Tag: PreCheck
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Podcast #199 — Smile for Security: Facial Recognition in Travel
Using my face as my boarding pass to get on a flight to Oaxaca, Mexico and then as my passport to get back in the US got me thinking about how facial recognition has permeated the travel experience. To help us understand where this is going, we talk with two travel industry experts, Dr. Sheldon Jacobson and Henry Harteveldt. But… Continue Reading →
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Podcast #176 — Why Business Travel Is Coming Back; Learning Airport History
Business travelers are getting itchy. They know Zoom calls can’t replace a face-to-face meeting, but they can’t meet with people who aren’t in their offices yet. We also talk about how surprisingly great the LaGuardia Terminal B renovation is, and then talk about airport history with Professor Janet Bednarek, professor of history at University of Dayton. All this and more… Continue Reading →
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Podcast #175 — How to Find Local Tour Guides; Rebuild Travel Muscles
I can feel travel beginning to come back. TSA checkpoint volumes are hitting post-pandemic highs, business travelers are starting to come out from behind their Zoom sessions, and vaccination rates are prompting more people to make travel plans. So on this episode, we first talk to Paul Melhus, CEO of ToursByLocals about the state of the local tour market and… Continue Reading →
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10 Best Travel Gift Ideas for These Unprecedented Times
With public health officials saying things like “it will be easily by the end of 2021 and perhaps into the next year before we start having some semblance of normality,” I figured this year’s travel gift guide would need to be a bit different. Here are my top shopping ideas for your pandemic traveler. Comfortable Masks — If your traveler… Continue Reading →
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10 Best Gift Ideas for a New Traveler
Coming into the heart of the Christmas shopping season, when people are getting desperate for gift ideas, I thought I’d offer up 10 suggestions for gifts that a new frequent traveler will actually use. While many gift lists are pushing Away luggage, Huzi infinity pillows, and Aesop travel kits (these companies must’ve splashed a lot of samples around the blog-o-sphere),… Continue Reading →
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Podcast #132 — Travel Apps on My Phone
It’s a listener request podcast. A fellow Peacock, this one named Jack, asked “What travel apps do you have on your iPhone?” Paging back through the TravelCommons archives, I’ve covered different categories of travel apps, — in the most recent iteration of my Top 10 Travel Tips I recommended some flight tracking apps and way before that, did a bake-off… Continue Reading →
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Podcast #117 — Random Thoughts About Eggs, Scotland & Car Rentals
Apologies in advance because this is pretty much a stream-of-consciousness episode, with semi-strung together thoughts about eggs, car rentals, seeing the Pope, travel food, and stuff from my September trip to Scotland. I talk about how handy I found the new Revolut service for spending and sending money in Europe; recent good and bad experiences with Hertz and other car rentals; most… Continue Reading →
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Podcast #116 — Traveling Thru Japan; Luggage Trends
Back behind the microphone after an extended summer break highlighted by a two-week family vacation in Japan. We talk about traveling in Japan. It was a fantastic time, though we were lost without translation at times. But with the US dollar buying 124 yen, it was the right time to go. We also talk about frustration in using frequent flier… Continue Reading →