I am not a rule breaker (POLL!)

I'm just not. Knowingly breaking rules makes me uncomfortable. So when people come up to me in airports and ask me to watch their luggage while they go to the bathroom I always say no. I get that it's a hassle to take all your stuff into the bathroom with you, but I do and so can you!

I've been asked this multiple times with various reactions. Some are fine with it, understanding of my hesitancy. One guy got mad at me! Today's case felt he needed to explain the hassle (again, something I understand, not a difficult concept) and then mentioned that it was ok because he "is with the FAA anyway". Awesome.

So what do you think? Am I being uptight here? Or is this appropriate in a post 9/11 world? Take the poll to the right and feel free to comment below

Least Bad Option? (POLL -->)

I just received a call from the agency that handle's my company's travel.  Immediately my heart sunk. Getting calls from them is never good!


For reasons currently unknown, US Airways canceled my 3:10 direct flight from DCA to MHT (Manchester, NH). The agent was able to tell me I was rebooked but had to call US Airways to find out how I rebooked.  I immediately ran through the options in my head and none of them are good.

So for this week's poll.  Which do you think is the "least bad" option?

A. 9pm direct out of DCA to MHT landing at 10:30pm, 30 minute drive to hotel
B. 3:25pm out of DCA, through PHL, landing at MHT at 7:45, 30 minute drive to hotel
C. 3:30pm direct out of DCA to BOS, landing at 5:00pm, 2 hour drive to hotel.

Bonus question (leave your answer in the comments) - which one do you think US Airways rebooked me on??

Time to make some decisions (POLL to the right -->)

Ok folks. I need to start figuring my vacation plans out. Jenny and I have been contemplating a cross country road trip. We would drive from DC to Las Vegas, spend a day or 2 in Las Vegas and then fly back. The flights from Las Vegas back to DC just dropped from $232 to about $180 which I feel like we should jump on!

That being said, it's a big commitment! There is the flight, the rental car, hotels, food, gas, etc. I'm thinking it can get pretty pricey, pretty quickly depending on what we want to do and where we want to stay. I've also been getting some mixed reactions to the idea.  There are those that are all for it and others who think it sounds like torture.

Financially it makes the most sense to do it with 4 people. I also think that could be a fun number. Right now we have 2.

So...time to help me make decisions folks...

A. Go for it! You're only young once!
B. Driving over 2,500 miles sounds like torture!
C. Sounds like fun and I want to join!
D. A poll? Seriously? You need to make this decision yourself!

The Snack Situation (Poll to the right -->)

Since my last poll was a rip-roaring success (if you define success as your cousin beating the system to vote multiple times...and I do) I'm posting another one!

One of my constant struggles is to find somewhat healthy snack options at the airport. They often carry entire walls of large snack bags and many fewer single portion options. And even the smaller options are general 2 servings (but really - who eats 1/2 a bag of cheez-its/pretzels/goldfish/etc?).

So my question is this.  Which of the snacks listed below do you think is the "healthiest*"?

A. Lay's Classic Potato Chips

B. Pepperidge Farm Cheddar Goldfish Crackers

C. Cheez-it Snack Bag



(*healthiest being the option with the least calories in the size bag offered by the airport shop, not necessarily by serving size).


Go with gut here folks. No cheating!

Poll Results

I know all of you who participated in my poll last week (all 10 of you...thanks family) have been waiting on bated breath for feedback on the poll results. With the benefit of hindsight I still believe the option (C) I chose was the right one. Here are my thoughts on the various flights:

A. The one gets in the latest (midnight) and is the only one with a layover. Plus there is nothing to do in the DSM airport where I would have had to wait for multiple hours.

B. In a perfect world this is the flight I would have loved to take, unfortunately I would have missed it! Due to the multiple inches of snow coming down I we arrived right at 4pm.

C. Best Option! (I do love being right)

D. My colleague was on this flight and it ended up being canceled because at the time it took off too much snow had come down

Unfortunately for me I am taking none of these options this week! Instead I'm on a Delta flight that leaves DSM at 5:50 cst; arrives DTW at 8:45 est; leaves DTW at 10:02pm; arrives IAD at 11:41 est. Oh, and my meetings start at 6:30am...it's going to be a long day!

What would you do? (POLL to the right --> )

Let's take a poll.

Often when I book my travel I struggle with what the "best" option would be. Or sometimes what is the "least bad" option. My travel yesterday was one example and I'm not sure I ended up with the best option. So now it's your turn to decide. What would you have done? I've laid out the options below and there is a poll to the right. Tell me which option you would book!

Parameters:

• Meetings end at 12:15
• 15 minute drive to the Des Moines airport (DSM)
• 3 hour drive to Kansas City airport (MCI)
• 15 minute, 15 dollar, taxi from Reagan-National (DCA)
• 45 minute, 60 dollar, taxi from Dulles (IAD)

Variables:

• The last meeting of the day may very well run over
• Weather (always a factor this time of year)
• I have status on Delta & United

Options:

A. DSM to ATL to DCA leaving at 5:50pm and arriving at 11:28pm on Delta (4h 38m)

B. MCI to DCA leaving at 4:05pm arriving at 7:25pm on US Airways (2h 20m)

C. MCI to IAD leaving at 5:54pm arriving 9:15pm on United (2h 20m)

D. MCI to DCA leaving at 7:15pm arriving at 10:30pm on Frontier (2h 20m)

Response Requested

This is my longest stretch of time in the office in the last few months. Including yesterday it will be 5 business days in a row of office time.

And what that is a very good thing for my workload, it's not such a good thing for my blog. If I'm not traveling then I'm not meeting characters at hotel bars, investigating the condiment situation in hospitals or evaluating airline response times.

So I want to use this time to hear from you.

What do you like? What do you not like? What do you want more of? What do you want less of?

(Ideally those answers pertain to the blog but I'm not too picky)

Guess which one of these upsets me more...

Not going to sleep before 4am this weekend.

Getting up at 4am this morning.

Not getting into my hotel until 12:30pm tonight.

Needing to wake up at 6am tomorrow to drive for 2 hours.

Someone playing foreign music videos on their laptop in the airport without speakers.

What's worse?

I have two trips coming up this week and neither is going to have ideal weather. I'm trying to decide which one is worse...

North Carolina

• Temperature: High of 70
• Precipitation: 80%
• Cloudy

New Hampshire

• Temperature: High of 41
• Precipitation: 0%
• Sunny

What would you prefer?Warm and rainy? Cold and Sunny?