a Geographer's Place

If you would have told me a decade ago I would be living in the Caribbean (again), but this time for long-term, I would have said, "Cool". But then moved on to something else, and not given it another thought. But now, nearly a decade later, here we are. Living --thriving! -- full-time on a beautiful slice of the Lesser Antilles. Looking out the window, I see the tropical flowers -- the red hibiscus, the yellow trumpets, the purple sea sage, the orange verbena -- and, beyond our back fence, a couple hundred yards of seaside grass with the occasional sea grape tree. And then that characteristic Caribbean blue water with small white caps showing where the offshore reefs are. You can hear the waves crash into the cliff. At night, when it's still, you can  feel  the waves hit the cliffside, their reverberation traveling through the atmosphere and lithosphere. That pounding sound was scary at first -- our neighborhood is uncannily quiet, and at night all you hear are the waves...

When you start a PhD program in the sciences, there are generally two options advisors suggest (or push towards): becoming a professor like them, or working in private industry like a laboratory. Some knowledgeable professors might suggest looking into the government as well, but it's basically be a professor or work in a lab of some kind. This represents dominant thought in Academia for decades. And, on a psychological level, it makes sense: "...this is what I did, and therefore what I know, so you must do it too..." Just for the record, however, there are plenty of jobs outside of Academia and government for a PhD. In fact, only about 10% of PhDs work in Academia, and only about another 20% or so work in government. That said, it's tradition in Academia that, once you get a tenure-track gig, you stay at that location because...well...you need to earn tenure. And I don't use the term "earn" lightly. It takes a LOT, and I've blogged about it previous...

Traveling without a credit card nowadays is not advised. It's also almost impossible. Even if you only use cash, you still need at least  a debit card to withdraw cash from an ATM. The days of Traveler's Checks and exchanging cash are basically over and done (though for some reason the almighty US Dollar seems to be accepted everywhere still). So, if you're still doing those things. Stop. Now. It's the 21st century! Back in the mid-1990s, I went on a trip with a professor couple. Long story short, they said if I purchased my own airfare, I could tag along on their month-long trek through England and Scotland and sleep in the rental car (or outside, as weather permitted). I jumped at the chance and soon found myself in London, in front of a bank, so we could exchange money. While my well-traveled professor went into the bank to exchange Traveler's Checks and US currency, I went to the ATM machine, put in my card, entered my PIN, and withdrew a cash advance. After a h...

Geez. Almost a year since my last post. Crazy how life just continues to happen, regardless of what you do. But I wanted to blog about something that's been going on since last fall... We bought a Playstation 5 last summer while we were in the States, and I dutifully packed it in my carryon to bring it home to Barbados. We bought it to replace the aging MacAir that we had been using for VPN access at home so we can watch US-based streaming services. Side note: have you tried accessing Netflix when you are outside of the US? Very interesting and an entirely different line-up of shows and movies depending on where you are. But I digress... So, a neat feature about the Playstation 5 , is it has its own VPN. And it works most of the time. So that's great. The first game we bought was Harry Potter . We each had our own character and if one of us had progressed further than the other, we would help the other with the puzzles and stuff. It was fun. But then Baulder's Gate 3 drop...

As you may know from my previous blog posts , I’m usually Oneworld-loyal. In fact, I’d guess 98% of my flights since the year 2000 have been on Oneworld airlines (OW). So, I’ve always striven for elite status, mainly because the higher statuses confer international lounge access regardless of service class (e.g., economy or business). And I just like airline lounges. Holding Oneworld Sapphire status grants you access to all OW Business Lounges. The top-tier Emerald status allows you access to all OW Business and First Class Lounges. As an American Airlines frequent flyer, Platinum status is equivalent to OW Sapphire, and Platinum Pro &  Executive Platinum are equivalent to OW Emerald. In short, if you have OW Sapphire or Emerald (irrespective of Oneworld airline), you have access to the lounges.  One caveat: if you are an American Airlines elite member traveling domestically in North America (AA sees the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean as "North America"), yo...

Recently I came across a post on one of the travel Facebook groups I follow. The person was frustrated because the card they selected and had been earning points on for five years did not have airfare transfer partners that flew from her home/preferred airport. While I could write a post about how researching beforehand could have helped, I also know the frustration of trying to book things through a travel portal/third party vendor (like non-co-branded cards  make you do). What I've noticed over the years is there's a big difference between co-branded and non-co-branded cards in terms of ease of redemption. And for the occasional traveler, the person who makes a couple trips a year for, say, maybe visiting family who live across the country, redeeming through a portal can be super frustrating. In fact, I know people who prefer to be brand loyal simply for ease of redemption. Side note: I play the points game well, and use only co-branded cards. Yes, both my wife and I have non...

You'd think that, especially with a near-perfect credit score, a co-branded card from a lesser-known bank might be easy to get. But that's not always the case, I suppose. I've written about which cards we personally use . And my belief is still that a person does not need more than a few well-selected cards to wring maximum benefits from the points & game. So why did I apply for this (problematic?) card? Well, I had grand plans for a trip to Europe this winter. And when I saw a nice sign-up bonus for the Best Western Mastercard ($89 annual fee), I started scheming. I've been a loyalty member with Best Western since 2008, so I am familiar with their offerings, and used to stay with them a few times/year when I did fieldtrips in the US. And I also know Best Western hotels in Europe can be very different than their US counterparts, especially in the countryside. I've stayed in Best Westerns that were manor houses, Victorian mansions, previously-esteemed estates, a...

Although I certainly knew this earlier, it occurred to me the other day that US folks have waaaaaay more credit card options than other countries. And can receive waaaaaay more benefits for having/using them. Granted, some non-US banks have "rewards" credit cards, but they pale in comparison to US bank credit card rewards. Especially over the last couple decades or so. As you can find throughout my blogs (and on a plethora of other sites as well as YouTube videos), credit card rewards options abound in the US. Particularly when it comes to rewards/benefits focused on travel and lifestyle. The main US credit card issuing banks (e.g., American Express, CapitalOne, Chase, Citibank, etc.) offer multiple co-branded and non-co-branded rewards cards with some truly outstanding benefits. Really. Often, for a few hundred dollars, you can get elite status, lounge access, and a host of other travel/lifestyle credits. Not so in most other countries around the world. You might get one po...

When engaging in international travel, most folks use the large airports like LAX, JFK, ORD, MIA DFW, SEA, ATL (and others). These airports are important since most all incoming and outgoing international travel routes through them. The terminals at the larger airports are roomy, have an abundance of amenities like restaurants and shopping, and generally host at least a couple lounges. And that's all fine and dandy. As I've noted elsewhere , I don't like to give away my travel secrets very often. But since my blog posts aren't that popular anyhow, I guess it's not a big deal. My secret for this post? Using regional airports. Especially if you live more than a couple/few hours away from an international airport. Why? I can offer a number of reasons, but a main one is they're not very crowded, meaning check-in and security lines are usually non-existent. Which means workers are generally less stressed, and that positive energy rubs off on you, making for a more pl...

Almost everyday I see people complaining on social media about the woes of airline (and hotel) elite status being downgraded or devalued. Like, just because they're the highest frequent flyer tier on an airline, they never get an upgrade. Or the points aren't as "valuable" as they were previously. I get it  –  those people likely spent thousands of dollars on a product and want to be rewarded for it. But that kind of entitled and whiny attitude bothers me. A lot. So much so that I'm writing a blog post about it. First off, I believe travel is a privilege , not a right. Until the turn of the twenty-first-century or so, flying was classy. You dressed up and the on-board service often reflected the classiness. Even in coach/economy you had space and a decent meal, even when flying a shorter hop. Nowadays economy-class meals aren't served unless it's a long/international flight, leg-room is tight, and people wander on an airplane in their pajamas and make life...

If I could say one thing to people beginning the points & miles game, it is this: earning and then making the most of your points and miles accumulations takes a LOT of work and time . So, in the interest of that advice, here are my tips for wringing the maximum value from your hard-earned miles and points. Monitor points & miles blogs and promotions  daily . Most mainstream, for-profit blogs have email newsletters and/or social media accounts, so checking in with them during your downtime is important. They have cadres of people researching the latest changes, promotions, and perks. You can also sign up for hotel and airline email newsletters and promotions, or check their app every few days. Just be consistent. You never know when a good value might appear. I follow ThePointsGuy , One Mile at a Time , and Loyalty Lobby . But there are hundreds of other blogs and sites. (Unlike those blogs, I do NOT receive any compensation from any corporate sponsors, but if you want...

The first thing to know about credit card perks is, they are ever-changing and always evolving. So you need to KEEP UP with the promotions for each card you have, especially if your card(s) have an annual fee. Second, most banks have different "tiers" of cards, and some can be co-branded , like the cards my wife and I personally use . These tiers represent this post's focus. Most every bank has a basic, no annual fee card . These usually have no perks, though some co-branded cards might come with basic/limited perks like low-tier hotel elite status, point earning bonuses for certain purchases, and interesting redemption/credit offers. By and large, however, if you want to utilize your points and miles for travel on a yearly basis, consider at least a mid-tier or higher card, which will likely represent a better value than a no-fee card which offers no perks – as long as you are only spending what you normally spend and pay off your credit card bill monthly. Mid-tier car...

As noted in another post , we utilize co-branded credit cards almost exclusively. This post details those (few) cards we tend to use and why  –  basically the story of how we got into the points & miles game. Even before I started playing the points & miles game I traveled internationally a couple times each year. Throughout all of it, I mainly flew American Airlines (or its partners). I believe this stems from my first "real" job after college, which sent me to Chile. While waiting at the airport (almost 30 years ago), I thought: it's a lot of miles to Santiago, I should probably sign up for their frequent flier program. I should have done it earlier of course, but didn't know what it really entailed. Nowadays it's easy to glean information from a Google search, but back then, pre-internet, it all was kind of word-of-mouth, and I was totally a cheap-ass budget traveler, and didn't think the frequent flyer community would be beneficial (nor did I reall...

I see value in being "brand loyal" when it comes to travel. Of course, we might miss a unique family-run experience in Rome or Paris, but we tend to save those experiences for outside larger cities (like, try to find a chain hotel in Maribor, Slovenia). Same with airlines. While our travel destinations usually fall under Oneworld Alliance carriers, we sometimes might need to take flights on local airlines or may find a bargain on another larger carrier. But by and large, we stick to Oneworld airlines. They've treated us well. Retaining hotel and airline status also remains a high priority for me, as they usually represent a good value in terms of service level/expectation. For example, having "elite" status with a hotel chain means you may get an upgraded room, have a later check-out/earlier check-in time, or get free/discounted food and/or amenities. It also means you earn points at a higher than normal rate, and thus can redeem them sooner (or save up more of ...

It's been a busy several months! Let me see if I can sum-up... Our second COVID test came back negative, so we moved back to Picasso in late August. Classes at The UWI Cave Hill began in September, so I was right on time. My classes were/have been 100% online, and that was challenging, since I really like to drag students into the field. Hopefully next term I'll be able to do that. Still, teaching online wasn't that bad for me, as I have prior experience doing so: I pioneered the Geography department's online program at University of Colorado Denver when I was there, and helped create an online master's degree program while I was at ASU. I also worked for Western Governor's University, which is a fully online university. So I am familiar with online pedagogy. Things went well the first semester, even amidst COVID-era restrictions: we explored, we played in the ocean a lot, we set-up our house, we went to the movies (when that was not happening anywhere else in t...

Getting back to our home amidst a pandemic was no easy task. Especially considering we have been nomadic for the past half-decade. Seriously. Since summer 2015, we have moved 7 (seven!) times, four of which were international moves. Now, we did have a “house” at each place, but it took a couple years before realizing what it took to make each house more of a “home”. Before that, we were used to traveling for a couple/few weeks at a time, and that’s no big deal. But actually living in a new place – getting an address, doctor, dentist, chiropractor, and learning where to shop – is totally different than visiting a place. We found that taking a few precious items with us to each place helped. We also learned that certain smaller items did a lot to make a place feel more like a home. Fluffy towels. A couple rugs. A couple pieces of artwork. Refrigerator magnets. All of which we could either pack with us or purchase inexpensively once we arrived. Now, we are home. Back in Barbados. We r...

The Fulbright mission, “…to increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the peoples of other countries,” remains a dominant driving force in cross-cultural communication and appreciation. I’m proud to be part of the Fulbright Family. I stand ready to help anyone who is thinking of pursuing a Fulbright opportunity. The program is, quite frankly, amazing. One of the Forgotten Fortresses of the Eastern Desert: Qasr Q'ilat  (Castle-castle). It's really a dam that's been there since, according to my Bedouin guide taking a smoke break on the dam, Roman times. He showed me Roman engravings. This is OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. But such a neat place! I ’ ve had some time to reflect on our experiences in Jordan, now that we ’ ve begun settling back into life in the States. And here's the thing: I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the experience  –  or the Kingdom, or its people. I can hones...