I stay at alot of hotels. All the chain hotels are all pretty much the same. Sometimes all I want out of life is a bigger bar of soap. Recently however, I stayed at the Westin Hotel at the Metro Detroit Airport. I was surprised that inside this busy and grimy place there was an oasis of calm. Traveling through a long corridor from the terminal, you go down large escalators that immediately greet you with big words, "BREATHE". The atrium is a combination of relaxing trees and water. I immediately felt protected from the "terminal world". The rooms were comfortable and surprisingly quiet. Upon coming home, I received an email from the Westin saying:

"We hope you enjoyed your experience at The Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport and trust you left feeling renewed, refreshed and restored. Thank you for spending your time with us. We look forward to seeing you again soon."

Looks like I will be finding excuses to go to Detroit…

ON A RANT: I travel alot. While I was going through security last week, the TSA person was barking out that all of our cosmetic liquids or gels had to be in a QUART size clear plastic bag. She further barked out that if they were wrongly in a clear GALLON size bag they would be confiscated. I have no idea of the reasoning for this since they are both clear, since things can be seen easily. It seems to me that we should be focusing our TSA resources on other things besides plastic bags.

I marvel at some business ideas. Stuff Magazine this month lists a new tourist service sold by Parque EcoAlberto in Central Mexico:

"You can experience the simulated terror of fleeing authorities as you try to illegally cross the border" into the United States.

Now I truly have heard of everything…

For those of us who travel alot, the armrest battle is a central theme throughout the flight unless you are traveling first class. Brian Lam in Wired this month had a great battle plan:

1. Midway through takeoff, recline your seat 2 inches.

2. Slip your elbow into the gap between your neighbor’s seat back and your own.

3. Slowly pivot your arm forward till it dominates the disputed territory.

I am always amazed at the effect that certain events have on business both positive and negative. When no liquids were pronounced aboard airplanes, the duty free industry almost went under.  Now an article in Business 2.0 that says that the effect for the beauty industry has been devastating:

"The connection is airport shops where perfum and skin-care companies realize almost twice the profit margins that they get in department stores…Estee Lauder..brings in as much as 20 % of its profit from airport stores. Within two weeks [of the ban], Wall Street sliced Lauder’s share price by 10 percent."

I have long said that great customer service is dead. When I received two  bottom parts of the bun from a Boston Market restaurant, it confirms it for me.

But, last Friday, Mary Ann at American Airlines proved me wrong. I was traveling back from a day at the National Science Foundation in Washington to meet my son at the airport in Chicago and take him to the Baseball Hall of Fame near Albany NY. I had a very tight connection (2 hours) to get back to O’Hare to meet him. I arrived at Washington National with plenty of time and then find out that the United Flight I was on was delayed 2 hours. At that departure time, I would miss my flight from Chicago and my son and I would not be going on the Hall of Fame trip. United could not get me on an earlier flight. I entered the American Airlines Admirals Club dejected. Mary Anne at the front desk asked how I was and I told her the truth: Miserable. She listened to my story and said that she would try to find a solution ON AMERICAN. After alot of work, she did find me a seat on an earlier American Flight to an earlier flight. She convinced United to transfer my fare over.

It was only a result of her effort, that I made the flight and met my son to have a great weekend with him. As a Million Mile Flier on American, Mary Anne cared enough to have me be a satisfied customer. I will never forget her and American who both helped me in my time of need. They have my loyalty for life. As they say, "We know why you fly!"

Young Money is a wonderful entrepreneurship magazine for college students. I have written many articles for them. They discuss the Pursue the Passion tour in this month’s issue.

"Three enterprising college students began their summer with an RV named "Maggie," a whole lot of Red Bull, and a slew of questions for professionals about what they were doing with their careers. The students hoped to write a book about people that have developed successful careers by pursuing their life passions. What they got was an education on how to pursue their own passions"

When I was in New Zealand this past summer, we visited many tourist attractions that feature the natives of the "land of the white cloud", the Maoris (pronounced Maahri). Since they did not have a written language, they painted tatoos on their faces to tell the history of their lives. This was called moko. These facial tatoos told about their ancestors, their children, their profession and the wars they had been through. When they died, children would carve those faces and tatoos into wood.

I wonder as an entrepreneur, if we tatooed our experiences, both good and bad on our faces, what would we look like? It certainly would make introductions a heck of alot easier.

For once, I was not flying today. When the news hit about yet another plot to blow up airplanes I was glad I was travel on a local train.

No long security lines to wait in. No need to stand and keep myself busy for 3 hours. I was one of the lucky ones. Millions of other Americans were not so lucky. New directives from TSA:

"NO LIQUIDS OR GELS OF ANY KIND WILL BE PERMITTED IN CARRY-ON BAGGAGE. This includes all beverages, shampoo, suntan lotion, creams, tooth paste, or hair gel,… Beverages purchased in the boarding area, beyond the checkpoint, must be consumed before boarding because they will not be permitted onboard the aircraft."

Thousands of bottles of drinks, shampoo, shaving cream and other cosmetics were thrown out today in an effort to board American airplanes. Guess we can say if there were any winners today, maybe it was the cosmetic companies which may see a spike in sales tommorrow as travelers arriving at their destinations need to buy all new make up.

Take off your jacket. Take the change from your pockets. Take your laptop out of your case. Take off your shoes, and now empty your bag of all cosmetics. Give me that water and soda pop. I wonder sometimes where this will all end. How inconvenient can traveling get until we all take the train or bus or just stop going?

Brett Farmiloe and Daniel Weber, of the Pursue the Passion Tour pulled into Chicago last week. This is the first time I have met them since I decided to be a sponsor of the tour earlier this year. They did the "Passion Interview" last week and then last night, they came for dinner at the house. After almost a 100 interviews all of the country, what surprised them the most was that alot of people don’t pursue their passion because fear of failure and fear of not being able to monetize their passion. They give up "the dream" when they are young. However, some are able to come back to their passion later in life after they have "tried everything else and are not happy" or have the financial stability to now purse their passion.

We hope to make this into an annual event with other students traveling the country.