What some say is a valid way to learn about one’s self, another culture and possibly contribute in some way to that community’s plight; others see as an almost evil form of voyeurism in which the supposed benefits can be derived from direct contribution – either via money or labor – without the dignity robbing picture taking.  To add insult to injury, there are plenty of for profit businesses that make money providing organized ‘tours’ of these locations – some have been accused of not giving any money back to the communities they are taking advantage of.

So is Slum Tourism a Bad Thing?

First off, such a negative term is bound to cause a disapproving reaction when first hearing it.  Of course those who go on these excursions or promote and make money off them don’t use this terminology and feel they are unfairly targeted.  Even if you prefer the more diplomatic “Impoverished Areas Tour”, I’ve listed a few reasons why some choose to go on these types of excursions:

1. Social Awareness – Understanding how other parts of the world live allows you to put your current situation into perspective.  Throwing a hissy fit when the waiter puts the wrong dressing on you salad seems a bit silly when others are eating out of the public dump or sleeping in dirt floor huts with no inside plumbing.  In addition, getting first-hand knowledge about any subject is always better that someone else’s interpretation.  You can’t talk about changing the world if you’ve never actually been to the part of the world you are trying to change (it’s a credibility kinda thing).
2. Help That Community – Whether visiting on your own or as part of an organized tour, the money you spend may end up in the community.  Buying crafts from a local vendor or eating at a restaurant puts money directly into the hands of those that need it the most.  Obviously, direct contributions such as building homes, teaching at the local school, etc. are excellent ways to help the community – but that’s generally called “Volunteerism” e.g., you are staying for a bit – not leaving after you’ve gotten enough pictures.
3. Feel Better About One’s Self – Allows one to feel better about their relatively good lives and thank whomever they pray to for not been born in such conditions.  I know that sounds harsh to say, but we all know people who are not happy unless they feel superior to others.
4. Spreading the Word – Slums aren’t something that’s generally on the news or on television unless there have famous advocates, ala Sally Struthers in the 80s or George Clooney.  There is a strong correlation between those who’ve personally seen some of these conditions and have become advocates with the amount of monetary support received for that cause from individuals, communities and nations.
5. Historical Significance – While South Africa’s Soweto community just outside of Johannesburg is nowhere as bad as it used to be, it is slowly emerging from the oppression of the Apartheid era and the years of neglect, poverty and crime since its fall.  In my opinion, you really have to ‘see’ the bullet holes in Mandela’s house and dirt floor homes to truly understand how far they’ve come and how far the community has to go.

Now, reasonable people can debate the validity of the statements above but those are the driving forces as I see (have heard) them.  The most popular of the so called “Slum Tours” are conducted in Mumbai, India (think Slumdog Millionaire). Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Soweto/Johannesburg, South Africa and very recently Port a Prince, Haiti and New Orleans, USA.  The counter arguments as to why one should skip these kinds of tours are as follows:

1. No Human Zoos – Perhaps the most damming reason not to do participate in so-called slum tours is to think of how the person you are ‘viewing’ feels about your presence.  What if someone walked into your house and took pictures of your dirty closest and posted them on their blog/Facebook for all of their friends to see, laugh and feel better about themselves?  There is no such thing as a Human Zoo – so taking snapshots of people struggling in their everyday lives is just awful.
2. Can’t Truly Understand – The world is an increasing small place – pick up a book, watch TV or research on the Internet if your goal is to learn something.  By all means, volunteer if you really want to help someone.  But at the end of the day – you can’t truly understand what it’s like to be in their position by taking any kind of tour.  Taking a tour to understand the plight of struggling people is like watching the Special Olympics to understand what it’s like to be a paraplegic.  You can certainly conceptualize and have strong feelings about their plight – but you can leave – they can’t.
3. Not a fair trade – What exactly do the subjects get out of these tours?  Many of these so called tour companies have been accused to making money off of human poverty but not doing anything to help those who are the source of their revenue.  You can see the conflict of interest right – if there was no slum, there be no slum tour business.   If you aren’t directly contributing in some way then you are participating in a human zoo.

This isn’t cable news; I’m not going to tell you whether you should or shouldn’t do something – my goal is to provide a little perspective so you can make your own decision.  My opinion is – you can’t really know (or talk about it) if you haven’t seen it yourself.

Some rules please

If you decide to visit an impoverished area, I think you have to follow some minimum levels of respect and decency while you are engaged.  In addition, poverty breeds crime – so watching out for your own personal safety is key.

1. You aren’t at a zoo!  Don’t take pictures of people or their property without their permission.  If in doubt, ask yourself before you take that picture if you were the person on the other end – how would you feel.
2. Try not to go alone.  Every person you encounter in the world isn’t decent; there are robbers, rapist and murderers in every walk of life and social economic class.  A “tour” isn’t necessary, but there is strength and safety in numbers.  Also, going into these areas at night is generally a bad idea.
3. If you can’t blend in (admittedly a difficult thing to do in many cases) – at least try not to be obnoxious in flaunting your relative wealth.  Lose the jewelry, designer fashions and the annoying electronic gizmos.
4. Even better – contribute to the situation – either volunteer or buy something directly from a street vendor.  This way, you know your time spent there has garnered some tangible benefit to someone’s life – albeit fairly small in the scheme of things.
5. If you go the “tour” route, try to choose a company that purports to re-invest at least some of the proceeds of their tours back into the community you are viewing.  Of course there’s little way you can validate these types of claims – but at least go for the ones that have done the bare minimum of claiming they do.
6. Have a reason to go beyond you just can.

So What About My Experiences

I have personally been to 3 places some would call “slums” – though only one of them was an actual tour.  For me, I wanted to see these areas that had either been talked about so frequently in news/commentary or had some kind of special meaning to me.  I visited the Favelas (Portuguese for “Slums”) in Rio, Soweto in South Africa and New Orleans exactly two years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

• Rio de Janeiro – I wanted to see if the city was truly all sunshine and bikini clad women we frequently see in advertisements or whether the other side as depicted in the movie “City of God” was more in-line with the reality.  I took an organized tour to two local Favelas which purported to return portions of each tour’s proceeds to the construction of a school – amongst other things.  What I found were working class folks who were very prideful and determined to make the best of a trying situation.  As my guide put it – very few people are living in ‘misery’ – there aren’t many people begging on the streets – but there are plenty of people willing to sell you arts/crafts/food they made themselves – of which I was happy to oblige.  Buildings on top of buildings, the most ingenious splicing of wires and what felt like a ‘make a way’ attitude where pleasant surprises – but didn’t obscure the very dangerous environment of one of the Favelas essentially being run by drug dealers.  For me, taking this tour provided me with a different perspective on the city; the beaches and bodies are what’s primarily pushed by the tourism industry (for obvious reasons) – but the reality is it can be a very dangerous place for those who are not aware and not constantly on guard.
• New Orleans – I know some people would take offense to calling a US city a slum – but it’s the conditions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that made it so.  Everything from the homelessness and displaced citizens, people dying of disease and starvation and even slum tours of the hardest hit areas.  My reason for going was I wanted to see what progress had been made since the disaster.  A common refrain from many US citizens is the government has lost its way – that it can no longer do big things or cares to do anything for certain classes of people.  At the time of my visit two years after the disaster, the recovery was moving fairly slowly.  There were still a ton of FEMA trailers throughout the affected areas, abandoned/unrepaired homes and garbage/debris in the streets.  While there was certainly some progress (specifically the new & improved levies) – it seemed most of the visible progress had been made by non-government entities and ordinary people taking matters into their own hands – like the Musician’s Village.
• Soweto – When I was child, there were calls to boycott US businesses that did business in South Africa due to Apartheid – a concept I didn’t even understand.  It wasn’t until many many years later that I gained a better understanding of this evil system affecting people who look like me in the ‘Motherland’.  I wanted to see the conditions (at least what’s left of them) native South-Africans were forced to endure from the hands of the Dutch, how far the community has come since the fall of Apartheid and how far it has to go in giving its citizens a decent quality of life.  Much of South Africa’s history as it relates to Apartheid can be found in and around the community of Soweto – from Mandela’s first house, the Apartheid Museum and the still standing ‘Shantytowns’.  An Apartheid leftover, many of these Shantytowns have dirt floors and no inside plumbing.  For me, I wasn’t much interested in the Shantytowns themselves (I never entered one) – but the community as a whole.  Soweto is often depicted as a giant dangerous eye sore – but is this really the case? Well – yes and no.  Yes – there is still a ways to go and it can be dangerous at night.  No – in that there are tons of thriving businesses and many of the shantytowns have been replaced by homes that look no different than those on the block I grew up on in the south side of Chicago (window bars and all).

In short, I wanted to have firsthand experience with the subject matter to truly understand the issues at hand.  One destination was about exposing the true (at least more nuanced) identify of a culture, another was about progress my government has made to fix its own neglect and the other an historical journey into a dark period of history (I was not aware of the US’ involvement in Apartheid until this trip).    These were my reasons, others may agree or disagree as to their validity; no matter – I implore you to think for yourself but be mindful of how you approach the situation.

As a side note, having these personal experiences may make you think about the perspectives you have about your own environment.  Here are a few perspectives I have gained/changed due to my travels:

1. It always tickles me (not in a good way mind you) when I hear dudes in the US talk about  how grimy and rough their ‘block’ is – as they stand on the corner wearing $100 Timberlands and sport jerseys.  Please.  Don’t get me wrong, poverty is a bitch and exists in full force in the US – but nowhere on the scale as some of the destinations listed above.  Just saying most of these dudes need a little perspective.
2. How resilient the human spirit is.  In all three of my experiences, people continue to strive to make the best out of whatever life throws their way.  It’s hard to watch these so called reality TV shows where 10 idiots are thrown into the most contrived situations, whine and complain about the silliest shit and form ad-hoc teams to vote each other out until a winner (I use this term extremely loosely) is determined.  It makes me want to drag these assholes off the set of these fake ass shows and throw them in a real 10 person one-room house with no inside plumbing.
3. Whenever I see someone touting a “hand-made rug” – the first thing that comes to my mind isn’t “that looks wonderful” – it’s “Slavery”.  Though certainly not confined to Egypt – my time spent on the outskirts of Cairo while visiting a rug factory was nothing more than a warehouse full of 6-13 year olds manning various rug making contraptions.  You see, little fingers are necessary to properly work the loom and position the material properly.  A quick Google search will turn up tons of articles where parents have sold their children into slavery to pay off debts – usually medical bills for the very child sold off.  Without seeing this myself, I doubt my reaction to the concept of a rug would be as it is today – even if I’d read it somewhere.  Seeing something like this with your own eyes has a more profound effect on one’s psyche – at least I think so.

In Conclusion

Child Carpet Workers

Will I go on another trip to an impoverished area? Maybe, but certainly not just for the sake of going. I plan on going to India but I don’t have any desire to visit the slums of Mumbai – no matter much Slumdog Millionaire romanticizes it. Actually seeing this particular environment won’t make me feel any better (worse actually), I have no personal or historical connection to the region and I’m not in a position to provide long-term volunteerism. As such, I won’t be talking about the region as if I’m some sort of credible resource on the subject.

The fact is I don’t see Slum Tourism going anywhere anytime soon.  As long as there are people willing to pay to see these environments, there will be some operator willing to offer the tour – whether they give back to the community they are making money off of or not.  As I said earlier, this isn’t cable news; I’m not going to tell you whether you should or shouldn’t do something – you’ll need to understand the different perspectives, do additional research (if necessary) and decide if it’s the best thing for you.

Happy Travels!!

So, here are my top five cemeteries I’ve experienced in my travels so far in alphabetical order.  Click the blue links to see full travel review of that city and click the images to see larger versions of the cemetery.

Tomb of the Unknowns

Cementerio de Colón

La Recoleta Cemetery

Lafayette No. 1 Cemetery

Tomb of Nefertari

Honorable mention goes to Savannah’s Bonaventure cemetery.  The above ground offerings in this costal town’s cemetery do not compare to the other cemeteries on this list – but in terms of shear creepiness, it can’t be beat.  Even in broad daylight, the way the trees are situated throughout the cemetery creates an eerie feeling.  Throw in the fog that commonly blankets the city and it’s no wonder “Ghosts Tours” in the cemetery are conducted almost every day of the year.

Tips for visiting cemeteries:

1. Wear comfortable shoes and long clothing; snakes and insects are fairly common in cemeteries – particularly those near water.
2. Be respectful; don’t leave trash anywhere in the cemetery, bring food to feed animals (or yourself) and try to keep the noise to a minimum.
3. Don’t touch – don’t move grave stones or family items (flowers, tokens, etc.) for any reason, especially to improve your shot.
4. Stay away from funerals in progress.  Even if you are viewing the New Orleans version, stay far enough away not to interrupt the proceedings.

I know it sounds a little crazy, but if you expand your horizons and give it a chance, I’m sure you’ll see why these can be one of the best parts of your vacation.  Someone once said “how you respect the departed is how you will treat the living”.  These five cemeteries are a good indication of how those societies felt and treated their populations.

Which cemeteries have you visited????



The first part of solo travel is actually being solo – or perhaps more accurately not married.  Traveling for work can strain even the best relationship, but consistently traveling for vacation without your spouse I would imagine would cause some issues.  Being single in the first place gives you ‘options’.  I’m frequently asked by folks at work; “how do you have the money to travel all over the world” or “Dude, I need to get on your compensation package”, etc.  Well, the simple fact is I don’t have the two biggest expenses most of my co-workers have – a spouse and kids.  I’m certainly not suggesting I’m better off than they are, it’s just that I can devote all of my discretionary income to one person – me.  The takeaway here is if this is your situation, take advantage of it while you can.

Tiger Temple

Good Things

• You won’t have to wait for anyone else to secure vacation time, save the money or argue about where to go or what to do.  Friends don’t want to jump in the water with sharks, no problem – hang out with the folks who do once you arrive.
• Once at your destination, you don’t have to wait for anyone to get dressed, complain they are tired or worry they don’t want to do what you want to do.
• Much more likely to meet new people when traveling solo as you’ll have the freedom to talk to anyone you want for whatever reason.  Being on a trip with someone typically involves giving most of your attention to that person.
• It’s usually easier to book last-minute tours/events as there is almost always space for 1 extra person.
• It’s almost impossible to get into an argument with yourself during your vacation.
• Unless it’s a fellas outing or the person you are with is okay going “Dutch” for everything, then paying for two people can get a little expensive.

Challenging Aspects

• Certain aspects ‘can’ be more expensive – usually when buying air + hotel packages.  Operators price these deals to attract two or more travelers – thus a ‘single supplement’ is charged to all solo passengers.  This additional fee can be anywhere from 5-30% of the price – in many cases negating the so called sale.
• Can get lonely – but that depends on where you are and why you are there.  If partying is your thing, you will only be as lonely as your game takes you.  If you are there to see the sites (museums, artifacts, etc) – it can get lonely in the evening.
• Unless you are a loner, humans generally need some form of social interaction.  There are varying levels of work involved with striking up conversations with strangers.
• Singles only events are sausage factories.  The steady feedback I get from male travelers on these ‘singles cruises’ is the odds are usually 45 men to 5 women.
• Constant or long-term travel can cause a little friction for the significant other left behind.

From my perspective, the advantages of solo travel outweigh the challenges.  Going solo certainly isn’t the best method for every trip; trips that are generally considered romantic in nature (Paris) or those geared towards children (Disney) are best left for couples and/or families.  For most other adventures, traveling by myself meant I could go wherever, whenever and with whomever I wanted.  That may sound a bit selfish, but the truth is it is quite liberating.

My Experiences

Here are a few of my solo travel experiences from the last year and my thoughts during those trips.

	Belgium – Brussels My first solo trip.  All of the concerns I’d held prior to the trip vanished almost immediately.  I was never lonely and there must be something about a guy with a video camera that sparks the craziest conversations.
	Las Vegas, NV Of all of the places in the US that are friendly to solo travelers, I’d think Vegas is somewhere near the top of the list.  With tons of day and nighttime activities, I was never bored in Vegas.
	Thailand – Bangkok, Phuket Due to the rioting in Bangkok and the amount of walking I did in Phuket, it was probably a good idea I was by myself.  Though I have to admit – the tiger temple tour and cooking classes were probably best experienced with someone else.
	Costa Rica – Liberia, Arenal and San Jose Traveling with someone wouldn’t have made the adventure any better/worse; my Liquid Image Scuba Mask and my Drift x170 head camera ensured I captured every zip-line, white water rafting and horseback adventure.  Still, I was almost a victim of robbery by two hot-chicks.
	South Africa: Johannesburg, Kruger National Park & Cape Town The only bad thing was the unusually cold night in a tree house in the middle of Kruger National park (could have really used a belly warmer).  The Table Mountain repelling, Shark Dive and innocent flirting with hotel front desk staff were right out of the solo traveler’s playbook.
	Panama – Panama City Traveling solo really helped with booking tours at the last minute.  Both my Atlantic Ocean scuba diving excursion and tour of Old Panama were sold out, but both operators made space for one more person.

I’ve met some interesting people traveling solo – both in person and virtually; that I would not have met if I were traveling with someone.  A few travel bloggers I’ve encountered who also do a good deal of solo travel include Gray from Solo Friendly, the Fly-Brother Ernest and Lillie from Around the World L.  The fact is there are tons of solo travelers at every destination who are looking to connect with like minded travelers like you.

Some Solo Travel Tips

Here are some travel tips which are unique to solo travelers (or are of greater importance);

• Solo travel for women can be safe, so long as you follow a few simple rules such as avoiding unwanted attention, avoid talking to strangers, not accepting drinks from anyone your don’t completely trust and staying in well-lit areas.  Solo travel for men is also getting much more dangerous, at least in terms of nightclub drugging robberies.
• Use Facebook, Twitter and TravelBlogExchange to meet new solo travelers in-route and at your destination.
• Hostels are an excellent way to meet like minded travelers, especially in the common areas.  While my free stays on the Hilton’s executive floor had every creature comfort one could desire, they were generally filled with old rich folks.  CouchSurfing is also an excellent way to meet people – though the lack of privacy may be a little off-putting to new solo travelers.
• Always carry identification – preferably a color copy of your passport.  Watch out for scammers.  Don’t tell your life story to complete strangers, feel free to omit or lie about specific details. In fact, don’t talk about personal information such as your last name, hotel room number, etc.
• Start a conversation.   Looking like a tourist is a double edged sword; while it certainly makes you more of a target – it also lets others know you may be in need of assistance – whether that be directions, help with the language or just someone to talk to.
• Remember to enjoy yourself – this is about living your life to the fullest!

Closing

Don’t let the fact you don’t have a partner influence where you want to go – properly prepare and go enjoy yourself!  As long as you follow the safety tips unique to solo travelers, you should be fine. Not waiting on someone else to go with you, doing whatever and whenever you want and the decreased travel costs are just a few of the benefits of going at it alone.  I’m not suggesting traveling by yourself is any better or worse than with someone else – it’s just different; call it liberating!!

» Part 1: History & Why You Need to Go
» Part 2: Getting There By Any Means Necessary
» Part 3: Through My Own Eyes

Part One of the series focused on the history of the embargo, how the embargo is portrayed in the US and my opinions on why every American should visit the island. Part Two focuses on how a US citizen can qualify/travel to Cuba and a few tips on what to expect once they arrive. Finally, Part Three will detail my personal experience on the island in the familiar trip review format – including pictures and video.

Part Two assumes you have decided to take the plunge and visit the forbidden island but aren’t sure how to go about it and how to avoid the pitfalls. Information about how a US citizen can qualify for travel to Cuba, actually getting to the forbidden island, where to stay, what to expect on arrival and returning to the US safely and without incident are included in this article. If you are not a US citizen, this obviously doesn’t apply to you – but it may be a good read nonetheless. As you read through this article, I want you to keep in mind of one important fact – I am not an attorney. You should take my experiences (as well as anyone else’s) with a grain of salt – your mileage may vary. Showing the US Customs Agent a copy of this blog article is unlikely to help with any situation you may encounter. If you are in any way uncomfortable with the steps I’ll outline, I suggest you visit a Visa attorney with experience in these matters.

Qualifying for Travel

It’s important to understand that it is against US law to contribute to the Cuban economy – it is not against Cuban law.  The big misconception is the Cuban government doesn’t want or in some way makes it difficult for US citizens to visit the island.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact, your presence off the plane in Havana is likely to be greeted with… a shrug.  The Cubans welcome all visitors with open arms.  There are two ways of getting to Cuba – legally and illegally, both of which I will outline below.  I warn you, except for the “I’m gonna wing it” approach, the process to legally get to Cuba is fairly time consuming and difficult (because you must qualify).  To that point, here’s an overview of your options;

• Legal: Specific License – Specific Licenses must be applied for and are approved on a case-by-case basis by the US State Department.  Specific licenses are primarily granted to those who have immediate family living in Cuba, are freelance journalists, those participating in international sporting events (like the Olympics), teaching/enrolled in a recognized university, religious activities and humanitarian causes (hurricane relief).   In most cases, the traveler will not have to engage in the complete licensing process themselves; their Job/School/Organization will likely complete most of the paperwork on their behalf.  To be clear, any visit to Cuba for the purposes of conducting business (including nonprofit) is strictly prohibited.  Once you have been granted the Specific License, you may legally purchase a direct charter flight ticket to Havana from Miami, New York or Los Angeles.  Many of the US based travel agencies authorized to book flights to Cuba will not do so unless you have a Specific License.
• Legal: General License – A General License differs from the Specific License in that the traveler does not have to obtain prior approval from the US State Department but they must still qualify and document the license in order to legally travel.  Areas where a General License would be issued are professional journalists on assignment, full-time professionals doing research/agricultural activities, those on official government business and members of international originations.  Tourism is not an acceptable reason to visit Cuban under the General License provisions.
• Illegal – By far the easiest and riskiest way to get to Cuba.  If you simply feel “the hell with it, Da Man can’t keep me down and ima go where I wanna go”, then this is this a common if not precarious way of traveling to Cuba.  In fact, most US citizens who travel to Cuba do so without a Specific or General License (read illegally) and for the most part – nothing happens to them.  Before you stop reading to pack your bags for your danger filled jaunt to Havana, I’d suggest you take a moment to read the ‘Getting Back’ section to understand the consequences of this action.

Steps for documenting a General License:

Should you determine that the General License is the most appropriate license for your circumstance, these are the high-level steps you’ll need to take to properly document your status.

This last bullet is critical because not every Customs Agent knows the General License rules specific to Cuba.  You can assist in your re-entry process by highlighting the relevant sections of the law (the section stating General Licenses do not require prior approval).   Don’t let an uninformed Customs Agent impact your re-entry.  A more detailed explanation, as well as a few document templates can be found here.

Getting Into Cuba

Keep in mind that just because you have been approved for travel to Cuba, Delta airlines still can’t fly your there; you’ll need to charter a flight if you want to fly directly into Havana from the US.  Charter flights are not cheap; I’ve heard of $1,000 tickets for the 45 minute flight from Miami.  For this reason, many people go through a 3^rd party country even if they have a Specific License.

Using a 3^rd party country allows US citizens to get to Cuba using airlines not beholden to the US embargo – usually national carriers of the 3^rd party country.  The most popular 3^rd party countries are Canada, Bahamas, Jamaica and Mexico.  If you live in the upper Midwest or Northeast, Canada is likely your easiest and least obstructive option of getting to Cuba.  If you live in Florida, particularly South Florida, the Bahamas is a good option since that flight is only about 45 minutes from Miami.  Jamaica will certainly work, but it’s not the most efficient option since you have to fly past Cuba to get to Kingston and then fly back north to land in Havana.  For everyone else, the best option is probably Cancun as it is only 50 minutes flight time from Havana and is served by two carriers Mexicana and Cubana Airlines.  Remember, flying into Cuba via a 3^rd party requires a little patience, faith and cold hard cash.  Your US based credit/debit cards are completely useless.  Also, since you must pay cash for the tickets and you can only do that at the airport – you will be at the whim of market conditions, e.g., supply-demand may push the $200 ticket a month before takeoff to $500 the day of the flight. One other thing, purchasing a ticket the same day of travel opens the possibility that there may not be seats available when you arrive at the airport.

An alternate method of getting into Cuba is via your own boat (no cruise or charter boat will take you there).  Technically speaking, if you visit Cuba without putting any money into that country’s economy – you haven’t broken any laws.  Again, it is not illegal to be in Cuba, it is illegal to contribute to its economy.  If you have a boat big enough to make the roundtrip without refueling, swim to shore (docking your boat in the marina requires payment), fished over the side of your boat for food and brought your own water – you are good “technically”.  Unfortunately, Uncle Sam is fully aware of this little loophole boaters in South Florida have tried to use in the past and considers any time spent inside Cuba longer than a single day to be prima facie proof of violating the embargo.

Regardless of how you get into Cuba, the Cuban immigration control agency is fully aware of the embargo and will not stamp your passport.  You will be issued a temporary visa card which you keep with you throughout your stay.

Finally, as of May 1, 2010, tourists, foreigners with temporary residence in Cuba and Cubans living abroad who visit Cuba will have to purchase medical insurance.  The insurance can be purchased from foreign companies approved by the Cuban government or by Cuban firms at the ports of entry.  Diplomats and representatives of accredited international organizations do not have to be insured.

…Continued on Next Page

» Part 1: History & Why You Need to Go
» Part 2: Getting There By Any Means Necessary
» Part 3: Through My Own Eyes

Part One of the series focuses on the history of the embargo, how the embargo is portrayed in the US and my opinions on why every American should visit the island.  Part Two will focus on the number of ways a US citizen can visit Cuba and a few tips on what to expect once you arrive.  Finally, Part Three details my personal experience on the island in the familiar trip review format – including pictures and video.

Each part of the series will include several facts, my interpretations of those facts and my personal opinions.  I am not advocating a particular governmental or economic philosophy nor am I assigning ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ status to any of the players; my only goal is to encourage critical thinking of my readers so that they may form their own opinions.  To that end, I am completely upfront and unabashed about advocating that US citizens visit the island prior to the embargo being lifted.  On to Part 1: History and the Need to Go…

Brief History of Embargo

I was amazed at the wildly varied responses I got when I uttered the phase ‘I’m going to Cuba”.  I heard everything from “Don’t they hate us?”, “dude, that’s awesome!”, “you can’t support that evil empire?” to “why do you want to go there?” – just to name a few.  The most common response though was “isn’t that illegal?” The takeaway for me is even after being in place for over 50 years, the US/Cuban relationship is still shrouded in mystery and perhaps more importantly propaganda from both sides.  To that end, a think a brief timeline of the US’ Cuban embargo is in order.

The ‘Economic’ embargo applies to all US government agencies, businesses, its foreign subsidiaries and any individual living in the US, including natural born citizens, naturalized citizens (even those with dual-citizenship) and legal residents.   Technically, it is not illegal to visit Cuba – it is illegal to contribute to the Cuban economy in any way.  Whatever amount spent on plane tickets, gas for a boat, food, hotel – whatever, contributes to the Cuban economy and therefore violates the embargo.

US/Cuban Propaganda Relations

Because it is fairly difficult for US citizens to travel to Cuba and we are not privy to much if any of their locally produced news content, the US public is left with information that is filtered, massaged and/or manipulated to advocate a particular cause.  If all you knew about Cuba was the media’s and the US politician’s depiction of the country, it would be difficult to think of it as more than a nation of people virtually imprisoned by an evil dictator, living in poverty/dilapidated conditions and resorting to elicit enterprises just to get by.

Let’s provide a little reality shall we; from no less than the US government.  According to the CIA’s World Fact Book, Cuba has an Adult Literacy Rate of 99.8% (that’s 2^nd highest in the world).  The unemployment rate in Cuba is 1.7%*** (8^th in the World).  Though it’s hard to find official numbers for Cuba’s homeless rate, it is generally accepted as the lowest in this hemisphere since housing is guaranteed in the country’s constitution (note: there is homelessness in Cuba, it’s just significantly less than other countries).  And let’s not forget healthcare is free and guaranteed for every citizen in the country.  Cuba has the largest economy, GDP and population in all of the Caribbean and Latin America dwarfing Jamaica, Costa Rica and the Bahamas combined.  To sum it up, in Cuba you are very likely to be well educated, have a job, access to free healthcare, food to eat (state rationed) and a place to sleep – something an alarming number of Americans cannot claim.

Another media fallacy is ‘everyone’ in Cuba is waiting for the next cardboard box to float by to risk their lives navigating the Atlantic Ocean in hopes of reaching Florida’s “freedom”.  While it is certainly true many Cubans have lost their lives attempting this, the numbers aren’t even close to the thousands of Mexicans to have died attempting to cross the desert and/or the Rio Grande.  The coverage of these two events is disproportionally skewed towards the relatively few Cubans who have tried and failed.  The fact is many more Mexicans die in a week than Cubans have died in the last year attempting to get into the US.  Think about this for a second; the immigration issue is generally framed as Mexicans taking jobs (jobs some say no American wants) and living off of social services without paying for them.  What if we allowed immigration of the most educated country in this hemisphere and they began taking the white collar jobs we do want??  Food for thought, but I digress.

Speaking of out of whack, former Cuban exiles living in Tampa and South Florida have a disproportionate impact on our immigration policy and national politics.  Many national elections have been swayed by the Cuban American constituency which represents less the 1% of the US population.  I suspect you remember the Elan Gonzolas debacle; at the core of the entire episode is the “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy.  The short version of this immigration law is Cubans who successfully put their feet on dry land of any US territory are automatically granted asylum and US Citizenship.  Cubans who are captured at sea (Wet Foot) are returned to Cuba.  Seriously, I couldn’t make this bullshit up.  When I lived in Miami, I would often pass one of the US immigration offices that had giant outdoor fenced prisons full of black people.  Primarily from Haiti or Jamaica, these folks were denied economic asylum and were awaiting deportation back to their country.  So, for no other country in the world do we allow someone to magically become a citizen by – breaking the law no less – like we do for Cubans;  but Haitians – who were trying to escape the very definition of economic hardship before the earthquake – are herded into awful makeshift prisons while awaiting the boot out of the country.  There’s no other word for it – Bullshit!

Finally, the embargo is frequently justified as “we shouldn’t do business with evil people”.   Of course this is the height of hypocrisy as the US does business with evil regimes every single day.   This issue is more accurately described as “the US shouldn’t do business with evil people it doesn’t need anything from”. Saudi Arabia has a flat out awful human rights record and most of the 9/11 hijackers were from its borders.  But we need oil – thus we do business.  Don’t get me started on India’s near slavery, US’ support of Apartheid and Saddam Hussein as an ‘ally’ right until the point he messed with Kuwait’s oil.  We don’t do business with Cuba because we don’t need anything from them – pure and simple.  We can get Cuba’s primary exports – sugar, rum and cigars – from several other regions around the globe (at least “good enough cigars”).

Why I Think You Should Go

I’d like you to think about the following as your read through the remainder of this series.  The United States has implemented sanctions/embargos against 15 countries and/or regions (mostly terrorist states) and of the 15 countries on that list, Cuba is the only one US citizens cannot travel to. That’s right – if you wanted to, you could travel to Iran, Somalia, and North Korea – but Cuba is just too evil for the average American to stomach.

As stated by the US government, the embargo was supposed to make the Cuban population rise up and throw the Castros out of office.  Whether you think the embargo was/is a good idea or not, I think we can all agree that it’s not working.  Fidel Castro has outlasted 10 US presidents and is working on number 11 – that’s 50 years!!!  The end result is the government still rules and the people are paying the price due to the country’s inability to trade with the largest economy in the world.  Eventually the embargo will be lifted; likely coinciding with the death of the original “el Presidente” Fidel Castro.  After all, he is 84 years old and the only thing the US has to gain is the symbolic victory of outlasting the constant thorn in its side sitting only 90 miles from Florida.

The two primary reasons I believe every American should visit Cuba prior to the embargo being lifted are:

1. In order to make an informed decision (e.g. vote) on the issues like Trade Agreements, Health Care and Immigration Reforms that are currently affecting our country – it may be helpful to know a little about these subjects.  All of these issues will play a prominent role in US politics in the near future – particularly as the “Socialist” rhetoric starts to increase as we get closer to the ‘political silly season’.  One way of acquiring knowledge on these issues is to actually travel to a real Socialist country and formulate your own opinions.  The reality is if you rely on others to tell you what to think on these matters you can’t blame anyone else for your ignorance or the likelihood you will be manipulated into voting against your own interests.
2. These sanctions are being imposed in your name.  As a US citizen you pay taxes and have the right to know how your government is spending that money – whether it is on the battlefield, diplomatic table or an economic sanction.  Furthermore, the specific travel ban is illogical and possibly unconstitutional; restricting citizen’s right to travel to single country on the planet is as un-American as apple pie.  The point isn’t whether the embargo is good or bad – it’s whether you should be able to see the results of your government’s actions for yourself.

While those are my two primary reasons, I would be remiss if I painted the picture that the only reason to go to Cuba is for some sort of political science exercise.  Havana is a beautiful place full of culture and some of the most pleasant people you’ll ever meet.  It’s just that due to the complexity and expense involved, tourism may not be a good enough reason to go by itself.  Of course that’s just my opinion – you should formulate your own so long as you don’t approach this voyeuristically or as some sort of Slum Tourism escapade.

Final Thoughts

If it sounds like this article is painting a somewhat unflattering picture of US policy, you would be correct – it does.   This part of the series shouldn’t be taken as me promoting the Cuban government in any form or fashion.   Make no mistake about it, much of the ill will towards Castro both in and outside of Cuba are of his own making.   There are two sides to every coin and I will speak to some of the things I witnessed while in Havana in Part 3, including what felt like an open air prison for the Cuban population, their inability speak and move freely, the secret police, the fact that some Cubans are more ‘equal’ than others, rampant underground black market/prostitution and Cuba’s very own propaganda machine.

That said, at best much of the US media’s coverage of the Cuba issue is very one sided; at worst utter propaganda.  Unlike in the movies, there aren’t any well defined ‘good’ or ‘bad’ guys – no one is innocent in this 50 year old stalemate.  What seems clear is the embargo hasn’t destroyed the Castros and the Cuban people are paying the price.

Perhaps the most important advice I can give is for you to decide for yourself.  Don’t let anyone else unduly influence your opinion on this subject – whether the US media, politicians, the Cuban propaganda machine or opinionated bloggers (present company included).  The ability to gain insight on how these issues impact your life and to understand the effects of what your government is doing in your name are available once you decide to visit the forbidden land.

Next: Cuba: Part 2 – Getting There By Any Means Necessary

*** In September 2010, the Cuban government announced it was laying off over 500,000 government workers; a figure sure to make 2009’s 1.7% unemployment rate skyrocket.

This little conversation with myself took place two weeks ago on my way to my first day back at work.  Almost exactly a year ago, I was finishing consulting work for one of the nation’s mobile phone carriers about to embark on a trip to Australia.  What started out as a little “me” time turned into a 12 month extremely fulfilling journey across the globe.

How Did This Come About

I only have one life to live and I want to get the most out of it.  When I’m 90 years old and toothless, I hope to be able to look back on the pictures/videos of my life and not have any “I wished I had done X” moments.  Some years ago when I was running my own business, I realized I had a lot of money and a number of ‘things’ but no real life.  That realization (and associated burnout) lead me to take a nearly three year break from working to do things I’d never done, like riding motorcycles, boating and moving to South Beach.  Although I wasn’t burnt out at all this time, I felt it was a good opportunity to explore the rest of the world.

I wanted to do something I’d always wanted to do, discover something about a different culture and hopefully, learn something about myself.  The destination list came from my existing Bucket List or a particular activity was only possible at a specific destination, like Shark Diving in South Africa.  I would have loved to have visited all 7 continents, but trips to Antarctica were extremely expensive ($6,000 and up).  The final destination count turned out to be 6 continents, 12 countries and 23 cities as listed in order below (click any image to see a full-sized version):

	Australia – Sydney, Cairns and Melbourne Attempted surfing in Sydney (hilarious), the Great Barrier Reef is utterly amazing and my Harley ride out to Melbourne’s wine country was awesome!
	Belgium – Brussels Not often does one get to stand in the middle of a historic site, but Brussels’ Waterloo was quite interesting. Oh yea, the Belgians have excellent beer!
	Seattle, WA Wonderfully cosmopolitan city; ferries & locks, Seahawks game, even caught a fish down at the famous Pike Place market. Now we could do something about this rain – geez!
	Mexico – Cancun Although heavily Americanized, had an excellent time taking part in the water sporting activities. Cenotes, scuba diving, ATV tours – Cancun has it covered.
	Las Vegas, NV There’s much more to Vegas than showgirls and gambling; my favorites were the Dune Buggy adventure, the Gun Store, indoor skydiving and a trek to the Grand Canyon.
	Cuba – Havana The forbidden land! Marvelous people and remarkable culture. Cigar/Rum factories, the real Tropicana and 1950s Buicks are just a few of the amazing sights. A must see for all Americans before the embargo falls.
	Thailand – Bangkok, Phuket Though Bangkok was hot in more ways than one, it still managed to mesmerize this traveler’s senses. Phuket has some of the most beautiful scenery in the region – some say the world.
	Orlando, FL I’m not into the Disney hoopla so I was pleasantly surprised by the number of cool things to do in Orlando. Ziplines, Horseback riding, Nascar driving and best of all – becoming a Fighter Pilot!!
	San Francisco, CA Where can you windsurf, visit Yosemite National park, tour a 100 year prison in Alcatraz, take a wine tour and attend the opera in the same weekend? The Bay Area, that’s where.
	Miami, FL No need for a passport, Miami will give you all of the Caribbean and Latin American vibes you need.
	Costa Rica – Liberia, Arenal and San Jose Diving/nightlife in Coco-Beach was out of the ordinary, San Jose’s big city life was cool but neither could compare to the volcano, zip-lines, white water rafting and hot springs of Arenal.
	South Africa – Johannesburg, Kruger National Park and Cape Town There is a lot more to do in J’Burg than people give credit. A wildlife safari is something I think everyone should have the privilege to experience at least once. Shark, cliffs and wine – yep, Cape Town has them all.
	Brazil – Rio de Janeiro, Foz de Iguaçu Brazilians buy their clothes in one size – tight; and for that I thank them! Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf and Tijuca National Park were all stunners.
	Argentina – Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires Iguazu Falls is the most amazing natural phenomenon I’ve seen in my life – period! Every time I see a waterfall from this point on in my life, it will pale in comparison to my memories these amazing falls. Buenos Aires is like an outdoor museum.
	Uruguay – Colonia de Sacramento Sleepy colonial UNESCO World Heritage site.
	Panama – Panama City The Panama Canal, colonial ruins, diving the Pacific/Atlantic oceans and some of the most beautiful women I’ve seen in my life. Really.

Every single destination was an opportunity to learn something or cross something off of my bucket list.  If I had to choose a favorite, it would likely be my trip to South Africa.  The culture of Johannesburg, the amazing safari in Kruger National Park and the majestic beauty of Cape Town put it slightly ahead of Australia.

Was this Expensive?

A question I got quite often is how I was able to take a year off of work in the middle of a global recession to travel the world.  Well, the first and most important requirement is that you must want to do it.  For me, I simply did not want to work for a while so doing something that I enjoyed doing in its place was a breeze.  Once the decision was made to explore the world, I had to figure out a budget.

The biggest cost with almost any vacation is the airfare; something I was able to eliminate almost completely.  As my job required me to travel across the country once a month for business, I racked up over 300,000 Delta Skymiles by the time I left.  This meant that every flight to the destinations above (with the exception of Australia) were purchased with Skymiles and nearly free (usually less than $60 taxes).  In addition, I had a boatload of Hilton Honors points that allowed me to stay in their properties around the world for free (at least until the points ran out).  When I ran out of Hilton points, my Gold status provided me with free breakfast, drinks, room upgrades and Internet access – saving me additional money.

Even with my free flights and mostly free hotels – my year long sabbatical across the globe was still quite expensive.  The reason is the things I like to do cost money.  Jumping out of airplanes, going on Safari, repelling down mountains and swimming with sharks to name a few, isn’t cheap.  Furthermore, some destinations are simply more expensive overall due to unfavorable conversion rates for the US Dollar – the Euro (Brussels) and the CUC (Cuba) to name a few.  Having said that, just because my year long adventure was expensive doesn’t mean yours has to be.  There are several backpackers traveling multiple continents on as little as $30 a day – including room, food, etc.

So, the long answer to the short questions is – I got most of the bigger costs free and saved up enough money to spend freely on the somewhat expensive things I always wanted to do.

…Continued

Google Voice is a service that attempts to simplify your life by providing “One Number, Online Voicemail and Enhanced Phone Services”.  Originally launched as GrandCentral, Google Voice provides you with a single number that rings all of your phones, e.g., office, cell and home simultaneously.  With Google Voice, there’s no need to give out 4 different numbers or check 4 different voicemail systems – everything in managed in a single location.

Design

The Google Voice signup process is relatively straight forward, though you must already have a Google account to get started.  Simply navigate to http://www.google.com/voice, enter a zip code to get a list of phone numbers to choose from, select a voicemail pin and enter up to 6 phones you want to ring.  The good thing about Google Voice is you can get a number based anywhere in the US; just because you don’t live in Chicago doesn’t mean you can’t get a Chicago based local number.

Receiving an inbound call is exceptionally simple.  When you answer one of the phones associated with Google Voice, the system states – “Call From <Name>” followed by prompts to “press 1 to answer”, “2 to send to voicemail”, “3 to screen the call” (listen in like your 1980s answering machine) or “4 to answer and record the call”.  As soon as you answer one of the phones the others automatically stop ringing.

There are three options for making outbound calls.  The easiest way is to use a mobile phone that has the Google Voice app installed.  The Google Voice app, available for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices, essentially takes over the inbound/outbound calling services of your phone/carrier.  With the native app, all outbound text messages will show your Google Voice number and the voicemail key on your phone will go to Google Voice’s voicemail instead of your mobile carrier’s.  The second method is to go to the Google Voice website and place the call from there.  Google will call your phone and after you answer – connect you to the number you wish to dial.  This is the method you would use if you wanted to make the call from your home/work phone or from an unsupported mobile OS (like Palm, Windows mobile, etc.) and have your Google Voice number appear on the outbound caller id.  Finally, you can make a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol – voice calls over the Internet in laymen’s terms) calls directly from your computer to another person – whether mobile, landline or gChat.  Obviously, the computer you are using will need a microphone/speaker combo, as well as, a decent Internet connection.

Where it gets somewhat convoluted is trying to figure out which Google tool to use for communicating with others.  For example, if you log into Google Voice, you cannot call someone using your computer – you have to use Gmail to complete that process.  In Gmail, you cannot have Google ring your home phone to place a call – you must sign back into Google Voice.  But if you want to add Video to your voice call – gChat is the app you must use.  There definitely needs to be some tightening up of the UI for these services; it’s simply unclear where one service ends and the other begins.

Features

Beyond the ability to have a single number ring into multiple phones, Google Voice also includes a few enhanced features to make communicating even easier.  Caller Groups allows you to designate your contacts into specific groups such as Personal, Business, Homies, etc.  Each group can have a unique greeting, e.g. the Business group would hear something entirely different than say – the Homies.  You can control what time of day the each of your phones rings, such as setting your work phone to only ring weekdays 9am-6pm.  Another cool feature is the ability to permanently block callers by sending them to a disconnected message (same one your local phone company uses when they take your line out of service).   The Conference Calling feature allows you to conference up to 4 people on a call by selecting the conference option during the call waiting process.  In addition, you can record any incoming call by pressing “4” at anytime (both parties are notified), as well as, transfer calls from one of your phones to the other by pressing “*”.  Here are a few other more of Google Voice’s enhanced features:

Forward voicemails in MP3 format to any email/mobile device International calls for as low as 2 cent a minute Automatically have voicemails transcribed and texted to your mobile phone Make calls from anywhere in North America (Caribbean, Central America and Canada) to any phone in the US for free using VOIP Temporarily transfer calls to any phone (like vacation rental) or use the “Do Not Disturb” setting to send all calls to voicemail.

Unfortunately, the enhanced feature set is not perfect.  A few features which were staples prior to Google acquiring GrandCentral are no longer included in Google Voice.  The top three missed features are Incoming Caller Ringtones (music the caller hears as they wait for you to answer); the ability to send all Private Numbers or Caller ID Unavailable calls directly to Voicemail and the mapping utility that showed the city/state the incoming caller id is registered to.  Hopefully, Google will see fit to add these features back into the product.   In addition, the Call Record and Call Transfer features only work on incoming calls; these features aren’t available when you place outbound calls from your GV number.

Performance

It doesn’t matter how many features a calling service claims to offer, if you can’t complete a call or the call quality is awful – the service is not worth the effort.  Luckily, Google Voice passes both tests with flying colors – so long as you meet some minimum requirements.  In short, the product is only as good as the platform it’s attached to.  If you are using the native mobile app, call quality and connection is only as good as your mobile carrier’s coverage in the area you are making the call.  Same thing applies if using Wi-Fi or a wired Internet connection; crappy connection equals crappy call quality.

Assuming you have a decent connection, call quality on both ends of the line is exceptional – no static, delays or hollowness.  In fact, call quality was slightly better than Skype in my informal tests.  This brings me to a few reasons I prefer Google Voice over Skype for making non-video calls.  First, Skype’s installation and memory requirements tend to slow your computer down (especially most Netbooks) – which may be the cause of the deteriorated call quality in my tests.  Google Voice only requires your browser and a 500k plug-in to make VOIP calls.  Second, the person you want to talk to must be logged into Skype; Google Voice allows you to call their cell phone directly (at least from anywhere in North American – including Caribbean, Canada and Central America).

Most of the features work well, though there are a few misses.  The Voicemail transcription service is pretty poor – especially when it attempts to transcribe women/high pitched voices.  Here’s an example of Google’s transcription service results:

As you can see, the transcription service is not nearly ready for primetime.  Another miss is not being able to transfer calls or record a conversation during outbound calls made from Google Voice (the two features only work with inbound calls).   Perhaps the biggest gap is the Blocked Call service – you can only block callers who’s number is passed in the caller id.  In GrandCentral – you could set it so that anyone calling from a ‘Private’, ‘Unavailable’, ‘Restricted’, ‘Unknown’ or ‘Anonymous’ number could be sent to voicemail or given disconnected message.  In Google Voice, if a telemarketer, crazy ex, or bill collector decides to dial *67 when they call you – all of your phones will ring and you can’t block them from calling you in the future.  That’s just lame Google!!!

Summary

Google’s goal is to provide you with a single number and an integrated mailbox to manage all of your mobile, landline and VOIP needs; and for the most part it succeeds.  Google Voice gives you the freedom to change mobile carriers and/or home phone numbers without having to distribute your new number to everyone you know.   

Excellent call quality, enhanced calling features, native Smartphone apps and free domestic calling to mobile and landline phones are just a few of the excellent features.  Throw in free international calling back to the US from anywhere in North America and you’ve got a worthy replacement for Skype.  While it’s missing key features like caller ringtones, blocking private numbers and the ability to transfer/record outbound calls, the improvements Google has made in other areas of the service more than warrant giving Google Voice a try.

The last variable – plus “What do you do for a living” are the two questions that always seem to land me in detention.  Over the last year, I’ve traveled to South Africa, Belgium, Panama, Costa Rica and Thailand solo.  Except for the Belgium trip, I was pulled over for additional screening on every single one of these trips.  The process played out exactly the same on every re-entry like this:

Customs Agent: Where did you visit?
Me: [Insert_Country]
CA: Was this business or personal?
Me: Vacation
CA: Who did you travel with?
Me: No one, by myself.
CA: What kind of work do you do?
Me: I’m not working right now
CA: So how can you afford a trip to [insert_country]?
Me: ??? I saved money
CA: One moment please (starts typing into the computer)

From there, I either get the Red folder for immediate escort to the locked administrative area or some code circled on the Blue re-entry form so that further screening can be performed once I’ve collected my bags.

The Interrogation Process

The administrative area (that’s what I’m calling it) is an area you are escorted to on orders of the first line customs agent.  The doors literally lock behind you; you can walk in – but you have to be buzzed out by an armed customs agent to leave.  Nice.  Once locked in, you wait for a CBP agent to call your name to take you to the back for an interview.    I won’t waste space (or give any real terrorist a heads-up) here detailing all of the questions – but they ranged from the repetitive/absurd to very detailed/necessary.  This is the area where the ole ‘Full Cavity’ searches take place.  At a minimum, expect to empty your pockets and any carry-on luggage.

If you have any checked bags, they let you out of prison to get your belongings – only to be handed a Blue folder so that your checked baggage can be x-rayed and searched by hand – along with more of the same questions asked in the admin area.  To add insult to injury, when they were done – I was never told ‘why’ I was singled out, just a generic “Thank you – you are free to go”.  All told, I spent anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour going through these additional security screenings.

This additional screening apparently wasn’t necessary for any of my non-solo trips in the last year.  The only thing that was different was me answering “not alone” to the “who did you travel with” question.  These trips included Australia, Brazil/Argentina, Mexico and Cuba.  I repeat – Cuba for Pete’s sake. Of all the places additional screening would come into play, you’d think Cuba would be right near the top of the list. I guess only if you travel alone.  Through the news, it is implied CBP uses sophisticated tools to weed out suspicious travelers, such as tickets purchased with cash, or one way tickets, no baggage – none of which prevented the alleged Christmas Day Bomber from boarding a plane.  But round-trip tickets purchased by a US citizen who happens to be unemployed – well call the FBI, we’ve caught a Terrorist.  I feel safer already.

Of course I could lie and say I’m a Minister, computer tech or the middleweight kickboxing champion of the world – but why should I have to?

Can this be avoided?

Sorta, but I’m not sure it’s worthwhile.  The last time I went through this song and dance with Customs I asked why is this always happening to me.  The agent took this as an opportunity to push the CBP’s Global Entry Program.  The Global Entry program is Custom’s attempt to get “low-risk” citizens through the re-entry process as quickly as possible.  To be accepted to the program, applicants will have to go through a very in-depth background check, provide biometric information (fingerprints), submit to an in-person interview and fork over the non-refundable $100 application fee.  Assuming you are approved (and it’s far from sure thing you will be) – the membership is valid for 5 years.

I have a few problems with the Global Entry Trusted Traveler program;

1. There are only 21 locations in which you can do the mandatory in-person interview.  If you live in San Diego – you’ll need to brave the I5 traffic to Los Angeles.  Live in New Orleans – guess you’ll have to hop on a flight to Atlanta or Houston.  Perhaps someone should introduce Skype to these folks.
2. You have to trust the government and its affiliates with your very personal information.  Remember the Clear Program?  This was another attempt at helping ‘low-risk’ travelers at the airport – but this was the security boarding process not re-entry.  Anyway, personal information on 33,000 members of the Clear program where left exposed.  While the US government is managing the Global Entry program and not a private company – there are still contractors, human errors and the inevitable breaches in security.  Are you willing to put this level of detail (life history, biometrics, passport/SSN, etc.) in a single database managed by the outfit that took 4 years to figure out how to manage common names on the No-Fly-List?  Not me.
3. According to the CBP’s own website – you might be stopped for additional screening anyway.  After all of the interviews, the turnover of personal information and money – the kiosk may still flag you if you are unemployed and travel alone.  So much for low risk.

For me, the Global Entry program is just too much trouble for not enough benefit.  To be honest, while these additional screenings are somewhat time consuming – I didn’t have any connecting flights to miss and nowhere really to be so I just took it in stride.  I can’t say this post will do much to help prevent others from going this this, I just needed to vent.

Oh….I am not a Terrorist!!!

As always, I appreciate your continued support and don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

2010 Black Weblog Award Winner List

In the meantime…

I will return to daily blogging here on Jay Travels now that my summer vacation is almost over. In the coming weeks, new Travel Reviews – including my adventures in Thailand, Cuba, and South Africa will be published. In addition, brand new Travel Gadget Reviews, more Travel Advice and commentary and a ton of Traveler Spotlight profiles are on the way. 

Once you have finished voting, take a moment to look through some of the most popular articles and profiles on Jay Travels so far.

A Few of My Travel Reviews

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Egypt »

Las Vegas »

Hong Kong »

US Reviews

World Reviews

Featured Articles

The Cost of Selling Your Soul for Money – Ritz Carlton’s ill-advised attempt to satisfy a bigoted customer. Needless to say, this didn’t go very well.

Do African Americans Travel? – Of course we do and here are a few excellent African-American authored travel blogs to prove it.

Tipping Etiquette When Traveling Overseas – Learn which countries tipping is considered offensive and how much to tip everywhere else.

Airline Passenger Bill of Rights – Shame airlines had to be told not to keep their passengers hostage; Jay has a few thoughts on how we be make this even better.

Stop Thief – Online Copyright Infringement – Rampant plagiarism of work on the Internet has gotten out of control. Learn to limit your blog’s exposure and fight back when your hard work is stolen!

Travel Advice

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Top Ten Travel Tips – I have put together a collection of my Top Ten Travel tips and tricks collected…

Avoiding Travel Scams – Recognize and avoid these commonly used travel scams…

Planning an Overseas Flight – Airline strategies, airport rules, luggage tips and more…

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See More

Travel Gadget Reviews

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Amazon Kindle – Small and light-weight, the only way to carry 1,500 books…

Drift x170 – As helmet cameras go, the Drift x170 is one of the best I’ve seen…

Nemo 200 – A fairly capable universal underwater video camera housing, so long…

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See More

Traveler Spotlight

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Shena – - Enjoys spending time with friends and family and following the Kansas City Chiefs…

Greg – from “I’m Black and I Travel” feels travel opens your eyes, broadens your mind, inspires and it humbles…

Ellen – enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, singing in the choir and traveling…

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See More

You’ve Been Douche Bagged

Welcome to the Internet Blogging 2010.  With most people understanding it’s not a good idea to send large sums of money to Nigerian Princes and you really shouldn’t click on that Viagra email – “Article Jacking” (I just made that up) is becoming the new sleaze bag way of generating revenue.  Website owners use a number of advertising platforms on their sites which pay them when users click on one of those ads – Google Ads being the most popular.  What most people don’t know is – even if no one actually clicks on an ad, the website owner will still get paid based on the number of times ads are displayed.  More page views, more money.

With this in mind, it’s easy to understand why someone steals and reposts content – it’s free money.  Someone Googles the keywords in your article, the thief’s site appears in the search results and the thief gets paid for visit.  Nice!  Frequently, the sites displaying your stolen content have no original content at all; they just display hundreds of stolen articles for the purposes of gaining advertising revenue.  No one is immune to this – really shitty blogs with no readers will get jacked just as much as popular and well written blogs.

In the old days, these types of folks would copy-n-paste parts/entire articles into their site – a simpler proposition when there were only thousands of blogs.  As there are now literally millions of blogs, it is much easier to steal this content in an automated fashion – using your own RSS feed.

What You Can Do

Luckily, you have the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) on your side.  The DMCA (or EUCD for folks in the European Union) is a set of copyright laws that, amongst other things – allows you as the content owner to initiate a “Takedown Notice”.  Once you provide notice of the copyright infringement, by law the offending party must remove the content.  In addition, sending the Takedown Notice is free!   The bad news is you are responsible for uncovering each instance of your content being infringed upon, the douche bag posting it and generating the takedown notice(s).

There are few ways to determine whether your content has been infringed (stolen) – the easiest is to simply do a search on your site name, article name, specific keyword or a combination of the three.  Companies like Copyscape claim to be able to search for your content across the web, but in my experience it didn’t catch several blatant instances that were in Google’s search results.  Another useful method is to use Google’s Blog Search engine – which usually gives much better (targeted) results than the general Google web search.  If using the Google blog search, sort the results by “last 12 hours” as this will limit the search results and make your article (along with the stolen version) easier to spot.

Once you have identified the URLs serving your stolen content, follow these steps to get it removed:

1. Using the domain name of the URL hosting your content (e.g., imadouchebag.com), perform a Whois Lookup.  In the results, you are looking for the line that says “Name Server:”
2. Usually, the “Name Server” taken from Step 1 will tell you the web hosting company.  For example, the name server for imadouchebag.com could have something like “NSXXX.HOSTGATOR.COM” in the field.  In this example, it’s pretty easy to see the web hosting company in this case is Host Gator, LLC.  If you can’t tell who the host is looking at the Name Server, you can perform a Name Server Lookup to get the owner/IP address.
3. Send the Web Hosting Company a DMCA Takedown Notice informing them one of their customers has infringed on your content.  The contact information is usually on their site or you can use the “support” email address.  Here is a Web Host DMCA Template (in Word 2007 format) I created you can use.
4. Finally, send a Takedown Notice to Google to get any URLs removed from all Google search and application properties – including page cache.  You can use the Google DMCA Template (in Word 2007 format) I created.

Google and most web hosting companies require you to mail or fax any Takedown Notice requests.  If you don’t have a fax machine, use Faxzero to fax the two Word documents above for free.  Some folks suggest sending the offending website owner a takedown request – something I strong recommend you not do.  You are more likely to have your email address sold to spammers than you are having your stolen content removed.

Thoughts on Preventing Copyright Infringement

It really isn’t possible to prevent someone from stealing your online work – not very well at least.  There are a number of JavaScript tools than prevent right-clicking or copying any text on your page; however, these tools are easily defeated by anyone with a minimal level of skill.  Also, most content isn’t stolen via Copy-n-Paste anyway – it’s stolen directly from your RSS feed.   Of course you could disable your RSS feed or only include summary information in the feed – but that would have a greater negative impact in terms of growing your audience than the positives of eliminating theft would solve.  Finally, you could pay people like Copyscape to ‘monitor’ your site and act on your behalf; but I have a hard time believing this is worth the effort if their search apparatus does such a poor job identifying infringement in the first place.

This brings up an interesting question – should you even bother removing stolen content in the first place?  Sure sending Takedown Notices are free to do, but it does take time and effort.  I know many people don’t use any advertising platforms on their blogs, so the loss of revenue is not an issue.  While that may be true, the presumption is you write your article with the intent of someone actually reading it.  Loss of traffic means fewer people are reading your content.

With that in mind, I personally take the following approach to combating copyright infringement;

• When I find an instance of infringement, I’ll first determine if the article is copied in its entirety and if there is a link back to my site.  In a strange way, this kind of infringement  is somewhat helpful – as it builds link backs necessary for search engines page ranking (albeit very little).  If on the other hand, there’s no link or it’s more than just an article summary or the site quality is obviously trash (most are) and I’m not in the most pleasant mood ever (and I rarely am) – then it’s time to open a can of whoop ass.
• I place the “Jay Travels” copyright logo at the bottom right of every picture on this site.  Yes, it can be removed – but it’s just easier for douche bags to get someone else’s images than to Photoshop mine (the locked front door theory).
• The “Jay Travels” logo is embedded on the bottom left corner of every video on this site, as well as those videos on YouTube.  This way, when video aggregators pull my video from YouTube – the viewer knows where it came from because the brand is always visible.  Now the Douche Bag is working for me.
• I use a robots.txt file that tells Google, Yahoo, Live, etc. not to index any content in my /video or /image directories.  This doesn’t hide the files but it means my video and images never show up in search engines – just the pages in which they are viewed in display.  You can go further by preventing any browser/service from accessing any image/video on your site externally by modifying your .htaccess file (advanced users only)

I don’t bother with changing the RSS feed, copy-n-paste JavaScript or any other nonsense – the benefits are small and the time required too great.  So that’s it – hopefully this article will prove helpful to those that have or will encounter this situation.

And to the current and future digital content thieves – stop acting like Douche Bags!!!

Important Note: This article is about online copyright infringement – not Defamation or Trademark Infringement.  If someone writes on their site you are a “jerk” – you cannot use the DMCA to get that content removed.  In addition, if someone uses your logo not associated with copyrighted material and not fair use, you cannot use the DMCA to have it removed either.  An example of Trademark Infringement is if “McDowells” from the movie ‘Coming to America’ started a burger website.  In both of these cases, you will need to utilize other tools (attorney) to have the content removed.  I point this out because Google will likely deny all DMCA notices that are actually Defamation/Trademark infringements.

Seems the ultra luxury hotel/resort chain the Ritz-Carlton has found itself in the middle of a disgusting and quite possibly illegal allegation.  According to USA Today (by way of the Naples News), the Naples, Florida Ritz-Carlton location “accommodated” two British guest’s racial requests.  Here is an excerpt from the USA Today article:

“The couple identified in the lawsuit arrived as guests on Feb. 28 and specified their preference to not be served by “people of color” or with “foreign accents,” the story says. Notes from the hotel’s computer system said as much: ”As per Mr. (hotel managing director Edward) Staros, this couple is very, very prejudice(d) and do like like (sic) ppl of color or foreign accents”…”

No company can control the thoughts and biases of its customers, so it would be unfair to criticize the Ritz-Carlton for the mere fact that a bigot entered one of their establishments.  Furthermore, any company can be susceptible to that “one bad hire” – you know, the employee that has gone so far off of the reservation that their actions in no way reflects the values of the organization as a whole.  That said, it appears the situation the Ritz-Carlton finds itself in is a result of a systemic failure and/or an institutional problem.

If the allegations in this case turn out to be true (and no one from the Ritz-Carlton is disputing them thus far), consider the chain of events which lends credence to an institutionalized problem:

1. Upon first hearing of a customer’s despicable and possibly illegal request, the company ‘honored’ it and removed the first employee from their paid responsibilities to this customer.
2. 7 other employees were informed to follow the ‘service’ provided to this customer.
3. To ensure other employees were clear as to this ‘service’, references to the statement were typed into the company computer system associated with this customer.
4. At least two individuals from the company’s management team (unnamed supervisor and Director Staros) were aware of and if not promoted, certainly did not stop this behavior.
5. This type of behavior has happened in the past.

…Allegedly

They typed this into the computer?????  Really???  Cause when I go to work and a customer says “I don’t wanna talk to no damn Women”, the first thing I can think of is to type that little nugget into our internal systems so that all of my employees get the message.  Seriously??

And all of this for what?

“The Customer is always right” – so we should make the customer happy at all costs.  Probably not the exact motto of the Ritz-Carlton, but surely pretty close.  Certainly an excellent motto to follow – right up until the point where you don’t follow it.  In a nutshell, employees/management appeased a bigot to ensure continued patronage of their business.  Let’s assume for sake of argument the bigoted couple spent 20k on their stay at the Ritz-Carlton; is that worth the losses in overall revenue due to bad publicity from these actions?  Was this couple’s money worth demoralizing their workforce?  Will it be a good trade if the Ritz-Carlton is fined by the State of Florida, federal government or loses/settles the impending lawsuit?   I doubt it.

According to the company’s statement, the British couple is no longer welcome at a Ritz-Carlton establishment.  Well that’s fantastic.  Here’s what I didn’t hear from that statement – “our dimwitted management team (Director Staros & unnamed supervisor) will be entering retraining, fired, demoted, given IQ tests, etc. – and (most importantly) we are reviewing our corporate polices to ensure we have the proper customer/employee standards and compliance oversight”.

This post isn’t to fight the employee’s battle; he has an attorney and that process will play itself out.  The battle I’m fighting is an obvious lack of leadership which fosters an environment that at least two people in management and 7 other employees were aware of this ‘request’, did nothing to stop it and so brazenly aimed to support it they typed the damn instructions in the computer – allegedly!

You cannot shame anyone into using good judgment, particularly those that had to be told (sued) this was ridiculous in the first place – it has to be worth their while financially.  To that end, I have included the contact information for the Ritz-Carlton and its parent company Marriot International below.  I for one will be publically letting them know this behavior is unacceptable and will be showing my displeasure with my dollars until the systemic issues have been resolved.

Now that all of the freezing weather is a distant memory, it’s go time baby!!!  Luckily, the current economic conditions and its effect on the travel industry means there are still plenty of spring travel deals available.

Here are a few suggestions to get away and recharge your batteries after such a devastating winter.

Spring Break – Partying

• Miami – No surprise here – fun, sun, hot weather and hot women/men.  No need for a passport or to deal with customs in order to get this wonder beach location.  While not a huge watersport destination, just about everyone is wearing their bathing suits and the parties don’t stop.  For a little change of pace, get away from Ocean Drive for a while and head to Little Havana, Ft. Lauderdale or even Key West.
• Cancun – If getting out the country is your thing – you can’t beat the sun and fun of Cancun.  Spring is the best time to go to Cancun, as the summer brings intense heat, significant rain and possible Hurricanes.  Watersports are plentiful – kayaking, parasailing, snorkeling, scuba diving and miles of beach are all excellent ways to enjoy yourself in Cancun.

Spring Break – Family

• Camping – What better way to bring the family together than a camping trip?  Whether you Tent camp and cook/roast marshmallows over an open flame, stay in a mini-camper/RV or a luxurious log cabin complete with Jacuzzi, big-screen TVs and even Internet access, camping can be an excellent time to reconnect with the entire family.
• Grand Canyon – Speaking of camping, the Grand Canyon is an excellent place to camp out with your family.  Even if you don’t want to camp in the Canyon, the stunning views, whitewater rafting excursions or a helicopter ride into the canyon are well worth a trip.  A short drive to the Hoover Dam is also a worthy add-on.

Beach

• Panama City, FL – If you just want to relax on the beach or participate in some form of water activities, Panama City Beach is an excellent Florida destination.  No longer the “Red Neck Rivera”, Panama City is becoming the destination of choice – not just for folks living on the East Coast but from the Mid-West and Southwest regions as well.
• Bahamas – If beaches, culture and warm & friendly people are your idea of fun – look no further than Nassau Bahamas.  Whether you need a $37,000 a night private island of your own or a more budget friendly all-inclusive beach-front experience, the Bahamas have you covered.  If fishing is your thing – the Bimini Islands Bahamas is the way to go – offering up to 30ft clear visibility into the sea and some of the best big game fishing in the western hemisphere.

Romance

• Washington, DC – Spring is the time the famous cherry blossoms bloom in and around the District.  Take a stroll along the Tidal Basin in front of the Jefferson Memorial with your lover or take a truly intimate walk through the National Mall at night.  Washington, DC now has a ton of excellent restaurants and nightlife options to keep you busy.
• Hawaii – These wonderful strings of islands are still struggling to recover from the current World recession – which means excellent opportunities for all travelers.  The beautiful landscapes, marvelous sunsets and excellent watersports still exist – there are simply fewer crowds and less expensive to do now.  How can you beat that?

Singles

• Singles Cruise – Decades ago, one could not get away on a vacation by themselves without being looked upon as an outcast or with pity.  Times have changed and there’s an entire travel market specifically designed for single travelers.  This spring, take a 3-5 day “Singles Only” themed cruise with Royal Caribbean or Carnival from popular post like Florida or California.
• Las Vegas – While Vegas isn’t necessarily the best place to visit in the winter, it is certainly a worthy destination for your Spring Break dollars.  Las Vegas is much more comfortable in the spring than in the summer – summertime temperatures can get well above 110 degrees.  As for things to do in Las Vegas, the list is pretty extensive – including the ‘normal’ gambling and stage shows – to the lesser known but equally fun indoor skydiving, dune buggy adventures and the Gun Store.

Out of the Ordinary

• Scuba Diving – There’s nothing like scuba diving – the feeling of weightlessness along with some the most spectacular scenery available on this earth.  Upfront costs can be steep (certification, mask, fins, etc.); but after you ‘dive in’, Scuba Diving is a relatively cheap hobby – about $50-$75 a trip.  Many beach resorts – like those in Hawaii, Florida, Bahamas, Cancun, etc. offer a ‘Discover Scuba’ adventure – which is essentially a 3-hour guided diving experience with the safety of an instructor.  Once you are hooked on diving by the Discover Scuba adventure, you can complete your certification in about 3 days – usually from the same resorts.
• Air Combat – This is an activity I just learned about and is now at the top of my gotta do list.  There are several companies that offer real dogfighting (aerial combat) adventures in either WWII airplanes or real F15 fighter jets.  After a 2-3 hour training session, you actually get to fly the plane – No previous flying experience is necessary.  Most of the companies that offer this are out west (Arizona & California), but many do traveling tours to various military and/or private airports.  If getting into the real thing isn’t your cup of tea, flight simulators may be the way to go.  Certainly expensive, but what can I say – you only live once!

Safety Warning – With all of the recent violence in Mexico, I cannot recommend many of the popular destinations – including Acapulco, Tijuana, or Mexico City.  Drug gang related killings are rampant and have begun to affect tourists (an American couple was recently murdered while putting their 1-year old in the back seat).  Because of this, the US State Department has issued a Travel Warning for the entire country.  My suggestion is to confine your travels to Cancun or nearby Playa de Carmen if you have a desire to go to Mexico.

Let us know if you have some Spring Break Ideas.

Happy Travels!!

Why is it Important to Travel?

To me, there are two excellent reasons to travel outside of your familiar settings, even if it’s just to the neighboring state.  The first of which is gaining a better understanding of the world and how it affects your life locally.  Consider the following:

1. If you haven’t seen 6 and 9 year olds working in a Cairo rug factory, how could you think differently about purchasing these wonderful “hand-made” rugs sold in many malls and carpet stores across the world?  Many – if not most of the legitimately hand-crafted rugs are produced by Middle-Eastern/African children in a position which can only be described as slavery.
2. If you’ve never been to a real Socialist country (like many in Europe), how will you know whether the current US political banter regarding the use of the word equates to real Socialism – and whether it is a good or bad thing?
3. If you only listened to American news outlets – you’d get the impression Cuba is a poverty stricken country ruled by an evil empire where everyone is waiting for the next cardboard box to float across the ocean to Florida’s paradise.  If you had actually been there, would you find out the truth is Cuba has the second highest literacy rate in the world, near zero homelessness and an unemployment rate under 2%?

My point isn’t to advocate for awful child labor laws, Socialism or Fidel Castro; my point is that in order to make an informed decision (e.g. vote) on the issues (Trade Agreements, Health Care and Immigration Reforms respectively) that are currently affecting our country – it may be helpful to know a little about these subjects.  One excellent way of acquiring this knowledge is to travel and formulate your own opinions.  The reality is – if you rely on others to tell you what to think on these matters – you can’t blame anyone else for your ignorance (or the likelihood you will be manipulated into voting against your own interests).

The second reason and perhaps the more important reason is the world is a beautiful, ugly, exciting, relaxing, sensual, dangerous and wonderful place!  By experiencing other environments, cultures and customs – you will likely enhance your own life in some way; whether that be the memories of visiting an amazing location, learning a new language, becoming a better conversationalist – the list is endless.  The more you travel, the more you realize issues between nations are rarely the will of the “people”.  You learn that all over the world, people’s value systems are essentially the same – even if their economic/social conditions differ.  Finally, travel eliminates fear; fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering (okay, I stole that from Yoda – but you get my point).

The Black Travel Experience

As a demographic, African Americans have lagged behind others in the US due to decades of restrictions on free travel.  These restrictions have become ingrained into the minds of many Black folk – to the point that I know people who are “proud” they haven’t been anywhere beyond the city in which they were born.  The fact of the matter is, African Americans ARE traveling in greater numbers and it is important that we understand and embrace this fact – for ourselves and for the benefits we can receive from businesses catering to our demographic.

There is already somewhat of a change on this front – American Airlines has launched Black Atlas – a travel blog specifically geared towards African Americans.  American Airlines sponsors the site and the travel experiences are tailored to and provided by African American travelers.

In that vein, here are 5 excellent sites (in alphabetical order) I like that excel at describing their travel experiences using high-quality site designs and excellent content.

Fly Brother

Go There – http://www.fly-brother.com

I’m Black and I Travel

Go There – http://imblacknitravel.com

Kiratiana Travels

Go There – http://kiratianatravels.com

Outdoor Afro

Go There – http://outdoorafro.com

Two Jet Set Divas

Go There – http://www.twojetsetdivas.com

There are many more blogs and travel sites dedicated to sharing the Black Travel Experience; these are just a few I like and follow.  Each is well written and provides ‘universal’ travel information – the authors just happen to be African American.

If you know of any other excellent blogs or travel sites – whether here in the US or abroad, let us know.  Also, I’d like to hear your feedback on the sites I’ve profiled above.

Happy Travels!!

It had become all too common for a flight to get stuck on the runway (usually due to weather at the departure or destination) and keep its passengers ‘safe’ onboard until the flight was either canceled or finally takes off.  Of course, most passengers perceived this as nothing less than being held hostage for hours – in some cases without food, water or working restrooms.  These are just a few of these awful recent examples:

• August 2009, a Sun Country flight to Minnesota was stuck on the tarmac at New York’s JFK airport for six hours. Passengers reportedly went without food for three hours until the flight crew finally offered them items from the food cart — for a FEE.
• A December 2008 TACA flight headed for LAX was forced to land at nearby Ontario Airport due to weather trouble. Passengers were trapped on board for 9 hours before it was cleared again for takeoff.
• A Toronto-bound Air Canada flight sat idle on the tarmac in Vancouver for over twelve hours in December 2008. Passengers, who complained of stale air and rationed food, said they “felt like hostages.”
• August 2009, almost 50 passengers were stranded overnight on the tarmac at Minnesota’s Rochester International Airport when their flight, en route to the Twin Cities, was suspended due to severe thunderstorms. Passengers on the Continental flight reported that they were fed only a bag of pretzels, and that by the time the plane took off in the morning, the bathroom was out of order.

Trapped on a plane for a minimum of six hours – often with no food and over-flowing bathrooms?  The only thing amazing about this is there needed to be a law that told these greedy SOBs not to treat their paying customers like prisoners.  Unfortunately, that’s exactly where we stand.  The most important parts of the new restrictions are:

1. Airlines must ensure there is adequate food, water, medical attention, fresh air and working restrooms throughout the passengers stay in the aircraft.  (Again, I’m befuddled the government actually had to tell the airlines this).
2. Airlines may not keep passengers on the tarmac longer than 3 hours – except for extenuating circumstances (e.g., unsafe to move plane).  Once the 3 hour threshold is met, the plane must return to the gate.
3. Airline can be fined up to $27,000 per passenger for failure to comply with these standards.

Beating a dead horse here – we really needed a law to point out the obvious???   It always amazed me that passengers could not deplane because it was unsafe to do so – but if your caused a fuss – the police would be right out to arrest you.  Good to see we have our priorities in check – but I digress.

So what Does this Mean?

Obviously it means you won’t be trapped in an airplane for longer than 3 hours else the airline will get fined.  Note this is a fine – not an award, so you as a passenger won’t be seeing any of this money.  More to the point though, if you are on a plane and you’ve just hit the 3hour mark, the captain is supposed to inform everyone the plane is headed back to the gate.  Hooray!!!  Err – maybe not.  Now that your flight is heading back to the gate – there is a very high probability your flight will be cancelled.  If the delay was caused by weather (and most delays are) – the airline is not liable to do anything for you except book you on the next available flight.  So, you’ll have to find a place to stay for the night (or sleep in the airport) and you are on your own for food.  It depends on the individual flyer whether this is a better alternative to being stuck on a plane for 6+ hours.

Also, there is evidence that airlines are cancelling flight ahead of any tarmac delays to avoid getting fined.  Recent US Airways and Continental flights have been canceled for weather related reasons prior to even getting on the tarmac.  Certainly an unfortunate byproduct – but still better than sitting in a crowded airplane with an overflowing toilet for 6 hours!!!

Beyond Tarmac Delays

This passenger Bill of Rights thing seems to focus heavily on tarmac delays.  Where I’m from, “rights” means plural;  so let’s not stop at one new rule, there are a few more things I’d like to see airlines get forced to do (since we obviously need to tell them the obvious).  Here’s my list of new rules and regulations:

• One Seat – One Person Rule – Fat people must buy two seats!  I’m sorry – but if you cannot fit all of your meat within the boundaries of your own seat – you must either purchase two seats or cut me a check for the part of my seat you are using.  I know, I know – hereditary, glands, etc. – that’s still no reason I should be crammed into the plane’s window like a can of sardines!
• BEA (Baby Enforcement Act) – Parents of crying babes should be fined if they neglect to stop the baby from crying.  I get it, sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop a baby from crying.  On the other hand, sitting there watching the child cry is not what I consider a good faith effort.  Rock the baby, use a pacifier, get your ass up and go to the restroom – whatever.  While your child is a bundle of joy to you – their non-stop crying annoys the hell out of the entire plane.  While we are at it – little kids who kick the back of the seat in front of them should be ejected off the plane.  I’m only half kidding here folks.
• Travel Suitcase Regulations (TSR) – Don’t allow airlines to charge you for your bag then claim your contents are not guaranteed as part of ticket.  That garbage worked when the ticket represented a contract between your body and the plane.  Now that airlines are actually charging for baggage – they need to own up and pay for ‘actual damages’ and any indirect costs of delays.  You can’t be half-pregnant here!
• Ban Cell Phones – Prevent cell phones form being used in-flight – not for safety reasons but to prevent a number of ass whoopins which are sure to arise out of this.  I can see it now – “Hey buddy, you mind shutting the hell up, I’m trying to sleep”  “Up yours” cell taker replies – fight ensues.  Save us all the trouble – and the headache.
• Quick Boarding Law – Remind airlines that there are TWO doors on every plane – it’s okay not to have a bottleneck due to everyone trying to board/deplane from a single door.  Feel free to have your passengers use both of these doors so we don’t have to sit through 45-minute long seating events.
• Surname Imposition Act – There is no Federal Law that prevents airlines from changing the names on your ticket – none! The reason airlines collude (yea I said it) to impose this restriction is twofold – a) they don’t want to create a resale market for airline tickets and b) they make money on change fees.  A small fee to change from your ex-wife to your new-girlfriend is acceptable.  Charging $150 to correct the spelling from “Bill” to “William” is just ridiculous.

Those are just a few off the top of my head – please share a few new laws or changes to existing laws you have.   Oh – and babies prefer cars.

Loyal customers translate into higher profits because they generally purchase products more often and are likely to recommend those services to their friends and family. The ‘program’ is a set of incentives designed to make the customer more loyal – but do they??

Understanding Brand Loyalty

Loyalty is the ‘allegiance’ to a brand. Even if a competing product is better (using what whatever criteria ‘better’ means) someone with ‘brand loyalty’ will choose the brand to which they are devoted. Even if the brand does not live up to standards and/or promises – loyalty to the brands keeps customers in place.

The NFL is a perfect example of brand loyalty implemented the right way. “True Fans” will tell you no matter what – they are a true blue “Insert_Team_Here” fan. Team has a losing season – “I gotta stick by my team!”. Traded away your favorite player – “But that’s my team”. No longer live in the city is which your team plays (thus receive no benefits from the tax revenues the franchise generates) – “so what, I am a real fan”. On and on….

Pretty irrational for someone to have such devotion to a corporation, but it exists and is the holy grail for Marketers. This level of loyalty is very difficult to lose – which is why NFL franchise merchandising is so profitable – regardless of the team’s record. The key here is loyalty does not require incentives – loyal customers gladly purchase the product, will willingly pay to stand in line to purchase (think Personal Seat Licenses) and attempt to convert their friends and family into loyal customers.

Incentives – Loyalty the Wrong Way

On the other hand, incentives is the brand providing some form of motivation to do something (buy, register, etc.) – usually in the form of a reward. For example, if you purchase X from us – we will give you Y. The theory here is by engaging the customer through incentives, the brand can ‘win them over’ and create loyalty. While this certainly sounds rational, the metrics used to measure loyalty actually measure ‘incentive engagement’.

I’ll give you an example of false loyalty. I am a Platinum member of Delta Airlines Skymiles loyalty program. Platinum members receive a boat load of benefits, including free upgrades to first class, access to airport lounges, double points, and waived fees for baggage & standby flights amongst many others. According to Delta’s books, I am a ‘loyal’ customer – since I had to fly a minimum of 75,000 miles last year to reach this level.

I will admit – I just love sitting in first class and jumping in front of the line when boarding. I also tend to fly Delta over any other airline that flies the same route – so the incentives Delta offers has increased my purchase rate – and thus their revenues. But the reality is – I’m not necessarily a loyal customer – it’s an arrangement of mutual convenience. Does Delta have the best airfare price? Rarely. Does Delta have the best airplanes? Not even close. Do I enjoy dealing with Delta airline employees? Funny.

The Difference Between Loyalty and Incentives

The fact is I didn’t pay for most of the 75,000 miles I flew last year – the company I worked for did. Because the benefits from my work related travel also benefits my personal vacation trips, I choose to book with a single provider. I fly Delta because they give me incentives to do so; but if they remove the incentives – they lose a customer. Free seat upgrades don’t build loyalty when the remainder of the purchase experience is not positive. Incomprehensible pricing structures, ridiculous ticket change fees, poor customer service and a host of other poor practices have kept the airlines (Delta included) at or near the bottom of satisfaction surveys for the last couple of decades. If I were truly a “loyal” Delta customer – not only would I be glad to use them as my exclusive carrier even if they took away all incentives, but I’d also recommend the carrier to my friends and family. I assure you I do neither.

So What Does This Mean?

This blog article targets two audiences – those who are customers of loyalty programs and the loyalty brand managers that manage those programs. To the brand managers, the metrics you are using do not accurately gauge the satisfaction of your customers. I know this because not one brand loyalty program I use – Delta, Hilton, Amex, etc. have ever bothered to measure my satisfaction. But their metrics – lifetime customer value, ROI, profit per transaction, etc. tell them “since I keep purchasing, I must be happy”. Err, not so much. If you want ‘loyalty’ treat your customers better. I know, I know – what a novel idea; but spending money on NPS or Surveys without any process or infrastructure in place to do anything with the results is a waste of resources. In short, you cannot build long term customer allegiance with a loyalty program that measures profit instead of satisfaction.

As for the customers of loyalty programs, my suggestion is to use your clout to make the products and services you use better. As loyalty program members are typically the most profitable segments of customers, feedback from this group is least given a cursory review – often in-depth attention. For example, a US airline carrier recently attempted to impose new sets of ridiculous fees – like charging for water. These fees were quickly rescinded – not because of some media outcry – but because the frequent flyers (most profitable segment) threatened to stop flying with the airline. Again, I’m not suggesting loyalty programs aren’t of any benefit, I am suggesting that not using the influence that comes with it to make the product better is a missed opportunity.

As for the NFL fans, you can’t argue to irrational people – sorry.

Happy Travels


Don’t live in a cold climate, no problem – why not try a few winter (snow) related activities?  Here are a few travel ideas to help with your winter getaway – separated by the types of travel you might be interested in doing.

Getting Warm Stateside

• Florida – Miami, Key West, Tampa, Orlando, Panama City – take your pick.  If sun, sand and warm weather is your thing – you can’t go wrong in Florida.
• New Orleans – NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) is an excellent warm weather getaway.  Whether partying, culture or nature is your thing – NOLA has it all.
• San Diego – Though not as hot as Miami, its temperature can best be described as ‘pleasant’ year round.  The world famous San Diego Zoo, Sea World and miles of beaches makes San Diego an excellent getaway.

Cold Weather Related

• Skiing – There are a number of options if you are looking to do a little skiing or snowmobiling.  Though not as famous as the slopes in Colorado, the East Coast offers a few spots for those not will to make the haul to Aspen.  This list can help you locate the nearest ski resort regardless of where you live.
• Cabin Rentals – Wherever there are mountains – there are usually cabins.  A quick Google search on “cabin rentals + Your_State” should yield various price points and amenities.  Options include everything from a true log cabin with no electricity to log cabin ‘looking’ mansions with movie rooms, Internet and in-house Jacuzzis.

International

• Caribbean – Both Jamaica and the Bahamas offer close and relatively cheap travel from the East Coast.  Montego Bay and Nassau respectively are excellent choices.
• Puerto Rico – Though not really international – the flight and the fact that Spanish is the official language makes it feel that way.  No matter – you get to enjoy a tropical location without going through customs.  Win-Win in my book!
• South America – Though a lot more expensive, Argentina and Brazil are on most American’s Bucket List.  As an added benefit, the US winter is the middle of South America’s summer.  Hotties on the beach in Rio – need I say more?

Family Fun

• Orlando – Disney World, Universal Studios and warm weather.  What else could the kiddies want?
• Los Angeles – Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios are just a few family friendly activities in Los Angeles.  Several miles of beaches don’t hurt either.

Romance

• Paris – Ahh, the City of Love.  Yes it’s cold in Paris during the winter – but this is just an excuse to get closer to your mate.
• San Francisco – With relatively pleasant weather year around, San Francisco is a good place to really get into another person.  Take a trip down to the Embarcadero, eat dinner with a view of the Bay/Golden State Bridges or share in a wine tasting excursion to one of the many local vineyards.

Singles

• Miami Beach – Hot weather and hot bodies is a recipe for success.  If you can’t have a weekend’s worth of fun in Miami – you can’t have fun anywhere.
• Hedonism, Negril, Jamaica – Check your commitments at the door.  All nude and/or swingers environment is designed to let all of your inhibitions go – and I mean all of them.

Out of the Ordinary

• Dog Sledding – Now this is hard core winter fun.  In the US, the best and most fulfilling place to engage in this activity is in the great state of Alaska.  A number of Alaska operators offer dog sledding tours from 2 to 14 days.  You can choose to be a passenger on a professionally managed team or learn and command (mush) your own dog sled team. If you want the authentic experience, Alaska is the only way to do it.  Can’t make it all the way to Alaska – no problem, this outfit in New England offers 2 and 3 night mushing adventures.
• Stay in an Ice Hotel – Yea I said it – an entire hotel made of ice.   The walls, fixtures, and fittings are made entirely of ice, and are held together using a substance known as “snice”, which takes the place of mortar in a traditional brick-built hotel.  Believe it or not, there are several ice hotels across the globe – pick one and go!  One suggestion though, go with someone you want to snuggle up with – I hear it gets a lil cold in these places ;o)
• Stay in an Underwater Hotel – For a truly wild experience, stay at the Poseidon underwater hotel (pictured above) of the Fiji Islands – which is a full 40ft underwater.  3 of the 4 walls in each room are floor to ceiling glass (acrylic actually) and each room has 270 degree views of the ocean. The hotel also includes an underwater library, conference room, wedding chapel, spa and access to the company owned submarine.  You can have all of this for the low, low price of $30,000 US per week.

Surprisingly Not So Great

The places below sound like they would be interesting trips no matter what time of year you decide to visit.  My experience is – not so much!  Think twice before booking a trip to these destinations – there’s a reason they are on sale in the winter.

1. Las Vegas – Most Easterners think – “Vegas – that’s in the desert right?  It’s always hot there”.  Not so fast.  Las Vegas can get down to the 30s from December through February in the evenings.  Even with daytime highs in the low 60s, this isn’t necessary the weather to ‘let it all hang out’ now is it?
2. New York City – Driving in the snow, waiting on a cab or – gasp – freezing your ass off on the EL platform waiting on the train.  Really?  Whose idea of fun is this??  Skip it until April.
3. Beijing/Shanghai – Hong Kong is sub-tropical, so it rarely gets below 65F.  On the other hand, Beijing & Shanghai are not – try 28F with a foot of snow.  This is why there are plenty of sales to these destinations.  What good is the Great Wall if it’s covered in snow?
4. Europe – Cold, drab, gloomy, rainy – I could go on – but why?

Those are my ideas – share your thoughts below.

Happy Travels

Focus People

Before I get to the current restrictions and my thoughts about them, I think it makes sense to understand how we got to this point.  Let me see if I’ve got this scorecard correct:

1. Person becomes radicalized at some point during their life and intends to detonate a bomb in an airplane over US soil.
2. That person’s own father notifies the United States CIA to be on a lookout for this person.  England revokes person’s Visa based on this information.
3. Alleged terrorist purchases a one-way ticket, checking no bags, and uses cash for the transaction.  Alleged terrorist passes through security/metal detectors and is allowed to board plane.
4. One hour before landing, alleged terrorist attempts to detonate bomb.  The bomb and/or alleged terrorist malfunction and nearby passengers beat and subdue him until the authorities arrive.

Okay – assuming I haven’t missed any of the facts – let’s recount the steps the US government took immediately after this event:

• Ban in flight GPS
• Eliminate all carry-ons, except for a single purse
• Not allow anyone out of their seat 1 hour prior to landing.  For flights less than 2-hours, can’t get out of seat at all.
• Take all blankets, seat trays and electronic devices for the last 1 hour of flight.

Errr.. Really????  We have a massive intelligence failure here; the dude’s own father turned him in.  He bought a one-way ticket with cash!!  He checked zero bags!!!  After all of this – the best thing the government could come up with is – “Sir – I’ll need your blanket for the remainder of the flight”??  I’m starting to understand why no one wants government run healthcare.  FOCUS People!!!!

Snapshot of the New Rules

Thankfully, more thoughtful deliberations ensued, leading to revised airline security policies.  All of the utterly dumb rules above have been rescinded.  As of the time of this writing, here are the highlights of the new policy:

1. Greater non-uniformed US Marshal presence on International flights
2. U.S. citizens flying domestically may be selected at random for additional screening.
3. U.S. citizens flying internationally may be selected at random for additional screening that may include some mix of a full-body pat-down, a whole-body scan, and an inspection of carry-on luggage by hand and with the use of explosives-detection technology.
4. The number and type of allowed carry-on items has been restored to pre-incident levels.
5. All Non-US citizens entering the US may go through enhanced screening – particularly those visitors originating from certain countries (those on the Terrorist Sponsors list, have and existing Travel Warning or other non-disclosed reasons).
6. Non-uniformity of rule implementation.  The theory here is experiencing different security mechanisms in different airports makes it more difficult for terrorist to plan their attacks.
7. Greater intensity towards implementing ‘Whole Body Imaging’ machines – assuming the legitimate privacy, effectiveness and cost concerns are resolved.

Does this make us any Safer?

The first knee-jerk reaction restrictions where so utterly dumb and ineffective – I seriously strain to understand how these ideas even made into the public’s view.  Seriously, turn off the in-flight GPS – while still offering In-Flight Internet access?  Even on planes that don’t have Internet access – if the goal is to detonate in the US prior to landing – couldn’t the terrorist just… wait for it… look out the damn window???

Keystone Cops episode aside, the revised security measures provide a little more security for International travel to the US – particularly the increased US Marshal presence.  To me, two key challenges have to be resolved to significantly increase US bound air travel safety:

• Better Intelligence – In this example, intelligence was gift-wrapped and not acted upon.  The issues surrounding “connecting the dots” are being worked on and discussed ad nauseam, so I won’t go into any more detail here.  It is unlikely the necessary intelligence will be that forthcoming in the future – so our ability to turn the vast amounts of intelligence data into actionable information will be crucial.
• Better Screening Technologies – In the world of chemical explosives, metal detectors are not enough.  The ability to detect chemical materials and/weapons in a real-time manner is key.  While the current crop of ‘whole body scanners’ are better than just metal detectors – they are slow, expensive and aren’t foolproof.  Also, there are several privacy concerns about these machines.

So what does this all mean?

In the end, there is no practical way of making air travel 100% foolproof-completely safe.  The key there is ‘practical’ – we could theoretically strip search every single passenger and hand check every single bag – but then no one will fly.  There has to be a give and take between security and the rights of the traveler themselves.  Over the next couple of months, we will see how far US citizens are willing to waive their personal freedoms for the prospect of increased safety.

In the short term, these changes mean longer security lines – especially for international travel.  In addition, there will likely be an increase of random physical searches, potential for abuse of these ‘random’ searches and last but not least increased cost of flying.  Expect another “Sept. 11” inspired fee to be tacked on to international travel.

Don’t take my thoughts as reason not to continue exploring the world – I for one will not let this change my travel plans one iota.  What it will make me do is plan for the increased time necessary to get through security.  Knowing what to expect should help make the entire experience less stressful.

Happy Travels!!!

The list below contains my current Bucket List with a short blurb as to why I’d like to go.  The funny thing is, there were 13 places when I initially created this list – and even after visiting a number of places on the list – it’s actually grown.  In any case, here are my travel bucket list ideas.

Absolutely Have to Get There Bucket List

	Antarctica How many people do you know can say they’ve been to the South Pole? Sail through the Drake Passage and get up close and personal with Penguins, Polar Bears, and Whales.
	Cuba Completed March 2010 If you listen to popular news and a certain demographic in the sunshine state, you’d think this little Caribbean island is the worst place in the world. With the 2nd highest literacy rate in the world and ‘no one’ sleeping on the streets – can’t be all that bad. Point is – you must decide for yourself.
	Hanoi-Saigon Vietnam The war was a little before my time – but it would be nice to get a better understanding of what our soldiers went through and what has become of these two places 40+ years later.
	South Africa Completed August 2010 Start in cultural Johannesburg, on to Soweto, safari in Kruger National Park and finish up with shark cage diving in Cape Town.
	South America Completed Sept 2010 Three city tour – Santiago, Chile > Buenos Aires, Argentina > Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Priceless!

Would Like to Get There Before I Kick

Dominican Republic
Just as pretty a Rio (in every way) – but much closer and safer.

Bangkok, Thailand **
The food, Kickboxing and diving in Phuket!

Seoul, South Korea
Huge metropolis and a techie’s dream. Good knockoffs too ;o)

Yellowstone National Park/Mt. Rushmore
Two of the most recognizable park destinations in the US.

Northwest Passage, Northern Lights
Some of the most stunning views in North America

Fiji Islands/New Zealand
Beautiful sand & diving. Catching a Killer Whale eat a seal would be nice too.

Athens, Greece
The history of Western Civilization

Port of Spain, Trinidad
I hear there’s nothing like the Carnival in Trinidad.

Costa Rica **
Where else can you find the City, Beaches, Volcanoes and the Jungle in one place?

San Juan, Puerto Rico
No passport needed – enjoy the culture.

Madrid, Spain
Old world architecture. Oh yea, I want to run with the bulls.

Santiago, Chile
Best seafood from nearly 3,000 miles of coast line.

With so many places on my list, it’s hard trying to figure out .

• Hong Kong, China (January-2009)
• Cairo/Alexandria, Egypt (September 2008)
• London, England (February 2008)
• Paris, France (February 2008)
• Havana, Cuba (March 2010)
• Rome, Italy (October 2008)
• Amsterdam, Netherlands (September 2007)
• Tokyo, Japan (January 2002)
• Sydney/Melbourne, Australia (September 2009)
• Bangkok/Phuket, Thailand (May 2010)
• Liberia/Arenal/San Jose, Costa Rica (August 2010)
• Johannesburg/Kruger/Cape Town, South Africa (August 2010)
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (September 2010)
• Buenos Aires, Argentina (September 2010)

Tell me what’s on your Bucket List???

Under the heading – “you don’t know what you’ve missed until it’s gone” – I really, really miss White Castle. Every chance I get to go up top – I have to make a stop to get me a 4 stack of Jalapeno cheese burgers.

For the uninitiated, White Castle is a burger joint – primarily in the Midwest and Northeast that became famous for creating the little square burger. They are sometimes called ‘Murder Burgers” due to their high grease content (which is what makes them taste so good). Kystals – a similar ‘looking’ burger – is primarily found in the Southeast and Texas. A few states – like Tennessee and Kentucky have them both. People out west for some reason still eat Jack in the Box – which has correctly been outlawed east of the Mason-Dixon line!

For years, folks have been arguing about which is better. In the spirit of fun, I’d like to spur a little ‘debate’ about the best burger. Keep in mind, this is a comparison between two similar burgers – so Wendys, Fat Burgers, etc. aren’t included.

Definitely put me down for White Castles. Let the fun begin ;o)

The unfortunately truth is, there isn’t anything I can do to physically get you to your destination any faster. What I can do is to provide some information to help make the journey appear to go faster and feel like less of a hassle than it has to be.

Choosing an Airline

All airlines are not created equally – and this is no more true than when flying internationally. A long awful flight can ruin a trip. Assuming you aren’t purchasing an air+hotel combined package, here are a few thoughts on choosing the right airline.

• International Airlines are the Way to Go – It’s not even close really. Just about every foreign carrier that flies to the US offers vastly better seating, amenities and planes than their US counterparts. Some US carriers are making a big fuss about fully reclining seats in 1st class while Asian carriers have been offering onboard ‘suites’ – complete with a bed, sink and closet for years. Foreign carrier amenities, such as just food and entertainment options – are more diverse and are of better technology. Japan Airlines has had seatback LCD screens since 2000 – I just flew Delta last week and they still didn’t have them on an 8 hour flight to Brussels (TV in the ceiling setup). This leads me to point #2……
• US Carrier Planes are Old – The average age of US carrier planes is 20–25 years old. Seriously, if your plane is so old it still has an ash tray built into the seats or rest rooms – then that son of a gun is ancient (smoking has been banned on US planes since the 70s). Because these planes are so old it is difficult to retrofit them with the electrical wiring necessary to support the latest technologies – such as in-seat LCDs. With the recent recession, US carriers put off buying new planes and will continue with these relics until they fall out of the sky or the economy turns around. I’ve personally experienced Japan Airlines, Air France and Cathay Pacific – all were excellent. I’ve heard Singapore Airlines is also marvelous – it has won International Airline of the Year for the last three years.
• Fly a Codeshare – Why not get the best of both worlds? A codeshare is an arrangement between two airlines to both sell tickets on the same physical plane. For example, Delta and Air France are codeshare partners – so even if you buy your ticket to Paris on Delta’s website – you may end up actually flying on an Air France jet. The benefit to you is you retain Delta’s member benefits (boarding priority, club access, etc.) and earn miles on the flight – but get to fly in Air France’s better plane. I took advantage of this for my trip to Paris; Delta’s international fleet and I mentioned earlier – by-in-large stinks. Air France’s fleet doesn’t. Booked on Air France for same price and earned miles – Brilliant!

Buying Your Ticket

Once you’ve decided on an airline, here are a few items to keep in mind when making your purchase. In fact, these items below may impact your choice of airline – which is fine.

• ‘Fare Guarantees’ are Bogus – Period. Just like the losers who offer travel insurance, these ‘guarantees’ are riddled with exclusions and exceptions. The gist of it is – if you buy the exact same ticket – and I mean exact (date, time, class, farecode, position of moon) from ‘another’ site – plus about 10 other exclusions and you find the difference within 24hours – only then will they will match the price and in the form of a ‘voucher’. To add insult to bullshit – I added emphasis to the word ‘another’ site because – wait for it… these exclusions don’t apply to the airline’s own fares. That’s right folks – if you buy a non-refundable ticket today from Delta for $250 and a month from now – Delta lowers their own fare to $149 – you get jack. The reason is most all airlines charge a change fee (Delta’s is $150) – so the price difference has to be greater than the change fee. In this case, Delta would have to lower their price to $99 in order for them to give you a refund of one dollar! Nice!
• Membership Has Its Privileges – Being a member in an airline’s Loyalty (incentive) Program provides a number of benefits that can make the long haul flight much more pleasurable. First off, being a member means you aren’t charged the luggage fees now being tacked onto some international flights. In addition, members get to choose so called ‘premium’ seats when purchasing tickets, e.g., those in the front of the plane or in the Exit Rows. Members also get to board the plane first (after 1st class), ensuring there is space for carryon luggage. Finally, if the flight is full, ‘sometimes’ the airline will upgrade these members into 1st class. Even if the flight isn’t full, airlines generally offer to place members alone in a row of seats. On my flight back from Rome, the agent declined my 1st class upgrade request – but offered to give me the entire 4 seat row to myself – which allowed me to lay almost all of my 6ft 1in frame down. Slept like a baby.
• If Possible – Fly Direct – While this is my general policy for all flights – it is even more important for international flights. Who wants to deal with lost baggage, missed flights due to delays and ridiculously long layovers in a strange city’s airport? Not to mention – it is downright tiring to fly for a couple hours, disembark the plane, wait and get back on another plane to continue your flight. Sometimes that extra $100 to fly direct is just worth it!

…Continued