Prolific Programmer on the Internets!

Airfare watch blog relays the news that American and Delta are charging to use frequent flier miles. What's the purpose of a rewards ticket if you have to pay to use it? Where's Vivienne Redding on this one?

Unclutterer links to packing-information-site One Bag, and gives reasons on why you should pack light. I'd love to travel with just a carry-on, but with the arse-backward restrictions on what you can take, I'm thinking that will be near-impossible.

Lifehack has a list of travel essentials. I do a lot of traveling myself, mostly internationally, and have a few additions to the list:

• The nearest consular office of your home country on paper.
• A list of prescription medicines you need, along with their ingredients, again on paper.
• A mobile phone that works in your destination country (this generally means an unlocked GSM phone).
• Change of clothes in your hand luggage.
• Foreign currency before departure. Yes, I know there are cashpoints everywhere, but who knows if they will honour your ATM network?
• Basic knowledge of the language spoken in the country you're visiting (please, thank you, "where is...?", "how much...?", "I don't speak ..." are most useful for most)

On March the 1^st or March the 2^nd, you can meet the prolific programmer at BIL. I'm not sure what day I'm going to go, but it will probably be the Saturday. I can't seem to register on the wiki, but I'll probably get in with the Scobleizer's help.

Chiqui! Looking at a Lifehack, I noticed the five tips for stress-free travel. I have done a lot of traveling. I also do the transatlantic bit regularly. So, I see myself as qualified to make a judgement as to how to achieve stress free travel. The number 1 tip to achieving stress-free travel is to avoid Heathrow, especially at the peak travel season. The only tip I disagree with is the one about avoiding alcohol. Alcohol can make a flight more pleasant by allowing you to tune out the annoying person next to you.

One of the benefits of AMEX is their travel service, which will hold your bags for you for free until you come retrieve them. I may have to get myself a card.

I talk about my issues with people and companies with a vitriol often associated with certain (unnamed) politicians talking about their opponents. I was in form talking to Tareeq on the telephone last night. At the conclusion of the conversation, he suggested I blog it. So here you go, Mr El-Assam.

Some background, I was recently in the middle east (yes, yes, I know, I still need to upload my pictures). The flights to the middle east (at least Lebanon and Qatar) are rarely nonstop from the States. Most often, flights go through the busiest international airport on Earth, London's Heathrow. More specifically, I'd like to focus on my return transfer at Heathrow. I landed in Terminal 4. Checking the monitors, my next flight wasn't listed. So I walked over to the British Airways enquiries desk and asked the lady whether she would be kind enough to check on the status of my flight. It wasn't listed and the next thing she told me was striking -- I'm sorry, sir, but I can't check flights leaving from other terminals. Ok *rolls eyes*, then would you at least tell me what terminal to find my flight? No, the system won't let me look at that information. Now I know that Britain isn't the most helpful place on Earth, but this takes the cake.

A trip around Heathrow later, I finally arrived at the correct terminal (kudos to BAA for making the signs so helpful). From the ever-helpful PA system, The television monitors throughout the terminal are not working, please stand by. Bugger, I sat down in the transit lounge, after picking up a top-up from Dixon's and charged it. I spied another enquiries desk where I was told that the television monitors were working brilliantly. So, I again looked at the monitor, Gate 56. I made my way to Gate 56, only to find that the lady at the gate informed me that British Airways has changed the gate to Gate 1 -- on the other side of the terminal and where I walked from.

Now Heathrow is a huge airport. So, I went back to the other end of the terminal. Boarded the plane. The PA came on, British Airways apologises for the delay, but it seems that a carton of luggage has been lost. So, they combed every plane at Heathrow, delaying everyone by at least an hour and a half. We then left and I slept till woken for filling out the immigration paperwork to get back into America. We landed at San Francisco and waited another 30 minutes on the tarmac here. I walked up to the immigration desk. A pleasant gentleman from the TSA welcomed me "home", as I handed him my British passport. He asked why I'd travelled to Qatar and the Lebanon. Asked me if I'd brought any food -- I didn't. I got through the immigration, went to baggage claim, collected my bags and left the airport.

The world's favourite airline (something about theory and practise goes here) is offering cheap fares to Heathrow through January 3. Of course, BAA's striking as of January, so you may not be able to land, but let's not let black swans get in the way of fun.

Eric embedded a video from UCLA design instructor Aaron Koblin of 24 hours of air travel. What would be interesting to me are similar over various days (not only random ones, but days like US Inauguration, 9/11/2001, etc.) so we can see the changes.