travel: You’re grounded!
I’m no good at traveling, I rarely take vacations sometimes because I either don’t want to go on my own but mainly that I have no head for making the arrangements. Trying to wrangle good air deals and good hotel deals (in a good hotel no less) just drive me batty. I’ve been pretty consistent in the cities I fly to which are visiting parents, a friend in New England, a friend on the West Coast and the once in a blue moon trip to Vegas. I’ve only kinda noticed the airlines going through trouble lately, and since my flights are usually between large airports, I haven’t paid much attention to it.
For American travelers, the shift means that they can no longer bank on scheduling flights to reach their destination within a single day, said Robert W. Mann Jr., an industry consultant in Port Washington, N.Y.
— NY Times: Airlines’ Cuts Making Cities No-Fly Zones
The article is primarily about air service being discontinued in smaller cities’ airports, and many of those residents were already used to driving up to 2 hrs to get to the airport. I will never fly into Savannah again because the drive to get to either grandparents’ house felt almost as long as the flight would be from DC. And I read about airlines starting to act like banks, bilking you out of your money via micro-fees. It makes you wonder where the industry is headed.
My friend has been a little flaky regarding a trip to Barcelona. We’ll have a place to stay, and I’ve asked my father about buddy passes to make the flight. It all sounds good, in theory, but I doubt that he understands his flakiness means that the responsibility for planning our holiday is on my head and that’s just a big mistake. And the recent story about JetBlue making a passenger sit in the toilet makes me wonder if the buddy pass is such a good idea too since you’re technically considered “lower” than employees in the booking system.
Whatever happened to the glamour and fun of air travel? Your vacation used to start the moment you left the house, now it doesn’t seem to start until an hour after you’re back on the ground. Maybe I just need to find a job where some travel is involved and it’s all handled by my company! 😀
The cost of flights are keeping me grounded this summer. I had planned a trip to CA but with rising costs its not fitting into my budget. However if you do get the chance to go to Barcelona, DO IT! Its an awesome city and the beaches cant be compared to anything you have visited in the states and the people are nice as well. The dollar isnt doing very well right now in Europe so thats something to consider but Barcelona would be worth it.