24 hours Door-to-Door

It took us about 24 hours door-to-door to get home to San Francisco. We travelled via cab (10min), train (4hrs), airport express (20min), plane (13hrs) and car (30min) to get back where we started about a week ago. It made us realize that we have to have some guidelines for comfortable leisure travel. We do have them for our business travels so why not for leisure.

Four main themes developed: service level, choice, time and price.

Service level: We need to travel with a company that believes in service and gives us relevant options for seating, food, rest et cetera. Icelandair was not a good choice. It's a people shipping company, not a service company. Also, switching between methods of transportation is tiring and extends the time of travel. We should stick with United and American with as few lay-overs as possible. The lay-overs should be at bigger airports that can offer service and choice. That said, we loved the coffee shop at the train station in Gothenburg which served us great lattes at 6am.

Choice: I personally hate not having a choice. It's the most basic human need in a modern world and a sign of how healthy the economic and political system is. When choice is not on the menu, I'm not buying cause it's usually a rip-off.

Time: People assume that there is a 1:1 correlation between distance and travel time. That's not necessarily true, it's all up to how well the trip is planned. Anything over 15 hours is just crazy.

Price: The price is key and a function of several different things: competitive enviroment, service, target group brand et cetera. One way to use great brands and enjoy above par service is in off-seasons. I would avoid summer and christmas to save money but also to avoid the craziest crowds of vacationers. It's also important to factor in all costs in the planning. Travelling with a crap airline means buying your own food at the airport. Ouch, that is pricey.

PS. I feel sorry for the guy that sat next to this mother of six (6) kids (age 5-8), all on crack and with developing ADD. The mother had given up and let them roam around the cabin as they pleased. The guy was too polite to say anything and just suffered quietly.