Recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau/ Relaxo.
Following up on the Southwest Airlines 2022/2023 travel debacle CNBC posted these key points.
Southwest Airlines said on Friday it expects to post a loss in the fourth quarter after it canceled over 16,700 flights between Christmas and New Year’s Eve due to a tech meltdown.
The mass cancellations during the peak season for U.S. airlines will result in a pre-tax hit of $725 million to $825 million to quarterly earnings.
Revenue loss from the disruptions is expected to be between $400 million and $425 million, it said.
Ending with - Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay its pilots an estimated $45 million in bonus “gratitude pay” for working through the company’s service meltdown during the holiday travel period at the end of last year.
During my 2022 Travel Resolutions episode I gave these travel tips if you were planning a big family trip for 2022.
Research - find out the COVID rules, restrictions, and guidelines for your destination, especially if you’re leaving the country.
The late 2021 or early 2022 equivalent to toilet paper in 2020 is COVID home or self-tests. Find some and test everyone before you leave and pack the remaining ones in your luggage as you never know when you’ll need them. And you can always sell them for some quick cash.
I don’t know of anyone that is currently traveling with COVID tests. In fact I don’t remember the last time I heard anyone mention COVID tests.
Be flexible, don’t book your return flight to land the night or even the day before the day you need to be back home for work, school, jury duty, or whatever. Give yourself a day of margin just in case.
Always a solid tip.
I’m not a big believer in travel insurance and that’s probably because I’ve never spent a small fortune on a family vacation…. Guilty. If you can find travel insurance that covers or includes COVID disruptions that might not be that bad of an idea.
Probably no longer the case.
The last thing I’d do would be to make sure that I had access or availability to money. The reason? If you’ve got a whole family that you’re trying to rebook on flights, while at the same time working on extending your hotel for another day, possibly two days and then there’s that rental car.
Again access to money, cash or credit, when traveling is always a good idea
I’d say we’ve come a long way in the last 12 months.
Let’s revisit my 2022 travel resolutions
Record at least one or two episodes on the road.
At the time I thought this was doable as I already had Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Nashville trips booked. Plus the possibility of two trips to Texas coupled with travel around the state of Florida. and I know I’ll continue to travel the state.
I traveled more in 2022 than I did in 2021 but I managed to only get one episode recorded. My job duties have changed or evolved over the past 18 months which had an impact on my time in the evenings.
Get the CEO back on an episode or two.
In January 2022 it has been well over a year since her last appearance and she’s been stuck with me being home a lot, a whole lot. We did get to make a few trips together during 2021 and my thought was to hear her take on air travel, hotels, and food on the road mid-pandemic.
One or at least two family vacation trips -
The first was the Kentucky Bourbon Trail This is a trip we had planned in 2020 and still haven’t been able to pull the trigger on it.
The other trip was to go back to Washington DC. Our last visit there was in December 2021 for my father-in-law's burial at Arlington; at the time, his headstone wasn’t in place.
We still want to spend time in Jacksonville, which is less than 2-hours away.
Riverside Arts Market - I love a good community market, be it farmers, arts & crafts, or beer brewers.
While I went to Jacksonville, the CEO didn’t accompany and I only visited one stop on the Jax Ale Trail. The Aardwolf Brewing Company where I went with their Hop Oddity weighing in at 5.9% ABV.
There is a bit of a backstory as to why the CEO didn’t record an episode and we didn't take any trips. It was a busy year here at Chateau’ Relaxo, and I hear people say that all the time, but this year we experienced it firsthand.
My father had been in failing health since September 2020. He entered home hospice care in August 2021 and then spent March 2022 in the hospital and once released he was totally bedridden. The CEO spent weeks upon weeks at their house tending to both my father and my mother and once he passed away on July 4th she spent more time helping my mom get settled into an assisted living facility.
Also during 2022, we became empty nesters, except for the dogs, and boarding a yellow lab and a husky in order to go on a vacation gets really expensive real quick.
For 2022 I resolved to post some travel videos, and I’ve said this in the past.
This didn’t happen and the challenge is that I have no idea what to film. Short of Instagram Stories apparently, I do not possess that viral video chip.
In 2022 I also wanted to find at least one cool new piece of travel gear or app.
I wasn’t looking for a piece of luggage, not a jacket, or even a new backpack, I’m satisfied with what I use. When wireless travel routers came out they were a game-changer. Same thing with noise-canceling headphones. This year I’m in search of a gadget, or app that makes me go “WOW” how did I ever travel without this?
All I came up with was a travel cooler. A $30.00 Feti, which is code for fake Yeti. Honestly, it was a no-name brand with a 4.6 rating on Amazon. I’ve taken more road trips this year than I have flights and it’s nice to throw a meal or two in the bag along with some beer as I head out the door.
For 2022 I planned to keep eating local.
First, I’m not anti-corporate-run restaurants. Their strong point is also their weak point. Everything is the same, a Bloomin Onion from Outback will taste the same in Greenville, SC as it does in Baltimore, MD. Typically, the only thing that can go sideways at a chain restaurant is their service.
Besides, if you stick to the chains you’re missing out on some true food adventures.
Looking back at my Google reviews these were some of the high points for 2022.
In Lake Forest CA I had Pad Thai at Spice Thai Cuisine
In Jacksonville, FL it was seafood at River & Post overlooking the St. John’s River.
While in Nashville, TN it was BBQ at Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint. The best part was that it was right across the street from the hotel
I spent close to 20 years living in and around Norcross Georgia and last year I had dinner at Dominick's Italian Of Historic Norcross for the first time. It was legit Italian.
You can put a check in the eating local box.
I also added to that resolution that maybe it was time to revisit my old Off The Eaten Path episodes and give them an update. I might actually give this a go in 2023. I’ve got over 300 reviews on Google over the past three years and while not all of them are food reviews a good percentage of them are.
For 2022 there were also some things I resolved not to do - and this is well beyond the normal things such as….
Don’t overpack
Don’t wander aimlessly around a town you are not familiar with
Don’t get hammered and forget which hotel I’m staying at
For 2022 I resolved not to go on a cruise. I’ve been on a cruise, one cruise and that was enough. Yes, there’s plenty to do. Yes, there’s plenty of food but you’re still stuck on a boat, you can’t go home, and you can’t explore on your own timeline. The only thing that held my interest was the shows, but there’s only so much of that, that a person can take.
Put a check in that box
Finally, I resolved not to stay at a hotel for which I don’t get points, or that I’m not a member of their loyalty program.
My stay in San Antonio was at a Marriott resort and while I didn’t get any points for the stay I did get points for my meals and libations. Plus, I am a lifetime Marriott Titanium member so put a check in that box as well.
So what are my travel resolutions for 2023? I don’t know. As my therapist would say, “If you did know, what would the answer be?” Ahhhhh, I still “I don’t know”.
Mid-December, Mark Peacock over at Travel Commons asked this question in a blog post.
How Good Are ChatGPT’s Top 5 Holiday Travel Tips? Here’s what ChatGPT gave him
Plan ahead:
Pack light:
Stay organized:
Be flexible:
Stay connected:
Mark’s ChatGPT verdict? Not bad. Nothing egregiously wrong, but it’s at a basic “Traveler 101” level. I would tend to agree.
So taking a cue from Mark, as well as one that has never had an original idea I also consulted ChatGPT for some 2023 New Year’s travel resolutions.
I asked, “What are 5 New Year’s travel resolutions for 2023?”
Set a travel savings goal and make a plan to reach it in order to afford a dream trip or multiple trips throughout the year.
Try new types of travel, such as solo travel, road trips, or backpacking.
Make a conscious effort to visit and support local businesses and communities when traveling.
Prioritize safety and health when planning and taking trips by researching and following guidelines for COVID-19 and other health concerns.
Take the time to truly unplug and disconnect from technology and daily routines while on vacation to maximize relaxation and rejuvenation.
Like Mark, my verdict was “Not Bad”, nothing groundbreaking nor inspirational but for some in a travel slump it might work.
So back to me, I’m traveling more than I was a year ago, but not like I was in 2019. For better or worse we’ve adapted to doing business remotely.
We had Monday, January 16th off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and it got me thinking after working 4 day work weeks during Christmas and New Year's how many three-day weekends are there this year?
Well, if you go buy the Federally recognized holidays we’ve got nine more this calendar year. Most are on a Monday or Friday so you’ve instantly got a three-day weekend and depending on how your PTO rules are structured it can easily become a four-day weekend by burning one PTO day.
This is nothing new so if you plan to travel on those long weekends book early because everyone else will have the same idea.
Now one thing that the CEO and I have done is get the cobwebs off our bicycles and we’ve taken to riding some of the local bike trails.
We have the 22-mile West Orange Bike Trail and the Neighborhood Lakes West Trailhead close by but the thought is to load up the bikes and head out to some of the National Parks.
We’ve both spent years taking high-energy go-go-go vacations, including the one cruise, and we’re at the point where we want to get away from the long lines and the expensive food and we discovered that the National Parks put checks in both of those boxes.
In case you want to visit a National Park there are 4 days between now and the end of the year when park admission is free.
April 22: First day of National Park Week
Aug. 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
Sep. 23: National Public Lands Day
Nov. 11: Veterans Day
And there are 11 National Parks here in Florida and another 11 in Georgia so these can be easy long weekend trips.
Three of the Florida parks are less than two hours from Chateau’ Relaxo, two in St. Augustine, and one in Titusville.
As one that likes lists and keeping track of things, we do have a National Parks Passport book that you can get stamped at each National Park we visit.
There you have it episode 183, my 2023 travel resolutions. The next episode will be the January crazy travel roundup.
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.
My 2023 Travel Resolutions - Travel Stories, Episode 183