:: travellingcari ::

Travel by bus...

2008-10-13T18:35:00.000-07:00

For the first time since September 2005, I rode the big Grey Dog (aka Greyhound) this weekend. When I read Ticket to Ride I remember thinking I was glad Greyhound in Australia was a far higher quality than it here in the US, and I really didn't expect to ever ride it here. That said, I also didn't feel like driving to and from Boston on a holiday weekend and didn't want to have to go get my car. So bus options it was.

Originally intended to take one of the cheap buses: MegaBus, Bolt, etc. -- higher quality than Fung Wah, but cheaper than Peter Pan, Greyhound, etc. but I'd left it too long to confirm my plans and they weren't any cheaper. I booked through Peter Pan and Saturday AM was a Pan bus, but today's return was on Greyhound.

Port Authority on Saturday morning was _interesting_ as was the bus crowd. I got an aisle seat across from the bathroom -- says all you need to know. I slept almost the whole ride so it was no big deal. Today was a nicer, less crowded bus. Younger crowd.

Neither bus was fitted with TVs, which were a mainstay on the Australian routes. We stopped at a rest stop on the way back to NY tonight -- that was definitely reminiscent. I almost was looking for meat pies and sausage rolls!

Travel agents or not

2008-10-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

There's always a mixed bag of reviews on travel agents. You hear you find better deals with them, better without them, they help you, they hurt you... And that's without even getting into the online travel agents like Expedia, etc. What is the answer?

Honestly I think it depends. Here in the US, I'm not likely to use one -- I don't think I ever have other than the first trip to Japan. My parents did for some trips before the web was prevalent, but I wasn't really booking independent trips at that point. By the time I was in college and independently booking travel, it was all about the web, pretty much. When I accepted the job with Nova I used their travel agent to book my flights because it was simpler for a one year open-ended return. I probably wouldn't do that again. I did use Air-Treks when I went US-Fiji-Australia in November 2004, but that I view as essentially similar to using Travelocity.

When I've been overseas it's different... When in Spain in Jan 2003 and planning to come home sooner than planned, I walked into a travel agent on Wednesday and bought a one-way ticket home for Sunday. Easy peasy. In Japan I can't imagine not using a travel agent -- the befuddling thing was having to pay cash for tickets. In Australia, both when I was there in 2002 and bought as last-minute one-way ticket from Brisbane to Melbourne and in 2004/5 when I was booking travel, agents were far more common.

Is it cultural? I don't really know. What do you think?

I miss this...

2008-10-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

no really, I miss this and the travel that generated it. I've tried to regenerate that, but I realise I hate trying to make WordPress work, so I'm here. Plus, according to my Facebook countdown app, there are only 57 days and 15 hours until Cancun. Until I leave for Cancun anywhoo. Flying AA via Miami. Should be interesting, plus I signed up for SPG® You Choose and I'll get double points on the four nights, woohoo!

I opened Google Reader today for the first time in many moons -- I've really been away from blogging as a whole. I swear the decline of blogging for me came with my discovery of Wikipedia, but anywhoo. Was reading The Gate, I've been reading FlyerTalk but I missed a lot and catching up is good. I need to read more from BoardingArea to fully catch up, although I think I already have most of their blogs in Reader.

This thread just made me laugh after my alarm didn't go off a few weeks ago and I was late to work. Now the cell phone is a necessary back up because there was another day when I was up before the alarm and it clicked but it didn't go off. Not good.

Last Ride

2008-09-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

Today's am new york says it all: Last Ride

They've finally made the decision to close Astroland Park, effective Sunday. It's such a part of my childhood, but it's also hugely symptomatic of the changing face of Coney Island and Brooklyn as a whole. While I didn't spend as much time as others, I can't imagine explaining the context of Coney Island without Astroland Park, although the Cyclone will remain.

First post... not really....

2008-09-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

There was a blog. It lived here. It really didn't get updated. Then its author started to realise she missed blogging. She's now here.