TravelCommons

Talk about physical travel technology rather than latest phone app; TSA K9 screening; new Lyft gadget; TravelCommons now on Alexa; National Business Travelers Day; dingy terminals in Detroit and Minneapolis, and flight attendants' safety demonstrations have become a bit more strident.

Returning to the mic after 10 days of food, wine, wind, rain, and snow in the north of Spain. I talk about traveling in Spain, and with my guest Coleman Collins about how to make the best coffee in your hotel room.

February is a tough time to be in the Midwest, so when my travel took me south, to New Orleans and then to Florida, there was no bitch tweeting about the TSA lines or flight delays. I walk through how each change in airport security has pushed me to be more hipster and how we all want to understand the real cause of flight delays.

So we're four weeks into the new year and 30-50% of us have already ditched our New Year's resolutions, but we still have time to get our 2018 travel status lined up. Over the holiday break, I bought a non-smart carry-on to replace my now-banned Bluesmart; I walk through my shopping criteria.

After traveling with younger colleagues who pay for everything with cards, I wonder if I'm the last generation of cash payers. I also talk about the upcoming smart luggage ban on US airlines and a long Saturday afternoon trying to redeem some British Airways Avios points. All this, a new Uber driver story, and a few Christmas carols

Here's something to listen to while in the Thanksgiving airport lines and traffic jams. We list out some of the squares we'd like to see in an airport bingo card, and I end up going back to the future with my new travel PC. We also talk about my growing stack of subway tap cards and some forecasts on what could be a traffic jammed Thanksgiving holiday.

Finding a Jag in the Hertz Presidents Club aisle has me thinking about the differing value of loyalty from hotel, airlines, and car rental companies while 5-star rating schemes are pushing grade inflation. All this and comments on luggage discounts, traveling while injured, and #metoo while flying

Fitting 10 days of clothes for rain, hiking, and Michelin restaurants into a 22-inch carry-on forced me to pack ruthlessly, and to distill my packing thoughts into 5 packing pro tips. Flying to Hungary right after a cycling accident reminded me of the hassles of traveling on the injured reserve list. All this and listener comments on EU mobile regulations, travel apps on smartphones, and the need for Atlanta baggage X-ray ninja skills

It's a listener request podcast. A fellow Peacock, this one named Jack, asked "What travel apps do you have on your iPhone?" Paging back through the TravelCommons archives, I’ve covered different categories of travel apps,  -- in the most recent iteration of my Top 10 Travel Tips I recommended some flight tracking apps and way before that, did a bake-off of trip management apps -- but never covered walked through what’s in the travel folder on the home screen of my iPhone. I've now remedied that oversight. We also continue talking about overseas phone SIMs; the impact of the new EU ban on roaming charges. Also, my first encounter with some new TSA scanning equipment.

This past week in Atlanta Hartfield Airport, when I traveled across four terminals to find a restaurant serving a nice selection of local Atlanta beers, I finally had to admit that I have a craft beer problem. In addition to this confession, I talk about about taking the London Underground back from the big Adele concert in Wembley Stadium. The experience proved out some of the positive stereotypes about the English -- queuing well and muddling through without complaining. I talk about hotel room flat screen TVs and using Twitter to quickly get Hertz to fix a mistaken refueling charge.