As many of you know, we’ve been doing a lot of traveling back and forth between Chicago and Seattle, with occasional trips to SF and Irvine. Even with the annoying travel restrictions, travel is still fun and incredibly useful for a virtual organization like ours. After my last trip, here are some random thoughts:
Pros:
- Traveling can be an interesting mental exercise to train yourself to adapt to change (and everyone knows that adapting to change is good…). It forces you to break or adapt your regular routine and constantly encounter new things and scenarios.
- It’s a great way to keep networking in different locations.
- You get to visit with friends and family.
- It breaks the monotony of working at home.
- You get a lot of work and reading done. Once you start realizing how productive you can be at the airport, you’ll start wanting to go early. I think it’s good that most airports don’t have free wi-fi since it forces me to work offline.
- Even a working trip can be a mini-vacation.
Cons:
- Change can be mentally draining.
- Too much travel can just make you feel dirty and blah. It usually takes me a day or two to recover. In some cases you may come down with pneumonia.
- Sleeping can be difficult with changing sleep environments and times - ranging from different beds to couches to sleeping at 6am.
- Without a car, local travel becomes it’s own planning activity.
- Too much eating out.
Some Tips on Southwest:
- I think Southwest is one of the better ways to fly. The A-B-C seating priority lines used to be annoying for those of us with carry-on luggage, but now that pretty much everyone has to check-in their bags (because of the liquid restriction), the open seating is nice since you don’t need to find a seat with overhead space. If you get A seating you have a pretty good shot at getting that emergency row.
- You better check-in online beforehand (24 hours ahead) at southwest.com. Even if you don’t have a printer, just check-in then go to any of the kiosks at the airport and print out your boarding pass. Checking in early is the only way to guarantee a decent seating priority.
- Southwest is great for flexible travel. It’s generally the same price to buy each leg individually or part of a larger round trip and any leg you don’t fly automatically turns into credit. Keep the confirmation code and next time you fly you can apply that flight credit to your next ticket.Â
General Travel Tips:
- Get some good headphones. I’ve got the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
. Foldable, good sound and you’ll barely hear the engine noise or crying babies. I love it.
- Fall sleep before take off and before landing if you those transitions make you nauseous.Â
- 24-hour fitness membership is a great way to have a consistent place to workout.
- Get a good laptop backpack with easy laptop access for the security checkpoint.
- Don’t wear a belt. Wear shoes that are easy to take off and put on. Wear socks.
Got any other tips or observations to share?
- JC
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Other Two-Bit Posts
on Sep 21st, 2006 at 6:07 am
Holy cow John! I didn’t realize you came down w/ pnemonia in June - so did I, in June - most of June! I think there was a very bad bug that came through that knocked out a lot of people. Glad you’re feeling better. I still have a bit of a problem w/ wheezing and some type of bronchial thing. Going to the doctor again Friday.
Always wanted to visit Chicago besides the airport.
on Sep 22nd, 2006 at 4:21 am
Wow, what an odd (and terrible) coincidence Paul. =) You should definitely take care of yourself - health really needs to come first. You can read my post on it (and the pneumonia).
on Sep 22nd, 2006 at 4:34 pm
For International travel:
- If you are flying to Asia, fly Singapore Airlines! I think the service you get in coach rivals the service of some business classes. On top of that, their Airbus planes feature on-demand movies in coach! And Singapore’s Raffles class (basically business), is absolutely amazing, especially on the larger Airbus 340s where you get the “lie flat” seats. Plus their fares can be comparable to Cathay or China Airlines.
- I’m not sure with the new “no liquid” rules, but I like having handi-wipes or those face towlettes on hand because you just feel grimy after awhile. They’re good for a quick cleaning.
- Where shoes that you can kick on/off easily. You’ll want to sleep on long flights, but you also have to get up and use the bathroom some time…
For domestic travel:
- Depending on what time the flight is, I’ll get the window seat if I want to sleep, stick a pillow against the window and I’m good. Otherwise, I’ll opt for the aisle.
- If you do end up in the aisle or dreaded “middle” and you want to sleep, another trick is to raise the armrest about 75 degrees and stick the pillow against that armrest…. Prevents the head-bob.
on Sep 24th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Good sleeping tips. I usually always go for the window so I can sleep against the window. If you don’t have to go the bathroom much I think the aisle is overrated. Whenever I get the aisle my legs get hit by the drink cart or I get bumped by the flight attendants - not fun.
Justin
on Sep 25th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Regarding the TSA travel restriction on gels. Looks like it might get lifted: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14999520/
Justin
on Oct 23rd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
There was this guy see.
He wasn’t very bright and he reached his adult life without ever having learned “the facts”.
Somehow, it gets to be his wedding day.
While he is walking down the isle, his father tugs his sleeve and says,
“Son, when you get to the hotel room…Call me”
Hours later he gets to the hotel room with his beautiful blushing bride and he calls his father,
“Dad, we are the hotel, what do I do?”
“O.K. Son, listen up, take off your clothes and get in the bed, then she should take off her clothes and get in the bed, if not help her. Then either way, ah, call me”
A few moments later…
“Dad we took off our clothes and we are in the bed, what do I do?”
O.K. Son, listen up. Move real close to her and she should move real close to you, and then… Ah, call me.”
A few moments later…
“DAD! WE TOOK OFF OUR CLOTHES, GOT IN THE BED AND MOVED REAL CLOSE, WHAT DO I DO???”
“O.K. Son, Listen up, this is the most important part. Stick the long part of your body into the place where she goes to the bathroom.”
A few moments later…
“Dad, I’ve got my foot in the toilet, what do I do?”
on Nov 10th, 2008 at 11:14 am
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. says it will modify the terms of $70 billion in troubled, mostly adjustable-rate mortgages it holds.
The New York bank inherited many of the loans as part of its September purchase of a failed competitor, Washington Mutual Inc. (NYSE:WM), and its move will cover as many as 400,000 borrowers. J.P. Morgan said Friday the borrowers will be moved into loans carrying lower interest rates, smaller principal amounts or other more-affordable terms, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The move came shortly after the bank received a $25 billion capital infusion from the U.S. Treasury’s program to strengthen financial institutions and get credit flowing.
“Our goal in doing this was to come up with something that we think will lead the industry in helping as much as possible on this issue,” said J.P. Morgan executive Charles Scharf.
John Taylor, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, said the action was “a gutsy move on their part. They are bending over backward to try to reach out to these people.”
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