PORTAL 1
ABOUT JOHNNY
IMPORTANT #'S
BREAK TIME
 

Airline Numbers Dot Com
 

JOHNNY JET'S Q & A
With Cool Travel Mail ~ Fred Pierce

PROFILE

Fred Pierce writes CoolTravelMail.com’s weekly “Travel Tips” newsletter, an irreverent guide with topics ranging from airport security to finding the real-life bar that inspired “The Drew Cary Show’s” Warsaw Tavern.
Pierce is also publisher of “The Strange Traveler,” a monthly e-zine devoted to travel destinations alleged to be haunted, cursed, visited by aliens, stalked by Bigfoot or host to a top-secret government cloning lab. (Ever wonder why there are so many Elvis sightings? Remember, you heard it here.)
Until last year, he wrote weekly newsletters for CoolTravelMail on family and sports travel. He also occasionally assisted his wife’s online guide to visiting beautiful landscapes, “Garden Journeys.”
When he’s not writing newsletters or traveling, Pierce is an award-winning political and business journalist for the Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y., covering stories ranging from Hillary Clinton’s senate campaign to the wheeling and dealing behind a taxpayer-funded, $1.8 billion theme park in Central New York. For the last four years, Pierce has also been an adjunct professor at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. There, students complain bitterly about his tough grading, but laugh at most of his jokes. Pierce suspects the two are related.

FRED'S ANSWERS

HOW OFTEN DO YOU FLY?
I’ve been focusing on upstate New York for a book idea, so most of my recent travel has been on the ground. Last year, I probably logged fewer than 30,000 miles in the air.
WHAT CLASS OF SERVICE DO YOU MOSTLY FLY IN?
Coach. I’m a down to earth guy. The frills of first class just aren’t as important to me as having enough money to really experience the place I’m flying to.
FAVORITE AIRLINE?
It no longer exists. Peoples Express got me where I wanted to go at a time when I didn’t have the means to get there. These days, it’s probably Southwest or Jet Blue.
FAVORITE AIRCRAFT?
I once spent several death-defying hours in a one-prop puddle jumper that hopped from Miami to the island of Eleuthra, while I sat next to a recently discharged Navy pilot from Texas who insisted on showing off his ability to drain the blood from the faces of his passengers. The plane rattled and shook, but somehow completed every death-defying move he put it through. Now THAT was an aircraft!
FAVORITE HOTEL?
I’m still looking for it. So far I’ve had the best experience at Belhurst Castle in Geneva. No, not Geneva, Switzerland; Geneva, N.Y.
FAVORITE HOTEL AMENITY?
Ghosts. There’s nothing like a scary legend to help you appreciate the building you’re staying in. What would normally be a malfunctioning showerhead suddenly becomes the spirit of the prohibition-era gangster who was gunned down in the lobby. I find that, especially in budget accommodations with thin walls, a resident ghost can be a reassuring explanation for strange noises coming from nearby rooms.
FAVORITE AIRPORT?
O’Hare. I like the energy, and the sheer volume of planes and people passing through it.
FAVORITE CITY?
I love New York and Paris. But, since both of those answers would make me a bit of a travel writer cliché, I’ll opt for Chicago. I lived there long enough to appreciate its gritty and honest appeal. I love the pizza, the ribs, the down and dirty politics, the evening view from the Sears Tower, the Billy Goat tavern, Rush Street and the biting, winter wind off Lake Michigan that constantly reminds you just how REAL this city is.
FAVORITE RESTAURANT?
This is a truly impossible question for a traveler who has equal appreciation for cognac-flambéed veal chops and small mountains of grease-soaked cheese fries.
AISLE OR WINDOW?
Window.
ETICKET OR PAPER?
Pieces of paper - like pens, sunglasses and the matches to nearly all my dress socks - never seem to stay where I think I put them. Electronic transactions, so far at least, do.
TRAVEL AGENT OR ONLINE?
I generally like to go it solo online. For specialized or complicated trips, however, travel agents can be indispensable.
FAVORITE TRAVEL WEBSITE?
Warning! The following answer is entirely self-serving and biased: The best sites are those where you can subscribe to the most interesting travel newsletters for free. The first one would be strangetraveler.com, the platform from which I offer tips and vacation ideas for UFO landing sites, vampire-infested bars and haunted bed and breakfasts. The second one would be cooltravelmail.com, from which you can subscribe to my weekly “Travel Tips” newsletter.
FAVORITE TRAVEL COMPANION?
My wife, soul mate and fellow traveler; Donna.
IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A TROPICAL ISLAND, WHAT THREE ITEMS WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU?
A laptop, several hundred miles of fiber-optic cable and my sunglasses.
BEST TRAVEL TIP:
Be flexible with your agenda and your preconceived notions; no matter what happens, suck as much enjoyment as you can out of every second of your journey.