Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?

United Airlines has decided to stop serving free food on its flights from Washington to Europe in Economy.

For me, this is the last staw! I don't think I will fly United Airlines any more! I just want to cash in the last of my miles -- and transfer my loyalty to another carrier. (Probably, my US carrier of choice will be Continental once it joins Star Alliance.)

I understand that United is faced with soaring fuel prices, but transatlantic routes have always tended to be profitable, and it just seems that United has forgotten that there are alternatives.

This change will become effective on October 1, 2008.

For details, Follow this link to United's site:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51502,00.html

Cafe de Paris, Columbia, MD (Revisited)

Cafe de Paris
8088 Center Park Drive
Columbia
MD 410 997 3904

www.cafedepariscolumbia.com

Today I visited this restaurant for a quick bite for lunch. They now offer crepes in a little cafe atmosphere. They serve the crepes with a fresh salad, and they are delicious. I had a Shellfish Crepe, and my daughter had mozzarella, tomato, and pesto. Both were served promptly. They were freshly cooked and delicious.

The total bill for the two crepes, a soda water, and tax was under $18. This is a good new addition to Columbia's options at lunch.

For a (rather old) description of my last full dinner at this restaurant, click here.

MAXjet -- The Washington Route (IAD)

Well, I never got to try it!

Almost two years ago, I posted a comment about MAXjet, the airline that was trying to compete on the London to Washington route flying business class-only Boeing 767s. I wondered whether the story would end in "ignominious defeat."

Business class fares on this route have always been really expensive, and I welcomed the idea of a new competitor -- particularly since they offered fares as low as $750! I also liked the idea that you could transfer on to an EasyJet flight since they flew to Stansted rather than Heathrow.

Unfortunately, MAXjet has given up on Washington. But it is hardly ignominious defeat as the airline seems to be thriving on the New York (JFK), Las Vegas (LAS), and Los Angeles (LAX) routes!

So we are left with United, Virgin, and British for our non-stop options. (They all fly into Heathrow.) So how much does it cost? According to Kayak, the site that searches for the cheapest fares, leaving on February 12 and returning one week later), you would pay $3390 on United, $4060 on British, and $4050 on Virgin Atlantic. A lot of money!

The United option is certainly the best deal particularly as they now offer lie-flat seats in Business Class with 15-inch monitors! For a description of United's new and improved Business Class, follow this link. But you should book with caution as these upgrades will not be complete for some time!

Quite often the best (but less reliable) way of getting into Business Class is to buy an Economy ticket and upgrade. I have frequently been offered a $500 upgrade -- sometimes less -- even when I have been holding a really cheap cattle class ticket.

Hampton Inn -- Bloomsburg

Hampton Inn
255 Paper Mill Road

Bloomsburg

Pennsylvania

USA 17815

Tel: +1-570-380-1020

Fax: +1-570-380-1035

I have traveled frequently with my old friend and business partner, Dr. A. It seems as if he has a principle that he applies whenever he stays at a hotel: If he doesn't like it, he complains a lot. If he likes it, he complains a little. There is a rumor that hotel owners across the world have him on a watch-out list! I remember him once warning a hotel manager that he was about to instruct the head of travel of the North American division (of our then twenty-eight person) company to blacklist the entire hotel chain and expressly forbid all our (two) sales representatives from staying there!

His usual complaint used to be a lament for the basics. "Just give me a decent bed, a clean room, and an adequate bathroom, and I'll be happy," was his usual cry as we would leave a hotel. Added to his list of basics was a morning banana without which he would growl for the rest of the day.

I used to find this refrain somewhat unconvincing coming from a man whose agonies tend to be making up his mind between the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton. I often used to wonder how the basics would really sit with this Lexus-driving, Perignon-drinking, foie-gras eating consumer of luxury goods and services while listening to his plea for "just the basics" typically made while sitting in Seat 2A on a British Airways transatlantic flight.

Anyway, we spent the better part of this week at a Hampton Inn in Bloomsburg Pennsylvania, and Hampton Inn really is a chain that just gets the basics right with few loftier ambitions or pretensions. And while I had some minor complaints (shower not warm enough, no signs of recognition for a Hilton Diamond member, a room with two queen beds when I really wanted a king, a rather noisy window-situated heating system), Dr. A was ecstatically happy. "Perhaps the tables have turned, and now you are the complainer," he commented as he cheerfully munched his way through his second banana.

To summarize, the Hampton Inn in Bloomsburg is an excellent basic hotel with a few minor flaws. An adequate breakfast is provided by an extremely friendly English server in the morning on, alas, disposable plates.

But for only $114 a night, you can hardly complain! In general, I really do like this chain, and I appreciate being able to get Hilton points when I stay there.

Holiday Inn, Athens, Greece

The top floor of the Holiday Inn in Athens

Holiday Inn

50 MICHALACOPOULOU ST

Athens

Telephone 30-210-7278000

Hotel Fax: 30-210-7278600

I never used to stay at Holiday Inns. They seemed a little "basic" for expense account travel and a little expensive for personal travel. But I have changed my opinion somewhat, and they fill a very useful niche for people traveling with families in Europe. Most of the big chains don't allow you to put four people in a room, and that is how we have made many of our trips affordable. Holiday Inn is the exception to the rule, and that was why we chose to spend the first couple of nights at the Holiday Inn in Athens.

The rooms were comfortable, and the price was right -- about 140 Euros (including tax) for a room for four. It is really easy to get to this hotel from the airport -- just take the metro. The people at the front desk were really friendly. The rooftop pool looked lovely, but it closed early in the evening so we were not able to use it.

The only little shock was the price of a club soda in the bar, which was about 6 Euros! But these prices are typical of Athens, which is now an expensive city!

Greece

This picture is just an apartment block, but it is the site of where of the British Embassy school, where I went in about 1959.

My relationship with Greece has three chapters. The first was when I was very small. We moved to Greece when I was two and stayed there until I was six. Of course, those memories are more about early childhood and don't have a lot to do with Greece. Like all early memories, you can never be sure whether you remember the story or you remember the actual event.

But I remember my mother complaining to my father that he ran over her toes in our driveway, and I believed it. I remember thinking that didn't seem to harm her all that much and I was tempted many times to stick my toes under the wheels of cars to see what it was like. Fortunately, I never did! I remember not wanting to go to Rafina because once the see was rough and I thought that must be why it is called Rafina. I remember my friend, Andrew. His father came back from a business trip by plane and promptly went to bed with the flu, and I assumed that the flu was the consequence of flying. I remember my brother misbehaving at school, and the nuns but him in a cupboard with frosted glass. He wailed and waved his arms behind the frosted glass, and I wanted to rescue him, but I couldn't! That chapter ended in 1960.

The next time I was in Greeece was in 1981. I hitch-hiked from England to Brindisi, and got on a ferry from Brindisi to Patras. After sleeping on the deck for the night, I awoke to find the boat had stopped in the bay at Ithaca. I had never seen anything quite so beautiful in my life. I just had to get off, and I spent a few days there. Then, on to Athens! Athens seemed hot, dusty, unfriendly, and after a couple of days, I went to Lesbos, where I spent two glorious weeks in Molivos or Mithymna as it is more formally known. I was impoversished at the time, but Greece seemed to be such good value, and I was determined to return.

In July of 2007, I went to Greece with the family, and it was the best holiday we have ever had. But Greece had changed. Athens was a modern city with a wonderful metro system. The only disappointment was that the country did seem to be a little spoiled by the millions of tourists (like us!) who have discovered Greece. On my trip in 1981, I often found a bottle of Retsina placed on my table in the bars -- by a friendly local, who wanted to welcome a scruffy tourist. This time it really did seem as if the hospitality industry was determined to make you part with just a few more Euros! The prices seemed to be extraordinarily high, but, if you go to one of the most beautiful countries in the world, what do you expect?

We decided to visit Athens and only two islands. First, we went to Santorini, where we spent about a week. Then we went to Paros. The views in Santorini are absolutely extraordinary, but if I were to do it all over again, I think I would not spend as much as a week there. Santorini is just too overrun with tourists for my taste. Paros was perfect -- developed enough to provide a wide choice of restaurants, but not quite as crowded as Santorini!

No more amenity kits -- Singapore Airlines -- Business Class

One of the nice little comforts of business class travel is the amenity kit. Waiting on your seat in a sealed bag, this little gift provides you with toothpaste, eyeshades, lip balm, and other little in-flight necessities.

I use these bags to carry around my electronic toys. I suppose that if I were a true road-warrior on long-distance flights every week, I would quickly tire of these novelties, but I fly rarely enough that I still get a kick out of them. (Actually my dirty little secret is that I have a sad habit of collecting them, and I have even been known to buy these things on e-bay.)

Funnily enough, Singapore Airlines, the airline that seems to lead the way in making customers happy, seems to have abandoned the practice of handing out these little bags. Although, according to their website, they provide a "range of branded toiletries such as eau de cologne, aftershave, and moisturising lotion" in the lavatories, the individual bag handed to you at your seat seems to be a thing of the past.

I would have thought these days, with liquids being a cause for suspicion, these little goodie bags would be even more important to the traveler seeking comfort in the air!