McGarvey’s Words

It’s sneaking up on us faster this year, the need to make resolutions for the New Year of 2004. As the mild winter coolness has settled over the Sonoran Desert where I live, every morning I am out for a walk in the chill and, lately, resolutions about how to travel better and smarter have flooded my mind. You know why this has become a preoccupation: the glory days of business travel are long ago and now we are into the era of coach class, Saturday night stays, 1000-mile same day round trips, and more. The luxe of yesteryear’s business travel has now become simply grueling and so I want to make my trips better, more comfortable, and – paradoxically – still more economical.

Here’s how:

o Use Diners Club more. Given up for dead several times in the past decade, Diners Club has reinvigorated itself yet again under Citibank stewardship and the current card offers two compelling advantages. Note: I have an Amex card, American Express issued my home mortgage, and I bank at Amex’s online bank. I’m a big Amex fan but I also like Diners club, mainly because of its revived restaurant discount program that gives you a 20% savings at 4000 restaurants. They’re not dives, either. Scrumptious Syrah in Sonoma County plays. So does Louise Trattoria in West Los Angeles. The Sheva Café in Taos. And down a long line of participating eateries. The coolest bit: there’s no special card to flash, no coupon to hand over. Just pay for the meal with the Diners Club card and, automatically, 20% gets lopped off. Way cool. And it's ideal for business travellers because many eateries offer discounts only Sunday - Thursday, meaning prime business dinner and lunch days. Use the card for a couple meals a year and you’ve covered the dues.

The other neat feature: access to 86 Diners Club airport lounges. There are only a handful in the US (in Miami and Newark), but abroad they are in Ireland, India, Kenya, China, Austria, you name it. I have stepped out of the din of Dublin Airport and into the quiet of the Diners Club lounge many times. The coffee’s good, there are workstations, and the desk will remind you when it’s time to queue for your plane. I do not belong to any airline clubs, never have, but I carry Diners Club and that works for me whenever I go abroad.

O Eliminate travel agents (except in special cases). The other day a friend showed me routing from Phoenix to Mumbai, India that her travel agent had proposed. It involved flying Air Death (my pet name for any Third World carriers, none of which I will fly) and featured two stops, one in Taipei, another in Bangkok. A flight that should be no more than 24 hours had mushroomed into 30+ hours. Why? Airline spiffs to agents perhaps? I found a code-share routing on United (flying Lufthansa) that cut eight hours off the flight time. Cost: around $6400 for business class on a ticket it took me five minutes to find. (Do note: the “shortest flight” button on Expedia is indeed a gem of a tool.) She asked the travel agent to book it – nice of her since he’d thus earn his little commission. Except he said it would cost $9400. She said, no, at Expedia it’s $6400. The agent said – amazingly! – that tickets bought on Expedia cannot be changed and if her itinerary altered, she’d be stuck with worthless paper. What an astonishing bucket of swill – but, problem is, too many travel agents still are shoveling nonsense to customers. Let’s kill off this breed. A handful of sharp, knowledgeable agents are out there – find them, use them, especially for complicated international routes and, definitely, for cruising (where good agents have actually sailed the ships they shill). But there no longer is a need for agents who type data into computer forms. Let’s do it ourselves and we’ll fly cheaper and, often, will get there faster too. And the few good travel agents who are left will find they can make a fair living once the slackers, drifters, and chair warmers vanish into the unfriendly skies.

O Do something – anything – to accelerate personal growth. The last years, seemingly, have been spent getting by. I don’t recall any deep work-related experiences, any epiphanies. I want that to change in 2004 and, towards that end, I now have “The Sedona Method,” 13 CDs that offer up a prescription for letting go of worries and woe and embracing greater happiness, productivity, tranquillity. Sounds good to me – and, better still, the CD format means this is info I can digest in airport lounges and on long flights. Bring on the travel because my resolution for 2004 is that I plan to use the time to grow. What are you bringing on your trips to accelerate growth? The only wrong answer is "nothing."

O Get a pay raise. I don’t know about you but my income has been stagnant for the past four years. Enuff! I'm travelling enough (too much) and so I definitely deserve a thicker pay packet. A key personal resolution for 2004 is to up my income by a meaningful margin, meaning double-digit growth. It’s about time to enjoy more prosperity and I wish the same to you!

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About Robert McGarvey

Author of How to Dotcom (Entrepreneur Press), and a onetime columnist for BizTravel.com, McGarvey is a frequent contributor to dozens of magazines, ranging from American Legion to Selling Power, American Way, and Rutgers. He has also contributed to Harvard Business Review. For the past five years, he has served as "The Ombudsman" for PORTHOLE Cruise Magazine. Still curious about McGarvey? Read up on him here.

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