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I'm not a good texter... Here it is!

Since this is a travel

Since this is a travel blog, i had better set up my mobile blogging! special Bonus: the view from my sixth-floor walk-up.

Manual boarding passes

Here's something interesting to us youngins: I often consider the technological advances and new hip additions to airplanes, even in their floundering corporate states. (My current favorite is the set of headrest side flaps that can be pulled out to support you while you sleep, which I've found on Lufthansa, Delta 'Song' & United 'Ted' planes-- yes, I am a chin-buster while drifting off). But I really haven't ever considered the check-in process pre-computer.

On my trip down to Mississippi last week, Air Tran's entire computer system was down. Entire as in nationwide, including the web. Here's what happened...

1. After wait in especially long check-in line at La Guardia, the clerk scribbled my flight number, city, and initialed a photocopied scrap of paper. Read: manual boarding pass.
2. Air Tran information would not display on any departure/arrival or gate screens, so my coworker and I asked around until we found our gate.
3. Those lucky enough to have checked in online before the system shut-down boarded into their prescribed seat.
4. Everyone else was herded onto the plane (Surprisingly, this turned out to be more orderly than boarding other recent flights where the airline computers randomly separated couples).

In Atlanta, our layover pre-Memphis, is where it got hairy..

5. My coworker and I learn from an airport attendant our new gate number.
6. We "check-in" at said gate, where the employee informs us that our itinerary number will be valid for use .
7. We return to gate 40 min. later to wait for those with website pre-printed boarding passes to board, or any with "manual boarding passes" issued in Atlanta. Green ones, pink ones, white ones, any-color ones.
8. A different airline employee reads names off of a list for boarding in "any open seat"-- what list you ask? Oh, the one that was started after we went to the gate less than an hour before. No official manifest needed. Now, how does that work?

Luckily, we were the 3rd & 4th to last people to board the last plane to Memphis that night. I wonder if/how Air Tran compensated those 10 or so people that were left behind?!?

Senatobia, Mississippi

I wish my hotel hadn’t cast a creepy-I’m-going-to-get-mugged shadow over my stay down south. I actually visited this Memphis outlier for work—one of our magazines prints in the RR Donnelley plant down there. Unfortunately, it worked out that I would stay on the ground floor of the Senatobia Days Inn, with a window facing the parking lot. A parking lot that hosted a few sketchy cars produced in the 1980’s & two loitering men. Since I arrived around 1am, there really wasn’t an available fix to the situation, other than bolting the door, pulling the curtains as tight as possible and decisively using the lights for as short a time as possible as to not attract attention to my room. Oh and praying myself to sleep.

Luckily, the trip turned around the next day (when I woke up alive and well!) In addition to the RR Donnelley plant, which employs around 250 people according to my Customer Service Rep, Senatobia (pop. 6,682) also has the cutest Mexican restaurant outside of Mexico (Rio Lindo Mexican Restaurant)! The inside houses a fountain, patio type floors, and adorable decorations that truly transport you to a vacation spot south of the border. I definitely recommend this to anyone passing through tiny Senatobia – but just don’t stay on the ground floor of a local motel. I certainly never will again.

Summer sports

Now that spring is finally here, it's fun to spend some time outdoors! My favorite way to do this is by relaxing with a lemonade & a book in a hammock-- but once I grow restless of that, golf is a nice change of pace. Although the game can be quite difficult for me (or anyone!), I love that golf just keeps on giving-- whether it's a nice connection between a friend & me, a golf-based trip in some beautifully green part of the world, or business-made-fun.

This past weekend Geoff and I played the Herndon Centennial Golf Course for only $28 a round (walking)! The course was nice -- forgiving, but with enough bunkers & water hazards to mix it up and make it interesting. Definitely worth the money; especially since the front 9 were probably my best ever. Feel good factor! Herndon Centennial's rates are a bit higher during midday over the summer weekends, but they drop down to $28/18 holes after 4pm-- fantastic for a location 30 min. from the city. See the website for details.

Another great resource is this washingtonpost.com article rating their favorite public golf courses around the metro D.C. area. I found their pricing information to be based on weekday rates rather than weekends, but it definitely is a great way to try out a new playing field.

Has anyone found similar articles for their respective areas? Feel free to post here!

NYC --> DC Transport

I think my coworkers are pretty over hearing me drag my little roll-y bag across the 2nd and 3rd floors of our office space every Friday morning and afternoon. My main motive for this, however, is that I can get to DC (to visit my boyfriend) cheap and quite easily by simply taking the bus. Sure, the train is great for those who commute for work and their firm picks up the tab, and quite fine for anyone on a big "DC Weekend! trip." But for those of us (and there are quite a lot of 'regulars') who go back and forth all the time-- I've found the bus to be the best way.

My favorite company is Vamoose Bus because:
a. it loads 5 blocks from my office, just on W 31st between 7th and 8th Aves
b. it drops off in both Bethesda, MD and Rosslyn, VA-- much more convenient for many travelers than an actual DC location
c. multiple rides per day
d. it's express service (other than the sometimes rest-stop)
e. they often play movies
f. the leg room is generally much better than any other bus companies I've found
g. $25 each way, and with every 4 ticket stubs you receive a free ride!

Sure, I know Chinatown buses, and even Washington Deluxe are slightly cheaper, but I don't find them a better bet. After taking a Premium bus where the door flapped open throughout the 4.5 hr trip and I'm 99% sure my driver was on drugs, or learning that the Fung-Wah bus flipped over en route to Boston from NYC, I'm not such a fan. I've found Washington Deluxe employees to be generally disgruntled, plus their buses are designed for those 5'6" and under. Therefore, Vamoose Bus earns my cash for at least 24-36 rides per year!

Southern Comfort

After a few years spent in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and plenty of visits to Atlanta and more, I can certainly say I've seen my fair share of the down-home Southern bar scene. But I've realized since moving to flashy Manhattan, with all of its glitzy rooftop hotspots and exciting W. 27th nightclubs, that many have yet to go to the kind of bar where you can count on hearing Alabama's "Dixieland Delight" at midnight.

Sure, New Yorkers can pretend to rock out dixie-style at places like Brother Jimmy's, the allegedly All-ACC bar on the Upper East and West Sides. But I've found on weekend nights, the places are filled to capacity with none other than Columbia students. And there are a number of self-proclaimed dive bars who thrive on white-collared Midtown types who assert they keep it real by drinking $2 PBR. Personally, I was definitely craving a carefree night, where it's warm enough in April to leave the jacket at home, where you create your own dance floor right against the actual bar and it's cool with everyone, and where the bud light bottles really are $2.

On a recent visit to Charlotte, NC I got just that-- plus a piercing lemon drop in a clear plastic solo cup-- on a weekend visiting friends. The local pick was Dixie's Tavern, but I'm sure others would have sufficed as well. One of the best nights I've had in awhile; the kind where you dance like hell until the wee hours of the morning (or 2am by Charlotte law). And you'd be surprised who you meet down south; there's a swell of finance and banking going on in more cities than one. So next time you take a trip to the Dirrrty South, make sure to give a wild & unpretentious bar a try-- you might find yourself having a surprisingly (or not?) fantastic time.