What Are Delta’s “Preferred” Seats and Should You Pay Extra to Sit There?

Knowledge is power, or so Schoolhouse Rock taught me during my youth.

shirts_schoolhouserock

Once upon a time, we were flying on Delta and I knew we’d be on an MD-88 aircraft.  I generally don’t mind this plane for shorter flights because it has a 3-2 seating arrangement. With that, I can choose to sit on the side with two seats and then Sharon can have the window (her favorite) and I can have the aisle (my favorite). Plus we have the bonus of not needing to worry about who will sit in the middle seat. One of the downsides of that plane is the overhead bin on the two-seat side is smaller and doesn’t fit many carry-on bags. Everyone has to put their larger bags on the side with three seats, since those are larger bins and those who board later usually have to gate check their bags because all the space has been taken.

I didn’t want to have to gate check a carry-on bag if I didn’t absolutely have to, so I found a way to board the plane with one of the first boarding groups. Here’s how I did it:

Continue reading “What Are Delta’s “Preferred” Seats and Should You Pay Extra to Sit There?”

Orlando International Airport/MCO Introduces Therapy Dog Program

Being in an airport can be stressful. It’s crowded, your flight might be delayed, your luggage could go missing, and the list goes on and on.

Shortly after 9/11, San Jose International Airport introduced therapy dogs as a way to help passengers deal with airport- and flight-related stress.

When we wrote about How To Kill Time In An Airport (And Not Spend Money – Or At Least Not Much), in April 2018, there were 4 airports (San Francisco Int’l, LAX, Miami or, of course, San Jose) that offered therapy dogs. In April 2019, the Alliance of Therapy Dogs documented that there were over 58 therapy dog programs in airports worldwide.

And now you can add one more airport to the list – Orlando International Airport.

Continue reading “Orlando International Airport/MCO Introduces Therapy Dog Program”

Points Opportunity Gone Before It Started, Another Credit Card Removed This Perk, Is This Airline Going To Revenue Based Redemptions?, & More!

Happy Sunday to all of our travel friends, both near and far! Here are some articles we’ve read from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, as well, so we’re passing them along.

Continue reading “Points Opportunity Gone Before It Started, Another Credit Card Removed This Perk, Is This Airline Going To Revenue Based Redemptions?, & More!”

This Map Helps Take The Guesswork Out Of Deciding When To Travel To Places

Right up there with, “How’s the weather in THIS PLACE during THAT MONTH?” (PSST!  We have an answer for that – just click here), this is one of the most-often travel-related questions I see on vacation/holiday/travel message groups:

“When is the best time of year to go to THIS PLACE?”

The answer to that would vary greatly, depending upon wherever THIS PLACE is – it all depends on where in the world it is, weather and other “nature” factors, etc. Well, some folks from the UK were able to gather all the data from all the places 🙂 and came up with this very helpful resource that will allow you to see the high, medium and low travel season of every country in the world throughout an entire year:

Continue reading “This Map Helps Take The Guesswork Out Of Deciding When To Travel To Places”

What’s The Strangest Thing You’ve Seen In A Hotel Room?

Most hotel stays are uneventful and that’s a good thing. Occasionally you’ll have a memorable stay at a really nice place and other times you’ll endure a night somewhere that “did not live up to expectations” and that’s life.

HotelLeeds
Sometimes you win and find a hotel like Chambers Park Place in Leeds, UK
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Other times you end up staying at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum in London, UK – just look at that modern telly, the spacious beds and the 12″ of space between the two. At least the TV worked during our second stay. Yes, we stayed there more than once. Totally not our fault – it was part of a package arrangement when we sang at the Royal Albert Hall.

However, there can also be that hotel you remember for that ONE thing that made it, different or unique or just flat out weird. I’m not talking about cultural differences like a bidet or tea kettle. I’m talking about things you’ve never seen before.

With some contributions from our friend Steve, here are some of the things we’ve found in hotel rooms that to this day make us scratch our heads in bewilderment.

Continue reading “What’s The Strangest Thing You’ve Seen In A Hotel Room?”