Before getting ready for a trip — business or pleasure — do you have a set checklist?

Before I depart for a trip, I go through the same mental checklist before walking out the door. I go through all my work materials, followed by a quick list of personal items. I make sure all my shoes in the suitcase have a matching mate; I double check that I have enough suits to get me through a trip full of business meetings.

Does having this checklist always prevent me from forgetting something? Usually not, but it still gives me peace of mind. The last item, but certainly not the least, is my passport, which I make a point to physically and mentally check. Yes, I admit I did leave my passport at home once. I was headed on an international business trip with a colleague, and years later they have yet to let me forget it.

After forgetting my passport, I was given many solutions on ways to ensure it never happened again. One tip I’ll leave you with, as I found it humorous and extremely useful. It came from a pilot who once left his passport behind in a hotel room. To make sure he would never make the same mistake again, he always put one of his shoes in the hotel safe with his passport. The next morning, he wouldn’t be able to leave without both his shoes, and he would always have his passport.

– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher

On April 25, 1976, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs in a game that was overshadowed by an act of patriotism by Cubs’ centerfielder Rick Monday. Monday saved the U.S. flag from being burned on the field by protesters. This heroic act catapulted Monday into the national spotlight.

On June 10, 2008, my friends and I were in Los Angeles for a game between the Cubs and Dodgers. I took the opportunity to interview Monday, who ironically became a broadcaster for the the Dodgers. I used that interview to produce a GT blog during the week of July 4th. Much to my surprise, the blog was read on the air by David Stein of Sporting News Radio.

Last Thursday, I was in New York for GT’s annual awards event. Midway through the night, my pants zipper broke. I returned to my room to try and fix the problem. After a few futile minutes, I gave up and put on jeans. I figured it was dark in the party room and I wasn’t the main focus anyway.

As I re-entered the party, I heard publisher Fran Gallagher make a comment about a blog, followed by a recording of Stein reading my blog on Rick Monday. I had no idea what was happening when Kim Krol (GT wunderkind) summoned me to the stage.

I arrived at the stage just as Fran announced me as the winner of the Globility award. Then I promptly tripped going up the stairs, only to have actor (and awards presenter) Terrence Howard save me from tumbling off the stage.

If you see any pictures of the moment and I look a bit stunned and disheveled, I was. Two weeks ago I wrote about meeting Terrence Howard. I had no idea it would be under these circumstances.

Fran Gallagher defines globility as: the quality of being open to world of cultures and experiences. I can honestly say, writing this blog has definitely given me plenty of wonderful experiences.

In a former professional life, Laurie encouraged me to take opportunities when presented with them. I took her advice in getting the interview with Monday. The experience turned out to be magical, ending with me accepting the Globility award.

I admit, Fran has been open to some of my offbeat blogs, although he ribs me incessantly about them. I hope I have rewarded his trust. I plan on continually seeking out interesting stuff. I am grateful for every reader and all comments.

– John Wroblewski, distribution specialist, blogger and Globility award winner

I often hear from my staff and friends about funny things that happen when they are in hotels, particularly when they check in. Kevin Ryan often tells the story about checking into a hotel room in New York (that GT arranged) and finding someone already in the room with the shower going!

Another employee found a dirty bedspread in a Westin in Kuala Lumpur, and the staff reluctantly changed the bedding. She reported to me that the room was dirty overall. And, more recently, another staffer found a bed soaked with a liquid of some sort that required complete changing of the mattress and the bedding.

I can’t recall any serious problems at a hotel. Of course, I don’t expect a 3-star property to have the same level of service and quality as a 5-star property. However, I do expect to find my room clean. I think there is less of a chance of having a clean room at lower-rated properties.

There is also the issue of bed bugs, which have been on the rise for many years. I have taken the remedy of always using the fold-up luggage rack, as bed bugs live near the floor moldings and cracks between the wall and the floor.

Have you had any issues at hotels around the world?

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

Right now, as my daughters read the title of this blog, they are cringing. I will happily admit that I get a bit of wicked pleasure in embarassing them with goofy antics and purposely dreadful/playful attempts to drop modern slang and references into conversations with them. Actually, they know what I’m up to and play their part in this little interaction, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads in mock horror at my blatant lack of cool. We all enjoy this teasing aspect of our relationship, and it’s one which I don’t get to indulge in as much as I’d like, with both of them living in the Chicago area most of the year. Some of the body language and timing is lost over the phone lines (even with Skype) or in emails, an immediacy that only being physically together actually satisfies.

This last week, then, was a completely pleasurable one for me as both girls (and son-in-law Dan) were home for Christmas. We had plenty of time to catch up on just being together without going anywhere particularly special or doing anything terribly remarkable. (Well, I take that back a bit; Sarah, Dan and I took a quick afternoon trip down to the redwoods, which Jenny, Harry and I had seen together last summer. As I wrote in my blog at that time, that is a VERY special and remarkable trip.) After a Christmas Day in which all of us spent the day in pajamas, we took in the George Clooney film Up in the Air. It was the one we all (including my mother-in-law) could agree on seeing together, and we all enjoyed it. As Kim mentioned in her blog a few weeks ago, I’m sure it holds moments to which most of our frequent-flyer GT readers could relate.

After hearing our raves over the past several months, our guests insisted that we take them to two of our favorite places in Central Point: the Rogue Creamery and Lillie Belle Farms (I’ve also mentioned each a few times in my blogs). Located next door to each other, the businesses serve up amazing cheeses and chocolates, respectively, created from local raw ingredients and appreciated (and awarded) internationally. After sampling several Rogue cheeses and an assortment of other producers’ cheeses from the creamery’s case, we forced ourselves to narrow our purchases to a few exquisite choices and then trooped next door to Lillie Belle. I could almost be satisfied with just walking in the door and inhaling deeply for several minutes, but why stop there? The rest of our party agreed, and after another opportunity to freely sample from chocolatier/owner/wizard/artist Jeff Shepherd’s heavenly concoctions, we each chose some goodies to take home and gift to friends and relatives not lucky enough to be with us that day.

Another evening we chose to forego more football games and Christmas movies on TV and visited the local bowling alley, Lava Lanes, for a few games of not-very-competitive play. Thankfully, my level of fun was not at all in proportion to my score, which was truly abysmal. We also spent some time in the adjoining video arcade, where I had my first introduction to Dance Dance Revolution (that could become addictive; I may have an idea for next year’s Christmas list!) and the kids enjoyed blasting aliens in “Area 51.” 

In between our jaunts around town, we collectively completed a few jigsaw puzzles and laughed over old home videos from the girls’ early years. Nothing special, as I said, but also utterly delightful. Yep, there’s nothing better in life than hangin’ with my homies (cue the eye rolling and head shaking).

 – Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

Have you ever met anyone who enjoys driving on the New Jersey Turnpike? If you have, I fear that person and myself might not agree on much in life. While I will admit the NJ Turnpike serves an important function — a function I suppose it serves successfully — I quiver any time I know I need to drive on that particular highway.

Anyone reading this blog who is not familiar with the NJ Turnpike, be thankful! In my opinion, that roadway alone gives New Jersey a bad reputation, but I do hear the state is quite beautiful. However, from girlhood through adulthood, the majority of my experiences in the state have been on the turnpike. Those experiences have consisted of wrong exits, lingering stenches from the garbage dumps located between New Jersey and New York and hours of endless traffic (particularly on car trips between New York and Washington, D.C. en route to visit relatives). Needless to say, New Jersey is not my favorite state.

During my time at Global Traveler, I have tended to use NJ Transit when traveling through New Jersey, either to Newark for flights or sales calls or to Trenton, on my way to headquarters in Yardley, Penn. Yesterday, instead of taking the train, I had the use of a car and opted to use it to get from Manhattan to Newark. This is typically a 20-25 minute drive. Getting out of the city was easy enough; I went right on through the Lincoln Tunnel. Then disaster struck. I did my best to follow the signs, but the distances between the signs never allowed me enough time to make my exit. Maybe it is the (sometimes) four to six lanes of traffic you have to traverse if you are unfamiliar with the road signs. So, in the end, a 25-minute trip ended up taking an hour. The return to Manhattan was, thankfully, much smoother, but I still missed my exit to the Lincoln Tunnel. The exit appeared immediately after the sign, so I opted for the Holland Tunnel. New York City never looked so good!

Now, I understand that if I drove more, I would be more familiar with the exits and my mistakes yesterday would be eliminated, but the road could be a bit more user-friendly for newcomers. And the endless hours of traffic and garbage odors will not be going away any time soon. Let’s just say, I thank my lucky stars for accessible trains and planes when traveling up and down the East Coast.

– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher