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01/31/2008: ""

A big part of my job is keeping travel expenses down. When driving is cheaper than flying, I drive. When the hotel has a free breakfast until 9 am, I get up in time to eat for free. When I can use frequent flyer miles to buy tickets, I do.
When you work for Carnival, they book your travel. They are very concerned about travel expenses as well. If it is ten dollars cheaper for me to fly on a Delta flight that leaves at 6am and connect in Atlanta even if Continental has a direct flight that leaves at 9:30 and arrives two hours earlier, I'm getting up at 3am. About half of the time, I get very convenient flights on Continental or American and about half of the time I don't. If I fly Continental or American, I have enough status on both to get upgraded which happens about half of the time.
When I get to the foreign airports it is usually (about %80 of the time) my job to get a taxi or shuttle to the ship. It is important to go the cheap route because you have to submit your expenses on board to get re-imbursed. They monitor our expenses to make sure we aren't spending too much money. Apparently, before I started working for Carnival, they didn't monitor the expenses of the fly-on comics at all. Some of them took advantage, expensing lavish meals and private cars on their way to and from ships. Those days ended before I joined the company. I have one of the nicest cars parked in the economy lot at the airport right now because I can't get re-imbursed for at-airport parking. None of this stuff bothers me.
One of the most ironic things said to me by guests on cruise ships after they see my show is 'All the travel must be tough.' These people are on vacation and they are choosing to travel to the same places I go to entertain them. Many people work entire careers to save enough money to someday get to travel. I love travelling. Some days are easier than others.
I am going to start to be careful not to complain too much in my blogs. I have a great job and I love what I do. I love all aspects of it. When it is good, I live like a rock star. When it is rough, it is always interesting, and rough in this job is still pretty good.
I was supposed to fly out to Grand Cayman yesterday to meet the Liberty. I was on the 6am to Atlanta and the bag was packed and the alarm was set for 3am. I got a late night call telling me that the ship was being delayed and not landing in Grand Cayman. I wasn't leaving until today and I would be flying to Montego Bay to join the ship in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. It was a direct Continental flight that left at 9:15. I got upgraded to first class. It is a two hour drive from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios. There is no cheap way. Carnival hires a car for this port and pays for the ride directly. I got off my first class flight and through customs and immigration to be greeted by a driver holding a sign with my name on it.
I'm off tonight, I have two shows tomorrow. The only thing keeping today from being a rock star day is that I don't have a show tonight.