31 Comments
Updates: See more recent posts on the Frequent Flyer Challenge or visit our companion site for the latest card offers. *** On November 5th I’ll release my final Unconventional Guide of 2009. The goal of the project is to democratize free travel. As part of the preparations, I wanted to take you behind the scenes ...
Read More
Friends and readers, greetings from AA flight 84, en route to the Dallas Ft-Worth airport. I’ve been there several times recently, and am thinking of setting up a tent around A-20. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to our meetup in Washington, D.C. on Thursday night. I had a great time and was humbled as usual by all the fun and interesting people who showed up.
Read MoreThis video update was recorded after my recent trip to San Diego. What a great place! Thanks to everyone who came out to welcome me. Note: my assistant makes a guest appearance early in the video, so even if you were upset about my support for healthcare reform, you still might want to watch.
Read More
65 Comments
I read an interesting article in USA Today recently, which profiled seven people who unexpectedly lost their job, then turned around to create a situation better than the one they lost. From a bus driver to a piñata maker, each of these very different individuals used the negative experience of being laid off to make an even bigger, positive change ...
Read More
92 Comments
Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said this in response to questions about civil rights and the law. The point was that morality and the law are not always on the same side. I often think about this as I ponder the social and political issues of our time. The question that comes to mind is: What about now?
Read More
39 Comments
This is the story of John T. Unger, a working artist who actually makes a good living. Despite the recession, each month in 2009 he’s made more money than in the same month last year, in addition to more than he did in every corporate job held long ago.
Read More
54 Comments
Today is Blog Action Day, where the blogging world (such as it is) unites to write about a single topic. I know, so conventional—but in this case, I don’t mind going with the flow. The theme this year is Climate Change, so I thought I’d contribute something about travel and its impact on the world ...
Read More
83 Comments
Just say no. Assert your boundaries. You can't do it all. There's a time and a place for everything, sure, but is that always the best advice? Whenever I hear things like “Say no five times for every time you say yes,” I think... “Really?” I take the opposite approach, and it generally works out just fine.
Read More
This site update comes to you live from Portland, Oregon. Welcome to Autumn! If all goes well, I expect to turn in the manuscript of my first book to the publisher by the end of the month ...
Read More
22 Comments
My travel goal takes me to a lot of places, and the trips don’t always play out the way I expect. Things go wrong. Some trips are thrilling, some are boring, and most are somewhere in between.
Someone asked me recently, aren’t you on The Amazing Race? I saw you jumping around in taxis in Thailand.
Wrong guy.
My answer: “No, I’m doing my own Amazing Race. It’s better than the one on TV.”
Read More
22 Comments
In 2005, U.N. Secretary General Koffi Annan was struggling with a series of scandals and other challenges in his administration. I read this short quote in a magazine interview with him and wrote it down in my notebook:
Question: Senator Coleman says you are 'damaged goods.' What do you say to him?Answer: Watch and see.
Read More
Friends in Portland, if you’ll be around on Friday, October 23rd, I’d like to invite you to a benefit dinner and auction for a cause I am proud to support. The Short Version:
What: Dinner and auction for Sisters of the Road, a local non-profit that serves the homeless population in Portland.
When: Friday, October 23rd, 6-10pm (includes dinner, drinks, auction, and something called a “hoedown”)
Read More
22 Comments
Note: this is a modified excerpt from the Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself. This week I’m staying in one place and working on my book. Have a great Thursday!
Read More
15 Comments
In 2008 I earned Executive Platinum status with American Airlines the hard way– through lots of flight hours logged all over the world. In 2009 I also earned the same, highest-level status with Northwest, Delta, and Continental, but I flew less than 10,000 miles with each of them.
On a recent Atlanta-Miami flight operated by Delta, my upgrade cleared three days ahead of the flight. I watched as more loyal Delta passengers waited at the gate thirty minutes before departure in hopes of getting a seat up front. Is it fair? Depends on how you look at it, I suppose– but travel hacking is all about gaining some kind of advantage over the system.
Read More
Earlier this week I published an article for Business Week on How to Negate the Competition by Owning Your Space. I always appreciate the chance to write for traditional magazines and newspapers, and I wish them well in their transition to the world of the social web.
Read More