole over the New Jersey Turnpike and then striking a tractor‑trailer traveling on the highway.

The plane, United Flight 169 from Venice, Italy, was coming in for a landing on one of Newark’s shorter runways amid gusty winds when its landing gear or engines contacted the light pole, which then swung into a northbound truck on the Turnpike. Dash‑cam footage shows the jet’s undercarriage or tires brushing or striking the top of the truck cab at highway speed, shattering glass and causing the driver to pull over.

Injuries and damage

The truck driver was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, mainly cuts from broken glass, but was later released, and the cargo in the trailer was undamaged. The 767, carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew, landed safely with no injuries on board, although the aircraft sustained enough structural damage for the NTSB to classify the event as an “accident” and launch a full investigation.

The plane was estimated to be only about 20 feet above the roadway at the moment of impact, which is far below the normal clearance for a commercial jet on final approach. Investigators are now reviewing the flight data and cockpit voice recorders and have removed the crew from duty while they determine whether the pilots continued an unstable approach too low, misjudged the runway, or were affected by weather, procedure, or other factors.

Multiple officials have called the incident “unacceptable,” noting that the only reason this did not turn into a catastrophic crash was sheer luck—the plane could just as easily have hit a wall, a bridge, or a different vehicle, with devastating consequences.

How about a science spin on the next one -

Have you ever wondered how long airplane oxygen masks last? It is shorter than you think.

Airplane emergency oxygen masks are designed to last about 10–15 minutes, depending on the system and the passenger’s breathing rate. We’ll come back to how hard the passenger is breathing in just a bit.

Most commercial jets use chemical oxygen generators that supply roughly 10–14 minutes of oxygen once the masks deploy, which is enough time for the pilots to descend to around 10,000 feet, where the air is breathable without supplemental oxygen. The masks are not meant to keep passengers supplied indefinitely at cruise altitude; they’re a short‑term bridge while the plane drops to a safer altitude.

The system is usually triggered automatically when cabin pressure drops (around 14,000 feet), and pulling down a mask starts a chemical reaction that releases oxygen for that entire passenger row. Once the reaction starts, it cannot be turned off until the chemicals burn out, which is why the duration is fixed and relatively short.

Back to the breathing part. 40+ years ago, I was a firefighter, and our Scott packs, now referred to as SCBA, held about 20-30 minutes of oxygen, depending on how hard the firefighter was breathing. I’m sure that with current technical advances, they last much longer. One night, we rolled into the parking lot of a fully engulfed building fire. We pulled the gear off the truck and began entering the building. Within minutes, we heard the bell from someone’s SCOTT back go off, indicating that they were running out of air. He was breathing so hard that he drained the tank in under 5 minutes.

Finishing up with this

An airport worker in Charlotte swiped $5,000 worth of David Yurman diamond jewelry from a passenger’s checked bag during a layover, then tried flipping it on Facebook Marketplace like a shady garage sale.

Picture this: a traveler’s suitcase gets unzipped in the secure baggage area on April 11. Poof—her sparkly collection vanishes. Enter Reyes-Garcia, the baggage staffer with a Facebook alias “Alonys Garcia,” posting the exact stolen pieces as a bundle for quick cash.

Cops spot the listing, track him down, and hear his gem of a defense: “I found it!” Yeah, right—found it zipped inside someone else’s bag in a restricted zone. Like claiming you “found” the last donut in the break room.

He got busted faster than a carry-on at security. Moral of the story? Pack your bling in your personal item, or wear it through the metal detector and blind the TSA with your shine.

Why do people insist on checking high-value items like jewelry in their checked bags? I’m a watch guy, but if I’m taking two or three with me, they go in my carry-on, not checked baggage.

Well, there you have it, Episode 219, a bunch of travel updates.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Hello and welcome to episode 217 of Travel Stories from the Back Again and Gone. Being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau’ Relaxo, FL. If you’re a new listener, welcome; and if you’re a returning listener, welcome back.

No beer, as I am recording this at 9:00 AM, and I am not that much of a monster.

Yes, late again in getting the crazy travel round-up out, but it’s been that busy. Just a handful of trips in January. One trip was to Mobile, AL, where I had the most amazing jerk chicken at Jamaican Vibes Restaurant. Another trip to Raleigh, NC, where I escaped the January 2026 Snowmageddon. And a recent trip to Palm Beach, FL, in February. If you didn’t know it, seasonal rates are in full effect in Thank you, Florida, with Hampton Inn’s reservations for over $300.00 per night. I ended up staying at the Residence Inn by Marriott Palm Beach Gardens. This was a typical Marriott property, but two things really irked me. First, they charge for parking in an open lot that’s shared with an office complex. I could’ve avoided the parking charge by saying I arrived via ride-share. Just tack the $10.00 on my bill so I don’t have to itemize it on my expense report.

The bigger irk was that a co-worker made reservations for all three of us, and they ran all three rooms under his credit card the night before we checked in. I’m Lifetime Titanium, humble brag, and have been staying at Marriott properties for 25 years, and we have always transferred the room charge to our own credit card at checkout. The worst part is now this coworker has to explain to finance why he has two additional rooms on his expense report.

Let’s open with a “Thank You, Florida Story from Live And Let’s Fly - United Passenger Takes Off Pants During Boarding On Orlando Flight, Crew Allegedly Does Nothing

A passenger on a United Airlines flight to Orlando reportedly decided that pants were optional during boarding. Some might call it a bold choice; we call it Florida formal.

According to eyewitness accounts, the individual had already committed to going pants‑free by the time they reached their seat — this was not a mid‑flight plot twist. Fellow passengers did what modern society demands:

took a photo and immediately sent it to the internet.

The most surprising part?

No immediate intervention from the flight crew, which sparked debate over airline policies and basic “inside voice / outside clothes” expectations. United’s own rules allow staff to step in if someone is “not properly clothed,” which raises the philosophical question: What is “proper,” really, at 35,000 feet?

The comments, as you would expect, were gold:

“Why do airlines even have rules anymore?”

“He’s not 400 lbs. wearing leggings and a tube top, so, no harm done.”

And from Todd S - I would drop to my knees and thank Jesus if a guy sat next to me in underwear. Heck, not even good looking, but a guy in undies. woof!!! Would make that long flight go by quickly!!!!! Sign me up, please!!!

Bonus takeaway: Flight attendants now apparently have another unofficial pre‑flight checklist item… and it’s not the life vests.

Let’s stay in Thank You, Florida, for this story as well. According to BroBible, “So a woman in Florida had a dream. That dream was networking with rich, powerful people in airport lounges. And to make that dream happen, she dropped $895 a year on an American Express Platinum card—because nothing says ‘business opportunity’ like free hummus at Gate C17.

She finally gets into the lounge, expecting private‑equity vibes… and instead finds what airport lounges actually are: people eating muffins, scrolling their phones, and fully unconscious under a jacket like it’s nap time at preschool. No one was networking. No one was closing deals. Nobody whispered, ‘Let’s take this to Slack.’ The most aggressive interaction happening was someone reaching for the last donut.

The caption on the video said it all: ‘0 connections were made.’ Which, honestly, might be the most accurate assessment of airport lounges ever.

Moral of the story? Airport lounges aren’t secret Illuminati meeting rooms—they’re just waiting rooms with better snacks and slightly less carpet shame. Your next startup co‑founder is probably still in coach.” And after 26 years of business travel, everyone knows my take on airport lounges.

“So this story sounds like it was pitched in a writers’ room and everyone agreed it was too much… but it actually happened.

According to View From The Wing, an elderly man was pushing his wife through Tenerife Airport in a wheelchair, trying to make a flight—until security realized she had passed away from natural causes. And yes, this is basically ‘Weekend at Bernie’s: Airport Edition.’ [viewfromthewing.com]

Airport staff noticed something was off when she wasn’t responding, medical personnel were called, and authorities activated what is officially known as Spain’s ‘protocol for discovering a body’—which sounds less like a policy and more like something you never want announced over a PA system. [viewfromthewing.com]

The man was questioned and later released. While the situation was tragic, the sheer logistical audacity of trying to clear airport security as if nothing were wrong is wild.

This joins the growing list of reasons why airports are not the place for improv, optimism, or pretending everything’s fine.

Somewhere, the ghost of Bernie is nodding in approval… and TSA is adding a bullet point to their checklist.”

“Turns out the only thing you can’t bring through security is denial.”

“Spirit Airlines: Fashion Police With Cup Holders”

“So apparently, Spirit Airlines can kick you off a flight with no refund if they decide your outfit doesn’t pass the vibe check. Crop tops? Risky. Flip‑flops? Criminal. Meanwhile, Spirit is charging you extra to breathe and calling it a premium experience.

Let’s be clear: Spirit has never cared about class. This is an airline where the seat cushion is optional, the tray table is the size of an iPhone Mini, and the boarding process feels like the Hunger Games with roller bags. But now suddenly they’re like, ‘Ma’am, this exposed midriff is unacceptable.’

Spirit will let the plane smell like feet and energy drinks, but God forbid you show an ankle. They’re like, ‘Sir, you can bring a live iguana onboard for $49, but that crop top? Absolutely not.’

And the real Spirit move? No refund. That’s the most on‑brand part. Not ‘please change.’ Not ‘here’s a blanket.’ Just: ‘You’re dressed like a human being in 2026—get off our plane and thank you for your donation.’

Spirit Airlines: where the dress code is stricter than the maintenance schedule.”

Time to show my age - I do get tired of people dressing like trash on a plane. PJs and slides may be the rage, but you look stupid wearing them on a plane. Except for the long flights, where it is the norm. The “look at me” crowd with the low cut tops, thongs showing, and guys with jeans falling off their a** are all inconsiderate of others.

How about shoes, if your plane has to ground evacuate, or worse, flip-flops or slides aren’t going to protect your feet. Then you will try to sue someone for your own stupidity.

Dress for the occasion or stay home.

This came via X, or as I still say Twitter, sorry Elon. Have you ever sat next to that one family on a flight that turns row 17 into a full-blown catering operation? Yeah—this mom built a sandwich assembly line on a five-hour flight. Five hours! Not international, not transatlantic—just New York to Colorado—and she’s running a sky deli.

She had the bread, the deli meat, the greens, and the condiments. Remember practice safe lunch, use a condiment. Tray tables down, production line ready. It looked like Subway met Spirit Airlines. The safety briefing should’ve included instructions for washing lettuce.

Flight attendants were probably like: “Ma’am, we said buckle up, not buttercup.”

Meanwhile, the rest of the plane’s watching her craft turkey clubs while holding a three-ounce bag of Cheez-Its, wondering why the smell of Dijon has reached cruising altitude. She brought everything short of a sneeze guard and a tip jar.

But I respect it. Because airport food costs, what—$22 for a dry turkey wrap and emotional damage? This woman said, “Not today, HMSHost.”

She’s the JetBlue Julia Child. Honestly, this is just the natural evolution of air travel. We started with peanuts, moved to pretzels, and now people are basically opening restaurants in the economy section.

So next time I fly, I’m bringing a hot plate and a sous chef. Let’s make it a potluck at 35,000 feet. Just remember: tray tables must be in the upright and deli-slicing position.

All joking aside, this was a family of six traveling together, and lunch at the airport could easily cost north of $65.00, so yes, they saved money.

According to Live And Let’s Fly, a Southwest passenger at Kansas City International absolutely melted down at the counter—full volume, full profanity, threatening staff, basically acting like the customer service desk was a UFC weigh‑in. He’s yelling stuff like he’s been there since early morning and starts tossing around threats, including saying he’d “slap” someone and that the counter “ain’t saving” them. And then—because every meltdown needs a plot twist—he starts boasting “I’m from the UK,” like that’s some kind of diplomatic immunity perk you unlock at Heathrow.

Meanwhile, the Southwest employees are just standing there doing the world’s hardest job: being calm while someone auditions for “Unhinged: The Musical.” And, of course… it ends the only way it can: he gets arrested.

Moral of the story? If your travel plan includes threatening the gate agents, congrats—you’ve upgraded yourself to a free one‑way ride… to jail along with some chrome bracelets.

In Episode 215, we talked about Hilton’s new tier, Diamond Reserve. To hit Diamond Reserve, you will need 80 nights or 40 stays AND $18,000 USD in eligible annual spend. Hilton is so proud of this new tier that it even includes a dashboard in its app to track your progress. The typical business traveler will have no problem reaching 80 nights or 40 stays. The challenge is that $18,000.00. Friend of the show Robbie Morris pointed out that all purchases on prop[erty counts towards the $18k. I did order Hilton Garden Inn chicken wings and drinks the other night, and my bill was $80.00; however, I still don’t think I’ll hit the $18k spend.

None of my road warrior buddies thinks this new tier makes sense, but you know who thinks it makes sense? Chris Nassetta. Chris is the President and CEO at Hilton. Here’s what Mr Chris had to say about the new tier. “We were getting to the point where our highest level, Diamond, had millions of members,” Nassetta said, adding that “it’s really hard to reliably deliver bespoke, on-property benefits with that many people across a distributed system in 115 countries.”

With the sheer volume of travelers reaching top-tier status, Hilton is now aiming to deliver a more authentic VIP experience to its most loyal guests. “That’s why we created a tier above [Diamond] — a much smaller group where we can confidently be more bespoke,” Nassetta said.”

Mr Chris, you need to fire your entire marketing department immediately; this has to be one of the stupidest justifications I’ve ever heard. You have millions and millions of diamond members, and due to that, it’s really hard to reliably deliver bespoke, on-property benefits. You have a service or delivery problem that needs to be fixed. Because of this new tier, you mean the desk agent at the Hampton Inn right off 441 in Coconut Creek, Florida, is suddenly going to deliver bespoke service. According to Google, a bespoke service is a solution designed and built from scratch to meet the exact specifications of a single customer or business. Guess what you already have in your app? That’s where I selected “High Floor” and “Away From The Elevator” in my profile, and your team does a pretty good job of following through on those requests. Does bespoke service mean I can have my room cleaned every day, even if I don’t request it?

Let’s continue with daily hotel room cleaning. I immediately hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign on my door as soon as I enter my room. Most of my hotel stays are three days, and I’m confident my towels won’t mildew during that period. There’s a trash can by the elevator where I can deposit the dinner containers from the previous evening. But for some, having their room serviced each day is a big deal. Case in point, years ago, we took a family trip, and the kids had their own rooms. One of the kids removed the “Do Not Disturb” sign from their room, and I questioned why. The answer was, “I need my bed made.” I informed them that you don’t make your bed at home, you’re not getting it made just because you’re in a hotel.

“To Clean, or Not to Clean: The Hotel Room Dilemma”

“So apparently, the biggest debate in travel right now isn’t seat recline or boarding groups — it’s whether your hotel room gets cleaned at all.

According to Point Me To The Plane, hotels quietly decided during the pandemic that daily housekeeping was optional, and now they’re like, ‘Good news! You can live like a raccoon… for the environment.’ And guests fell for it. [liveandletsfly.com]

Hotels call this ‘eco‑friendly.’ Unions call it what it actually is: cutting jobs while charging the same price. NPR points out that when you skip daily cleaning, housekeepers lose hours, and the rooms they do clean look like the aftermath of a music festival and a crime scene had a baby. [onemileatatime.com]

Housekeepers are out here saying rooms that go untouched for days are absolute nightmares — overflowing trash, soaked towels, mystery smells — while hotels are like, ‘But did you enjoy the extra loyalty points?’

Let’s be honest: most people don’t skip housekeeping to save water. They skip it because they don’t want to put on pants before noon.

So now we’ve got guests pretending they’re saving the planet, hotels pretending it’s about sustainability, and housekeepers walking into rooms thinking, ‘What fresh hell is this?’

Moral of the story: if you’re gonna hang the Do Not Disturb sign all week, that’s fine — just know you’re not an environmental hero. You’re just a raccoon with a minibar.”

Well, there you have it, Episode 217, the January crazy travel roundup

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

It’s a bit late, but it’s time for the December crazy travel roundup.

Tonight I am partaking in a HI-PITCH Mosaic IPA from Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville, NC. Hi-Pitch comes in at 6.7 ABV and turned Dry January into Damp January.

This Hilton Garden Inn is one of my favorites. It’s located just outside the airport, and across the parking lot is one of the best food courts I’ve ever seen.

I saw something in the HGI parking lot I’ve never seen before. When I got in my rental this morning, I looked at the car in the slot next to mine, and what caught my eye was that all of their rental papers were on the dashboard, but what was extremely unique was that they had shoved what appeared to be a dry sheet into the air conditioning vent. With that ca,r stunk, or the driver was employed by Tide.

Let’s open with a Thank You, Florida story that is pure thank you, Florida.

A Beechcraft 55, which is an older 4-seater plane, took off from Merritt Island on an instructional flight, then reportedly lost power in both engines and went looking for the world’s longest runway, which was Interstate 95. During the emergency landing, the plane dropped right onto a southbound Toyota Camry in the middle lane, crushed it, bounced off, and slid down the highway, throwing sparks like a Fourth of July clearance sale at Kohls

Miraculously, the 57‑year‑old woman driving the Camry only had minor injuries, and the two 27‑year‑old men in the plane walked away without a scratch, making this the luckiest accidental carpool in Florida history.

Of course, this happened in Brevard County, where space launches are routine, so a bonus highway landing is basically just “local color” at this point. Witnesses described it as “scary” and “troubling,” which is polite Floridian for “I will be telling this story at every barbecue for the rest of my life.- The NTSB and FAA are investigating, which in comedic terms means: someone now has to explain on paperwork how they managed to use a Camry as a landing gear accessory and still count it as a successful emergency landing.

In summary, it’s the rare Florida story where a plane lands on a car, traffic still looks worse than the crash, and the only real casualty is the Camry’s resale value.

This came from View From the Wing - Frontier Locks Down Boarding, Telling Passengers To ‘Snitch On Your Neighbor’ Until Hidden Dog Is Found.

Frontier managed to turn routine boarding into a live‑action game of “Find That Felony Beagle,” with a flight attendant announcing that nobody was going anywhere until passengers snitched on whoever smuggled a mystery dog aboard.

​During boarding, a Frontier flight attendant gets on the PA and declares there’s an undeclared dog on the plane, urging everyone to look around and rat out their neighbors like it’s jury duty for Scooby‑Doo.

The cabin turns into a low‑budget whodunit: people side‑eyeing seatmates, whispering, and pretending not to be the one whose backpack just whimpered.

​TSA is okay with pets at the security lines; the problem is Frontier’s own rules, fees, and paperwork, which make this less of a “national security threat” and more “someone dodged a pet surcharge.”

Frontier is the same airline that once booted an emotional‑support squirrel. At the same time, its spiritual sibling Spirit famously got a student to flush her emotional‑support hamster, so the bar for weird pet drama is already somewhere under the cargo hold.

​The author even recalls a Delta flight that turned back to the gate over service‑animal paperwork, proving airlines will happily burn fuel and time to chase down a dog that did absolutely nothing wrong.

With a post like this, you have to visit the comments, where by the time I got to the last one, people are debating Trump, Islam, Christianity, inflation, and book bans. At the same time, one exasperated reader begs the author to remember this is supposed to be a travel site, not a Thanksgiving argument at 35,000 feet.

​On this flight, the dog wasn’t the problem; the real emotional‑support animal was the drama Frontier unleashed when it turned the cabin into “Neighborhood Watch: Canine Edition.”

Here in Thank You, Florida, we have the battle of the Sheriff’s. In Brevard County, we have Sheriff Wayne Ivey, who went viral when he issued a harsh warning to protesters who use violence in his county: “We will kill you graveyard dead.” Then there’s my favorite Grady Judd with his “I suspect the reason they were shot so many times is that that’s all the bullets we had.” – His most famous response when asked why deputies shot a suspect 68 times in 2006.

In Valousia County, we have Mike Chittwood, and Sheriff Mike enjoys waiting at the airport for extradited individuals returning to the state, and he recently did just that.

Sheriff Mike confronted Robert Goodwin at Daytona Beach International Airport, telling him, “I think it’s important you look the people you screwed over in the eyes.”

​Students and families from Seabreeze High School shouted “You’re a scumbag!” as Goodwin descended the escalator after his extradition from California.

​Goodwin responded briefly, saying he was “very sorry” but maintained he was “innocent until proven guilty,” offering no further explanation. Chitwood added that Goodwin had confessed to investigators, stating, “His fingerprints are all over it... He told the detectives exactly what he did.

A group of 104 high school students signed up with Stone & Compass Travel for a nine-day trip to Italy and Greece for summer 2024. Each family paid at least $3,550 for airfare, lodging, and activities. Goodwin allegedly stole over $180,000.00 from these High School students and then headed to California, until he was brought back here.

On a recent Nashville–Las Vegas Spirit flight, one guy decided the in‑flight entertainment would be “punch a flight attendant in the face,” and the Spirit pilot responded by auditioning for the NFL with a full‑body tackle in the aisle. Which begs the question, who is flying the plane?

​A male passenger gets up, argues in the aisle, and then clocks a female flight attendant, instantly upgrading himself from “annoying” to “enjoy your lifetime Greyhound status, sir.” A pilot steps in, physically takes the guy down, and the whole thing is a textbook case of interfering with crew, which usually ends in restraints, an FBI investigation, and a permanent ban from the airline.

​The story lands perfectly in Spirit’s running joke reputation: you buy the rock‑bottom fare, and sometimes you get bonus content in the form of a live‑action “don’t ever do this on a plane” training video. In addition to rock bottom fares, how about an IQ threshold before you're allowed to board the plane?

In case you didn’t know, travel isn’t cheap and usually requires staying within a budget. So what happens if you exhaust your budget before the end of your trip? What happens if you’re so broke you can’t pay to get your vehicle out of the airport parking garage?

Well, here’s one way to not address it. A 35‑year‑old guy at New Orleans Airport decided that instead of paying his parking fee, he’d try the “free exit via bomb threat” plan, and is now looking at up to 10 years in federal prison for what was essentially not having his card go through at the garage.

​He blocked the short‑term exit when his card was declined, got moved to surface parking, then allegedly called the airport demanding they “page Hassan” and warning “we have the bomb” if they didn’t, followed by a second call where he threatened to cut the operator’s throat.

​Deputies pinged the phone, found him still sitting in his Jeep in the lot like a villain who never watched CSI, and arrested him; now he faces a possible decade in prison and a six‑figure fine, all because he apparently thought terrorism was cheaper than parking.

You can’t fix stupid.

One Mile At A Time recently asked - Should Airlines Allow Video & Voice Calls Over Inflight Wi-Fi? The Starlink Curse…

​Starlink Wi-Fi is turning airplanes into the world’s noisiest conference rooms, where free fast internet means nonstop pings, headphone-less Netflix marathons, and the occasional guy yelling “Can you hear me now?” at full volume on a Qatar Airways video call. If you can’t put the pieces together, it is a bad thing.

If you didn’t know it, most airlines ban voice and video calls. The reason is to avoid cabins sounding like a New York subway at rush hour, but Qatar says “go ahead,” unleashing speakerphone warriors who talk louder than if debating their seatmate.

Flyers report entire flights ruined by one oblivious dude on a marathon call or a symphony of notification dings, proving humanity’s golden rule: your device volume is always someone else’s problem.

You have to feel for the flight attendants trying to police every chime in a metal tube full of strangers, especially when premium cabin Karens might complaint-file them into oblivion. Remember, this is not a good thing.

Years ago, December was the month for mileage runs. If you’re not familiar, a mileage run is a flight (or series of flights) booked solely to rack up elite qualifying miles, segments, or spend toward airline loyalty status perks like upgrades, lounge access, and priority boarding, even if you have zero interest in the destination. Twenty years ago, I made several mileage runs to maintain airline status.

Now get this, mattress runs are the hotel world’s version of mileage running: you check into a cheap room just to rack up loyalty points or elite nights for perks like suite upgrades and free breakfasts, even if you sleep at home afterward.

A decade ago, savvy hackers would weekend-check into a $80/night Grand Hyatt Tampa twice for free global Hyatt nights, 11,000 points, and Diamond status on their own dime, which was enough to redeem Park Hyatt Tokyo for peanuts.

This isn’t the great deal it once was, as room rates have skyrocketed (hello, $170.00 at the Hampton Inn). Redeeming award nights costs more points, and promos aren’t as stupidly generous, so you’re basically paying for the privilege of a lobby selfie and some status confetti or a brag tag

When does a mattress run make sense? Only if you’re one night shy of Globalist or Platinum perks, or a promo hits like double elite nights at a dirt-cheap spot—otherwise.

Take this with a grain of salt for someone who has nothing to gain from elite hotel status

If you know, or are a frequent flyer, you more than likely have a seat strategy or preference when selecting your seat.

Recently, Southern Living, which now must be covering travel, asked flight attendants what the best seat on a plane is.

Flight attendants swear by the exit row window seat (think 21A or 6A on many jets) as the plane’s undisputed MVP for its endless legroom, whisper-quiet vibes, and built-in turbulence buffer from sitting over the wing.

Why, the extra space lets you stretch like a VIP without knee-knockers, plus you’re out of the drink cart’s danger zone and snag early boarding perks. Plus window means naptime against a wall (no recliner invasions), and the wing smooths bumps better than the economy’s wild ride.

Pro tips: the front half of the plane’s window seats rule for quick ins/outs; skip galley or lavatory aisles unless you love traffic jams.

My seat strategy is as follows: When I flew Southwest, and they offered open seating, I had enough status to be one of the first 40 passengers to board, and my seat row of choice was row 9, a window seat on either side of the plane. This was for two reasons: the windows on row 9 are positioned perfectly so that I got an extra inch or two of shoulder room, and they began serving snacks on rows 1, 9, and 17.

Since I’m now flying Delta, they offer the worst seat selection for their passengers, that is, unless you want to pay an extra $45.00 or $60.00 for a preferred seat. I still shoot for a window seat, and if I can’t get it I will check back every few days to see if there’s an open window seat that suddenly appears.

Well, there you have it, Episode 216, the December crazy travel roundup

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Hello and welcome to episode 215 of Travel Stories from the Back Again and Gone. Being recorded in the beautiful home office in Chateau’ Relaxo, FL. If you’re a new listener, welcome; and if you’re a returning listener, welcome back.

Tonight, it’s the 2025 travel year in review.

Way back in 2010, I signed up for TripIt. If you’ve never used TripIt, it ingests all of your travel-related emails and then builds a shareable itinerary. Over the past 15 years, I have traveled 668,450 miles, which is equivalent to almost 27 trips around the globe. This consists of 1856 days on the road and 527 trips. 35% of my time was traveling. These numbers don’t include the previous 10 years before 2010.1111

Of those 15 years that have been tracked, all road warriors keep track of their travel numbers,

In 2018, I spent more time on the road than I ever have in my 25-plus years of business travel.

In comparison, these were the 2025 numbers.

In the first six months of 2025, I didn’t travel due to my previous position. Ever since COVID, business travel has been down, replaced by Teams and Zoom. But you’ll hear me say it regularly: big business gets done face-to-face.

Will travel return to pre-COVID levels? Doubtful, and for a few reasons. Travel is expensive. I recently tried to book a Hampton Inn in Pensacola, FL, off-season, and it was $170.00 per night before taxes and fees—the days of a $400.00 round-trip flight on a major carrier are gone. If you find a cheaper flight by the time you pay for bags, seats, etc., it’s the exact cost or close to it, as with Delta or American. Then throw in the fact that there are more flight delays now than ever before, planes are packed, and unless you’re a Delta Diamond Medallion, your chances of an upgrade are very slim. For example, I recently flew out of Atlanta, which is a bad example because everyone in Atlanta flies Delta, but the first-class upgrade list had 43 people on it. There were only ten or twelve physical first-class seats.

I am a numbers nerd and a beer nerd, and I use Untappd to track the beers I drink.

This past year, I drank 54 beers that I had never drunk before. Out of the 501 different styles of beer that is produced, I consumed only 19 different styles, and if you listen to any of the episodes, it’s easy to guess that my favorite style is the IPA. My top-rated beer was Bound by Time IPA from Edmund’s Oast in Charleston, SC. This was followed by local brewery Three Odd Guys and their APK, another IPA weighing in at 7.4% ABV.

The worst beer of the year was on board the Norwegian Encore: a 66 by Norwegian Premium European Pale Lager that tasted like SHIP. But we selected the cruise based on the boat, not the beer they were serving.

My first beer of 2025 was Rad Little Thing from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. I had subtle hints of pine, which sounds weird, and it came in at 7% ABV. Untappd awards a multitude of badges for different beer styles and for various locations where you consumed beer. In 2025, I got 65 new badges, bringing my badge total to 1525, which means absolutely nothing in the real world. I drank enough beer to fill a five-gallon mop bucket. In full disclosure, I don’t log every beer I drink, mostly new or unique beers, and most come in 4-packs or 6-packs, so do the math, it’s probably two 5-gallon buckets.

My total unique beer count since 2011 is sitting at 1552.

When it came to the podcast, Spotify shared some numbers. According to Spotify, my podcast audience increased 40% over the previous year. My follower count grew by 6%. The top episode was episode 210, our trip to Alaska, which was played 27% times more than the average episode. Travel Stories was listened to in 30 countries, and it is a top-ten podcast for 40 of my followers and a top-five podcast for 20 of them. This is a clear indicator that these folks need to broaden their podcast library.

Most don’t know this, but I am an avid reader. I almost exclusively read non-fiction. I recently finished Disrupt Everything—and Win: Take Control of Your Future by

James Patterson, yes, that James Patterson, and Patrick R. Leddin. This is a practical guide that shows you how to use disruption as a positive force to take back control of your life and future through deliberate habits and courageous choices. Scott Payne was a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast earlier this year, talking about his book, Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America’s Nazis. The book is Scott’s gripping true story of being an FBI undercover agent infiltrating violent neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, while struggling to protect his family, faith, and sanity.

I also close out each episode by directing listeners to Substack, but Substack doesn’t post any year-end numbers. However, I did pick up a handful of new Substack subscribers. Honestly, the only reason I have a Substack site is to post the show notes link and pictures. I’ve never viewed it as a legitimate blog site, which is why it’s free.

This is where I typically list the trips and meals for the year.

With only ten trips, most of which were destinations that I’ve been to, this was still an easy choice.

The trip of the year was our Alaskan cruise, which I covered in episode 210. It’s time to sound like everyone else. If you have the chance to take an Alaskan cruise, try to do it. I wasn’t a fan of cruises, and previously, my thoughts of an Alaskan trip would’ve consisted of a fly rod and a drift boat. There was no shortage of activities, even if you never left the ship. The food on board and when we docked was over-the-top.

My opinion of cruises changed with this cruise, so much so that we’re considering another cruise next fall.

Here’s a new addition: the most ridiculous hotel stay of the year, which was at the Moxy Columbia, South Carolina, Downtown. I had to rate this objectively, even though I really wanted to give it 1 or 2 stars. This hotel is not designed for the business traveler. And if I had done a deep dive on the room I had selected, I would’ve found out that it was 190 ft.². You have to go down to the second floor to get an ironing board and an iron. The elevators are tiny and can only fit two people with their luggage.

The day I was there, the door key system was broken, so you had to have an employee escort you back to your room every time you left. They were very gracious and took it in stride. The staff were very friendly and helpful, so don’t let that deter you from booking here.

Here’s what really put me over the edge. Your only parking option is valet or a public lot. I circled the block several times and never saw a public lot, so valet it was. I’m not a fan of valet services. When I need my car, I need my car. Case in point, when I texted the valet to bring me my car, it took almost 25 minutes, and I was late for my meeting.

If you are the type who enjoys a downtown loft experience, then this is the place for you. In addition, if this is the type of place for you, you would give it five stars.

For the best travel meal of the year, it would be Blue Ember BBQ in Rogers, Arkansas. The first thing you notice when you get out of your car is the smell of the pit, and that’s always a good thing. I ordered the Special Ops Sandwich, which consisted of brisket, pork, sausage, BBQ beans, and a rib stacked between a buttery bun. A total fat guy sandwich.

Since I’ve switched my airline of choice from Southwest to Delta, I plan to be squeezed into a Delta economy seat in the coming year.

I’m a lifetime Hilton Diamond and Lifetime Marriott Titanium, so there’s not much to gain there except for a new Hilton tier, Diamond Reserve. How do you hit Diamond Reserve? Glad you asked.

The requirement is 80 nights or 40 stays AND $18,000 USD in eligible annual spend. Alex, I’ll take “what’s not going to happen for $500.00.

Let’s do a bit of math: $18,000 divided by 80 nights is roughly $225 per night, which is crazy for your typical road war. My tip for the 80 nights would be: if I were doing a three-night stay, I would book three one-night stays, for a total of 3 stays. Make sure when you check in, you let the front desk staff know that you have three separate reservations and that you want to keep the same room throughout, so you don’t have to pack and unpack each day. Also, you might have to have them recharge your door key each day if you don’t use their app for unlocking your hotel door.

However, this does little to help with the $18,000 metric.

So what do I get for Diamond Reserve? Glad you asked. Confirmed room upgrades at booking, guaranteed 4 PM late checkout, and exclusive support.

I have no idea what exclusive support means, but what would be more valuable is 10 or 15 points per dollar spent while staying on the property, regardless of the credit card used to book it. I say this because most corporations require employees to use corporate-issued credit cards for travel and not personal credit cards. This means that taking out a personal-branded airline or hotel credit card that earns you additional miles or points is useless.

None of the airline or hotel perks hold that much allure for me after almost 30 years of business travel. Leave all that stuff for the young baby road warriors.

Since we’re talking about 2026, what’s your 2026 PTO strategy?

The best way to use PTO in 2026 is to stack days next to U.S. holidays so a few PTO days turn into long, restorative breaks throughout the year.​

Big-picture strategy

Cluster PTO around existing long weekends (Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas) instead of scattering single days.​

Decide your “anchor trips”: one more extended vacation, a couple of 4–5 day getaways, and a few 3-day weekends for recovery throughout the year.​

2026 US holiday highlights to build around

Winter/Spring: New Year’s Day (Thu Jan 1), MLK Day (Mon Jan 19), Presidents’ Day (Mon Feb 16) and Good Friday/Easter (Apr 3–5) can give you 4–9 day stretches with 2–4 PTO days tagged on.​

Summer: Memorial Day (Mon May 25), Juneteenth (Fri Jun 19), and Independence Day (observed Fri Jul 3 + Sat Jul 4) are prime for beach/lake trips and road trips with minimal PTO burned.​

Fall/Winter: Labor Day (Mon Sep 7), Veterans Day (Wed Nov 11), Thanksgiving (Thu Nov 26), and Christmas (Fri Dec 25) are perfect for one “big” trip plus year-end recharge if you wrap PTO around weekends.​

Front-load one or two PTO-heavy stretches early in the year so you’re not white-knuckling it to Q4, then keep a small reserve for surprise burnout or opportunities.​

Coordinate with your manager and team calendar before locking dates, especially around popular weeks like July 4 and late December, to avoid coverage drama.

If your company offers float days, make sure you use them; if you don’t, someone in HR will suggest removing the benefit since no one is using them.

What are my travel resolutions for 2026? I’m not sure I have any.

If I were a baby road warrior, these would be my 2026 resolutions.

Be a solid steward of your company’s money. In other words, don’t abuse your expense account. If you don’t eat caviar and drink high-end whiskey on your own dime, don’t do it on the company’s dime. This one resolution will take you far in your career.

Become brand loyal. The man who chases two rabbits catches none. Pick your airline and hotel of choice and stick with it. Flying on various airlines and staying at multiple hotel brands will earn you a bunch of points with all those airlines and hotels, but not enough points with any single airline or hotel to do you any good.

Enjoy the ride. If you are in a destination city and your meetings end early, take some time and explore the area. Find a local dive bar or brewery and roll right in. Extra points if there’s karaoke happening that evening. Talk to your boss; you might be able to take a PTO day while you’re out of town, and you can use those hotel points to cover your hotel room.

This one is nerdy, but journal about your travels. Even if no one ever reads it, you’ll have a timeline of your adventures. In 2004, I started my first blog site, Fricksworld, and much of it focused on my travels. I have no idea if anyone read it, but it’s out there on the internet forever.

Practice fitness when traveling. If you work out at home, continue the practice when traveling. Purchase a set of resistance bands or download a bodyweight workout template, just in case the hotel’s fitness center is a giant cup of suck. When you wake up, don’t check your email; go work out or walk around the parking lot or up and down the stairwell. You’re not in a hotel room pacing like a dad in the waiting room—when everyone’s in the operating room waiting on me to close this deal. As soon as you open Outlook, your whole morning takes a detour.

What are your 2026 travel resolutions? Leave me a comment. And maybe I’ll be inspired.

Well, there you have it, Episode 215, the 2025 travel year in review.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

If you’re a new listener, welcome; and if you’re a returning listener, welcome back.

This afternoon, I am partaking in a Sweetwater Brewing G13 Hazy IPA coming in at an even 6.0% ABV.

Tonight, it’s the November crazy travel roundup.

One turn-and-burn trip in November. It was to Macon, GA. The only thing worth mentioning is that I did not stop at Buc-ee’s on the way up or on the way back home.

Onto the craziness -

The source of this first story is View From The Wing.

A man at the New Orleans airport apparently decided the best way to speed up TSA was to show up dressed for an MMA weigh‑in, not an airplane ride, and get this, security very much disagreed.​

Early in the morning at MSY, a passenger approached the TSA checkpoint, took off his shirt, was told to put it back on, then instead peeled off his socks and squared up in a bouncing boxer stance like he was about to fight the metal detector. He then went the whole “airport fight club” route, stripping down to just his boxers, yelling, pointing, and fist‑pumping at officers while very underdressed for his boarding group.​

TSA shut down two security lanes, not because of a bomb threat but because of one very loud pair of underwear, delaying a bunch of sleepy 6 a.m. travelers who had only signed up for coffee and regret, not this. Several deputies eventually showed up, restrained him, and carried him off like a budget Vegas act that ran just a bit too long.​

The Legal aftermath (and the Louisiana underwear law). He was booked for disturbing the peace, but not public indecency, because in Louisiana, boxers still count as clothing, which may be the most New Orleans detail of the whole story.

Of course, the online peanut gallery was classic.

Commenters joked that he misunderstood post‑9/11 rules and thought TSA now needs everything off except the shoes, or that he was trying to help TSA by “using his wand” to scan passengers.

Would a travel podcast be of any use if it didn’t offer up some holiday travel tips? I think not.

I typically don’t head to the airport during peak travel weeks; it’s just not worth it.

Money and cards

Use airline-branded credit cards waive baggage fees and offer bonus sky miles. Check whether your card offers lounge access. Most of the time, you won’t have to check because you remember that’s the main reason you’re dropping 7 or 8 hundred dollars for the card’s annual fee.

Honestly, airline lounges are completely overrated; they are crowded, it’s challenging to find a seat, and those mini-eggrolls aren’t that great.

Some cards also cover Clear Plus fees, making expedited security effectively free if you use the statement credits.​

Airports, parking, and apps

Prebook airport parking early, especially at busy hubs, thank you MCO, where some garages only accept pre-reservations once they’re near capacity.​ Rideshare is another excellent option.

Install airline apps, a flight-tracking app like FlightAware, and the TSA app to monitor delays, gate changes, and security wait times.​ If you’re driving, have Waze or Google Maps loaded as well

Timing and bags

Get to the airport early and favor the first flight of the day, which is more likely to leave on time and easier to rebook from if needed.​

Consider checking bags (with an AirTag inside) to keep your hands free, but read fare rules carefully if you rely on carry-ons, especially on discount airlines and basic economy.​

Stuff vs. shipping and TSA rules

For bulky gifts or gear, price out shipping (e.g., via services like LugLess) instead of paying oversize bag fees.​ We have shipped items back from week-long trips. That being said, during our Canadian trip, we ended up with about eight bottles of booze, which would have cost us over $100.00 to ship back home. We found a local Walmart and bought a one-time-use, for us, $30.00 suitcase. We wrapped that liquid gold in our dirty clothes, don’t judge, and since we were flying Southwest, that bag flew for free.

Avoid wrapped presents at security, review TSA rules on liquids and food, and note updates such as Real ID requirements and changing shoe-removal norms.​

Security,

This is a no-brainer. Make sure you have at least TSA PreCheck. Adding Clear reduces the time you spend in holiday security lines. Remember, kids can often be added to your Clear plan for free or at a low cost.​ That being said, I have yet to realize the actual value of Clear.

Sticking with the tips theme.

When your flight is canceled, which at some point it will, the key moves are to quickly secure a new plan with the airline, know what you are owed, and document everything for possible refunds or claims later.​

Act fast on rebooking.

Don’t b***h tweet, or b***h X. Get in every “queue” at once: stand in the customer service line while also using the airline’s app and calling their customer service to search for alternate flights.​

Be flexible about airports and routes (nearby airports, connections instead of nonstop) to increase your chances of getting out the same day.​

Know your rights and options.

Check whether the cancellation is within the airline’s control; many major U.S. carriers now promise free rebooking, meal vouchers, and sometimes hotels when it is the airline’s fault.​

Review the airline’s contract of carriage and the U.S. DOT delay/cancellation dashboard to see what compensation or accommodations you should receive.​

Use status, insurance, and cards.

If you have elite status, a co-branded airline card, or lounge access, head to the lounge or priority desk where agents are often less slammed and more empowered to help.​​ Case in point: I recently flew out of Raleigh, and next to my gate was the Delta priority desk, staffed by an actual person. Not once over the course of 90 minutes did I ever see anyone walk in looking for help.

Check your travel insurance and credit card benefits, which may cover hotels, meals, or even alternative transportation if you are stuck overnight.​

Stay calm and document.

Take a moment to breathe and avoid lashing out at the gate or customer service agents; being calm and collaborative tends to get better results and more creative solutions.​ A pro tip is to ensure you’re not wearing pajama pants and slides.

Save all emails, app notices, and receipts for food, lodging, and ground transport, in case you can claim reimbursement from the airline, insurance, or your card later.

View From The Wing recently posted - Passenger Caught On Video Fighting 4-Year-Old Over Airplane Window Shade — Which One Was Right?

Here’s the 30,000’ view.

A grown man and a 4‑year‑old basically reenacted a custody battle over an airplane window shade, and the only thing missing was a judge and a juice box.​

A man in coach is trying to watch “Hocus Pocus 2,” not the original, when a kid in the row behind keeps reaching forward to push the shared window shade up, triggering a full-on tiny-hand vs. grown-man slap-fight over who controls the sun.​

They go several rounds of shade tug-of-war while the internet watches, laughs, and mostly sides with the kid, who apparently wants to see the entire planet at once.​

By standard airplane etiquette, the window-seat adult technically “owns” the shade, but wrestling a preschooler through a bulkhead isn’t exactly a great look for Team Grownup.​

The sensible move would have been: ask the parent to control the grabby octopus, then let a flight attendant play referee instead of going UFC: Toddler Edition.​

The article lays out six tongue-in-cheek “commandments” of window shades: up for takeoff/landing, window seat rules the shade, flight attendants are shade gods, don’t blind people, try to accommodate neighbors, and close shades in hot destinations so the next passengers don’t board into a flying Easy-Bake Oven.​

In other words, yes, the adult had the technical rights, but the kid had the better PR, and everyone agrees the real villain was the missing parent and not the piece of plastic between them.

Here’s a new fear unlocked.

Dateline, Fargo, North Dakota. A hotel got caught turning its hot tub into a giant, bubbling Tide Pod for “lightly stained” bed sheets, and yes, that’s what everyone’s kids had just been swimming in.​ This happened at the Expressway Suites, which has a solid 4-star review on Google.

Staff were filmed stirring sheets around the hot tub with a broom like some discount laundry cauldron, then cheerfully explained this was just for tiny leftover stains after the “real” wash.​

Management said it usually happens after pool hours, with sheets supposedly destined for the trash, which somehow made everyone feel even worse.​

The health department’s big move was basically “Okay, please stop marinating linens in the Jacuzzi,” since nobody had ever thought to write a rule saying, “Don’t do laundry in the hot tub.”​

Commenters pointed out that if this grosses you out, you probably shouldn’t think too hard about what’s floating around in public hot tubs anyway.​

Now, get this, the hotel did not violate any city codes, as this incident is a first of its kind. The first of its kind that the health department is aware of.

Hopefully, they don’t offer complementary diaper service.

The following two stories are related, and both come from View From the Wing.

A woman on a long flight decided that instead of accepting her sad little coach snack, she’d open an Italian restaurant on her tray table and start hand‑making gnocchi at 30,000 feet.

She whipped out flour, cracked eggs, and kneaded dough right in a shallow bowl like it was a tiny airborne countertop, while fellow passengers did their best “if I don’t look, it’s not happening” impression.

By the end, she had neat little pasta pieces and absolutely no way to cook them, basically inventing emotional support from uncooked carbs.

People pointed out she’d just turned the world’s germiest surface into a kitchen, dusting the cabin with gluten like an airline-sponsored snow globe.

The general verdict: creative, very on‑brand for social media, and precisely the sort of thing that makes you pray for a strong upgrade list and an aisle seat far, far away.

Not to be outdone, A Delta dad treated his aisle seat like a pop-up Pampers palace, dropping the tray table for a mid-flight diaper change while the snack cart rolled up smelling defeat.​

He tossed a flimsy blanket over the tray, ignored the flight attendant’s “lavatory has a changing table” plea with a casual “almost done, easier here,” then gave it a half-hearted finger-wipe before folding it up for the next snack attack.​

The dirty diaper chilled in the seat pocket for a bit, leaving a eau de fresh poop aroma that united parents and child-free flyers in collective horror.​

Social media erupted with “disgusting,” “divorce-worthy,” and “lifetime ban” calls—even parents admitted they’d never pull this tray-table travesty.​

Everyone agrees: bring wipes, use the lav, and remember tray tables are basically petri dishes on wings that haven’t seen real soap since the last eclipse.

I’ve lost count of the business or corporate-style meals I’ve been involved in over the years. Every so often, the question arises, “When is ok to begin eating?”

For a better answer, I asked Google for input, which spit this out. In corporate dining settings, the standard etiquette is to wait until everyone at the table has been served before starting to eat.​

Follow the host’s or most senior person’s lead: once they pick up their utensils or begin, you can start, but never dive in if others are still waiting on their plates.​

This shows respect, maintains even pacing, and avoids awkward solo chewing while servers hustle.

If someone insists you go ahead (rare, but polite hosts might), a quick “thank you,” and start is fine—but err on the side of not looking impatient.​

At my previous company, we came up with this guideline: if there were more than eight people and no senior executives, eat when it’s served so your food stays hot. If a senior executive was present, they were responsible for beginning the meal, which most did after the first plate was served.

There are some logistics involved when serving large parties, the largest of which is how many servers are working the table. When we hosted the Entrepreneur’s rehearsal dinner last year, 15 attended, and we had three servers. All fifteen entrees were placed on the table in under sixty seconds. Had there only been two servers, it would’ve taken longer, and I would’ve asked everyone to begin.

I told you that so I could tell what I came across on the EntitledPeople subreddit.

A woman on a flight started calmly eating her pre-ordered special meal, and the stranger next to her acted as if she’d just violated the Geneva Convention of Chicken or Pasta.​

Because special meals come out first, she did what any hungry human in economy would do: peeled back the foil and started eating.​

Her seatmate snapped that it was “rude and inconsiderate” and claimed she’d “ruined the flight” by not waiting so they could… dine together at their separate plastic tray tables.​ At this point, I would’ve told my seatmate to kick rocks.

They weren’t traveling together, weren’t friends, and definitely weren’t at a shared table—just two strangers in the same row while one of them role-played as the etiquette police of Row 23.​

Everyone else’s take: on a plane, it’s not fine dining, it’s survival mode—when the food hits your tray, you eat it before turbulence, temperature, or a random Karen ruins it.

Well, there you have it, Episode 214, the November crazy travel roundup. I plan to drop my annual travel year-in-review sometime before 2026

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

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Tonight, it’s the 2025 holiday gift guide.

I am a self-diagnosed early adopter gear nerd, and I have the gear inventory to prove it.

For returning listeners, my standard holiday gift list is still intact. Feel free to indulge an old road warrior with either of these.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II – steel bracelet and starts at $11k if you can get an authorized Rolex dealer to sell you one.

1995 Land Rover Defender – I had a chance to buy one for $30k in 1995, and I’m still bent on passing on it. Seven or eight years ago, you could pick up a gently used one for less than $70k. Now it’s north of $100,000 for one.

As tempting as it is, there are a few road warrior gifts to avoid.

Luggage – Unless you know your road warrior really well, stay away from buying them luggage. Yes, there are some excellent choices out there, but we all have our preferences. A friend returned a backpack because it lacked a strap to slide his luggage handle through. For me, when I buy a new piece of luggage, I do mental Tetris to make sure everything fits inside the way that I need it to.

Stainless Steel Tumblers – Yeti, Rambler, Rtic, or any of those tumblers that keep ice intact for 3 weeks. We’ve all got one, three of them to be exact, and while it’s a great gift, they’re not great for traveling. Hanging out on the boat or at a neighbor’s cookout is what those behemoth steel tubes are made for.

Blacklight Flashlight – While this sounds as practical as it gets, no one wants to know what germs are lurking in their hotel room. Besides, if the place looks that sketchy, I’ll check out and find some other place to stay.

Anything Associated With Washing Clothes In Our Room – We don’t need a clothesline that stretches across the bathtub. Nor do we need some kind of sink stopper soap contraption. Most hotels have a washer and dryer hidden somewhere. Yet a Tide To Go Pen is a great gift.

RFID Blocking Anything – I never understood the hype over this. With the introduction of chipped cards, this is even less of a necessity. Besides, if they want your information, they’ll get it.

Most gifts with “Travel” in their name are useless. Travel scale, travel wallet, and travel vest immediately come to mind.

Several years ago, we enacted a gift policy here at Chateau’ Relaxo. No blankets, no candles, and no tumblers were to be given as a gift. Somehow, we have more blankets, candles, and tumblers than ever before.

Seriously, when buying road warrior-themed gifts, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Gift size and gift weight, and your job is to find the balance between the two, because your job isn’t to fill their suitcase or weigh it down. In addition, look for gifts that serve several functions. For example, no road warrior should carry more than one charging cable; find one with multiple connectors.

When we lived at FrickFord Farms, the house was cooled with window-shaker air conditioning units, which produced a consistent hum that lulled us to sleep each evening. When we moved into Chateau’ Relaxo, we had central air, and that hum was gone, replaced by difficulty falling asleep each night. The easy fix was to purchase a sound machine, which lulled us back into La-La land. For years, we tried to remember to pack this when we traveled. One day, I stumbled across a Portable sound machine which measured 2’ X 2’, the perfect size for travel. A portable sound machine offers several distinct advantages for travelers, especially those needing restful sleep or stress reduction in unfamiliar environments.​

* Improved Sleep Quality - Portable sound machines help mask disruptive noises—such as traffic, hotel hallway noise, airplane engines, or voices.​

* Reduced Stress and Anxiety - By providing soothing background sounds or white noise, these machines encourage relaxation and help minimize stress or anxiety caused by new surroundings.

* Versatile and Portable - Modern travel sound machines are compact, lightweight, and often rechargeable via USB, making them easy to pack and use anywhere.

* Consistent Environment - Creating a familiar background sound can help maintain a consistent sleep routine, making it easier to adjust to new time zones or travel schedules.

A portable sound machine enhances travel comfort through better sleep, relaxation, adaptability, and convenience, making it an essential item for frequent travelers and those who value restful nights away from home.​

This falls into the size vs weight equation, a Travel-Sized Wireless Keyboard, which I am using to write most of these show notes for this episode. The main reason I never purchased one was, get this, the price, which is north of $200.00. I found one for less than $30.00, and while I was at it, I threw in an iPad-compatible pencil for $13.00. While I don’t use these every single day, it was well worth the $45.00 I spent.

As I’ve gotten older, my sinuses have apparently aged as well, and for some reason, when I travel in the winter, my sinuses dry out, yeah, I know, probably TMI. If there’s a road warrior in your life with this same issue, there is a solution: a portable humidifier. Find one that uses a water bottle, since most hotels give you one or two when you check in instead of an actual water tank.

Even in this digital age, I still use an ink pen and a journal, actually multiple journals. When it comes to an ink pen you don’t have to spend a bunch of money; you can, but you don’t have to. You can pay $50.00 at websites like Jet Pens or Yafa and end up with something far nicer than your father’s Cross or Parker ballpoint pen. I’ve had my first real pen for over thirty-five years, and it’s still hanging in there after having to have it repaired twice. Yes, you can break a pen and have it magically brought back to life. When it comes to a journal purchase, something that’s hard-sided, like a book with nice thick paper, so the ink doesn’t bleed through. For work, I use a Finisher’s Journal, a quarterly journal with a system very similar to a Bullet Journal. For non-work notes, my go-to is the Field Journal with Lochby cover with a brass Fisher Space pen.

If you have a road warrior who travels by air and has a pair of those fancy noise-cancelling headphones, consider an AirFly Bluetooth Transmitter. It connects those fancy noise-cancelling headphones to the in-flight entertainment system. Plus, if your road warrior travels internationally, they can charge the AirFly while it’s in use, which means they could watch most of the Fast and the Furious series during the flight.

Compact Travel Games - Yes, we all have smartphones with plenty of games installed. However, there’s nothing cooler than an old-school handheld game controller. You can get one from Miyoo or R36Max . The R36MAX has over 18,000 games to pick from. These run anywhere from $50.00 to $100.00.

Portable Second Monitor - When COVID hit, and I became a stay-at-home worker, one of the first things I bought was a second monitor. I was amazed by how much more productive I became, or thought I became, since I could watch YouTube videos on it. When travel picked back up, it was highly frustrating to work on just my laptop’s screen. The CEO ordered me a SideTrak second monitor that hung off my laptop. It wasn’t inexpensive, and it was heavy. Fast forward five years, and you can find these for well under $100.00 and weighing less than 2 pounds.

AirTags - I have recently become a fan of AirTags. All three of my dogs wear them. Two of which are Husky’s which is the Siberian word for escape artist. I have one in my backpack and in my truck. I recently came across the Elevation Lab AirTag Extended Battery Case. This is a case for your Air Tag, which is powered by 2 AAA batteries. It’s bulky, so it’s not ideal if you’re looking to conceal your Air Tag, but you won’t have to replace the batteries for 10 years. If you’re not a fan of Apple, there are plenty of other companies producing AirTag-style devices.

Medicine Bag – This one isn’t exciting till you need it.

* Benadryl – Great for skin irritations or making children or grandchildren go to sleep. AirBourne – I’ve fended off more colds with this stuff than I can remember.

* Zyrtec – for allergies.

* Zantac – for heartburn.

* Top it off with some aspirin and bandages. If you want to take a medicine bag to the next level, add a sewing kit, some wet wipes, and some collar stays if they wear dress shirts.

These gift guides offer genuine insight into our progress, for example, in travel.

In 2016, I posted these gifts.

* Amazon Fire Stick – Most hotel TVs have HDMI slots, so why not use that Netflix or Hulu account on the road? Currently, most TVs are smart TVs, which makes this useless for travel.

* How about a Travel Router? When traveling, I rarely leave home without one. It converts a wired network connection into a wireless one so that everyone can enjoy. Guess what, in 2025, WiFi is everywhere, and most cell phones are hotspots.

In 2017, one of the items was an Amazon Echo Dot—still an excellent item for the home, but it’s doubtful I would ever travel with one again.

The 2017 highlights

* WiFi Display Dongle – Whether you’re doing presentations or wanting to watch Netflix in your hotel room, a WiFi Dongle can save the day. This crazy little contraption lets you display most everything in 1080p wirelessly, which means NO HDMI cable. Again, in 2025, most TVs will allow you to screen cast to them wirelessly, but still pack a fifteen-foot HDMI cable.

* Phone Tripod, UBeesize Portable and Adjustable Camera Stand Holder – This tripod will easily hold your Smartphone or GoPro, and they includes a remote so you can control your device from 30′ away—still a helpful item.

In 2018, one item was the Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket – I hate jackets; first, they’re bulky, and second, they’re bulky. In 2018, I picked up a Nano Puff, and I like the fact that it’s thin yet keeps me warm. I can put it in a compression bag, and it reduces to nothing. Retail is $200.00. Seven years later, I still have and wear this jacket; however, it’s no longer $200.00, but $230.00.

In 2021, I suggested a pen, the Retro 51, for a rollerball, and Lamay makes a great fountain pen for less than $50.00. I have traveled with a Lamay and have never had a wet-ink accident while flying.

When it comes to notebooks, I like ruled pages, no calendars, no grid patterns, and no bullet-journal-style checkboxes. I like the varying cover design of the Field Notes brand. They even offer a quarterly subscription, the gift that keeps on giving.

I have traveled with a classic Moleskine notebook for at least the last 15 years, but recently switched to the Finisher Journal for work, which does have checkboxes, and I use Field Notes for personal things.

These gift guides really offer a timeline into the road warrior tools. I’m sure that next year, there will be a mention of an AI product in the 2026 gift guide.

Well, there you have it, Episode 213, the 2025 holiday gift guide.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Hello and welcome to episode 212 of Travel Stories from the Back Again and Gone. Being recorded in the beautiful Hilton Garden Inn in Columbia, SC. If you’re a new listener, a warm welcome; and if you’re a returning listener, great to have you back.

Tonight, it’s the October Crazy Travel Roundup. Yes, you heard that right—after a long hiatus, the podcast is back on the road, thanks to my trusty (and surprisingly reliable) Chinese-made lapel microphone.

To kick things off, I’m enjoying a Bound by Time IPA from Edmund’s Oast in Charleston, SC. At 7% ABV, it’s quickly become one of my favorites. Our local Publix seems to get just four 4-packs a week, and it’s a constant battle between me and some other rando to see who stocks up first.

South Carolina’s craft brew scene has really stepped up its game over the past few years, and tonight, with a great beer in hand, I’m ready to share some of those wild October travel stories with you.

Only one October trip stands out: It began with a flight into Atlanta for a quick meeting. I grabbed a rental car and hit the road for Greenville, SC, then headed to Columbia, SC. I planned to catch a late flight back out of Atlanta to O-Town, which was scheduled to land around 11:30 PM.

But I wrapped up early in Columbia, SC, and got to the airport by 5:00 PM. I asked Delta if they could get me on an earlier flight, and they rebooked me on a 7:00 PM departure, getting me home by 9:30 PM—two hours ahead of schedule. Just after clearing TSA, I got a text from the Entrepreneur who is at the O-Town airport, en route to Philly. He said the airport was a complete mess and that his flight was delayed by 2 hours. Moments later, Delta sent me a notification that my 7:00 PM flight had been rescheduled to 8:30 PM, pushing my arrival to 11:00 PM—only 30 minutes ahead of the original plan. The Entrepreneur’s delays worsened, so he headed home to catch what he called the “suicide flight” out the next morning.

This was all happening as the government shutdown started to take hold, on day one or two of the chaos.

Fast forward to my current trip, which began on day 39 or 40 of the shutdown. With the FAA cutting flight schedules and airlines cancelling flights left and right, I decided to ditch the airports and the hassle altogether and drove down to Columbia. Even after all these years, driving on I-95 is still a grind.

Point Me To The Plane recently asked - What Travel Rules Do You Use That Make Your Travels Easier?

Five Travel Rules to Consider

Rule #1: Four nights minimum

Rule #2: Business class for flights over 4 hours

Rule #3: Start with a city, end with a resort

Rule #4: Leave a $20 tip per night for housekeeping

Rule #5: Add 50% to the hotel sticker price to get the true rate

I read this several times, and no actual rise-and-grind road warrior follows or actually believes in these rules.

Since I figured this was a joke, here are a few of my travel rules.

Rule #1: Coach is fine… unless the flight includes a meal

If they’re serving food with forks instead of pretzels, that’s the universe telling you to upgrade.

Rule #2: Tip housekeeping $20 unless you’re the one who needs housecleaning

Because sometimes the room looks worse after you organize it.

Rule #3: Add 50% to the hotel price, then add emotional baggage fees

Taxes, resort fees, minibar guilt, and that one night you said “just one more round.” It all adds up.

Rule #4: No packing list survives first contact with TSA

That carefully folded outfit? TSA’s now seen more of your socks than your spouse.

Rule #5: Never trust a Wi-Fi labeled “Airport_Free_Public_Safe”

That’s not free Wi-Fi—that’s a hacker with your Netflix login now. Use a VPN

Rule #6 Souvenirs weigh more on the way home

Physics can’t explain it. But your extra suitcase full of “local art” sure does. The same holds true with dirty clothes.

Rule #7: Always act like you know where you’re going

Confidence counts. Even when Google Maps says “recalculating” for the fifth time.

Bonus Rule: Never trust anyone who says “it’s a short walk”

That phrase has destroyed more relationships than time zones ever could.

“Remember, whether your rule is four-night minimums or twenty-dollar tips, the real rule of travel is simple: pack your patience, your passport, and a sense of humor big enough to fit in the overhead bin.”

From View From The Wing we have - ‘Three Beers Later’: Delta Passenger Body Checks Flight Attendant, Twists Gate Agent’s Breast, Then Runs For It. Here are the cliff notes, or what you need to know..

Move over, Love Is Blind—Delta just launched Passengers Gone Wild: SLC Edition.

Meet Cody Sierra Marie Bryne, a Utah traveler who proved that boarding a plane sober is just a suggestion. After admitting to “only three beers” (because somehow 3 beers makes mayhem classy), she allegedly turned a routine Salt Lake City–Portland flight into a WWE meet-and-greet, complete with a full-body check, hair-pulling, and the aviation industry’s first recorded “gate agent purple nurple.”

When ordered off the plane, she made a break for it—because nothing says “I deserve another chance” like sprinting to buy a ticket on a different airline immediately after assaulting someone from the first one. Two officers finally subdued her, likely using the phrase “You’re cut off” as their Miranda rights.

Charges include sexual battery, assault, and public intoxication—but not irony, which remains legal in Utah despite clear abuse. Delta reiterated its “zero tolerance” policy, which in PR terms means they said “Wow, please don’t associate us with this,” in six carefully worded sentences.

The internet’s verdict:

* “3 beers” in Utah = “7 beers” anywhere else.

* “Four names” = guaranteed main character energy.

* “To Portland” = I’m surprised this wasn’t a dude headed to Florida.

Moral of the story: never believe “Just three beers,” and never test the patience of a Delta crew armed with Biscoff cookies and zero sense of humor.

For some, their subtle flex is dropping their shiny credit card onto the table when they offer to pick up the tab. If you spend any amount of time on the travel blogosphere, you will come across countless websites dedicated to which credit card is the best for travel and which credit cards offer the best points value for your purchases.

For example, The Points Guy recently asked, Is the Amex Platinum worth the annual fee? My input is coming from someone who has spent close to 30 years traveling for business, so my opinions are a bit jaded.

Amex Platinum statement credits and perks

The Amex Platinum offers a laundry list of statement credits that can help offset the $895.00 annual fee. That’s the excuse they use to entice you to spend the $895.00. In full disclosure, the credits amount to over $3,500 in value per year, more than triple the card’s annual fee.

Hotel statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $600 when booking a prepaid stay via American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection on American Express Travel®.

Unfortunately, I book through Concur, so it is of no value to me.

Resy

Potential annual value: Up to $400

Just pay with your Amex Platinum at an eligible U.S. Resy restaurant; no reservation is required. This credit alone almost covers half of the annual fee.

A corporate card covers my meals when traveling.

Uber Cash

Potential annual value: Up to $200

Cardmembers receive up to $200 in Uber Cash per calendar year toward U.S. rides and Uber Eats orders.

Uber Eats does hold value here at Chateau Relaxo, Uber rides not so much since we use it maybe twice a year when we travel.

Uber One statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $120. I don’t need an Uber credit card.

Digital entertainment statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $300

Amex offers cardmembers a digital entertainment statement credit that provides reimbursement for a variety of streaming and entertainment services. For some, this is of value.

Lululemon statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $300

The CEO shops there, not me.

Equinox statement credit and SoulCycle at home

Potential annual value: Up to $300

We, not I, rented a Peloton with the excuse that I can work out any time I want. We, not I, no longer rent a Peloton.

Clear Plus membership statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $209

I’m still not 100% sold on Clear, as I’ve yet to see any real value in it.

Airline fee statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $200

Each calendar year (not account anniversary), cardmembers can get up to $200 back in statement credits toward incidental fees on a single U.S. airline they designate.

Technically, this credit is used toward charges such as checked baggage fees, seat assignment fees, airline lounge passes, and similar expenses, so it has minimal value.

Oura statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $200

This credit can only be used on hardware purchases, not the subscription. If you’re not familiar, Oura rings are smart rings that track a variety of health and fitness data.

I have an Apple watch, I’m good.

Saks Fifth Avenue statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $100

We don’t shop at Saks

Walmart+ statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $155

This is a monthly $13.00 Walmart credit. I don’t think I spend $200.00 per year at Walmart.

Global Entry or TSA PreCheck statement credit

Potential annual value: Up to $30 a year

There is some value in this, but it’s only every four years.

Most of these potential annual values are divided by 12, since you have to use them monthly or quarterly to get the full $3500.00.

Here’s the one place it might just pay off —and it’s not in these vendor perks. New cardmembers can find out their offer and see if they’re eligible for as many as 175,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership.

For Chateau’ Relaxo, there might be $300.00 of value, if we remember to use the benefits every month, back to my jaded stance due to all these years of business travel. I no longer want an upgrade unless I’m flying with the CEO or traveling across the country. Hanging out in an airport lounge holds no appeal, since almost every airport offers free WiFi, and lounge snacks are marginal at best. This was solidified when my last flight out of Atlanta was delayed, and the line for the Terminal A Delta Sky Club stretched out the glass doors, wrapped around the corner, and down the concourse.

I spent years chasing points. I’d apply for a new card and pay the required amount within the allotted time to earn 70,000 to 150,000 points or miles. We’ve put college tuition and a new roof on a credit card, and even purchased a car, to get those points.

In the past few years, major corporations have really changed their stance on travel expenses. Most use what we call a ghost credit card when booking Travel. This means you book your flight and your company receives the invoice, and you never have to fill out an expense item for it. In addition, they will issue you a corporate credit card to be used for everything else. This means you don’t get to reap the full benefits of the points earned on all your travel purchases. In the past, I would book a Hilton stay with my Hilton American Express card and earn 12 points per dollar, which adds up extremely quickly.

Just remember that if you can’t pay the balance in full each month, the interest rate will outweigh any of the card’s benefits.

By the way, there is a mirrored Platinum card if you want to blind bystanders as you pay for your lunch tab at a food truck.

I am a fan of traditions, as we have the same Christmas breakfast every year, and the CEO has a shot of Blanton’s Whiskey before every Florida Panthers game. They won two back-to-back Stanley Cups.

However, traditions, or better yet, superstitions, can be dangerous. For example, walking under a ladder, the danger is injury if the ladder falls or tools drop on someone.​ How about Broken Mirrors? The threat here is due to sharp glass shards, which can cause severe cuts and injuries

There’s even a tradition/superstition of Tossing Coins into Engines to have a safe journey. I’m sure you’ve already figured this one out. An elderly woman tried to wish a plane good luck by tossing coins into the engine – Guess What Happened Next?

This 80-year-old woman tried to give her flight some “good luck”—by tossing coins into the plane’s engine. The elderly passenger was apparently confusing a multimillion-dollar jet with a mall fountain. She threw nine coins at the engine and prayed for a safe flight. Guess what? Only one coin made it in, great throw Grandma, but that was enough to delay 150 travelers for over five hours as the ground crew went on an impromptu treasure hunt worthy of Indiana Jones, except with much less gold and a lot more annoyed tourists.​

As social media pointed out, “Grandma, this is not a mall wish fountain with turtles.”

If the airline industry ever needs a lesson in how superstition can grind air traffic to a halt, they’ve got it. Maybe next time, someone should just bring a lucky rabbit’s foot—or better yet, keep the spare change for airplane snacks instead of engine sacrifices.​

So, moral of the story: when flying, please don’t take “throwing money at the problem” quite so literally.​

Time for our “Thank you, Florida” section.

This comes to us from View From the Wing - Frontier Passenger Jumps Airport Check-in Counter, Gets Into Hair-Pulling Fight With Agent — Bodycam Shows Felony Arrest

by Gary Leff on October 23, 2025

A Frontier Airlines passenger didn’t make it onto her flight at the Orlando airport. She says she didn’t miss it, had a “business class” ticket, and expects rebooking and a voucher. Check-in staff said she arrived late, that they were rebooking her, and that they were frustrated by her filming them.

There’s a 17-minute video, there’s always a video, and let’s title it: “Frontier Airlines — Now Boarding Section: Melee”

Filmed live at the Orlando airport, starring one very confident passenger, an unimpressed supervisor, and gravity doing its thing by baggage claim.

The Plot in 30 Seconds:

One passenger insists she didn’t miss her flight.

The crew insists she absolutely did.

She insists she had a “business class” ticket — only problem, Frontier doesn’t have business class. Not even business‑casual.

Act One — “Operation: Record Everything”

She whips out her phone to film the counter staff like it’s Dateline: Orlando. When told to stop, she… jumps the check‑in counter.

Because when life says, “You’re late for your flight,” the logical next move is apparently hurdling furniture and invading the employee zone.

Act Two — “Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow”

Once behind the counter, both she and the agent go full Jerry Springer. Hair‑pulling, slapping, the works — right next to the baggage belt where dreams (and dignity) go to die. Bystanders jump in to separate the combatants just as police arrive to replay the footage like NFL refs reviewing a fumble.

Act Three — “Felony and Flirtation”

When officers inform her that roughing up a 65‑year‑old employee is a felony, she switches tactics — baby voice mode- and gets a pair of fancy handcuffs.

What’s the Florida motto? Come on vacation. Leave on probation.

Here’s the closer, “She demanded rebooking for her ‘business class’ fare. Ma’am, you were on Frontier — you’re lucky your seat had fabric.”

If you spend any time flying, you will eventually see people who stand up as soon as the plane parks at the gate and the “fasten seat belt” sign turns off. Some of them will even go as far as walking up the aisle towards the plane’s door. This is poor airline etiquette; just wait your turn. We all need to get off the plane.

So here’s a story straight from the “You Can’t Make This Up” files: A mom on a Frontier flight decided that nobody was leaving the plane until her kid got off first. Only problem? She was standing in the aisle several rows ahead of her kid—and just planted herself right there like a human blockade.

Passengers trying to get off? Nope. Flight attendants asking her politely to move? Nope. She basically took the aisle hostage. It was like a toddler tantrum meets traffic jam... on an airplane.

The classic airline family drama apparently sparked the whole thing: seats not assigned next to each other. Frontier does “family seating” by chance—or by magic—if you pay up or get lucky. This mom skipped both and then got upset when her daughter was several rows back.

The flight attendant did a great job calming the chaos, but honestly, this was a masterclass in “How Not to Airport.” Moral of the story? If you’re gonna fly cheap, be prepared for some cheap behavior. And maybe—just maybe—buy the seat next to your kid.

Amiri King posted the almost 90-second video on X. I’ll put a link in the show notes, and if you decide to watch it, see if mom reminds you of the woman in the DAFUQ meme.

Well, there you have it, Episode 212, the October crazy travel round-up.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Hello and welcome to episode 211 of Travel Stories from the Back Again and Gone podcast. Still being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener, welcome; if you are a returning listener, welcome back. Tonight, it’s The September crazy travel roundup, which makes two episodes in the last two months, we just might be back on track.

Ever since COVID, I’ve begun almost every episode with, “Still being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL,” and the reason was that for years, most episodes were recorded in various hotels as I’ve traveled. In the past five years, recording gear has gotten much smaller and lighter so I might just take this show back on the road.

During September, I was on the road for three of the four weeks.

Trip 1

Orlando to Columbus, Ohio. This required a connecting flight, of course, because the only direct flights out of O-Town are to Atlanta, Delta’s primary hub. Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, JFK, LaGuardia, Boston, LAX, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and of course Amsterdam. Atlanta is the only destination in my territory. For a long time, listeners, yes, I switched from Southwest to Delta as my airline of choice.

As I was riding the escalator at O-Town, ready to go through TSA, I got a text letting me know that my flight into Atlanta was delayed by an hour, and I only had a forty-five-minute layover to catch my flight into Columbus, not good.

At the top of the escalator, I headed to the Delta counter and was able to get re-booked on a flight that got me into Columbus only two hours after my original flight. Even the middle seat was vacant, I owe one to the Plane Gods for that. Halfway through the flight, a flight attendant tapped me on the shoulder, identified me by name, and informed me that Delta was depositing 1,000 miles into my account for the inconvenience. Certainly not enough for a ticket, but it was stellar customer service. Here’s a travel tip: at some point, a flight will get delayed or cancelled, trust me, it will. Do not take to X or the Ticky Tok and b***h about it, find an employee either in person or on the phone, and this is the key, calmly ask them if they could help to rebook you on another flight. In all my years of travel, I have never once seen someone yelling or threatening a gate agent over a cancelled or delayed flight garner them a quick rebooking. Gate agents know schedules, and they will gladly help you out if you’re nice.

My big takeaway from this trip is that I-70 is under major road construction, which turned a 90-minute drive into a 120-minute journey.

Trip 2

It was a road trip that started in Little Rock, Arkansas, and ended up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a stop in Bentonville. Arkansas. All of these locations were new stops for me. Little Rock was what I expected. While it’s the state’s capital, it has a highly small-town feel. The next stop was Bentonville, Arkansas, and that night’s hotel was close to $200.00 after I applied all my discount codes. I rolled into town around 5:00 PM, and traffic was bumper-to-bumper. I knew that Bentonville is Walmart’s home base, but the traffic was similar to Atlanta or Dallas. When I checked in, I asked the desk clerk, “Is traffic always this congested?” He reapplied, “Every day.” He went on to say that Tyson Foods and JB Hunt Trucking were also headquartered here, so weekdays are chaotic with traffic and hotel prices skyrocketing due to the influx of vendors conducting business. He said that on the weekend, hotel prices returned to the normal range, then increased again on Sunday night.

The drive from Bentonville to Tulsa was on I-40 and uneventful, except that as soon as I entered Oklahoma, the first thing I saw was a casino. The one bright spot about Tulsa was that parking on the street in downtown Tulsa cost less than $1.00 per hour, and I didn’t have to dig for quarters because they had their own parking app.

Trip 3

Into Panama City for a meeting, another meeting in Pensacola, and then the last meeting was in Mobile, AL. All three locations I’ve been to, with Mobile holding a special place, ever since the CEO and I went there for Mardi Gras a few years ago. I was bright enough to book my flight into Panama City. FL and not Panama City, Panama.

However, here’s what happened flying out of the Mobile, AL airport. This was my first time flying out of Mobile, so I asked Google Maps for directions to the Mobile Airport. I put my rental car in gear, joined a conference call, and began driving down I-65 and then East on I-10. I jump off I-10 and see signs for the Mobile International Airport. Before long, I’m following detour signs and driving down two-lane roads covered in dirt, and I begin to get concerned as I don’t see any planes taking off or landing or a control tower. Suddenly, Google Maps tells me to turn left, and I see the tail of an airplane, and a sigh of relief comes over me, until I hit the “Dead End” sign. I will save you the cussing, but Mobile has not one, but two airports. The Mobile Regional Airports and the Mobile International Airport, which is slated to open in the fall of 2026, who knew, apparently not me.

I asked Google Maps, again, for directions to the correct airport, and luckily, I’m only 30 minutes away. I arrive at the gate roughly 10 minutes before we board, which, for me, is cutting it a bit too close. Here’s what makes me the mayor of Stupid Town. My hotel the night before was located on, get this, “Airport Boulevard”, yes, I am the mayor.

A few travel observations I’ve made over the past few months of traveling.

* A different hotel each night is still rough, but it does allow me to accomplish more with less travel expense to my company.

* Every flight is still full, and on every flight, passengers are asked to gate-check their luggage because overhead space is unavailable.

* This next thing is a significant change for me. If you’re a long-time listener, you’ve probably heard me say, “There are two types of luggage: carry-on and lost.” I am now checking my luggage even with only a 60-minute layover. Airlines have stepped up their baggage-tracking game, and with the help of an AirTag, most of my concerns about lost luggage are gone.

* Airports have significantly enhanced their amenities over the last decade or so. It used to be that every airport charged for internet access, usually through services like Boingo. Now, almost every airport offers quote-unquote free internet after you watch an ad or complete a survey. In the past, airports such as Nashville and Memphis had someone playing music in the atrium, an airport bar, or near the gate. When I flew out of Tulsa, there were several members of the Tulsa Symphony serenading us with music as we waited to board. I recently noticed that the Atlanta airport has a Chiropractic center and a Georgia lottery station on Concourse B.

* Most major chain restaurants will allow you to order airport food through their app. Think about it: you’ve landed and, while taxiing to your gate, you order your gooey frappe, whatever it is, get off the plane, and skip the line.

* One thing that hasn’t changed is boarding by zone. Passengers in Zone 6 will crowd the gate as general boarding begins. After twenty-five years of flying, I can assure you that Delta is not going to start boarding with Zone 6 all of a sudden. Delta used to begin boarding by status after the First Class passengers were boarded. It went Platinum, then Gold, and then Silver. On this flight, there were so many Platinum members that we all had to board simultaneously.

We all remember what we were doing at specific times in our lives -

I was working at a feed and grain store the day Ronald Reagan was shot. I was driving north on I-95 and saw the cloud from the Challenger explosion.

On 911, I was leaving my office, headed to Knoxville, TN. At 9:03 AM, I cut through our break room at the moment the second plane hit the second tower. In 2001, we communicated through email and texting. Probably because you had to press the “1” key three times to use the letter “C,” and not every cell phone was capable of receiving emails.

We had an office directly across from the Pentagon, which was struck by American Airlines Flight 77 at 9:37. By 11:00 AM, headquarters sent an email stating that no one was to travel. If you are on the road, consider extending your hotel stay. If you are headed to the airport, do not return your rental car; instead, find a hotel or drive back home. The final directive was for each of us to call our team members to let them know this, in case they didn’t have access to their laptops and a phone line.

On the 1st anniversary of 911, which I don’t consider an anniversary, I was in Valdosta, GA. I was stirred from my slumber by a parking lot filled with emergency equipment, including sirens and lights…. To this day, I have no idea what happened, but it’s not the best way to start your day, especially on the anniversary of something as tragic as 911.

The attacks killed 2,976 people, including citizens from across the globe, and injured thousands, many of whom are suffering from the effects 24 years later.

Let’s lighten the mood a bit. Even after traveling for all these years, I still have several habits when I check into a hotel room and when I check out.

When I first enter, I check the shower, the closet, and under the bed to verify that I’m not sharing the room with any randos. When I check out of my room, I perform a thorough sweep of my belongings to ensure I don’t leave any phone or laptop chargers behind.

Over the years, the only thing these habits have produced is a phone charger left plugged into the wall, a solid indicator that housekeeping didn’t pay much attention to preparing the room for the next guest, which was me.

Here are the Cliff Notes of this next nightmare:

A Ukrainian model checks into her Tokyo hotel, sniffs a suspiciously sweet-and-sour scent, and discovers—no, not bad housekeeping, but a real, sweaty man hiding under her bed with nothing but a USB cable for company. The intruder bolts faster than when a guest realizes the minibar isn’t free; the police behave as if they just walked off a Japanese game show (no security cameras, barely any questions), and APA Hotel’s bed storage innovations score an unexpected “surprise guest.” Who says Japanese hotels don’t offer extra amenities?

What Actually Happened

* The woman checks in, changes clothes, and gets comfy… but notices an “animal covered in sugar” aroma instead of the usual fresh press of the tatami.

* Looks under the bed (as one does in Tokyo), finds not lost slippers but a blinking, bowl-cut stranger.

* Screaming ensues; man sprints for the exit, leaving behind his power bank and any chance for a good Yelp review.

* Police show up but demonstrate more “serenity” than “detective work,” taking minimal info and maximum indifference.

The Wisdom of Travel

* Always check under the bed in Tokyo—your suitcase might not be the only thing stored there.

* Japan: Low on crime rates, high on the probability that “privacy” means “no security cameras when you absolutely need them”.

* Next time you smell “dead animal covered in sugar”—know, it’s not a new flavor at the ramen shop! And “dead animal covered in sugar” is the worst cocktail name ever.

Recently, One Mile At A Time posted - 14 Of My Biggest Hotel Pet Peeves, From Decorative Pillows To Destination Fees

The list was all over the road, but a few of these did resonate with me.

* Bathrooms without privacy—I’m not sure where the author is staying, but I have never seen a hotel bathroom without privacy.

* Decorative pillows & other bedding—I’ve never really noticed them.

* Showers with weak water pressure - Years ago, I carried plumber’s pliers to remove the water restrictor valve from the showerhead. I haven’t used them in years.

* Complicated showers, poorly designed—if a shower challenges you, figure it out or use YouTube.

* Gyms that aren’t 24/7 - I’ve never had a desire to hop on an elliptical at 2:00 AM.

* A poor coffee setup — not a coffee person myself; I use caffeinated soda to jump-start my mornings, but I can understand the frustration.

* Destination, resort, and urban fees - It comes with the territory. The room rate can be an extra $30.00 per day, or you can pay a $30.00 per day resort fee. Either way, the house always wins.

* Scripted, artificial customer service - I’ve never noticed it, probably because I always engage the desk staff in a friendly two-way conversation.

* Hotels trying to avoid providing elite perks - I’ve never felt shorted on any elite perks, and honestly, I’d rather have the perks when I’m traveling with the CEO than when I’m traveling alone.

* In-room TVs automatically turning on—OK, but I have no idea why this would be a pet peeve.

* Room amenities that aren’t properly checked - This is the first pet peeve that I would agree with. I need my soap, a functioning iron, and a couple of bottles of water.

* Beds with square pillows - “Square pillows at a hotel? Fantastic—because when I travel, I definitely dream of waking up with my neck shaped like a question mark and my soul questioning its life choices.” Seriously, whoever put this list together must be a travel snob.

* Lack of power outlets by the bed - I agree, and that’s why I carry a power strip. I did have a hotel last month that the bedside clock offered wireless charging.

* Rooms without desks or desk-like setups - Completely agree.

I relate to three of the fourteen; I am the broken traveler.

This came from a new site - Twisted Sifter.

A passenger was filmed opening and eating a can of tuna on an airplane, sparking considerable online outrage and humor due to the strong smell and lack of consideration for fellow travelers. Many commenters described it as a “crime against humanity”. They joked about placing the passenger on a no-fly list, noting that eating pungent foods in close quarters is socially inconsiderate. The story elicited a mix of commiseration and amusement, with the article emphasizing that while bringing your own food on a flight is fine, travelers should be mindful of how their choices affect others in confined spaces.

I’ve never brought food onto a plane, and strawberry Twizzlers don’t count. If you’re flying out of Memphis, TN, there’s a good chance that someone will board with a Styrofoam container with ribs in it. In Boston, it’s the lobster roll. Airports have upped their food game, from major chains to local favorites. Thank you, ATL, for the Varsity. All this being said, I recall about ten years ago, on a Southwest flight, they announced that they wouldn’t be serving peanuts as a snack because a passenger was highly allergic to them.

Ten or eleven years ago, I witnessed a similar scenario unfold across the aisle from me. I am not a can of canned tuna fish. When the odor fills the kitchen, I’m heading towards my home office. When it happened to me, there was no TikTok, and the travel blog sites were in their infancy, so there was nowhere to post your gripe.

So next time snack cravings strike at 30,000 feet, leave the tuna in your checked bag—because on an airplane, the only thing that should be canned is the attitude, not the fish.

Paddle Your Own Canoe recently posted this about British Airways.

A British Airways lawsuit claims a ground worker at Chicago O’Hare, allegedly under the influence of marijuana, drove mobile airstairs into a Boeing 747-400, causing $228,028 in damage and significant disruptions way back in September 2019. The worker did not immediately report the incident, forcing the airline to cancel a London-bound flight, pay for passenger accommodations, and incur repair and legal costs while seeking compensation from Ground Services International (GSI), whose insurer has refused to pay.

First, British Airways sadly retired the 747s in 2019. Second, you know what I say about marijuana enthusiasts. Marijuana enthusiasts do nothing but think about when the next time they get to smoke marijuana, how they are going to smoke marijuana, and where they will be smoking marijuana.

“Apparently, British Airways can add ‘grounded by the munchies’ to their list of flight delays—who knew the scariest thing on the runway for a 747 wasn’t a bird strike, but a set of stoned airstairs doing a drive-by wing job?”

Well, there you have it, Episode 211, the September crazy travel round-up.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

I’m enjoying a Cigar City Fancy Papers Hazy IPA from Tampa, Florida—6.5% ABV, if you’re curious.

It’s been a while—almost five months since the last episode. Life at Chateau Relaxo has kept us busy, from losing a parent to switching jobs and everything in between.

After twenty-five years, I moved on from the company that started the original blog and inspired this podcast. The good news? My new job means more travel, so expect episodes a bit more frequently—maybe not 2019 levels, but definitely more than lately.

Recently, the CEO and I checked off a bucket-list item with a seven-day Alaska cruise, departing Seattle on the Norwegian Encore. Before this, my only cruise was Miami to Mexico during Carnival, and I wasn’t a fan. I was hesitant, but the CEO convinced me to give it another try.

My advice: If you’re cruising out of Seattle, consider flying in a day early. Coming from the East Coast, we arrived midday, which gave us time to explore Pike Place Market. All passengers were required on board by 4 PM—tempting as it is, don’t risk flying in the day of your cruise. One fellow passenger did, and his luggage ended up in Detroit. The staff had to assist him in shopping for clothes.

Day 1: Boarding in Seattle was smooth, with organized windows for boarding. Our luggage arrived around 4 PM, and finding it was like a scavenger hunt. The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking and organizing—more on room organization will be discussed later.

Day 2: We were at sea, the perfect chance to explore the ship. Guest Services provided us with a map and informed us about the Norwegian app. Every morning, a newsletter lists the day's activities. Our internet package was less than 120 minutes, so we decided to upgrade to unlimited—it wasn’t cheap, but it was essential, as you'll see.

Day 3: Juneau. The first thing you’ll notice here is the abundance of jewelry stores—18 at last count. They're set up for cruise ship passengers with disposable income. Many are owned or partnered by cruise lines, offering discounts and rebates. I spent 30 minutes negotiating for a watch but left it—and found the same price in the duty-free shop, no haggling required. If you’re buying big-ticket items, do your homework before making a purchase.

Everyone recommends Tracy’s King Crab Shack and The Red Dog Saloon—but I skipped both. Tracy’s had an enormous line and pricey crab legs, and while reviews are stellar, both my patience and budget couldn’t handle it. The Red Dog Saloon is famous for its Duck Fart Shot, but these days, crowded bars and novelty drinks aren’t my thing.

Our first excursion was Douglas Island Pink and Chum—DIPAC—the local salmon hatchery. Quick note: book excursions through NCL. They’ve vetted providers and, if your tour runs late, the ship will wait for you. That’s not always the case with local bookings. DIPAC operates the Macaulay Hatchery, nearly 50 years old, helping sustain Alaska’s salmon population and offering interactive exhibits. Mid-July through August, you can witness millions of chum salmon returning to spawn. Outside the hatchery, a seal swam by, and the trees filled with bald eagles—a magical moment.

Back on the boat, we joined our first art auction, hosted by Park West Gallery. If you attend, expect lively bidding, champagne, and events such as “Guess the Price” and reverse auctions. It’s a fun way to learn about art, but be sure to research your purchases—most pieces are limited editions or prints, and appraisals aren’t always independent. We bought two pieces, spent more on framing and shipping than the art itself, but hey, maybe we’ve started a collection.

Day 4: Skagway and the . The train climbs nearly 3,000 feet over 20 miles—stunning views, waterfalls, and bridges. Sit on the left side for the best scenery. We saw bears, learned about glacier geography, and crossed Pitchfork Falls (named for its multiple cascading streams). This was the only excursion requiring passports. After a full day, we skipped returning to Skagway—jet lag and exhaustion won out.

Day 5: Glacier Bay. Perfect timing for a rest day. We discovered a laundry service—everything you can fit in a bag for $35, a lifesaver halfway through the trip. Glacier Bay was stunning—and if you have binoculars, be sure to use them. Balcony rooms pay off when public spaces get packed. We watched otters swimming and frolicking in the bay, another highlight.

Day 6: Ketchikan, docked at Ward Cove on July 4th. Enormous souvenir warehouse, and at the back, options for all sorts of Alaskan excursions. Norwegian seems to opt for more remote docking spots.

Our excursion: The Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour on the Aleutian Ballad (from Deadliest Catch). Calm waters offered up-close views of king crab, octopus, and more—plus dozens of eagles swooping for fish.

The crew’s sea tales blended humor, drama, and inspiration. Ketchikan’s parade meant limited time in town, so we headed back early.

Day 7: Victoria, BC. More time at sea before docking at 8:30 PM. Hit the casino, lost money—typical. We stayed aboard instead of exploring.

Boat Life: Dining options galore—three main restaurants, buffet, and The Local open 24/7. Several specialty restaurants satisfied every craving. If you’re hungry, that’s on you.

Entertainment included Broadway shows, a Beatles tribute, live music, themed parties, silent discos, and DJ sets. The casino and art gallery provide chances to win or lose. The Encore Speedway—the largest racetrack at sea—never seemed open. Pools, hot tubs, an observation lounge, and a spa offered plenty of ways to relax. Drink packages? If one cabin member buys, everyone must. Beer selection is average, cocktails are strong, and prices are high.

Time change tip: We stuck to Eastern Time, waking up at 4:30 AM Alaska time. 24-hour dining saved us many mornings.

What we brought—and didn’t use: Eye mask (room has blackout curtains), aluminum straws (never needed), rain pants (unused), tripod/GoPro (never used), HDMI cable for screencasting (ship TVs aren’t compatible).

What we used: Magnets (metal walls = extra storage), raincoats (for warmth), “hot hands” packs, lanyards (keycards convenience essential), power strip (one cabin outlet), packing cubes, snacks, backpack, battery pack, binoculars with straps.

50/50 items: Didn’t need waterproof boots, sunglasses (no glare issues), water bottles (didn’t miss them), waterproof phone covers (never used).

My must-bring list: First aid kit, Ziploc bags, old hotel key (for lights), Dudewipes.

Wish I’d brought: Small wedge for the door, more cigars (the ship’s cigar lounge only sells when in international waters, so stock up ahead), Poo-Pourri spray for the cabin.

One last tip: Skip the elevator—stairs save time and are good cardio.

Encore stats: Built in 2019, 1,094 feet long, 136 feet wide, crew of 1,735, 2,043 staterooms, 20 decks, speeds up to 25 knots.

Special features: Encore Speedway, laser tag, Galaxy Pavilion, observation lounge, 28 bars/lounges, and a 24/7 laundry staffed by 22.

I’m a spreadsheet nerd, so here are some stats: On a typical 7-day cruise, the ship provides 200,000 meals daily, 50 types of bread, 15,000 morning coffees, 30,000 pounds of produce, and 31,900 bottles of beer (among lots of other numbers).

Day 8: Seattle. Off the ship by 10 AM, flight at 9 PM, so the CEO booked a final tour: Space Needle, Sky View Observatory, Seattle Aquarium (amazing jellyfish), Pike Brewing Company (food > beer), and the over-the-top Chihuly Garden and Glass.

After nine days of 4:30 AM wakeups, we were ready for the airport.

All in all, I wasn’t sold on the trip at first, but once the ship sailed, I was hooked. The staff made every moment enjoyable.

That wraps up episode 210, “Our trip to Alaska.” Thank you to our longtime listeners for your comments and emails, as well as to our new listeners. I hope you'll come back. Find detailed show notes, links, and pictures at Substack—travelstories.substack.com. Leave a message on Anchor, or email TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As always, travel safe, be safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for reading The Travel Stories Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

This evening, I am partaking in a Day Trip IPA at 6.6 ABV from Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta, GA. If you ever get to Atlanta, this brewery is worth a visit.

It’s been a while since the last podcast. January, February, and March are over, and we are already one-fourth done with 2025. What a crazy first quarter of a year when it comes to aviation.

* January 7 – A Swan River Seaplanes Cessna 208 Caravan crashed into the water at Rottnest Island, Western Australia, Australia. Out of the seven occupants onboard, three people were killed, including the pilot, and three others were injured.

* January 28—Air Busan Flight 391, an Airbus A321-200 operating from Busan to Hong Kong, caught fire shortly before takeoff at Gimhae International Airport. All 176 people onboard were safely evacuated, and only 7 were injured.

* January 29 – A Light Air Services Beechcraft 1900, which was carrying oil workers, crashed shortly after takeoff from GPOC Unity Airstrip in South Sudan. Out of the 21 occupants onboard, 20 were killed.

* January 29 – In the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision, American Eagle Flight 5342, a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA Airlines, collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 over the Potomac River, killing all 64 people onboard the CRJ700 and all 3 aboard the UH-60. This is the first fatal aviation accident involving a Bombardier CRJ700.

* January 31 - A small medical transport jet carrying a child and her mother, along with four other people, was in the air for less than a minute after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport before coming down in a fiery "high-impact" crash near a busy mall. All six on the plane perished, and 22 people on the ground were injured.

* February 17th, Toronto, A Delta plane crashed, caught fire, and then, if that wasn’t enough, flipped upside down as it skidded down the runway. Everyone on the flight survived. There were a few injuries, but everyone survived. Adding insult to their injuries, Delta is offering them $30,000 each. The airline will pay approximately $2.3 million if all passengers accept the offer. They tell customers this gesture has no strings attached and does not affect their rights. Delta's 2024 revenue was in the billions, and the best they could come up with was 30 K. Apparently, many Delta C-level employees thought this was a suitable gesture. Two words for everyone on that flight, “Lawyer Up”.

Those are just six of the incidents that I decided to post. I’d rather board a plane for a flight than drive on I-4 into downtown O-Town.

One Mile At A Time asked - Hotel Mobile Check-In Via App: Is It Worth Using? Most major hotel groups, like Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott, offer a mobile check-in option through their apps, just like most airlines do. The question is, should you use this, and if so, what’s the benefit of doing so? I rarely use mobile check-in for a few reasons. The primary reason has to do with room upgrades. If you use mobile check-in, you likely won’t get an upgrade. Also, I want the desk crew to know that I am a returning guest, which has benefits beyond the upgrade. Those benefits can be extra snacks or a couple of extra complimentary drink coupons It might mean that you don’t have to pay for parking, and in the case of the Hilton Disney Springs, I have never had to pay a resort fee due to being a returning customer and checking in at the front desk. If you are a baby road warrior without status, the Hilton app will at least let you pick your room.

We haven’t had a Florida man story in a while, so let’s consider this.

A Florida man faces 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to popping an American Airlines gate agent in the face as he tried to board a flight at the wrong gate at Dallas-Fort Worth DFW airport last October.

Keith Charles Owens, one of the three named people, was sentenced in May after negotiating a plea deal. The plea deal would come with a lengthy prison sentence. In addition to the sentence, Keith Charles Owens might be fined $250,000.

Here’s the Cliff Notes:

Keith Charles Owens turned up at the wrong gate for his flight and skipped the boarding line.

When his boarding pass failed to scan, the gate agent directed Keith Charles Owens to the right gate, which he headed towards, again skipping the boarding line and bypassing the podium and boarding pass check.

Keith Charles Owens made it to the jetway, where he was stopped by airline personnel and escorted back into the terminal building. Having failed to get on his flight, Keith Charles Owens returned to his original gate, where he grabbed the gate agent who had tried to help him by the gate agent's shoulders and neck and pushed him back.

Prosecutors alleged that Owens then repeatedly punched the victim in the face before passengers and other American Airlines staff rushed to drag him away and restrain him.

Owens was charged with interference with security screening personnel because scanning boarding passes is a security duty for American Airlines employees – a job that the gate agent was doing at the time he was assaulted.

The incident caused the flight that the gate agent was boarding to be delayed, while several airline employees had to go off work for several days due to injuries sustained in the assault.

Witnesses said that Owens appeared intoxicated at the time of the incident.

Here’s an update: an American Airlines flight attendant who was arrested on charges of trying to secretly film a teenage girl using an airplane lavatory during a September 2023 flight to Boston has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.

Estes Carter Thompson III, one of the three named people of Charlotte, North Carolina, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on Thursday after initially pleading not guilty to the crimes and now faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, along with a fine of up to $250,000.

According to prosecutors, Thompson was working as a flight attendant on a September 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston when he approached the 14-year-old victim, who was lining up to use the bathroom at the back of the aircraft.

Thompson invited the victim to use the lavatory in First Class and escorted her to the front of the plane.

However, before letting the victim use the lavatory, Thompson briefly entered the bathroom with the doors closed. When the victim was eventually allowed to use the lavatory, she found a large ‘defective catering equipment’ sticker taped to the seat.

The victim became suspicious and looked underneath the sticker. Concealed under the sticker was an Apple iPhone with the camera peeping out.

The victim took a photo of the hidden camera and showed it to her parents, who confronted Thompson. As the flight was approaching Boston, Thompson allegedly locked himself in the lavatory, where he reset his phone to factory setting in an attempt to wipe any photo evidence. What a coward, but wait, there’s more.

Forensic experts were able to retrieve photos from Thompson’s iCloud account and allegedly found photos depicting victims aged just seven, nine, 11, and 14 using an airplane bathroom. What a sicko.

Additionally, over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were allegedly found in the same account.

All the victims have been identified and contacted by law enforcement. The parents of a nine-year-old victim have filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, accusing the Fort Worth-based carrier of negligence.

In response, a law firm hired by American Airlines tried to get the case dismissed by arguing the young girl was to blame as she should have known she was being secretly recorded. I call this victim changing

As this nightmare unraveled, the airline eventually dismissed the law firm responsible for filing this defense, although attorneys acting on behalf of American Airlines are still contesting lawsuits from several victims, arguing that the airline can’t be held responsible for the criminal actions of a former employee.

Here’s a new fear unlocked. A married couple said they were forced to sit next to a dead woman's body for four hours on a flight from Australia to Qatar. Yes, you heard that correctly. About 10 hours into the flight, a woman exited the restroom, collapsed, and died in front of them. Not sure if the couple was in first class, but apparently, dying in front of someone on a flight allows the corpse to complete the flight next to that person. Objectively, if someone punches out on a plane, it's not like you can open a door and push them out. Qatar says they have been "in direct contact with the family of the deceased" and offered passengers "directly affected" by the uncomfortable situation "emotional support and compensation.". This offering is code for “Please don’t sue us”. If I ever go TU, or toes up on a flight, you have my permission to open a door, or bust a window and send me on my way.

The world can be confusing; in the words of the late George Carlin, “Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?”. Confusing right? Last week, life got confusing in “Thank You Florida.” Dateline Orlando, where a Southwest Airlines pilot mistakenly tried to take off on a taxiway last week. In case you didn’t know it, a runway is what a plane uses to get said plane up into the atmosphere and you on your way. A plane uses a taxiway to move from the runway to the gate. The plane finally stopped after the air traffic controller yelled “Stop” three times. The Southwest marketing team quickly released this statement: "The crew mistook the surface for the nearby runway," Southwest is engaged with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and FAA to understand the circumstances of the event."

According to the flight data tracker, the aircraft’s top speed was approximately 80 mph. Airplanes typically travel about 35 mph on taxiways. A Boeing 737 would need to accelerate to about 150 mph for takeoff. I didn’t understand why the passengers were on a different flight. This is just like the flight crew times out, so they tap out, and a new flight crew takes over. Who takes the bullet for this, the pilots or the tower? I'm not sure, but someone will need to update their resume.

One last “Thank You, Florida” story, and this one is disturbing. Here at Chateau Relaxo, we are pro-animal, specifically pro-dog, as we just rescued another husky, and this one resembles Gene Simmons. This story is horrific: a Florida woman was arrested after allegedly drowning her dog in an Orlando airport toilet.

Here’s the recap.

Alison Agatha Lawrence, one of the three named people, was scheduled to fly from Orlando to Bogota. While checking in, her nine-year-old miniature schnauzer, Tywinn, was denied boarding because she did not have the correct paperwork to transport the dog to Colombia. Lawrence walked away from the counter to an airport restroom with her dog

There, she was observed in a stall for an extended period cleaning up “a lot of water and a lot of dog food.” When the bathroom cleaner entered the restroom about 20 minutes later, she found the trash can much heavier than usual. Inside the trash can, she found the dog, with a collar around its neck, still warm…but dead. An investigation revealed the dog died by drowning. On March 18, Lawrence was arrested and charged with third-degree animal cruelty, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Neither of which is justice for what she did.

As I once told The Entrepreneur, put your girlfriend, now wife, in the trunk of your car, and put one of the dogs in the trunk of your car, and see which one is happy when you open the trunk. Dogs give unconditional love.

Finishing up with a topic we haven’t spoken about in a while, nudity. I’ve always said there are two types of nudity, good nudity and bad nudity. Good nudity includes nice lighting, soft music, and a few candles. Bad nudity is seeing someone nude that you don’t want to see naked. When nudity is involved in a travel story, it’s usually bad. March 26, Naked Woman Rants And Raves At DFW Airport. I’ve heard varying stories as to what provoked this behavior. I'm not sure if any of them are true, but there’s one fact: because there’s a video. In the video, she is seen squirting people with her water bottle while screaming about being a polyglot and then destroying airport equipment. A polyglot is a person who knows or uses several languages. Yes, I had to Google for the definition

I’m unsure why people often strip their clothes off during a meltdown. The video indicates this woman is battling some demons, possibly due to mental health issues. I hope she gets the help she needs. Often, the naked person is overweight and a threat to other people’s eyesight, but this person is not.

Well, there you have it, Episode 209, the 2025 first quarter.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for reading The Travel Stories Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

This is being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener, welcome; if you are a returning listener, welcome back. Tonight, we’re talking about dining at Disney Springs.

It’s no secret that I am a fan of Disney Springs, and more so than being a fan of any of the parks. I make it to Disney at least once a year, and that trip is typically to Epcot during the food and wine festival. Disney World doesn’t turn me off; I don’t like waiting in line in the sun for an hour to ride a one- or two-minute attraction.

I can’t tell you how many websites there are that Disney are Disney-related; I’m guessing thousands.

There is even a 2025 100 Best Disney Blogs and Websites i, which will help you narrow it down.

These sites cover such topics as:

* Packing lists

* Lightning Lanes

* Attraction rankings

* Vacation planning guides

If you didn’t know, a Disney family vacation isn’t cheap. The average cost for a family of four to Disney World can easily top $6,000 for a seven-night trip, and that’s if you’re a frugal traveler. A 7-day family trip to Disney World can exceed $12,000, especially if you splurge on memorable character meals and hotels closer to the theme parks. Being Florida residents, we get a break on tickets with a 4-day ticket running $240.00 per person, so $60.00 per day for park admittance. This, of course, comes with terms and conditions. Tickets with an advance park reservation are valid from January 13 to May 23, 2025. Reservations are limited and subject to the availability of reservations allocated to this ticket as determined by Disney and park capacity.

About eight years ago, we bought an annual pass, and the yearly pass was $749.00 per person. The four of us went twice that year, which means each visit cost us $375.00 before food and beverage. in 2025, there are four levels of the annual pass ranging from $469 up to $1549.00. But have no fear, as you can make 12 monthly payments at 0% interest.

If you decide to open your wallet and head to the Mouse House, other than the long wait times, which can be reduced by purchasing the Lightening Lane, or you’re not bothered paying $4.00 for a 20oz bottled soda, it will be a spectacular time. Everything there is perfect: the bathrooms are as clean as your local Bucee’s, there will be no litter anywhere, and the cast members, that’s what they’re called, are as friendly as the person taking your food order at a Chick-fil-A.

On to Disney Springs. It opened in 1975 as the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village. Over the years, it has expanded and been rebranded. In 1977, it was called the Walt Disney World Village. In 1989, it was rebranded the Disney Village Marketplace. 1997, it became Downtown Disney and finally became Disney Springs in 2015. The hours are typically from about 10:00 a.m. until about 1:00 a.m.

Disney Springs is a standalone area within Walt Disney World. It features stores, entertainment, and dining and does not require an admission ticket or fee to visit.

The area is divided into four sections: The Marketplace, The Landing, Town Center, and West Side, each offering unique experiences. Significant attractions include an AMC 24-plex movie theater, Cirque du Soleil's, a House of Blues, and the Aerophile balloon ride.

Disney Springs boasts an impressive 68 restaurants. This includes table service, quick service, bars, lounges, and specialty food and beverage spots. Whether you're in the mood for a gourmet meal or a quick snack, there's something for everyone!

There are a few chain restaurants:

Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza - Where you can build your pizza.

Chicken Guy! Which is a Guy Fieri creation. Believe it or not, there are 20 locations across the United States, so it’s not that unique.

Earl of Sandwich also has locations at several of the Florida Turnpike rest stops.

House of Blues - Southern-inspired cuisine and live music. We’ve seen several concerts there.

Planet Hollywood is a themed restaurant in most major cities with a Hollywood vibe.

Rainforest Cafe - An immersive dining experience with a jungle theme. This is not a quiet and intimate dining experience.

Starbucks - of course, there’s one at Disney Springs; need I say more?

The Boathouse—While not a traditional chain, this one has multiple locations and offers upscale dining with a nautical theme.

Most chain restaurants offer identical food, so there are no surprises. However, I want to try a new or different dining experience when I travel, so I avoid chain restaurants.

Over the years, the CEO (My Wife) and I have dined at most of these restaurants. Some are good, some are average, and some wouldn’t be in business if they were anywhere other than Disney Springs, which provides a rotating clientele. Most of these establishments require a reservation, so the chances are slim that you will walk up and be immediately seated. So, to save time and aggravation, there is a reservation portal.

So, to save time and money, here are the highlights, focused on restaurants that offer table service. I have no bias toward walk-up establishments, but when I dine, I typically want to sit in an air-conditioned environment and not stand in the baking Florida sun woofing down a Wetzel Pretzel with mustard dripping onto my shoes.

Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar is a unique, aviation-themed bar inspired by the character Jock Lindsey. If you recall, Jock Lindsy was Indiana Jones' pilot from the "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Its vintage airplane hangar-turned-dive bar offers a fun and immersive experience with its eclectic decor, featuring airplane parts, salvaged equipment, and mementos from Jock's adventures. The bar serves a variety of creative cocktails and delicious appetizers. Some popular menu items include the Snakebite Sliders and Air Pirate's Pretzels. They also offer a walk-up bar outside the establishment. Our go-to meal here is the Snakebite Bao Buns which consists of Smoked Brisket, Amarillo Mustard, Peppadew Relish, Pickled Onion, and Tomato, accompanied by Jock’s Old Fashioned made with Knob Creek Disney Single-Barrel Bourbon. Yes, Disney has their own single-barrel bourbon.

Morimoto Asia as in Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. This destination features a stunning two-story layout with kitchens showcasing traditions like Peking duck carving and dim sum preparation. The restaurant offers a diverse menu with highlights such as sushi, sashimi, Morimoto Spare Ribs, and Ramen. The venue also includes a second-level sushi bar. You can enjoy a dining experience with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean dishes. My last meal there was the Tandoori Angry Chicken, half of a chicken with Morimoto epice spice, bell pepper, carrot, mushroom, and coconut curry sauce. My drink of choice is their Japanese Old Fashion, made with Suntory whisky, simple syrup, and Angostura bitters. It's not your typical Old Fashion, but it is tasty. There is also the walk-up Morimoto Asia Street Food, which has a limited menu, but they’ll serve you fast. Take note, as there is limited outdoor seating.

The Edison is a unique dining and entertainment venue designed to resemble an abandoned 1920s power plant. This industrial, gothic-themed hotspot offers classic American cuisine, signature cocktails, and a variety of live entertainment. Multiple levels have distinct dining and bar areas, including a dance floor and stage for nightly performances. Steampunk-inspired décor and waterfront balcony views enhance the ambiance. The menu includes a range of contemporary American dishes, such as sandwiches, salads, and entrees, along with craft cocktails. The typical meal starts with Candied Bacon, The Edison Burger, which consists of sirloin, short rib & brisket, white cheddar, Applewood smoked bacon, pickles, lettuce, and tomato, topped with their Edison Sauce. The libation of choice is whatever we’re in the mood for.

Next up is Jaleo by José Andrés, which brings the flavors of Spain to life. The menu offers an extensive variety of tapas and contemporary Spanish cuisine. They serve authentic paella cooked over a wood-fired pit, cheeses, and salads. They also have a premier selection of sangrias, Spanish wines, and sherries. Okay, here’s where the tide turns. We’ve been here once, and that’s it. I don’t recall what we ordered or drank; it was a giant cup of OK.

If you want to get your Gaelic on, head to Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant. This authentic Irish-owned establishment was built entirely in Ireland and reassembled in Orlando. It offers traditional and contemporary Irish cuisine, live music, and dance. The menu features hearty favorites like bangers and mash, fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, and boxty potato pancakes. A variety of Irish beers, whiskeys, and cocktails are available. Raglan Road is known for its entertainment, including talented musicians and Irish dancers performing on multiple stages. They also host the Mighty St. Patrick's Day Festival. If you dine here, go with the Shepherd's Pie made with braised and pulled beef & lamb and root vegetables in a rich red wine jus with Irish peat smoked mashed potatoes with a mug of Guinness. Here’s today's trivia: what’s the difference between Shepard's Pie and Cottage Pie? Shepherd's pie is made of ground lamb, while cottage pie uses ground beef.

In episode 207, I discussed Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. Although it provides a contemporary take on the classic bar and grill idea, the food didn't impress us. Here’s a quick summary: the truffle fries, two WP Prime Burgers, and two double drinks amounted to $143.00, not including the tip.

Terralina Crafted Italian is a delightful waterfront restaurant inspired by Italy's lake district. It offers a warm, rustic setting to enjoy classic Italian flavors. The menu features a variety of dishes, including wood-fired pizzas, hearty pasta, and fresh vegetables. My last meal was seafood fettuccini with fresh mushrooms, shrimp, fish, spicy lemon-tomato broth, and a grilled baguette. Terralina Crafted Italian has an extensive wine list and craft cocktails to complement your meal.

If you plan to dine at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin, you will need a reservation, and even then, plan on your reservation being 30 to 45 days out. This spot is known for its Southern comfort food. The restaurant emphasizes fresh, locally sourced ingredients, showcasing Florida's agricultural bounty. Signature dishes include fried chicken, shrimp and grits, and house-made sugar doughnuts. As hack as it sounds, their Moonshine Cocktails aren’t that bad.

The decor and ambiance are designed to make guests feel at home, but again, you will need a reservation.

If you’re a fan of hamburgers, consider D-Luxe Burger. They offer gourmet burgers and hand-cut fries. Try the Classic Cheeseburger or the Barbecue Burger. Each is made with a signature blend of beef and served on a house-made bun for ultimate freshness—plan on being surrounded by lots of kids and strollers.

We have two go-twos if you are looking for a restaurant where you won’t need a reservation and the wait will be less than 10 minutes.

The first is City Works Eatery & Pour House. It offers an extensive selection of craft beers, 90 of which are local and classic American bar food. City Works also has massive, state-of-the-art HDTVs, making it ideal for watching sports. We usually order appetizers such as duck nachos, pretzel bites, or BBQ chicken flatbread. We watched several of the Florida Panther’s Stanley Cup runs here last year.

The second, and probably our favorite, is Splitsville. Typically, one of us will post a picture on social media with the caption, “renegotiating everything,” which is usually followed up with concerning texts from family and friends. Splitsville offers a unique entertainment, dining, bowling, and live music blend. Splitsville has 30 luxury bowling lanes for bowlers, and no bowling alley would be complete without billiard tables.

The menu goes beyond typical bowling alley food, offering everything from fresh-rolled sushi to mouth-watering cheeseburgers and hand-tossed pizzas. My typical order is a Buffalo Chicken sandwich with extra buffalo sauce for the fries. Try one of their frozen drinks—think adult Slurpee. My favorite is the Swampwater, a mix of Orange Chrush and Big Wave Dave. When you mix the Orange Crush Vodka, 153 grains, and orange with the Big Wave Dave Vodka, grain alcohol, and raspberry, you get Swampwater.

If you’re a fan of sweets, check out Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop or Gideon's Bakehouse. At Ghirardelli, I’d go with the Ocean Beach Sea Salt Caramel Sundae. Gideons is famous for its cookies. Be prepared to stand in line and wait, and then wait some more sometimes; the wait is two hours. Personally, I think the juice isn’t worth the squeeze because they have a second location at the East End Market. While these cookies are delicious and huge, they are expensive. The CEO (My Wife) and I went the other day, and four cookies set us back $25.00.

Well, there you have it, Episode 208, Dining at Disney Springs. For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to substack at travelstories.substack.com/ You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com. As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

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This is being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener, welcome; if you are a returning listener, welcome back. The 2024 Travel Year in Review Plus Some Travel News roundup is tonight's topic.

There is no beer in this episode as this is recorded on January 1st, and I traditionally do dry January.

The days between Christmas and New Year are odd for me. It's even weirder when the holidays fall on a Wednesday. Those days are extremely slow for me when it comes to work, and I’ve learned to embrace those slow times because, by mid-January, all hell typically breaks loose.

It’s time for my year to be reviewed. I am a numbers nerd, and I love to track things.

For my beer consumption, I use Untappd.

In 2024

I drank 91 unique beers. 20 beer styles, with IPAs being my favorite style, no surprise there. I drank beer at 100 locations, with Saturday being my favorite day. I drank beer from 70 different breweries. With New Belgium getting the most love, thank you, Voodoo Ranger series.

This surprised me; my top beer for the year is Two Hearted IPA from Bells Brewery. It’s a great beer, but I never would’ve guessed it was my top beer.

The worst beer of the year was Gummies Fruit Punch IPA, which was so sweet it hurt my teeth, and Juniper Pilsner from 81Bay Brewing tasted like I was drinking a ground-up juniper bush.

Regarding the podcast, I had a whopping 1% growth in streamed episodes and 10% in followers. The top episode was the First Flight of 2024, which streamed 999% more than the average. 24% of listeners are between the ages of 18 and 24. Travel Stories was streamed in 19 different countries thanks to all the listeners.

Let’s look at my 2024 travel numbers.

In 2000, I signed up for TripIt; over the past 14 years, I have traveled 655,049 miles, equating to traveling around the world 26.3 times. This consists of 1825 days on the road and 517 trips. 35% of my time was traveling.

Of those 14 years that have been tracked, all road warriors keep track of their travel numbers,

In 2018, I spent more time on the road than I ever have in my 24 years of business travel.

* Trips 51

* Days 248

* Distance 75,284 mi

* Cities 70

* Countries 1

Six years later, in 2024, those numbers have decreased significantly.

* Trips 16

* Days 56

* Distance 31,511 mi

* Cities 36

* Countries 1

While many had hoped that business travel would return to pre-COVID numbers, we have become too comfortable with virtual meetings.

My favorite 2024 business adventure was a 500-mile Buffalo to Rochester road trip. Let’s review a few of the food highlights.

In Buffalo, dinner was at the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery. They offer a solid brew list, many of which are made onsite. While I was tempted to order wings, this is Buffalo. Our waitress convinced me to go with the Buffalo Chicken Pizza, which was so much OK that I left almost half of it when we left.

In Utica, it was Slice. Slice’s claim to fame is that they were featured on Barstool Sports one-bite pizza reviews, scoring 7.7 out of 10. If you visit, make sure you order their char-grilled purple cow wings. I am still trying to figure out what the purple cow sauce is made of, but this fantastic, tasty, sticky mix is tough to distinguish a single dominant flavor with. And while you’re at it, get yourself a slice; they are as big as your head. And keeping with the theme, I had a slice of purple cow pizza, which was beyond delicious.

In Rochester, the food stop was Amiel's the Original Submarine based solely on the hotel's recommendation. It took me a minute to hone in on what I wanted. I went with a large Buffalo Chicken-A-Miel with hot peppers and extra buffalo sauce. After my first bite, my sinuses opened right up, and I knew then that I was in store for one delicious sub. There is an excellent selection of glass bottled drinks….. think Hank’s Root Beer and save room for a cookie.

Regarding personal travel, it was the two trips to Boston, a city I have only visited to catch a flight back home. Listen to episodes 199 and 202 for the details. If you don’t listen, just know that it’s worth visiting.

Keeping with the theme of food let’s open with this. Which hotel has the best complimentary breakfast? TPG (The Points Guy) should be The Points Guys since Brian Kelly is no longer a one-man show. If you’re new to business travel, TPG can be a helpful site as you navigate what branded credit cards will work best for you.

Back to the actual story: Which hotel has the best free breakfast? TPG ate 10 meals at 10 different hotels to find the winner.

Specifically, they considered four key criteria:

* Variety: How many options of hot foods, proteins, cereals, fruits, bread and pastries, yogurts, juices, coffees and teas, condiments, and more were available?

* Dietary friendly: Were there options available for a wide swath of dietary restrictions, including non-dairy milk or yogurts, gluten-free bread or pastries, vegan item,s and the like?

* Presentation: Was the breakfast area clean and organized? Were the foods labeled so guests knew exactly what they put on their plates?

* Taste: How did it all taste?

Their list:

10. Comfort Inn

9. Hyatt Place

8. La Quinta by Wyndham

7. Fairfield by Marriott

6. Hampton by Hilton

What is the difference between a Hampton Inn and a Hampton Inn and Suites?

* Hampton Inn: A budget to midscale hotel with limited food and beverage options

* Hampton Inn and Suites: Offers suites in addition to rooms and may include amenities like free hot breakfast, parking, and Wi-Fi.

* So, for the most part, they are the same.

5. SpringHill Suites

4. Holiday Inn Express

3. Homewood Suites by Hilton

2. Residence Inn by Marriott

1. Embassy Suites by Hilton

Mostly, I agree with the list because nowhere on it is Courtyards by Marriott. I have never had a decent breakfast at a Courtyard. There is no mention of Tru from Hilton or Avid from IHG. These are great spots for breakfast if you are carb-loading or starting your day with an S-ton of sugar. I’m glad that Embassy Suites by Hilton made the list, as they lay out a great spread. However, it should be in second place because the Hilton Garden Inn does it much better and should be number one—both Embassy and Hilton Garden Inn offer made-to-order eggs or pancakes. The bacon is always crispy, which is odd, and the biscuits seem to be made from scratch. It’s doubtful, but they are delicious.

Here are some tips if you're wondering how to score free hotel breakfasts.

* Some hotel chains, like Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express, offer complimentary breakfast to all guests. It's a great perk to look for when booking your stay.

* Many hotel loyalty programs provide complimentary breakfasts to benefit members with a specific status level. For example, Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors offer this perk to their elite members.

* Certain travel credit cards, including complimentary breakfast, have hotel status or benefits. It's worth checking if your card offers this perk.

* Keep an eye out for special promotions or packages that include complimentary breakfast. Sometimes, hotels offer these deals to attract more guests.

* Booking Strategies: Booking directly through the hotel’s website or app can sometimes unlock additional perks, including complimentary breakfast.

These tips can help you enjoy a delicious start to your day without spending extra money, leaving more in your budget for the fun parts of your trip!

It's time to talk about PTO-paid time off. My employer is beyond generous with PTO. I get 25 days of PTO plus three float days. This means I could take one day of PTO every other week. We can also bank up to 210 days, which rolls over yearly. For some, maximizing PTO is at the forefront. How about turning 16 PTO days into 55 days of vacation in 2025?

We must focus on the federal holidays on a Monday or Friday in 2025.

* Monday, Jan. 20: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday

* Monday, Feb. 17: Washington's Birthday, also known as Presidents Day

* Monday, May 26: Memorial Day

* Friday, July 4: Fourth of July

* Monday, Sept. 1: Labor Day

* Monday, Oct. 13: Columbus Day, known as Indigenous Peoples Day

These holidays below fall on weekdays next year:

* Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year's

* Thursday, June 19: Juneteenth

* Thursday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving

* Thursday, Dec. 25: Christmas

If you tag on a PTO day before or after the federal holidays and put in for PTO on January 2nd and 3rd, you used 11 PTO days for 39 days of vacation.

If you're looking for a longer steak of vacation days, think Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 27). Request PTO for Monday, November 24; Tuesday, November 25; and Wednesday, November 26. 74 and Friday, Nov. 28 (unless you have Friday off already). Depending on your company policy, you can use three or four PTO days to get nine consecutive days off (Nov. 22–30).

By planning ahead and combining these holidays with PTO, you can turn 16 PTO days into up to 55 days of vacation in 2025

Since you work for your PTO, make it work for you.

Here’s another statistic for you. The five busiest air routes last October.

* Los Angeles - San Francisco 319,064 seats

* Las Vegas - Los Angeles 303,394 seats

* Atlanta - Orlando 288,226 seats. This is surprising because by the time you get to the Atlanta airport, check-in, etc., you should be using online check-in. Take the flight and the deal with the O-Town airport you could drive this.

* La Guardia - Chicago 283,592 seats

* New York JFK - Los Angeles 282,426 seats

October isn’t traditionally a heavy travel month, and I can only imagine the numbers for November and December.

This is rental car season, or at least the migration of rental cars back to Thank You, Florida.

Pre-COVID rental car companies offered cheap rates for anyone who wanted to drive a rental vehicle to Florida from dozens of destinations. Guess what? Hertz is bringing this promotion back. However, in the past, rental car companies offered a rate of as low as $4.95 per day for rental vehicles returning to Florida. These were one-way trips from destinations in much of the eastern United States.

Like all good promotions that get brought back, there are some changes. To start, your rental will not be as low as $4.95, and it must be picked up through 1/19/2025. A minimum one (1) day rental is required, with a maximum of ten (10) days. You still get to pay all the airport fees, tourism fees, vehicle license recovery fees, and any other government-imposed taxes or fees.

You can pick up your car from twenty-two locations across the south and northeast.

Return to select cities in Florida:

* Fort Lauderdale

* Miami

* Sarasota

* Jacksonville

* Palm Beach

* Tampa

* Orlando

* Fort Myers

So, if you’re looking to visit Thank You Florida in the next three weeks, this isn’t a bad deal; it’s just not as good of a deal as it was in 2019.

"With Hertz's 2024 Florida drive-in deal, the only thing you'll be speeding through is your playlist of road trip songs!"

United Airlines Holiday Feast Fiasco: A Recipe for Disaster

Imagine this: United Airlines spreads some holiday cheer by serving festive meals to their Denver-based employees. Sounds great, right? Well, not so much. The "warm holiday salad" and chicken that had been left out a bit too long turned out to be the Grinch in disguise.

Employees, including flight attendants, started experiencing symptoms that could only be described as a holiday horror show: stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Over 200 flight attendants were initially thought to be affected, with some even falling ill mid-flight, causing at least one plane to return to the gate. Talk about a turbulent holiday!

The union later revised the number of affected employees to 24, but the damage was done. United is now investigating the incident, and employees are being advised to report their symptoms to avoid any holiday absence penalties.

To make matters worse. United also has a policy that penalizes flight attendants for calling in sick during the busy holiday period.

So, if you ever thought your holiday meal was a disaster, just be glad you weren't on the receiving end of United's "special" holiday feast!

Here’s a hotel hack, and I am not a fan of hacks because not everything is a hack. The CEO (My Wife) and I recently stayed at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista - Disney Springs, one of our favorite local hotels, after visiting Disney Springs and having dinner at Wolfgang Pucks. I need to post a podcast or blog about Disney Springs dining at some point. Wolfgang Puck’s did not meet the CEO's (My Wife) or me's expectations, and I rarely complain about food. We started with the Truffled Potato Chips, which were delicious. We ordered the WP Prime Burger with White Cheddar Cheese, Bacon Onion Jam, and Brioche Bun. To start, the Brioche bun did little to contain all of its contents. Within a few minutes, the bottom of the bun was falling apart, which was not a big deal since we had a fork and knife. The big thing was that the CEO (My Wife) ordered her burger; well done, don’t judge, and it was far from well done. The truffle fries, two WP Prime Burgers, and two double drinks totaling 143.00 dollars tipped the value scale.

Back to the hotel room hack. When we returned to the room, we discovered the thermostat would not go below 68 degrees. This is not conducive to my slumber. Since our room had a Honeywell thermostat, I knew how to get around the temperature limit. Here is the secret: hold down the display button, the off/auto button, and finally, the up arrow. The display will show LEn, and you can now set the room temperature to your level.

Well, there you have it, Episode 207, The 2024 Travel Year in Review, Plus Some Travel News Roundup.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for reading The Travel Stories Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

This is being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener, welcome; if you are a returning listener, welcome back. Tonight, it’s the December roundup.

I am enjoying a New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Tropic Force IPA at 9% ABV tonight. I’ve yet to have anything terrible from the Voodo Ranger series.

I've taken one road trip in the last few weeks: down to South Florida and then back North, past Chateau Relaxo to Ocala, FL.

Lunch in South Florida was at Rotelli’s. Five of us stopped in for lunch, and it was terrific. I started with the garlic rolls, which were done exactly like a garlic roll should be. I went with a cheesesteak, which was delicious and huge—so huge that I took half it back to the hotel for dinner. The other four in my party had been there before and knew what to order. It was off the lunch menu, and it started with soup or salad, followed by half a sub. If that wasn't enough, a slice of pizza closed out the food trifecta.

I had lunch in Ocala at Harry’s Restaurant. I had MAHI MAHI, grilled with lemon cream sauce.

New Orleans heavily influences Harry’s, from food to service.

Dinner in Ocala was at the District Bar & Kitchen. Make sure you begin your meal with a DBK smoked old-fashioned—that is, if you are of legal age and not one step away from a 12-step program. My meal was the District Burger—brisket and short rib combined into classic smash patties. Add cheese and caramelized onions, and finish it off with sweet, hot pickles. Try to sit at the bar if you can, as you won’t be disappointed.

The hotel in South Florida was the Hampton Inn Deerfield Beach, FL. I’ve been staying here off and on for 15-plus years. It’s a Hampton, so there were no major surprises.

The hotel stay in Ocala was at The Avid. I have never stayed at an Avid property. The staff was friendly, but the rooms seemed barren. The desk was not very deep, and the electrical plug was centered on it, making it hard to open my laptop. The breakfast came up short, with premade sausage biscuits. It's a solid three stars.

Let’s open with high-functioning, and not as in a high-functioning alcoholic, but a high-functioning traveler.

According to the Huffington Post, these are the four signs that you are secretly a high-functioning traveler.

* Extensive Planning

* Arriving (Too) Early

* Avoiding Certain Types Of Transportation

* Overpacking

Extensive planning means spending excessive time planning trips and researching destinations, accommodations, and activities in great detail. This extensive planning helps them feel more in control and prepared for any potential challenges that may arise. I am OK with my extensive planning, is to ensure the dates of my hotel and flight are correct. When it comes to activities, I can always find something to do.

Arriving too early at the airport is my jam. In the words of Ryan Bingham, aka George Clooney, from the movie “ In the Air,” All the things you probably hate about traveling -the recycled air, the artificial lighting, the digital juice dispensers, the cheap sushi- are warm reminders that I'm home. I embrace the airport; I know that if I’m at Love Field, there is a What-A-Burger, BWI has a Dog Fish Head brewery, and Atlanta Hartsfield is home to The Varsity.

Avoiding Certain Types Of Transportation - I’m not a fan of taxis since ride-share has come into being.

Overpacking, we talked about this last episode. You don’t need to take everything with you. Besides, every town has a Walmart or Target in case you under-pack.

"Traveling with high-functioning anxiety is like being a duck—calm on the surface, but paddling like crazy underneath!"

It’s that time of year when road warriors consider mileage runs. A mileage run is a trip to earn frequent flyer miles or achieve elite status with an airline. This can lead to benefits like complimentary upgrades, bonus miles, and lounge access. Often, these are flights for meetings that could’ve been handled with a Teams meeting. These aren’t as common as they were 20 years ago, as most companies have strict travel rules in place.

How about a mattress run? Mattress runs are similar to airline mileage runs. A mattress run is when you book and check into a hotel to gain loyalty benefits, like elite status or bonus points, without necessarily staying overnight. The practice used to be more lucrative, but changes in hotel loyalty programs and increased room rates have made it less rewarding. And with so many hotel-branded credit cards, most will automatically grant you loyalty status.

Combining mattress runs with mini-vacations or using credit cards to earn elite status are alternative approaches suggested as modern strategies.

It comes down to that head in a bed.

I’m not a massive fan of the Ticky-Tock unless the CEO sends me something to watch. Recently, she came across this Ticky-Tock hack. Side note: Not everything in the world is a “hack.” Sometimes, it’s just a good idea. For instance, applying for TSA Pre-check isn’t a hack; it’s a good idea.

The hack involves texting your flight number to yourself on the morning of your flight. For iPhone users, this creates a clickable link that provides real-time updates on your flight status, gate number, and baggage claim information. A flight number consists of a 2-letter airline code and a series of numbers that will help you differentiate your flight from others flying that day. You will see the flight number in your booking confirmation or your boarding pass. If you are confused about your airline code, you can also quickly look it up in the International Air Transport Association’s search engine.

This method, notice I didn’t say hack, helps travelers avoid the hassle of constantly checking airport screens or airline apps.

"Who knew the secret to stress-free travel was just a text away? Siri, book me a flight and send me a reminder!"

Let’s talk about Spirit Airlines. Everyone knows that Spirit is on the edge of bankruptcy with Ted Christie, Spirit CEO, being in favor of $5.3 million in retention bonuses that Spirit disclosed it will pay five of its top executives, which was disclosed in the bankruptcy filings — $3 million for Christie and $850,000 for Chief Operating Officer John Bendoraitis in particular, not sure about the other three.

But that isn’t what this is about; it’s about Spirit Flight Club, or as some call it, Spirit Fight Club. If you click the link to watch the video, be warned: It is NSFW. Spirit Fight Club is usually between two passengers; in this case, it isn’t. I present: ‘I’ll Drop Kick You!’ Spirit Airlines Agents Bump, F-Bomb, and Check In Passengers—All at Once—talk about multitasking. This came to us from View From The Wing.

In a now-viral video, two Spirit Airlines check-in agents—yes, check-in agents, not even on the plane—can be seen fighting. At the start of filming, they can be seen bumping while one says to the other, “Do not play with me.” She continued, “Do not play with me, 'cause I’m not the one nor the two. ..just go, you ain’t gonna do nothing. Like I said, keep my f’ing name out your mouth, b*tch.” Then she begins dropping f-bombs, telling the other employee to go away. My favorite is “I’ll drop kick yo’ azz” as she prints a passenger boarding pass like it’s just another day. Like I said, multitasking.

"Spirit Airlines: Where the check-in agents might just check you out!"

It's time for some controversy. Does the toilet paper go over or under? Is Ginger or MaryAnn hotter? Is cheesecake pie? These are things that can divide a crowd. How about this? Imagine meeting your soulmate and finding out they stand up as soon as the plane lands. Ouch.

Since I typically sit in a window seat, if I happen to stand up when the plane lands, I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll be hunched over. Personally, I don’t care if you stand up or stay seated. What I care about is that as soon as it’s time for our row to exit, you need to be “Johnny On The Spot” and move.

It's time for another NSFW work video. There's a r/KarenGoBrrr sub-reddit where this was the post's title “It wasn’t the message, it was the delivery of the message”.

The plane lands, the bell chimes, indicating that it is ok to undo your seatbelt and this gentleman immediately stands up. Several rows back, this young lady unleashes a verbal rant of threats and cuss words. The only thing safe for work thing, she yelled, “ I’m not getting up the plane any faster. You trying to hop over people that that.” I have no idea what she meant by this, but you be you. Short of that sentence or two, everything else she yelled made her look trashy, not the person who stood up. Again, I don’t care if anyone stands up, but I wish every person who takes an aisle seat would do as one of my traveling buddies does. He turns to the middle and window seat passengers and says, “If you have a connecting flight, I will stand up as soon as we get the all-clear to let you get out.” Simple and considerate. Honestly, it wasn’t the message; it was the delivery of the message.

How about another employee versus employee story? From One Mile At A Time - Delta Flight Attendant Stabs Colleague, Charged With Attempted Murder. This story was all over the travel blogosphere.

A 36-year-old Delta flight attendant has been arrested following a spree of violence that happened during a layover in New Orleans on Monday, November 25, 2024. This was in the downtown hotel where Delta crews stay during their layovers.

Several Delta crew members had gone out for the evening. When returning to the hotel, one of them began acting strange. The primary victim (a female) reportedly escorted the suspect (a male) to his room, at which point an argument began.

The suspect then started stabbing his female colleague twice in the arm and once in the neck. The victim then fled to another floor for help, following the suspect. A security guard then intervened and was stabbed in the process as well. Next, the police arrived and arrested the suspect. Lots of questions with this one. How did the flight attendant travel with a knife? Did he buy it during the layover? It is New Orleans, after all. Was there more than alcohol involved? Finally, the motivation behind the violence, I have my thoughts, but it will be interesting to hear what the victim says.

I don’t spend much time on Twitter, sorry, X, but I came across this tweet from KyleMatthewsCEO.

Business tip;

Whenever you are flying commercial, especially in business/first class, always wear your best business suit & tie combo (business formal).

Kyle goes on to add: Combine the professional clothes with a clean shave, combed hair, and I hate to admit, yes a nice watch helps, at minimum you will get looks, and in all likelihood the person sitting next to you will have to ask… “hey, what do you do for a living?”

The comments on this were stellar.

* Heidi wrote I've never once thought "I wonder what they do for a living" about anyone on an airplane.

* Andrew posted, I wear basketball shorts and a dirty t-shirt in first class so people don't ask questions.

* EconGiggles added, Obviously, you’ve never flown the 15-hour flight from LAX-MEL.

Generally, people did not support Kyle’s business tip, and one reader suggested that this should be Kyle’s last tweet.

Here’s my take: all my trips begin and end at Orlando International Airport MCO. Half the people I see wear pajamas or sweatpants with slides and hoodies, and don’t forget the BOSE noise-canceling headphones. Personally, I don’t care if you look like you rolled out of bed and headed to the airport. What I care about is you not being an asshat on the flight, especially if you are sitting next to me.

When I was a Delta Sky Miles member flying out of Atlanta, I always wore dress slacks, a dress shirt, and a tie. The jacket was optional, especially if I didn’t have a first-class seat since there weren’t any closets to hang it up in coach. At the time, I was flying back into Atlanta during the evening, so I often came from a client site and didn’t have a place to change clothes.

The other reason for dressing up was, at that time, it made it easier on Delta to get a first-class upgrade, or if my flight was delayed or I needed to change flights, I looked a bit more professional than someone who looked like they got their clothes out of the hamper.

I understand some people dress down who are millionaires; think Sam Walton. However, people make assumptions based on first impressions.

"Who knew that trading sweatpants for a suit could turn your flight into a networking event? That’s my business tip.

Well, there you have it, Episode 206, The December roundup.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

This is being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener, welcome; if you are a returning listener, welcome back. Tonight, it’s the 2024 Gift Guide.

I am enjoying a Queen Hazy IPA from Prison Pals Brewing in Doral, Florida this evening. Queen is 6.2 ABV and quite tasty.

For returning listeners, my standard holiday gift list is still intact. Feel free to indulge an old road warrior.

* Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II – steel bracelet and should run less than $11k.

* 1995 Land Rover Defender – I had a chance to buy one for $30k in 1995, and I’m still bent that I passed on it. Seven or eight years ago, you could pick up a gently used one for less than $70k. Now it’s north of $100,000 for one.

The Gift Guide episodes are some of my favorite episodes.

I have two faults, probably more.

When I find a hobby, I will jump in with both feet.

* Herb garden

* Beer

* Cigars

* Fishing

* Whiskey

* Powerlifting

The second is that I’m an easily influenced gadget guy. Sites like Uncrate, Cool Tools, and BoingBoing Gadgets are my Kryptonite.

Typically, gifts with “Travel” in their names are useless: travel wallet, a travel scale—you get the idea.

Here are a few ideas that sound great, but they’re not.

Stainless Steel Tumblers—Yeti, Rambler, Rtic, or any tumblers that keep ice intact for three weeks. We’ve all got one, three of them, to be exact, and while they’re a great gift, they’re not great for traveling. Those behemoth steel tubes are made for hanging out on the boat or at a neighbor’s cookout.

* Blacklight Flashlight—While this sounds practical, no one wants to know what germs lurk in their hotel room. Besides, if the place looks sketchy, I’ll find somewhere else to stay.

* Anything Associated With Washing Clothes In Our Room – We don’t need a clothesline that stretches across the bathtub. Nor do we need a sink-stopper soap contraption. Most hotels have a washer and dryer hidden somewhere. Yet a Tide To Go Pen is a great gift.

RFID Blocking Anything – I never understood the hype over this. With the introduction of chipped cards, this is even less of a necessity. Besides, if they want your information, they’ll get it.

When choosing gifts, consider size and weight. Most of us are good at Luggage-Tetris, which means we know what goes where in our luggage. Giving us some odd or oversized item throws us off our game. The same goes for weight. If it’s too heavy, we may travel with it once—yes, once—and then we’ll donate it to Goodwill.

Looking back, it’s interesting to see the progression of travel gadgets.

In 2016, it was:

Amazon Fire Stick—Most hotel TVs have HDMI slots, so why not use that NetFlix or Hulu account on the road? Since it’s small and lightweight, it makes the cut. Most hotel TVs are smart TVs, and you no longer need an Amazon Fire Stick for the road.

Also, in 2016, it was a Travel Router. When traveling, I rarely leave home without a travel router. Convert a wired network connection into a wireless one so everyone can enjoy it. Most allow you to connect a USB drive for file sharing and stream media from any connected device. Make sure to use a VPN. Eight years later, WiFi is almost everywhere and usually free.

Most road warriors should have the following, but check to see if they’re missing any of these.

● Packing Cubes – This is one of those things that I figured I could live without. After five years, I don’t know how I would have survived without them. Feed your OCD-ness for less than $25.00.

● AUKEY Powerbank – I’ve yet to find a bad Aukey product. There’s nothing worse than having a dead phone, especially when you’re trying to let EVERYONE know your flights are delayed. I have gifted these for years; make sure whatever you order is rated 10000mAh or above. $23.00 on Amazon

● Anker PowerPort Speed 4 Wall Charger with One Quick Charge – If you travel with family, no doubt someone will leave their charging knuckle at home. This 4-port wall charger will instantly make you a hero. $28.00 on Amazon.

● Anker Powerline II 3-in-1 Cable, Lightning/Type C/Micro USB Cable – Cables are a pain! My running joke is that if I ever fall off a cliff, I want some sort of a charging cable with me.... the reason is that it’ll get hung up on something long before I hit the ground. With this, you can reduce three cables into one. Less than $20.00

Connectivity is the lifeblood of traveling. If you’re in an office, everything you need is close by. However, something as trivial as not having an outlet close by can be a real show-stopper. That’s why so many gifts focus on connectivity.

Here are a few things you might want to consider:

* Foldable Travel Duffel Bag—This is a stupid yet simple gift. How many times have you needed some sort of bag? This 20-inch bag features a compact folding design and is perfect for collecting shells at the beach or pinecones in the mountains. It stores easily in your backpack and costs less than $17.00.

* Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket—I hate jackets. First, they’re bulky, and second, they’re cumbersome. In 2018, I picked up a Nano Puff, and I like that it’s thin yet keeps me warm. I can put it in a compression bag, which reduces it to nothing. Retail is $240.00, but you can find it much cheaper if you search.

* Medicine Bag – This one isn’t exciting till you need it.

* Benadryl is great for skin irritations or making children or grandchildren go to sleep.

* AirBourne is excellent for colds. I’ve fended off more colds with this stuff than I can remember.

* Zyrtec – for allergies.

* Zantac – for heartburn.

* Top it off with aspirin and bandages. To take a medicine bag to the next level, add a sewing kit, wet wipes, and a collar stays if they wear dress shirts.

* I have no trouble sleeping in a hotel room, and if I wake up in the middle of the night, I don’t get confused about where I am or where the bathroom is. Some road warriors aren’t so fortunate, and they wake up in a panic in a dark hotel room, not knowing where they are. A motion-activated night is the perfect gift. They’re roughly $10.00 a piece, so buy two because we’ll leave one in a hotel room when we check out.

* If your road warrior likes to eat in their hotel room, a handy and inexpensive gift is a collapsible silicone bowl with a lid. I’m a fan of the $1.99 Ramen noodle bowls, but by the time I throw in a couple of packages of Starkist Buffalo Chicken, the original container is overflowing. These bowls come in handy; with the lid, you can keep it fresh for the midnight snack. Change back on $11.00.

* Recently, I stopped traveling with my iPad and keyboard. They were heavy, and the only place I used them was on an airplane. Besides, my iPhone does everything my iPad does, except for the keyboard. Enter the Samsers Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard with a Stand for your phone. Weighing 5.53 ounces with a charge, you will get 40 hours of continuous operation or 180 days of standby. Only $24.00

* With the temperature dropping, you might need to turn the heat on in your hotel room. A hotel room heater does two things: first, it warms the room, and second, it quickly dries out the air, which can lead to a rough night of sleep. If that sounds like the road warrior in your life, purchase them a Cool Mist Humidifier. Small, lightweight, and USB-powered, you can choose from two mist modes, which will help to improve air quality, ease allergies, and relieve dry skin and throat. $24.00

* This past year, I bought one of these for the kids: the AirFly Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter for Wireless Headphones. Say goodbye to tangled cords with these. Use your wireless buds or headphones to listen to audio from in-flight entertainment, gym equipment, gaming devices, or any 3.5mm audio jack. They are right around $35.00.

With just a bit of thought, you can get creative and gift someone something they will use without spending much money.

There are small portable white noise machines, drink holders for their suitcases, Phone holders for the airplane seat backs, and if all else fails, an inflatable neck pillow. I think that’s the right time. I have suggested that anyone buy a neck pillow.

Well, there you have it, Episode 205, The 2024 Gift Guide.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Hello and welcome to episode 204 of Travel Stories from the Back Again And Gone podcast.

This is being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener, welcome; if you are a returning listener, welcome back. Tonight, it’s the November Roundup.

Tonight, I am drinking a Bound By Time IPA from Edmund’s Oast Brewery in Charleston, SC. At 7% ABV, Bound By Time is quickly becoming my favorite beer. Look for it at your local Publix; a four-pack will set you back around $15.00.

There have been no real trips of note in the last month. The CEO and I did make to Disney Springs, and as we tend to do, we had dinner at Splitsville as we negotiated our relationship. I enjoy Disney Springs in the late afternoon this time of year since the temperature is in the 80s, not the 90s.

Let’s start with holiday travel since it is that time of year. Here are a few holiday travel blunders to avoid.

Packing more than you need. After 24 years of business travel, I have perfected this. I don’t pack clothes that I haven’t worn in 3 years, and I don’t need to pack ten pairs of underwear for a 5-day trip. The CEO is a “Team Over-pack” member, which means she will check her bag. Regarding checking bags, here are a few things to consider. Does your credit card offer free checked bags?

Another thing to consider is being mindful of your bag's weight, especially during the holidays. You could return home with gifts in your luggage. You might incur extra fees if you check multiple bags or a bag of more than 50 pounds.

If you plan to travel by plane, look for a reservation you can change or cancel. Most airlines will give you credit for your ticket if you cancel, but if you only travel once or twice a year, you might prefer the cashback in your account. If you are booking travel with a credit card, look to see if they provide free travel insurance. Airlines typically won't cover a flight if it is canceled due to weather.

If you can be flexible with your travel plans and leave a day later or return a day later, this might provide some options, some of which might be cheaper. This is a no-brainer: avoid flying on the busiest days. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving will be a dumpster fire, but flying on Thanksgiving day might be a better choice since most travelers are already at their destination. The CEO and I used to do this flying into Atlanta on Christmas day, and typically, it was an easy travel day.

The last thing to consider is whether using points or paying for the plane fare with dollars is cheaper. I am not the best at this because my points vs. dollars strategy is as follows: I consider how many airline points I have vs. what I can afford to pay when my credit card bill comes due. For you financial nerds, there is a calculator that can help you out.

I rarely touch on religion, but when a post contains a church leader, thank you, Florida, and a mid-flight fight, I do have a duty. Former ayahuasca church leader Everett Chad Nelson, one of the three named people, recently got in a mid-flight fight. If you’re not familiar with the ayahuasca religion, I wasn’t. After a quick Google search, there seems to be only one ayahuasca church, and it’s in Florida, about 34 miles from Chateau’ Relaxo. If you’ve never heard of ayahuasca or listened to Joe Rogan, here’s the 50,000-foot view. Ayahuasca is a plant-based psychedelic. Which can alter a person's thinking, sense of time, and emotions. They can cause a person to hallucinate—seeing or hearing things that do not exist or are distorted. Sounds like fun.

Back to Everett, Chad Nelson was on a flight from California to Washington, D.C. About two hours into the five-hour flight Everett Chad Nelson, 44, left his seat in the rear of the aircraft and headed to one of the lavatories up front. When Everett Chad Nelson exited the bathroom, he stopped at seat 12F and “without notice, began physically attacking a sleeping male passenger by punching him repeatedly in the face and head until blood was drawn. The man began screaming, after which a Good Samaritan intervened and managed to pull Everett Chad Nelson off of him.

Aside from giving the unidentified passenger two black eyes, Nelson opened up a gash on the man’s nose, spattering blood on his seat, the wall, the window, and the sleeves of Everett Chad Nelson’s green windbreaker. There was no motive, and the pummeling came completely out of nowhere.

I’ve shared my opinion on the devil's lettuce, which isn’t favorable. That being said, I’m doubling down on any psychedelic by saying it's not for me.

View From The Wing posted this last month: People Are Showing Up At Hotels For Free Breakfast And Leaving—And They Aren’t Even Hotel Guests. Most commercial hotels offer some sort of free breakfast. You’ll find it at Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, and Holiday Inn Express, which serves these amazing cinnamon rolls.

I rarely see a hotel check that you’re a guest before giving you access. This is a case of looking like you belong there: You can park in the lot, walk in, and eat.

 The only hotel I recall recently verifying that I was staying at is the full-service Hilton at Disney Springs. Now, their Covington Mill’s breakfast buffet is one of the best you’ll find, with a price tag of $30.00 per person.

Years ago, most Hilton properties gave you a daily copy of USA Today. A sales rep once asked me to bring him my daily copy and spare room key. Since this was a dude, I had no interest in handing him my extra room key. I would’ve felt the same way if it had been a female, so I asked him why. His angle was with a USA Today tucked under his arm and room key he could get himself a free breakfast. Internally I said to myself, what a d*****s as my mouth put forth, hell no.

I have probably spent more than 1700 nights in hotels, so I’ve had more than 1700 opportunities to dine on a hotel's breakfast offerings. There are only a few properties that stand out in my mind: Crown Plaza, Greenville, SC; the full-service Marriott in Mobile, AL; the Hampton Inn Duluth, GA; and the Hilton at Disney Springs. That’s it—four properties. There may be a fifth or sixth, but I am getting older and don’t recall. Most hotel breakfasts offer what I call square eggs, limp bacon, and oatmeal that could be used for wallpaper paste. One saving grace is bagels, yogurt, and anything in a container, such as jelly, honey, or peanut butter. The other saving grace is the juice machine. If I ever hit the lottery, I will buy a juice machine for Chateau’ Relaxo. The aerated apple juice is a perfect way to start your day.  

This one comes from the Delta subreddit.

Carlydoingthings posted, I was punched in the face by another passenger - Delta is saying there’s nothing they can do

Carlydoingthings was flying from Detroit to Los Angeles, and about an hour into the flight, another passenger punched her in the eye. At first, she didn’t realize what was happening as she watched a movie with noise-canceling headphones. A flight attendant saw it happen and asked the guy, “Did you just punch her?” Apparently, this guy had been vaping, touching other passengers inappropriately, was extremely inebriated, and overall caused a significant disturbance all over the plane. He was being escorted to the back of the plane to be detained when this happened. Another passenger had to sit in the last row with him so he didn’t harm anyone else.

Carlydoingthings did report it and did give a statement to the police when they landed.

To make things worse, when she deplaned, the Delta agent I spoke to wasn’t even sympathetic. They told me they knew this guy had caused trouble before the flight and that he probably should never have been allowed to board in the first place. Yet, somehow, Delta still let him on the plane.

When Carlydoingthings contacted Delta about the incident, they offered her 4,000 SkyMiles (about $40) as a “goodwill gesture.” That’s it—no flight reimbursement or further compensation, even though she always flies Delta for work. For reference, Delta routinely awards travelers 5000 SkyMiles for lost luggage.

Now, Delta says it doesn’t get involved in passenger conflicts, but here’s the thing: this guy shouldn’t have been allowed on the flight at all. If they had acted sooner, Carlydoingthings wouldn’t have been assaulted.

Right off the bat, 4000 SkyMiles are ridiculous. You can open a Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card and get a 70,000 Bonus SkyMiles after you use your new card to make $2,000 in purchases within the first 6 months. And the tip-in is that you don’t have to get punched in the face.

All things being equal, if a bar is liable for overserving someone who goes out and gets in a wreck, Delta should be liable for someone who was quote-unquote causing trouble before he boarded the plane. If Carlydoingthings wanted to get assaulted, she could have flown Spirit.”

From the, you have to be kidding department; I give you JetBlue passenger sues after being served a ‘dangerously cold’ ice cream sandwich via The Independent. Karla Quinonez, who broke an incisor on her way to Paris, claims the ice cream sandwich was “at a temperature below what is reasonable or safe for consumption”. 

This sounds eerily like the infamous 1994 hot coffee lawsuit against McDonald's, where Stella Liebeck was awarded $160,000 after she purchased hot coffee from a McDonald's restaurant, then accidentally spilled it in her lap, and suffered third-degree burns in her pelvic region. 

“The ice cream sandwich that JetBlue served to Quinonez was frozen solid and caused Quinonez to sustain severe bodily injuries, including a root fracture of tooth number 10,”. Quinonez argues, that no one said anything about how hard the ice cream sandwich was, and she immediately cracked her upper left lateral incisor when she bit down; the complaint continues. According to the complaint, this necessitated an emergency tooth extraction immediately upon landing, a subsequent implant, and continuing care upon returning to the United States, which blames Quinonez’s “pain, suffering, and mental anguish” solely on JetBlue’s “negligent acts.”

It’s that time of the year when Florida fall is here, which means the day's high temperature is 84, and the afternoon rain showers have gone away. It’s also time for the annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. If you’re unfamiliar with this yearly spectacle, this allows everyone to embark on a culinary adventure across six continents—from August 29 to November 23, 2024, for a price. If you’ve listened to the podcast, you’ll know I’m more of a Disney Springs fan than any of the Disney parks. However, I find Epcot to be my Disney-happy place. 

There’s a detailed post on the Substack, but here’s a rundown of some of the food and beverages we sampled, mixed with a game called Hide-N-Squek.

We sampled Schinkennudeln, a Pasta gratin with ham, onions, and cheese, for $5.25 in Germany. I found a recipe and will be making this at home. 

When we reached Canada, it was time for Braised Beef Poutine: French fries with braised beef, Boursin Garlic & Herbs cheese sauce, some cheese curds, and gherkin relish out the door for $10.00. 

In Mexico, it was an order of Flauta de Barbacoa, which is fried tortillas filled with barbacoa beef topped with salsa verde, crema Mexicana, and queso fresco—$8.00.

The last memorable meal is a Food & Wine Classic: the Teriyaki Chicken Bun, a Steamed bun filled with minced chicken, vegetables, and teriyaki sauce from Japan—$7.95.

For beer, I limited myself to one flight, which included these three. Dunkel Lager by von Trapp Brewing, Weihenstephaner Festbier by Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan and  Lemon Zest Hefeweizen by Radeberger Gruppe. I do not like fruit beers, but the Lemon Zest wasn’t that bad.

One drink that surprised me was the Expresso Martini from Joffery’s coffee kiosk. Ever since the Entrepreneurs' wedding, I have grown to enjoy an Expresso Martini. 

In Spain, we enjoyed red sangria.

The most unique drink from Italy was a blood orange margarita. It is a simple drink consisting of tequila, triple sec, and blood orange liqueur.

One last thing to do at the food and wine festival is Remy’s hide & squeak scavenger hunt. This Ratatouille-inspired scavenger hunt takes place around the World Showcase. To participate, all you have to do is drop $10.00 for a map, and then as you wander around the World Showcase, you look for statues of Remy holding the ingredients for his favorite dish: ratatouille. Once you spot Remi, you apply the matching sticker to your map. Even if you are not good at hide & seek, you don’t need to find all or even a single Remi just turn your map in at Disney Traders for your prize, I think we got a refrigerator magnet.

Well, there you have it, Episode 204, the November roundup

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for reading The Travel Stories Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Hello and welcome to episode 202 of Travel Stories from the Back Again And Gone podcast.

This is being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener, welcome; if you are a returning listener, welcome back. Tonight, it’s six flights, a wedding, COVID-19, and some travel craziness.

Hurricane Helene landed in late September and spared Chateau Relaxo and Central Florida. That said, my sister lives in one of my favorite towns, Asheville, NC, and they didn’t do so well. They finally got the power restored on day six, but on day eight, there was still no water.

Tonight, I am partaking in an Elysian (Elison)Space Dust, coming in at 8.2 ABV. Thank you, Publix for the BOGO.

I added some new brews to my Untappd list in September.

Here are the highlights.

* Incredible Pale Ale, HenHouse Brewing Company. 6.9 ABV

* Liquid Blanket, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar 6.5 ABV

* Mind Haze Brain Melter, Firestone Walker Brewing Company 8.5 ABV

* Stone IPA, Stone Brewing 6.9 ABV

* Mind Haze, Firestone Walker Brewing Company 6.2 ABV

* Two Hearted IPA, Bell's Brewery 7 ABV

* Secret Llama, from World of Beer 9 ABV

* Zombie Dust, 3 Floyds Brewing 6.5 ABV

* Lunch, Maine Beer Company 7.0 ABV

* The Substance, Bissell Brothers Brewing Company 6.6 ABV

* King Sue, Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. 7.8 ABV

* Heady Topper, The Alchemist 8 ABV

* Hitachino Nest Japanese Classic Ale 7 ABV

* Save the Robots, Radiant Pig Craft Beers 7 ABV

* Laser Kitten, Medusa Brewing Company 6 ABV

As I always say, drink local because it exposes you to new flavors and styles and opens you up to local stories and traditions.

Every year, I try to mention 911 in my September episode. 

While it happened over two decades ago, I still remember it vividly.

The September 11th, the timeline

8:46 AM – Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Center’s North Tower. All passengers aboard are instantly killed, and employees of the WTC are trapped above the 91st floor.

9:03 AM – Flight 175 crashes into the WTC’s South Tower. All passengers aboard are killed instantly, and so are an unknown number of people in the tower.

9:37 AM – Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. All passengers aboard are instantly killed, and so are 125 civilian and military personnel in the building.

9:45 AM – US airspace is shut down under Operation Yellow Ribbon. All civilian aircraft are ordered to land at the nearest airport.

9:59 AM – The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.

10:02 AM – Flight 93 plows into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Although its ultimate target is unknown, it was likely heading for either the White House or the US Capitol.

10:28 AM – The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.

The timeline included many more events, and I’ll include a link in the show notes so you can view it yourself.

On 911, I was leaving my office in Duluth, GA, headed to Knoxville, TN. I cut through our break room moments, and I mean the moments before the second plane hit the second tower. A few of my co-workers were in the breakroom for the last 15 minutes, saying it was some sort of prop plane that flew into the North Tower. It soon became clear that this was a full-on attack. 

In 2001, our branch office was located right down the street from the Pentagon, and everyone there heard and felt the crash and saw the remnants of the crash of Flight 77. 

Around 10:30 or 11:00 AM, corporate pulled everyone off the road, which was no easy feat since smartphones weren’t all that common. There were a lot of emails read on a laptop, followed up by phone calls to coworkers we knew were in the field and not sitting in front of their laptops.

My children were 11 and 7 so I headed out to pick up my daughter if I remember my wife was working at the PRE-K school my son was attending and we all met back at the house.

No one knew how long the airports would be shut down, so coworkers drove their rental cars back to Atlanta Hartsfield to pick up their personal cars.

There were so many heroes that day, but unfortunately, many perished.

On to something a bit more cheery.

I logged a bunch of hotel stays during September, and those stays made me think a bit. To start, hotels need to bring back single-use toiletry bottles. Yep, I said it, and I’m sure it’s not the best thing for our environment. However, one hotel’s wall-mounted shampoo was not correctly secured in its mount in September. This meant anyone could take the bottle and empty all the shampoo into their bottle or throw a bunch of gribbleys in the bottle, just lurking for the next person. In a different hotel, I got one pump of body gel before it stopped dispensing. I’m sure it cost millions of dollars to retrofit all these rooms with these canisters of gribbleys. Someone should have taken those dollars and found some sort of sustainable single-use toiletry bottles.

The other thing that hotels, or at least the ones I stay at, lack is any sort of automation. In the year 2024, we are still having to flip a light switch or use the remote to turn on the TV. How about a Google Echo and some smart plugs? Echo turns on YouTube TV, Echo turns off the bathroom lights. How about wireless phone chargers? Equipping hotel rooms with that is far better than installing 24-oz shampoo bottles, conditioner, and body gel.

In September, six flights were divided: 4 with Southwest and 2 with Delta.

Currently, I am breaking my “The Person Who Chases Two Rabbits Catches Neither” strategy as I’m dividing my trips between two airlines. Let’s break this down: on the 4 Southwest flights, I had an empty seat next to me on two of them. Southwest does offer free texting and live and posted several TV series, but most of it hasn’t been updated in the last four months. Plus, I had to use my iPhone or iPad to watch any of it.

Eight years ago, when we relocated to Chateau’ Relaxo, I strayed from a 16-year relationship with Delta and went with the side chick Southwest Airlines.

So far in 2024, I’ve had four flights on Delta, which does little to advance my Delta Skymile status other than some extra points due to my Delta American Express card. However, it does subtract four flights from Southwest A+ status.

My two Delta flights were nice. Both planes were full, which is the norm, but they offered free WiFi, TV series, live TV, and movies delivered through the seat-back tablet. Each seatback also provided a USB charger for my devices.

One of my trips took me to Northern California. It had been years since I’d traveled there, and the traffic there is as bad as in Southern California, with an afternoon 32-mile trip taking 90 minutes. I’ve also discovered why there are so many wildfires, and it’s because everything is dry on both sides of I-680. There are possibly a few green trees but absolutely no green grass.

Another trip took me back to Boston. If you’ve followed this podcast for any amount of time, you’ve heard me talk about “The Entrepreneur.” Well, he went and got married. It was a three-day destination wedding. 

On Friday, we had a section of seats at Fenway for a Red Sox game. It was great to see the Green Monster in person and eat a Fenway dog. The rehearsal dinner was at the Blue Ribbon Brasserie, followed by a meet-and-greet at Dillon's. 

The wedding was held at the Commonwealth Hotel, and it went off without a hitch. It was probably one of the best receptions I’ve ever attended, with “The CEO” and “The Entrepreneur” gracing the dance floor for the mother-son dance.

As a tip-in to the event your boy here got COVID, I dodged it for 4 ½ years, and I finally got it. Being a manly man, I must admit I spent two days in bed. It’s been close to 30 years since I’ve had the flu, probably due to all the germs I’m exposed to when traveling, but all my joints ached just like I remember with the flu.

Let’s move on to vacation time, or, as it’s now been called, paid time off (PTO). My company is extremely generous, as I get 25 days of PTO per year and three float PTO for religious reasons, mental health, etc., well over a month of PTO.

In Reed Hasting's book No Rules, Rules, Reed explains how NetFlix has an “unlimited vacation policy” that gives employees the freedom to take time off. From a corporate view, this makes sense since everyone on my team is salaried. We don’t track our work on weekends or odd work hours or if someone needs to take a few hours off for a doctor's appointment, so why should we track vacation or PTO time? 

One of the kids recently started a new job and used most of their PTO for a wedding and a bout with COVID-19. They are tied down for a few months, waiting for their PTO to build back up.

All the HR BS leads me to ask, would you like to turn 12 vacation PTO days into 45? If you do, you must plan your PTO days in concert with the federal holidays.

Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday, so if you take Friday off, it’s a four-day weekend. My company automatically gives it to us.

MLK Jr. Day, Washington’s birthday, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus/Indigenous People Day are all on Mondays. If you work on the day after those holidays, you now have five four-day work weeks.

The takeaway is to maximize your PTO time so consider lining up your PTO with the federal holidays.

Here’s another question. What happens to your hotel points, credit card points, and miles after you die?

Right off the bat, the CEO and I have a “Death Folder,” a unique term, right? If one of us punches out, that folder contains every website and its password. It also contains a list of names to investigate in case we meet an untimely demise. After my father's death two years ago, I spent a solid two days selecting “Forgot Password” on numerous websites, trying to find what he was paying and how much he was paying.

For example, Delta Air Lines' SkyMiles program states, "Miles are not the property of any Member. Except as specifically authorized in the Membership Guide and Program Rules or otherwise in writing by an officer of Delta, miles may not be sold, attached, seized, levied upon, pledged, or transferred under any circumstances, including, without limitation, by operation of law, upon death, or in connection with any domestic relations dispute and/or legal proceeding." Feel free to figure that out.

However, In almost all cases (especially regarding flights), you can book travel for someone else using your points and miles. So, if a loved one has login access to your account, they can book travel for themselves and others using your points or miles in case you pass away. Since I had my dad’s Southwest login information, I could book several trips for relatives until the points ran dry. However, be mindful of mileage expiration dates.

Hotel points are generally the most flexible for transfers. Regardless of the reason, they can often be transferred to another member. So, if your loved one has remaining hotel points, you might be able to transfer them to your account if you have their account information.

Finally, the unused points could be forfeited when you close a credit card. So, ensure you understand your bank and card policy before closing any credit cards. I or we fell victim to this. My dad passed away on July 4th, 2022. At the time, he had a Chase card with an S-ton of points. My sister decided it was best to cancel the card, and we lost all those points.

After several years of rumors, Southwest will change its open seating policy and assign seats like most other airlines.

After being a Southwest steady for the past eight years, I like their current policy. I typically end up in boarding group A, and I know which window seats have the window perfectly positioned, so I get maybe an extra inch of shoulder room.

Another way to get early boarding, even before A-List Preferred, is if you fake the need for a wheelchair. Southwest Airlines has more wheelchair passengers than any other airline. It drives up the airline’s costs as they pay for the wheelchair service and cheat other customers out of better seats. Southwest calls that the  “Jetbridge Jesus” flight as passengers come on with a wheelchair to get the best seats and miraculously walk without any assistance when the flight is over.

This will also reduce the frustration of passengers trying to save seats for their family or friends with backpacks and folded jackets.

I don’t think this is a big deal, at least not to me. Hopefully, they will keep the two-free luggage policy.

Just in case you need another reason to check your receipt when leaving your hotel or dropping off your rental.

Avis claims Giovanna Boniface drove their rented 4WD Yukon Denali 36,482 miles in three days, charging her $8,079.76. 

The receipt shows .25 per mile for 36482 miles; they gave her a discount of $883.00 and then added $1215.00 in taxes.

Giovanna didn’t notice the overcharge until she checked her credit card statement before boarding a flight to Europe.

If she had driven the car non-stop for 72 hours, she would have to maintain an average speed of 402 miles per hour. I’m not a car guy, but I can assure you that a 4WD Yukon Denali has a hard time breaking 130 MPH. The receipt Avis gave Giovanna reads, "Odometer Out: 48170 Odometer In: 77224". G” Giovanna says she'd only driven 185 miles.

After some arguing, Giovanna received a credit for her trip.

There seems to be a decrease in airplane shenanigans or chaos. Early and mid-COVID, it seemed that every episode had some sort of Flight Club, Miami Flight Club, Florida Flight Club, or Spirit Flight Club. Passengers were regularly squaring up and looking to throw down, and we all know the first rule of Flight Club.

Recently, the FAA posted, “Airlines have reported more than 1,240 cases to the FAA this year, compared with nearly 6,000 in 2021. Relatively few of them are deemed serious enough to be passed along to the FBI for investigation and potential filing of criminal charges.”

Looking around the travel blogosphere everyone has an idea why, but according to View From The Wing, these are the top 3 reasons.

* They’re different passengers.

* True, before COVID, you knew what to expect on a discount or second-tier airline. Suddenly, American Airlines dropped its prices in search of revenue, and honestly, would you rather fly Spirit or American Airlines?

* Mask rules ended

* I’m sure the day the mask mandate was lifted, shenanigans or chaos decreased since there were no arguments about whether you should wear a mask.

* Alcohol returned to planes

* This is a no-brainer because, during COVID, airlines weren’t serving alcohol, so what did travelers do…. They pre-gamed at the terminal and boarded the plane fully lit. I’ll let you piece together the pieces from there.

Well, there you have it, Episode 202, the September roundup

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for reading The Travel Stories Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Hello and welcome to episode 201 of Travel Stories from the Back Again And Gone podcast.

Being recorded in the beautiful home office of, Chateau’ Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener welcome, if you are a returning listener welcome back. Tonight it’s the August travel roundup.

Tonight I am partaking in a Sweetwater G13 Dank Double Hazy IPA weighing in at 9% ABV. Both Sweetwater and New Belgium Brewing consistently hit it out of the park.

Believe it or not one trip since our last episode. It was a turn and burn to Jacksonville and the only reason that I mention it is to let you know I-95 still sucks and the Jacksonville Whataburger is worthy of a visit and ask for the spicy ketchup.

This episode will be very “Thank you Florida”. And we are opening with this. If you don’t have an airline-branded credit card or one that contains some sort of metal product in its name checking luggage gets expensive, really fast. Well, check out this travel hack to avoid those fees showcased in the Miami International Airport. Wrap yourself or your travel partner head to toe in shrink wrap. I would suggest doing this inside the airport in the restroom. Since everyone will believe that this is a luggage have them bunny-hop over to the luggage scale for the weigh-in. After the weigh-in hop on over to TSA but before you make it the the police intervene and un-wrap you. As plausible as this sounds, it did take place in Thank You Florida after all, this was done for clicks on the “Gram”. It worked with over 20,000 clicks in under three days. Of course, the comments, over 1300, is the true comedy gold.

Just a quick sample:

* Almost thought it was Kanye and Bianca’s new outfit

* He identifies as luggage

* This is why aliens just keep flying and never make stops

* My favorite before I got tired of scrolling, I've also been shrink-wrapped at fetish parties, nothing weird about that

To set the stage for this next one you might have to use the “Way Back” machine and set it to the early 1980s. Do you remember Sy Sperling? Sy Sperling was a businessman who helped bring the hair-loss industry into the mainstream with self-effacing ads. His catchphrase, “I’m not only the Hair Club president, but I’m also a client.”. As someone who has been follically challenged for close to 40 years, my stance is it’s the hair you have on the inside that matters. It makes no sense, but I came up with it.

Miami International Airport, take two - Two passengers were arrested after refusing to deplane an American Airlines flight bound for Las Vegas. 27-year-old Eugenio Ernesto Hernandez-Garnier had a bleeding head wound and blood-soaked bandages.

Flight attendants were concerned for the man’s medical condition as well as exposure to the man’s blood and asked him to clean up the wound and replace the bandages. But the one he was wearing was the only one he had.

* He and his wife, Yusleydis Blanca Loyola, were asked to leave the aircraft.

* They refused, declaring “If they could not fly, no one else can either.”

* Police were called. They boarded the aircraft and asked them again to deplane.

They were told that they would be arrested for trespassing if they did not comply, and of course, the couple remained defiant. That’s when the man’s wife began shouting that he’d just had surgery and looking at the pictures, it appears it may have been a hair transplant. As they say, pics or it didn’t happen.

Eventually, they were both handcuffed following brief resistance and removed from the aircraft along with all other passengers. Passengers cheered and clapped as the couple was escorted off the plane. They were both taken to Jackson West Medical Center for evaluation before being taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Hernandez-Garnier and Loyola face charges of trespassing after a warning and resisting an officer without violence.  

While I am not a mental health my thought is these two are residents of the “Island Of Me”.

Here’s a travel tip Miami International is the drama queen of U.S. airports. Arrive early if you want some entertainment.

Are you familiar with Liliana Goodson? Who is Goodson is a “Thank You Florida” resident, and whose pronouns are they/them, and they was headed to clown school in Sydney. When they arrived at the airport, they were stopped with a Colt 45 pistol and ammo in their luggage. They were also carrying squirrel feet, rabbit pee, and a cat spine, Goodson sounds nice, doesn’t they?  And get this, the gun was 24-karat gold-plated.

Initially, they claimed to have simply forgotten they had their gun with them. Seriously, who hasn’t placed a 24-karat gold gun in their luggage and simply forgotten about it? Kiddos, remember this, when you’re charged with a crime, prosecutors can get all of your Google searches. And apparently, Goodson had Googled “Can I carry a gun in my suitcase?” before their flight.

Now get this, up until 1997 Florida was home to the Ringling Brothers Clown College, while Ringling College is still in business, however, its focus is art and design and not teaching one to make balloon animals or juggle. Have no fear as Lake Placid, FL is home to Toby’s Clown School. Where in as little as three days you can learn, Balloon Twisting, Walk Around Comedy, Face Painting, and Comedy Skits. Goodson could’ve headed to Lake Placid and forgo the whole gun in the luggage trick. Lake Placid, FL just 2 hours south of Chateau’ Relaxo. 

Our final “Thank You Florida” contribution, and guess what it comes from Miami International Airport, again.

Missing a flight is never fun and if it’s your fault it makes matters worse. There’s a video, there’s always a video and I’ll put the link in the show notes.

This passenger just missed his Air Europa flight from Miami (MIA) to Madrid (MAD). If you don’t often fly, flights typically close boarding 15 minutes before departure. This means you need to be on the plane 15 minutes before departure or you might lose your seat. Seriously if you’re cutting your flights that close, that’s one of the reasons you’re on anxiety meds.

Watch the video and you’ll see that the passenger cries like a third grader. You’ll hear him cry after being informed he was too late for his flight and then magically snap out of it. 

Tesha was the unfortunate gate agent and this guy seems to think that by raising his voice and getting the name of the gate agent, he’d be able to get on the flight. The tip-in is that he threatens to call 911 which would’ve shown up on scene 20 minutes after the flight departed. 

Tesha offers up her name and is all too happy to spell out for him…T – E – S – H – A

Our passenger’s response was, “I like your hair, I don’t need your name.”

His next exchange with the gate agent is right of the set of the 2011 movie “The Help”. As our plane-less passenger offers this up, “I’m a teacher. I’m a beautiful person”. Which did not affect the gate agent.

Our passenger finally gets frustrated and leaves the gate area and as he walks away, he begins taking pictures and videos. As he photographs Tesha, she says, “Hold on, get my good side!”

 As they say, just another night in Miami.

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about travel hacks, especially if they are lesser known and can save you some money. Here are a few.

* Take a screenshot of your boarding pass QR code in case you can't pull it up in your Apple Wallet because it can still be scanned from a photo.

* Pack plenty of Zip-Lock bags. While they’re small they are useful. Wet shoes, swimsuits, whatever it goes in the Zip-Lock. You can deal with it when you get home. 

* Google is your friend, use it to map out what’s near your hotel, and use it to read the reviews. Also if you so a negative review check to see how many reviews that person has posted. If it’s only a few take their review with a grain of salt.

* If you have two-factor authentication enabled. If you lose your phone consider the number of things you won’t have access to anymore. 

* Never put medications in checked luggage.

* Travel with a long phone charger cable as you never know how far you’ll be away from an outlet.

* Keep a notebook of "lessons learned" for the next trip.

* Food, while most hotels offer a complimentary breakfast you still have a meal or two that aren’t comped unless your company provides a 1998-style expense account. If you can stop at a grocery store, do it, if not try Door-Dash or Uber Eats as they will typically be much cheaper, and better quality than what the hotel offers.

Following up on that last tip, food. I’m not a fan of room service, one reason is that I don’t want to pay $23.00 for a burger and fries and the second reason is either I have to ask the desk to remove the room service charge from my bill or I now have to itemize the expense..

Does it ever make sense to order room service? It can.

* When time is money - “Say you’re in a hotel room working and you get paid $40/hour. It might take you two hours to find an appropriate lunch spot, eat, pay and get back to your hotel room. That’s already $80 wasted on a lunch out, whereas room service can save you that [time] and you can get more done and be more productive.”

* When you’re at the end of a busy day of travel activities - If you roll into town 4 or 5 hours later than planned, room service is great; as there is no getting ready, no driving or Ubers, and no need to communicate with anyone besides placing a call.

* When the hotel has an award-winning restaurant attached, or across the street. I once stayed at the Swan & Dolphin and Todd English’s Blue Zoo was attached, a meal that I will never forget. Or the Harbor Seafood & Oyster Bar in Kenner, LA located across the street from my Fairfield Inn.

Last month we reported on “Raw-Dogging” it, and it’s not what you think, when it comes to air travel Raw-dogging is the act of boarding a flight ― long-haul or otherwise ― with no headphones, no book, no form of entertainment or diversion other than the digital flight map. 

 Fast forward to this month and numerous doctors have come forward to advise against the practice. So, what could be wrong with sitting in solitude? 

This is what Dr. Gill Jenkins told the BBC:

“A digital detox might do you some good, but all the rest of it is against medical advice,”. The whole thing about the risk of long-haul flying is that you’re at risk of dehydration. If you’re not moving, you’re at risk of deep vein thrombosis, which is the fancy term for blood clot (thrombus) forming in one or more of the deep veins in the body, usually in the legs. Plus dehydration from flying doesn’t help. Not going to the toilet, that’s a bit stupid. If you need the loo, you need the loo. 

Dr Gill isn’t that far off as several years ago I had a co-worker suffer deep vein thrombosis on a short three-hour flight. Thankfully. deep vein thrombosis isn’t an immediate death sentence and this co-worker is still on our team.

I use those 2-hours to get caught up on podcasts or watch some TV shows that Hallmark or Food Network produced. If you want to raw-dog your next flight get on with your bad self, but I won’t be joining you. 

We need one last “Thank You Florida” story and it comes from the Ramp-Life Instagram page. If you’ve ever been to an airport, more than likely you’ve seen an airport TUG. If you haven’t a TUG is a vehicle that is to be used to prepare an aircraft for take-off or transport a plane for regular maintenance and repair. These are hefty vehicles weighing anything from 8800 pounds up to 88,000 pounds and some of these can move a 300,000-pound aircraft, and most don’t go above 15 MPH.

Well recently at the Fort Lauderdale International one of these TUGs crashed through the wall of the crew breakroom Kool-Aid Man style. My first question would be how thin are these walls, followed by how did this happen? Seriously these TUGs are known to malfunction, it’s not that uncommon, I verified it on Google. But the general consensus over it Ramp Life is that the pervious person using the TUG noticed an issue with the breaks, but it was the end of their shift and didn’t want to deal with filling out a repair ticket so they clocked out. Enter the next ramp worker to hop on the TUG, only to find defective breaks at about the same time he found the wall. I wonder the over/under of someone getting a drug test for this..

Well, there you have it Episode 201. Five “Thank You Florida” stories and a few travel tips.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Being recorded in the beautiful home office of, Chateau’ Relaxo, FL. Tonight it’s a look back on 200 podcast episodes. If you are a new listener welcome, if you are a returning listener welcome back.

Tonight I’m partaking in a New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Tropical Force IPA coming in at 9.5% ABV.

Before looking back let’s spend a few minutes talking about podcasts. 

I have worked in the technology space since 1990, and we classify people into one of five categories.

Innovators. 2.5% These are the people that come up with the technology ideas.

Early Adopters. 13.5% These folks will load software as soon as it’s released in Alpha

Early Majority. 34% These people see it on social media and now want it.

Late Majority. 34% This group finally cave in and purchase it

Laggards. 16% This is the person that still has a VCR just in case they come back into style

In the business world, I am an innovator, enthusiastic about new technology, and willing to take risks.

In the Chateau’ Relaxo world, I am an early adaptor, willing to work through early bugs and setbacks.

I first discovered podcasts in 2005, two years before the first iPhone, all we had were MP3 players. I had an ILO with a 64 Meg SD card and I remember writing a batch file to transfer podcasts from my computer to the ILO.

Early on I listened to the Travel Commons, the Croncast, and The Daily Source Code. It was so cool that you could wake up each day to a new episode due to an RSS feed. No searching and no clicking on anything.

When it comes to podcasts, as of February 2024, the average podcast has 50 episodes, but 44% of podcasts have fewer than three episodes. Only 720,000 podcasts have more than 10 episodes, and only 156,000 of those release episodes weekly. I released a weekly episode until 2021 because my travel had decreased, more on that in a minute. As of 2024, there are over 5 million podcasts available worldwide, with more than 70 million episodes between them. However, if we remove the inactive podcasts, the total number of podcasts available will drop to 4.2 million. This ends today’s statistics class.

I toyed with the idea of a podcast for years and then finally in 2017 I posted the first episode on SoundCloud under the name Back And Gone Again. The first episode was 7 minutes and 52 seconds long and was recorded in the Fairfield Inn Duluth, GA and the topic was Airline Loyalty. Seven years later airline loyalty still matters. Take a listen to an excerpt.

This was recorded on a gaming microphone with little knowledge of Audacity. The second episode was Table Talk which had three fellow road warriors talking about the best places to eat. We used GoToMeeting to record it.

For the first six episodes, I used SoundCloud and then shifted over to Anchor, which Spotify acquired in 2019. Anchor/Spotify does an amazing job of distributing episodes and providing the analytics, all for free.

Around 2018 I got into a weekly cadence of posting episodes and this stayed in place until April of 2021. That’s when I consciously pivoted to a monthly or six-week cadence. Here’s why, in 2018 I had 51 trips and 248 days away from home in April of 2021 it was 7 trips and 19 days away from home. 

The reason was COVID. We were off the road for the first 100 days of COVID, and then it was our choice to travel if we wanted to, or felt comfortable traveling again. 

Personally, after 100 days of being at home, which I had not done since 2000, I was packed and ready. My COVID strategy was, “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes”. Knock on wood, to date I have never had COVID. I came close just check out episode 113, COVID Got Inside Chateau' Relaxo. Here’s the Cliff Notes - a friend of the family went to a wedding where the bride was diagnosed with COVID but chose not to tell anyone and selfishly decided to go forward with the wedding which turned into a super spreader event. This friend landed at MCO and wasn’t feeling well so she decided to take a COVID test at one of those mobile testing stations. A few days later she visited Chateau Relaxo and on her visit, she brought over a bottle of gin, and we drank from the same glass. Later that night she got the email letting her know that she tested positive. This was on a Friday and we were told to wait four days to take an accurate COVID test. I had a Monday flight, which meant I had to cancel and cost my company an extra plane ticket. 

During July 3 out of the 4 people living in Chateau got COVID and I still managed to doidge a bullet.

So back to those 100 days of not traveling in 2020. During those 100 days, we learned to do business differently. It was discovered that face-to-face meetings weren’t always necessary. I don’t agree, but I don’t have a master's degree. Travel wasn’t as necessary as it was just 100 days prior.

During the height of COVID, there was plenty of non-COVID content. I was able to have several fellow road warriors join me across several episodes. I did a series on the towns I like, a few mental health checkin episodes and several episodes focusing on the things that I had learned from working at home.

By April of 2021, I had run through any content that I had sandbagged and released episode 138, The Pivot Episode.

 My plan is to continue to release episodes, hell I live in Thank You Florida so every month there will be crazy travel content emanating from Thank You Florida.

Let’s get to some of July’s travel news.

We’re calling this first story, If it ain’t broke don’t fix it 

Like mentioned earlier, I have spent the last 34 years working in the technology corridor. Oftentimes, my mantra is, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. On Friday, July 19th much of the world was brought to its knees. One word CrowdStike, Capital C, and capital S. If you’re not familiar, CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity firm that has Microsoft among its clients and they pushed out an update that impacted many, many, many Microsoft users with the blue screen of death.

American Airlines, Delta, Spirit, and United Airlines were affected. One major carrier that is missing Southwest. Wanna know why? Because Southwest is still operating on Windows 3.1. Yes, Windows 3.1 which was released in 1992. 

Delta alone canceled over 5400 flights, with travelers stuck in terminals 6 days later. And just this past week Delta announced that they will be suing CrowdStrike for 500 million dollars.

As a tip-in to this story, you’ll have to head to the Ticky-Tok for the real value. This is where kylephilippi decided to take out his Crowd Stike frustration against Delta. since Delta wasn’t going to compensate him for his lost hours and wages. kylephilippi decided to even the score in the Delta Sky Lounge where he and some rando traveling partner decided to pile several plates full of food for a snack. In addition, they grabbed several bags of Cheez-Its, overused the hand sanitizer, went into the Sky Lounge shower fully clothed, turned on the water and lt it run while he pumped and pumped shampoo out of the container and onto the shower floor. It that wasn’t enough kylephilippi even got a glass of wine and then poured it out in the trash can. The Ticky Tok has over 1.5 million views and the comments are 50/50, pro kylephilippi and anti-kylephilippi. The title of the video is “This will set them back”, kylephilippi I’m guessing your food and beverage rampage totaled up to $30.00 on the high end. It’s doubtful Delta will even notice this, unless they see you video and possibly ban you for life. 

Have you ever heard the term raw-dogging? If you haven’t don’t look it up on Urban Dictionary. Raw-dogging when it comes to air travel is the act of boarding a flight ― long-haul or otherwise ― with no headphones, no book, no form of entertainment or diversion other than the digital flight map. 

This takes a bunch of discipline, along the lines of Jacko Willink’s book “Discipline Equal Freedom”. For me staring at the digital flight map for even a 2-hour flight is silly and serves no purpose. I use those 2-hours to get caught up on podcasts or watch some TV shows that Hallmark or Food Network produced. If you want to raw-dog your next flight get on with your bad self, but I won’t be joining you. 

Let’s get biblical for just a moment. From Matthew 5:38-48 If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. Thankfully Roger Allan Holmberg Senior’s wife didn’t turn the other cheek. You see Roger Allen is an evangelical pastor and he smacked his wife on a recent Alaskan Airlines flight.

You see, Roger Allen’s wife is an Alaska Airlines MVP Gold member and received a complimentary upgrade to first class. This didn’t sit well with Roger Allen, so he walked up to first class and demanded to know, “How the hell did you get the upgrade?” His wife replied, “I’m a gold point member, and don’t speak to me like that.”

A bit later, Roger Allen returned to first class, handed his wife his phone, and told her to read it he then flipped her off.

Returning a third time, Roger Allen  “pushed in front of his wife’s seatmate and attempted to swing his arm towards the victim” (per the police report) The seatmate leaned forward to block the strike and an off-duty police officer jumped up to help. At their destination, FBI officers met the aircraft and detained Roger Allen.

She clarified that he “struck her in the head with the back of his knuckles”. He responded that he had only “tapped his wife on the head in passing to get her attention”

Roger Allen was arrested on simple assault and jailed pending a hearing. Alaska Airlines has canceled his return ticket and banned him from future flights. 

Roger Allen would’ve been better off raw-dogging that flight as well as practicing what he preaches.

Earlier we spoke about kylephilippi’s petty revenge against Delta let’s talk about a United pilot's revenge against his ex-girlfriend. Andrew Hill, 36, and his girlfriend broke up over a decade ago, and get this, it wasn’t an amicable break-up. Hill’s ex-girlfriend told police he had sought revenge by “making online profiles pretending to be her and posting nude images of her for more than a decade.”

Eventually, this all caught up with Hill after Police served warrants on mobile phone providers and social media websites and were able to trace the revenge porn back to Hill’s electronic devices via matching IP addresses.

Hill was arrested at SFO and put on the next flight to Utah where he is charged with.

* pornography distribution

* unlawful distribution of an intimate image

* electronic communication harassment

* stalking and online impersonation

The distribution charge is a felony while the harassment and impersonation charges are misdemeanors. All may carry significant professional consequences.

Hill is innocent until proven guilty, but I reference my legal training, where there’s smoke there’s fire.

Well, there you have it Episode 200. A look back.

For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Recorded in the beautiful home office of, Chateau’ Relaxo, FL. Tonight it’s reviewing seven days in Boston. If you are a new listener welcome, if you are a returning listener welcome back.

Tonight I am partaking in a 1300 Mile Brewery IPA, weighing in at 7% ABV brewed just West of here at the Brew Hub in Lakeland, FL.

The CEO and I took our first real vacation in five years. A vacation that didn’t involve caring for or moving a relative. Our destination was Boston for seven days. For me, I was spending seven days without my laptop my first non-working vacation in the last 20 years.

As our vacation strategy has been in recent years, all transportation would be by taxi or ride-share. This saved us at least $500.00 which is roughly the cost of a seven-day rental plus the $40.00 per night for hotel parking computed to well north of $700.00.  Using taxis, rideshare, and the train our transportation cost, plus tips was right around $150.00.

All of my trips to Boston have consisted of flying into Logan and then driving away from the city towards a customer's location. I knew nothing of Boston, I had no idea what to do, where to eat, or where to stay.

The CEO put on her travel guide hat and handled the what to do part. The where to eat was going to be based on local recommendations backed up by Google reviews. Where to stay would be my contribution. 

We’ll get into what we did and where we ate part in a few minutes. Let’s start with the where to stay, my responsibility.

I went into this blind since I’ve never booked a room in Boston other than the Hilton connected to the Logan Airport.

I’m here to tell you that Boston hotels during June, during the NBA playoffs with a team in the running, are expensive. So I decided to drop several hundreds of thousands of points for the first five nights, our sixth night was at the Logan Airport Hilton thanks to an American Express certificate. One saving grace is with Hilton if you book five consecutive nights at the same property you only pay for four nights and the fifth one is free. 

The hotel of choice was the Hilton Back Bay, When it comes to a full-service Hilton the Back Bay was on par with the other full-service Hilton’s. Full-service breakfast, dinner area, a solid fitness center, and a bar….. what else could anyone want?

Looking back I wished I had booked at a different location as Back Bay was a bit too far west for my liking. One consideration for the distance was that our hotel was located close to the transit system, or as the locals say “The T”.

The flight was booked on Delta, not Southwest, and here’s why. I had been vowing to drop my American Express Green card for the last few years and guess what I did, only to replace it with the Delta SkyMiles American Express Gold Card.  

The Delta SkyMiles Gold Card gave me two things in addition to the 65,000 miles I’ll get after I hit their spending threshold within the first 90 days. We had an assigned seat and two free checked bags. The planes on both legs of the trip were new, with less than 2000 air miles on each plane.

It’s been several years since I’ve flown Delta but the plane had free WiFI and a solid choice of seatback entertainment.

When it came to food here are the highlights. These are only the best of the best of food stops through Boston.

* Pho Basil on Massachusets - We ate here twice. On my first visit to any Thai restaurant, I always order Pad Thai Chicken. My rationale is if they can’t pull off this Thai staple then they’ll struggle with everything else on the menu. Pad Basil nailed the correct ratio of chicken, noodles, and sauce. It was so tasty that I ordered it on our return visit.

* The Barking Crab on Sleeper Street. - We started with the hot crab dip and a round of Harpoon Take 5. The dinner orders were all over the place. I went with the naked lobster roll and here’s the reason….. it’s easy to alter the taste of lobster with salt, pepper, celery, lemon juice, and mayo. The Barking Crab naked lobster roll is nothing but drawn butter and lobster on a fresh bun. And it passed the taste test with two thumbs up. 

* Dirty Water Dough Company on Newberry Street - Ended up here on the recommendation of our Sam Adams tour guide. Went with a large cheese pizza, because I believe that is how you can honestly rate a pizzeria. Just for kicks, we also ordered a small Fenway which consisted of, Boston Fenway franks, hence the name, shredded mozzarella, Romano cheese, sauerkraut, cheddar, mustard, white onion, and sweet relish. As odd as it looked, it truly did taste like a hotdog, All of us were absolutely surprised at how good it was. We stopped back in for a couple of slices during one of our afternoon walkabouts.

* Dillan’s on Boylston Street  - If you’re looking for a great patio bar when the temperature is 70. Then this is the place. My dinner choice after several previous days of pizza was, The Big Papi Roni, Pizza. This was a wondrous culinary delight. Fresh pizza dough. pepperoni, hot honey, ricotta, and mozzarella. It seems like a lot, but it was perfect.

Since no booze April is in the rearview mirror here’s the Boston beer list. 

* LightRunner 6.4% ABV - Medusa Brewing Company Hudson, MA

* Citrus Squall 8% ABV - from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton, DE United States Dogfish is part of the Boston Beer company so it counts as drinking local. Plus this beer was consumed on the Boston Ferry while I was on the way to Salem, MA.

* Green Ahead IPA 7.2% ABV - Newburyport Brewing Company Newburyport, MA 

* The Substance IPA 6.6% ABV - Bissell Brothers Brewing Company Portland, ME 

* Road 2 Ruin Double IPA 8% ABV - Two Roads Brewing Company Stratford, CT

* 87 IPA 8% ABV - Night Shift Brewing Everett, MA

* The Lazy Frog IPA 7% ABV  - Offshore Ale Co. Oak Bluffs, MA 

* Take 5 IPA 4.3% ABV -  Harpoon Brewery Boston, MA United States

* Cloud Candy IPA 6.5% ABV - Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co.Waltham, MA

* Built To Spill IPA 8% ABV - Foam Brewers Burlington, VT

Noticeably absent from the list is any beer from the Samuel Adams brewery, and the reason is that being a tourist we did the brewery tour, more on that in a bit.

What did we do, I'm glad you asked.

First up was the Boston Movie Mile Tour. This was an hour-and-a-half walking tour led by a local actor. Here is just a few of the highlights.

* We saw the famous park bench from Good Will Hunting

* Saw one of Jack Nicolson’s mob hangouts in The Departed

* Walked the street of the Blown Away car crash

* We visited Boston Public Garden, where iconic park benches set the stage for unforgettable conversations a la Ted and Good Will Hunting.

* We stopped for a drink at the legendary Cheers™ bar. The bar is a remake of the Hollywood set complete with the lighting rigs. If you plan to top in, no one will know your name, but the place will be packed and you will be served quickly.

* We learned about the historic State House building and its surroundings. These sights were part of Ally McBeal.

* The last stop was one of Boston’s most historic homes and was featured in The Thomas Crown Affair.

One last fact is that many of the movies you see that feature Harvard University are not filmed at Harvard. Love Story, the 1970 hit was the last movie filmed on Harvard grounds. The reason for the cease is that the filming of Love Story caused significant damage to the campus. 

The next day it was the Boston small group walking food tour with tastings…. right up my alley.

* The first stop was for a Cup of Clam Chowder at the Union Oyster House which is America’s oldest restaurant. This was JFK’s favorite spot and he always requested the same table and is now noted with a hanging plaque. 

* From the Union Oyster House, it was a quick walk to the Boston Public Market a Lobster roll from Red’s, the Barking Crabs offering was much better.

* While at the Boston Public Market, we also sampled some Boston Baked beans. Honestly. They weren’t that spectacular.

* From there it was over to Regina’s in North Boston for Italian Pizza. One of the best pies I’ve ever eaten, but dirty water dough is better.

* The last stop was Modern Pastry for a Mini Cannoli. When it comes to cannoli’s I’m very neutral I would not go out of my way for one, yet I won’t turn one down if offered. Modern Pastry was packed with a line out the door. The good thing about being on a food tour is you get to skip the lines, just like the fast pass at Disney.

The food tour was a solid 5 stars out of 5 stars.

The next stop was the Samuel Adams brewery tour which lived up to the online reviews. As with most brewery or distillery tours the tour guide can make or break the experience. Brandon was our guide and he was awesome. We paid for the extra beer sample and I recommend doing the same. Please exit through the gift shop, which wasn’t too expensive and we left with a few items for the Chateau’ Relaxo home bar. The tip-in is that there’s an onsite bar where you can sample most of their offerings on draft.

*  Wicked Hazy 6.8% ABV

* Jamaicaway IPA 7.2% ABV

* Dark Saison ABV unknown

I have done countless brewery tours, and this was one of the better ones and not that expensive.

We also did the Salem Guided Witch Tour. This required taking the Boston Ferry to get to Salem. The Boston Ferry is the real deal, complete with a full-service bar. Somehow no one gives you the side eye if you're drinking beer on the water at 9:30 AM.

When it comes to witches I am 100% indifferent, but the CEO booked the tour. First off, Salem has one industry, and it revolves around an event that took place over 300 years ago. Our tour guide was great as she offered many interesting facts about Salem. One of the planned stops was the Salem Witch Museum. Here’s a tip if your tour guide waits outside it’s a sure sign that whatever you’re walking into is about to suck. The museum was lost on me. The mannequins/statues were childish and looked like they hadn’t been touched up since the museum first opened.

 Now when it comes to Salem, what a cool town. The architecture is amazing, the food wonderful and the people are super friendly.

Some interesting Boston facts.

The Ted Williams Tunnel is the deepest in America, approximately 90 feet underground. If you’re driving through a Boston tunnel and you notice green tiles, you are under the earth. If you see blue tiles you are driving underwater.

* Boston boasts a lot of firsts.

* Boston Harbor boasts of the first-ever American lighthouse.

* The first Dunkin Donuts was located near Boston

* The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in Boston, which makes sense because Plymouth Rock is only 15 hours southeast of Boston.

* The Oldest Major League baseball stadium is in Boston

* The first public beach in the United States of America was opened in Boston. Somehow I thought that would’ve been in Thank You Florida.

* The first American subway was inaugurated in Boston

* Boston is the only State capital in the United States that is located on a coastline

* The Oldest Major League baseball stadium is in Boston, which is Fenway Park

Now one additional interesting Boston fact is that weed is legal. There were two dispensaries less than a ½ mile from our hotel. Legal weed means you will notice the odor of the devil’s lettuce as you walk the Boston streets. In Boston, weed is a 1.7 billion with a capital B dollar business. Pay attention Florida.

Boston is clean, with very little littering and we didn’t see much homelessness.

The takeaway is that there’s a lot to do and we did most of it in under seven days.

Let's move away from Boston and discuss things that make you go Hmmmmm.

Union tells pilots to stop using words like “Cockpit” and other “negative” terms.

For example:

* Instead of “Ladies & Gentleman” use words like members, guests, or everyone.

* Instead of referring to the flight attendants as the “girls in the back” use words such as cabin crew, flight attendants, or inflight crewmembers.

* Don't say Mother/Father say parents, guardians, or family.

* Instead of saying husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend say Spouse/partner or significant other.

First I can only imagine the bill the union's legal team put together. Has it come down to this? Are we so offended by common words such as ladies, mothers, gentlemen, or fathers? I’m bald by choice, fat by dietary choices, and white due to genetics. If someone used the term. That bald fat white guy, it would not offend me. Not at all, it would indicate that they took notice of me. Notice, that I did not even mention pronouns. Yes, this is the world we live in.

Try this one for size, hotels, are adding a gratuity for minibar purchases. This happened at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport in British Columbia and was posted on Live And Let’s Fly. The patron grabbed a $12.10 of Eviane Spring Water and Evian is naive spelled backwards. He was hit with a Refreshment Center Gratuity of $1.30. A gratuity for opening and removing a bottle from the minibar. Most everyone knows my stance on minibars, they are a ripoff. It’s more of a ripoff if I pay a gratuity on a drink that I served myself.

In Vegas, I will gladly pay the $10.00 per day charge for a minifridge and I will stock it with beer, snacks,  etc. from the CVS just down the street. 

This is one of those posts where the comments are gold. InLA commented - When I check out of a hotel and they ask me to give them a 5-star review. If they have charged any kind of mandatory access/amenity/destination/resort/etc. fee, then I tell them that my review requires a “5-star review access and convenience fee” that is equal to the total of their fees because it’s going to take time for me to write the review and my time isn’t free. They look totally confused and it takes a while for it to sink in. Well done InLA.

Finishing up with this. In 2024 I’ve had the opportunity to fly in and out of several brand new terminals. MCO’s terminal C and Laguardia’s terminal C. In both terminals, I noticed there was a bunch more walking compared to some of the other older terminals. I distinctly remember going down and then back up several escalators at LaGurida, essentially ending up on the same level that I was before using the escalators. 

It seems that X or Twitter user @LHSummers posted this. “I have just traveled thru the new LaGuardia airport.  It confirms a theory of mine. The newer the terminal, the less convenient it is to use because all the walks are longer. I wonder why?’ 

@LHSummers got a bunch of answers to his question, which many made sense.

* Planes are larger and their wingspans wider. Hence the newer terminals are larger to accommodate these things.

* Revenue. This one makes the most sense and View From The Wing spells it out in greater detail.

* The more revenue terminal shops make, the more they can charge in rent Supply and demand.

* Concession deals are generally structured so that the terminal owner takes a percentage of revenue as well

* Where there’s a dominant airline especially, the airline will often share in concessions revenue as well.

It’s always about money!

Well, there you have it Episode 199 seven days in Boston.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Being recorded in the beautiful home office of, Chateau’ Relaxo, FL. and it’s time for some April updates.. Thanks for listening.

If you’re a new listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back. 

This was recorded at the end of April, and April is alcohol awareness month so no beer this month as I am participating and you are now aware of it.

One trip of note since our last episode. It was O-Town to Raleigh NC then Wilmington, NC, and then back out of Raleigh.

I believe that my last trip to Raleigh was in 2018 and it had been longer than that since I had been in Wilmington.

The Raleigh airport has not changed much in the last few years and one constant was the art piece, located high above the baggage claim lobby is the Highwire Travelers.. The Highwire Travelers features a handful of airport travelers. One traveler is resting against a column, his suitcase beside him, while one reads a book, and another balances his luggage as he makes his way across a tightrope.

From Raleigh, it was an uneventful 2-hour drive west on I40. The base camp was the Downtown Marriott Wilmington Historic District.

I know that Charlotte NC is NASCAR home but once all the I-40 construction is done this stretch of road will give Charlotte Motor Speedway a run for the money.

The Marriott was right in the heart of the historical district. The weather was perfect so I went for a walk exploring the area. Lots of outdoor eating and no shortage of friendly dogs.

My dinner was at Rum Cow where I dined on a  Rum Cow Burger Which consisted of Crispy prosciutto, bacon aioli, peach rum chutney, and arugula on a brioche bun. And of course, served with fries.

After dinner, I waddled across Grant Street and back into the Marriott.

The next afternoon I drove back to Raleigh and dropped my rental car off the night before my flight which is my current strategy as it saves me valuable time before an early morning flight.

That evening it was Hilton Garden Inn Raleigh airport. I was sitting in their smoking area enjoying a cigar when a couple of other road warriors showed up and we began exchanging small talk. Finally, the conversation turned to road food and they asked where I was going to get dinner, and since it was a HGI property my answer was wings from the HGI kitchen. These guys told me to check out the RDU Gallaria

across the street. I looked across the street and saw a 4 or 5-story building, actually, it looked like a typical office building except for the fact that there was a huge island filled with gas pumps.

I had nothing to lose so I headed across the street. I opened the RDU Galleria doors and was amazed at what I saw. In addition to the typical convenience store, there was a Pizza Hut Express, a Which Wich Sandwiches, a Wayback Burgers, a Gloria Jeans coffee, and a Mex Cafe. Oh yeah, there was also a full bar and lounge. I went with a Mex Cafe chicken burrito which I would put on par with anything Chipolte’s sells.

My 6:00 AM flight back to O-Town was on time and a direct flight. Who knows maybe I’ll make it back into Southwest’s A+ club by the end of the year.

For April there wasn’t a lot of crazy travel news but let’s give it a shot. In case you didn’t know there was an eclipse on April 8th. And most of the Blogosphere travel sites weighed in on it, but the winner had to be The Points Guy with reporters at 9 locations to see the eclipse.

In the last episode, we talked about Delta hosting several flights so passengers could view the eclipse from the air. You have to know that you’ll have a few stand-out passengers with a spectacle like this.

For example, one traveled from Amsterdam for the occasion. Another waited until this flight to propose to his longtime girlfriend. (She said yes.) One Diamond Medallion removed herself from the 52-person upgrade list for fear of being upgraded to an aisle seat.

Southwest branded the event as a “Solarbration”. Southwest also handed out goodie bags filled with a pin, a specially designed cookie, a Moon Pie, Sun Chips, and special Southwest eclipse glasses.

My favorite takeaway was from triple-A, as they posted Do NOT wear eclipse glasses while driving,”. This means at some point some mallet head did just that, they drove while wearing eclipse glasses.

Ben Schlappig from One Mile At A Time posted Hotel Club Lounges: Why I Value Them So Much. If you’re not familiar with the term Hotel Lounges, Hotel club lounges also often referred to as executive lounges are lounges within a hotel that offer drinks and snacks throughout the day. Typically free to members of their loyalty program.

You don’t typically find these lounges at your Hampton or Fairfield Inn unless you are in downtown New York or Chicago. However, many of these properties do offer manager receptions a couple of nights during the week which include soda, beer, wine, and snacks. Those snacks are typically chips and pretzels.

Some hotels charge for lounge access while other hotel’s elite loyalty members get free access.

 Ben detailed the huge variance in hotel club lounge quality. And it came down to these three points.

* The further from the United States (and the closer to Asia) you are, the better the quality of the club lounges

* The fewer elite members that receive complimentary access to club lounges, the better the quality

* The more luxurious the hotel brand is, the better the quality of the club lounges

All of those points make sense.

Many of these lounges offer a hot breakfast in the morning and hot Hors D’oderves in the evening accompanied by mixed drinks and craft beer. Remember to take some singles to tip the waitstaff.

The other advantage of a hotel lounge is that it offers a quiet workspace in case you and a coworker need to collaborate.

The other advantage of a hotel lounge is that it’s great for showing off to the kids. Probably 13 or 14 years ago we were staying at a full-service Hilton somewhere in the vicinity of I-Drive. In addition to the lazy river pool, it also offered an amazing hotel lounge where the kids got all the soda and snacks that they could handle.

Probably my favorite hotel lounge was the one inside the Mobile, Alabam Marriott Airport Drive. The breakfast was amazing as well as the evening's reception. I believe much of the waitstaff had been there for 15+ years. It’s probably been 6 years since my last visit and looking at Trip Advisor the lounge might be out of operation.

Now if you know that the property you will be staying at is longe-less you can improvise with a bit of planning. Before COVID I was making a bunch of Florida road trips often meeting the same coworker at the hotel. One of our favorite hotels was the Hampton Inn Sarasota, Florida. If I was leaving out on a Monday I would grill out an extra chicken or bake two plates of Mac-n-cheese and my coworker would do the same with plans of having a homemade meal in the Hampton’s lobby while we saved our per diem. What we forgot were plates so one of us explained our situation to the desk clerk and he immediately opened up the breakfast area giving us full access to microwaves, plates, napkins, and seasonings. We made the desk clerk his plate as thanks. Within 15 minutes a group of construction workers rolled in with some beer and we offered up a trade, food for beer. They decided to join us for an impromptu feast. We repeated this a few more times over the next month. Not sure if the general manager would approve, but the desk didn’t seem to care.

We’ve also had the opposite happen. Again before COVID, everyone in our region would meet up in Atlanta for month-end closing. We had a corporate at the local Hampton Inn, so at the end of every month 11 or 12 of us would roll in for a two or three-night stay. After several months of this, the hotel staff would bring in a crockpot full of soup, chicken, or chili as well as all the fixings. This was great for several months until the health inspector pulled the plug on it. The reason was that Hampton had a license to reheat frozen food, but not one that allowed the serving of fresh or freshly cooked foods.

I’ve stayed away from the recent challenges that Boeing has been facing, Mainly the challenge of “door plugs”, falling out or off of the 737 series. When I first heard the term door plug I figured it was something the size of a wine cork,.Well, I was wrong because door plugs are panels installed on certain planes to permanently seal off optional exit door openings in the fuselage. They are large, and apparently, if they fall off mid-flight the plane quickly decompresses in the case of a recent Alaskan Airlines flight the oxygen masks deployed, and several seats were damaged, The cause of this was discovered to be faulty rivets on the door plug.

Now picture yourself on a Southwest flight aboard a 737 leaving Denver and heading to Houston. You paid for early board and are sitting in a window seat right above the wing. Take-off goes as planned and when you look out the window you see the engine cowling, the engine cover peeling off exposing the engine. The pilot, as most pilots would do as their airplane was falling apart, asked the tower to immediately return to Denver. The request was acknowledged and the plane returned to homebase. As the plane landed the cowling came apart in two pieces, one piece hitting the wing before it cartwheeled down the runway behind the plane. Thankfully no one was injured and the passengers were put on another plane and ended up arriving in Houston only three hours late. There are a couple of videos, there’s always a video and I’ll post a like to them in the show notes.

So what caused this mishap, glad you asked. Human error as someone forgot to latch the cowling after its last inspection. This reminds me of the old Ron White bit where Sears forgot to reinstall all the lug nuts on one of his wheels. And the punchline of the bit is that while Sears sent him to a three-day tire school Ron says he must have been absent on lug nut day. So it seems like this mechanic skipped latch day during his three-day airplane mechanics course.

Reading up on this incident it appears that American Airlines paints these cowling latches a bright orange color so that they are easily spotted making a visible inspection immediate. A very low-tech inexpensive fix to a very expensive problem.

It’s been a minute since we’ve talked drinking on an airplane, or as I call it “Planedranken”.  

Matthew Klint at Live And Let’s Fly posted about this recent debacle on a recent American Airlines passenger heading into DFW.

A 23-year-old woman was flying in first class on American Airlines and it seems the woman was intoxicated after being served one drink onboard and became quite combative with flight attendants, there’s no detail as to what set her off but, she became so combative that she threw her bag at two flight attendants (that is assault) and also threatened to hurt them with expletives.

DFW police were summoned and were waiting on the jetbridge when the aircraft arrived. Police officers asked one of the flight attendants to escort the woman off, but the flight attendant said she was too scared.

Matthew summed it up with this.

There are so many lessons here, but 

1.) Drinking and flying can be a very dangerous combination,

 2.) You cannot throw things at flight attendants even if you are a first-class passenger, and 

3.) If the cops tell you to remain calm, you should certainly listen.

This hits close to home since it involves Southwest Airlines and it came from Reddit.

Woman saves seats for 13 then lies - 

This throwaway Reddit account flew a 4-hour domestic flight and they boarded with the family group. Throwaway stepped into an empty row and noticed 2 hats were on them. The woman in the row behind says she's saving those as they are a group of 13). This woman is the only one of 13 currently on the plane.

Throwaway explained how embarrassing, cheap, and rude her behavior is, she has nothing to say but sorry. Flight attendant 2 rows up stay out of it as expected. Throwaway sits in the row across From her.

Somehow her seat saving works for the full flight, no one else tried to take any of her 3x4 seating arrangement as far as Throwaway can tell. The women's group were all in the C group. Remember C stands for center as in center seat.

The last few boarders arrive and one of them asks the ringleader if the open window next to her is available. She said yes, that person is in the bathroom currently. This isn't true, because the person behind her (the very last person to need a seat) asks and she lets him in.

Throwaway sums it up with this, the whole group was polite and the flight was smooth, but WOW was that woman brazen.

Throwaway never mentioned what airport or state this all went down in, but I doubt it happened in Florida.

Not long after that Reddit thread was posted Southwest Airlines announced they are considering doing away with open, single-class seating on its aircraft.

CEO Bob Jordan told CNBC  that Southwest is weighing options for cabin reconfiguration to address its recent revenue shortfall. Depending on their plans this might be a better solution than simply raising ticket prices. Jordan went on to add, “We’re looking into new initiatives, things like the way we seat and board our aircraft,” Jordan told the network.

Southwest and its cattle call boarding has been a differentiator in the market because there is no extra legroom seats nor first class on its 737 fleet.

I don’t mind this style of boarding. First, there aren’t any gate lice waiting for their boarding group to be called. Second, I’m typically one of the first 60 passengers boarding, thank you boarding group A. This means I always get the seat that I want but more importantly, I have overhead space for my luggage.

Well, there you have it Episode 197 the April update.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Being recorded in the beautiful home office of, Chateau’ Relaxo, FL. and it’s time for some March randomness. Thanks for listening.

If you’re a new listener, welcome. if you're a returning listener welcome back. 

Tonight I am enjoying a Space Cowboi 2023 from the Crooked Can Brewery just down the road in Winter Garden, FL. This is an IPA - Imperial / Double New England / Hazy and hazy it weighs in at a hefty 8.5% ABV.

It’s been three weeks of non-stop travel like it was in 2019. The first trip was to Irvine, CA where base camp was the DoubleTree. I was lucky enough to score an upgrade which ended up being a typical room, but with a view of the hotel’s lake. There was only one hiccup with the stay and that occurred the morning of our departure. The front desk arranged a complementary Uber to take us to the airport at 6:00 AM. Out front at 6:00 no Uber, 6:15 still no Uber. I was on the verge of booking my own Uber when an Uber pulled in and asked if we were the Harrison party, nope. The driver waited a few minutes for the Harrison’s and then asked where we were going I said the airport, and he said I’ll take you for $20.00 cash. Seconds later we were in the Uber heading toward John Wayne International Airport. 

The beers we discovered, 

* Mind Haze Brain Melter from the Firestone Walker Brewing Company

* Montucky Cold Snack from Montucky Cold Snacks

* Church Music from The Shop Beer Co.

All IPA’s as I am so predictable.

From there it was to a place that I had never been to, Tempe Arizona. Tempe was exactly as I pictured it to be lots of cacti very little grass, mostly lave rocks and pebbles. The highlight of the stop was a courtside seat for a Phoenix Suns game, and while I’m not a huge basketball fan the game and the entertainment were a blast.

 The lowlight came early next morning at the Phonix Sky Harbor International Airport. I went down what was indicated to be the TSA Precheck and when I got to the scanners I was asked to remove my shoes, and my belt as well as to take my laptops out of my backpack. What I thought and what they indicated to be TSA Precheck was not, it was the regular TSA lane. We’ll talk about being a travel snob in a few minutes, but I’ll pull the snobbery card whenever it comes to TSA.

The only new beer we discovered

* Four Peaks Hazy IPA from Headlands Brewing

The next week it was back to Laguardia and then New Jersey and the Hampton Inn & Suites Fairfield on route 46. Which meant, dinners at Calandra’s Mediterian Gril. Made it time for happy hour as well as the $11.00 pizzas.

It was my second flight on JetBlue and on both legs I had an assigned seat, but I was placed in the last boarding group. I learned from the first leg and decided to check my luggage for the return trip.

The new beers were

* Pirate Plank Walk from Magnify Brewing Company

* Pulp Art Hazy Double IPA from the Brooklyn Brewery

* Mortal Bloom from Founders Brewing Co.

* IPA No. 7 from EBBS Brewing Co.

* Jam Juice Hazy IPA from the Captain Lawrence Brewing Company

Again all IPAs.

Last week it was a five-day road trip which I enjoyed, but it was a different hotel each night. However, I did get plenty of time to perfect my ironing skills. Here’s a road warrior pro tip. If you plan to use a hotel iron let it warm up and then iron a damp washcloth. This way the gribleys are on the washcloth and not on your freshly ironed clothes.

I flew into Baltimore grabbed my rental and headed to Pennsauken, NJ. This 2-hour drive proved that I-95 is a giant cup of suck no matter what state you were in. I Stayed at another DoubleTree and it was one that I had stayed at in the past and thankfully it was undergoing renovations.

The reason I stay here is because of the on-site restaurant Redz. Redz offers the best Philly Cheesesteak, even though it’s across the river from Philly where a Philly Cheesesteak is just called a Cheesesteak.

The new beers were

Session IPA from Double Nickel Brewing Company

From Pennsauken, it was York, Pennsylvania home of York Barbell and the weightlifting hall of fame, which I didn’t get to visit, There must be some sort of a rivalry between Pennsauken and York because everyone in Pennsauken told us that York was rundown. This is not the case at all, plus York is where I found Brewie Louie’s.  This place was amazing, with a more diverse beer inventory than I have ever seen.

The new beers were

* (No) Santa from Sloop Brewing Co.

* Peace Maker from South County Brewing Co.

From York, it was down to Middle River, Maryland, and the Hilton Garden Inn that I have stayed at multiple times in the past.  No new beers since we were stocked up fromBrewie Louie’s. As I typically do with Hilton Garden Inn it was wings for dinner. Like I’ve said in the past friend of the show Robbie Morris introduced me to HGI wings years ago and they never disappoint.

 Now this is where things got weird when it comes to hotel parking. In the past, this property offered plenty of parking between the HGI and the Hampton Inn next store. During this visit there were several signs with  QR codes instructing us to scan so we could pay to park. I get pay-to-park hotels. Go to Boston, Savannah, or Miami more than likely you’ll have to pay to park. This was Middle River, Maryland. So I scanned the code and dropped $!0.00 plus a service fee so I could park.

From Middle River, we headed to the BWI Hilton where they also had a QR code indicating we had to pay to park. I think Maryland is kneeling to the parking lobby. This was a first-time visit and the restaurant offered a great selection of local favorites. I went with a blue crab flatbread. I was a bit skeptical thinking typical hotel food. I was completely surprised this flatbread was covered in chucks of blue crab resting on top of the wonderful rich Alfredo sauce.

The new beers were

* Raging B***h from the Flying Dog Brewery

*  Half Cab Hazy from Big Truck Farm Brewery

Here’s another tip that I have discovered in the last few months. Most of my flights are early morning, 6 to 7 AM. The reason is that the first flights out typically take off on time. If you punch out a 4 or 5 PM there’s a greater chance that your flight will be delayed.

Looking at early morning flights can mean leaving the hotel at 4 or 5 AM so that you will have time to drop off the rental car and head to the terminal.

My new tip is to drop off the rental car the evening before, take the rental car shuttle back to the terminal, and then get on the hotel shuttle back to the hotel then the next morning take the hotel shuttle back to the terminal. At most, this will cost you $8.00 in tips. 

Let’s open with some travel-related housekeeping.

I found this on X, formerly Twitter, back in the good old days, remember the Fail Whale?

@Codie_Sanchez posted:

Life hack... You never have to check out of a hotel.

Just leave.

Why does no one do this including my husband?

.

In Episode 66 I asked the question, “Are you a travel snob?” one of the indicators of being a travel snob was leaving a hotel without stopping by the front desk to check out, as well as when I dropped off the rental car I rarely hang around to wait for a receipt because I know it will be in my inbox by the time I get to the terminal. While I still wouldn’t label myself a travel snob I have gotten into the habit of actually checking out of the hotel. The reason is that I’m tired of itemizing my expense reports to exclude dinners and my frequent visits to the snack market this pay-to-park hotelless time to have the desk clerk remove those changes and generate a new bill than it does for me to manually remove those items from the receipt.

Also, I don’t check into a hotel using the app and the reason is that I might be missing out on a possible upgrade and a view of the hotel’s lake..

In February Gary Leff from View From The Wing posted - The 5 Biggest Travel Mistakes I’ve Ever Made

Gary’s list was somewhat mundane, but relatable.:

* Showing up at the airport in the afternoon for a morning Sydney 

* Snuck into a United Airlines club lounge 

* Showed up at the Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Hotel only to learn I’d made a reservation for the following month

* Drove to the wrong Hyatt in Miami out of sheer habit

* Let my AAdvantage miles expire when I was a teenager.

My list

* Letting a bunch, and I mean a bunch of AirTran free flights expires. because  I never used them. In 2001/2002 one free roundtrip flight required 16 credits or legs, which meant every 8 round-trip flights I got a free flight. At the time I was on a plane almost every week, basically a free flight every 30 days.

* Not getting a hotel and airline-branded credit card for the first eight years of business travel.

* Not taking my 35mm or DSLR camera with me when I travel. For years the CEO and I packed a physical camera, and sometimes a tripod, with us when we travel. My Google Drive is filled with folders cataloging our adventures. It’s debatable if the current iPhone truly takes better pictures, but it is smaller and lighter, and you can’t check Instagram on your camera.

* Not having a packing strategy sooner. For the first handful of years I overpacked, and being a gadget guy I probably owned or was gifted every single travel accessory under the sun most of which turned out to be useless, Currently, I can fit a week's worth of clothing into my 22” Away bag. Side note, if you need a sturdy piece of luggage consider an Away bag, Lightweight and extremely durable.

* My biggest regret has to be not putting a ½ PTO when I was in Boston, Memphis, or Chicago, almost any city. Sure I’ve enjoyed eating dinner at the local dive, but I’ve yet to tour Fenway, visit Graceland, and I’ve never set foot on Chicago’s miracle mile. 

* I will add a sixth mistake and it came three weeks ago. Make sure you are in the TRA Precheck line.  

They say, Avoid regrets by leaving your expectations at home. 

Another from View From The Wing, or possibly you saw this someplace else. - Woman Gets Off American Airlines Flight When The Vibrator In Her Carry-On Won’t Turn Off. See what I did there.

My BS meter pegged the green as soon as I read this. 

An American Airlines passenger in the bulkhead of first-class boarded her aircraft, and her carry-on bag began making a loud vibrating noise. She didn’t want the whole cabin to see what she was turning off, so she walked off the aircraft and back onto the jet bridge. There, you can see what it was that was vibrating.

So basically she was planning to do the Tango with her left hand. 

The young lady captured in the video is Amanda, who has a Ticky Tok following of over 100,00 people in addition to 2.5 million likes. I’m guessing this was staged to get Amanda closer to 2.6 million likes.

However, with stories like this, the real comedy gold is in the comments.

Mets Fan in NC says: it takes a licking and keeps on ticking

Maryland says: I have been told by a friend that the batteries on rechargeables are not removable. So they must be gotten off before boarding.

Ending with - jns says: That is just Bob (battery operated boyfriend).

For most of us, our employment includes dealing with customers. And I’m sure most of us at some point have wanted to tell a customer to go “Kick rocks” so to speak. This next story will outline what could happen if you decide to tell a customer to “Kick rocks” while using different words.

This comes to us from Yahoo News - Qantas baggage handler will 'never work again' for airline after crude note to passenger.

 baggage handler has been told they will never work on Qantas aircraft again after leaving an "unacceptable" note for a customer on their bag on Friday.

A Qantas passenger recently collected their 31-kilogram bag at Karratha Airport in Western Australia, In case you didn’t pay attention to the metric system when they tried to teach it to us in middle school, 31 kilos is roughly 69 lbs. This Qantas passenger found the word "c**t"  See you next Tuesday, shockingly scribbled in green marker onto the "heavy" tag wrapped around the bag's handle — and if that wasn’t enough it was accentuated with an exclamation mark.

The passenger shared,"Clearly the Qantas baggage handler at Perth Airport wasn’t happy lifting my bag," so he left me a nice note to read on arrival." After being alerted to the incident Qantas via social media condemned the act and took drastic measures to ensure it never happens again by firing the baggage handler.

While I’ve never flown Qantas I’ve heard it stands for - Quick And Nasty Typical Australian Service.

One of my favorite social media follows is @AtlScoops. And their tagline is “Be in the know”. If you’re considering moving into the ATL proper I suggest you check them out before you pull the trigger and order a U-Haul.

Their February 5th post and video documents an altercation between an unnamed female and two of Atlanta’s finest at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. Nothing unusual except that this took place on the apron, yes the apron, and not in the gate area.

The video shows this young lady speaking with two officers and then she suddenly throws her head back and begins trotting, not running away from the officers. Seconds later one of the officers catches up and gives her a two-hand shove to her back which ends with her receiving an asphalt sandwich to the face. The officer rewards her with a nice set of cuffs before being whisked into the back of an ATL SUV. All of this was done in under 45 seconds, efficient work by the ATL crew. 

What’s missing is why are passengers on the airport apron? Especially at Atlanta Hartsfield.  Honestly,  this young lady, who isn’t very fast, is lucky. Lucky in the fact that she didn’t get shot or at least tased. The airport is federal property after all. She’s also lucky she didn’t end up like Courtney Edwards who was pulled into the spinning turbines of a jet engine last year. 

If you’re a umbraphile   (An umbraphile is someone who loves eclipses and will often travel to see them) and have some spare cash lying around Deltra has the deal for you.

Eclipse viewing at 30,000 feet: Delta to offer path-of-totality flight

The airline is offering a special flight from Austin to Detroit on April 8, 2024, specifically to spend as much time as possible directly within the path of totality.

Delta flight 1218 will be specifically operated on an A220-300, which will offer especially premium viewing due to the aircraft’s extra-large windows. 

The flight will depart from Austin at 12:15 p.m. CT and land in Detroit at 4:20 p.m. ET — timed to give those on board the best chance of safely viewing the solar eclipse at its peak.*

If this sounds appealing flight 1218 was sold out in February. However, 5 additional Delta flights from various airports will provide some sort of an eclipse viewing opportunity. Prices range from $600.00 for the main cabin up to $2800.00 for first class. 

The April 8 eclipse is the last total eclipse we’ll see over North America until 2044,” take that all you umbraphiles.

So here’s my lingering question, isn’t only one side of the plane going to have the opportunity to see the eclipse?

I can only imagine what would happen if all the passengers sitting on the non-viewing side of the plane suddenly moved to the other side of the plane.

This next story is as Thank You Florida written all over it. It’s about our Brightline Train. If you’re not familiar with the Brightlne it’s a high-speed train that went live in 2018 with service between Miami and West Palm Beach. In September the Brighline began traveling all the way here to Orlando with the termination point Orlando International Airport. If you want to take the Brightline from O-Town  into Ft Lauderdale a standard ticket will set you back right around $100.00 for their Smart fare and for an additional $40.00 you can take advantage of the Premium fare, which includes.

Complimentary snacks

Complimentary beverages

Relax at their premium lounge

The trip will take you right around three hours, which is much faster than driving it.

This sounds great, especially for the passengers, doesn’t it? What’s not so great is that there have been numerous incidents of motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists being on the tracks when a train passes. 100 deaths have been connected to Brightline operations since 2017. Three people were killed in two separate accidents on January 10 and 12, 2024 at the same crossing in Melbourne, FL.

In case you were wondering, there have been no onboard fatalities as a consequence of accidents. 

Amtrack runs the same O-Town to Ft Lauderdale route and they haven't reported anywhere close to the same fatalities.

Brightline runs on FEC Florida East Coast Railway tracks while AMtrack runs on the CSX tracks. I’m not a safety expert but someone needs to examine all of the Brightline road crossings.

Well, there you have it Episode 196 the  March randomness.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

In 23 years of business travel, a JetBlue flight was a first. The second first was that JetBlue flies out of the new Terminal C at MCO, and I had yet to fly out of Terminal C. After 3 trips around Terminal C, I finally found the entrance to daily parking. Side note my Monday morning through Friday afternoon parking was $120.00

Now Terminal C opened in 2022 and it houses international flights as well as JetBlue, and I was looking forward to seeing what all the hype was all about. 

The terminal is beautiful, bright, modern, and well-laid out. Breakfast was at Einstein Bagels where a bacon egg and cheese bagel only set me back $7.00, which is reasonable for an airport breakfast.

As I was sitting at the gate I started thinking how this terminal compares to Terminal B where I fly out of for Southwest. Terminal A and Terminal B share a central common area complete with shops and a food court.

With Terminal A and Terminal B, you have to take the air train from the terminal to the gates. Once at the gates, the whole area is very dated. MCO opened in 1981 and while they’ve replaced the carpet, seats, and gate desks it still throws off 1981 vibes due to the overall architecture and hideous amount of mosaic floor tiles.

My last trip to LaGuardia was in November of 2019 and upon landing I had forgotten how updated and modern their terminals were. The last major airport that opened was Denver International and that was, believe it or not, 1995, almost 20 years ago, Now think about this, if you travel or spend time picking people up at airports every airport is under some sort of construction yet unless it’s a whole new terminal like at MCO with Terminal C, the airports all seem dated, think about it

For my JetBlue flight I was in boarding group B, since I had no status and no way to purchase boarding with group A. However, I had a reserved seat which was nice compared to Southwest’s policy where you get to pick your reserved seat once you sit down in it.

Since I’ve spent the last 7 years flying Southwest, I had forgotten about what I call the “Gate Lice”. Those are the people in boarding group D who crowd the gate area when they call for group A to board. They were in full force in both Orlando as well as LaGuardia. However, the LaGuardia crowd was a bit more aggressive but I attributed that to them being in New York where everything seems to be a grind.

The JetBlue staff was pleasant and welcoming and the flight was uneventful except the seat back entertainment wasn’t working, but the WIFI was and it was free and easy to connect to. Easier to connect to than Southwest's free WIFI. And with Southwest free WIFI watch what they offer, no surfing the web.

The return trip was also uneventful. However, the seatback entertainment worked and offered a plethora of movies, music, and TV shows. In case you’re curious JetBlue gives you a whole can of soda and two snacks.

I’m based out of New Jersey and my last visit was again November 2019. For the last 20+ years, I’ve stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Fairfield on route 46. During most of my stays, I was upgraded and the upgraded room usually had a seating area with a larger kitchen area. 

The whole lobby area had a complete makeover in the last few years and it looked great. This visit I got the rooms of all rooms, and the desk clerk prepped me for it. When I opened the door I was greeted with a conference room that contained a giant 12-seat conference table and a 70” TV. There was also a kitchen area with a wet bar, fridge, TV, and sofa. The bedroom was typical, but also included yet another fridge and TV.

The best part of this Hampton Inn is that it is connected to Calandra’s Mediterian Grill where the food is amazing. There’s a happy our every evening, and Tuesday night all pizzas are only $11.00. Calandra’s has a side hustle and it’s a bakery, and that bakery provides all the bread for the “free’ daily breakfast. 

Other than not being able to pump your gas or make a left-hand turn at an intersection the trip was uneventful.

Since I’m a foodie, and I love road food, let’s open with this from One Mile At A Time - Hilton Toronto Airport makes guest sign waiver for medium burger

While One Mile At A Time this originally came from Reddit where the OP said this.

I ordered my burger medium and the waiter took it with no question or comment. She bought it and it looked great! When I had my first bite she brought me a release form and said we always make our burgers well done but since you wanted it medium now you should sign this! 

I’ve been to Canada, and we talked about it in episodes 120 and 121. First, I don’t consider Canada as a food mecca. Maybe poutine, but not when it comes to beef. Second I don’t recall any beef product that I’ve ever ordered was anything above medium rare. Call me a monster, but beef above 140 degrees starts bordering on carbon dating. Third why would you ever serve a patron some sort of a Hilton legal team release after the patron took their first bite? Would I sign the release? Not no, but hell no.

 Time for our first Pervy McPervyton story. This comes from OutKick.com.

CBS Sports host Katie Mox posted that  all of her bras & underwear were stolen on a recent Delta flight.

Katie Mox arrived in Fort Lauderdale thank you Florida and went straight to her hotel room, and as she started going through her luggage she determined that someone stole all her underwear while on her Delta flight.

Mox took to Instagram and posted “This is going to sound insane,” “I just got to the hotel room, I was unpacking my bag and I noticed it had been opened because I have this compartment that I know I zipped close. It was opened. I checked my jewelry. I checked other things. Everything was fine.”

But then reality kicked in as she went to where her underwear and bras are/were and they were f–king missing. 

Mox summed it up with this - “It’s just crazy that my jewelry and my shoes are fine but my underwear is gone,” 

Mox then went to Walmart for a restock.

We talk about kinks on almost every episode and the only way to thwart this kink is by putting an AirTag in your clean underwear. If this is your kink there are several sites you can visit.

Time for our second Pervy McPervyton story. And actually it’s an update from a story in September 2023.

From Live and Lets Fly - Here are the CliffsNotes:

A14-year-old girl rose to use the lavatory in economy class on September 2, 2023. There was a line. A male flight attendant approached her and told her she could use the first class lavatory, but he needed to wash his hands first. He remained in the lavatory for approximately one minute. Stepping out of the lavatory, he told her that the toilet seat was broken (not the toilet itself).

When she entered the lavatory, she purportedly observed red tape over the toilet seat, but then noticed a mobile camera taped on the seat. The camera (flash) light was on, suggesting it was recording. I’ll post a picture in the show notes.

Fast forward to January 2024and federal prosecutors have arrested the (former) American Airlines flight attendant, identified as 37-year-old Estes Carter Thompson III one of the three named people who is from Charlotte, North Carolina.

So here’s how calculated and creepy this guy actually is -

When investigators met Thompson in Boston, he had already restored the iPhone to factory settings (Calculated), but in searching his baggage investigators found 11 additional “inoperative catering equipment” stickers identical to what had been used to secure the phone to the toilet seat lid (calculated and creepy).

Upon searching his iCloud account, they found four additional instances from the period of January – August 2023 in which a minor was recorded in the lavatory. Those victims were 7, 9, 11, and 14 years old. Police also found over 50 images of a 9-year-old unaccompanied minor who had flown with Thompson. (Totally creepy)

Thompson has been charged with two counts, including:

* Attempted sexual exploitation of children

* And possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor

The family, as they should, is now seeking a payday via a lawsuit against American Airlines and the flight attendant. 

Against the flight attendant:

* invasion of privacy

* civil liability for the criminal act of secretly peeping

* intentional infliction of emotional distress

Against American Airlines:

* negligence

* negligent hiring, supervision or retention

Not sure if I agree with suing American Airlines, but they have deeper pockets. This family will hit a payday, as they should.

Time for a second update, about a story we did not report on. Last November, Live And Lets Fly - posted. WOMAN DROPS PANTS AND SQUATS TO PEE ON AISLE FLOOR WHEN FLIGHT ATTENDANT DENIES HER LAVATORY ACCESS ON a THANK YOU FLORIDA FLIGHT. This month Live And Lets Fly posted an update.

To bring you up to speed, in November, a female passenger needed to use the lavatory during the planes decent, and was denied. She held it until the aircraft landed, but then sprung up to use the lavatory when the aircraft touched down in Philadelphia.

After being denied again, the woman was captured on video saying, “I’m ready to pee over here. Sorry everybody!” Then pulled down her pants, exposing herself to the cabin around her, including a little boy right beside her, and then squatting on the aisle floor. Nice.

As passengers yelled in surprise and dismay, she yelled back: “Let me use the lav! I don’t give a f*ck! F*ck you! I gotta go pee!”

But she changed her mind, and quickly stood up, and pulled up her pants. During this time, the woman also threatened to kill other passengers who stood in her way as one should do when their pants are pulled down.

Turns out that woman is Dulce Huertas, 60, and she now faces a number of charges, including:

* interference with flight crew members and attendants

* simple assault

* indecent exposure

On top of all that, she also faces a fine of $355,000 and up to 21 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. While she is unlikely to be hit with the maximum jail sentence, it is likely that she will face some time behind bars and be hit with the fine.

To top it all off, it has emerged that she. may have been intoxicated and the reason she had to go was because she consumed two cocktails on the flight…what do we say about drinking on a plane?

This next story comes from the “You could’ve should’ve seen this one coming”. Hertz is selling 20,000 of their electric vehicles in order to buy gasoline cars instead. This is roughly ⅓ of Hertz’s electric car fleet. Hertz was the first car rental company to place a major investment into e-vehicles.

For me an EV doesn’t fit into my car theory of not refueling until my 50 mile indicator chimes, but I was and possibly still looking forward to renting a Tesla. The reason that Hertz is willing to take this 245 million loss. It wasn’t that people were turning in cars on an empty battery, or even being stranded because they for got to recharge the battery.

The reason is that EV’s have been hurting Hertz's financials, while EV’s cost less to maintain, they have higher damage-repair costs as well as, higher depreciation.

As EV price declines in the new car market it has pushed down the resale value of Hertz's used EV rental cars.

Remember it’s always about the money.

Finishing up with this, if you thought there would a newer, better version of fight club in the sky with the looming merger of JetBlue and Spirit. Put your movie snacks down, it isn’t going to happen.

Federal judge, William Young, blocked JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit Airlines citing - “JetBlue’s plan would eliminate the unique competition that Spirit provides—and about half of all ultra-low-cost airline seats in the industry—and leave tens of millions of travelers to face higher fares and fewer options,” 

The first visual result of the merger was Spirit Airlines stock shares pluged 60% initially, reducing the airline’s market cap by nearly $1 bn within about five minutes. JetBlue shares jumped around 10% initially before settling back near market open as of this publication.

This will be interesting as it’s doubtful these two airlines will be able to exist on their own stay tuned for an appeal.

Well, there you have it Episode 195 the first flight of 2024 mixed with some January crazy travel..

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit us at Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

If you’re a new listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back.

It’s been three months since our last episode or as they say in the business world, our previous episode was last quarter.

Once again the work-life balance got in the way of posting any episodes. There’s been a decent amount of travel in the last 90 days, but of course not yet back to those 2019 numbers.

A few trips do stand out. One was to Thomasville, GA. If you’re unfamiliar with Thomasville it’s located about 45 miles north of Tallahassee FL, a straight shot up 319. Thomasville is the quintessential small town coming in with a population right around 19,000. My last visit to Thomasville was  September 11th, 2002 and the reason I remember it is it was one year after 911 that morning my 6:00 AM alarm came in the form of firetruck sirens in the parking lot and my first thought was, here we go…. Again. Turned out to be a non-emergency but left a lasting impression.

It was amazing to see the growth that had taken place in the past 20 years. Several new hotels and the main drag, 19 is now littered with fast-food stops including a Whataburger, guess what I had for dinner. 

My hotel was a Holiday Inn Express, yes a Holiday Inn Express and my last stay at a Holiday Inn Express was 13 or 14 years ago other than this being a newer hotel Holiday Inn Express not much had changed when it came to their decor. What also had not changed were those warm and gooey cinnamon rolls that they served at breakfast.

The other visit was to Ft Worth TX. I was born in Dallas and have lived there twice but I don’t recall spending any time in Ft Worth. Fort Worth or at least the downtown section is still a very western town. A must-visit is Billy Bobs Texas. Yes, you can get fed but you can also watch live bull riding on Friday and Saturday nights, listen to live music and you can also view the handprint wall where people live Bill Engvall, Charlie Daniels, and Dale Earnhardt stuck their hands in wet cement and once it dried it was affixed to the handprint wall.

If watching bull riding is a bit intense you can head over to the Fort Worth Stockyards to watch the world's only twice-daily longhorn cattle drive, held every day at 11:30 AM & 4:00 PM.

The best meal was at Tim Loves Lonesome Dove Steakhouse. The appetizers were Duck, Rabbit-Rattlesnake Sausage, Pistachios, Black Mission Figs, Blue Corn-Lobster Hushpuppies, Smoked Tomato Butter and Kangaroo Nachos. Each place setting had a small flask of tequila, lime, and syrup to go with the appetizers.

The main course was a 14 oz Buffalo Ribeye with sides of Yukon Gold Mash Potatoes and a hearty serving of Lonesome Dove Mac & Cheese.

The desert was amazing. Tim Love is one of the few that has defeated Iron Chef Morimoto and he did it with this desert. WARM ANCHO CHILE CHOCOLATE CAKE plated with Vanilla Ice Cream, Smoked Almond Brittle, absolutely decadent.

The after-dinner drink was an old-fashioned made with Lonesome Dove Rye this was a legit old-fashioned right down to the Luxardo cherry.

This was dinner for 20 plus coworkers and the Lonesome Dove staff nailed it.

I had a few flights over the past few months and I’m here to tell you that the planes are still full and the TSA lines are long if you don’t have pre-check. And in case you are wondering less than 5% of the people I flew with were wearing masks.

Hotels across the board are more expensive than ever, the Holiday Inn Express was over $160.00 per night and we had a late October trip to Boston, and the hotel was $600.00 per night. I got buyer's remorse and decided that the money was better spent on a couple of months of mortgage payments.

So let’s do a quick catch-up on the last few months of crazy travel.

We have to open this month with this, Fly the Crappy Skies”

Early September a Delta flight out of Atlanta headed to Barcelona had to make a U-turn back to Atlanta due to a passenger's fecal urgency. Urgency might not be the best word more like a passenger’s diarrhea. 

The pilot's radio call went out as “Divert to ATL — passenger diarrhea all over aircraft — biohazard”

This poor passenger could not make it to the lavatory and ended up spreading fecal matter literally throughout the passenger cabin. Spreading might not be the best word, more like destroying the aisle of the passenger cabin.

There’s a video, there’s always a video, watch it at your discretion. There’s a LINK in the show notes.

The flight arrived in Barcelona just eight hours late, with the same aircraft after a four-hour deep cleaning. Deep cleaning, how about a complete cabin makeover?

Spoiler alert - this episode should’ve been named the biohazard episode because we’re not done yet.

Ever heard of Mike Beaton? Probably not, but Mike is a British Airways pilot who thought he was checking off a massive bucket list item. And he was so proud of this bucket list achievement that  he sent a stewardess friend this text, “I’ve been a very naughty boy.” That sounds very British, naughty boy.

Mike’s bucket list item was meeting two randos in a bar, killing a bottle of vodka with them, and then doing lines of coke off of one of these ladies' breasts. Yep, you heard it right a cheesy porn movie acted out in real life.

Thankfully the stewardess friend reported Mike’s behavior to the British Airways bosses who quickly suspended Mike and canceled his upcoming 12-hour flight, which cost right BA around $120,000 American. 

Mike was flown home the next day as a passenger, but not before being drug-tested at Heathrow. When that popped positive, Mike was fired.

Mike who is or was married only comment was, “Co-workers suck”.

This one you can file with two hashtags, #CreepyMcCreeperton and #PeopleAre Stupid.

This comes from View From The Wing

On an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Boston, there was reported a video camera in the lavatory, and it appeared that it might have been placed there by a flight attendant, and if that isn’t creepy enough it was placed there to record a teenage girl. 

According to the girl’s family, they were seated in coach but the 14-year-old was invited to use the first-class lavatory. The crewmember, she said, just wanted to “wash his hands” first. Exiting the lavatory, she says that the flight attendant told her that the seat was broken (but the toilet itself was fine). She went into the lav, and as soon as she came out the flight attendant went back inside.

Thankfully the girl took a photo of what’s apparently the flight attendant’s iPhone stuck to the toilet in the lavatory with maintenance stickers.

So now for the people are stupid part. There’s a picture of how this iPhone was affixed to the back of the toilet seat with two airline “Remove From Service” stickers which included a handwritten note, “Seat Broken”. To be even more stupid the iPhone's flash was on, I mean Stevie Wonder could see this thing from outside the lavatory.

Creepy is bad, creepy against someone without their consent is super creepy, creepy against a minor, and a fast track to jail.

Let’s move to October.

From View From The Wing we have another biohazard story - Explosive Diaper Left In Lavatory Was So Bad, The Airline Thought It Was A Bomb And Diverted

Copa Airlines flight 393 from Panama City to Tampa, Thank You Florida took off but less than an hour later, it was headed back to the airline’s hub with special forces placed on alert. The crew had identified what they thought was a bomb placed in the lavatory. It was a diaper, now I’ve dealt with two kids that were in diapers, and while it isn’t a pleasant experience I never once correlated the smell to a bomb, I have no idea what a bomb smells like. However, this was an adult diaper.

According to officials, We had it on a secure runway where police special explosives canine units and special forces examined the object and found it to be an adult diaper wrapped in plastic, ruling out any risk.

In the end, so to speak, the flight was delayed only 3 hours and cost the airline a couple hours worth of jet fuel. Hey, at least someone had the courtesy to wrap it in plastic.

This started on the sub-Reddit United Airlines - Our plane from NYC to SF diverted because a man threw up; he refused to get off the plane.

WildBloomFlower started with Please let me know if this is normal.

We were on a flight from NYC to SF, and an hour and 45 minutes in, a man threw up in the back of the plane, all over the walls. It was so bad they couldn’t clean it, six people had to move to new seats, and we were diverted to Chicago to have the plane cleaned. The flight attendants said it was a medical emergency and a biohazard that wasn’t safe for the crew or passengers.

WildBlkoomFlower went on -i t was frustrating to get delayed, but I am glad we diverted because it sounded like hell for the people in the back. But once we were there, the flight attendant said the man who was sick wasn’t getting off the plane, he said he was fine, and they couldn’t make him leave…. And they didn’t make him leave, even with force. 

If a single individual forces a plane to divert they should leave the plane. Be it for childbirth, injury, threatening passengers, or flight attendants you have to leave the plane. 

Then I realized this was United Express and the parent company United Airlines, the same United Airlines that dragged Dr. Dao off a flight in 2017. So now my thought is that United Airlines isn’t forcibly removing anyone from any flights.

Looking to get on the no-fly list? Just do what this individual did. Dateline Orlando MCO Thank You Florida where in October one man decided just to press through the screening checkpoint… without stopping for screening. This is not alright. Equipped with a backpack and a guitar this gentleman crashed through the security checkpoint only to be followed by four TSA agents who finally managed to wrestle him to the ground. Here’s what’s so odd, had he managed to elude the TSA agents he still had to ride the air train to his terminal, and while there isn’t another TSA checkpoint, there are numerous law enforcement officers in every terminal. Don’t forget the Florida slogan Florida, arrive on vacation leave on probation.

Finishing up with some November craziness, we have our last biohazard story. From Live And Lets Fly - UNREAL: WOMAN DROPS PANTS AND SQUATS TO PEE ON AISLE FLOOR WHEN FLIGHT ATTENDANT DENIES HER LAVATORY ACCESS ON FLORIDA FLIGHT. Yep, you heard it here, a woman on a flight out of Thank You Florida needed to use the lavatory after the pilot had indicated that everyone needed to remain in their seats as they were getting ready to land. The flight attendant tried to stop her while the rest of the plane yelled at her, and in the end, she dropped trou and let loose in the aisle.

Time for, “The shoe’s on the other foot”. Again from Live And Lets Fly - INTOXICATED DELTA FLIGHT ATTENDANT KISSED AND GROPED FEMALE PASSENGER, VAPED ONBOARD

This occurred in November 2022 but it’s just now hitting the web. Abigail Louise Trebnick-Emerson one of the four named people, is a Delta flight attendant who was flying “non-rev” (meaning at a greatly reduced price on a space-available basis) from Las Vegas (LAS) to Minneapolis (MSP). To set the stage, she was placed in a middle seat next to Alison Petri, who was seated on the aisle.

Trebnick-Emerson was served wine onboard, two cans at a time. After consuming the first two cans, she ordered two more. After finishing the third, she leaned over and kissed her female seatmate on the mouth. Oh no.

Petri retreated to the rear lavatory and reported the incident. One of the on-duty flight attendants, John Riss, purportedly brought Trebnick-Emerson a glass of water…and, get this, a fifth can of wine.

That may have been the end of it, but after the flight landed when Petri stood up to gather her luggage, Trebnick-Emerson reportedly groped her in the butt. She also began vaping as the plane descended, blowing “‘plumes of smoke” toward Petri.

In the words of former British Airways pilot, Mike Beaton, co-workers suck.

Well, there you have it Episode 193 and we’re all caught up. I thought about doing the 2023 gift guide, but since this is being posted in early December I’m guessing most of you are done with your holiday shopping.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back.

Tonight I am partaking in a Regatta Double IPA from Biscayne Bay Brewing Company coming in at a very hefty 8.5% ABV

Two trips since our last episode one was a three-day road trip to the ATL, and the other was a 5-day visit to the Northeast.

First the Atlanta road trip.

For the past year or two, I had been visiting Atlanta by taking 75 north to Macon, and then winding my up through Athens Georgia, and then back down to the Duluth GA area. 

For this trip, I decided to change it up by heading up 75 north and then taking 475 around Macon back on 75 to 675 to 285 to avoid the downtown Atlanta gridlock finally ending up on 85 north toward Duluth. I’m here to tell you no matter how much road construction Atlanta performs it will never solve Atlanta’s traffic issues. And one of those issues is that most cars in Atlanta have a single passenger.

The first two nights were spent in Duluth Georgia and the third night was in Valdosta Georgia

The fitness center at Hilton Garden Inn located in Valdosta did have a Peleton and it was in perfect working order. Surprising as most hotel fitness equipment is normally trashed in under 12 months. Possibly this was the second or third cycle.

This past week it was to fly into Philly on Monday and drive to Baltimore and make that base camp for Tuesday and Wednesday followed by a day in Pennsauken NJ before flying out of Philly on Friday morning. 

First, the hotel roundup, two nights at the Hilton Garden Inn White Marsh, one night at the Hilton Double Tree Pennsauken, NJ and the last night it was another Hilton Double Tree Philadelphia Airport. 

The HGI White Marsh also had a Peleton, but this one had a sign stating that it was out of order due to a manufacturer part recall. A solid HGI including my Tuesday night dinner of wings. As surprising as it sounds the wings at Hilton Garden Inns are far better than anything BDubs serves. A friend of the show Robbie Morris hit me up to those featherless taste sensations several years ago and they are consistently delicious.

The Double Tree in Pennsauken was long in the tooth, friendly staff but was in dire need of an overhaul. Especially the greenhouse pool enclosure which was missing screen panels and looked like it might be an actual greenhouse from the plant growth.

Finishing up with the Hilton Double Tree Philadelphia Airport. I had a Friday morning 6:15 AM flight home, so here’s a tip for all you baby road warriors. Book your last night hotel at a hotel that offers an airport shuttle, then drop your rental car off the night before your flight take the rental shuttle to the airport and then take the hotel shuttle to the hotel. Yes, it takes a bit more time but I promise you it’s less of a hassle than dropping off the rental at 4:00 AM.

 The Hilton Double Tree Philadelphia Airport was in much better shape but the highlight was Players Sports Bar located in the lobby. My dinner was the cheesesteak, minus the word Philly since we were in Philly. Deliciously prepared steak mixed with sauteed onions covered with a blanket of cheese.

Players also offered a solid local beer selection. I zeroed in on the Brotherly Love Hazy IPA from Victory Brewing, and that’s where I stayed for the duration of the meal.

Othe beers on the trip.

* Dead Cat IPA from Basement Brewing

* Fiddlehead IPA from Fiddlehead Brewing

* Monotone Citra from Tonewood Brewing

* Aboriginal Gangster from Burley Oak Brewing Company

* And finishing up with a Straight Outta Baltimore from Oliver Brewing Co.

Beer isn’t cheap in Maryland as we were paying $18.00 for 16 oz 4-packs. So beer prices in addition to the housing prices it’s doubtful that I could afford to live here.

The hotel roundup is as follows. Eight nights and five different hotels.

* If you needed room service you had to let the front desk know the night before.

* None of the hotels offered much of COVID reminders except for the hand sanitizer stations. Most of which were empty and crusty around the nozzle. 

* The only new addition was that all the hotels had QR codes that you could scan for the TV channels, hotel directory, and local food delivery.

* When it came to bathroom toiletries each bathroom had a single bar of soap next to the sink but all the shower gel, shampoo, and conditioner were housed in pump bottles mounted to the shower wall. This I am not a fan of, is it enough to make me pack my own shampoo and gel? Probably not.

It’s been several months since I’ve flown and not much had changed. Of course, when flying Southwest the direct routes are limited so the flight up to Philly, as well as the return flight, required connections.

The flight up connected in Nashville, Tennessee, and the return flight stopped in Chicago, Illinois, and then Columbus Ohio. 

The Nashville airport is ever-evolving, there’s always live music but it seems that more and more of the stores are selling Nashville beer and Nashville liquor.

Last week's five flights offered a couple of surprises.

Airplane occupancy was surprisingly light as my flight to Nashville was 75% full and my flight from Philly to Columbus was only 50% full. Of course, the flight back into O-Town was packed, with lots of kids and lots of families wearing matching Disney shirts.

The snack on Southwest is no longer mini-pretzels, the current Southwest snack is Remys Graham crackers. Absolutely wonderful. I probably haven’t eaten many graham crackers since the kids were little, but these are a total game-changer.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that taking early morning flights is still a giant cup of suck. Yes, the first flight out does reduce the chances of your flight being delayed, but they wreak havoc on my sleep patterns. My flight to Philly departed at 6:55 am which required leaving Chateau Relaxo by 4:30 AM, which meant I started waking up right around 3:00 AM.

My return flight departed at 6:15 AM which required boarding the hotel shuffle by 4:00 AM, which meant I started waking up right around 2:30 AM. In 23 years of travel, I’ve never missed a flight, but I just don’t sleep well before an early morning flight.

The other thing that an early morning flight does is by the time you get to your destination, it’s typical early afternoon, so there’s still plenty of time to work.

Each day I try to find at least one thing to be grateful for. On Monday and Friday, the one thing that I was grateful for was having a TSA pre-check. At both airports the non-TSA pre-check lines were horrendous. 

This is a scaled-down crazy travel roundup, but this month we have

* 10 drinks isn’t an excuse to be Creepy McCreeperton

* How clean is clean?

* Are you an entitled traveler?

* What fourteen words will get you banned from an airport?

Opening with this from Boing Boing “10 drinks under his belt, a 69-year-old man charged with groping teen next to him on Delta flight”

Dateline North Carolina, here’s the Cliff Notes

Shortly after the plane took off, the 15-year-old picked up Jack Allen Roberson's headphones after he dropped them.

In response, he said "Thank you, I don't know what I would do without you," Seems like a kind elderly gentleman.

Sometime afterward, the teenager felt him touch her thigh, which she thought was accidental because he appeared to be asleep. Seriously the old playing possum trick.

Then, he "slowly moved his hands up her thigh, and under her skirt," Enter this month Creepy McCreeperton.

The teenager then alerted her aunt, who switched seats with her before notifying the flight crew about Roberson touching her niece — resulting in him getting a new seat.

In an interview with federal investigators, after the flight landed, Jack Allen said he had eight alcoholic beverages prior to boarding the flight to Seattle and drank two double vodka tonics on the flight, according to a complaint filed in federal court. I’m saying that's 12 drinks, maybe 10 physical glasses but definitely 12 drinks.

In case you didn’t know, abusive sexual contact on an aircraft can result in up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Remember, that alcohol or other drug use doesn’t excuse felony sexual abuse.

Repeating my June PSA….. Dudes, all of the dudes,… no matter what you’ve watched on PornHub or read on Reddit, women, don’t like this, they don’t welcome this or want this, and everything that you’ve watched and read is total BS if a woman wanted you to act like that that they would ask. 

And doing something like this to a 15-year-old Mr. Jack Ass Allen, you’re deplorable.

For this next story let’s head to the Ticky Tok and focus on Rochelle N. Stewart’s account. In addition to listing JESUS, Mom, Wife, Cook, Clean, Organize & Self Care in her profile Rochelle has 1.1 million followers. Rochelle recently shared the intense 20-minute cleaning routine she does in every hotel that includes checking for bed bugs with a blue light. She wipes down everything from the shower to the light switch. 

During the Ticky Tok, Rochelle said: 'This clean life isn't for everyone, but this is what I do when I check into a hotel,' as she wiped down the phone with a Clorox wipe. Next, she used soap and a Scrub Daddy to clean the sink. Then she a Clorox wipe on a sponge and wiped the toilet, the floor, and the shower.  Finishing up with cleaning the shower floor, she said: 'Even if I wear flip-flops, I got to at least clean the shower floor, call me crazy if you want.' 

OK, Rochelle as of July 31st I have spent 23 years being a road warrior, and I work with at least 30 other road warriors and I have yet to find out that any of them have ever gotten sick from a hotel room. Make no mistake about it I appreciate your cleanliness, you list it in your profile even if it is strictly for views.

Over the years I have seen baby road warriors bring a black or blue light when they travel, and when they disclose this I always ask, “What are you going to do if you find something with that light?” Every time they reply with, “Ask for a new room” to which I reply, “Do you think they have a different housekeeper for each room?”

Short of licking the toilet seat in a hotel room chances are you will not get sick.

Thank you View From The Wing. Here’s a point to ponder. What is your definition of entitled? With travel, it could be always expecting the upgrade no matter what number you are on the list or expecting the hotel staff to clean up after you in the breakfast area.

But here’s an example of an entitled traveler that never came to mind - Business Class Passenger Loses It When United Runs Out Of First Choice Meal. After reading the multitude of stories posted about this “Loses it” isn’t the best descriptor. 

This guy pitched such a fit that United Airlines flight 20 from Houston to Amsterdam dumped fuel, and then diverted to Chicago. After removing the passenger and refueling at O’Hare, the flight just landed, about three and a half hours late.

There’s a video, there’s always a video, I’ll post a link. And of course, as the story unfolds it appears that there was some pregaming before the flight which might have attributed to the outburst.

I’m not sure about the cost of a fuel dump, and I’m guessing it’s not the greatest for the environment, but this was all over this passenger not getting the first choice of their meal. It’s not that they didn’t get to eat, it’s that they didn’t get what they wanted. Plus it’s a meal on an airline and the airline is United. I’ve flown United a few times over the years and I don’t recall any 4-star dining experiences.

As with most of these stories, the comments hold the real comedy gold.

DanK: They should start putting a small padded jail cell next to the toilet to hold these people so they don’t have to divert.

Sva Says: A uniquely American problem…..along with guns, and low IQ….and failed geography tests…and standard of living….and lower life expectancy….

Andy says: If he were so passionate about onboard dining, why did he choose United?

Finishing up with the fourteen words that will get you banned from an airport.

Those words are, "I'm going to blow this [expletive] up. I'm going to take you all out," 

And why would someone choose to utter those words? Well, it turns out that 30-year-old Vincent Cirino showed up at the gate, and was told the flight was closed already, and that he would not be allowed to board because Vincent was late.

Deputies apprehended Cirino following the incident. As one would expect, the situation further escalated when officers attempted to inform Cirino of his Miranda rights, as the 30-year-old refused to cooperate and became even more agitated, using explicit language and raising his voice toward officers.

In the court proceedings, the judge acknowledged concerns about the specific charges Cirino was facing but found probable cause to proceed with the case.

The judge ordered Cirino to post a $10,000 bond and forbade him from entering any airport property.

And where did this all take place? Glad you asked.  This took [place at the Thank You Florida, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

And what’s the Florida motto? “Florida, come on vacation. Leave on probation.”

There you have it episode 191, Traveling like I used mixed with some July Crazy Travel Roundup is in the books.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener, welcome back.

Tonight I am drinking local with a Castillo Coconut Porter from Ancient City Brewing of

St. Augustine, FL. This comes in at 6.8% ABV It’s a porter mixed with dark chocolate and black malts. It's brewed with raw organic coconut and finished with Northern Brewer hops. St. Augustine is less than two hours up the road, and if you’ve never heard of St Augustine it’s Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin in the United States. It has sort of a pirate theme mixed with ghost tours and some great seafood.

We skipped the May crazy travel roundup, just too much going on trying to keep that home life work-life balanced to get an episode recorded. We’ve had to relocate a relative to a new residence, experienced a bathroom renovation and we’re in the middle of another renovation, a facelift for the Chateau’ Relaxo home office.

If you traveled over the July 4th holiday hopefully your blood pressure is back in the normal range. The news outlets as well as the travel blogs were predicting travel delays and cancelations days before we logged off our final Teams meeting last Friday. 

Over the four-day weekend, I did a  bit of reflection as one tends to do while enjoying a few beers and it led me down the road of holiday travel. It’s been months since I’ve been on a plane, be it for business or for pleasure. Buy the third beer it dawned on me that I miss the travel grind at least a little bit. 

There are always going to be travel delays, there’s the human factor, the weather factor as well as a mechanical factor…. The proverbial three-legged stool. If something goes wrong with one of those legs the stool topples just like what happens to flight schedules. Just remember to try to make the best of the situation, no need to yell or try to make next month's crazy travel roundup. Most airports have a decent food selection, enjoy a nice meal and you the airline's app to keep you updated on your flight schedule 

In case you didn’t know when it comes to travel, no good deeds go unpunished, if you get an upgrade to first-class more than likely one of your next flights will be delayed. If the hotel bumps you up to an executive suite, chances are there will be an issue with your next rental car. Travel is all about perspective.

Onto tonight's show, we have:

* A bit of crotch grabbing

* An exciting twist on the emergency slide deployment

* The artistic kid

* Yet another flight delay

* An exciting way to call in sick to work

* And the Spirit Airlines roundup

Let’s open with this - dateline somewhere between Atlanta, GA and Portland, Maine. From Live and Let’s Fly.

Dr. Jake Namjik Cho, referred to now as Dr. Creepy McCreeperton, was on a Delta flight seated in 17B. No judgment but a doctor that can’t afford first class, seriously? During the flight, a young woman claimed that Dr. Creepy McCreeperton spent much of the flight leaning into her seat area while appearing to be asleep.

Here are a few of the highlights from her criminal complaint - 

Dr. Creepy made contact with her thigh and buttocks. 

At some point the aircraft encountered turbulence, and Dr. Creepy appeared to have spasmed and reached over her leg and down into her crotch. A total 9th-grade movie theater move.

Dr. Creepy then touched the outside of her genitals from the outside of her pants. What a creep.

When she cried out, Dr. Creepy “woke up” and removed his hand. For the rest of the flight, he did not touch her. 

When Dr. Creepy returned to Atlanta he was questioned by the FBI as well as Portland Police and a Federal Air Marshal when he checked in for his return to Atlanta.

What Dr. Creepy did was disgusting, wrong, and inappropriate pick your favorite adjective, but it gets more creepy. 

At first, Dr. Creepy denied touching the woman next to him at all with his hands, let alone inappropriately, and claimed he had traveled to Maine to propose to his girlfriend. What…. propose to his girlfriend?

Eventually, Dr. Creepy confessed and his excuse for grabbing her crotch? His glasses were off, the cabin was dark, and his hand slipped. This guy must think he’s Trump.

In the end, Dr. Creepy was arrested and now faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. My guess is that he’ll also lose his medical license.

Here’s my PSA for all the dudes… no matter what you’ve watched on PornHub or read at ReddIt women don’t like this, they don’t welcome or want this, and everything that you’ve watched and read is total BS. If a woman wanted you to act like that that they would ask.

This month’s second entry is also from Live and Let’s Fly and it involves one of my favorite airline-related things….. The emergency slide. 

A mechanical issue forced a Delta Boeing 767 to divert to Salt Lake City, as if that wasn’t heart-stopping enough the emergency exit slide was then inadvertently deployed inside the cabin, smashing a flight attendant just like an airbag.

And the inadvertent deployment happened due to a careless caterer that was servicing the plane after the mechanical issue was resolved and the plane was restocking in order to take off.

There was a picture posted on Twitter from @danmorenooo and after countless news outlets asking @danmorenooo to check his DM’s requesting permission to repost his picture, we finally stuck comedy gold with a couple of comments. 

@madewithjello -  That’s just the plane holding its fart. 💨

@mfg - First time seeing an emergency slide deployed and can’t even use it. Brutal

@omalley_ian - Flight attendants cross-check?

Of course, there were plenty of amateur aeronautical engineers adding their comments about grit bars and velcro. I had no idea what any of that meant.

In case you’re wondering or haven’t listened to previous episodes, it’s about $10k to repack the emergency and then tack on any repair costs to the plane during deployment.

After all that, I doubt I would’ve boarded the second flight and in turn, I would’ve just made my way to the rental car lot.

If you’ve ever been the parent of or spent much time around cute little curtain climbers you will discover that they are creative. Some of the creativity can be easily appreciated like tracing their hand with a crayon and then coloring it to make it look like a turkey. Others' creativity takes a bit to appreciate. Case and point I had a friend whose car interior resembled a pinata because his kids had stuck stickers on the car's windows and seats in a very half-assed fashion.

For better or worse there is no parenting manual most parenting styles are influenced by how you were raised, mixed with not trying to crush their young spirits while trying to keep your little crotch gobblings from disturbing others. 

Parenting is a balancing act, however, what took place on a recent Delta flight is not alright….. From JetMarvel.net. - A mother let her child draw all over the seat and windows on Delta Flight. Yes, you heard that right - A mother let her child draw all over the seat and windows on Delta Flight.

From the mother’s now-deleted Instagram account 

“I’m not running an advertisement here. providing practical advice. Thank me later, parents of infants and toddlers! When the iPad has served its purpose, you can use it effectively. When I want my toddler to fall asleep, I prefer to let him use these instead of the iPad because the iPad excites him and makes it more difficult for me to put him to sleep. A sleeping child on a lengthy flight is also a MAJOR WIN, as is common knowledge.

This video is from a domestic flight of Delta. I informed the flight attendant that they wipe off on purpose. She exhaled in relief and I did too.“

This kid tried his best Bob Ross on the plane's interior. No “Happy little accidents” no “having a tree as a friend” Just big stupid circles and this mallet-head of a mother's assurance that it will wipe off on purpose….. Which is a stupid statement and makes no sense.

All joking aside I believe in giving grace, especially to parents with young children on a flight. However, this woman didn’t even try….Hey kid, tired of the iPad? here‘s an 8-pack of Crayolas have at it.

Flight delays happen, they happen every day. If you're lucky they happen while you are still at the gate area and not while you’re stuck out on the tarmac. If you’re lucky the delay is only an hour or two, but oftentimes they’re much longer….. And if you’re Ticky Tocker and AI Efficiency Coach Phil Stringer your flight delay was 18 hours…. Yes, 18 hours. Phil’s flight was from Oklahoma to North Carolina and Phil is apparently a very patient man because after 18 hours every other passenger had given up or was lucky enough to catch another flight, which meant Phil was the designated survivor and he was rewarded with a fully staffed Airbus A321 plane all to himself. Phil posted his single-passenger journey on the Ticky Tock with the opening caption “When you buy every single ticket on the plane so you don’t half to deal with people”.

The video shows Phil and the flight crew having a blast complete with Phil getting his own one-on-one safety briefing.

That being said they still managed to lose Phil’s luggage…… just kidding.

In case you were wondering 18 hours is approximately the same amount of time it would take to just drive from Oklahoma to North Carolina. I would’ve waited 18 hours.

My closest encounter with being the only passenger on a flight was in 2001 on an Atlanta to Jacksonville Thank You Florida flight where I was one of five passengers, and I still didn’t get the upgrade.

At some point, most of us have had a job that we didn’t enjoy. It could be a quote-unquote toxic work environment. An ill-balanced pay scale or not liking your fellow coworkers, especially if one of those coworkers is an ex. Very early on in my corporate career, I heard the phrase “Don’t fish off the company dock” In other words do not get romantically involved with a coworker. And it makes total sense.

This brings us to our next story.

From PaddleYourOwn Kanoo I give you this.

An Aerolineas Argentinian flight attendant, Daniela Carbone, was recently assigned to work a Buenos Aires to Miami, Thank You Florida, flight and on that flight, was to be her ex-boyfriend, also Aerolineas Argentinian flight attendant and he was traveling with his new girlfriend, who is also an Aerolineas Argentinian flight attendant. This sounds like it could be a poorly written pron movie.

Instead of letting the anxiety build Daniela decided to call out of work by phoning in a bomb threat. It is alleged that Carbone used her daughter’s cellphone with a disposable sim card to call in the bomb threat with a distorted voice:

“Tell the little captain that we put three bombs in the Miami,” “Tell him to stop f**king around with politics and check the plane because they are going to be blown to smithereens”.

With such a well-thought-out plan how did Daniela get caught? Glad you asked.

 Someone had ratted her out. They seized her iPhone and undercovered her search history which included,

“Can you analyze an audio to find out whose voice it is”

“How to investigate audio”

In the end, Daniela did get the day off, as well as the remainder of the year because she got fired and now faces up to six years in prison.

Remember don’t fish off the company dock!

Wrapping up the episode with three Spirit Airlines stories and all three involve passengers losing their “S”.

Spirit Airlines is often known by a few of these nicknames - 

* Break your Spirit Airlines

* Waffle House with wings

* Dollar Store of the Sky

If you’ve never flown Spirit put a Google on Spirit Airlines bad reviews and if after going down that rabbit hole you still feel that flying Spirit is a good idea here are my three words of advice - God Bless You.

Let’s open with a late June flight from Atlanta to Detroit. To start this flight was delayed five hours. Finally, passengers “were told they could board around 10:15 p.m.” and around 15 did indeed board the flight.

But wait there’s more, there’s always more because “rowdy travelers caused yet another delay” At that point, the Spirit gate agents decided it was best to shut the boarding doors so that “nobody else could board.” Hindsight being 20/20 this probably wasn’t the greatest strategy because you now have 15 passengers on board a delayed flight that are now going to experience more delays plus the remaining passengers in the gate area that can’t get on the plane.

It was at that point a passenger grabbed the mic of the gate’s public address system to call for a supervisor to which the remaining passenger in the gate area began cheering. Not sure if a supervisor ever showed up, but I know if I had the unfortunate job of being a Spirit supervisor it would be right around that time that I’d be taking my dinner break. After dropping $125.00 on a Spirit flight you not only get onboard entertainment you also get pre-flight entertainment.

Spirit round two - It’s Atlanta again. Atlanta you’re on notice don’t try to take Thank You Florida’s Spirit Fight Club status.  

With Spirit being the Waffle House with wings it’s surprising that they would deny anyone boarding a flight. They need that $125.00 plus fees and taxes. Well, it happened last month in Atlanta when a gate agent was assaulted by a passenger they’d just denied boarding to out of a belief that the customer was intoxicated. The passenger tried to force her way onto the jet bridge and punched the gate agent in the face when that didn’t work.

Fortunately, the agent was fairly unscathed. The passenger was arrested and charged with assault.

Again some pre-flight entertainment for only $125.00.

Finishing the Sirit roundup with this from Orlando, Thank You Florida story. From Fox35, a Spirit Airlines customer put an Orlando police officer in a chokehold. 

Edward Hariston, 41, of Ohio, is facing one count of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, battery on a law enforcement officer, and disorderly conduct. 

What could possibly cause all this? Glad you asked. Investigators said Hariston was reportedly arguing with an employee when he reached behind the ticket counter, grabbed the computer keyboard, and began hitting buttons. That’s when a police officer tried to stop him and the fight started.

In my opinion, Hariston should plead insanity because anyone that flies Spirit has to be insane.

What do we always say - Florida come on vacation, leave on probation.

And that ends this month’s Spirit Airlines travel tips.

There you have it episode 189, the June crazy travel roundup is in the books. I’ll try to do better and get another show out in the next few weeks.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back.

We skipped the mid-month episode, just too much going on trying to keep that home life work-life balanced to get an episode recorded.

Here’s what’s in store for the April craziness - 

* Remember the childhood game “Chutes & Ladders” in modern times we play “Emergency chutes & what’s the matter?

* Herding cats at JFK, sort of.

* One rule for life from the movie Roadhouse

* Southwest Airlines "It's like déjà vu all over again."

* No shirt, No shoes, No service 

* Kids on a plane

* More kids on a plane

* When real life imitates the movies

But first a quick travel update.

One quick trip to Columbia, SC for a weekend getaway. The 6-hour drive up I95 would become a 9-hour drive by the time we hit Jacksonville. Make no mistake about it I95 is horrendous, from Florida to Maine somewhere along the way you will experience delays. The first part of our delay was the remaining snowbirds were headed back north. The second part of our delay came from the Georgia-South Carolina state line, where  I95 goes from 4 lanes down to two lanes. Think of it as the merge lane at the onramp except instead of 5 or six cars you’ve got four lanes of cars doing 70 MPH. 

The base camp was the Hampton Inn Columbia-Downtown Historic District. It was a perfect location as it was located near everything we wanted to do. Dinner was at the Hickory Tavern which offered tasty sports bar food with a solid mix of local beers, plus it was within walking distance of the hotel.

Saturday morning was spent at the Soda City Market. Soda City Market is a producer-only market which means vendors must make or grow their own products. Their motto is ‘Find everything you need to nourish your brain, body, and belly”. The market fields an average of 150 vendors per week, and over 400 unique vendors throughout the year! Again an easy walk from the hotel.

After that, we grabbed the car and headed to Cromers Peanuts to stock up on boiled peanuts and Peach Nehi. Cromer’s was started by my late grandmother’s Uncle Julian D. Cromer. Julian D. Cromer was an early adopter of grassroots marketing with his slogan Cromer’s  “Guaranteed Worst in Town." And that today that slogan is still on display inside the store.

Lunch was at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. The CEO went with the Smokehouse Burger which consisted of an Angus patty topped with pulled pork, pepper jack cheese, and onion straws. I passed on the beef and went with their special of the month a Peanut Thai Chicken sandwich which was amazing. Don’t pass up their tatter tots covered with their special seasoning, I never knew tots could be kicked up a notch.

That night was a formal event at Stone River. Stone River is set on the banks of the Congaree River with a perfect view of downtown Columbia. The service and food were spot on and made the perfect ending to a quick get-a-way weekend. And the drive back only took us 6 ½ hours.

On to the April craziness.

Let’s open with one of my favorite topics, the deployment of an airplane’s emergency slide.

Dateline LOS ANGELES  - Delta flight 1714 was headed towards Seattle right up to the point when a passenger opened an emergency exit door causing the emergency slide to deploy as the plane was pushing away from the gate. 

In case you were curious, I was, the cost to repack a slide can cost as much as $30,000. According to the Consumerist, that cost will cover the repacking of the slide — which can cost $6,000 to $12,000 alone — and any repairs that may need to be done to the aircraft.

Now here’s the odd thing according to Valley News, the person was not arrested, but “transported to a local hospital for mental evaluation,”.

Even odder, “The aircraft was holding to taxi for takeoff when the passenger exited the aircraft and was initially detained by Delta staff ahead of being arrested by local law enforcement,” the official statement said. This means Delta isn’t like many businesses where if an employee witnesses an infraction they are told to not engage.

And in the end, the aircraft returned to a gate and passengers were put on another plane Delta posted.

When it comes to herding cats we must thank Norse Atlantic Airline. Norse has a fleet of roughly 10 planes and positions itself as a low-cost, long-haul airline. Part of Norse Atlantic’s mission statement is this - Norse is dedicated to doing two things excellently: Providing top customer experience and affordable tickets. 

So how’s this for a customer experience  - In early April Norse forgot to Send Arriving Passengers To Customs, and Now They Have To Return To JFK.

This was a flight from France and it appears that passengers deplaned, grabbed their luggage, and headed for the train, their Uber, or their car. That’s it no 2 - 3 hour customs search, claim, and explain. If you’ve ever traveled internationally this was a gift. It was a gift until the next morning and that’s when tiktokbrowser took to Reddit to post this email that they received - 

"This is a reminder that you have to be cleared by immigration when entering the US. You did not unfortunately clear immigration upon arrival into New York JFK last night. Please report back to Terminal 7 at JFK this morning at 0900LT at Row E. It is in your own interest that you are processed by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the US Government."

Through the Reddit comments tiktokbrowser posted a few more details “We got off the plane, passed baggage claim, and were right at the exit! We were so confused but we were like ok I guess??”

They even reached out to CBP Customs & Border Patrol and they were wishy-washy on whether or not everyone really did have to return to JFK.

In the end, tiktokbrowser finished with this, “Lol - yes I went back. Spent hundreds on Ubers to go back. Supervisor of CBP told me I had to go back”.

This was no doubt the fault of one single individual that missed the “Customs & Border Patrol” day at the gate agent school.

One of the movies that I will always stop to watch is Roadhouse, and if you’ve listened to any of the previous 187 episodes I will often reference one of John Dalton’s, played by Patrick Swayze  “3 simple rules”. Rule #3 “Be nice”.

In case you were wondering about the other two rules.

Rule #,1Expect the unexpected. 

Rule #2, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary. 

Well Gary Leff from View From The Wing must also listen to Travel Stories because last month he posted this - The Most Important Trick for Getting What You Want From Airlines (And Other Large Businesses)

If you’ve never seen Roadhouse Swayze’s character Dalton majored in Philosophy at NYU. And Gary claims that he’s been a proponent of the Philosophy of “hang up, call back” for many years. When you don’t get the answer you want the first time, hang up the phone and talk to someone else.

This happened a few weeks ago with a coworker as he was stranded at Dulles due to weather delays. He was flying on United where he had no status. After three phone calls of “Sorry, there are no other flights available” he hit gold on call number four as he got a flight into Miday which put him closer to his final destination.

Gary also added this  If you’re dealing with an airline on the day of travel you have some options:

* the check-in counter

* kiosk, website, or app

* telephone reservations

* customer service counter

* gate agent

* Twitter (and in some cases Facebook Messenger or other social media or messaging app)

Nowhere in the post does Gary mention screaming, cussing breaking things, or removing your clothes, more on that in a minute.

It comes down to being nice and asking nicely. Believe me, if that gate agent could go wrench on a 737 in order to not hear all the b******g about a mechanical delay they would.

Also, Rule #1 Expect the unexpected is also solid advice…. Actually, Roadhouse is filled with all sorts of life lessons, go watch it.

Yogi Berra once said, 'It's Deja Vu All Over Again' 

For this let’s jump into the way-back machine to December 2022, so it’s not that far back.

If you traveled by plane over the past few weeks, hopefully, you have been reunited with your luggage and you finally have made it home.

2022 Christmas air travel was a dumpster fire and a winter storm ignited the fire on Friday, December 23rd, this resulted in lost, make that lots of lost luggage and lots of stranded passengers

Here are the quick numbers in case you forgot

Tuesday, December 27th Over 20,00 delayed flights and 5100 canceled flights.

Wednesday, December 28th Over 11,000 delayed flights and 4475 canceled flights. 

Southwest Airlines took the brunt of it by canceling over 2500 flights on both Tuesday the 27th and Wednesday the 28th. Part of the issue was that  Southwest bases its routes on a point-to-point system and not a hub system.

The other part was their outdated and aging technology infrastructure. Think of it as still relying on dial-up internet in 2023.

April 18th the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop which halted all Southwest Airlines flights from taking off. This was due to a technical glitch and that glitch was a firewall failure. I used the phrase “a firewall” as I hope Southwest has several firewalls and not just one “the firewall”.

Technology failure, again…. As I tend to say, have a good data backup or have a resume. My thought was that maybe a Southwest IT staff member decided to “quiet quit” by unplugging a network cable.

No shirt, No shoes, No service  This is our first “Thank You Florida” story.

Selecting your seat on an airplane is important and most seasoned travelers are either a window person or an aisle person. If you’re a middle seat person then you're a monster. For years I was a window seat person, but for the last 5 years, I’ve been an aisle guy.

Here’s some travel advice, no matter your seat preference, do not, and I repeat do not leave your seat choice up to the airline they have a 1 in 3 shot of assigning you your preferred seat and they will get it wrong 100% of the time….. Trust me.

Last month, Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale “Thank you Florida” American Airlines passenger ignored my travel advice and didn’t get the window seat he wanted. And as you could well imagine he was not a happy passenger.

There’s a video, there’s always a video and it was posted on the IG account onlyinbroward. Broward is the county Fort Lauderdale is in.

The shirtless and low-hanging pant passenger was pacing back and forth to the boarding door and then began trashing the gate area. He TKO’d the boarding area sign before getting in several employees' faces followed up by ranting at no one in particular and then Charlotte officers gave him a prize, a set of shiny chrome bracelets followed by a ride in the back of a police car.

You know the Florida motto - Come on vacation, leave on probation except this lad is leaving Charlotte on prohibition.

Question of the day - 

Why did the kids sprinkle sugar all over the floor of the airplane?

Because they wanted to have a sweet mess!

So let's jump right into this one, in case you’ve been on vacation with limited access to cell service and the internet.

 Last month Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass posted a photo on Twitter showing a lot of popcorn on the floor of a plane where his kids were sitting.

Here’s the TWEET

“The flight attendant [on United Airlines] just made my 22 week pregnant wife traveling with a 5 year old and 2 year old get on her hands and knees to pick up the popcorn mess by my youngest daughter. Are you kidding me?!?!” he wrote.

In case you didn’t know this, Anthony Bass’s sister-in-law is country singer Jessie James Decker, wrote on her Instagram that her sister was “humiliated” and was “crying in the aisle” while picking up the popcorn.

Nearly 66 million people viewed the original tweet. As you can imagine it sparked an immediate debate over who is responsible for cleaning up after kids on a plane: their parents or flight attendants? Fair question.

In my humble opinion it is the parent's responsibility to clean up after their kids, be it at a grocery store, restaurant, church, or on an airplane. Be it you spent good money on a ticket and you are with a child and have two in two it does not make a flight attendant your personal servant. Mrs. Bass knew her kids made a mess, give any 5 and 2-year-olds a bag of popcorn and I promise you there will be a mess. Mrs. Bass should have got the flight attendant's attention, acknowledged the mess, and then asked nicely if the flight attendant would help her to clean up the mess I’m willing to bet the flight attendant would have said don’t worry about the mess we’ll handle it. Some might call her behavior entitled, I can’t judge that, but she should have asked for help and saved the internet from yet another stupid, senseless debate.

More kids on a plane via View from the Wing I give you - Southwest Airlines Flight Diverts After Passenger Goes On Anti-Baby Rant

A baby was crying on board a Southwest Airlines flight to Orlando, “Thank you Florida” and a passenger on board absolutely lost it. He spent three minutes on a rant about how couldn’t stand the sound of the baby, and things got so bad the flight had to divert.

What do we say, there’s a video, and there’s always a video, and this Ticky-Tok video has "More F-bombs than a Quentin Tarantino movie marathon." One passenger added that, by screaming, the passenger was annoying the rest of the passengers. Why was that ok if the baby’s crying wasn’t?

Looking at the video this man's poor wife, girlfriend whatever had the look on her face of “Here he goes again”

Screaming kids on a plane comes with the territory, especially when flying into Orlando. If the parent is doing all they can to comfort the child there is nothing else that can be done short of a capful of Dramamine.

Now the real gold with these posts comes from the comments - for example, SOBE ER DOC says:

Any flight to MCO is my personal version of hell. Totally get that these flights are school bus routes full of over-sugared kids heading to the parks. I can imagine how excited the kids are…I would have been if I had ever had the chance to fly to Orlando as a kid. I hope it’s everything they want it to be.

I just don’t want to be subjected to their “enthusiasm” any more than I would a bachelorette party, an Amway convention, Spring Break, you name it. It’s why I ALWAYS have a pair of noise-cancelling headphones with me so I can drown it out.

Sold advice SOBE ER DOC, solid advice.

Also, there’s no on/off switch on a baby

Finishing up with this - A pilot flying a small plane in South Africa with four passengers aboard felt a "cold sensation … underneath my shirt at my hip area," and thought it was a leaky water bottle. Until he glanced to his left and saw a venomous cobra head making its way underneath his seat.

This isn’t the opening paragraph to an adventure novel, this was real life.  

South African pilot Rudolf Erasmus said he had heard from people at the airport "that they saw this cape cobra that was seeking refuge underneath our wing of the aircraft and had a suspicion that it crawled into the engine cowling."

A search of the plane turned up nothing, "so we assumed the snake had gotten out and went on his merry way," he said. We all know what assume means.

 Fast forward 30 minutes and that’s when Rudolf felt the quote/un-quote cold sensation.  Now this was a small 5-passenger Cesna-style aircraft, not a commercial airline meaning no place to hide. 

I’m surprised with such a small cockpit there was room for the pilot and his huge set of gonads.

This was just like that movie! Pulp Fiction!

Here are a few more that didn't make the cut, but the link will be in the show notes.

Two Women Blast Music, Dance And Drink At Their Seats While Passengers Suffer

American Airlines Passenger Urinates On Seatmate After Argument

Family sues cruise company for letting man's corpse decompose in drink cooler for 6 days

The TSA, Bear Spray And A Janitor Cause Evacuation Of Nashville Airport

There you have it episode 188, the April crazy travel roundup is in the books. 

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back.

One road trip since our last episode, three nights in three different hotels.

Hampton Inn Lawrenceville, GA, Hilton Garden Inn, Atlanta, GA, and another Hilton Garden Inn, Valdosta, GA.

All three were serving breakfast and in both the Hilton Garden Inn properties, the bar and restaurants were open after 5:00 PM. Here’s a pro tip if you ever stay at a Hilton Garden Inn do yourself a favor and order the wings, you won’t be disappointed.

The Lawrenceville and Valdosta properties are locations where I have stayed at least 30 nights a piece over the years and both of those properties were getting long in the tooth and were in dire need of major upgrades such as carpeting, room air conditioners, and mini-fridges. This is surprising as Hilton typically holds their franchisee's feet to the fire when it comes to property upkeep. The hotel industry has taken a financial hit over the past few years so no doubt cash flow plays into this but if people want to stay in a rundown property they’ll head to the local mom-and-pop no-tell motel.

Onto this month’s craziness.

Opening up with a bit of a confession….. I’m not much of a gamer. I played Castle Wolfenstein in the 80s’ Doom in the 90s’ and my son and I played Need for Speed in the early 2000s’. I tried to place Call of Duty once and got smoked in under 10 seconds.

On March 1st, we opened up with a real-life Grand Theft Auto. Dateline JFK Airport  ABC 7 New York gave us this - American Airlines bus stolen from JFK Airport, police identify suspect in a wild chase. Isn’t this how the movie Speed started out?

43-year-old Burshawn Quildon, 43, managed to lead the police on a 15-mile chase.

This happened just before 2 a.m. when Quildon reportedly jumped into a bus that was left running in Lot 12. Here’s a quick life lesson - when you leave your vehicle take your keys with you.

An airport employee followed the bus and called the police.

Police say Quildon was in Queens, in Manhattan, and across the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn, where he was finally pulled over.

Quildon is charged with grand larceny of an auto and criminal possession of the stolen property.

Officials say the suspect was on probation and is no stranger to law enforcement.

His last arrest was for domestic robbery in 2015, so he went straight or didn’t get caught for the last 8 years. But he is said to have had numerous other arrests including robbery, marijuana possession, assault, and transit fraud.

The lesson here: take your keys with you.

Let's stay in the greater New York New Jersey area with a surprise or not-so-surprising appearance from Thank You Florida.

From Live and Let’s Fly - A former US Marine was arrested at Newark Airport after trying to board a flight to Florida with a cache of weapons and a fake US Marshal badge.

This took place on December 30, 2022. but seems to just now hit the travel blogosphere.

Seretse Clouden, 42, was heading from Newark (EWR) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and while screening one of his checked bags, TSA agents found a number of high-caliber magazines with ammo and a ballistic vest bearing the words “Deputy Marshal.”

TSA officers then approached the gate and paged Clouden. There, Clouden admitted that he had neither law enforcement credentials a firearms identification card from any state.

Officers then pulled his other bags from the aircraft, and ultimately found three weapons:

A .308 rifle

An AR-15 rifle

At least one Glock 

As agents dug through his bag, they also found: a fake US Marshal ID card and badge

more ammo magazines, an expandable baton, and an immense amount of ammunition. Not sure what quantity immense is but officials reported that it was immense.

A quick inquiry confirmed that Clouden is not, and was not ever employed by the United States Marshal Service. Somehow I’m thinking officers knew this long before they submitted the inquiry.

What is Clouden now eligible for? He faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000 and another 15 years for fraudulent possession of a government identification document.

I know at least two individuals that forgot to remove a handgun from their bag and another one that left ammunition in a backpack so it happens, but when TSA agents find a number of high-caliber magazines with ammo and a ballistic vest bearing the words “Deputy Marshal.” no one forgot anything.

As a Florida tip-in to that last story on Saturday, March 11th my home airport Orlando International Airport OIA experienced its busiest day in history, recording a total of 95,287 departing passengers.

This week's first entry in the “people are dumb” category comes from Thank You Florida. 

At the airport what 10 words in the form of a sentence might land you in jail? “Whole time they missed a whole bomb in my bag!”

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Dorion Young Davis (One of the 3-named people) of Dayton, Ohio after they accused her of making a bogus bomb threat at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Deputies responded after TSA reported a security alert from a carry-on bag belonging to Dorion Young Davis according to an arrest report.

Authorities said while being patted down by a TSA agent, Davis was heard saying: “Whole time they missed a whole bomb in my bag!” Detectives have not said what item caused the security alert.

Maybe Dorion Young Davis meant to say, “I’m da bomb”

Remember, “Whole time they missed a whole bomb in my bag!” not a quarter of half but a whole bomb. Thank you, Florida.

Let's stay local with another Thank You Florida story - Orlando Airport passenger arrested after landing with 38 pounds of meth, and 4 pounds of pot in a suitcase. I know it’s Spring Break, but seriously pace yourself.

Michael Jayson Scarlett, (Another one of the 3-named people) age 43, was arrested after drug-sniffing dogs alerted agents on his suitcase. These were drug-sniffing dogs, not bomb-sniffing dogs, it is Thank you Florida after all.

Scarlett who was flying in from Los Angeles now faces charges of possession and intent to distribute a controlled substance, according to a federal criminal complaint.

When confronted, Scarlett told agents he was looking for work in Orlando. Looking for work, he should’ve stayed in LA and sold the 38 pounds of meth, and 4 pounds of pot.

 Later, however, once Scarlett was in custody, he told agents “he knew he messed up, and ... was in a lot of trouble.”

Scarlett told agents a man named "Chewy" paid him $500 to take the suitcase to Orlando — and that he had done so two other times as well, the affidavit said.

Text exchanges on Scarlett's phone led agents to believe Chewy was present at the time Scarlett landed. Chewy is short for Chewbacca and Disney World is home to Star Wars, it all makes perfect sense now.

Here’s a question for this episode - If a fellow passenger asked you this while you were midflight “Where on the safety card does it show where the door handle was located?” what would you do?

Dateline Boston Logan Airport March 5th. Around 45 minutes before landing, the flight crew on United Airlines flight 2609 received an alarm in the cockpit that a starboard side door located between first class and the economy class was disarmed.

A flight attendant found that the door’s locking handle had indeed been moved out of the fully locked position, this was reported to the captain after the flight crew secured the door and emergency slide

Another flight attendant had reported that he observed a passenger near the door, and believed they had tampered with it

A flight attendant confronted the passenger about this, and they responded by asking if there were cameras showing that they had done so.

The flight attendants then informed the captain that they felt this passenger posed a threat to the aircraft and that the plane needed to land as soon as possible

Shortly thereafter, that same passenger approached the door where the flight attendants were standing, thrusting toward one of the flight attendants in a stabbing motion with a broken metal spoon, hitting the flight attendant on the neck area three times.

Several passengers then tackled the spoon-welding passenger, and they were restrained with the assistance of the flight crew and the plane landed without further incident.

Two final points,

First,  this is a perfect example as to why there needs to be a national no-fly list as I’m guessing this wasn’t the first time this passenger decided to show that they were cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

Second, for some, it would be terrifying to see someone trying to open the emergency exit door mid-flight, for others, they would simply film it for the Ticky Tik, it can’t be done. The reason you can’t open the emergency exit door mid-flight is for one simple reason…… the captain has the key.

Seriously it’s physics - The common emergency exit doors are about six feet tall and 3.5 feet wide. That means to open the door at 36,000 feet, you would need to overcome more than 24,000 pounds of pressure. Thank you, Google.

 I have a lot of friends in the greater New York, New Jersey area and they all seem to share a common phrase, “I gotta guy”. We’re doing some remodeling here at Chateau’ Relaxo and I was discussing this with one of my northern brethren and he said “I gotta guy”. I replied remember I live in Florida, he replied, “I gotta guy”..... And since Florida really is New York with palm trees I’m sure he does have a guy.

What about “I gotta guy” for airline tickets?

Enter Aquil Muhammad as reported by my hometown news station WSB TV.

Officials say that 36-year-old Muhammad was issuing free tickets without any compensation going to Delta. Muhammad went as far as to create fake transportation credit vouchers and Delta travel vouchers to cover the required taxes. Because as we all know if you fly on points or for free you still have to pay the taxes.

Muhammad issued these non-revenue tickets to different people, including family members and other acquaintances from late 2016 through December 2017.

Here was Muhammad’s downfall as crooks are stupid, a lot of the tickets included Muhammad’s personal email address as the contact for the passenger.

On top of that Muhammad would sell these quote-unquote free tickets, through Square, which also offers an electronic footprint.

Muhammad has pled guilty and sentencing is set for June.

It’s been a while since we discussed maskers vs anti-maskers. So I offer this. Are you familiar with Steve Kirsch? More than likely not…..Kirsch is an entrepreneur, and as we all know everyone is an entrepreneur, including our own Chateau’ Relaxos entrepreneur.

Kirsch has started several companies because that’s what entrepreneurs do. But Kirsch was one of two people who independently invented the optical mouse. The optical mouse that we all use and have used for decades so it’s safe to say that Kirsch is flush with cash.

If you happen to live in the rarified air of being rich you can do some fun things with your cash. Case and point early March posted this tweet.

“I am on board a Delta flight right now. The person sitting next to me in first-class refused $100,000 to remove her mask for the entire flight. No joke. This was after I explained they don’t work. She works for a pharma company.”

He followed that tweet with this comment, “And I started the bidding at $100.”

And then finished with this, “And I pointed out that when she removed the mask for eating and drinking, she could be infected with one breath. So she had full disclosure.”

The tweet fielded 32 million views in six days.

Kirsch’s substack dug a bit deeper into the encounter, asking a few more questions.

 “If you were offered $x, would you do y for a few hours?”

For safety’s sake, he added I was not trying to compel them to do anything they didn’t want to do.

As my therapist has told me, “No” is a complete sentence.

Kirsch finished Tweetversation with, Now the bigger question is: “Are we no longer able to ask people hypothetical questions in America without being labeled a creep?”

Here’s my take, I’m vaxxed and boosted for no other reason than I am the giver and I’m willing to give people a level of comfort if they know that I’m vaxxed and boosted during a client meeting. That being said no one has inquired as to my status and I can’t remember the last time I was asked to wear a mask.

If I was on that flight seated next to Kirsch and wearing a mask would I remove it for $100.00? Probably not since I couldn’t pick Kirsch out of a lineup. $10 grand maybe, 50 grand here’s my Venmo and followed by, do you want me to sing a show tune?

Another confession for this episode, I have a kink, and it’s not what you think…. It’s dumb people getting tased. From Live And Let’s Fly - Police Taser Intoxicated Man Who Confessed To Drinking “About” Three Margaritas While Waiting For Flight At Airport Bar

All together now, there’s a video, and there’s always a video. 

Here are the Cliff Notes, and the video link is in the show notes.

Intoxicated and belligerent, airport police decided to arrest the man, who resisted and was then tasered by the police officers. The whole incident was captured on video—including an older man interjecting himself into the situation (it is not clear why) only to be told by the same police officers to back off.

This guy got lit up by the taser and offers two questions that I’m sure there aren’t answers to.

First, were the three margaritas in the form of a pitcher?

Second, in an airport full of people with phones why wouldn’t you just shut up and listen to the cops? Oh yeah, I forgot about the three margarita part of this.

There you have it episode 187, The March crazy travel roundup is in the books.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Hello, if you’re a new listener welcome, if you are a returning listener, welcome back.

It’s time for yet another random show, which equates to right around 20 minutes of content across several topics.

Opening with making the most of a three-day weekend.

An update from episode 183, my 2023 travel resolutions where I talked about the nine remaining federal holidays most of which were on a Monday or a Friday which gives you a three-day weekend. Well, last month I took Friday, February 17th off and my company recognizes Monday, February, 20th off for President’s Day - so one PTO day gave me a four-day weekend. 

While the CEO and I didn’t head to the airport we did get a four-day staycation and got a lot accomplished in the yard.

I recently had a conversation with a neighbor who noticed my car has been in my driveway a lot more than it used to be. I gave him the whole 30-second I don’t travel like I used to I’m now a remote/hybrid worker elevator pitch. He then asked, “What are your best travel tips?”

I gave him the whole book direct, avoid checking luggage, and sign up for the TSA pre-check talk track after which I took a swig of my double IPA thinking that was the end of it. 

Then he followed with “What are the tips that no one talks about?” The answer required a bit more of the double IPA which is code for….. “Let me think about this while I swallow my beer.”.

My first tip is to be nice, be considerate, and treat people like you want to be treated. For some travel takes them out of their element, so it adds stress and anxiety which in turn makes some people do some very inconsiderate things such as crowding the boarding area thinking the plane will leave without them, or trying to go through TSA with metal in their pockets. Or stopping to get redressed at the end of the TSA baggage screening belt. Have some grace. 

If your flight is canceled don’t scream at the gate agent because you and a handful of other folks also had their flight canceled and guess what the gate agent knows it and if they had a magic wand to wave and make it all go away the gate agent would do just that.

My next tip is two words, “Just Ask”.Looking for an upgrade, hotel room rental car whatever, just ask. Looking for the best restaurant in town, just ask. I truly believe that people want to help others….. But remember tip number one, be nice.

Also, make sure you have reservations … reservations, for everything. Don’t leave anything to chance. Early on in my career, I hit the road without having a hotel reservation for that evening. This was right around 2001, long before smartphones, so there was no app to open in order to book a hotel. That evening I went from exit to exit along I-95 in South Carolina before I found a hotel with a vacancy 40 miles north of the next morning's meeting site.

My last tip would be, to have a plan B. It’s not if something goes wrong, it’s when something goes wrong….. Because it will. 

Case in point the Atlanta January 2014 Snowmageden. I was still living in South Florida and had an early morning flight from Atlanta to Orlando to pick up my car and then drive back to South Florida. 

I booked a hotel near the airport and as I pulled into the hotel parking lot Delta notified me that my morning flight was canceled due to the impending storm. I checked into the Double Tree headed to my room and got online to rebook with Delta. Long story short…. Delta had no status on an alternate flight. So, I went back downstairs to the front desk explained the weather delay, and then asked nicely if I could check out of my room so I could drive my rental to Orlando. They said sure, which with the size and severity of the storm the Double Tree knew they would be completely booked tonight. I managed to outrun the storm and spent the night in Ocala Florida, but not before getting a very expensive speeding ticket in Tifton, Georgia. I believe this was one of the 5 worst winter storms in Georgia's history.

Here’s a new section - travel cheers and travel jeers.

First a Jeer - From Southwest Airlines - To support the current and upcoming WiFi enhancements, Southwest is implementing a new internet pricing model. Effective Tuesday, February 21, the internet will remain $8 but will be purchased per leg (being introduced as “Takeoff to Landing”). We will no longer offer an $8 DayPass for the internet.

I don’t remember the last time I paid for WiFi on Southwest as it’s complementary with A-List Preferred Status. However, for the first time since 2015, I have no status with Southwest, no priority boarding, no priority lane for check-in, and no complimentary WiFI. I’m now just a Southwest Rapid Rewards Member. Honestly, it’s doubtful I’ll take enough flights in the next nine months to even make the A-list. 

So will I pay for WiFi? Probably not as I typically don’t work while I’m on an airplane. I might check email or review a presentation but it’s rare that I’ll crunch numbers or construct a sales strategy 30,000 feet in the air. Southwest has a decent offering of free movies and TV shows for inflight entertainment.

In this day and age, WiFi should be free on airplanes. If this was 2005 or 2010 I’d understand it. Sure it costs money to equip an older fleet of planes with newer technology but add that infrastructure cost into the price of a ticket. Remember when hotels used to charge for WiFI?

Cheers to Delta airlines for their employee appreciation day which brought $563 million profit sharing to Delta employees. That 563 million translates into a bit more than a 5.5% pay hike for employees starting April 1st of this year. 

The Points Guy recently posted - It’s 'too expensive': Many travelers are skipping spring break trips this year due to high prices

For me, the meat of the post was this paragraph - 

Some 22% of U.S. adults plan to travel for spring break (likely adults with school-age children or college students). However, more than half — a staggering 66% — said they’d been priced out of at least one of their first choices for a spring break vacation.

O-town is a spring break destination due to the Mouse House, Universal, and Sea World. It’s rare that I end up in that part of town so I can’t honestly say the traffic is lighter or heavier than normal.

Also, this is the first time in six years that the Entrepreneur isn’t working at Universal during Spring Break so we aren’t hearing him complain about the volume of people in the park but both the Mouse House and Universal are expensive. 

In 2023 a week at Disney for a family of four is north of $6000.00 and Universal is a bit less. You can certainly comb the interwebs and save some money but park tickets are still going to run you several hundred dollars a day, not to mention if you plan to eat inside the parks. So you shop for airfare, rentals, and hotels, but that’s about it.

Now if you want to sit through one of those icepicks in the eyeball timeshare presentations you will save some money on park tickets but you won’t save thousands.

I booked hotels for an upcoming trip a few weeks ago and even a month in advance the Hampton Inn was $180.00 before taxes and fees.

In 2023 travel is expensive, every piece of it is expensive.

Here’s another tip if your summer travel includes leaving the country now is the time to make sure your passport is still valid.

Here’s something to ponder - As weed becomes legal in more states, can you bring weed through airport security?

Let’s say you're flying from a state where marijuana is legal to a state where marijuana is legal. You should be good to go, nope.No matter your departure and arrival destinations, it's still illegal to fly with marijuana.

Wanna know why? Marijuana possession still remains illegal under federal law, and when you fly, because the federal agencies are in charge. That’s why causing an S-Storm on a plane can get you into so much trouble.

So I put a google on flying with weed and I came across this Yahoo News article that added -: "TSA is not searching for marijuana or other drugs. Also, keep in mind, the TSA canines are trained to detect explosive odors, not drugs."

However, if TSA officers find marijuana or other drugs during a routine screening process, they're supposed to notify local law enforcement, who makes the final call.

I’m not a marijuana enthusiast but I support and admire their passion. You see a marijuana enthusiast becomes obsessed with marijuana, Where are they going to find marijuana? When is the next time they’re going to smoke marijuana? What new ways can I find in which to smoke marijuana?

So all you marijuana enthusiasts don’t take your weed to the airport!

Here’s something else to ponder - Why aren’t Hondas available as a rental vehicles? Hondas are everywhere. I had a 1986 4-door Civic followed by a 1992 Civic SI. The SI was one of my top four favorite cars. When it comes to rentals I typically go with the Hyundai Sonata or a Toyota Camry, don’t be jealous. The main reason for the choices is that I know my iPhone 8, yes I’m that gut will work with their Bluetooth system.

So back to why no Hondas. Believe it or not, there are reasons.

* Rental cars aren’t purchased ad-hoc, it’s typically a bulk or as they say a “Fleet” purchase. Fleet sales usually result in lower profit margins per vehicle because they are bought from the manufacturer and not from a dealership. And Honda refuses to discount their vehicles to sell to rental car companies. This is true. I’ve driven a fleet car for the past 20 years and every time my new car comes in I have to chase down the dealership in order to pick up my car the reason is that the dealership didn't sell it so they don’t recognize the profit from the sale. 

* Fleet sales can adversely affect the resale value of each vehicle because the market is flooded with additional examples of the same vehicles each year. Again true each time my fleet car is due to be replaced I have the option to purchase the car, and I’ve done it a few times over the years. We typically churn cars every 36 months or 60,000 miles whichever comes first. The one car that I should’ve bought but didn’t was my 2007 Chrysler Pacifica. When I picked up the car it had a window sticker price of $32,000. Two years later it had 91,000 miles on it, new tires, and a new transmission the asking price was $6100.00

* Finishing up with this, fleet vehicles almost always sell for a significantly lower price than their counterparts which were used by one owner because of the reputation for abuse which they have garnered. So here’s why you never purchase a used rental car - What's the difference between a jeep and a rental car? A rental car can go anywhere

Also, next time you rent a car, do yourself a favor and take a quick video as you walk around your rental this way you have a video of any existing damage already done to the rental as well as damage that wasn’t there when you picked up the car. I once picked up a rental with less than 10 miles on it. This is a road warrior's worst nightmare because any damage that I returned the car with was definitely caused by me.

Have you ever heard of or used - lugless?

Lugless will Ship your luggage, skis, boards, clubs - all of your stuff to where ever you are planning to go.

It’s a four-step process.

1. Get labels - You can get your labels in three ways: 1) print them out the old-fashioned way, 2) opt to have Digital Labels sent to your phone, or 3) have us mail you pre-printed labels. 

2. Send bags - Now you need to get your luggage to UPS or FedEx depending on which labels you have. 

3. Travel light - This is the “travel without baggage” part. Grab your iPad and head to the airport. Track your LugLess shipment from anywhere. 

4. Arrive relaxed - UPS or FedEx will deliver the luggage directly to your destination address and you get to skip the dreaded baggage claim. 

So what does this service cost? Glad you asked.

On the lugless site, I selected one-way, and 1 carry-on (up to 25 lbs)  from Chateau’ Relaxo to the Atlanta airport with the arrival date in Atlanta on Monday, April 3rd.

Pricing is on a sliding scale If I drop my luggage off on Wednesday, March 29th at a FedEx location the cost is $17.99. The next day the FedEx price jumps to $22.99. If I push it to Friday my option is UPS and the cost is $87.99.

If I swap my carry-on for a checked bag, up to 50 lbs the price increases. FedEx Wednesday is $24.99, Thursday it’s $29.99 and My Friday UPS option is $132.00. 

For oversized luggage up to 75 lbs, FedEx Wednesday is $37.99, Thursday it’s $42.99 and My Friday UPS option is $192.00. 

Again the pricing is one way, but wait there’s more, there’s always more and it comes in the form of the add-on aka the support plan aka insurance.

The pricing ranges from $0.00 which really covers nothing up to $46.00 which gives you $700.00 of coverage and is fully refundable less the $46.00.

You have to admit people will always pay for someone else to do something that they don’t want to do. Is lugless for me? Nope. Is it a fit for someone else? Absolutely.

Now that being said we have done the UPSP “if it "fits it ships” flat rate where you can fill a 12”x12”x6” with whatever and ship it home for less than $15.00. We’ve shipped home souvenirs we’ve picked on trips and we’ve even shipped a week's worth of dirty clothes home, which took two boxes. 

Finishing up with one last question from One Mile At A Time - Should You Tip In Hotel Club Lounges?

The post starts out with - Tipping etiquette when traveling can be a complicated and controversial subject. The more you travel, the more confusing it all is. 

The article's tip-in is this - Tipping in hotel club lounges isn’t expected.

Here’s my take - My late father the original road warrior once told me - “it's amazing the feeling you get from adding an extra dollar to a tip”. This goes for restaurants, hotel rooms, or hotel lounges. Did you enjoy a Miller Lite? How much would that have cost you in the hotel bar? $4.00 maybe $5.00? Leave a few shekels for the hotel lounge staff after you slammed two Miller Lite and had a p[late of chips and liquid cheese.

Make sure you have a handful or more of singles in your wallet even if you're not spending time in a gentlemen's club. Also, leave some for the housekeeping staff. Like my dad once said, “it's amazing the feeling you get from adding an extra dollar to a tip”.

There you have it episode 186, another random show is in the books.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back.

Tonight's show notes were written while enjoying Lagunitas IPA coming in at 6.2% ABV but since I’m recording this on Sunday morning and I’m not that much of a monster I’m partaking in a cool crisp Diet Coke 0.0% ABV.

Let’s open with some international stories as crazy travel isn’t always domestic.

With all the years of traveling on planes one thing that has never struck a chord with me was wanting to actually pilot or fly a plane. I have no desire, I lack that sort of detail, I like to fiddle with things and all the instruments in a cockpit would be a field day for me, but also certain death for myself and any passengers.

From BoingBoing - Dateline Lancashire, England

During a particularly windy day, the pilot of a four-person prop plane requested that a flying instructor join him in the air just to be on the safe side. Great attention to detail.

Shortly after take-off, the instructor's head tilted back and he closed his eyes. The pilot thought the instructor was "just pretending to take a nap" during the short flight. Ahh, the prankster flight instructor.

The flight instructor wasn’t "just pretending to take a nap" he was dead, due to cardiac arrest. Thoughts to the flight instructor's family, but you have to feel for the actual pilot because unless he walks on the moon he will always be remembered for this one incident. And I wonder if he’s required to let everyone else in the cockpit know that “Yes, I’m that guy”

Next up some parenting news. I’m a parent, and when I first became a parent I never received an official parenting manual so like most had to figure stuff out. 30+ years later all the kids are still alive. This next story isn’t a “Parenting Hack” it’s closer to the 1990 movie Home Alone.

From CNN Dateline Brussels

A couple flying to Brussels from Tel Aviv checked into their flight, but realized their infant did not have a ticket (2 tickets 3 humans) — This couple had neglected to pay the 25 euro fee for lap babies flying without a paid seat. Adding to the predicament, the couple was running late. So what did they do? Glad you asked, the couple just left the baby in its car seat at the airport's check-in desk and then sprinted off, making sure to catch their flight.

Situations like this make me wonder how did both of them decide this was the appropriate thing to do? Usually, if one parent has a stupid idea the other one keeps them in check…. Not in this case.

What’s even crazier, get this, once airport security tracked the couple down, they were reconnected with their child there was "no further" investigation. 

Possibly they abandoned the baby so they could go to the Doody-Free shop.

Time for our first “Thank You Florida” story - Man arrested after making a bomb threat at Orlando International Airport.

A man was arrested on February 2nd after he allegedly made a bomb threat at Orlando International Airport. The reason… he was frustrated over airline baggage prices.

Danny Curry and his wife were set to board a Spirit Airlines flight from Orlando to Pensacola when Curry became frustrated over the airline's carry-on baggage fees. 

Apparently, Curry wasn’t aware that Spirit charges for everything.

* coffee ($2), 

* sodas and juices ($3), 

* beer and wine ($8) 

* snacks like Pringles or Oreos (starting at $3).

If you want to fly with your pet in the cabin Spirit charges $110 per pet container… each way.

They charge you for the seat you select, anywhere from $12 to $40

When it comes to luggage the fee for a carry-on varies as to when you pay for it.

When bags are paid for?

Carry-on bag

During Spirit.com booking - $35.

After booking, but before checking in online - $45.

During online check-in - $45.

At the airport (before the gate) - $55.

At the gate - $65.

And this is how a $50 ticket on a discount airline ends up costing you as much as flying one of the majors.

Back to curry - his frustration got to the point that according to the arrest affidavit, Curry said "I bet you, everyone on that aircraft is going to deplane, there is a bomb on that aircraft," to an airline employee.

Of course  FBI, TSA, police, and K-9 units performed a sweep of the plane and all luggage, and guess what, no bomb was found.

According to the affidavit, Curry claimed to detectives that he actually said, "What IF there was a bomb in that plane," Regardless he was promptly arrested, and now faces a charge of a false bomb report.

We all know the Florida motto - Florida come on vacation, leave on probation.

Time for our second “Thank you Florida” story. And this one starts with a question. If you check a bag what’s the quickest way to baggage claim?

Stairs? No

Elevator? No

Escalator? No

Give up?

It’s falling through the drop ceiling and onto the baggage claim belt. Before you try to figure out how a passenger pulled this off it wasn’t a passenger it was a worker that apparently made a wrong move and discovered that gravity isn’t just a good idea, it’s the law.

Let’s set the stage for this next story.

There are a lot of people that are freaked out or as the CEO says “Skeived out” by fingernail clipping or fingernail clippings. I for one am not one of those people, nor do I have a fingernail fetish

If you are “Skeived out” by the aforementioned while stuck on a plane this could be debilitation.

From View From the Wing we have - Passenger Clips Their Nails On A Flight, Flicks One Onto The Person Beside Them.

There’s a Ticky-Tock video of the incident in the post with the caption - “POV: when the passenger next to you decides to clip their nails and one lands on you and now you have to ask yourself if going on the no-fly list is all that bad”

The author Gary Leff asks “What would you do? “ and of course, the comments were filled with keyboard lawyers arguing the legality of wresting nail clippers away from someone on an airplane some even going so far as to quote legal code.  For me, I would clandestinely pick up the nail fragment and then wait till beverage service when I would drop the nail in their beverage and say, “you lost this”.

We’ve talked about this before - Would you be willing to give your seat up so that a family with a child could fly together? If I recall my answer really depends on the situation, and factors such as the length of the flight. Is the seat I’m moving to in front of where my carry-on is stored and who is asking. If a flight attendant is asking I will usually comply, because oftentimes this means free adult beverages.

From Live and Let’s Fly 

Dateline Salvador, Brazil - CATFIGHT OVER WINDOW SEAT LEADS TO MASSIVE BRAWL, WITH 15 PEOPLE THROWN OFF FLIGHT.

As I said dateline is Brazil, not “Thank You Florida”

A mother with a special needs child boarded and wanted to sit in the window seat.

A woman already seated in the window seat denied the request.

The mother (or perhaps the sister according to one source) of the special needs child took “offense” at the way in which the request was denied and attacked the woman in the window seat.

And that’s when all hell broke loose and it was 10 against five with one of the women losing her top mid-battle.

There’s a video, there’s always a video and in case there are two videos.

Suddenly there were fifteen open seats because everyone involved was thrown off the plane.

Live and Let’s Fly summed up the post with this “You are free to ask someone (politely is recommended) to swap seats, but if that person says no then you really have no right to be angry” I have to agree.

That last story had a woman that lost her top how about another topless passenger story?

Again from Live and Let’s Fly - 

This took place on an Aeroflot flight from Stavropol (STW) to Moscow (SVO). During turbulence, despite the seatbelt light being illuminated, 49-year-old Anzhelika Moskvitina, I’ll call her Anz. Anz left her seat and headed to the lavatory. There, Anz fired up a cigarette, quickly followed by a flight attendant knocking on the door and scolding her for smoking.

Believe it or not, Anz wasn’t in trouble…yet.

Inside of heading back to her seat and Anz decided to take up her smoking ban with the pilots and tried to enter the cockpit. In case you were wondering you can’t smoke on Russian planes or freely enter a Russian cockpit

When the pilots didn’t respond Anz stripped off her top and attacked flight attendants, biting one of them on the shoulder. The bite drew blood and prompted treatment upon landing at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport.

With the help of business class passengers, a top was placed back on her, followed by Anz being restrained and zip-tied. Anz now faces criminal penalties and is awaiting deployment to the Western Front.

I’ve never understood how someone can get so mad that taking their clothes off is the next best step.

Like I always say airplane and airport nudity is never good nudity.

In 2019 I bought a standup desk and in true Chateau’ Relaxo form I gave my leather Lazy-Boy leather desk chair to the CEO and haven’t looked back or sat down since.

Friend of the show Robbie Morris says that sitting is the new smoking.I don’t think I could make it through the day sitting not standing behind a desk.

View From the Wing posted this - Delta Air Lines Passenger Uses His Coach Seat As A Standing Desk, And I’m Here For It

Author Gary Leff started the post with this - “A Delta Air Lines economy passenger was spotted inflight on a four-hour flight using his seat as a standing desk. He’s resting his laptop on top of his seat back and facing backward to work. This is a power move.”

downbad  whose @ is NYDouche_capital took the picture and posted it to Twitter

And Twitter didn’t disappoint with comments like this.

If you have an Apple computer for work I promise you the work can wait.

Wow, brand new incredibly insufferable guy just dropped.

A single word - Chad

Must be working at a startup

My favorite - He’s that important but won’t fly business?

My take and let me preface it with this. Most of my flights are less than 2 hours coupled with I haven’t been on a plane in the last 6 months.

I rarely do business work on planes. I might review a presentation or check emails…. But I’m not crushing a spreadsheet or sending out meeting invites…. And I’m certainly not going to stand up and place my laptop on the top of my seat and work facing the back of the plane.

So I agree with Gary - This is a power move.

Finishing up with this.

I am the last person to dispense relationship advice, but when it comes to this next story I’m thinking the gentleman could have handled this a bit differently.

Live And Let’s Fly for the hat trick Man Dumps Girlfriend On American Airlines Flight, Leading To Meltdown and Removal

This took place pre-COVID, which really doesn’t mean or change anything.

There’s a video, what do we say?  All together now - There’s always a video.

If you've ever watched or listened to Ron White he has a bit about flying on a plane that suddenly needs to make an emergency landing due to loss in oil pressure and Ron delivers this line - “The guy next to me is *losing his mind* well that’s exactly what this you lady does in the video. 

She’s on all fours in the aisle of the plane dropping F-Bombs while she’s simultaneously screaming and crying, a true multitasker.

After watching this here’s my advice -  If you want to break up in public, do it at a Chili’s or Applebees' because there are multiple exits.

Three years later, I wonder if she’s still crying.

There you have it episode 185, The February crazy travel roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Following up on the Southwest Airlines 2022/2023 travel debacle CNBC posted these key points.

* Southwest Airlines said on Friday it expects to post a loss in the fourth quarter after it canceled over 16,700 flights between Christmas and New Year’s Eve due to a tech meltdown.

* The mass cancellations during the peak season for U.S. airlines will result in a pre-tax hit of $725 million to $825 million to quarterly earnings.

* Revenue loss from the disruptions is expected to be between $400 million and $425 million, it said.

Ending with - Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay its pilots an estimated $45 million in bonus “gratitude pay” for working through the company’s service meltdown during the holiday travel period at the end of last year.

During my 2022 Travel Resolutions episode I gave these travel tips if you were planning a big family trip for 2022.

* Research - find out the COVID rules, restrictions, and guidelines for your destination, especially if you’re leaving the country.

* The late 2021 or early 2022 equivalent to toilet paper in 2020 is COVID home or self-tests. Find some and test everyone before you leave and pack the remaining ones in your luggage as you never know when you’ll need them. And you can always sell them for some quick cash.

* I don’t know of anyone that is currently traveling with COVID tests. In fact I don’t remember the last time I heard anyone mention COVID tests.

* Be flexible, don’t book your return flight to land the night or even the day before the day you need to be back home for work, school, jury duty, or whatever. Give yourself a day of margin just in case.

* Always a solid tip.

* I’m not a big believer in travel insurance and that’s probably because I’ve never spent a small fortune on a family vacation…. Guilty. If you can find travel insurance that covers or includes COVID disruptions that might not be that bad of an idea.

* Probably no longer the case.

* The last thing I’d do would be to make sure that I had access or availability to money. The reason? If you’ve got a whole family that you’re trying to rebook on flights, while at the same time working on extending your hotel for another day, possibly two days and then there’s that rental car. 

* Again access to money, cash or credit, when traveling is always a good idea

I’d say we’ve come a long way in the last 12 months.

Let’s revisit my 2022 travel resolutions

Record at least one or two episodes on the road. 

* At the time I thought this was doable as I already had  Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Nashville trips booked. Plus the possibility of two trips to Texas coupled with travel around the state of Florida. and I know I’ll continue to travel the state. 

* I traveled more in 2022 than I did in 2021 but I managed to only get one episode recorded. My job duties have changed or evolved over the past 18 months which had an impact on my time in the evenings.

Get the CEO back on an episode or two. 

* In January 2022 it has been well over a year since her last appearance and she’s been stuck with me being home a lot, a whole lot. We did get to make a few trips together during 2021 and my thought was to hear her take on air travel, hotels, and food on the road mid-pandemic.

* One or at least two family vacation trips - 

* The first was the Kentucky Bourbon Trail This is a trip we had planned in 2020 and still haven’t been able to pull the trigger on it.

* The other trip was to go back to Washington DC. Our last visit there was in December 2021 for my father-in-law's burial at Arlington; at the time, his headstone wasn’t in place. 

* We still want to spend time in Jacksonville, which is less than 2-hours away. 

* Florida Salt Marshes and Wildlife Preserve

* Riverside Arts Market - I love a good community market, be it farmers, arts & crafts, or beer brewers.

*  The Jax Ale Trail

* Sweet Pete’s Candy

While I went to Jacksonville, the CEO didn’t accompany and I only visited one stop on the Jax Ale Trail. The Aardwolf Brewing Company where I went with their Hop Oddity weighing in at 5.9% ABV.

There is a bit of a backstory as to why the CEO didn’t record an episode and we didn't take any trips. It was a busy year here at Chateau’ Relaxo, and I hear people say that all the time, but this year we experienced it firsthand. 

My father had been in failing health since September 2020. He entered home hospice care in August 2021 and then spent March 2022 in the hospital and once released he was totally bedridden. The CEO spent weeks upon weeks at their house tending to both my father and my mother and once he passed away on July 4th she spent more time helping my mom get settled into an assisted living facility.

Also during 2022, we became empty nesters, except for the dogs, and boarding a yellow lab and a husky in order to go on a vacation gets really expensive real quick.

For 2022 I resolved to post some travel videos, and I’ve said this in the past. 

* This didn’t happen and the challenge is that I have no idea what to film. Short of Instagram Stories apparently, I do not possess that viral video chip.

In 2022 I also wanted to find at least one cool new piece of travel gear or app.

* I wasn’t looking for a piece of luggage, not a jacket, or even a new backpack, I’m satisfied with what I use. When wireless travel routers came out they were a game-changer. Same thing with noise-canceling headphones. This year I’m in search of a gadget, or app that makes me go “WOW” how did I ever travel without this? 

* All I came up with was a travel cooler. A $30.00 Feti, which is code for fake Yeti. Honestly, it was a no-name brand with a 4.6 rating on Amazon. I’ve taken more road trips this year than I have flights and it’s nice to throw a meal or two in the bag along with some beer as I head out the door. 

For 2022 I planned to keep eating local. 

* First, I’m not anti-corporate-run restaurants. Their strong point is also their weak point. Everything is the same, a Bloomin Onion from Outback will taste the same in Greenville, SC as it does in Baltimore, MD. Typically, the only thing that can go sideways at a chain restaurant is their service.

Besides, if you stick to the chains you’re missing out on some true food adventures.

Looking back at my Google reviews these were some of the high points for 2022.

* In Lake Forest CA I had Pad Thai at Spice Thai Cuisine

* In Jacksonville, FL it was seafood at River & Post overlooking the St. John’s River.

* While in Nashville, TN it was BBQ at Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint. The best part was that it was right across the street from the hotel

* I spent close to 20 years living in and around Norcross Georgia and last year I had dinner at Dominick's Italian Of Historic Norcross for the first time. It was legit Italian.

* You can put a check in the eating local box.

I also added to that resolution that maybe it was time to revisit my old Off The Eaten Path episodes and give them an update. I might actually give this a go in 2023. I’ve got over 300 reviews on Google over the past three years and while not all of them are food reviews a good percentage of them are.

For 2022 there were also some things I resolved not to do - and this is well beyond the normal things such as….

* Don’t overpack

* Don’t wander aimlessly around a town you are not familiar with

* Don’t get hammered and forget which hotel I’m staying at

* For 2022 I resolved not to go on a cruise. I’ve been on a cruise, one cruise and that was enough. Yes, there’s plenty to do. Yes, there’s plenty of food but you’re still stuck on a boat, you can’t go home, and you can’t explore on your own timeline. The only thing that held my interest was the shows, but there’s only so much of that, that a person can take. 

* Put a check in that box

* Finally, I resolved not to stay at a hotel for which I don’t get points, or that I’m not a member of their loyalty program.

* My stay in San Antonio was at a Marriott resort and while I didn’t get any points for the stay I did get points for my meals and libations. Plus, I am a lifetime Marriott Titanium member so put a check in that box as well. 

So what are my travel resolutions for 2023? I don’t know. As my therapist would say, “If you did know, what would the answer be?” Ahhhhh,  I still “I don’t know”.

Mid-December, Mark Peacock over at Travel Commons asked this question in a blog post.

How Good Are ChatGPT’s Top 5 Holiday Travel Tips? Here’s what ChatGPT gave him

* Plan ahead:

* Pack light: 

* Stay organized:

* Be flexible: 

* Stay connected: 

Mark’s ChatGPT verdict? Not bad. Nothing egregiously wrong, but it’s at a basic “Traveler 101” level. I would tend to agree.

So taking a cue from Mark, as well as one that has never had an original idea I also consulted ChatGPT for some 2023 New Year’s travel resolutions.

I asked, “What are 5 New Year’s travel resolutions for 2023?”

* Set a travel savings goal and make a plan to reach it in order to afford a dream trip or multiple trips throughout the year.

* Try new types of travel, such as solo travel, road trips, or backpacking.

* Make a conscious effort to visit and support local businesses and communities when traveling.

* Prioritize safety and health when planning and taking trips by researching and following guidelines for COVID-19 and other health concerns.

* Take the time to truly unplug and disconnect from technology and daily routines while on vacation to maximize relaxation and rejuvenation.

Like Mark, my verdict was “Not Bad”, nothing groundbreaking nor inspirational but for some in a travel slump it might work.

So back to me, I’m traveling more than I was a year ago, but not like I was in 2019. For better or worse we’ve adapted to doing business remotely.

We had Monday, January 16th off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and it got me thinking after working 4 day work weeks during Christmas and New Year's how many three-day weekends are there this year?

Well, if you go buy the Federally recognized holidays we’ve got nine more this calendar year. Most are on a Monday or Friday so you’ve instantly got a three-day weekend and depending on how your PTO rules are structured it can easily become a four-day weekend by burning one PTO day.

This is nothing new so if you plan to travel on those long weekends book early because everyone else will have the same idea.

Now one thing that the CEO and I have done is get the cobwebs off our bicycles and we’ve taken to riding some of the local bike trails. 

We have the 22-mile West Orange Bike Trail and the Neighborhood Lakes West Trailhead close by but the thought is to load up the bikes and head out to some of the National Parks.

We’ve both spent years taking high-energy go-go-go vacations, including the one cruise, and we’re at the point where we want to get away from the long lines and the expensive food and we discovered that the National Parks put checks in both of those boxes.

In case you want to visit a National Park there are 4 days between now and the end of the year when park admission is free.

* April 22: First day of National Park Week

* Aug. 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act

* Sep. 23: National Public Lands Day

* Nov. 11: Veterans Day

And there are 11 National Parks here in Florida and another 11 in Georgia so these can be easy long weekend trips.

Three of the Florida parks are less than two hours from Chateau’ Relaxo, two in St. Augustine, and one in Titusville.

As one that likes lists and keeping track of things, we do have a National Parks Passport book that you can get stamped at each National Park we visit.

There you have it episode 183, my 2023 travel resolutions. The next episode will be the January crazy travel roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Recorded in the beautiful home office Chateau’ Relaxo.

If you traveled by plane over the past few weeks, hopefully, you have been reunited with your luggage and you finally have made it home.

In case you didn’t hear 2022 Christmas air travel was a dumpster fire and a winter storm ignited the fire on Friday, December 23rd, and the havoc from that continued for almost the entire next week.

Because I’m a data nerd here are some numbers.

Tuesday, December 27th Over 20,00 delayed flights and 5100 canceled flights.

Wednesday, December 28th Over 11,000 delayed flights and 4475 canceled flights. 

Southwest Airlines took the brunt of it by canceling over 2500 flights on both Tuesday the 27th and Wednesday the 28th. Southwest owned up to what it could by calling its own performance "unacceptable." In case you didn't know the word unacceptable, offers no help if you’re trying to get to your destination and retrieve your luggage. 

So what did Southwest do to gain all this attention? Let me grab my logistics clipboard and try to explain. Southwest doesn’t use a hub system like Delta or American Airlines.  Southwest bases its routes on a point-to-point system. This means they fly directly to the destination instead of being routed through a central hub. This is one of the reasons I switched from Delta to Southwest when I relocated to O-Town. Every Delta flight I took had me going through Atlanta, one of their hubs. If I needed to go to Nashville I had a layover in Atlanta, same with New Orleans and Newark. 

Point-to-point isn’t a bad system…. Until something like this storm takes place because the planes have nowhere to go since their destination, is their destination and there’s no giant plane parking lot to hang out in for three or four days.

As one that appreciates creative marketing, this travel debacle provided the perfect on-ramp for marketing directors. Case and point, dateline Las Vegas, Nevada. Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club is advertising that anyone who can show proof of having a canceled or delayed flight at Harry Reid International Airport can call them for a free ride to the club, and also receive a free cover, a drink, and a lap dance ( insert your own turbulence or bumpy ride joke here). In the spirit of research, I visited the Las Vegas Hustlers Clubs website and it appears that the free cover charge, a drink, and a lap dance is a $60.00 value, not including the free ride to the club. Not sure if that’s a fair trade for a flight delay, but the value is up to the recipient.

To sum up holiday travel I leave you with this. Up until 2020 the CEO and I normally got on a plane during the holidays and I don’t recall ever having a travel disaster. Possibly a delayed flight but never to the point of being stranded.

Onto the December crazy travel roundup.

Let's open with an update of sorts. The running joke for the better part of 2022 centered around Hertz rental cars and whether or not you’d be arrested for not returning your rental car even if you had never rented from Hertz. 

From the Hertz website.

On December 5th Hertz announced the settlement of 364 pending claims relating to vehicle theft reporting, bringing resolution to more than 95% of its pending theft reporting claims. The company will pay an aggregate amount of approximately $168 million by year-end to resolve these disputes. The company believes it will recover a meaningful portion of the settlement amount from its insurance carriers.

On the surface, this sounds great, and without knowing all the details the rough math indicates this could mean several hundred thousand dollars for each of the 364 claims. What isn’t addressed in the statement is what has been done, or what is being done to prevent this from happening again. Hertz has taken a sizeable hit to their credibility and I imagine that somewhere in that insurance company payout there will be some verbiage addressing the prevention of just that in the future or at least limiting the insurance company's liability if it does happen again.

The last time I mentioned the Hertz fiasco was during the October crazy travel roundup and I summed it up with this - “Hertz this has been going on a bit too long. You’ve had plenty of time to resolve your software issues…. Maybe it’s time for a new CIO.” Fast forward to December 2023 - and so far I haven't received any LinkedIn messages indicating that the position is open.

Our first Thank you Florida story comes to us from Fox 2 Detroit - Man and father-in-law kicked off plane leaving Flint airport for saying 'penis'

Jayson Bauer said he and his father-in-law were flying down to Thank You Florida to help them move when they were approached by Allegiant Airlines flight staff. Bauer said no reason was given for the removal until they were brought off the flight.

"Finally the Flint police and the airport authority came over and said we were removed because I said the word ‘penis’ on board an airplane," he said. "I meant it in no derogatory (way). I mean, it's part of the male anatomy and we were literally kicked off an airplane in Flint.

Bauer said his wife had to come and pick him and his father-in-law up as a result.

A spokesman with Allegiant Airlines said two passengers had become disruptive and verbally abusive after boarding the plane. "When crew members instructed them to cease their unruly behavior, the passengers failed to comply. As a result, both were deplaned and reaccommodated to other flights," 

According to Bauer, they weren't the only ones kicked off the flight. There was another person who was intoxicated while a fourth person also threw up. 

In the end, Bauer and his Father-in-law drove to Florida.

This story hit most of the travel blogosphere websites and this one comment nailed it head-on.

Alan wrote - An uplifting story for travelers. Allegiant is facing stiff competition, but they still gave them a hard time and got them off the plane. However, they were able to rise to the occasion and found their way to Florida without winding up in the hole.

So to sum it up.

The other two unruly passengers were Mike Johnson and Dick Hertz.

Apparently, Allegiant Airlines has a very rigid behavior policy.

For most of my life, I’ve been someone that didn’t require much sleep. My internal alarm clock typically goes off between 5:45 & 6:00 AM regardless of the time I go to sleep. That being said there are those who view sleep as a precious resource requiring 9+ hours each evening as well as hitting the snooze button multiple times in the morning.

I truly admire people that can sleep 8 or more hours at a clip, I also admire those that can take naps during the day. If I take a nap it’s normally because I’m sick. From Live and Let’s Fly I give you our second Thank You Florida story of the month.

COT IN THE ACT: DELTA PASSENGER SETS UP HUGE MATTRESS IN GATE AREA, GOES TO SLEEP

Cot as in c-o-t, not c-a-u-g-h-t.

This took place at my home airport MCO.

This passenger is so serious about their sleep that he brought an inflatable air mattress with him to the airport. An air mattress like you have for when company stays over for the evening. If you spend any time at the airport you will see passengers exhibiting various sleeping arrangements. Lots of hoodies covering their whole head, pillows are commonplace and on occasion, you’ll come across someone with a hammock strung between two support pillars. However, this LAD took the initiative to find enough open real estate to not only set the mattress up but it was also close enough to an outlet that permitted it to be pumped up.

While it’s easy to brush this off as some lunatic Florida Man getting on a plane I believe that there was a lot of thought that went into this. This took place on December 13th, the previous day it was all over the news that MCO was on the verge of running out of jet fuel and was facing a complete shutdown, and then throw in a side order of nasty weather between Florida and Atlanta, Georgia, his actual destination.

There’s a chance this Florida Man was living in 2032, and not 2022.

One final Thank You Florida story, securing this month's crazy travel roundup hat trick.

Thank you TMZ. Miami International Airpot - AIRPORT FREAKOUT WOMAN CHUCKS COMPUTER AT AIRLINE AGENT

Five days before Christmas a woman in Miami ripped out a computer monitor and threw it at a gate agent. Yes, there’s a link to the video in the show notes.

The crazy scene played out Tuesday, December 20th at Miami International Airport, and it shows a woman going absolutely nuts on American Airlines staff in the middle of a crowded gate area ... eventually getting her hands on a computer screen and throwing it at the agent.

In case you didn’t know TMZ rarely does a deep dive into stories unless it happens inside the Thirty Mile Zone. No need to fret as the travel blogosphere sites immediately picked it up. 

It turns out to the commotion was over her kids, her missing kids, and that someone should find her kids. As you could well imagine the police did show up to help, not to help find the kids but to help her into the back of a police car.

It turns out the kids had gone to the restroom and forgot to tell their mom. Maybe they were trying to run away from this lunatic.

This is a solid argument for a nationwide no-fly list.

So much for being on Santa’s nice list.

From CBOARDINGGROUP.com we have - Flight Attendant’s Commentary on Luxury Bags Gets The Plane Laughing.

This took place on a Southwest flight. If you’ve never flown Southwest, and after the holiday travel disaster some of you never will, there are a few things that stand out about Southwest.

First, Southwest flight attendants are allowed the freedom to have a bit of fun while doing their job. For instance, the safety announcement might turn into an impromptu comedy sketch, or they’ll hand out candy on Halloween flights.

Second, there are no assigned seats which can make storing your carry-on and personal baggage a bit of a challenge, which tends to slow the boarding process down.

There was a Tik-Tok video of what I’m about to describe but divine_sorrow916 who posted the video decided to make their account private.

Recently a Southwest Airlines flight attendant laid it on thick when encouraging passengers to stow their smaller luggage under the seatback in front of them to make room in the overhead bins.

He describes the rigorous testing they’ve performed to ensure that Gucci and Prada and all the other luxury bags fit easily under the seatback he then deadpans the punch line: “If they were real you wouldn’t be flying Southwest would you?”

As they say “Nailed it”.

Several years ago I had a late evening flight into Tampa and as we were crossing the Gulf the pilot knew we were flying into turbulence so the fasten seat belt chime sounded and the indicator was illuminated. The lady seated next to me was sipping on a cup of coffee when we hit turbulence and the plane immediately dropped in altitude. Her coffee came out of the cup in this brown mass, hit the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came down on both of our heads.

Ending today’s episode with this month's PSA. 

“When you are on a plane always keep your seat belt fastened” even when it isn’t required”.

December 19th - At least 36 people were injured, some seriously, after ‘severe turbulence’ on a Hawaiian Airlines flight. Eleven patients were in serious condition, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said in a statement. Among those transported to the hospital was a 14-month-old child.

The patients’ injuries included a serious head injury, lacerations, bruising, and loss of consciousness, Honolulu EMS said.

The next day Five were injured after 'severe turbulence' on a United Airlines flight into Houston.

No matter how sophisticated avionics systems are, they aren’t perfect and Mother nature can be a b***h.

Ending 2022 on a very sad note

A statement from Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama - Today around 3 pm an American Airlines ground crew piedmont employee was involved in a fatality, no additional information is available at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased.

More details came forward overnight as it seems that a baggage handler was sucked into an engine on an American Airlines E175 jet.

How tragic.

There you have it episode 182, the December crazy travel roundup. 2022 is in the books and 2023 lies ahead.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Around this time each year I add up the year's travel numbers, thank you free version of TripIt.

2022 - 20 Trips, 69 Days & 26,357 Miles

2021 - 11 Trips, 28 Days & 12.173 Miles.

2016 - 51 Trips, 248 Days & 75,280 Miles.

 I’ve been using TripIt since 2010. It’s excellent at organizing and managing my trips but another nice feature is that it keeps a tally of my yearly travel stats in one easily accessible table.

The best trip of the year was a 4-day stay in San Antonio Texas. I was born in Dallas and have lived there twice, but San Antonio was one of those Texas cities that I had never been to.

The highlight of the trip was an evening at Knibbe Ranch. Knibbe offers activities such as armadillo races and live music. On our visit, we had the chance to watch a rodeo. Think Yellowstone minus John Dalton but with at least a ½ dozen Rips wandering around.

In the early part of the year masks were still being required on a plane by mid-year there were more maskless passengers than there were masked passengers.By late year the monthly crazy travel roundup was void of all the maskers vs. anti-vaxxer altercations. 2022 was another year of changes.

This year I did take more road trips than normal, and on some of these road trips I would’ve gotten on a plane had COVID never happened.  

There was one travel first in 2022. This was the first year in 22 years of business travel that I didn’t rent a car. Be it for business or personnel trips, not a single rental. Thank you Uber and hotel shuttles.

To sum up my 2022 travel experience I would conservatively say that things are back to normal or as normal as it’s going to get. Short of no daily housekeeping I see very few COVID remnants. Honestly, the hospitality industry will ride out no daily housekeeping as long as they can or until travelers revolt.

Because I am a data nerd here are some Travel Stories podcast updates according to Spotify.

This year Travel Stories produced 390 minutes of new content. This was 80% more than any of the other creators in the Society and Culture Spotify category.

* The most listened-to episode was My Travel Regrets from May.

* During 2022 Travel Stories was heard in 32 different countries. America is number and India is number two.

* Listeners grew by 66%

* Followers grew by 129%

* Ending with Travel Stories being a top 10 podcast for 139 of my followers.

To some those numbers look great, and I appreciate all listeners, new as well as old but Travel Stories is nothing more than my outlet and not a revenue stream. That being said Thank You for listening.

In addition to being a data nerd, I’m also a beer nerd. I use Untappd to not only track my beers, but to help me discover new beers and new places where I can drink beer.

In 2022 I checked in 165 beers, in 2021 I checked in 114 beers.

In 2022 I tried 30 different styles of beer, down from 41 different beer styles in 2021.

My 2022 number-one style of beer? No surprise IPA.

My top beer from 2022 was Foster Lager, a total surprise

I drank beer from 64 unique breweries. The top three were New Belgium, Sweetwater, and Sierra Nevada

I checked in beers in 28 different locations.

Time to venture into the 2022 gift guide. Gift guides are some of my favorite episodes. Looking back the gift guides have evolved with the years.

In 2005 it was a battery-operated corded Sony device that got AM/FM plus TV and weather.

In 2012 it was Skull Candy earphones. 10 years later these are still my go-to earphones.

In 2019 it was the Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket 

For returning listeners, my standard holiday gift list is still intact, feel free to indulge an old road warrior.

* Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II – steel bracelet and should run less than $11k.

* 1995 Land Rover Defender – I had a chance to buy one for $30k in 1995 and I’m still bent that I passed on it. You should be able to pick up a gently used one for less than $70k.

I am a total gear nerd. If something makes my life easier or condenses several items into one I am all ears.

Case and point I have bought no less than four Anker 3-in-1 cables in the past 18 months for residents of Chateau’ Relaxo. This single cable charges, Lightning, Type C, and Micro USB  devices. Three cables condensed into one single cable, perfect for travel. 

So what is on deck for the 2022 holiday gift guide?  I went through my Amazon orders for 2022 and saw only one standout travel-related purchase. It was a soft-sided cooler bag. It wasn’t a $200.00 Yeti or a 4130.00 Rtic. It was a $30.00 Feti, which is code for fake Yeti. Honestly, it was a no-name brand that got a 4.6 rating on Amazon. I’ve taken more road trips this year than I have flights and it’s nice to throw a meal or two in the bag along with some beer as I head out the door. 

With no major additions to my travel gear, it might be time to upgrade your road warrior's existing travel gear this year.

Upgrade that mobile charging station. Notice I said charging station and not charging block or knuckle. The days of carrying multiple adaptors to charge multiple devices are gone. For less than $150,00 you can buy a 5-in-1 charging station that will support 3 USB “C” connections for your laptops plus two additional ports for charging your phone.

Noise-canceling headphones. They aren’t cheap, but they're so nice to have. These aren’t your dad’s noise-canceling headphones because technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last few years. Here’s my advice, purchase wireless because on an airplane headphone wire managed to get hung up on everything. If you’re purchasing this for a road warrior that takes a lot of flights I advise you to stay away from noise-canceling earbuds. Yes, the noise-canceling in this small and lightweight earbud is amazing. However, it seems like every few flights that I’m on someone loses one of their earbuds, and I like treasure hunts as much as the next person but looking for a black earbud on the floor of a dark plane is a no-win proposition.

There are a few things I hold firm on when choosing gifts for a road warrior.

Consider not only the weight of the gift but also the size of the gift. Most road warriors pack deliberately, and giving them something that’s too large or too heavy for their suitcase will throw them off their game.

Unless you know the recipient really well or they have told you exactly what they want, avoid purchasing luggage, laptop bags, or DOP kits. Why? For me, my suitcase can’t have any dividers, my laptop bag has to have the right amount of pockets located in the correct location and while a hang-up DOP looks neat I can promise you that I’d never ever hang it up.

Is it TSA approved? Nothing worse than having that thoughtful gift confiscated in the TSA screening area.

Lastly, road warriors don’t need another aluminum tumbler. No matter how tempting it is to have their initials or favorite sports team logo engraved on the side…. Don’t do it, more than likely they already have 5 of them some of which already have their initials or favorite sports team logo on them already.

Several years ago we enacted a gift policy here at Chateau’  Relaxo. No blankets, no candles, and no tumblers can be given as a gift.

So what are a few gifts for the road warrior that are unique…. Glad you asked.

If you have someone that fishes how about a travel fishing rod?

Do they have a favorite podcast that offers a Patreon subscription for extra content?

For the cigar smoker in your life how about a nice cigar holder?

For the beer drinker, there are plenty of TSA-safe bottle openers. All road warriors know how to open a beer bottle on the handle of the dresser of the bathroom counter of a hotel room. However, nothing classes up an evening of hotel beers more than a nice opener.

Very few of us carry DSLR camera’s anymore because our phones do a great job of taking pictures. However a clip-on fish eye, macro, or wide-angle lens can take their picture to the next level. Think modern-day Ansel Adams or social media influencer wannabe.

This past year I bought the CEO a Portable White Noise Machine which she now packs on all her trips. And she traveled almost as much as I did this past year.

If the road warrior in your life is looking to begin the year on an exercise kick you can pick up a bodyweight suspension trainer starting at $60.00 all the way up to a TRX system for $200.00. These are both small enough and lightweight enough to fit in any piece of luggage.

If all else fails every road warrior appreciates a unique luggage tag.

For many road warriors, their work environment has changed drastically over the past few years. I think the new term is a hybrid worker. Personally, I think this is a stupid term but someone who is on a higher pay scale than me came up with it. 

One of the things that I did when I began working from home more was to purchase dual monitors. If you’ve never used dual monitors they will instantly make you more efficient when you work. So efficient that once I began traveling again it was difficult to work off a single monitor, especially on video calls. Enter the Sidetrak monitor. The Sidetrak is an additional monitor that magnetically attaches to your laptop lid and allows you to have dual monitors. If you have a spare iPad you can accomplish the same thing with an app and a charging cable. Same with a Surface Pro, but my SideTrak was a gift from a non-technical person.

The other home office purchase was a $9.00 remote-controlled puck light that I turn on when I’m in a meeting or on a call. No more yelling across the house asking, “Are you in a meeting?” or someone walking into my office mid-sentence 

While it’s not automated and tied to my Outlook calendar I also didn’t drop $100.00 on it. Now if I could only get the dogs to stop barking during meetings.

At a total loss for gifts, there is a movement towards social gifting and no this isn’t posting your gifts on social media sites. It’s where you purchase gifts from differently-abled crafters or makers that are struggling with autism, cancer, mental illness, and social isolation.

We recently made purchases from Two Blind Brothers, and their tagline is, “Would you buy something that you can't see? We did and we received a knit cap and one of the softest blankets on the planet, yes I know it violates one of the Chateau’ Relaxo gift rules, but we were buying blind.

And if all else fails put a Google on “Unique travel gifts” 

There you have it episode 181, A combo episode of the travel stories year in review, and the 2022 gift guide.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

No trips since our last episode. This isn’t that odd when you take in the time of year. Many clients and customers tend to enter “Holiday Mode” this time of year as project deadlines get extended to compensate for team members taking some well-deserved PTO time.

Opening up with some sad news - Airline Weekly recently asked this question - “Why Did Spirit Airlines Just Cut 35 Routes?”. This a solid question, part of the reason for the cancelation is supply chain issues which are delaying deliveries of new aircraft and creating a shortage of parts needed to maintain in-service airplanes. Larger more cash-rich airlines typically cancel flights and not complete routes. Spirit being smaller and not as cash-rich can’t afford to roll the dice on picking the right individual flights to cancel so they’re 86’ing the complete route.

So the sad part is that many canceled routes involve thank you Florida.

Seven from Fort Myers and Tampa, six from Fort Lauderdale, three from Orlando, and two from Miami.

These cancelations will severely impact content for the monthly crazy travel roundup.

That ends today’s PSA

With the holiday season upon us families and friends will often gather to share a meal. Here at Chateau’ Relaxo, those gatherings come with set ground rules and the first two rules are we don’t discuss politics and we don’t discuss religion.

That being said on a recent Southwest flight from Houston Tx to Columbus, Ohio, a woman bit a fellow passenger and then attempted to open the exit door mid-flight because... Jesus told her to.

The 34-year-old, let’s call her Nibbles, Nibbles shoved a flight attendant as she lunged for the exit door and attempted to open it. After the flight attendants restrained her, Nibbles requested a window seat but was denied the privilege. Further enraged, Nibbles again tried to open the door but was tackled by another passenger who Nibbles then bit on the thigh.

According to an FBI complaint, Nibbles had informed the other passenger that "Jesus told her to open the plane door."

The pilot made an emergency landing in Arkansas where Nibbles was arrested and the bitten passenger received a hepatitis shot as well as some antibiotics.

First, for the passenger that was bitten, skip the hepatitis and antibiotic shot and go right for the rabies shot and work backward from there.

Second, religion or the definition of religion is different for everyone. Nevertheless how come we never hear of someone’s personal Jesus telling them to sit down and shut the hell up?

From Live And Let’s Fly - A man holds a razor blade to a woman's throat.

Merrill Darrell Fackrell, 41, has been charged with two crimes: assault with a dangerous weapon on or near an aircraft and carrying a weapon on a flight.

This was a  JetBlue flight from New York (JFK) to Salt Lake City (SLC). Somehow, someway, Fackrell made it onboard with a concealed straight-edge razor.

Merrill Darrel was seated in a window seat next to a married couple. During the flight, he turned to the woman, seated in the middle seat, and told her to pause her movie while placing his hands over her screen.

She lowered her headphones, noticing that Merrill Darrel was holding the razor blade just inches from her neck. The woman’s husband went to the front of the aircraft to get assistance from the flight attendant …we’ll come back to this in a moment…..and the woman lunged for the aisle to escape. While doing so, Fackrell reached and tried to stop her by grabbing her shoulder.

In case you didn’t see it coming, alcohol is thought to be involved in Fackrell’s behavior.

Here’s my take, 

First, how did Merrill Darrel make it through TSA with an old-school Sweeny Todd straight razor? Hopefully, TSA fired someone. Why? Because you had one job.

Second, taking the information that was provided n the story…… this lady’s husband might possibly be the Major of Wussville.

Some details are missing and I don’t mean to throw the husband under the bus unless warranted, but if he ran while his wife was under attack, I’d say he might be the bigger problem for her than the idiot with the razor blade (not that she cannot take care of herself, but is chivalry dead?).

As for Merrill Darrel, I hope he must atone for his indiscretion and is self-accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The TSA staff who let him through should also be fired.

Again, what was her husband thinking? Hey dude, you evacuate your wife first, then get a flight attendant. There’s also this cool thing called a flight attendant call button right up there by the air vent and light. You just have to press it and a flight attendant will come to you. Yelling also works.

Right around this point in the year air travelers begins to ask what food items can they take through TSA in their carry-on.

Believe it or not TSA posts a list of what’s permitted.

* Bread - permitted

* Solid cheese - permitted

* Fresh eggs - permitted

* Fresh meat, seafood, and other non-liquid food items are permitted in both carry-on and checked bags, as long as they are packed in ice.

What’s not permitted is stuffing a fresh chicken with a handgun and then trying to get it through TSA.

One guess as to where this all went down….. thank you, Florida. Not a lot of detail other than it happened at the Fort Lauderdale International airport. No mention of a name or any repercussions. TSA posted several pictures and if you’re truly Flogrown you will recognize the green-striped Publix cooler bag in several of the pictures.

As TSA summed it up with their Instagram post - “We hate to break it to you here, but stuffing a firearm in your holiday bird for travel is just a baste of time,” “

Not sure which is better, the Florida Man in all his glory or the joking way TSA handles the situation.

Let’s stick with the theme of TSA and carry-ons and just for kicks, we’ll include thank you Florida.

This came from Live And Let’s Fly.

An orange cat was discovered at New York Kennedy (JFK) by a TSA baggage screener. Not totally out of the ordinary, but wait there’s more.

First, the agent spotted some orange hair poking out of the zipper of the suitcase

Rather than pull the animal out, he ran the bag through the x-ray machine

After the cat was discovered, the bag was very carefully opened

The cat popped out unharmed and seemed calm

The passenger was tracked down, and admitted the cat was from the house he was staying at but was adamant he did not pack the cat

TSA reached out to the owner alerted her to the location of the cat and asked if she wanted to press charges

She declined, stating that her cat loves to climb into boxes, and came to pick up “Smells” at JFK

She later reported that the cat was totally unfazed by the incident

Let’s talk about luggage for a few minutes. We all know my rule of thumb is that there are two types of luggage, carry-on and lost.

Checking luggage can be a crapshoot. Beyond getting lost a checked bag can also have stuff removed from it even if you use a luggage lock. A $10.00 bill on Amazon will get you a TSA luggage master key.

Losing your luggage is a giant cup of suck even if you eventually get it back. I’ve lost luggage three times in all my years of travel. Twice I found myself at Walmart late at night trying to assemble an outfit for meetings the next day. The third time I landed at 1:00 AM and my luggage made it to the hotel around 6:00 AM. If you check luggage consider throwing an Apple Airtag inside.

Any idea what lost luggage costs the airlines? Let's do some pre-COVID math.

In 2020  American Airlines President Robert Isom told employees “every lost bag is nearly $60.” 

Isom went on to add that in January alone American Airlines mishandled 74,975 bags (Airlines don’t like to use the word lost),. At $60 per bag it cost American Airlines $4.5 million that month, that’s around $54 million over the course of a year. Taking that same $60.00 airlines as a whole could be close to losing over $160 million a year to mishandled, not lost, bags.

What happens to bags that are actually lost and not reunited with their owners? Much of it ends up in Scottsboro, Alabama, with a population of 15,000. Scottsboro Alabama is home to Unclaimed Luggage. 

My last visit was about 15 years ago and at the time there were more portable DVD players and digital cameras than at the local Best Buy. I saw half-used bottles of cologne, worn shoes, suits, and even underwear. All of which were for sale.

You can purchase brand-new clothing complete with the tags still attached. Looking for a second-hand Omega or Seiko watch? They have them.

You can purchase these oddities that never got reunited with their rightful owners. 

David Copperfield 8x10 Autographed Poster - $15.99

FIELD & STREAM 1985 Portfolio of Game of Birds - $25.99

INTERNATIONAL SILVER CO.1927 Pine Tree 37pc Serving Set - $1,645.99

And who couldn’t use a 19th Century Dutch Brass Jelly Pan 8.5" x 4.5" - $65.99

If you find yourself in Scottsboro Alabama allow yourself an hour or maybe two for a visit.

Have you ever heard of a “Mattress Run”? No, it’s not a Tck-Tok challenge or a college hazing week ritual, it's when you book and pay for a hotel room (that you otherwise wouldn’t need) to earn rewards or qualify for elite hotel status.

All of this is according to The Points Guy and it’s a valid question. Years ago mileage runs were common with the airlines, especially when elite status was based on connections. When I lived in Atlanta I remember late in the year friends taking business trips with 3 or 4 connections when it was typically a direct flight. Mileage runs aren’t that common anymore.

Back to the question, is a mattress run valid? In my opinion, this late in the year no mattress run is a waste of both your time and your money…. And here’s why.

First credit cards, yes love them or hate them but every hotel chain offers a credit card and those hotel credit cards will often give you some level of elite status as well as several thousand points. Side note most of the cards do require you to spend several thousand dollars in the first few months after you sign up for the card.

Also most every hotel chain offers some sort of an elite status-level program this time of the year so check their website.

Also, check your airline of choice’s website for promos. Recently Southwest offered a program that I took advantage of. A few months ago I did the math and knew there was no way that I was going to have enough flights or points to have the companion pass for 2023. Enter the Southwest promo - It was a no-brainer if you took one flight during the designated time period you would get the Southwest companion pass for the first three months of 2023. Hey, it’s not for the full year, but at least it’s something. 

The tip in is that typically you will need to have your head in that bed or that butt in a seat in order to get those points or miles. 

One last question, are looking for a unique way to miss your flight? My suggestion is to not, I repeat not, this way. 

Dateline Seattle, Washing American Airlines gate area where a passenger waiting to board screamed “heil Hitler” while holding a Nazi salute. In case you didn’t know…. That is not OK. If that wasn’t enough, he then called for a race war right before he was arrested at Sea-Tac airport.

In the words of Ricky Gervais  "Being dead is like being stupid: it's only painful for others." - 

There you have it. episode 180, the November crazy travel roundup. I plan to squeeze in a quick 2022 year-end travel numbers and holiday gift guide next week so please check back. 

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Or visit Substack at travelstories.substack.com/

You can also leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

One trip since our last episode, and it came in the form of a road trip which is the topic for this episode.

This trip was four days on the road with three nights in three different hotels, which is never desirable, and to add to the madness Hurricane Nicole made landfall halfway through the trip.

It’s safe to say that none of the hotels offered any reminder of COVID. No plexiglass riot shields, only a few remnants of Hilton’s “CleanStay” stickers, and most of the hand cleaner stations were empty. 

One hotel was undergoing a remodel six years after its last remodel. One hotel had a Peleton bike in the fitness center. And the last one offered a firepit where I enjoyed the fall evening.

On to tonight's topic - the road trip show

We survived summer travel. Flights were expensive and packed. Rental cars were expensive and if you rented from Hertz you ran the risk of being arrested. Hotels were plentiful and expensive. Notice a pattern?

With fall travel here I see no reversal in any cost associated with travel. There is a hotel close to my parents, it’s a normal Hampton Inn, nothing special. Typically it’s $100.00 per night, occasionally $130.00 if there’s a softball tournament taking place. Lately, it’s been $180.00 per night even with all my secret squirrel discount codes.

So with the upcoming holiday travel season, it might be time to consider a good old-fashioned road trip. We’ve talked about road trips several times over the years, but it’s worthy of a revisit.

What are some common road trip mistakes? Glad you asked.

When it comes to a road trip it is important to follow the 7 P’s - Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. 

Let's concentrate on the first three P’s - Proper Planning and Preparation.

Not planning. You have to have a plan and start that plan well in advance of your departure.

So where do you want to go - it’s fall and in the southeast that means fall colors and there’s no better way to see the changing leaves than through the windshield of a car. The weather is still mild enough for a bourbon or winery road trip. So a road trip doesn’t always mean an over the river, and through the woods, To Grandmother's house.

You need to plan for frequent stops and roadside billboard suggestions can help. Want to see a 15” gator? There’s a billboard to tell you how. Same with the Bigfoot museum, and the desire to shoot a real machine gun there are billboards that point you in the direction to do just those things

Don’t assume your car is road trip worthy just because you drive it every day. Make sure you’re car is equipped and serviced for the trip. Make sure there’s a copy of your license and registration handy. Consider an EDC roadside kit. Things like jumper cables, a flashlight, and something to clean your hands with in case you have to change a flat tire. Make sure your spare tire is roadworthy as well.

If you don’t have AAA it might be worth the investment and while you’re at it throw an old-school paper map, in the glove box….. You never know.

Some road trip essentials that you might not think to pack.

* First aid kit and include - 

* Heartburn meds

* Aspirin

* Benadryl

* Allergy Pills

* Zip Lock Bags

* A can of fix-a-flat

* Plastic shopping bags

* A handful of zip ties, paracords, and bungee cords

While you’re in prep mode, make sure you have some travel-related apps installed on your phone.

Plan your wardrobe. It’s fall and this time of year there can be a 40-degree swing in temperature between the morning and mid-day. Don’t forget the umbrella either.

What apps will help? At least install Google maps and Waze. If you have no idea how valuable either one of those is, please stay off the road.

* iExit helps with the latest gas prices.

* Roadtrippers with their tagline of “Turn your road trip into an adventure” is a great addition if you need road trip guidance. Enter your starting point and destination and Roadtrippers will help to fill in the stops along the way.

* Roadside America offers over 15,000 offbeat attractions, some of which no one is familiar with, well beyond what you’ll find on Google maps. I advise installing Yelp as it will give you insights on food, hotels as well as attractions. 

* And don’t forget Google reviews as it will also give you the lowdown. TripAdvisor is another one, I don’t personally use it, but I have heard good things about it.

It seems that there’s an app for everything, including road trips - There’s Dyrt which will help you find places where you can camp. You can install Flush, think of it as Yelp reviews but for public toilets.

Plan your route. Here in O-Town, we’re home to (2) of the worst traffic snarls in the United States.

From the Orlando Weekly - 

Drivers in rush hour traffic on I-4 West between Beachline Expressway and FL-429  lost an average of 74 hours in traffic. Anyone taking US-17 South from 192 to The Oaks Blvd also suffered, losing 59 hours in traffic. Those roads were good enough for the third and seventh-worst congestion in the US, respectively.

Every major city has its share of traffic, Atlanta, Dallas Washington DC there’s no escaping traffic.

Plan for an alternate route. On my recent drives to Georgia, I’ve been bypassing the downtown Atlanta area by taking 441 out of Macon towards Athens and then Highway 29 to the office. 

For my return trip from Georgia, I jump on 40 outside of Ocala and head down the middle of the state. Both routes are typically 15 minutes longer according to Waze, but both routes typically keep me from sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

So plan your route, and this includes places to stop for fuel. Fuel stops are important so make them more meaningful than 6 fuel pumps and the offering of boiled peanuts that have been cooking in a crock pot for the last 6 days.

One of my favorite fuel stops is one that I’ve done a 180 on in the past few years.

It’s Buc-ee’s and with their expansion into the southeast, it’s the perfect place to stop. Beyond the 40 or 50 gas pumps, they have a wall of jerky, a legit BBQ pit, and gifts galore. 

If you’re rolling along I-95 around the North Carolina South Carolina state line, there’s South of the Border”  with its Sombrero Tower, Reptile Lagoon & The Peddler Steakhouse it’s a great place to kill an hour or so. Besides Pedro says so. 

When it comes to road trip nutrition there are two approaches.

First, take it with you. Why? Because eating on the road is expensive. Drop $20.00 or $30.00 on a soft-sided cooler. No need to spend $300.00 on a Yeti, we survived without them for decades.

You can freeze almost everything, my mom proved it by freezing a Burger King Big Mac. 

Meal prep wraps, leftovers, veggies, and snacks, all of these travel well and can be consumed while driving.

I’ve talked about road food in the past, and all these years later I still stand by these foods for consumption while barreling westbound on I-20.

Beef Jerky and Slim Jims, actually make any processed meat product wrapped in plastic that doesn’t need refrigeration.

* Positives – High in protein, easy to eat, and little or no mess.

* Negatives – High in salt and the smell might offend passengers, which might be a good thing depending on who is riding with you. Beef jerky can be a tad expensive when purchased in a gas station.

Almost every gas station will have a rack filled full of Little Debbie snacks. From oatmeal pies to cosmic brownies, there’s a snack for everybody. My favorite is the Nutty Buddy or anything from their Zebra collection.

* Positives – As tasty as it gets, inexpensive, easy to hold, and almost never expires. Don’t forget their seasonal offerings such as Fall Party Cakes.

* Negatives – Loaded with sugar and not the most filling, so if you happen to eat four or five keep an eye on that calorie count.

Roller food, those tasty cylindrical tubes of nutrition and calories. Looking to snack on an egg roll, tamale, hotdog, or taquito while driving 75 MPH? If so, then grab those tongs and pluck a few of these rolling beauties.

* Positives – Cheap, usually $1.00 plus they taste good and are relatively filling. Where else can you eat food from three different ethnicities all in a single stop?

* Negatives – Be careful if you load any of these items up with salsa. ketchup or mustard, it’s very easy to end up with a goopy mess in your lap. Stay away from any item that’s not rolling, a sure sign that the bottom is more than likely over-cooked.

There’s a reason those foods are in heavy rotations during my road trips. They’re easy to hold with one hand, leaving your other hand free for texting.

When you make it to base camp, aka your destination, ask the hotel staff for some local food stops. They will almost be willing to offer you some local taste sensations. The backup food plan is Yelp or Google reviews

Road trip entertainment, since I’m the driver I rely on a couple of things audiobooks and podcasts. I still have my old standby music playlist, Dave Matthews Band, Toto, and almost every artist that charted in the 1980s…. You can call me a renaissance man.

For me, audiobooks are mostly non-fiction. Recently I finished Rob Lowe’s, “Stories I only tell my friends” and Dave Grohl’s “The storyteller”. The key to audiobooks, listen to them at 1.5 speed. It’ll take your brain a few minutes to adapt but after that, it’s smooth sailing.

With podcasts, I’m all over the road - Smartless, The Upside, Literally from Rob Lowe, Tim Ferris, Mike O’Meara, and my two travel podcasts, Travel Commons and Travel Wins.

Do you subscribe to Spotify? If so hit up one of their One Hit Wonder channels and you’ll be amazed. If you’re a Joe Rogan fan you can listen to his podcast here.

Time to discuss lodging, more specifically hotels, can be a bit dicey. I admit I’m spoiled as Hilton & Marriott are my go-to’s and have been for two decades. That being said most traditional chain hotels will suit almost anyone. However, you need to plan to spend some money. Hotels are one of those things in life where you truly get what you pay for, and two of those things you pay for are safety and cleanliness.

Here is a hotel strategy to consider when choosing a location. While it’s nice to stay on Disney property, and this makes sense you can shuttle into the park each day and not worry, or paying for parking. You can sleep in since you’re already on Disney property. However, there are two deterrents to staying on the property, it’s expensive and you will find yourself waiting in lines just like you were in the park.

Years ago one of my first business trips to Orlando was a project at Reedy Creek Improvement District. Reedy Creek is the governing jurisdiction and special taxing district for the land of Walt Disney World Resort. It acts with the same authority and responsibility as a county complete with its own fire department headquartered out of the Dalmation Station. Reedy Creek’s main office is just down the street from what was Downtown Disney and is now Disney Springs. So I booked my hotel on the north side of I4 just outside Disney Springs. The next morning I go downstairs for breakfast and the dining area was packed. Lines for cereal, lines for eggs, and lines for coffee. It was packed with families waiting to go to Disney. 

There’s another advantage to staying off-site, especially if you have young kids. Being forced to find parking and then taking a trolley or the monorail to the park entrance can easily remove an hour or two of park time. Why this is important is that it removes one to two hours of time that your small child will be getting frustrated waiting in lines, and getting sunburnt. Plus the off-property or not near-property hotels will be cheaper and less crowded.

But, you will come across locally owned and operated hotels that provide a wonderful experience. Years ago I had a project in Smithfield, VA, yes that Smithfield, bacon, ham, bacon, sausage, and bacon. At the time there were no hotels in Smithfield to speak of so I booked my room at the Mansion on main which was a bed & breakfast. Every morning we woke to the smell of bacon and fresh biscuits and each afternoon we’d come back from Smithfield to a plate of fresh warm cookies and a cold glass of mile. My favorite part while in Smithfield was one of the executives was giving us a tour of the facility and as we were walking from one building to the next he asked, “Do you smell that?” of course, we could smell the smokey order from the smokehouses, he went on to tell us “that’s the smell of money!”

In the past I’d often book hotels close to my favorite dining establishments with Uber Eats and Door Dash this is no longer the case…. And Uber Eats will deliver liquor.

There’s also HotelTonight as well that offers up a “day of deals” in case you need a last-minute place to crash. The one piece of advice that I offer up to Baby Road Warriors is to make sure you have that night’s hotel reservation before you head out in the morning.

If you’ve got kids in tow one of your major jobs is to keep them from getting bored.

Make sure to pack charging cables etc. If you’ve got an extra $50.00 or so purchase an extra Amazon Fire tablet just in case someone breaks something. When I was a rugrat my parents gave us two Dramamines and put us in the back seat.

This is also where the aforementioned snacks can buy you a few additional minutes of peace as well as silencing those “Are we there yet”.

There you have it episode 179, the road trip revisited.

Thanks for listening.

Leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

Check us out on the web at PodPage or Instagram.

Recorded in the home office of Chateau’ Relaxo.

Sorry, no episodes since the September crazy travel roundup it’s been really busy the last 30 days.

Hears a few updates to open the episode with - 

In episode 177 I mentioned that during a recent road trip I noticed that two of the three Hilton hotels that I bunked at had Peleton bikes in their fitness centers. Drum roll please - Hilton and Peloton Team Up to Enhance the Travel Wellness Experience.

This is an industry‑first partnership, all 5,400 U.S. Hilton‑branded hotels to feature Peloton in fitness centers.

As one that has planned my hotel stays based on the fitness center or the hotel providing access to a nearby gym I can appreciate this.

Do you know who else appreciates this? Peloton. As big as the Church of Peloton is Peloton has been struggling financially. From a stock price high of $162.00 in January of 2021 to last week's close of $8.00 per share.

I’m not a Peloton disciple, I almost joined the Church of Peloton until I saw the cost to join the Church of Peloton combined with the monthly offering for the app it was too rich for my blood.

However next time  I see one in a Hilton fitness center I will give it a try. 

Hopefully, the Peloton will hold up the abuse of a hotel fitness center.

Another update from Episode 177, remember  Hend Bustami? In case you don’t…….Hend was arrested for reportedly skipping out on her Chili’s tab inside the Harry Reid International Airport The icing on the cake was that Hend told officers she was under arrest because she was so good-looking.

Hopefully, Hend will still be good-looking in an orange jumpsuit because…. Here’s the update…..Hend has been arrested for murder, the murder of her mother.

Since Hend is a fan of Chili’s I hope she finds prison food to her liking.

Here’s the first entry into this month's “I’m a mallethead” contest.

From the Jerusalem Post - Israeli passenger sets toilet on fire during El Al flight to Bangkok.

In case you didn’t know  - You can’t smoke on planes.

And probably one of the reasons you can’t smoke on a plane is that you just might set the toilet on fire.

The incident took place on a flight that took off from Tel Aviv., A passenger who probably wanted to smoke without being detected threw a cigarette butt into the trash can in the toilet compartment - but the cigarette ignited the toilet paper inside, which caused both the trash can and the toilet to catch fire.

The smoke detector went off and the flight crew immediately extinguished the fire.

Now if this had happened in the United States, a toilet fire on an inflight airplane, that plane would've been on the ground before the proverbial smoke had cleared and that would’ve been followed by at least a four-hour flight delay.

That’s not how it's done overseas - The plane that was mid-flight at the time of the incident continued on its path as planned until it landed in Bangkok despite the fire.

This comes to us from Harsha wears a mask over at Twitter. - Best part of today’s flight 

@AmericanAir   the captain of the flight is so magnanimous that he ordered us all pizzas as we have been stuck on the flight @fly_BUR  for over 6 hours and we never departed because of some complicated routing issues.

Not all heroes wear capes, case and point this American Airlines pilot. 

American Airlines flight 1208 from Burbank to Dallas was delayed due to weather in Dallas (DFW is known to stand for Doesn’t Function Wet.)

A 6-hour weather delay? Maybe I should rethink my previous story - a toilet fire on an inflight domestic airplane that’s a solid 8-hour delay,

If there are any pilots listening and thinking of doing the same good deed…. Dominos has slashed their prices by 20%

Our first “Thank You Florida Story” - Miami Man Blames Altitude For Poor Behavior On United Airlines Flight, Not His Regular Consumption Of Mushrooms from Live and Let’s Fly.

A Miami man, Cherruy Garcia Sevilla, age 23 took magic mushrooms and then allegedly groped an air stewardess and broke into an occupied toilet on the flight has blamed his crazed attack on the altitude. 

Cherruy Garcia Sevilla, 23, was arrested after traveling from Miami to Washington on October 4 when a dose of magic mushrooms that he had taken kicked in, sending him into the aforementioned incident.

I’m not a magic mushroom enthusiast so I can’t speak to their effects. However, I’ve been on an S-Ton of flights and I don’t ever recall anyone getting altitude sickness…. It probably has something to do with those pressurized cabins.

One more Thank you Florida story from Live and Let’s Fly - American Airlines Flight Forced to Divert After Woman Screams ‘We’re All Gonna Die!’

Flight 1295 left Miami and was headed for Los Angeles but was diverted to El Paso after a woman stood up and told everyone on the plane they were all about to die and must “repent,” according to a passenger who witnessed the episode.

After that, the woman remained silent. Flight attendants were able to restrain the woman and place flex cuffs on her. 

One flight attendant asked her if she “needed” to get off the plane and when she responded affirmatively, the plane began a rapid descent into El Paso, Texas (ELP).

From Yahoo News - Flight attendant charged with stealing $8,000 bracelet from TSA line

A woman identified as a Republic Airways flight attendant was arrested Monday at Reagan National Airport after authorities said she took a passenger's bracelet set from a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint.

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said Rebecca Valley, 60, of Wesley Chapel, Fla., Thank you Florida, works for the regional carrier and was charged with one count of grand larceny. The owner of the jewelry reported that it was valued at $8,000, Nosal said.

Here’s a quick travel tip -  place items such as wallets, phones or large pieces of jewelry in your carry-on bag, not a bin, Also laptops should be easily identifiable with a business card or some type of sticker.

From BoingBoing - Pilot sues Southwest after co-pilot allegedly locked her in the cockpit and took off his clothes

Christine Janning, a Southwest pilot, filed a lawsuit last week in Orange County, Florida, over an incident that took place in August 2020.

Michael Haak, a 27-year veteran of the airline, had used his seniority rights the previous day to bump another pilot who had been scheduled to command the flight. Janning believes that's because he saw a woman was the scheduled co-pilot.

Janning said that when they reached cruising altitude, Haak told her this was his final flight and there was something he wanted to do before retirement.

She said he bolted the door so no flight attendant could enter. He then put the plane on autopilot, stripped off his clothes, began watching pornography on his laptop, and committed a lewd act for 30 minutes while taking photos and videos of himself. …

What a Creepy McCreeperton, took look at a schedule so you’re flying with a female. To top that Haak called the incident "a consensual prank" that got out of hand.

Here’s this month's PSA….. Women do not want to see random dudes' junk, they don’t want pictures of random dudes' junk and they don’t want to see random dudes touching their junk. If they do they'll probably let you know.

Our last Thank you Florida story - From 7 News Miami, American Airlines plane evacuated after strange odor fills cabin.

Dateline - MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - An American Airlines flight had to return to Miami International Airport after an odor filled the cabin during the flight.

It was a scare in the air for 172 passengers on their way to Barbados, as they had to be turned around back to Miami International Airport just before 9 p.m., Wednesday, October 12th

“Coming in with toxic fumes coming from a passenger suitcase,” an official said on Broadcastify.

This is where I fully expected the culprit to be….. Durian, but that wasn’t the case.

The plane landed at 9 p.m. and was taken to what is referred to the penalty box so first responders could deal with the issue and get everyone off the plane.

“A smell came into the cabin, maybe midway through the flight. It smelled like nail polish. It was really strong,” said one passenger.

In a statement, American Airlines said they had to deplane all passengers.

“Due to a chemical odor in the cabin caused by the contents of a customer’s carry-on luggage. The aircraft landed safely and without incident, and customers deplaned normally,” read the statement.

So you're telling me that cabin air isn’t always fresh and filtered from the outside like we were told during the height of the pandemic.

Hertz has recently been in the news with stories of lost cars, Flashy reporting cars as stolen going as far as sending people to jail that never rented cars from Hertz.

The people are fighting back - Man sues after Hertz rental leads to ‘surreal’ traffic stop.

Police had their weapons drawn as they ordered Nick Wright and his 13-year-old daughter to put their hands on the hood of the car they had rented less than an hour earlier.

Wright and his daughter were on vacation and had just landed at Savannah airport. They’d rented the car about 30 minutes before officers stopped them.

“This is what happens when the rental company doesn’t clear a stolen license plate vehicle from the national database. Yep! That just happened.” Wright said during a video he recorded after the incident.

Wright added - “They told us ‘Do not drive this car out of this parking lot. Make Hertz come and pick it up and bring you a new one because if you get out on the highways it may not go well for you,’” 

Wright is one of the hundreds suing Hertz over mental and emotional damages after they were arrested — sometimes jailed — based on police reports labeling the cars stolen.

Hertz this has been going on a bit too long. You’ve had plenty of time to resolve your software issues…. Maybe it’s time for a new CIO.

There you have it, the October crazy travel roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

One trip since the last episode. From O-Town to John Wayne airport for a three-day visit to Irvine, CA. The trip out was uneventful as was the Hampton Inn Irvine East. Three things of note… 

First, 78 degrees with zero humidity is amazing. 

Second, the landscape is beautiful. Irvine is nestled inside these beautiful mountains, none of which had been developed.

Third, My daily drive took me along Alton Parkway. Most of the homes along Alton are located up on a hill, nothing odd there. But, all of the homes had clear plexiglass fences. Think COVID-era riot shields. I asked a co-worker about the clear fences and he let me know that these were $1,000,000 plus homes and they didn’t want a solid wood fence spoiling that $1,000,000 view of the mountains. Side note $1,000,000 in Irvine California is much different than 1 $1,000,000 home in O-Town.

My return flight home included a 3-hour delay in Austin, TX placing me back at Chateau’ Relaxo right around 2:00 AM. This allowed me plenty of time for a 7:00 AM drive to Atlanta, GA.

I was on four planes that week, and maybe 20 people were wearing a mask between those four flights.

A bit of a break in the Chateau’ Relaxo monotony last week as hurricane Ian came to town. We truly dodged a bullet as we only experienced high winds and a lot of rain. Nothing near the damage that Southwest Florida experienced. That being said the local O-Town news organizations were firmly convinced and trying to convenience us that we were all going to die. 

In case you didn’t know there is typically a weatherman progression when it comes to hurricanes. First, the jacket gets removed, then the shirt sleeves get rolled up, and finally right before the “S” hits the fan the necktie gets loosened or removed. Wednesday morning at 6:00 AM we turned on the local news and our local weatherman was already jacketless, tieless, not only were his sleeves rolled up it looked like he had slept in his dress shirt. This was a solid 18 hours before O-town was in the midst of hurricane Ian.

Now as I’m putting show notes together Hurricane Ian has made landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina, as a Category 1 hurricane.

The devastation in Southwest Florida is unimaginable. There are links in the show notes for

* Red Cross

* Salvation Army

* Don’t forget the pets American Humane

No matter where you live there are always weather challenges. Out west it’s fires and earthquakes. The midwest has its share of flooding and tornados. The north is known for snowstorms and in the south, it's hurricanes. Like they say, “You can’t fool Mother Nature”.

We open this month's crazy travel roundup with this Titillating tale from Live and Lets Fly - WOMAN FORCED TO SIT IN FLIGHT ATTENDANT JUMP SEAT DUE TO HER OSTENTATIOUS BREASTS

Leia Parker is a 26-year-old glamour model and exotic dancer. On a recent flight, she was busted for her breast size. Now Leia is petite but my opinion is that she has some aftermarket bolt-on parts. Due to those modifications, Leia claims she was forced to sit in the rear galley in a flight attendant jump seat all the way to London from Las Vegas.

Leia explained that she couldn’t help touching other passengers while squashed into her small economy seat. She claims fellow passengers complained about this and asked the cabin crew to move her.

“The seats being small is not good for my boobs – I struggle to not be in other passengers’ way,” she said.

Don’t feel too bad for Leia as he IG bio does indeed have her as a glamour model and exotic dancer so I guess she’s used to being the center of attention.

I put a Google on the word ostentatious hoping to see a picture of Leia, aka @JodieJuggs with two G’s, but I didn’t so I put a link in the show notes. 

I wonder if Leia was seated originally in row 46 DD?

In keeping with the last story's theme, 8NewsNow sent this our way.

Las Vegas police: Woman tells officers she was under arrest due to good looks

Dateline Las Vegas Nevada. Hend Bustami was arrested for reportedly skipping out on a restaurant tab as well as violating airport rules. The icing on the cake was that Hend Bustami told officers she was under arrest because she was so good-looking.

Police said they were called to a Chili’s restaurant, a solid airport food choice,  in Harry Reid International Airport for a report of a woman who had left without paying her bill.

Police searched for Bustami, but could not find her.

Why couldn’t they find her?  It seems that the police were notified by TSA that [a] female matching Bustami’s description was observed sleeping near the security checkpoint, hindering their operations,” the report said.

Officers later found Bustami in the baggage claim area where she was “belligerent with officers, saying she was being harassed because the cops had never seen anyone as pretty as her,” 

While officers were arresting Bustami threatened to spit on the officers and that officers were perverts and were trying to rape her because they had never seen anyone as good-looking.

Here’s the tip-in, police later learned Bustami had a warrant out of Las Vegas Municipal Court.

Typically when women complain about being singled out or picked on at the airport or on the plane they typically complain that it’s because they are an Uggo or Fattie and not because they are too voluptuous or too good-looking.

Here’s a quick life lesson. In case you didn’t know much of life is subjective.

For Example - 

* Yelp, everything posted is someone's opinion

* Same with beauty contests

* Are you fairly compensated at your job

Now some things are cut and dry - 

* Hitting a sales quota

* Winning a powerlifting contest

Subjectiveness sets the stage for this story from Southwest Airlines.

In early September, Carrie was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight. Nothing new there.

Carrie’s side story is she wanted to make a crying child in the gate area feel better, so she did some cartwheels while also having a glass of wine. Not sure if the wine led to the cartwheels or vice versa.

The Southwest crew found her behavior unusual, assuming Carrie was intoxicated, and denied her boarding.

The Southwest side of the story is as follows. The flight crew noticed Carrie having a glass of wine while being loud while doing gymnastics. This combination got Carrie denied boarding as she was told that she was intoxicated. 

This part is not subjective, there is a video, and there’s always a video and of course, it was filmed in portrait mode - LINK

In the video, subjectively, Carrie’s speech is slurred. However, stone-cold sober I have terrible balance and could never walk a straight line at a DUI stop. P{ossibly what i heard was Carrie’s normal speech pattern.

Subjectively, the Southwest flight attendant sounded very condescending, that's when you talk down to people, when speaking with Carrie

This next story will give you step-by-step instructions on how to appear as a mallethead, then prove it, and then get fired.

An unnamed passenger flying from Philly to Dallas started his flight and downward spiral by allegedly being inappropriate toward the woman seated next to him.

This was followed by him exclaiming he's racist because he's a white male with a black bag which he states is, "a better bag than most of y'all can afford." Then he admitted that he was a little intoxicated.

Next, he proved that he was not only racist but also homophobic with an obscenity-laced rant for the whole plane to hear. This led to him being escorted off of the American Airlines flight, but not before he let everyone know that he was a chemical engineer with GlaxoSmithKline. At the time he was working for GlaxoSmithKline, currently, he was working for GlaxoSmithKline because once GlaxoSmithKline got wind of this behavior they fired him. 

Here’s a quick life tip, don’t flex your job if you plan on going on an embarrassing rant.

I spoke about this next topic in episode 175, The August Crazy Travel Roundup. This month The Points Guy tackled this topic as well - Mobile tipping comes to hotels: Will housekeepers really benefit?

The post opens up with this.

No cash on hand to leave as a tip for a housekeeper during your next hotel stay? No problem.

One major hotel company rolled out a mobile tipping platform this month to keep things cashless, and there are signs more could be in the works.

The major hotel chain in the post is Wyndham. The hotel that I stayed at was Homewood Suites.

The customer engagement follows the same process, scan a Quick Response (QR) code with your phone and follow the prompts.

Wyndham's adoption of mobile tipping came as a result of hotel owners and housekeepers asking for it during the pandemic.

Typically with hotel chains and airlines is, once one of them breaks the seal with any sort of a new plan or policy, no matter how bad it is, the others will soon follow.

Without getting into unions and franchised properties this is a terrible idea. Here’s my personal take on this. In Miami, many restaurants automatically impose a 20% tip on your meal. If you don’t notice you could very quickly end up leaving a 40% tip. The reason is that Miami has an endless supply of European travelers and apparently they don’t tip.

While mobile tipping isn’t the same I don’t need someone deciding that this is how they now want others to tip. Yes, I can still drop a five-dollar bill on the dresser as I leave but it’s not the same. Possibly hurricane Ian and the barometric pressure have me in a funk.

Here’s the question of the episode. Is it OK to have fun a work? And of course, the answer is……. Subjective. From the Daily Mail.

TikToker slams Air Canada crew for fooling around on tarmac and posing for snaps on engine while her flight was three hours late.

TikTok user @sugywitdahoodie filmed the staff through a window overlooking the runway, as they were taking photos around the plane.

'Everyone on our flight wondering why we're 3+ hours delayed,' and. 'The flight attendants are having a literal photoshoot outside, ON THE PLANE.'. “On the plane”  is in all CAPS, so this had to have been very important to @sugywitdahoodie .

The Tik Tok comments were divided, from - 

* 'My Air Canada flight was delayed for 2 hours because the crew left their hotel late and were stuck in traffic. 

* Another suggested that the staff were 'quiet quitting' 

To this point - Which might, or might not be true.

* Not so fun fact: flight attendants are not paid on the ground, boarding, during delays, at the airport, etc so might as well do a photoshoot,'

*  Another added: 'To be fair they’re probably waiting and trying to pass the time just like you.'

Like it or not, the three-hour delay had nothing to do with the pop-up photo shoot. Maybe the Air Canada flight was delayed as they stocked up on Ginger Ale & Bacon.

Finishing up with this. We’ve all heard about the exclusive mile-high club if you haven’t put a Google on it. After 20+ years of business travel, I’d much rather have admittance in the Admirals Club than the mile-high club.

This was an American Airlines flight from L.A. to Dallas, and the passengers had no idea what was in store for them.

Passengers heard what one passenger described as "somewhere between an orgasm and vomiting." Here’s a link to the video LINK

The noise is coming from inside the plane, no it’s coming from inside the PA system. 

It was a source of confusion to the flight crew ... apparently, one flight attendant thought someone was pulling a prank, but it turned out to be a weird malfunction in the P.A. that sounded like a man's moans.

Some poor American Airlines representative had to deliver this message -  "Our maintenance team thoroughly inspected the aircraft and the PA system and determined the sounds were caused by a mechanical issue with the PA amplifier, which raises the volume of the PA system when the engines are running."

Which was followed up with - You're now free to moan about the cabin..

There you have it, the September crazy travel roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

One trip since the last episode, and it came in the form of a 1500-mile road trip. Chateau’ Relaxo to Ft Oglethorpe, GA to Nashville, TN to Helen, GA, and back to Chateau’ Relaxo.

The Hampton in Ft Oglethorpe, GA gave me a surprise. They offered me an upgrade at check-in and since it was a single-night turn-and-burn I declined. The surprise was when I entered my room, one of the beds was significantly lower than the other one. Upon closer inspection, I found that the bed had only a mattress and no box spring. When I opened the blinds I saw a dumpster with seven or eight box springs and mattresses in it. I checked in mid-restoration

.The next couple of nights were in Nashville, and due to hotel pricing, which we’ll talk about in a bit, I couldn’t, in good conscience, stay downtown. As I pulled into the parking lot I saw yet another dumpster filled with worn hotel furnishings, but in addition to that, there was a building permit sticker plastered on the front door….. My heart sank…. Not again. As I checked in I asked if they were under renovations. They weren’t, the restorations were done, except for the landscaping. The tip-in was that my room looked like it belonged on the West Elm webpage.  

It’s been several years since I’ve stayed at a Marriott property and I had forgotten that the toiletries supplied were done so in bulk. Three bottles stuck to the shower wall. I know we’re reducing our carbon footprint, but I want my own bottle of body wash.

Since Nashville was on the agenda, and my last visit was in winter 2021 I decided to throw in five Nashville tips. 

* Nashville has been deemed Nash-Vegas due to all the neon signs that grace Broadway. And all the travel guides and experts will encourage you to visit Broadway, which you should, at least once. But don’t overlook the Nashville Zoo, Music Row, Belle Meade Historic Site and if you’re into cars there’s the Lane Motor Museum.

* If you’re into sports and you time it right you can take in ITitans (football), Predators (hockey), Sounds (baseball), or Nashville SC (soccer) game. 

* Beyond music, Nashville is a great up-and-coming whiskey town. There are plenty of whiskey tours, they drive, and you drink. George Dickel and Jack Daniels are just south of downtown.

* Here’s a tip I picked up along the way. Hattie B’s, claim to fame is their Nashville hot chicken. No matter when you get there, there will be a long line stretching outside and down the block. Did you know that Hattie B’s offers online to-go ordering, I didn’t. Order online to-go, walk past the line, and enjoy your meal, and the time you just saved by not waiting in a line.

* Try to stay downtown. It’ll be pricy, more on that in a minute, but it’ll be worth it. Nashville is very walkable, but if you visit in the fall bring a jacket as the autumn wind seems to whip between buildings.

From Nashville, my next stop was Flowery Branch, GA. leaving Nashville I had two routes to select from. Nashville south through Chattanooga down to 285 and the up I-85 - 279 mile at least 5 hours not including Atlanta traffic.

The other choice is Nashville south through Chattanooga north to Cleveland, TN and across Lake Ocoee and coming out just above Gainesville, GA 317 miles and just a bit over 5 hours of windshield time.

I took the longer route, and it had been years since I’d taken that route and I forgot how many small towns are scattered across the north Georgia mountains. Sometimes it pays to take the longer route. In the word of  Ferris Bueller,  “Life Moves Pretty Fast. If You Don't Stop And Look Around Once In A While, You Could Miss It.” 

That evening's stop was the Flowery Branch Hampton Inn. My last visit was in 2018 and they didn’t seem the least bit happy that I was back. However, this was the first Hampton Inn where they offered Cookie Time. A plate of warm cookies not individually wrapped on a tray. Grab one or two cookies with the tongs and head to your room. Yes, things are returning to normal.

The last hotel on the trip was another Hampton Inn located in beautiful Demorest, GA. I’ve spent no less than 30 nights here over the course of the last 12 years. The only thing unique about this location is that it took close to three years to complete its renovation.

If you are a fan of the Peleton bike or exercise craze, two of the three Hampton Inn fitness centers had legit Peleton bikes right down to the clip-in pedals.

It’s been 6 or 7 months since the last random show which means it’s time to revisit all the travel randomness.

Going into my 23rd year of business travel there are a few givens. 

* The more important it is for your flight to depart or land at the scheduled time the greater the chance that it won’t. 

* There are two chances that Hertz will upgrade you to a Porsche 911 or a Mercedes C63 AMG. None and less than none.

* Hotel prices will decrease going into fall and then increase again before Easter.

That last given, seasonal hotel price fluctuation is quickly becoming ungiven. 

Fall hotel prices are not decreasing. On this last road trip, I had planned to spend Sunday night in Dalton, GA, but driving 20 miles up I-75 saved $30.00. The same thing with Nashville, I had wanted to stay closer to downtown, but staying north of town near I-24 saved close to $40.00 each night.

The Chateau’ Relaxo corporate marketer wants to spend her birthday in Savannah, GA. A great choice, but she struggled with finding an affordable room. I worked my best hotel price voodoo and the only affordable property I could come up with was the Mansion on Forsyth Park, another great choice part of the Marriott Autograph Collection hotels and one of my favorite Savannah properties. However, it was a distance away from the places she wants to visit. This location left her paying for daily parking, tipping the valet each time she needed her car, or spending the money for rideshare each time she wanted to head to the city center.

Back to my best hotel price voodoo and I found another Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, but this one is on Bay Street near the things she wants to do, and for some reason, I don’t have to pay for daily parking which will save her $45.00 and cover the difference between the two properties.

The takeaway is to decide what the focus of your trip is, food, recreation, convenience, etc. Then factor in things like daily parking fees, tips, and rideshare costs. Not to mention your time. See if your credit card offers discounts, AAA and AARP both offer great discounts.

Stuff you don’t need for travel. While I am a huge fan of HuffPost they could use some real-world assistance when it comes to their travel posts.

On April 17th they posted 32 Things I Guarantee You Won't Regret Having On Hand Next Time You Travel.

Then on April 22nd, they hit us with these 24 Useful Travel Products That Won't Take Up A Lot Of Space In Your Luggage.

56 items or products you need to travel with. Here are just a few of the things you don’t need, I promise.

* An RFID-blocking travel wallet - Is this still something we’re concerned with? This was all the rage 10 years ago and I was gifted one of these wallets. I placed the gifted wallet with my RFID office keys against the RFID food module and it still read my office key.

* AirFly is a wireless transmitter that'll connect your AirPods (or any other wireless headphones) to the headphone jack. This was on both posts and costs $54.00. It’s rare that I ever watch the seatback entertainment on a flight, but if I did I’d purchase a $15.00 pair of SkullCandy headphones.

* Odor eliminators you can stash in your luggage or carry-on. Or I can just was my dirty clothes at the end of a trip. If I was that self-conscious I could throw a couple of dryer sheets into my luggage before my next trip.

* A USB-chargeable fan. Possibly the stupid thing I’ve ever seen. First, is the juice worth the squeeze? This will bleed the juice out of your portable USB phone charger quicker than your phone ever will. Second, what’s more, important posting on social media or warm air blowing across your body?

* Some laundry soap sheets. While these are less than $8.00 I’m here to tell you that I’ve done laundry once while traveling. It was after spending the day rafting the Upper Gauley river.

Now there were a couple of nuggets between the two articles.

* A set of compression packing cubes. I traveled for at least 10 years before I ever purchased these, and I use them on every trip.

* A Wallet Ninja with 18 different functions. The Entrepreneur gave me one of these several years ago and it does have its uses. There’s an eyeglass screwdriver, letter opener, nail puller, ruler, and bottle opener, and it is TSA-approved.

In August the Points Guy posted - ’Til death — or a first-class upgrade — do us part: Testing wedding vows at 35,000 feet.

The author  Cameron Sperance started with, “I’m not going to look like the best person in this story.”

The 3700-word post details how Cameron received an upgrade and his husband didn’t and the feelings and emotions that they both experienced. 

Cameron summed the post up by asking this. What would you have done in this situation?  Or, what have you already done when you cleared the upgrade list, but a loved one didn’t? 

I’ve been married for the better part of 35 years and I can easily answer the question of what I would’ve done. I would offer the upgrade to the CEO, and then when she refused I’d pass on it. One of our best trips was when I still flew Delta and all of us were heading to Washington DC I got an upgrade which I quickly handed over to the Entrepreneur, and he had 3 of the best hours of his life.

When I flew Delta I got priority boarding, humble brag, I would still board with her. 

Even now when we fly Southwest we pay the $30.00 so she can have early-bird boarding and we board in the same group. I am the giver

This next topic will make my therapist shake his head, or make him realize that he has a steady revenue stream with me as a client. Last May Tanner Saunders from The Points Guy posted Why I love hotel bars, especially when I travel solo.

Tanner spent several paragraphs talking about solo travel but I think he summed up the post up with this.

Hotels, in a way, are a microcosm of the world, and grabbing a bar stool at a hotel bar is like a front-row seat to a show performed in many languages and in many acts happening simultaneously. In one hour you can see a comedy, as a bachelorette party stumbles in from a rowdy night out; a drama, as a couple argues over whose fault it really was they booked plane tickets for an airport that’s actually a good two hours from the city center; or even just raw dialogue between yourself and the bartender — improv, if you will.

Tanner writes more eloquently than I could ever speak but a hotel bar, make that a good hotel bar is people-watching at its best and you can people-watch while you’re enjoying a Diet Coke like the CEO does. My pro tip is to sit at the bar, especially if you’re traveling solo. I’ve yet to meet a bartender that’s an introvert, they welcome conversation, they love to talk about their town and they love to talk about the craziness they see as a hotel bartender.

In late April Lifehacker asked their readers, What Are Your Unwritten Rules of Flying?

The article started off with this;

What airplane etiquette should be universally agreed upon, but other people simply don’t understand?

There are unwritten rules all around us, especially when it comes to marriage. The CEO and I have several, and I guarantee that anyone outside the two of us would never understand.

The reader's comments were along the lines of what you’d expect.

* Don’t carry the bag on the plane if you can’t put it in/get it out of the overhead bin.

* No bare feet. Socks are fine, but no bare feet, and certainly no feet off the ground.

* The center seat gets priority on shared armrests.

* Don’t be the jerk that puts their bag in a forward overhead bin when their seat is near the back of the plane. 

My unwritten rules are a bit different.

* If my flight goes out of Gate 110 I never sit in the Gate 110 boarding area, I’ll sit in the 109 or the 111 gate area.

* When entering the plane I always tap the outside of the plane right above the door.

* I always sit on the left side of the plane.

In season 4 of The Office Michael Scott said, I am not superstitious, but I'm a little 'stitious. For me, I'm not even a little 'stitious as to why I do these things but I do. 

What are your unwritten travel rules?

A few weeks ago a friend asked if COVID had changed how I travel and of course the easy answer was I guess, and then our conversation switched to something completely different.

My Nashville trip started on September 11th so I was packing on September 10th and during packing, I decided to clean out my laptop bag and came across a handful of masks that I hadn’t worn in months. As I was throwing the masks out I started thinking about the events of 9-11 and the COVID travel conversation I had with my friend a few weeks prior.

I’ve been through two major travel disruptions. With 9-11, I was a baby road warrior and really didn’t know what I was doing when It came to business travel all I knew was that I needed to be at the airport 3-hours before my flight, and more than likely someone was going to inspect my luggage.. 

With COVID I have noticed a few changes. Probably the biggest change is that I pay attention to cancellation policies with hotel rooms. Hotels have doubled down when it comes to revenue preservation and what better way than forbidding last-minute cancellations.

I don’t book travel as far in advance as I used to. This is changing a bit, as COVID numbers are decreasing but I’m not booking travel 30 and 45 days out. In case you haven’t checked airfare has increased.

I’m doing more road trips, but not for fear of getting sick while flying. The reason is that I don’t miss the hassle of the airport and flight delays. 

Piling onto this was a last-minute post from View From the Wing - There’s Less Business Travel Than Airlines Expected, And It’s Going To Stay That Way

The post list several reasons, such as - That means there’s a lot of business travel which no longer makes sense.

* Visiting customers in their office happens less when those customers aren’t in their office.

* Consultants don’t need to spend the week at their client's offices. The “Monday – Thursday consultant travel week” doesn’t exist in the same way anymore.

* More work from home means former office workers have invested in becoming optimized for Zoom, and more meetings can be taken that way. It’s much easier to do Zoom meetings than it used to be, so at the margin, that means fewer in-person meetings.

People are returning to the office, I’ve had three trips in the last five weeks. Yes, travel doesn’t exist as it once did, but I look at it as travel is for good or bad ever evolving.

The Points Guy recently asked - Do you really have to check out of a hotel?

I’ve answered this twice, once in 2016 and again in 2020. Both times my response was that I rarely stop by the front desk to check out. Both episodes centered around being a travel snob, and that not checking out of a hotel doesn’t automatically make you a travel snob.

I’ve done a 180 on this. I now stop by the front desk to checkout, and for a few reasons. First with lifetime status, humble brag, with Hilton and Marriott I shouldn’t be charged for certain amenities parking for one, and Hiltons daily food and beverage charge of up to $15.00. Second, with hotels reducing their housekeeping staff as well as their daily housekeeping service I figured by 7:00 AM checkout might give them a jump on the day. From a time management standpoint, it’s easier to handle a billing error at checkout than it is while your filling out an expense report.

Most hotel apps do offer the ability to checkout without visiting the front desk to actually checkout, and there’s nothing wrong with that either. 

There you have it, another random show in the books.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

One trip in the last few weeks a quick two-night stay in Jacksonville, FL, the birthplace of the CEO in case you were keeping track.

The hotel was the Homewood Suites Hilton Garden Inn location. Hilton has embraced a strategy that combines two of its brands into one single structure. Shared pool, shared fitness centers, and shared parking lots but with an entrance for the Homewood Suites side and one for the Hilton Garden Inn. Honestly, this does make sense as often time there will be a Hilton Garden with a completely separate Homewood Suites across the parking lot, so why not share some resources, and I’m guessing some employees well. The first time I ran into this was in Brunswick, GA last year.

As far as COVID the riot shield across the check-in desk was gone, and very few of the employees were wearing masks. Not sure what the daily housekeeping situation was as I hung the “Don Not Disturb” sign on the door as soon as I entered the room. That being said, I believe that there was some sort of housekeeping available as the elevator had a sign posted letting me know that there was now cashless tipping available by scanning a QR code that was in my room. My prediction is that this cashless offering will disappear in less than 12 months.

Jacksonville food consisted of two stops.

The first was the River and Post.

Here’s a pro tip, if you choose to sit on the rooftop the view is spectacular, but the menu is limited, so opt for downstairs seating. Start the meal with fresh raw oysters and calamari, and pair that with a Bulleit Proof, their version of an Old Fashioned. My main course was simple, crab cakes, creamy mashed potatoes, and this wonderfully fresh sauteed spinach.

My next stop was on the coast at North Beach Fish Camp. While the CEO was born in a seaside town beyond shrimp she’s not much of a seafood fan, so I took full advantage of this trip.

My choice was their trifecta seafood basket, deviled crash, fried oysters, fried clam strips, hush puppies. french fries and cole slaw. This was lunch, and while this is an S-Ton of food I’m here to tell you that I was part of the clean basket club.

When it comes to fried food, especially fried seafood it’s very easy for everything to taste the same. At the North Beach Fish Camp, this was not the case as the clams tasted like clams and the oysters tasted like oysters.

All this food needed some brew and that’s where Aardwolf Brewing Company comes into the picture. The location is a repurposed tile distributor, so the locations outside is eclectic, to say the least, and one of the brewmasters has a story to go along with the location being an old tile factory.

 This evening my choice was their Hop Oddity weighing in at 5.8% ABV.

The J-Town food and brews have been noted so it’s time to move on to the August crazy travel roundup.

Let's open with this. It seems that the current trend is quite quitting. If you’ve never heard of quite quitting here’s to 30,000” view. It’s where you're not outright quitting your job, but you're quitting the idea of going above and beyond.

From WWAY we give you this, Air traffic controllers say co-pilot ‘jumped’ from plane in Raleigh. Short of being a skydiver, I see no reason in jumping from a completely good plane, unless…. It’s damaged. And I have a parachute 

Apparently, that’s what happened. It’s been unclear exactly how or why the co-pilot Charles Hew Crooks exited the small damaged cargo plane because he didn’t have the aforementioned parachute.

Sadly, his body was found in a backyard about 30 miles south of Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

And the damaged aircraft managed to pull off a successful landing.

Carrying on with the theme of successful crash landings. From the Orlando Weekly, I give you Video shows plane crashing into Orlando area road near UCF. UCF is one of our many local colleges and UCF means you can’t finish. Hello, 6th-year senior.

The plane was on a maintenance flight at the time of the hard landing, citing engine failures as the cause. Colin also said he was in the plane at the time of the crash.

The pilot, Remy Colin, said “It was 4:00 over University (Boulevard). Worst traffic. There was absolutely nowhere to land,” “My choice was a lake or the road. I see a stretch of 300 feet. There was one red light. There were 100 cars on one side, and 100 cars on the other side, so I had oncoming traffic. I had a stretch of maybe 100 feet, and I said, ‘I’m gonna land it there.’”. Which is exactly what Remy Colin did.

The link in the show notes will take you to the video, and in this case, UCF just might stand for “You Can’t Fly, but you can land”.

As a child, most of our vacations were road trips, thus my love for a road trip. As with most families, any of our shenanigans were met with my mother or father turning their head and uttering the veiled threat of, “Don’t make me turn this car around”. Veiled threat as in after prepaying for hotels and whatnot Scrooge McDuck and his wife wasn’t about to forfeit any of their hard-earned money.

That brings us to our next story from DailyDot - ‘Quit sending naked pictures’: Pilot says he’ll turn plane around after passenger AirDrops nudes.

In the June crazy travel roundup, we talked about Creepy McCreeperton airdropping pictures of his twig and the accompanying berries to anyone on his recent Southwest flight.

The pilot responded with the announcement if passengers continue to AirDrop nude photos to other passengers while the plane is on the ground, he will “have to pull back into the gate, everybody’s going to have to get off. We’re going to have to get security involved.”

Followed by, “Vacation is going to be ruined,” and then “Whatever that AirDrop thing is, quit sending naked pictures, and let’s get yourselves to Cabo.”

We’ve talked about this before, many many times…. Women don’t want to see pictures of random dudes' junk, pen-is, member, twig, or their berries. If they did they’d let you know.

Remember women are wired differently the men.

The video in the show notes has had almost 2 million views.

The tip-in was Israel arrests 9 for 'AirDrop' of crash images aboard plane.

Mid-August View From the Wing posted - Passenger Sprawls Across Row Of Seats Smoking A Cigarette, Only Gets 15 Day Airline Ban.

I’m not a marketer, but I’ve been told, that the first rule of marketing is to find the marketing message that most resonates with your target market.  

United Airlines was the first to create a nonsmoking section on the back of a plane in 1971. As if smoke knew not to float to the back of the plane. 

U.S. airlines were still allowed to offer onboard smoking up until 2000…. I never knew.

The View From The Wing post noted - Recently a passenger on SpiceJet in India was banned for 15 days – that’s seriously all that happened – after being videotaped smoking a cigarette while sprawled out across a row of seats. Given the way this was videotaped, making a clear point of showing the brand of the man’s pants, it seems likely this was staged for brand publicity.

Yep, brand publicity and I’m guessing the second rule of marketing is - bad publicity is good publicity. Even a child knows that you can’t smoke in a store, on a bus, or even on an airplane.

Curious, if it had been a cigar would it have been a 30-day ban?

What do we say about nudity? There are two types, good nudity, and bad nudity. This post from Live An Let’s Fly falls under bad nudity. Half-Naked Woman Storms Cockpit Shouting “Allahu Akbar” And Warning Of Explosion.

According to Live And Let’s Fly these are the Cliff Noyes -  She ripped her clothes off. She ran for the cockpit and screamed “Allahu Akbar.” That phrase, known as the Takbir, means “God is the greatest.”

Demanding to be let into the cockpit, she said if she was not let in there would “be an explosion and everybody is going to die.” She also claimed her parents were members of ISIS, a militant Sunni group also known as The Islamic State or Daesh.

Next - Flight attendants advised her to stop, but apparently could not stop her. A passenger named Phillip O’Brien jumped to the rescue and secured her to a chair (a flight attendant helped).

The post concluded with this - The woman now faces a prison sentence of up to five years as well as a hefty fine. No video of the scene has yet emerged.

The story lacks any call to action as to why the nudity and charging of the cockpit took place, but it makes for that with some solid comments. 

Stuart posted

Flight attendants: “We are first responders and here only for your safety.”

Cut to scene: Passengers rolling their eyes.

But Too Many may have summed the incident up with this - I get a feeling a woman who strips down and screams Allah Akbar isn’t actually Muslim.

It’s been several years since I’ve flown Delta, but when I was based out of Atlanta I was a Delta fan-boy. I never made it to Delta Diamond, but I was Delta gold for years. With Delta gold, I was able to always board early so I was always able to have an overhead bin above my seat for my luggage. Plus early on I was able to get a first-class upgrade about 40% of the time. Once Delta introduced those branded American Express credit cards that percentage dropped.

So here’s a quick question for you, beginning January 2023 how many boarding zones will Delta have? 10 - 

* Pre-Boarding

* Active Duty Military

* Delta One or First Class

* Diamond Medalion Members

* Delta Premium Select

* Early Access (Car Seats & Strollers)

* Delta Comfort+

* Sky Priority

* Main Cabin 1

* Main Cabin 2

* Main Cabin 3

* Basic Economy

So the big change to the boarding zone lineup is that Delta diamond no longer boards with first-class. Not sure of Delta’s strategy as no diamond member would be willing to purchase a first-class ticket just in order to board earlier.

Another crazy twist to this is that if you’re flying out of a Delta hub, especially Atlanta, I have personally witnessed the majority of passengers being Delta diamond which created yet another boarding zone bottleneck as 40 or 50 passengers queuing up to board the flight.

Stay tuned because as 2023 gets closer this will become a topic of conversation for Delta devotees.

If you ever meet a baby road warrior, I’ve decided that a baby road warrior is someone that’s been a weekly business traveler for less than 3 years, all baby road warriors will be able to tell you the total number of flights they have taken as well as the number of nights they’ve spent in a hotel room…. The reason, is they’re looking for that next status level. After three years you keep track of the status, gold, diamond titanium. 

If you ask me the number of flights I’ve taken in the last 22 years my guess would be at least 700. Of those 700+ flights, I’ve never once experienced an aborted landing nor even what I would call a rough landing. 

This actually happened in July but didn’t hit the light of day until August. This story was all over the Internet, but here’s the gist of it - Southwest attendant suffers broken back in hard landing.

From the Associated Press posted, 

A Southwest Airlines flight attendant suffered a compression fracture to a vertebra in her upper back during a hard landing last month in California.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the impact of landing was so hard that the flight attendant thought the plane had crashed. She felt pain in her back and neck and could not move, and was taken to a hospital where she was diagnosed with the fracture.

The safety board completed its investigation without saying what caused the hard landing.

As they say, fact is stranger than fiction as this flight attendant was the only one on board that reported any sort of an issue.

Take it from someone with a destroyed spinal column, I feel for this flight attendant.

In last month’s crazy travel roundup we talked about Mr. It’s All About Me who proposed to his girlfriend on the tarmac of the Atlanta Hartsfield airport. I hope Mr. It’s All About Me is listening because here’s how that proposal just might end.

Inconsolable' man returned from Heathrow loo to find fiancée ran off with bags and £5k.

The man had "fallen head over heels" for the woman and proposed the day before they were due to fly to Rome to get married, but she vanished at Heathrow Airport when he went to the toilet.

Here are the Cliff Notes - 

The pair, in their 40s, told check-in staff at Heathrow they were flying to Rome to tie the knot after getting engaged a day earlier.

But when the man went to the toilets and left the woman with their suitcases she disappeared and took everything with her, The Sun reports.

I’ve watched multiple episodes of MTV’s Catfish, apparently, this bloke didn’t. I doubt she took an earlier flight, but hopefully, he had thrown an AirTag in his luggage.

There you have it, the August crazy travel roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

This topic is a launch off from Episode 172, Remembering My Father.

I make jokes all the time about how Florida is God’s waiting room, but in reality, the whole country is God’s waiting room as modern medicine is keeping us alive longer than ever before.

My dad had been struggling with declining health over the last 15 years. It started with prostate cancer, then came insulin-controlled disabilities, and then Parkinson's diagnosis.

His decline really began in September 2020 with uncontrolled bleeding. After a two-week hospital stay, I rolled into the Braselton, GA hospital parking lot where the nurse met me in the parking lot to help me load my dad into my car….. No conversations with doctors or staff, just my dad and a manilla folder full of papers. Thank you, COVID.

My dad was now diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Over the next 20 months, my dad had several lengthy hospital stays. Then throw into the mix our mother who is on oxygen and suffered a life-changing fall in 2019.

Also in 2019, the CEO lost her father after a several-year health struggle. Between the two of us over the past five years, we’ve learned a lot about elder care.

With my dad, there were a handful of things that I had no idea about and I had never asked about.

First I’m not a lawyer, so spend some time and some dollars with one just to get answers to some common questions.

 What documents do you and your family need? 

* Is there a Power of attorney in place? If so where is it?

* Do you have or need Authorization to Release Medical Information to Family members? If so where is it?

* Are you a signer on their bank account? You’re going to need to be.

* Do they have a DNR? I have often joked about having DNR tattooed across my chest. Here’s something I learned. I always thought DNR meant no heart-lung machine, no being in a coma and having to be fed through a tube…. Etc. No, no, no…. On the surface, it can mean no CPR. So make sure you’re clear on their wishes and what those wishes actually mean.

* Where are their wills? Is it an original signed in blue ink? Do you have copies of it?

There are questions and conversations that no one thinks to have during those holiday get-togethers. As my therapist told me, these are the conversations no one wants to have at 2:00 AM in the hallway of a hospital or across the country via Facetime. I wish he had told me this 3 years ago.

In early 2021 my dad was in an extended hospital stay so we relieved him of the responsibility of having to pay bills. At the time this sounded like a great idea until I realized that he had all the passwords to all websites in his head, and my mom had at most two passwords, one of which was thankfully their email.

I spent a solid two days visiting websites selecting “forgot password” and then hoping that his email account would get an email with a reset password link.

Once I had a pretty good grip on websites I did two things, I created a Google folder that was shared with the family, and then I created a Google sheet with all the login information. Sixteen months later I am on version 20 of that Google sheet.

The next thing we had to do was figure out his medicine. Yeah, he knew what he took and when he took it but no one else did. This made it extremely rough on his first hospital visit when my mom handed the hospital staff his pill box with no accompanying instructions.

Once we got what pills get taken when straightened out we took pictures of each pill and created a Google doc with the picture of the pills and a description including the milligrams. 

We created a page for breakfast pills, afternoon pills, dinner pills, and bedtime pills. We printed them out and the CEO had them laminated and anytime he went to the doctor or hospital those pages went along with him. The medical staff was very appreciative.

One thing that I did learn is that prescription pills are marked with codes which means if someone keeps their pills in a pill organizer you can look at the pill and find the markings then head over to drugs.com where you can look up the markings. Also if a pill has a score or indent across it that means the medicine is distributed evenly in the pill and it’s safe to cut in half.

Here’s another medical tip… if you want to verify everything with the doctors, you might need a power of attorney or a completed medical authorization form.

Thankfully his doctors were well acquainted with us by this point.

We had a virtual meeting with my dad's neurologist. She oversaw his Parkinson's treatment and his medicine regime. She asked me on the appointment how his tremors were, and I replied that there hadn’t been any decrease, and she was surprised as the medicine should be suppressing them. It turned out that he was taking his Parkinson's medicine with food and not 30 minutes before a meal as it was prescribed.

The takeaway is to make sure you know not only when medicine should be administered and under what conditions. Similar to the “Do Not Operate Heavy Machinery” warning label on the side of your anxiety pill bottle.

Also if a parent or loved one uses some sort of a medical device or monitor make sure you know how to use it.

Case and point - One night my dad broke out in a cold sweat and his eyes rolled back in his head. It was at that moment that I realized that I had no idea how to use his diabetes blood sugar testing kit. I’d seen him use it, but I had no idea. After a few stressful minutes on YouTube I figured it out and yes his sugar had crashed. The next day I took pictures of the whole blood testing process, created another Google document, printed it out, laminated it kept it with his blood testing kit.

And here’s another reason to verify medicine administration. My dad was injecting himself twice each day with insulin, yet he only tested his blood sugar in the morning. Often times he was causing his own sugar crash. A quick phone call to the doctor outlined his insulin regime, which was printed out and also laminated.

When you have someone that’s older and medically fragile someone will eventually mention Hospice. Possibly a friend, another family member, or even a doctor. That’s what happened to us, In August of 2021 my dad's doctor suggested that we get in touch with hospice. At the time my only experience with hospice was with the CEO’s father. He was admitted into hospice and three days later he passed away.

As you could imagine I was a bit hesitant since my mother and dad had both walked into the doctor's office under their own power. But there’s much more to hospice than just those final days, there is something I shall call long-term hospice. This is where you turn your medical support and guidance over to hospice. 

One thing I haven’t spoken of is that my mom is also medically fragile, with congestive heart failure, and is on oxygen 24/7. She was in no condition to care for my dad’s day-to-day needs.

Last August 2021, we admitted my dad into hospice and for the next 11 months, there was a daily visit from the hospice attendant that bathed him, changed his clothes, and even changed out his linens. There were weekly visits from the hospice CNA that took care of medicine refills and monitoring his vitals Throw in a social worker that took care of making sure my dad had things like a hospital bed, shower chairs, and a wheelchair.

Some days the visits were less than 30-minutes due to what I call my dad having a good day, and other days visits lasted longer. It gave me a piece of mind knowing that there would be someone eyeballing them each and every day.

Now with hospice, you have to cease life-extending or life-prolonging procedures or medicine. With cancer that usually means stopping any sort of chemotherapy. With my dad, he was taking what amounted to oral chemotherapy, and oh yeah it was experimental.

Just like I’m not a lawyer, I’m also not a doctor but I know with medicine there is something called a half-life which equates to how long it takes for the medicine to get out of your system. In the case of my dad's oral chemotherapy, the half-life was about 20 days. By mid-September, my dad's health improved immensely. He no longer needed a walker, he was getting out of bed on his own and was occasionally fixing his own breakfast.

In my non-medical opinion, it appeared that his experimental oral chemotherapy was killing him. Months later a hospice nurse told me off the record that when they first saw him she felt that he wouldn’t make it till October. So yes the pills were killing him. However, hospice provided an extra 10 months with him.

Here’s a tip, when you call the oncologist’s receptionist to tell them that your father will no longer be a patient, no one bothers to call you back in order to question the decision. That should be a sign.

The hospice nurse also told me that there would be peaks and valleys with his health, or as they call it rallies. And we saw right up till his passing. At one point the pastor, whose wife is also a hospice nurse, told my mom that it would probably be best if I came for a visit. With “came for a visit” being code that this might be the last time you can see him. I arrived the next morning with my dad wide awake and hungry, this was 6-weeks before he passed.

So don’t be afraid of hospice.

A few more things to consider.

Money

* What comes in?

* Is it just social security?

* Do they routinely draft from an investment account? If yes, how often?

* What goes out?

* Are there monthly subscriptions?

* Is there a second mortgage?

* If there’s an HOA when is the payment due?

* Having access to their bank accounts and credit cards can really help out with this.

* What’s being drafted

* Again, this is where having access to the bank and credit card accounts comes in real handy.

* I set everything up to be drafted that I could possibly set up. The only two payments I had to worry about were their HOA payment and the monthly credit card bill.

Paper

* When was the last time they filled a tax return?  

* I found Turbo Tax CDs dating back close to 20 years that my dad saved.

* If possible get rid of as much paper as you can while they are still alert and still alive. 

* I came across credit card statements from 1986. Mortgage papers from the early 1970s’. Side note our home in Palos Verdes, CA that I mentioned in episode 172 recently sold for 2.4 million.

* There can be some paper surprises as well.

* My dad's resume, various news articles about him, and birthday cards from family members that he had saved.

* I found my very first resume from 1990 that he had kept.

* My dad fancied himself a poet, even taking a poetry class decades ago. There were poems he wrote for all his grandchildren over the years

Going through his things was like opening a time capsule, bittersweet, but also at times enjoyable.

Things I didn’t know my parents really, really liked and used…. Maybe your parents are the same. 

* Tissue

* There were boxes of tissues on almost every table and counter.

* If you’re doing their laundry, check pockets and be prepared for piles of tissue lint.

* Batteries

* Not sure if my dad was on some sort of an Amazon subscription service, but he had batteries for days.

* Sweat pants/pajama pants

* They love loose-fitting clothing.

* The weather, especially the temperature.

* My parent's house was air-conditioned and the roof didn’t leak. However, my dad made me install a rain gauge on the deck and replace his outside digital thermometer in the last 9 months.

* Knowing the time.

* My dad wore a watch all the time, and even when he became bedridden has was always fixated on the time of day.

* The other thing I ran into was this. If I told them I’d be heading home at 1:00 PM, it’s an 8-hour drive back to Chateau’ Relaxo,  my dad would ask me to do something, or go to the store at 12:50 PM.

* Books

* I can’t remember the last time either of my parents read a book, but there were books everywhere, and they did not want to get rid of any of them.

Thinks to look out for

* Their sense of smell begins to diminish. 

* Check the fridge for rotten food and expiration dates

* Medicine expiration dates. !998

* Driving

* As we age our reaction time decreases as well as our memory, hearing, and vision.

* Thankfully taking the keys away was easy, due to the struggles my dad had with his father as Grandpa continued to tool around Rock Hill, SC in a 1976 Buick creating havoc and minor fender benders.

* This loss of freedom did lead to frustration for both of them, but thankfully family and their neighbors became their poor man's version of Uber.

More things I never know about my parents up until the last few years.

* They have an amazing sense of pride, more so than I ever knew. My parents always relied on their church family for support, but over the course of the last two years, they were reluctant to ask church members for help.

* Don’t remember what day of the week it is, or remember to take their medicine, but they easily recalled where some out-of-the-place restaurant is.

* I am a realist, and I knew where things were headed. For lack of a better term, I wanted to minimalize their home in preparation for a move as caring for themselves became harder and harder.  At first, they were defensive, they didn’t want to donate that Corningware dish that they haven’t used for 25 years. After a frustrating weekend of this resistance, I asked them, “Will you allow me to do this for you?” This worked and suddenly there was buy-in and after multiple multiple, multiple trips to Goodwill, the mission was accomplished.

I consider myself a fan of Lifehacks, but these are some Carehacks that I’ve come across in the past 2+ years.

* Puppy pads or what we call Chuck pads

* As we age we begin to make more messes, who knew? These pads help to absorb liquids etc. Throw one down on their favorite chair cushion and it will help to keep it looking good as well as smelling fresh. Also, Fabreez and those .99-cent air fresheners do wonders.

* Blanket on the bed.

* If you have someone that is for the most part bedridden they become very difficult to move. Even if you’re strong like a bull you could still find yourself having to move 160 lbs of weight around in the bed. Before they lay down, throw a blanket across the bed. Now you have fabric hanging out underneath them on both sides making it easy for two people to grab the blanket and easily reposition them. Avoid grabbing their arms or legs to do this as dislocated hips and shoulders aren’t fun for anyone.

* Handrails.

* We discovered this early on while my dad had some strength left. Amazon sells handrails for the bed that fits between the mattress and box spring.

* Showering

* A shower is a great place for a fall. We installed garb bars that made entry into the shower easier, but you can also remove the shower doors making entry and exit out of the shower even easier. Shower head holder.

* Getting rid of old medicine

* We talked about expired medicine a few minutes ago. While it’s tempting to flush expired medicine down the toilet, just ask the Florida Meth-Gators, don’t do it. Place the meds in a ZipLock bag and then fill the bag with dish soap and then throw the bag into the trash.

* Food 

* In the case of my dad after a 6-week hospital stay, he had lost a considerable amount of weight and muscle atrophy had severely set in. We concentrated on protein. Lots of chicken and protein shakes, and we let him eat whenever he wanted because we now had his blood sugar under control once we understood how his insulin needed to be administered.

*  The other thing that my dad suddenly developed as well as my mother was a desire for sweets. Growing up we always had a bag of cookies in the house, but they now had several bags of cookies, plus ice cream and some candy bars.

* Clothing

* When you are bedridden changing out a shirt is a big deal. When you’re bedridden with a tube in each kidney it’s a major deal. Here’s a tip, take an old t-shirt, and on the back of the shirt cut a slit right up to the neckband, this one little trick makes changing their shirt a breeze.

There you have it, for what it’s worth, my thoughts on elder care.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Often I talk about the island of me, a place inhabited by residents who strive to make everything about them. Our first story contains at least one resident from the island of me.

From One Mile At A Time we have “Delta Diamond Medallion Gets Engaged On Tarmac In Atlanta.”

Delta shared how a Gold Medallion member proposed to his Diamond Medallion girlfriend at Atlanta Airport (ATL). He’s gold she’s diamond isn't she marrying down?

When the couple landed in Atlanta, they were picked up planeside via Delta’s Porsche tarmac service. This is sometimes offered on a surprise & delight basis for Diamond Medallion members. It wasn’t just a Por

sche waiting, though, but also a red carpet, on which the proposal took place.

After a successful proposal, the couple was driven to the terminal in the Porsche, and they went to the Sky Club, where their family was waiting to celebrate their engagement.

First of course it was a successful proposal. These pre-staged, preconfigured all about me, or in this case us, events always end with a YES. I’m willing to bet that MIss Delta Diamond was in on this from the start, I’m willing to bet this was 90 or 95% her idea.

In most of these stories, the comments are better than the actual story. Case and point 

9volt who left this comment, Nothing screams romantic like a proposal on a loud, jet fume-filled tarmac, then going to a standing-room-only SkyClub.

Recently, The Gate asked, Should Families Be Seated Together Aboard Airplanes Without Paying Extra Money?

The article starts with this - The advent of both ultra-low-cost airlines and Basic Economy fares offered by other commercial carriers has created a profit margin for airlines in general by charging extra for what used to be included in the fare and because advance seat assignments cost extra money per person, families who are on a budget but want or need to travel are loathed to pay extra for the privilege — which often results in members of a family seated in different parts of the airplane. Young boys or girls may potentially be seated by themselves among — or between — fellow passengers who are strangers to them.

My simple but well throughout answer is no. Hate me if you want, and send your complaints to travelfrick@gmail.com. Here’s my rationale you’re going on vacation you need to incorporate having everyone sit together into your travel budget. That being said I will give up my seat to a family wishing to seat together, especially if the child is under 10 years old and super especially if I’m flying on Southwest. First, no 10-year-old should be exposed to sitting next to some creepy rando on a three-hour flight, and second, if you’re on Southwest you will more than likely get to drink for free the whole flight. Case and point my last flight from Orlando, FL to San Antoni, TX.

Everyone has their home airport. Mine is Atlanta Hartsfield even though I moved from Atlanta 13 years ago. Hartsfield has great restaurants such as Chicken + Beer or One Flew South and of course, there’s a Carrabba’s Italian Grill where the CEO and I will often enjoy a pre-flight meal.

For picking up arriving passengers there’s the Delta Dash which saves you on the stop-and-go traffic of the north and south terminals.

Well, my home airport hits this month's crazy travel roundup with this entry.

First, Atlanta Hartsfield is officially the world’s busiest airport….. Again. They last held this title in 2019. This begs to ask, what does it take to claim this title?  In 2021 Hartfield saw over  75,704,760,000 passengers, an increase of 76% over their 2020 numbers.

For comparison Orlando International Airport (MCO). was ranked number seven hosting over 40,350,000 passengers. This is up from the twenty-seventh position in 2020.

In July Hartfield also saw a Spirit Airlines flight from Tampa, thank you Florida, coming in hot, so hot that the brakes caught fire upon landing and the Atlanta Hartsfield Fire Rescue was deployed.

No passengers were injured and no emergency evacuation was necessary. However, that did not stop panic from setting with the passengers as many jumped up in order to evacuate but the crew immediately turned them back. As most airlines say during the safety announcement, always follow crew instructions.

Friend of the podcast, Willie Shakespeare, once said “What's in a name?” which was followed by some additional gibberish. But in this case, the name is LAX Karen.

LAX Karen was waiting to check in with Southwest Airlines at LAX, when LAX Karen tells another passenger, who happens to be  African American man, that he’s entitled. Side note, doing this in public is a sure way to start an S-show.

An unfortunate Southwest agent then asks LAX Karen to move up in line. LAX Karen responds by yelling and making a fist at the unfortunate Southwest agent that asked her to move up. This put  LAX Karen close to being “escorted out” of the check-in area. 

That’s when another agent enters stage left and tells LAX Karen,  “I don’t know what you think this is, but this is not Spirit.”

This was met with applause from other Southwest passengers. LAX Karen gave it one more shot by responding with this, “Every time I ask for something I get totally yelled or given attitude”.

My deep dive into LAX Karen was the 68-second TikTok video, but I’m here to tell you that LAX Karen is one of those people that just so happens to piss off everyone she comes in contact with. 

Kids can be stupid, case and point. Spanish Government Prepared To Shoot Down Flight From London. This was posted on View From The Wing.

A teenager on board an EasyJet flight from London Gatwick to Menorca, Spain posted “a fake bomb threat to social media.” I guess teenagers don’t spend much time looking at porn anymore.

In response, the Spanish government deployed a fighter jet to intercept the aircraft making its 808-mile flight.

The 18-year-old passenger was part of a group of 5 friends on the flight and was arrested on arrival. 

The plane was kept away from the airport’s terminal, and passengers were held on the aircraft for two hours and eventually deplaned one at a time. All bags were inspected “by bomb detection dogs and bomb disposal experts” while other takeoffs and landings were delayed at the airport.

Side note in case you didn’t know bomb threats are a giant pain in the ass. During my former life I was a firefighter, and almost every Wednesday night some whack-a-do would call in a bomb threat at the local Publix. This was long before the Pub-Sub was a thing so it wasn’t a Subway employee going rogue. But we’d roll at least one engine and one ladder truck and hang out in the parking lot while the police swept the building.

To sum this up, back in my day kids were happy with a set of captain's wings, I guess nowadays the starting point is a military aircraft escort all the way to your destination.

Just because we haven’t had any COVID news in the past few episodes and the fact that I like to stir the pot. 

In late July, The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health says at least 400 workers from the Transporation Security Administration (TSA) have been infected in the latest cluster, along with Southwest and American Airlines employees.

This has not had any noticeable impact on airport operations and the TSA has not reported any delays in passengers clearing security checkpoints.

This next story takes a bit to set up.

First, have you ever watched an IG Story or Tik Tok video where a customer say at a McDonald’s or Burger King, gets so frustrated at the slow service that they hop the counter to make their own burger?

Have you or have any of your friends traveled to Europe in the last few months and get separated from their luggage?

Those two things set the stage for Cameron Hopkins. From The Points Guy - It had been weeks since Cameron Hopkins and his girlfriend had arrived back home in the U.S. after their June excursion to Europe — and there was still no sign their lost bags would ever show up.

Hopkins could see their exact location with the help of the Apple AirTags he had placed on the suitcases. However, the bags still were sitting, unmoved, somewhere at the Dusseldorf Airport (DUS) in Germany.

Early July Cameron booked yet another ticket back to Europe for a 96-hour Planes, Trains, and Automobiles saga. A saga that ended with Cameron in Dusseldorf sorting through rooms and rooms of luggage with some of the luggage being located in the airport's parking structures. 

Cameron reported that the “Baggage smelled horrible,”. Of course, it did baggage filled with rotting food dirty clothes, etc . all stored in rooms with less than adequate air circulation.

Cameron did retrieve all four of his family's bags and is now safely back home.

So basically Cameron did what a baggage handler with one job couldn’t do…… reunite luggage with its owner.

Here’s the tip-in to this story.  Recently Delta had to fly a plane full of only missing bags from London to Detroit in hopes of sorting some of this mess out.

And, Yahoo News posted this - Passengers' lost suitcases were found dumped in the trash at an international airport. Yes, it’s gotten so bad that they’ve resorted to just throwing the luggage away. There is a bit of justification as some baggage did contain perishable items and they were beginning to attract rodents, but other bags contained clothing, souvenirs, and jewelry. And if you check your Rolex or Paneri in your luggage you are a mallet head.

In our last episode, I described my dad's one and only trip that involved flying with a cat.

BOSTON (AP) — A family’s beloved pet cat that’s been dodging airport personnel, airline employees, and animal experts since escaping from a pet carrier at Boston’s Logan International Airport about three weeks ago was finally caught Wednesday.

“Whether out of fatigue or hunger we’ll never know, but this morning she finally let herself be caught,” 

Those last four words, let herself be caught, describe a cat perfectly. 

Cats are sketchy, and I’m not a cat fan. In fact, if household cates weighed in excess of 100 lbs I’m convinced that 80% of cats would kill their owner. Cats do what they want when they want, and in this case, the cat cared nothing about the family that cared for her, fed her, and even took her on a trip. Again please email all complaints to travelfrick@gmail.com.

This month's dress code violation story comes to us from Live And Lets Fly and Southwest Airlines.

Southwest Airlines Throws Off Woman Who Defended “Lady In Red”.

The “lady in red” was a young woman who chose to wear a red corset on a Southwest Airlines flight leaving Sacramento Sac-Town. 

While boarding, the gate agent asked her if she had a sweater or jacket and told her she had to cover up. When she said she had nothing to cover up, the gate agent allowed her to board but said she would bring her a t-shirt to wear.

Onboard, the woman was given a t-shirt and asked to cover up by a flight attendant, but a woman seated nearby jumped to her defense, wondering why this young lady was being targeted when it was over 100ºF outside and many of the passengers were wearing revealing attire.

A flight attendant explained: “She is wearing a corset and this is a family company. Some people find it offensive.”

The situation escalated and the older woman was thrown off…but not the young lady in red.

After extensive research, which consisted in clicking the link Live And Lets Fly post took me to the Lady In Red’s Tik Tok page aka. Maybejacy.And  Maybejacy seems nice, but I have two pieces of advice for her.

First, after her defender was escorted off the plane, Maybejacy should have voluntarily left the plane as well for no other reason than it was a sign of solidarity.

Second, Maybejacy I promise you that no man has ever said to himself or to his best buds, “Man I wish she had longer eyelashes”.

Growing up whenever we’d say something or wear something that my mom deemed inappropriate she’d ask, “Would you wear that in front of your grandparents?”. In current times I’m not sure if that question is relevant.

There you have it, the July crazy travel roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

On July 4th, 2022 my dad passed away, he was 86. He likely planned to go out with a bang and what better day to do that than July 4th?

The year was 1994 and that was when my dad introduced me to craft beer. My dad was not a “beer guy” but he was an early adopter of almost everything long before the internet. That year he was living in Ashville, NC and he came to visit us in Lawrenceville, GA with him, he brought two growler-sized bottles of Gaelic Ale from Highland Brewing a brand new brewery near his home. Gaelic Ale still is this wonderful red ale weighing in at 5.8% ABV, it is delicious and it started me down the path of craft beer.

In honor of that most of this episode's show notes were written while enjoying several of Highland Brewings IPA’s.

We don’t always realize what parents instill in us. 

Some things are a no-brainer, my love of music came from my parents. Neil Diamond, Mac Davis, and Ray Charles were just the beginning.

But as I grew and quote un-quote matured I noticed myself mirroring many of the actions and behaviors that I saw my dad exhibit, especially in regards to the business world.

I called my Dad the original road warrior, and before I accepted a traveling job we had a long talk about business travel. He gave me the highlights, exciting places, great food and he told me you’ll meet all sorts of people.

He also gave me the lowlights, you’re away from family, you’ll miss school concerts and plays, you’ll wake up at ungodly hours in order to catch an early morning flight and there will be Friday nights that all you want to do is get home but you won’t.

As with all good road warriors he had his share of stories as well.

In the early 1970s’ we lived in Rockville MD and my Dad worked for Xerox as a regional manager for their copier division. Here’s a side note, our next-door neighbor worked for IBM selling the IBM Selectric typewriter. This was the first electric typewriter with a ball instead of keys that struck the paper. My dad was selling Xerox copiers and our neighbor was selling IBM Selectric typewriters these two never missed their sales quota.

 After my dad’s first quarter at Xerox, one of the VPs’ called him into his office to discuss his travel expenses. My dad was nervous thinking he hadn’t been a good steward of the company's money. Well, the conversation was quite the opposite of that, my dad was being too good of a steward. He was so far below his travel budget that the VP was afraid that the finance department was going to reduce the region's travel budget the following year. You see at the time when you worked for Xerox and you were on the executive management team you flew nothing but first class, and my dad was booking coach tickets. In 2022 coach or discount tickets is the norm.

If you know anyone in sales they are typically very competitive. Throw a sales contest or a quota buster program in front of them and they tend to salivate.

One evening my dad comes home with a beautiful Belgium made Browing goose gun that he had won in a sales contest. Up to that point, my dad's exposure to guns had been limited to my Crossman BB gun and some tin cans in the backyard. But in addition to the shotgun, it also came with a guided Canadian Goose hunting trip, which was also something new to him. 

He went on the trip and believe it or not he came home with a lifeless Canadian Goose. His plan was to pluck it and have my mom cook it and serve it as a meal 

We were all impressed by his hunting prowess until we discovered that this guided goose hunt consisted of the contest winners standing on a dock at daybreak as the guide opened a  cage, and then kicked the cage until the geese wandered or flew out. Similar to shooting fish in a barrel, but with feathers.

When it came to the goose plucking and cleaning part my dad made it about 15% in before he gave up and decided that a store-bought ham for dinner was a better choice. 

I’ve told this story before but in 1970 my dad was transferred from California to Maryland. My dad flew out a week early because I had chicken pox and I was still contagious. 

We had a cat, Charlie, and Charlie was pregnant. Apparently, Charlie was transgender before it was commonplace. Somehow it was decided that my dad would take pregnant Charlie with him to Maryland. Now in 1970 cats didn't fly in the cabin they flew in the cargo area, how barbaric. The vet gave us some kitty Vicodin or kitty Prozac so Charlie would be less stressed during the flight. 

My dad arrives at Dulles and heads to baggage claim to get Charlie and her cat carrier. When he hits baggage claim there are all sorts of commotion, loud voices, and people pointing. My dad made his way to the luggage belt only to see Charlie and her cat carrier on lap three of four, except now it’s Charlie and her two newly born kittens. My dad claims he waited for everyone to leave the baggage claim area before he grabbed Charlie, the kittens, and the cat carrier and headed to his taxi. Later that night Charlie delivered kitten number three and kitten number four in his apartment.

In 1972 my Dad was transferred again, this time from Rockville, Maryland to Dallas, Texas. Here’s another side story, we moved on average every 24 to 36 months. In the corporate world, the general rule at the time was that if you turned down a state-to-state transfer your upward progression in the company came to a grinding halt. When it was time to move we generally knew it because my mom would make pancakes for breakfast while dad presented a brochure of the new house pointing out all the highlights, a pool, it was on a lake or it had a basement where we could put a pool table. In hindsight moving so often helped me to easily establish relationships with new people, and to this day it is a huge benefit in my career.

In case you didn’t know, Dallas is Southwest Airlines' home base. And in 1973 the now defunct Braniff airlines, which was a competitor began offering a $13 fare from Dallas to Houston. At the time this was Southwest's only profitable route. 

Southwest smartly responded by offering to match the $13 Braniff fare or you could pay the full fare of $26 and get a free bottle of Chivas, Crown Royal, or Smirnoff. 

At the time the Dallas to Houston route was typically flown by business travelers, business travelers flying on expense accounts which meant the Southwest $26.00 full fare passed underneath the bean counters radar.

My dad flew that route weekly and our liquor cabinet quickly overflowed with booze compliments of his expense report and the advice of his VP two years before. 

Sadly, the $13 fare war promotion didn’t last long but Southwest became the largest distributor in Texas of Chivas, Crown Royal, and Smirnoff for two months in a row.

Travel also has its tragedies, and often times it hits close to home. 

Three people on my dad's team were flying to the project site when their plane crashed killing almost everyone on board including those three team members. 

The funeral home had three caskets in three different rooms for the wake and service. My dad says that was one of the toughest days in his life going room to room and speaking with their wives and parents. He’s never shared any detail beyond what I just told you. No name, no cities, not even the airlines. 

The following week Xerox issued a policy that no more than two principals on a team could travel together. 

My dad was also a great negotiator, or I should say a fair negotiator so long as everyone had skin in the game. 

For instance, in Middle School, I discovered that fellow classmates were getting paid for good grades on their report cards so I asked if he could do the same for me.

He agreed, but this was the arrangement

A - $1.00

B - $.50

At this point, I began smiling

C - Nothing

I was still smiling

D - I owed him $.50

F - I owed him $1.00

When it was time for my first car he came to me with this deal. He would match every dollar that I saved, but in order to get the money and buy the car, I had to get all Bs’ or better on my report card.

It’s all about having skin in the game, just ask my 1973 Dodge Duster with the lift kit and 60s”

My favorite negotiation story is this one. My dad was a “car guy”, a convertible Austin Healy in his 20s’, a Chevy SS in his 30s’. There was the disastrous 1982 turbo Ford Mustang, a Mercedes coupe that he held onto for almost 30 years, and the 1984 fuel-injected turbo Dodge Daytona that he and I passed back and forth several times.

The year was 1986 and a computer game company had offered him the position of CEO, but it came with a catch. If he came on board he had to immediately fire the owner's two sons. The owner couldn’t do it because he was afraid of his wife's wrath. The compensation package was solid, including a company car, not bad for 1986. My dad accepted the offer including firing the sons, but on one condition he wanted his company car to be a 1987 BMW 325i convertible. 

This was the first year the BMW 325i came with a drop-top and it was going to be in short supply once it hit the dealer showrooms. In late 1986 my dad received one of the first three 1987 BMW 325i convertibles to hit Arizona. 

In 1990 I moved back from Florida back to Atlanta and one of our traditions was attending his alma mater Georgia Tech’s annual homecoming game in the fall. The morning would start by watching the “Wreck Parade”  where the engineering students would Frankenstein some sort of a vehicle together that humiliated the opposing team….. Think of Animal House without the nudity. 

After the parade, we’d head across the street to the Varsity for lunch and then back to the stadium where’d he’d buy tickets from a student that was selling one of the players extra tickets. This is an amazing college game day life hack. 

One year the tickets he bought were on the 50-yard line right next to the student fraternity section with only a 3’ high chainlink fence separating us from them, or them from us. The frat boys seated on the other side of the fence had smuggled in their own libations and by late in the game, they were hammered, which was fine until they started yelling obscenity-laced pickup lines at the female students. In 1992 I was 28 and he was 56 and before I knew it he was heading over the fence to straighten these Georgia Tech frat boys out. Thankfully I was able to grab his belt and stop his really bad idea before he was on the other side of the fence. My dad wasn’t a violent man at all, and where this behavior came from I don’t even think he knew.

Another thing that I learned from my dad is value in things that you purchase, or as he used to buy once cry once. 

For example, he bought a beautiful set of gold-rimmed pheasant embossed old fashion and highball glasses in 1970. When we moved into Chateau’ Relaxo he gave them to us as a housewarming gift, and they still look brand new and are one of my prized possessions. 

Thirty years ago he purchased a Denon receiver and a set of Polk speakers. They were well in excess of $1000.00 and to this day they sound better than anything your iPhone and Bluetooth speaker can produce.

As we cleaned out my parent's house I saw more evidence of buy once cry once. His Craftsman tools are over 50 years old, I found a still working Sony Discman from 1987 and a set of Hofritz kitchen knives from 1976 that they still use.

To this day my buy once cry once scenario that I passed on was that hunter green 1994 Range Rover Defender. At the time the cost was an astronomical $33,000 current value north of $70,000.

On top of that, my dad was a true foodie, and he taught me to appreciate food experiences at a very young age. 

By the time I was a teenager I knew how to grill on a charcoal grill, I could crack king crab legs and I appreciated something as simple as Brunswager on Ritz crackers. 

He also loved food gadgets. In the 1970s’ our houses had a Jenn Air range in the kitchen long before anyone else did. Many food gadgets were used once or twice and then went to live and gather dust in the pantry. For example, the bread maker, what a great idea. We could make wheat bread, rosemary bread, or banana bread if we wanted to wait 5 hours.

He had his own ROMEO group, Romeo as in Retired Old Men Eating Out. His crew would pile into someone's car and drive 3 hours one way for a BBQ lunch at their favorite South Carolina spot. Or they’d head over to the local college every Wednesday when the culinary students opened the cafeteria to the public.

Here’s a foodie one for you, my dad was a Trader Joe’s peanut butter fanatic, He didn't live near a Trader Joe's but my sister would bring him six jars at a time when she’d visit. In 2021 he had a blood transfusion or two and I don’t think he had any desire for peanut butter after that.

My dad was also a very giving man, giving his time to his church and giving anything he had to his family. 

Once he hit it big in Las Vegas and hitting it big meant $500.00. Who knows how much he lost in order to win that $500.00, but he sent my sister and me a $100.00 check in the mail to celebrate.

When I was nineteen my dad transferred to Atlanta leaving the rest of us in Florida to sell the house. Interest rates were over 13% at the time and the house took close to 18 months to sell.

Here’s another side story to that, when the house finally did sell my mom came home and told me they were closing in three weeks and I could have my bedroom furniture, the kitchen table, and a $1000.00. I was 20 years old. 

Back to the original story, one weekend I flew into Atlanta for a father-son weekend in the mountains. After landing, we headed up to one of our family's favorite spots Amicalola Falls for a streamside lunch and some hiking. 

Once we got to the parking lot of the falls, my dad said he had a surprise for me. He opens the trunk of his car, and there’s a case, a case of Carlings Black Label beer. Possibly the worst beer on the face of the earth. Over the course of a typical year, my dad might have 6 or 7 beers at most. I looked at him, looked at the beer, and looked back at his smiling face, and I said, “This is going to be one hell of a hike”.

Time with my dad was filled with all sorts of good times and great memories, I will miss him. It was through his guidance that I ended up on the career path that I’m on and up until the end, we had many business-based conversations about my industry including the one in his final days where he thought I owned the company that I currently work for. I didn’t have the heart to correct him.

There is so much more that I learned from my dad, actually both my parents and I realize it more and more with each passing day. 

My mom and my mom did it right, and I’m thankful for that.

This episode was to have contained my thoughts on elder care based on what the CEO and I had learned over the last five or six years. However, the Highland Brewery IPAs’ were flowing and the show notes got too long. So look for an elder care episode next month.

Thank you for listening to my memories, my dad was my hero.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

After spending most of the month of June away from Chateau’ Relaxo it’s time for a COVID update from the road warriors' or at least my point of view. Most COVID signs, COVID stickers, and COVID warnings have disappeared from hotels, restaurants, and gas stations.

Here’s a spoiler alert this will be the second month in a row with no mention of COVID mask or vax-related fights or altercations. Maybe they’ve become so commonplace that no one adds the word COVID to the news reports. Make your own judgment.

If you traveled over the July 4th holiday hopefully you faired well. But, according to FlightAware, more than 4,500 U.S. domestic and international flights were delayed Friday, July 1st alone.

By Saturday more than 1,000 flights had been canceled.

American Airlines led the pack with 208 cancellations, Delta bailed on 180 & United right around 104 flights

This is being recorded on Sunday, July 3rd and my prediction for Monday travel will be pure bedlam. So check the TSA app, FlightAware, and Waze before heading back home, and stay strong.

As we try to do here’s an update on two previous crazy travel roundup stories.

In April, I believe actually on 4/20 Melvin Townsend III, got a 30,000’ beatdown by none other than  Mike Tyson. Make no mistake about it Melvin Townsend III was the instigator. Tyson was recently on Jimmy Kimmel’s show and summed up his experience in seven words, “I WAS HIGH, TIRED AND PISSED OFF”. No charges were filed against Tyson and Melvin Townsend III is to undergo a brain scan on the part of his brain responsible for making bad decisions.

A few months ago Adam Alexander Williams, 33, of Auburn, Washington Adam was flying to Charlotte, North Carolina from Seattle. For some reason, Adam shoved a flight attendant, and leaped over passengers, and onto a beverage cart, which "sent cups and drinks flying,". Adam then screamed an obscenity, and for the grand finale, tried to strip off his clothes. The plane had to make an emergency landing in Billings, Montana, where Adam was removed from the aircraft.

What sort of prize can Adam win for this performance? Adam faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison as well as a $25,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Here’s a travel tip, don’t F-around with the FFA.

Now onto June's craziness.

Last month we reported about the - Virgin Atlantic pilot forced to turn back because he was still in training In case you missed the episode here’s the cliff notes - 40 minutes into the Virgin Atlantic transatlantic journey the first officer informed the captain that he had yet to complete his last flying test. 

This month it’s Pilots Fall Asleep On Transatlantic Flight. First I can fall asleep on a plane long before we push back from the gate, it’s a gift. I know I should listen to the safety announcement, but I’ve heard it several hundred times…. Humble brag.

This happened on ITA - Italia Trasporto Aereo, and here’s what happened - 

There were two pilots, and one pilot was in a “controlled rest” during the flight, which means there was one pilot who was supposed to be awake at the controls…. OK, I guess.

The tower tried to make several calls to the pilots, which went unanswered. The tower then reached out to the airline, and they didn’t respond either.  Next French military fighter jets were deployed to do a wellness check on the plane and look into the cockpit.

Finally later during the flight the pilots once again became responsive, and the situation ended.

Afterward, ITA Airways conducted an investigation into what happened. ITA suspected that the captain had fallen asleep, but the captain denied that he did. Rather he claimed that there were issues with the plane’s communication systems. However, there were allegedly inconsistencies in his stories, and some equipment from the plane was also inspected, but no issues were found.

What was the result?

This is where things get a bit sketchy, but allegedly both pilots got fired. 

This was a New York to Rome flight, 9 hours at most, and here’s my take… my team truly works half days, it doesn’t matter what 12 hours we work…. And we don’t get naps.

BoingBoing posted this one - Gentleman caught rolling through airport security with 23 pounds of cocaine in his wheelchair

This took place at North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas International Airport. A gentleman attempted to roll, yes roll, through customs with 23 pounds of cocaine stuffed in the seat of his Rascal scooter. The suspect, Alexander Lopez-Morel, 22, had arrived at the airport from the Dominican Republic.

According to the US Customs and Border Patrol, the cocaine has or had a street value of $378,000. No word on whether Lopez-Morel actually needed the wheelchair or not. And there was no word on how anyone knew that Lopez-Morel was rolling with contraband.

And make no mistake about it it’s easy to leave many of these countries with drugs and animals and it’s our job here in America to catch them. 

Maybe the person paying off the Dominican Republic authorities should’ve sent a few bills in the direction of Charlotte, North Carolina.

This next one is sort of a she-said, he-said, and it unfolded on TMZ, not once, but twice.

We open with the she-said part.

Mary Magdalene a Canadian model, took to social media, to let the whole world know that she was kicked off a recent flight from Canada to Dallas for looking "too explicit.".

Mary Magdalene, I’m guessing that's not her given name, said she was kicked off the plane because her boobs were too big for her top. Typically I would think one might say that the top was too small for the boobs. That was until I saw a picture of Mary Mary and yes her boobs were too big for the top.

Don’t feel bad for Mary as she went on to post, that she finally made it to America on a later flight, but she's still got beef with the airline and society ... saying discrimination against "enhanced bodies" is very common.

Yes, Mary is enhanced, and probably more than one or two enhancements. It’s hard to tell if she’s built for pleasure or built for speed, but either way, the claim is that Mary rolls with 22lbs of boobs..

Here’s the he-said portion coming from American Airlines. They say flight attendants noticed Mary sitting in several different seats before takeoff ... seats that weren't her ticketed seat. 

It was also reported that airline employees believed Mary to be intoxicated and she seemed unstable. Flight attendants and the captain asked her to leave -- Mary left without incident, and cops did not have to get involved.

I encourage you to check Mary’s picture posted in the show notes.

From the criminals are stupid department we have this, Allegheny County man uses fake $100 bill to buy drinks at airport before boarding plane

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — An Allegheny County man, Stephen Peterson, is facing felony charges, accused of passing off a fake $100 bill before he boarded a plane at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport early in June. Two things I bet you didn’t know about the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, first they provide airport parking for free, and second Spirit is the only airline that flies in and out of the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

Peterson said, that the pants he was wearing were not his, and he found the $100 bill in the pocket, so he decided to just use it,” 

So here’s Peterson’s stupid part. The cashier at the snack bar inside the airport noticed the bill that said “for motion picture use only,” and tipped off officers at the airport.

The police got a warrant for Peterson, and when he flew back into the airport they picked him up and served the warrant,” 

Here’s the tip-in, state troopers are also looking into a suspect who was wanted for passing fake $100 bills at two Dollar General stores in Derry Township within 10 minutes of each other last month.

Like I said criminals are stupid.

And remember airport drinking, plane drinking whatever you want to call it rarely ends well. That is unless you’re George Clooney from Up in the air.

If you think you’ve found the person of your dreams, your ride or die there’s a handful of things you can do with that person to see if you’ve made that right choice.

* See what their behavior is when the internet suddenly cuts out. A solid indicator of what’s ahead.

* Travel with them. Canceled or delayed flights, bad weather, sunburn, food poisoning …. Anything can occur while traveling. Even after 12 years of marriage traveling together the CEO and I still have our moments.

From Live and Let’s Fly we have - Angry Man Shoves Girlfriend Aside As He Lunges At Airport Staff

Let's set the stage for this couple, and I’ll call her Tiffany and him Chad. Tiffany and Chad were flying on EasyJet from somewhere in the, UK to somewhere in Spain.

While waiting to board, the airport staff confronted Tiffany and Chad believing that they might be intoxicated, and what transpired next just might back up that belief.

There’s a video, there’s always a video.

Once confronted, Tiffany channeled her inner Karate Kid by raising her arms to shoulder height, and before she could raise her leg to enter the crane pose Chad pushed Tiffany to the floor. Both hands on Tiffany’s waist a hearty push and Tiffany went immediately to the ground. Chad quickly advanced putting two of the airport staff on the ground before retreating…. And if that wasn’t enough Tiffanny makes it back on her feet and managed to get between Chad pushing an airport staff member away and protecting her beloved Chad. 

So yes, a perfect test…. These two are meant for each other.

Here’s my take on this, it appears that Tiffany led Chad down the runways of violence as she was the one taunting the airport staff. 

This reminds me of a travel story from August or September of 2007. We were in Tampa for business and my travel partner at the time was a New York transplant and a huge Yankee fan. We finished up for the day and decided to head to the stadium and find tickets for this playoff game. And the tickets we found were in the Yankee section and my buddy couldn’t have been happier as he was going to watch the game with “his people”...... New York transplants. 

MId-game there was a commotion to our right and there was a female that for lack of a better term had been over-served and she was screaming at the top of her lungs at a gentleman that was a Rays fan. At some point, she screamed, “My husband is going to kick your ass”. Her husband was easy to pick out as he was the guy rolling his eyes and I guarantee you that this wasn’t the first time that his wife had dragged him into a situation that he wanted nothing to do with. All this guy wanted to do was watch the playoff game. 

So yes, more than likely Tiffany dragged Chad into a situation that he wanted nothing to do with.

I’m not a fan of cruises, I’ve been on one and they are not for me. Yes there’s plenty to do if you like what they have planned, and there’s plenty of food if you like what they’ve fixed, but you’re still held captive for 3, 5, or 7 days.

Well here’s another nail in the cruise coffin for me. Carnival cruise brawl caught on camera 

An all-out brawl broke out between dozens of passengers aboard the Carnival Magic cruise ship. The reason, was allegations of cheating while on the trip. First, Carnival cruise lines, in my opinion, are the Spirit Airlines of the ocean. Second, it has to take a tremendous amount of effort to find a willing rando on a cruise and then seal the deal as they say. 

Theresa James, who said she is a travel agent, said that the fight started just before 2 a.m. on the ship’s fifth floor, where a dance club and casino are located. There’s no better place than there. 

An alleged threesome between passengers had upset their significant others, why wouldn’t it, when they learned of the rendezvous.

This lasted about an hour and included broken beer bottles. This wasn’t physical the whole time, as yelling and shouting were involved, but an estimated 60 people may have participated.

The one unanswered question, was this a devil's threesome?

This month Creepy McCreeperton's story comes to us from Southwest airlines and involves Larry McCreeperton and the iPhone's AirDrop feature. Larry decided that it was a good idea to AirDrop pictures of his twig-n-berries to everyone on his flight.

A woman sitting across from Larry got an airdrop notification on her phone. She saw the man airdropping photos on his phone. She looked at the photo and asked if Larry meant to send it. Larry said “yes” and that’s when she brought it to the attention of the crew.

When a flight attendant asked him why he did it, he responded “it sounded like fun.”.

Long story short the FBI got involved and let Larry know that he’d be spending the weekend in airport jail…… insert some sort of a don’t drop the soap, Larry, here if you see fit.

We’ve talked about this before…. Women don’t want to see pictures of random dudes' junk, pen-is, member, twig or their berries. If they did they’d let you know.

Remember women are wired differently the men.

Here’s a question, what’s a plane ticket worth? The answer varies. In early January most of my team flew to San Antonio for a conference and ticket prices ranged from $400.00 to $1100.00.

Here’s a different question, what’s your plane ticket worth to you? Again, the answer varies, and for me, it would vary on a number of factors.

* Am I traveling alone or with family and coworkers

* Am I heading to a job site or heading home? 

According to Eye of the Flyer Delta passengers who had already purchased tickets grew in value very quickly.

Are you ready for this? Delta Passengers Were Offered $10,000 EACH to Take a Later Flight?

Delta flight 3550 operated by SkyWest from Grand Rapids, Michigan (GRR) to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) apparently was oversold. There were more confirmed passengers who showed up at the airport than there were available seats on the Embraer 175 aircraft. An Embraer 175 is a small plane, with less than 80 seats.

We’ve all heard about airlines looking for volunteers to give up their seats, and typically they’ll be rewarded with a travel voucher for $500.00 or $600.00 dollars. These were $10,000 Visa gift cards.

Why so generous? Well if enough passengers don’t volunteer to take later flights. The DOT states that passengers involuntarily denied boarding are entitled to “400% of one-way fare (airlines may limit the compensation to $1,550 if 400% of the one-way fare is higher than $1,550).”

Length of Delay

Compensation

0 to 1-hour arrival delay No compensation

1 to 4-hour arrival delay 200% of one-way fare (airlines may limit the compensation to $775 if 200% of the one-way fare is higher than $775)

Over 4-hour arrival delay 400% of one-way fare (airlines may limit the compensation to $1,550 if 400% of the one-way fare is higher than $1,550)

I’ll put a link in the show notes as to what the DOT states are your rights for bumps & oversales when you fly.

That’s it for the June Crazy Travel Roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

Our first two interweb round-up stories are a bit of a throwback to episodes past.

Railroad workers' "man cave" discovered under NYC's Grand Central Terminal BoingBoing

New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority suspended three railroad workers for building out a secret "man cave" in an old locksmith storage room under Grand Central Terminal. Their hidden break room featured a TV, futon sofa, refrigerator, air mattress, and microwave.

IN episode 103 we talked about hiding places. From a homeless fellow who had been living in a luxury suite in Al Lang Stadium to Tad my first supervisor who got busted for having his own man cave in the back of the warehouse way back in 1983.

Growing up we were always building forts, from blanket forts in the living room to primitive lean twos in the woods behind my Maryland home. There’s something to be said for hiding, or thinking you’re hiding out while in plain sight.

*****************************************

Next comes directly from the airline Qantas’s website - Qantas 747 Half Bar Cart - Including Delivery

Enjoy drinks’ service at home with a fully stocked bar cart from a retired Qantas 747. Includes a range of Business Class items, including Champagne, mini bottles of red and white wine, Tim Tams, iconic Qantas pajamas, an exclusive Qantas First Class Sheridan throw and more.

The bar carts are used and will show signs of wear and tear. This product is not covered by our money-back-guarantee policy and no returns for change of mind are permitted.

In episode 100 I talked about wanting to purchase an empty retired genuine bar cart from SkyCart for only $1500. Yep, $1500.00 and empty…. The Qantas cart comes stocked and costs  $974.00 and it’s completely sold out. FYI - Qantas stands for - Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service, or maybe it doesn’t.

In episode 107 I discussed business travel and whether or not it was returning to normal…. Well here’s an update. Business travel is still inconsistent, or at least it is when it comes to road travel versus air travel. For 2020 my nights spent in hotels have crested at 40 and it seems that every single Hilton property has its own COVID strategy. 

This past week was a South Carolina journey. From O-Town to Columbia, SC was roughly 630 miles. This required a couple of stops along the way

The Hilton Garden Inn that I stayed at had its bar open, but no food service. Their breakfast was grab-and-go yogurt, Nature Valley granola bars, and coffee. 

My next stop was at a Hampton Inn and their breakfast was marginal, I opted for Bojangles. If you’ve never had a Bojangles breakfast don’t pass it up if you have the chance. Take it for what it’s worth since a Hampton Inn breakfast is included with your stay, their breakfast is just north of…. It’s an OK breakfast, but better than any to-go bag. 

Both hotels had a “break the seal” sticker across the doorway, but both Hilton properties presented completely different experiences once inside the room. In one room the remote was wrapped in a clean seal, in the other nothing. One room had a sign indicating that displaying the “Do Not Disturb” sign would let the housekeeping staff know not to enter the room,  the other room had nothing.  

Here’s a bit of a pet peeve, masks everywhere….

The Top 10 Travel Lies We’ve All Been Told……

In full disclosure, 90% of my travel is business-related is domestic, and will typically be in the eastern part of the United States. That means I typically travel during the week and the expense of that travel is a huge factor. The remaining 10% of my travel is for pleasure and often airfare, hotels, and rental cars are booked using credit card points.

Travel is glamorous - It certainly can be, if you have deep pockets, and no sense of urgency, and deep pockets. Glamor traveling is a manifestation of social media, plain and simple. 15 years ago there were magazines like Town & Country or Conde’ Naste that highlighted where to go and where to be seen. In 2020 you have Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat and that mighty trio will make you think that travel is glamorous. I’m here to tell you that travel is enjoyable, especially with the right mindset.

Travel is relaxing - It certainly can be, if you have deep pockets, no sense of urgency, and deep pockets. Seriously, travel should be relaxing, and it can be if you plan correctly.

At some point, your travel plans will go squirrelly, and your squirrelly travel partner is STRESS…. So you need to have a plan. I have a few tips for minimizing travel-induced stress.

* Have a time budget -  Don’t book a flight that lands at 11:00 PM Sunday night fully expecting to be at work at 9:00 AM Monday. Something will happen, weather delays and mechanical issues will happen. Either come home a day early or get a flight that lands early afternoon Sunday.

* Putting all your eggs in one basket - Instead of a basket think suitcase. Divide everyone’s clothes across all of the suitcases. That way if luggage gets lost or stolen all lose some but no one loses all of their clothes.

* Have some numbers - Not lottery numbers but travel numbers.

* Confirmation numbers for your flights, hotels, rentals, and attractions.

* Phone numbers for the airlines and your hotels. If you have bulging veins in your neck this might not be the best time to search for your hotel’s phone number.

* Emergency phone numbers for family and friends - The actual phone number, not #2 on your phone’s speed dial menu.

Once you have all of this information complied you have several options, Let’s go Good, Better, Best. 

* Good - Go old school and write all of it on a piece of paper, make copies and give it to everyone in your travel party. 

* Better - Create a list and email it to everyone in your travel party. 

* Best - Create a Google Doc and share it with everyone in your travel party and any updates made will be shared with everyone in our travel party.

Travel is great for family bonding - It certainly can be if your family resembles the Brady Bunch more than the Bundy’s or Connor’s. If you have family stress at home, guess what it will follow you on the road. The bills, mental health, ex-spouses, and job struggles all get put in those suitcases along with all your clothes.

Book early for the best prices - Ok, how early is early? I’m a fan of booking early, will I get the best price? Sometimes, other times there will be a fire sale looking to put butts in seats or heads in beds.

Book last minute for the best prices - Ok, how last minute is the last minute? When it comes to travel I never wait until the last minute to book, especially when booking a hotel room, as no one wants to sleep in their car. And I tell baby road warriors the same thing. There are two outcomes to this last-minute situation…. You book at whatever price you click “OK” on and the second outcome is…. There are no seats, rooms, or cars available and you wish you had a go-back machine so you could’ve booked last week. For me, I will always err on the side of book early.

You can get a great deal if you do this - Imagine you just pulled into your driveway with a brand new 2021 Ford Bronco. No one in your neighborhood has one, and possibly no one in your town has one. All of a sudden rival Dad Kyle emerges not to admire your purchase, not to ask questions….. No Kyle is there to tell you that YOU could’ve gotten a better price if you did A… B… C…. Typically ABC requires a wing and a prayer to start next you’ll need to know someone, and then you’ll be indebted to that person and they will hold it over your head the next time you see them face to face….. They’ll get extra points if that next face-to-face involves a large crowd.

Deals are deals…. Prices are prices. Benjamin Franklin once said, “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low prices are forgotten.”

Book early, book last-minute, get a deal, or don’t get a deal, here's a thought: pick a destination, set a budget, and work to stay under that number. If you stay under that’s extra cash

Stay outside the city - If you plan to spend time in the city, and your budget permits it to stay in the city. Taking your personal ride or rental can be stress-inducing. First, you gotta find a parking space. If it’s in a garage that costs money if it’s at a meter then you have to worry about feeding the meter… hopefully there’s an app where you can do it from afar. If you’re traveling with others they’ll wanna help by telling you to go down this street or that street. Making base camp in the city allows you to take, a walk, take Uber, or public transportation to almost everything.

It gives you time to unplug - Welcome to the world of fantasy. If you can’t unplug at home where everything is for the most part….. The same…. What makes you think you can unplug when traveling? All travel cynicism aside this is a tightrope between being in the moment and filming the moment. In the early 90’ when camcorders were expensive and almost the same size as a boom box I worked for a technology company that also sold cameras and camcorders. One of the perks was we could borrow a camcorder whenever we wanted. Let’s just say I filmed my daughter’s baptism and first birthday while everyone else participated…. Thank you 1991.

You’ll get to do everything on your itinerary - Of course, you will complete your itinerary in the fantasy travel world. The reality is that you will do almost everything on your itinerary that is either scheduled or you paid money…. And you just might not pull that off, I bailed on my recent Penn & Teller show tickets. We didn’t make it to Ruby Falls on our last Chat-Vegas trip even though we had pre-paid for the tickets. We also passed on a Journey tribute band at House of Blues after we had bought tickets. The lesson here is that you don’t have to live by an itinerary, live by the experience.

It’s not that expensive - Expensive is a relative term and is completely open to interpretation.

That’s it for this repost see you in a few weeks with the June crazy travel roundup..

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

This episode is being posted a solid week after June 1st, and the reason was that I was attending a conference in San Antonio, Texas the first week in June and due to the time change and commitments, I barely had a free hour to record much less a free hour to edit the audio.

During May I spent 5 nights in the beautiful Demorest, GA Hampton Inn & Suites. And I’m here to tell you that this property has removed any indications that there was ever a COVID situation. Short of no daily housekeeping without requesting it and the remaining hand sanitizing stations outside the elevator there was no “break the seal” sticker across the room door, no condom protecting the TV remote, and nothing mentioning anything about masks. Possibly the biggest change was a typical Hampton Inn serve yourself breakfast was on display each morning. Square eggs, no bagels wrapped in Saran Wrap, and malted waffles were back on the menu.

The next trip was Monday - Friday in San Antonio, TX. Now I’ve discussed that I’m not an airplane or airport nerd. I rarely know which model plane I’m flying on. I know that Southwest flies 737-700 and 737-800, but visibly I can’t tell them apart. 

I know a few airport codes, Newark - EWR, Atlanta - ATL, and Orlando - MCO. This next segment is where airport codes come into play. A few weeks ago another team member, a baby-baby roadwarrior that was meeting me in San Antonio sent me a message, letting me know that there were no flights on Travelocity out of San Antonio back to Newark on Friday. I message back, don’t use Travelocity book directly through the airline. A few minutes later I get another message, still no flights on Friday. I stop what I’m doing and head to United.com and find no less than six flights on Friday from SAT to EWR…. and that’s when it dawned on me that, the baby-baby road warrior was looking at the airport code SAT and thinking it was the day of the week for departure. So I guess there is value in knowing airport codes.

During these two trips, I broke one of my travel rules not once, but twice. And that rule is to avoid business travel during holidays. The first breach was my trip back from Demorest, GA took place on Friday, May 27th the start of Memorial Day travel. This turned a 7-hour drive into a 9-hour odyssey down backroads and through national parks.

The second breach was my flight to San Antonio was on Monday, as in Monday, Memorial Day.

My flight to San Antonio started out on the bright side with the Southwest boarding assignment Sunday night of Group A Position 01 which means I was the first one boarding the plane after those that needed assistance.

Monday morning news shows were filled with story after story about how bad the airports were on the last day of the three-day weekend. Limited parking and long TSA lines were the common themes. 

My departure from Orlando International resembled none of that. I found a parking spot close to the elevator and TSA was less than 5 minutes including a secondary screening of my carryon. 

After the door of the airplane was shut I found myself with the middle seat next to me vacant. Then the flight attendant announced that there was a parent and child that needed to sit together and would anyone with a vacant middle seat next to them be willing to move so they could indeed sit together. I volunteered knowing that I was about to get stuck in a middle seat for the flight… that was until the row that I picked was actually a couple traveling together that decided to try the old split the middle seat trick where one sat in the aisle and the other took the window seat hoping no one would take the middle seat. They sat next to each other gave me the aisle seat and to top it off the Southwest flight attendant hot me up with a free double of Wild Turkey 101 and Gingerale.

Onto the May crazy travel roundup. Friend of the show Robbie Morris told me that this month's episode could have almost written itself, and he was spot-on.

First a few crazy travel updates. 

Via BoingBoing - 15 months for woman who punched flight attendant's teeth out.

Remember Vyvianna M. Quinonez? She was sentenced to 15 months in prison for punching out a flight attendant's teeth on a Southwest flight in 2021. The reason for the unscheduled dental work? A flight attendant had asked Quinonez to mask up; 

Quinonez pleaded guilty last year after being charged with felony assault and interfering with a flight. Quinonez is to pay nearly $26,000 in restitution and a $7,500 fine.

Second, via the whole internet - Mike Tyson won’t face criminal charges over last month's airplane attack.

Third, how about Maxwell Berry? Maxwell Berry and you know that no one ever calls him Maxwell, it’s always Maxwell Berry. Last year Maxwell Berry assaulted a male flight attendant and groped two female flight attendants on board a Frontier Airlines flight to Miami, thank you Florida. This behavior resulted in Maxwell Berry being duct-taped to his seat for the remainder of his flight.

Here’s the update, Maxwell Berry has been sentenced to 60-day in jail followed by one year of supervised release, fined $2,500, and ordered to pay $1,500 in restoration over this incident.  Maxwell Berry must surrender himself by August 1, 2022.

Fourth, Spirit Airlines rejects JetBlue's takeover bid and will pursue a merger with Frontier. I promise there will be more on this, but at this point, I view this as Frontier being Spirit Airline's hot side chick…. Which never ends well.

Onto the May crazy travel - Man opens emergency exit, walks out onto wing of moving plane at O’Hare Airport.

From 102.5 The Bone we get - A man is in custody after allegedly opening the emergency exit and walking out onto the wing of a United plane while it was moving Thursday morning at O’Hare International Airport.

Before we go any further everyone knows that I am a fan of travel stories that involve exit doors or emergency slides. Also, if you’re a betting person, the chances of either an emergency door being opened or an emergency slide being deployed midflight are between none and less than none.

This happened around 4:30 a.m. as a United Airlines plane was approaching the airport’s gate. So yes the plane had landed and yes this happened at 4:30 AM.

Police reported that Randy Frank Davila, 57 pulled the emergency exit door after he leaped over several people and walked out onto the wing of the United flight, and then slid down onto the airfield.

Randy, has been charged with one misdemeanor count of reckless conduct. And to sum all of this up… that is the end of this story., Nothing else, no follow-up no reason…. Just crickets.

4:30 AM, I’m guessing that Randy was looking to get home and get some sleep.

WTOP news sent this one our way - Alexandria man stopped at Reagan Airport with 23 weapons

Here are the details, an unnamed man was stopped and cited at Reagan National Airport with 23 weapon violations

According to the Transportation Security Administration, the man’s carry-on bag had:

* Nine disposable scalpels;

* Eight folding locking-blade knives;

* Three martial arts throwing knives;

* One dagger;

* One switchblade;

* One pair of brass knuckles.

I collect knives, ever since my first Swiss Army knife in 1971 knives have held a certain fascination with me. Plus in my case, knives are safer the handguns.

Looking at the pictures most of these knives screamed “Mall Ninja”. If you’ve never heard of mall ninja here’s the lowdown - Mall ninja is crazy-ass or stupid knives or weapons that are just ridiculous. They are typically fluorescent in color, contain marbles or claws, and are duller than your Grandma’s butter knife. Their distribution isn’t limited to just the mall you can find them in most roadside gas stations or truck stops. So unnamed Alexandria man the embarrassment of owning such trash should far outweigh any sentence imposed on you.

From Paddle Your Own Kanoo - Kanoo with a K - Ryanair Cabin Crew Downs Bottle of Wine and Whiskey While Working On a Flight

A member of Ryanair’s cabin crew was filmed allegedly downing a 187ml bottle of rosé wine and a double shot of whiskey during a flight he was working on from Poland to Stansted Airport.

The 26-year-old flight attendant failed a breathalyzer test once the plane safely landed in the UK. He was then arrested on suspicion of performing an aviation function while impaired by alcohol.

The passenger told the local press “I don’t know what he was thinking. I asked for a drink and when he came over he said to me, ‘Shush, don’t tell anyone but I will have one, too.”

Alcohol rules for aircrew can vary but in the UK and many other European countries, pilots and cabin crew are not permitted to drink alcohol within at least eight hours of working a flight. 8 hours bottle to throttle.

The flight attendant is due to appear in court on June 8. If found guilty, he could face the prospect of jail time.

Can’t we all relate to this? How many times after a meeting have you wished that your coffee mug was filled with an adult beverage? The only issue was that someone with a cellphone busted him. Similar to leaving your webcam on during a Zoom meeting.

Keeping with the alcohol theme here’s this month's next entry. If you drink anywhere but at home drinks are expensive. A $12.00 Margaretta at the local Mexican restaurant. A $15.00 Heiekin tallboy at a hockey game. And I’m guilty of purchasing a $48.00 six-pack of Sweetwater IPA at a Hilton Garden Inn at least once…. Don’t judge. 

However, if you happen to fly out of Newark or LaGuardia are you familiar with the Office of Inspector General, or the Port Authority? If you aren’t familiar they are somehow connected or responsible for what the New York airports charge for airport booze, more focused on what they charge for airport beers. And they have clamped down on outrageous prices being charged for airport beer.

This started last year after one person posted on social media that they had purchased a $27.00 beer at LaGuardia Now I’m a beer guy, and the beer purchased was a seasonal beer so they do bear a higher price but unless that beer was served with a side of wings, $27.00 is a bit steep.

However, what concerns me most is that $27.00 is the dollar figure that causes a clampdown by the Office of Inspector General, and the Port Authority. So you’re saying that a $26.00 seasonal beer would’ve made it under the radar?

From Live And Let’s Fly - SHREWD MODEL USES AIR VENT TO DRY LINGERIE ON SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT

The unnamed OnlyFans model went grassroots marketing with this stunt. She claimed that she had a bit too much to drink the night before and continued drinking at the airport. Remember what we say about Plane Drinking.  Still tipsy, she spilled her drink onboard. So she took off her underwear…then used the air vent to dry it off.

She apparently held up her underwear for three minutes before putting her underwear back on…at her seat. And of course, this was filmed by an accomplice seated a few rows behind her.

So this begs to ask… did her grassroots marketing deliver?  I’m not a marketing guy but with over two million views on TikTok and 14,000 on Instagram I’d have to say, “Yes it delivered.” In case you don’t look at the show notes it was a thong and not Granny Panties.

So this is where this month's episode begins to write itself

DELTA AIR LINES PILOT CRAWLS THROUGH WINDOW OF BOEING 737

Short of a fire or terroristic attack why would pilots ever need to enter a plane by crawling through the cockpit window?  It seems that pilots can lock themselves out of the cockpit.

There’s a video, there’s always a video of a Delta pilot using a luggage conveyor belt to enter the window of a Boeing 737 aircraft. As the pilot struggles to enter head first, his co-pilot gives him a helping hand, eventually pushing him in through the window and then guiding his legs to get him fully inside.

The video is true comedy gold, but the comments from Live And Let’s Fly are even better. From the mention of OSHA violations to amateur avionic technicians arguing over the plane not being connected to a power source so the door lock solenoids couldn’t function. 

Like I started with, who knew pilots could ever lock themselves out of the cockpit.

I’m not what you would an airplane/airport guy. My knowledge of airport codes is normally forced on the destinations that I travel to. Beyond looking that the placard in the seatback pocket I have no idea what type of plane I’m flying on.

However, I rely on “Big Airport” or “Big Airplane” to make sure that everyone is doing their assigned jobs in order to secure my safety.

Securing my safety as in avoiding this next story - Virgin Atlantic pilot forced to turn back because he was still in training

The Virgin Atlantic flight was 40 minutes into its transatlantic journey when the first officer informed the captain that he had yet to complete his last flying test. Seriously?

The passengers bound for New York were delayed almost three hours as the Airbus A330 returned to Heathrow, where it then waited on the runway while the staff found an experienced replacement.

It seems that Virgin Atlantic has since reviewed its protocols and will update them to ensure similar mistakes aren’t repeated in the future.

Ok, but I have to show ID, etc in order to pick up my rental from Hertz, shouldn’t the flight crew be required to do the same?

Let’s end with a bit of travel good news - Baby Born On Frontier Airlines Flight With Assistance From Flight Attendant

The occurred on a recent Frontier Airlines flight from Denver (DEN) to Orlando (MCO), thank you Florida.

Frontier took to social media to detail the birth - The baby couldn’t wait, so the early and unexpected labor took place on a flight from Denver International Airport to Orlando International Airport (MCO). Flight Attendant Diana Giraldo’s helped the mother to the back lavatory and assisted the mother in giving birth.

Wow, I’ve been present for the birth of two children, and as a former firefighter and first-responder when I was asked if I wanted to cut the umbilical cord my response both times was, “Isn’t there anyone her more qualified?”

How Flight Attendant Diana was able to get it together enough to deliver a baby, much less in a lavatory, I’ll never know. It’s been years since I’ve visited the lavatory of a plane, but as I recall they aren’t very spacious and have much less space than a delivery room.

My guess is that child is automatically immune to most germs and diseases due to her place of birth, and yes the parents gave her the middle name of “Sky”.

That’s it for the May Crazy Travel Roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

In the words of the immortal Frank Sinatra, “Regrets, I've had a few” and when it comes to travel there have been more than a few regrets.

Before we head into regrets, how about a few travel non-regrets, if that’s even a word.

I have no travel regrets when it comes to food experiences - 

* Gator tail in McComb, Mississippi. 

* Homemade moonshine in Mobile, Alabama.

* Deer sausage in Statesboro, Georgia.

I have no travel regrets with my travel gear. My travel gear has evolved over the years and has kept up with my travel demands. The only two pieces of travel gear that I have had for the past 20-plus years are a 1990 Mont Blanc pen and my travel wallet that holds all my travel loyalty cards. Yes, I still carry it even though most of the information in it is now stored on an app on my phone.

I have no regrets about my, as my wife calls it, my “Travel Withitness”. Withitness is an educational system term, probably made up by someone that was way overpaid, but it centers around the ability to perceive needs with accuracy and care. I think. Thankfully my travel withitness has allowed me to basically keep up with the times. 

* Mapquest - GPS - App

* Travel agent booking - online booking - booking using an app

* Taxis - hotel buses for transportation - rideshare

Not sure if my travel non-regrets are worthy of an episode, but as my idea pool runs dry, you never know.

Enough about the travel non-regrets, it’s time to talk about my travel regrets. 

Regret number one

In Sales 101 you’ll be told or you’ll learn, “Do not leave money on the table.” And that’s the focus of my first travel regret.

* AirTran free flights

When I first started traveling I was based out of Atlanta, as in Atlanta, Georgia the world headquarters for Delta airlines. What did I do, I decided to hook my suitcase to the now-defunct AirTran Airlines. However, there was a strategy, possibly not a great strategy behind my airline of choice, but a strategy. 

In 2000 Delta-based medallion levels, which translated to points for free flights and upgrades were based on a few factors.

* The number of miles flown

* The number of dollars spent

* The number of connections

So let's deconstruct this a bit. At the time you had to hit two of those three metrics to progress through the levels of Delta medallion status.

* The number of miles flown - At the time I flew domestic, and what’s more domestic than flying strictly in the Southeastern part of the United States. This equates to a bunch of 500-mile flights.

* The number of dollars spent - I’ve always been a steward of my company's money….. Enough on that.

* The number of connections was the lynchpin in this whole status level conundrum. To this day almost every flight connects in one of Delta’s hubs. In 2022 if you fly Orlando to Newark you will stop in Atlanta. In 2000 that counted as two connections, round trip four connections. So in the year 2000 if you didn’t fly out of a Delta hub you could easily add to the number of connections.

During this time many road warriors would take medallion runs at the end of the year. Medallion runs meant you booked flights with as many connections as possible to help maintain your current or achieve the next level of Delta medallion status.

So that’s the reason I flew AirTran. At the time their system for free flights was very simple… it was based on the number of flights aka round trip = 2 flights…. That was it, no miles, no dollars spent, and no connections.

All these years later I still recall that 6 round-trip AirTran flights netted me a free round-trip ticket. So I flew AirTran till 2004… more on 2004 in a bit. 

In 2003 I got a promotion, and that promotion included a new office, a corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows on three of the four walls. As I moved into my new office I came across a black binder clip full of Airtran boarding passes. Boarding passes were what AirTran used as currency for free flights. That binder held at least 12 round-trip tickets.

The lesson or the regret here is, Don’t leave money on the table……

Regret number two.

* Next no hotel loyalty

I started business travel in the year 2000 and for my first 4 years of business travel, I booked hotels based on these two factors. 

* I stayed where my coworkers stayed, and being the quote-unquote new guy, yes even after four years, I never offered input and just followed the crowd

* For some reason, I felt compelled to stay as close to the meeting site as possible.

Typically those two factors will never help you to build any hotel loyalty which translates to hotel points that you can use for leisure travel. 

I stopped doing this in 2004. More on 2004 in a bit.

Why is hotel loyalty important? I’m glad you asked.

* If you don’t establish hotel loyalty you will end up with a small number of hotel points spread across multiple hotel brands.

* In my case being close to a partner or meeting site really had no bearing. I wake up at 6:00 AM, 6:15 AM at the latest, yes I do this on the weekend even if a meeting begins at 8:00 AM that still gives me 90 minutes of lead time.

* Possibly one of the biggest reasons for hotel loyalty is this…… the hotel staff gets to know you, which is code for an extra snack at check-in, possibly an upgrade, and most importantly a reservation when the hotel's website shows “No Vacancy”.

The lesson here is to pick your hotel brand, possibly two at most, and stick with them even if you have to wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual.

Regret number three

* My travel intervention didn’t come soon enough

Ok, time to talk about 2004. 2004 was when I had an intervention, and that intervention came in the form of a friend of the show Chris Brown. Chris was hired and showed up at our regional office on a Monday morning, because everyone, to this day, starts a new job on a Monday. I was told to show him the travel ropes as we were paired up together for client visits. First, a disclaimer, to this day Chris and I are great friends, even though I don’t have the Star Wars chip. 

In 2004 if anyone thought that I could show anyone the travel ropes…. They were greatly mistaken. Chris understood travel. 

On our first trip, Chris asked “Where are we going to stay?” I said someplace close to the account. This was followed by “What hotel chain?” I replied with …. one that is close to the account. This exchange continued throughout the week with my answers being along the lines of “close to the account”. On Thursday of that week Chris asked “ What hotel loyalty programs do you belong to?” Knowing 2004 me, I probably smiled and proudly proclaimed, “All of them!” Chris quickly countered with, “The Person Who Chases Two Rabbits Catches Neither” and he was and still is correct.

That evening in the hotel lobby Chris showed me how to strategically map out my territory in relation to airports, hotels, and major interstates.

It was that evening that Chris deemed me a “Marriott Guy”. Why Marriott? Because Chris was a Marriott guy and he wasn’t about to change that on my behalf especially since we had been paired up and I had no idea what I was doing.

In addition to his shiny Marriott “brag tags” and brag tags are these luggage tags that airlines and hotels send you as you move through their various reward program levels Chris had a shiny black Marriott credit card, and all I had was the typical corporate-issued green American Express card.

This leads me to regret number four…..

* For the first 4 years of travel. I used my corporate-issued green American Express card.

That same Thursday evening in that same hotel lobby, Chris asked, “Why do you use the corporate-issued credit card?” My answer was, “Because they issued it to me.”

Chris “Did they tell you that you had to use it?”

No…..

“Then why do you use it?”

“Because they issued it to me.”

Moments later I was on Marriott.com completing a credit card application. I was now officially a “Marriott Guy” according to Equifax

Chris, newly employed Chris as in day four of Chris’s employment and he wasn’t using, had no intentions of ever using his corporate issues credit card. Me, I don’t think I took a coffee break until my third week of employment.

So I missed out on four years of points, points that could have been converted into travel or tangible goods.

This next regret involves those points or at least not using those points.

If you spend any amount of time on the travel blogosphere you will come across post after post on how to establish value for those points. Is it better to use the points for airfare or for hotel stays? Which credit card offers the best dollar-to-point conversion. It’s paralysis by analysis.

To this day, my system for cashing in points isn’t so sophisticated, it typically involves five questions

* How many points does my account have?

* Will I be sad if that balance decreases?

* How much money do I have in my bank account?

* What’s my current credit card payment for the month?

* And finally when is it due?

After I answer those I perform some Chateau’ Relaxo math and decide to either use points or pay for it. As I said, not that sophisticated and this system varies monthly.

Here’s a quick Hilton travel tip. When it comes to leisure travel and you’re paying cash for the room always look through the room offerings because Hilton will often offer double points for the stay. It might be  $15.00 or $20.00 more for the night, but this is a cheap way to add points to your account  If it's for business travel don’t try to bury that room rate on an expense report.

Regret number five.

I’m a “Watch Guy”, still looking for that Rolex GMT Master to be gifted to me.

In 2006 Marriott’s website offered a page of goods that you could spend your Marriott points on.

Bose headphones

Mont Blanc Pens

Ping Golf Clubs

Kitchen Gadgets 

And a Tag Heuer Formula 1 Watch for right around 125,000 points

Now to most watch purists, a Tag isn’t what they consider a grail watch, or at least the Forumla 1 isn’t. But for someone that’s 32 years old with two young children, we just didn’t have the spare cash to buy that type of watch. 

It was because of Chris and his advice to focus on hotel loyalty and stop using the company credit card that I had accumulated well over 125,000 in just a couple of years.

To end the story I didn’t pull the trigger on the Tag, and I can’t remember why, but looking back I wish that I had ordered the Tag.

When you talk about regrets all of us have at least one, and while we often correct the behavior that caused the original regret so that it doesn’t happen again there are still lingering pieces and parts of the original regret….. What the hell did I just say?

Over the course of the past two years, there’s been a trend to Focus on Experiences, Not Things.

This is where travel regret number six comes in.

And this is a true travel regret because for years I focused on travel things or things from travel, and not the travel experiences.

And in the words of Tidy McTidy, aka, Marie Kondo, all of those travel things bring me joy.

* The artwork from New Orleans

* The hand-blown glass pineapple from Williamsburg

* In Kentucky, I picked up some tobacco sticks that are neatly stored in our umbrella stand

* And the antique liquor decanters from Tennessee  sit on my bar cart  

All of those things plus many more things from my travels, bring me great joy.

However, for the first 8 or 9 years of business travel, I didn’t spend any time exploring the places that I was visiting. It was travel, hotel, meeting, and hotel…. Then repeat.

I understood the major destinations, we all do. For instance, when I first went to New Your or  New Jersey I knew that visiting the city was a must. In Philadelphia, I knew a visit to the Liberty Bell was a requirement, and yes the crack is still there. And no visit to Atlanta is complete without stopping by the World of Coke or Centennial Park.

But it took me those first 8 or 9 years to realize that there are experiences in every town that I visited.

* Charlotte, NC there is the Whitewater Center.

* Cleveland, MS the Grammy Museum

* Dallas, TX you can get a tour of the AT&T stadium

* Fort Lauderdale, FL houses the Internationa Game Fish Association just in case you’re into fishing.

So how do you find these hidden gems? Yelp and Google maps are a great place to start, with TripAdvisor as a backup plan. Nothing against TripAdvisor I just routinely contribute and reference Yelp and Google maps and not TripAdvisor.

The ultimate backup plan is to ask the hotel staff or the clients or family you’re visiting. These folks will know the hidden gyms.

So think about the things that you enjoy doing during your everyday at-home life.

* Outlet Malls

* Breweries

* Book Stores

* Frisbee Golf

* Geocaching

* Presidential Libraries

I’m willing to bet that you can find an experience no matter where you’re visiting. And if you do, use one of those social media sites and let everyone else know.

That’s it for my travel regrets

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Please leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

Believe it or not, I’ve spent a fair amount of nights away from Chateau’ Relaxo over the past 30 days. Looking to combine that with some CEO travel that we’ve done over the past 6 or 7 months and turn that all into some sort of an episode in the coming months.

Onto the April crazy travel roundup.

Starting off with a recap of episode 166 Travel Randomness where we discussed the roadmap of the federal mask mandate over the past 10 months and I, the prognosticator of all things great ended the segment with this - I’m not a betting man but I’m willing to bet that the mask mandate will again be extended and one of the main reasons is that there isn’t a collective mask mandate across the world, it seems that each country offers up their own individualized plan.

Talk about missing the mark, damn.

In case you missed it as well, or missed the news clips and avoided TMZ this is one of the best headlines posted - Florida judge voids US mask mandate for planes - A federal judge in Florida struck down a national mask mandate on airplanes and mass transit Monday, and airlines and airports swiftly began repealing their face covering requirements. 

First, thank you Florida. 

Second, The judge's decision allowed airlines, airports, and mass transit systems to make their own decisions about mask requirements, you heard that right, “make their own decisions”, what could possibly go wrong? If I owned an airline, an airport or a mass transit system I would, in an odd way welcome someone besides myself issuing the directive…… notice I didn’t say the government issuing the directive I said “someone” and here’s why. If a passenger throws a fit it’s easy to say “Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger” if they vocally support the mandate, it’s easy to say, “Damn right, masks for everyone”.

Responses to this change were mixed, my personal favorite was from flight attendants walking the aisles of the planes as they collected masks from passengers that no longer wanted to wear them.

I began to compile a list of airlines that were no longer requiring masks, and I soon discovered that most had lifted the requirement to wear masks.

Here’s my take, in case you’re interested. Will I wear a mask on a plane, no. I honestly can’t remember the last time, besides being on a flight, that I wore a mask. I have a box of them in my car, and I carry a handful in my laptop bag just in case, but when I walk into Publix I’m not wearing a mask.

That being said if someone asked me to wear a mask for their own protection I would. If a store, restaurant, or meeting site required masks I would. If I wore a mask during those interactions it would consume at most four or five hours of my day….roughly 20% of my overall day, I think I can handle that in order to put someone, besides myself at ease.

I’m a fan of quotes, and one of my favorites is from Mike Tyson, “Everyone has a plan: until they get punched in the face.”  some purists will argue that it’s “punched in the mouth” and not “punched in the face”. I’m not a purist, and for me, the face is a much bigger target than the mouth.

Early April, life imitated art, or if not art at least it imitated this quote. In case you haven’t heard during April Mike Tyson got in a fight. However, instead of the squared circle, it was on a JetBlue flight from San Fransisco, CA to Fort Lauderdale, Florida…. Thank you, Florida.

These are the CliffNotes - 

JetBlue business class, Melvin Townsend, III was sitting behind Tyson and wouldn’t stop talking with him. 

This is a classic example of no good deed going unpunished as Tyson agreed to take a selfie with Melvin Townsend, III, but when Melvin Townsend, III wouldn’t leave him alone Tyson let them know he’d had enough. Of course Melvin Townsend, III continued, and at some point, Tyson went full UCF on Melvin Townsend, III’s head.

In itself, this is a great story, but there’s more, there’s always more. Allegedly, Melvin Townsend, III was intoxicated. Another alleged example of why “Plane Dranken” never works out. In addition to the fact that Melvin Townsend, III, has been convicted of fraud, grand theft, burglary, possession of controlled substances, and trafficking in stolen property.

The tip-in is this - Melvin Townsend III, has “lawyered up” with Attorney Matt Morgan from Morgan & Morgan, based out of Florida, thank you Florida. Matt added, "Our client is a big Mike Tyson fan. When Mike Tyson boarded the plane, he became overly excited”. Melvin Townsend III here’s a life tip, Next time you meet someone that you’re a big fan of….. Learn to keep it in your pants.

And here’s yet another mega-star, which Tyson is, flying JetBlue.

I’m a fan of automation. If there’s a manual process that can be automated, and it makes sense I’m on board. 

As someone that spends countless hours driving while staring through a windshield autonomous cars gathers my interest. However, according to BoingBoing automation might not be so great. Somebody summoned their Tesla at an airport and it crashed into a $2 million jet.

Here’s what I know - No one knows how the Tesla got on the tarmac, but apparently its "Summon" feature mode was active. The summon is where an operator can hail the car from a nearby parking spot, with the car then driving itself to the location of the user. If only there was a summon feature here at Chateau’ Relaxo.

If you watch the video a Tesla Model Y roughly a 60 to 70k vehicle depending on the website you check comes across the tarmac and drives under the tail of a Cirrus Vision Jet, a 1.7 to 2.1 million dollar jet depending on the website you check. 

What makes this even better is that the Tesla tries to continue forward after smashing the tail section of the jet. This might suggest that Tesla's sensor suite isn't designed to sense taller objects hovering above the ground aka… the tail of a 1.7 to 2.1 million dollar jet.

I wonder if Elon tweeted about this?

Live and let's fly threw this our way - SOUTHWEST AIRLINES PASSENGER RELIEVES HIMSELF IN FRONT OF FEMALE SEATMATE, SMUGLY DEFENDS IT AS “KINKY”

On April 2nd, Antonio Sherrodd McGarity one of the three named people allegedly exposed himself, then proceeded to relieve himself four times on a Southwest Airlines flight from Seattle (SEA) to Phoenix (PHX). His female seatmate sat petrified as he engaged in his act. According to an FBI report:

 If you choose not to read the FBI report the word “relieve” translates to - solitary sex, punching the clown, or self-gratification? If none of those terms makes sense ask your local 11th grader and they will gladly offer the translation.

 Antonio Sherrodd McGarity defended his actions as kinky, and while I often say that there’s a kink for everyone I never say that you’re entitled to share your kink with everyone, much less an unwilling seatmate on an airplane.

If Antonio Sherrodd McGarity wasn’t enough, an elderly Florida man was arrested after allegedly exposing himself and then punching his clown on a flight from Newark to Boston on Friday, April 8th.

Donald Edward Robinson, 76, allegedly flashed his genitals to a 21-year-old female passenger seated next to him. This was followed by the victim alerting another passenger that she was seated next to Pervy Mc Pervyington. 

Robinson was charged with one count of lewd, indecent, and obscene acts. Here’s a life tip from one dude to the rest of the dudes….. Women, thank God, are built differently. They have different chips, things that we find appealing, insert your own definition, aren’t always appealing to the opposite sex….. Such as the previous two stories.

Alex, I’ll take “things not to talk about in mixed company” for $500.00. What is religion?

Religion similar to politics is a minefield of fun, especially at family gatherings.

So here’s a chip that I do have it’s the disturbing chip, and it’s not that I’m disturbing it’s when someone's behavior disturbs others. It’s the person that creates a scene at Publix when someone has 11 items in the 10 items or less lane. It’s the parent that loses their mind when their kid drops an easy pop-up during the first inning. On a plane, there are plenty of opportunities where one's behavior can easily disturb 100 people…. At the same time.  

Mid-month there was a smash-mob Christian-themed musical performance on an EasyJet flight. Seriously, the performers should have known better, but get this, they not only got the blessing of the captain, the captain even introduced them prior to their performance. 

How much would you enjoy working in the EasyJet marketing department after this video went viral, did I fail to mention that there’s a video?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions which this group had, unfortunately, their intentions infringed on everyone else. If you find people singing in sync irritating just wait til they allow phone calls during flights….. Believe me, it’s coming.

I’m a fan of Reddit and since I rarely post I’m what they call a lurker. I found this on the FlightAttendants sub-Reddit.

Here’s the post title, be patient - “Saw this delta pilot on a frontier flight taking pictures of the flight attendant’s legs and butt the whole flight. Have sent it to delta but don’t want them to bury this and don’t want an unsafe and uncomfortable environment for flight attendants”  this came from cellinhaluv and it seems that they just might be paid by the word.

A month after this post there’s no update as to whether or not the amateur Ansel Adams has received any disciplinary action from Delta since he was in a Delta uniform. 

To start this behavior is not OK, it’s disrespectful to this woman, all women as well as the world, thank you, Norm McDonald.

I get kinks, we talk about them often and there’s a category for all of them on a website…. somewhere. And kinks are ok so long as your kink doesn’t involve unwilling participants or the public. Besides, with all the allegedly free porn available why would anyone feel the need to creep anyone besides themself out with their particular kink…… maybe that’s yet another kink. 

Not sure if I should call this next story “Here’s another reason to never fly Spirit” or “Isn’t that ironic” I’ll let you, the listener decide.

Spirit passengers were allegedly notified of flight change after the flight had already left. OK, flight changes are nothing new some flights get canceled other flights have the departure times changed, changed as in normally delayed, not changed as in your flight already left.

In a video posted to TikTok with well over 3 million views, Spirit Airlines passenger Kaley Reed, said she hadn't been made aware of the departure change until after the plane had already left.

"We showed up for our 4:00 p.m. flight at 2:45 p.m.," Kaley posted. "Well, we go to check-in, and they tell us, 'The plane's already left.'"

Kaley went back and forth with a Spirit employee until finally, the employee told her to check her email.

Kaley added, "So, I check my email, and at 3:02 p.m....they sent us an email saying the flight time had been changed to 3:00 p.m.,"

Kaley posted a follow-up TikTok saying that in effect Spirit Airlines ghosted her after her request for any sort of compensation since she and her husband were forced to stay in Las Vegas two additional days before catching a Southwest flight back home. In addition, Kaley’s husband missed two days of work due to this delay.

So where do I come down on this? 

At first, my BS detector began to go off, and here’s why.

* When have you ever heard of a plane leaving early, especially an hour early?

* How come Kaley is the only person that’s made any mention of this incident?

* Nothing against Kaley but her smooth TikTok presence reminds me of an “influencer wanna-be”

* And finally, it doesn’t take two days for anyone to catch a flight home from Las Vegas, especially if they really want to get home.

But then I remembered it’s Spirit Airlines and almost anything is possible so I’m 70% Kaley and 30% Spirit.

At some point, most of us have used some sort of an excuse to get us out of an unpleasant or sticky situation - 

* The dog ate my homework.

* I’ve already donated

* I’m late because my alarm didn’t go off.

But this one just might take the cake. Tampa TSA officer made up a dramatic burglary story to cover up being late for work, Here’s a life tip, if you’re late for work don’t walk into the office with a cup of Starbucks coffee.

 The TSA agent was arrested in late April after falsely reporting she fought off a knife-wielding burglar outside her parent's home.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said her heroic story proved to be entirely fake and was concocted to help her avoid penalties for excessive lateness to work,”.

 Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in the release, “You can’t make this stuff up,”. “I don’t understand why anyone would go to the extent of creating a fake police report to avoid a reprimand at work for tardiness.”

Part of the reason for this post is that I find Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd fascinating. You can agree or disagree with him but he’s going to tell it the way it is.

Here are a few of my favorite Grady Judd quotes…..

* "Having a gun in your hand is much better than having the sheriff's office on the phone."

* A reporter once questioned why Polk Sheriff SWAT shot a criminal 68 times......Sheriff Grady Judd answered, "That's all the bullets we had!"

* "We shot back because he shot at us -- and we shot at him a lot."

* "This fake cop wanted a uniform so much, we gave him one, an ORANGE uniform."

Like Sheriff Grady Judd or don’t like him, I really don’t think he cares, however, he is one of the things that makes Florida….. Florida. Thank you, Florida.

That’s it for the April Crazy Travel Roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

In case you’ve been on a deserted island, the Airline Mask Mandate has been Extended Until May 3, 2022. If you haven’t followed the mask mandate here’s the Cliff Notes - 

The original ban was through September 14, 2021, 

* Next, it was extended through January 18, 2022, 

* Next, it was extended through March 18, 2022, 

* Next, it was extended through April 18, 2022, 

* And finally, the federal mask mandate has been extended another two weeks till May 3, 2022.

I heard someone recently say - We've moved away from a 'collective responsibility to a 'personal responsibility phase of the pandemic. Talk about the proverbial can of worms that statement is the perfect example. Spend any amount of time out in the world and you witness people’s personal responsibility being very subjective.

I’m not a betting man but I’m willing to bet that the mask mandate will again be extended and one of the main reasons is that there isn’t a collective mask mandate across the world, it seems that each country offers up their own individualized plan.

If you plan to head to Florida for summer travel here’s a tip worth sharing. Florida has an abundance of toll roads, and those toll roads can be expensive. They’re even more expensive if you are in a rental car, and that’s due to the “convenience fee” imposed by car rental companies. I’ve seen daily convenience fees for each day of the rental even if you don’t use a toll road, and I’ve also seen a convenience fee imposed each day you use a toll road.

I use an EZ Pass and at some point, I was smart enough to purchase an EZ Pass that mounts to my windshield with suction cups. At the time the reason was that I flip my car every 36 months and it would be easier to move the transponder to a new vehicle rather than remembering to scape the old pass off the windshield when I turned my car in. 

Little did I know that the EZ Pass is accepted in 19 states, most of which I travel through. So now part of my routine is when I park at the airport I remove my EZ Pass transponder and throw it in my laptop bag so I have it for my rental car. So if you can remove your EZ Pass take it with you when you travel. 

If you don’t have an EZ Pass here’s another solution when you arrive in Orlando. You can pick up a Visitor Toll Pass at the Orlando airport.

Four easy steps - 

* Download the app and reserve your Visitor Toll Pass™

* Pick Up Your Pass at the Orlando International Airport

* Hang your Visitor Toll Pass™ on your Rental Vehicle’s Rearview Mirror

* Return Your Visitor Toll Pass™ at Orlando International Airport

The benefits -

* Save Up to 80% on Tolls with Visitor Toll Pass™

* Completely free to use*

* Guarantees you always pay the lowest toll rate throughout Florida

* Available for pick-up and return at Orlando International Airport

* Here’s the one catch - You must return your Visitor Toll Pass™ hangtag at the conclusion of your trip or a $10 fee will be charged. Even if you forget to return the hangtag it’s still cheaper than paying the rental car company's convenience fee.

From the “Who Knew” department, I give you - Five nude beaches in the United States.

* Haulover Beach Park, Florida - I knew about this one from growing up in South Florida, and apparently, it’s still in operation. On the upside, if you get tired of all the Florida nudity you’ll be near Haulover Inlet and there you can watch mature captains try and navigate their vessels out into the ocean. Which honestly is a lot more entertaining than watching naked bodies roasting in the sun.

* Next is Black’s Beach, California which requires a bit of hiking to access. Not sure if you hike clothed or just leave everything in the car.

* How about Gunnison Beach, New Jersey, yes New Jersey has a nude beach, who knew.

* If you’re in Hawaii you can let it all hang out in Little Beach, located in Maui, Hawaii

* Finishing the list with Collins Beach, Oregon. Yes, Oregon… and I can tell you that I never once considered that Oregon residents would ever want to visit the beach, much less a nude beach.

Here’s how I typically sum up nudist colonies and nude beaches…… none of the people there are the ones you would want to see naked.

So if a nudist beach isn’t on your summer destination list what is? And how do you make the summer vacation process more enjoyable?

Number one you need to begin booking summer travel right now. Airfare won’t be any cheaper in four weeks unless you stumble across some random sale. Home rentals and hotels will quickly book up and rental cars will also quickly be gobbled up.

Here are a few additional tips to help with summer travel.

* My first piece of advice is to avoid selecting mega-popular destinations. Yep, possibly won’t win father of the year with that advice but I don’t want to spend my downtime with lots of randos. I know that there are people that love the grind of waiting in long lines, that love being sunburnt, and who love having the same vacation experience as everyone else.

* Next, do some research. We all have the internet, otherwise, you wouldn't have access to this show. Make sure you fully understand where you’re headed to. If it’s the southeast it’s going to be hot. If it’s Florida more than likely it will rain at some point during the day…. So pack a  poncho.

* Don’t plan every moment of every day. I’ve talked about this before, but the CEO and I have had more fun taking quick side trips during our travels.

* I typically don’t plan family travel during busy times. Think Memorial Day, July 4th, and the week before the kiddos return to school. You get the point.

I found this over on Make Use Of - 10 Pieces of Tech You Really Don't Need Anymore

And here are a few of the highlights.

* Payphones or calling cards. - Payphones, I can’t remember the last time I saw one in the wild, and if I did I’d doubt that I’d have any coins to feed it. The same goes for calling cards. I was issued one several decades ago, and I’m sure it’s in a drawer someplace but I can’t remember the last time I used it. Calling cards were great cost savings when you traveled as they allowed you to avoid the hotel surcharge added to your bill when you connected your laptop's 56k modem in order to access your email. 

* Pagers - in the early 1990s’ a pager was how we conducted business. This was before texting so communication was done using only numbers and not alpha characters. Most of us perfected a series of numeric codes to get our message across. Think emojis but without the graphic

* 911 - call me back immediately

* 411 - I have a question

* 831 - I love you - 8 characters, 3 words 1 meaning. We were creative, to say the least.

* Portable music players - I started with a Sony WalkMan that became a Sony Discman that morphed into an MP3 player and now everything is contained on my phone.

* Floppy Disks and CDs’ - My last computer with a floppy drive was 2000 and after that, I went with 2 CDRW drives so I could burn one CD to another so I would have a Quote - unquote backup. None of the laptops at Chateau’ Relaxo have a CD drive but when the entrepreneur recently moved out he left us with a USB external CD drive just for old time's sake. 

Recently a View From The Wing reader asked, Does A Hotel Owe You Compensation When Your Room’s Alarm Goes Off During The Night? They are asking about the alarm clock, not the fire alarm.

Here was the author of the post Gary Leff’s response - This one seems easy to me – the hotel is responsible.

And here’s his reasoning - 

* The fundamental thing you’re buying from a hotel is a safe, comfortable night’s sleep and a place to shower in the morning.

* A basic responsibility for any decent hotel would be to check that the bedside alarm clock is not turned on, as part of turning the room between guests. If they fail to do that, and the result if you aren’t able to get the comfortable night’s sleep you purchased, then they haven’t earned their money.

In all my years of travel, this has happened to me maybe twice, and neither time did I consider asking for compensation from the hotel.

Earlier I mentioned personal responsibility and this is a perfect example of just that. Do people really expect housekeeping to verify that every clocks alarm is set to off? Most times I verify that the alarm is set to “off” and then I unplug the alarm clock because I set an alarm on my smartphone and that frees up a receptacle for powering one of the other life-saving devices I travel with.

Last year Marriott was considering removing alarm clocks from hotel rooms altogether. Be prepared Marriott more than likely someone will want compensation for oversleeping since there wasn’t an alarm clock to wake them up.

Lifehacker posted How to Create the Ultimate Travel Spreadsheet (and Why You Need One)

I love data and organization so I immediately thought this would hold one or two new nuggets. The post started out strong - with Why you need an ultimate travel spreadsheet.

* Accessibility. You will always have access to your itinerary via your phone. Viewing a spreadsheet on a smartphone is brutal.

* Collaborating and sharing. Makes sense especially if it’s Office 365 or Google sheets.

* Built-in templates. OK

* Adaptability. As plans change, you can edit your spreadsheet on the go. 

But here’s where they lost me - 

Creating tabs. 

Tabs for - 

* General overview itinerary: 

* Detailed, master itinerary: All the information in one place, links to different tabs, (all the information in one place, can link to different tabs as needed?)

* Packing list:

* Transportation: 

* Lodging:

* Budget:.

* Day-by-day itineraries: 

* The fun stuff: Restaurants, nightlife ideas, etc.

There are many many many people that enjoy planning a vacation more than taking the actual vacation. If that’s you then this 8-tab pivot-table wanna-be spreadsheet might just be for you.

Here’s my take on travel planning, more specifically vacation or pleasure travel planning. 

Get a free Evernote account and download the desktop client as well as the plugin for your web browser of choice. 

Step 1 - Create an Evernote notebook for your next trip or multiple notebooks for multiple trips

Step 2 - While browsing and you see something that applies to an upcoming trip use the Evernote web clipper to store it in the correct folder. You can even add tags to the clips if you want.

Step 3 - As the time approaches to begin booking travel open Evernote and the notebook for your next trip and all your cool ideas and destinations are in one place.

You can even share the notebook with others so they can contribute their own notes, links, and ideas.

When it comes to managing itineraries TripIt does it better than anyone, and again the free version will work perfectly.

TripIt monitors your email inbox and has the intelligence to build a travel itinerary based on email subject lines. The best part is that you don’t have to input any information.

Again you can easily share your TripIt information with others

So sorry “Big Spreadsheet” my method suits me perfectly.

Finishing up with this inspiration from HuffPost - How To Get Rid Of The Post-Vacation Blues.

I’ve never experienced this, and after reading their suggestion I have an idea why. Thankfully I have a job that I love, I work with a great group of people, so it’s rare that finish up my Sundays dreading Monday.

* Unpack your suitcase when you get home - I do this after every trip. If toiletries need replacing I tell my Echo to add it to the shopping list.

* Bring home a souvenir you can use in daily life - My office is decorated with things I’ve found while traveling.

* Seek out meals you tried while traveling - Can you say Nashville hot chicken or Savannah’s shrimp and grits? Before the internet became so prevalent I would often times buy local cookbooks while traveling.

* Plan your next trip -  

* Do vacation activities in your everyday life - This is somewhat the reverse for me as there are times when we’ll do everyday activities while traveling, such as fishing, geocaching, or attending cooking schools.

* Explore your hometown - I’ve often said that there’s so much just an hour or two from where you live and since moving to Central Florida we’ve done some sort of a day trip or an overnighter almost every single month.

* Share memories - First, no one wants to look at 47 pictures on your smartphone of your latest trip. But you can easily share them with people using Flickr or you can create your own website and share your adventures that way. Or even a podcast……

So since I’m already doing most of the items on the list that’s the reason I don’t suffer the post-vacation blues.

That’s it for this episode of travel randomness, the next episode in the queue is the April Crazy Travel Roundup.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

This is another part of North Carolina that plays a big part in my family history. My grandmother’s brother  Dr. Voigt R. Cromer was the college's president from (1949 to 1967). There’s even a Cromer Center building that houses the bookstore as well as the campus food facility…. Makes sense since I come from a line of foodies.

Onto The March crazy travel roundup and this month, there’s a lot of ground to cover.

Opening up with something timely… think Academy Awards. Diddy’s Son Quincy Claims JetBlue Pilot Physically Assaulted Him Following Disagreement Over Carry-on Luggage.

First I had no idea that Diddy had a son, much less a son who is a  “Star” actor with 4.5 million Instagram followers. Quincy claimed that his bag, which damn near fit in his was considered a carry-on.

According to JetBlue’s “carry-on bags” policy posted on the airline’s website, “All fares include 1 personal item that fits under the seat in front of you. This could be a purse, daypack, laptop bag, or approved pet carrier. 

Quincy’s bag was his diabetic testing kit, and that apparently coupled with his other carry-on exceed exceeded JetBlue’s carry-on limit. 

There’s a link in the show notes, but this still leaves me with one question…. Quincy your dad is Diddy, why are you flying JetBlue?

From WIVB-4 in CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y.

Police report: Drunk JetBlue pilot drank ten 22-ounce beers night before

First question night before what? Wedding, the birth of a child, divorce… what?

It appears that 52-year-old Pilot James Clifton was in the cockpit, getting ready to fly 133 passengers from Buffalo to Fort Lauderdale (Thak you Florida) around 6:15 a.m. when NFTA officers pulled him from the plane.

Get this - TSA agents suspected something was off about Clifton when he was checking his gun through security just minutes earlier.

Clifton ended up blowing a .174%, more than four times the legal limit for pilots.

JetBlue ended up firing Clifton and launched an investigation. So, has the FAA.

While in the police interview room, Clifton told someone over the phone that he drank ten 22-ounce beers, also known as “Tall Boys.” Here in Florida, we call those Double-Dueces.

That he missed the shuttle to the airport and had to take an Uber.

If I was Clifton I would’ve simply called in sick. No reason, no explanation just “I’m sick.

You knew this was coming…. Clifton’s arrest delayed their trip by four hours. 

Ten Double-Deuces that’s 220 ounces of beer. I couldn’t drink 220 ounces of anything in an evening. They say “bottle to throttle 8 hours” after that much beer it’s more like don’t cobble to the throttle”.

MAN LED OFF FLIGHT IN HANDCUFFS AFTER REFUSING TO STOP VAPING ONBOARD, DRINKING HIS OWN ALCOHOL, THEN VOMITING ALL OVER SEATS

Out of all that, what catches your attention? Weel the highlights come from Live and Let’s Fly.

A 23-year-old pleaded guilty to criminal charges after refusing to stop vaping and consuming his own alcohol on board an EasyJet flight, and after all that he vomited all over the seats.

This went down on a flight from London Gatwick (LGW) to Inverness, Scotland (INV). 

Ben Munday, a Royal Air Force employee, began smoking onboard with his e-cigarette and also began consuming alcohol that he had brought on board. Both smoking and the consumption of personal alcohol are illegal under UK law and airline policy.

Flight attendants implored him to stop, but he refused. Instead, he stretched out across three seats and continued to smoke and drink. Again, flight attendants advised him to stop but he responded by taking long puffs on his e-cigarette and blowing the smoke through the cabin.

We’ve talked about this many many times nothing good really comes from drinking on a plane.

At a minimum, EasyJet should make Ben Munday, hopefully, a former Royal Air Force employee pay for the deep bio cleaning the plane required.

This next one comes from Creepy McCreeperton and BoingBoing - Texas Airbnb host arrested for recording 2,100 images of guests naked and having sex.

Did your spine just crawl? Well, Texas police arrested Airbnb host A Jay Allee (54) for allegedly videotaping guests naked and having sex in his cabin near San Antonio.

According to the police affidavit, Allee told one of the guests to "be comfortable, we don't care if you are in your PJs or nude." This aroused the guest's suspicion, and after doing a YouTube search about finding hidden cameras they found a camera disguised as a power adapter.

Thankfully, YouTube to the rescue. If an Airbnb ever told me "be comfortable, we don't care if you are in your PJs or nude." I would immediately pull out my phone or laptop and find another place for the night, especially if I was traveling with the CEO. Honestly not for my sake after about 10 seconds of screen time, I guarantee you that the cameras would go black, I’m more concerned with her privacy.

This next story is 12 words and you can make your own decision about it. United Airlines to let employees with COVID vaccine exemptions return to work. That’s it.

That’s followed up with The Points Guy 16 word story - US travel mask mandate to be extended 1 month, with plans to loosen it in April.

Concluding with View From The Wings - Watch Delta Kick This Passenger Off Flight For His Offensive Hoodie.

View From The Wing posted added - Delta Air Lines kicked off a passenger that was wearing an “F- Biden” hoodie. He eventually took off the hoodie but was removed prior to departure anyway over mask compliance issues. The man might have tried the less offensive “Let’s Go Brandon” instead.

And that ends this month's political minefield corner.

Let's head a bit closer to home for the next couple of stories Fox354 Orlando - Hundreds stranded in Orlando airport after massive flight cancellations

Delays and cancellations plagued travelers at Orlando International Airport for three days in the middle of March and storms rolling in on March 15th didn’t help at all.

In case you didn’t know, Florida is still a Spring Break destination. Beginning Monday, March 14th  the Orlando airport saw 266 delayed flights. Mostly caused by weather issues. However, by late week travelers were hoping that things would start getting better after the three previous days of delays

Elaine Bodick, visiting from Rhode Island said "If the flight was going to get canceled, it would have been nice to have known it earlier during the day. That way we would have made other arrangements. 

Another casualty of the delays was long lines at the car rental facilities, with some people waiting five hours for a car.

Back in episode 162, I talked about how our 2022 Spring Break World Domination tour was being done by car. This is one of the reasons why, O-Town is a hub when it comes to peak travel and after 20+ years my focus is avoiding the airport grind unless it’s for business travel, and I’m traveling solo.

Earlier I mentioned that I was a foodie, and I’m not ashamed of that, all you can eat Chinese buffets, I’m in. If a group of us orders the 100 wing plate, I’m in. If we're heading to Fogo de Chão put your money on me. So get a load of this - The Man Who Ate An Actual Airplane Over 2 Years

“Over the course of Michel Lotito’s career, his diet has included 18 bicycles, seven TV sets, two beds, 15 supermarket trolleys, a computer, a coffin (handles and all), a pair of skis, and six chandeliers.”

But how - Thanks to abnormally thick intestinal walls, Monsieur Mangetout’s digestive tract “could “safely” consume just about anything,” including metal objects. He could eat as much as 2 lb of metal per day without any side effects. And get this, his body is also curiously immune to toxic substances such as lead.

No need to look for his latest meal, Lotito died of natural causes in 2007, at age 57.

Chinese man has lived in an airport for 14 YEARS so he can get away from his family plus smoke and drink as much as he wants - From the Daily Mail.

All of us can relate, living with family can be overbearing sometimes.

For Wei Jianguo, a Chinese man who is in his 60s, the solution has been to move to Beijing Capital International Airport, where he is understood to have been living for 14 years now so that he can smoke and drink as much as he likes.

Channel Tom Hanks' in the 2004 movie The Terminal - where Hanks’ as a tourist is forced to live at JFK airport - It seems that Mr. Wei has a set up of his food, belongings, and sleeping bag in a waiting area.

But he won't return home because then, he'll be forced to quit drinking and smoking - a habit he funds with his monthly government allowance.

Back in 2018, he told China Daily: 'I can't go back home because I have no freedom there. 

'My family told me if I wanted to stay, I had to quit smoking and drinking. Mr. Wei, that’s what Man-Caves are for.

All this being said there are a few airports that I wouldn’t mind setting up camp in.

Next time there’s a pilot shortage there’s someone we can call up from the minor league - John Travolta. Travolta just received his 737 pilots license which pairs well with his 747 and 707 licenses. Travolta has staying power and he’s been smart with his money. So much so that he has amassed a fleet of planes including a 707  he bought 22 years ago for $77 million, tricking it out inside for another $20M.

Everyone knows that I’m a Southwest Airlines fanboy, and I have been ever since we relocated to central Florida. And Southwest fares are very straightforward, there are only three types.

Wanna Get Away - cheapest, non-refundable

Anytime - refundable

Business Select - refundable, with earliest boarding positions and a free drink on board

Most tickets I purchase are Anytime, the reason is that they’re refundable. When COVID hit I was sitting on close to $500.00 in flights that I had already paid for.

Southwest has released a fourth fare - Southwest is going to introduce a new fare type between Wanna Get Away and Anytime called “Wanna Get Away Plus.” 

Wanna Get Away Plus gives you - 

* Flight credits will be transferable to book a ticket for someone else when canceling an itinerary

* Comes with same-day confirmed changes (or standby on full flights) without paying a difference in fare (similar to the current elite benefit)

* 1/3 points bonus (earn 8 points per dollar instead of 6 with the cheapest tickets)

Would I ever book a Wanna Get Away Plus ticket? Doubtful the only enticing piece would be the 8 points per dollar. What would make me pull the trigger on a new Southwest fare structure? Believe it or not, assigned seats.

Last year we talked about Vyvianna Quinonez. She was the passenger who broke a southwest flight attendant’s tooth during an altercation over seat belts.

Vyvianna plead guilty but her sentencing was delayed because she was cited for drunk driving less than two weeks after her plea.

Now Vyvianna has a classic defense to her DUI. Are you ready? 

She claimed the driving drunk wasn’t her fault – blaming her gastric bypass surgery - I’m listening. Her smaller stomach meant that drinking led to higher than normal blood alcohol concentration. 

Good luck Vyvianna, you’ve got your hands full.

BoingBoing closes out the month with this - Karen on plane who refused to wear mask properly has a fit when cops come to kick her off the flight

It’s been a few months since we’ve had an anti-masker episode but here we go again…..

This Karen was on a recent flight complete with a face shield but no mask to cover her nose. Karen copped an attitude when the flight crew told her to cover her nose. 

When the plane's captain heard about it he also copped an attitude and ordered Karen to get off the plane. Karen refused and argued with an attendant.

The police were called, and Karen took her argument up with them.

The cops told the woman if she and her family refused to get off the plane they would have to deboard the entire plane and charge her with trespassing. Karen shrieked "What!?"

Then other passengers told Karen to get off the plane, Karen then stood up and whined, "They ruined my whole family's vacation!"

Karen and the rest of her family reluctantly collected the luggage and got off the plane. Complaining the whole time saying things like, "Why are you doing this to me?"

Karen, you did this to yourself, like it or not, constitutional or not you have to wear a mask while on a plane.

That’s it for the March crazy travel roundup.

 If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

The intro to this episode was to have been recorded in the Hampton Inn & Suites Lake Park, Ga. However, try as I might without a legitimate microphone there was no way with my limited editing skillset to get 3 minutes of decent-sounding audio.

Over the past 7 days, I’ve been traveling, and that travel included stops at four different hotels along the way. It’s always a treat to unpack and then repack every few days.

The past week's travel was a mix of business and leisure, so look for an episode in the coming weeks with the CEO of Chateau’ Relaxo that covers the 2022 Spring Break World Domination Tour as well as a look back on the past two years and how here travel has been affected.

Since the episode drops on the next to the last day of the month it makes it a bit tough to completely appreciate the March crazy travel roundup so we’ll push that episode back a week, and since summer travel is fast approaching we decided to repost a 2018 episode, Savannah in the summer to get the summer travel mood set.

This episode originally dropped in June of 2018 and since then I’ve made at least 10 more trips there with probably an even split between business and leisure. For us, Savannah is an easy trip, less than 4 ½ hours away including a stop at one of the two Buc-ees: Home along the way.

You can easily dedicate each trip to a single theme, and often we have done just that. There’s the historical theme, the ghost tour theme, the food tour theme, the antique store theme, and on and on and on.

Savannah is also a great base camp as it’s 2 hours from Charleston, SC and if you’re a golfer Hilton Head, SC is less than an hour away and Tybee Island is 30 minutes away.

Call it what you want, summer travel, summer vacation or your summer road trip is just two months away so begin making your plans now, and if you’re in the southeast consider visiting Savannah, GA.

Without any more delay, it’s episode 8 of Savannah in the summer, I hope you enjoy it.

This episode was recorded before I used Google Docs for show notes. I used Otter to translate the MP3 of the episode.

Welcome to the eighth episode of the back again and gone podcast being recorded in the beautiful hot and muggy. Doubletree Dallas, Texas. In today's show, there's only one subject Savannah in the summertime.

Now summer vacation is fast approaching and Savannah is that perfect destination, but be prepared, it's going to be hot, it's in the southeast and it's going to be muggy. So stay hydrated. 

Now for me, I love Savannah, I end up there several times each year on business. And every 18 months or so the family and I go there for a vacation of some sort. 

Now if you've never been to Savannah, it's a great family vacation. Just don't set the expectations on there being a ton of amusement parks with rides. It's just that's not what that town is built on. From Orlando, it's an easy four to five-hour drive from Atlanta, it's about the same. If you're flying into Savannah, that's another story I plan on making a connection to somewhere along the way.

Now for business travel, I have a couple of go-to hotels. First, there's a Savannah Marriott Riverfront, and then another Doubletree in the Savannah Historic District. Both of these hotels are on opposite ends of Bay Street. 

Now if you've never been to Savannah, there are three main drags through the town. There's River Street, Bay Street, and Brian Street. And between those street three streets, most of your touristy eat, drink, buy stuff needs are going to be off of one of those three streets. 

Now for leisure vacation, there's only one stop for me, and that's the Mansion on Forsyth Park. This is a Marriott property and part of their Kestler collection easily classified as a boutique hotel, yet it offers a lot more. I was married there in their marble garden. and the reception was held in the attached 700 Dragon Club, which hands-down served the best Chilean sea bass I've ever tasted. If you got small kids, this may not be the place, there's a lack of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

There's just not a lot of stuff for the kids to do at the Mansion,  but for the adults, they've got a great cooking class. The mansion is located right across the street from Forsyth Park, which is where all the fountains are and where a lot of the St. Patrick's Day festivities take place.

Once you're settled into your hotel, it's time to decide what to do right. One of the go-to things especially your first time there is to consider taking the old town trolley. These are the wooden, green, and orange painted trolleys that you see in most of the larger cities. I think the tour is 30 bucks, for all day. They offer a two-day ticket as well. You can jump on and off the trolley throughout the day or the two days, whatever you decide. We've taken this tour several times over the years, and it's interesting because each driver has their own perspective of the city. Which means you're always learning something new. Of course, Savannah is a great Ghost Tour town, and there's no shortage of those. Make sure you take one at night, but they've got tours that walk through the graveyards. They've got tours in the back of cut-up hearses. They've got ghost tours in triple-decker buses. There is no shortage of vehicles to get you around the city at nighttime. 

The Massie Heritage Center is kind of neat. They actually have a 3-d rendering of all the squares. So you can understand the scale and proportion of what Savannah is built on. 

And one of my favorites is the Telfair Museum. I think again, it's like 20 bucks to get in there. But you get a good history of the city and especially the part that Telfair’s have played in the development of Savannah. 

Now if you spend any time following the blog or listening to any of my podcasts, you know that I'm a foodie, and Savannah is a town to be reckoned with when it comes to food. 

One of my favorite places to go and I always find time to get there is the Moon River Brewing Company, it's a local brewery, and they've got a beer garden outside. But there is something about walking into that air-conditioned building after going down through the city in having a cold Home Brewed IPA. And the food's actually not bad either. So it's not just drinking the stuff, but it's a good place to kind of fill your belly as you go. 

My other stop even if we're doing takeout, is Vinny Van GoGo’s pizza. Be prepared to wait as there is limited seating, there's always a line and they are cash only. Now they do offer an ATM in the back of the restaurant but it is strictly a cash business. So for those of you like me that pack nothing but plastic. Make sure you got an extra 20 or 30 bucks shoved in your pocket. 

Another one of my favorite places for dinner is the Crystal Beer Parlor it's a little walk off the main drags of Savannah but this is a throwback bar to the days of yesteryear. They've got a list of beers your father drank the Slitz, Old Style, and of course, Mickey's malt liquor. Growing up my dad would open up an Old Style and cut the grass in his khakis and white t-shirt and it really just flooded the memory banks. They've got great food there everything from their meatloaf sandwiches to their burgers in even some of their choice cuts of meat. 

This past summer. One of the things that my wife and I did when we visited Savannah was we took a photo tour. Here's a tip, make sure you have a tripod, a lesson that we learned about four to five hours into our adventure and overnighted, one from Amazon Prime to the hotel. There's no shortage of places to take pictures. Like I mentioned earlier Forsyth square has all the statues and all the fountains that you see and all the magazines. Bonaventure cemetery is just packed full of lots of cool vegetation and these aging, kind of dilapidated tombstones as well as the cobblestone bricks that surround the cemetery. those all make great shots. 

There are 22 squares in Savannah and each square has a fountain or a statue of some sort in it. If you've ever heard of the term, don't let the bedbugs bite. Apparently, during the Civil War, the soldiers took the Spanish moss out of the trees and stuff their pillowcases with it trying to make some sort of comfort. And apparently, the bedbugs were inside that moss. And that's where that term supposedly came from. 

And there's what's really interesting is that every one of the squares has a legend attached to it. Jackson Square contains no Spanish moss whatsoever. Again, I didn't spend a lot of time looking up at the trees at Jackson Square. 

But we've heard that on numerous occasions in our travels in visits throughout the city. 

Now one of the things I said was we took a photo tour and we actually spent some time one evening with a company called capturing Savannah. And we spent the evening with Pablo met him in one of the squares, and really took us on a great nighttime photo tour and taught us a lot. I mean, we've always used our DSLR camera on auto, which I think most everybody does, but actually spent time with us and showed us how to take some of these long exposure shots. It just so happens that down the street from where we were there was a fire truck emergency or fire trucks running down the street and we all go hustling behind the fire trucks and set up our tripods and just caught some fascinating shots of the red hazard lights from the fire trucks bouncing off the sides of the building. And so I'll actually put a link to Pablo and Brett's company that was great. I mean we left with literature, as well as about four or five hours' worth of photographs.

Now when it comes to shopping Savannah has no shortage of local artisans and craftsmen and stuff that you find in the Oriental Trading Company being sold. But we love visiting the River Street marketplace, there are probably 40 or 50 different booths along the river of just all kinds of neat and interesting. You know, some of them are local crafts and some of them we have seen other places like Charleston and Hilton Head and destinations like that. There's a great place down off of I think it's Bay Street break Bay Street or Ryan Street, Bryan Street, where the horses for the carriage rides kind of station themselves. But that's where the Sydney market is. And again, Vinnie Van Gogh goes over there, but there are lots of interesting boutique-type stores along there. But my favorite this last trip was the Han art gallery. Again, local artisans displayed their works and I think we left with a couple of stained glass and copper pieces. As well as t a custom pin. And some just really interesting, very small four by eight original oil paintings that are hanging in the house. So again, no shortage of shopping if you plan to hang out or spend any time in Savannah. Now before we wrap up just a few more interesting Savannah facts and I'll put a few more of these down in the show notes as well but Savannah actually has one of the only McDonald's with a walk-up window, not a drive-thru but a walk-up window on the side street. They also have no open container laws, which can make for some great day drinking but just remember at some point, you're gonna have to walk back to your hotel that also hosted the sailing competition during the 1996 Summer Olympics. There are a couple of statues throughout the city that proudly proclaims that and of course, if you didn't know parts of Forrest Gump were filmed there., 

There you have it. Savannah in the summertime is a great place to spend the week or even the weekend. Thanks for listening and safe travels.

Roughly two years ago this was our last normal week, and no one knew it! However, things are getting better on the COVID front, the rest of the world…. Not so much.

No major trips since our last episode. We had planned for a quick Spring Break trip, not the same types of trips we did in our 20s’, but apparently, the whole Southeastern United States is also on Spring Break which meant we saw Hampton Inn priced well north of $300.00 or 100,000 points so the plan is for some local day trips. Probably head west and visit the Frank Lloyd Wright area at Florida Southern maybe a stop by the Bok Tower Gardens and drop off books at some Little Free Library along the way.

However, as we come out of this COVID situation, epidemic or conspiracy depending on your views I am traveling more and there are some things that haven’t returned to normal, and I miss them. 

First, everyone thinks hotel housekeeping would be missed, this is an easy target, but I don’t miss it. While I make the bed every morning at home, I don’t need some rando to do it when I’m traveling.

I miss things like

* Hotel Cookie Time - Cookie time was our TTB contest. TTB  - time to beat! Our goal was to make it to the hotel each evening while there were still cookies, hopefully warm, still available at the check-in desk. You can’t include the Double-Tree properties as they have warm and soft cookies available 24/7.

* USA Today - in my opinion not the definition of hard-hitting news, but their lifestyle, money & sports sections will keep you up to date enough to have a conversation with almost anyone.

* Managers Reception - Anyone on a daily per diem can appreciate these. Depending on the property you could have something as basic as pizza rolls and corn chips. Or possibly they’ll order Dominos pizza or hot fresh BBQ if the property really gets it. We used to stay at a Duluth, Georgia property where the staff would bring in home-cooked food Monday - Wednesday evenings. Soup, enchiladas, or homemade lasagna, all of which was delicious. That was until the local food inspectors came for a visit and let them know that their food license was only for breakfast, nothing after 10:00 AM…. as they say, all good things must come to an end. Normally there’s also wine beer and soda at these manager's receptions, so if you play your card right you can grab a double deuce of beer before check-in drink, then partake in the free booze and finally prepare a to-go plate for the room and watch YouTube as you consume your double deuce in the privacy of your hotel room.

Onto tonight's topic, things to not cheap out on when traveling. I put travel into two distinctly different categories. There’s business travel and there’s leisure travel.

With business travel, you are working while you are traveling, and you should have the same capabilities and resources to do your job on the road as if you were sitting in your regional office. While you still need to be a good steward with your company’s money, you can’t be penalized just because you aren’t physically in the office. Thankfully my company understands this.

Then there’s leisure travel, that one, maybe twice a year trip you take to unwind, refocus and enjoy yourself. Side note if your job makes you that miserable that the only time you can unwind, refocus and enjoy yourself is during those 7 to 14 days each year you might need to evaluate some things in your life. Leisure travel often involves some sort of a budget or at a minimum a guideline of what you want to spend.

If you are a road warrior, you do not cheap out on luggage. If you are a baby road warrior you might need some guidance.

Years ago we had a team member that traveled with what could best be described as a soft-sided roller bag. To begin with, a soft-sided anything is a solid no-go for any sort of travel, converting into a roller bag makes things worse. The reason is that as soon as you put wheels underneaths it, which does make it easier for transport, everything suddenly moves to the bottom of the bag…. Thank you gravity. To make matters worse this individual threw his “roller” laptop bag on top of this disaster. Safe to say we stood up an internal go-fund-me page to get him some decent luggage.

When it comes to luggage whatever you choose needs to stand up to the task. For me, I’m rough on stuff and I know it, but you have to be you.

Do you want a roller bag? Yes, you need a roller bag. Do you want 2 or 4 wheels? Over the years I’ve become a 4-wheel convert. 

Can you easily replace the wheels? If not does their warranty cover it? How long is the warranty and what does it actually cover? Do yourself a favor and save all the paperwork that comes with your luggage.

For close to 15 or 16 years I was a TravelPro devote. That was until I bought my last bag. Over the course of those 15 or 16 years, I had 3 pieces of TravelPro luggage. Quick math a $300.00 bag that lasts 5 years is $60.00 per year which translates to $5.00 per month. Less than 25 cents a day whether I was traveling or not.

My last TravelPro bag made it less than three years before the wheels started coming apart and the handle began to disintegrate. I emailed them, no response, I b***h tweeted, no response so I replaced the TravelPro with a solid side 4-wheel spinner from Away, and I haven’t looked back since.

I travel with a coworker that dropped north of $500.00 on a Victorinox bag and he will never ever check it.

You don’t need to spend a small fortune on luggage but a decent piece will last the leisure traveler a good 10 or 15 years.

How about a travel backpack, laptop, or messenger bag, call it what you want but we all use something to carry all of our stuff around. None of us grab our laptop or tablet, the power supply, a mouse, some USB drives a handful of writing pens, and head out the door. Look for something with plenty of pockets, reinforced stitching, sturdy zippers, and again a warranty. My choice over the past 3 or 4 years has been the Everki Atlas backpack. About 15 years ago another coworker bought a $700.00 Tumi roller bag, and we all laughed. I’m here to tell you that the Tumi bag, 15 years later looks brand new, and over time that bag has cost him less than $4.00 each month and that cost continues to decrease the longer he uses it.

TSA Pre-Check  - If you spend any amount of time in airports, even if you fly once per year purchase TSA Pre-Check. It’s roughly $85.00 for 5 years. December 2021 the Chateau’ Relaxo crew took a trip to Washington, DC. One member decided to cheap out by not purchasing TSA Pre-Check. I choose not to wait, the CEO choose not to wait and somehow they managed to talk the entrepreneur into going through the slow line with them. I’ve spent my career flying out of two of the busiest airports in the United States, Atlanta, and Orlando, and even for leisure travel the $17.00 per year for TSA Pre-Check is a no-brainer. Many credit card companies offer TSA Pre-check or CLEAR for a reduced rate. For instance, the American Express green card with its $150.00 annual fee gives you a $100.00 credit toward CLEAR as well as a 100 Credit for Lounge Access through LoungeBuddy.

Budget Airlines - You can check all the websites for airfare travel deals and more than likely all of their results will come back in the same ballpark. Especially, when it comes to the number of flights, the number of connections as well as the cost. Honestly, short of a credit card benefit, there are not a lot of deals when it comes to flying. 

You might find a cheaper price for a flight with a discount carrier, but once you start tacking on the additional fees you will be in the same financial ballpark as everyone else. Seriously do you think the discount airlines are buying fuel cheaper than the big boys? I’m guessing no.  

Stick with booking directly with the carrier, and you can thank me when something goes sideways and you can talk to the airlines directly. Also, treat yourself while flying pay for the adult beverage of the Boingo inflight WiFi, most times it’s less than $10.00 and that’s not going to break you.

Speaking of budget travel, I am here to tell you that none of the budget or discount travel websites offer any deals. That being said you will find cheaper prices, but it’s a roll of the dice because at 11:20 PM when you are looking to check-in, whether you have your family in tow, and that reservation isn’t there it’s not the responsibility of the hotel it’s the responsibility of the booking service. So plan on pulling out your cell phone and getting in a queue with everyone else whose reservation went sideways. Again book direct.

Travel clothing- I live in Florida, which offers a completely different weather experience than North Jersey, Chicago, or Dallas, especially in winter. However, I do visit those places during winter. That 4-season bulky coat you bought at the discount store won’t hold up for long when you’re constantly having to shove it luggage or stowing it away under your plane seat. Find something that’s packable and double stitched.

Travel accessories - Do yourself a favor and put together a travel accessory travel kit. Deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste floss, and personal hygiene.If you need cologne get something in solid form so it gets through TSA. How about a travel sewing kit? Extra shoelaces? An umbrella? Nail clippers?

For 20 plus years I’ve carried what I call a medicine bag, Benadryl, sinus medicine, stomach medicine, aspirin, and bandaids at a minimum. When you find yourself in Mobile, AL with hives and there’s no one you know less than 4 hours away, you need a medicine bag. 

I do have some travel rules and one of them is that if I run out of a specific toiletry at home, I don’t replace it with something out of my travel DOPP kit. Why? Because more than likely I’ll forget to replace it on my next trip to Publix.

Don’t cheap out on hotels, and I also don’t believe in breaking the bank on one. When we travel our hotel room is normally the place that we end up back in the late afternoon or early evening. In all my years of travel, make that leisure travel I have never hung out around the hotel, just to hang out around the hotel.

Stay at the major chains, Hilton, Marriott, and La Quinta, you get the point. A hotel where the bed squeaks or there’s no hot water can set the tone for your whole vacation. And those incidents can happen at the major chains, but most of the time they’re prepared to resolve them.

You also want a hotel close to where you want to be. In 1983 I was dating a young lady and we decided to visit Disney World. Her aunt graciously offered us a place to stay…. In Ocala… 90 miles north of Disney World. We were in our early 20s’ and even at that young age, spending 3 hours in the car each day driving back and forth was less than desirable.

When it comes to food maybe the whole “Don’t Cheap Out” phrase doesn’t come into play, but don’t miss out on new food experiences. Skip the chains and go with the local specialties or offerings.

* Nashville, TN - Hot Chicken

* Austin, TX - BBQ of course

* Maryland - Crab cakes

* Syracuse, New York you’ve got to try the salt potatoes

Unsure of the local food favorite, try putting a Google on it or visit Yelp.

Here’s a great food travel tip - As we all know there are some amazing restaurants tucked inside hotels - such as The Sunset Terrace at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville or Todd English's Blue Zoo at the Swan & Dolphin here in Orlando. Rooms at hotels like that are expensive, but you don’t have to stay there to eat there. So book reservations for dinner or drinks you’ll get the same food and service as if you were staying there. Probably not the same level of service if you had booked the Presidential Suite….. But pretty close.

Finishing up with…. “Don’t cheap out on experiences.” This is the big one, and it’s one that can easily backfire on you in both directions. You can run the risk of paying for too little so that you don’t get the whole experience or you overpay and you’re left wondering “What did I just pay for?”.

So you have to find a balance, and in this case, let's pick on Universal Studios.

If you visit Universal Studios here in O-Town these are the top 5 rides.

* Jurassic World VelociCoaster

* Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

* Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

* Harry Potter and the Escape from who knows where or what, I’m not a Harry Potter fan.

* Revenge of the Mummy

Here’s the average wait time for those 5 rides.

* Jurassic World VelociCoaster 50 minutes

* Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey 40 minutes

* Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure 70 minutes

* Harry Potter and the Escape from again, from who knows where or what 45 minutes

* Revenge of the Mummy 22 minutes

That’s almost 4 hours of your day waiting in line for just those 5 rides, and that was the average wait time. If you come during what they call the “peak season” expect longer wait times.

There are close to 15 major rides at Universal Studios not to mention the additional shows, and shops plus you have to take time to eat.

In full disclosure, I am not a fan of theme parks. The thought of spending hours upon hours in lines waiting to ride a 3-minute ride isn’t for me. Spending $45.00 on lunch only to then do recon looking for a table where I can sit and enjoy my burger and chips, isn’t for me. Spending $25.00 to park each day…. Well, you get the point…. I’m not a fan of theme parks. 

In additional full disclosure, I rarely pay for theme park tickets. If you live in the O-Town area and are a Florida resident there are opportunities where you can volunteer and in turn be compensated for your time with theme park tickets.

Back to Universal Studios if you want to visit the price schedule is a bit confusing with 2-Park - 1 Day tickets or 2-Park - 3-Day PLUS tickets. Figure at minimum out of state will cost you $110.00 per day for a single park.

So if you don’t want to close to 4 hours of your day waiting line for just five rides enter the Universal Express Pass, which comes in two flavors.

Universal Express Unlimited Pass: Universal Studios Florida

Skip the regular lines at the most popular rides and attractions as many times as you want. Separate theme park admission is required. $109.99

Or

Universal Express Pass: Universal Studios Florida

Skip the regular lines at the most popular rides and attractions once per ride. Separate theme park admission is required. $79.99

Disney, of course, used to offer what they called the “Fast Pass” now the “Genie” program, with very similar pricing.

If Universal or Disney was a once-in-a-decade visit, and if I had children that fell into that Universal or Disney target market I would purchase the Express or Fast Pass tickets. Even if I had to delay the trip 6 or 12 months to afford it, those passes will create a memorable experience for the kids and you won’t have to listen to them complain as they wait in line after line.

PIC

Growing up I remember our trips to Yellowstone, our tours of Washington DC, and our hikes along the Appalachian Trail. But I can’t remember our first VCR, CD player, or microwave. Invest in experiences, not things.

Now not all is lost on cost as there are some inexpensive items….. Not cheap that can make travel more enjoyable.

* Foam earplugs - you’ll be sleeping in a new environment and you have no idea what ambient noises you’ll hear.

* ZipLock bags, are better than cheap because you probably already have them. They have multiple uses from storing wet clothes to make-shift ice packs.

* Believe it or not, if you have an AARP subscription or AAA membership they do offer so great travel deals at a discount.

* Nalgene makes a great very inexpensive kit of travel bottles all of which are TSA compliant.

* Packing cubes are still a great deal for under $25.00.

* Finishing up the list with luggage tags. One of those things you don’t realize that you need until you actually need them.

Here are two Travel Stories life lessons to sum this all up. 

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is…. Especially with travel. And one of my favorites, buy once cry once.

That’s it for things not to cheap out on when traveling, next episode on the docket is the March Crazy Travel Roundup.

 If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

A quick COVID update as I spent a few nights on the road since the last episode. One night was in Warner Robins, GA. At the Hilton Garden Inn, there was still a plexiglass riot shield across the check-in desk and the lone desk attendant was wearing a mask but there was a sign stating that if you were vaccinated wearing a mask was optional.

The next stop was Valdosta, GA where there were no plexiglass riot shields, none of the employees were wearing masks and strangers actually rode in the elevators together.

One interesting conversation that I had with the desk clerk Hank, was about the $10.00 property that Hilton now offers in lieu of free breakfast. It is for each person in your party and the $10.00 also applies to the day of check-in which means one free check-in beer.

We went on to talk about the future of this property credit that most road warriors despise. Hank says it’s here to stay as there are no plans to back to the Hilton Garden Inn complimentary made-to-order breakfast.

Onto the February crazy travel roundup.

This first story is a guarantee that there will continue to be entries for the monthly crazy travel roundup. Frontier, Spirit announce a merger creating one huge ultra-low-cost airline.

 From a podcast content standpoint, this gives existing Spirit customers new routes to display their charm, craziness as well political and COVID beliefs. 

From a business development standpoint, this might not be a bad thing. Frontier has about 3% of the air travel market while Spirit holds right around 2%. Individually they’ll never be able to take on the big four, but combined they might just might gain a bit of ground on the remaining 95% of the market. 

Smaller airline mergers are nothing new. Southwest Airlines did the same thing in 2011 when they merged with Airtran airlines after Airtran and ValuJet merged in 1997. 

Worse case, think of this as a giant discount mall in the sky.

I haven’t rented a car in almost so I’d like to think that I'm partly responsible for some of the rental car company's struggles over the past two years, more specifically Hertz’s struggles.

In May of 2020 Hertz, filed for bankruptcy. That same month Hertz, like most businesses in bankruptcy needed cash so they did as most of us would do if we needed cash Hertz sold stuff, more specifically Hertz sold off their fleet of 650-hp 2019 Z06 sunshine yellow Corvettes. 

After that supply chain struggles set in with a lack of inventory as travelers arrived at their destination only to find that their reservation, their reserved car wasn’t there. In the words of Jerry Seinfeld - Jerry: You see, you know how to *take* the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them.

Then their struggles expanded as Hertz began filing police reports charging customers with car theft after they rented its cars. Part of this was due to customers' credit cards being close to their credit limit and Hertz imposing a hold for the rental that then exceeded the customer's credit limit which somehow translates to car theft.

And then there’s Drew Seaser of Colorado. Hertz had Drew arrested for stealing a car that was rented in Georgia. Arrested despite the fact that Drew has never rented from Herts….. Or been to Georgia.

Apparently, there is a class action suit against Hertz over sending customers to jail for no good reason.

Earlier in February View From the Wing posted - Emergency Landing After American Airlines Crewmember Hit Erratic Passenger With Coffee Pot

Here’s the 30,000’ view - An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington National diverted to Kansas City after an “erratic” passenger tried to open the first-class aircraft door during the flight. In a perfect world this passenger gets immediately put on the federal nationwide no-fly list we talked about last month.

View From The Wing added, “Passengers assisted cabin crew in subduing the man. One flight attendant hit him with a coffee pot, causing him to bleed, while passengers held him.”

I’m willing to bet that the coffee pot was filled with anger. The flight attendant's anger of every unruly passenger that wouldn't fasten their seat belt, wouldn’t wear their mask, and destroyed the lavatory located next to the airplanes galleys.

Hats off to everyone involved.

Here’s another diverted flight, but not due to an unruly passenger. An AirAsia heading across Malaysia was diverted due to a snake. That’s right Samuel L Jackson a real MF’ing snake on an MF’ing real plane. The flight was diverted and no one was bitten. When asked for a comment the pilot replied, "This is a very rare incident which can occur on any aircraft from time to time,"

Something about the word rare and the phrase “from time to time” just doesn’t sit right with me. Here’s my take on snakes - there are two kinds of snakes, chicken snakes, and cobras. Either it has a chicken in its mouth or it's a cobra.

This comes to us from The Drive and it involves the “Thank you Florida” Orlando airport and a Florida Woman. Woman on Motorized Suitcase Sparks Police Chase Inside Florida Airport.

 Chelsea is the Florida Woman, and the reason I know her name is that the Orlando officer, Andrew Mamone, said it at least 20 times during the 3-minute video. Chelsea had been over-served and the gate attendant claimed she did not want somebody so intoxicated on the flight. After Officer Mamone arrived and attempted to calm things down, Chelsea flipped Officer Mamone the finger, called him a number of expletives, and then hopped on her suitcase and fled the scene.

Officer Mamone gave Chelsea every break in the book before they cuffed her and placed her in the back of the patrol car. Where she began ripping apart the car's headliner and allegedly going “big potty” in the back seat. Chelsea was eventually released from jail on a $13,500 bond and rode home on her suitcase.

While this next story isn’t completely travel-related it does involve a travel destination and two other biggies. Drunken, naked brawl breaks out at Disney World in wild scene, Thank you Florida, or maybe Jersey Shore after the highlights. 

The evening started with two sisters, from New Jersey, grabbing dinner at Disney Springs steakhouse (Probably STK Steakhouse) and then hitting an Irish pub for drinks (Probably Raglan Road).

When the sisters were ready to go back to their hotel they found that their phone died so a Disney security guard helped them call an Uber. The Uber driver refused to take them, saying they were too drunk, so the security guard called a taxi.

While they were waiting, the pair began arguing. The older sister called the younger sister a “bad mom” and slapped her, in return, the younger sister allegedly threatened to punch her.

The security manager said one female slapped the other in the face. “At that point, both females began punching, slapping, and pulling each other’s hair.”

The security manager pulled the two drunk women apart. But in true, trashy, reality-show fashion, they rushed at each other.

At which time the older sister slipped in the younger sister’s vomit, and then fell into the bushes. According to the security guard, the younger sister “ran a few feet away and took off her dress, exposing her breasts. Shortly after that, they began to punch each other again.”

The Sheriff’s arrived around 12:40 a.m. to find the younger sister screaming and crying near Cirque du Soleil. She was stripped down to only her underwear and sandals, according to court papers said.

The pair were arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence, battery, and disorderly intoxication. The state’s attorney’s office declined to pursue criminal charges. Each of the sisters, who didn’t sustain any injuries, also requested the other not be prosecuted.

When police questioned the younger sister, all she wanted to talk about was how she “didn’t like her sister’s boyfriend.”

Just remember no matter where you go in Florida to party there will always be some drunk girl alone, in the corner, crying.

It’s been said that you can tell a lot about a person based on how they dress. Well Wendi Aarons from McSweeney’s posted this - AIRPLANE PASSENGERS AS EXPLAINED BY THEIR PANTS

Honestly, there’s some truth in her post.

Wool Suit Pants: Will board before you.

Pleated Dockers: Will loudly talk on cell phone about ROIs and vertical markets.

Pajama Bottoms: Will be flying either to or from a city with a Señor Frog’s.

Sweatpants with Dallas Mavericks Logo: Will clog one or more bathrooms.

Stained Yoga Pants: Will be carrying a screaming child.

Stained Gymboree Pants: Will be a screaming child.

Jeans with Rhinestones: Will get wasted on tequila and Sprite and graze flight attendant’s boob.

Tight Black Stretch Pants: Will be a pharmaceutical sales rep named Morgan.

Camouflage Cargos: Carry-on is a styrofoam cooler sealed with duct tape.

Pink Sweatpants: Will laugh her ass off at the Adam Sandler in-flight movie.

Beige Slacks: Will nervously clutch book about how liberals are destroying America.

Swim Trunks: Will be escorted off plane by federal air marshal for doing something gross to the beverage cart.

Creased Jeans: Will be the federal air marshal.

Orange Jumpsuit: Did not pay for own flight.

Here’s this month's first entry from Live And Let’s Fly - MAN FACES PRISON AFTER URINATING IN GALLEY ON SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT

33-year-old Samson Hardridge needed to use the lavatory shortly after takeoff on a Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas to Burbank, CA.  Both lavatories were occupied so he stood in the galley to wait for one to open. Standing in the galley area is typically frowned upon by the flight crew, especially since they were preparing for the beverage service.

So they asked Hardridge to wait in the aisle. This didn’t sit well with Hardridge, so he answered their question by asking the two female flight attendants a question of his own, “Would they would like to see his penis?” As one could well guess they declined so Hardridge pulled it out anyway and urinated in a corner of the galley. After which he called the flight attendants “dumb b*****s.”

Next, the flight attendants asked that the plane immediately be diverted. The captain agreed and they headed to Albuquerque (ABQ) where Hardridge was arrested.

While it isn’t clear Hardridge was intoxicated he now faces a maximum fine of $250,000 and a jail sentence of 20 years. Stay tuned for more details.

One last entry from “Thank you Florida” dateline Orlando, Drunk man tased and tackled after attacking woman, children at Orlando International Airport

Ryan Martin, 34, from Yonkers, New York was at gate 46 where this incident unfolded.

Officers were called to United Airlines gate 46 for a report of a man who had just hit a woman and a United gate agent.

There’s a video. There’s always a video and more often than not it was shot in portrait mode. People this isn’t TikTok hold your phone horizontal.

Jessica Smith filmed the close to an 8-minute video where Martin can be heard screaming, “Are you (expletive) serious,” while inside the gangway prior to police arriving. Yes, he managed to open the gangway door.

When Martin eventually walks into camera view, he shouts, “Nobody touches me,” before adding, “I’m gonna put on a mother(expletive) show.” Well, Martin not only put on a show he was the star of it after officers deployed a stun gun and zapped him multiple times.

Apparently, this all started when Martin decided to day drink at the airport which then manifested into him pushing a woman and child and finished up with charges of child abuse, disorderly intoxication, domestic violence, battery, and resisting an officer with violence.

In case you were curious passengers in the gate area applauded when the officers arrived.

Remember, Florida, come on vacation, leave on probation.

In a recent The Points Guy post they asked Do business credit cards impact my credit score?

The article summed it up with this - If your business card activity — not just the hard inquiry for opening the account, but your actual account activity on an ongoing basis — appears on your personal credit report, it will have the same impact as the rest of your credit cards.

Here’s my take on business credit cards. I have one, and it’s safely stored away, I can’t remember the last time I used and for all, I know it may be past its expiration. The reason I don’t use it is that I don’t get any points. I’m not sure who gets them, but it isn’t me.

At my previous company, I didn’t travel much, but when I did they booked all my reservations. In 1990 there was no internet and booking travel required you to make several phone calls, airlines, hotel, and rental car company or you could make a single call to a travel agency. In my case, I called Betty at HQ and told her the destination and the dates and she took care of the reservations at the end of the month the company paid the bill, all I had to do was submit an expense report for my per diem..

Several years after I had moved an employee brought to light what was actually going on. It turns out that Betty was actually one of the VPs’ secretaries….. This was long before the title of administrative assistant. Well, Betty was booking all the travel through one specific travel agency and that specific travel agency was owned by the wife of the VP. Which in itself isn’t that bad, but it turned out that the VP was paying for all the travel with his own credit card and then submitting the expense reports for reimbursement…… and as you probably guessed by now, the VP was getting all the points

That’s it for the February Crazy Travel Roundup. Not sure what the next episode will be, but check back in two weeks.

 If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

A quick overnight road trip since our last episode, and it was in the form of an overnight antique road trip. 

We hit three stops in Ocala, FL

* Ocala Antique Mall and Estates

* Wilding’s Antiques

* Two Sisters Vintage Thrift.

From there it was Van Horn Antiques in McIntosh and that’s where we found a $15.00 cast iron three fried egg pan. I’m about three hours into its restoration which consisted of rust removal and reseasoning, more reseasoning, and still more reseasoning.

We finished up in Micanopy, FL the location where much of the 1991 movie Doc Hollywood was filmed. Micanopy is the true definition of a central Florida town.

* Antique City Mall - An auction was taking place, and that was the first time in years that we’ve seen something like that. I left with a handful of railroad spikes that will eventually become part of a rustic wine rack. Again, several hours into this project with several more hours ahead.

Leaving Micanopy it was an hour north to Lake City, FL our stop for the evening. In Lake City, we found Two Fat Guys Burgers & Fries. One of the best road food burgers that I’ve ever eaten. If you stop in make sure to order the “Garlic Parmesean” fires… they will not disappoint.

That evening we stayed at the Lake City Hampton Inn. This is a location that I have driven past for the better part of 13 years but had never stopped at. This was a typical Hampton Inn, with plenty of parking, clean rooms, and a snack at check-in. What was odd was at breakfast we had to ring a bell so that an employee could come out from the back to dish out our food. Safe to say that we went across I-75 to the McDonalds.

The random show rears its head at least semi-annually. The reason is that there is a bunch of travel information that I can’t dedicate a whole episode to, and it’s too mundane to make the monthly crazy travel roundup.

Let’s start with a question. Are you a travel snob? I asked this question almost 100 episodes ago.  And recent incident brought this back to mind.

I recently used Hilton points to book The Entrepreneur a night away from home. When he made it back home the first thing he said was, “Did anyone from the hotel call you?” Not the first thing you want to hear when you booked someone a hotel room in your name. My reply…. WHY?. I’m known to say, “Don’t answer a question with a question” but I believe that my reply was justified. The Entrepreneur then went on to explain that as he was checking out an employee approached him asking about his stay. The Entrepreneur followed the employee over to what he thought was the check-out desk….. But only it wasn’t the check-out desk it was the Hilton’s Timeshare desk and The Entrepreneur was trapped. Long story short The Entrepreneur explained that I had booked the room, Tommy Timeshare took my Hilton reward number and did at least deposit 500 points into my account.

So this is where the whole travel sob theme crept back into my head…. I never ever check out of a hotel. I don’t stop by the front desk for a receipt and I normally don’t remove the “Do Not Disturb” placard from my door. I might electronically checkout via the app like I said might…. But this doesn’t make me a travel snob.

It's the same thing with my rental. I fill it up with gas pull into the Hertz lot, wave at the attendant, and go about my business.

I fly Southwest Airlines, there is nothing snobby about Southwest or as Outgoing CEO Doug Parker puts it “go fly the cattle car”.

Maybe I’m a travel snob, who knows, who cares, but I need to spend more time with The Entrepreneur on hotel etiquette, …. Walk with purpose, and don’t make eye contact.

One of the travel-blogosphere websites posted - 6 things I look for in a hotel when traveling with my young family

 Ashley Onadele’s was as follows - 

* Safety and cleaning protocols

* Family-focused amenities

* Dining options, including room service

* Personalized service

* Room size

* Something for parents, too

Here’s my take - and in full disclosure, all my young kids can drive and buy alcohol.

Safety and cleaning protocols - We’re all concerned with this, but it comes down to what a hotel actually does, not what they say they do…. And honestly, you’ll never truly know.

Family-focused amenities - Sure if you’re in Orlando or Anaheim, but if you’re in Knoxville, TN, it’s time to get creative, and that falls on you… Mom & Dad or Dad & Dad or Mom & Mom.

Dining options, including room service - Think Yelp or UberEats. Most hotel dining facilities have a very limited menu and after 22 years of traveling… room service is for the birds.

Personalized service - Short of staying at a resort, good luck with this. This is up to each individual. For me “Personalized Service” means that no one calls my room minutes after I walked in to make sure everything was ok. Some people love that stuff, not me.

Room size - King bed, two queen or two double beds most hotel rooms are the same size. If you’re that concerned look for the word “suite” in the description.

Something for parents, too - Ha, you’re traveling with young kids what could you possibly be planning?

From the “This Actually Makes Sense” department I give you this - Delta CEO Ed Bastian wrote a letter to Attorney General asking the Justice Department to set up a national “no-fly list” for unruly passengers. Bastain added that close to 2,000 of their previous passengers had already been placed on the airline’s own list.

This is way overdue! Combine those databases, cross-reference, and classify passengers into three groups. 

* First-time flyer

* Fly

* No-fly

If your behavior causes a flight delay - No Fly. If your behavior requires flight attendant, pilot, and possibly passenger intervention - No Fly. If your behavior requires you to be escorted off a plane - No Fly. You get the point. This isn’t an invasion of anyone’s privacy, this is being held accountable for your behavior.

Thank you, HuffPost for yet another list - Vacation Habits That Are Secretly Stressing You Out

* Overplanning/Underplanning

* Skipping Meals

* Being Too Stringent With Itineraries

* Checking Your Work Email

* Comparing Your Trip To Other People’s Travels

* Ditching Your Self-Care Habits

* Only Booking The Cheapest Options

* Not Understanding Your Budget

* Setting Unrealistic Expectations

* Overplanning/Underplanning 

* You do need to plan, especially if you’re spending your family's earned money. However, you have to find a balance that works not only for you but for your family. No one wants to hear “I’m bored” 10 minutes after check-in.

* Skipping Meals

* Honestly, I have no idea how this happens. Sort of like leftover pizza, I can’t relate. When traveling I will book hotels near great food establishments.

* Being Too Stringent With Itineraries

* When the CEO and I travel for pleasure we have a loose itinerary. If it’s a road trip we know we have to be in certain places at certain times for our hotel reservations, but it’s never we’ll be at the Atlanta Aquarium from 10 - 12 and then the World of Coke from 12:15 to 3.

* Checking Your Work Email

* I’m connected 24/7, but it’s by my choice. I look at it like this - I set me out of office to include “with limited access to email & voicemail”. But if it’s something that I can resolve in just a few minutes I’ll do it…. The reason it is one less thing that I have to do once I get back to work.

* Comparing Your Trip To Other People’s Travels

* Not looking to be a travel snob, but none of my friends have ever made Tallahasse Florida a travel destination. In addition, the comparison is the thief of joy.

* Ditching Your Self-Care Habits

* Whatever current self-care habits I’m attempting to accomplish, I will try to hold true while traveling.

* Only Booking The Cheapest Options and Not Understanding Your Budget

* In life, most things come down to money, and travel is no different. Even when traveling on points, I still weigh the value of cashing in points against the cost of a hotel room. The exception is that I will normally use points for flights.

* Setting Unrealistic Expectations

* Thank you Instagram and Facebook. The travel posts we often see are staged, they take time, multiple shots, and often involve Photoshop. As corny as it sounds….. Just be in the moment, hike your own hike, or you be you…. Pick your own mantra…… and honestly, 5 minutes after someone looks at pictures from your last exotic trip… they won’t remember it.

Another HuffPost article focused on this - Mistakes At The Airport That Are Costing You Money.

They selected these as their top 9 mistakes - 

* Paying For Expensive Parking

* Airport parking isn’t cheap, I’ve seen expense reports where the daily parking fee was over $40.00 per day. If you have time and want to save some dollars try Park & Fly or the Parking Spot.

* Spending Too Much On Checked Bags

* Airlines charge for baggage, it’s a revenue stream. Your credit card may provide one of two free bags, but if you’re flying a discount airline baggage fees is where they narrow that gap on the P&L.

* Going Shopping

* Short of a shot glass or a t-shirt the airport is a very expensive place to buy that last-minute birthday gift.

* Packing The Wrong Things In Your Carry-On

* If you don’t know what you don’t know…… visit TSA.gov.

* Not Being Strategic About Snack Purchases

* Again visit TSA.gov for guidelines.

* Missing Out On Free Amenities

* Possibly your credit card might give you some freebies, but short of the bathrooms and a meditation room there’s little else free at the airport.

* Booking A More Expensive Rental Car

* Why why why would you ever book an expensive rental? All they can do is downgrade you. If you book middle of the road you just might get an upgrade.

* Overlooking Free Or Cheap Public Transportation

* If you’re in a major city you can always weigh the value/hassle of taking a bus, train, or rideshare to the airport.

* Not Budgeting For Unexpected Costs

* We’ve talked about this before…. The unexpected costs of getting everyone back home due to weather, COVID, or flight cancellations.

Here’s a quick one from View From The Wing - You Should Inspect That Airline Blanket Before Using It

The post was accompanied by a 9-second video from Jamari Traylor in which his blanket showed evidence of…. Who knows what. Never ever do you use an airline blanket, even if it’s wrapped in plastic. So here’s a tip if you tend to get cold while flying drop $20.00 on a packable blanket.

This next story requires a bit of setup. 

Last week in the mail, the actual mail we received the Disney Rewards Insider newsletter. 

On page (4) there’s an article “Become Part of the Story on Star Wares: Galactic Starcruiser. 

The article describes this first-of-its-kind experience where you can interface with characters as you’re immersed in a different world. And of course, the article finished up with Disney letting me know I could save 10% on purchases of $50.00 or more if I used my Disney Visa Card.

In episode 147 What Else Is There To Do In Florida?

We talked about the Disney Star Wars-themed Galactic Starcruiser hotel pricing.

For a two-night stay, prices ranch from $4,809 for two guests in a cabin to $5,999 for four guests (three adults, one child). I’m still perplexed by three adults and one child, maybe someone from the Mouse House can give me a call and clear that up.

That is a ton of money for a 2-night stay, even for the Star Wars Nerds….. 

Earlier in the month Live And Let’s Fly posted  - DISNEY WORLD ROASTED OVER ASTRONOMICAL STAR WARS HOTEL

 Galaxy’s Edge is treated as an immersive experience where there are no mentions of the rest of the park, prices for goods are referred to as “credits” and Disney cast members refer to being “on” or “off-planet.”  Oh boy

It seems that the immersive part of the stay even goes as far as to transport visitors to the Galactic Starcruiser. 

Seems cool right? Well, it seems that the transport mode is a converted box truck. And as you can well imagine the internet responded with pictures of box trucks mocked up with graphics proclaiming Galactic Starcruiser sponsored by U-Haul. 

In case you didn’t know Universal Studios is less than 10 miles away from Disney and they posted a great tweet - 

A picture of a Univeral Studios box truck with the caption - Get in, folks. We're goin' to Universal!

I know that Disney is much smarter than I am, but this seems to be narrow-casting when it comes to the market, especially for a two-day stay at a single park.

I’ve said it in the past, I didn’t get the Star Wars chips when I was born, I’ve never seen any of the movies and I don’t understand the passion that people have for Star Wars.

I guess this is in a galaxy far, far away….…from reality.

Let's finish up by spending a few minutes talking about Southwest Airlines. 

On the day of this episode's release, February 16th Beer, wine, and hard liquor will once again be offered during Southwest flights longer than 176 miles. For all you hoarders out there Southwest added, “Customers may redeem any Southwest Drink Coupon that was set to expire in 2020 or 2021 for an alcohol beverage through Dec. 31, 2022.” Not a bad deal.

View From The Wing posted Nearly 1 In 6 Southwest Passengers Are Flying Using Points

This makes sense since no one has really been flying over the past 24 months, yet almost every one of us is still using the Southwest credit card so we’re still earning points.

And speaking of the Southwest credit card this grinds my gears. For the past 5 years, I’ve been a Southwest Chase cardholder and companion pass member. Enter 2022 and I no longer have the companion pass but plan to keep the Southwest Chase card.

But here’s the latest Southwest Chase credit card offer I received - 

Headline - 

New Southwest Credit Card Offers Companion Pass For All

This is a promotion for all of its consumer credit cards (not their business cards) that requires $5,000 in spending within three months of opening any Southwest Airlines branded cards. 

If you hit that gate, you receive the Companion Pass through February 28th, 2023 plus an award of 30,000 bonus points deposited into your Rapid Rewards account.

Ahhhhhh, what about all your loyal existing customers? I pay my bill off every month so Chase isn’t making bank on the interest rate from me. Seriously, I’m already your customer.

We talked about having the CEO take a new card out in her name, but then I’ve got the hassle of using her card to book travel and all the points ending up in her account and not mine. It’s still on the table, but I wish that Southwest would drop the companion pass requirements based on the length of time you’ve had the companion pass.

That’s it for this edition of the random show, next episode on the docket is the February Crazy Travel Roundup.

 If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

A bit of travel since our last episode, and it was in the form of a 9-day road trip. Headed up into the North Georgia Mountains for a few days and then over to Pittsburg, TN, which is a fancy term for just north of Chattanooga. And here’s a quick travel tip for you… if Waze offers you an alternative route, just go with it, even if you know where you’re going. Coming out of the mountains south on 985 Waze suggested that I get off at exit 4 and take the backroads to I-85. Inside my mallet-headed brain, I said to myself, “I know where I’m going, so I’ll hold true to my route”. Moments later I was stuck in a 3-mile backup that took me an hour to get through.

The next stop was Nash-Vegas for a few days, and that lead to a meal at Martin’s BBQ. The CEO and I have dined at their downtown location, but this stop was on the West End. I started with their Mac-N-Cheese, almost as good as mom’s and that was accompanied with their brisket tacos, which was a true taste sensation. Smoked brisket, melted cheese, and cilantro encased in a grilled tortilla. Nothing not to like.

The next night it was the Hampton Inn in Lawrenceville Ga where UberEats delivered my dinner to the Homewood Suites across the parking lot. Katlyn, you lost a star on that delivery.

The last night was at the DoubleTree Atlanta Airport. Those warm DoubleTree chocolate cookies are still as good as it. When I first began traveling if you were Hilton Diamond they gave you a tin with either a half, or full dozen of those cookies, at check-in. Somehow that tin always made it home less than full.

One revelation on this trip was that I’m actually a fan of Bu-cees Travel Stops. Since their expansion into the Southern United States, I’ve stopped a few times but I would drive past if I knew there was a Pilot of FlyingJ at the next exit. During this 9-day road trip, I stopped at least three times. On my Sunday visit, I spent probably close to an hour taking in all that Bu-cees greatness. The greatness goes well beyond their wall of beef jerky and famous;y clean bathrooms.

They sell Lodge cast iron cookware. As well as sandals, socks, firepits, and coolers. If you go don’t leave without one of their brisket tacos.

My revolution was further solidified this past Sunday I watched a segment on Bu-cees during CSB Sunday Morning from my hotel room in Live Oak, Florida.

This month opens up with this - Man Blames “Turbulence” For Fondling Seatmate On United Flight” OK, I’m listening because this has to be good.

From justice.gov.

Ivan Lopez, Jr., age 26, is charged with sexually assaulting another passenger onboard a commercial flight

According to court documents, it is alleged that Lopez was a passenger on a flight from Las Vegas to Washington Dulles. During the flight, the passenger seated next to Lopez fell asleep. and she awoke to Lopez repeatedly rubbing her right breast. The passenger allegedly yelled at Lopez and he moved to the back of the aircraft, where he allegedly admitted to a flight attendant that he sexually assaulted the woman. First, you have to love the word allegedly. Second, this is where Lopez begins the ol’ “bait and switch”.

Lopez later told the flight attendant that he had a disability, which prompted his action. Would it have been actions if he had rubbed both breasts?

By the time the flight landed at Dulles, Lopez’s story had changed. He told the FBI that he wanted to get the woman’s attention because he was wanted to know what she was listening to on her headphones. Sure

Lopez added that when he attempted to tap her on the shoulder, the aircraft hit turbulence and his hand fell upon her breast instead of her shoulder. This reminds me of the old Resse’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial - You got peanut butter in my chocolate. And you got chocolate in my peanut butter. Either way, Mr. Lopez you can’t go around touching strangers, it makes you a pervert, and people don’t like it no matter what you saw on the internet.

We haven’t checked in on the TSA for a while and it just so happens that they released their list of “Top 10 Catches Of 2021”

10 - Bullets in deodorant (Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey)

9 - Antique pistol (Newark International Airport)

8 - Meth burrito – (Hobby International Airport in Texas)

7 - Gun belt buckle (Honolulu International Airport)

6 - A meat cleaver (Harrisburg International Airport)

5 - Bear spray (Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport)

4 - Machete (Reagan Washington National)

3 - Fireworks (Syracuse Hancock International) 

2 - A wine holder shaped like a gun (Sacramento International Airport)

1 - Chainsaw (New Orleans International Airport)  

First, if I was playing TSA Bingo I would not have yelled B-I-N-G-O. Second I knew “thank-you Florida” would be on the list somewhere. Third “Meth Buritto” sounds like a code name or some sort of a kinky sex move. Here’s a quick travel tip,  it’s shaped like a gun or bullet, even if it isn’t an actual gun or bullet you can’t carry it on. I had a friend carrying a cigar punch that was fashioned out of a bullet. He got popped and lost a $30.00 cigar punch.

In 2021, nearly 5,700 firearms were confiscated at TSA security checkpoints. The highest number of seized weapons ever reported. Of those seized 85% were loaded, which makes since an unloaded gun does you little good. Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston were the top 3 airports for firearm seizure.

One of the travel-sphere websites “The Gate”  recently asked, Is Vehicle Parking Becoming a New Revenue Stream For Hotels?

In my opinion, the answer is a resounding “YES”. I understand paying for parking if I’m staying downtown, near an airport, or at a boutique hotel. I don’t agree with it, but I grudgingly accept it.  During this last road trip, I paid for parking 3 out of the 9 days, and one of the hotels was not one that typically charges for parking. To pile on with this I was traveling with a co-worker, and I was in effect his Uber since he was riding shotgun….. He had a $64.00 charge for parking on his receipt. I know that parking lots require maintenance, but bake an extra dollar or two in the daily room rate.

View From the Wing gave us this, “Passenger Violates American Airlines Rules By Wearing A Space Helmet”

A woman heading from Charlotte to Fayetteville, North Carolina was wearing a ‘space helmet’ over her mask. Side note - this is a 118-mile flight, basically up and then back down. 

When I first read this I thought, this is better than a mask…. Why the controversy? Well, airlines have policies not just on what you have to wear but also on what you cannot wear. Most of these policies are often not widely publicized. 

According to American Airlines, they ban personal face tents, body tents and pods, personal air purifiers, and ozone generators. They consider this ' recreational equipment’.

View From The Wing added - you're supposed to remove your mask before putting on an oxygen mask if one falls from the cabin ceiling. But having to remove a helmet first could cause it to take you too long, even more so if you need to place your own oxygen mask on before helping someone else.

My take-away was this was a passenger looking to make it all about them, aka a space cadet.

Here’s another story that focuses centers around, what you cannot wear on an American Airlines flight. Olivia Culpo asked to ‘put on a blouse’ before her flight to Mexico. When I saw this two things came to mind - 

* Who is Olivia Culpo?

* What was she wearing?

Apparently, Olivia Culpo is a former Miss Universe and a Sport’s Illustrated model in addition to being a quote-unquote social media influencer. OK, I get it, I think.

She was wearing a long black cardigan, bralette, and shorts. OK, I guess, and I say “I guess” because there’s no way in hell that I would ever comment on the appropriateness of what one is wearing. Long story short Olivia ended up wearing a grey hoodie and was allied to board the flight.

But wait there’s more, there’s always more. While in Mexico Oliva trolled American Airlines using Instagram with posts such as “Please use caution while using the overhead bins as items may have shifted during flight.” alongside pictures of her wearing a dress that consisted of two pieces of fabric held together with shoelaces from her boyfriend's high top sneakers. 

We’re heading into the “From The Department Of” part of this month's episode. 

From the department of - I just watched the 1981 movie Porkys and my dad lent me his car, I give you this. Maskless Delta Passenger Faces 20 Years In Prison For Mooning Flight Attendant, Throwing Can - 

From ABC via Twitter - A Delta passenger faces 20 years in prison after he allegedly refused to wear a mask, went to first-class and mooned a flight attendant, put his hat on the captain's head, and then threw a soda can at another passenger. Shane McInerney is out on a $20,000 bond.

It’s doubtful that Shane will see anything close to 20 years, I’m guessing a fine and probation. However, I would expect nothing less than mooning from someone named Shane. Side note Shane is Irish, and as we all know an Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold on to the floor.

From the department of - “I’m the captain now” I give you this, American Airlines Passenger Breaks Into Cockpit, Damages Flight Controls.

An American Airlines passenger ran down the jet bridge and onto the aircraft, and straight into the cockpit, Remember when you enter an airplane you’re supposed to turn right, not left.

Once in the cockpit, he damaged some of the flight controls. Next, a pilot in the cockpit tried to stop him, at which point the passenger tried to jump out of the open cockpit window.

This took place in Honduras on a flight headed to Miami, thank you Florida. The flight was delayed for close to 8 hours as the passengers waited for a replacement plane. I’m not a world traveler, but I’m willing to bet that Honduras isn’t where American Airlines has a hanger filled with their replacement planes.

Honestly, in cases like this, I’m all for some tarmac justice right around hour three…. Let the remaining passengers be judge and jury.

Finally from the “My lawyer can beat up your lawyer” department, I end with this. “Not Guilty: Passenger Too Drunk To Be Responsible For Assaulting Flight Attendants”

William Clegg, 33, is cleared of assaulting the BA cabin crew after taking sleeping pills and drinking three glasses of wine and Baileys and apologizes for headbutting a flight attendant. 

Mr. Clegg's defense was that his conduct on the flight was caused by combining alcohol with two Ambien tablets - the side effects of which he was unaware.

Clegg went on to add, 'If somebody told me - or had I read the leaflet - and it said there was a one in a million chance of this happening, I would not have taken the pills,'.

Clegg is a banker so he’s not a total mallet-head, but how did he not know that this was going to end badly….. Maybe it was the Bailey’s that put him over the edge.

For those of you that still believe that “planedrankin” is fun as well as romantic, I have a bit of bad news, especially if you fly Southwest as they have extended their alcohol ban through at least spring of 2022. According to Southwest, the reason for the extension is the rampant virus spread. Seriously? You still have contact between flight attendants and passengers as they serve other beverages and snacks. Personally, I think Southwest has gotten used to the reduction in alcohol-fueled incidents, besides they have their hands full with the vaxxers vs. the antimaskers.

There you have it, the first crazy travel roundup of 2022. The next episode will focus on things not cheap out when traveling.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Following up on the COVID-influenced holiday travel season between New Years Day and Monday, January 3rd more than 8,000 flights in the United States were canceled, that’s right around 1 in 10 flights.

I had a friend in town for a New Year’s visit with plans to fly out at 3:00 PM Sunday the 2nd. He just so happened to be awake around 1:00 AM Sunday morning when he got the text…… his 3:00 PM flight was canceled, thankfully he was awake as it gave him a several-hour head start on rebooking for his family of four. 

Long story short in the middle of the night he booked himself and his wife on the last flight out of Orlando back home, and he booked the other half of his family on a late afternoon flight back home out of Tampa roughly an hour and a half car ride away.

Mid-morning he loaded up the rental and headed West on I-4 towards Tampa. Halfway there he tried Southwest one last time and there were two open seats on an earlier flight out of Orlando so he rebooked his kids on that flight and headed back towards Orlando. To end the saga the kids got home by midnight while he and his wife made the 10:00 PM flight and were back home by 3:00 AM.

So here are a few takeaways from all this.

* First, don’t sleep while on vacation otherwise, you might miss a 1:00 AM text from the airlines. Just kidding, but be aware. My friend had been following the news and knew that holiday travel was quickly going sideways.

* Make sure you have your airline’s app loaded on your phone. If your flight gets canceled fire up the app and at the same time call them along with everyone else. Over the holiday’s airline hold times were close to 3 hours.

* Book on the first flight that becomes available. Why? Because now at least you have a seat, and that’s your focus.

* Finally, keep checking back with the airlines because as people rebook seats will become available, You rebook, and then your seat becomes available. Think of it as paying it forward only not at Starbucks but with the airlines.

Since we’re talking about COVID-influenced travel what does one do? For me, I make sure I have a steady supply of masks and maybe some hand sanitizer and that’s about it.

However, if you’re planning some big National Lampoon’s Vacation style vacation here are some things to consider. In full transparency, I’m not breaking any new ground with these tips.

* Research - find out the COVID rules, restrictions, guidelines for your destination, especially if you’re leaving the country.

* The late 2021 early 2022 equivalent to toilet paper in 2020 is COVID home or self-tests. Find some and test everyone before you leave and pack the remaining ones in your luggage as you never know when you’ll need them. And you can always sell them for some quick cash.

* Be flexible, don’t book your return flight to land the night or even the day before the day you need to be back home for work, school, jury duty, or whatever. Give yourself a day of margin just in case.

* I’m not a big believer in travel insurance and that’s probably because I’ve never spent a small fortune on a family vacation…. Guilty. If you can find travel insurance that covers or includes COVID disruptions that might not be that bad of an idea.

* The last thing I’d do would be to make sure that I had access or availability to money. The reason? If you’ve got a whole family that you’re trying to rebook on flights, while at the same time working on extending your hotel for another day, possibly two days and then there’s that rental car. When you’re under all that pressure, combined with the possibility of a spouse or significant other offering their advice, and oh yeah the whining and complaining that is not the time you want to try and remember whether or not you’ve got any room left on your credit card.

So onto my 2022 Travel Resolutions.

Right off the bat over the past 24 months, my travel is down, way down. From a high, including vacations, of 248 nights away from home in 2019, to last year’s low of 40. That decrease in travel has carried over to a decrease in points and miles that I can use.

For 2022 I’m keeping with two credit cards - the Hilton American Express, for hotels, rental cars as well as everyday items around Chateau’ Relaxo. And the Southwest Chase card for Southwest flights.

If you follow any of the travel blogosphere websites, especially this time of year, you read post after post detailing strategies to hit the next level in your selected hotel or airline loyalty program.

For most baby roadwarriors hitting a new level in a loyalty program is a great travel resolution. In my case, this doesn’t make sense… the reason my airline of choice is Southwest, and more than likely I’ll make at least A+ if I don’t make A-List Preferred. I’ve looked at trying to hit the companion pass this year and short or paying my mortgage and car payment through some 3rd party service as well as sending a child, my own, or someone else’s back to college I don’t see any way to hit this.

For hotel loyalty, I’m lifetime diamond or platinum with both Hilton and Marriott, and the thought of chasing points with IHG has absolutely no appeal to me.

My 2022 travel resolutions are along the lines of this.

Record at least one or two episodes on the road. 

* This should be doable as I’ve got an Atlanta, Chattanooga Nashville trip booked. At least one, possibly two trips to Texas beyond that and I know I’ll continue to travel the state. 

Get the CEO back on an episode or two. 

* It’s been well over a year since her last appearance and she’s been stuck with me being home a lot, a whole lot. Plus we did get to make a few trips together during 2021 and it might be interesting to hear her take on air travel, hotels, and food on the road mid-pandemic.

One or at least two family vacation trips -

*  No Southwest companion pass for the flight so these will all be on points

The first is the Kentucky Bourbon Trail This is a trip we had planned in 2020 and still haven’t been able to pull the trigger on it.

* Fly into Cincinnati

* Head southwest to Louisville

* Rabbit Hole

* Angels Envy

* Mitchners

* Old Foresters - 1910 & 1920

The other trip would be to Washington DC. Our last visit there was December 2021 for the burial of my father-in-law at Arlington. 

Before that, we did a family trip there in 2012 and just barely scraped the surface. In the early 1970s, we lived outside DC and spent many weekends touring the area, but I’d like to go back and spend a day or two inside the Smithsonian as well as touring the FBI headquarters 50 years later. From there we could drive out to Mt Vernon. I’m a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and just outside Mt Vernon is the Woodlawn & Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House which I would love to tour.

Still want to spend time in Jacksonville, which is less than 2-hours away. 

* Florida Salt Marshes and Wildlife Preserve

* This wildlife preserve provides birds and other animals with nesting and feeding locations. Here, you’ll apparently come across crocodiles, turtles, manatees, raccoons, and more.

* Riverside Arts Market - I love a good community market, be it farmers, arts & crafts, or beer brewers

* Every Saturday along the St. Johns River local artisans, craft makers, artists, and local farmers get together and offer the best of what they have.

*  The Jax Ale Trail

* Who knew, but Jacksonville is one of Florida’s biggest beer destinations with more than 19 craft breweries. Somehow I figured either O-Town or St. Pete would hold this honor, but apparently not. This is a  self-guided tour complete with the Jax Ale Trail Passport which gets stamped for each beer you drink along the trail.

* Sweet Pete’s Candy

* Yep, a candy store. But it’s a  candy store that was featured on the CNBC show The Profit. 

I’d like to post some videos, and I’ve said this in the past. 

* The challenge is I have no idea what to film. In 2021 I began filming hotel rooms and their COVID preparedness. This lost all appeal after the third or fourth room. The reason was that every room was identical. There was the break the seal stick across the door, several packages of sanitizing wipes, and most TV remotes came with their own condom. Plus it never seems that I’m in the right place at the right time when someone melts down. Honestly in my heart of hearts, I don’t think I could film someone on what could be the worst day of their life. I’ll watch it, but doubt I could film it.

I want to find at least one cool new piece of travel gear or app this year.

* Not a piece of luggage, not a jacket, or even a new backpack, I’m satisfied with what I use. When wireless travel routers came out they were a game-changer. Same thing with noise-canceling headphones. This year I’m in search of a gadget, or app that makes me go “WOW” how did I ever travel without this. 

I plan to keep eating local. Since I’m traveling less this is more important than ever. This past weekend The Entrepreneur went to Nashville and one afternoon I get this text, “Where’s a good steakhouse?” My reply, Stoney River or Jimmy Kelly’s. I’m not anti-corporate-run restaurants. Their strong point is also their weak point. Everything is the same, a Bloomin Onion from Outback will taste the same in Greenville, SC as it does in Baltimore, MD.

If you stick to the chains you’re missing out on some true food adventures.

* The White Duck Taco Shop in Asheville, NC. Order the Thai Peanut tacos.

* Need a burger when you’re in Chattanooga? Then it’s Slick’s Burgers.

* If you’re in Mississippi you need to sample some Mississippi catfish and that means a visit to Penn’s Fish House. Make sure to order extra hush puppies.

Maybe it’s time to revisit my old Off The Eaten Path episodes and give them an update.

In addition to eating local, it’s important to drink local. Micro-Breweries are popping up all over, and if you’re a beer drinker you should visit one and order a beer flight. We have several breweries close by and just down the road from Chateau’ Relaxo is Fox Valley Farms, Fox Valley is a hopyard, and last fall they invited close to a dozen local brewers to offer up their best brew, let us then sample and cast a vote for our favorite. The catch was that all the beer had to be brewed using Fox Valley hops. 

There are also some things I resolve not to do - and this is well beyond the normal things such as….

* Don’t overpack

* Don’t wander aimlessly around a town you are not familiar with

* Don’t get hammered and forget which hotel I’m staying at

I’m talking about resolutions beyond common sense.

I resolve not to go on a cruise. I find it fascinating how fanatical cruisers are, so fanatical that they want to spread the cruise gospel to everyone. For me, if I come across a great destination I’m not that keen on sharing it with the masses. Why…. because the masses will ruin it. The Arizona story.

I’ve been on a cruise, one cruise and that was enough. Yes, there’s plenty to do. Yes, there’s plenty of food but you’re still stuck on a boat, you can’t go home, you can’t explore on your own timeline. The only thing that held my interest was the shows, but there’s only so much of that, that a person can take. 

I resolve not to stay at a hotel that I don’t get points for, or that I’m not a member of their loyalty program. This one isn’t completely in my control. Yes, I book most of my own travel so for the most part I’m in control of this. However, throw in a rogue conference where the hotel is pre-booked or part of the conference and I’ll be scrambling to join their loyalty program. Even if it’s 100 or 200 points I’m joining. Many of these programs, even if you’re at the entry-level, will provide free WiFi, free breakfast, whatever that looks like nowadays, or complimentary snacks at check-in.

If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/.

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau/ Relaxo.

First let's start this episode with some numbers, 309, 240, 123, and 92 no this isn’t some brain teaser I found posted on Facebook it’s the number of flights canceled by Delta, United, Jet Blue, and American Airlines on Christmas day, Almost 800 flights from four carriers canceled just on Christmas day. Imagine being out of town with plans of enjoying the holidays only to find yourself having to rebook flights along with everyone else that decides to fly over the holidays.

By mid-afternoon Tuesday, December 28, another 1000 flights had been canceled. On Saturday New Year’s 2400 flights were scrapped.

There’s a reason road warriors avoid the airports from December 22nd till January 2nd. 

Road warriors understand the variables, the volume of passengers, most of which are not accustomed to the ebb and flow of the airport, the unpredictable weather, this year a bit on the warm side and then throw in a pandemic with a side order of a third world variant there are too many chances for something to go sideways.

If I had to travel this time of year I’d have a backup plan to get home that didn’t involve an airplane. 

As expected, the travel craziness increased this past month. For the monthly crazy travel roundup, I monitor, daily, around 6 travel blog sites such as Live and Let’s Fly or The Points Guy. Side Note - Most of the big or heavily visited travel blog sites are subsidized by credit card companies, so keep that in mind if you follow any of the credit card recommendations.

I also follow BoingBoing, TMZ (who doesn’t), and of course the local Florida news outlets. 

From those sources, if I see something of interest it gets bookmarked and then revisited during show prep for the episode. This month, I had over 90 posts bookmarked, even with some of them being duplicates, that’s conservatively 2 ½ crazy travel stories each and every day during December.  

Safe to say we won’t be hitting all 90, but hopefully only the craziest of crazy.

For this first story, we have to get in the way-back machine to May 23rd, 2021. This was the beginning of the Vaxxers vs the Anti-Maskers. On May 23 Vyvianna M. Quinonez was on a Southwest flight from Sacramento to San Diego.

As the plane was making its final descent, a flight attendant asked Quinonez to put her facemask on properly, fasten her seat belt, and put her tray table back up. 

Quinonez responded by punching the flight attendant in the face resulting in - 

* Three chipped teeth, resulting in two teeth later being replaced by crowns.

* Bruised and swollen left eye.

* A cut under her left eye, requiring three stitches

* And a bruise in the shape of fingers on her right forearm.

Late December, Quinonez pleaded guilty to a felony charge of interfering with a flight crew and 

admitted punching the attendant in the face with her "closed fist" and grabbing her hair. 

If you didn’t know, doing anything on a plane that results in an arrest also results in federal charges.  Typically federal charges make me think 5 or 10 years behind bars if found guilty. In this case, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of four months in federal prison and six months in home confinement. That’s it, 4 months behind bars and 6 months quarantined at home, like we’ve all been doing for the last 20 months. How about letting the flight attendant take a closed fist shot at Quinonez‘s face followed by a quick hair pull.

From BoingBoing and the department of  “Not Everything That’s Crazy Happens In Florida” I give you - Gentleman in a clown mask plowed a limousine through Vegas airport gates to steal a jet to fly into Area 51 and meet the extraterrestrials.

So the clown man believes in the theory that extraterrestrials are being held at a secretive military base inside Area 51. After crashing the gate clown man stopped near a parked jet and allegedly told Atlantic Aviation employees "I have a f***ing bomb. I'm going to blow this place up,". 

Cops arrived detained the clown man after which he told them that he had a gasoline device and shotgun in his car,

A search of the suspect's car revealed there was a device similar to an oxygen tank and what appeared to be a fire extinguisher with heavy-gauge wiring wrapped around it and a wooden platform, which looked similar to a possible explosive device.

There are a couple of things that pop up immediately. First no mention of alcohol, surprising right.

Second, this guy seems stable so why didn’t he try to book a flight on Janet Airlines which is the highly classified fleet of passenger aircraft operated for the United States Department of the Air Force as an employee shuttle to transport military and contractor employees. 

Then I thought about all my trips to Las Vegas and I recalled that Area 51 isn’t that far away, so why not drive. The clown man had a limo after all. So I went to Google maps put in directions from McCarran Airport to Area 51 and here’s the result - Sorry, we could not calculate driving directions from "McCarran Airport T3 On Property Stop, Paradise, NV 89119" to "Area 51, Nevada". Tried a few additional starting points, the same result - Sorry, we could not calculate driving directions from "McCarran Airport T3 On Property Stop, Paradise, NV 89119" to "Area 51, Nevada"..... In hindsight, I think the clown man may have been onto something. 

We’re not going to spend a lot of time on this next one.

Dennis Rodman recently flew from L.A. to Ft. Lauderdale, thank you Florida, on JetBlue. Rodman refused to keep the federally required mask on his face. As a “Welcome to Florida” gift Rodman was greeted by Deputies from the Broward Co. Sheriff's Office. They spoke to Rodman upon landing, Rodman was cooperative and, in the end, they cut him loose, letting him leave on his own without citing him.

Now here’s what’s surprising about this, and it’s not what you think - 

Was it surprising that it was Dennis Rodman - Nope

Was it surprising that the incident involved a mask - Nope

Was it surprising that Florida was involved - Nope

What is surprising is that Dennis Rodman flies JetBlue. Of all the airlines out there Rodman flies JetBlue.

In all my years of travel, I might have missed one or two flights and more than like it was due to weather or airplane mechanical issues, not a rouge hangover or me sleeping in.

Late December a woman now dubbed “Spirit Airline Karen” missed her flight. Not sure why, but she missed it, and from the details here she didn’t miss it by much. So what did “Spirit Airline Karen” do? 

* Yell at the gate agent? No

* B***h tweet her frustration? No

* Head to bar and drown her sorrows? No

Nope, “Spirit Airline Karen” got herself arrested. And how did she manage that? “Spirit Airline Karen” decided to run after her plane. She opened the door in the gate area went down the stairs onto the tarmac where she was greeted and arrested by the authorities. 

I’m not sure the last time “Spirit Airline Karen” flew, but gone are the days of staircases from the tarmac up to the service door on a plane. I’d love to know how “Spirit Airline Karen,” thought she was going to get inside the actual plane. What she did get was a nice set of handcuffs accompanied by people in the gate area applauding the arrest.

It’s not often we talk about selflessness during the crazy travel roundup. But this next story gives us just that - Traveler tests positive for COVID mid-flight, quarantines in airplane bathroom for five hours.

Marisa Fotieo, a school teacher from Michigan, was flying to Iceland when she began feeling unwell. She took a rapid test in the bathroom and, yep, she was positive for COVID-19. So Fotieo stayed in the bathroom for the remainder of the five-hour flight.

"There are 150 people on the flight, and my biggest fear was giving it to them," she said.

What makes this even more selfless is that one of the flight attendants provided food and drinks, and "constantly checked" on her.

Once in Iceland Fotieo was forced to quarantine but the flight attendant sent her flowers and a little Christmas tree with lights so she could have a glimmer of holiday joy.

So yes there is hope……

Spend much time hanging around me at some point you’ll hear me utter something along the lines of…. “There’s a kink for everyone”. And there is. If you’re into jumper cables and Crisco more than likely you’re not alone and there’s probably a sub-Reddit for your kink. 

I find weird and kinky stuff on the internet all the time and it’s rare that much of it surprises me. I just hope someone erases my search history if I happen to meet an untimely demise.

These next few snippets concentrate on just a few of those kinks.

December opened up with this headline - Woman reportedly breastfed her cat on a flight to Atlanta. 

And don’t forget the accompanying Tik-Tok video.

The travel blogosphere exploded over this and the comments were pure gold - 

You Mad Bro? Posted - I know the cat lady. This was just a misunderstanding. It wasn’t a cat. It was her baby. It’s just so ugly the only way TSA would let it through is if she kept it in a cage. The father’s no prize either.

Godisfake posted - Just be thankful it was not the cat breastfeeding the woman.

My first thought was the scene from Meet The Faukers - Greg Fauker - played by Ben Stiller and Jack Byrnes played by Robert DeNiro.

Greg Focker: Oh, you can milk just about anything with nipples. 

Jack Byrnes:I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me?

Then my BS detector went off, and as usual, the BS detector was spot on as this turned out to be a parody video created by the Facebook page The Gooch.  

The Gooch accomplished its mission as it took almost 2 weeks before most of the travel blogosphere realized that it was indeed fake. 

As we all know masks have to be worn when you are on a plane, it’s federally mandated. My legal knowledge is loosely based on the internet and conversations that take place in hotel bars. But, I don’t believe that mandate specifies a specific mask type, just that the mask covers your nose and mouth.

So what does all this mean, it means that someone will eventually test what the definition of “mask” really is. And who better to test that definition than a Florida Man. I give to you - Florida man pulled from flight for wearing women's underwear in lieu of a mask.

Adam Jenne of Cape Coral, Florida is angry because he was pulled off a United Airlines flight for wearing women's underwear on his face instead of a mask as the airline requires. Apparently, other passengers walked off the plane in solidarity. This I don’t understand

Now, this isn't Jenne's first underwear rodeo either—he told Florida Fox4 that he was previously booted off a Delta flight for the same thing. 

"There's nothing more absurd than having to wear a mask until I get to cruising altitude so that I can order Tito's by the double and snack on pretzels, and illustrating that absurdity by wearing women's underwear on my face sounds perfect," said Jenne…]

Jenne said he still feels like he was in the right.

I for one appreciate Jenne’s mask choice, red sheer thong, and once the mask mandate is lifted Jenne will have a nice gift for the lady in his life.

You often hear me talk about the Southwest companion pass, well this next story gives you a new definition of the word companion. Man leads woman onto a Southwest flight…. On a leash.

Nope, that wasn’t the opening line to a joke this really happened. Be it staged or not it happened. There’s not much detail on this, there wasn’t any incident, no one appeared to say anything about it, and both were wearing masks.

Like I said earlier, there’s a kink for everyone. To sum it up, “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

There you have it, the December crazy travel roundup. The next episode will be my 2022 travel resolutions.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

I finished the year up with two December flights. First into Nashville and out of Memphis two days later. Next a turn and burn into Regan National.

Both destinations were for the most part uneventful.

Spent one night in Clarksdale which is a small friendly Mississippi delta town. The only major hotel is a three-story Hampton Inn and just down the road is Rest Haven my normal breakfast stop and due to time constraints, I went with the best that the Hampton Inn could offer.

Here’s my review of Rest Haven from Episode 19, Off The Eaten Path, Mississippi.

Rest Haven – Clarksdale, MS – This is the kind of place where you fill your own coffee cup when it’s empty and the creamer is passed from table to table. I’ve eaten breakfast here at least a dozen times over the years and the food is consistently good. Normally I order a very simple omelet, ham, and cheese, hash browns, and toast slathered in real butter. I don’t visit enough to know the regulars, but I’m willing to bet that it’s a tight-knit group and if one of them doesn’t show up for a day or two they send out a search party.

Owned by a Lebanese family, and the rumor is that their cabbage rolls and Stuffed Kibbie are out of this world. However, my stomach isn’t equipped to order them for breakfast.  Rest Haven is as small-town Americana as it gets.

Well here’s the kicker Rest Haven went or is possibly about to go big time as they will be featured on an upcoming episode of Robert Irvine’s Restaurant Impossible.

The towns-folks that’s a Mississippian term said the front part of the restaurant got a makeover but no one commented on any changes made to the menu as Irvine is known to do.

This was my first flight out of Memphis since 2018 and the airport is the same nothing new. The only visible update to the Memphis airport in the last 20 years is that the rental facility is now on the airport’s property.

The final trip of the year was in and out of Reagan National mid-month. It’s probably been 10 years since my last flight there. I was a Delta Platinum…. And I managed to snag an upgrade to first-class which I promptly gave to the Entrepreneur. At the time he was 19 and there was nothing better than seeing the smile on his face when he realized that he got a wider seat and an endless supply of snacks and sodas.

One thing I did do differently on this trip was I opted for a taxi, not an Uber for leaving and returning to the airport.

Two reasons, first the rideshare area was tough to find and second, it was cheaper, yes cheaper even with the extra passenger charge.

I’m not a fan of taxis, and Uber is my preference, looking for that perfect 5-star rating. Both taxis were clean and the payment method was almost as easy as Uber.

I am a numbers nerd, and one of my favorite ways to end each year is with that silly year-end review stats.

Podcast stats

* My followers were up 23% over 2020

* Hours posted were up a whopping 1%, more than likely due to decreasing episodes from weekly to semi-weekly.

* Listeners increased by 63%

* 5 people listened to Travel Stories more than any other podcast

* 33% of people listen to Travel Stories between 11 PM and 5 AM… sleep stories.

* 746 minutes of content

Beer 

My top beer for 2021 was Gingerbread Murder Scene by Pontoon Brewing. My money was on Sweetwaters 420 IPA.

After that, it was 

* VOODOO RANGER - CAPTAIN DYNAMITE IPA

* SLUICE JUICE - BENT WATER BREWING COMPANY

* SWEET BABY JESUS! - DUCLAW BREWING COMPANY

* VOODOO RANGER JUICIFER IPA

In 2021 I tried 39 different styles out of 225 different styles of beer.

Top styles

* IPA

* Stout 

* Sours Ales

I drank from 62 different breweries at 26 different locations. I also earned 125 new badges for 

Travel Stats

2020 numbers

* 70 nights in hotels,

* 30 of those happened before COVID

* Flights – 18 All business

* Rental Cars – 7

* 31 different cities.

* Personal Car – 14,000 miles.

2021 Numbers

* 40 nights in hotels,

* Flights – 16 all on Southwest

* Rental Cars – 0

* 15 different cities.

* Personal Car – 20,000 miles.

Southwest is my airline of choice and has been for the last 5 ½ years. There are no upgrades and their fleet consists mostly of 737’s. For the most point it’s no-frills but without all the add-on expenses for luggage, boarding passes, and snacks.

There is only one reason to fly Southwest and that’s for their companion program. That’s where a companion flies for free when you do….. That’s it simple.

There are two ways to hit companion status. During the calendar year take 100 flights …. Or acquire 125,000 points by purchasing Southwest tickets.

For me either one of these requirements isn’t feasible, so enter the Chase Southwest credit card.  With double points for Southwest purchases and a yearly 30,000 or 40,000 point gift from Chase, I was able to hit companion the last 3 or 4 years. For 2020 Southwest was kind enough to extend the companion pass to everyone until December 2021 as well as crediting us 25 flights of the required 100 as a jump start.

I’m here to tell you that as of late December I have 54,000 of the required 125,000 points and 31 of the required 100 flights. No companion pass for 2022…. The end of an era.

The other small perk is their A-List and A-List Preferred status. Both levels give you priority boarding and a few additional perks, but A-List Preferred gives you double points and free WiFi. The double points combined with the Southwest credit card make companion pass easily attainable…. If you fly on a regular basis.

You can hit A-List Preferred in one of two ways. 50 flights, or 70,000 points. You heard my travel stats a few minutes ago and I’m nowhere near those numbers…. Again. 

Enter Southwest and they were kind enough to gift me A-List Preferred until December 31, 2022….. Thank you, Southwest.

In episode 123 I posted my 2020 travel resolutions, and here’s a quick rundown of them.

* I resolve to quit using my American Express Green Card. 

* The motivation was that I was rotating 3 different cards. A Chase Southwest card that gave me two points for every dollar spent on air travel, which also contributed to my soon-to-be ending companion pass. An American Express Hilton card that gives me 12 points for every dollar I spend at Hilton properties, a no-brainer. Then finally, there’s the American Express green card which gives me 1-to-1 when it comes to dollars vs. points. A dollar spent gives me a single point….. So that was the motivation to quit using it. I give this an 88% complete, the remaining 12% is all on me where I still use it once a month and more than likely it’s because the card worked its way to the front on my Open Seas wallet.

* I resolve to convert Friday travel into long weekends. The plan was if it’s Friday and I’m on the road the plan was to stay over a day… maybe two. The target towns were Tallahassee and. 

* This did not happen. Not once in 2021 did I make it to Tallahassee, and I saw Jacksonville several times as I was driving through it on I-95.

* A road trip.

* Put a check in this box as I said “Road Trip” not “Road Trips”. March 2020 I flew the CEO into Atlanta where we did a few days in the North Georgia Mountains, a few days in Asheville, NC down to Highlands, NC before heading back to O-Town.

* Use my Southwest Companion plan at least once before it expires. 

* Put a check in this box as this took place a few weeks ago as we both flew into Washington DC, me on points, the CEO as my companion.

* I resolve to see snow at least once in 2021.

* Well well well with meer days left in the month this is not a no but a hell no.

At least I didn’t resolve to drink less, eat better and drop 30 lbs.

So what’s in store for 2022? Face it travel numbers are down. 

* Airlines are dropping prices in order to buy business.

* Hotels are completely confused as they stopped, and probably won’t return to daily housekeeping service, and Hilton has resolved to daily property credits instead of free breakfasts at full-service properties. Side note - Hilton this isn’t working as I completely skip breakfast at properties because I have no desire to edit a Hilton receipt over $10.00. And another side note is that most road warriors are on per-diem and it’s easier to line item a $7.00 receipt from Chick-Fil-A

* The poor rental car companies are totally lost due to supply chain issues and somehow managing to issue arrest warrants for unsuspecting customers.

My road warrior crystal ball predicts a few things.

* Consolidations. It’s doubtful you see it with the airlines too much regulation to pull it off in 12 months. Look at the rental car companies, consolidation might be their only way to survive.

* Hotels need to figure out what’s really important to the business traveler, so look for survey after survey, they need our input.

* When it comes to rideshare there’s a chance, a small chance, that they’ve outlived their appeal to the business traveler. The last two taxi rides I took offered apps for payment.

*  Finally, the monthly crazy travel roundup will be filed with the Anti-Vaxxers vs. the maskers, at least it will be for the first quarter of 2022. Throw in some travel nudity mixed with alcohol abuse and a side of Florida.

Give me a week, or two to come up with my 2022 travel resolutions since 2021 didn’t land in my favor. Maybe I should consider, drink less, eating better, and dropping 30 lbs.  

There you have it the November crazy travel roundup. The next episode will be the travel year in review, and how my 2021 travel resolutions panned out.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Before we get to this evening’s episode a quick blurb about routines. We all have them, - you might brush your teeth before your shower or you might do it after but more than likely you do it exactly the same way each day. When you shower you typically wash the same part of your body first each and every time. How many times have you driven to the office only to arrive and never really recalled the drive? All these are a sequence of actions that are regularly followed aka a routine. 

Ever put your wallet in the wrong pocket of your pants or the wrong compartment or your purse? Suddenly panic sets in when you reach for it in its typical place and it’s not there? That’s a broken routine.

So here’s my broken routine travel story - 

The other night I landed back in O-Town around 10:45 PM got out of seat 9C, my seat routine, headed for the terminal bathroom, my arrival routine, and then to the parking garage, level 2 row “J”, my airport parking routine. Opened the trunk, loaded my luggage and backpack, and that’s where my routine was broken, but I wouldn’t know it for another 10 seconds, because that’s when I would open, or try to open my car’s door only to find that it was still locked. The reason? My car keys were safely clipped inside my backpack that was now in the trunk of my car. 

My routine for years has been while in the parking garages elevator on my way to the second-floor row “J” is to unclip my keyring from my backpack and clip them to my belt loop. 

Well not that night, that night, my routine varied, and I paid for it… paid for it with a $160.00 pop-a-lock bill in conjunction with not hitting the driveway of Chateau’ Relaxo until almost 1:00 AM.

So routines are important, but broken routines can be more important or at least in my case more expensive.

Onto tonight’s episode.

As the news sources endlessly report, we are smack dab between the two biggest travel days of the year, but as we all know the travel craziness knows no difference between the busiest and slowest of travel days.

In case you haven’t heard, the federal mask mandate has been extended until March of 2022, so there will be plenty of fuel for the Vaxxers vs. the anti-maskers over the next three months.

Out of the gate, we have an update for you. Over the past year, we’ve had several segments dedicated to this mysterious Jetpack man or Jetpack woman jetpacking through the skies of Los Angeles as well as jetpacking around the LAX airspace. So much jetpacking that several pilots reported these sightings to the LAX tower. And over the months no one claimed to be the Jetpack person and there was never any real explanation until now……  maybe.

One working theory is that pilots might have seen balloons," that is according to the FBI and FAA in a statement reported by NBC Los Angeles.

NBC Los Angeles went on to add, "jetpack man" was likely just a balloon styled after the main character of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington.  

So what you’re telling me, and wanting me to believe is that both the FAA & the FBI believe that pilots with thousands of flight hours are gonna mistake a children's balloon for a man in a jetpack, that’s what you’re telling me? All this balloon talk has me feeling light-headed.

If I say Spirit Airlines and Florida what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe it should be the first things, plural, that come to mind. Is it things like alcohol, disturbances, possibly an arrest, and how about zip ties? Well, this next story has all of those things.

Woman Detained By Fellow Passenger And Zip Tied During Flight, Yells At Police To Shoot Her

A passenger onboard a Spirit Airlines flight departing South Florida may have been over-served, after which she attacked two members of the cabin crew.  She punched one attendant and pulled the other’s hair.” Side note - The flight attendants opted not to press charges for the assault.

The 42-year-old passenger was restrained by a passenger with zip ties applied to her feet”. When she was turned over to authorities, she told the arresting officers that “she drank ‘a lot’.” She also reportedly told officers, “shoot me, mother $%@%#$.”

Another side note, Spirit Airlines will be expanding service to Miami, that’s right, Miami the land of bath salts and bad plastic surgery, so stay tuned.

Let’s stay with Spirit Airline as Business Insider posted this - A Spirit Airlines passenger alleges in a lawsuit against the carrier that a flight attendant sexually assaulted him.

A bit of role reversal…. The flight attendant assaulted a passenger.

A Spirit Airlines passenger said a flight attendant offered him free alcohol, requested that he move to a private area of a plane, (Am I to think that airplanes have a VIP area similar to a strip club?) and then sexually assaulted him (Which never happens in the VIP area of a strip club), according to a complaint. 

The passenger, named only as M.B., filed a lawsuit last week against the Spirit, saying the carrier had been negligent. He seeking damages of more than $150,000. 

This is the first time that we’ve ever had a story where a flight attendant allegedly “Roofies” a passenger, but what better airline than Spirit to host the event

I’ve been on an S-ton of planes and I never knew there was a private VIP area, but safe to say that M.B. wasn’t there to celebrate his VIPensis.

Not necessarily travel-related but due to the COVID-pivot, it is work from home relevant and is something that George Clooney could’ve easily handled in his 2009 movie Up In The Air. 

First, listen to any of the past episodes and it becomes clear that I’m not any sort of a financial advisor. When it comes to mortgages mine just might be in the double digits, like I said, I’m not a financial advisor.

 Are you familiar with Better.com? 

They’re an online mortgage company that’s mission statement is along these lines - We’re using technology to make it faster and more efficient, and humans to help make it friendly and enjoyable.

Better.com’s CEO Vishal Garg organized a 900 person Zoom call for his employees. 900 attendees, think about that 900. The Brady Bunch intro times 100, imagine the issues people on mute, people over-talking each other, the bandwidth required etc. Actually, it was a one-way video call.

Most of the 900 employees were anticipating one of Garg's town hall-style meetings, what they got instead was a pink slip, a virtual pink slip Yes, a mass firing, no 1 on 1 meeting with HR, none of that just - Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.

This was the ultimate example of a Zoom meeting that could’ve been an email. 

I hope that Garg had the insight to quote Clooney’s character Ryan Bingham as the zoom call concluded with this quote - Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it's *because* they sat there that they were able to do it.

Side note Garg, who founded Better.com in 2014, is a billionaire who got a bonus of $25 million from Better.com in 2020. 2020 damn near the worst financial year ever since the plaque…. $25 million. 

This next incident happened in April 2021 but the end result was just posted and it also builds credibility to one of my theories. 

My theory has to do with people that smoke marijuana or as I like to say, marijuana enthusiasts. 

The theory is as follows - a marijuana enthusiast’s main goal in life is to contemplate - They contemplate how to get more marijuana, contemplate the next time they’ll get to smoke marijuana, contemplate how to hide their marijuana, and contemplate new places to smoke marijuana….. And on and on and on.

That brings us to April 2021 when an unnamed Southwest Airlines passenger flew from San Jose, Calif., to San Diego, Calif. The FAA alleges the passenger drank their own alcohol during the flight and continued to do so after a flight attendant told the passenger that was prohibited. The passenger then sexually assaulted the flight attendant. As the flight was descending into San Diego, the passenger entered the lavatory and smoked marijuana. 

Police arrested the passenger for resisting arrest and public intoxication. The cost for this inflight entertainment, $40,823.

A flight from San Jose, Calif. to San Diego is at most an hour and a half flight and this guy couldn’t abstain for an hour and a half. Gotta love those marijuana enthusiasts. 

I have a question. 

What’s in a name? No, it’s not time for our monthly Shakespeare installment, it's time for one of my life tips. These are similar to my theories.  

Soon to be parents, even existing parents naming your newborn is a big deal. Besides being given life a child’s name is one of the first things bestowed upon them so yes, it’s important. My life tip is as follows, once you decide on your little darlings’ new name go to your local Cracker Barrel or theme park gift shop head over to the key chain or mini-license plate display, and look for the name you have decided on. If you can’t find a key chain or license plate with that name on it be prepared for you and your child to spend the better part of their life correcting people on the pronunciation and spelling of their name. 

So I told you all that to tell you this.

Dateline John Wayne International Airport Southwest gate counter where Traci Redford and her 5-year old daughter were checking in for their flight. That’s when Traci heard the gate agents laughing and pointing at her daughter. Their motivation…. the daughter’s name, "Ab-city," pronounced "Ab-city," but spelled Abcde. While I’m sure this was uncomfortable for Traci and "Ab-city," I have a newsflash for both of them……. "Ab-city," while only 5 has years and years of similar encounters ahead of her. 

But wait there’s more.

The agent take a photo of her daughter's boarding pass and later l posted it on social media. Traci filed a formal complaint with Southwest and after a few weeks, Southwest responded with a typical corporate response which included - 

We have followed up with the Employee involved, and while we do not disclose personnel actions publicly, we are using this as an opportunity to reinforce our policies and emphasize our expectations for all Employees.

"Traci made this a teachable moment for little Abcde, letting her know that "not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice and it's unfortunate."  Abcde it’s more unfortunate that you will be experiencing similar situations for the rest of your life. And Traci here’s a life tip for you, start packing away some money for Abcde’s therapy.

That last story was brought to you by the letters A-B-C-D & E.

One last question - How Many Points Should You Get When There’s An Active Shooter At Your Hotel?

Well if you're Mike Sington and you stayed at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun when several active shooters landed on the resort’s beach. It’s worth 75,000 points

This did make the news as, two of the shooters were killed, and hundreds scrambled to hide, terrified for their lives. And as recently as last week five gunmen landed on the Cancun beach via jet skis and opened fire. If you’re considering Cancun for a winter get-away you might wish to rethink that destination.

Sington was asked, “Has Hyatt done anything?”. So he did as most of us do and took to Twitter to let his 33,000 followers know that Hyatt had added 75,000 points to his account.

Now I don’t know if Sington had the money for his stay refunded but I’m thinking that 75,000 is a bit on the light side. And here’s why - A premium suite at a Hyatt Category 1 property is 10,000 points enough for a week’s stay. And a premium suite at a Hyatt Category 7 property is 60,000 enough points for a single night with enough points left over for a beverage.

A bit of research showed that a Hyatt category 1 is what you find along the turnpike or I-95 while a category 7  property is more of a destination, and usually involves a beach, with or without gunmen. 

Now, this whole event wasn’t Hyatts fault but I think a fair offering would’ve been enough points to cover another stay for the same duration at the same level category property.

There you have it the November crazy travel roundup. The next episode will be the travel year in review, and how my 2021 travel resolutions panned out.

If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Holiday travel, we touched on this a bit last episode but one to always pile on here’s one more thing to consider apps on your phone that will help you through your travels.

Airline apps, if you’re flying, make that you not only download your airline’s apps but make sure you’ve logged into it, or at least know your user name and password. At the airport isn’t the best time to try to log in for the first time.

*

* Check flight status

* Check-in

* Boarding pass

* Airline contact information

* FlightAware - I’ve used this app for years and it not only tracks flights but it alerts you to flight delays and cancelations, oftentimes before the airline acknowledges them. It will also let you know what gate you’ll be departing from and arriving at.

* If you have streaming services like NetFlix, Hulu and Disney+ download their apps. Most airplanes are equipped with WiFi, sometimes it's free, sometimes it’s not but at least you’ll have some entertainment. I know that Netflix allows you to download content for offline viewing, which means no WiFi is required.

A few others worth mentioning -

* TripIt - I’ve been using this for going on 10 years and this app combines all your airlines, hotel, and rental reservations and combines them all in one easy-to-read and share trip itinerary.

* TSA has an app

* Where you can quickly search which items you can bring with you through the checkpoint onto the airplane.

* Check the delay information at your favorite airports nationwide.

* Check how busy the airport is likely to be on your specific day and time of travel based on historical data.

* Most airports have apps as well, which will help to let you know where bathrooms and restaurants are located in an unfamiliar airport.

I’m a gear nerd, just listen to any of the past shows. Some stuff is in regular rotation like my 5-port USB charger. Some stuff gets used once, maybe twice like a Bluetooth speaker, before it gets left behind. And some things become obsolete, like my old GPS unit.

Our 2020 gift guide was more geared towards working from home

* Solid cologne, at home or on the road, male or female there’s no excuse for not smelling great.

* HLT - A Handy Little Thing (HLT) Pouch from Tom Bihn - This American-made pouch is a great organizer pouch.

* Collapsible Straw 

* GoPro travel kit.

* Dual Monitors

* Kindle e-reader

* RocketBook

Since we’re getting out traveling again 2021 will reflect that.

 -  But first, let’s talk about what not to get for the road warrior in your life. And most of these we’ve talked about before

Typically gifts with the word “Travel” in their name are useless, travel pillow, travel wallet, travel scale.

Here are a few ideas that sound great, but they’re not.

Stainless Steel Tumblers – Yeti, Rambler, Rtic or any of those tumblers that keep ice intact for 3 weeks. We’ve all got one, three of them to be exact and while it’s a great gift they’re not great for traveling. Hanging out on the boat or at a neighbor’s cookout is what those behemoth steel tubes are made for, not traveling.

Blacklight Flashlight – While this sounds as practical as it gets, but no one wants to know what germs are lurking in their hotel room.

Anything Associated With Washing Clothes In Our Room – We don’t need a clothesline that stretches across the bathtub. Nor do we need a sink stopper soap contraption. Most hotels have a washer and dryer hidden somewhere. 

RFID Blocking Anything – I’ve never understood the hype over this. With the introduction of chipped cards, this is even less of a necessity. Besides if they, whoever they are, really want your information, they’ll get it.

When choosing road warrior gifts consider size and weight. Most of us are good at Luggage-Tetris, which means we know what goes where in our luggage. Give us some odd or oversized item and it’ll throw us off our game. The same goes for weight. If it’s too heavy we may travel with it once, yes once, and then we’ll be donating it to Goodwill.

Speaking of luggage as tempting as it is do not, I repeat do not, buy a seasoned road warrior luggage. Most road warriors are very brand loyal, size loyal, or two-wheel vs. four-wheel loyal. And to most of us, our luggage is as important to our daily life as our phone or laptop.

If a road warrior mentions that they need new luggage you can always get them a Visa or American Express gift card and let them get what they truly want.

The one exception is if it’s a baby roadwarrior, or someone traveling with their household vacation luggage then it’s probably safe to go with a carry-on from Samsonite, Victorinox, or Away. Just don’t purchase a $70.00 Jaguar bag from TJ Maxx and expect it to last.

Personally, for at least the last 30 years I’ve had (2) holiday items on my wish list.

The first is the Rolex GMT. It can be the Pepsi (blue and red bezel) or the Batman (blue and black bezel) either one works just plan for a $14,000 hit to your wallet. If you want to plan for the 2020 Holidays you can up your game to the Rolex GMT Root Beer, roughly $35,000, and at least an 18-month waiting list.

The other would be a mid-1990’s Range Rover Defender. Not the current 2020 Defender, which is a joke. The Defender from the ’90s was one tough vehicle, there was no place you couldn’t take it. I passed on the chance to buy one in 1994. It was yellow a soft top, loud, and drove like hell, and at the time, just what a father of two young kids needed. If I recall it was around $31,000 at the time, you’d be hard-pressed to find it for less than $60,000 today.

Depending on your viewpoint we could mid or post-pandemic, regardless if you have a road warrior in your life you need to take this into consideration, which is code for COVID-inspired gift ideas.

* Masks, if you’re flying you still need one, so why not drop a few shekels on one or two that’s washable.

* Vax cardholder, if you’re vaxxed these are perfect for carrying around proof. The Entrepreneur gave me one for my birthday and it’s always in my backpack.

* COVID test kits, possibly a bit overkill, but they do come in handy. Not just for international travel, but no one wants to expose others if they’ve suddenly become patient zero.

Now onto the fun stuff - 

Packing Cubes - I’m a believer, and this makes the list every year. Why? Because they work. We talked about luggage Tetris earlier and packing cubes makes it easier.

Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket – I hate jackets, first they’re bulky, and second, they’re bulky. Three years ago I picked up a Nano Puff and it rocks, I like the fact that it’s thin yet keeps me warm. I can put it in a compression bag and it reduces to nothing. Retail is $200.00, but if you search you can find it much cheaper.

Amazon Fire Tablet - I got one of these from my company as a Christmas gift last year, and I really didn’t do much with it until I started traveling mid-yea. I’ve always traveled with my laptop as well as an iPad or Surface tablet. The reason is that the second device allowed me to work on my laptop while watching YouTube or Netflix on the tablet. The Fire tablet weighs in right around a pond and can be connected to most hotel TV with a Micro HDMI to Standard HDMI cable.

Speaking of cables if the road warrior in your life is always having to remember to grab cables before a trip, they’re a great gift.

* Smartphone charging cable

* Smartwatch charging cable

* Laptop charging cable

* HDMI cable

If you do some searching you can find cables that support Lightning, USB-C, and smartwatch all on the same cable bundle. 

Snacks - Somehow we always end up talking about food, but there is nothing worse than being stuck in a hotel room and finding yourself hungry. Sure you can head downstairs and purchase a $4.00 bag of stale chips. First find things that won’t church. Personally, I find that Cheese Nips is the perfect snack, but ith then there’s always the risk that they get crushed and turned into a bag of Cheese Nips powder. Go with things like beef jerky, protein bars, and candy My favorite Twizzlers pull-apart and Hot tamales.

Headphones - The headphones that come with your smartphone are an afterthought or a loss leader in the hopes that you spend more money on something that’s decent. My personal choice is Skullcandy Ink’d.wired headphones They’re less than $15.00 and I’ve been wearing them since 2008, the CEO buys them for me in lots of 5 because I tend to destroy them rather quickly. If your road warrior needs the whole over-the-ear noise-canceling type, there is nothing better than a pair of  Bose QuietComfort headphones. They have Bluetooth and all the bells and whistles. For some reason I don’t like having both ears completely covered, if I did, this would be the pair.

If you’re budget conscious I bought the CEO a pair of TaqTronics noise-canceling headphones way back in 2018. And while she doesn’t use them on a regular basis I was impressed with what we got for under $50.00.

Along with being a gear nerd, I’m also an EDC nerd. EDC being Everyday Carry, hence stuff you carry every day. Typically I always have a knife or multi-tool close at hand, that is unless I’m flying. However, Leatherman makes a multi-tool that is TSA friendly. It’s their PS Keychain packed with 8 handy tools. Such as spring-action needlenose, scissors, screwdrivers, a nail file, and tweezers. All for $35.00. If the road warrior in your life doesn’t fly drop $150.00 on a Benchmade Bugout. If they happen to be a fancy lad you can bling out the bugout with custom scales and hardware.

You can always offer to renew their TSA pre-check, CLEAR or Global Entry. If they don’t have any of them, you can always purchase them for them.

You can gift them a Spotify subscription.

This next one isn’t for me, but it might be for someone in your life. For some reason, people love airport lounges, but the cost of entry is one of four ways.

* Log an S-Ton of miles in the air.

* Purchase first-class tickets.

* Carry a very high-end credit card. Think credit cards that are named after expensive metals.

* Or pay each time you visit. Not a great value.

You can purchase the road warrior in your life a Priority Pass membership. Access to over 1300 airport lounges, and depending on the pan you select the visits can be free or as little as $32.00 depending on the plan you purchase. Side note, I had a year membership to Priority Pass, and never once used it. The main reason was the Southwest terminal at the O-Town airport is loungeless… If that is even a word.

For online meetings,I use OneNote, Atl+Shift+S for a quick screengrab, For journaling I rely on the app DayOne. But for logging ideas or taking notes during a phone call I’m still a pen and paper person, so why not a decent pen and notebook?

For a pen, the Retro 51 rollerballs can’t be beaten, and Lamay makes a great fountain pen for less than $50.00. I travel with a Lamay and have never had a wet ink accident while flying.

When it comes to notebooks I like ruled pages, no calendars, no grid pattern, and no bullet journal-style checkboxes. I like the varying cover design of the Field Notes brand. They even offer a quarterly subscription, the gift that keeps on giving. I have traveled with a classic Moleskin or Lechturnm 1917 notebook for at least the last 15 years.

That does it, for the 2021 Gift Guide…. If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

I’ve been traveling more and more in the last six months, certainly not the travel numbers I put up pre-COVID, but the numbers are ever-increasing.

Seriously, we have learned or let’s say adapted to do lots of things remotely, things that we used to do face-to-face. 

However, remote meetings aren’t the same as face-to-face meetings. There’s something about observing body language as a meter of a person’s engagement that you can’t do remotely. You can have Door Dash or UberEats deliver food to a client before your next Zoom or Teams session, but it’s not the same as sitting down at a table for eight, ordering some appetizers, and then intertwining the conversation between business, kids, sports, movies, and music and then back to business.

So yes, it’s nice getting back out with our partners and seeing that we are coming out of this 18-month dark hole, which means, it’s been 18 months since my last flight. 

Believe it or not, I was looking forward to flying, O-Town to the Big D, Dallas.

For the most part, the Orlando airport was the same. For example, the moving sidewalk at the terminal was still being repaired. Yes, a solid welcome back, we’re glad you’re here.

Now with the TSA agents, a bit had changed, they were now stationed inside plexiglass booths…. Sort of like the ticket takers at the local traveling carnival Side note, looking back 20 months I only wish I had invested in some Plexiglas stock.

Terminal A, the Southwest terminal, was unchanged. It was breakfast time so there was a line at McDonald’s and a longer line at Starbucks.

I went with my typical Orlando airport breakfast… Asian Chao. Orange chicken, bourbon chicken, and lo mein. Don’t knock it till you try it.

Boarding was the same, the “B” boarding group tried to sneak in with the “A” boarding group. But other than that, boarding was typical of Southwest trips 18 months ago.

It was a full flight, again like most flights 18 months ago. It was also 2 hours and 20 minutes of no emails, teams calls, or impromptu meetings, I forgot how nice that was.

We had the typical Southwest safety announcements, seat belts must be worn, blah blah. Put your mask on before helping others, blah, blah. However, there was a new announcement, If you don’t want to wear a mask let us know and we’ll get you re-accommodated. That was it, nothing complex, nothing controversial, just a clear directive. Guess what it worked, there was no entry on this flight for the November crazy travel roundup.

One noticeable change was in-flight snack and beverage service. It was a limited drink menu, five choices that the flight attendants displayed on a tablet. You were asked to order without removing your mask.

Nothing on the flight made me feel the least bit uncomfortable with regards to COVID, however, I would’ve been more comfortable with a vacant middle seat.

The return flight from Dallas was a full flight. The gate agent was really enforcing the two-bag carry-on rule, even refusing boarding to a passenger with three bags.

The bright spot of the departure was Whataburger for brunch.

The next flight was Orlando to Chicago, again full flight and no incidents. One disappointment was that Gold Coast Dog, the mecca of airport hotdogs had changed hands, and was now a Vienna Beef Hotdog location. And it was not the same, the dog had the same ingredients, but it was not a Gold Coast Dog.

There were once again, no incidents, no meltdowns, and everyone cooperated.

This was my first trip to Chicago, and while there I came across the Weber Grill Restaurant, and how did I come across the Weber Grill Restaurant? Glad you asked. Friend of the show Robbie Morris saw the 20’ high red Weber Kettle in their parking lot. Everything is cooked on authentic Weber charcoal kettles, complete with the grill marks on your food. 

I started with a Weber's Backyard Brew a very light and pleasantly tasty wheat beer. My meal was the pork chops, Two Center Cut Chops, smothered in a Carolina Mustard Glaze, cooked medium. They were juicy, flavorful and I demolished both of them.

My verdict of the  Weber Grill Restaurant. 4 out of 5 stars. Fully stocked bar, plus some great local beers, a varied menu, something for everyone, and very friendly staff. I compare it to the Melting Pot… a great experience, but not a place where I would make it my weekly go-to.

The final flight was Chicago back to O-Town, while I’ve connected at Midway countless times over the years this was the first time departing from Midway. There’s something exciting about the first flight from a new airport. The most important consideration…. What will the TSA pre-check wait time be? At MIdways, it was less than 5 minutes.

I experienced my first flight delay on this flight, and it wasn’t related to the weather. 

About 5-minutes before pushback 3 Southwest employees boarded the flight and headed towards the back of the plane. In total synchronization, almost every passenger turned their head to follow the parade of Southwest personnel while simultaneously having their cell phone set to video. Well… nothing viral, no hashtags, and no screaming. Our delay, are you ready for this….. One passenger’s seat would not lock in the upright position. #30 minutes later we were in the air.

Let’s set the stage for this next section. Hotels in the year 2021.

Lots of my travels include meeting up with coworkers along the way. I’ve worked with most of my team and traveled with them for at least five years and for some, it’s been almost twenty years.

No one on this team is a primadonna. We stay at Hilton and Marriott properties, not boutique resorts. 

Our meals choices consist of local favorites, the hotel lobby, or something we saw on diners’ drive-ins and dives. It’s rare that a meal for us is at a restaurant where after you excuse yourself to use the restroom, they fold your napkin. Those days are gone, and it ended in the mid-1990s’

We don’t fly first class. We hope, we pray for an upgrade, which is non-existent on Southwest.

Our rental cars resemble the family sedan, Think Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, or the Hyundai Sonata.

Honestly, we don’t have high expectations for business travel. We’re road warriors, typically we’re preparing/waiting for the other shoe to drop and not anticipating on 800 thread count sheets on the Hampton Inn bed that night.

However, we’re always chasing that elusive mistress…. the upgrade.

Over the past six months, almost every single team member has voiced a complaint about the conditions of the hotels we’re staying in.

In episode 151 I talked about the CEOs and my recent trip to Savannah. This was a relaxing weekend and the Hampton Inn I booked was one of the worst Hampton Inn’s that I’ve ever stayed at. Thankfully, they refunded my points for the stay but does that do anything to improve the conditions?

Two weeks ago, I stayed in Dallas Texas for three nights. The base camp was the DoubleTree, one that I last visited in 2018. Everything in 2018 was fine, and I thought how much could’ve changed in three years?

Apparently a lot…….

The biggest shortcoming was the lack of daily housekeeping…. And while I don’t need someone to make my bed every day it’s nice to see housekeeping in the hallway where you can get a few extra towels, a refresh on coffee cups, or another roll of toilet paper.

Also, daily housekeeping helps to keep the hallways free of trash, soiled towels, and last night’s plates from room service.

One evening we had scotch and cigars on the patio. When we finished, we threw the empty scotch bottle in the trash. The next night it was IPAs and cigars back on the patio, and the empty scotch bottle was still in the trash.

We spent Tuesday evening at the hotel bar watching the Braves win the World Series The bar was packed and there was only one bartender/waitress. It took us almost 20 minutes to tab out due to them being understaffed.

What stood out the most was the breakfast setup. DoubleTree runs a close second to the Hilton Garden Inn spread for breakfast.

Their buffet was $18.00, $6.00 after the daily $12.00 Hilton property credit. I like most other road warriors are still not happy about this policy, just give us free breakfast like you used to. It means less editing on our expenses reports.

This was a three-night stay and we ate breakfast there twice. Both days there were no eggs, possibly two, maybe three strips of wilted bacon. The water dispenser was empty except for ice and there was no silverware rolls insight.

The next hotel stop was at the Hilton Garden Inn just outside Chicago.

Riot shields - check

Masked employees - check

Hand sanitizer stations - check

Housekeeping by request - check.

My 2 night Chicago stay was one of the better hotel stays this year. They were serving up their classic made-to-order breakfast. Gone were the “Break the seal” stickers across the door jamb of my room. Plus the bar served three beers that I’ve never had before… Daisy Cutter Pale Ale, Kentucky Vanilla Barrel Stout, and the Anti-Hero IPA from Revolution Brewing Company. Those three with the Weber Backyard Brew gave me four new beers to log on Untappd. 

I understand the hotel industry suffered financially, no one has gone unscathed due to COVID. But the hotels that we stay at are still getting well over $120.00 per night. My bill for three nights in Dallas was over $400.00. The hotel industry truly needs to be doing better to satisfy the traveler’s needs.

Back home and on the docket, this past weekend was to head to Disney, more specifically Epcot for the annual  Food & Wine Festival just in time for the entrepreneur's birthday. 

Also on the docket was staying at our weekend get-a-way, the Disney Springs Hilton. I said “was” because even with all my dark web tricks a room was $400.00 per night… no worries I’ll use points. That was until I found out that it was 186,000 points per night. 

Safe to say we spent the night at Chateau’ Relaxo where the mortgage payment accommodates all of us.

Friday night was spent at Disney Springs, and it was packed, There were no masks required while outside, and 90% of the visitors gladly complied. 

If you stepped inside a store you were then required to mask up. 

Dinner after an hour and 50-minute wait……was at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin'. Thankfully they’ll send you a text when your table is ready so you can act like a true Floridian and grab a to-go cup and walk and shop while you wait. 

I went with the fried chicken sandwich and the CEO ordered the shrimp and grits, both delicious.,

The next day it was off to EPCOT and as a pasty white melanoma survivor, the weather was perfect, the mid-70s and overcast.

We have a tradition when each of the kids turned 21 we took them to EPCOT for them to take a shot at drinking around the world. The Entrepreneur on his 21st made it halfway before he tapped out on a Sam Adams while eating lunch in America. 

And we’ve done this several times over the years and now he makes it without an issue. Thankfully his birthday coincides with the annual Food & Wine Festival.

EPCOT was packed, and after a bit of research, thank you local new, it turns out this past week was the first time international travelers were allowed back in the country. Hence the reason for the $400.00 per night hotel rooms.

If you’ve never visited EPCOT during the Food & Wine Festival this event gives you the chance to sample a variety of foods and beverages from around the world.

A few of the food highlights - 

* Belgium - Beer-braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes

* Brazil - Crispy Pork Belly with Black Beans, Tomato and Onions 

* Greece - Griddled Cheese with Pistachios and Honey

* Japan - Teriyaki Chicken Bun: Steamed Bun filled with Chicken, Vegetables, and Teriyaki

A few of the beer highlights - 

* 81Bay Brewing Co. Lemon Hazy IPA, Tampa, FL

* Playalinda Brewing Company Yaupon Brothers Green Tea Pale Ale, Titusville, FL

* Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale

* Lord Hobo Brewing Boom Sauce DIPA, Woburn, MA

Honestly, you get just enough of a sample to satisfy a food curiosity without filling you up.

Here’s the only downside to visiting EPCOT in 2021 and possibly part of 2022. Construction, just put a Google on EPCOT construction and you’ll get the idea. Some call it  Futureworld, some call it neighborhoods, call it what you like, but EPCOT has cornered the market on plywood walls and vinyl stickers as they use those items to route you around the construction.

One of the highlights of EPCOT is people watching aka “Let’s Make Fun Of People”. 

My number one target is Disney-themed family shirts. Here at Chateau’ Relaxo, we don’t participate in matching family-themed shirts and stick-figure bumper stickers.

However, I did see some great shirts.

There was a variety of “Squad” shirts, birthday squad, and bride squad, being the predominant players..

A few couples themed shirts

Her - I wear the ears.

Him - I drink the beers

Her Mickey

His Minnie

There were several, “Couples Who Disney Park Together Stay Together”. Sponsored by the law firm of Ditcher, Quick & Hyde. 

Booze related

Malt Whiskey instead of Walt Disney

Along the theme of the movie Incredibles, I saw several Incrediabily Drunk shirts.

Hakuna Tequila

And an endless sea of Drinking Around the World shirts, complete with checkboxes for each stop..And of course, you will see many, many many men wearing their, “I Don’t Do Matching Shirts”.

If the upcoming holidays include travel here are a few things to keep in mind. 

First, I’m an optimist, but if you’re flying, assume that something will come up. Software issues, lack of staff, bad weather, you name it, it’s bound to happen. If traveling internationally consider travel insurance. 

Also, consider carry-on over checking your luggage Holiday travel is always rough, but this year it’ll be 10X over 2020. Many travelers haven’t been to an airport since 2019, and many of those travelers have forgotten how to travel. Expect longer lines at check-in as well as baggage claim.

If possible use your airline’s app to check in as well as store your boarding pass. This one thing will save you a considerable amount of time at the airport.

Verify that your TSA pre-check is still valid.

Consider having an alternative route as well as an alternative mode of transportation. Especially on your return trip. Or at least have a budget set aside for it, and a general game plan. 

That does it, for the big show of travel updates.…. If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

First a few travel updates - 

I spent a few nights in Spartanburg, SC, a first for me. In 20 years of travel, I’ve either made Greenville or Columbia base camp for a stay but this project required me to stay in Spartanburg.

The Hampton Inn was still requiring all employees to wear masks, the plexiglass riot shield at the check-in desk was missing and as what is quickly becoming the norm…. there was no daily housekeeping without requesting it.

One new COVID precaution was that they asked all patrons to wear gloves at breakfast, which were provided when selecting their breakfast items.

In episode Episode 137 Things You Forgot Since You Last Traveled I covered things that we forgot since we last traveled. Things like remembering your travel website password, how to hack the hotel room’s thermostat, and how to avoid cancelations fees in case you want to cancel a reservation. Almost 20 episodes later, and I forgot one of the things I talked about…. Credit card expiration dates.  

I have two flights in early November, stay tuned for the details of the anti-maskers vs. vaxxers combined with Florida. As I click “purchase” on the first ticket I get an error, so I do like most people and click “purchase” again…. And then I decide to read the error detail which contained a combination of numbers and letters but intertwined with all this was a vague reference to my Southwest Chase Credit Card…. Thank you IT dude locked in a dark room. 

And yes the credit card associated with my Southwest profile was completely different from the Southwest Chase credit card in my wallet. Five minutes later I was able to click “purchase” complete the purchase and book my next ticker.

Continuing with the “Things You Forgot Since You Last Traveled” theme this last trip I forgot dress pants, I had dress shirts, dress shoes, and a dress belt but no dress pants….. I’d have gone for a pair of business casual pants…. Nope, just jeans, and shorts. 

On the first leg of this trip, Walmart was my best and only choice as a clothier. I left with their best pair of something that could pass as business casual pants that would also match my brown oxford dress shoes…… out the door for less than $12.00 

The next stop was the Hilton Garden Inn Brunswick, GA. This is a relatively new property and shares the same lobby as the neighboring Home2 Suites. This seems to be Hiltons plan with new properties. Instead of two separate Hilton properties across the parking lot from each other think hotel Siamese Twins. A shared lobby, shared pool, shared fitness center, and one less exterior wall, this has to be a huge cost saving…. Well done Hilton. 

This property still had masked employees and the plexiglass riot shields but offered the amazing Hilton Garden Inn made-to-order breakfast which I could use my $10.00 Hilton property credit for. Safe to say that Thursday mornings Buccee’s Brisket Taco was delicious and much less expensive….. Not so well done on that $10.00 property credit Hilton.

Onto tonight’s topic the October crazy travel roundup.

When it comes to travel one of the first inquiries or questions I hear from baby road warriors revolves around luggage, and it makes sense. When it comes to luggage there are two types… and it’s not hard-shell or soft-sided. The two types of luggage are…. carry on and lost, and the lost part is the launching pad for our first story - “Two Charged in Airline Baggage Scam Involving Over $550,000 in False Claims“

PERNELL ANTHONY JONES, JR., and DONMONICK MARTIN, both of Louisiana were involved in this scam.

According to court documents, this began in 2015 and lasted for five years.

JONES and his co-conspirators submitted over 180 claims to commercial airlines, including American, Alaska, Southwest, United, and JetBlue, requesting over $550,000 in reimbursement for luggage that JONES falsely alleged had been lost.  In total, the airlines paid over $300,000 in fraudulent claims.  They that JONES would take flights with commercial airlines under false or fictitious identities using fraudulent identification cards.  When he arrived at the destination airport, JONES would falsely claim that his baggage had been lost and would request reimbursement to compensate him for his lost luggage.  

In the end, Jones and Martin received over $300,000 of the $550,000 that they submitted claims for.

While this scam had several failure points, one of which is the whole false identity angle, but the biggest failure point was that they got greedy, had they stopped at $100.000 or even $150,000 they might have gotten away with it. Here’s a quick business lesson, pigs get fat hogs get slaughtered…. Don’t be a hog.

Here is our first Florida story posted at View From The Wing- Passenger With Bottle Of Wine On Tray Table Drinks It On Short Miami Flight.

Let’s set the stage, an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Miami, thank you Florida. American Airlines only serves alcohol in first-class, I guess that they’re afraid of a coach cabin revolt, who knows?

On this flight, there was a first-class passenger one passenger was spotted with a full bottle of wine on their tray table.

Where did the bottle come from? You’re not getting a full bottle of win through TSA security…. Remember 3-1-1. This wasn’t an international flight so it wasn’t purchased at the duty-free shop. So this passenger didn’t bring the bottle themselves. 

View From The Wing added They’re seated in the aisle and making no attempt to hide it. Instead, the flight attendant poured this passenger a glass of wine, according to our sources, and then gave the man a whole bottle.

For the life of me I can’t figure this one out, so you’ll need to visit  View From The Wing to see the picture from R. Tedrow,

You’ll see the passenger, a cup filled with wine, another cup filled with water, a ziplock filled with snacks, an iPad showing God knows what, and then you’ll see the bottle of wine……it’s a bottle of white wine and it’s sealed, completely full and never been opened… there is more to this than what was posted… however welcome to Miami.

Do you gamble? How about playing the lottery? If so, would you take a bet that had 1 in 336 odds? For me probably not but for Alexander Svanevik not a bad deal. Alex unbeknownst to him took those odds and won. What did Alex win?  

 This came from Twitter. - Alex was the only passenger on an Abu Dhabi to Singapore Etihad flight. The Boeing 787-9 is configured for 336 passengers, and Alex was it. Instead of an airplane sofa, Alex won an airplane house, at least for this trip.

Alex posted what might be one of the greatest tweets ever - 

I'm alone on my flight to Singapore.

The pilot makes all announcements starting with "Mr. Alexander".

The best I ever did was the suicide flight from Atlanta to Orlando 20 years ago… it was me and 7 of my closest friends on a Delta wide body, and no one greeted us by name.

If you’ve spent any time listening to the p[odcast you know we have two dogs here at Chateau’ Relaxo. Jessie the yellow lab. Or as I normally say the “Meth Lab” and Skye the most practical Florida dog a Siberian Husky. These dogs don’t travel except for the occasional trip to the vet, but we don’t take them on vacation with us….. The reason is that they’re 50 and 60 lbs of fur and energy. These are in no way support animals, in fact, we are their support humans. In some way, I envy people that have pets they can travel with….. That is until those pets need to use the restroom…. Then I’m not so envious.

This sets the stage for our next story. Earlier this month a couple flying from Lubbock, Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada got a bit of a surprise. When they went to check their bags the scale showed 6lbs over the allowed weight, and as most people do they promptly opened the suitcase to see what could be offloaded to another bag, and that’s when they found Icky, their 6lb Chihuahua napping inside a packed cowboy boot. 

Yep, it seems that the husband is a last-minute packer and that Icky is a burrower which apparently is the combination required to send a piece of luggage over the allowed weight limit.

Thankfully one of the Southwest gate agents agreed to dog sit till the couple returned.

Side note this would never have happened with a lab or husky.

In the past, we’ve discussed weird items you can bring on a plane.

For example:

* A bowling ball

* A live lobster

* Fresh eggs

* A cheese grater

* And a megaphone

Note that last one, a megaphone, why not maybe you’re heading to a college football game, maybe you’re heading to Orlando for a cheerleading contest or maybe you want to use it for lecturing passengers about Covid and your beauty. 

 Well, that’s what happened - 

"I brought my microphone. I'm going to use it," the woman says while standing in the aisle when the flight attendant asked her to get back to her seat. 

The woman then walks down the aisle as she lectures: "The reason the pandemic started is that nobody here has any more faith because you're all stuck to your stupid devices and you don't even know what reality is anymore."

When the staff eventually pulls her away from the aisle and guides her back to the seat, she yells: "My dog has better sense than any of you."

First, I wish that all planes had some sort of a hatch in the middle of the aisle where lunatics could be ushered to so that they can spend the remainder of the flight.

Second, no one wants to be stuck in an aluminum tube listening to or exposed to lunatics.

Third, pick your controversial platform, COVID, religion, politics, or LGBT none of you lunatics are going to change anyone’s mind. 

It’s similar to telling someone that’s freaking out to “calm down”, have you ever once seen that work? Ahhhh, no.

Florida rings in again this month, with one of my favorite themes…. the emergency exit.

We’ve had people use the emergency slide as their resignation letter. We’ve had people use the emergency exit as a means of demonstration. We've had passengers bolt looking to flee carry-on contraband.

Here are the cliff notes.

During deplaning in Miami, a customer on American Airlines flight 920 with service from Cali, Colombia (CLO) to MIA exited the aircraft via an emergency exit. The customer was immediately detained by law enforcement. 

The passenger was immediately captured by Customs and Border Protection agents. So this begs to ask why? The “View From The Wing” offered no additional detail, but my thought, it’s Florida and he was stuck on American “The New Spirit” Airlines and he wanted off.

Here’s a sign that things might be returning to normal…. Just a bit.

Live and Let Fly -  NAKED WOMAN ROAMS DENVER AIRPORT, MAKING SMALL TALK WITH PASSENGERS

From the post - Carrying a drink in one hand, nothing in the other, and nothing on her body, a naked woman paraded through Denver Airport striking up conversations with passengers before finally being stopped by police.

Best comment to the post - Colorado Woman to Florida Man: Hold my beer.

After a bit of digging it seems this woman might have been having a bit of a medical issue, especially since this didn’t take place in Florida.

This month’s business development question hits close to home. How do you fix the rental car shortage problem?

In the past, we’ve talked about this shortage - Tourists in Hawaii were renting U-Hauls due to the shortage and the fact that a single day rental can be over $500.00. Rental car companies are discouraging one-way rentals, why? They don’t want to lose that car from their rental inventory.

In fact, there’s a vehicle shortage everywhere. For instance, if you want to purchase a new Tesla 3 the lead-time for one is 18 months and the price is steadily increasing and this just might be the reason.

Hertz, the rental car company, Hertz, just announced that they will be purchasing not 1,000, not 10,000 but 100,000 Telsa’s…. That’s about 20% of Hertz’s fleet. 100,000 cars no wonder there’s an 18-month wait.

So while Hertz seems to have solved the rental car shortage, or at least the shortage for Hertz, this may have caused a couple of other challenges.

First, how are you going to charge them? Most Hilton properties have one or two EV charging stations, but that’s not enough to support these new rentals in addition to the current private sector fleet.

That being said on my recent stay in Brunswick GA across the street from the hotel was a Tesla Supercharging location with 24 Superchargers. Apparently, there is over  25,000 superchargers, who knew.

The second, and possibly bigger challenge is end-user adoption. An electric car is very different than a traditional gasoline-powered car. It starts differently, it handles differently and it sounds differently. Now after a few minutes or miles, most drivers will be able to adapt.

Personally, I’m all for the Hertz/Tesla initiative., As for my next rental, I’ll gladly walk past my typical Toyota Corolla of Ford Fusion and head straight for the Tesla.

We’re nearing the end of the episode and what’s missing? It’s the anti-maskers vs. the vaxxers. The reason, too many stories. 

* There was the United flight where the drunk anti-masker decided to curse out a flight attendant.

* Frontier Airlines also had an anti-masker curse out a flight attendant. 

* Another United flight gave us this, a man who refused to wear a mask on the plane begins yelling "I will break your neck" at two of the flight attendants.

Pretty much status quo.

However one observation, in two of the videos, because now there’s always a video, both gentlemen were wearing baseball caps, backward…… proof that wearing a baseball cap backward lowers your IQ by 10 points.

And here is something that for the life of me I just can’t grasp. When you purchase an airline ticket you agree to wear a seatbelt, it’s a federally mandated law, yet no one b*****s, cusses, or gets in fights when told to buckle up.

The same is true for masks, when you buy a ticket you agree to the federal mandate requiring you to wear a mask. For all that is holy, why are people losing their minds over this?

I’m not crazy about wearing seatbelts on a plane, I’m not crazy about wearing a mask on a plane either, but it’s the law. I guess my other choice is to walk or rent one of those new Hertz Teslas.

That does it, the October crazy travel roundup is over.…. If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.

Over the past few months, I have been traveling more and more, but there’s been nothing much to report on as most hotels, restaurants, and gas stations are 50/50 on the requirement of masks as well as having those plexiglass riot shields in place. However, the one constant is that almost every employee in those facilities is masked up.

The motivation for this Oktoberfest episode came from a recent trip to one of my favorite places Savannah, GA, and if there was some way that I could afford to live there I would.

However, we had a very disappointing hotel stay during this visit, and it was at a Hilton property. The Hampton Inn & Suites Savannah Historic District.  This was the feedback I left on Hilton’s website.

It’s rare that I complain, but after this stay, I have to. In roughly 20 years of being a Hilton Honors member, this has to have been one of the worst hotels I’ve ever stayed at, and well below what I call Hampton Inn standards. The hallway carpet was stained, not coffee or soda stains, but what appeared to be water stains from leaks. We were upgraded, room #524, the carpet appeared to have burn marks on the carpet next to the bed, as well as stains in front of the sofa, which was also stained. The office chair arms were worn as well. This upgraded room had the smallest coffee table I have ever seen. The bathroom shelves had flaking paint, the caulk around the toilet wasn’t even touching the base on most of the toilet. There was what appeared to be mold along the baseboard and in the corner of the tub, and the refrigerator had a huge buildup of ice.

I’d like to request some sort of reimbursement of the 100,000 points I had spent on this reservation.

Had I put this on my American Express Hilton card I would be disputing the charge. The only bright spot of the stay was the desk clerk, Sky, very friendly.

I have pictures in case you are interested.

Less than 24 hours later the properties general manager called me personally to apologize and that he would personally go and inspect our room and to close the conversation, he let me know that they would be crediting me back those 100,000 points. Less than 4 hours later those points were back in my account.

When booking, our room was listed at $249.00 per night. Some quick math made me realize that keeping $500.00, before taxes, in my bank account was a better deal than dropping 100,000 points from my quickly diminishing Hilton point bank account.

Besides, we weren't going to hit Savannah till 9:00 PM Friday night, and with everything we had planned for Saturday this room was nothing more than a place to sleep, no spa time, no restaurant time, and no bar time.

Hats off to the  Hampton Inn & Suites Savannah Historic District for making things right.

This past weekend we headed to Disney Springs for the night. Disney Springs was packed, and they were no longer requiring temperature checks before entering and they only required masks inside of the establishments. 

As customary, we dined at Splitsville, and after that caught the new James Bond movie, “No Time To Die”.

Believe it or not, Disney Springs has a cigar shop, Sosa’s, complete with a small smoking lounge. As we left the theater, I swear the same 3 people were in the same 3 chairs that we saw as we entered the theater.

We ended up having to stay at the Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace Disney Springs Area, and not our normal Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista - Disney Springs Area location. Two very similar names for two properties located across the street from each other, but each location offering completely different experiences.

This was our third stay at the Palace. On the first trip, we got to our room opened the fridge to find the previous guest’s leftovers. I called downstairs explained the situation they said they’d bring up a new fridge while we went to dinner, which they did. Unfortunately, they moved the leftovers from the previous guests to the new fridge.

On our next trip when we unlocked the door to our room we found someone else and their belonging in what was supposed to be our room. Here’s a quick travel tip not only use the deadbolt but also swing that bar latch right above it.

As for this third trip, I really wasn’t holding any high expectations. But since it was only one night and we wouldn’t be back to the room till almost midnight and checked out by 10:00 AM I figured let’s give it a shot. Drumroll, please….. Everything was fine, no leftover food in our fridge, no one in our room, the A/C was ice cold and we were checked out by 9:30 AM.

Onto tonight’s topic, my thoughts on Oktoberfest.

Most of us over the age of 21 are familiar with Oktoberfest, and most of us associate it with food and beer, and you wouldn’t be that far off.

Here are the cliff notes - 

The Oktoberfest (German pronunciation: [ɔkˈtoːbɐˌfɛst]) the “K” is German O-C-T-O-B-E-R-F-E-S-T  “C” is American. Oktoberfest is the world's largest Volksfest (beer festival and traveling funfair). Oktoberfest, an annual festival in Munich, Germany, is held over a two-week period and ending on the first Sunday in October. 

The festival originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festival concluded five days later with a horse race held in an open area that came to be called Theresienwiese (“Therese’s green”).

So we have a solid foundation on which to build a party, marriage, and beer. Almost makes for a reality show.

My Oktoberfest interactions have been stateside, and all have been in the south. That being said “The Entrepreneur '' made it to the motherland Munich pre-pandemic 2019.

When we lived down at FrickFord farms we hit up the yearly Ft. Lauderdale Oktoberfest celebration.

Think 90 degrees, the smell of sunscreen, and lots of tank tops. In episode 149, My Thoughts On Beer, I talked about those acrylic beer mugs that are molded into the shape of a boot. Well, this is where you’ll find them, Las Olas Boulevard downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Then add to all that the food vendors selling greasy Brats, Pretzels the size of your head, and Sauerkraut from a 5 lb can - all of this is the equivalent of German fast food. 

In the past the beer was typically Yueling Oktoberfest, in 2021 it’s probably something from the Bud Lite Fall Seltzer pack.

Our other Oktoberfest destination every so often is Helen, GA. If you’re not familiar with Helen, it’s about 90 miles north of Atlanta, the population is right around 450 and it’s Georgia’s third most visited city. 

The value-add with Helen is that it has a Bavarian theme to it. Think the Alps, but in the Appalachians. This is a perfect setting for Oktoberfest, and Helen does it right. Oktoberfest 2020 was canceled, but Oktoberfest 2021 is in full force.

Basecamp is the Festhalle which houses the event.  German-style bands from around the country and around the world play. You can see the Alphorns blown, the Cowbells rung and the Accordion squeezed. 

When it comes to Oktoberfest food, it’s really no different than what’s served every day.

You’ll find Sauerbraten beef, Hühnerbrust  chicken and a variety of schnitzels - Hühner, Salzburger and Holsteiner. 

Beer, think Original Hofbräu, Hofbräu Hefe Weizen and Hofbräu Hefe Dunkel. All true legit German beers,  but you can still find your Miller Lite and a selection of Gaelic Ales.

Take it from me there’s a fine line between Oktoberfest and Oktoberfest overload and when Helen GA puts a check in that Oktoberfest box, there’s still plenty more to do.

If you’re into hiking, there’s the 4.4-mile hike up Yonah Mountain as well as the 1 mile down, 4 miles back up Dukes Creek Falls trail, which I could spend at least 15 additional minutes talking about.

If you enjoy state parks there’s Smithgall Woods and Unicoi. 

If you love to fly fish, there’s the upper Chattahoochee River north of Helen or visit Unicoi Outfitters and fish their stretch of Nacoochee Bend south of Helen.

Find yourself stuck in Helen during the month of December there’s the yearly Christmas spectacular that’s worth checking out.

Back to the motivation for this Oktoberfest episode, our recent trip to Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table for an Oktoberfest-themed cooking class. The CEO discovered Chef Darin a year or so ago, and this was our second class with him.

Chef Darin has been in Savannah for the better part of 17 years, and he started the cooking school at the Mansion on Forsyth Park the same hotel where we were married. In April 2015, he opened “Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table”.

Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table not only offers cooking classes but they are Savannah’s only full-service kitchen store. They stock epicurean cutting boards, Kyocera knives, and a host of sauces and seasonings. Every visit we leave with a couple of new kitchen gadgets that get used on a regular basis.

The evening started with warm fresh pretzels accompanied by fresh beer cheese dip. 

For reference here’s my Chateau’ Relaxo beer cheese recipe

* Cream cheese,

* A jar of Kraft Old English cheese

* Worcestershire sauce

* Garlic powder

* Beer

What Chef Darin offered up was well beyond that with chunks of real cheese mixed with some culinary magic.

From there we put on our aprons and went to work. 

The menu - 

Piquant Carrot Salad - Shaved carrots, horseradish, heavy cream (and it’s always heavy cream never average cream) lemon juice & sugar. This is one of those dishes that gets better the longer that it sits and marinades.

Next, it was Jägerschnitzel (Hunter Schnitzel with Sauce). 

The sauce - bacon, onion, mushrooms, red wine combined with a handful of seasonings.

The Schnitzel-was pounded pork loin then breaded we (pork), dry (flour), wet (egg wash), dry (panko) left hand was for the wet portion and the right hand was for the dry portions. Then fried in a neutral oil, like vegetable….. Not the CEO’s favorite, olive oil.

To finish the plate it was potato and bacon dumplings, what’s not to like? We’ve done traditional dumplings as well as Spatzel, but potato dumplings were something new. The key is to get as moisture out of the potatoes as possible.

Desert was Bavarian Apple Strudel. For me, strudel has always been a jelly-roll style covered in cinnamon sugar. Bavarian strudel is this wonderful creation of phyllo dough, creme fraiche, granny smith apples, and nine or ten additional ingredients. This came out of the oven as this golden brown warm dish or goodness.

The class concluded with all of us sitting down to enjoy what we spent the last few hours preparing and as a kicker Chef Darin does all the cleanup.

If you find yourself heading to Savannah and you’re looking for a great date night activity book a reservation at Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table 

He offers classes such as - 

* Low Country Cuisine - Shrimp & Grits

* French Bistro - Entertaining

* One Dough - Lots of Cookies!

* As well as a Wednesday evening Facebook Live event.

Chef Darin does a great job, you won’t be disappointed.

That does it, my thoughts on Oktoberfest.…. If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/

Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.

As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.