When Travel Goes Wrong. The Trip That Wasn't

We were all fired up about our trip to Portugal's Azores Islands to film over the Memorial Weekend Holiday.

Weeks of planning had taken place and the Visit Azores folks had everything set for us and put together an excellent itinerary. This was going to be a great couple of episodes, but first, we had to get there.

Azores Air flies direct to the Azores once per day out of Boston Logan Airport at 9:05PM. Our flight was scheduled weeks in advance and was to leave on Thursday.

I had lunch with our Providence affiliate, WNAC Fox 64 and MyRI 64.2, so I decided to drive up from NYC via a rental car from Avis/Budget which has an office near where I live in Manhattan.

I booked a flight for the film crew on Delta Airlines leaving from JFK in NYC at 3pm and arriving in Boston Logan a little after 4 PM. Our plan was that I would meet them there around 5 PM after my lunch and a couple of afternoon meetings in Boston.

I was worried that the crew would be exhausted waiting around Boston Logan before catching our fight out hours later as we were to begin filming immediately on arrival to the Azores the following day shortly after  6:30 AM, so we'd all be sleep deprived.

Turns out, my worries were misplaced.

I began getting texts from the crew around 2 PM that Delta Airlines was postponing the flight. I began to get worried because I know things can go south quickly when this begins to happen. It was a rainy, dreary day but a little light rain shouldn't be enough to cancel flights, especially a shuttle flight from NYC to Boston which are pretty much every hour on the hour. I've made that same commute many times myself.

After receiving notification that the flight was going to be really late getting into Boston Logan, I decided to pull over at a rest area about 70 miles and 1.5 hours outside of Boston Logan to make some calls.

I alerted our travel hosts at Visit Azores and called Azores Air to see what our options were.

They indicated the crew should be at the gate no later than 8PM. Delta's new ETA for the crew's flight into Boston Logan was now 7 PM (or at least as best as my crew could decipher from the reportedly un-helpful gate agent at JFK's Delta terminal).

At that point, I could have booked the crew on the following evening's flight on Azores Air out of Boston as the ticket agent told me there were exactly 3 seats available. But those 3 seats would go fast and the Azores ticket office was scheduled to close soon.

I decided against it assuming Delta would make the flight happen. Bad decision.

Budget Rental Car Tire Goes Flat

To complicate matters, after visiting the restroom at the Rest Area, I discovered my rental car had a flat tire and, surprise, surprise...the car did not come with a spare tire.

Roadside Assistance was called but the folks they arranged to tow the car were 1.5-2 hours from being able to assist me, so now I was in danger of missing the flight as well. David, the very nice telephone agent at Roadside Assistance, advised me to abandon the car and get an uber to the airport if I could.

Budget RAC Doesn't Provide a Spare 

I set about arranging for uber pick up and was in luck as one happened to be in my area. Uber driver Keith swung by to pick me up and we were on our way, albeit in heavy traffic.

Minutes later I get a call from the crew informing me that the JFK flight had just been officially cancelled. Delta gate agents then suddenly became helpful and booked the crew on a flight out of LGA to Boston that would get in around 7:30 PM, it would now be really, really tight but we could still make it. The Domestic Terminal was a 15 minute walk / run from the International Terminal I was told.

I instructed the guys to sit up front as much as possible. They already only had carry on luggage/gear.

But flying out of LGA is especially nightmarish these days, with construction going on. I was afraid the crew's taxi wouldn't make it on time with car traffic a mess there.

They actually did, but it didn't matter because as soon as they arrived the LGA Delta Flight to Boston Logan began getting delayed, and eventually cancelled.

Unfortunately for us, all this happened too late, the 3 seats were no longer available and the ticket office for Azores Airlines was closed.

When I arrived to the airport (1.5 hours and $96 poorer from the Uber ride), I promptly checked in and received a call from my Azores Tourism contact, who, was working into the wee hours of the night there to try to accommodate us and save our trip.  I felt so guilty.

She suggest I fly in (it's not like I could just turn around and go home as I'm now in Boston, live in NYC and had abandoned my transportation due to the flat tire/no spare scenario) and then we either try to get the crew on the next flight in the following couple of days, or I could scramble and try hire a local crew there. Either way, hopefully,  I would still be able to shoot something.

Taxi Back to the Gate

Alas, after the Azores Airlines flight at was on the taxi way at around 9:30 or 10PM, we received word from the Captain that the flight had been cancelled due to a technical problem with the plane.

After waiting what seemed like hours for my checked luggage, I did a quick online search only to realize there were no hotels to be had in Boston as this was Harvard Graduation week. I had not graduated from Harvard, but even dumb little old me could figure out this was not my time to visit the Azores.

I could hang out in the Boston Airport for more than 24 hours and hope to catch the next flight to the Azores or take a train home (I was already exhausted having been awake since 6AM and it was now 12:30 AM the next day).

Trying For Shuteye @ Boston Logan Airport

I ended up sleeping (or trying too among the bright lights and constant airport announcements of "if you see something, say something" and "Lexus the official car company of Boston Logan" or some non-sense announcements)  at the Boston Logan Airport before taking the 5:05 AM train to NYC.

The Amtrak train home was by far the most pleasant part of the journey.

A lot of sweat equity and money was wasted on a trip that never materialized thanks to  bumbling, fumbling travel corporations that dropped the ball and just plain old lady luck.

I also share the blame because obviously, in retrospect, I should have never relied on airplane travel or even car travel, I should have just trained it. But with Amtrak's own woes of late, that carries it's own risk.

Train Ride Back Home

Is there a boat service up to Boston that anyone is aware of?

I've included  some photos and a short video of the entire experience. I hope you can enjoy it because I sure didn't.

P.S. Be on the look out for this and more misadventures in Season 5 when we premiere "When Travel Goes Wrong" in February 2018 and here's hoping the Azores trip gets rescheduled. Stay Tuned.

6/10/17 POST SCRIPT: 

Avis/Budget Adding Insult to Injury

Today I received this bill from Avis/Budget Rental Car for $182.04 for the Roadside Assistance and Towing.

Remember they didn't provide a spare tire in my car rental and advised me to call RA and take an Uber to the airport as a result. So let's see

(1) Original 1 Way Car Rental Cost NYC to Boston = $115

(2) Uber to Boston Airport = $75

(3) Roadside Asst. Cost = $182...

So my $115 Car Rental Tab has now more than tripled in cost to $372.04 for a trip I ended up never taking. Ouch. Talk about adding insult to injury.

The Myth of Roger Ailes & Fox News

Roger Ailes recently died, and I couldn't help but think about the comparison to another formerly heralded man, shamed just before dying, Penn State Coach Joe Paterno.

Ailes was  recently forced out at Fox News after accusations of sexual harassment by several female staffers. Paterno was forced out of Penn State after a horrific charge of ignoring child sex abuse for decades by long time assistant Jerry Sandusky.

Whereas Paterno died of a broken heart a few months after his dismissal, Ailes apparently died of a head injury after suffering a fall at his home in Florida.

The obituaries and remembrances of Ailes poured in and to their credit, few tried to sugar coat his recent troubles. But in remembering the man's career as a broadcaster, I felt some made a few misleading statements.

They heralded Roger Ailes as the brains behind building Fox News Channel to the cable news behemoth it is today. The New York Post (sister company to Fox News Channel) said:

"Roger Ailes single-handedly rewrote the rules of TV news, building a media juggernaut to cap a landmark career." 

All true, but then the article goes on to say:

"But it was in partnering with Rupert Murdoch (whose News Corp. also owns The Post) in 1996 that he unveiled the formula for success: Appealing to centrist and right-of-center viewers turned off by the relentless liberal skew of existing media. 

And that's where the NY Post and most media accounts get it wrong. You see in 1996, the cultural, political divide was nothing like it is today. Folks in the southern U.S.  and "rural America"(where I'm originally from), didn't consider themselves "liberal" or "conservative", they were just people with common sense ideals. 

There weren't all these constitutional hobbyist or people "in awe of the founding fathers", as if the founding fathers were sent to earth directly by God to create a constitution that could be memorized, quoted and frankly bastardized to conveniently support positions that defied common sense (I also admire the founding fathers, but they were humans and some supported slavery so it's kind of hard to deify them).  

Back then the media tried to at least put forth an image of objectivity and news was on the whole, center or maybe just a smidgen left of center.  Most people didn't discuss politics, or religion publicly. It just wasn't polite and most folks were just focused on their families and everyday lives. 

But if you believe the media critics and history revisionists, Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch swept down from heaven and FINALLY spoke for the poor, forgotten common man, who'd been dying to have a news channel to FINALLY reflect their views. 

WRONG. 

Ailes and Murdoch wedged themselves into the smallest of cracks and exploited and pushed that crack into a huge gulf, I believe for one reason and one reason only - to make money and to gain political power. 

Fast forward to today and Fox News is not only the #1 most watched Cable News channel, the country is bitterly divided, and most of the media now just picks a side where only the most extreme views on either side of the political divide or "culture wars" are represented. 

Yes, Roger Ailes has a legacy beyond sexual harassment and people should also consider his professional legacy, because if you ask me, it's been more far reaching and damaging than any charges of sexual misconduct. 

So last week Roger Ailes died, just as Rupert Murdoch will and as will I. 

The worms will eat all our corpses and only our souls will be left to consider either the good or damage we have done to our fellow human beings and the world at large. 

I'm ok with that.  I wonder if Ailes was?  

Health Insurance For Circus Clowns (or the USA)

A few weeks ago my Health Insurance company cancelled me for lack of payment after I signed up for their recurring auto payment feature on their website which is how I pay 99% of my bills given my travel schedule.

It worked just once then stopped working and I never was made aware. Turns out their website had an option to pay the bill on the actual day it was due which I, like a dummy, checked off because, you know, it was 1 of 2 options (the other was to pick a date out of thin air and plug it in manually).

Turns out that particular "pay on due date" option doesn't actually work (never did get an explanation to the logical question: If it doesn't work then why was it included on the website?). Their website is like a sadistic game of Healthcare Roulette, choose the wrong payment option and you could lose your insurance.

Since they never sent me a bill (neither via USPS or Email or carrier pigeon), I had no idea my healthcare premiums weren't being paid until I was cut off. Ironically, I DID receive the cutoff notice promptly.

After a fumbling, circus like comical adventure that would have made Moe, Larry and Curley very proud, I was finally reinstated after paying back premiums and jumping through hoops like a trained schnauzer. Lucky for me, no buses hit me during my multi-week, no-insurance adventure.

Despite my complaints and half a dozen requests, I still don't receive bills or notices (they claim they are being mailed) and only receive the same "Welcome Aboard" Packages (3 of them so far, 1 every couple of months, which makes me even more concerned) and the big aforementioned "you are hereby cancelled" notification.

However, today, I finally received some actual mail correspondence from my "healthcare provider" (AKA My "If I get hit by a bus" policy). It was a form notice of non-discrimination as required by New York State Law. At least this mass mailer of legal gibberish made it to the mailbox, which maybe means I'm still insured... for the time being.

Why did I waste my time writing this long screed, I have no idea.. but thanks for indulging me.

Saving Rhinos from Extinction

Care For Wild Africa 

People say I have a great “job”, and I do, but producing Raw Travel is also a ton of work and sacrifice. I’m 99% sure I could make more $ doing something else, but I figured out a while back that old cliche about $ and happiness is actually true.  The impact of the show and feedback from viewers is one big part of the reason we carry on. At times I wonder if the show is having an actual impact other than entertainment, but then I hear stories like this Toronto gentleman who saw Raw Travel last year (we’re not licensed in Canada so I assume he saw the Buffalo or Detroit feed).

After tuning into our story on Care For Wild Africa/ African Conservation Experience this gentleman booked a trip to volunteer for them in South Africa and has returned a changed man. He’s telling others about his transformation and about this critical issue as rhinos near extinction. Here is his story and I thought I’d share it.  P.S. You can see our segment on the CFWA again this summer in “Amazing Animals” July 1st-2nd, 2017.

A link to his story can be found HERE:

Vice Who?

This is an ad in the media trade e-newsletter Cynopsis. Maybe it hits a little close to home but I find it kind of offensive when Vice says "Young People are tired of Old White Guys". Do they mean like Vice founder Shane Smith? (Old, white and now very rich). Or Vice investor Rupert Murdoch? He's really old.. and really white but also really rich. or Tom Freston, who made Vice what it is today.

Vice has had a ton of $ thrown at it in recent months due to it's "pied piper" status for reaching millennials which TV Networks are desperate to do. But Viceland has been an unqualified failure thus far, netting shows with titles like "Balls Deep" and less ratings than H2 or whatever was originally programmed at that channel.

But no surprise, Millennials are hard to reach (as is everyone with a gazillion things vying for their attention) and advertising $s even more scarce, which this ad was designed to address.

It doesn't work. Double digit growth from next to nothing audience is not really anything to crow about and the headline in the ad would be considered racists if it were making fun of any other gender or ethnicity (substitute "fat" or "dumb" for "old" and "Black, Hispanic, Asian, Muslim, etc" for "White" or "woman" for "dude" and see how it sounds), especially coming from a network run by "old white dudes"

Free Child Slaves in Haiti

Freedom House is featured on Raw Travel 406 - Port Au Prince. They are a U.S. supported charity helping to free poverty stricken "restaveks" (child slaves).

A restavek is a child that has been given to another family as a servant in hopes to have their basic needs met. If you see the segment, you will see how incredible these children are now that they are surrounded by love. Freedom House is not a huge bureaucratic organization with a lot of waste.

They are small and grassroots and just the kind of organization we like to shine the light on.

If you are so moved after seeing this weekend's episode and would like to help Freedom House rescue more children, you can donate and support HERE.

A little goes a long way in Haiti, so no amount is too small.

RAW TRAVEL® EXPANDS GLOBAL FOOTPRINT INTO ASIA

RAW TRAVEL® EXPANDS GLOBAL FOOTPRINT INTO ASIA

-  Nat Geo People Asia Picks up Hit Travel Series from the U.S. -

New York, NY – October 13th, 2016 - AIM Tell-A-Vision® Group (AIM TV) announced today that Nat Geo People recently acquired Asian territorial rights to certain episodes of their production, Raw Travel®, the U.S.A.’S #1 most watched syndicated adventure travel & lifestyle series. The series began broadcasting on Nat Geo People in a variety of Asian territories earlier last month.

The announcement is just the latest in a string of licensing deals from Raw Travel’s international distributor Off the Fence Distribution, who has also inked several other deals for the series in territories in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and on a variety of airlines the past several months.

Off the Fence is responsible for licensing Raw Travel (58 x 30’) to media outlets outside of the United States and represents the show at global television markets, including the upcoming market MIPCOM later this month.

Raw Travel is a 30 minute adventure travel & lifestyle series that incorporates two of the fastest growing segments of travel: eco-tourism & voluntourism. The fast paced show focuses on authentic experiences to often off-the-beaten-path destinations as well as other more mainstream destinations. The show recently debuted its 4^th season in U.S. Syndication in the United States in 159 cities representing over 93% of U.S. television households.

“We are excited about working with Nat Geo People in Asia and in continuing to work with Off the Fence to expand our international audience even as our U.S. fan base continues to expand” stated Robert G. Rose, Executive Producer and Host. “Raw Travel’s unique perspective and positive message of socially consciousness living among an inclusive worldwide community resonates with global audiences. We are eager to welcome our new viewers and friends from across the globe and let them know we are proud to be citizens of the world with them.”

Visit www.RawTravel.tv  and www.RawTravelTrailer.com for more information.