Put it down!!

I know you are out there, reading this content and agreeing or disagreeing. Let me hear from you! This blog should be a conglomeration of our experiences on the road, good and bad.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Portland International Airport

I have had the opportunity to fly into the Portland international Airport, http://www.flypdx.com/, several times over the years to meet with different clients and I am struck each time by how much the folks who run this airport really get it. I mean it; they know how to do travel right.


When walking into PDX the airport just feels different. It feels as if they have systematically removed panic and rudeness from within the walls of the airport. I have a feeling if you were to run into a terminal frantically looking for your airline, hoping desperately you still had time to make your flight you may be politely approached by an airport employee who says, “Sir, you are going to have to exit the airport until you have sufficiently calmed down”. Although this may never happen I am sure the "Calm Police" are there, learking just around the corner. 

The airport is roomy and has just the right amount of shops and restaurants to meet your needs. The restaurants in this airport are not your normal fair. You won’t find a Friday’s or a chilies with food you have tasted hundreds of times. What you will find is local restaurants like The Laurelwood Brewing Company who serve excellent food and great beverages. If you are in the Portland Airport and find yourself in the Horizon terminal I highly recommend stopping at Laurelwood http://www.laurelwoodbrewpub.com/.
Putting the restaurants, shops and overall atmosphere aside it is the accommodations which really set this airport apart. This airport is set up for the laptop packing, cell phone toting traveler with outlets and seating everywhere. This is certainly not LAX where you could get shanked while trying to control the last available power outlet. At PDX every seat in the main part of the airport has multiple outlets to plug in your equipment. Most restaurants have outlets by or under the tables not to mention the free live music playing in the main atrium.

Most travelers passing through this airport will never have the opportunity to take advantage of these amenities, however if you ever find yourself with a lengthy lay over and no airline club to harbor you I believe you will be pleasantly surprised at how fast your time will go in an airport where they clearly and consciously think of the traveler first.

Travel safe and I will see you in the airport.

Seat 1B

Seat 1B can mean a lot of things to the seasoned traveler. For instance it could mean free drinks and a hot meal or someone to immediately hang up your coat when you sit down. It could mean your own private monitor with a multitude of different movies or TV shows to choose from. It may bring memories of comfortable reclining seats and raised foot rests.


Today however seat 1B means my ass will barely squeeze into its assigned area and eventually will try and seize additional room from seat 1A. There will be no mimosas today, no hot towels to wipe my weary face. There will be no hot baked cookies at the end of my flight or quick bantering conversation with my flight attendant. Today I have been jailed on a Horizon Air CRJ700 in route from Portland to Ontario California. I believe it is entirely possible this aircraft was built with the sole purpose of transporting ancestral pigmies to and from the Portland airport; however I must admit I don’t see a pigmy anywhere. This flight is not a total loss as I have no seat mate and therefore no one to put up a fight with my encroaching ass.

What’s this? Horizon Air is offering me a complimentary micro brewed beer or glass of wine. Maybe seat 1B is not a total loss after all.

Travel safe and I will see you at the airport…

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Exploring Enterprise Car Rental

Since the beginning of my travel life I have been a loyal customer of Budget car rental. There is no real noteworthy reason for my loyalty other than a comfort zone which has been developed over a number of years. I enjoy the status benefits of “Fast Break” service and the convenience of Budget locations in every airport I visit. I cannot say with any authority that Budget has better service, cars or facilities then the next guy because I don’t believe this to be true. Again, I have simply stayed loyal out of fear of trying someone else and not having any status.


Recently, while preparing for a week long three city trip to the East Coast, I realized I would need a large SUV and Budget simply did not have much selection or availability in this class of rental. After some minor searching I found Enterprise had a great selection of Chevy Tahoe’s, Suburban’s and even an Escalade or two. I have to admit I was a bit nervous, I did not know where the rental locations where located, where their shuttles picked up or how their counter process worked not to mention the fact no one would be greeting me with the phrase “Welcome back Mr. Bush” when I arrived. I know that sounds a bit juvenile but what can I say, it is the little things that make a big difference when you travel.

My trip was laid out in such a way that I would need a two day rental in Chicago, a one day rental in New York and a one day rental in Boston. The following are my observations during this trip.

Chicago:

The rental facility was not on or even close to the airport which required a longer than normal ride in a rental shuttle. Luckily the shuttle arrived quickly and was not at all crowded. I was warmly greeted as I entered and asked my name. As it turns out the name asking is so they can call ahead letting the counter know your arrival is eminent, a nice touch I thought. The ride in the shuttle felt like a carriage ride down a cobblestone street I felt the need to take inventory on my teeth at the end of the lengthy ride. When stepping of the shuttle I was again greeted warmly and given instruction on where to go and who to see. The facility looked somewhat temporary in nature, like I was walking into a work trailer. There was no line and I was able to go directly to an agent who was waiting eagerly to assist me. This agent was quick and very helpful, not to mention extremely hot. Don’t get excited guys this was not a trend that continued throughout my trip. She offered all of the normal car rental paraphernalia of which I declined all but the fast pass. If you ever rent a car in Chicago GET THE FAST PASS. Chi town has more toll booths than New Orleans has strip clubs and if you don’t get a fast pass it will be like going clubbing with no singles. Make sure you know ahead of time whether you will want to take advantage of the insurance and gas options. If you don’t mention it they will hit you up for these add on charges outside during the walkthrough where you are a bit more venerable and the person doing the walkthrough is a bit more of a salesperson. If you know what you want mention it at the counter before the paperwork is finished. My advice is to take the basic coverage if you are not covered by a company policy and only take the gas option if you are in a new town and don’t know your way around. The Expedition performed well and I returned the car two days later without incident. The computer was down when I returned the car and the agent let me know I could go online in two days to retrieve my receipt. I opted for using my original paperwork as a receipt.

New York:

At NY’s JFK airport most of the car rental companies are located at Federal Circle, which is a short air train ride from the American terminal. However, when I say most this did not include Enterprise. In order to reach the Enterprise facility at JFK I had to take the air train to Federal Circle and then hop a shuttle. I have to say, the Shuttle ride was very similar to the ride in Chicago right down to the teeth chattering suspension. I was greeted getting on the shuttle as before, only now I was hip to their game. The facility was in a part of town you would not want to get lost in while returning your car. Let me be clear, Steven Segal would not want to get out of his car in this area to ask directions. While performing my walk through I noticed the drivers rear tire looked a bit low. I asked the agent with me and she assured me it was fine. She said, “If the tire was really low there would be a warning light on the dashboard”. I normally follow my gut, however I was in an unfamiliar rental location and felt a bit awkward which is why I said ok and took her word for it. I am sure you are already seeing the error in my judgment here as half way into my drive the Tire Pressure light illuminated on the dash. From the road I called back to the facility and explained the situation. I was given three options; bring the car back and exchange it, exchange the car at a local enterprise location at my destination provided I could get there before 6pm and finally continue to feed the tire air hoping it does not get any worse before bringing it back. All of these choices seemed suspiciously like easy fixes for Enterprise, but not so much for me. I chose to check with the local location but did not make into town before 6pm which left me the option of keeping air in the tire and hoping it was a slow leak. I filled the tire once and was able to return the car without incident. I did not fill the gas and asked the agent to comp me gas as restitution for the tire. He gladly agreed, I am sure feeling he got off easy. I rented the Ford Explorer at this location and would recommend the Chevy Tahoe instead.

Boston:

The Enterprise rental facility at the Boston Logan Int airport was not on site, but was with the rest of the rental locations which was nice. This location had a more permanent feel and was not in a crazy part of town. Unfortunately I did not escape the ride over and have surmised that Enterprise simply must not put suspension into their shuttles. The experience here with regard to renting the car was the same as the above two encounters. I chose to rent a Suburban at this location based on what I would be hauling and simply fell in love with this vehicle. I returned the car with no problems the next day and took my flight home not realizing I had left my very expensive trench coat in the back of the car. It took me 48 hours to notice the coat was missing and I had no real confidence Enterprise would have my coat when I called. To my surprise not only did they have it the manager had decided to put it in his office for safe keeping. They agreed to send it to me at a reasonable cost and it is scheduled to arrive this Friday. Needless to say I was very pleased and pleasantly surprised at how they handled this situation.

This sums up my Enterprise rental car experience and although I am sure this is only a small sampling of what they have to offer I feel confident in my understanding of their overall rental model. I don’t think the experience was enough to tear me away from Budget, however if I ever need to rent a Suburban I won’t hesitate to use Enterprise as long as I invest in a mouth piece first.

See you at the airport.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Admirals Club Etiquette

So here I am in the Admiral’s Club at O’Hare trying to pen out an introduction to this blog and cannot help notice the incredibly rude women about to sit down next to me.


There is nothing outwardly irritating about her right off. She is nicely dressed and in her mid 40’s. It is her mouth that has my left eyebrow twitching.

She is toting a small rolling carryon with a small briefcase affixed on top and does not seem to be able to manage this on her own which is why an airline employee is standing next to her asking where she would like the luggage. “Not too close to the table, but not too far away either” is what she told the bag toting employee. What does that mean?? Not to close, but not too far!! How about in your ass lady is I am sure what he was thinking. Being the cool and calm expert he was he found an acceptable spot for the roller and eagerly awaited his tip. He did receive a tip, however not the monetary kind. The tip he received was more in form of advice. She let him know to that he was to ensure someone would be back promptly prior to her flight to tote her bag back down to the terminal. Although he assured her he had made arrangements for the queens luggage this did not seem to satisfy her royalness. She continued her tirade letting him know that his confidence was based in serious misjudgment and he had better double check to ensure there were no foul ups. Unfortunately the employee had to leave with nothing but the sound of her voice in his head. This gentleman has my respect.

Oh…. Did I mention this entire exchange took place while she looked at her blackberry and not the person giving her assistance?

On the road

When I first decided to write this blog I thought I would make a funny, spontaneous and antidotal collection of the things I see and experience on the road. I travel quite a bit and in doing so have seen and experienced the very best and worst in travel etiquette from people, hotels, car rentals and more.

However, after giving it some thought I decided I would just write it as I see it and let you all decide what category the stories fall into.

If you find this blog please feel free to comment and even add your own travel stories and knowledge. Moving from coast to coast and everywhere in between is difficult and the more we can share about our experiences the easier we can make it on all of us.

See you on the road….