Comparing fares
Farecompare.com, a startup site that I’ve been following for a while, went public this morning with an innovative fare-tracking system that lets you follow ticket pricing trends in order to find the best deal.
Hunkering down
Hurricane season officially begins June 1. But why wait? Tropical storm Aletta made its debut over the weekend, menacing the Mexican coast. And there’s more to come, with NOAA predicting between 13 and 16 named storms.
I’ll have an ailse seat, please
I’m 6-foot, 11-inches tall — not the tallest guy to have played in the N.B.A., but I still tower over the average traveler. I’m on the road about 200 days a year, trying to contend with airline seats and hotel rooms that, to be honest, were not built with professional basketball players in mind.
Orbitz moves
Any day now, Orbitz will be moving to a new office building. It old digs in a high-rise along South Wacker Drive in Chicago, just across the street from where I interned at Reuters back in 1990, was pretty impressive to begin with — especially its NASA-like control center where it monitors air traffic.
Same airline, different rules
George Ecker flies from Canada to Mexico for a business meeting and a vacation. All’s well until he tries to return home and Mexicana Airlines socks him with a $350 fee for overweight luggage. Hey, he only bought three T-shirts in Mexico. How could he suddenly be 44 pounds over the limit?
Slower but scarier
Summertime is a boon for amusement parks, with each trying to bump up their fear factor by offering the sleekest, fastest roller coaster. Surprisingly, a new Orlando roller coaster prides itself on being slow. An innovative design makes up for what the ride lacks in speed.
Rollercoaster
It’s more than a little ironic that National Public Radio aired my story about rollercoasters this morning. The last month has been a figurative rollercoaster for me, ending today, on of all occasions, my 38th birthday.
United rising?
I had an opportunity to visit with several high-level people at United Airlines last week. Almost everything we discussed was, as they say in journalism, “off the record,” so I can’t get into the specifics. But a lot of what United is doing is a matter of public record.
Scent of a traveler
I have a nose for scents. It’s something I’ve developed after years in the fragrance industry. I can sniff out a compound in a perfume that most other people couldn’t detect. But there is a catch: I can’t turn it off. My sensitive nose is in the permanent “on” position — even when I travel.
Hard times on Sanibel
Cayo Costa, a tiny Gulf Coast barrier island near Sanibel, Fla., is one of the least visited of Florida’s state parks. Which is exactly why tourists are drawn to this sanctuary of white-sand beaches and oak-palm hammocks, a place so remote that it can be reached only by boat.
Keeping it simple
Staying at the James, Chicago’s newest hotel, is like visiting your younger brother. There’s electronica music piped into the lobby, where beautiful people sip cocktails from oversized glasses.
Don’t eat that!
I take all of the necessary health precautions when I travel. I drink bottled water, and I won’t eat anything unless it’s peeled, cooked or boiled. It wouldn’t look so good if an expert on travel medicine got sick on the road.
Seven money-saving secrets
Travelers are notorious penny-pinchers. If you aren’t the kind of person who spends hours online just to save a few bucks on a hotel room, you’re probably related to someone who does. That may be one reason why there are few in the business who talk glowingly about their best customers being educated customers. The industry credo is something more along the lines of, “ignorance is bliss.”
Meeting Mr. Right
The week after my 30th birthday, my mother called me and suggested that maybe it was time to settle down and begin a family. It was the first time she had brought up the subject of marriage, and frankly it was a bit of a shock coming from her, since she has a fierce independent streak.
A changing hotel rate
His hotel quotes him a rate of $135 a night by phone. But when he checks out, Shoubhanik Makur is charged $169.99. Then his credit card is billed for two nights at $192.66. What’s going on here? And can Makur get any of his money back?