My obsession with finding the best possible fare to Warsaw is over. And of course I outsmarted myself by spending too much time shopping around instead of locking in a lower price.

When I first started looking, fares were about $1,000. I figured that as the date got closer, they might drop. Unfortunately, life intruded and I wound up needing to fly over the 4th of July weekend. The international portion of the fares did drop a little, but the domestic portions kept going up.

All the fares required multiple connections, but I found one that went Tampa-Miami-Paris-Warsaw. On the return flight, there was an overnight in Paris. It was $1220, which was about the lowest thing out there, and if you have to overnight somewhere, why not Paris instead of Boston? I saved the Expedia itinerary but didn’t book it because I wanted to check into the cost of a hotel in Paris.

By the next day, I’d found several options near CDG for $50, which amazed me. Of course,when I went to book the flight, it was no longer available.

There was such a Chinese menu of options for connections that I finally let the timing of the flights, along with price, be the determinator. So I’m flying via Atlanta and Gatwick (with no airport overnights). You can look for reviews of my various flights starting with the July 9 issue of eFlyer.

- Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer

A while back, I mentioned that I’d heard about a new fare-search site, Mobissimo.com. The part of the concept that intrigued me was that it suggests alternative destinations, if shopping price is your motivator.

Regular readers will know that I’ve been putting together a multi-leg trip from Tampa (which I’ve decided stands for There Aren’t Many Practical Airlineroutes) to Warsaw. So I was psyched that, when I entered my info on Mobissimo, it not only suggested alternate dates with lower fares, but said that there were fares to Budapest that were $700 lower than the lowest available fare to Warsaw.

That’s a great idea, but they don’t carry through. When I actually clicked on that to check it out, the $808 fare to Budapest trumpeted on the home page was nowhere in the list of Budapest fares. In general on both lists (to Warsaw and to Budapest) there were fares that, when clicked on, weren’t available.

Real-time fares are the gold standard these days. They’re widely available on the premier travel-booking sites, and I don’t think a startup can survive if it can’t reach that level.

- Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer

I was searching the internet this morning hoping for blog inspiration when I happened upon a blog on the website Gadling. The blog, “Galley Gossip“, is written by Heather Poole, a flight attendant for an unnamed U.S. carrier. I was directed to the site from a link off my homepage about flight attendants’ biggest pet peeves. Poole uses the blog to recount her tales of asking passengers 2, 3 or more times if they would like something to drink before the passenger removes the headphones and pays attention! I, personally, am always paying attention when the food and drink carts are coming down the aisles towards me!

I perused the site and read Poole’s other blogs. As a new blogger to the site, she has only written three, but they were very enjoyable. She writes in a funny, biting style and recounts tales with a dry sense of humor. I enjoyed reading about her thoughts when someone called her “Sandvich Girl“! It is definitely a blog worth checking out - especially for the frequent traveler. Now, you can figure out what the flight attendants are really thinking. And, in case you missed it, I also offer a behind the scenes look at flight attendants in our June issue. Read all about my experiences at Korean Air flight attendant training school!

The website also offers a blog “The Cockpit Chronicles” by Kent Wien, a pilot. An interesting blog by Grant Martin posted on the site was all about Air India’s refusals to hire overweight flight crew. All in all, the site is filled with interesting blogs covering all facets of the travel industry. Along with Global Traveler’s blog, this is a must-visit blog site for travel fanatics!

-Kimberly Krol, circulation and public relations executive

Someone asked me the other day about my opinion of American Airlines’ special site for women, and about sites for women travelers in general. I had to admit that I had barely glanced at the AA site because, as a mature woman and experienced traveler, the whole concept generally offends me.

What I’ve always said is that focus on women travelers is generally in one of two areas: either they are for novice travelers (and actually, therefore, appropriate to both women and men), or they treat women as the fluffy pink species. I took a better look at American’s site and found a bit of both.

- it promised to tell me “what shoes, jackets and accessories keep you looking fabulous and which fabrics travel smart”

- it told me that some (not all, mind you, “select” ) Admirals Clubs have bathrooms [that] feature spa-like shower facilities for a moment of indulgence”

-it assumed I would be interested in “magazine subscriptions such as House and Garden, Jane, Inc. and Lucky“

So my last hope for anything substantive was the “Women Connected Through Each Other” section. But it’s not forums or chat, just some posted interviews with women in business. And I couldn’t help but note that in the interview with an American Airlines Sr. VP, Bella Goren, she resolutely refused to be pigeonholed as a “woman exec” and when the frustrated interview finally asked her, “What early career lesson would you pass along to women just beginning their careers?” She said, “I think that most people starting their careers – both women and men –”

My point exactly.

However, this isn’t to bash American. The site is almost entirely promotional for the airline’s various products, and as such seems to be just a way to grab some extra clicks from women who want to see if there is anything interesting to them (take my word for it, there isn’t).

It did make me wonder, though, if women travelers need a place to vent. I just saw an article about a site for expectant mothers to share their wisdom and experience. It seems the publisher suggested opening it to new dads and the women participating in the forums said a resounding “Hell, no!”

I’d rather vent in a place where men might read and learn. After all, it’s anonymous, so women shouldn’t be intimidated–and frankly shouldn’t be naive enough to assume that “Cheryl in Albuquerque” is female, anyway. And women who are afraid to speak up in the presence of men, or be themselves in the presence of men, aren’t going to get very far in the business world.

But in the whole Mars-and-Venus spectrum, one generality that’s generally true is that women vent just to vent, while men want to resolve the issue being vented. And maybe women new to travel would prefer to go to a place where they could get advice from women who’ve been there. I wouldn’t mind that.

But ask me one question about padded hangers and I’m outta there!

PS-I’ve created a new blog category, “Women,” for this post, after some thought. But it’s reserved for articles about women, not just articles of interest to women–because I think that every article about travel is equally of interest to women as to men. You’ll note there’s a new category, “Men,” too.

–Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer

In those Geico commercials with the theme “So easy a caveman can do it,” the cavemen are insulted. That’s actually a neat way of getting across the message that it’s easy without letting people dwell on the underlying message which is, you don’t have to be very smart to do this.

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) has made a funny commercial that misses that point. A 60-second spot shows adorable Kenzie the chimp using the KCI (as they call themselves) Web site to plan a trip, parking at the airport, and checking in. So easy a monkey can do it.

But I’m not sure people want to be compared to monkeys. I remember the stories about the first astronauts, who were folded into the same capsule design that chimps had used; they rebelled, asking for windows and controls, because they wanted it acknowledged that they were smarter than chimps.

Anyway, the commercial is cute, and it’s only scheduled to be shown on the KCI website and on CNN’s airport channel. But real people find airports a hassle. Monkeys just don’t know better.

–Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer