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Shanghai
Not a typical chinese city where left overs from a broken
communist empire fashionably crumbles near capitalism
empires with a touch of French Concession.
Beijing
So much history but so little time. What can be done
in less than 3 days to grasp the essential.
Xian
A more typical Chinese city lucky enough to seat a few
minutes away (traffic permiting ... never) from the
famous Terracota Warriors.
Hong
Kong
Where poor and rich people, overpopulated and empty
areas continue to represent the legacy of a British
colony that lost its english!
Maldives
The most beautiful and clean water populated with an
amazing marine life.
Puerto
Rico
So close to New York but so far from urban US life.
Cayman
Islands
Quiet and simple with too many reasons not to do anything.
Insider's notes.
La
Reunion
The island with 100 different climates even though it
is only 40 by 30 miles.
Vancouver
I wish it was not that humid because I could almost
live there.
Sacramento
Not one of my holiday destination but after a few month
consulting in the area I guess I can say a few words.
Phoenix,
Tempe, Scottsdale & Chandler
After a few month of consulting in the area I started
to look for a house ... luckily it was too expensive.
Tucson
Quite a nice week end gateway from Phoenix with many
uncommon museums.
Montreal
Such a nice and friendly city. Warm people but cold
winters.
Quebec
City
Even duting a blizzard the city is a charm.
Other
cities and regions to come: San Francisco, Napa Valley,
Palm Spring, New York, Nice (France), Princeton (NJ),
New Hope (PA), Cedar Point (OH), Paris (France), Normandy
(France).
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This
morning I was reading an article in a well know Wall
Street publication regarding the once again so predictable
failure of an US airline venture TED created by United.
I
usually do not fly TED or United but I heard from their
frequent flyers that TED was not really interesting
and only a failed attempt to compete with Southwest.
But the article goes on listing all those failed ventures
and I do not agree with every one of them. Even though
Delta terminated their Song venture, any frequent flyer
used to fly with both Song and Delta can tell how much
Song influenced Delta. When Delta introduced Song, it
was not a simple low cost alternative, it was the introduction
of PTVs, new leather seating, in-flight cocktails and
enhanced food for purchase instead of bad snacks. Any
Delta passenger flying coast to coast at the time knows
since Delta dropped all those routes only operated by
Song (NYC-SFO, NYC-LAX, etc.). When Delta decided to
stop operating Song, the concept and airplanes did not
vanish, Song airplanes joined the Delta fleet and the
757s used by Song did not change much besides a First
class in the front section of the airplane and a new
paint job after a while. If anything saved Delta from
bankruptcy besides the financial manipulation, it may
also be its new service from the Song era at a moderate
cost compared to the competition. Delta terminating
Song was not a failure. They probably realized after
creating such a good side product that it may well be
best to make it the mainstream product of the airline.