Pederson Travel Service

04/08/2024

I have decided to publicly display all of the posts from the “courageous “ individuals who posted malicious lies about me and my business beginning in early February for a solid 8 weeks along with my responses.
There were outbursts of Fraud! Call the radio station! Contact Keloland! Call the Watertown Police Department! Contact the Attorney General's Office! Let's all get together and gang up on her! Is there a coverup going on here?! Let's jump their fence at home! Let's start a picket line at their house!
I'm sorry to disappoint, but:
1) There is no fraud.
2) There is no story.
3) There is no cover up.
4) There were no phone calls from radio and television stations.
5) There were no calls or anyone showing up from the Watertown Police Department and/or the Attorney General's office.
6) There was no money stolen or as one of the accuser's stated “she screwed us out of our money” (you know who you are, don't you?)
I have responded directly to several individuals previously and will include those, as well. This is to expose the lies and also address those who joined in with the malicious gossip.
Keep reading.

10/02/2023

If only:

https://aboardtheworld.com/?fbclid=IwAR1p3CP3ZNqb6ZpSMDj90B_B4jhzkquaUmomBk9gmENYAewugu9zTXW4fms_aem_ARCxtwQ3-rzYo8NLiLz5HJnAAlHE1sKX0QiVIJCalp1x-pvlQyUhnByPrRJTaC8_IMo&fs=e&s=cl

Sign-up to receive notifications on upcoming Journeys, Residences for sale, and to learn more about the exclusive travel lifestyle that comes with ownership.

03/28/2023

The processing time for US passport applications and renewals has increased again, as State Department employees scramble to keep up with an unprecedented number of submissions.

01/29/2023

01/04/2023

A source inside Southwest Airlines recently passed this on and gave me permission to share. This is worth reading:

“What happened to Southwest Airlines?

I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years. I’ve given my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. And quite honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my family.

Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. Unfortunately, the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a slow motion train wreck for sometime. And we’ve been begging our leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. What happened yesterday started two decades ago.

Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. He was a very operationally oriented leader. Herb spent lots of time on the front line. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people who ran it. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership to the front line managers. We were a tight operation from top to bottom. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. Everything that was needed to run a first class operation. When Herb retired in 2004 Gary Kelly became the new CEO.

Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. He did not spend much time on the front lines. He didn’t engage front line employees much. When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither do the lower levels of leadership.

Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person responsible for day to day operations). The new COO had little or no operational background. This trickled down through the lower levels of leadership, as well.

They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built.

But as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. There was little investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to operate efficiently and consistently. As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong?

We were a motivated, willing and proud employee group wanting to serve our customers and uphold the tradition of our beloved airline, the airline we built and the airline that the traveling public grew to cheer for and luv. But we were watching in frustration and disbelief as our once amazing airline was becoming a house of cards.

A half dozen small scale meltdowns occurred during the mid to late 2010’s. With each mini meltdown Leadership continued to ignore the pleas and warnings of the employees in the trenches. We were still operating with 1990’s technology. We didn’t have the tools we needed on the line to operate the sophisticated and large airline we had become. We could see that the wheels were about ready to fall off the bus. But no one in leadership would heed our pleas.

When COVID happened SWA scaled back considerably (as did all of the airlines) for about two years. This helped conceal the serious problems in technology, infrastructure and staffing that were occurring and being ignored. But as we ramped back up the lack of attention to the operation was waiting to show its ugly head.

Gary Kelly retired as CEO in early 2022. Bob Jordan was named CEO. He was a more operationally oriented leader. He replaced our Chief Operating Officer with a very smart man and they announced their priority would be to upgrade our airline’s technology and provide the frontline employees the operational tools we needed to care for our customers and employees. Finally, someone acknowledged the elephant in the room.

But two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And, unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system.

The frontline employees were ready and on station. We were properly staffed. We were at the airports. Hell, we were ON the airplanes. But our antiquated software systems failed coupled with a decades old system of having to manage 20,000 frontline employees by phone calls. No automation had been developed to run this sophisticated machine.

We had a routine winter storm across the Midwest last Thursday. A larger than normal number flights were cancelled as a result. But what should have been one minor inconvenient day of travel turned into this nightmare. After all, American, United, Delta and the other airlines operated with only minor flight disruptions.

The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us. To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday.

I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell.

It’s been a punch in the gut for us frontline employees. We care for the traveling public. We have spent our entire careers serving you. Safely. Efficiently. With luv and pride. We are horrified. We are sorry. We are sorry for the chaos, inconvenience and frustration our airline caused you. We are angry. We are embarrassed. We are sad. Like you, the traveling public, we have been let down by our own leaders.

Herb once said the the biggest threat to Southwest Airlines will come from within. Not from other airlines. What a visionary he was. I miss Herb now more than ever.”

12/11/2022

"The Department of State advises U.S. citizens to avoid the use of novelty stamps in the U.S. passport. The Department could potentially consider novelty stamps as 'damage' to the U.S. passport," a State Department official told Travel + Leisure.Aug 17, 2022

11/24/2022

Need a day use hotel room for a few hours? Get affordable rates for day rooms and work passes. Enjoy same-day booking, rooms with early check-in or late check-out.

10/30/2022

10/09/2022

French designer Jean-Marie Massaud joins with the French National Aerospace Research Centre (ONERA) to deliver a new vision of the future for the design of Manned Cloud—a conceptual airship hotel that would sustainably reduce the cultural, environmental, and economic impact of tourism infrastructu...

10/09/2022

Italy from the ISS.

10/08/2022

Fall Fare Sale Leaves are falling, so are fares! Take advantage of great low sale fares starting from $59 one way* Travel between October 15 and December 14, 2022. Hurry, sale ends at midnight on October 11, 2022. Seats limited and other restrictions apply. See full terms below. Fares are one way: A...

10/03/2022

It’ll cut down journey times to just one hour and 15 minutes.

09/27/2022

Unvaccinated Americans will now be able to enter Canada.

09/05/2022

A new night train that connects Stockholm and Hamburg, offering daily services, was officially launched on September 1. The launching of the train that will operate in both directions has been confirmed by Swedish operator SJ, SchengenVisanfo.com reports. The train consists of second-class seating, ...

05/08/2022

04/04/2022

We provide up-to-date info on travel restrictions for every country to help you make decisions about current and future trips.

03/06/2022

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/reopening-soon-a-country-by-country-guide-to-coronavirus-recovery/?utm_term=Editorial&utm_content=E85D0E80-9CAF-11EC-99B0-8B9096E8478F&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1m1AWohFuNZaSIyuYJOtmtpsIE_H-mE2iDRAsGvgDQejvsrDdIrx_5ms8

Editor’s note: This post was last updated on March 5, 2022 with new information.

02/18/2022

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Dominican_Republic_suspends_all_COVID_restrictions?fbclid=IwAR3rWcogG-shOovzhV1st2LPOUUpuy6Uf5YqXvrfsWZNIHW_ER4v7aYtI-E

The Dominican Republic on Wednesday immediately suspended all COVID-19 restrictive measures. ...

11/03/2021

The U.S. reopens to international travel on November 8.

11/01/2021

This is tough to keep up with in this big world.

Multiple nations around the world announced the relaxing of their international travel restrictions last week, and they’re readying to welcome back U.S. travelers.

10/02/2021

An adventurous experience comes to life onboard these sustainable cruises.

09/10/2021

From Albania to the United Kingdom, here's your country-by-country guide to all of Europe's travel restrictions.

08/07/2021

In a study of more than 100 cities worldwide, London took the top spot.

08/05/2021

Travel south of the border continues to be easier for Americans.

07/25/2021

Global Entry will help you get back into the U.S. without waiting in long lines at the airport. It also includes TSA PreCheck to help you save time at security.