Tom Drapeau

A small sector of the internet is abuzz this weekend surrounding @ThatKevinSmith and his being asked to get off a Southwest Airlines flight due to being TFTF (Too Fat To Fly). To hear Kevin’s side of the story, you can check out his Smodcast.

I am not a thin person. I have been thinner at various points in my life, and that is my struggle to deal with. I have not yet been asked to get off a flight for being TFTF, as I fit in the seat, don’t need a seatbelt extender, and can pull down the armrest. Which, incidentally, Kevin can also do.

In response to his blog post/podcast/Tweets, the web has aggregated a delicious array of self righteousness by people posing as thin (Slashdot, PopEater, Consumerist), and I thought I might share my humble opinion on what the airlines might consider.

Instead of publicly outing passengers in front of a seated audience telling them they are too fat, if there are concerns about a passenger’s size, why not have that checked during the check-in/security process? Then it could be a bit more humane.

The argument that people get what they pay for with coach seats falls a bit flat, as I would gladly pay more for a more comfortable flying experience. Looking at flights from JFK-LAX for example, rates fluctuate from $218-$404, with many of the $404 flights being on the same airlines as the $218 flights.

Are there no more comfortable coach seats because people are choosing cheaper flights over comfort? Or are people choosing cheaper flights because there is no more comfort with the more expensive ones? I believe it to be the latter. Even using the popular flight finding services i.e. Travelocity and the like, there isn’t even a place to specify comfort options. I did notice that Virgin America offers not only roomier main cabin seats but a “Main Cabin Select” seat class, which is great, but it isn’t something that is offered across the board with all airlines.

As for the argument that bigger people should just automatically buy 2 seats or upgrade to first class, that adds anywhere from a 100% to 1000% markup to the cost of flying (the Virgin Main Cabin Select looks to be in the 500% markup range). I would think that there should be another option that is a bit more in line with adding a bit extra comfort. A 1000% markup? That’s like telling the guy who’s renting a car from Hertz that since he can’t fit into the Corolla that he has to rent a Lamborghini.

Besides, the rich folk in first class (anyone who would pay that kind of markup for a service *has* to be considered an extravagant spender) don’t want to spend their hard inherited fortunes to be seated next to a commoner, do they? And they are part of the reason that a poor schlub can fly from NYC to LAX for $129.

These are not truly logical arguments being made here. For me this is not a matter of weight, or girth, or coach vs. first class. Its a matter of how bigger people are treated. If people want to stop being childish and have a real discussion about this, my suggestions would be:

1. Have a more private area available in the check-in/security checkpoint process where you can pull people aside and see how they fit in the seat. Give people the options on how to proceed if they don’t. Part of the reason why these situations suck is that they are being treated subjectively–let’s make it objective. If you don’t fit, you don’t fit, and here are your options. (Along those lines, let’s skip the safety brochure reading at the beginning of flights and not allow anyone on the plane who needs assistance figuring out how the seatbelts work.)

2. Offer a more roomier seat selection at 50%-100% markup. No extra services other than a better seat. Allow coach seats to upgrade into it a la business class, minus the macadamia nut cookie.

3. Treat someone like a human for once and not like cattle. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been reminded by flight attendants that they are going out of their way to bring me a glass of water.

I can’t wait to see if the US can finally pull off high-speed train travel. I’d stop flying to areas the train system covers in a heartbeat.

P.S. Looks like Kevin is not the only one to have this sort of situation.

P.P.S. Southwest has issued a reasonable response. That’s nice to see.

P.P.P.S. The Chicago Sun-Times editorializes against Kevin’s position, and the readers let them have it.

tdrapeau Travel Airlines, Kevin Smith, Southwest, TFTF, Travel

The morning after @ShayWade and I got married, we set off for Port Canaveral to board the Carnival Sensation, bound for Freeport and Nassau. Although I am a big fan of traveling, this was my first cruise.

My first impressions: even though it is smallish compared to the other boats in Carnival’s 21 boat fleet, it is an enormous floating city. There are 14 decks in total, including the main deck, sleeping quarters, restaurants, a swimming pool, hot tubs–you name it, the Sensation has it.

If you only have a few days, want to supremely relax and eat good food, and visit a few islands briefly, a cruise is a good bet. We stopped in Freeport for 7 hours, and Nassau for 24 hours, so for those that want Carnival’s Excursion desk to take care of your port activities, then you’ll be well served. The food is excellent, and for those who want photo memories of your trip, as long as you don’t mind Carnival branding on your photos, there are many, many opportunities for professional pictures to be taken throughout the cruise. Here we are on the gangway leading to Nassau:

Also, Carnival does some smart things with customer relations. They give you comment cards the last night of the cruise, on which they ask you to rate your head waiter and maid, amongst others. To entice you to actually fill them out, your comment card is entered into a raffle and the winner gets a free cruise. Also, Carnival employees are rated largely on the comment cards, and promotions are given out to those who are singled out by customers–therefore, your trip is virtually guaranteed to have genuine, excellent service. Having been on a cruise now, I can attest that this strategy absolutely works and creates a friendly atmosphere for all.

We did an “Island Bus Tour” in Freeport, which was OK. We were the last ones on the bus, so got the extremely bumpy back row of the bus. We stopped 3 times, twice for shopping and once at Taino Beach, and we were pretty much on the clock each time. 15-20 minutes is not a lot of time to spend at a stop. The beach was nice, but Freeport as a whole feels more like an industrial power plant than a resort city.

Nassau, on the other hand, was gorgeous all around. We did a bit of shopping in the morning, followed by a visit to the Trump monstrosity, called Atlantis. I heard that it was previously owned by Merv Griffin, under the name Paradise Island Resort. Maybe in Merv’s day, you didn’t have to pay $60 just to walk on the private beach just for pictures.

After a siesta, we headed to Señor Frog’s, a restaurant and bar located a stone’s throw from the port. We drank and were merry until the early morning [pictures redacted].

Back aboard the boat, we spent a nice day at sea, and before we knew it, we were off the boat, headed back to cooler New York. Overall it was a great time. I didn’t know if I would like a cruise vacation, since I’m more of an off the beaten path kind of traveler. It turned out that I liked the cruise a lot. A word to the wise: Don’t attempt to hold to a diet while on a cruise.

And I can’t forget to thank my Mom and Dad for staying in our house and watching KidWonder. Thank you guys–you let us be kids for a few days, and we really appreciate it! Love you Mom and Dad!

tdrapeau Travel Bahamas, Carnival, Cruise, Freeport, Nassau, Señor Frog's, Sensation

As I caught up on my news reading this weekend, as the snow continues to fall in Westchester, I came across yet another gem in Roger Ebert’s Journal. I don’t have a walk that I repeat when I return to a place I’ve visited, but the story made me think of traveling. KidWonder is still young yet for international travel, so its been a while since I’ve had the opportunity. Reflecting on previous travels, though, reminds me that I have had many great travel memories over the years. I’ve posted some on this blog, back in the archives.

London is a place that I could move to. I’ve lived in New York for 16 years, the first 15 of which in New York City, and London is a place that makes a New Yorker feel comfortable. In 2005 I landed at Heathrow, took a taxi to the hostel, checked in and started wandering around. I walked down to the local pub, nearby the University of London, and happened upon karaoke Thursday at the pub. For those that know me, karaoke is the perfect way to comfort me. For a moment there, in the midst of reciting the classic The Humpty Dance, I forgot that I was a thousand miles from home.

MomWonder and I traveled to Italy to celebrate KidWonder’s impending birth. This is also documented in the archives. Now that its been a few years since the trip, a few moments stick out. One was the day we went to the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel. One was the great restaurant we found tucked away while avoiding the rain and failing to find a theater showing English-speaking movies. And one was going to visit the Coliseum, again in the rain. We were talking with each other and wondering when we would actually see it. Then, as we walked up the steps, there it was. We didn’t even need to get to street level to see it. Then we fought the street vendors to see this wonder of the ancient world, and afterwards ran into a local restaurant to get out of the rain. We ate fettucine alfredo and spaghetti while being able to see the Coliseum out of the window while we ate.

I vacationed in Spain and Portugal with my friend Adam some years ago. Amongst the great times, two stand out. One was watching a bullfight in Malaga. It was a truly local event, where your aunts and uncles and grandparents would go. I sat with Adam next to a bunch of locals, with a beer in my hand and a ridiculous straw hat on my head, and participated in the “Matalo! Matalo!” chants. The other was a picturesque restaurant we happened onto in Spain’s Galicia (pronounced “Ga-lee-the-a”), overlooking the ocean. We had Cuban cigars and brandy and watched the waves crash onto the rocks, mere yards from our outdoor table.

I visited my sister in New Mexico over a Thanksgiving break about 5 years back, with a good friend of mine Isaiah. We drove around, trying to find old mining towns and taking back roads. We stopped at the side of the highway because a sign caught our interest… “The Bone Zone”. We got out of the car and made our way towards the sign, which was in the yard of what looked like an abandoned property. As we got closer, we realized that next to the sign there was a model of the town, with likenesses of the buildings, roads and shops. As we got closer, we saw that the model buildings were made out of bones. As we got a bit closer, we noticed that some were bigger than animal bones… and at that very minute, we heard the bark of a very angry sounding dog from the house we thought was abandoned. About 8 seconds later, as we sped off from the “Zone” as fast as our legs could take us to the car, we thought it would be a good idea to stop trespassing on private property.

Anyhow, these are a few of many moments that come up when I think about traveling. There were so many more, and yet these are the types of moments I remember. It makes me wonder what makes them memorable? For me, its the combination of friends, with new experiences, mixed in with historic situations.

If you want to hear more, let me know. I could post another set of moments like this. What moments do you remember? Why do you think the moment is memorable to you?

tdrapeau Travel Memories, Travel

KidWonder, MomWonder and I just returned from a trip to St. Louis, where we spent a week celebrating Christmas and our engagement with family. We didn’t get to see the sights as much as we’d hoped, but did get to spend some good quality time off the grid with loved ones.

Christmas Day was spent at the house of MomWonder’s mom and grandmother, and much food and merriment was had by all. Friday, KidWonder and a few cousins visited The Magic House, a highly recommended children’s museum in the city — the First Impressions exhibit was the favorite. Saturday MomWonder’s mom threw a great engagement party for us, where all enjoyed the DJ’s selections while eating to our hearts content. Sunday morning we spent time with one of KidWonder’s namesakes in the hip Delmar Loop section, near Washington University. Sunday night we enjoyed a house warming dinner of sorts with pasta, shrimp, wine (and wine!) and conversation. Monday came too soon for us, and we grudgingly packed up and returned to chillier New York.

Here are a few photos of the boy and one of cars at night:

Set one here is the boy interacting with a mechanized Care Bear, I call these “Dance Dance Revolution”, “Clap”, and “Goodbye”.

Set 2 is KidWonder’s executive stance — he could model for RIM!


Finally, I-70 at night, on our last night in town:

tdrapeau Travel 2008, Christmas, KidWonder, St. Louis, Travel

MomWonder, KidWonder and I just returned from a relaxing week in a house by Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire. Sunapee is a great place to spend a week. My Mom, Dad, sisters, brother-in-law, nieces and nephew came as well, and we spent the time alternating between sitting on the beach, grilling great food, and having great conversations while playing cards. We probably watched an hour of TV all week, and I was unplugged from the internet (minus a small amount of BlackBerry cheating!). It was terrific, and for all those who work on the web, I highly recommend unplugging once in a while.

Apparently, while I was gone, Apple released some new phone, and blogging died. Maybe I should go on vacation more often…

The highlight of the week away was a trip to Story Land, in Glen, NH. Its an amusement park for smaller kids, with strong ties to fairy tale creatures. KidWonder, in his full Celtics garb (how cute), had a blast at Story Land. Without further ado, the pictures:

Playing with the Big Piano:

In the Ball Pit:

5, 6: Pick up sticks!

Riding the train around the park:

A great time was had by all… except for when my sister and I were beaten by my Dad and other sister in Spades, when he was dealt the Hand of [Enter Spiritual Creature Name Here]: 8 spades. Just plain unfair.

tdrapeau Travel KidWonder, Storyland, Sunapee, Vacation

I got back from Austin, TX early this morning, having journeyed to take part in the South by SouthWest Interactive Festival. Most of my team joined me in sunny Austin on Friday, and much transpired between then and Wednesday.

The good:
-Champagne while waiting in line to check into the Hyatt Regency
-Nice Weather
-Good Panels (LOL WUT)
-Weird Dude who entered our circle one night, and high fived us as he walked off to the sunset/elevator
-The waiter at Threadgill telling Mu “You get 2 sides with that” – “Surprise Me” – “I will”.
-The Rock Band phenomenon
-The gas station that sells Cuban cigars in humidors
-”Keep Austin Weird”
-Capital Cruises, especially Captain Steve
-Hotel spa
-misfire going to karaoke
-BBQ, mmm
-Strawberry margaritas
-Boston Ale, then Boston Lager
-”How many bottles in a case, 12 or 24″ – “psss, come closer… (whispers) I don’t work here”
-Gym
-Hotel breakfast with omelet guy
-Calling shenanigans on the state of Iowa
-Twitter
-Buffalo Billiards, teh rock
-icanhascheezburger.com – how we started off each day
-The Austin Capitol
-Awesome hats

The Bad:
-90 decibel construction at Hyatt Regency while devs were codejamming
-misfire going to karaoke
-Crappy panels
-suxor parties with 200 people in line (thanks for listing them in the SXSW program, good going)
-Dinner at the Iron Cactus, “I can’t control the rain”.
-Losing my iPod on the plane on the way back home.
-Soreness after gym
-Hotel breakfast during the week, more expensive, no omelet guy
-That no one called shenanigans on the Zuckerberg keynote
-The Last Supper omen

I’m sure I missed some stuff. For the unabridged version: Twitter feed.

tdrapeau Travel Austin, Shenanigans, SXSW

MomWonder and I just returned from 5 days in Dulles, Virginia. It was KidWonder’s first plane ride, first hotel stay, well, first lots-of-things. He did excellently, as we had hoped. We started off in a tiny SAAB 340 Turboprop (~30 seats), tiny enough for the flight attendant to reseat everyone towards the back to make sure the weight was evenly distributed. KidWonder was very well behaved. Here he is in the tram after the flight, headed to Dulles International’s main terminal:

We then checked into the North Loudoun Embassy Suites hotel. Here is KidWonder, hanging out in the living room area:

Dad, KW and MW stopped by Dad’s office after checking in. The best picture of the bunch:
Read more…

tdrapeau Dulles, KidWonder, Travel

If anyone is watching my Twitter logs, they might notice a bunch of posts by me today. I backdated the posts to the day I actually wrote in my travel log, 2 years ago, before I started blogging. I came across the travel log today and thought, since I had a bit of free time, that I would put the posts up. I took pictures while on that trip (May-July 2005, Dublin, Paris, London) with a disposable camera, and didn’t take the time to scan or otherwise digitize those pictures. So you’ll all have to live with the quick and dirty Google Image search results for these.

I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. It was a fun trip. If you are looking for them, look at my blog archives from May 2005 to July 2005.

Cheers.

tdrapeau Dublin, London, Paris, Travel

Shay has graciously spent hours today uploading our full picture set from Italy. Check it out: http://picasaweb.google.com/shaywade.

She wanted me to plug her blog too.

tdrapeau Italy, Travel

So we’re heading back to NYC tomorrow, back to the cold. Life at the Hotel Diplomatic has been pretty good, we’ve slept and ate more than anything.There is still only one fulltime English channel on TV, CNN International, which shows the same news in a loop every 15 minutes. Not that its annoying, or anything. Not that its annoying, or anything. Not that its annoying, or anything. There’s also MTV, which for about 2 hours a day plays programming in the English language.

Then there’s Sky Sport 1 and 3, which show soccer, soccer, soccer, soccer, and men’s indoor field hockey. Riveting.

So, what else can we say, other than Italy has been great. We did as much as we could in 2 weeks, but clearly, more than 2 weeks is needed to really explore all of Italy. If there is a next time, perhaps we’ll cover Milan, Naples, and the south of Italy.

We’ll be sure to call our moms when we get home.

tdrapeau Italy, Rome, Travel