Recorded in the beautiful home office at Chateau’ Relaxo Florida.
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.
Another Random Show - Travel Stories, Episode 186