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A master traveler's secrets to a better trip Insurance salesman Dean Burri is on the road 300 days a year, and relishes every liftoff and layover. Why? We tagged along to find out.  (Fortune Magazine) -- Exactly 24 hours and four cities after we awoke, Dean Burri volunteered his assessment of my traveling skills. "I'd call you a travel enthusiast," he said, taking a puff of a Cuban cigar at a bar inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. "You understand the fundamentals of being a road warrior, but you still make too many amateur mistakes." It was a harsh critique, but that was exactly why I had spent the last two days trailing Burri. Last year the 41-year-old insurance salesman (he peddles policies to Catholic institutions like parishes and convents) spent almost 300 days on the road - that's six weeks in the air. He logged more than 400,000 miles, and this year he will probably beat that.
Burri doesn't even own a car - he rents one when he lands at home in Clearwater, Fla., where he lives with his wife and six kids. "I would just as soon fly to Hong Kong for Chinese food than order delivery from the place around the corner," Burri says. This was somebody I could learn from. Don't get stuck Several hours before our flight from Newark to Pittsburgh is to depart, Burri sends me an e-mail. It details the FAA ground-delay program for that day, the weather report in New Jersey and - based on some detective work on Continental's Web site - the route our incoming plane is taking. And having identified a few trouble spots, Burri had checked availability on two backup flights. He swears that this type of worst-case scenario planning is vital - and countless times has saved him from getting stuck. Burri prefers morning flights, since they're more likely to be on time. He also avoids the last flight of the day (if it's canceled, you're out of luck). Upgrades 101 Call it Burri's law: If a first-class ticket isn't much more than double coach, he'll buy it. Otherwise, the hunt for underbooked planes (where he has a better chance of an upgrade) begins. Seat maps on airline Web sites can tell you that flights through Cleveland, for example, are often less crowded up-front. Sometimes he'll even book two one-way tickets on different carriers to see which one will upgrade him (he pays a change fee to use the second ticket later). The secret of a one-bag trip "Laundry!" Burri proclaims loudly in the mezzanine at Newark. And hotel laundry is what allows Burri to carry only one piece of luggage: a medium-sized Tumi shoulder bag. Inside is one extra suit, four dress shirts, underwear, socks, a laptop, work documents and a wireless router. His suits are custom-made by Alfred Dunhill in London with a military-grade lining to handle the stress of a heavy shoulder bag. Inside the jacket are five custom pockets for gear, including cellphone, passport and two travel humidors. Trying to keep up Shadowing Burri in an airport is like following a Porsche around in a Toyota Corolla. Though he's 6-foot-5 and 340 pounds, he has the agility of a left tackle. When I ask how he always manages to be first in line for everything, he looks at me quizzically. Clearly this is not a skill that can be explained to mere travel "enthusiasts" like myself. The perks kick in One reason Burri finds traveling such a snap is that he's a member of Continental's "Chairman's Circle." It's a top-secret, invite-only frequent-flier program usually reserved for VIPs and CEOs, and members get a special reservations number and priority upgrades, and can request an airport escort whenever they fly. Being a top customer, and a rather opinionated fellow, Burri has also become a sounding board for Continental (Charts) execs (they recently asked him to try their new phone voice prompting system). But even if you don't have Continental CEO Larry Kellner's private e-mail, as Burri does, he insists the fastest route to first-class service is to make airline employees laugh. When he first boards and the flight attendant asks him if he wants a drink, he invariably responds, "Can I have a seat-belt extender on the rocks?" He always gets a smile. Making time fly Arriving in Vegas from Houston, I finally realize Burri loves to travel because he sees it as a game. Later this month, he tells me, he's flying from L.A. to Honolulu to Guam to Manila to Taiwan to Macao to Hong Kong to Seoul to Tokyo to Newark and back to Tampa, all in seven days. What's more, he's doing it for fun: The idea is to hit airports he hasn't been to before. How will he spend all that air time? Apparently the endless strategizing doesn't just apply to travel, which explains Burri's new obsession with Bollywood DVDs. "They give you the most bang for your buck," he says gleefully. "I bought 800 movies for $4 each!" Gallery: Travel tips from Dean Burri Have BlackBerry, will travel. It's a small world, and Fortune's Peter Lewis has bagged the latest mini gear for travelers. |
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