Recorded in the beautiful home office, Chateau/ Relaxo, FL.
If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back.
One road trip since our last episode, three nights in three different hotels.
Hampton Inn Lawrenceville, GA, Hilton Garden Inn, Atlanta, GA, and another Hilton Garden Inn, Valdosta, GA.
All three were serving breakfast and in both the Hilton Garden Inn properties, the bar and restaurants were open after 5:00 PM. Here’s a pro tip if you ever stay at a Hilton Garden Inn do yourself a favor and order the wings, you won’t be disappointed.
The Lawrenceville and Valdosta properties are locations where I have stayed at least 30 nights a piece over the years and both of those properties were getting long in the tooth and were in dire need of major upgrades such as carpeting, room air conditioners, and mini-fridges. This is surprising as Hilton typically holds their franchisee's feet to the fire when it comes to property upkeep. The hotel industry has taken a financial hit over the past few years so no doubt cash flow plays into this but if people want to stay in a rundown property they’ll head to the local mom-and-pop no-tell motel.
Onto this month’s craziness.
Opening up with a bit of a confession….. I’m not much of a gamer. I played Castle Wolfenstein in the 80s’ Doom in the 90s’ and my son and I played Need for Speed in the early 2000s’. I tried to place Call of Duty once and got smoked in under 10 seconds.
On March 1st, we opened up with a real-life Grand Theft Auto. Dateline JFK Airport ABC 7 New York gave us this - American Airlines bus stolen from JFK Airport, police identify suspect in a wild chase. Isn’t this how the movie Speed started out?
43-year-old Burshawn Quildon, 43, managed to lead the police on a 15-mile chase.
This happened just before 2 a.m. when Quildon reportedly jumped into a bus that was left running in Lot 12. Here’s a quick life lesson - when you leave your vehicle take your keys with you.
An airport employee followed the bus and called the police.
Police say Quildon was in Queens, in Manhattan, and across the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn, where he was finally pulled over.
Quildon is charged with grand larceny of an auto and criminal possession of the stolen property.
Officials say the suspect was on probation and is no stranger to law enforcement.
His last arrest was for domestic robbery in 2015, so he went straight or didn’t get caught for the last 8 years. But he is said to have had numerous other arrests including robbery, marijuana possession, assault, and transit fraud.
The lesson here: take your keys with you.
Let's stay in the greater New York New Jersey area with a surprise or not-so-surprising appearance from Thank You Florida.
From Live and Let’s Fly - A former US Marine was arrested at Newark Airport after trying to board a flight to Florida with a cache of weapons and a fake US Marshal badge.
This took place on December 30, 2022. but seems to just now hit the travel blogosphere.
Seretse Clouden, 42, was heading from Newark (EWR) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and while screening one of his checked bags, TSA agents found a number of high-caliber magazines with ammo and a ballistic vest bearing the words “Deputy Marshal.”
TSA officers then approached the gate and paged Clouden. There, Clouden admitted that he had neither law enforcement credentials a firearms identification card from any state.
Officers then pulled his other bags from the aircraft, and ultimately found three weapons:
A .308 rifle
An AR-15 rifle
At least one Glock
As agents dug through his bag, they also found: a fake US Marshal ID card and badge
more ammo magazines, an expandable baton, and an immense amount of ammunition. Not sure what quantity immense is but officials reported that it was immense.
A quick inquiry confirmed that Clouden is not, and was not ever employed by the United States Marshal Service. Somehow I’m thinking officers knew this long before they submitted the inquiry.
What is Clouden now eligible for? He faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000 and another 15 years for fraudulent possession of a government identification document.
I know at least two individuals that forgot to remove a handgun from their bag and another one that left ammunition in a backpack so it happens, but when TSA agents find a number of high-caliber magazines with ammo and a ballistic vest bearing the words “Deputy Marshal.” no one forgot anything.
As a Florida tip-in to that last story on Saturday, March 11th my home airport Orlando International Airport OIA experienced its busiest day in history, recording a total of 95,287 departing passengers.
This week's first entry in the “people are dumb” category comes from Thank You Florida.
At the airport what 10 words in the form of a sentence might land you in jail? “Whole time they missed a whole bomb in my bag!”
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Dorion Young Davis (One of the 3-named people) of Dayton, Ohio after they accused her of making a bogus bomb threat at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Deputies responded after TSA reported a security alert from a carry-on bag belonging to Dorion Young Davis according to an arrest report.
Authorities said while being patted down by a TSA agent, Davis was heard saying: “Whole time they missed a whole bomb in my bag!” Detectives have not said what item caused the security alert.
Maybe Dorion Young Davis meant to say, “I’m da bomb”
Remember, “Whole time they missed a whole bomb in my bag!” not a quarter of half but a whole bomb. Thank you, Florida.
Let's stay local with another Thank You Florida story - Orlando Airport passenger arrested after landing with 38 pounds of meth, and 4 pounds of pot in a suitcase. I know it’s Spring Break, but seriously pace yourself.
Michael Jayson Scarlett, (Another one of the 3-named people) age 43, was arrested after drug-sniffing dogs alerted agents on his suitcase. These were drug-sniffing dogs, not bomb-sniffing dogs, it is Thank you Florida after all.
Scarlett who was flying in from Los Angeles now faces charges of possession and intent to distribute a controlled substance, according to a federal criminal complaint.
When confronted, Scarlett told agents he was looking for work in Orlando. Looking for work, he should’ve stayed in LA and sold the 38 pounds of meth, and 4 pounds of pot.
Later, however, once Scarlett was in custody, he told agents “he knew he messed up, and ... was in a lot of trouble.”
Scarlett told agents a man named "Chewy" paid him $500 to take the suitcase to Orlando — and that he had done so two other times as well, the affidavit said.
Text exchanges on Scarlett's phone led agents to believe Chewy was present at the time Scarlett landed. Chewy is short for Chewbacca and Disney World is home to Star Wars, it all makes perfect sense now.
Here’s a question for this episode - If a fellow passenger asked you this while you were midflight “Where on the safety card does it show where the door handle was located?” what would you do?
Dateline Boston Logan Airport March 5th. Around 45 minutes before landing, the flight crew on United Airlines flight 2609 received an alarm in the cockpit that a starboard side door located between first class and the economy class was disarmed.
A flight attendant found that the door’s locking handle had indeed been moved out of the fully locked position, this was reported to the captain after the flight crew secured the door and emergency slide
Another flight attendant had reported that he observed a passenger near the door, and believed they had tampered with it
A flight attendant confronted the passenger about this, and they responded by asking if there were cameras showing that they had done so.
The flight attendants then informed the captain that they felt this passenger posed a threat to the aircraft and that the plane needed to land as soon as possible
Shortly thereafter, that same passenger approached the door where the flight attendants were standing, thrusting toward one of the flight attendants in a stabbing motion with a broken metal spoon, hitting the flight attendant on the neck area three times.
Several passengers then tackled the spoon-welding passenger, and they were restrained with the assistance of the flight crew and the plane landed without further incident.
Two final points,
First, this is a perfect example as to why there needs to be a national no-fly list as I’m guessing this wasn’t the first time this passenger decided to show that they were cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
Second, for some, it would be terrifying to see someone trying to open the emergency exit door mid-flight, for others, they would simply film it for the Ticky Tik, it can’t be done. The reason you can’t open the emergency exit door mid-flight is for one simple reason…… the captain has the key.
Seriously it’s physics - The common emergency exit doors are about six feet tall and 3.5 feet wide. That means to open the door at 36,000 feet, you would need to overcome more than 24,000 pounds of pressure. Thank you, Google.
I have a lot of friends in the greater New York, New Jersey area and they all seem to share a common phrase, “I gotta guy”. We’re doing some remodeling here at Chateau’ Relaxo and I was discussing this with one of my northern brethren and he said “I gotta guy”. I replied remember I live in Florida, he replied, “I gotta guy”..... And since Florida really is New York with palm trees I’m sure he does have a guy.
What about “I gotta guy” for airline tickets?
Enter Aquil Muhammad as reported by my hometown news station WSB TV.
Officials say that 36-year-old Muhammad was issuing free tickets without any compensation going to Delta. Muhammad went as far as to create fake transportation credit vouchers and Delta travel vouchers to cover the required taxes. Because as we all know if you fly on points or for free you still have to pay the taxes.
Muhammad issued these non-revenue tickets to different people, including family members and other acquaintances from late 2016 through December 2017.
Here was Muhammad’s downfall as crooks are stupid, a lot of the tickets included Muhammad’s personal email address as the contact for the passenger.
On top of that Muhammad would sell these quote-unquote free tickets, through Square, which also offers an electronic footprint.
Muhammad has pled guilty and sentencing is set for June.
It’s been a while since we discussed maskers vs anti-maskers. So I offer this. Are you familiar with Steve Kirsch? More than likely not…..Kirsch is an entrepreneur, and as we all know everyone is an entrepreneur, including our own Chateau’ Relaxos entrepreneur.
Kirsch has started several companies because that’s what entrepreneurs do. But Kirsch was one of two people who independently invented the optical mouse. The optical mouse that we all use and have used for decades so it’s safe to say that Kirsch is flush with cash.
If you happen to live in the rarified air of being rich you can do some fun things with your cash. Case and point early March posted this tweet.
“I am on board a Delta flight right now. The person sitting next to me in first-class refused $100,000 to remove her mask for the entire flight. No joke. This was after I explained they don’t work. She works for a pharma company.”
He followed that tweet with this comment, “And I started the bidding at $100.”
And then finished with this, “And I pointed out that when she removed the mask for eating and drinking, she could be infected with one breath. So she had full disclosure.”
The tweet fielded 32 million views in six days.
Kirsch’s substack dug a bit deeper into the encounter, asking a few more questions.
“If you were offered $x, would you do y for a few hours?”
For safety’s sake, he added I was not trying to compel them to do anything they didn’t want to do.
As my therapist has told me, “No” is a complete sentence.
Kirsch finished Tweetversation with, Now the bigger question is: “Are we no longer able to ask people hypothetical questions in America without being labeled a creep?”
Here’s my take, I’m vaxxed and boosted for no other reason than I am the giver and I’m willing to give people a level of comfort if they know that I’m vaxxed and boosted during a client meeting. That being said no one has inquired as to my status and I can’t remember the last time I was asked to wear a mask.
If I was on that flight seated next to Kirsch and wearing a mask would I remove it for $100.00? Probably not since I couldn’t pick Kirsch out of a lineup. $10 grand maybe, 50 grand here’s my Venmo and followed by, do you want me to sing a show tune?
Another confession for this episode, I have a kink, and it’s not what you think…. It’s dumb people getting tased. From Live And Let’s Fly - Police Taser Intoxicated Man Who Confessed To Drinking “About” Three Margaritas While Waiting For Flight At Airport Bar
All together now, there’s a video, and there’s always a video.
Here are the Cliff Notes, and the video link is in the show notes.
Intoxicated and belligerent, airport police decided to arrest the man, who resisted and was then tasered by the police officers. The whole incident was captured on video—including an older man interjecting himself into the situation (it is not clear why) only to be told by the same police officers to back off.
This guy got lit up by the taser and offers two questions that I’m sure there aren’t answers to.
First, were the three margaritas in the form of a pitcher?
Second, in an airport full of people with phones why wouldn’t you just shut up and listen to the cops? Oh yeah, I forgot about the three margarita part of this.
There you have it episode 187, The March crazy travel roundup 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.
The March Crazy Travel Roundup - Travel Stories, Episode 187