Grown-up Travel Guide News Update

In which we present a regular round-up of news from the world of Grown-up Travel

The Travel Paradox And Why Women Know Best

by Huffington Post

According to surveys of travel habits, women spend significantly more time planning vacations and they book trips further in advance. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to wait until the last minute to book holiday travel. Perhaps in an effort to best William Shatner’s negotiating skills or outwit that wily roaming gnome, they also tend to waste their time and effort on hunting down the best airfare — despite the fact that travel to and from the destination is only a small portion of the trip’s budget (and of the trip itself).

No one returns home from a vacation and brags to their friends about how well they planned their air and ground transportation. You want to come back from a trip with amazing stories about eating the world’s best macaroon in Paris, finding a secluded beach in Brazil or zip-lining through the jungle in Costa Rica. Thankfully, for us procrastinating, deal-obsessed men, it would seem that women are also more likely to plan the trip.

Women seem to better understand what studies have demonstrated: It’s what you do when you actually get to your destination that matters, and that’s where the memories are made.

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Alec Baldwin ticks off Greyhound

by CNN

American Airlines has already called Alec Baldwin “extremely rude,” and now the actor isn’t making any friends at Greyhound either.

Baldwin was booted off an American Airlines flight Tuesday because he refused to turn off his cell phone after the plane’s doors were closed for departure, the airline said.

The actor was apparently playing “Words With Friends,” a Scrabble-like online game.

In a column published by The Huffington Post on Wednesday, Baldwin said a crew member singled him out during the incident. He also raged against flight attendants who “have made flying a Greyhound bus experience.”

That didn’t sit well with Greyhound.

In an open letter to the actor issued Thursday, Greyhound President and CEO Dave Leach said he was disheartened to hear about the comments Baldwin made about the company.

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Travel experiences fuels artist’s creativity

by Lufkin Daily News

It has been said that an artist must draw from experiences in order to craft true art. It would be a daunting task to find someone with more experiences than the Museum of East Texas’ feature artist, Jim Seitz. After graduating from Stephen F. Austin in 1973, Seitz lived in Iran, New Guinea and Singapore, working as a field engineer on exploratory oil and gas wells.

“The sum of life is all of our experiences,” Seitz said. “Traveling and exploring the world is something that certainly helped my art.”

Seitz’s love for drawing began in the third grade and has continued throughout his life. He always sketched, even while he was working in deserts and jungles around the world.

“The most I ever went without sleep was four days,” Seitz said. “When there was work to do, you couldn’t sleep. But there would be days when not much was going on, and I would use that time to explore and paint.”

Seitz spent much of his childhood in Lufkin, but after the loss of two friends in a tragic accident, he decided he wanted to explore and experience as much as he could. Lucky for Seitz, his high school sweetheart and now wife of 41 years, Connie, shared the desire to travel and was with him every step of the way.

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