Priceline.com. My best experience with Priceline.com came when I was traveling to Europe and needed to find a place in London to stay for just one night. I had never used Priceline before, but decided I’d try to be a good negotiator (as their ads encourage) and I specified a general area in London to stay, along with the level of hotel I wanted (3-4 star), and price (a price I thought was too low and would never be accepted). Lo and behold, I got a hotel room at an excellent hotel, within walking distance of the Underground, for such a cheap price that my dinner at the hotel cost almost as much as my room! A great discounting victory for me.

HotelsCombined.com. I’ve been known to spend way too much time searching all over the Internet on the various discount travel & hotel sites to find cheaper hotels. This is time consuming and wasteful. HotelsCombined.com takes all those travel sites (over 30 separate sites) and rolls them up into one search function on one site, thus making it a lot easier and faster to see what deals are available across the board. You get to see a large number of hotels with low prices all in one fell swoop on one site. Easy, fast, clean – awesome. I like how you can browse hotels by country on the site, and it also gives you a method of writing and reading hotel reviews.

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You simply do a search for airline tickets (or hotels or car rentals, etc, which are all critical components of business travel), as you normally would on travel sites, then pick which travel sites’ results you want to compare, and LowFares then delivers them to you. It’s easy, requiring a minimum of searches. And one of the great things is that it has all the heavy-hitting travel websites in there, such as Orbitz.com, Priceline.com, Expedia.com—basically every legitimate site, so you won’t be missing out on any deals. Another thing I like about the site is that if offers a low fares travel news page where they periodically recap top travel stories.

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This system is perfect for those business travelers who first spend their own money on business travel expenses, then get reimbursed by their companies (as opposed to using a company credit card or agency for their business travel expenses). The majority of the jobs I’ve had in my life have included this type of process, where I had to bear the initial cost of all my travel expenses, then I submitted an expense reimbursement report at the end of the month.

The No-Points.com cash back system is a great match for travelers who are booking their own hotel stays and flights, for they can do book and purchase through the merchants at No-Points (which include the popular Hotels.com, Travelocity.com, etc), and thus receive cash back for those hotel and flight expenditures, usually up to 5% cash back, and sometimes more. Thus, you, as a traveler, can get reimbursed for your expenses from your company and ALSO get cash back on those expenses.

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The re-organization in the company wreaked havoc to my travel schedule. It is a temporary thing which will soon be over. At least, that is what they keep reassuring me.

In any case, I am back online over here at KMM.  I've got tons of stories to tell about my experiences as a business traveler, working mother and life observer.  

I've got several entries saved up during the holidays. I'll post them tomorrow. I just want this particular headline up there to alert some people I know (thanks to rss) that I am really back. for good.

Now that Maxjet is celebrating another year of service, they are again offering a somewhat similar travel deal, except that this time, you do not need to use a promo code and LA is added in the city of destination/origin. 

Maxjet Turns 2 Sale offers limited seats for the following flights:

London to/from New York JFK
$499 each way, if you fly Tue/Wed/Sat
$599 each way, if you fly Thu/Fri/Sun/Mon

London to/from Las Vegas/Los Angeles
$599 each way, any day 

You have until the end of October to book for travel until February 2008.

I am used to traveling all over the EU (where I am currently temporarily based) with only 1-2 business-related trips outside the continent. However, due to our company's recent re-organization, I found myself scrambling to get myself from one continent to another and with only a few days to prepare myself.

I was on relatively new ground at work and I had to spend every evening (and even weekends) poring over spreadsheets and writing numerous emails to people who were in the same position as myself.

I have crossed so many time zones that my body is now confused whether it should rest or get up and work.  I have even given up on adjusting my watch.

I have never had this kind of schedule before. 

My mileage is piling up but my work-life balance is definitely tipping over on one side.   And, sadly, I missed that momentous moment when my youngest son took his first steps.

I have 3 more trips scheduled: 2 days in Barcelona from the 23rd of Oct, 3 days in Amsterdam from the 29th of Oct and 9 days in Boston from the 5th of Nov.  After which, I am done. At least, for the year.    

It has been great for my career but bad for my family and personal life.  I will make it up to them soon.  And I will also make it up to Road Gladiator, as well.  

Apparently, all you need to feel refreshed is a quick 15-minute midday nap (that cold shower in the morning should help wake you up in the morning to last you until lunch break) and a cup of coffee.  

"Scientists say that a successful midday nap depends on two things: timing and (no kidding) caffeine consumption. Experiments performed at Loughborough University in the UK showed that the sleep-deprived need only a cup of coffee and 15 minutes of shut-eye to feel amazingly refreshed.

1. Right before you crash, down a cup of java. The caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in.

2. Close your eyes and relax. Even if you only doze, you’ll get what’s known as effective microsleep, or momentary lapses of wakefulness.

3. Limit your nap to 15 minutes. A half hour can lead to sleep inertia, or the spinning down of the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which handles functions like judgment. This gray matter can take 30 minutes to reboot."

Now if only you can get rid of your colleague after lunch to find a place to crash (if your hotel's location is nowhere near) for a few minutes. 

via LifeHacker
photo source 

At least, that is how I understood the explanation given to me by the guy over at Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

I took a hybrid out of curiosity more than anything else.  But I am glad that I did. As I later found out, renting a hybrid car has its advantages:

1. If you know that you will be covering a lot of miles, it will be more cost-effective to rent a hybrid car. Sure, the rental rate is higher BUT you will save a lot more on gas. 
   
2. You'll help save the environment.  Apart from reduced noise emissions, hybrid cars also have less negative impact due to the reduced smoke emissions.

When driving a hybrid car, you have to keep in mind that you need to drive a bit slower (so if you are a Schumacher-wannabe, forget it!) and you have to avoid abrupt stops to avoid wasting a lot of energy.

I'll be in Boston on the 8th of November and I will probably try to get another hybrid from Enterprise at Logan International.  You should try it out yourself. 

BigString is, to date, the most interesting e-mail service that I have ever chanced upon.  With this service, you will never...

• feel remorse
• be afraid that the delicate information you sent is being forwarded to others
• say oops for clicking "send" too soon

Heck, with BigString, you can even lie through your teeth and say that you never sent such and such kind of email to anyone.

With BigString, you will be able to make your emails:

• self-destruct
• be recalled or erased after a certain period
• changed even after you have sent it
  
• non-forwardable
• non-printable or savable

You can also use it to send video mails, large attachments and secure mails.

I am getting one NOW!   

We walked around the centro storico for around 2 hours.  At 9:30, we found ourselves back near where we parked, in front of the Arena.  The fact that there was an opera performance which could be heard from outside, we opted to take advantage and chose to stay nearby to dine. Plus, the restaurant row on the north side of Piazza Bra (fronting the Arena) still was pretty busy considering it was late.

There were many restaurants to choose from. Since we didn't really know much about Veronese cuisine, we chose a restaurant based on 2 criteria:  We chose the one with the most number of people (thinking that it meant that they served good food hence, the crowd) and the one with the most comfortable chairs.

It took us forever to scour the menu.  I laughed at my colleague's choice of pasta carbonara and pizza margharita  I, on the other hand, wanted to try something different.  So, I ordered spaghetti aioli with chili for primi and cod fish with polenta for secondi.

The problem... 

• Aioli means garlic. I completely forgot that I would be in a closed room for the whole day the next day with 2 people who, more likely than not, wisely chose not to eat garlic and would not stink of garlic.
  
• I had no idea what polenta was. And man oh man, I sure didn't like it.

I ended up eating half of my colleague's dinner.  

The story isn't over yet.

So, the next day, due to my BAD ordering experience, we decided to let our partner/client to order for us when we went out to lunch.  He's a local and well, the eating out in Verona experience should only get better. Or, so we thought.

The pasta funghi was delicious. The meat was something else, though.  It was chewier, had a different taste and the fat had a strange consistency.  Oh yea, it was paired with polenta.

My German colleague and I were too polite to say something. We just finished our plate and said that everything was delicious.

And you know what?! It was only in the end when we realized that we each ate 400grams of horse meat!  We were not aware that the people of Verona are keen eaters of horse meat!!!

Lesson of the day:  Check the menu and listen when they tell you what your choices are. 

Part of his meeting agenda was to explain about warranty procedures.  For this, he brought with him a tester and a small frequency inverter. In addition, he also brought with him a navigation system since we were going to rent a car when we reached Italy.

We divided all electrical equipment between ourselves.  And when our luggages  were screened, we were told to step aside and bring everything to a room marked "private".  

We were told that we had too much electrical equipment in our luggages and they had to be checked. 

They had these thin and small grey sheets which they rubbed on every surface of equipment. According to my colleague, this paper shows if there is any sign of TNT in any of the equipment.  

Of course, we were immediately cleared and were allowed to go to our respective gates.

My point? Well, it was very interesting to see first hand how airport security check (beyond liquids and metals through the scanner) for bombs.   

In any case, should you be traveling with equipment that aren't that easy to identify, make sure that you do have a few minutes to spare before boarding. Otherwise, you might get held up and miss your flight.  

[photo source: tnt] 

Whether in airports, airplanes or hotels, I am always blessed to have access to 2-3 newspapers which I can take with me and read during my down time.  As you can see below, I have been lucky.

Waiting lounges always have a rack full of newspapers from all over the world.  My staples have always been the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and/or the International Herald Tribune.

From Monday to Wednesday, I had the pleasure of having all three, thanks to Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt International Airport and the Hotel Colombo D'Oro.  

What about you? What are your favorite little freebies which you get while you travel?

So... for the past 3 months, I have been carrying with me a DVI cable to make sure that I can connect my laptop to the high-def TV. 

I go online and open TV-Links and voilá, instant English movie and/or TV show.  They always have the latest.  

Of course, this solution is not perfect. Some sources are just way too slow to load or the quality is not that good. If the show I want to watch points to Todou.com then I just cancel it and look for other movies. The best connections I have found are those which points to Stage6 (DivX), Google Video and Daily Motion.  

photo source: fernseher 

With the technology of today and the number of creative minds constantly thinking of ways to make life easier for all of us, it is not surprising that they have also thought of a way to solve the above problem.

Just like emails, your postal mails can be forwarded to another location. It will then be scanned and posted online for your review.  You can then ask for said mail to be (1) opened and scanned; (2) delivered to you unopened; (3) archived; or (4) shredded. 

Earth Class Mail offers this kind of service.

"Earth Class Mail™ delivers postal mail online – available anytime, anywhere, and managed as easily as your email. No matter where you are, you simply log-in, see all your mail, read what you want, and decide whether to keep or dispose of each piece. You get constant access to your mail without having it physically follow you around or pile-up at home or work.

Our online postal service is “Earth Class” because it is global and delivers mail to you electronically no matter where you are on earth. It is also “Earth Class” because it conserves the environment by lowering energy costs and greenhouse gasses associated with mail delivery, and it significantly increases the recycling of paper."

Control and access to your postal mails from anywhere in the world at your fingertips.