Virgin America VS. Jetblue

When Jetblue was founded in 1999 as a low cost airline that would bring humanity back to air travel, everyone was raving about the company's outstanding flying experience and fabulous customer service. I could not be happier to find out that Jetblue was making Boston Logan one of its hubs. With unbeatable fares to multiple hot spot destinations, and live satellite TV+free snacks, Jetblue was a mile ahead from its competitors.

 However, it was until Virgin America started operating super low fare bicoastal service in 2007. With a revolutionary concept, Virgin is changing the whole flying experience.

With frequent flights to Boston to LAX at extremely competitive fares, I have to say that Virgin America won me over. The mood lighting in the cabin, the awesome entertainment system, as well as the wireless service operated by Google, which remained complementary for several months make my 7 hour flight fly by. Besides, Virgin America's rewards program, Elevate, is the only mileage program that has no blackout date. Yes. it works on a dollar spent versus miles travelled basis,   and since Virgin fares are usually the cheapest available, you don't get a lot of miles for each trips! But whenever you actually get enough miles to fly, you just go online, pick a day and book your ticket. And believe me this isn't how it works with their fellow competitors. I received a friendly email from American Airlines the other day informing me that I had about 15,000 miles and that I was eligible for a free flight. With a big smile on my face, I  decide to go online and redeem my miles for my next BOS to LAX flight. First of all, only a third of the dates are available for each month, and obviously, none of them are the ones I am interested in. But even better, none of the reward flights actually get into LAX, but rather fly into a random airport in Orange County. Thanks, but no thanks.

Everyone loves Jetblue, I will give you that. Okay I am really biased, because I had a horrible customer experience with Jetblue, and now I resent them for that. Last Valentine's day I was flying into Orlando to meet up with my boyfriend who was attending a Raytheon training out there. With a flight scheduled at 7am, I showed up at the airport bright and early, and headed to the self checking booth to print out my boarding pass. "The status of your flight has been changed. Please see an agent." I proceed to get myself in line. Comes to find out my flight had been cancelled. "They didn't tell you??" one passenger goes. Nope they did not tell me. Once I finally see an agent, her reaction was pretty much the same. Flight is cancelled. There is nothing I can do. You should have been notified earlier. "All the other passengers already called, and they were redirected through connecting flights, but now it is too late."I was getting a little aggravated, and told her that Jetblue knew how to flood my inbox with promotional offers, but apparently didn't know where to find my email when important information had to be sent out. I had spent 450 dollars on a ticket to spend Valentine's weekend in Orlando and she was telling me she couldn't get me there before the next day! Finally, she told me she could get me on a flight to West Palm Beach and then I would have to figure out how to get to Orlando, at my own expenses. I ended up renting a car, which cost me an extra 100 dollars. Jetblue wouldn't compensate me at the airport, since they redirected me to another destination. When I finally got myself to call customer service, I was put on hold for over an hour. No joke.

When I finally had someone on the phone. I explained that I was trying to change my return date. Mentioning to me that I would be charged 100 dollars in changing fees was the icing on the cake. I got pretty upset and told the representative that  Jetblue did not give me 100 dollars when they decided to change my flight there and that considering the awful customer experience I had on my way there I should not be charged additional fees to make any changes. After another half hour on the phone,  and threats to tweet my experience, I finally got my flight refunded. In the end, I try to fly Virgin as much as I can because they have great flexibility and so far my experience with them has been flawless!

Sin City 101

No, I did not make a fortune in Vegas. Big surprise everybody. Lol. I did have a wonderful weekend though and came back with some interesting insight on how Sin City gets us to spend a lot, if not all, of our cash!

The first thing that struck me is that everything in Vegas is about location. Unless you are looking to gamble, and in this case, tables or slot machines are ALWAYS around, nothing is easily accessible. No matter where you are trying to get, you always have to walk through a casino, or a shopping area. After walking the strip for a couple hours, and enjoying tasty dollar margaritas... we decided that grabbing a bite to eat would be a good idea. The picture that follows speaks for itself! Unless you sit at a terrace or a real restaurant, all fast food places are located inside casinos. And is there a better target than a starving tourist horrified by the half hour line at Subway? And there is no such thing as a $5 footlong in the desert. It is more in the range of a $9.95 footlong!

Another funny thing that I noticed while going up and down the Vegas Street was that there are no crosswalks. There is no such thing as jaywalking in Vegas either. Afraid of drunk pedestrians stumbling around? Hmmm possibly... But look at this snapshot and tell me if anything else comes to your mind.

Look very closely: In order to cross the street, you have no other option but crossing that bridge, which takes you right into the mall. Interesting, right? Even if you have no intention of going shopping, you are going to be tempted!

Trying to grab a drink at the House of Blues in the Mandalay Bay but cannot find the entrance? Don't worry there is a sign. Just in case you weren't planning on going to the retail store, you know... Overall, all I am trying to point out is that even if you are not a gambler at heart, Vegas will find a way to get you! 

Let's be honest though. Who can resist this amazing deal? Vegas has a market for every wallet. Whether you are a millionaire or a broke student, one thing is guaranteed, you will find what you are looking for!

Vegas baby!

This weekend, I am taking off to Sin City. It was sort of an impulsive decision, but with both March Madness and west Coast Spring break it seemed to be the perfect timing. In fact, we found awesome deals on lasvegas.com, which you should check out if you re booking a weekend in Las Vegas.

But besides the gambling, the glitters, the clubs, Vegas is also a paradise for marketing and advertising. How to attract customers to a specific casino when they have a million to choose from? How to make your hotel shine on the strip? How to use the classic landmarks to generate more business? How to retain a Vegas "regular" using loyalty programs and rewards cards?

Ads for Vegas are everywhere: TV, billboards, at the airport when you land, in the magazines... Las Vegas is more than a touristic destination, it is an industry on its own.

This weekend, I will try to observe and analyze as many situations as possible from a marketing and advertising point of view. Stay tuned for some real time updates on twitter!!

When globe trotters land in a cubicle

Traveling the world has a tremendous impact on who you are as a business professional and how you interact with your coworkers in the office. Being able to adapt to various cultures, understand their specificities and relate to people that are completely different than you is a tremendous asset in a business setting.
My first meaningful experience was during my year long internship at the US Embassy in Paris. The staff in the office was half French and half American. As soon as I started working there, I realized that there were two distinct business cultures at place:

The french - going in and out of the building 2 or 3 out a times for cigarette breaks through the various security portals and metal detectors, chatting over a cup of expresso after lunch, visiting each other's cubicles to deliver various messages.

And the Americans - ready to walk an extra mile to get their daily Starbucks after getting out of the Metro, usually taking 15 minutes lunch breaks at their desks and always reaching out to you by email.
I, in the opposite, did not affiliate to a particular group. I managed to adapt and in the end, I belonged to both! I quickly figured that the French staff expected me to address them in French, while I always talked to the Americans in English, but that everyone used English in emails. However, even though everyone in the office was perfectly bilingual, the language that people picked always depended on the context and the social situation.


Whenever I get a new job, I use the skills I gathered traveling to analyze my work environment and relate to each and everyone of my new co-workers as if they came from a different country. The key is to never be judgmental. It is not because some people work differently that they are necessarily bad. Always remember to give them a chance!

Always bring something back...

No matter where you go or what country you visit, you should never come back empty handed. But for a real globe-trotter, bringing back a local souvenir goes beyond the traditional postcards and shot glasses. It is about bringing something that you will never find anywhere else, something that has a history, just something real. And even in the most touristic location, you can always find something that goes out of the ordinary if you take the time to look for it.

My best friend from home and I have always shared a passion for both travels and interior design. Putting together a decor that reminds me of my trips, while playing with objects and colors is one of my favorite hobby. In this picture alone, five countries are represented: the hookah is from Tunisia, the Buddha candle and the boxes from Indonesia, the painted fabric and the cushion are from India, the boomerang is from Australia and the mini drums are from Tasmania...

In the future, I would love to turn my interest for traveling and interior design into a business idea. I believe that many people sometimes bring souvenirs from their trips and do not always know how to best feature them in their decor.

I will try to provide some cool tips and links in this blog related to unique and exotic interior design, as well as interesting idea to pair colors.

A couple of ideas to get some cool objects online without leaving your living room: Pier 1 Imports, Maisons du Monde and Siton design and Target Home

David's Photostalk Project

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Globe trotters can't be scared of flying

Getting on a plane is one of my first real memory. I was about 2 years old and flying to Israel with my family. For years flying seemed completely normal to me - I didn't particularly enjoy it, nor did I complain about it. It was just one other way to get to point A to point B, well when the points far enough apart on the map. But suddenly something changed. Around the age of 14, I became terrified of getting on a plane. For some inexplicable reason, I started picturing it as something that was putting my life at risk. Between nightmares of planes crashing and anxious sleepless nights, all excitement to go on a trip was gone when I knew I involved getting on an airplane. That year, I had the opportunity to go abroad on my own to study a foreign language. I could have gone to Spain, Malta, the US, etc... I decided to spend my whole summer break in London, England - Officially because I wanted to improve my English and live in the city. But in reality, it was my only option to avoid flying. I realized that it was starting to seriously affect my life. I had to do something about it. I had to get over my fear of flying if I ever wanted to travel the world and enjoy the whole experience.
It took a lot of time to reflect on myself and try to find the origins of my anxiety. I never wanted to seek professional help because I was convinced that I was the only one who could do something about it. And slowly but surely I re-learned how to fly. I put myself in the position why taking a plane wasn't an option. It was something I had to do no matter how I felt about it. I met with a flight attendant, who was a family friend, and she explained to me why she actually felt safer than most human being because she was spending more than half of her life on a plane. I confronted my fear instead of avoiding it. I looked at the probability of a crash and compared it to driving a car or even riding a bicycle. Rationality was telling me that I had nothing to be scared of. I forced myself to get on as many planes as I could... And eventually it worked...
Flying planes has become a major part of my life, especially now that I spend a lot of time in California And if I ever get anxious about getting on a plane, I know I have to get over it. Globe trotters just can't be scared of flying! I chose to share this experience on this blog because it had a great influence on my personality. When interviewers ask me to talk about a personal experience that I am proud of, this story sometimes come through my mind. Facing my fear and getting over it by myself gave me more self confidence. Now I know that if I really want to change something, I can make it happen.

To finish, a random entertaining story about stewardesses fist fighting on a plane today! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7338734/Stewardess-fight-causes-flight-to-be-cancelled.html

Living in the Land Down Under

When my American Airlines flight landed in LAX that night, it was the beginning of an exciting journey. While I had left my family in Paris and most of my friends in Boston, I was embarking on a 6 months adventure to Australia. People seemed more concerned with the endless 14 hour flight than I was. Sleeping was the last thing I wanted to do. I was way to excited, I just couldn't wait to get there...

People tend to think that Australia is like the United States, with the exception of kangaroos and koala bears. And believe me, they couldn't be more wrong. When we arrived to Melbourne after 26 hours of traveling, we could barely understand our taxi drivers. You have "heaps of luggage" is the first thing that came out of his mouth, and we didn't really know if that meant he was going to help us carry them or not... Then, our US group found out that we would all have Australian room mates, which most of us were not happy about. I was pretty curious to see how this was going to go. Would this experience turn out to be a real culture shock?

Living with someone from another culture is both an interesting and a hard experience. Little things that you do on a daily basis, without even thinking, and that no one in your own country would even acknowledge, can be considered "weird" or even outrageous. When someone is cooking a full meal with meat, vegetable and eggs in your kitchen at 6.30am in the morning, you might think that it is no appropriate time for a feast. When one of my new friend looked at me and told me "You're a good egg", my jaws literally dropped. I thought he was bluntly insulting me when he was in fact telling me that he thought I was a nice person!

In our new daily routine, cultural differences were everywhere. For example, Americans are well known for using and abusing water, which in most states cost practically nothing. On the other hand, Australians were raised thinking of water as scarce and extremely valuable. Taking a half hour long shower, talking on the phone while doing the dishes and let the water run are considered disrespectful and rude actions. Many of my American friends were getting annoyed when their room mates rambled about "wasting water" and "creating rubbish" that would probably not be recycled. While I was sometimes getting annoyed as well, because I was getting dirty looks after washing my hair, I tried to keep an open mind and understand that the environment meant a lot more to them than it does to us. And with time, we all tried to be more conscious not to waste resources that were precious to the country that we were living in. And I believe that it changed us for the better...

"Are you really not coming back ?!?!?!?"

How many times have I heard this question? Countless... What changes every time is the look on that person's face, which is also the most entertaining part. Friends, family members, distant relative, former coworkers, interviewers, random people you literally just met... Every one has a different reaction when I tell them that I will never move back "home". Amused, intrigued, happy angry, disappointed, .... the list of adjectives describing people's faces is endless. By the way, the place they refer to as my "home" is Paris, France. However, I have never felt that France was where I belonged. For as long as I can remember, I knew that I wasn't meant to stay in the city where I grew up.

Since I was a little girl, my parents took every chance they got to travel. And everywhere they went, they always included me in their trips. By the time I turned 3 years old, I already had a handful of stamps on my passport. Hopping on an airplane became almost as casual as taking a metro. As I was getting older, I became more and more involved in our family adventures. I read about Egyptian Gods before a cruise down the Nile, studied the Maya civilization before our trip to Mexico, and learned how to introduce myself in Hebrew on my way to Tel Aviv. I was never familiar with anything: the food, the culture, the language, etc... and regardless, I was in love with all of it. Where many tourists saw "weird", I was simply seeing different. I will forever be grateful to my parents for teaching me how to always keep an open mind and learn from your travels.

I was about ten years old when I read a book about a French girl moving to California with her family. And somehow, it changed everything. Three quarters of the book were dedicated to the teenager complaining about US lifestyle and pointing out all the differences with her old life in Paris. Meanwhile, I am becoming obsessed with everything she is describing. From pop music to sports culture, from Oreo cookies to PBandJs,  everything seemed incredibly attractive. I wanted to be her... I hated the book and loved it at the same time. Couldn't she stop whining for a couple pages?

Going to the US was all I could think about. I started to realize that learning English was key... How would I communicate with the Americans if I couldn't speak their language? Unfortunately, English classes in the French curriculum only started at the age of 12 and I wasn't ready to wait that long... English courses on my Walkman, books from the British Bookstore, hours in front of American movies with French subtitles, it was never enough. "One day, no one will be able to tell that I wasn't born in America." When I was 13 years old, that sounded like a bold statement...

My dream finally came true when I embarked on a 2 week journey to Florida, where I was to stay with a host family. And I wasn't disappointed with my trip! I came back thrilled with my experiences. All I wanted to do was go back and explore. Everything became clear. I knew I wanted to move there in the future...

And that I did. Almost 10 years after my first trip to America, I finally packed all my bags and landed at Logan Airport. I was moving to Boston. And I have no intention of ever going back. Where will I end up living in the future? I don't know. Am I done with exploring the world just because I have found a place that I really like? Certainly not...