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Check out this new video from one of our favorite authors and productivity experts, Tim Ferriss!

Today (September 27^th) is the 32^nd annual United Nations World Tourism Day, and this year’s theme is Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development.

We were surprised to find out that one of the biggest travel trends of the last 5 years is the rise of ecotourism, but as it turns out, if you’ve visited a national park, or followed the “leave nothing take nothing” rule on a camping trip, you’re considered an eco-tourist!

In honor of World Tourism Day, here are a few suggestions of how you can incorporate sustainability into your travels both close to home and around the globe:

• If you’re looking for some great eco-friendly trips not too far from home, consider some U.S. retreats that are not only lovely, but also focused on staying green and preserving the local environment.
• Looking to take your eco-inclinations abroad? Eco Tour Directory maintains a database of over 100 global eco-tour providers who can offer ideas and packages to help simplify your next adventure.
• If you want to really get your hands dirty and learn about sustainable living, try WOOFing, where you can volunteer to work on an organic farm (in over 30 countries) in exchange for food, lodging, and an unforgettable experience.

If you’re not quite ready to take a sustainable trip, check out this year’s World Tourism Day photo competition for some amazing examples of how tourism and sustainability go hand in hand.

Today we’re celebrating one of the most rewarding, important and well-timed holidays of the year—Labor Day.

Did you know (I didn’t) that Labor Day celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers and was first proposed in 1882? That’s a lot of years of celebrating how hard we work. Falling perfectly between 4^th of July and Thanksgiving, Labor Day comes at a time when we could all use a nice, long, three-day weekend.

Today, Labor Day is seen as the symbolic end of summer, which, let’s face it, can be a bummer. No more long nights or delicious BBQs with friends and family. But Labor Day doesn’t have to mean the end of summer. This year, CLEAR is redefining Labor Day as the start of fall!

We insist you take a well-deserved long weekend to rest, give your mind a break and get excited for a fall season full of colorful leaves, pumpkin pie, and perfect travel weather.

Work hard… travel easy.

Have a great holiday and see you in the CLEAR lane!

Tim Ferriss, Author of The 4-Hour Workweek, and the CLEAR Team have some Tips to Share!

Recently, Tim Ferriss, a man who understands the value of speed and time, shared some of his expert tips for quick and painless travel in The New York Times Travel Section. Tim relies on his CLEAR card to guarantee that he’ll spend no more than 5 minutes going through airport security, meaning he can zip “from home to gate in 20 minutes.” Isn’t that the dream?

At CLEAR, our team is constantly moving. Whether supporting our airport partners from San Francisco to Orlando, or visiting new cities in order to bring the CLEAR experience to more travelers nationwide, we have a passion for travel, and, if we do say so ourselves, we do it well. Check out some of our tricks for a stress-free trip!

CLEAR members are ‘UP in the Air’ all the time—one thing we definitely never pack? A pillow!

Top 11 CLEAR Travel Tips:

1. We agree with Tim—never check a bag. All you need is one nice pair of pants, a basic pair of shoes, and a couple of shirts.
2. Download helpful apps like Tripit and Gate Guru, so you can check flight status and gate on the way to the airport.
3. Always bring something non-digital, like work or a magazine, so you can stay productive during takeoffs and landings.
4. Pick up a cup of coffee and a snack before you board—flight options are sometimes limited. In San Francisco we love Peet’s Coffee and Starbucks.
5. Remember that sometimes even empty bags can be heavy—invest in a light but durable carry-on. We love expandable ones!
6. Keep toiletries in a small bag at the top of your luggage so that they can be easily removed when going through security.
7. Always put your house keys in the same outside pocket of your travel bag. That way, you’re never scrambling to find them when you get back home.
8. To avoid getting hung-up at the security screening, take off all outerwear like scarves and jackets, as well as metal, like watches and cellphones, right as you step into the airport.
9. Always keep a travel bag ready to go with things like chargers, toiletries, and copies of documents. That way you only have to add clothes.
10. After you land, take advantage of membership programs offered by places such as Starwood Hotels. Just like frequent flying, you’ll be rewarded for your loyalty with benefits, points, and upgrades.
11. Security lines are unpredictable so make sure to leave plenty of time to avoid stress. That is, of course, unless you’re flying out of a CLEAR airport—then you know security will only take about five minutes!

Update: download audio and the presentation at bottom of this post.

CLEAR is all about the travelers.  Whether you travel once a year or 52 times a year, we’ve all had our fair share of ups, downs and in-betweens when it comes to the travel experience.  No one can relate to those more than “the most influential frequent flyer in America,” Randy Petersen.  Randy is the founder of FlyerTalk.com and several other websites that feature products, services, news and analysis tailored exclusively for the travelers.

Randy has graciously agreed to share his very own Top 10 lists (David Letterman style) about the good, bad and ugly of the airport experience (from the passengers’ perspective, of course) with the CLEAR community:

Top 10:  Don’t Change a Thing…What Travelers Like

Top 10:  Time to Rethink…This is When Travelers Gripe

This exclusive CLEAR webinar will take place on Friday, April 20, at 1pm EST (actually, think of this more as a virtual cocktail party than just a plain, old webinar).  We guarantee a fun-filled, always entertaining session with Randy.  You’ll laugh, sigh, and remember what it is you love about traveling.  And the best part? YOU can ask Randy your most burning questions about travel, airports and the like.  Just submit your questions to clearinsider@clearme.com prior to Thursday, April 19 and we’ll do our best to ensure they’re answered.

Please RSVP here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/833756942

Update:

Thanks to Randy Petersen, the most influential frequent flyer in America, for sharing great travel-related insight with the CLEAR community last week.  We agree with him that technology is key to improving the travel experience!  We’ve had several requests for the audio and the presentation, so the materials are below.  Feel free to pass around to friends, colleagues and fellow travelers.

Randy Petersen Webinar on Airports– Audio Only

Randy Petersen Webinar for CLEAR– Presentation

If CLEAR were a significant other, what would we be like?

Chivalrous: Escorting you past long lines.
Reliable: Works every time; adds the good kind of predictability to your day.
Smart: CLEAR uses super cutting-edge biometric technology (fingerprints and irises) to identify members.
Knows you well: Well, we knows exactly what your hands and eyes look like!
Soothing: It’s relaxing knowing you don’t have to rush to the airport just in case the security line is forever long.
Improving himself all the time: The CLEAR team is constantly working on bringing service to new airports.
Low maintenance: Encourages you to spend a little extra time with family or being productive.
A nice, clean-cut style: Just look at that crisp logo!

This Valentine’s Day, remember that you can share the CLEAR love with your spouse or partner; if you’re a CLEAR member, you can add him or her for just $50 per year. (Kids under 18 and flying with you are always free.) Saving your loved one time during travel makes a very sweet Valentine’s gift.

For our friends who live in or travel to San Francisco, you may have heard that we have a little extra love to share. We’re thrilled that SFO has accepted our “proposal”! While we haven’t quite picked a date yet, we’re tentatively planning to be up and running in the Bay Area early Q2.

Stay up to date on all CLEAR developments to keep you darting through airports like cupid’s arrow – we’re expecting to announce more  milestones soon – by liking us on Facebook.

It seems some people really love spending their time waiting in lines. For them, Black Friday is probably one of the year’s highlights: the opportunity to camp outside for hours or days, with fellow line-standing enthusiasts, doggedly holding their spots among the first to access killer sale prices.

The Black Friday line-waiting phenomenon reached new heights this year. Even retailers with mobile apps attempted to capitalize on it by pushing special deals for bored customers to peruse at peak line-waiting hours. At least one person waited in line since November 16 for the sales slated for November 25; some stores worked to keep the line entertained with movies and refreshments; and others made plans to avoid catastrophe in the crush of eager shoppers thronging doors.

For the rest of you, who would much sooner blow past lines in favor of using your time elsewhere, we have a special holiday offer. This season, try out CLEAR for two months free.

CLEAR gives you the gift of time on each flight you take out of a participating airport. Knowing you won’t be stuck in a long security line means saving the time you’d normally allot to unpredictable security line wait times, removing a layer of iffiness from your travel schedule. We know you’ll appreciate the extra hours during the holiday season especially, the busiest travel time of the year, and we’re pretty sure none of the lengthy security lines you’d face without CLEAR are offering free entertainment and refreshments.

Flying with CLEAR can mean time for last minute errands and shopping before arriving at the airport; it could be a little extra time before saying goodbye to loved ones at the end of a holiday visit. What it a guarantees is a stress-free express path through security and to your gate.

Happy holidays from CLEAR! Sign up for your free two-month trial before the end of December by clicking here and entering promotion code CHMNHOL in the promo code box on the payment page if it’s not pre-filled for you.

Click cartoon for full-size

Empty your brain to increase your productivity

Time is a gift. And every so often, you’re given a nicely wrapped and thoughtful nugget of time, just for you to use however you’d like. When you fly with Clear, that’s one. And fall Daylight Savings Time is another.

There are many more nuggets of time you can pull out of seemingly thin air. When you’re traveling without a sense of panicked haste, not sprinting down terminals and hurdling luggage — when you’re prepared and relaxed — your business trip’s flight can become a productive, if not enjoyable, chunk of time.

Think about it. You’re in a (we hope) comfortable chair, there’s someone whose job it is to wait on you, and you have access to little more than your laptop and whatever other work materials you’ve brought with you. You’re your own captive audience. So order up a coffee or a drink and get something done.

Productivity experts agree that a great initial step to creating more time in your life is the “brain download.” This activity work best when you do it initially but periodically too. It involves searching and scanning your brain, your notebooks, email, text messages, and anywhere else you tend to store your to-dos. Sweep each mental, electronic, or paper nook and cranny with the intensity and ruthlessness of an airport body scanner, and place each on your task list software of choice. Once you’ve finished, go back and make sure you didn’t miss any spots.

You now have, in one place, every single thing in your life that needs doing: from picking up dental floss, to deciding whether to sell your company, and researching where to enroll your kid in preschool. All these tasks were formerly chasing each other around in your brain like a pack of stray dogs.

You’ll feel better instantly. What you have before you is the formerly wriggling, writhing, and nagging contents of your mind, which was trying to keep track of every responsibility. You’re now free to work on any one thing with full brainpower. If you’re familiar with productivity techniques, you’ll know that next steps involve sorting out these tasks based on when, where, and how you need to do them, and identifying the first steps for each. And we’ll help you find the time for that, too.

What’s going on your brain download list?