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JOHNNY JET'S Q & A
James Gilden ~ The Internet Traveler

PROFILE

James Gilden has traveled extensively on both pleasure and business enjoying varying degrees of premium frequent flier status for nearly a decade. He first began using the Web as a travel resource in 1996, when United Airlines introduced the United Connection software for booking airline tickets online. His articles on consumer travel issues have been published in major newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. He is a produced playwright and has been writing as a freelance journalist for 12 years and currently writes the twice-monthly The Internet Traveler for the Los Angeles Times.

JAMES' ANSWERS

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AS A TRAVEL PROFESSIONAL?
It’s been a rather circuitous route. I started as a freelance journalist twelve years ago, writing unpaid for local newspapers just to start accumulating some clips. I graduated to paid publications, including the LA Times and other newspapers. I took a full-time job with a publishing company for seven years, during which time I traveled quite a bit on business and pleasure. I quit that job with the idea of leveraging that travel experience with my journalism background. I’ve been contributing on a fairly regular basis to the travel sections of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and others since 2001. In July 2003, I launched a column in the L.A. Times – the Internet Traveler.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU FLY?
Recently it’s been 50-60,000 paid miles; another 10-15,000 using frequent flier miles.
IN A YEAR HOW MANY MILES/POINTS DO YOU EARN?
150-175,000 per year
WHAT CLASS OF SERVICE DO YOU MOSTLY FLY IN?
Coach, though 80-90% of the time I use certificates or miles to upgrade to business or first.
FAVORITE AIRLINE?
Gotta pass on this one.
FAVORITE AIRCRAFT?
Boeing 777. Or upstairs in international business class on a 747.
FAVORITE HOTEL?
Hotel Hana Maui
FAVORITE HOTEL AMENITY?
Bathrobe.
FAVORITE AIRPORT?
Kahului on Maui. You get off the plane and step right into the fragrant Hawaiian breeze.
FAVORITE AIRPORT TO PASS TIME IN?
London Heathrow. I love the duty free shopping (especially the scotch tasting booth).
FAVORITE CITY?
Tough one. New York, probably. Though London, Amsterdam and Sydney are close.
FAVORITE ISLAND?
Maui.

FAVORITE SPA?
The Beverly Hot Springs. A natural hot spring feeds an enormous mineral bath smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles.
FAVORITE RESTAURANT?
Brunch at the Four Season’s Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara. It is right on the coast in the most quintessential California hotel, with the broad lawn running almost to the beach, the Spanish-Moorish architecture, and the polished paver tile floors. I’ve celebrated many of life’s occasions there and always take first-time California visitors there.
AISLE OR WINDOW?
Aisle in coach – window in business or first.
ETICKET OR PAPER?
ETickets are one of the best things to happen to travelers in the last five years.
TRAVEL AGENT OR ONLINE?
I write the Internet Traveler, but have used travel agents in the past when going somewhere new and did not have the time to do the research myself. 99% of the time I book online.
FAVORITE TRAVEL WEBSITE?
Gotta pass on this one.

FAVORITE TRAVEL COMPANION?
I travel mostly on my own and have come to enjoy my own company. I think it frees me to meet interesting people along the way, and I now have friends all over the world who I may not have met had I been traveling with someone.
IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A TROPICAL ISLAND, WHAT THREE ITEMS WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU?
A copy of Don Quixote, ice, and barrels of margaritas.
WHAT DO YOU HATE MOST ABOUT TRAVEL?
Being stuck in a middle seat in coach. I’m a big guy – 6’4” and 235 – so I really value my space on an airplane.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT TRAVEL?
Travel for me is all about forward motion. Even if you are going back someplace you have visited before, you are moving forward to get there. I love the feel of my back pressed into the seat as the pilot revs the engines and hurtles us down the runway and into the air. I love the click-clack-click of train wheels, the whir of car tires, the crush of humanity in a foreign country as it pours onto a subway at rush hour.
BEST TRAVEL TIP:
Relax and enjoy the journey. Getting there should be half the fun.
BEST TRIP:
My most memorable trip would have to be the trip I took to India in 1999. The Taj Mahal is one of those places that simply cannot be over-hyped. We traveled to Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur and Ranthambore National Park, a tiger preserve.
BEST TRAVEL EXPERIENCE:
At Ranthambore National Park, we took an open jeep tour. As we bumped along, we heard a peacock warning cry, meaning that a tiger might be nearby. The driver stopped the jeep and we peered into the jungle where the cry had originated. Sure enough, about 100 yards off, a tigress appeared as if by magic, meandering down a creek toward us. I had my telephoto lens out and was clicking as fast as I could and she just kept coming. Finally, she walked up on the road and started slowly toward us, stopping to mark her territory along the way. When she was about 10 feet away, the driver put the jeep in reverse and backed it up a small ravine. She walked right past, paying us no notice, and lay down in the sun on the road. After about five minutes she decided she’d lounged quite enough, stood up and disappeared into the jungle just as magically as she had appeared.