Travel Posts From the Ultimate Blog Challenge

As you may have seen from a few previous posts, I am in the process of migrating a few travel posts from my old blog. The articles on this post are from a challenge I often partake in, called the Ultimate Blog Challenge. The goal is to write 30 blogs in 30 days. I don’t always do all 30 days but usually get at least 20 or so. I feel 20 is better than none, lol. I have done this challenge a few times, but these are some of my first ones, and thought I would make a small collection of travel posts that I shared in the past. They are in no particular order and some of the data is now old, but I still wanted to share. Happy travels.

Fear of Flying? Justified or Just Plain Silly?

Here is one of my favorite travel posts that I moved from my old blog. Many people have a fear of flying and I feel some are justified and some are just silly. There are people who are afraid of heights, claustrophobic, have panic attacks, stomach issues (or another medical issue), or merely had a traumatic issue on a previous flight which can make them nervous about flying again.  These are all understandable and legitimate reasons to have a fear of flying.

However, there is another group of people who are afraid to fly based on hearing about other people’s bad flights. Heck, it might not even be the actual flight that was the issue on their trip. It could be that they got stuck overnight as we did in Dallas without even a change of clothes during a Horrible 24 Hour Experience on American Airlines.  Yes, it’s annoying and inconvenient, but to be afraid of what might happen to me seems like a senseless reason to not fly. Sorry, but that is just my opinion. If something happens, you just deal with it.  It’s part of the experience of flying and a risk you take. Just try to be as well prepared as you can.

The other thing I hear a lot is “What is the plane crashes?”  Well, I can understand that fear but in actuality, plane crashes are extremely rare, and so they usually get an enormous amount of media coverage. Many people developed a fear of flying, at least temporarily, in response to the terrorism of September 2001. We are safer in a plane than we are in a car driving to and from work every day.

Again I feel that you can’t live your life in fear of what might happen. I know 9/11 was horrible and it instilled a fear of flying in many people. Maybe I just have a different take on it. The way I see it is, if we were to crash mid-flight as we were off heading to some fun destination or returning from a great vacation, we were doing something fun. Either way, it also means it was our time. It just happened to come with a few hundred other people.

I am not trying to make light of the situation, I just don’t want to let fear of flying stop me from seeing some of the amazing places I want to see. I don’t want it to keep me from doing things I want to do. We are not here forever, and I want to see and do as much as I can before we “Kick the Bucket”.  Don’t let fear hold you back. Sorry if this offends you, but these are just my opinions.  However, you get from point A – B,  Happy Travels.

My Childhood Dream of Being a Flight Attendant One Day

When I was little I had made a list of all the things I wanted to do by the time I was a certain age and what I wanted to be when I grew up. This was one of my travel blog posts that I really enjoyed writing during the UBC. On the top of my list was to visit places like France, England, Greece, Germany, and Italy. I thought that being a flight attendant and seeing the world had to be the best job ever! They got to see everything I wanted to see and get paid to do it. Little did I know that most flight attendants don’t ever see much more than the airport and the hotel where they get shuttled off for a few hours’ sleep.

It didn’t seem quite as glamorous as I have pictured it. Through the years I also found out a few other negatives about being a flight attendant.  If the plane door is open the flight attendant is not getting paid. They don’t actually get paid until the aircraft pulls away from the gate. Thus they are not getting paid while people are boarding and deplaning.

Flight attendants also have to be within a certain height. They have to be tall enough to grab equipment from the overhead bins, but not so tall that they hit their head on the ceiling. Today, that typically means between 5-foot-3 and 6-foot-1, depending on the aircraft. I am really short so that killed my dream right there 🙁 I still wanted to see the world, but I knew I couldn’t do it as a flight attendant.  I also found out that they can be fired for some bizarre reasons. First of all, they are placed on a strict six-month probation period. I read a story about a flight attendant who got fired for wearing her uniform sweater around her waist.  Crazy huh?

With that said, I have a couple of friends who work in the airline industry and they love it. Here are some of the benefits of being a flight attendant. Obviously, the first one has to be the flight benefits. When you have time off you can fly almost anywhere for free and see the places that you have only stayed in overnight. The airline’s benefits for their employee and their family can be pretty sweet. Although often it can be a “stand by” travel, you learn when you can and can’t do it easily.

Besides seeing the world, I thought it would be cool to meet so many people from all over the world.  I would love to talk to them in between flight services. Learn what they love about the country and city where they live. I think that would be a great perk of the job.

Flight attendants make friends very easily. With passengers yes, but mostly with each other. There is something about the lifestyle that makes it so easy to just open yourself up and become friends with every other crew member. I love to talk to people and I could easily see my becoming friends by the end of a flight with the other crew members, lol

As I am too short to ever be a flight attendant I still love traveling and seeing the world. It would be nice to be able to use flight benefits and fly for free, but I also have the ability to decide where and when I want to go. I don’t have to fly stand by and hope to get a seat. There are pros and cons to being on both sides. I guess I could have been a gate agent, huh?

Travel Magazines That Bring Me Closer to My Dreams

As you may have seen in my previous post this month, I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge for the month of January. Each morning participants receive an email with ideas and suggestions for daily posts. The latest post was to review a book or movie we’ve read or seen recently, preferably in our niche. Well, I haven’t read any books or seen any movies recently about travel, but I have read many travel magazines. Thus I decided to share some of my favorite travel magazines and a little about them. They are listed alphabetically. Hope you enjoy it.

AFAR MAGAZINE

One of the newer travel magazines that I just signed up to receive is actually a new travel magazine called Afar. Each issue contains great travel destinations, a list of interests and activities in the area, as well as info about hotels and resorts. It is quite informative

Some of the destinations include North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. It also has several categories such as shopping around the globe, exceptional travel experiences, culture and design, family travel, cruises, business trips, land of the midnight sun, and winter vacations.  There is something for everyone.

AMERICAN ROAD

We have a couple of dogs and like to do road trips so we can bring them along with us. The magazine American Road is great for people like us who travel the road via an RV, on a Harley,  or in a car/minivan. You will find road trips, maps, diners, motels, and roadside attractions in every issue. Very helpful for road-tripping.

Their website is very useful and informative. They have full itineraries, free travel info, sweepstakes, and a picture of the month section. It’s cool to check out the picture of the month and read a little about the area where the picture was taken. I highly suggest checking out their magazine. I have enjoyed it quite a bit.

CONDÈ NAST

Condé Nast Traveler Magazine was one of the first travel magazines I subscribed to and I still enjoy it today. They state that they are the global citizen’s bible and muse, offering both inspiration and vital intel. Understanding that time is the greatest luxury, Condé Nast Traveler mines its network of experts so that we never waste a meal, a drink, or a hotel stay wherever we are in the world.

I really enjoy some of the categories they share such as food and drinks, style and design, art and culture, travel inspiration, travel awards, travel intel, and city guides. They are all informative, but I really enjoy The Daily Traveler email I get every day. It keeps me up to date on the latest travel intel around the world.

TRAVEL + LEISURE

Last but not least,  another travel magazine I enjoy is Travel + Leisure. It specializes in leisure travel and often features articles written by novelists, poets, artists, designers, and non-travel journalists. Originally published in 1937, it was named U.S. Camera and Travel and was known for its travel photography. That was until 1971 when it assumed the name Travel + Leisure.  Today the magazine reveals some of the best travel destinations in the world and helps its readers discover where to find the best hotels, the best shopping, the best food, and the most fun.

Apparently, Travel + Leisure is for the dreamer, the penny-saver who will get there someday, the frequent flier that has been there already but can’t wait to return, and anyone else with an insatiable desire to get where they are going without knowing the destination. Colorful photographs and powerful stories put you in the center of local culture. You see the world through the eyes of the people who live every day in these foreign locales.  This is why I enjoy this magazine. They share what it is really like in different areas of the world, and make our world just a little bit smaller.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about some of the travel magazines I value the most. It’s fun reading and getting out of my little world for a while and dreaming about the best place we will visit and what adventures we will have. Writing travel posts is always enjoyable, and this was also fun.  I will forward to vising many places I have only read about. Thanks to these magazines, they give me a little encouragement, and hope to keep dreaming and working on making them happen. Happy travels.

DIA and Wi-Fi

We are going to be flying a lot this year and it made me start thinking about all the time sitting in airports, and what we do with that time. Like most people we rely on the airport’s Wi-Fi and jump our laptop, phone or tablet to check email, update our Facebook status, Twitter feeds, or just web surf. It is a great way to spend some of the annoying and wasted time because of security.

I had noticed that Denver International Airport (DIA), our home airport, seemed to have pretty good Wi-Fi speeds so I decided to see how it stacked up against other US airports. I was pleasantly surprised. According to many sites, including the Entrepreneur article posted on Jan 17, 2017, DIA is the airport with the fastest Wi-Fi. Here is the rest of their list:

Major airports with the fastest Wi-Fi:

1. Denver (DEN)
2. Philadelphia (PHL)
3. Seattle-Tacoma (SEA)
4. Dallas Fort Worth (DFW)
5. Miami (MIA)

I knew their W-Fi- was fast, but I had no idea it was the fastest in the US. Woohoo for DIA  🙂  Apparently, they invested $2.5 million to upgrade its Wi-Fi since 2015, and those funds have paid off. It is easy to see why they are number 1 in this area. There are some things I like and some things I dislike about DIA, but it’s nice to know that the airport I fly out of the most, has the fastest Wi-Fi. It still doesn’t count down on the wait time at the airport, but at least it cuts down on wait time for web pages to load!  Thank you, DIA.

On the flip side of this news is the list of the airports with the slowest W-Fi speed. While I couldn’t find an actual list, I read many stories with people complaining about most of the airports in the NYC area, as well as the one in Atlanta. I am not sure about NYC, but I can attest to the one in Atlanta. I was there several years ago and it was horrible. Apparently, they haven’t upgraded since then 🙁

So there you have it, the top 5 US Airports with the fastest W–Fi.  If you fly in or out of one of these airports, please post a comment. I would like to know what you think of their Wi-Fi. Thanks and happy travels.

Travel Vaccinations – Worth the Hassle and Expense?

This post, as well as many travel posts on my blog, were posted before the pathetic murderer Xi tried to kill the world with his ridiculous vanity – Visiting Thailand soon? One day, I hope to, so I needed to find out what shots, if any, are suggested or required before visiting. After doing some research it looks like I am good to go, with a few suggestions.  There are a lot of questions about vaccinations, however, this doesn’t only apply to travel. We have friends who had never vaccinated their child who was turning 5 and getting ready to go to school. I don’t know how it all worked out, as they moved out of state. However, I don’t think people are able to get around the “medical reasons” or religious reasons anymore. I may be wrong, but it won’t work when trying to travel.  Decisions about getting or not getting vaccinated before traveling to certain countries are obviously up to you.

Like I said I did some research, and you will find people all over the spectrum regarding vaccinations. Some believe like our friends did that, that they are evil and dangerous, while others believe they are life-saving. There are also many people who don’t want to deal with the expense and time involved. Some may think they are immune or in good health and are immunizations are only needed for the young and elderly. So do you get vaccinated or not?

Putting personal feelings aside, I found that most people believe this depends on what country you are going to, how long you will be visiting, and what type(s) of activities you will be doing while in said country. Using Thailand as my example, most sites suggest, besides your routine vaccines, getting vaccinated for Hepatitis A, and Typhoid.  However, there are some that also suggest Cholera, Hepatitis B, Japanese Encephalitis, Malaria, Rabies, and Yellow Fever.

So my question is how far is too far for you? Do the pros outweigh the cons? Are some vaccinations worth the risk? Or is it ok to take some precautions against things like Malaria and not get vaccinated?  I am not going to Thailand this year, so I have a while to think about it, but it definitely gave me some food for thought. Before rolling up your sleeve, I suggest, checking out the CDC Site, looking up their suggestions and requirements for the locations you will be visiting, then talking to your doctor. Hopefully, he or she will be honest and can help you determine which vaccinations you really need, and which ones you can skip to help save some money. Please share your thoughts and opinions.  Would love to hear what everyone out there has to say on this topic. Happy travels.