4 Hacks Ted Cruz Can Teach Us To Become Better Travelers

by Gary Leff

Ted Cruz flew to Cancun with his family on Wednesday. He says he was just taking accompanying his children down, but the ticket was booked to return Saturday and then changed to fly back Thursday after a rash of criticism for leaving the country while his home state found itself in the midst of a power and water meltdown during a weather event worse than anything in the state in over 30 years.

Though I’m at home in Austin with no power, I won’t focus on whether the state’s junior Senator should have left the country right now. That’s been well hashed out. For this post I’m more interested in the ways that his trip to Cancun can teach us all how to be better travelers.

There are 4 things Ted Cruz knows about travel that most people don’t.

  1. Last-minute dog sitters are easy to find even during the pandemic. Many people are concerned congregating indoors with people outside their household during the pandemic. But if you leave the dog, and a key, you can have a sitter come over without any close contact. Just have them leave before you get home, and open the windows (as long as you have heat).

  2. How to get instantaneous Covid-19 test results. Arriving in the U.S. by air requires a negative Covid-19 test within 3 days of travel. Senator Cruz did a simple overnight out of the U.S. and traveled back to the States, ergo he must have received a negative Covid-19 test. If Senator Cruz (or his staff) can figure out how to make that work, anyone can get a negative test.

  3. How to avoid CDC quarantine when returning to the U.S. The CDC recommends quarantining for 7 days with a negative Covid-19 test 3-5 days after travel. Compliance with this quarantine guidance is included in President Biden’s Executive Order on Covid-19.

    Perhaps Cruz, experienced litigation before the Supreme Court, would argue separation of powers exempts him from the President’s order (his arguments weren’t always winning ones). I’m not suggesting we can use that exact argument ourselves. But if we travel internationally and don’t quarantine ourselves when returning to the States, we can just say “I was following Ted Cruz’s example.”

  4. How to get a cheap airport concierge escort. Airlines will sell you personal escorts through the airport but it can be pricey. But you’re a taxpayer, police are public servants, and several of them are ststioned at airports. Just call them up and ask for special assistance, after all they work for you.

Ted Cruz’s MileagePlus elite upgrades may not clear, but he’s a traveler we can all learn from.

There is one area in which Cruz was an absolute fail as a traveler, though: for someone claiming to be taking just an overnight trip that’s an awful lot of luggage…

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  2. Can’t believe this story gets more coverage than Covid warehouses being disguised as nursing homes in NY. This is the country we live in.

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