The "mileage run"

I have a friend who is a big time international salesman.  He normally carries a balance of over a million frequent flier miles.  Yesterday, he send me an email from Frankfurt telling me about something he'd never encountered.  While at the Admiral's Club in Frankfurt, he ran into five people from Dallas who were doing a "mileage run."  These five people flew into Frankfurt from Dallas, did an over night at a hotel near the airport and flew back the next day.  The goal was simply to rack up frequent flier miles so they could reach Executive Platinum status sooner.  This group was willing to spend $450 to make an unnecessary trip in coach simply to increase their frequent flier status. 


A few years ago, when I needed one more trip at the end of the year to maintain my Executive Platinum status, I considered doing something similar myself.  However, good sense kicked in.  The group I am talking about is flying on their own money in mid-January!  And, according to my friend, they will do it several more times...and he thinks it is a GREAT idea!


According to the thinking, for around $4500, a person can rack up 100,000 miles quickly and then reap the benefits of this advanced status for the remainder of the year. They will get several system wide upgrades which means they can fly in Business Class with the price of a coach ticket.  They will get more frequent flier miles for every trip plus priority service.  They will be automatically upgraded to first class on domestic flights and gain some additional access to airport clubs.


Still, they are flying around 10 trips that they are paying for themselves...in coach...and not lingering long enough to really enjoy the benefit of being there.


I still do not get it.  It must be the thrill of the adventure...doing a crazy thing with your buddies, all jam packed in coach, hitting a hotel, drinking a few German beers, crashing and flying back home for a day then repeating.  Like running a marathon or something.  Then, when it is time to take a serious business trip, you have all the advantages of your status to smooth the trip for you.

How to Dress for an International Flight

Back in the old days, people would dress up for a flight. Traveling by air was novel and expensive. With the entry of Southwest Airlines (the Greyhound of the Sky), all that went out the window. Today, walking through the airport, you see all manner of super casual attire.

I recall, on my first international business trip, I ran into one of our engineers at the airport. He and I were flying to Tokyo to attend the same meeting. I was dressed in Dockers with a button-down shirt (trying to look like an international marketing guy). He, on the other hand, was dressed in nylon shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. He looked as if he were about to run a marathon, so I asked him if he was headed someplace to workout. I was assuming that he was a big international traveler and knew the ropes...as in, maybe there was a gym at the airport that I knew nothing about. He responded (with a hint of defensiveness) that he was about to take a long flight and wanted to be comfortable. "Comfortable?" I thought. "You are almost naked. We are flying in business class. We are going to spend the next 12 hours in a BarcaLounger. How comfortable do you have to be?"


Once we got on the plane, my greatest problem was staying warm. My Dockers and loose cotton shirt where plenty comfortable enough. Of course, I still see Japanese businessmen in a full suit; never even loosening their tie during the 12 hour trip. I guess it is what you are used to. If I am comfortable enough to wear something for 9 hours in the office, then I am comfortable enough on a 10 - 12 flight. You do not have to go to extremes.


Here is my advice, "Don't worry about it." Wear something you would not mind wearing around the house all day. If it is uncomfortable to wear at home, do not wear it on the plane. If you are inclined to get a little cold, bring a sweater and wear long sleeves. Keep your shoes on if you can. Your feet are going to swell and your shoes are going to be hard to get back on at the end of the flight. However, if your feet start to hurt, take your shoes off. Don't suffer the whole flight with aching feet. Just leave yourself a little time to shove your fat feet in your shoes before the plane starts to empty out.


One more comment concerning your shoes. Since 2001 when Richard Reid tried to blow up an American Airlines flight with a shoe bomb, passengers have been required to remove their shoes and have them X-rayed when passing through security. I have seen various road warriors scoff at passengers who wear shoes that must be tied when going through security. The thinking is you are going to have to untie your shoes, run them through the scanner then put them back on your feet and retie them. These road warriors feel like this inconvenience can be avoided by wearing loafers. That is fine if you are not traveling for business, but I need real shoes to wear with my suit. As far as I am concerned, you go through a little bit of inconvenience at the airport by wearing lace-up shoes, but then you have the shoes you really need for the rest of the trip. I think the whole shoe issue is a pretty minor inconvenience compared to all the other things I have to do (put my liquids in a quart bag, pull my notebook computer out of the bag, leave my pocket knife and scissors at home, have my bag re-X-rayed if I fail to empty out other assorted electronics that capture the attention of the screener, etc.) Besides, on an international flight, I find that lace-up shoes are easier to stuff my fat feet into when I arrive at my destination.


Once you are in the airport, take the stairs if you can instead of using the escalator. It will help to move the blood out of your feet and back into the rest of your body.



But here is my best tip. If you are traveling on business, have a clean shirt and a sports coat handy. Brush your teeth, shave, and put on a fresh shirt about an hour before you land. Then wear the sports coat through customs. If you indicate on your emigration form that you were overseas on business, the customs agent will tend to leave you alone. Especially if you look like an experienced business traveler. Customs will usually wave you on and not waste time digging through you bags. Of course, having about a dozen pages stamped in your passport further convinces the customs agent that you are an international business traveler.


However, if you are traveling with family, I have no advice for you other than to get your paperwork in order, be efficient and alert, and maintain a reserved but friendly and polite attitude. Chances are you will make it through with no issues.

James Snider is an international marketing professional with 15 years experience in the semiconductor and high-tech industry. He was the industry lead for global FireWire marketing at Texas Instruments, Philips Semiconductor (now NXP) and the 1394 Trade Association.
Snider is actively searching for the next great thing to market into a worldwide success.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamessnider 

How to Pack

I am sorry. I can not advise you on how to pack efficiently. I tend to carry too much stuff with me, never sure how much time I may have to read, work, or catch up on things while I am on the road. I normally have very little time for anything other than customer meetings and keeping current on email.

I also normally take too many clothes. I was scheduled to travel to California on September 12, 2001...the day after 9/11. A week later, I was on a nearly empty flight to California after talking to a couple of guys who'd been stuck in some distant location, unable to get home. Since that time, I have made it a personal policy to take an extra change of clothes, just in case I end up staying an extra day or two. It is not a bad policy anyway. Chances are, you will eventually miss a flight or get caught in a rain storm and need the extra clothes.

As for me, I can not criticize anyone who fails to pack light. I am as bad as anyone. This is a problem since I hate to check bags. I hate to wait for 30 minutes at a carrousel with nothing coming off of it and I hate to see my $400 suitcase get torn to bits by baggage handlers who seem to go out of their way to destroy them.

I am a bad example to follow when it comes to packing.

James Snider is an international marketing professional with 15 years experience in the semiconductor and high-tech industry. He was the industry lead for global FireWire marketing at Texas Instruments, Philips Semiconductor (now NXP) and the 1394 Trade Association.
Snider is actively searching for the next great thing to market into a worldwide success.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamessnider

What to eat

I was told by a TI sales rep in Korea that I have a "marketing stomach." I actually like kimchi, eel, and tofu. I have eaten octopus so fresh it was still moving (I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me), a fudgesicle made out of red beans (I thought it did not have much chocolate flavor), sea cucumber (squishy and tasteless), and Taiwan's national dish "stinking tofu" (and it tastes pretty much the way it smells.)

What do you do if you are not an adventurous eater? You are going to have problems. If you are staying at an American brand name hotel, there will be American food there but it will probably not be to your liking and will cost a small fortune. They simply do not know how to make American food the same way it is made in America. All the same, if it is a choice between a $12 hamburger that tastes a bit off or sushi, you are probably better off with the hamburger.

Most hotels have a breakfast buffet which will have something you can eat but if your eggs must be dry and your bacon must be crisp, you may have problems. If you can not face eating cucumbers for breakfast or a lunch meat sandwich, then eat rice in Asia and bread in Europe.

I shared a taxi from Chang Kai-shek airport in Taiwan with a guy from Israel. He was terrified because he was a very delicate eater. I invited him to eat dinner with me since it was his first trip to Taipei. We went to a seafood restaurant recommended by the concierge at the Sheraton but when we arrived, the floors were bare concrete and all the fish were in aquariums. We had to select our own and my new Israeli friend was backing out the door with eyes as big as saucers. I decided it was time to hop in a taxi and go across town to Hollywood Underground in the basement of the shopping center next to the Far Eastern Hotel. There, the food is decidedly Euro-American.

On our way out, I picked up a matchbook and handed it to him, "In case you want to return," I said. Four days later, as I was checking out of my hotel, he came up to me to thank me. He'd eaten dinner there every night. You have to do what you have to do.

Personally, after about 10 days in Asia, my system starts to complain. It needs something familiar. Having traveled a lot, I normally keep my eyes open for an American chain restaurant close to the hotel. When home, I normally do not eat under the golden arches, but during a long trip, even Mickey Ds starts to taste pretty good.

And finally, when traveling in Europe, it is easy to gain three or four pounds. The food there is great. In Asia, I expect to lose about five pounds. It is not so much that I do not like Asian food. It is more the fact that they tend to eat less fat in their diet than Americans do. If I am in Asia for two weeks, it is an adjustment to get used to the fat content in American fast food upon my return. Everything tastes like it is coated in Crisco. We should probably be a little concerned about that.

James Snider is an global marketing professional with 15 years experience in the semiconductor and high-tech industry. He is currently working as a consultant while looking for the next great thing and earning inbound marketing certification.
www.linkedIn.com/in/jamessnider

Oh...my ears!

One thing that still tends to bother me when I fly is the pressure on my ear drum. Even after 3 million frequent flier miles, I still have problems. I have tried nasal spray, decongestants, and antihistamines, but the one thing that helps the most is sucking on hard candy. Pick up a package before getting on the plane and keep them handy.

They also come in handy if a parent and child are sitting close to you and the child is experiencing pain. Hand the parent about five pieces of candy in case the plane has a lengthy descent or has to circle a few times.

If all else fails, I do something that I always saw my father do. I hold my nose shut and swallow hard. It is a little frightening. I am never sure if I may be damaging something, but when nothing else helps, this opens the Eustachian tube and lets the pressure equalize.

If I get off the plan and my ears are still blocked, I bend over with my head between my knees, hold my nose, and swallow hard. It looks silly, but when you are in serious pain, looks are the least of your worries.

How to get over jet lag

OK, you finally arrived and you have meetings first thing in the morning. How do you get over jet lag?

This varies from person to person. Most people say that flying east (from the USA to London) causes worse jet lag than flying west (USA to Tokyo). However, I have not found this to be significant in my case. The more significant factor is how worn down I am before making the trip. Some people go to bed an hour progressively earlier or an hour progressively later each night a week before the flight to get their bodies adjusted to the time zone in their destination but my life is always too full to do that. I just try to get 7 - 8 hours of sleep a couple of nights before the flight.

Assuming you did things right on the way over:
* got some sleep on the way over
* drank water (it is good to buy a bottle of water at the airport since you will probably not be served much to drink in coach)
* avoided alcohol (a universal suggestion in everything I have read)
* walked around and stretched every few hours on the flight over
I am going to suggest what you should do once you get to your destination. If you did not do the things I just listed, you are probably out of luck. Drink lots of coffee!

1) Stay awake until bedtime. That is not so hard if you change planes in Tokyo and arrive in Taipei at 9:00 PM but if you fly to London and arrive at 6:30 AM, this is a miserable experience. I had a pilot tell me that he goes straight to the hotel, sleeps 3 hours in a pitch black room then forces himself to get up and stay up until bedtime. I do not have that discipline, so I just stay up.

2) Break a sweat. Get on the treadmill in the gym or take a hard walk around the area. Exert yourself. You are not walking for pleasure. You have to get the blood pumping and really start sweating those accumulated toxins out of your system. Wear yourself out.

3) Eat something familiar for dinner. Maybe this is just me, but my body is all messed up after a 14 hour flight. Now is not the time to try a meal of sushi for the first time in my life. I need a hamburger and fries. If you are staying in an American brand name hotel, you are good. Room service will have a hamburger. If not, there is probably American fast food around the corner. Hunt it down and do not be adventurous this first night.

4) Go to bed a little bit early. If you normally go to bed at 11:00 PM, make it 10:00 this first night. Do NOT go to bed a 8:00 PM. You are going to wake up 2 - 20 times that first night anyway. Get your body adjusted to the new time zone. Going to bed too early is not going to help you.

Do those four things (especially the hard walk) and you will be as good as you can be the next morning. If you wake up at 5:30 AM and just can not go to sleep. Take another walk. Do not go out before people are on the street, however. It is risky to be out alone in a strange city.

How a $2 Beach Ball Can Improve Your Flight

In my last blog, I talked about using the "1st Class Sleeper" to improve your comfort on long flights, spare your aching back, and improve your chances of sleeping. The downside is the $30 price tag for something that will last you about 10 trips.

As a cheap alternative, I have tried using a cheap beach ball partially inflated. You can find those in spring and early summer at Wal-Mart and drug stores for $2. If your travel plans are in Fall and Winter, you may have trouble finding one.

I simply place the beach ball between the small of my back and the seat and it works pretty well. The major down side is the lack of a "fuzzy" surface on the beach ball (similar to the surface on the 1st Class Sleeper) which "wicks"perspiration. If you've ever sat on a plastic surface for a lengthy period of time, you know what I am talking about. I wear a light cotton jacket on international flights which helps prevent the build-up of perspiration.

Another thing you can do with the cheap beach ball is to inflate it almost full and put it on the floor to give you something to put your feet on. I find that the lower half of my body starts screaming out in pain after about 6 hours in a coach seat. Having something to put my feet on helps a lot. You can also use the ball to exert slight pressure with your feet to get the blood going in your veins and reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis.

And finally, I find that sleeping on my back is fine for most of the flight, but sometimes I just have to lean forward. Having done everything I can think of (stretching, walking around the cabin, doing deep knee bends by the exits), my lower body still is hurting. Leaning forward helps by moving the pressure off my lower body and partially distributing it to my upper body. Problem is, how? If you have just enough space between your seat and the seat in front of you to get your head down on the pull-down tray, you are not very comfortable. If you can put something between yourself and the tray (to get your head up to a higher, more comfortable position), you can get some relief. Inflating a second beach ball (you do not want to use the one you had your feet on) and covering it with a t-shirt works pretty well.

James Snider is a global marketing professional with 15 years experience in the high tech industry. He is currently looking for his next great job. www.linkedin.com/in/jamessnider