7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
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1. Up and Comers

Up and coming tourist destinations receiving more than five million tourists per year, according to a recent UNWTO market study: Croatia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Malaysia, South Africa, India and Tunisia.

2. Online

http://www.kayak.com/ plans to purchase longtime rival http://www.sidestep.com/, transforming the combined entity into the fifth largest travel brand.

3. Around the World Odysseys

Planning an around the world air trip? Airline alliances are a good option if you want to rack up frequent flier miles. In general, the alliances allow 3 to 5 stops for round-the-world trips and require the trip to last at least 10 days. They also insist that you travel in one continuous direction without backtracking. Ticket prices vary. The shortest, 26,000 miles, costs about $3,085. The longest, 39,000 miles, about $5,511 in coach and $10,558 in business.

Travelers who do not want their flights restricted to one alliance should consider companies like http://www.airtreks.com/ and http://www.airbrokers.com/, which often offer cheaper fares because they negotiate discounts directly with various airlines. NY Times

4. Trace of Green

There is no single system for evaluating a hotel’s environmental friendliness. Aside from asking questions, the best starting point is the US Green Building Council’s LEED certification program (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). The program evaluates everything from materials to energy use to recycling in the construction and operation of the building. NY Times

Some of the new social networking sites to share your environmental and cause-related concerns and ideas: http://www.makemesustainable.com/ (lets users set up online profiles that calculate and track their carbon footprint), http://www.goloco.org/ (features an online ride board), http://www.changents.com/ (allows people to post calls to action), http://www.change.org/ (allows people to create and join virtual organizations around causes, then donate money to nonprofits or take other actions), http://www.kiva.org/ (connects lenders with entrepreneurs in developing countries).

Separately, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is launching an affordable, easy-to-use program that will give customers the opportunity to offset the carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions from their rentals — and promising to match their efforts up to $1 million. Across the airport parking garage, Hertz is planning to take delivery of another 2,400 hybrid cars this year — a move that will help push the nation’s rental pool for the gas-sipping, emissions-cutting gas/electric vehicles to more than 10,000 vehicles. Enterprise currently operates the nation’s largest fleet of hybrid cars, with approximately 5,000 vehicles. Hertz totals 3,400, while Avis has 2,500 hybrids in play.

Enterprise’s new offset program will let renters at its three company brands (Enterprise, Alamo and National) offset the greenhouse gases produced by their rentals. During the reservation process, renters are given the option of paying $1.25 per rental to offset their emissions. (The figure is pegged to the CO2 produced during the average car rental.) Funds collected are passed on to TerraPass, a carbon-offset company that supports projects that work to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. MSNBC

5. Olde Lange Signs

The new year brings no smoking signs to cafes, restaurants and night spots throughout France. With the ban, France joined other European countries and more than two dozen US states that have enacted anti-smoking measures. California became the first state to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in 1994. AP

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport claimed the title of the busiest U.S. airport, logging 994,466 takeoffs and departures in 07. Chicago O'Hare International Airport placed second with 935,000 total flights. ASTA/WSJ

New air rule that took effect on the first of the year. You can’t carry on-board batteries that contain 8 grams of lithium or more. An 8 gram battery equals about 100 watt-hours of power.

6. Bedbug Watch

Hotels continue to intensify their efforts to quash the bedbug invasion. Scientists aren’t sure why they have returned after being nearly eradicated in the US a half-century ago, but they suspect that the proliferation of international travel has something to do with it. The American Hotel and Lodging Association estimates that the percentage of guests who encounter bedbugs is miniscule, given that 4 million people sleep in lodging establishments nightly.

Some travelers complain; others sue when they get bit. Hotels taking a proactive approach hire companies with insect-sniffing canines. One pest control company said they found only 0.6 percent of the almost 75,000 rooms they inspected between November 2002 and April 2006 needed to be treated. Boston Globe

7. Road Maps

Travel guidebook publishers are moving more of their work onto the Internet and extending their content and brands into new areas like mobile services, in-flight entertainment systems and satellite navigation devices to remain competitive and profitable.

To drive home this point, BBC Worldwide recently purchased a majority stake in Lonely Planet.
Everything that appears in the printed version of the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Top 10 guides is now available online at http://www.traveldk.com/. Alastair Sawday Publishing, a smaller travel publisher based in England, put all of its content, which consists mostly of hotel reviews, onto the Internet this past summer, at http://www.sawdays.co.uk/. Dorling Kindersley is also trying to generate revenue directly from consumers who visit its Web site. It allows travelers to create customized guides, lets users share the books with other people, and order printed, bound copies of the customized guides for $15.

Lonely Planet plans to put all its content onto the Internet within two years. Over the summer, Lonely Planet began selling on its Web site, http://www.lonelyplanet.com/, individual chapters from guidebooks to Latin America, pricing chapters at a few dollars each.

Publishers are also making their content available in a variety of other ways. Rough Guides has made some material available in airplane seatback entertainment systems, including those in the new Airbus A380s operated by Singapore Airlines. Alastair Sawday Publishing started selling a guide to the pubs and inns of England and Wales this month that alerts drivers, via their satellite navigation systems, when they approach a selected watering hole or guesthouse. NY Times

Rich’s Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler222 Communications. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. Andtyler222@verizon.net http://www.itinarod.com/