It’s not often that I’m truly bored. But when I am, my mind tends to wander off in unusual directions. This past weekend during my hellish return trip home, I was tremendously bored.

I learned a lot, which I want to share with you.

Before you discount this as something you don’t need to know, bear with me.

For example, when you’re standing in the security line in the Denver International Airport, you’ll see the typical poles with straps between the poles to direct traffic. You’ll see an example of the poles in today’s graphic. On the circle at the bottom of the pole, it says, “Property of DIA Security Department.”

Think about this for a minute. It was someone’s job to put stickers on the hundreds of poles through this huge security area. If the stickers begin to fade, someone will be needed to put new stickers on the poles.

My mind began to whirl. Why would the security department feel it’s necessary to put stickers on the bottom of these poles? Do they have a problem with someone stealing the poles? What could they be used for? (Hold your thoughts–more on this in a minute.)

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I just got back from putting on a workshop in Denver (and being with the most delightful group of students). However, the return trip home was horrendous. Highlights of the trip include:

* Two canceled flights

* One missed flight (due to a delayed flight, but my baggage made it — so much for airline security)

* Got labeled an extra security risk TWICE

* Had to spend the night in Atlanta

I could go on and on but I’m thinking about my audience (YOU) and you don’t care.

On the positive side, I can pass on what I learned about my experience to those of you who have small travel sites who are trying to compete with the large Expedias of the world.

And yes, you CAN compete. How? By offering the personal touch.

Here are my Ten Tips for Making Your Air Travel More Bearable. Travel sites are free to post these tips on your Web sites as additional content. This will help you prove how valuable it is to have a travel agent and not be an impersonal Web site that simply saves clients a few dollars.

1. Get a travel agent. That’s the absolutely smartest thing you can do when you travel. My travel agent is Teresa Smith of Pro Travel (601-582-3300). (If you call Pro Travel, ask for Teresa specifically or leave a message for her. They’re in the process of setting up a Web site, and I’ll post their URL when they get it ready.)

I have two Internet-related companies, but when I travel, I go to Teresa. She can find me the best deal out of the five airports from the many different airlines that could provide airline reservations for me. I could spend hours doing the same thing, but Teresa can get me where I’m going for the best price at the time I need to be there. I may be able to save a little by shopping around for myself, but when time equals money, I save by going to Teresa. I wouldn’t do it any other way. She’s the best.

At times like this past weekend, while I waited in an endless line after my first flight was canceled in Denver, I called Teresa. She found me a return flight with a competing airline for $780. American let me use that flight because they wanted as many happy customers as they could get.

When I got stuck in Atlanta for the night and couldn’t make it home, Teresa found me a hotel room near the airport. Hundreds of travelers couldn’t find a room because of the conventions in town, but Teresa found me a room.

How much is Teresa worth to me? Priceless.

If you have a travel site, offer to be a travel agent for your customers. Be the friendly voice at the other end of the phone. Large sites like Expedia and Priceline will never be able to compete against that kind of customer service.

2. Keep your travel agent’s cell or home phone number with you at all times. This may seem self explanatory, but you don’t want to be stuck in NYC on a Sunday night and only know your agent’s office number.

3. Put all of your gels, lotions, shampoos, etc., in a small plastic bag with a Ziploc top. Security is cracking down on the plastic bags now, so my round lip gloss was in a bag of its own. I’ve often wondered about my lip gloss vs. Bruce Lee IV whose body is a lethal weapon. I’m not criticizing our security measures, because they’re doing everything they can to keep us safe. But I’ve been stopped because of my cat ink pen, my dog-shaped powder, and my bottle of Advil. Bruce Lee IV gets on just fine.

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