Answers to Your Search Term Questions

I take a look at the search terms used to find the Wandering Blogger. It helps give me a sense of what interests you. Looking at yesterday’s and today’s activity, it looks like a few of my readers are looking for answers. Just in case you didn’t find them before, I’ll make them explicit now.

Today, someone wanted to learn about the “JetBlue Customer Commitment Team”. Interesting. If there is such a group, I’m pretty sure they’re just as ineffective as everyone else at JetBlue. This airline seems committed to stranding people in airports, and that’s about it. So, if you have a choice between JetBlue and any other airline, take the latter.

Speaking of JetBlue, it appears to be my most popular search term. Readers have hunted for the following:

• JetBlue diverted
• JetBlue Newark delays 2008
• JetBlue flight cancellations August 17

Some of those were pretty specific. I guess someone else got screwed by JetBlue …

One reader wants to know how long it takes to get from Reykjavik to the Blue Lagoon resort in Iceland. It’s about 45 minutes by bus, though you can probably get there a bit faster if you rent a car. I absolutely loved my trip to Blue Lagoon, so check out my blog entry on it.

For the reader who wants to know what to pack for a trip to Nice, France in August: it gets hot. I’d go with shorts and short-sleeved shirts. Yes, you’ll stand out as an American, but live with it. They’d have figured it out from the cowboy hat anyway. Definitely pack a bathing suit, but keep in mind that the beaches are different in southern France. Instead of having sand, they have smoth stones. They won’t hurt your feet, but it makes building castles a tad more difficult.

A few stragglers:

Internext Hollywood 2008 was probably for someone looking for pictures of hotties rather than coverage of my amazing panel on the adult economy. One would-be traveler is interested in the “Grand Spa at Tabacon,” and another has an interest in North Korea’s 2009 Mass Games. Well, he should know that Arirang will not be held next year, so it’s 2008 or 2012. Act now.

Of course, if you ever run out of travel ideas, you can always check out my column at TraderDaily.com >>

New Reviews on TripAdvisor

As you know, I’ve been traveling a lot lately. So, I’ve done my duty as an online citizen and posted reviews to TripAdvisor.com. I have three new additions to the party:

• Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, FL >>
• Hotel St Paul, Montreal, Quebec, Canada >>
• Westin Diplomat, Hollywood, FL >>

Yeah, I’ve been spending a lot of time in Florida lately. I’m not thrilled about that fact. Florida’s not usually at the top of my list at any time of the year, and summer is the worst.

Check out my hotel in Hollywood, FL

I wasn’t looking forward to Hollywood, FL. But, I have to admit, the hotel, the Westin Diplomat, is excellent. Not only do they have bathrobes here, but the room itself is amazing. It is quite large, and there is a bathroom area (not including the toilet) that opens into the bedroom. The bathtub is almost impressive. I haven’t been onto the balcony yet. It’s on the 30th floor and has a great few, but I can get the view without stepping onto it. I’m not crazy about heights, so I’ll pass on putting my life at risk.

I suspect this place will get a good review from me on TripAdvisor, but I’m not planning to say anything nice about the restaurant. The food was decent, but the service was absolutely awful. It took forever for someone to take my order. Much later, when they realized how pissed I was, the service improved, but the waiter seemed to be overcomensating.

I Hate to Fly

This isn’t a fear issue. I’ve never been afraid to fly, and I’ve spent more time on planes at my tender age than most people will in their entire lives. I’ve had super-duper-elite-medallion-preferred status on several airlines at the same time. But, for some reason, I have not gotten used to what flying entails.

I made it to LaGuardia airport an hour before my flight, already pissed because I was under the gun for a day job deadline. I was starving and dropped my pizza on the floor. Of course, I screamed an obscenity, though it was my own fucking fault. Just a reference point– this is the type of mood I was in.

Well, I guess I still haven’t learned that everyone working in an airport is fucking inept. Quadruple espresso: how fucking hard is that? But, I get it. This is to were the folks who will cure cancer someday wind up. I’m coming to accept this.

I have particular hatred for infrequent travelers. Though I’m no longer on the road 40+ weeks a year(how I hated those days …), I do still get to an airport almost monthly, and I’ve been a pretty frequent traveler for more than a decade. My point: I know how to behave in an airport. These other dimwits don’t. It drives me out of my fucking mind to see them fuck everything up (like not taking laptops out of bags until at the x-ray machine.

If you can’t, read signs and follow instructions, you belong on a fucking bus.

On the Road … Again

I’m hand-writing this on the plane, so by the time you read it, I’ll be comfortably ensconced in my room at the Westin Diplomat. Yep, I’m goin’ to Hollywood. Well, Hollywood, FL. It wasn’t my first choice (I’m not terribly crazy about Florida, especially in the summer). But, I was invited to speak at a conference. To do so, I had to haul my ass down to Florida. While I’m down here, I plan to conduct a few interviews and drum up a handful of new sources. You’ll see the results in my AVN column over the next several months.

Hitting the road again soon

On Thursday morning, I’m hopping on a plane again. The timing is perfect, as I could really use a chance to recharge. The past few weeks have been pretty tough. The rush is over, but I’m having trouble getting my energy back up. So, a break will be nice. I’m headed up to Montreal to check the city out for my travel column. I’ll be up there for four days, and I haven’t been in about 15 years. On my last trip, I spent more time on the slopes than I did in the city, so this is really my first trip to Montreal. My French is a bit rusty, but I hope it will suffice.

After that, I’m home for a weekend and hope to check out the Salvador Dali exhibit at MoMA. Julio Aguilera says great things about it, and he’s a reliable source. I’m going, and you should, too. After that, the travel heats up again. On August 2/3, I’ll be in Philly at the HotMovies.com party with Pornsaints.org. Julio will be showing paintings from his “Ladies of San Fernando Valley” series for the first time at the accompanying art show. Finally, I’ll be at Internext in Hollywood, FL from August 8 to August 10. Following Internext, I hope to be home for about two months.

So, I should have plenty of new material coming soon. I’ve just been jammed lately.

And no, I won’t be flying JetBlue.