Freddie Gibbs thought he’d be able to put his dope in his checked bag. But the TSA found the grass and thought it would be a good idea to let him off with a note, which simply said, “C’mon Son.”

Gibbs tweeted the incident after he landed, saying, “The TSA found my weed and let me keep it.”

Naturally, no good deed will go unpunished, as the TSA will likely launch an investigation in hopes of firing the agent who showed that common sense is better than a lot of paperwork.

The entire incident may have cost the actor a bit of his dignity, helped the game Words with Friends, cost him his twitter account and done little to change boarding procedures, but we still think Greyhound is getting  bad wrap.

Sure, Baldwin was relying on cliches and ignorance when when tried to compare American Airlines to Greyhound — but sadly, he was just wrong. Greyhound, which is undergoing a bit of a revival, is actually really nice.

American Airlines doesn’t offer leather seats. Greyhound does.

American Airlines charges $10 to use its wifi. Greyhound has it for free and includes a 110 volt power outlet for every seat — also at no additional charge.

American Airlines requires passengers show up hours before the flight and go through the TSA — please check your civil rights at the door and enjoy a dose of cancer causing radiation. Greyhound requires passengers get on the bus. Here’s the boarding procedure. “Welcome to Greyhound.”

American Airlines has the force of the FAA to make people turn off all electronic devices before take off and landing — and it’s a move that feels more like a TSA strip search than an actual safety reason. Greyhound encourages people to use electronic devices the entire trip.

American Airlines tickets can have more fees listed on the ticket than a phone book. Greyhound has a straightforward price.

American Airlines personnel and other passengers watched in horror as Baldwin threw a tantrum. Greyhound passengers just might have thumped him on the head and told him to shut the fuck up. Self regulation is a mighty good thing.

And the list just goes on and on.

A few years ago, I was aboard the Lucky Streak — a Greyhound shuttle from New York City to Atlantic City — it was a fabulous drive and perfect for the modern day Greyhound. It was on that ride that I got a chance to talk to president of Greyhound, who talked about the image problems Greyhound faced, and the strategy it was using to improve that.

Basically, Baby Boomers had such a bad image of Greyhound that the bus company wasn’t even going to bother trying to win them over. They may be a huge consumer group, but they are often wrong about what they think they know — just like Baldwin.

Greyhound has moved away from those cross country trips — leaving those to companies like American Airlines. Instead, Greyhound has found that focusing on trips that around 400 miles makes a lot more sense.

The roomy seats, the internet connection, and the significant savings will lure many customers to the bus company instead of considering planes. The 350 mile trip from LA to Phoenix will take about the same amount of total time without the hassle. Same goes with many of the other city connections, and in fact, many trips will take even less time than flying.

But Alec doesn’t know that. Why should he? A bus has seats all the way to the back that feel like first class — he wouldn’t feel special on that ride. But it’s not like we should really expect our television stars and cults of personality to actually know what they are talking about.

A savvy traveler, however, understands exactly this. A smart traveler, who might ride the scariest bus in the world in Columbia shouldn’t shun a much better ride back home.

Now, it’s gotten even better. The new 737 Max will increase fuel efficiency and decrease CO2 burns by at least 10 percent and Southwest Airlines will the first to be flying this big birds, which feature lots of technology and modern day comforts.

“Today’s environment demands that we become more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, and as the launch Customer of the Boeing 737 MAX, we have accomplished both,” said Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines Chairman, President, and CEO in a press release. “We are teaming up with our friends from Boeing to lead the industry in a way that makes both our Shareholders and our Customers proud to associate with Southwest Airlines. Today’s announcement will allow us to maintain our position as a low-cost provider in the years ahead.”

Bacteria Flies Free

Sometimes when I eat airline food, I think I’m going to die. Of course, I’ve never have, I’ve only wanted to after I ate it.

I try to steer clear of rubber chicken dinners in any type of banquet, wedding or airline setting, but one person who didn’t is Othon Cortes. Cortes and his family flew earlier this year on American Airlines out of Barcelona, Spain. While on the international flight home, he gobbled down a chicken dinner and enjoyed the rest of his flight back to the USA.

He landed in New York’s JFK airport, and suddenly became pale, had sharp stomach pains and became thirsty. He didn’t seek medical help and got on board the plane to Miami to get home. In flight, Cortes became nauseous, short of breath and eventually suffered a heart attack and died.

His widow is suing American Airlines and the food service company Sky Chefs for having caused the death of her husband by serving tainted food and not stopping them from boarding the plane to Miami when her husband was so obviously sick. She claims her husband died from food poisoning, resulting from the food having been contaminated with Clostridium perfringens bacteria.

Proving that Cortes got the food poisoning from the rubber chicken dinner when no one else on the flight got sick is going to be difficult, but hey, when did that ever stop anyone from suing a big corporation?

(Black Monday is the day people go to work, still doped up on tryptophan, go online and buy more crap.)

We mention the Southwest deals only because, well, they’re pretty good. Southwest is offering flights and 50 percent off hotel stays at the MGM — a massive Vegas hotel that we’ve stayed at and is pretty nice. Note, travel is limited between now and the end of January.

There are also deals from Southwest with up to 50 percent off on flights and hotel deals to Reno and Panama City. Why Southwest picked those particular cities we’re still not sure, but a deal is a deal and in the rush to buy, we say, why not?

Weather, that one unpredictable part of the holidays, is acting up on a big chunk of the nation.

According to Accuweather, which sent us an update yesterday, this Thanksgiving is going to be messy; “heavy rain will produce urban flooding, drenched roadways and grounded flights for Thanksgiving travelers into Wednesday from Arkansas to Ohio to Massachusetts.”

The weather gurus say that heavy rain is going to pelt much of the country and travelers should beware.

“Motorists traveling through the region spanning I-40 and I-70 in the Midwest through Tuesday and I-80, I-90 and I-95 in the Northeast Tuesday night into Wednesday are urged to have patience, pay attention to the road and exercise caution when venturing on vehicle-clogged, rain-drenched roadways.”

Additionally, the thunderstorms around the country are likely to effect planes, especially on Wednesday — the busiest travel day of the year.

Other than that, things look good.

That’s another reason to like Travelzoo.com — which sent out this note for all those people in Louisville who need some beachy weather down in Fort Lauderdale. Fares are down to $59 each way from those cities. While this fair is not advertized, it’s still up if you want it. Travel dates are from Nov. 29 – Jan. 17 and
saves as much as $150 on the usual cost of this route, according to Travelzoo.

Click below to book using Fly.com’s Low Fare Calendar.
http://www.travelzoo.com/newsflash/78331253-1140882/

What’s required? Nothing out of this world.

Just a bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Mathematics or Biological or Physical Science and at least three years of related, progressively responsible work experience. I actually know way too many people who could qualify to be an astronaut.

No research experience? No problem. Just get a pilot license and bank 1,000 pilot-in-command hours and you can nix any research requirements.

Of course, there are some health requirements. The applicant also needs to have 20/20 vision (or correctable to 20/20 vision), blood pressure not above 140/90 in a sitting position, and be no shorter than 62 inches but no taller than 75 inches.

You’ve also got to be willing to be open to learning. Russian and possibly other languages. If you don’t remember, the USA no longer has the Space Shuttle program, so if hired, you’d be taking a Russian rocket to the Space Station for your six month stay. Who knows when the US will have reliable rocket ships provided by Richard Branson?

Want to sign up? Go to USAJobs.gov and be prepared to spend about 3 days filling in the applications. It’s repetitive and you’ll be cursing all the way through the process. It’s the government and as with anything with the government, it’s a ridiculous amount of paperwork to fill out to just be considered.

But, hey why not try if you can meet the basic requirements. Just imagine looking down on all of Earth and thinking of all the little people.

Don't you?

The TSA’s name should have warned everyone. Transportation Safety Administration. Everyone thought it was just airports, but transportation applies to any form of movement. And now, the TSA is showing some states how safety is administered.

On Tuesday, Tennessee DOT and TSA began working together under the Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, known as VIPR, program. VIPR assumes that if you’re moving, you’re obviously a terrorist. It doesn’t matter if travel is by plane, train, automobile or broomstick. On this particular day, check points were set up at Tennessee weigh stations in an effort to “maintain traffic security” on interstate highways.

The check points allowed, under the guise of protection from terrorism, the TSA, Tennessee DOT and various Tennessee police departments, both state and local, to search trucks and harass drivers for no other reason other than “because we can”. No mention of any violation of the Fourth Amendment, this done completely for the safety of all Americans.

Bomb and drug sniffing dogs were put to work searching the targeted trucks. What? Drug sniffing dogs? How many terrorists are planning dumping a load of extacy into the water supply?

Truckers, the ones violated and those not, are being asked by the TSA to join the First Observer Highway Security Program. This is a program where truckers are being asked to report to VIPR all the suspicious people they see on the highway, rest areas or truck stops across the nation.

Americans ratting out each other will only strengthen our safety.

So, it’s time to do your part. Just keep your eyes peeled. See someone talking on their phone in the car? Call VIPR and report it. It’s obvious that that person is plotting to wage Jihad against us all.

GPS systems don't fail. They know you're moving & relaxing on the ferry.

Recently, my husband and I were in Europe. Though I haven’t written much about the trip due to a grueling work schedule in the real world, I did notice one thing.

Ferrys are the ultimate in vacation travel options. There is something about being on the water, wind in your hair and nothing to do but relax.

It started for me as a child. Every summer my sister and I would spend the summer at my Grandmothers house in Martha’s Vineyard. Woodshole, MA to Vineyard Haven: drive the car onto the ferry, get out, go get a snack and sit up on the deck to watch the coast of your summer coming closer.

This past trip to Europe held an amazing five ferry boat rides.

The coast of Hundested, Denmark from the ferry

The first ferry was on our trip up to Hundested, Denmark. We got to Rørvig a little late and watched the small six car ferry depart. I listened to my newly found cousin tell me family stories as we waited the short 20 minutes until the ferry returned. Hundested was where my great-grandfather built his family a summer home and that’s where we were going to have lunch. The ride was short but I learned why my grandmother picked Martha’s Vineyard as her summer place – it looked like Hundested, ferry and all.

HMS Windblowey. Enroute from Denmark to Germany

The next ferry we took was leaving Denmark to go to Germany. This ferry was all business, with a proper luncheon on board, plenty of chairs on deck and duty free shopping so I could find a pair of sunglasses. The ride, about 45 minutes which saved about two hours of driving, was well worth the cost. We really didn’t have to stop to eat lunch or take a break, losing no time at all.

Imperia welcomes all back to Konstanz Germany. See a close up below.

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Our next round trip ferry ride was on a day trip from Konstanz, Germany over to Meersburg. If your like most Americans, you may be questioning where is that? It’s Lake Constance, aka the Bodensee, in southern Germany bordering Switzerland and Austria. This ferry ride was a quiet and somewhat crowded ride lasting about an hour each way and provided a nice rest from all the exploring of both Konstanz and Meersburg.

Our last ride was a find. After driving around Lake Constance, we had dinner in Lindau and drove a little bit and took the car ferry from Meersburg back to Konstance. We hadn’t planned it, but it saved some time and was just so nice to be back on the water.

Ferrys are coo, relaxing and fun. You’re putting miles behind you as you’re just enjoying the breeze blowing through your hair, just a great way to travel. Try it sometime.

And hey, Detroit/Windsor area. Get one. It would be used, I hate taking the tunnel.