Don't scare me like that!

On my trip home I am the most concerned about being on time.  I am very easy going until you threaten to keep me from my wife and kids. Or if you start playing George Michael music.  Before I left Toronto I believed everything was on time and going to run smoothly.  I believed this because the Delta Airline mobile app told me so.  There is no reason to think technology would lie to me.  When I got to Cincinnati for my layover I found a place to get a chicken sandwich close to my gate.  On a side note, airport food is not worth writing about in great detail.

I had plenty of time to make the next leg of my trip when I checked the Delta mobile app.  I frequently check my tickets and flight status. I am one part paranoid and one part practical because: 1. I lose things and 2. Flight statuses change.  On this occasion it was the latter, it stated my flight home was delayed.  When my Delta app suggested I book another flight I thought it was my glorious savior.  The idea of dealing with a mistake prone person versus my Delta mobile app, a wonder of technology that loves me, was silly.  When the Delta app suggested I book the same flight I was perplexed.  When I asked my buddy, Delta app, a bunch of questions it stared at me without uttering a word of assistance.  My new best friend was acting like it hardly knew me. Now I had to walk to my gate and talk to a mistake prone person from Delta.  After asking the question, "Is everything on time?"  This person answered me with "Yeah, we'll be boarding in about 20 minutes".  There was no delay and I got home to my family waiting for me at the airport.

I was not happy with my technology buddy.  The Delta app is normally accurate and helpful.  With the Delta app you can: check-in, schedule and pay for any checked baggage, change seats, and get your boarding pass.  There are many more features on this app but I don't use them frequently.  I never learned why the Delta app lied to me about my flight delay.  We aren't on speaking terms yet.

Goat tastes musky

Not the most appetizing title for a blog post about eating out.  I absolutely stuffed myself last night due to pure stupidity.  I met some colleagues for dinner a little later than I usually eat.  Before meeting I stopped to grab a slice of pizza since I was super hungry.  I was also getting some heartburn and thought some food in my stomach would help.  I happened to stop where the slices were big and on sale “two for one”.  So, since I am frugal I didn’t want to waste a good deal I ate two slices of pizza, which amounted to a full half pizza.  When I met my colleagues 30 minutes later we went out for dinner directly.  The only saving grace was the 20 minute walk to the little hole in the wall Jamaican restaurant called Ritz Caribbean Foods on Yonge Street.  I was embarrassed to admit I just ate pizza so I went ahead and ordered a regular meal without mentioning my pizza “appetizer”.   

I ordered Goat Roti with a side of Channa (chickpeas).  Roti is a type of wrap with your meat and potatoes wrapped together.  Goat has a very distinctive flavor that is akin to mutton.  As I mentioned in the title, it is a musky flavor and would be very tough to handle had it not been prepared in a spicy stew.  I was not in love with the meat’s flavor but enjoyed the dish because of the variety of flavors.  Luck was on my side because the portions are large.  I was able to eat my channa and half the Roti and it didn't seem weird to announce I was full.   

When in a strange city, getting a good recommendation can leave you with wonderful memories of the local cuisine.  An unbiased acquaintance will generally provide a much better restaurant reference than a hotel staffer that is directed to point you towards places that pay for recommendations.  My culinary guide in Toronto provided many options across a broad spectrum of ethnicities.  I recommend listening for a person’s first option as it is generally the best option in their mind.  I followed this advice last night and ate a very good meal.  Despite my efforts to sabotage myself with half of a pizza. 

Get my car and let me go!

For the last two days I learned that Ontario Canada is bigger than it looks on the map.  I was under the impression that Guelph, ON was approximately 20 minutes from the Toronto airport.  For those that are Rush fans you will recognize Toronto’s airport code: YYZ!  I also thought London, ON was another 30 minutes from Guelph.   I was wrong, Guelph is 70km from YYZ and London is another 130km farther down the road.  So, my rental car is important to me on this trip.  

Rental car companies can really make your business trip run smoothly.  I used to rent from Enterprise and earned elite status in their loyalty program.  I earned this status between April and August this year and subsequently dumped them like my brother got dumped by his last girlfriend.  Not exactly like my brother got dumped, I didn’t send Enterprise an email and ignore their phone calls.  I stopped renting from them because they kept my business trips from running smoothly.  I now use Avis for rental cars and am much happier.  I can go directly to the parking lot for my car, run my quick scan for vehicle damage or other problems, and drive off when I get myself comfortable in the cockpit.  I do not need to go to a rental counter and wait in line for the rental staff to repeat everything I already did online when I reserved my car.  The most annoying thing Enterprise employees did was shake your hand.  Some marketing executive (read “over-paid schmuck”) came up with the idea that the Enterprise people should show respect and shake hands with every customer.  They come out from behind the counter or reach across the counter to make you shake hands.  From my point of view, it’s creepy!  And it wastes my time; I want to get out of the airport not touch people that I don’t know where they’ve been.

Amateur Day

Travel on Sunday means you risk running into “less frequent” travelers.  Let’s call them amateurs.  Some entertaining amateur scenes included the extended family of seven trying to distribute the appropriate tickets to each other in the security line and the lady that didn’t realize that you need to pull your liquids out of your carry-on luggage for screening.   

I understand many people only travel occasionally and don’t know the TSA rules by heart.  To help, the TSA folks stand in the screening area yelling the rules at passengers like they’re the town crier with critical news.  The yelling gets annoying since the announcements take two minutes and the lines are 20 plus minutes in length.  The agents are on a continuous loop like the Purple Rain cassette I got from my sister for Christmas in 1984.  I listened to that thing constantly after hearing the song “Darling Nikki”.  My point is you should know what you need to do by the time you hear the rules ten times.  When you get to the conveyor belt, pull your computer out of your bag, get your liquids and gels out for inspection, and take off your shoes.  Please wear socks, your feet freak me out a little bit because your toes are not right.

A working man's travel blog

First, I am sure you can read better written, more informative blogs.  But why be so heady?  I travel for my work and I run into my share of good people, bad service, interesting situations, and delicious bacon recipes.  (In my mind "delicious bacon" is redundant.)

Hopefully I will provide a little insight to less seasoned travelers, learn a little from those more experienced, find some some better than average bacon, and review different companies to help you navigate the challenges of traveling in these paranoid and budget challenged times.