It’s happened to the savviest of travelers, you buy a plane ticket and two weeks later the price goes down. Now what? Did you know that most US airlines will issue you a travel voucher or refund for the difference IF seats are still available in your section and you don’t make changes to your flight? The one catch is that some will deduct a service charge. For example, you book a ticket on Northwest and the fare goes down $100. Northwest charges a $25 fee to process a refund so the credit or voucher they issue to you will be for $75. Still, it should make you feel a little better when booking flights to know you can recover something should prices drop after your purchase.

Source: Real Simple Travel Magazine

We all know money belts aren’t what most people would call trendy but when travelling in certain pickpocket infested areas, it’s just not smart to carry a handbag. MOMA comes to the rescue with the Sandy Chilewich Passport Bag. It’s secure, durable and dare I say cute? It’s not cheap, but it’s made from super strong plynoyl, a fabric made of vinyl yarn with a polyester core, so it’s sure to last. For those who abhor traditional belts but don’t want to sacrifice their safety for style, I think it’s a good compromise.

$68.00 MOMA Store

Source: CITY Magazine

Ever wonder what an air control tower sounds like? Now you can listen for yourself. LiveATC.net is a collection of live feeds from airport towers around the world. You can listen in live to what pilots and tower operators are saying back and forth. If you click on the Top 20 feeds you can see the most popular broadcasts and how many people are currently listening. The site is geared toward anyone interested in aviation communications and is run mostly by volunteers living near the airports, using radio and computer equipment to transmit the feeds to the website. It’s kind of like a police scanner for pilots. Check it out!

LiveATC.net

Source: Executive Travel Magazine

How Skymall magazine found it’s way in the back of every airplane seat?

As it turns out, the catalog was created in 1990 by an accountant in Phoenix named Bob Worsley after wishing he could order a Domino’s pizza while flying. He thought it would be fun for travelers to pass air time by shopping for things they couldn’t normally find in department stores. Originally, passengers would place an order in flight and their purchases would be waiting for them at baggage claim. These days, the internet makes it possible to find just about anything on the ground but browsing Skymall, with their collection of eclectic home products is still a fun way to pass the time in the sky and if you order anything, it’s shipped directly to your home.

Source: Real Simple Travel Magazine

My trip to Nashville, Tennessee is posted! It was short but sweet! Head over to My Adventures and read all about it. You can check out the pictures in my Photo Gallery too by clicking into the the album through one of the pictures or by visiting my Photos page.

Date of trip: September 2006

Nashville feels more like a town than a city in a lot of ways. We only had a day there, but we tried to make the most of it.

Highlights:

- The Hermitage, was the home of our 7th President, Andrew Jackson. Your visit starts with a movie that gives you the basics on Jackson and the property. The most striking feature of the mansion is the beautiful original wallpaper depicting the Odyssey. The tour guides are friendly and can answer just about any question you throw at them about Jackson’s life and the history of the house. You can also tour the grounds and see where his slaves lived and worked.

-The Country Music Hall of Fame is an incredible archive facility and charts the history of country music from it’s very beginning to the present time. If you are a country fan, you will be in heaven but even if you are not, you will be impressed with the displays enough to capture your attention. The coolest thing about the museum are the storage rooms walled in glass so you can also see what is being restored and catalogued.

-The Pancake Pantry is the absolute best place for breakfast in Nashville. With 24 amazing varieties of pancakes like sweet potato, corn and apricot lemon, you’ll have a hard time choosing. Luckily, the staff is more than happy to let you mix and match stacks. Just be sure to arrive early or go on a weekday because the place gets jammed!

-The Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, TN is a 45 minute drive south of Nashville but well worth it! The guides are perfect, complete with overalls and redneck accent. Every drop of Jack Daniels whiskey in the world is made here and you really get to see the process from start to finish. The only thing you can’t do is taste it as Lynchburg is a dry county! You can buy a bottle for the road.

For more pictures, please visit my Photo Gallery or click on any of the photos posted above.

Nashville Links:
Nashville Official Site
The Hermitage
Country Music Hall of Fame
Pancake Pantry
Jack Daniels Distillery

There has been a lot of talk lately about whether or not the govenment should step in and create a mandated list of rights for airline passengers. Although this has been discussed in previous years, the recent Jetblue debacle has added credibility and an air of urgency to the issue.

In case you didn’t hear about the Jetblue disaster, back in February, an ice storm swept through the Northeast causing widespread delays and cancellations. Hoping to avoid the cost of cancelling flights, Jetblue kept many travellers waiting on aircrafts for up to 10 hours hoping to take off. The passengers were given no food, no information and the planes were hot and dirty with many toilets overflowing. After they finally brought people back to the tarmac, many were stranded in airports for days waiting to be placed on alternate flights.

Though this was an extreme example, how many of us have been stuck in airplanes or airports for hours on end with little information given to us by the airlines on how and when we will eventually get to our destination? Not only is it bad business, but it’s inhuman and we deserve better.

In the aftermath of it’s problems, Jetblue has introduced it’s own set of passenger rights, but without legislation that covers the entire airline industry, the airlines owe us nothing.

After a horrible flight experience, Katie Hanni started the Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. The group is working to get a bill before Congress that would protect consumers while not placing unrealistic financial burdens on the airlines. For more information about the group or to sign their petition, visit their website here:

Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights

My trip to Memphis, Tennessee is posted! Head over to My Adventures and read all about this great city. Make sure you check out the images in my Photo Gallery too by clicking into the the album through one of the pictures or by visiting my Photos page.