At Bloomberg Pursuits, we love to travel. And we always want to make sure we’re doing it right. So we’re talking to globetrotters in all of our luxury fields—food, wine, fashion, cars, real estate—to learn about their high-end hacks, tips, and off-the-wall experiences. These are the Distinguished Travel Hackers.
As chief White House correspondent for NBC News, appearing across such network shows as Today and NBC Nightly News, Hallie Jackson earned accolades via her reporting on the 2016 Republican primaries and the rise of Donald Trump. Before joining the political front, Jackson worked in various local markets, including Los Angeles and Hartford Conn.
Her current gig has turned the travel-loving Jackson into a true frequent flyer; she logged 250,000 miles last year, following the president around the globe from Saudi Arabia to Beijing. Her favorite airline is Delta Air Lines Inc., which has many flights out of her home base in Washington, though she can’t be as loyal as she’d like. “If I have to be somewhere in four hours, I have to pick the next flight, whether that's American or Southwest or whatever,” Jackson says.
There’s a secret to getting enough vegetables while traveling like crazy: Be a baby about it.
It sounds bizarre, but I always pack squeeze-pouches of baby food from Happy Baby. It can be really tough to find decent veggies when you’re racking up highway miles or bouncing from airport to airport. I was at the grocery store one day and passed by this stand of baby food pouches. I’d read online some folks suggesting those pouches as a way to get greens. A Ziploc bagful doesn't go bad, and it's a perfect supplement to fast-food meals on the road. I don't have any trouble with [Transportation Security Administration]—however many ounces they are—although I do get weird looks because I don't have a baby. I had one TSA agent say to me: "But you don't have a baby with you." I said, "I know, they're for me." And I’m not even a little bit ashamed to say that the pear-kale-spinach one tastes delicious. It's a well-rounded, fairly nutritious meal when you're sitting in a car, driving six hours from one point in Iowa to another.
The best bathroom in an airport is always in the same place.
When you're coming off a flight, skip the restroom by the gates and head to the one in baggage claim, which is always cleaner—and there’s never a line. Everybody goes to the first ladies room right off the plane; nobody waits four more hallways to get to the bathroom outside baggage claim. And hygiene is always a factor.
An avid solo traveler, Hallie has two pieces of advice to encourage others to try a one-woman trip.