Galley Gossip: Passenger of the month: Adam Schaffer

by Heather Poole on

Name: Adam Schaffer

Occupation: Media and publishing executive. I am in the magazine business, but had the honor of being on the editorial advisory board of Inside Flyer magazine a few years back

Which is exactly why I picked you as my passenger of the month. Tell me something interesting you learned while working for Inside Flyer: Airline club memberships are huge. Not only is the lounge access terrific, but the agents there can often “get things done” that agents elsewhere in the airport cannot such as upgrades, special sitting, moving flights, etc.

Recently I wrote a post, The passenger didn’t ask for much, about a demanding passenger on board the very same flight you were on. A Gadling reader commented by saying, “I fly all the time and I’ve never seen anything like that ever happen on a flight!” If I hadn’t told you what was happening would you have known what was going on nine rows behind you? I had no idea the incident was as prolonged as it turned out to be. I have a good sense and can tell when “something is up” somewhere on the airplane, but you and the crew handled that situation very well.

Thank you! So how many miles have you flow this year? 20,728 thru march 31st.

Last flight? JFk-LAX

That was my flight, the crazy flight! Check it or carry on? Carry on! I once went to Moscow and St. Petersberg for eight days with a carry on!

It can be done, because I went to Italy for 10 days (Venice, Rome & Positano) with only a rollaboard and a tote bag. Window or aisle seat? Aisle. I do not like to be confined.

Something to drink? Water. I fainted on a flight to Spain on my honeymoon due to dehydration. The next thing I know I am laying in the aisle and the flight attendants are shaking me awake and asking if I’m okay. Apparently I fained and fell against my wife on the way down. My wife tried to wake me and I didn’t move! So she ran to the forward galley yelling, “I haven’t been married 24 hours and I think my husband is dead!”

Wow – I hope you buy a really big bottle of water before each and every flight, especially when you’re traveling on my flight! What type if luggage do you carry? Sturdy and inexpensive. I had a nice Tumi bag I had to check once…and it was ruined. The baggage handling system will eat your luggage!

Sorry to hear that. Any packing tips or tricks? Mix and match. Take as little as possible.

Best shoes to wear through security? Crocs are great, but then your feet get all grimey, so I suggest socks. The TSA does need to find a way to make the whole shoe thing better.

I agree. Any airport routines? I always check to see if the inbound flight is on time and where it is coming from. Sadly airlines will hedge their bets on announcing delays. Then I buy a lot of water.

You sound like a flight attendant – checking the inbound flight for delays! Smart. Best airline experience? Recently I flew on American Airlines from New Delhi, India to Chicago. 15 hours and 40 minutes en route. The new AA business class cabins on the 777 are really nice and the service was amazing. Many meal opportunities and options (and great Indian food) and a terrific choice of on demand entertainment. I was dreading the flight and was actually a bit bummed when it was over.

Nicest airport? Shanghai Pudong, best damn gift shops anywhere.

Favorite airport restaurant? One world lounge in Hong Kong. Get the “Dan Dan Noodles”

That’s all my husband talked about when he came back from Hong Kong, how amazing the lounge was and how great those Dan Dan noodles were. Hotel away from home? Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas

Too funny! I’m pretty lucky on the $1 slots over there. Favorite in-flight announcement? “In preparation for landing..”

Book last read on a flight? We are like that only, understanding the logic of consumer India, by Rama Bijapurkar

Now finish the following sentences…

I can’t fly without my…Ipod and noise canceling headsets

On my last flight…I actually watched a movie and didn’t work. Saw “Yes Man” with Jim Carey

This passenger I sat next to…Got me my current job! (Be friendly to those around you)

I had this one flight…Where the flight attendant actually threw my food at me! (And, for the record, I was just sitting quietly) It was an Atlanta to LA flight, so you can guess the carrier.

If I could be anywhere in the world, I’d…Be in Fiji and nowhere else.

When it comes to traveling I wish…A supersonic plane was in the pipeline somewhere. Would love to do LA to Hong Kong in five hours.

Why do flight attendants…Put up with crap from passengers? I know it’s a customer service thing, but some folks need a good bop on the head!

Next flight: Lax – JFK God willing in business class.

Photos courtesy of (water) Moussefromsacto, (dan dan noodles) Avlxyz, (Fiji) Muzzman

Interview with a Retro Stewardess

by Annie Scott on

On my way home to Minneapolis for the holidays, I read this terrific New York Times article by Ann Hood on the good ol’ days of flying.

“I put on my apron with my name across the top, and I smiled at the people who had saved up their money, put on their Sunday best, and chosen T.W.A. It was not so long ago that flying had that civility, that glamour, when flying through the sky really felt like something special.“

Having just braved the modern airways, I sat down with my mom, Barbara Scott (formerly Barbara Center), who was a stewardess for American Airlines from 1967 to 1977. You know, back when they were called “stewardesses.” That’s Mom in the picture, on the left.

Annie Scott: Whoa, Mom, check out that eyeshadow!

Barbara Center Scott: Well the other girl’s is like that, too. Don’t make me sound like a floozy.

AS: Okay. So, Mom, what did you think of that article?

BCS: I thought it was a tad Pollyanna-ish. It was not always glorious. It was sometimes awful.

** To read the rest of the interview, click through the gallery below. **
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Talking travel with Patricia Schultz, author of “1000 Places to See” (plus book giveaway)

by Jerry Guo on

Patricia Schultz is a well-traveled woman. She single-handedly launched the mini-industry of travel list books with her 2003 #1 New York Times bestseller, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List (Workman), which has sold more than 2.8 million copies and translated into 28 languages. Since then, she’s written a sequel, 1,000 Places to see in the USA and Canada Before You Die, produced a Travel Channel show based on the concept, and was named (as of this week) by Forbes as one of the 25 most influential women in travel.

She was recently a panel member for ABC’s Good Morning America, a judge in selecting the 7 New Wonders of America, and a seasoned writer for Frommer’s, BusinessWeek, “O”prah, Islands and Real Simple. Her next book of the series is in the works.

BONUS

Her publisher, Workman, has kindly offered to give away five book copies and two calendars of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die to Gadling readers (shipping included). See the end of this interview for details on how you can win.

What was life like before your eight-year odyssey in writing your first 1000 places book?

I have had a great life – a wonderful, though travel-limited childhood (unless the Jersey Shore counts), followed by high school near my home town in the mid-Hudson Valley when friendships with the Latina students opened my eyes and ears to their exhuberant language, music and customs. Then 4 extremely impressionable years at Georgetown University, whose international climate and student population opened up my world – for the first time I understood something of the exciting possibilities that awaited anyone armed with curiosity and conviction. I would have majored in “Travel” – but they didn’t quite offer that. I needed to be creative in mapping out the future I wanted, and took a gap year (well, many) to see something beyond academia.
Fast forward to my mid-30s, and I was writing for magazines and travel guides such as Frommer’s, Access and Berlitz (despite needing a trust fund to supplement paltry pay checks) and dividing my time between Europe and NYC.

Have you always had an itch for travel?

Yes, in a modest although real way. My earliest memory ever is from the summer when I was four, and we took off in the family clunker of an old station wagon for Atlantic City. I wandered off the family beach blanket to explore a world of sun and sand – it was pretty intoxicating to feel so untethered and as if the world was mine! It felt to me (and probably to my mother who had mobilized every life guard on duty) that I was gone for hours, though they tell me it was just a few minutes. (The following summer, we never made it past the end of our driveway because the gas tank fell off. I cried for a week.)

How many countries would you say you’ve visited?

I have always found this a curious question, as I – unlike legions of travelers who like to collect countries and tick them off – have never really counted. I mean – what do you count? Early this spring when we were driving down Croatia’s gorgeous Dalmatian Coast and passed through a snippet of Bosnia Herzegovina for a few kilometers? Do I get to check off Bosnia Herzegovina? When we walked across the bridge to spend a few hours in Zimbabwe when visiting Victoria Falls in Zambia? A 3-hour layover for refueling in Cape Verde when en route to South Africa?

I suppose I have always given more thought to the countries I haven’t visited. Of those I have visited, I never really feel like I’ve had the luxury of saying I’ve “done” it – never having the time to give it the attention it deserves. Should someone really check off China after a 10-day, 3-city tour? Or say they’ve visited Australia if all they’ve seen is Sydney? Imagine the foreigners who feel they’ve experienced the US after a long weekend in Disneyworld!

What is your travel style?

I like to mix it up – car, train, plane, it’s all good. I always travel light, but if it is an easy and direct-flight trip where extra clothes will come in handy, I bring stuff I know will never get worn (this was in the era before the airlines started charging for every piece you lugged behind).

I love family-owned B&Bs, though pinch-me white-glove hotels that ooze with history and celebrity status feed my fantasy – if only for loitering in the lobby or a stop for high tea or a brandy at the bar. I love cities, but know that the countryside is where you’ll usually grasp a truer sense of place.

I travel a lot solo, though sometimes with my significant other Nick or my best girlfriends or my sister Roz and her family – some destinations lend themselves to different traveling-companion dynamics. I need the freedom of independent travel, though organized trips with small groups can work best for destinations such as my recent and awesome trip to Bhutan with Asia TransPacific Journeys.

I generally hit the ground running, attempting to see the maximum possible – when will I pass this way again? – but know that sometimes just staying put in one place can promise an experience that trumps all others. The simplest moment can be the richest memory. A moment of people watching in the Moscow subway can rival an afternoon at The Hermitage in St Petersburg. Experiencing food can run from extravagant unfasten-your-belt-buckle tasting menus by world-class chefs, to a self-styled picnic with fresh and artisanal ingredients from the day’s local market.

Do you take any guide books with you?

Much of the excitement in making a trip for me is the research I do beforehand and I usually buy 3 or 4 (sometimes twice that) guidebooks and see what the different authors have to say. I’ll bring one with me, never more than two – and I sometimes just pull out the pages or chapters if it is a short trip to one destination only – why schlep the whole book?

Contest details

  • To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us one of your own personal place to see before you die.
  • The comment must be left before Monday, June 30 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • Seven winners will be selected in a random drawing.
  • Five random winners will receive a copy of 1000 Places to See Before You Die, the book (valued at $19.95) and two random winners will receive a copy of 1000 Places to See Before You Die, the calendar (valued at $12.95)
  • Click Here for complete Official Rules.
  • Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.

Exclusive interview with world traveler 2.0 David Horvitz

by Jerry Guo on

I recently talked with serial blogger and traveler David Horvitz, whom I wrote about last month. He’s the guy who came up with the ingenious idea of getting people to pay for his exotic trips all over the world. Here’s what he has to say:

Who are you? What do you do during the day?

I’m 25 years old and live in New York City. I moved here from Los Angeles in September. As you can see tell, I like to wander around–just drift around and discover new places. I try to do this at least once a day. Ideally I’d like it to take up my whole day… But recently I’ve had some art shows come up, so I’d have to get images ready, do stuff online at my place in Brooklyn, get all stressed out, and then jump on a bike or train (or foot) and just go somewhere.

How’d you come up with this idea?

I just did it one night. It was completely spontaneous. I’ve been to Okinawa and have given people star sand. I have traveled afar and mailed people photographs of what I saw from there (my own personal postcards). So, it’s like something I’ve always done for my friends – and I thought I should offer it to anyone if the funded the trip. A thing for you from where I go.
What kind of response have you gotten from the blogosphere, travelers, etc?

I have Google Alerts, and I get like 20 hits a day. It’s crazy. I get a lot of positive responses, lots of “you are so creative.” I’ve got contacted for art shows, interviews with magazines, even a potential TV show, which is really insane. My favorite is when people say I’m inspiring, so then what I’m doing isn’t just for passive speculation– people are actually moved by it. So, ideally, people can see what I do, and then decide for themselves that they might find their lives a little boring and take off around the globe somewhere after saving up some money. And, doing it in a non-selfish manner, always thinking about people who you are leaving, and sending them little treasures.

What’s the adventure you most want to go on (but haven’t)?

I want to go to Perth, Australia just for conceptual reasons. I don’t know what it’s like there, but I like the idea of going as faraway as possible. I looked it up online, and I used Google Earth, so I am hoping it is actually the farthest place possible from NY.

What’s the best adventure you’ve gone on (through this project)?

I am hanging out in an abandoned part of Roosevelt Island reading all of Anna Karenina. The project was that I would go to a desolate location by train, and read the entire book, and keep returning each day until the book was read. This was as if the book was my “job.” I used to always get in trouble for reading at work. I got $400 to do this.

Any juicy hate-mail?

A few… I like criticism, so I like to attack back. But, some of the people who write me hate mail aren’t that articulate, and their messages are kind of dumb, so I get bored with their emails. I’d love for someone to tear me apart and make me rethink what I was doing. My friend actually mentioned Carbon Footprint, and I am re-thinking whether I should raise some prices higher to add in the Carbon Offsetting.

What about ideas for new adventures? How do you get those?

Inspired. I get ideas 24 hours a day. I get ideas when I’m in the shower and have to run out and write them down. Lots of things come from my immediate environment. This could be from where I am or what I am directly exposed to (films, books, music, even memories).

Any weird corners of the world you’re particularly proud of visiting?

I love Okinawa! I’ve been there twice. Their history is really harsh, but their culture is amazing. There is still a US base there and still to this day (even recently) some really sad things happen because of that. I went into Zapatista territory in Chiapas, Mexico once. Chiapas was so beautiful, it was so amazing. I am kind of weary about going to politically heated places because then it seems like I’m only going to somewhere because of a kind of indignation in me, but I don’t know what that means for me to want to physically go there. Make it adventurous? Like, I don’t know if I’d want to go to Iraq or Palestine or something… I went to Israel. I threw eggs in the Dead Sea with my friend because we thought it was funny that eggs represent life, and the Dead Sea implicates death. Other people there didn’t think it was funny.

Nicaragua!

Inland Empire California!

OK, this one is actually weird. So I am walking across from Sweden to Finland, really really north. I don’t know if we were in the Arctic Circle or not… We need to catch a train to Helsinki, so we find the station and decide to sleep there for the night. It’s the summer, so it’s 3am and still bright out. I pull out my dictionary and translate a plaque on the train station. “Lenin arrived here in 1917.” Holy &@#$! We were at the station Lenin arrived at when that part of Finland was part of Russia! He stepped out of a train there and then the revolution happened!

Oh, I also found the writer, John Berger’s house in a small village in the French Alps. I knocked on his door but he wasn’t home. But is wife was really nice and gave me and my (ex) girlfriend coffee. Amazing!

My favorite all time place in the whole world is right near where I grew up. Palos Verdes.