Blogging About Underwear?

So much goes in to planning a European trip. One of my consistent goals on each trip is to pack less than I did on the last trip. I have found that my enjoyment of the trip itself seems to be inversely proportional to the weight of my luggage.

When you're moving around as much as I tend to do on a European adventure, and when you're completely responsible for getting your bag everywhere it goes, lighter is certainly better.

So, in the endless pursuit of lighter luggage, I recently purchased two pairs of these. If you follow the link, you'll see that the company that makes them advocates only taking one pair of underwear on such a jaunt. I think I'll go ahead, play it safe, and take two.

Please understand that I suffer no illusions that taking less underwear will make a huge difference in the total weight of my luggage. But, every little bit helps.

This is the bag I want to buy for this trip. It doubles both as wheeled luggage as well as a backpack. How cool!

More Later

RSS Feeds

Today I've been setting up an RSS Feed for this Blog. Right now I have it set up under http://feeds.feedburner.com/TravelTales My Yahoo reader picks it up, but the RSS reader incorporated into my email client does not.

Still working on it...once I feel I have it resolved, I'll place a link on this page!

Why Vienna and Prague and London?

Why am I going to Prague, Vienna and London? I chose Vienna and Prague because I haven't been either place, or anywhere near either place. It is important that I keep my familiarity with Europe up to date.

I am visiting London for two reasons. First off, I just love London. Second reason is that I want to fly one of the discount carriers. In this case, I want to fly Easy Jet. I will fly round trip in and out of London and use Easy Jet to go between London and Prague.

The Planning Continues!

Planning Another Europe Trip

I am in the beginning stages of planning another European Adventure. I want to go places I haven't been before...I probably can only take a week...and I want to utilize one of the discount European airlines...

..So, for now, I am planning to visit Prague, Vienna and London. I've ordered books and maps...

..More Later

An Alabama Adventure

One day after returning from Las Vegas, we headed off to Alabama for a family wedding. The original plan was for Philip to fly out on Thursday with our son, then I would bring our daughter on Friday. We were booked on flights from Dallas to Jackson, Mississippi.

I could write a loooong post about how everything unfolded, but I'll just give you the bullet points.

The Thursday afternoon flight to Jackson was cancelled due to "mechanical" issues.
Philip and our son were automatically rerouted to Jackson on a flight scheduled to depart Friday morning. This would not do, because our son needed to ba in Alabama for the rehearsal for his debut as the Worlds Best Ring Bearer.

We got them rerouted to Birmingham, Alabama on an 8pm flight. This left Philip entertaining a 6 year old at DFW for three extra hours...always a joy.

Philip's luggage, of course, didn't make it with him on the flight. I mean, why would it? They only had three extra hours to make the transition.

By the time they arrived at their final destination it was about 1am

Our daughter and I were booked on the very same flight to Jackson on Friday. I picked her up early from school in order to standby on the earlier flight.

We did not clear the standby list for the earlier flight.

Unbelievably, the very same flight was cancelled for at least the second day in a row, ostensibly for the same reason: "mechanical"

Once again, AA automatically rerouted us for a flight the next morning. Not acceptable.

We got to the front of the line and learned that they had 6 seats to fly from DFW to Memphis, then connecting on Northwest airlines on to Jackson. We took two of the seats.

Gradually, it became obvious that the Memphis flight was becoming delayed to the point where the last connection of the day to Jackson was not going to happen.

We then requested to be rerouted on the same 8pm flight to Birmingham that Philip and our son had been on the day before. Simply unbelievable. I, however, had one requirement. Since it had been more than 24 hours and Philip still hadn't seen his luggage, I required that they pull my luggage off the flight and send it up to me in baggage claim and let me check it on the Birmingham flight. If they could not produce my luggage before the Birmingham flight departed I was committed to staying home. If my luggage took as long to catch up with me as Philip's did to catch up with him I would have to miss the wedding due to not being able to get dressed!

After a long period of time (2.5 hours!) in the American Eagle Baggage Service Office which deserves a blog post of its very own, it was determined our luggage actually made the 3:30pm flight that we did not make. My suitcase was sitting in Jackson, Mississippi.

As it happens, the courier had just left Jackson to deliver my husband's bag to him over two hours away at his parent's house. They were able to call the courier back to the airport to pick up my bag and deliver it with my husband's bag.

Net effect: My suitcase arrived at my inlaws before I landed in Birmingham.

Okay, so it turned out to be a long post anyway. I don't think we'll be flying to Alabama again any time soon. The nine hour drive is actually faster than messing with American Airlines.

Headed Home

We are now on the plane headed home. TMU (The conference we attended) has a valuable use of time. I would have loved if we could have stayed for the whole thing, but we cannot.

We will download the handouts for the classes we missed. As always, I have many new ideas swimming around in my head. The challenge is always integrating the new information into lives and routines once I'm home. As you know if you've been reading this blog very long, returning home after a trip is a challenging time for me. This time will be especially challenging because in less than 24 hours I will get on another plane to attend a family wedding.

The MGM Grand, I must say, didn't recover from the initial "ewwwwww" factor with the towels and what not. This morning when we were showering we discovered that the room cleaners had taken the unwrapped bar of soap we had used yesterday as well as the shampoo we had opened and partially used yesterday. That part was fine, I have often encountered that. The problem is that she didn't replace them! Where was the logic there? "They used these, so I'll take them away"?

Also, we went to the concierge last night to ask for a dinner recommendation. She really pushed the restaurants right there in the hotel. Somewhat understandable, but not really what we were looking for. If we wanted to eat at one of the hotel restaurants there were plenty of sources of information about those restaurants, we wouldn't have needed the concierge. The restaurant was acceptable though. Pretty good really.

Also, although I avoid cigarette smoke like the plague I will have to wash every scrap of clothing I brought with me. No matter what, everything you bring to Las Vegas will end up smelling like smoke. I almost can't stand to smell myself now.

The pilot says it's raining in Dallas. Good! We need the rain...it may make for a bumpy ride though.

I'll see if I can get this transmitted before we take off.

Later!

Viva Las Vegas

So far, so good.

I don't know if I mentioned that we're staying at the MGM Grand. I've never stayed here before.

I've stayed at Mandalay Bay, Caesars Palace and the Mirage. I would say that I rank the MGM lower than any of the places I've stayed before. It's still well within the range of great...but there have been a few "hitches in the giddy-up".

On the good side, they offer the check in desk at the baggage claim area of the airport. That is greatness. I was completely done checking in before the baggage ever showed up.

On the other side, there was lipstick on the hand towel hanging in our bathroom. Additionally, there was a used towel hanging on the back of the bathroom door with a hair that didn't belong to either Philip or myself.

Definately an "ewwwwww" factor.

The people are friendly though. I went out to go running this morning and had slipped a couple of bucks in my pocket to purchase a bottle of water. The cost ended up being $2.25. The gentleman at the cash register fronted me the .25. Very nice.

I so enjoy running when I'm on a trip. I ran down the strip from the MGM down to the Mirage and back. Running in a strange town really give me a great feeling for the place. I've run in Boston, New York, London, Las Vegas and other places I can't readily think of at the moment.

Well, I'm in a class right now. I'm going to sign off for now so I can listen!

More Later.

Headed Out Again Today....

Philip and I will head out to a travel technology conference today.

When I have mentioned it I just say we're going to conference. I leave out the fact that it's in Las Vegas. I don't know why exactly, I just think it sounds like we're really going to a wild party or something.

We are looking forward to learning whatever there is to learn this year. We'll split up and attend as many classes as possible.

More Later!

Who is YOUR Trip Advisor?

One issue we encounter over and over these days is tripadvisor.com. Usually, tripadvisor.com is a thorn in our collective travel agent flesh.

The idea of tripadvisor is a good one. I mean, why not gain the collective wisdom of the masses about any given idea or product in order to make a more informed purchasing decision? The problem is that it doesn't really execute well in real life.

Oh, it seems to work beautifully.

You hear about a resort, you go to Trip Advisor to see what folks are saying about that resort. Thumbs up? Thumbs down? What will it be? There is certainly no shortage of opinions on the site. People even email in pictures they've taken themselves.

I recently had a customer booked at a certain resort that I hand picked for him. Several months after booking (still before the trip) he called and wanted to switch to another resort in the same area. He had read some recent poor reviews from some folks on Trip Advisor and was now uncertain about our previous choice. This was a very important trip because he was taking his extended family to celebrate his parents 50th wedding anniversary.

The resort he wanted to move to was sold out by this point. Also, I have been to both of the resorts myself and I know this client well. He would have been happy at the resort he wanted to move to, but I knew he would he happier at the resort we had originally chosen together. He ended up staying at the resort we chose.

He got back a few days ago and reports that they had an outstanding trip. A direct quote from him is that it was "nothing like they said on Trip Advisor".

I should put those words on a plaque and put it on my desk.

The main problem with relying on Trip Advisor is that you don't know the motivation of the people posting the information. Certainly there are lots of honest people just trying to help fellow travelers. Also, there are owners and managers of competitors posting false information in an attempt to raise the ratings of their own places. In fact, I have an ex-brother-in-law who used to own a guest ranch in Colorado. He spent a significant amount of time posting "reviews" of competitors ranches as well as his own.

Objective information? I think not.

If you truly want a reliable "Trip Advisor", develop a relationship with an experienced local travel agent. A travel agent worth their salt is adept at uncovering what is important to you and your family. A travel agent has not only traveled to many of the destinations important to you, but they've also spoken with hundreds of people after they've traveled. What kinds of people have enjoyed this place? What kinds of people did not?

There is a whole world out there. Different things work well for different folks. I've been matching different people up with all kinds of great vacations for close to 20 years.

No website can top that.

Coming Home

I have a harder time than you would imagine stepping back into normal life after a trip.

I did finally get my luggage back at about 6pm the day after I got home. It was kind of nice really. Since I didn't have my makeup, hairbrush, etc, I couldn't get dressed for work. Since I couldn't go to work, I worked from home.

We have IP telephones, so as long as I have an office phone and a broadband Internet connection I can function anywhere. Not being at the office gave me the opportunity to do the things that had piled up on me while I was gone with much less interruption.

I would love to have the luxury to not work on the day after returning a trip. I think it would make me much easier to live with.

More Later.

She's Baaaaaack!

That's right..I'm finally blogging from a real keyboard. My thumbs are grateful for the break.

Yesterday was quite the eventful day, so I'm going to try to relay what happened without boring you to tears.

In spite of Daylight Savings time and being up until 1am on Saturday night, I requested a 6am wake up call so that I could attend church down at St. Paul's Chapel .

I had an interesting Subway experience on the way in that I got on the wrong train and actually ended up in Brooklyn. It was shocking to be sitting there on the train (a mostly underground experience) and then be surrounded by sunlight and going over a bridge. I thought to myself "This can't be right." I got off at the next stop and headed back to Manhattan. I slid into the church pew just as church was starting.

There were only about 10 people in attendance. It was daylight savings Sunday and it was an 8am service. I enjoyed the service. It was impactful to me to sit on the pews that were nicked and beat up and know that the cause of the damage were the boots and equipment of the dedicated men and women that worked to recover the bodies at the World Trade Center after that attacks.

Afterwards I was able to really go through the exhibit housed there regarding the role of that church in the hours, days week and months following the September 11th terrorist attacks. During more normal hours there is a line to get into the church and a crowd inside. I was able to really go slowly and digest everything.

After church I walked over to Ground Zero and slowly read all of the posted information.

Following that, I just started walking north on Broadway. I went through Tribeca, Chinatown, Soho, Greenwich Village, West Village and Chelsea. I ate at a little neighborhood place on 7th Avenue South. I found an open air market in Chelsea where I bought gifts for my kids. I just ambled through the city with no agenda at all. Finally I started getting up near the Time Square and I thought I'd go to the half price ticket line to see what was available for a matinee.

I ended up with Row "C" tickets right in front of the stage for Chicago. I really had a good time watching the performance. Robin Givens and John OHurley were two of the talented performers. After the show, I ran back to the hotel, grabbed my bag, hopped in a car and headed for the airport.

We boarded the plane on time, taxied out to the runway, then turned around and came back (which took over an hour) due to a malfunctioning onboard computer. The airline declared the aircraft out of service, we got off, got onto another plane and headed to Texas. We landed at about 1215am.

In baggage claim I thought I saw my bag come off the conveyor..but then it never came around...I filed a lost bag report. The airline just called to tell me that they lady who picked it up in error was returning it and they will deliver it to me today. I am eager to get it back.

All in all a fantastic trip.

Flight Update

Our plane has been declared out of service.

AA is deciding what they will do with us.

More Later

Sent with Wireless Sync from Verizon Wireless

Flight Delay

Greetings again! I am coming to you "live" from AA flight 787 at LaGuardia Airport (on the runway).

We're headed back to the gate due to a 'puter malfunction. If they can't get this fixed in a timely fashion it's possible I won't make it home tonight.

More Later

Sent with Wireless Sync from Verizon Wireless

Technical Difficulties

I am sorry not to have blogged yesterday. We ran nonstop from morning until night. I had composed a long entry....then deleted it by mistake.

I am currently about to enter the Ambassador Theater to see the 2pm showing of Chicago...

More Later

Sent with Wireless Sync from Verizon Wireless

Sorry you didn't hear from me yesterday...

Yesterday was a completely jampacked day without a moment to spare. The day started with a bagel while I waited for Michael Spence, our tour guide for the day, to arrive.

We had about 35 of our group come along on our excursion. Some folks thought they either had already seen all the sights they wanted to see or they didn't know if they could walk for the 4 hours of the trip.

As it turned out, the tour lasted 6 hours.

We saw lots of sites and various neighborhoods. One highlight was eating lunch at Manna's buffet in Harlem. The food was great, plentiful and priced by the pound.

We ran hopelessly late and had a hard time with closed subway stations while trying to get back, so it ended up that we were a full hour late for dinner. Various group members changed clothes between assorted meal courses. I changed between salad and entree.

The food at "The District" was great. We finished in a timely manner and walked the two blocks to the St. James Theatre.

"The Producers" was a lot of fun, although the occasionally adult subject manner was sometimes uncomfortable. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

After the show, several of us walked back to Amy's and maintained the three day long streak of eating chocolate cake at least once a day.

Upon our return to the hotel we found about a dozen group members sitting in the beautiful, intimate hotel lobby just savoring the last bit of a wonderful day.

Sent with Wireless Sync from Verizon Wireless