The Last Frequent Flier Tips List You Ever Need to Read...
Tom Dannemiller
Partner@Towing Forward Company, an outsourced towing dispatch company and The Advance Group Wyoming Small Business Consulting
I am sitting in the Nanjing South High Speed Rail Station in China waiting to continue with a trip that will circumnavigate the globe twice in the next 4 weeks. It is approximately my eleventy-third circumnavigation of the globe and adding to 2+ million miles on the road…. so far. This trip will have me sleeping in 12 different cities on 3 continents, unless something else gets tacked onto it before I get home. 4 weeks is a long time.
I submit you to this diatribe to present my qualifications as a frequent traveler. Yes, I have been there, and have probably done that, particularly if it involves making a mistake or being lost. I also know lots of folks who travel a lot. It comes with the job. This should make me uniquely qualified to know all the tips and tricks to smooth your travel experience.
Sadly, the truth is, it does not work that way. In fact, it seems that while most frequent travelers have very strongly held opinions, they are largely a sum of their personal biases and/or coping mechanisms derived from their own personal travel trauma. This will not stop them from presenting them as divinely revealed truth, as I know mine are.
I have a good friend and colleague with whom I travel regularly that illustrates my point. I am of the school of “plan to be there early, you never know what can happen”. He is of the school “what can go wrong?”, sliding into the gate area within seconds of boarding. I can travel for an indefinite period with only 1 carry on. He checks a bag on anything but an overnight. I routinely see the price he pays for his foolish ways, but it does not seem to bother him. He sometimes even has the audacity to suggest that his way might be better. I have tried to make him see the error of his ways, but alas, to no avail.
My colleagues are of many races and religions and are from many countries. These differences do not cause tension, but travel bias? That is another story. When traveling with non-frequent travelers, we can project our personal biases on them as “wisdom”. But if we are all frequent travelers, maybe not. Many times, we frequent travelers will just agree to meet at the hotel the night before our appointment (unless you are one of those “travel the day of the meeting” weirdos) with each of us choosing our own flights and routes, smugly certain that all of the others are idiots. Sometimes we can’t even agree on a hotel, as we may have sold our souls to different hotel chain reward programs.
The truth is, we frequent travelers can only give you advice through the lens of our own bias, which is about as useful as, well, your own bias. If you are a frequent traveler, you already have your ways. If you are planning on being one, enjoy the journey of finding the ways that work best for you.
Partner@Towing Forward Company, an outsourced towing dispatch company and The Advance Group Wyoming Small Business Consulting
6 年You are right of course Mary Beth. It is a privilege to get the opportunity tot see the world. I would love to hear about your book. Let's talk soon!
Mobile Marketing Author | Travel Guide Author | Lifelong Learning Advocate
6 年Tom, there is wisdom in learning the best ways that work for you, once you have some choices in front of you. I would love to talk travel with you. I love the high speed trains in China. I just spent three weeks in Southeast Asia, mostly in Taiwan, but also Thailand. I'd love to listen to your insights. (I'm re-writing a travel book that covers this topic).