7 Days: 7 Travel Stories
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1.Toweling the Seven Seas

Some of the best courtesy of the Washington Post.

Micronet Travel Towel (425-771-8303, Ext. 220, http://www.ricksteves.com/; from $19.95). Best for: Stays in European hostels or other towel-free lodging. The microfiber towel comes in a pouch ideal for toting toiletries to the shared bathroom down the hall. A sturdy loop with a snap allows you to hang the bag on a towel rack.

REI MultiTowel Lite (800-426-4840, http://www.rei.com/; $10-$22). Best for: Hiking trips on which your backpack is crammed to the max The antimicrobial nylon and polyester towel comes in a variety of sizes (medium, large, extra large) and colors (curry, beige) and easily re-folds into a mesh nylon case.

Packtowl (888-226-7667, http://www.campmor.com/; from $7.95). Best for: Campgrounds where you don't have to impress with a pretty towel. The viscose rayon towel, which softened after two spins in the washer, comes in a range of sizes, from a 10-by-30-inch kitchen rag to a 30-by-50-inch beach towel. It's also thick enough to lay on the ground without stiff blades of grass or pointy shells poking through.

Sea to Summit Pocket Towel (888- 463-6367, http://www.ems.com/; $14.95- $22.95). Best for: Those who get the willies from suede-like microfiber, the fabric most common among travel towels. Though made of microfiber, the towel glides across your skin like silk.

Atwater Carey Small Travel Towel (800-314-846, http://www.summitcampinggear.com/; $5.95. Best for: Roughing it on a camping trip. This pale blue, viscose rayon towel is as no-frills -- and inexpensive -- as they come. It feels like thick felt, is absorbent enough to mop off two people post-shower and dries within an hour.

Veleron Three-in-One Travel Towel (800-280-4775, http://www.christinecolumbus.com/; $29.95). Best for: Packing-light experts who bring only items with multiple purposes. The 3-by-5-foot smooth microfiber towel can be used several ways -- sarong, head covering, poolside blanket. The roomy black mesh carrying case can double as a purse or a beach bag.

Lightload Towels (888-544-4856, http://www.ultralighttowels.com/; $6 for a three-pack, $6.50 for beach towel). Best for: Adventurers who pack more in their emergency kits than in their backpacks. The 12-by-24-inch towel comes vacuum-sealed in a package that fits in the palm of your hand. The biodegradable towels supposedly can double as coffee filters and fire starters.

2. Earn thousands of dollars a month — from your home selling travel

While you may find this ad appealing, proceed with caution. Not all work-at-home opportunities deliver on their promises. As a matter of fact, most don't. And that's especially true in travel.
In the past, the "standard" get-rich-quick schemes involved stuffing envelopes, assembling crafts, or medical billing. But today, it seems that travel opportunities are fast climbing to the top of the list. Some are "travel clubs" where you pay a membership fee for "discounted" travel, and others offer the ultimate business opportunity.

Most of these "opportunities" are nothing more than Multi Level Marketing (MLM) which, as an industry, has very few success stories. They are reminiscent of Pyramid and Ponzi schemes where only the initial investors will make any substantial money. That is not to say that one can't earn a living selling travel from home. There are thousands out there that do it every single day.

With the growth of online sales and the reduction in brick-and-mortar storefronts, many of these displaced agents have gone home. You can, too. There are many legitimate "hosts" that will facilitate this and work with you to achieve your goals. They will not fill you with false promises and inflated numbers. Some of the reputable host agencies are America's Vacations Center, Magellan 360, Cruise Planners, Nexion, GTM Travel Group and Travel Planners International. WSNBC/Tripso.com

3. The Saudi’s Step Up To The Bar

Despite a series of initiatives aimed at generating foreign tourism, the Saudi Arabian government continues to bar Jews and Christians from bringing items such as Bibles, crucifixes and Stars of David into the country and is threatening to confiscate them on sight. ETN

4. A word from one of The Weekend Reader’s sponsors

Clients of Custom Aire Travel, http://www.customairetravel.com/, now have carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from their charter flights offset thanks to a partnership with NativeEnergy (www.nateenergy.com/traveloffsets). NativeEnergy helps build Native American, farmer-owned, community-based, renewable-energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefits.

5. Introducing A Vacation Rentals Web Directory

http://www.vrwd.com/ enters the online world with reviews and ratings for vacation rental websites and vacation home listings from around the world.

6. The stress of a family outing

Avoid the hassle of packing up the kids and driving hours to get to the beach. Now you can bring the beach to your backyard. This summer an Ohio family built just such an oasis that incorporates the best of a lake and the best of the beach. Indeed, almost 30 percent of Americans in a recent ABC News poll said they were not planning long-distance driving vacations this summer, primarily due to high gas prices. ABC News

7. High Hopes

The statistics look ominous. Aviation currently contributes about 3 percent of global carbon emissions, but air travel is growing at some 5 percent a year, meaning numbers of air passenger kilometers will triple by 2030. Boeing estimates that aircraft numbers will double to more than 30,000 in little more than a decade. Add to this the complication that aircraft do not just give off carbon dioxide but nitrous oxide, thought to have at least double the impact of CO2, and condensation trails, which also may contribute to global warming.

A British study group dubbed Omega (Opportunities for Meeting the Environmental Challenge of Growth in Aviation) is looking at a range of technological and other factors, including aircraft design, sustainable fuels, and open rotor-propelled aircraft that reduce fuel burn, to assess how they could mitigate aircraft pollution. Radical concepts like hydrogen-powered aircraft are still considered to be decades away. But serious work is being done on biofuels as an alternative to kerosene in aircraft.

Last year, British entrepreneur Richard Branson promised to plough all profits from his air and rail companies into a new business, Virgin Fuels,that would fund development of biofuels. Scientists are skeptical, though, of the potential for running jets on biofuels. Then there is the area of land required to produce fuel in sufficient volume. Already, environmentalists are concerned at the way rainforest is being destroyed to make way for palm oil, a biofuel crop. Christian Science Monitor

Rich's Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler 222 Communications. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. andtyler222@verizon.net