Traversed, Lightly

This is progress! Accurate pricing

2012-01-25T17:06:00.001-08:00

Received an email today from Southwest that shows progress towards accurate pricing.

"As a valued Rapid Rewards® Member, we would like to make you aware of the Department of Transportation's new price advertising rule and the steps that we are taking to be in compliance. This price advertising rule affects all airlines and requires that advertised fares include all government-imposed taxes and fees that the Customer is being asked to pay.

When you visit southwest.com®, the fares displayed will now include all government excise tax, government segment fees, September 11th security fees, and airport passenger facility charges."

If only the airline industry in the United States had policed itself, including the online travel agent sites...but it didn't and now the government steps in to right the sleight of hand that some sites were pulling.

It won't be easy to do, from a database standpoint, and it may lead to price increases, but it's the right thing to do.

Kudos to Southwest for getting out in front of it.

Delta FAIL or "when does the day end?"

2011-12-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

The Points Guy blog has a great thing going, often providing the service of pointing out ways to transfer miles and gain bonus points.

One of the most recent involved a 100% mileage bonus for mileage transfers on Delta.com that ran through the end of the day (11:59 CST to be exact) on December 16. Yet anyone going to the Delta link after 7 PM EST on December 16 are greeted by the fact that the 16th has already passed into oblivion:

Twenty minutes on the phone with the Delta web support, from 10:40 PM - 10:59 PM EST was not enough time to convince the tech support person that we were still living in December 16, even though the tech rep read off her time correctly at 10:54 PM EST.

Major FAIL on Delta's part.

Has Luxor lost its luster?

2011-01-09T16:07:00.001-08:00

15 years ago, Luxor was the talk of Vegas. These days, it feel a bit foreboding, tired and threadbare.

Choosing Luxor over several other hotels, for the annual Consumer Electronics Show that makes up the first week of January, used to make good business sense: clean, comfortable and yet removed from the mass craziness of the mid-Strip locations.

Checking in yesterday for CES 2011, though, I was struck by the guest-mill model: a single bed is an upgrade from two beds; the resort fee covers Internet, but from a cord in a cabinet that stretches nowhere close to a flat, horizontal surface, or a power outlet.

Then there's the threadbare and tired part: after navigating the casino maze to get to the furthest elevator (inclinator in Luxor-speak), the room turned out to have a tiny old-school TV and a bathroom not much bigger than a Howard Johnson's bathroom, circa 1976.

All that could be forgiven, but the grossness of multiple water stains on the drapery, chairs that were losing their stuffing, a toilet that wouldn't flush properly and what looked and smelled like mold in the bathroom and entry area means the hotel is in much worse shape than its 15-year-old age belies.

Bathroom wall

Water stain 1

Water stain 2

Water stain 3

Stuffing falling out of one chair.

It really is too bad, as the fitness center's decent and this used to be a great place.

Management must know it's on its knees, as there are people stationed around the casino offering discounts on one's next stay.

Unless I see a different side of Luxor in the next two days, it's off the list.

iPhoned

Location:W Hacienda Ave,Las Vegas,United States

SNAFU revisited - Delta Medallion Qualifying Segments

2010-01-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Readers will recall a blog posting that noted Delta's SkyMiles online system SNAFU in that it's showing Medallion (frequent flyer) members a different set of miles and segments than what they've actually flown.

Delta's response to the blog post, in part, reads like a textbook for bad management:

I can assure you we'd like nothing more to have a few things to do and only activate them when they actual worked. Regretfully, this cannot happen and even though the new platform technology is quite awesome, there will be the 'bugs' and 'hiccups' to work out with these growing pain.

Translation: we're too busy to be bothered by our customers, while we work to provide customer service. In other words, too much to do without customers getting in the way . . .

The response went on to say:

At this time our technology team is aware of the problems you describe in your blog, due to the system integration. Regretfully, we do not have a timeline on when the issues you describe will resolved on delta.com. We have been advised the fixes probably will not happen until after the merger is complete sometime early in 2010. However, please know that your feedback will be forwarded to the technology team.

This response misses the issue, since I'd been told before writing the initial posting, that the tech team was fully aware but that management had not committed the resources to fix an issue that's been in place for well over two months now.

For me, personally, it's not worth flying an airline that had a perfectly good system prior to integration - and even had a good system for a month after the integration started - but that can't seem to understand that customer comfort extends to not having to frequently check up on the airline's performance and accuracy after EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT.

Until the time that I hear it's resolved, I've begun booking flights on another airline. Given the uncertainty on Delta's part, maybe I'll make the same level of status with the other airline before Delta resolves this unacceptable issue.

SNAFU - Delta Medallion Qualifying Segments

2009-12-22T08:08:00.000-08:00

[Update: apparently the word is out that Delta's activity information is errant. Must be that the Skymiles retrieval system is also hosed, since each representative I talked to called me by a different first and last name, so I had to give my account number to each rep. Was funny for the first two, but after three separate names, it made me wonder what's happening to the "new" Delta.]

[Update 2, January 2010: Apparently Delta is willing to put technology into place that doesn't fully work. See follow-on blog post for more details]

For those of us who don't live at a major Delta hub (Atlanta, Cincy, JFK, Salt Lake City, etc) one fact of life is the need to fly through a hub to get to another location.

For instance, if I want to fly from Asheville, NC, to New York's Laguardia (LGA), I either have to fly through Atlanta or Cincinnati. This means one short hop (typically less than 500 miles) and one longer leg (typically longer than 500 miles) for a total of two legs or segments.

The downside is a significant amount of flying in small planes that act as feeders to larger planes.

The upside is that Delta's Medallion status can be achieved by segments, rather than just by miles. Called MQM segments or MQ segments, the allow someone living at a smaller airport has the chance to achieve a Medallion status equal to those who might fly direct flights from a hub city.

There was a controversy a few years ago when Delta scrapped segments and only used miles for Medallion qualification, and the company admirably came around when it realized it was losing customers in smaller cities to competitors, adding the MQM segments and MQM miles to the mix.

Now, however, Delta's completely hosed its Delta.com online activity viewing. This problem occurred about three weeks ago, more than a month after Delta and Northwest merged their frequent flyer accounts.

The problem started when Delta added a column that is called MQ Segments Earned. It was compounded when Delta chose to combine segments together for the feeder and long-haul flights.

The end result is a snafu that's eliminating the ability for the frequent flyer to view his or her flights and segments. Here's an example:

This example is from November, where four flights were taking - two short hop and two long hauls - with the 500 mile MQMs (Medallion Qualifying Miles) being listed correctly, but the segments showing as zero. Is Delta doing away with MQM segments?

To add confusion to the mix, it is no longer possible to view each flight segment. Dropping down into the monthly view, here are the flights that match the miles for the first two flights:

Notice that it shows TWO flight segments departing SFO on back-to-back days (not impossible but highly unlikely) and are differing lengths (500 and 2139 miles, respectively). In reality, one flight left SFO on the 19th and flew for 2139 miles to Atlanta, arriving on the 20th; the second flight left Atlanta on the 20th of November and arrived at TRI that same day.

To add even more confusion, the most recent issue is a retroactive combining of flights under a single flight number. Here's an example from October:

Notice the repeat of "air activity" between Midway and Richmond with two separate mileages (500 and 590 miles) but a single flight number (Delta Flight 1044). What isn't listed is Delta 1711, which is the flight from Midway to Atlanta, which then changes to Delta 1044, from Atlanta to Richmond.

Confused? You should be, since most frequently fliers don't have time to send in every single ticket stub for every single flight, nor to call or email after every single flight.

Confusion also reigns for Delta representatives, including those at the web assistance desk. The most frequent response I got when talking to five representatives from the Medallion, Skymiles and Web desks was:

"Hmm, it must be that you stopped at an airport along the route of your trip."

This means it's up to the frequent flyer to explain what's happened, without the benefit of flight numbers (unless someone remembers to keep their ticket stubs for almost multiple months).

It also means that Delta's got a real issue on its hands at the end of the year, especially for those of us who may be close to gaining another level of Medallion status but don't have the time to go back through every single one of our flights for the year to confirm mileage/segments.

Management at Delta.com was not available for comment, even after repeated requests, and those I spoke to continued to say they have made repeated requests to have this addressed yet have received no timeframe for a fix.

One knowledgeable representative did say that over 4,000 emails have been received by those who are requesting confirmation of their yearly flights / status levels. Makes one wonder if it would be easier to move to another airline than have to constantly babysit an errant frequent flier activity account.

SNAFU - Delta credit only meals

2009-11-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

Remember when airlines cut out meals on flights on short-hauls, followed by long-haul domestic flights?

Imagine what would happen if you weren't able to eat on a flight, even if you had low blood sugar, for the singular reason that you forgot your credit card. . . .

Delta's decided to do away with cash on all domestic and select international routes (including Mexico, Canada and the Bahamas). So if you don't have a credit card, or if your credit card is declined, you won't eat.

The idea sounds good, but the practicality is somewhat different. Let me use an example from my own recent experience.

I fly Delta. I fly Delta frequently.

I fly Delta frequently enough that I'm what they consider a Platinum Medallion, which means that I'm in a position to often get upgraded to First Class on most coast-to-coat domestic flights.

Yet, in this particular instance, I would have been subjected to the inability to eat from LAX to ATL, at least a four-hour flight.

I ended up in LA without my credit cards, but didn't notice it until I landed on my flight from Atlanta, mainly because I was bumped to First Class and didn't have to reach for my non-existent wallet to buy a meal.

After being on the ground for three days, two of those over a weekend, I was unable to get a replacement credit card before my return flight. I also needed to subsist on what I had in my pocket, until Monday morning, when I could visit a bank branch and verify my identity (with my passport, of all things).

The return flight from LA to Atlanta was full enough that I didn't end up in First Class, so I had to use the last $8 in my pocket to buy food on the plane (I'd withdrawn what the bank would let me, but had to pay for a hotel, etc.)

If that event had taken place anytime after December 1, 2009, I would not be able to even buy a meal.

That would not have been acceptable for reasons of both well-being and health.

Think, Delta, think! Do you want to lose frequent fliers just because you choose to disengage from cold hard cash?

Tip 27 - Delta Airlines power outlets

2009-10-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

For those who travel frequently, encumbered with significant amounts of electronic equipment, the term road warrior might better be termed seeker of power - as in power outlets. The odyssey is often circituous, and even in locations that having power makes sense, it's often hard to come by.

One welcome addition, for my travels at least, is the availability of power outlets at some seats on Delta flights.

For domestic US Delta flights, which I often get upgraded on, the addition of 110 power outlets is a welcome benefit. For Delta, this means flights on select Boeing 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777 planes.

On Northwest, the almost-subsumed airline carrier that Delta is merging with to create a single operating entity (SOE) that will be called Delta, the Airbus and Boeing 747 planes have outlets.

There are two annoyances with this wonderful addition.

First, while a few of the Delta planes have power outlets in particular coach class locations, at least according to Delta Sky magazine (deltaskymag.com), the location of these seems to be a well-kept secret that's not shown at the time of the seat-selection when booking online (delta.com).

Especially for those of us who fly frequently, including international flights where we no longer get bumped to Business Elite (the seats formerly known as First Class), the ability to choose a coach seat for a 6-8 hour flight that had a power outlet would be ideal and a great start to an overseas trip (imagine charging your laptop before you land rather than having to find a power outlet in a foreign airport).

Second, perhaps more disturbing for a feature that may entice some flyers choose Delta over another carrier, is the inconsistency with which the power outlets work. On the last two domestic flights, in first class, my power outlet hasn't worked, even though my seatmate's power outlet was working.

In the first instance, a flight from ATL to SFO on a 757, my question to the flight attendant about the failed power outlet led to a rebooting of the power system, which then caused everyone's outlets to stop working for the remainder of the flight. For the record, as much as I needed to work on the flight, I would not have made the request, had I known it would knock out the entire power outlet system.

In the second instance, on the flight I am currently on, the outlet at my seat also does not work, but my seatmate's does, and she - having nothing to charge - was gracious enough to let me use her outlet after the flight attendant first tried a reboot on the system. I don't know if that reboot (pushing a green button in the front of the cabin) jolted my seatmate's power outlet to life, as I had not tested hers beforehand, but I know it had no effect on the power outlet at my seat.

My suggestion, then, is to enquire with an agent on the phone (after booking your ticket online to save the booking fee) regarding the location of power outlets on the flight so that you can select a coach class seat and still have power close by, even if you don't get upgraded.

The secondary tip is to always treat your seatmate with respect, as you'll never know when you'll need a power up.

Delta, please fix the two annoyances, since this really is a great feature that entices flyers to remain with Delta.

Tip 26 - WiFi and Loyalty Programs

2009-10-18T08:55:00.001-07:00

Mentioned in a previous post that Sheraton and Microsoft's joint partnership in Link@Sheraton is a great model, where computers, printers and WiFi are available in Sheraton lobbies.

Some Shearatons make their access widely available for anyone while others, like the Sheraton hotel at CDG, have it locked down with password protection.

Those in the loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), can enter their loyalty program number and receive complimentary access.

If you don't have an SPG number, no worries: Sheraton makes it easy to sign up for SPG at the WiFi log-in page.

Clever concept and clever marketing.

iPhoned

Tip 25 - Paris RER payments

2009-10-17T18:05:00.001-07:00

[Update: well, he might have been running a scam, since my ticket worked when I went through the RER turnstile in Gare du Nord but didn't work when I arrived at Roissy CDG 2. Two other people had a similar problem, although they may have had different reasons for their issues with the turnstile, so the guard had all three of us climb over, with bags . . . ]

Like the London Tube, the Paris RER regional trains no longer accept US Visa cards - debit or credit - unless they have the Chip + Pin (chip-pin uses a chip on the front of the card as a way to partially "dip" the card without putting the card all the way in to a machine).

In addition, the RER machines at Gare du Nord also only accept Euro coins up to 2 euros, so paper money is no help.

Since I only had a Visa debit and a fiver with Euro 3,65 in coin for a Euro 8,50 toll, I was hosed after arriving at 11:47 PM on the Eurostar for a midnight train.

So I did something I never do - took the offer of someone in the station to use their French card. Couldn't tell if it was someone who worked for the RER or SCNF, nor if he often gets a Euro 10 note and doesn't make change, but I would certainly have given him one if I had it.

Stock up on Euro coins for your next trip; even if you can't exchange them, they may come in handy, especially if you see someone like me looking desperate.

iPhoned

Tip 24 - London Tube payment types

2009-10-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

The London Tube payment system updates mean the Underground ticket system no longer accepts US Visa cards - debit or credit - unless they have the Chip + Pin (chip-pin uses a chip on the front of the card as a way to partially "dip" the card without putting the card all the way in to a machine).

Go to the wide, large ticket machines (typically in the center or at the end of a bank of machines) if you have bank notes or want to receive change for your pound or two-pound coins.

If you have coins and don't mind not receiving change, there is often one other machine in the bank of ticket machines keyed to this option.

iPhoned

When in London, oops, no changes

2009-10-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

[Update 3: This whole single-tunnel concept isn't looking so great, what with 2,000 passengers trapped in it . . . ]
[Update 2: So what's the policy for delayed trains? According to the Eurostar conditions of carriage, it has to be "delayed significantly" in order for a refund to be issued: 21. Refunds for delayed or cancelled trains says "if the train you planned to catch is delayed significantly or cancelled and you decide not to travel or to continue your journey, we may give you a full refund on the unused portion of the ticket if you cancel your reservation in accordance with our instructions and return it to the point of sale where you bought it (or to another point of sale to which we or our agents direct you) at the earliest opportunity. If you do not cancel it immediately but claim a refund after the two month period of validity from the scheduled date of travel has passed, we may make an administrative charge."]
[Update: Apparently the trains are now fully suspended, with Eurostar advising passengers to stay with friends in London if possible. Still no flexibility to change to the earlier train. High likelihood they'll cancel my train, which will ripple down to staying the evening in the train station and then a verrrrrrrrrry long day tomorrow since I'll miss my early-morning flight from Paris.]

All Eurostar trains are delayed this evening from London to Paris, the famed Chunnel Eurostar route.

This is due to, I was told upon check-in, "a death on the line" that will delay the train before mine for probably another hour, as well as mine, the last one of the night.

The reason is understandable: the police need to do their work, and it's uncertain whether the fatality occurred inside a Eurostar train or on the tracks. May the deceased rest in peace.

What isn't understandable is the inflexibility of the system to accommodate changes in schedules, when the delay rests clearly on Eurostar, pointing up one very important difference between the airline and train industries.

With airplanes, if the event is unforseen and it is known a flight will be delayed, a passenger is allowed to change to a less delayed (earlier) flights if seats are available.

On the Eurostar between London and all points South, this is not an option. When I asked about changing to the earlier, less-delayed train, I was told it was not possible. When I asked about seats being available, I was told they were but that a non-refundable ticket meant no changes could be made to the reservation.

"Even if the delay is due to this unforseen circumstance," the check-in attendant told me, clearly surprised at the question, "we can not change the ticket. If one person changed to the earlier train, everyone would want to change."

That might be true, but one is certain that not everyone would ask; that's what the airlines get - and apparently Eurostar does not.

For Eurostar, it is apparently better for me to arrive very late in Paris, beyond the time at which my connecting train departs (it leaves at 12:15 AM) and stay the night in the Gare du Nord train station, rather than allow the option of being put on an earlier train.

Guess this is my last Chunnel ride for some time, until this issue is resolved.

iPhoned

Tip 23 - Inexpensive Hotels

2009-10-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

A recent New York Times travel article on inexpensive hotels in Europe - quite helpful for those Americans looking to stretch a dollar

Rotterdam

2009-09-17T04:15:00.001-07:00

So now I know why the Big Chemical Company in my adopted hometown likes its European headquarters city so much.

Unlike Amsterdam, which led the way as the main port of entry prior to industrial times, Rotterdam took the lead in mechanization - and paid dearly for it during World War II.

Despite its proximity to Den Haag (The Hague), Rotterdam's historical district seemed never to recover, even though building of industrial warehouses seems to have thrived.

The small central district, tiny and decrepit, seems now to be undergoing additional "enhancement" in the form of demolition.

Amsterdam, passed over in the mechanization race, also was spared in the bombings, perhaps because it offered wares of another kind.

Both have reaped what they've sown, with Amsterdam being the tourist destination and Rotterdam the factory and industry capital of the Netherlands. Never thought I'd say it, but give me Amsterdam - or tell me what I missed in Rotterdam!

Added bonus: UNESCO Center for Water Education. Don't think the portable urinal on the street in front of it is the type of education they have in mind.

Luxembourg

2009-09-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Casemates, fortifications, bridges and bulwarks: Luxembourg is as much a study in small niches and hide-a-ways as it is in modern banking and the Grey List.

It is also a city of normality, with a market on Saturday that brings out the ladies dressed for market.

iPhoned

In Flanders Fields

2009-09-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Spent the day in Iepers (Ypres) and, in particular, several hours in the Flanders Fields museum that is housed in a building on the Grote Market.

This church, which also houses the town's information center, shows signs of being badly shelled during the three battles from 1915-1918 that took place in and around this northernmost town in the great trench line that held off the Germans from their goal of taking Paris.

After experiencing this very effective use of multimedia - including LOUD explosions and wall-sized video and multi-image (slide) presentations, it was nice to trade the enclosed, dark spaces for a bit of calm and bright walking along a canal to visit several graves. The pictures below show the final resting place of Brits, Canadians, Maoris and Scots, although as recently as four years ago other bodies have been discovered during building and expansion phases around town.

iPhoned

Bruges swans vs Canada geese

2009-09-12T05:10:00.000-07:00

A bit of an altercation today between the swans of Bruges and the visiting Canada geese. Turns out the geese were stuck at one end of the canal, near a feeding trough. Couldn't tell if they were protecting their turf or trying to get past the swan blockade . . .

iPhoned

Butterflies in the parking lot

2009-09-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

Went to celebrate my in-laws 45th anniversary. Pulling into the parking lot, one of the children noticed several butterflies.

Their habitat? A nicely kept flower garden the restaurant staff maintains.

Brussels by daylight

2009-09-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

On my way to IBC in Amsterdam, via CLT, ATL and BXL.

Once on the ground, I hope to also see Bruges, the Venice of the North, and Ghent on my way into the Netherlands.

Hotels.com SNAFU - International Websites

2009-06-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

Websites are meant to be helpful, but the reality for many companies is that the overseas versions of their websites are too helpful. Try typing in www.google.com in any country other than the US and you'll receive back a website with that country's two-letter Top Level Domain (TLD) such as .fr for France.

Hotels.com takes this to a new level. It is impossible to get back to the main hotels.com when logging in from any other country, and this flaw means that hotels.com's suggested cancellation steps in its reservation emails do not work.

Yes, that's right, you can't cancel online if you're outside the US, and you can't call the 800 number when you're outside the US.

Think emailing in a request for cancellation would then be acceptable? Wrong.

Read the cautionary tale of hotels.com and its inability to function in a global society at 3Cents.com (which also has a dismal 1.5-star rating for the company).

Bluefield, West Virginia

2008-03-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I helped start a five-state alliance of incubator executive directors in the corners of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and the tiniest tip of West Virginia. The MountainSouth Incubator Alliance (MSIA) has the same footprint at the MountainSouth World Trade Center, which I helped launch. MSIA rotates meetings between incubators and this month’s is in Bluefield, WV.

If you travel I-77 North from the Carolinas or Virginia, you’ll find the dual towns of Bluefield, VA and Bluefield, WV straddling the state line as you enter West Virginia.

There are two colleges in the Bluefields: Bluefield College is a Baptist-based four-year college in Viriginia, while Bluefield State College is a traditionally black college that sits across the railroad tracks from downtown Bluefield, WV.

Bluefield State College’s Research and Development Corporation has an incubator in the former AEP headquarters building on the edge of downtown Bluefield, WV. The incubator is a member of the MSIA and its executive director, Gerald “Jerry” James is president of MSIA this year. While I’ve not been an incubator exec for about two years, MSIA continues to grow, with each incubator focusing on their unique strength; I enjoy attending the meetings when I can.

The meeting this month is in Bluefield, WV, and Jerry mentioned that he had a second building that including rooms if we wanted to stay the night prior. Turns out it’s a former hotel that has been turned into a student residence.

I arrived in Bluefield around 6pm and checked in. While the room was spartan, as it’s designed to be furnished by the long-term stay student, it had the basics: dorm-sized fridge, microwave, couch, bed and computer desk.

I had to ask for a shower curtain, which the staff was very helpul in obtaining. Once that was in place, I took off to explore the Bluefields.

After dinner, when I got back to the hotel / student residence, I noticed a light on the walkway as I approached my room. I didn’t remember leaving on a light, let alone a powerful light, but then I got to the room and realized that I’d left the blinds open and the light on.

No problem, I thought, glad I’d not left my laptop in full view. When I went in, though, I realized that I couldn’t close the blinds, and I didn’t want to disturb the staff.

So, as I do from time to time if things don’t feel right, I rearranged the furniture to block the “view”.

The picture below is the pre-arranged view, before realizing the blinds wouldn’t close.

Marin and Point Reyes Coastline

2008-03-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

Sir Francis Drake seems to be every where I turn these days. Living on the Tennessee - North Carolina border, words like Virginia and Roanoke are in constant use; the movie Elizabeth: Golden Age played on the plane on the way back from Barcelona; and today I find out that Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, stretching from 101 to the tip of the Point Reyes National Seashore, is named appropriately.

Back down along Route 1, after a stay at Timber Cove with fabulous blueberry pancakes and a spinach omlette for breakfast, and a quick check of the map to see if a drive inland to 101 would yield a shorter trek to the Point Reyes area on the way back to Silicon Valley (no, for the record, it makes no difference in time or windingness).

Point Reyes, like other areas, has plenty of dairy cattle. At times along Route 1, signs warn of cattle every so many miles, and at one point there was a cow contentedly chewing in a pocket between a cliff and the road that was not much bigger than she was.

The fact that Point Reyes is a national seashore, though, means the farms are called “Historic Farm F”, “Historic Farm G” and so on - seven historic farms on a very large penisula. The 30 minute drive past cows and historic farms finally brings one out to Drake’s Bay.

Before Drake flipped his cape to cover a puddle, before he circumnavigated the globe, even before he helped defeat the Spanish Armada, Drake stopped in this cove to repair his ship after a futile attempt to find the Northwest Passage. He sat here for two months, trading with Indians, raiding the Spanish and preparing to set out across the Pacific - a sea the English had no knowledge of save for captured Spanish trade route maps.

He also used the time to dedicate this part of the world as New Albion, a name that stuck until just prior to California entering the United States. It’s a bit of irony that he helped drive the Spanish out of this area, and then had his name for it stripped away so that Spanish names could be used as California gained statehood.

“Oh, but just one time, I would take the Northwest Passage . . . ” - Stan Rogers

Sonoma Coastline

2008-03-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

A former sheep ranch is home now to a gated community that - supposedly - is about two hours north of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.

In reality, if one takes Route 1 along the coast all the way up to Sea Ranch, it would take almost 3 hours. This “off season” time of year there’s precious little open in the way of stores, gas stations and restaurants once you pass Point Reyes Station, about an hour into the drive.

The goal was to go up the coastline an undetermined distance to “see what they could see” and possibly to meet up with an entrepreneur and visionary whom I often work with. He lives in Mendocino - when he’s home. I didn’t realize quite how far that really is from Silicon Valley.

In reality, Friday night was a stop-over in Jenner, where the Russian River meets the Pacific, at a neat little inn with cottages that perch on the hill above the river. With names like Mill Cottage, Brambleberry, Xanadu and Orca, the rooms and cottages provide a variety of amenities, including breakfast.

Since lunch wasn’t so easy to find, the Jenner Inn and Cottages hostess suggested a place “up the road about 20” that served lunch - the Timber Cove Inn - that was also the home to the Bufano Peace Statue. Arriving there after about another hour, including a one-lane road that was being used while a slide area in the redwoods was being repaired, the fact that lunch was not being served was readily apparent. This hostess suggested going on a bit more to Sea Ranch, which had both a continual serving of food, from the bar menu in the mid-afternoon, which is now was. It also had, she promised, a beach that was accessible.

Both turned out to be the case. The Sea Ranch is a former sheep ranch that is now a “gated” community with its own postal code, complete with the old-school postal boxes (with glass inset) that are rapidly being replaced by the silver metal monsters. Wonderful food served in a sun room, followed by a walk to the beach, then a round of hot chocolate back in the lodge.

A place to explore again.

Barcelona: Missing the Echoes

2008-02-17T20:53:00.000-08:00

Back in Barcelona, preparing to return to the US, after a few days of business and sightseeing. A walk up La Rambla from Liceu to Plaza Catalunya, followed by a bit of crisscrossing through alleys reminds me something is missing in the US

Back in Barcelona after Madrid and Montserrat, capital and mountaintop experiences, respectively.

They say La Rambla is the tourist strip in Barcelona, and I’m staying at the HostalOpera, which is right around the corner from St Pau’s church, close by the Liceu metro stop.

I’m glad I stayed in a residential area for the first few days of the Mobile World Congress show as it provided a way to see the Catalunyan (Catalonian) capital closer to the way a resident sees it. I was right near the St Antoni market, which would make shopping for fresh seafood in the States something akin to microwaving salmon.

Walking through the alleys on either side of La Rambla, though, I realized the thing I miss most about the US is the lack of echoes and good piazzas and public spaces.

Dickens had it right when he said it was hard to tell whether the echoes are coming or going.

Turning a corner this winter evening in Barcelona, the echo of a hand organ grows, but is in a place that’s elusive unless one stumbles on it or listens carefully and then performs trial and error searching for the source of the bouncing sounds. I listened, but then stumbled in a way that I didn’t think was the right way, only to come face to face with the organ grinder beginning a Bach fugue.

A good night indeed.

Barcelona: The World Is Calling

2008-02-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

A first visit to Barcelona reveals new sites, old acquaintances and a chilly misjudgment of the automatic doors on a regional train.

I’m in the middle of my first visit to Barcelona - to Spain, for that matter - even though I’ve worked all over Europe for years and even lived in Switzerland for a time.

Didn’t expect it to be quite so cold here on the Mediterranean coast, but it is Winter after all - the low season for tourists, which I’m happy about. The event I’m attending and writing a few articles on for Streaming Media magazine and streamingmedia.com, is the Mobile World Congress, a wireless mobile industry show that has grown to over 55,000 attendees.

So the tourists have been replaced by the American marketers, which is just as bad. Or worse (see the blog entry under Entrepreneurship for a glimpse at a new Valentine’s Day bouquet dispenser).

Barcelona has similarities to many European towns that host large trade events: the medieval city center, the beautiful cathedrals, lots of good food - and, for Europe, the latest dining experiences I’ve been to. But I found out today that it doesn’t share similarities with other cities when it comes to unlimited train passes.

Most cities, such as Amsterdam, give unlimited rides on the trams or metro / subways. Barcelona provided multi-day passes (3 for some people like myself, 5 for others of my colleagues) that were only good for one zona.

I didn’t realize this until I decided to take a quick train ride at the end of the day out toward Montserrat, a church and abbey that are accessible by train, then by cable car or funicular. The thought had been to use the last few hours of the day to use the “unlimited” pass to go out and see whether the funicular was working.

When we approached the stations that connect to Montserrat, I knew that Aril (the cable car stop) was not the one to get off at; when we approached the next Montserrat station, it was dark and it looked like we’d stopped short of the station. Come to find out, though, there wasn’t really a station - just a platform. By the time I figured this out about 10 seconds had passed and my attempts to open the train door were blocked by the fact that the warning lights (indicating that the doors are closing on the rest of the train) prevented me from disembarking.

So I stood patiently, balancing my bag and my weight as I stood at the door for the next few minutes to watch closely for signs of another platform and then got off at the next stop, which turned out to be about the equivalent of a rest stop on the Alaskan Highway - there was a platform, two benches and a train schedule. Oh, and a single track, which meant I had to wait quite some time in the cold, huddling in my travel sport coat to keep warm, while the train finished its run up another 15 km or so and then reversed course down the mountain.

I got on the next train with no trouble, but then received a stern lecture on the word “zona” when asked to present a ticket. Apparently unlimited was only for the metropolitan trains (with the same markings) even though my ticket let me enter the very train I was now on.

Press early, press often. And then live with it if you don’t get it right the first time. Brr.

Asilomar--A Derivation on Bay Area Design

2007-10-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

A visit to Asilomar provides a chance to walk on the beach at sunset, hear the tale of the FishWife, see the work of Julia Morgan and get to know oneself better.

To visit Asilomar is to step back in time, as the primary buildings are key works of Julia Morgan, one of the first female architects. Arts and Crafts and influences by Frank Lloyd Wright, Maybeck and others that later defined the Bay Area school of design, the buildings sit reverently perched just above the horizon overlooking the dunes and the ocean beyond. One of the buildings is a chapel, which may explain why it sits reverently, and this night it was being used by a women’s group from a large Baptist church near Sacramento. I stumbled on the meeting, but as a guy I suppose I would’ve been out of place.

Asilomar also provides introspective or eternal time in a place where limited cell and internet connectivity is rapidly disappearing, given the proximity of the golf courses encroaching on the land which now belongs to the state (it had originally been a YWCA camp, hence the chapel).

So who was Julia Morgan? She was one of the first women architects. Born in San Francisco and reared in Oakland, she received an undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of California in 1894, as the only woman to complete the program that year.

One of her instructors, architect Bernard Maybeck who would continue to influence her life’s work, suggested she study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. No women had ever been admitted to study there, and she was initially refused admission. During the two years she waited to be admitted, she entered many prestigious European architecture competitions – and won most of them. Morgan was eventually admitted to the school – and the field of architecture.

The rest, as they say, is history.

To London, By Cab, By George!

2007-10-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

Sam Mays gets his kicks on Rte A140, or perhaps a surface street in London, heading to the Imperial War Museum.

This has been a crazy trip: up to Chicago on Saturday via car – a 12 hour marathon drive – and then back to Lexington on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning to catch a flight to London for another trade show. We’re here til Sunday morning, after which we’ll come back stateside and I’ll go to San Francisco whilst Sam goes back to TRI.

Sam and I are both missing friends back home, and looking forward to seeing them soon after our respective returns, but the more pressing issue at the moment is to find the Imperial War Museum to visit a poster exhibit chock full of propaganda posters from The Great War, the inter-war years, World War II and Vietnam. Posters are split evenly between British, American and others (Russian, German, Spanish from the Franco era).

Two favorites from 1916: “Daddy, What Did You Do During the Great War?” and “Gee, I Wish I Were a Man . . . “ Can’t say the appeal on various levels of humiliation and tease (as well as others using honor or the “see the world” approach) weren’t in full force even in World War I.

Reserva de la Familia: Do Not Touch!

2007-02-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

A place of respite and music at the Jose Cuervo family estate in Tequila.

As part of our meetings in Guadalajara, the food was first rate. And the settings for two of the meals was also a travel experience to remember.

The first, in Tlaquepaque, was a dinner with the mayor and his wife, a chance to spend time up close with a mariachi band and shopping along the historic streets. The second, preceded by a bus ride of some magnitude, hosted by Senorita Tequila International, was in the small town of Tequila. The town, for the most part, is untouched and continues the way of most small towns in Jalisco; but it is also dominated by tequila production, with the most famous being Jose Cuervo (but not the best, according to several Mexican delegates). Reminds me, in an odd way, of our own small town in Tennessee, namely Lynchburg and its dominant industry, Jack Daniels Distillery.

While Lynchburg boasts Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House, a family style restaurant, it has nothing on the Jose Cuervo homestead, which offered a fabulous meal, a fashion show and lots of time to talk and eat. Then a tour of the distillery, culminating in a viewing of the family casks in the “dungeon” area. Just don’t touch, as one of our tour found out!

White Out, White Point, Nova Scotia

2007-01-27T20:47:00.000-08:00

Blizzard conditions elongated a long drive to White Point, Nova Scotia, with arrival in this fishing village pushed late into the night. Sunshine and morning, though, provided needed incentive to brave snowdrifts and icy wind to see what I’d come for.

Sometimes a place takes you by such surprise that you want to see it again, under any conditions.

That’s the only explanation I have for turning a five-hour drive into an eight-hour crawl through a remote part of Cape Breton, the remotest part of Nova Scotia. By the time I reached the fishing village of White Point, near Land’s End, it was well past midnight; I had already spun out five times, nearly wrecked twice, had no cell battery and very limited gas (I found out later that the gas stations close at 8pm). Upon arriving at White Point, the sign for the bed and breakfast wasn’t hanging on its hook and the lights were off across the village. Fearing I’d run off the road and into the bay, I backtracked to the top of the bluff – and found a snow plow operator about to turn back down the winding road to scrape more ice and throw more salt.

“Do you know where the Two Tittles is?” I shouted above the din, after having placed my rental car in the path of the plow. Yes, it is grammatically incorrect, since I left “B&B” off the name, but in this kind of weather, on this kind of night, every breath counts.

“Sure, follow me”, he said, and led me right back down to the house by the ocean that I thought might be the bed and breakfast. He pulled up along side the boats, spun the plow around and was gone, leaving me with silence, a roiling ocean and stars, as the storm began to abate.

“We didn’t think you were coming” said the startled owner, as I opened the side door that had thankfully been unlocked, after pounding on the door several times. “We turned the heat off in the guest room at 9, since we knew no one would be foolish enough to drive through that blizzard.”

He was still wondering the next day, recounting the story to his daughter and her husband as they came to bring by fish and chips from a local fish fry. Then he told them about how I’d set out early the next morning to visit the spot I came to see – a cemetery on the tip of the land that bore a tombstone to the unknown sailor, a cemetery I’d seen several years prior.

I didn’t know at the time, when we stumbled on the village during a summer detour off the Cabot Trail, that this was his family’s cemetery. We’d spied a tall white cross as we descended along the bay, then guessed at the road, drove until it stopped and then carried my son in a backpack out across the barren spit to the tall white cross and the cemetery that held Irish immigrants who settled in this part of New Scotland.

On this trip, I learned that the immigrants had hauled their boats up the cliff every night to keep the waves from dashing them against the tittles or the cliff, and that the families eventually moved a bit further inland as motorized boats allowed for maneuvering into a man-made harbor. One thing that hadn’t changed, though, was grinding sounds I’d heard on the cliff during that first visit, and which stayed with me during the interceding years, dragging me back to hear it again.

As the ocean flung boulders against the cliff and dragged them back again, relentlessly, on this bitterly cold winter day, I appreciated even more the tenuous grasp on life those early immigrant families faced as they tried to make a new life for themselves. White Point’s not a place of external wealth, by any means, but it’s a place where you see the continuum of life unabated for hundreds of years.

I hear they may even get cell service next summer. Maybe it’ll keep the idiot tourists from getting lost or stranded . . .

Some City in Europe Says You Have Rights

2006-08-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

Taken two years prior, during a 2004 trip to Geneva for the World Trade Center global assembly, the carousel is still a child magnet when we tour old city Geneva in Summer 2006.

The line “some city in Europe says you have rights” comes from a US version of a British show called, simply, The Office. The city in question, Geneva, has a long history of reform and progress, first as one of three recursive epicenters for the Protestant Reformation and now as the home of UN European operations and many NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations).

While most of my time in Geneva has been for business, including World Trade Center and brainstorming sessions for FP7 – a European Union multi-disciplinary research program that I’ve been involved with off and on via IDIAP and AMI – today was a family sightseeing day, showing the rest of the family what my two oldest children and I had found when we spent a morning here on the day we came to see the Tour de France.

We rode the train from Sion to GVA – Aéroport International de Genéve – to meet my sister-in-law who was coming over for a brief visit. We then dropped the bags at the central train station, stopped by the market for meal supplies and headed across the footbridge to visit the old city.

We passed through one of the gates of the old city, dropped postcards in La Post, made our way past the InterDiscount (which previously delighted my son with four floors of electronics and demo video game consoles!) and the carousel. After a brief stop to fill the water bottles at a fountain next to the Dante Alighieri room – imagine finding a société pour la diffusion de la langue et de la culture italienne in the heart of a French Swiss bastion straddling the border with France! – we finally climbed the steps to Rue Jean-Calvin.

Those of you who know me probably also know I have been influenced in my adult life by the Reformed teachings of Luther, Calvin and Knox. While I’m not keen to see the way these men are almost deified in Reformed circles (wasn’t that part of the issue the reformers had with the mother church as they broke away from Roman Catholicism?) it was still breathtaking to see the place where Calvin lived during his sojourn in Geneva.

His stop in Geneva in 1536, after fleeing Paris and religious persecution, was intended to be brief. The school he founded and pulpit he filled at St. Pierre Cathedral, however, ended up having a profound impact on the Scots Reformers such as John Knox and established Geneva as a city of refuge and international thought.

This day we rounded the corner on Rue Jean-Calvin and headed up to St. Pierre, where the north tower of the three-naved basilica offers a unique view over the city and lake and where a small playground is tucked away behind the imposing church. After a bit of merry-go-round and see-saw fun, we entered St. Pierre – and witnessed the Ugly American first hand.

She was at the information table near the front of the church, close by to where Calvin and others would ascend the pulpit to preach. We were waiting patiently behind her, to ask about the WC, as the children had been on the train for several hours.

She apparently thought she wanted a series of souvenir postcards and a book. What she really wanted was a free history lesson, in English, but when the attendant wouldn’t pay her enough attention and turned to help the next in line, she grabbed a handful of postcards, shoving one in his face.

“Who are these men?” she demanded. He, with a weary look, started to give her the names: Calvin, Farel, de Béze . . .

This litany was apparently too much; she then snatched up a book and said she could read all about them in there, and asked to purchase the book and the postcards. He replied the book was a reference and not for sale, as a label on the book clearly showed in several languages, which annoyed her more. He suggested helpfully that she could get the book in one of several bookstores in town and then told her the purchase price of the postcards.

She pulled out two bags – one with Swiss Francs, the other with Euros – from her purse and opened the Euros bag. I should have said something right then, but living for so many years in the South, politeness (and fascination at the growing comedy of errors) won the moment.

She counted the Euro coins aloud and then handed him the stack of coins. When he handed her back the postcards and a stack of coins that were higher than the stack she’d given him, though, she looked thoroughly confused.

Hoping to be helpful, and noting she sounded like she was a New Yorker, I explained in US English the reason for the second stack of coins: he was providing her change in Swiss Francs for her purchase in Euros, and Euros were worth much more per unit than Francs. His mouth twitched in a slight wry smile, a French Swiss equivalent to our wink and a nod.

“All the money is the same over here, and I can’t tell it apart,” she blurted to me as a pained expression passed over his face and his lips narrowed. “Why don’t they just use dollars – or at least the same money across all of Europe?”

A question to be pondered and debated, for sure, at the UN compound a few kilometers away, but not to be answered in haste by an American visiting a country whose independent streak is more than double his own country’s length of existence.

Tour de France -- In a Flash

2006-07-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

The peloton has moved on, and the drivers of the trailing chase cars are anxious to keep up with it. Yet they cannot pass the lone rider bringing up the rear of the Tour de France’s first day out of the mountains.

As a teenager who rode extensively, often 25 miles every few days, I was enthralled by Greg LeMond and other Tour de France legends. Watching the video shots of French families alongside the road, eating lunch and cheering on the breakaway group, the peleton and the stragglers, I tried to imagine what it would be like to stand there and cheer for hours.

It came as quite a surprise, then, in late July 2006, to find myself within a 2 hour train ride from a stage of the Tour de France. The two oldest kids and I rode the train from Sion to Geneva, arriving early enough see the tour in St. Julien, just across the border from Geneva via bus.

How long did it take for the breakaway, peloton and lone straggler to pass us? 26 seconds.

Well worth the trip.

UN CAFFÉ. AMERICANO? NO, ESPRESSO.

2006-02-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

A classic cup of espresso, known to the Italians simply as caffé, but to an American attempting to master even a small part of this beautiful language, a lesson in sounding real enough to order without saying the word.

A project in Turin, or Torino, depending on where you are from, affords an opportunity to be a key part of an Italian architectural, design and integration team. Well, at least until the concepts reach critical mass; with apologies, everyone else switches to Italian, and then the real work commences. For the rest of the team, it was a welcome relief not to have to think in one language and speak in another; for me, an effort in trying to keep up with not only the words I knew, but the words I needed to know to remain a contributor to the conversation. Am I there yet? By no means. Am I trying? Absolutely.

And the project progresses . . . at least until lunchtime.

Then it’s off to the local trattoria for bosco e mare, a harvest of shrimp, mussels, baby octopi and various other seafoods on linguini. Work is not discussed, although the stray Blackberry may momentarily bring a set of eyes away from the table and into intense focus; but the spell is broken by calls all around for caffé and discussions of where exactly Tennessee is in relation to Texas or Washington, DC, or Orlando. Work will come soon enough; we’re on sacred time, sacred enough to hear the greetings just before lunch change from buon giorno to buon appetito. Un caffé?

Passion Lives Here. Live Olympic.

2006-02-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

Skis as Fries for McDonalds; “Passion Lives Here”; “Live Olympic” from Coca-Cola; these are the sites and sounds of the Torino Winter Olympic Games in February 2006.

Torino hosts the Winter Olympic Games this month. I am here on a different mission, though: assess the technology integration challenges for a new training facility in a building on Via Septembre XX – a building steeped in the history of a unified Italy. 20 September 1870 was the day a cannonade of three hours breached the Aurelian Walls, allowing Italian sharpshooters to enter Rome, which was soon annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.

Born 100 years later, I learn this history as I move throughout a city crowded with revelers. My client and close friend, Matt Taylor, sends me to Torino at the height of the Olympic Games. Given three days’ notice, this means staying in Milan – about two hours away via train – I only slightly protest. When Matt calls, the project is always challenging personally and professionally rewarding. Plus, having lived in Lake Placid just before the Miracle on Ice – the 1980 Winter Olympics US-USSR hockey match – I’m drawn to the Olympic spectacle and spirit. So I go . . .

Through A Screen, Brigthly

2005-04-03T05:14:00.000-07:00

A birthday morning surprise, looking out a window of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai (Bombay) at the green-carpeted quad beside India Gate.

Today, I am 35. Today, I am in Mumbai.

I arrived early this morning, landing around 4am; the ride from the airport, which was covered in haze, was as surreal as it was dimly lit. Racing along the Necklace on empty streets, we arrive at the Taj Mahal Hotel; peering through my room’s screened-in window, I see nothing of India Gate. Once called Prince Albert Gate, a gift to the citizens when the city was known as Bombay, it reveals itself in a glorious spring morning. The park, quad and statue commemorate Chhatrapati Shivaji, who united India against the British.

Montreux by Jazz and Lamplight

2004-10-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

Like the lamp post in The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, a light on the Montreux walking path alongside Lake Geneva provides a beacon to guide the way.

Having finished our presentation to the WTC General Assembly in Geneva, our small group travels to the other end of Lake Geneva, to the town of Montreux – home to the famous Montreux Jazz Festival, which is now in its 38th year.

Along the way, we almost lose two of the group, as the change of trains in Lausanne comes quicker than expected. We reconnect and, in our haste, end up on the slow train from Lausanne to Montreux. We stop in each little town, arriving at Montreux just before dark. A colleague from the digital media consulting part of my life lives here, having moved from Sacramento just the year before. Her family greets us, shows us the view across the lake from their apartment window and then suggests a walk along the lake.

We walk for about an hour, reaching Chillon shortly after nightfall, its battlements lit by electric spotlights reminiscent of torchlight on these same walls as Chillon repelled medieval attacks.