7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. All Things Green

GetThere, an online business travel technology unveiled GetThere Green. Available to corporations and agency resellers, GetThere Green enables companies to integrate their carbon emission data and supplier green status, and deliver relevant messaging at the point of sale to educate travelers about the carbon footprint of their journey and impact choices they make in the booking process.

2. Earth Angels

A hotel in Boston unveiled an Earth-friendly wedding package, offering everything from a ceremony and reception-ambiance set with energy efficient lighting and soy-based votive candles to an entire menu—from the appetizers to the wedding cake—whipped up with organic, locally grown ingredients. All leftovers are scraped into a decomposing system that liquefies food and flushes it down the drain, reducing the number of garbage bags hauled to the landfill. The hotel estimates an all-green wedding will cost 20 to percent more than a stand one. Boston Globe

3. Green Sea

The Caribbean tourism industry needs to brace itself for stronger hurricanes, more frequent droughts and rising sea levels resulting from global warming, scientists said at the recent Caribbean Tourism Organization meeting in San Juan. Some advice from the experts: governments should limit development along eroding coastlines, protect natural resources including reefs and mangroves and take other steps before global warming accelerates in the coming decades.

Already, rising ocean temperatures have been blamed for killing off coral that sustains significant marine life and fueling monstrous storms. Many Caribbean countries have already launched campaigns to emphasize sustainable or "green" tourism. Barbados, which already suffers a scarcity of fresh water, has required new golf courses to build desalination plants for irrigation. One expert recommends imposing a $5 levy on every visitor arriving by plane or cruise ship — a method that could raise more than $60 million annually. AP

4. Olympic Green

The London Times reports that London Olympic organizers want to ban cars from certain zones during the 2012 Summer Olympics. The ban would extend from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Cardiff where events will be held. Under the plan, every ticket holder would receive a detailed itinerary explaining how to get from their home to a given event, along with a free travel card.

On the day of the event they would be sent a text message with live travel updates. And afterwards, the hope is, thousands of Brits will keep using public transportation even after the athletes go home. At the same time, planners will set aside one lane on certain roads in London for the so-called "Olympic family" -- 80,000 privileged athletes, journalists and officials -- who will flow past proletarian traffic to get to work. These routes have already been nicknamed "Zil lanes," a reference to lanes in Moscow reserved in the Soviet era for government convoys. The Games' peak days are expected to draw 800,000 people to events nationwide. Spiegel Online

5. Tidal Waves

Rising complaints over airlines mishandling bags; Hassles for check-in amid tougher security after Sept. 11; And tighter restrictions on the bags that airlines will carry free are some of the reasons U.S. air travelers are sending baggage ahead like never before. The trend builds on a practice long used by business travelers who forwarded brochures and promotional materials to trade shows, often relying on office pickup by such delivery giants as FedEx. However, shipping luggage ahead can be pricy. A 50-pound suitcase from a Fort Lauderdale home to an Orlando hotel, for example, can cost between $72 and $163 for three-day or overnight delivery.

To keep expenses down, some travelers pack weeks in advance and use the U.S. Postal Service to ship ahead, even forwarding their children's supplies to summer camp. Others use ocean freight — an option recommended by Fort Lauderdale-based Spirit Airlines, which has among the most restrictive policies on what it flies for free. Spirit now charges for every single bag passengers check: $10 each for the first two checked at the airport and $100 for the third. It also charges for overweight: at least $25 for each bag over 51 pounds. And it charges for oversize bags: $150 for each more than 62 inches in length, height and width, according to company policy.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports a jump in complaints about mishandled luggage — lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered. For every 1,000 passengers carried by major U.S. airlines, it received nearly 7.9 complaints of mishandled luggage in July, up from 6.5 a year earlier. Some airlines active in South Florida had even worse records. Delta had 9.2 complaints and American 8.1 for every 1,000 passengers they carried in July, reports show. Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel

6. Winers and Boozers

The US Government is paying foreign journalists to travel the US to participate in wine tastings at wineries in California and other parts of the country, reports the McClatchy Newspapers. "Subsidized by the Agriculture Department and the wineries, the writers from Canada, Europe and Asia tour some of this country’s most renowned wine regions, and winemakers say their stories boost foreign sales," McClatchy says.

“These writers are trusted to be objective, and the frequency of their coverage about California will influence consumer purchase decisions,” the Wine Institute said in a recent progress report, according to McClatchy. The trade group received $4.5 million as part of the Agriculture Department's Market Access Program, McClatchy says. USA Today

7. Come On Down

Ulanhot wants its slice of the multi-billion dollar "red tourism" pie. It is remote, virtually surrounded by desert, and its only claim to fame is as a fleeting player in the founding of Communist China. So why bother coming?

Like Yanan, in whose caves Mao Zedong and his cohorts lived during the war's dark days, and other revolutionary bases, Ulanhot is hoping to leverage its past.With the exception of the enormous, box-like memorial hall, Ulanhot's other revolutionary addresses are mostly old buildings, mainly connected with Ulanhu, who founded the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and eventually became Chinese vice president. A wax effigy of Ulanhu sits behind what is claimed to have been his desk at his former office. He is giving instructions to a soldier, also made out of wax.

Only a 24 hour train ride or a two-hour flight from Beijing...Stay at a shiny new, 30-million-yuan four-star hotel. The few tourists who had made it to Ulanhot over National Day on October 1 seemed happy with their choice of holiday destination. "We're never done red tourism before," said Li Cunyuan, who brought her two children from the nearby province of Jilin for a city break. "There's lots of history here. And it's nice it's not too crowded," she added. ETN

Rich’s Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler222 Communications. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. andtyler222@verizon.net