May 14, 2007
Upgrades, honeymoons, celebrity vacations, and a little extra
I travel fairly often and have never gotten an upgrade so I thought this article on how to position yourself for possible upgrades was an interesting one. I had a male colleague once who claimed he had never flown without getting an upgrade because he was always able to charm the ticketing agent and ask for an upgrade. Then again he was also a professional French horn player, ran a free homestay for missionaries, and trained Navy SEALs on silent assassination techniques. Pretty good for an English teacher in Korea but I'm not entirely sure that everything he said was true...
The upgrades thing reminds me of the Friends sitcom where Chandler and Monica on their honeymoon see the couple in front of them (also honeymooners) getting upgraded. I've read that honeymooners should let everyone know that they are on a honeymoon as this increases the chances of getting an upgrade.
I did find a fellow blogger who chose Puerto Rico over Hawaii for her honeymoon: Travels of Lizzie Bean: Puerto Rico Honeymoon!. Speaking of Hawaii, it is still on the top of the list for Americans looking to get married somewhere special, but fewer people are actually choosing Hawaii. I think the blogger above is a perfect example of that. Hawaii was their first thought but Puerto Rico won in the end.
By the way, to really go all out on your honeymoon you can go wherever the celebrities go (if you have the money to follow them). This article talks about some popular celebrity travel spots. This article for Indian travelers talks about some off the beaten path options. Interesting (it makes perfect sense of course) that Canada and Alaskan cruises are exotic destinations from an Indian perspective.
Not every marriage produces babies, but it's common enough for me to link to this New York Times article on babymoons next. I've written about babymoons before and even taken some criticism for my opinions but I still think a lot of babymoons are silly - especially ones that include free gifts like photo albums. Don't people want to choose their own?
The last article I have for you is this one titled "Vacation trend: immersing yourself in a different culture". It also devotes a good chunk of space to discussing why the internet has not put travel agents out of business yet, although their numbers are decreasing.
Posted by James Trotta at May 14, 2007 11:32 AM | TrackBack