Episodes
Feeling travel coming back, we talk to CEO of ToursByLocals about the local tour market and then how frequent travelers are working on atrophied travel muscles.
Published 05/10/21
Why and how we search out craft beer taprooms, and telling some taproom travel stories; Also mask hassles on my last couple of flights, Hertz continues to circle the drain; Uber and Lyft splashing cash to bring back drivers
Published 04/10/21
What's new in travel insurance; resetting expiration dates on all my frequent traveler programs; another travel data breach; bankrupt Hertz letting cars get old
Published 03/12/21
Escaped Chicago winter for a week of hiking and eating in Tucson; CEO of Koala talks about renting timeshares; travel planning gets hot and then cools back down; trying to extend the life of my Avios points
Published 02/17/21
Pivot from San Diego to Tucson for COVID restrictions; planning tips for travel during COVID; CEO of Privacy4Cars talks about leaving data behind in rental cars
Published 01/15/21
Thanksgiving travel volume shows how far things have fallen; we dig into digital vaccine passports; tracing my travel genealogy, is road warrior-ism hereditary?
Published 12/17/20
Top 10 gift ideas for pandemic travelers; year-end status offers from airlines, hotels, and travel credit cards; work-from-hotel offerings; latest hotel reservation system data breach.
Published 11/13/20
Eating local in South Philly and the UP; FBI cybersecurity warning on working from hotels; ‘flight shaming’ gives way to ‘flights to nowhere’; signaling concern about COVID does nothing but hassles travelers
Published 10/17/20
Spent a week in Michigan's Upper Peninsula hiking, biking, kayaking, and running into a lot of other people getting away to do the same, which got me looking back six months to the start of the pandemic. I talk about a surprisingly good flight cancellation experience with American Airlines, and figuring out how to download 12 years of TripIt data. We wrap up talking to Matt Schulz of LendingTree, asking him what are we doing with travel credit cards that are generating frequent traveler...
Published 09/19/20
Spent a week in Michigan's Upper Peninsula hiking, biking, kayaking, and running into a lot of other people getting away to do the same, which got me looking back six months to the start of the pandemic. I talk about a surprisingly good flight cancellation experience with American Airlines, and figuring out how to download 12 years of TripIt data. We wrap up talking to Matt Schulz of LendingTree, asking him what are we doing with travel credit cards that are generating frequent traveler...
Published 09/19/20
Spent a week in Michigan's Upper Peninsula hiking, biking, kayaking, and running into a lot of other people getting away to do the same, which got me looking back six months to the start of the pandemic. I talk about a surprisingly good flight cancellation experience with American Airlines, and figuring out how to download 12 years of TripIt data. We wrap up talking to Matt Schulz of LendingTree, asking him what are we doing with travel credit cards that are generating frequent traveler...
Published 09/19/20
Trying to plan an August trip amidst dueling state quarantine lists and rapid lockdown changes while writing off my September plans for Barcelona. What's worse - hotels cutting back on housekeeping or breakfasts? And talking with Emily Thomas about her new book "The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad".
Published 08/13/20
Trying to plan an August trip amidst dueling state quarantine lists and rapid lockdown changes while writing off my September plans for Barcelona. What's worse - hotels cutting back on housekeeping or breakfasts? And talking with Emily Thomas about her new book "The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad".
Published 08/13/20
Trying to plan an August trip amidst dueling state quarantine lists and rapid lockdown changes while writing off my September plans for Barcelona. What's worse - hotels cutting back on housekeeping or breakfasts? And talking with Emily Thomas about her new book "The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad".
Published 08/13/20
My first post-lockdown flight was a 90-minute Southwest non-stop from Chicago to Nashville. It wasn't bad, but not as casually easy as my last pre-coronavirus flight in February. We talk about that experience as well as Hertz's new cleaning program, my latest pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones, and then wonder when business travel will return
Published 07/18/20
My first post-lockdown flight was a 90-minute Southwest non-stop from Chicago to Nashville. It wasn't bad, but not as casually easy as my last pre-coronavirus flight in February. We talk about that experience as well as Hertz's new cleaning program, my latest pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones, and then wonder when business travel will return
Published 07/18/20
I broke Chicago's containment for my first post-lockdown trip, a fast drive down I-65. We talk about hotels swapping hospitality for sanitation, Hertz's bankruptcy, and tips for travel credit card usage
Published 06/09/20
I broke Chicago's containment for my first post-lockdown trip, a fast drive down I-65. We talk about hotels swapping hospitality for sanitation, Hertz's bankruptcy, and tips for travel credit card usage
Published 06/09/20
Though I'm still locked down on the shores of Lake Michigan, data shows that people are starting to do short car trips. We talk about what people will need to feel comfortable to do more extensive travel - spacing in aircraft, and putting a higher priority on travel insurance and finding medical attention.
Published 05/08/20
Though I'm still locked down on the shores of Lake Michigan, data shows that people are starting to do short car trips. We talk about what people will need to feel comfortable to do more extensive travel - spacing in aircraft, and putting a higher priority on travel insurance and finding medical attention.
Published 05/08/20
Kinda tough to do a podcast that’s more about the journey than the destination if I’m not “journeying,” but I give it a go. We talk about cyberattacks on frequent flyer accounts now that we don’t have a reason to check them, planning for my first post-pandemic trips, and how re-reading my travel journals is pinch-hitting right now.
Published 04/11/20
Kinda tough to do a podcast that’s more about the journey than the destination if I’m not “journeying,” but I give it a go. We talk about cyberattacks on frequent flyer accounts now that we don’t have a reason to check them, planning for my first post-pandemic trips, and how re-reading my travel journals is pinch-hitting right now.
Published 04/11/20
Things started out well, skipping out on Chicago winter for a drive down to Key West. But then last week, coronavirus hit the US and everything unraveled.
Published 03/22/20
Things started out well, skipping out on Chicago winter for a drive down to Key West. But then last week, coronavirus hit the US and everything unraveled.
Published 03/22/20
Trying to watch the Super Bowl while flying from Durango, CO to Chicago via Denver got me thinking about the fading away of seatback entertainment. We also talk about the continuing evolution of ride sharing. Uber and Lyft are looking more and more like the taxi companies they fought to replace.
Published 03/01/20