Travel

That Time Apple Air Tag’s Did Save The Day

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In recent years I’ve seen plenty of people recommending the use of Apple AirTags when travelling. Some airlines even let you share your AirTag location with them so they can help track down lost luggage. Looking back, I guess I was a bit ahead of the curve, because as soon as AirTags came out, I bought a bunch and put them on our bags.

In 2021, we flew to Madrid on British Airways and I had AirTags on all four pieces of luggage. The flight was delayed leaving Heathrow due to BA issues, and when we finally landed and were waiting at the carousel, I opened Find My to check. Three of the bags showed as nearby, but the fourth was still pinging from Heathrow. Immediate red flag. Sure enough, someone from baggage claim walked around with a list of names, and my bag was on it. The one with all my stuff, of course.

We filed the paperwork, went to our Airbnb, and I made do with what I had. The next day, baggage services still claimed they couldn’t find it, even though by then the AirTag clearly showed it sitting at Madrid airport. The people on the phone were rude, unhelpful, and not even located at the airport itself. After a full day of frustration, one finally suggested I go to the airport in person.

So I did. It was a 15 to 20 minute cab ride, not too bad. The crazy part was how I got in: I was told to knock on a door past customs, explain myself to security, and they just waved me through with no checks at all. As a security-minded person, that was insane. But it got me in. I showed staff the AirTag location, they asked for a photo of the bag (which I barely had), and after 20 minutes of searching in the back, they found it.

I was relieved. Without the AirTag, I doubt I would have seen that bag for days, if at all. It had already been two days and I’d had to buy clothes just to get by. The phone support was useless, and it was only the tracker that made the difference.

Since then, I’ve been completely sold on using AirTags whenever we travel. I’ve also learned to always take a photo of the luggage beforehand, and to make sure the AirTag batteries are fresh. It’s the only reason I got my bag back in Madrid.

Tapping Through France: A Cashless Holiday at Disney and Beyond

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We’ve just come back from a week in France. Two whirlwind days at Disneyland Paris followed by a slower stretch at a resort. The rides, the food, the lounging by the pool… all wonderful. But the thing that surprised me most wasn’t the fireworks over the castle we didn’t actually see because by then we were too tired and had already headed back to the hotel. What stood out was that I managed the entire trip without touching a single euro note or even pulling out a physical card.

If you’ve read my past posts, you know I’ve been on a bit of a mission to go wallet-less. In daily life at home, I rely almost entirely on my phone or, even better, my watch for tap-to-pay. The convenience is unmatched. That said, whenever I travel abroad, I usually hedge my bets. Extra cards tucked into the bag. Mental note of where the nearest ATM might be. Because international trips can be tricky: not every place is set up for seamless digital payments, and the last thing you want is to be stranded without cash.

But this time? Smooth sailing. Disney was as high-tech as you’d expect, and even the resort didn’t skip a beat. From meals to souvenirs to a quick coffee at the pool when we didn’t have our wallets or phones, a tap of the watch worked perfectly. No fumbling with euros, no need to break a bill just to grab a snack. I didn’t expect it to be this easy.

Back in the UK, it’s already rare that I run into a situation where cash is essential. Even the local ice cream van has a contactless reader these days. And while I know France isn’t representative of every country in Europe or the world, it was reassuring to see just how far tap-to-pay has spread.

The takeaway? For certain destinations at least, traveling cashless is no longer a gamble. It’s becoming the norm. That’s one less thing to worry about when packing, and a little more space in the pocket for, say, an extra croissant or two.

A Friends Friend

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I didn’t know Joey and Chandlers dog had a friend? And they ran off together to the hotel the Beatles stayed at in Cornwall!

The Kids Meal

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On a flight to the States a few years ago I commented to the flight attendant when my kids didn’t like the meal that I want the kids meal since they looked much better than the adult ones. The flight attendant said they are and she recommended that I ask for one next time. I felt a bit odd doing it so I never did.

That is till this week. I am going on a flight without the fam and the menu did not look great so I figured I would order the kids meal. Let’s see how awkward that looks when they deliver it!

Holiday Plan B

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This was not the post I was expecting to be writing 48 hours ago. To tell this story I have to go back to August. M has to work so I decided to take off term break and take the girls somewhere. My master plan was to take the girls on a cruise out of Southampton for a few days. I was worried about things to do however the ship seemed like there was a ton of options and the girls are generally fine in a pool.

48 hours ago we got an email from our cruise line saying that due to a covid exposure the kids club and a host of activities were going to be closed our sailing. Around the same time others in a group I am in for the ship were sailing on were saying they only let 11 kids in the indoor pool at a time and then they get 10 minutes and they have to get out. Having to queue for 20-30 minutes for one of the few activities they can do was troubling however doable. When Royal Caribbean emailed they gave us 3 options. 1, get some money back and we cruise, 2, a lot of credit for another cruise or 3, all our money back no questions.

Lots of people in the group I was in for the cruise said they were going to bring games and make the best of it. I thought about that. Doing that was doable. My issue was more the fact if we took the credit the amount we would’ve spent on the cruise was way more than I thought we would be getting out of it. With all the restrictions. That I was by myself and not having any kids club to get a break from the girls was a big deal. The fact that Covid was on the boat was is another concern. Talking with M we both agreed that just getting our money back was probably the safest bet.

The girls and I were disappointed. I would rather be disappointed and plan another cruise then go on this and have the girls have a negative feeling towards cruising. The last cruise we did with their grandparents they thought was out of this world fantastic. I thought it was pretty epic also.

I went into back planning mode. The girls love a pool. I figured if I could find a nice hotel with a pool they would be very happy. After looking at several options I settled on one with an indoor pool that did not require any sort of pre-booking the pool. Several I investigated did have that restriction.

So instead of cruising today girls and I start our few days holiday in London. It’s a little odd being able to go home in 40 minutes if we forgot anything however we are settling into hotel life nicely. Our view is pretty awesome also.

As plan B’s go this feels like a winner.

The Story of Our Experience With British Airways

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In February we took a cruise to the Caribbean. It required us to fly from London to Tampa so we could goto Port Canaveral in Florida to get on the boat. We were meeting up with M’s parents. Since we wanted to go to Tampa and not the more popular nearby Orlando international Airport we had limited flight options. The only direct flight from any London airport to Tampa was British Airways out of Gatwick. Anything else would require us to transfer.

Since we moved to London in all of our personal travel to the states we have flown either Virgin Atlantic or Norwegian Airways. This was our first trip as a family on British Airways. I have flow BA before however I can only recall doing so in Business Class. Before we even got on the plane I had a major issue with using BA. There was no way to book a seat ahead of time in regular economy without spending extra money. If you wanted their low-end tickets you would not be able to pick a seat at all. Their standard economy tickets let you pick seats only when you checked in 24 hours ahead of time. As a family with two relatively small kids that’s not good enough. We need the ability to know we are together when we book our tickets. What good is it to be able to select your seats when you may not have been fast enough on the day to get 4 together.

That limitations not only required us to purchase the standard economy tickets. We also had to pay extra per person to pick her seats when I booked the tickets. Both together added several hundred pounds to the ticket price. Virgin Atlantic had no such restriction. If we bought their standard economy ticket I was able to book a seat. The same goes for Norwegian airlines and they are considered a low-cost carrier. This penny/pence pinching is very annoying. All other things being equal I won’t pick British Airways over Virgin, Delta, Norwegian in the future if I can help it. Business practices do matter people.

If that wasn’t enough their entire online check in process had left a lot to be desired. For both legs of the trip we were required to go to the ticket counter to input additional information. This isn’t the first time we as a family have flown internationally. We’ve never had to do this before however when queried we were told that something about our passports required us to see an agent. I just don’t believe that since we’ve done at least three other roundtrips to the states with no issues. In practice the lines weren’t too bad and on the way home they confirmed my TSA Pre was on my ticket so it worked out. It was simply not a seemless experience. The reason I bring it up is the oddity of because of that glitch we were checked into our flight with no boarding passes. I don’t know if that’s a thing for just British Airways or if airlines are now “checking you in” if you don’t even have a boarding pass. Are you really checked in?

What is funny to me is that the actual inflight service was pretty good. M pointed out the good service also. That does not change that before rhe flight even started I went into it with the negative thought in my head because of the extra cost of the seats. I appreciated the good service in the air. All things equal its not enough for me to choose BA again based on my purchase experience. Since I am not a frequent flyer with them it really doesn’t matter to them anyway! As always it does feel a bit theraputic to write about it though.

Photo shown is not the plane we flew on. That is a 747 I flew on going home from London when living in NY and we flew on something less spectacular that that for this trip.

Too Many Choices, What Lounge to Choose?

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Since our move to London we have been flying more. We are taking advantage of our location to see Europe on our holidays. With this travel we have been using one of the credit card perks we have, airport lounge access. With MC and my American Express cards we can each get into Priority Pass lounges and take 2 guests. That means the entire family can get in a lounge without any extra cost beyond what we paid for the annual fee on the card. This benefit alone this year justified the annual fee. The way i calculated that was since we need to get to the airport early for flights especially with the girls. We would get lunch. Lunch was costing us £40-60 pounds. Since we can get food at the lounges i calculated each visit to a lounge to be worth that amount to us. By adding up all the times we used the lounges it works out to be a worthwhile perk.

Before our trip to New York for our summer holiday we debated what airport lounge we should goto. We were flying Virgin out of Terminal 3 at Heathrow. We had flown Virgin in June for our quick trip to NY. That meant we had already gone to a lounge in Terminal 3. We did not know if we should return to the Aspire lounge or somewhere new. In this case the No1 Lounge was our other option.

The girls are now old enough to start providing their opinion on subjects like this. Their opinion was they liked the lounge in Gatwick the best. That feedback was helpful however not in the context of where to go for this trip. That simply meant that anywhere we went in Heathrow would not meet their expectations! M was trying to remember if she liked the Aspire Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3 or not. I liked it. They had the best breakfast buffet of a lounge we have gone to so far. What won me over, eggs and proper sausages in a buffet.

I had been to the No1 Lounge before. It was when i was by myself for work. I did not stay very long. The wait seemed long at the time so I had a drink and left. It looked nice though.

After more discussion than was likely necessary on the topic we settled for the No1 Lounge. We were curious.

The place was crowded. At first it looked like the lounge would be a total bust. M and I both were asking staff if there was anywhere to sit. Finally someone suggested we sit in the movie room. So we did. It was a nice sized room with chairs that had trays on them to eat off of. They were playing Despicable Me 3 or something. The girls loved it. M and I were happy since at first there was no one in the movie room. It was quiet. We ordered our food. The food came pretty quick. I liked my sandwich. The buffet was pretty good. Overall a huge win. Since they have since asked if they were going back there I think they have a new favorite lounge.

I am glad this is the biggest debate we are having:)