Michael Straus has worked for 20 years in sustainable food and agriculture, and environmental issues. After successfully launching his family’s pioneering Straus Family Creamery organic dairy, Michael started Straus Communications, one the first “green” PR agencies, and produced the Beyond Organic radio show. A contributing editor for the Reuter’s syndicated eco-travel site, Green Traveler Guides, Michael blogs regularly and can be reached at Michael@StrausCom.com.
Cheapflights: What’s your routine when you fly?
Michael Straus: For security, I remove all metal and miscellaneous objects and place them in my carry-on, so that I can zip right through the scanner when it’s my turn. I also always ask at the gate whether exit row seating is available (for those airlines that don’t charge extra).
CF: What is your biggest travel pet peeve?
MS: Recently, my biggest annoyance was due to inconsistencies between airports on the enforcement of regulations. On a flight from Bangkok via Beijing to Irkutsk, my baggage – checked through Bangkok-Beijing-Irkutsk – got held up by Chinese security for a week because I had placed in my checked baggage a cigarette lighter. Apparently, you’re not allowed to check lighters anywhere, but in my experience, only China enforces it.
CF: What kind of trip type do you prefer?
MS: I love adventure travel … trekking in the Nepali Himalayas, rafting in Guatemala … but I’ve also recently enjoyed chillin’ on the beaches of Goa, India – dancing all night long and waking up to sunrises reflecting over the Arabian Sea.
CF: Although it’s hard to choose, tell us what your favorite destination is.
MS: I absolutely loved Burma (aka Myanmar), where I spent 10 days visiting indigenous hill tribe villages, meeting with elders, and learning about their ancient animistic religious rituals. Subsequently, I’ve started raising funds to help build infrastructure (toilets, fresh water systems, schools, etc.) in many of their villages.
CF: Cheapflights is all about value. What location do you think offers the best value for travelers?
MS: India, by far, is the best value, and an incredibly vibrant, diverse, beautiful country. The dollar is very strong compared to the Rupee, so you can travel for a long time (which you’ll need, because it’s such a big country)!
CF: What is your ideal airport, and what’s your advice on how to best enjoy it?
MS: Years ago, I met an engineer who came up with an entirely new, environmentally sustainable airport design … one in which landing strips are shorter to minimize paving over of agricultural lands, where take-off and landing use less fuel, and moving around within the terminal is dramatically reduced. When that airport is built, it’ll be my ideal! In the meantime, I understand that Dubai is developing a broad spectrum environmental program at their new airport, and I’m looking forward to checking it out!
CF: If you had to sit in the middle seat on a plane, who would be your chosen (or most-feared) seat mates?
MS: I would love to be sandwiched between the woman who turns out to my soul mate, and John Stewart of The Daily Show. Funny, irreverent and insightful (and that’s just about my soul mate!)
CF: What would you classify as a hypothetical travel nightmare?
MS: Why be hypothetical? My first 24-hour mini-van ride across the seemingly endless Mongolia steppe … 20 adults and 5 kids crushed into a vehicle meant for 12, crashing over partially flooded ‘rural roads’ (little more than glorified yak tracks), in a massive rainstorm with our driver doing vodka shots at each – and every – pit stop. Fortunately, if he passed out, we’d have simply rolled to a stop at a farmer’s yurt and waited ‘til the next day to continue. Oh yeah, and I overpaid for my ticket.
CF: How does what you do for a living give you a unique angle on traveling?
MS: As an eco-travel journalist and long-time consultant on environmental issues – including organic food, global warming, and fair trade – I’m always searching out pioneers and innovative projects that protect the environmental, and address poverty and human rights. As a result, I’ve met fascinating people in unlikely places, including a former KGB agent turned dairy entrepreneur in Siberia (-40 degrees), a cafe owner in Antigua, Guatemala who was spearheading the local fair labor initiatives for chocolate cacao farmers (and made a mean cappuccino), and an organic vegetarian cafe owner in meat-loving Mongolia.
CF: Share with us a few insider tips on how to improve the in-flight experience.
MS: I always pack a reusable water bottle which I fill up after passing through security, and bring healthy snacks that I can share with fellow passengers. An inflatable neck pillow is always nice (but I constantly misplace mine!). And I learned a long time ago to moderate my booze consumption, especially on international flights – thanks to a total rookie maneuver when I was 23, and man, do I have memories of the Ben-Gurion Airport men’s room in Israel.
Cheapflights is proud to have guest voices express their opinions. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Cheapflights Media (USA) Inc.
