The Map Pin Junkies 12 Days of Christmas - Gift Recommendations - Day 12

It's that time of year when we exchange gifts to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or just the joy we feel towards friends and family. 

Today, the last day in our 12 Days of Christmas Gift Recommendations, the gift is cash....but not in the 'oops-I-forgot-to-get-you-something' way. This cash gift is for a specific purpose!

Anyone who travels a lot (or even a little) will appreciate the gift of an expedited experience through the airport, right? Right, so give your travel the gift of Global Entry for $100. Of course, you cannot apply for the recipient, but you can creatively package the money in a box wrapped with a world map or tucked inside a globe ornament. There are a lot of creative ways you can designate the cash for the gift of Global Entry. Even cooler, is that approved Trusted Travelers get TSA PreCheck designation included in Global Entry!

To learn more about the program or to show your traveler the great gift he/she just received, click here! Heck, even Santa has Global Entry!

Santa courtesy of http://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting our 12 Days of Christmas Gift Recommendations. Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas, health, happiness, and a beautiful New Year.
peace, love, and travel,
The Map Pin Junkie

Business Travel - Accentuate the Positives

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted, but hopefully I can remedy that as my professional life slows down a bit (maybe?).

It's not secret that I love to travel. Whether for business or pleasure, I find it fun to plan, pack, and hit the road....or the air. Lately, though, it's been a bit of a chore. I think that's due to the late Summer heat common to the desert Southwest, an enormous project that consumes all my time, and the frequent travel glitches I've recently encountered.

Late flights, cancelled flights, TSA power-trips, rude seat mates, and a lack of healthy food have made things less than awesome. In fact, last Friday's travel day was so bollocksed-up, my dinner was a large order of fries from McDonald's at 11:00pm with a 4am wake-up call. It was rough going.

To combat the negative spiral that wants to claim me, let me list some great things about business travel.

5. The chance to see someplace new or discover something new in a regular destination. For example, I learned all about the historic Menger Hotel in San Antonio this last trip and had an amazing dinner at the Zinc Wine Bar. 

4. Meeting new people. Weird, unique, intelligent, or amusing - there is always someone interesting to meet, observe, or avoid when traveling. Great fodder for dinner time stories.

3. Sleeping in the middle of fresh white sheets with marshmallow like pillows. While it's tough to be away from family, it can be great to sprawl in the middle of the bed, crank the a/c as cold as you please and sleep like the dead without being tossed like a salad by kids, dogs, or significant others.

2. Frequent flyer miles and all the related mileage programs that feed into the same airline. This helps me feed my pleasure travel habit and gives me something to focus on when I have an arm-rest hogging, man-spreading, mouth-breather sitting next to me on a Canadair Regional Jet 900.

And the number one great thing about business travel is......

1. Coming home and getting a warm welcome. Such a good thing, whether human or animal greeting. Being met with wine and food is even better. 😀

Sigh, that made me feel better. It's always good to focus on the positives. The next trip is booked and coming up soon, so I will post my best travel tips later this week. Thanks for letting me vent!

Peace, love, and travel!

Home away from home?