Informed Traveling

Annapolis, Maryland

2011-06-19T12:31:51Z

Yesterday my family and I traveled to Annapolis, Maryland for the day. I went to the Maryland Law Library at the Court of Special Appeals, and everyone else went shopping!

Its a beautiful place. Right on the water with a nice harbor, its a serious tourist trap, too, though.

The Law Library is an amazing place, seriously. They have access to LexisNexis, which makes researching case reports much, much easier.

With regards to downtown Annapolis, started out with a visit to Capital Teas. After that, we went out to lunch at Cafe Normandie, which was terrific. I had the Salade Niçoise with fresh tuna. Yummy!

After I went to the law library, I met a friend at City Dock Coffee on Maryland Ave.

There are a couple of really cool characteristics of Annapolis. First off, its a small city by the sea. It has an irresistible charm - as long as its not too packed with tourists, but hey - we were tourists too! Second, its an old city, with lots of colonial style architecture - which I appreciate being from Boston and all. Third, it is the Maryland State Capitol - so there are some amazing government buildings.

All in all, I’m glad I’ve visited Annapolis a couple of times while living here in Maryland, and I’m looking forward to going back. Sure, its almost an hour drive, but its worth it, especially since I have a friend to visit there.

Good Ol' Gettysburg

2011-03-18T03:23:52Z

Last weekend I went to Gettysburg and had a really terrific time.

I went to dinner at a couple of different restaurants, including Bella Italia and The Inn at Herr Ridge.

While totally different types of restaurants, they were both totally delicious. Bella Italia is amazing Italian food; The Inn at Herr Ridge is amazing French food.

At Bella Italia, I ordered a “small” Sicilian style pizza. The “small” is actually very, very big. It nine slices of large pizza - enough for dinner and three lunches! My type of pizza. :-)

At The Inn at Herr Ridge, they were having a special: a three piece meal for $35; though the small dishes counted as two of the three. I ordered a small dish, a pastry dish with creme fresh, caramelized onion and some Sopprasseta. It was so good. In addition to that, I had the filet mignon - which normally is priced at $34, so the special was quite a great deal.

For dessert at the Inn at Herr Ridge, I had some chocolate cheesecake, and it was amazing.

I also went to a winery - the Hauser Estate. The view was phenomenal! I would like to go back some day.

TF Green Skywalk to Rental Cars and a Poorly Designed Parking Garage

2010-11-14T15:16:22Z

If you are flying into TF Green airport in Waverly, Rhode Island for awhile and are planning to rent a car, get ready for a serious walk after you arrive.

The rental car agencies have been moved from the bottom of the stairs at the arrivals area to the third floor (above the arrivals), and all the way across the skywalk. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy walking, but this is a wee bit ridiculous!

While that’s a minor inconvenience, the rental car parking garage is another story. The “spirals” going up and down the floors have ninety degree angle turns - four for each floor. Yes, lots of people are going to crash while entering and exiting the garage. In my humble opinion, they are not the ones to blame, the designer of the garage is.

What do you think of the new rental care / parking garage setup at TF Green?

JetBlue's Traveler's Bill of Rights and the Travel Bank

2010-10-02T18:10:30Z

My JetBlue flight on Thursday was twice delayed: once leaving due to our plane getting delayed from its previous airport, and once arriving due to a malfunctioning jetway.

Hello, Thanks for the $25 travel voucher, but it was only given to my two year old daughter, not to me. Please advise.

The flight was bad, but I've had worse on Southwest and received no compensation whatsoever.

JetBlue versus Mother Nature

2010-09-30T19:12:50Z

Maryland got soaked with rain last night and this morning, and while the spouts are off while I write this, the forecast is for more heavy rains within the next couple of hours.

So I have to ask - why is JetBlue flight 1326 from Baltimore to Boston, scheduled to leave at 4:35PM, getting delayed until 5:50PM?

According to the forecast, the chance of precipitation at 4:30PM is about 70%, while at 5:50 it is 100%! So why the delay? Seems like they are quite convinced of the weather later this evening, flight 1328 which was scheduled to leave at 7:35PM has already been canceled.

I really hope that our flight does not get canceled! I’m flying to Boston with my two year old daughter so a delay is bad enough. Having to drive back to Bethesda tonight and then back to Baltimore again tomorrow would really stink!

JetBlue's Online Boarding Pass Printing Process

2010-09-30T19:03:49Z

I can’t believe it, but its true - JetBlue’s online boarding pass printing process depends on… wait for it… Flash.

Seriously? Yep. Ridiculous, I know.

What’s worse is the printing process. Look at this screen capture of my CUPS interface:

On-Time Flights

2010-09-04T13:05:20Z

Thanks to JetBlue, I recently discovered that it is possible to view the performance of flight route on-time arrivals.

I discovered this when booking a flight from Baltimore to Boston on JetBlue.com and the web interface displayed a tip notifying me that I could click on a flight number to see how often that flight arrives on time.

It even works on Southwest.com! Next time I book a flight I'll take a screenshot and post it here.

UPDATE: The stats were right! Both my flights were on time!!

Kauai, Hawaii

2010-08-09T18:24:16Z

The western coastline of Kauai, Hawaii is truly magnificent. I visited there several years ago and probably won't go back for many years to come as its just too far a flight from the east coast of North America.

Crazy Pawtucket Weather

2010-08-05T20:41:24Z

Yes, those are some seriously menacing looking clouds creeping over the horizon. It started raining cats and dogs shortly after I snapped this photo, which was taken in mid-July 2010.

Catalina Island

2010-08-05T20:10:38Z

My best friend from growing up is getting married next weekend and to celebrate the conclusion of his bachelorhood (a.k.a. a bachelor party), a bunch of us got together, chartered a big-ass sailboat and sailed from Los Angeles to Catalina.

Catalina is a large island about fifty miles away from Los Angeles, so it took us about six hours to sail there, sometimes aided by the engine. The island has one primary town named Avalon, where the coastline is studded with condos and even a fancy casino converted to a museum - of what? I'm not certain, though as you might imagine, it gave our crew of salty dogs plenty of entertainment trying to come up with the most far out purpose for the museum!

Its a beautiful island, but we actually spent most of our time on the boat and in the water. Its a very natural and raw area, but there were still tons of people around - mostly people in sea kayaks. I don't think I've even seen as many sea kayaks in my entire life combined than I say that weekend in Catalina.

The Weather in Catalina

Being southern California, the weather was awesome. Being on the ocean, it got brisk at times, but that was no excuse for me to go light on the sunblock! I lathered it on thick every few hours and still managed to get some color on my face, and some burn on my knees.

Things To Do in Catalina

So what types of activities does Catalina offer? Here's a couple things we did:

Swimming - the water was cold at first, but very salty which made it a little easier to float in
Snorkeling - the water was a tiny bit cloudy, I guess because it had a lot of oxygen in it from the tidal patterns along the coast. There were plenty of small, boring fish, but the one that was very cool to see was the garibaldi, a bright orange fish that sort of just hangs out underwater.
Dining - we went into town one night and had a delicious dinner at the Avalon Grille.
Karaoke - there is a karaoke bar right on the main street in Avalon, and we went in and signed up, but ended up returning to the boat as we had to make two trips.

Activities available on Catalina which we didn't try, but witnessed or heard about:

Hiking - Catalina has some amazing hills.
Kayaking - the kayaking is impossible to miss.
Parasailing - looks like fun, but not for me!

Catalina Transportation

For those who opt not to rent a 40' Benetau sailboat to sail to Catalina, there is a ferry which travels between Long Beach and Avalon on a regular schedule.

One other cool thing about Catalina is that while there are some regular sized vehicles on the island, most of the cars are simple neighborhood electric vehicles - such a great idea!

Classic American Airlines

2010-08-05T08:11:33Z

Hardly visible, but this plane was way too cool to not try and take a picture of:

What do you think of it? How old is it?

UPDATE: I accidentally deleted the picture of the Classic American Airlines picture so I decided to use this "Air China" picture as a joke instead.

International Building in Los Angeles at the LAX Airport

2010-08-05T07:45:05Z

I just got back from my weekend stint in Los Angeles where I went on an awesome sailing excursion with a bunch of my old friends.

Since several of us were traveling, it made sense to share cabs and rides to and from the airport. My flight left the latest, so I spent a few hours in the International Building, where I took this photograph.

LAX is an interesting airport. Some of it is totally disheveled, while other parts are in great condition. What's even more interesting is the messages announced over the loud speakers: "This airport does not sponsor volunteers. Travelers are not required to give them compensation."

I had to ask myself - what's that all about?? No sooner was I greeted by a "volunteer", complete with laminated identification card hanging around his neck, who offered to help me find what I was looking for. When I explained I was simply waiting, he started in on his volunteering efforts with children. Ah. OK. There are professional beggars in Los Angeles! Sorry pal, I'm not in a position to assist!

Three Hour Tarmac Limit versus Southwest Airlines

2010-07-21T16:34:33Z

I flew from Providence to Baltimore this past Monday and unfortunately the flight was seriously delayed. It was first delayed from 5:25PM to 6:10PM, and then once we boarded and headed towards the runway, all eastern flight routes were shut down due to weather!

We sat and sat for almost two hours! I was with my two year old daughter, and while she was really well behaved, I knew we both could only take so much of sitting and playing with her Elmo sticker book. When a flight attendant came by with some pretzels, I asked if there was indeed a three hour limit to sitting on the tarmac. She confirmed it, but said she's never experienced so long a delay. I said I hoped we'd take off before then, but I'd rather not stay sitting for longer than three hours.

And what a surprise - in the news today was a report about how flight cancellations have increased since the passenger's bill of rights was signed into law.

Lastly, I overheard another passenger say that the Monday Southwest flights from Providence to Baltimore are more often than not delayed. I have no idea if he is correct, but I won't be able to not take that into consideration!

Oh and one more thing - a note to self - remember to take all empty juice boxes out of your pockets before going through the metal detector - they set off the alarm!

Wait! There is more! While in-flight, my daughter and I were able to view lightening from above. Really an awesome view, something I've never seen before.

US Airways Airplane

2010-07-20T22:46:04Z

I flew Southwest this past weekend from Baltimore to Providence, and I was able to snap this photograph of a US Airways airplane.

Flying to TF Green

2010-07-13T14:47:47Z

This weekend my two year old daughter and I are flying to Providence, Rhode Island to visit with my family in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

I bought the plane tickets a couple weeks ago and had to buy her tickets too, because she is over two years and must have her own seat.

I just made the car rental reservation. I often use Thrifty, but not at TF Greene because it requires a ride in their courtesy shuttle down the street, whereas with Avis or Hertz you can just walk there - much easier with a toddler! I've rented with Hertz before, though the first time I was annoyed because although I "checked-in online", the Hertz facility at TF Green does not have the equipment to support it.

I don't think I've actually ever rented from Avis, but their prices were much better than Hertz this time around - plus I got a bigger car and a coupon for up to 20% off by using my Mastercard!

Now I'm going to review the toddler air travel checklist and a packing list I previously made for traveling to New England, though that time I drove - this time I am flying.