EasyJet "technical problem" leaves me scrambling!

For several months, we've been assuming the Barcelona to Paris part of our trip -  after those initial hiccups -was well-planned. Then last week I get an email from Easy Jet that said

Their message went on to say that we could either get a full refund or schedule a similar flight within 30 days.  After the initial "nooooooooooo" which I'm sure my neighbors heard, I began looking at all the options (again) for traveling from Paris to Barcelona.. (if you read my previous blog, you'll remember that this leg of the trip wasn't as easy to arrange as I had initially thought)

I finally talked to American Airlines and they helped me book flights with one of their partners (Iberia Airlines).  The tricky part about this change was that we would need to get to a different airport in Paris.  What did we ever do without the internet?  It was fairly easy to figure out the various options (bus, taxi, train).  Someone had even posted several pictures of the Paris airport showing how to navigate from the airline terminals to the train terminal and to the bus locations.  Bus looked easy as there was a direct route from one airport to the other. 

Our new plans were completed the day we got the EasyJet email.  The following day, I get another email from EasyJet saying

"Dear Customer:  If you received an email earlier tonight that your flight was cancelled, please ignore the previous email.  Your flight is NOT cancelled.  We would like to sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by this technical error.  We are writing to let you know that we have had to reschedule some of our flights.  Unfortunately, your flight is one of those affected."

The message went on to say the flight times had changed so instead of a 1:30pm departure, the flight would depart at 5:30pm.

At this point we have flights booked with two different airlines - Iberia and EasyJet.  Luck was on our side because shortly after getting the second EasyJet email, I get a call from American saying the Iberia flights couldn't be confirmed because the carrier wasn't actually Iberia - it was with another airline and since they weren't a partner with American, the tickets couldn't be purchased through American.  Problem solved.  (almost solved - I won't go into details about American having mailed paper tickets and the process I had to go through to get a refund - even though those paper tickets apparently werent' any good).

Next trip - I may have to defer to the travel agents to arrange the flights!

Barcelona via Paris? Probably not such a great idea!

Italy prep - post #2

If you're reading this, you most likely know I'm a seasoned traveler - primarily work related.  I plan trips almost weekly - flights, hotels, rental cars, etc.  So I feel pretty confident about travel planning....and it's that cocky attitude that resulted in the first leg of our trip to Europe getting a little screwed up!

The price of the cruise includes roundtrip flights but rather than let the cruiseline book the flights, I asked if we could do this ourselves - two main reasons:  1.  I wanted to use American Airlines to get the miles AND take advantage of some system-wide upgrades I had accumulated and 2.  to have some control on connections, times etc.  They said fine.

So I searched for American flights from here to Barcelona which is where the cruise originates.  Knowing I could upgrade the 3 of us so we'd be flying business class, I wanted a 767 jet - the one that has the really nice reclining seats that almost make a bed.  There were no options for this type of jet without adding an additional connection.  Dallas only offered 757's (nice seats but nothing like the 767).  So, I asked Hilda and MaryJo if they'd be interested in a brief stop in Paris...figuring we'd have 24 hours to see a few key places before heading to Barcelona.  No problem, they say, so we book the flights. 

BIG MISTAKE!  I had done a little research on travel options from Paris to Barcelona, and what looked to be easy turned out to be not so easy.

Option 1:  Rental car- great idea, I thought.  We could see a good bit of France and Spain.  I'm thinking my status with National Car Rental would be helplful.....NOT!  It doesn't count in Europe.  Further, renting a car and "dropping" it in another country in Europe is expensive - probably around $600-$700 for a 24 hour rental. (thank you Tom and Cathy E. for the big tip on this!)

Option 2:  Train - at the risk of sounding like I watch a lot of "chick flicks" with this second movie reference, think "French Kiss"...remember Meg Ryan with Kevin Kline on the train from Paris to Cannes and she's looking out the window admiring the scenery?  What's not to like about that, I think.....only to find out the train from Paris to Barcelona is a NIGHT train..so forget the scenery.

Option 3:  hitchhike (ok, kidding)

Option 4:  fly - which is what we decided to do..via Easy Jet...who made it clear that your checked bag can only weigh 20 lbs. If you want, you can pay upfront for extra weight - you actually pick the wt. - but then when you check in, if you are over that wt, they will charge you a penalty fee (I heard its a lot...in the neighborhood of $1000. )

Next update - how EasyJet's "technical" problem made me scramble, again, for an alternate plan to get from Paris to Barcelona!

Feeling a little like Sandra Bullock in "While You Were Sleeping"

If you haven't seen this movie, the reference is about her character's desire to get a stamp in her passport. That's my story, late in coming primarily due to me not making it happen.

I'm not sure anyone could have had a parent more knowledgeable about geography and history than my dad. Having been raised by parents who immigrated to this country, he made sure me and my brothers were immersed in U.S. history including numerous road trips to see places in person, not just in books. Because of him (and somewhat my work travels) I've visited 46 states, missing Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont and Maine. As a side note, AK and HI are not high on my "must see" list but I'm hoping to finally hit VT and ME this year...maybe in the fall when the leaves are changing...combined with the Thousand Island area north of NY.

So, back to the passport. Italy. I'm finally going, thanks in large part to an email my good friend and co-worker, Ramona, sent me in August - an ad for a Mediterranean cruise.  I had 24 hours to make a decision, including who to talk into going with me. I live alone (well, except for 2 dogs and the occassional overnight stays with Evan and Garrett) and mostly travel alone - key issue being I'm not used to sharing hotel rooms....so the idea of sharing a small cabin on a cruise ship for 10 days was a concern. However, I knew two of my good friends, Hilda and MaryJo, would be fun to travel with and it didn't take much coaxing for them to get out their checkbooks. (seriously - 24 hours from the start of our discussion to the booking).

So, we started the planning in August and we're now 42 days away from the big adventure. 10 days on the "boat", two weeks total including the pre and post-cruise days.

Dad, although you're not here with me in person, I'm hoping you're with me in spirit on this adventure because its largely due to your tales of the many countries/cities you visited during your Navy cruises that made me want to see these historical places in person.

The planning has been "interesting"...more to come on that.

Tim and Dira - serving our country - Army

Sunday, Feb 7, 2010. O'Hare - Tim and Dira enroute to Wisconsin for special training. When I asked them what they did in the Army, they said "we make sure people get where they need to go". They are mechanics and both are nearing their second anniversary with the Army.

Currently stationed in CT.

Thank you Tim and Dira for serving our country!

Hotel room coffee makers

Have you ever noticed how often hotels place the coffee maker in the bathroom? Have you ever had reservations about using them? If you do use them and you want to keep using them, you might want to stop reading now, because this may change your mind.




Here are some statistics I dug up:

-when a toilet is flushed, particles from the toilet can spray up to 20 feet, contaminating flat surfaces, the sink, even your toothbrush! (YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6nGgS6ADoI) (side bar note: this really is an argument for everyone to put the lid down...the big lid/cover, not just the seat, unless maybe you have a separate "throne" room off your bathroom)

-in addition to the above potential contaminants, coffee makers often stay wet inside, which is a breeding area for bacteria.

-hotel cleaning staff have been observed "cleaning" coffee pots (regardless of location) with cleaning cloths previously used on the toilet, bathroom sink and even the bathroom floor.

-I was surprised to read some observations about coffee pots testing positive for methamphetamines (apparently people go to hotels to make the stuff??)

So what to do. Personally, I never use a coffee maker that is housed in a hotel bathroom. ( I can't get past the vision of thousands of flushes and the subsequent 20 ft sprays containing particles of whatever was in the toilet!) I do use the ones that are outside the bathroom, but I always run at least one pot of water through them first, throw that out and then repeat.



One last note - one article suggested the following "experiment" for kids to teach them the importance of putting down the toilet lid before flushing (note this isn't about the seat, its about the lid!) Put a few drops of food coloring in the toilet bowl. Lift the lid and apply plastic wrap (the clingy stuff) over the toilet bowl. Flush the toilet and check out what is on the plastic wrap. Note: I haven't done this but I may give it a try with Garrett, age 4, who doesn't quite get the concept of putting down the lid!

A room with a view

I admit to being a beggar when I check into a hotel that has the potential to offer a nice view out the window. It doesn't hurt to have status with the hotel and then I use the "I live in Illinois and its winter there, please, oh please, can I have an ocean view?" (my check-in speech during the many many trips to Fort Lauderdale and Miami over the past 24 months).

Last week I was in Orange, Calif and not near anything I thought would be worth begging about, so imagine the nice surprise when I looked out one window and saw snow covered mountains and out the other some interesting architecture.



It was late afternoon (PT), 70 degrees and sunny. I decided to take a walk and check out the buildings. This was the view from the hotel room.



Here's the view close-up. I found out this is the Crystal Cathedral, a protestant "mega church". 10,000 panes of glass (installed with silicone glue), holds 2,900 people and will withstand an 8.0 earthquake. Robert Schuller was the founder (hosts a weekly TV show - "Hour of Power"). I didn't get a picture of this but next to the church is a parking lot set up like a drive-in movie theatre with speakers you can hang on the car window. Hadn't seen that before!









Night shot from hotel window.


For a brief moment during this walk, I wondered why I live in Illinois. Flowers were blooming and there were dozens of Harley riders out riding (vs. home where it was 20 degrees with snow on the ground). But it was just for a moment...

Exit rows - are you willing and able?

When you're on a flight, do you ever look at who is in the exit row and wonder, in case there is a real emergency, will that person be able to open the door and throw it out?

Last week there was an elderly woman in the aisle seat of the exit row (Chicago to Champaign flight). I was across in the single side. I'd guess her age to be around 75 although she was a heavy smoker (going by the smell) which ages you more, so it was hard to tell. The flight attendant is required to ask everyone in the exit row if they are willing and able to open the door in case of an emergency. The guy in the window seat says "yes", I say "yes". The elderly lady says "well, I'll just rely on him to do it". The flight attendant very patiently says "what if he's unconscious?". The lady says "well that won't happen". This conversation goes on, I swear, for 5 minutes. The flight attendant gets a gold star for patience...she was wanting the lady to say "no" so she could move her to a different seat. That didn't happen - the lady finally says "yes".

So this raises a question - should there be rules for being too old to sit in an exit seat? I think there are rules about children not being in an exit row. There's no way that lady could have opened that door let alone thrown it out of the plane.




Here's a picture of an exit row "wanna be". He was in my seat (Champaign to Chicago) and wasn't happy to move (actually had he been a little more cordial, I would have happily given him that seat as he was fairly tall and the leg room is pretty tight on the little regional jets). What was really irritating was the fact that he left his bag and coat in the overhead by my seat which meant I had to put my stuff further back in the plane (like swimming upstream, once you land, to retrieve it). I even asked nicely and offered to move it for him, but he didn't want his stuff moved. So, for that, here he is!! Did your mama not teach you any manners??? (I had 15 minutes to run from the G concourse to the end of K, so time was an issue that morning!!)

Do you need hot water to shower?

I was jinxed last week - two different hotels in two different states and neither one had hot water in the morning. Imagine the conversations in the dining room - everyone talking about their solution to the lack of hot water (no shower, sink bath w hot water from the coffee maker, one limb in at a time etc.) The hair-washing stories were the funniest. It was an unusual bonding experience.



I travel a lot - have never run into this issue before. I have to say the folks at the Hampton Inn in Nashville were great - apparently someone hit a power pole and the temporary power supply wouldn't let them run the hotel's hot water heater. I got a nice email with an explanation, an apology and a free night (any Hampton anywhere). Per Gaylon Shockley (Hilton) they refunded $7000 to hotel guests that morning. Wonder if they can charge the guy who hit the pole?

Meet Slade - Serving our Country - Army

I ran into Slade in the G terminal at O'Hare airport Saturday. It was a very short conversation because we were both getting ready to board flights. Slade is just back from Iraq. He's stationed in Texas, hometown is Boston BUT the most exciting part is that he was headed to Iowa to see his two month old daughter for the first time! Slade, I hope it was a great visit! Thank you, Slade, for serving our country and keeping us safe!



Now at the risk of offending the Army, I have to comment on the new fuzzy jackets I saw on two soldiers. This isn't what I would call Army green. In fact, its very close to the color of my bedroom which is more of a spa green. See them side by side - blanket and close up of the jacket. Is this the new Army green?