Recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau’ Relaxo.
I finished the year up with two December flights. First into Nashville and out of Memphis two days later. Next a turn and burn into Regan National.
Both destinations were for the most part uneventful.
Spent one night in Clarksdale which is a small friendly Mississippi delta town. The only major hotel is a three-story Hampton Inn and just down the road is Rest Haven my normal breakfast stop and due to time constraints, I went with the best that the Hampton Inn could offer.
Here’s my review of Rest Haven from Episode 19, Off The Eaten Path, Mississippi.
Rest Haven – Clarksdale, MS – This is the kind of place where you fill your own coffee cup when it’s empty and the creamer is passed from table to table. I’ve eaten breakfast here at least a dozen times over the years and the food is consistently good. Normally I order a very simple omelet, ham, and cheese, hash browns, and toast slathered in real butter. I don’t visit enough to know the regulars, but I’m willing to bet that it’s a tight-knit group and if one of them doesn’t show up for a day or two they send out a search party.
Owned by a Lebanese family, and the rumor is that their cabbage rolls and Stuffed Kibbie are out of this world. However, my stomach isn’t equipped to order them for breakfast. Rest Haven is as small-town Americana as it gets.
Well here’s the kicker Rest Haven went or is possibly about to go big time as they will be featured on an upcoming episode of Robert Irvine’s Restaurant Impossible.
The towns-folks that’s a Mississippian term said the front part of the restaurant got a makeover but no one commented on any changes made to the menu as Irvine is known to do.
This was my first flight out of Memphis since 2018 and the airport is the same nothing new. The only visible update to the Memphis airport in the last 20 years is that the rental facility is now on the airport’s property.
The final trip of the year was in and out of Reagan National mid-month. It’s probably been 10 years since my last flight there. I was a Delta Platinum…. And I managed to snag an upgrade to first-class which I promptly gave to the Entrepreneur. At the time he was 19 and there was nothing better than seeing the smile on his face when he realized that he got a wider seat and an endless supply of snacks and sodas.
One thing I did do differently on this trip was I opted for a taxi, not an Uber for leaving and returning to the airport.
Two reasons, first the rideshare area was tough to find and second, it was cheaper, yes cheaper even with the extra passenger charge.
I’m not a fan of taxis, and Uber is my preference, looking for that perfect 5-star rating. Both taxis were clean and the payment method was almost as easy as Uber.
I am a numbers nerd, and one of my favorite ways to end each year is with that silly year-end review stats.
Podcast stats
* My followers were up 23% over 2020
* Hours posted were up a whopping 1%, more than likely due to decreasing episodes from weekly to semi-weekly.
* Listeners increased by 63%
* 5 people listened to Travel Stories more than any other podcast
* 33% of people listen to Travel Stories between 11 PM and 5 AM… sleep stories.
* 746 minutes of content
Beer
My top beer for 2021 was Gingerbread Murder Scene by Pontoon Brewing. My money was on Sweetwaters 420 IPA.
After that, it was
* VOODOO RANGER - CAPTAIN DYNAMITE IPA
* SLUICE JUICE - BENT WATER BREWING COMPANY
* SWEET BABY JESUS! - DUCLAW BREWING COMPANY
* VOODOO RANGER JUICIFER IPA
In 2021 I tried 39 different styles out of 225 different styles of beer.
Top styles
* IPA
* Stout
* Sours Ales
I drank from 62 different breweries at 26 different locations. I also earned 125 new badges for
Travel Stats
2020 numbers
* 70 nights in hotels,
* 30 of those happened before COVID
* Flights – 18 All business
* Rental Cars – 7
* 31 different cities.
* Personal Car – 14,000 miles.
2021 Numbers
* 40 nights in hotels,
* Flights – 16 all on Southwest
* Rental Cars – 0
* 15 different cities.
* Personal Car – 20,000 miles.
Southwest is my airline of choice and has been for the last 5 ½ years. There are no upgrades and their fleet consists mostly of 737’s. For the most point it’s no-frills but without all the add-on expenses for luggage, boarding passes, and snacks.
There is only one reason to fly Southwest and that’s for their companion program. That’s where a companion flies for free when you do….. That’s it simple.
There are two ways to hit companion status. During the calendar year take 100 flights …. Or acquire 125,000 points by purchasing Southwest tickets.
For me either one of these requirements isn’t feasible, so enter the Chase Southwest credit card. With double points for Southwest purchases and a yearly 30,000 or 40,000 point gift from Chase, I was able to hit companion the last 3 or 4 years. For 2020 Southwest was kind enough to extend the companion pass to everyone until December 2021 as well as crediting us 25 flights of the required 100 as a jump start.
I’m here to tell you that as of late December I have 54,000 of the required 125,000 points and 31 of the required 100 flights. No companion pass for 2022…. The end of an era.
The other small perk is their A-List and A-List Preferred status. Both levels give you priority boarding and a few additional perks, but A-List Preferred gives you double points and free WiFi. The double points combined with the Southwest credit card make companion pass easily attainable…. If you fly on a regular basis.
You can hit A-List Preferred in one of two ways. 50 flights, or 70,000 points. You heard my travel stats a few minutes ago and I’m nowhere near those numbers…. Again.
Enter Southwest and they were kind enough to gift me A-List Preferred until December 31, 2022….. Thank you, Southwest.
In episode 123 I posted my 2020 travel resolutions, and here’s a quick rundown of them.
* I resolve to quit using my American Express Green Card.
* The motivation was that I was rotating 3 different cards. A Chase Southwest card that gave me two points for every dollar spent on air travel, which also contributed to my soon-to-be ending companion pass. An American Express Hilton card that gives me 12 points for every dollar I spend at Hilton properties, a no-brainer. Then finally, there’s the American Express green card which gives me 1-to-1 when it comes to dollars vs. points. A dollar spent gives me a single point….. So that was the motivation to quit using it. I give this an 88% complete, the remaining 12% is all on me where I still use it once a month and more than likely it’s because the card worked its way to the front on my Open Seas wallet.
* I resolve to convert Friday travel into long weekends. The plan was if it’s Friday and I’m on the road the plan was to stay over a day… maybe two. The target towns were Tallahassee and.
* This did not happen. Not once in 2021 did I make it to Tallahassee, and I saw Jacksonville several times as I was driving through it on I-95.
* A road trip.
* Put a check in this box as I said “Road Trip” not “Road Trips”. March 2020 I flew the CEO into Atlanta where we did a few days in the North Georgia Mountains, a few days in Asheville, NC down to Highlands, NC before heading back to O-Town.
* Use my Southwest Companion plan at least once before it expires.
* Put a check in this box as this took place a few weeks ago as we both flew into Washington DC, me on points, the CEO as my companion.
* I resolve to see snow at least once in 2021.
* Well well well with meer days left in the month this is not a no but a hell no.
At least I didn’t resolve to drink less, eat better and drop 30 lbs.
So what’s in store for 2022? Face it travel numbers are down.
* Airlines are dropping prices in order to buy business.
* Hotels are completely confused as they stopped, and probably won’t return to daily housekeeping service, and Hilton has resolved to daily property credits instead of free breakfasts at full-service properties. Side note - Hilton this isn’t working as I completely skip breakfast at properties because I have no desire to edit a Hilton receipt over $10.00. And another side note is that most road warriors are on per-diem and it’s easier to line item a $7.00 receipt from Chick-Fil-A
* The poor rental car companies are totally lost due to supply chain issues and somehow managing to issue arrest warrants for unsuspecting customers.
My road warrior crystal ball predicts a few things.
* Consolidations. It’s doubtful you see it with the airlines too much regulation to pull it off in 12 months. Look at the rental car companies, consolidation might be their only way to survive.
* Hotels need to figure out what’s really important to the business traveler, so look for survey after survey, they need our input.
* When it comes to rideshare there’s a chance, a small chance, that they’ve outlived their appeal to the business traveler. The last two taxi rides I took offered apps for payment.
* Finally, the monthly crazy travel roundup will be filed with the Anti-Vaxxers vs. the maskers, at least it will be for the first quarter of 2022. Throw in some travel nudity mixed with alcohol abuse and a side of Florida.
Give me a week, or two to come up with my 2022 travel resolutions since 2021 didn’t land in my favor. Maybe I should consider, drink less, eating better, and dropping 30 lbs.
There you have it the November crazy travel roundup. The next episode will be the travel year in review, and how my 2021 travel resolutions panned out.
If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/
Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.
As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.
