Before returning to our regularly scheduled programming, here’s one last update on Erysse, Mommy and the rest of the Elliott family. The two women in our lives came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon after a memorable delivery at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies in Orlando.
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Since reporting on our photoblog yesterday that Kari suffered some painful complications during the birth of our daughter Erysse, I’ve been overwhelmed by your notes of concern and support. This is one of those rare and beautiful times when we have felt connected to friends and family, despite the geographic distance between all of us.
I’m thrilled to announce the latest addition to the Elliott family. And no, it isn’t a new Web site or column. Our daughter, Erysse Margaret Elliott was born at 6 a.m. today at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies in Orlando. She weighed 10 pounds and 6 ounces and measured 24 1/2 inches. Yes, this girl is probably gonna walk home from the hospital.
Elizabeth Logan hands the keys to her SUV to the valet service at the Hilton Austin when she checks in. It’s the last time she sees her car. The vehicle “goes missing” and the only thing Hilton will do is give her the number of its insurance company. Is that enough?
What is it about flying in an airplane that seems to remind some passengers of a church confessional?
Being a consumer advocate, I tend to focus on the misdeeds of the travel industry. I ought to look the other way occasionally. It turns out a lot of travelers are closeted kleptomaniacs.
Here’s a question that has troubled Canada’s highest court for several months: Which supreme court judge cruised in the buff? A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle travel section quoted a tour operator who offered clothing-optional cruises. The company’s customers included “actors, bus drivers, Fortune 500 CEOs, soccer moms, doctors, teachers, priests and at least one Canadian Supreme Court justice,” she claimed.
A month after Mary Ann Stewart rents a car from Advantage Rent-A-Car, she gets a surprise in the mail: a credit card charge for $75 — and a choice to either pay the charge or be reported to a collections agency. Seems Stewart got a parking ticket while she rented the car. But this is the first time she’s heard of it. What should she do?
It’s common knowledge that a lot of folks in the travel industry, from the airport skycap to the hotel concierge, have their hands stuck in the “out” position, expecting a tip from you. What’s not as well covered by the travel media and travel blogs, is the how people in the travel industry often do the same thing to each other
When I talk about my work, I have a tendency to sound detached and clinical about it. Some even say that our unofficial motto at the Population Council should be, “We make sex boring.” But that’s not true when I travel.
United Airlines today said it has increased fares by $6 per round trip on certain flights, citing higher fuel costs. American Airlines and bankrupt Delta Air Lines matched the move.
I’ve been critical of TripAdvisor, the site that let’s you “rate” resorts, in the past. Despite the company’s best efforts, its reviews are easy to manipulate by hotels, making them difficult to trust. But yesterday, TripAdvisor did right in my book by releasing its TripAdvisor Travelcast poll.
The daily rate for a rental car in San Francisco looks almost too good to be true on the Hertz Web site. And it is. When Chris Chiang tries to pick up the car, a rental agent hands him a contract that asks him to pay double the price for the vehicle. What should he do?
There is only one thing I can think of that would make conditions on the Thomson Destiny, which has been without working toilets for the last three days, any worse: an outbreak of the Norwalk virus.
When I was a frequent business traveler, I developed what some people might consider an odd pastime: I recorded the tail numbers on planes.
The Fairmont Washington knows Andrew Breslow’s room preference, his fondness for foam pillows and his favorite cocktail: Jack Daniels with club soda. But that is not why Mr. Breslow, a tax lawyer from Southlake, Tex., likes to check into the hotel on his extended business trips to Washington.
These are strange times to be a passenger in a taxi. During the last month, several reports of cab drivers refusing to transport passengers have made headlines. Among their reasons for turning down a fare: travelers were carrying alcohol, had a seeing-eye dog, or were transgendered (all of which apparently offended the religious sensibilities of the drivers).
Have the travel industry’s watchdogs slumbered off once again? Are the travel bloggers who are stumbling all over themselves to document every airline, cruise and hotel non-trend missing the real story? Reader Janice Hough — and others like her, I’m sure — want to know.
Restaurant guide Zagat is not exactly known for its consumer journalism. So I was surprised to read an astonishingly well-written feature on surprise restaurant surcharges on its Web site this morning. If your eat at restaurants, you should check it out.
