First post

I'm not a travel agent and I don't work for anything to do with travel. I am certainly not a travel expert, but I have been traveling enough to know a few things and I've planned some pretty neat vacations, if I do say so myself. That being said, in just about every country I have ever been to, people always ask me for directions. So I must have an "information" sign above my head that I'm unaware of or I must always look like a local or at least like I know what I'm doing. It must be my friendly demeanor...

Back to travel stuff...I do have my favorite airlines and hotel chains and I certainly have ones that I avoid for both rational and irrational reasons; but I do a lot of searching and reading before I ever book a vacation. There are certainly some "games" that one has to play in order to get the best deals and there are many sites that I follow.

I have flown in coach, business class, and first class to many places around the world and stayed in some truly amazing hotels for little to no cost, but it takes some work to do it. Nothing in this world is free, but you don't always have to pay the high-end prices to experience luxury travel. My motto is, "if there is a deal to be had out there, I'm going to get it."

My goal in writing this blog is to share my stories and experiences, not to disseminate the best travel deals on the web. There are many sites out there that do that and I'll share those too. I will also share some the tricks of the game that I use. Many of my friends and colleagues ask me for travel advice for many types of things such as: hotel recommendations, how to upgrade airline tickets, not-to-be-missed sites in a city, etc.