June 2008 Archives

A recent report on Bette Nash, a 71-year-old flight attendant, led Jane to do some research into the history of females in flight.  As a frequent business traveler, you too, dear reader, have probably had ample opportunity to ponder the people who walk up and down the aisles of airplanes offering you beverages and providing instructions on how to buckle your seat belt. Well, Jane would like to reveal some of the skinny she has learned about the flight path of those perfectly-coiffed gals of the sky.

It is true that Jane frequently gives flight attendants a hard time due to the competition they provide for the eye of the hunky male business traveler (although, with Jane in the running, there's really no competition). But the reality is, Jane has a great deal of respect for the women (and the 20 percent who are men) who take wing every day.

A recent round of traveling through some of the country's busiest airports has left Jane pondering. Why oh why, asks Jane, is it so difficult to build a better mousetrap when it comes to bathroom stalls? For in many an airport loo, one truly does feel caught in a mousetrap, squeezed between one's carry-on bags, the toilet, and the door. It's frequently difficult to exit the stall without backing up and nearly falling back into the porcelain throne. Charmin'.

Is Size 2 fat? This is the question screaming from the tabloids these days, thanks to a paparazzo snap of one Jennifer Love Hewitt in a bikini. The other J.Lo, aka "Love," is best known for her role on the 1990s teen-fav TV show "Party of Five."  Love has always been a petite girl, but she was definitely sporting love handles in the pic. Frankly, though, Jane found it rather refreshing that at least one Hollywood celeb (Jane is having so much fun using her Access Hollywood -style vocab) is not so narcissistic as to spend all of her spare time in the gym. Besides, Jane would love to see the body of the photog who got the snap, or the editor who bought the pix. Bet they are hardly sporting washboard abs.

With the turn of the calendar page comes the annual ritual of making New Year's resolutions. Weigh less, exercise more, spend time relaxing--all are typical proposals of willpower that fall by the wayside (or weighside) by February. There's always a reason--the kids, work, travel. Well, ladies, Jane is not going to let you use travel as an excuse for losing resolve. Indeed, even if you are traveling for business....especially if you are traveling for business....keeping the above-mentioned resolutions can actually be easier than if you are staying at home.

There's a 15 percent chance that you, dear reader, won't agree with everything Jane says in this article. Or maybe it's 20 percent. Because when it comes to tipping while traveling, there are no few easy percentages.

Of course, in the U.S. of A., there are a few standard tipping rules. Let's start with a buck. One dollar, or maybe two, per bag will suffice when tipping a bellman. The doorman gets a dollar or two for hailing a cab...or a little more if it's actually hailing. The cab driver gets 15 percent of the fare, so long as he doesn't get lost on the way to your destination.