News: Free WiFi with coupon codes

Use these codes for free WiFi on the three U.S. airlines using GoGo’s service

• Delta: DELTATRYGOGO
• AirTran: AIRTRANTRYGOGO
• American Airlines: AATRYGOGO

Check out these links for more coupon codes:

Gogo Inflight Free WiFi Coupon Codes [My Money Blog via Gizmodo]
Free Gogo Internet. Pass It On [FlyerTalk Forums]

Hope your holiday flights go smoothly and without delay!

Source: LifeHacker

News: Fly me to the moon

Virgin Galactic plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, and it looks like this may become a reality in the very near future.  The plan is that the first commercial spaceport will open in New Mexico just next year!  “[F]or $200,000, … people [will fly] 60 to 100 miles over the Earth’s surface to experience around 20 minutes of weightlessness. Most planes fly about seven miles above the Earth. Sixty miles is high enough to see the curvature of the Earth. Flights are expected to start leaving the atmosphere next year.” (-Broomfield)

Further in the future Virgin Galactic plans to offer orbital spaceflights as well.  Maybe someday there really will be flights to the moon.

JetBlue Tour: Packing?

I’m torn about how to pack for this JetBlue Tour I’m going to be taking soon.  Obviously I want to travel light – who wants to schlep a big suitcase around for 23 days?  Certainly not me!  Here’s what I’m pakcing:

1. Camera – This is a DSLR and pricey (to me anyway), so I want to make sure it’s protected.  I presently have three carrying options for it – (1) a backpack with a special compartment for the camera, extra lens, and accessories; (2) a shoulder tote (looks like a regular ladies’ tote); and (3) a standard camera case with a shoulder strap.
2. Laptop – Yes, I could probably skip this since I have an iPhone to entertain me in airports and could upload photos from my friends’ computers, but… I can foresee wanting access to Photoshop just about every day.  And I imagine I might like to spend some time hanging out at cafes to blog instead of using my friends’ computers and possibly ending up stuck at their homes all day instead of being out and about.  For packing it, I have (1) a protective sleeve (so I could put it in there and then stick it in a carry-on sized rolling bag), (2) a laptop backpack, and (3) a rolling briefcase.
3. Clothes – I’m thinking I’m going to have to just pack a few things and re-wear/do laundry.  I should be able to get by with one pair of jeans, a pair of black pants, 4 tops, a travel tolerant blazer than can go with jeans or black pants, a dress, a bikini, and a dress that can be a swimsuit coverup or worn out to dinner/around town.  I’m thinking I’ll want the dressy option of black pants + blazer just in case Amazon decides they want to interview me while I’m in Seattle or something like that.
4. Toiletries – I think I can get away with packing pretty light on this since I’ll be staying with folks who hopefully won’t mind if I bum some body wash from them.

Here are my best packing options:

1. Camera bookbag + rolling bag (with laptop and clothes).
2. Camera bookbag + rolling briefcase (with laptop and clothes).  This briefcase is higher quality than our rolling bags and looks great, but it’s a little wide and can be annoying to roll down airplane aisles.
3. Camera case + laptop bookbag.  This would be great for mobility – I could strap the case to the bag and be completely hands free.  But getting in even the clothing listed above may be tough.
4. Camera tote + laptop bookbag.  The tote looks sooo much better than the case and can double as a purse.  It would also look nice in the event that I ended up interviewing while on the road.  That said, I’m not sure I want to commit to carrying that tote on my shoulder every day.  I have back issues, and this might be what pushes me over the edge.

What do you think?

Exciting plan: JetBlue All You Can Jet for $599

Last week, Jet Blue announced an All You Can Jet Pass for $599.  The deal is that the pass allows you to, with certain restrictions, fly all you can stand on their planes between September 8 and October 8.  Sounds pretty cool, eh?  Well, there are some catches to it.

1. All flights must be booked at least 3 days in advance.
2. The passholder must show up for each booked flight, or all other booked flights will be cancelled and no new flights may be scheduled until a $100 no-show fee is paid.
3. Only one flight per city per day may be booked.
4. Flights can be cancelled/changed for free, but this has to happen at least 3 days in advance of the flight or you’ll pay the regular change fees.
5. You can fly to JetBlue’s international destinations and Puerto Rico, but you’ll have to pay the taxes and fees.

So… it’s really only a good deal if you’re able to fly a fair amount within the time period, definitely won’t miss your flights, and plan to stay in the US.  As it turns out, it seems as though I have the time to really utilize this deal, so I booked it on Saturday.

My current plan involves visiting 11 cities in 23 days.  Since I’m unemployed, I have a strict budget of $400 and will be relying on my friends in these cities to schlep me around and feed me (to a certain extent) as well as to allow me to crash at their places.  Fortunately they all have internet access, so I can keep in touch with my friends and family, continue the job search, and blog about my adventures.  I am really glad for the option to change your flights with 3 days notice – that will allow me to scoot back to North Carolina if some lucky employer wants to interview me. 

My current itinerary includes: Washington, DC; Denver, CO; New York, NY; Houston, TX; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Seattle, WA; Long Beach, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Salt Lake City, UT; and Portland, ME.  This will start in mid-September, so be sure to check back then for updates.

Image from Baltimore Sun.

Destination: Corfu

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Corfu.  I hadn’t heard of it before we researched the trip, so I had no idea why we were visiting the place.  Turns out that it’s a beautiful Greek island – but very different from, say, Mykonos or Santorini.  Although the towns on Corfu aren’t as charming, the people are nice, there’s plenty to do, the food is good, and the scenery is outstanding. 

TTT: Booking airfare

Today’s travel tip is based upon my friend’s recent experience as well as my own.

The tip: When possible, book your airfare directly with the airline providing your flights.

K’s story, part 1: Over a month ago, K, whose boyfriend flies Continental regularly enough to have accrued a fair number of frequent flier miles, was pleased to find great flights available for booking with his miles on Continental’s website.  Interestingly, the flights were operated by Delta.  She was surprised when she was unable to reserve their seats, but she wrote it off as a computer glitch that she’d check back on later.  She tried to select seats a couple more times over the next couple of weeks but kept receiving the error.

TTT: Know if you need an IDP before you go

Just a couple of days before we left for Germany with our grand plans of driving the autobahn in a few different countries, I remembered reading something about international driver permits being required by some countries.  Ya know, I should’ve thought about that when we were planning to drive in Mexico too, but it didn’t occur to me until it was mentioned on one of the webpages while we were renting the car.

So… for your next trip out of the country, check out this list, which identifies countries requiring IDPs as well as countries in which you should get one or definitely don’t need one.

How do you get one?  Thankfully it’s a quick and easy process.  If you’re planning well in advance, you can get one by mail with AAA by filing out this application and sending it in.  If you’re in a hurry, some AAA offices will make the thing for you in as little as 15 minutes at the same cost as the mail-in form.  Just make sure to call ahead and double check that your nearest office provides this service as not all of them do.

TTT: Flying with allergies

My friend over at Cats with Passports posted awesome directions for those who have severe allergies and must/want to fly.  Check out her post below (re-posted with permission).

Having a life-threatening food allergy is scary. Having a life-threatening food allergy at 35,000 feet can be downright terrifying. I’ve done quite a bit of flying throughout my life so I thought I’d pass along some of the things I’ve learned along the way. For simplicity and because it’s the food I’m most allergic to, I will use peanuts as the example throughout this post, but the general tips and tricks apply to a variety of food allergies.

Whether your flight is domestic or international, if possible, plan ahead. Begin by looking at the airline’s website. Most have policies in place for dealing with allergies and state whether or not they serve the most common allergenic foods on board. Print out the policy and bring it with you to the airport.

My gripe with Delta

I’ve posted at least once about how we’re going to Mexico soon, so y’all know about that.  You also know how much I love to plan in advance.  I have a very frustrating story now to share with you about how Delta is making this vacation more work for me – and not the kind I like.  There’s a travel tip buried in there for those who survive the gripe.

 I booked our flights back in October 2008.  I was so psyched – we had a direct there and back.  The times were perfect too.  On the way there, we were to leave around 12:30 and arrive at 2:30.  Perfect – we didn’t have to get up super early, but there’d be just the right amount of time to get in, get a car with our friends, and head out to our house in plenty of time for dinner.  On the way back, we were to leave at about 3:30 and get in at about 7:30.  If the flight was on time and we weren’t too zonked, this would allow us to make a graduation party that evening.

Imagine my surprise when I received an email just a few weeks before we’re to head out saying that our itinerary has changed.  Not only would we have to suffer through a layover in Atlanta each way, but the flight times were not good.  The flights they put us on to get there would make our friends wait several hours for us to arrive and then we’d have to drive to our rental house in the dark.  Awful!  The flights on the way back weren’t so great either – the first flight left at an okay time, but we weren’t seated together (and I couldn’t fix it since the flight’s so full), and we would definitely miss the party that night.

TTT: InsideTrip.com

Better late than never, but… There’s this cool website, InsideTrip.com, that launched about a year ago.  What’s so neat about this airfare search engine?  It has all kinds of interesting info to help you narrow down your flight options that other search engines don’t necessarily have.  Check out the dashboard that popped up when I did a test search: