//podcastplus.net/feed/podcast~d5a7afac88155fe78f7f6843d184b7ab977b8a489e02dbf921b80afc7773cbb8 I'm a road warrior who has spent the last 21+ years traveling the Southeast. Eating great food, drinking wonderful beer and listening to amazing stories.Website - https://www.podpage.com/travel-stories/IG - https://www.instagram.com/swfrick/Twitter - https://twitter.com/SWFE-mail - travelfrick@gmail.com travelstories.substack.com Fri, 10 Apr 2026 09:24:35 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/136003679/0b080cf6e862f6b02fab49d7b2ee15f5.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office, Chateau/ Relaxo, FL. If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back. Tonight I am partaking in a Regatta Double IPA from Biscayne Bay Brewing Company coming in at a very hefty 8.5% ABV Two trips since our last episode one was a three-day road trip to the ATL, and the other was a 5-day visit to the Northeast. First the Atlanta road trip. For the past year or two, I had been visiting Atlanta by taking 75 north to Macon, and then winding my up through Athens Georgia, and then back down to the Duluth GA area.  For this trip, I decided to change it up by heading up 75 north and then taking 475 around Macon back on 75 to 675 to 285 to avoid the downtown Atlanta gridlock finally ending up on 85 north toward Duluth. I’m here to tell you no matter how much road construction Atlanta performs it will never solve Atlanta’s traffic issues. And one of those issues is that most cars in Atlanta have a single passenger. The fi... Sun, 13 Aug 2023 19:57:03 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/136003679/0b080cf6e862f6b02fab49d7b2ee15f5.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/133531710/ec2fea7ff037e8ccb01ae35ea0b1b2a9.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office, Chateau/ Relaxo, FL. If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener, welcome back. Tonight I am drinking local with a Castillo Coconut Porter from Ancient City Brewing of St. Augustine, FL. This comes in at 6.8% ABV It’s a porter mixed with dark chocolate and black malts. It's brewed with raw organic coconut and finished with Northern Brewer hops. St. Augustine is less than two hours up the road, and if you’ve never heard of St Augustine it’s Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin in the United States. It has sort of a pirate theme mixed with ghost tours and some great seafood. We skipped the May crazy travel roundup, just too much going on trying to keep that home life work-life balanced to get an episode recorded. We’ve had to relocate a relative to a new residence, experienced a bathroom renovation and we’re in the middle of another renovation... Thu, 06 Jul 2023 21:32:46 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/133531710/ec2fea7ff037e8ccb01ae35ea0b1b2a9.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/121425061/caec669383ecde839c7d592505a4eeb2.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office, Chateau/ Relaxo, FL. If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back. We skipped the mid-month episode, just too much going on trying to keep that home life work-life balanced to get an episode recorded. Here’s what’s in store for the April craziness -  * Remember the childhood game “Chutes & Ladders” in modern times we play “Emergency chutes & what’s the matter? * Herding cats at JFK, sort of. * One rule for life from the movie Roadhouse * Southwest Airlines "It's like déjà vu all over again." * No shirt, No shoes, No service  * Kids on a plane * More kids on a plane * When real life imitates the movies But first a quick travel update. One quick trip to Columbia, SC for a weekend getaway. The 6-hour drive up I95 would become a 9-hour drive by the time we hit Jacksonville. Make no mistake about it I95 is horrendous, from Florida to Maine somewhere along the way you will experience... Sun, 14 May 2023 20:33:43 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/121425061/caec669383ecde839c7d592505a4eeb2.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/114572394/ac87e73946e1c23d11b270006dabb24e.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office, Chateau/ Relaxo, FL. If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back. One road trip since our last episode, three nights in three different hotels. Hampton Inn Lawrenceville, GA, Hilton Garden Inn, Atlanta, GA, and another Hilton Garden Inn, Valdosta, GA. All three were serving breakfast and in both the Hilton Garden Inn properties, the bar and restaurants were open after 5:00 PM. Here’s a pro tip if you ever stay at a Hilton Garden Inn do yourself a favor and order the wings, you won’t be disappointed. The Lawrenceville and Valdosta properties are locations where I have stayed at least 30 nights a piece over the years and both of those properties were getting long in the tooth and were in dire need of major upgrades such as carpeting, room air conditioners, and mini-fridges. This is surprising as Hilton typically holds their franchisee's feet to the fire when it comes to property upkeep. The hotel industry has take... Thu, 13 Apr 2023 15:48:41 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/114572394/ac87e73946e1c23d11b270006dabb24e.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/110669592/53557adafc471ff3aa4803ec7b67776c.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office at Chateau’ Relaxo Florida. Hello, if you’re a new listener welcome, if you are a returning listener, welcome back. It’s time for yet another random show, which equates to right around 20 minutes of content across several topics. Opening with making the most of a three-day weekend. An update from episode 183, my 2023 travel resolutions where I talked about the nine remaining federal holidays most of which were on a Monday or a Friday which gives you a three-day weekend. Well, last month I took Friday, February 17th off and my company recognizes Monday, February, 20th off for President’s Day - so one PTO day gave me a four-day weekend.  While the CEO and I didn’t head to the airport we did get a four-day staycation and got a lot accomplished in the yard. I recently had a conversation with a neighbor who noticed my car has been in my driveway a lot more than it used to be. I gave him the whole 30-second I don’t travel like I used to I’m now a re... Sat, 25 Mar 2023 20:27:42 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/110669592/53557adafc471ff3aa4803ec7b67776c.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/107870686/65ae79e9a1fd23fcc61a210bff8a3080.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office, Chateau/ Relaxo, FL. If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you're a returning listener welcome back. Tonight's show notes were written while enjoying Lagunitas IPA coming in at 6.2% ABV but since I’m recording this on Sunday morning and I’m not that much of a monster I’m partaking in a cool crisp Diet Coke 0.0% ABV. Let’s open with some international stories as crazy travel isn’t always domestic. With all the years of traveling on planes one thing that has never struck a chord with me was wanting to actually pilot or fly a plane. I have no desire, I lack that sort of detail, I like to fiddle with things and all the instruments in a cockpit would be a field day for me, but also certain death for myself and any passengers. From BoingBoing - Dateline Lancashire, England During a particularly windy day, the pilot of a four-person prop plane requested that a flying instructor join him in the air just to be on the safe side. Great attention t... Sat, 11 Mar 2023 22:08:46 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/107870686/65ae79e9a1fd23fcc61a210bff8a3080.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/101030616/db288d47a8cd4167580a26e4d49566c5.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau/ Relaxo. Following up on the Southwest Airlines 2022/2023 travel debacle CNBC posted these key points. * Southwest Airlines said on Friday it expects to post a loss in the fourth quarter after it canceled over 16,700 flights between Christmas and New Year’s Eve due to a tech meltdown. * The mass cancellations during the peak season for U.S. airlines will result in a pre-tax hit of $725 million to $825 million to quarterly earnings. * Revenue loss from the disruptions is expected to be between $400 million and $425 million, it said. Ending with - Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay its pilots an estimated $45 million in bonus “gratitude pay” for working through the company’s service meltdown during the holiday travel period at the end of last year. During my 2022 Travel Resolutions episode I gave these travel tips if you were planning a big family trip for 2022. * Research - find out the COVID rules, restrictions, and guidelines for your... Sun, 05 Feb 2023 14:16:27 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/101030616/db288d47a8cd4167580a26e4d49566c5.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/96886581/d1e795eb7a2f20c90db8be3622749efa.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office Chateau’ Relaxo. If you traveled by plane over the past few weeks, hopefully, you have been reunited with your luggage and you finally have made it home. In case you didn’t hear 2022 Christmas air travel was a dumpster fire and a winter storm ignited the fire on Friday, December 23rd, and the havoc from that continued for almost the entire next week. Because I’m a data nerd here are some numbers. Tuesday, December 27th Over 20,00 delayed flights and 5100 canceled flights. Wednesday, December 28th Over 11,000 delayed flights and 4475 canceled flights.  Southwest Airlines took the brunt of it by canceling over 2500 flights on both Tuesday the 27th and Wednesday the 28th. Southwest owned up to what it could by calling its own performance "unacceptable." In case you didn't know the word unacceptable, offers no help if you’re trying to get to your destination and retrieve your luggage.  So what did Southwest do to gain all this attention? Let me g... Sun, 15 Jan 2023 16:06:56 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/96886581/d1e795eb7a2f20c90db8be3622749efa.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/91980487/1bfb2637a707f94f46a70c9faf87e6b7.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office Chateau’Relaxo, FL. Around this time each year I add up the year's travel numbers, thank you free version of TripIt . 2022 - 20 Trips, 69 Days & 26,357 Miles 2021 - 11 Trips, 28 Days & 12.173 Miles. 2016 - 51 Trips, 248 Days & 75,280 Miles.  I’ve been using TripIt since 2010. It’s excellent at organizing and managing my trips but another nice feature is that it keeps a tally of my yearly travel stats in one easily accessible table. The best trip of the year was a 4-day stay in San Antonio Texas. I was born in Dallas and have lived there twice, but San Antonio was one of those Texas cities that I had never been to. The highlight of the trip was an evening at Knibbe Ranch . Knibbe offers activities such as armadillo races and live music. On our visit, we had the chance to watch a rodeo. Think Yellowstone minus John Dalton but with at least a ½ dozen Rips wandering around. In the early part of the year masks were still being ... Wed, 21 Dec 2022 14:07:17 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/91980487/1bfb2637a707f94f46a70c9faf87e6b7.mp3 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/91534549/98dc58e4830ba8f1d32de76b8bd97090.mp3 Recorded in the beautiful home office Chateau’ Relaxo. FL. No trips since our last episode. This isn’t that odd when you take in the time of year. Many clients and customers tend to enter “Holiday Mode” this time of year as project deadlines get extended to compensate for team members taking some well-deserved PTO time. Opening up with some sad news - Airline Weekly recently asked this question - “Why Did Spirit Airlines Just Cut 35 Routes?”. This a solid question, part of the reason for the cancelation is supply chain issues which are delaying deliveries of new aircraft and creating a shortage of parts needed to maintain in-service airplanes. Larger more cash-rich airlines typically cancel flights and not complete routes. Spirit being smaller and not as cash-rich can’t afford to roll the dice on picking the right individual flights to cancel so they’re 86’ing the complete route. So the sad part is that many canceled routes involve thank you Florida. Seven from Fort Myers and Tam... Mon, 19 Dec 2022 02:49:05 +0000 https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/91534549/98dc58e4830ba8f1d32de76b8bd97090.mp3