Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Don't Go There

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As the holiday season draws near many of us are in the midst of making our travel plans, but before you make those reservations or hit the road you should consult Peter Greenberg’s new book Don't Go There!: The Travel Detective's Essential Guide to the Must-Miss Places of the World (Paperback).

Greenberg spoke today at the Commonwealth Club of California about how to travel better, faster and cheaper, even during these harsh economic times. The former Newsweek writer and onetime travel editor for NBC’s “Today Show,” Greenberg has spent much of his life and career on the go, and now he is sharing the secrets of traveling well. His talk revealed much of “what locals will tell you if you asked, but travel guides won’t.”

Covering all 50 states and at least 50 foreign countries, Greenberg brings a humorous style to some of the more serious issues of traveling, like piracy, terrorists and airport security. But his comedic style only enhances what might otherwise be a depressing look at what’s wrong with a globe’s worth of destinations.

What’s the key to effective traveling? According to Greenberg, “It’s all about not listening to the rules. The rules are arbitrary and going to you get you in trouble every time.” He advises travelers to be contrarians, particularly when it involves going against the flow of airport traffic. “Why look at the departure board when checking to see if your flight is on time?” Greenberg asks. Those boards haven’t been right since 1963. Travelers should instead check the arrival board for their gate to see if a plane is there. If not, he says, why make the trek down the terminal only to be disappointed by an inevitable delay?

Although it may seem counterintuitive, Greenberg also suggests that when travelers arrive for a departure flight they enter at the arrival level, and vice versa when their flight arrives at an airport. His logic? Full flights lead to long lines, congestion and slow security. Entering and exiting the airport against the flow of traffic will help travelers arrive speedily at their destinations, with far less stress.

Also, when preparing to leave for the airport, Greenberg reminds travelers to print their boarding pass and check-in online to streamline the airport experience. He also recommends that travelers program the airline’s 800 number into their mobile phone. That way, should they run into unexpected delays at the airport, or worse find their flight canceled, they can avoid the lines at the ticketing counter and rearrange their travel plans over the phone while fellow passengers scramble to talk to an agent in person.

Instead of landing his readers in jail with his ‘don’t follow the rules’ mantra, Greenberg’s spin helps travelers tweak their expectations for particular destinations and insists that being informed about where you’re going is the best offense to both domestic and international travel.

Don’t Go There highlights the human element of traveling and recommends calling hotels directly and contacting airlines before purchasing online. He not only encourages travelers to FedEx their luggage to their destination beforehand, rather than check their bags, but to befriend ticket and gate agents at airports they depart from frequently.

Get to know their names. Don’t ask them for anything. Be nice. Say thank you. Greenberg says agents tend to remember you positively and are more willing to pass along essential information concerning your travel itinerary and the like. Not because you asked them for the low down, but simply because you were nice.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

America's Toughest Sheriff

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Sheriff Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, appeared on CNN this afternoon. He stood behind the way he runs his prisons and how things run differently in Arizona. Punishment is harsher there and less niceties prance around the county jail. Maybe the rest of the nation should follow the example of Maricopa County.

I am so sorry that inadequate medical care is provided prisoners, but at least they get medical care on a regular and ongoing basis. It's tragic that prisoners find their food distasteful, despite their access to proper nutrition. Maybe I should start a non-profit to help make their lives more comfortable. Oh, wait, prison isn't meant to be pleasant; it's meant to punish, to serve as a deterrent to criminals and would-be-criminals.

Arizona has the right idea. Inmates should find prison uncomfortable, stressful and intense. We should stop wasting our time and resources improving the living conditions those who have violated the law and spend a little more energy worrying about supplying our children with medical care and making sure they have access to nutritious meals and sanitary living conditions.

Youthful Delusions

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An Ethics of Delusion. While it describes the CEO and management ethics we saw when representatives of Detroit's Big Three and other institutions seeking bailouts testified before Congress, it also illustrates the ethics of America's youth.

According to the results of a survey conducted by the Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles based ethics institute, more than a third of male students admitted to stealing (35%) from a store in the past year, matched by slightly more than a quarter of girls (26%). About ten percent fewer of each group also admitted to stealing from a friend (26% of boys and 14% of girls). Great.

Sixty four percent of the 29,760 students surveyed, from 100 public and private schools nationwide selected at random, admitted to cheating on a test. More than 30% acknowledged plagiarizing work from the Internet. More than 80% lied to their parents about "something significant," in the last year.

So, we're raising a nation of liers, cheaters and thieves. What's ironic about this is that 93% of the students surveyed said they were comfortable with their character and satisfied with their personal ethics. What's more, 77% confirmed that, "when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know."

Perhaps the 77% are among the majority that do not admit to stealing from friends, but the math doesn't work out as well when it comes to the 64% that cheat or the 83% that lie. Delusions of ethical behavior plague our society from the top down and from the bottom up.

The question remains: What are we going to do about it? If we continue to permissively dismiss the ills done at the top and financially reward such misbehavior, we will continue to send a message to younger generations that it's perfectly acceptable for them to be satisfied with their personal ethics and character despite their moral shortcomings and selfish motives.