Rich's Weekend Reader--Travel

2008-04-18T04:17:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
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1A. Sacred Cow Tippers

A federal jury ordered American Airlines to pay nine skycaps at Logan Airport a total of more than $325,000 for tips they lost when the airline began charging passengers $2 a bag for curbside check-in service in late 2006. The jury also found that the airline had made it harder for the skycaps to earn a living. Boston Globe

1B. Tipsters

So, what's the correct tip for any type of travel? In Australia and New Zealand, tipping is not widely expected, and may even cause offence to some. However, tipping in restaurants is becoming more common, and a 10% tip for good service will be appreciated by restaurant and bar staff. Taxi drivers and hairdressers do not expect a tip.

In Egypt, learn the word‘baksheesh' which means ‘spread the wealth'. Tipping is discretionary, but a couple of Egyptian pounds here and there goes a long way. Porters, tour guides and waiters all appreciate baksheesh, and whether it's for a meal or for someone carrying all those purchases you made in the souk back to the hotel, every penny counts.
Remember to carry round small change and ask for small denominations when changing your money. Small bills are a prized possession in Egypt because obviously, no one gives change for a tip. One exception is taxi drivers, who you don't have to tip.

In France, service is included by law and your bill may state 'service compris' to indicate this. In any case, it is polite to round up the bill to the nearest euro, or to add 10% for exceptional service. Taxi drivers and porters will always appreciate a couple of Euros for efficient service. However, watch for signs that say ‘Pourboire Interdit', which means that tipping is forbidden.

In Greece, although a service charge is automatically included in your bill when eating out, this does not necessarily mean that it will go to the waiters and waitresses. So, if you're satisfied with your meal, a tip of 8 - 10% is customary. Bear in mind that during the Christmas and Greek Easter holiday periods a service ‘bonus' of 18% will be added to your restaurant bill as a holiday extra for the waiters. When travelling around, rounding up your taxi fare to the nearest Euro is also the norm.

In Germany, although a service charge is included (appearing on your bill as ‘bedienung'), it is the norm to tip up to an extra 10% of the bill, especially in upmarket restaurants. Also, never say ‘danke' unless you are really appreciative of your meal, because more often than not, this will be interpreted by the staff as a signal to keep the change. In addition, hand your tips to the staff when paying the bill instead of placing it on the table as you leave.

A customary practice in the UK to save awkwardness perhaps, but this will cause offence in Germany. In taxis, add a Euro or two to the total to keep the cabbie smiling.

When in Italy, dining in restaurants your bill probably includes a 10 - 15% service charge (coperto your bill. If that is the case, don't feel obliged to add any more, and if not, a 10% gratuity is sufficient. In many Italian cafés, you will often pay more to sit down and enjoy your coffee or gelato ice cream rather than standing at the bar anyway. So, if you do sip your coffee or hot chocolate while sitting down, an extra €0.50 is a sufficient tip. (You won't find better hot chocolate than in Italy, but that's another story.) Smaller trattorias and pizzerias don't expect a gratuity, and tipping a small family-run business may even cause offence. Taxi drivers also do not expect a tip. Again, however, rounding up to the nearest Euro is fine, or if your cab driver helps carry your bags you may want to extend this to a couple of Euros.

The Japanese are pretty clear cut when it comes to tips. Any monies left are more likely to cause offence than gratitude. The number stated on the bill is what you should pay. Service charges are included in the food prices on the menu in Spain, and tipping is a matter of personal choice. Most people leave some small change if they're satisfied and 5% is usually plenty. It's common to leave small change at bar and café tables, or if you eat tapas or sandwiches at a bar - just enough to round the bill to the nearest Euro.

Tipping is serious business in the US. Many service staff get no more than minimum wage, and rely on tips to supplement their income. So, tip generously, and often. You should leave a 15% minimum tip in diners, restaurants and cafes, and if service is really good then 20% is more the norm. In bars, slipping the bartender around a dollar per drink will ensure that service will never be a problem. And finally, when out and about in the States, tipping an extra 15% to your taxi driver is the norm. http://www.fool.co.uk/

2. This and That

JetBlue now gives travelers the option of purchasing a seat with more leg room. The seats have a 38 inch pitch, four more than the airline’s standard seat, and cost $10 extra on flights under 600 miles, $15 up to $1,500 miles and $20 on long-haul flights. NY Times

A new U.S. fine-dining site that features video tours, chef interviews, and cooking instruction: http://www.travelintaste.com/.

http://www.tripology.com/ matches prospective travelers with travel retailers. Visitors to Tripology fill out a detailed trip request, which is matched to a selection of 6,500 specialized agents who best meet the traveler's requirements. Each matching specialist receives an e-mail with the trip request, and the first three agents to purchase the lead are then e-mailed the traveler's contact information. Travel Weekly

Fleet street…An aging fleet is catching up with domestic airlines. Many of the older planes require more maintenance, more safety inspections and more fuel to fly. The bottom line: the planes are more expensive to operate compared to newer ones.

At issue: domestic carriers have bought fewer new planes in recent years and their fleets have aged, hitting an average of 12.2 years at the end of 2006. Only two domestic carriers, Northwest and Continental, have ordered the new fuel-efficient Boeing 787, while dozens of overseas carriers have ordered the plane. NY Times

Cutbacks, aging equipment, and high fuel and maintenance costs are just some of the items on an airline’s list of woes. Add to that a shortage of pilots and their related salaries. FedEx pays among the highest wages; regional airlines like Pinnacle and Mesa play among the lowest. Starting annual pay for a first officer on a regional jet at Pinnacle is $21,000 compared to $122,000 for a widebody jet at Northwest and $164,000 at FedEx. First-year captains earn $55,000, $179,000 and $232,000, respectively. NY Times

3. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Retired Canadians are hanging up their Bermuda shorts and opting for more exotic adventures where they can explore exotic gems, immerse themselves in foreign cultures and learn something new about their destinations and themselves. To accommodate the changing travel desires of the 50-plus market, the travel industry is not only adapting the packaged trips it offers to the senior segment but altering its travel loyalty programs to attract the interest of travelers in this demographic.

According to one expert, 50-plus Canadians traveling within Canada accounts for 54 per cent of all trips taken, a figure exceeded only by the 55 per cent of foreign trips they take. The 50-plus traveler also represents the largest source of travelers to Mexico, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Cuba. Calgary Herald

4. Prognosticators

The annual Travel Com Conference, produced by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), featured top-level executives from Forrester Research, consumer brands like Travelocity and Priceline, plus GDS companies and software providers.

Henry Harteveldt, vice president & principal analyst of Forrester Research, keynoted the conference with a presentation concluding that the confluence of a shaky economy and slowing online growth had online travel marketers stumbling for answers. The online travel industry has reached a point where 80% of travelers are online and growth for online bookings, which currently stands at $112 billion, has virtually stalled. Also, satisfaction with online bookings is decreasing as only 49% of online bookers feel it’s enjoyable to book a trip online, down from 53% last year.

Also, growth in online travel spending is expected to be greatest among the Generation X and Y generations, not the traditional boomer and senior populations that are prevalent in the group travel industry.Another major theme discussed was shared experiences and how technology is bringing this closer to reality for travelers. Through website blogs, community sites like MySpace, YouTube and Facebook, plus rapid advancements in mobile technologies, travelers can share recommendations, preferences and develop their own communities online.

Complete access to the Forrester Research that contributed to TIA's Travel Com event, visit: http://www.forrester.com/travelcom08

5. Romania, Romania, Romania

Greece, Turkey and Spain are the destinations that generate over 30% of travel agencies' bookings in this country. According to in-country travel experts, more than 300,000 Romanians will head for Greece to spend their summer holidays this year, while the number of Romanians choosing Bulgaria will stagnate at 250,000 people. The number of Romanians leaving for Turkey will revolve around 100,000, while Spain will attract around 35,000 Romanians, a level similar to the number of tourists choosing Tunisia.

6. Bookings Institute

Despite the economic downturn, U.S. travel agents and industry analysts report robust bookings for domestic, international and business travel. If there is any change, say the experts, people are opting for destinations where the dollar goes farther. They are also economizing by opting for hotel rates guaranteed in dollars, buying all-inclusive packages or cruises, or shortening their trips. NY Times

7. Pod Casting

From Amsterdam to New York, travelers seeking refuge from soaring hotel rates have an alternative: 84 square-foot pods with little space and, sometimes, no windows. In London, one pod hotel books rooms by the hour, has an entryway that looks like a spaceship and windows that open into an indoor hallway. In The Netherlands, the new Qbic hotel rents "cubis" the size of a walk-in closet. At the Pod Hotel in midtown Manhattan, a standard room with a bunk bed, two flat-panel TVs and a shared bathroom starts at $89 a night.

These pod hotels are following the lead of low-frills, low-cost airlines. Most don't have grand lobbies, gyms or meeting rooms, areas that can be considered dead space for generating revenue at a regular hotel. There is as few as one full-time employee for every 12 rooms at a pod hotel, compared with an employee for every two rooms at a typical budget hotel. WSJ

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/

2008-04-04T04:48:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Online Squawk

"The influence of social networking and community services is growing significantly for online travel," says Douglas Quinby, senior director of research at PhoCusWright. "Seeking information and looking for perspective--like-minded experience and judgments--are currently trumping the straightforward hunt for the best price. Services that facilitate a purchasing decision by aggregating or filtering content make [online travel information] relevant to the user."

Online travel companies, including Travelocity and Expedia are now some of the oldest Internet brands. But they're buffing up how they serve vacationers by acquiring social networking sites that focus on travel. Travelocity's parent company, Sabre Holdings, acquired social travel site IgoUgo in 2005. The following year, IgoUgo--which hosts user-generated reviews of travel destinations and hotels, photos and maps--was folded into Travelocity.

Despite their efforts, some experts say online travel agencies have a long way to go. "The industry is sadly lacking in innovation to make the shopping experience better," says Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt. "A big reason is the back-end that travel sellers rely on. It's going to take two to three years to make the necessary changes. It's a multimillion dollar capital expenditure, and it will take hours of planning and [software] coding." Forbes

Vacationing alone and want some company? These sites to the rescue: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/, http://www.absolutetravel.com/, www.fairmont.com/santamonica, http://www.adventurewomen.com/, http://www.countrywalkers.com/, http://www.cstn.org/ (Solo Travel Network), http://www.backroads.com/, http://www.tauck.com/, http://www.soloholidays.co.uk/, http://www.hfholidays.co.uk/. NY Times

Gluten free zone…Introducing http://www.glutenfreetravelsite.com/, the first website focused on helping people with Celiac – and others following gluten-free diets. Locate hotels, resorts, and restaurants around the world that accommodate their special diets. Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder that compromises the body’s ability to digest gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

2. Flowers For Algernon

Travel + Leisure magazine’s list of the world's top 10 botanical gardens.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, New York. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Western Cape, South Africa. Kyoto, Japan (country estate on the outskirts of this city.Jardin Botanique de Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Reid's Palace, Madeira, Portugal.. Claude Monet Foundation at Giverny, Normandy, France. Seychelles National Botanical Gardens, Seychelles. Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina.Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, Arizona. Andromeda Botanical Gardens, St. Joseph, Barbados.

3. On the Wings of Butterflies

The monarch butterfly is famous for its annual migration to the mountains of central Mexico. But the creature's lifespan can be a matter of weeks, so the ones that fly south in the fall are not the ones that come back in the spring. So how do they know where to go? In 2002, Queen's University researcher Barrie Frost found that monarchs use an internal clock and the sun to tell them. Now, he and Jeremy McNeil, an entomologist at the University of Western Ontario, are investigating how they know when to stop. “They use the same sites, year after year,” says Dr. McNeil, an expert in the reproductive strategies of migrating insects, and they may smell their way. Butterflies eat milkweed, which contains noxious compounds and may give their waste a distinctive and long-lasting odor to guide the way, he explains. Globe and Mail

4. Rent Me’s

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a record percentage of new second home buyers – 25 percent – have purchased vacation homes with the intent to rent them out to vacationers, nearly doubling the number from just two years ago (14 percent in 2005). Of those owners who intend to rent, 70 percent will rely on the Internet to advertise their vacation homes to travelers.

Earlier this month, travel expert Arthur Frommer called the growing trend of renting vacation homes and apartments “a giant movement,” citing affordability when compared to hotels as the reason. Industry analysts predict U.S. hotel prices will rise 5 to 8 percent this year. The study also revealed that more than half of the new vacation owners who did not plan to rent out their homes would consider doing so in the future. This is consistent with HomeAway research indicating homeowners begin to rent two to three years into owning because they don’t use their home as often as they had planned. http://www.homeaway.com/

5. The Schengen Zone

With the addition of Malta and eight other countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic – some 400 million people can now travel by plane passport-free within 24 European countries. Several eastern European cities such as Warsaw, Prague and Budapest used the opportunity to modernize their airports and build new terminals. Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, will join the Zone by November pay about $11 million for the privilege. Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the EU on January 1st last year, are preparing to be included in the Schengen zone in 2011.

6. Top 5 Medical Tourism Destinations

The Medical tourism industry anticipates a great deal of growth in the coming years, from a 2004 estimate of $40 billion to $100 billion by 2012. Experts believe that medical tourism will have a positive impact on the economies of destination countries and benefit skilled and unskilled trades alike. Savings are typically 40 percent to 70 percent.
NuWire’s Top 5 Medical Tourism Destinations based on quality and affordability of care as well as receptiveness to foreign investment: Panama, Brazil, Malaysia, Costa Rica, India. ETN/nuwireinvestor.com

7. The Friendly Skies

The load factor (average seat occupancy) on the world’s airlines declined 0.6 percent in February from a year earlier to 73.3 percent. That’s the largest drop since a 0.9-point decrease in December of 2004.

Flybe, a low-fare European airline, paid 172 people to fly back and forth across England and the Irish Sea to help it meet a target for passenger numbers at Norwich airport. Flybe was narrowly falling short of a target to deliver at least 15,000 passengers on the Dublin-Norwich route in the 12 months ending on Monday, which meant it would have to forego a 280,000 pound ($550,000) rebate from the airport. After the airport rejected a request for a partial rebate for almost hitting the target, Flybe hired 172 temps for 30-40 pounds each, plus a free bar and in-flight entertainment. Reuters/Yahoo

British Airways canceled 50 flights at London Heathrow airport’s on the sith day of its opening. That figure represents 13 percent of BA flights at the airport. Cancellations caused by snags in the $8.5 billion terminal’s computerized baggage system total more than 300 since it opened on March 27. BA has called in FedEx to help reunite passengers with about 20,000 delayed bags. Bloomberg

Election Year Extra

Travel is a $740 billion industry and this is a presidential election year. So what’s to get your dandruff up? Record air travel delays and cancellations. Soaring fuel costs. Traffic congestion on roadways. New, confusing and expensive passport and transit rules. Declining value of the dollar. Amtrak funding. In a poll conducted ahead of the primaries in South Carolina and Florida -- two states where travel is critical to the economy -- nearly two-thirds of prospective voters said they don't believe the 2008 presidential candidates have adequately addressed a travel system that is increasingly viewed as "flawed and frustrating."

"There's still a long way to go, and we trust these issues will arise on their agenda," says Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry Association. "Candidates have yet to realize what the public is demanding of them." Tribune Media Services

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/

2008-03-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. New Food Group

According to a recent survey released by the Travel Industry Association of America and the National Restaurant Association, food is central to deciding vacation destinations for at least 25% of leisure travelers. About 58% of American leisure travelers say they are somewhat or very interested in taking a trip to engage in culinary or wine-related activities. These gastro-tourists are not only driven by the new-found concern for the origin of food but they also want to learn the history and culture of their favorite cuisines. economictimes.indiatimes.com

2. Train Fetishes

All aboard. Askmen.com has come up with a list of the top train trips around the world, rating them on attributes like amenities, comfort, convenient routes, reasonable fares, and technology. Here goes:

TGV, France--The French sense of style extends to train travel and the TGV is an acronym for "train grande vitesse" - or high-speed train -- which can travel at 357 mph while the passenger runs hit 200 mph. Top route: Lorraine - Champagne-Ardenne

Japan Railways Group, Japan--Japan's original 130-mph bullet train of 1964 has inspired imitators, but the country's high-speed trains are still among the fastest and most technologically advanced and are reliable, safe and fast. Passengers aren't treated to the same 361-mph top speed achieved in testing, but 186 mph still isn't bad. Top route: Tokyo - Shin-Osaka

Eurostar, England--There are Eurostar lines throughout the continent and they're some of the best ways to get around. The 1,290-foot trains cruise up to 186 mph in certain areas. But one route stands apart -- it's the trip through the Channel Tunnel, with the journey beginning at London's historic St. Pancras International train station and ending in Paris. Top route: London – Paris

ICE/NachtZug, Germany--Deutsche Bahn keeps passengers moving by day with their efficient and popular InterCityExpress, better known as ICE. For overnight trips, there's the inviting NachtZug, or Night Train, which is a refreshing trip. Top route: ICE "Sprinter": Berlin - Frankfurt; NachtZug: Hagen – Prague

TAV, Italy--Many Italians like traveling by car or plane but trains are gaining popularity beyond intra-city use and considerable efforts are being made to emulate and connect with Europe's finest. Top route: Rome – Florence

Also on the list: Russian Railways, Russia--St. Petersburg – Moscow; KTX, South Korea--Seoul – Pusan; AVE, Spain--Madrid – Seville; Great Southern Rail Limited, Australia-- Sydney to Perth; VR, Finland—Just about anywhere from Helsinki

3. Clausets

Five of the worst clauses you'll find in a travel contract:

In a Celebrity Cruises contract: "No undertaking or warranty shall be given or shall be implied as to the seaworthiness, fitness or condition of the Vessel or any food or drink supplied on board."

What American Airlines won’t compensate you for in case these items are lost in transit: antiques, artifacts, artwork, books and documents, china, computers and other electronic equipment, computer software, fragile items.

In your hotel room on the policy sign on the backside of the entry door: "Hotel is not responsible for lost or stolen items."

At the rental car place: A few years ago Hertz quietly changed its contract language to say that if your rental was damaged in a natural disaster, you were liable for it. Avis says "We may repossess the car anytime it is found illegally parked, being used to violate the law or this Agreement, or appears to be abandoned…We may also repossess the car anytime we discover you made a misrepresentation to obtain the car. You agree that we needn't notify you in advance."

Frequent flier rule gem: the airline can change the rules whenever it wants to and that they can delete your miles for pretty much any reason. MSNBC.com

4. Going Green

In a move to become more environment-friendly, one of Europe’s largest hotel operators, Scandic, announced it is has decided to stop selling bottled water in its restaurants and during conferences. The hotel chain calculates that this move will cut fossil carbon dioxide emissions by 160 tons per year. It claims it currently sells around 1.2 million liters of water, equating to 3.6 million 33cl bottles, every year. Instead of bottled water, Scandic will now offer its guests chilled and filtered water, both still and carbonated, from taps.

The taps will ensure that valuable minerals and salts are retained while unwanted chemicals are removed. Scandic’s guests will still be able to have their water bottled – but filling the bottle at the hotel avoids unnecessary shipments of water impacting on the environment. According to the Stockholm Consumer Cooperative Society, bottled water generates 1,000 times the carbon dioxide emissions created by the same quantity of tap water.

Meanwhile, the government of Cambodia has given priority to the development of the country’s tourism industry, focusing on cultural and eco-tourism in order to promote the advancement of national economy and rapid poverty alleviation. One site under development is Prasat Preah Vihear, an eleventh century monument in Preah Vihear province, northern Cambodia, that is revered as one of the greatest Khmer temples.

Preah Vihear Temple is located in a pleasant environment with an attractive countryside slightly east of the mid section of the Dongrek Mountains. It is perched on the edge of a giant cliff, about 525 meters above sea level in Preah Vihear Province, Northern part of Cambodia. It is also situated close to the Cambodia-Thai border Sisaket province.
The Preah Vihear temple was built from year 900 to 1150. Preah Vihear, which means sacred monastery in Khmer, was built over a span of about 300 years, starting in the 9th century.

The Cambodian government has plans to develop the Preah Vihear temple into a cultural tourism destination in an effort to reach the goal of attracting 3 million tourists by 2010. The government has also proposed that the sacred Hindu Temple be listed as a World Heritage site because of its outstanding historical, cultural and universal value.

5. This and That

Beginning April 1, people in England age 60 and over will be able to travel on local bus services for free. The free travel applies during off peak hours, all weekend and for two full weeks over Christmas. Jaunted.com

http://www.attitudehotels.com/ announced a list of 27 gay and lesbian –friendly member hotels in 14 countries in Europe and the US.

On Sunday, the so-called open-skies agreement goes into effect, allowing airlines based in the US and Europe to fly across the Atlantic between any two airports in each region. The agreement is likely to spell more choices and cheaper fares for travelers.

Last year the airlines lost 7 bags per 1,000 passengers, up from 3.2 in 02, according to the US Department of Transportation. As a result, shipping bags ahead of flight through private carriers and the US postal service has increased dramatically. It costs between $48 and $149 to ship a 65-pound suitcase from NY to SF in five to seven business days. AP

All ears…A Finnish tourist was detained after allegedly stealing the right ear from one of the massive Moai statues on Easter Island. Some of the island’s 400 Moai are more than 70 feet tall. However, most have an average height of 20 feet and weigh about 22 tons. AP

6. Travel Tales

The Vatican's official travel agency, Romana Opera, will begin operating six weekly charter flights to Israel. Of late, the Israeli Tourism Ministry has gone to considerable lengths to attract Catholic pilgrims to the local holy sites. The net result: a 70% increase in tourism from Italy last February. The ministry's director-general estimated that the new endeavor will result in some 7,000 additional hotel reservations, particularly in Bethlehem. Some 500,000 pilgrims visited Israel in 2007, marking a 25% increase from the previous year. About 80,000 pilgrims visited the country in January and February of 2008, up 30% from the same time last year. Ynet.com

Slow Down You’re Traveling Too Fast…Ed Gillespie just returned home after 381 days on the road. Gillespie's voyage took him from his home in south London through Europe, Mongolia, Japan, Australia, French Polynesia, Mexico and Central America. And he didn’t take a plane to do so. Among his modes of transport: hump of a camel, bicycle and cargo ship. Gillespie said it took him 16 days to cross the Pacific Ocean. Find out more about Gillespie's trip, including his effort to move great distances with the smallest carbon footprint possible, at http://www.lowcarbontravel.com/

7. The Best Travel Web Sites

William J. McGee of Condé Nast Traveler likes these Web sites best courtesy of MSNBC:

Airline tickets: http://www.kayak.com/, http://www.itasoftware.com/
Knowing when to book: http://www.farecast.com/, http://www.farecompare.com/
Airline reviews: http://www.airlinequality.com/, http://www.seatguru.com/
Airport and flight information: http://www.faa.gov/, http://www.flightstats.com/ Security checkpoint wait times: www.Waittime.tsa.dhs.gov/index.html
DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division: www.airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/index.htm
Booking flights in Europe: http://www.wegolo.com/, http://www.opodo.com/
Booking flights in Asia: http://www.zuji.com/, http://www.vayama.com/
Booking hotels in the US: http://www.hotels.com/, http://www.orbitz.com/
Bidding on affordable luxury hotels: http://www.luxurylink.com/

[and then there is always http://www.itinarod.com/ for the best of everything travel related]

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/

2008-03-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1.Six Intriguing UK Travel Sites

Directline-holidays.co.uk offers an email service that alerts users to holidays that match their preferences.

Green Escapes.co.uk is a new site that promotes non-flight holidays and places to stay that are run by people dedicated to caring for the environment.

TourismforAll.co.uk is a goldmine of information for travellers with reduced mobility.

HotelChatter.co.uk has a listing of the best geek hotels in the world.
CallUma.co.uk is a new translation/interpretation service that can offer assistance in 140 languages, 24 hours a day. Annual membership costs from £19.50 a year.

http://www.city.mobi/.co.uk offers a database of 600 free city guides that are designed to be browsed on a mobile phone. London Times.

2. Ten Quirky Adult Vacations

http://www.travelandleisure.com/ list of the top 10 quirkiest camps for adults.
Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp - New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and London. Campers learn the ropes from their rock 'n roll idols including Joe Walsh, Slash, and Max Weinberg.

Gladiator Training Cavalieri Hilton, Rome. Over this three-hour course, participants learn ancient gladiator combat techniques and history while wearing the traditional costume and brandishing authentic gladiator-era replica wooden and iron weapons.

Elephant Mahout Training Four Seasons Tented Camp, Northern Thailand. For this half-day to three-day adventure, participants work side-by-side with local mahouts, who are expert trainers in the 2,000-year-old Thai tradition of elephant care.

Wine-Making Camp Sonoma and Napa, California. The Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines Crush Camp allows wine lovers to get out in the vineyard with winemakers for three days to harvest, crush and blend wine.

Space Camp Huntsville, Alabama. The three- to eight-day program simulates astronaut training and an actual shuttle mission in as realistic a setting as possible.

Ghost Hunter University Hotel Maison de Ville, New Orleans. Christopher Moon, licensed paranormal investigator and publisher of Haunted Times magazine, teaches the basics of ghost hunting.

Crossword Puzzle Creation, 7-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Holland America ship, Statendam. Editor of Newsday's syndicated crossword puzzle and author of 125 books, Stan Newman teaches participants how to improve their crossword-solving skills, strengthen their vocabulary, and recognize the tricks over at least 10 hours of instruction.

African Vet Safaris South Africa. The four- to five-day Brothers Safaris program allows guests to work beside Dr. Peter Brothers, a passionate South African veterinarian who specializes in wildlife species.

Gondolier Training Hilton Molino Stucky, Venice. For three hours travelers can step into the shoes of a professional gondolier to learn the mechanics of rowing and maneuvering the vessel, the perfect stance to maintain balance, and the aesthetics of gondolier etiquette.

Poker Camp - Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Connecticut, and Biloxi, Mississippi.At the World Poker Tournament Boot Camp, poker lovers spend a fantasy weekend immersed in poker strategy with poker celebrities including T.J. Cloutier, Clonie Gowen and Mike Sexton. Reuters

3. Five Travel Myths

The Frommer’s share their Top 5 travel myths with ABC News.

Nowadays, there's no need to stock up on foreign currency in advance of departing, and no reason to assume that you'll get a better exchange rate in the United States than abroad.

Just two years ago it held true that you could get the best prices on travel by booking at the last minute. Thanks to record levels of travel, sold-out flights and better search engines, it's no longer the case.

Don't expect that someone at the destination can be relied upon to explain what you're looking at. Do your homework and bring a guidebook.

Just because a hotel charges five-star prices doesn't mean you can expect a five-star stay.

Cruise lines often want you to book shore excursions onboard or before your trip but typically a better deal can be found when you get off the ship.

4. Those Good Ole Days--NY Air Shuttles On The Wane?

Airline execs acknowledge that today’s air shuttle service between NY-Boston-Washington is a far cry from the service pioneered by Eastern Airlines in 1961, when passengers could waltz up to the gate without a reservation minutes before takeoff. Eastern also guaranteed a seat to anyone, even if it meant rolling out an extra plane. In the last few years, security lines, delays, and the end of the guaranteed seat policy have undermined the shuttles basic formula. Add to that, competition from Amtrak and a horde of bus lines. NY Times

5. Fertility Tourism

Medical experts revealed at least two couples every month are traveling from the UK to clinics in India where local women can earn up to 16 times their annual wage to have babies for comparatively wealthy foreigners. In some cases the pregnant surrogates live together in hostels attached to clinics.

The overall costs to the couple are similar, at around £10,000 in the UK and overseas. Susan Seenan, from the charity Infertility Network UK, said there were questions over the practice overseas that could lead to the exploitation of desperately poor women. But Dr Kaushal Kadam, from the Rotunda clinic in Mumbai, said: "Surrogates do it to give their children a better education, to buy a home, to start up a small business or a shop. This is as much money as they could earn in maybe three years. I really don't think that this is exploiting the women. I feel it is two people helping each other." scotsman.com

6. Does Size Really Matter?

Like many things in the secretive world of super yachts, it’s length is hard to pin down. The yacht in question is now being built in a shipyard in Germany. The Eclipse is said to be 531.5 feet long, nearly six and a half feet longer than the Dubai, an 11,600 ton behemoth that now holds the record as the world’s largest yacht. The Dubai is owned by that country’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. The owner of the Eclipse is rumored to be Roman Abramovich, a Russian tycoon. NY TImes

7. Eco Echoes

A site that lists more than 2,800 eco-friendly hotels worldwide, http://www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com/.

Among the innovative ways hotels are making stays more eco-friendly. Apex City of Long Hotel has an environmental blog updaing customers on the hotel’s most recent green initiatives. Ibis Porte Clichy Centre in Paris features a photovoltaic façade that draws solar power. The Lenox in Boston is one of the first hotels to offer climate-neutral rooms and offset carbon emissions for electricity by 100 percent. The Old Bangkok Inn steers guests away from gas-guzzling taxis toward alternative forms of transport and the interior of each room is make of salvaged teak.

If you want to know how seriously a hotel is taking environmental issues to heart, here are six questions to ask.

Does it have any renewable energy sources, like small hydro, solar, wind or geothermal systems?

Does it avoid using harsh chemicals, such as scented laundry supplies, carpet cleaners and air fresheners?

Does it donate things to charities, like food scraps and old sheets and towels?

Does it practice energy conservation: long-life light bulbs, good insulation, energy-efficient appliances?

Does it support local causes and community conservation efforts?

Does it try to educate its guests about being green, either on its Web site or through material provided in the room? 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/

2008-03-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. At the Fair

Global warming's threat to the existence of the exotic resorts and beaches tourists crave has not dented holidaymakers' appetites for pollution-producing, long-haul trips, experts said at the Berlin's annual tourism fair, the world’s largest travel exhibition. Online travel agency Expedia said it has seen no decline in the number of people taking long-haul flights and that climate worries are a peripheral concern for travelers. Two of Germany's largest tourism groups, Thomas Cook and TUI said they will do more to promote carbon-offsetting schemes for customers booking flights. But interest in such voluntary schemes, where others are paid to cut emissions on the airlines' behalf, has so far been small. Another area that has failed to take off yet is eco-tourism in which people opt for train over air travel and make shorter journeys, said Klaus Liedtke, editor of National Geographic Deutschland magazine.

2. At the Money Exchange Booth

Studies conducted by the money exchange firm, Travelex, indicate that travelers are losing money because of poor planning. One recent survey revealed that 66 percent of US travelers do not exchange currency before leaving on a trip compared to 29 percent of Australians and 15 percent of UK travelers). Travelex offers the following advice to travelers to stretch trip dollars and avoid unnecessary fees: Exchange currency prior to leaving on a trip. Don’t assume that you can use US dollars at your destination, or that you’ll easily find a reputable, affordable currency vendor. Make a budget for your trip and exchange as much money as you can safely carry. Frequent exchanges or withdrawals mean numerous transaction fees and commissions. Purchase currency from a vendor that offers a guaranteed return rate for unused currency. Returning leftover cash can be the most expensive part of your transaction, because you’ll pay double without a special guarantee.

3. On the Bus

Greyhound plans to start offering its low-cost BoltBus service between Boston and New York City next month with Internet fares starting as low as $1. BoltBus is Greyhound’s latest salvo in its long-running rivalry with Fung Wah and Lucky Star bus lines. Greyhound hopes to attract young people, business travelers and tourist with the new service that is already running between NY and Washington D.C. The current lowest advertised price for a one-way ticket between NY and Boston on a regular Greyhound bus is $20. Fung Wah and Lucky Star’s fare is $15. Boston Globe

4. Empty Promises

There’s no credible evidence that the greening of travel is saving the Earth. But here’s what we do know. A recent Deloitte survey found that nearly half of all travelers try to be “environmentally friendly” when they’re traveling, and almost a quarter of them are willing to pay more for green hotels, resorts and rental cars. Another poll by Travelocity found that almost three-quarters of active travelers were prepared to pony up more cash for a greener getaway. Enter companies that sell green to make their travel product more attractive. It’s called greenwashing.

The latest stunt is Virgin Atlantic’s test flight of an aircraft burning a mixture of standard jet fuel and biofuel. But Michael Miller of the Orlando-based aviation consulting firm Green Skies, says a real alternative to jet fuel is a decade or more away. For an airline to be “green” today it needs to make a top-to-bottom commitment to saving the environment.

Hotels are figuratively falling all over themselves to out-green each other. Most of their efforts look sincere but have a negligible effect on the environment. Alex Pettitt, host of the TV show “Mainstream Green,” says some eco-resorts have really “missed the boat” when it comes to being green. “They lower their water consumption, but don’t have a sustainable design,” he says. “Or they’ll offer eco-trips, but the facility itself is an ecological wart.”

Not all unsustainable green efforts are so obvious, says Tim Gohmann, the senior vice president of travel and leisure at the market research firm TNS North America. For example, several car rental companies now offer the option of renting a hybrid vehicle. “But these offers are few and far between because the cost of maintenance for these hybrid cars are higher and the car company then loses the revenues made from traditional gas-powered cars,” he told me. “There is no immediate payoff for the car companies so they are more reluctant to put this practice into place, and it’s not widely offered.” MSNBC

5. Online

Priceline.com introduced a new suite of free, personalized airline ticketing features, called Inside Track, that is designed to comb through thousands of flights and fares, both now and in the future, to find customers the best possible deals for the trips they want to take. http://travela.priceline.com/insideTrack/flights/

6. Business Travel

Maintaining productivity is a top concern for Business travelers in choosing a hotel, according to a recent Hyatt Place survey. Among the conclusions: One third of business travelers will drive 10-30+ miles out of their way to ensure they stay in a hotel with free high-speed wireless internet access in guestrooms and public areas. More than 80 percent of travelers choose business hotels that have the technology they need to work efficiently. 81 percent of travelers say the guestrooms in their ideal business hotel are designed around the way people really live.

7. India Online

The latest buzzword in India’s online travel space is B2E or Business-to-Enterprise. To that end popular travel portals such as Makemytrip, Indiatimes, Yatra, Ezeego1, Travelguru, and Cleartrip have set their sites on corporate business. These portals are working on various models to offer services to business houses such as technology integration with a company’s intranet, an offline booking desk at the clients’ corporate office or giving login IDs and passwords to employees. Economic Times of India

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/

2008-03-07T04:53:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 6 Travel Stories

1. Museum Hopping

TripAdvisor’s list of the world's top 10 museums based on site reader comments: Musee du Louvre, Paris, France. Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome, Italy.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York. J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles, California. Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Tate Modern, London, England. Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Reuters India

2. Merger Frenzy

Mergers and acquisitions in the travel industry are the buzzwords today. Senior management of many airlines view this trend as a stop-gap to rising fuel costs and global economic slowdown. One concern as airlines merge: the dismantling of a hub airport the way American Airlines did in St. Louis after purchasing TWA. Say the experts: As the income of the airports diminishes, the airports themselves are forced to increase fees to those airlines that remain flying. The Bottom line--costs rise, flying becomes more cumbersome, lines become longer and the consumer is left to wonder where the great benefit was touted by the acquiring airline.

Travel industry mergers that work: At the end of the 19th Century, William Waldorf opened a 13-story hotel in the heart of New York and humbly named it the Waldorf Hotel. Four years later his cousin, Jacob Astor, erected a 17-story hotel on the adjacent site, naming it the Astoria Hotel. The two cousins agreed to a corridor connecting their properties and with the added benefits of having private bathrooms and electricity, the hotels flourished. It took only 38 years but finally in 1931, having vacated their original space for the Empire State Building, the merged hotels became the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. At the time, this gleaming skyscraper on Park Avenue was the tallest hotel in the world. Jerusalem Post

Analysts say airline mergers could hurt online travel agencies in a variety of ways, possibly lowering demand for their services. "If there are less options, there's less need to go there," said one analyst. Another speculated that "for the online travel agencies, any situation that could potentially lead to higher prices might lead to lower demand, and because they get paid per ticket and not based on the price of the fare, it would hurt them."

Where to turn: One analyst said that the international travel market is "particularly attractive" because only about 25 percent of it is currently booked online. The agencies are also trying to sell more packages, which combine things like airfare, hotel rooms and other travel services such as event tickets. CNN

3. In The Air

It’s one of the most overwhelming emotional situations possible…someone dies while in flight. The macabre phenomenon has received renewed attention with the recent death of a woman on a flight from Haiti to New York. Her family complained that the airline did not do enough to respond. When a passenger is stricken aboard a plane, flight crews and travelers with medical training often pull out emergency medical supplies and rush to save the patient’s life in full view of other passengers. Most airlines also subscribe to a company such as MedAire, which has doctors available on the ground to advise flight crews in a medical emergency. MedAire provides coverage for about one-third of the world’s commercial flights.

Should a passenger die in flight, the crew often throws a blanket over the corpse or puts it in a body bag--an item routinely kept on some planes. The dead passenger is sometimes placed on the floor in a galley area, or kept buckled in his or her seat, since the corpse cannot be allowed to block certain emergency exists. Pilots may consider making an emergency landing, but often they keep going. Airlines are not required to track or report the medical incidents they handle, but Med Aire counted 89 deaths aboard the flights it serviced in 06. MedAire says a passenger has a 1 in 7.6 million chance of dying on board a plane in a medical incident. AP

4. Down Under

A recent Tourism Australia report on the future of domestic tourism to 2020 found that the tourism within the country industry would stay weak unless it offset the ill effects of high petrol prices, accommodation shortages and competition from cheap overseas holidays. The report said consumers were opting instead to spend their money on a widening array of goods and services, spurred by a desire to buy the newest and the best and a need for immediate gratification.

And as for Generation Z - those born after 1991 – the report found that they were likely to forgo travel as educational costs and living expenses left them with little money for discretionary spending. The report concluded that Generation Z had not developed the "habit of travel", due to a decline in the traditional family holiday and predicted that Generation Z would travel less than previous generations and, when they did, would favor overseas travel, prompted by cheap overseas package deals, a desire to see the world and an apathy about Australian sights.
The report also found the environment would become a bigger factor, through nature-based tourism and people possibly preferring to travel locally as concerns about aircraft carbon emissions rose. TheAge.com.au

5. Online

A new travel site entered the fray this week: http://www.insidetrip.com/. For each air search, the site provides both fares and flight evaluations focused on 12 points of contention to help users know what they are getting into. Among the 12 points: the amount of legroom in a cabin, how often the flight is on time, the aircraft type, how crowded a specific flight typically is, if you can walk to your connection, and how long it usually takes to get through the security checkpoint nearest the gate. Overall trip scores can range from 0 to 100 with 100 being the best. NY Times

6. US Losing Competitiveness in World Tourism Survey

The U.S. is the seventh most competitive country in the world in the travel and tourism market, down two slots from last year, according to a report from Booz Allen Hamilton. The McLean, Va. company started the annual Global Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report last year to rank 130 countries based on a country's appeal in developing travel and tourism. Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Australia, Spain and Great Britain were the top 6. The US ranked first for business environment and infrastructure and second for natural resources because of its protected wildlife and number of World Heritage sites, and cultural and natural sites maintained by the international World Heritage Programme.

However, the U.S. ranked 100th for environmental sustainability because "perception exists that the country is not sufficiently protecting the environment." Two other areas where the U.S. performed poorly: safety and security, for its citizens being open toward foreign visitors. Meanwhile, China is projected to move into second place in the next few years. Washington Business Journal

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/

2008-02-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
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1. The Economics of Flying

A view from Britain: In the twisted economics of air travel, economy tickets are usually losing the airline money. All the profits come from the passengers in business and first class, who pay on average five times more than economy passengers for the same flight. For example, a one-way economy class fare on a British Airways from Heathrow to New York JFK costs £518 compared to £2,713 for business class.

It should come as no surprise that leisure travelers are being tempted more than ever with premium economy. Qantas just launched its version on flights to Sydney, while BMI has hit on the solution of recycling its old business-class seats into the premium economy cabin. Virgin Atlantic, which pioneered the idea among UK airlines, reports strong demand on routes both from business travelers flying frugally and holidaymakers wanting a more relaxing start, and end, to their vacation.

Meanwhile, charter airlines have made much of their improved long-haul service, often offering more legroom than the scheduled carriers. While they carry few business travelers, their premium cabins are accruing frills. When the Boeing 787 starts flying for First Choice, Monarch and Thomsonfly, the airlines are promising to transform expectations about long-haul charter flights – though the soaring cost of fuel makes talk of non-stop flights to Hawaii or Bali look questionable. Even in "true" business class, lower fares are on the horizon – at least in UK to US flights. From the end of next month, "open skies" will see airlines crowding in to Heathrow.

This will disrupt the cozy quartet of American Airlines, British Airways, United and Virgin Atlantic – currently the only American and British carriers allowed to serve the US from Heathrow. Continental, Delta and Northwest are starting flights – as is Air France. The airline launches daily services from Heathrow to LA on 1 April. Only a fool would bet against lower business-class fares to southern California. So, a question that has seemed irrelevant to most of us, could soon start to have meaning for a wider audience: just how flat is that flat bed? The Independent (UK)

Sidebar: The International Air Transport Association has warned that a global aviation slowdown might have begun. Traffic statistics for January showed a sharp fall in growth from December, down to 4.3 per cent from 6.7. In Asia Pacific the news was not all bad, with falls in demand only marginal, down just 0.5 per cent from December to 5.7 per cent. But for Europe, which was weakest of all, growth slowed to just 0.3 per cent in January, down from 5.5 per cent in December. Sky News (AU)

2. Online

For those short on time or memory but not lacking the funds to live like a jet-setter, there are two more websites to consider when planning travel: www.Fabsearch.com and www.TravelsInTaste.com. Both save time by just giving you the details of only the most fabulously glamorous vacation spots. LA Times

Disney Family.com announced the launch of www.family.com/travel, a new travel website specifically designed with families and kids in mind. The site provides a unique combination of expert reviews, parent recommendations, age-appropriate points of interest and interactive multi-media experiences for family friendly destinations across the United States.

A gang of internet travel fraudsters have been prosecuted in connection with five fake holiday companies which, between July 2003 and August 2006, advertised travel bargains that lead customers to pay for holidays that did not exist. The gang tricked thousands of people into parting with millions of pounds of cash between 2004 and 2006 – most of which was paid back to customers by credit card companies, travel associations or sites that were conned into advertising the fake companies on their deals pages. Travelconnect.com (UK)

A new travel site just for Boomers: http://www.boomeropia.com/. Features more than 30 travel categories, from cruises to tours.

3. The Real Thing

"Authentic" may be the travel buzzword of 2008. For some, it means actually sampling some of the world's strangest street food--even when the local delicacy is a fried water beetle or a reindeer hot dog. For others, it’s a trip that involves an authentic connection with the people you meet. But there's an extra connection somehow made when two people don't share a language in common. That's because we're listening with complete concentration to both words and body language--the way we probably should always listen to someone. MLive.com

4. At The Beach

Scientists in Italy believe that up to 10 per cent of coral reefs are threatened by bleaching caused by chemicals in widely-used creams that are sold to protect users from the sun’s damaging UV rays. Between 4,000 and 6,000 tons of sunscreen wash off swimmers annually in oceans. Scientists have found that many brands of sunscreen contain ingredients that can stimulate viruses in the algae, known as zooxanthellae, which live within corals. Zooxanthellae plays an essential role in providing the vibrant color associated with corals by supplying food energy through photosynthesis. ETN

5. Conundrums

Compared to airline travel, Amtrak's post 9/11 security has been paltry at best so the announcement last week that armed teams are now randomly checking passenger bags and patrolling station platforms is a welcome, if not overdue, development. But here's the catch: At the same time the Bush administration is beefing up security, it also wants to reduce Amtrak spending by $525 million next year, or about 40 percent from the current $1.325 billion. Experts say the cuts would literally derail passenger service to much of the country. However, all is not lost. The US Senate approved legislation last year calling for an expanded passenger train network and stable, long-term funding for it. The House may soon follow suit. The Baltimore Sun

The Michelin Guide has been expanding to new markets in recent years to compensate for its declining influence in Europe, where it has lost readership to the Internet and the shifting demands of consumers who no longer want their tastes dictated to them. Michelin took its first step abroad two years ago with a New York guide, followed by versions for Las Vegas, LA, and San Francisco. Now, Michelin is looking for success in Tokyo. But many Tokyoites grumble that the guide gave high ratings to unremarkable restaurants, prompting wide speculation that the large number of stars was just a marketing ploy. One expert summed it up best: “Japanese food was created here and only Japanese know it. How can a bunch of foreigners show up and tell us what is good or bad? NY Times

6. As The World Turns

In a bid to clean up the country for tourists, Nigeria introduced a new type of public toilet that will be stationed at markets, public transport hubs and festivals. The toilets will replace what is known as the "the flying toilet," where people defecate in a bag and then throw it out of the window. Sanitation in Nigeria is giant problem, according to government officials. Due to the lack of public toilets and sewers, people are often forced to relieve themselves by the roadside. The new loos will cost 60,000 naira ($500) each. At 20 naira ($0.16) per visit, the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation hopes to use the profits to create thousands of tourist-related jobs. bbc.co.uk/ETN

7. Destinations

Train Talk: Whether the idea ever gets off the drawing board depends on both Congress and the fate of a rival train project that appears to be picking up steam. The dueling plans are competing for a big piece of the tourism industry: Ten million Southern Californians make the 250-plus-mile drive to Las Vegas each year. The vast majority take an increasingly clogged Interstate 15 that can slow to a crawl and make the drive an ordeal of five hours or more.

The main plan in the works is a futuristic MagLev train that would zip riders between Vegas and Disneyland in under two hours across the wide-open desert at up to 300 mph. But a delay in federal funds needed for planning the public-private venture has suddenly given traction to a cheaper diesel-electric alternative dubbed DesertXpress. The privately funded DesertXpress would whisk riders to Las Vegas at 125 mph from the Mojave Desert town of Victorville, Calif., some 1 1/2 hours northeast of Los Angeles. Total travel time, including the drive to Victorville: three or four hours. USA Today

Florida: A report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says ecotourism in the state doubled from $1.57 billion in 2001 to $3 billion in 2006. According to the report: Nearly a quarter of a million tourists with wildlife-watching plans travel to Florida each year, making Florida the No. 1 destination in the country for wildlife viewing.3.3 million Floridians viewed wildlife at or near their homes.

1.6 million Floridians and tourists traveled around Florida just to see wildlife, generating more than $3 billion in economic impact throughout Florida. Retail sales account for about $1.8 billion of the total. 4.2 million people participated in some form of wildlife viewing in Florida in 2006. The combined annual economic impact of recreational hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing in Florida tops $11 billion, according to the commission. FloridaToday.com

Rich’s Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler222 Communications. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. andtyler222@verizon.net http://www.itinarod.com/

2008-02-22T05:22:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Abolition of 12 Day Rule Riles European Tour Operators

European Tour Operators asked EU officials in Brussels to repeal a new law that regulates the amount of rest professional coach drivers are forced to take. Introduced last April, the new legislation imposes a compulsory 24 hour rest every six days. Previously, drivers could take their rest at the beginning of one week and at the end of the following week, giving them up to twelve consecutive days on the road.

According to the tour operators, abolition of the Twelve Day Rule has proved to be highly damaging, making the operation of tourism unacceptably complicated and more expensive for all parties involved. To that end, tour companies have had to re-plan itineraries, pay for extra relief drivers, and have forced drivers to take rest time away from home. About two million foreigners take a bus tour in Europe each year. ETN

2. Airent Behavior

One thing is certain: In 2008, US Domestic carriers will continue to push the limits on what passengers are willing to pay for. What travelers might not realize is that the low-cost European carriers have been doing it for years, and their expected entry into the US market could set off a wave of additional fees and charges.

Be prepared to open your wallet.

Checking your bags curbside will cost $2 per bag at some major U.S. airports. Spirit Airlines is among several airlines that charge for checked luggage. Expect to pay $10 each for the first two checked bags or $5 if you pay via the company's Web site. For additional bags, add $100 per. Go over the standard 50-pound weight limit and fees will range from $25 to $150 per bag. Prices for ship-your-luggage-ahead services like Luggage Free and Luggage Forward cost $1.65 to $4.40 per pound each way.

Some carriers, such as SkyBus, now charge $10 to $20 to board the plane before anyone else. If you have carry-on luggage, the additional cost may be worth it to claim overhead space. On Southwest Airlines if you purchase a business select fare, you get to board first in the "A" group.

Earlier this month, United announced that free bag check-in will be limited to one per person. Starting May 5, United will charge passengers with domestic nonrefundable economy tickets $25 to check a second bag. Exempt from the fees are those with Premier status or higher in United’s Mileage Plus program or those with Silver status or higher within the Star Alliance.

There's a good chance you'll be charged for food once onboard, but at least the choices and quality are increasing. Carriers are hiring gourmet chefs to plan and design their menus. For example, Delta has new signature entrees from celebrity chef Todd English that include a roast beef steak Cobb sandwich and grilled Mediterranean shrimp salad. Other carriers offer snack items à la carte. On Spirit flights, water is free, but a soft drink will cost $1 and a bag of chips $4.

Want to watch a movie onboard a flight? While some carriers still show complimentary movies on longer flights, they're diminishing quickly. Most major carriers are installing video-on-demand systems that allow passengers to choose a movie or video to watch on their own seatback monitor for $6 to $10 each. Be sure to bring your own headset to listen, as these will set you back between $2 and $5. http://www.thestreet.com/

3. Just A Cruisin’

A river trip through Europe is the most expensive for cruise passengers with an average per-person cost of $387 a day. Alaska cruises check in at $259 and Caribbean at $159, respectively. The five most popular emerging cruise destinations, according to a recent survey: South America, Australia/New Zealand, China/Asia, European River, and Baltic. The most underrated European Cruise ports: Dubrovnik, British Isles, Malta/Barcelona, Kusadarsi (Turkey)/Istanbul/Israel/Tallinn (Estonia)/Naples/Alexandria. NY Times

4. At the Plaza

New York’s famed Plaza Hotel, which has spent much of its 100-year history packed with guests like the Vanderbilt’s and Frank Lloyd Wright, closed in 2005 to reopen as part hotel and part condominium. The hotel is scheduled to open March 1 while the condos have been finished for months. Buyers have closed on nearly 100 apartments to date. A one-bedroom on the 15th floor recently sold for $5.8 million; a two-bedroom went for $7 million.

Most of the buyers include current and former top execs at Staples, JetBlue, Viacom, and Esprit, along with several Russian billionaires. At present, only a handful of people have moved in. Some are waiting for decorators to customize their apartments for their art collections. Others are staying at their third or fourth – or in some cases eighth or ninth home. And a few more are waiting until the restaurant and gym open this spring. NY Times

Room Shortage: Blame it on supply and demand but hotel prices are skyrocketing. In New York, room rates rose 15.4 percent last year to an average of $320.87 per day. In India, rates are up 48 percent overall and 69 percent in Mumbai. Hong Kong and Shanghai have also seen double-digit increases. Hotel rooms in Dubai rose 24 percent, 30 percent in London and Paris, and between 15 percent and 21 percent in Rome, Toronto and LA. Expect a 5 to 8 percent increase across the US in 08.

5. Online

Introducing http://www.tvtrip.com/, a relatively new travel website launched last May that features videos profiling over 1,000 hotels in key worldwide destinations. Each property can be viewed in approximately one minute, allowing a general view of the inside of the hotel, its surroundings and what the room categories are like.

Enter www.ProfessionalTravelGuide.com's new section offering 150 cruise ship reviews written by travel pros. ProfessionalTravelGuide.com features a travel database including more than 159,000 hotels, 7,000+ destination travel guides; 10,000+ professional hotel reviews; 250,000+ associated high resolution images; streaming videos; real-time health and travel security alerts; international business etiquette; and personalized eGuideBook.

Introducing GotoBus.com, a leading online marketing and ticketing company for bus-related travel. http://www.gotobus.com/ was named "Best of The Web" by the Washington Post

Got game...http://www.golfflyover.com/, provides more than 5,000 golf course flyovers and layout maps. Golfers can search for courses using the course name, by city and state or with a zip code.

6. Old Folks Not At Home

An estimated 23 million retired people intend to travel over a 12-month span, according to 2006 statistics from research firm. Those retirees were expected to spend a combined $34 billion on their next trip -- larger than the amount families said they planned to spend. Statistics from Travelocity show 65% of seniors take trips of one week or more, compared to just 46% of the average traveler.

Travel experts say cruises on lines such as Carnival and Princess are very popular for the 65-and-over crowd and have grown in popularity in recent years. About 57% of Travelocity members 65 and older say they plan to volunteer overseas in 2008, compared to just 48% of average respondents.

These vacations can be centered on everything from building houses in New Orleans to working at a soup kitchen in New York City. Another interesting consideration that seems to go into some retirees’ travel plans is how “green” the trips are. More than 60% of Travelocity members 65 and older say they would be willing to spend an extra $50 or more for eco-friendly destinations. Fox News

7. It Could Happen To You

After being stuck behind the drink cart on an American Airlines flight, Amy and Dan spent about 35 minutes talking and then went their separate ways once the plane landed. Amy lived in Massachusetts; Dan was from Chicago. So their friends encouraged them to use Craigslist’s “Missed Connections” section to find each other. Amy searched and found Dan’s posting. That led to an online correspondence, then a visit by Dan to Boston. Dan used Craigslist one more time to ask Amy to marry him. Boston Globe

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/

2008-02-15T04:18:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Score One For the Store-Front Travel Agency

For years, newspapers and travel industry analysts have been predicting the death of the high-street travel agent at the hands of the Internet and call centers. Figures from the Association of British Travel Agents suggest 1,400 agencies have closed in the past decade. But could the tide be changing?

Enter thetravelvillage, an online company that has opened a retail shop in the heart of London. Black Tomato, an upmarket tour operator which since its opening in 2005 has operated exclusively online and by phone, launched a store in Shoreditch, London, while web operator Medinland, a Mediterranean specialist, opened its first shop last month.

Clients want a luxury consulting service as a counterpoint to the Internet, says one store owner. At Black Tomato, for example, customers must make an appointment, but the shop will open till 9pm, has a bar, and every second month will be redecorated to reflect a different destination, with murals, projections and artifacts from the featured country. Guardian (UK)

2. Online Agencies Expand Overseas

Chief executives at Expedia, Priceline and Orbitz held sway at a summit in Los Angeles earlier in the week highlighting plans to capture the largest possible chunk of the burgeoning overseas travel market. Expedia saw 34 percent of its fourth-quarter bookings from international points of sale. The company has launched several partnership efforts in Asia. Orbitz, which became a publicly traded company last year, has focused aggressively on expansion in Europe, most notably by way of ebookers.com. Priceline operates a European hotel reservation service through several brands, including Activehotels.com and priceline.com.uk. The company also is an investor in an Asian travel service, which bears the name Priceline. Reuters

3. Eco-Vandals

Can you really travel "green"? Or should we just all stay at home? The International Ecotourism Society estimates that by 2020, there will be 1.56 billion people traveling internationally each year. That's a whole lot of flights, and a whole lot of carbon being blasted into the atmosphere. Not to mention what all those travelers will do when they arrive. So the trick is, how do you minimize your impact?

A lot of airlines now offer carbon offsets for a small fee, but the jury is out on their effectiveness. The Manchester Guardian's travel writer George Monbiot says buying offsets is, "like pushing the food around on your plate to create the impression you have eaten it". Of course one of the best ways to neutralize the effects of flying is not to fly at all. Even your choice of accommodations can help or harm the environment. How much water does your hotel or hostel use? Does it have a recycling program? Does it hire locals?

Water is another tough one. Consider the damage caused by purchasing drinking water in plastic bottles. It might seem handy but you never really think about what happens to those unbiodegradable bottles once you turf them when they're empty. Consider again the use of water resources when taking a shower and washing clothes. The average 18-hole golf course soaks up about the same amount of water per day as 100 Malaysian farmers would need to irrigate their crops.

One way to lower your impact on the environment is to travel independently rather than on package tours. The IES found that 80 per cent of money for all-inclusive package tours goes to airlines, hotels and other international companies. That doesn't leave much for the people you're actually visiting. Sydney Morning Herald

4. Less Bang For the Buck

The Taj Mahal has stopped accepting dollars for the entrance fee under a new edict from the Indian Ministry of Culture that also affects other national tourist sites. Americans must now pay 750 rupees, about $19 compared with $15 previously. Some tour operators say they have encountered newfound resistance to dollars in parts of Vietnam and Peru. Even in New York, some shops are encouraging payment in foreign currency. Several American tour operators now tack on a so-called currency surcharge of about 5 percent.

Nearly 60 percent of members of the USTOA serving Europe and Britain said their prices would increase up to 15 percent because of the weak dollar. Destination where the dollar has held its ground including Mexico, Argentina, Panama and Ecuador. NY Times

5. Property For Sale

138 acres of land just west of the "H" in the Hollywood hilltop sign. Asking price: $22 million. Property offers a stunning 360-degree panorama of the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley. Howard Hughes once planned to build a love nest on the land for his then-paramour Ginger Rogers. Their relationship didn't last, and the property remained undeveloped and in the eccentric billionaire's trust for decades.

6. So What Movie Do You Want To Watch Tonight?

The top 10 list from The Lodge Net Interactive Corp, which supplies on-demand movies in about 9,300 hotels. Knocked Up, Borat, Night at the Museum, Wild Hogs, 300, The Bourne Ultimatum, Casino Royale, The Departed, Live Free or Die Hard, and Ghost Rider.

7. Insider’s Guide--Where The Celebs Like To Vacation

Portofino, on the north-west coast of the Italian Riviera.
Ile de Re, France, small Atlantic Ocean island connected by a bridge from La Rochelle.
The Fregate Island Private, a one-square-mile Indian Ocean island resort.
The Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas, Australia, which stands at the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and the World Heritage Daintree Rain forest.
The Mystique in the Caribbean, a 1400-acre Caribbean island and a vacation spot for the British royals like Prince William and Kate Middleton. Inside Hotels

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/

2008-02-08T04:54:00.000-08:00

The Weekend Reader’s Book of Lists
please support the Reader by clicking on the ads above. Also, visit http://www.itinarod.com/

1. Nine Travel Scams

Have you ever been ripped off or scammed on holiday? The London Times highlights the most popular ways.

* Fancy a free lunch? Typically, bogus holiday clubs invite potential customers to a posh hotel to endure several hours of sales presentations in return for a meal and a gift. It’s always a “buy now or never” deal, but as soon as you get home and try to book your first holiday, the bargains disappear and you have next to no chance of getting your money back.

* The phone rings and an electronic voice tells you to hit the number 9 to claim your prize, a holiday to the Sunshine State of Florida – at which point a salesperson comes on the line and explains that you have, in fact, won only most of a holiday. To seal the deal, you are typically told it will cost between £500 and £700 for a supposed £2,000 luxury trip, usually to Orlando and the Bahamas. If you try to get the money back, the delays begin, with calls going unanswered, packages not arriving, and staff often verbally abusing customers. And your credit-card company doesn’t have to refund you – because you read out those numbers.

* This internet scam, known as “card milling”, is on the increase. Greedy travelers are told that by spending up to £260 on a travel-agent ID card, they will become eligible for industry-insider rates, meaning huge discounts on flights, hotels and, most commonly, cruises. You cough up the credit-card details, your ID card arrives – and the first time you slap it down on a reception desk, you’re laughed out of the lobby.

* The most costly scam in the UK is the oldest one in the book – companies taking travelers’ cash, and then shutting down their businesses without delivering what they promised.

* Secreting away a traveler’s credit-card information is also quite popular. Common tricks include capturing all the details when you hand the card over for a meal or some petrol – but one ingenious new tactic, first reported in Shanghai, has been to call hotel rooms late at night, pretending to be from reception.

* There will always be occasions when you need to change cash but there’s no bank about, so more informal converters come into play. Most are perfectly legitimate, but signs that all is not well include: the teller shuffling and counting out bills in absurdly small denominations, which makes keeping score a chore; a disturbance or argument that conveniently flares up just as you’re trying to count your cash; and anything involving opaque envelopes, which will probably turn out to contain newspaper clippings.

* Many of us have been caught in the “nice” version of this scam – a friendly stranger takes you drinking in a foreign land, pays a fraction of what it’s costing you for the same round of drinks, then takes a backhander from the bar-owner at closing time for hauling your well-fleeced backsides into the establishment.

* You’re tired, there’s a queue at the taxi stand, so you accept the cheery offer of an unofficial taxi. From this point on, a good outcome is that you’ll be overcharged, or forced to stop off at the driver’s brother’s souvenir shop on the way to your hotel.

* You put your belongings on the conveyor belt at the airport, but a man bustles past you in a desperate hurry. He then gets himself held up at the detector, emptying his pockets of innumerable coins, keys and collectables. While you wait patiently, the guy who was in the queue in front of you – Mr. Metal’s accomplice – waits for your bag, then nicks it.

2. Seventeenth Century English Philosopher Sir Frances Bacon Offers Ten Travel Tips World Hum

* Make travel a part of your life’s education--Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country, before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.

* Keep a travel journal, at sea or on land--It is a strange thing, that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in land travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it; as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation: let diaries, therefore, be brought in use.

* Seek interesting sights, such as:

* The courts of princes (especially when they give audience to ambassadors) * The courts of justice (while they sit and hear causes) * The churches and monasteries (with the monuments which are therein extant) * The walls and fortifications of cities and towns * The havens and harbors, antiquities and ruins * Treasuries of jewels and robes, cabinets and rarities * Shipping and navies * Houses and gardens of state and pleasure, near great cities * Armories, arsenals, magazines, exchanges, burses, warehouses

* Seek interesting activities, such as:

* Exercises of horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like * Comedies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort * Libraries, colleges, disputations, and lectures * Triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and such shows

* Make use of guidebooks and local resources--Let him carry with him also some card, or book, describing the country where he travelleth, which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him, upon his removes from one place to another, procure recommendation to some person of quality residing in the place whither he removeth, that he may use his favour in those things he desireth to see or know.

* Seek varieties of experience, even within a single location---Let him not stay long in one city or town, more or less as the place deserveth, but not long. When he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging from one end and part of the town to another, which is a great adamant of acquaintance.

* Seek out travel companions that will challenge you--Let him sequester himself from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth. Thus he may abridge his travel with much profit. As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in travel, that which is most of all profitable is acquaintance with the secretaries and employed men of ambassadors; for so in travelling in one country he shall suck the experience of many: See and visit eminent persons in all kinds, which are of great name abroad, that he may be able to tell how the life agreeth with the fame.

* Avoid traveling with quarrelsome people--For quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided; they are commonly for mistresses, healths, place, and words; and let a man beware how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels.

* When coming home, keep your travels alive with intellectual exercise--When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him, but maintain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaintance which are of most worth; and let his travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture.

* Don’t flaunt your travel experiences to the folk back home--In his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories: and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country.

3. This and That List

Get Ready For More Pain With The Dollar Fading--The weak dollar makes overseas travel more expensive. Add to that the fees credit card companies charge for converting purchases made in foreign currencies into American dollars. The National Geographic Traveler reports in its latest issue that some Australian businesses have started passing along the service fees that credit card companies charge them for processing a transaction to the purchaser. NY Times

Introducing a new web-based application called Twine (http://www.twine.com/) which can scan any electronic document for name of people, places, businesses and more. Then it does something unusual: it automatically tags or marks all of these items in orange and transfers them to an index on the right side of the screen. This index grows with every document you view, as the program adds subjects that it can recognize or infer from their context. People planning a trip can use the application to send all of the Google maps, articles and travel guide Web pages they are collecting to Twine. As each document is added, Twine automatically tags items and adds them to the database for the trip, compiling an index with references. NY Times

Mobissimo http://www.mobissimo.com/ launched a new version of its site that enables users to customize their search experience with relevant destination information such as weather, photos, video, reviews, books, and local events. The content, aggregated from leading third party Web sites, dynamically updates and synchronizes with each individual search to make trip planning faster, easier and more pertinent than ever before.

European scientists have said a flight from Europe to Sydney in under five hours could be possible in 25 years. The A2 plane, designed by engineering company Reaction Engines based in Oxfordshire, southern England, could carry 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000 mph (6,400 kmh), five times the speed of sound. The project is part of an EU initiative to expand the boundaries of air travel. The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at mach 0.9 before reaching mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific
to Australia.

The Tourism Industry Association of Iran has launched its new and enhanced website to promote the country as a top travel destination for 2008. http://www.irpedia.com/

The downside of medical tourism: India's much-vaunted foray into medical tourism has come under dark clouds following a question of medical ethics over reports of poor Indians illegally selling their kidneys, and the latest exposure of a transplant racket in Gurgaon. The police raided a clinic in New Delhi suburb last week uncovering a ring that involves a network of at least four doctors, several hospitals, two dozen nurses and paramedics, a mobile laboratory spanning five Indian states.

4. Questions You Should Ask A Tour Operator Promoting Poverty Tourism

* Does the tour organizer have ties to the community? Find out how long the operator has been running tours in the area and whether your guide is from there—these factors often determine the level of interaction you'll have with residents. Search blogs or post a question in a travel forum—bootsnall.com and travelblog.org are good choices.

* What should I expect to see? You may have an abstract idea of what extreme poverty entails, but when you're surrounded by it—not just the sights, but also the sounds and smells—it can be fairly overwhelming. Ask your guide what has tended to shock people before, so you can better prepare yourself. "

* Will I feel welcome? Responsible operators won't bring people to communities where they're not wanted.

* Will I be safe? The fact that crime is prevalent in many slums doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a victim. It certainly helps that you'll be in a group, and you should take the same kinds of precautions you would elsewhere, such as keeping your possessions close to you and not wearing expensive clothes or jewelry.

* Will I be able to interact with locals? The best way to avoid having the experience feel like you're at a zoo is to talk with people and try to form a personal connection. Many tours take you to community centers and schools, and some include visits to a church or a bar.

* Should I bring my kids? A poverty tour can be an educational experience for children—if they're prepared for what they'll encounter.

* May I take pictures? Many tours prohibit photography to minimize the intrusion into residents' lives. If you're with an outfit that does allow pictures, always ask people's permission first. And think about buying a disposable camera instead of bringing a flashy $1,000 camera with a six-inch lens.

* Are there things that I shouldn't do? Handouts are usually forbidden, whether they be money, trinkets, or sweets, because they create chaos and quickly establish the assumption that tourists equal gifts. You should also respect people's privacy, which means no peeking through windows or doors.

* How can I help the people I meet? Contributions of clothing, toys, books, and other household items are often accepted before the tour, so you don't have to worry about carrying or distributing them.

* Do I have to go with a tour group? Travelers who dislike organized tours might want to make an exception in this case. If you go on your own, not only will you be less safe, but you may find it hard to navigate in neighborhoods that aren't very well marked. ETN

5. Eight Volunteer Travel Hot Spots Forbes

Santa Ana, Ecuador, http://www.uvolunteer.org/
Dominican Republic, http://www.habitat.org/.
Moshi, Tanzania, http://www.i-to-i.com/
Xi’an, China, http://www.i-to-i.com/
Dharamsala, India, http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/
Bangkok, Thailand, http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/
Lilongwi, Malawi, http://www.habitat.org/
Santa Cruz, Bolivia, http://www.uvolunteer.org/

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/

2008-02-01T05:01:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

please support the Reader by clicking on the ads above and visiting http://www.itinarod.com/ .

1. California Calling

The California Travel and Tourism Commission has developed a marketing plan to extend awareness of California's eight rural tourism marketing regions. Rural tourism in California accounts for $27 billion in travel spending and supports 357,000 jobs. The Rural Tourism Marketing Plan on the California Travel and Tourism Commission's Web site at http://www.visitcalifornia.com/. Statewide, travel and tourism expenditures total $93.8 billion annually in California and support 929,000 California jobs. Sacramento Business Journal

2. The Coolest Places on The Planet

Visit Yakutsk, a place where friendly locals warn you against wearing spectacles outdoors. That’s because Yakutsk, a city in Eastern Siberia with a population of 200,000, is reported to be the coldest city on earth and your glasses are most likely to freeze up in this very cold climate. In January, the most freezing month, average "highs" are around minus 40C. Risk players will recognize the name as one of the countries on the game board. Locals claim that there are enough lakes and rivers in the region for each inhabitant to have one of each. The locals are fond of boasting that the region contains every element in the periodic table. According to local legend, the god of creation had been flying around the world to distribute riches and natural resources, but when he got to Yakutia, he got so cold that his hands went numb and he dropped everything. The Independent (UK)

Ghana wants to become the choice destination for chocolate tourism. As part of the grand scheme the country celebrates National Chocolate Day, which was first observed last year on Valentines Day. This year’s theme, "Chocolate: a gift of love and health," will highlight the globally acclaimed quality of Ghana's cocoa and promote Ghana as the best destination for all forms of chocolate pastries. http://www.allafrica.com/ ETN

3. Box Car Willies

Riding the rails in a box car with author William T. Vollmann. “There will be mornings of bone-cracking cold, tunnels choked with diesel fumes, long waits at trackside, hiding fieldmouse-small in the grass, lurking beyond eyesight and windreach, evading authority,” he writes." Vollmann is concerned that hoboing is becoming a lost science. SF Chronicle

4. Greensleeves

How we travel is changing. Environmentally friendly tourism remains at the forefront of the new trends. Just ask author Rhiannon Batten who wrote the book on it: “How To Travel Responsibly Without Roughing It.”

A recent poll by Travelocity concludes that 38 percent of respondents plan to dedicate at least some portion of their vacations this year to volunteering and nearly 80 percent are interested in spending more on an eco-friendly destination or business. Of the nearly 80 percent willing to spend more money on an eco-friendly destination or business, responses ranged from $25 to more than $200 more.

The largest group of respondents (23 percent) said they would be willing to spend $51-$100 more. Of respondents who indicated they’re planning on volunteering in 2008, 33 percent said conservation and the environment is the cause these do-gooders are most likely to donate time to. Healthcare and education also came in near the top of the list. Finally, respondents are nearly as likely to volunteer stateside as abroad.

5. Game Play

MONOPOLY fans are invited to vote for cities listed on an on-line ballot to determine 20 of the 22 property spaces on the new MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition game board. In case, your hometown, favorite tourist destination or other truly deserving global city isn’t featured on the ballot of 68 iconic worldwide cities, two spaces on the board have been reserved for write-in candidates.

If the voting was to end today, three US cities would be included in the wild card vote: San Francisco, Seattle and New Orleans. But, early grass roots campaigning in Miami, Pittsburgh, and Sheboygan, Wis., may help those cities gain a spot in the vote. Each day from now until Feb. 28, fans can visit http://www.monopoly.com/ to cast up to 10 votes for cities featured on the ballot. Fans can also nominate one wild card city per day. Beginning Feb. 29, the top 20 vote-getting wild card cities will compete in a one-week face-off for the opportunity to be featured as members of the property group traditionally home to Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue.

6. Why Is Their Air?

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA) released its quarterly Airline Cost Index, incorporating data through the third quarter of 2007. The composite cost index rose to 191.2, up 0.2 percent from the third quarter of 2006. This increase is in contrast to a 2.4 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The three largest components of the index — which includes all operating expenses as well as interest expense — were fuel (25.9 percent), labor (22.8 percent) and transport-related expenses (13.3 percent).

The average price paid for fuel increased 1.6 percent to $2.11 per gallon. The average cost of employing a full-time equivalent worker rose $709 to $76,423. Airlines experienced a 15.3 percent jump in maintenance material costs, offset in part by a 16.4 percent decline in aircraft insurance costs and a 17.4 percent decline for other insurance costs. Overall unit operating cost per available seat mile was unchanged at 12.49 cents. The average break-even load factor (BELF) dropped 1.3 points to 76.6 percent. http://www.airlines.org./ ETN

7. This and That

An Eastern German travel agency is taking bookings for the country's first nudist air service. Passengers can strip off on board but will have to get dressed again before getting off the plane. The flight is to be part of a summer day trip which flies from the Eastern German city of Erfurt to a popular Baltic Sea resort. ETN

Budget hotel chain Travelodge accused Ryanair and easyJet of driving an £18bn "tourism deficit" by drawing British holidaymakers away from Britain with low fares underpinned by state tax breaks. Travelodge complained that inward tourism spending had declined by 16% between 1995 and 2002 while spending by British tourists abroad had climbed by nearly 50%. Travelodge is attempting to break into the British tourism market by opening 20 seaside hotels by 2010. guardian.co.uk

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/

2008-01-25T04:57:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

please support the Weekend Reader by clicking on the ads above.
Also visit http://www.itinarod.com/

1. When Staying at A Green Hotel or Making A Carbon-Offset Donation Is Not Enough

As concerns over global warming grow, the most eco-conscious vacationers are forgoing long-distance trips and trading treks to Europe for walks around the neighborhood. Spurring the movement are environmentalists who are imploring the public to stop burning unnecessary fuel and stay closer to home. It's the next step for commuters who have already swapped cars for bikes and attend out-of-town meetings by videoconferencing, says one advocate.

The Web site for Global Cool, a campaign to fight global warming, offers advice on how to "be cool," including, "Hey hotshot, do you really need to holiday abroad?" However, the daily commute for most Americans makes a bigger carbon impact than their vacation air travel. Driving in a car contributes about 13,800 pounds of personal carbon emissions, or 27% of the average Americans' annual 26 tons, according to the Nature Conservancy; flying contributes about 2,300 pounds, or 4%. WSJ

2. Watch Out For Those Elephants

For the last two decades, elephants have plodded through the streets of Bangkok, stopping off at red-light districts and tourist areas where their handlers peddle sacks of sugar cane and bananas to passers-by. Occasionally, they knock off the wide-view mirrors from cars or stumble into gutters and cut themselves on sharp objects. The police shrug. The politicians periodically order crackdowns and animal lovers despair. The government says there are 3,837 domesticated elephants in Thailand today. Only a tiny faction come into Bangkok, usually no more than half a dozen each evening. Many Thais say they serve as a daily reminder of the inequalities in Thailand, the gap between provincial poverty and urban wealth.

“The elephant was a symbol of honor, of dignity and leadership,” says a former prime minister, “but today it has become the symbol of the failures and injustices of Thailand’s development.” Greater Bangkok, with more than 10 million residents sprawled across an area nearly three times the size of Rhode Island, has many animal problems, among them snakes and stray dogs. But elephants stand apart because for centuries they have been considered noble beasts collected by kings. NY Times

3. On The Water

CLIA, the Cruise International Association, says 12.8 million people will take a cruise this year, a 2.4% increase over 2007, compared with a 4.6% increase in passengers in 06. CLIA said the slower growth was a result of less capacity coming onto the market than in years past. Eight new ships are expected to enter service this year and six ships are scheduled to move out. In 2008, 10.5 million passengers will originate from North America. TW

4. Excess Baggage

What would you do if United, Delta and Northwest merged and each one of the airlines wanted to keep its name?

A Swedish university received $590,000 in research funds to measure the greenhouse gases released when cows belch. About 20 cows will participate in the study. AP

Top10 cities where Americans were arrested: Tijuana (520), Guadalajara, Nuevo Laredo, London, Mexico City, Toronto, Nassau, Merida (Mexico), Nogales (Mexico) and Hong Kong (50)

Facing sagging sales, Starbucks is experimenting with a smaller, "short" $1 cup as well as free refills for brewed coffee in its Seattle outlets. Starbucks charges around $1.50 to $4.00 for a coffee, depending on size and flavor.

A just-for-women bus began operating this week in Mexico City as part of an experimental program aimed at protecting female passengers who are frequently exposed to sexual harassment on public transportation. Officials say 14 percent of rapes, sexual harassment and abuse took place on public transportation in 2007. Also in play--The first three cars of each train in Mexico City’s metro system are reserved for women only, but only during rush hour. The only exceptions to the women-only rule apply to women with young male children or elderly male companions, or people who are handicapped. AFP

In a London promotional campaign for an online gambling business, 375 taxis have been decked out with advertisements for the company’s Web site. However, in 10 cabs, the marketing goes further. The drivers may seek to engage passengers in conversation about poker. If customers take the bait, the drivers try to steer the conversation to the online site. Those who show particular interest may be given coupons and more. The average London cab ride lasts 16 minutes. NY Times

A survey of 98 travel managers and other big purchasers of airline tickets revealed that three-quarters of respondents expect airline mergers to result in higher fares and more than half expect the quality of service to suffer.

The top online travel review sites according to some of the experts: Expedia-owned http://www.tripadvisor.com/ and Sabre-owned http://www.igougo.com/. One of the big differences...you have to signup to enter igougo.

Venice opened a new water-bus line that tourists aren’t allowed to use. The Venice region’s tourist trade generates about $17.3 billion a year.

Faced with rising financial loses and a warming Alps, the snow-deprived Swiss ski resort of Ernen was sold for $1. Examples of Swiss ski resorts facing economic hardship abound. This year three mountain villages in the southern canton of Ticino warded off bankruptcy proceedings after the canton offered interim financing. A last-minute financing deal helped the Madrisa cable company in Klosters, a popular resorts for the rich and famous, to open for the winter.

5. Inside Saudi Arabia

Women in Saudi Arabia can now stay in a hotel or a furnished apartment without a male guardian. The decision was adopted after a study conducted by the Saudi Ministry of Interior, the Supreme Commission of Tourism and the religious police authority known as the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Guest workers of the Kingdom have to conform to stringent laws under the Islamic code, otherwise run the risk of arrest or deportation.

Among the rules: All women are not allowed to drive in Saudi, not even bicycles. Airlines warn women not to stare at men, and vice versa. Men must not express admiration for a woman unless she is a fiancée. Women are advised to avoid going out alone for their own safety and security; not talk intimately with their husbands or go out with male friends, provided they maintain a distance from each other. ETN

6. Interest In Medical Tourism Continues To Rise

Some of the preferred destinations.

Cuba, which has partnered with Choice Medical Services in Canada to attract more medical tourists. Government officials have negotiated similar deals with firms in Germany and Spain. Choice Medical Services charges $10,000 for a hip replacement compared with $39,000 in the U.S. Last year, the Caribbean nation hosted nearly 20,000 medical tourists.

Costa Rica has been a popular destination for dental and cosmetic surgery since the early 1980s. Two hospitals in particular, Clinica Biblica and CIMA Hospital, are leading the charge. Clinica Biblica is working on a plan to dedicate an entire wing for international patients. The price of medical procedures tends to be 40 to 70 per cent less than what you would pay in North America. According to Costa Rica's Tourism Bureau, the number of visitors coming for medical treatment has doubled since 2003. The government runs 30 hospitals and 250 clinics, and the country is now becoming known for procedures such as back or spinal surgeries and knee and hip replacements.

Portugal and Spain...Until the beginning of this year, medical tourism on the Iberian Peninsula mainly consisted of people going to Barcelona for cosmetic and dental surgery and Mallorca. Last year, 137,000 people went to Iberia for medical treatment - a large number but still a small fraction of the 63 million holidaymakers who flock to the area each year. A new company, Fly2Doc, is one of many tourism operators planning to bring in hordes of patients. The health-tourism industries in Portugal and Spain are also likely to benefit from a proposed piece of legislation that would allow anyone in the European Union who is on a waiting list for treatment in their own country to be treated in any other EU country, with their home government picking up the bill. The longest lists are in the UK and Ireland.

South Korea's medical-tourism industry is still in its infancy, but the country has been aggressively promoting its hospitals through the Council for Korea Medicine Overseas Promotion, an organization launched in March, 2007. Funded by the government and 28 private hospitals, the organization is targeting the approximately 440,000 uninsured Korean Americans, Japanese patients seeking alternative medicine and cosmetic surgery, and Chinese patients seeking cosmetic surgery.

Taiwan...Since the country initiated a Health Tourism Guidance Task Force in 2004, medical tourism has been booming. The medical tourism industry is expected to generate more than $93-million this year and almost $9.4-billion by 2015. For the most part, Taiwan seeks European patients and Chinese patients, first and foremost because of proximity but also because there's not as much as a cultural barrier.

Websites of note: http://www.medicaltravel.com/ and http://www.medicaltourismguide.org/. Toronto Globe and Mail

7. Online

This week the Professional Golf Association added a travel component to their main web site, www.PGA.com/travel. The site features new and exclusive travel content: from PGA Professionals and from PGA Magazine, as well as the latest in golf-related travel news from the world's top resorts and golf destinations. Other sections of the site include travel itineraries recommended by PGA Professionals, Resort Profiles, Destination Features, Women and Golf, Hidden Gems and much more. Studies show that the golf travel industry generates over $12 billion in revenue each year, and PGA Professionals are intimately involved.

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/

2008-01-18T04:59:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

please support the Weekend Reader by clicking on the ads above.
Also, visit www.itinarod.com.

1. Tips on Avoiding One Of Travel’s Greatest Maladies: Jet Lag

Limit the alcohol, make sure you don't get dehydrated, wear loose clothing, walk up and down the aisle several times during the flight and avoid red-eye flights. When flying west, try to absorb some afternoon sun upon arrival even if your biological clock is telling you it's nighttime. Similarly, when traveling to London say, and landing in the morning, fight the urge to "go to a hotel room and sleep for several hours," which will only keep you on your departing city time. Instead, the minute you land, go outside and walk around in the sun.

Enter a new contraption called Litebook Elite ($199 at http://www.litebook.com, that uses daylight spectrum LED bulbs, not unlike the light therapy boxes used by sufferers of seasonal affective disorder. The difference is that at five inches square, the Litebook is portable and can be used to help shift your biological clock quickly no matter where in the world you are. Purchasers of the Litebook also gain access to a calculator on the company's Web site. After entering data on their normal wake-up times, as well as what time zones they're traveling from and to, the site spits out a customized schedule of when they should avoid light and when they should engage in light therapy (which usually involves 30- to 60-minute exposure the first day, and 15- to 30-minute exposure the second). Washington Post

2. Destinations

It might be safe to visit Kenya again. Insiders report that Kenya’s most popular parks--Tsavo, Amboseli, Maasai Mara and Naivasha—are waiting for the tourists to return. Tanzania has opened all of its borders, allowing tourist vans and passenger buses to head to Kenyan cities. Visitors to Kenya have doubled during the past three years. ETN

A new government directive has decreed only “genuine” Malaysians can now man the frontline in the country's hospitality industry. "We want tourists to meet 'local' workers, including those pushing trolleys and taking bags," said Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who made the announcement after chairing a cabinet committee on tourism. "We want our airports to give tourists a truly Malaysian welcome." The ruling stems the tide of employer dependency on “imported” labor, which the government has estimated now numbers some 3 million legal foreign workers. ETN

China's railways are expected to carry a record 178.6 million passengers during this year’s Spring Festival travel period, January 23 through March 2. Tickets to Sichuan Province, Chongqing Municipality and Jiangxi Province, where a large number of migrant workers in Beijing come from, have been selling like hot cakes, according to Beijing rail officials. Many of these workers only get the chance to go home and see their families once a year, during the Spring Festival, the most important holiday for Chinese. But train tickets are difficult to come by since millions of Chinese are in the same boat. chinaview.cn

Oops. A leaflet extolling the elysian beauties of Thornham Walks - a 12-mile footpath network in Suffolk, England features a picture of a young girl picking her nose. A local official says the photo “does not represent our youth in the best light" and wants the amateurish pamphlet to be withdrawn. telegraph.co.uk

3. Online

www.VacationRental.org announced a Green Certified Vacation Rental program, identifying environmentally friendly vacation rentals that meet recycling, energy efficiency and energy conservation standards.

Part secret agent, part superhero, William Shatner as the "Priceline Negotiator" returns this week in the first installment of a new series of commercials based on the karate-chopping, hard-bargaining Priceline character. To see the first spots, visit: http://www.priceline.com/promo/shatner_pcln_negotiator.asp.

PhoCusWright’s recent consumer technology survey divided buyers into two groups: those that visited between one and five sites and those that visited more than five. Among the findings, the more than five group were more likely to post travel reviews and be influenced by engaging rich media hooks such as videos and interactive maps. Travel Weekly

4. Ever Wonder Why

New scientific research concludes that Venereal Disease evolved in the Americas and was carried to Europe by the crew of Christopher Columbus. The findings suggest that while the European conquest of the Americas led to the decimation of native populations from diseases such as smallpox, the traffic was not entirely one-way. London Times

Some 3 billion fortune cookies are made each year, but there is one place where the cookies are conspicuously absent: China. The reason, according to a food researcher: Fortune cookies most likely originated in Japan in the mid 1800s or earlier. They were brought to the US and first served in Chop Suey restaurants run by Japanese people in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Originally they were called Fortune Tea Cakes. The cakes became a staple of American culture after World War II when soldiers returning home from the Pacific first came across them in Chinese restaurants on the West Coast. The cookies rapidly spread across the country at the urging of these veterans who asked their local Chinese restuarants why they didn't serve them. NY Times

5. At The Airport

Overcrowded skies? Think again. Consider the ground traffic involving drivers circling the terminal or terminals again and again waiting for arriving passengers to make it to the curb to be picked up. Many airports, from Florida to California, have found a simple partial solution to the problem by creating what they call cellphone parking lots within the airport. The parking is short term and usually free. The lots often have portable toilets and an electronic arrival board to know the status of arriving plans. NY Times

New York State’s airline passenger rights law took affect on January 1. The law requires airlines serving the state to provide passengers with food, water, fresh air, working restrooms, and power on any flight that has been delayed for more than three hours. Failure to do so can result in a fine up to $1,000 per passenger. Travel Weekly

Virgin Atlantic will become the first commercial airline to use biofuel in-flight during a planned demonstration in February on one of its 747s. The Virgin Atlantic 747 will fly from London Heathrow to Amsterdam and is part of airline’s strategy to reduce its environmental impact wherever possible. ETN

In light of yesterday’s plane crash at Heathrow (no one was killed), 2007 was one of the safest on record for air travel. Which begs the question: is one seat safer to sit in than another? The simple fact is that every accident is different and flying is one of the safest things to do, so it shouldn’t matter where you sit, say the experts.

6. Travel Industry Insider

An informal survey of USTOA members revealed that Americans are increasingly looking for action on vacation. Nearly two out of three tour operators responding to a recent member survey conducted by the US Tour Operators Association said that adventure travel is on the rise. The USTOA website — www.USTOA.com or www.USTOA.travel — contains a drop-down list of member companies by type of activity, from heli-hiking to whale watching. For more information by phone contact one 800-go-USTOA (468-7862).

Travel & Tourism created over 231 million jobs worldwide in 2007, making it one of the world's largest employment industries. Over the last year the travel industry accounted for more than 72 million jobs in China, putting China at the top of the employment list followed by India, the United States and Japan. China's Travel & Tourism industry contributed 12.2 per cent of GDP in 07 and the industry's economic activity generated over CNY 3,360 billion (US$439 billion), positioning China's Travel & Tourism economy as the 4th largest in the world, after the United States, Japan and Germany. Globally, the travel industry will need about 1.6 million new employees in the next ten years, according to one expert.

7. Green Escapades

Cruising has achieved the dubious distinction of being named the poorest performing sector of the travel industry when it comes to caring for the environment. Cruise lines may not have carbon-offsetting schemes to publicize, yet there are stringent rules and regulations that lines have to abide by.

There are limits on the sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions allowed from ship exhausts and strict guidelines about dumping waste at sea, although most new ships store waste and bring it back to port for disposal. In a nutshell, vessels must be three nautical miles from land to dump treated sewage or 12 nautical miles for untreated sewage; food waste must be pulped before being dumped within 12 miles of land. By 2010, all cruise ships will have to have either a sewage treatment plant or a sewage holding tank. Telegraph, UK

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

2008-01-11T04:59:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
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1. Online

Last year about 29 percent of leisure travelers used the Internet to book travel, accounting for sales of $86 billion. Since launching in 2000, Trip Advisor has racked up more than 10 million hotel reviews from 5 million registered members, and has more than 25 million unique visitors monthly. Hotel booking sites such as Quikbook, Expedia and Hotels.com also added user reviews from travelers who have booked the hotel through their services. Forrester's research indicates that 36 percent of travelers look at traveler rankings when choosing a hotel, and of those, 73 percent said those reviews affected their choice.

Mapping offered by sites such as Mapquest, Google Maps, Rand McNally and AAA has gone a step further with tools that find gas stations closest to the airport (at Expedia) and ones such as GasBuddy (http://www.gasbuddy.com/) and Mapquest's gas-prices (http://gasprices.mapquest.com/), which help you find cheap gasoline. AAA's Fuel Cost Calculator (http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/) will help figure out how much you're likely to spend on fuel during a trip. And if you're looking for fuel of another sort, Pubwalk maps publishes itineraries for more than 65 U.S. cities.

As groups of friends and family have hit the road together, sites such as http://www.triphub.com/, where group members can discuss plans, plot an itinerary and share maps, have become more popular. Podcasts and mobile-enabled features also are growing. Cities such as Philadelphia (http://www.gophila.com/) offer free podcast tours, while sites such as Priceline have added features that allow travelers with mobile devices (such as phones and PDAs) to check real-time hotel availability, then call directly to someone who can book the room.

Web sites most useful for travelers are those that offer accurate, timely information that's easy to access. That can include up-to-the-hour details on lines and delays at airports (http://www.flightstats.com/ and http://www.orbitz.com/), forecasts about when airfares probably will be cheapest (www.Farecompare.com and http://www.farecast.com/), the best and worst seats on various airplanes (www.Seatguru.com), the price of winning bids on Priceline (http://biddingfortravel.com/), alerts when airfares have dropped on tickets you've already bought (www.Yapta.com), locations of pet-friendly hotels (http://www.dogfriendly.com/) and videos of hotel rooms in Europe (http://www.tvtrip.com/).

Editorial publications such as Cruise Critic, Smarter Travel, World Hum, Hotel Chatter, Professional Travel Guide, and newspapers, magazines and guidebooks offer unbiased expert opinions online. Many feature timely blogs, such as guidebook author Arthur Frommer's blog (www.frommers.com/blog); TravelMavens (http://www.travelmavens.net/), and the Miami Herald's "Travels With Jane" (my blog) and "Exit Strategies," where travelers can post comments and ask questions.

One offline stat: Nearly 90 percent of cruises are booked through travel agents. Dallas Morning News

2. Green Goings

Traveling by train can cause more environmental damage than taking the car or going by bus, experts have found. Older trains on little-used rural routes produce more emissions per passenger than if they all went by road instead. A study on the Inverness-Kyle of Lochalsh line, Scotland, has found that cars and buses would produce a fraction of the pollutants of trains if all of their passengers were switched to the road.

This is because the 20-year-old trains serving the route often run with many empty seats, and their engines are more polluting than the latest road vehicle technology. The study calculated that trains on the Kyle line emitted an average of 4.8kg of sulphur dioxide a day, compared with 0.1kg for cars and zero for buses. Nitrogen oxide emissions were 37.5kg for trains, 9.2kg for cars and 6.7kg for buses. Emissions of particulates were also ten times higher on trains. Carbon dioxide emissions were higher on trains as well – 3,689kg, compared with 3,211kg for cars and 904kg for buses.The Scottish Government's Transport Scotland agency countered, stating that such comparisons between rail and road were not straightforward. The Scotsman

3. Star Wars

Even though MAXjet went caput in December, both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are planning to experiment with their own all-premium-class discount airlines on trans-Atlantic routes. BA’s service, developed under the code name, Project Lauren, is expected to begin service in May. Virgin Air plans a start later this year or in early 2009. NY Times

American Airlines will retrofit up to three of its plane with anti-missile technology this spring in the latest trials to protect commercial planes from attack. ETN

4. Staying Power

Provence Property For Sale: Exceptional location at the foot of the Palace of the Pope, view of the Rhone River, 10,280 square meters. The property, built in 1865, includes two gyms, library, cinema, kitchen and more. St. Anne Prison in the ancient walled city of Avignon is one of properties the French government is seeking to unload to boost state finances. Recently sold: the former residence of the commander of the French Foreign Legion and an opulent Foreign Ministry Building. Washington Post

Las Vegas plans to launch a new advertising program to build on its successful 03 campaign: "What Happens Here Stays Here." The new initiative, "Your Vegas Is Showing," showcases the city’s gourmet dining and high fashion offerings. New construction, totaling about $35 billion, is currently in progress that will yield 30,000 new hotel rooms by 2013. WSJ

Following the Hilton and Hyatt’s lead, Marriott is the latest hotel chain to install kiosks that allow guests to bypass a stop at the front desk and electronically check in. IBM has since installed more than 3,000 kiosks at 200-plus locations to date. ASTA

5. On the Water

The QE 2 set sail Sunday on its final global voyage before being turned into a floating hotel. Carnival sold the ship for about 50 million pounds (67 million euros, 99 million dollars) in November to the investment arm of Dubai’s state-owned tourism company, Dubai World. On return in April, she will be refurbished and turned into a five-star hotel at a specially-constructed pier on the world's largest man-made island, The Palm Jumeirah.

Launched by her namesake in September 1967, the QE2 has traveled 5.5 million nautical miles -- the equivalent of traveling to the moon and back 13 times -- undertaken 25 world cruises, crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, and carried more than two million passengers. ETN
Foreign cruise ships sailing from California to Hawaii would have to spend at least two days in Mexico under a proposed federal rule meant to help U.S.-flagged ships better compete with them. Cruises departing from Los Angeles and San Diego typically include a short, token stop in Ensenada, Mexico, to meet federal laws that require ships flying under foreign flags to dock in another country before going to other U.S. ports.

The rule change proposed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection would force those ships to stay in a foreign port for at least 48 hours and allow passengers to go ashore. ETN

6. Marketing Trends

With 37 million Americans over the age of 65 and 30 million more expected to cross that line in the next decade, we serve-up four ways to group these post-retirement consumers. “Ageless Explorers” or “Rich Retirees” who respond to images of silver-haird scuba divers reinventing themselves. “Comfortable Contents” are also wealthy, but more attracted to scenes of fisherman, friendly dogs and rocking chairs.

They want to spend their final years free from the responsibilities of work, social obligations and worrying about anyone else. “Live For Todays” wish they could relax, but didn’t save much, so their financial anxieties make them easy targets for Costa Rican retirement communities and thrifty insurance plans. “Sick and Tireds” are basically those in their final days who are attracted to anything that makes the waiting less painful, particularly if it costs less than $20. NY Times

What China’s seriously rich (those with at least 10 million yuan or $1.37 million in personal wealth) want most: a survey of 660 people found that 18 per cent are interested in a space tour, and 11.7 percent say that cruising on luxury yachts would become part of their life. France was the hottest destination in Europe for its romantic allure and the glitz of the Riviera while shoppers' paradise Dubai was the most favored in the Middle East. Remy Martin along with Royal Salute whisky and Hennessy cognac topped are tops in the liquor cabinet.

Add Rolex and BMW to the mix too. Those surveyed acquired their wealth mainly from the manufacturing, real estate and tertiary industries, with most of them in the 31-45 age group. A list by World Entrepreneur magazine this month estimates that China boasts the second largest number of billionaires in the world after the US. The number of people with more than $1 billion in assets has reached 146, compared to 85 last year, it says. China Daily

7. Hot Destinations

Despite the weak dollar, there are still places where you can find a good value this year. In Europe, Portugal, as well as eastern European destinations like Montenegro are good choices. Latin America is hot, and Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil are standout destinations for 2008. Travel + Leisure

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/.

2008-01-04T04:58:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
please support the Weekend Reader by clicking on the ads above and visiting www.itinarod.com

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/

2007-12-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
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1. Priciest Restaurants in America

Forbes Magazine recently compiled a list of America’s priciest restaurants. At the top of the list was Masa at the Time Warner Center in New York City where the 30-course Omakase dinner special costs at least $400 per person. The price of the meal can easily exceed $1,000 when you factor in the tax, tip and one of the restaurant’s superior sakes. View the complete list at: http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/06/restaurants-expensive-us-forbeslife-cx_pl_1206food_slide_2.html?partner=yahoo.

Zagat’s Survey of America's Top Restaurants concludes that New York City continues to be the most costly U.S. city in which to dine out, with an average tab of $39.46. By comparison, Zagat's national average is $33.29. New Orleans and Austin were the least expensive cities to dine at $26.18 and $25.30, respectively. U.S. restaurants cost roughly half of what their peers do in cities such as London ($79.46), Paris ($74.24) and Tokyo ($69.58). Yahoo

2. Down Mexico Way

Don’t forget to bring your ice skates when planning a trip to Mexico City this winter. An enormous rink, possibly the largest in the world, has been constructed in the City’s historic central square where Aztecs once made sacrifices to their gods and Spanish viceroys ruled New Spain. The rink measures 133 feet by 253 feet, with 46 miles of tubes running underneath the ice to 10 truck-size chilling machines each capable of freezing a small rink itself.

The rink opened on December 1 at a cost $1.5 million and is free to all comers during the month of December. On the first Sunday in December, more than 12,000 people took to the ice in 45-session intervals while 50,000 crowded around to watch. Don’t worry if you didn’t bring your skates. The rental shop has more than 2,400 pairs in stock. The rink is part of a campaign by Mexico City’s to bring fun to a city known for its smog and traffic. Last summer, the City trucked in sand to build artificial beaches at seven public pools. On Sundays, the City’s main avenues are closed for cycling and roller skating. NY Times

3. Online Buzz

Wired Magazine says Yahoo’s FareCase was the best of the new travel search engines to find a low air fare. The magazine conducted eight test searches, comparing FareChase, Farecast, SideStep, and Kayak, and found pricing varied by as much as $100.

IgoUgo and sister company Travelocity have launched a voluntourism community forum where users can share their trip experiences, http://travelforgood.igougo.com/. Travel Weekly

New Website, http://www.fabsearch.com/, scours trendy magazines for where-to-go info. Search by location or by publication.

Guided video tours of destinations around the world created by local filmmakers: http://www.geobeats.com/.

4. Taxing Experiences

Some of the taxes you might encounter when purchasing an air ticket using, as an example, a ticket with a base price of $228 for travel within the US, or to Canada and the UK.

Fuel Surcharge: 140.00
Canada Airport Improvement Fee: 23.55
US Transportation Tax: 30.20
US Agriculture Fee: 5.00
US Passenger Facility Charge: $3 to $18
US Federal Customs Fee: 5.50
US Flight Segment Tax: 3.40 per segment
Canada Quebec Sales Tax: 1.22
Canada Goods and Services Tax: 1.41
UK Passenger Service Charge: 29.20
UK Air Passenger Duty: 81.67
September 11 Security Fee: 2.50 per flight segment
US Immigration User: Fee 7.00

Travel in Europe: Countries signing the Schengen agreement this week: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The Schengen agreement, created in 1985, eliminates internal passport checkpoints between member EU countries. It also places heavy restrictions on non EU citizens, especially those living and working in a country illegally. Under the agreement, foreigners are not permitted to stay in the Schengen zone for more than 90 days within a rolling six-month time frame without a valid work permit or visa.

In other words, foreign travelers will not be able to renew their 90-day tourist visas by simply crossing the border from one country to the next, a popular way for expats teaching English language courses in many Central and Eastern countries where demand for teachers is high. Already in the zone: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Boston Globe

Five Unusual travel fees from analyst Henry Harteveldt:

-- An executive officer for a government organization in Washington believes she has found one of these perfect fees. It's listed as a $5-a-day "GOVT ADMIN RATE SUPP" on her staff's car rental bills.

-- A traveler checked into an Embassy Suites property in Atlanta, ordered dinner in her room, and paid a 20 percent service charge along with a $2.25 tray fee.

-- When checking out of the Hilton Trinidad & Conference Centre, a traveler found a mysterious $1-a-day surcharge--a donation directed to a charity favored by the then-prime minister.

-- A traveler received an overnight envelope at the Las Vegas Marriott Suites along with a $5 fee for envelope delivery.

-- Checking into the upscale Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, can set you back $400 a night with an added $36 a night for turndown services, where the housekeeper pulls down the bedspreads, drops a chocolate on your pillow and draws the curtains. Tribune Media Services

5. Some of the Top 07 Travel Stories Courtesy of MSNBC

January—In an attempt to grab some of its neighbors’ tourism dollars, Cambodia renovated and reopened an unused airport built more than 40 years ago by the Soviet in the port town of Sihanoukville. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) went into effect, requiring all passengers flying into the U.S. to carry passports upon entry and reentry. Southwest Airlines nearly killed a hepatitis-C patient awaiting a liver transplant because he refused to purchase an extra ticket (due to his weight). Southwest later apologized and issued a refund.

February--JetBlue stranded passengers on a runway for 11 hours spurring the need for Traveler Rights legislation.

March--Las Vegas strip symbol Stardust Resort & Casino was razed to make room for a new casino.

April--Google's My Map's enhancement debuted, which enables anyone with basic Web-tech skills to create custom maps and embed them on their own Web sites.

May—Avis added a Wi-Fi feature for its car rentals.

June—In response to passport processing delays, the US relaxes border controls allowing citizens to reenter the country without a passport as long as they had already applied for one.

July--On 7-7-7 the new Seven Wonders of the World were announced. One day later, Boeing introduced its new Dreamliner 787, claiming it was the most environmentally friendly aircraft in the world.

August-- Richard Branson's Virgin America debuted with a goal of becoming America’s transcontinental version of RyanAir, the Irish airliner that shuttles Europeans across their own continent for outrageously cheap fares.

September--The colossal Venetian Macau opened in China. The death of an over-excited passenger in the Phoenix airport caused some to question the use of extreme force by security personnel.

October--the executive director of the UN's Environment Programme told conference-goers in Davos, Switzerland, that "the tourism industry is both challenged by climate change and a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions." The Airbus 380 finally took its first commercial flight, from Singapore to Sydney on behalf of Singapore Airlines as a transit strike crippled Paris.

November--Japan unveiled new border controls, including new biometric scanning and fingerprinting for all incoming foreigners. The dollar caved against the euro, reaching an all-time low.

December—Availability of inexpensive air tickets to Florida from the snowbound northeast.

6. Land Was Created For Boats To Visit

Last month a near mutiny occurred aboard the Sapphire Princess, a 2,600-passenger cruise ship on a 16-night voyage with scheduled stops in Singapore, Shanghai and other Asian ports. Two late-season typhoons severely disrupted the trip, canceling port calls in Vietnam, Okinawa and Taipei, and unhappy passengers rushed to Internet stations to tell the world. Some claimed they were on the verge of mutiny while the ship was still at sea.

In January 2006, a mutiny took place aboard the Queen Mary 2 when passengers organized sit-ins and alerted the news media of their grievances by sending e-mails and making cellphone calls from the ship. At issue was a broken propeller that hobbled the ship and forced the cancellation of three port calls which infuriated passengers to the point where they held tense onboard meetings with the embattled ship captain. NY Times

7a. New Travel Inspiring Books To Get You Going in 08

Women seeking vacation ideas should consider reading, "100 Places Every Woman Should Go," Travelers' Tales, by globe-trotting author Stephanie Elizondo Griest ($16.95; ISBN: 978-193236147-6). Griest has selected 100 travel destinations and written about them from a woman’s perspective. Among the destinations she has chosen that are notable because of their deep association with women in history: the tomb of Hatshepsut in Egypt, Sappho's island of Lesbos in Greece, Joan of Arc's grave in France, Frida Kahlo's cobalt blue home in Mexico and the childhood home of Flannery O'Connor in Savannah, Ga. Chicago Tribune

Looking for the offbeat? Try "100 Greatest Trips," from Travel + Leisure magazine ($20). The guide features offbeat itineraries in familiar places like New York where you can go shopping in Harlem at Atmos, the Japanese sneaker store, and N, a designer emporium. In Mexico, follow the tequila trail in Jalisco. In London, eat your way around Borough Market.

Lonely Planets "Bluelist: The Best in Travel 2008," ($23) includes sections on events around the world by month and exploring travel in Muslim countries. The book also offers a list of "bests" — from "best-value destinations" such as Nicaragua and Laos to "best brews" — beer headquarters from Pottsville, Pa. (Yuengling), to the Mussel Inn, New Zealand's "remotest boutique microbrewery." Visit www.lonelyplanet.com/bluelist to submit your list of must-see places. Seattle Times

7b. Final Takes As We Enter 08

So how do ticket brokers get those tickets for sold out events? They use specialized software to make multiple online purchases of tickets, circumventing the four-ticket-per-customer limit that the rest of us must abide by. The “How” is described in supplemental documents filed in Ticketmaster Versus. RMG Technologies, asserting that the defendant’s automated ticket-buying software violated the Ticketmaster Web site’s user policies. The documents describe a subterranean world of software designed to enter Ticketmaster’s online ticket-purchasing system at will and scoop up tickets without limits. NY Times

A 121-year-old law, commonly known as the Jones Act, could significantly impact the Alaska Cruise trade and has the Juneau Chamber of Commerce worried. The story begins in Hawaii with a request by the U.S. Department of Maritime Administration, concerned about foreign competition, to ensure that U.S. Customs enforces current regulations. At issue for Alaskans is the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886 which could be reinterpreted by the Department of Customs and Border Protection in a way that requires all foreign ships sailing the lucrative Seattle to Southeast Alaska routes to stop longer in Canada and effectively reduce the number of cruise passengers visiting Juneau. The Juneau Chamber claims the city would loose 368,370 potential shoppers and tour customers if the new criteria goes into effect. ETN

Luxury travel trends from a marketing consultancy in Miami...Mature affluents are gravitating to “stealth wealth.” They seek luxury travel products that express personal interests and style, and prize uniqueness. They want new, exciting experiences; to be intrigued, entertained and enlightened. And, most important, they will spend top dollar to be first, or reach the most remote, exotic places.

More trends you should be aware of in the luxury travel market--A recent survey of American Express travel agents revealed a significant rise in luxury travel among families; 82% wanted high-end hotels with kids programs and 56% were traveling with nannies.

Time saving services will rule the day. Enter the concierge to manage the overload. Enter services such as Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class Wing - a fast track security channel to get passengers from limo to lounge in ten minutes or less. Enter name-brand stores at airports targeting the power spender on layovers. Heathrow’s Terminal 5, set to open in March 2008, will have a two-story Harrod’s department store, stocking only luxury brands.

Today’s wealthy want to believe their consumption is helping to save the planet or has an altruistic motive behind it. The operative words are: truth, transparency and trust.

Health, well-being and looks are the magic words fueling expansion of spa and medical tourism. Enter the mobile spa, macho spas for men, and spas for pets. Five star hotels are increasingly offering medi-healthy packages in alliance with neighboring medical facilities. Age management programs will help the rich look and feel young.

Contemporary music composer John Cage once said: “the greatest luxuries are time and space.” Leave it to the airlines to try outdoing each other in offering the world's largest airplane bed. Top hotel suites will get larger and pricier too, appealing to the super wealthy accustomed to homes of 10,000 sq.ft. or more.

Rich’ Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler222 Communications. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. andtyler222@verizon.net http://www.itinarod.com/

2007-12-14T04:57:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
{don’t forget to support the Weekend Reader by clicking on the ads above.}

1. Airbus Gossip

A report by a NY research company, Basex, claims that Airbus' failure to share knowledge and collaborate among its multinational companies in recent years will cost the aircraft maker a staggering euro 4.8 billion ($7 billion) over the next four years.

Airbus, which recently delivered the first A380 superjumbo to Singapore Airlines, has faced repeated delays due to software and IT issues as well as cost overruns in the project, which is now two years behind schedule and 50 percent over budget.

2. Online

Facebook has become the preferred haunt of the 20 something crowd. The online social network, with more than four million users, recently added a “Where I’ve Been” application that allows its members to mark on a big blue map all of the countries in the world that they have visited.

The most popular destination is Florida followed by NY, California, France and Pennsylvania. Australia is ranked the place most people want to visit, followed by Italy, Brazil, Spain and New Zealand. The least desirable is "Russian Soil" followed by Pemba, Madeira, Tonga and Newfoundland. Only four Facebook users surveyed have been to Tonga, 12 to Newfoundland and 14 to Zanzibar, and strangely, more have been to Antarctica than have been to Western Australia. Facebook also features a travel quiz to test your world knowledge, travel chat rooms and more. Manchester Guardian

A new Internet radio travel show debuts: http://www.letstravelradio.com/. A podcast of each week's show is available on the Web site after the Thursday broadcast.

Boston along with Providence, Dallas, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Paul became the latest cities where Google users can employ the popular search engine’s controversial Street View feature to plan a vacation, search for a shop and restaurant, or check out local landmarks. The feature, which covers only certain streets and neighborhoods, offers 360-degree street level images so clear that passersby can often be identified.

When it was launched last May in SF, people complained about everything from photos of recognizable men entering adult bookstores to an image of a cat in a window. 15 US cities now have the feature including New York and Chicago. Boston Globe

3. China Watch

China’s Legislative Affairs Office has proposed a rule that will penalize Chinese travel agencies if they force tourists to go shopping outside of the itineraries stipulated by their travel contracts. The agencies would be penalized from RMB100,000 to RMB500,000, and may also have their business licenses revoked.

A travel-in-China contract must include 10 important details such as departure location; places of connection; final destination; transportation arrangement and its standard; accommodation and its standard; dining arrangement and its standard; tour charges during the journey; times for shopping; time for the entire stay; and name of shopping venues. Travel agencies are not allowed to lure customers by pricing their products lower than the total travel cost. Many agencies offer cheap tours in exchange for forcing travelers to buy merchandise from expensive shops that offer commissions to the travel agencies. China Hospitality News

4. 10 Safety Tips for Women Travelers

TravelSmart magazine offers these possibly life saving gems:

1. Blend in, don't bring attention to yourself.

2. Leave the expensive jewelry at home.

3. Wear a costume wedding band if you're single and don't want to be approached by men.

4. Travel with a shawl to cover valuables and your head in places where religions require such attire.

5. Skip wearing high heels.

6. Ask directions from someone in uniform.

7. Keep your camera and guidebook out of sight.

8. Never reveal to a stranger where you're staying.

9. Stand near other women.

10. Give up your bag or valuables to a thief. They're not worth your life.

5. The Other Side of Travel: Food for Thought

A new term entered the lexicon of travel a few years ago: “Food Miles.” Enlightened environmental groups, especially in Europe, are pushing for labels that show how far food has traveled to get to the market and books like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” contemplate the damage caused by trucking, shipping and flying food from distant parts of the globe.

According to the WorldWatch Institute, food in the US typically travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to plate, as much as 25 percent farther than in 1980. In Iowa, for example, the typical carrot has traveled 1,600 miles from California, a potato 1,200 miles from Idaho, and a chuck roast 600 miles from Colorado. 75 percent of the apples sold in New York City come from the West Coast or overseas.

The food miles equation is complicated and depends on many factors. Distance and the type of transportation used are the obvious ones. Also to be considered: use of pesticides and fertilizers; use of hormones, antibiotics, and genetic engineering; soil and water conservation; safe and fair working conditions for on-farm labor; healthy and humane care for livestock; protection and enhancement of wildlife habitat and biodiversity on working farm landscapes; food-related energy consumption; greenhouse gas emissions through energy conservation; recycling, and packaging.

According to a report by the U.K. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, it is more environmentally friendly for tomatoes to be grown in Spain and transported to the U.K. than for the same tomatoes to be grown in greenhouses in the U.K. requiring electricity to light and heat them.

One way to help consumers through this dilemma of calculating the effect of their food purchases is to have mandatory country of origin labels. In the US, COOL was incorporated into the 2002 Farm Bill as a way of protecting American consumers from mad cow disease and other threats from imported food. It was never implemented, at least partly due to lobbying by corporate agribusiness, the large supermarket chains and trading partners like Canada, Mexico and Australia. However, some groups are now lobbying for the implementation of COOL as a way to measure the environmental impact of food.

Other countries are already starting to implement programs. Beginning next year, Sweden will introduce a labeling system that will enable users to choose food according to the impact its production and transportation methods have on the climate. In the UK, the supermarket chain Tesco plans to label every product in its stores. The Carbon Trust, a government agency, has already produced a prototype label and is trying it out on shampoo, fruit juice and potato chips.

In Canada, a new Toronto organization called Local Flavour Plus is developing standards by which it can certify farmers and processors and then link them with local purchasers

Learn More:

Food Links - UK - http://www.foodlinks-uk.org/
Life Cycles - Victoria BC- www.lifecyclesproject.ca/initiatives/food_miles
Local Flavour Plus - Toronto ON - http://www.localflavourplus.ca/
Local Harvest - USA - http://www.localharvest.org/
Food Routes - USA - http://www.foodroutes.org/
The Hundred Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon (2007, Random House) http://www.100milediet.org/ Information for this article compiled from various sources.

6. Where to Go in 08

Laos, Lisbon and Tunisia topped the list of the top 50 must-go-to destinations in 2008. Greenland was named the top adventure destination; Argentina, budget; Africa, family; Istanbul, food; Moscow, luxury; Dubai, party; Berlin, culture; and Kazakhstan, emerging.

Among the lesser know places making the list:

Mauritius www.mauritius.net/index.php
Havar http://www.hvar.hr/
Courchevel http://www.courchnet.com/
Sylt http://gogermany.about.com/od/greatdestinations/p/sylt.htm
Verbier http://www.verbier.ch/
Lombok www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/asia/indonesia/lombok
Roatan www.roatanisland.net/tindex.htm
Malawi www.africaguide.com/country/malawi
Virgin Gorda http://www.bvitourism.com/

Two northern destinations where you can see the effects of global warming first hand: Greenland http://www.greenland.com/, and Svalbard www.bergen-guide.com/831.htm.

Visitors fly into Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, the site of a former US military base, where they can picnic at the foot of the polar ice cap and stare at a 250-foot wall of ice that, if it melts, has the potential to raise the world’s oceans by 24 feet. Also popular is the Illulissat ice fjord, a 45-minute flight from Kangerlussuaq and the site of the fastest retreating glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. A melting Artic means that its ecosystem will not last forever. Among the wildlife being placed at risk due to the warming trend: polar bears, narwhals, musk oxen, seals, and reindeer.

Another popular destination is Svalbard, an archipelago several hundred miles north of Scandinavia and part of Norway. The number of tourists visiting the island have doubled in the past decade thanks to summers of suddenly passable seas and 24-hours of sunshine. The most popular island, Spitsbergen, has been called the Tenerife of the North. Tenerife is the largest of 7 Canary Islands off the coast of Africa and a popular resort. NY Times

7. Up in the Air

Over the last few months, United, American, and US Airways have said they will look into spinning off their frequent-flier programs into a separate company. Analysts and investors say such a move would provide a higher stock value for the new company, possibly worth more than the carrier’s themselves.

On the plus side, an independent mileage program would increase the number of ways consumers earn miles and would expand the number of ways to use them—from booking hotel rooms to buying electronic goods. On the downside, as the miles pile up, there could be more competition for already limited frequent-flier seats and class upgrades. CNN

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/.

2007-12-07T05:07:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Not Knowing Where You Are Going Has Its Advantages

Mysteryflights.com.au is attempting to put romance back into air travel with daytrips and short stays to surprise destinations. Hop aboard. A day trip costs $295 (AU) and a night trip with hotel accommodation costs $395. Wind up in Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, the Sunshine Coast or Launceston. The service is geared for indecisive travelers that can’t decide where to go and for people buying gifts for indecisive friends. http://www.mysteryflights.com.au/. Sydney Sun Herald

2. Up In The Air

Continental Airlines joined British Airways, Delta, Cathay Pacific, SAS, and a few other airlines with the launch of a carbon offsetting program. Continental’s program is in partnership with non-profit Sustainable Travel International. The voluntary program allows customers worldwide to view the carbon footprint of their booked itinerary, which Sustainable Travel International calculates from fuel consumption of Continental's aircraft, and to make a contribution to Sustainable Travel International.

Proceeds fund the purchase of carbon offsets, which are generated from high-impact sustainable development projects that are designed to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/

Separately, Southwest Airlines, who earlier this year seemed to be losing ground to its competition, might have trumped the industry by loading up years ago on hedges against higher fuel prices. With oil trading above $90 a barrel, Southwest is purchasing the sweet crude through 2009 for about $51 a barrel. Most of the major airlines passed on buying all but the shortest-term insurance against high fuel prices. NY Times

3. Online

A 300-mile cross-country ski trail that transverses Vermont from the Massachusetts to Canadian borders is now open. Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow. http://www.catamounttrail.org/.

Avoid the rental lines at ski slopes with a new company that comes to you. Door 2 Door serves 14 Westerns mountain ski resorts. http://www.d2dskis.com/

A vacation home and condo rental company serving several Western states offers this guarantee: you may switch to a property in another area with better conditions. http://www.snowguarantee.com/.

Roughly one in 10 travelers hit the road alone last year. Some companies that specialize in lone travel: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/ for small, off-the-beaten-the tours to places like Peru and Nepal. http://www.absolutetravel.com/ is a Manhattan-based travel agency which pairs compatible travelers on customized luxury trips. http://www.countrywalkers.com/ specializes in trips for women. http://www.cstn.org/ tracks solo vacation alternatives.

Registered users at http://www.redweek.com/, a timeshare exchange, rental and resales website, picked The Manhattan Club of New York City as the Top resort in this timeshare class, followed by Disney’s Beach Club Villas, located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, near Orlando. Harborside Resort at Atlantis on Paradise Island, Bahamas. Visit to site to see top 25 list.

4. Walking The Line

Boston officials were a bit peeved when the Brookings Institution named Washington D.C. as America’s most walkable city. Boston ranked second, ahead of SF, Denver and Portland, Ore. The study used a formula that counted the number of walkable urban places per resident. Boston began promoting itself as America’s Walking City in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a way to combat the feeling that the city’s twisted streets and Big Dig related traffic jams made navigating by car a nightmare. Boston Globe

5. Holiday Cheers

What’s featured in the works of Picasso, Degas, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh; that was frequently drunk by the likes of poets Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Verlaine, writers such as Hemingway, and actors including Johnny Depp and Marilyn Monroe? Absinthe, a green spirit made with grand wormwood. Absinthe had been banned in the US since 1912 until earlier this year. The drink is said to cause hallucinations, delirium and insanity. Boston Globe

6. This and That

Come to Turkmenistan which recently announced the start of a $5 billion tourism development project along the Caspian Sea that will include hotels, parks, fountains and roads. ASTA SmartBrief/Wall Street Journal

Air America Radio, the liberal chat network, announced it would sponsor its first vacation cruise this February. Priced at $1,380 to $6,305 per person, the cruise will visit ports of call like Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, and feature high-brow seminars led by Air America hosts, and a columnist from the NY Times. “The boat is going to lean so far left that I fear for the passengers’ safety,” quipped one prominent conservative blogger. NY Times

7. On The Ground

New York City remains the capital of limo or “chauffeured” services followed by Chicago, Washington, Boston, SF, LA, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami and Orlando, according to a survey by Limousine & Chauffeured Transportation. Coast to Coast there are about 131,000 vehicles in this $2.4 billion a year travel classification. Solo operators can make anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 or more per year. Avis/Budget Group recently invested $60 million in Carey International, the industry’s top performer with annual revenues of about $250 million. The survey found that corporate customers care mostly about basics, including efficient luggage handling and knowing the best routes. On-time pickup, clean interiors and professional driving were also concerns. 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/.

2007-11-30T05:02:00.001-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
(please support the Weekend Reader by clicking on the ads above)

1. Zagat Goes Beyond Restaurant Reviews

Zagat, the company that loves to do surveys, tackled the airline industry for the first time, naming Midwest, Virgin America and Jet Blue as the best for economy and coach service. Virgin America, Continental and regional carrier Hawaiian Airlines topped the list for first and business class. Southwest, Continental and Jet Blue were most consistently on time. The biggest loser in the survey was US Airways, which took last place for premium and economy service and for punctuality.

2. Keeping Up With Jones Online

A guide to some of the new and reincarnated travel search and book sites from The Canadian Press.

http://www.boo.com/ offers travel reviews from consumers, search capabilities for 2,500 destinations in 170 countries, comparison hotel prices, and booking through boo or hotel websites.
www.vayama.com: An online booking agency for international air travel with flight and fare options to about 190 countries.

http://www.vibeagent.com/ Combines user-generated reviews, meta-search capabilities, and social networking ala TripAdvisor + Kayak + Facebook for personalized hotel recommendations and booking at the best prices for 120,000 hotels.

http://www.yellowpages.travel/ up to 12 travel websites, including Orbitz, Kayak, Expedia and SideStep. Users click on each site's logo at the top of the page for the results.

http://www.searchboth.com/ a subsidiary of YELLOWPAGES.travel, allows users to search two travel sites at the same time and places the results from the sites on a split screen.

http://www.professionaltravelguide.com/ Offers reviews of hotels and restaurants from professionals - journalists and expert reviewers from the travel industry - including insider tips and specific, detailed information about more than 159,000 hotels.

http://www.yapta.com/ Stands for Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant. Enables travelers to tag flights from several airlines, including American, United, Delta and Continental, and alerts them when the fare drops. But unlike farecast.com, which predicts whether prices are rising or dropping, yapta can continue tracking prices even after you purchase the ticket.

http://www.tripit.com/ Organizes travel plans into one master online itinerary. Forward flight, hotel, rental car, and other confirmations to an e-mail account, and TripIt will e-mail travelers with the link so they can see and manage the itinerary.

http://www.orbitz.com/ Offers a new social networking component - OrbitzTLC Traveler Update - with real-time updates from travelers about security wait times, traffic and parking, taxis, etc. at more than 40 airports.

http://www.besttripchoices.com/ Matches travel personalities with best destinations.

http://www.fabsearch.com/ For the fashion-conscious traveler. Fabsearch features blurbs on hip restaurants and trendy hotels from media mentions in sources ranging from Vogue and Town and Country magazine to DailyCandy.com, the Financial Times and Wallpaper.

Yahoo! Trip Planner (http://travel.yahoo.com/) : Helps travelers create a personalized guide for an upcoming trip, with information on hotels, attractions and restaurants, and share the details of their trip with friends and other travelers.

http://www.americanexpress.com/ Click on Travel, then Local Color, a one-stop shop for travel information. Combines Lonely Planet Guides, IgoUgo reviews and Travel + Leisure magazine articles to give travelers "local color" about a place. (Travel + Leisure is published by American Express Publishing Corporation).
www.travelocity.roadtripwizard.com: Helps travelers plan U.S. road trips, with maps and step-by-step directions. Features info on shopping, restaurants, festivals and other attractions, with directions on how to get there.

http://www.cfares.com/ Searches airline and travel websites. Users can purchase a platinum membership for $50 a year, which provides access to the site's best priced wholesale fares and special fares from the airlines.

http://www.everywhere.com/ a magazine about travel with reader-generated stories.

http://www.everyscape.com/ Take a 3-D tour of Cambridge, Mass.. The company also charges between $250 to $2,000 to create an online indoor tour of a business.

http://www.itinarod.com/ Continues its evolution, enabling visitors to search for the best travel planning web site by selecting the appropriate personality profile.

3. Asia Offline

The Indonesian government will present medals to foreign tourists who have visited the country at least 20 times. The initiative is designed to encourage more foreign tourists to this South Asian country. Indonesia plans to launch "Visit Indonesia Year 2008" in the next few weeks and expects to attract seven million tourists, one million more than 2007. ETN

4. Along the Green Trail

The recent cruise mishap in Antarctica brings to light the rapid rise of ship tourism in this last major ungoverned territory on earth and concern for the continent’s fragile environment. More than 35,000 tourists are expected to visit Antarctica this spring and summer, compared to just 6,750 in 1992-93.

The flotilla bringing the tourists include small ships like the 100 passenger Linblad Explorer that disappeared beneath the sea last month with 48,000 gallons of marine diesel fuel, to the Golden Princess with its 2,500 passengers and 1,200 crew members. At issue: With Antarctica being an ungoverned territory, there are no obvious answers about who is responsible for dealing with any environmental damage the Explorer may cause or how methods can be created to prevent future sinkings.

The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS, regulate international relations in Antarctica. Initially signed by 12 countries in the early 1960s, the Treaty now includes more than 46 countries and sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity. Seven countries lay claim to land: Chile, United Kingdom, Argentina, Norway, Australia, France and New Zealand.

One non-government group keeping watch is the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), an association of environmental organizations that participate in Antarctic treaty meetings. Founded in 1978, AS0C is a global coalition of more than 100 environmental organizations. Its mission is to ensure that the Antarctic continent and its surrounding islands and ocean survive as the earth’s least unspoiled wilderness. Learn more at http://www.asoc.org/. NY Times and other sources

Separately, Former VP and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore served as key note speaker at the Conference on the Environment hosted in mid-November by the National Coral Reef Institute and the Turks and Caicos government. The focus of the conference was “Thinking Green, Adapting to Climate Change.” In attendance were ministers of the environment from a number of Caribbean Community nations (CARICOM).

Gore encouraged the group to consider environmental, social, and political issues when planning economic strategy. The Conference was the culmination of the Turks and Caicos’ year-long efforts to commemorate 2007 as the Year of the Environment. Key objectives during the year were to raise the level of environmental consciousness and develop public and private partnerships to manage the environment.

Turks and Caicos invests more than $5 million annually in the upkeep of reefs and the environment; schedules activities such as beach cleanups and tree-planting events; endorses environmentally friendly products; and helps develop partnerships to manage the environment. Travel Weekly

5. Moon Over New Hampshire

Riders of the Mount Washington Cog Railway enjoy the natural views as it chugs up New England’s tallest peak. The Ride has been called the Railway to the Moon. But there is double meaning here. Eight hikers were recently cited for dropping their pants and “mooning” passengers as the train went by. “Mooning the Cog” is something of a tradition for people hiking the Appalachian Trail. Its origins are unclear. Some say it started as a way for hikers to protest the noise and smoke coming from the train. Others say it started as, and continues to be, nothing but a joke. NY Times

6. Luxury Travel Report

So, what do celebrities and other A-list travelers bring on a trip? Kimora Lee Simmons, president of Baby Phat and creative director of Phat Fashions, wears lightweight fabrics on long flights. She also staves off dehydration by drinking lots of water. When it comes to packing, Simmons swears by her Louis Vuitton luggage.

Barenaked Ladies lead vocalist Steven Page never leaves home without his noise-canceling Bose headphones, iPod and laptop. He also recycles plastic water bottles, filling them up with tap water, shampoo or lotion.
Where to stay? Celebrities favor luxurious ones, of course, especially boutique hotels. The Mondrian Hotel and the Sunset Marquis in Los Angeles, and the W Hotel Times Square and the Trump Hotel in New York, to drop a few names. Montel Williams' chain of choice is the Ritz Carlton. He's also fanatical about tipping well and being polite to the staff. Forbes.com

The Top 20 luxury magazines: Departures. Private Clubs. Robb Report. Harvard Business Review. Barron’s. ABA Journal. The Economist. New York Magazine. Financial Times. W. Architectural Digest. Veranda. Conde nast Traveler. The Wall Street Journal. the New Yorker. Fast company. NY Times. Yachting. Wine Spectator. www.luxurytravel360.com

7. Singapore Sling

To enhance its role as the region’s airline hub, Singapore’s tourism board is developing programs to give visitors waiting between flights something to do. The $48 million master plan includes a luxurious spa retreat, a new habitat for the breeding and display of the Singapore’s Zoos’s five cheetahs, and turning a 3-hectare site into a nature park. ETN

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

2007-11-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Online Wonders

Visit the newly redesigned http://www.itinarod.com/ site featuring a collection of the best web addresses to help plan a vacation or business trip. Also, don’t forget to click on the ads above to support the Weekend Reader.

2. Pilgrim’s Pride

Today, religious travel, tourism, and hospitality is a booming $18-billion industry with 300 million travelers. The Travel Industry Association of America reports that one in four travelers are currently interested in “spiritual vacations.” More than 50,000 churches and religious organizations host travel programs, with first-class travel as a focus.

This sector of the industry breaks down in to 12 segments: Pilgrimages, Missionary, Cruises, Leisure/getaways, Conferences/conventions, Destinations/attractions, Retreats/guesthouses, Christian camps, Adventure/active, Volunteer vacations, Student/youth, Family/intergenerational.

The religious conventions and meetings business, acccording to the Religious Conference Management Association, experienced an increase from 4.4 million attendees to 14.7 million attendees at religious meetings between 1994 and 2006. Pilgrimages also witnessed a dramatic increase. For example, the Vatican nearly doubled the number of visitors in the past 10 years to an all-time high in 2006 of 4.2 million.

Other famous shrines and sites have also experienced similar growth including Lourdes, Fatima, San Giovanni Rotondo, Assisi, Canterbury Cathedral, Geneva, Germany Reformation sites, and biblical sites along the route of Apostle Paul in Greece and Turkey. Holy Land destinations such as Jordan and Israel have also enjoyed record numbers in the new millennium. ETN

3. A Shoot For the Stars

The California Space Authority hosted a fashion show at its annual conference a few weeks ago. On the runway: a zero-G-inspired wedding gown adorned with shimmering baubles and wispy flower arrangements, chic flight suits, and outfits showing plenty of skin, aka Barbarella. ETN

4. London Tied and Bound

The World Travel Market was in full swing this week with caring for the planet a dominant theme. The exhibition included the launch of a Responsible Tourism Day by the UN's World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) which also held a summit on climate change. UNWTO’s leadership stressed that a measured response is needed to solve the world’s environmental problems, pointing out that tourism is an economic lifeline for many countries and simplistic moves to curb it could condemn millions to poverty. Euronews

5. Chocolate Delight

New archaeological findings push the date of the first use of cacao back to about 1100 B.C., 500 years earlier than previously known. The researchers suggest that the ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America served cacao beverages akin to beer during ceremonial occasions. The brew consisted of fermented, roasted and ground cacao seeds spiced with chili peppers. It tasted a lot more like mole poblano than today’s sweeter version. NY Times

6. Climb Aboard

Saudi Prince, Walid bin Talal, the world’s 13th richest person, became the first VIP customer for Airbus’ new A380 superjumbo jet. Priced at just over $300 million, Prince Walid signed the contract at a ceremony at the Dubai air show. He declined to discuss his plans for outfitting his new rig, but Lufthansa Technik of Hamburg says that it has already drawn up a sample floor plan. Included is a bedroom, office, bathroom and wellness area in the back of the plane’s upper deck, along with two guest rooms equipped with showers.

A private lounge with numerous divans as well as a modern galley and buffet are laid out in the front section. The main deck is reserved for meeting rooms, a dining room and a spacious royal lounge. The rear section would feature first and business-class style seats for courtiers, advisers and other staff. Analysts estimate that manufacturers produce as many as 1,000 private airliners a year, with sales during the next decade expected to reach $200 billion. NY Times

And now for the most expense single night stays. Let’s start with the $25,000 a nighter in 10-room Bridge Suite at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. The hotel sits on top of a bridge that acts as a connection between the two Royal Towers buildings and overlooks the marina.

The Imperial Suite at President Wilson Hotel in Geneva for $23,000 per night features bulletproof windows and doors, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a great view of Lake Geneva. The Presidential Suites at the Martinez Hotel in Cannes will set you back $18,000. The suites are 8,000 square feet and feature two bedrooms, a kitchen, a Turkish bath and a personal sauna. A personal butler at also at your disposal along with Bose plasma screen televisions and telephones, and open bar. Hotel and Resort Insider

7. Here Comes Santa Claus

Hey, it’s Thanksgiving and to quote Arlo Guthrie, “you can get” just about “anything you want” at your favorite hotel. Walk right in and...if your Phoenix Suns’ guard Steve Nash and want a tattoo to memorialize a perfect Tahitian vacation, the hotel concierge will find a reputable tattoo artist.

At Italy’s Palazzo Magnani Feroni, an intimate palace overlooking Florence, bathroom amenities are stocked based on the guest’s preferred scent. At Brazil’s Hilton Sao Paulo Morumbi, helicopters transfer guests between the Sao Paulo Guarulhols International Airport and the hotel. The $5,500 fee also includes the Presidential Suite and daily spa treatments.

Nine Zero, a boutique hotel in Boston, greets each pet with a gourmet treat and stocks the room with a bed and food and water bowls. If you don’t bring a pet, but still want that loving feeling, the Loews Annapolis hotel will bring out Luke, a yellow Labrador, where guests are encouraged to play with him or can reserve time to take him for a stroll.

Guests to any Ritz-Carlton hotel can rest easy knowing a Technology Butler is in-house to handle any mini-crisis from cell phone chargers to laptop crashes. New York’s Fitzpatrick Hotel offers a fairy-tale experience for children where guests bring their American Girl dolls are greeted by name at check-in. In the room there are slippers and a robe for the doll, as well as a special bed and turndown service to mimic every guest’s experience. At breakfast, the doll gets a place setting of her own. At Boston’s XV Beacon frequent guests receive a Tiffany’s gift. The Drake in Toronto offers a discreet “Pleasure Menu” with a la carte items and packages for guests in the mood for an adventurous evening in. Forbes Traveler/MSNBC/ASTA

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

2007-11-09T04:54:00.000-08:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
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1. Warming Trends

Global warming has its negatives and positives. On the downside, many ski resorts are being forced to build lifts higher in more snow-reliant zones as glaciers recede and less snow falls. Some resorts are being forced at put in air conditioning to contend with the heat. On the upside, the golfing season in Antalya, Turkey has been lengthened by more than one month. Golfing used to begin in March, but tourists from Britain and Germany are now coming in February. NY Times

2. For the Stressed-Out

Find your inner peace and your outer glow. At the Kohler Waters Spa in St. Andrews, Scotland, the Cooler-Near-the-Sea treatment can leave you both hot and cold for $152. A Therapist first warms you up in a heated Vichy shower, then dowses you with cold water. After a few cycles, the therapist gently rocks you to calm the body and promote better circulation.

At the Aspira Spa in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, for $145 you can take the Sacred Waters Massage where the healing water is heated and put into deerskin pouches, then placed on chakra points along the back to untangle those deep muscle knots. At Pure Maui in Kihei, Hawaii, the AquaCranial Therapy starts by submerging you in water, where the therapist touches spots along your spine and skull to improve circulation. In winter, you can have the treatment performed in the ocean along side whales. It’s part of the surf/yoga package priced at $6,800 for six nights. NY Times

3. To Hell and Back

http://www.flightsfromhell.com/
http://www.dinnersfromhell.com/
http://www.cruisesfromhell.com/

4. Green Dreams

Travel + Leisure's November issue is devoted to “responsible tourism.” Inside is a list of 15 green hotels which were selected from an assessment test developed in conjunction with Conservation International. Among the points of evaluation: water and energy conservation, waste reduction and supporting local communities.

Properties on the list are Grenada's Spice Island Beach Resort; the Maldives' Soneva Fushi Resort & Six Senses Spa; Sri Lanka's Heritance Kandalama; Australia's Voyages Longitude 131, located in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park; Bahamas' Tiamo, on the South Andros Island; Switzerland's Whitepod, near Aigle in the Alps; Colorado's Devil's Thumb Ranch in Tabernash; the Philippines' El Nido Resorts in El Nido, Palawan.

Also, Chumbe Island Coral Park in Zanzibar, Tanzania; Egypt's Adrere Amellal in the Siwa Oasis, a Berber community in the desert; Kenya's Campi Ya Kanzi a Masai-owned lodge in Chyulu Hills; Nicaragua's Morgan's Rock Hacienda & Ecolodge on Playa Ocotal, San Juan del Sur, on the Pacific Coast; Jamaica's Hotel Mocking Bird Hill near Port Antonio; Tenuta di Spannocchia in Siena, Italy; and England's Strattons Hotel in the town of Swaffham in Norfolk.

5. Travel Diaries

Estonia has more meteor craters per square mile than any other country. The name of the country of Niger comes from “niger,” the River Ger. Mt. Etna in Sicily has been active for more than 2.5 million years and has erupted 111 times since records began. During the first World War, parrots were kept on the top of the Eiffel Tower because parrots have excellent hearing and were able to warn of the approach of enemy aircraft.

The guillotine was invented in Halifax in Yorkshire in the 16th century. The French Revolution’s Dr. Gilloutin never said he invented the device, rather he merely recommended its use to the National Assembly. His ancestors changed their name to avoid being associated with the machine. Manchester Daily Telegraph UK

Eight members of the Nordic chapter of Hells Angels Motorcycle Club were deported from Iceland on Saturday on grounds of being a threat to public safety. The Icelandic police has twice before denied Hells Angels access to the country. ETN

Baghdad's Green Zone is a lovely place to spend a vacation according to a Visitors Guide, which details 20 local landmarks in this 5.5 square mile strip. Among the 20: Little Venice, a neighborhood between the former US Embassy complex and the U.S. Chancellery building named for its many cement waterways, bridges and fountains that adorn its streets and park. ETN

Those Goo Goo Googley Pries...Google has installed travel related search tools on gasoline pumps manufactured by Gilbarco-Veeder-Root. Testing for the new service begins at 3,600 stations across the US next month. The search tools will enable motorists filling up to find a place for lunch, get printed directions, find hotels and attractions, and learn about in-store offers. Bloomberg

Top rated public bathrooms from Hotels and Resorts Insider... Kawakawa, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, designed by the famous architect, painter and print maker, Friedensreich Hundertwasser. John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin featuring a rich blend of art and modern technology. Valhalla at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre, Branson, Missouri, emphasizeing antiques and old-fashioned hedonism. Singapore Zoological Gardens which are surrounded by beautiful plants and flowers.

The Alexandra Hospital, Singapore boasts a mini water fountain, timber walls and automatic cleaners. Central West Antarctica and their soothing fragrance. The Victorian styled toilets at Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland, UK, with their mosaic floors, enameled alcoves, shiny copper pipework, marble fittings and glass-sided cisterns. 3-D Gold Store in Hong Kong featuring a bathroom wrapped with gold in its entirety. The ceiling is all embedded with precious stones, about 6200 diamonds, rubies, and other valuable jewels.

6. Wheel of Fortune

Higher than both the London Eye and the Singapore Flyer, which opens in March, the Beijing Great Wheel will tower 208 metres (682 ft) when finished in 2009. The giant ferris wheel will have 48 air conditioned observation capsules, each of which can carry up to 40 passengers, and on a good day even the Great Wall is expected to be visible in the mountains to Beijing's north. "The wheel will stand in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang Park, where beach volleyball events will take place at next year's Olympics. Total cost to build: around 200 million euros (139 million pounds). Ticket Pricing: about 100 yuan (6 pounds) a head. YahooNews

7. Up and Away

With prices for airfare, hotel rooms and rental cars increasing, the traditional push and pull between travel buyers and suppliers has intensified. Companies are looking to tightly control costs in an uncertain economy, while suppliers are battling rising energy costs and trying to leverage a seller's market. As a result, the average cost of a domestic trip in 2008 is expected to rise 6 percent, or $63, to $1,110, according to research by American Express Business Travel. Overseas trips are forecast to rise 7 percent, or $205, to $3,171.

The growing costs have caused corporate travel managers to think creatively about ways to save. In a survey by the National Business Travel Association, 16 percent of travel managers reported that they would restrict business-class airline tickets. That's up from 8 percent who said last year that they would limit the premium-class tickets. Suppliers are also employing more sophisticated technology to make sure they're getting the highest price for their product.

La Quinta Hotels, for instance, has invested in sophisticated property management and reservations tools that enable hotels to juggle as many as 16 prices each day. Airfare discounts have also gotten more complex as carriers create more pricing tiers. "You can have as many as 10 to 15" fare types, said a spokesperson who oversees travel forecasting services for clients of Travelocity Business.

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines says the airline's biggest challenge remains tapping into small and medium-size businesses, many of which don't have a formal travel program. Southwest has put more energy behind its corporate effort, boosting its sales team from five members to 15 and signing a deal to publish its fares on Galileo's central reservations system. Dallas Morning News

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

2007-11-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Online Trendsetters

Web 2.0-social networking sites come to the forefront. http://www.dopplr.com/ allows users to track the travel schedule and whereabouts of themselves and their friends through a visual interface reminiscent of Facebook. Another startup, http://www.tripit.com/, takes user-submitted information such as airline and hotel confirmation e-mails and uses the data within to generate a tailored itinerary, replete with maps, local weather info and the like. It also allows users to create lists of friends. But Dopplr may stand out in terms of early buzz -- the company claims nearly 100,000 users -- and for quickly orienting itself around business users.

2. Set Your Stop Watch

Atlanta city officials should take some advice from Brisbane city officials where tourists are being asked to cut their shower time to four minutes when level six restrictions come into force next month. Brisbane’s Water Commissioner said water-saving messages would be displayed in hotel rooms and bathrooms may even be fitted with shower timers, in response to "public concern" about the lack of advice for tourists. Among the tips: turn off the tap while shaving or brushing teeth. ETN

3. Old and Steady

The fleet of big jets operated by nine major US air carriers has aged steadily since 2002, increasing from 10.6 years to 12.2 years. Since 9/11, the airlines largely stopped ordering new planes. The carriers have collectively saved about $23 billion in the process, using the money to pay down debt or as a financial cushion. American’s fleet of 300 MD-80s has an average age of 17 years. United 191 Boeing 737s and 757s, 15 to 18 years. Northwest’s 109 DC-9s, 35 years. Continental’s 48 Boeing 737s, 20 years. US Airways 152 Boeing 737s, 757s, and 767s, 15 to 20 years. Delta’s 145 Boeing 757s and 767s, and 120 MD-80s,16 to 17 years. Southwest, 219 Boeing 737s, 16 years. NY Times

4. Sign of the Times

An army of government-funded “travel advisers” will be ringing door bells at millions of homes next year throughout the UK as they try to persuade people to switch from driving to walking, cycling and public transport. In case you are not home, they will keep coming back up to ten times including evenings and weekends. The travel advisers will be armed with information that can be tailored to a person's journeys, including maps for walking and bus timetables. If you appear unconvinced, they will offer incentives such as discounts at local bike shops and outdoor stores and free pedometers to measure how far you are walking.

The initiative is part of the Government’s Sustainable Transport Strategy which rejects the idea that congestion can be eliminated by investing billions of pounds in building more roads and railways, and favors smaller schemes that aim to change behavior and attitudes. Trials costing a total of £10 million in three UK cities found that car journeys fell by about 11 per cent after travel advisers visited every home. Cycling increased by at least 25 per cent, walking by 17 per cent and trips on public transport by 13 per cent. London Times

5. A World Without Air Travel?

Passenger air travel is growing at a rate of three percent each year, with air-freight growing even faster. Current projections estimate the number of people traveling by air -- both in the US and abroad -- will double or even triple by 2030. Meanwhile, fuel prices are hitting record highs, with analysts increasingly expecting oil to break the $100-a-barrel mark, while airplanes are branded as global warming enemy number one because of their habit of depositing CO2 emissions high in the atmosphere.

A legion of aeronautical researchers and designers around the world are seeking to keep up with future demand for air travel while reducing its environmental impact and increase its efficiency. But is it possible? Current research points to a dramatic re-design of airplanes which will not only accommodate higher volumes of air travel but will also be more environmentally friendly than today's craft. conceivable that in craft of the future, fuel burn - which directly affects energy use and environmental impact - could be reduced by anything up to fifty percent. And one way to do this is to change the shape of aircraft.

Taking inspiration from nature, these craft will probably mimic the movement of bird and insect wings by morphing dramatically mid-flight. The SAX 40 aircraft prototype -- a blended wing body aircraft -- is the fruit of the Silent Aircraft Initiative, a three-year multi-million dollar collaborative project between Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cambridge University, England.

As the name implies, the main thrust of the project was to find ways to make planes quieter. But the team found that the same technological changes that make craft quieter also make them more fuel-efficient. The SAX 40 is projected to fly 149 passenger-miles per gallon of fuel compared to 120 miles for the best current aircraft of its range and size -- an equivalent fuel efficiency to a Toyota Prius Hybrid car carrying two passengers -- while cutting noise outside the airport perimeter from around 88 decibels to 63. CNN

6. Business Travel Forecast

American Express just released its annual Global Business Travel Forecast, predicting that the demand for business travel services will exceed supply in 2008 and drive increases in rates for airfare, hotels, car rentals and corporate meetings. The study says a domestic trip next year inclusive of airfare, car rental and hotel stay will increase six per cent or approximately $63, bringing the average trip cost to a total of approximately $1,110. The international trip increase is expected to be nearly seven per cent, or approximately $205, bringing the cost of an average trip to $3,171.

7. Free For All Travel

Factories and processing plants all around the country now welcome visitors with tours and product samples, and admission is usually free. But then again there is the Boeing factory tour in Everett, Wash., where you can see the final touches being made on its 747, 767, 777 and new 787 jumbo jets. The visit will set you back $15 for an advance reservation ($14 for seniors; $8 for children younger than 8, with minimum size restrictions); same-day walk-up admissions are less, but you run the risk of missing a tour.

On the free side: with a some vroom: BMW in Spartanburg, S.C.; GM/Corvette in Bowling Green, Ky.; Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn, Mich.; General Motors in Janesville, Wis.; Honda in Marysville, Ohio; Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Nissan in Smyrna, Tenn.; Saturn in Spring Hill, Tenn.; Shelby (Cobra) in Las Vegas; and Toyota in Georgetown, Ky.; Toyota/GM) in Fremont, CA.

Some 35 RV factories open their doors and floors to visitors too including Airstream in Jackson Center, Ohio; and Damon Motor Coach in Elkhart, Ind.

The most popular industrial tours in the country are those that go through wineries, breweries and distilleries. Two books that list hundreds of factory tours throughout the country: "Inside America: The Great American Industrial Tour Guide," by Jack, Eunice and Donna Berger, and "Watch It Made in the USA," by Karen Axelrod and Bruce Brumberg. There is also the Factory Tours USA Web site, http://www.factorytoursusa.com/, SF Chronicle

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

2007-10-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Traveling With Kids

Nearly 8 percent of U.S. outbound passengers consist of adults flying with children, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. But there is serious debate among parents about what age is the right age for children to start traveling internationally. Maureen Wheeler, co-founder of the Lonely Planet guidebook company, recommends waiting until kids are 3, "when they're out of diapers, when they can eat food, when they can talk." If you're planning once-in-a-lifetime trips, "then maybe you don't start traveling with your children until the age of 7 to 10," she adds.

Pauline Frommer, the travel guidebook writer and daughter of Arthur Frommer, started traveling with her parents when she was just a few months old. She said her father thinks international travel is wasted on small children because they don't remember much, but she's not so sure. Elisa Bernick, author of "The Family Sabbatical Handbook: The Budget Guide to Living Abroad With Your Family," said traveling with children has advantages for grown-ups. Her family lived in Mexico for 18 months, starting when her kids were 2 and 7.

"One of the primary benefits was that they were the best little diplomats," she said. She acknowledged that "if they're 4 or under, they might not remember seeing the Mona Lisa and feel the significance of that in the same way that an older child will. But a 4-year-old or 2-year-old will remember the sense of adventure, excitement, and the growing curiosity all tied to the sense of travel. AP

2. Fractionals

The current economics and capital market environments for the vacation ownership and fractional markets have moderated but are generally favorable, according to a resort market expert. The US timeshare business paints a picture of an industry with generally steady growth, according to a study conducted by Ernst & Young. Sales have increased 81 percent over a five year period ending in 2006.

“Timeshare is the most widely owned real estate product today other than a second home,” noted one expert. “Timeshare’s direct impact to the economy measured in direct spending by owners including purchases, maintenance fees and vacation expenses is at $22.6 billion.”As of December 31, 2006, there are 1,615 timeshare resorts in the United States making up a total of 176,232 units, with an average size of 109 rooms. In 2006, sales volume for timeshare peaked at $10.1 billion, growing 16 percent over 2005. There were nearly 538,000 timeshare intervals sold for an average price of $18,502. This cost is 14 percent higher than the price of an interval in 2005. Average cost for weekly intervals was $18,329; for points-equivalents, it was $18,570.

The total number of weekly equivalent intervals owned was approximately 6.1 million. These were owned by 4.4 million owner households — approximately 1.4 intervals owned per owner. The penetration rate for timeshare ownership is just under 4 percent of US households.
Florida continues to have the most resorts. Pacific resorts are the most expensive and have the highest occupancy. ETN

3. Carbon Hyperboles

Experts in the UK believe that consumers actually think that aircraft cause far more carbon dioxide emissions than they do. Carbon dioxide emissions due to aircraft (both freight and leisure) make up around five per cent of the UK’s emissions and just one–two per cent of global emissions, according to the study. However, 71 per cent of consumers think that aircrafts emit between three and twelve times this figure. Incredibly, nearly ten per cent of consumers think aircrafts make up about 60 per cent of CO2 emissions.

Tourism’s impact on climate change can be attributed to three major revolutions of our times, says one expert: technology and the internet, low-cost flying, and sustainability. At the forthcoming World Travel Market (WTM) London, global warming and related issues will be covered at the United Nations World Tourism Organization Ministers' Summit on Tourism and Climate Change. Government representatives will be asked to consider and ratify a declaration recommended by environmental experts at the UNWTO Summit on Climate Change that is being held in Davos, Switzerland later this month. ETN

4. Air Upgrade Strategies

http://www.flightbliss.com/ offers ticketing and upgrade strategies to help fliers get the most out of their frequent flier programs. Regular blog topics include booking first and business class fares at coach rates, and selecting the most comfortable seats. NY Times

5. Jet Setters

Introducing some of the new low-fare airlines. Oasis Hong Kong employs three 747s and flies nonstop daily between Hong Kong and Gatwick, offering one-way coach and business class seats starting at $230 and $980, respectively. The airline hopes to expand service to San Francisco, Chicago, Italy and Germany.

AirAsia, based in Malaysia, is developing a long-haul spin off called Air Asia X, which will begin flights on November 2between its Kuala Lumpur hub and Gold Coast Airport in eastern Australia, with hopes to expand to China, Europe, India Japan, the Middle East and South Korea.

Virgin America began service between the West and East Coasts to London in August. Zoom Airlines, based in Ottawa, now offers discount flights between NY and Gatwick as well as between Canadian cities and several British cities and Paris. On-Zoom one way tickets between NY and London start at $199; Virgin Atlantic at $129.

Insider Report: Low-cost long haul operators try to keep planes in the air longer than do full-fare carriers—up to 17 or 18 hours a day. They typically fly only a few airplane models. And like short-haul airlines, many of the new carriers use secondary airports. And, while the lure is a discount fare, nearly all of the new carriers offer a higher priced business class that is still cheaper than their full service competitors. NY Times

6. WorldViews

Foreign tourists in India often find themselves paying higher entry fees than local people at historical monuments and shelling out exorbitant amounts for curios and food. A native Indian pays Rs 10 and a foreigner Rs 250 to enter World Heritage Monuments like the Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra and the Qutab Minar. One German tourist said she had to shell out Rs 30 for a samosa but found out that the snack was available for as little as Rs 5 in most places. Some shopkeepers justify the high prices saying in terms of dollars or euros, it does not amount to much for a foreign tourist. But the fact remains that there is discrimination.

Segway scooters are becoming increasingly popular to take a guided tour in Washington D.C. and other cities across the U.S.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) spent more than $825,000 in the first six months of 2007 to lobby the federal government on U.S. visa, travel and customs inspection policies, crew and passenger health, waste management and garbage landing ashore, protection of the marine environment and numerous other issues.

7. Green Rushes

Hoteliers trying to meet consumer demand for greener operations while keeping costs down can benefit from Sustainable Travel International’s two newest programs: TravelGreen and the Sustainable Tourism Eco-certification Program (STEP).TravelGreen allows hoteliers to support climate-friendly travel through the sale of small amounts of clean renewable energy. Participating hotels sell TravelGreen Mini-Green Tags to guests for $1. The Mini-Green Tag is equal to offsetting 33.6 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, represents 24 kilowatt hours of electricity supplied by new wind and solar power, and equates to 100 percent of the energy consumption of one night in an average hotel.

For hoteliers ready to make comprehensive changes to the way they operate, STI also offers a global eco-certification program, in partnership with NSF International. Applicable to tourism businesses of all sizes, STEP is designed to help hoteliers around the world support environmental conservation and protect cultural heritage while promoting cross-cultural understanding and economic development. The program is educational in nature and practical as a measurement, management and marketing tool. Hoteliers who participate in STEP will save money through energy efficiency and waste management while expanding their marketing reach.

Learn more at: http://www.travel-green.org/or http://www.ecocertification.org./

STI is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote sustainable development and eco-friendly travel by providing programs that help travelers and travel-related companies protect the environmental, socio-cultural and economic needs of the places they visit, and the planet at large (http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/).

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

2007-10-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Only For the Rich and Famous

Several concierge services designed for affluent travelers and celebrities have entered the realm of travel-help services. They”ll help with everything from personal shopping to booking vacation packages to chartering private jets and yachts on short notice. Among the newbies: http://www.nasbras.com/, http://www.playboypassport.com/ and http://www.stuffviptravel.com/. Playboy Passport, for example, provides a 24-hour luxury lifestyle management service that costs $10,000 a year and is open to 1,000 members by invitation only. TW

2. Stay Here

Three dozen hotels in NYC are participating in the city tourist board’s new Sunday Stays promotion, offering travelers rate cuts and more. One hotel is giving 25% off its best available rate on Sundays, an upgrade and free parking. Another is slashing rates 20%, upgrading and offering a welcome cocktail. Go to www.nycvisit.com/nycsundaystays.com to learn more. USA Today

3. Carbonaters

The British are the world's worst offenders when it comes to carbon emissions from air travel, according to a new market research survey. The survey covered 20 countries. The carbon emissions count per adult: 603kg per year. Ireland placed third at 434kg, followed by the US with 275kg. India’s foot print was just 200kg per adult, while China was at 500kg. Herald Sun, Australia

4. India Report

Online travel companies such as Yatra.com and Cleartrip.com are turning the clock backwards and opening retail outlets. Yatra is planning to reach out to around 22 cities by end-2008 with outlets in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore to start. Reasons for diversifying: the Marketing Head of Yatra.com, said: “In some services like booking a holiday package customers prefer a face-to-face interaction as they need to know the exact details of their product.” “It also adds credibility to the brand as the customers have the assurance that they can approach us in case of any queries,” he added.

Another reason for going in for physical stores is slow penetration of broadband and Internet facilities in the country, say experts from both companies. To tackle the issue, Cleartrip has started kiosks in five Big Bazaars in Mumbai as part of a tie-up with the Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group. The customers can make bookings for their air tickets, holiday packages and other offerings and also have the option to pay through extended monthly installments with Future Money providing finances for the same. sify.com

5. Japan Report

More opportunities are being created for pet owners to travel with that special member of the family. Nationwide, a number of hotels and ryokan-style inns have been allowing their guests to bring their dogs, cats and other animals, while an increasing number of public transit districts are letting the pets aboard. Yatsugatake Wan Wan Paradaisu in Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture, operates 40 cottages in which guests may stay with their dogs. A 5,000-square-meter dog run, where canines can run freely, is located in the nearby woods. The facility opened in April 2001, and has welcomed about 15,000 people every year. Medium and large dogs can stay for 2,000 yen per night.

Travel agency JTB Corp. deals with hotels and ryokan at which guests with small animals can stay. A JTB spokesperson said pet owners tend to take such trips not for themselves, but for their animals. Inatori Tokai Hotel Yuen in Higashi-Izucho, Shizuoka Prefecture, is equipped with hot springs specially made for dogs, allowing visitors to soak their pets in a hot spring bath. The room rate for small dogs is 4,200 yen.

Transportation companies are also offering services for pets and their owners. Japan Airlines has launched the "Petto to Odekake Sabisu" (Out and about with your pet) program. The airline transports caged pets in an air-conditioned cargo compartment. It costs 3,000 yen per carrier for a flight between Tokyo and Osaka. With All Nippon Airways' "Petto Rakunori Sabisu" (Easy-riding pet service) program, customers can not only fly with ANA, but also use a pet-friendly car rental service in Hokkaido or Okinawa prefectures.

The Japan Railway group also sells pet tickets for 270 yen. Passengers can travel with their pets in a carrier up to a designated size. The total weight of the cage and animal must be no more than 10 kilograms. The Yomiuri Shimbun

6. Hotel Gossip

Airlines aren't the only travel suppliers that overbook. Hotels do it too. And unlike with airlines, travelers overbooked by a hotel do not enjoy specific protection under federal law. Hotels overbook for the same reason airlines do: to compensate for the inevitable number of travelers who fail to show up for one reason or another, or those who check out early. The problem arises when a hotel miscalculates the availability of rooms for the time of your reservation. Normally, in an overbooking, the hotel tries to fix the problem on the spot: If a hotel has rooms but in a different price or location category than specified in your reservation, normal practice is to upgrade you to a bigger and/or better room, where available.

If only a lesser room is available, the hotel should offer you the lesser room plus some sort of price adjustment or other compensation and agree to move you to the original category of room as quickly as possible. If a hotel is totally sold out in all room categories, normal practice is to "walk" you to another hotel of "equal or better" quality and pick up the cost of your first night there. San Francisco Chronicle

7. New Growth Sector

Tourists seeking a different kind of travel experience are turning to farms and ranches. Agriculture tourism is becoming big business in states such as Colorado where visitors come to experience a cattle round-up or sample local wines and food. ASTA/Denver Rocky Mountain News

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

2007-10-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Fly Me To the Moon, baby

Young K. Bae, a maverick one-man rocket research institution in Tustin, California, believes he has hit on a propulsion technology that could revolutionize space travel, finally overcoming the limits of chemical rockets, which are slow and dangerous and need vast amounts of fuel. The 51-year-old physicist calls it the photonic laser thruster. He says a laser beam bouncing off two mirrors facing each other was able to exert force on one of the mirrors, albeit ever so slight. The photonic laser thruster can in theory be made much more powerful -- strong enough to propel a spacecraft to near light speed. LA Times

2. How Time Flies

Building a time machine that travels into the future is not science fiction. Dr. Craig Savage, who lectures in relativity and quantum mechanics at the Australian National University, says it is possible for people to travel forward in time but the costs involved are too great. The cost of operating a time traveling machine, in relation to the cost of electricity, would be ten trillion dollars, Dr. Savage estimates. TVNZ.co.nz

3. Germs in Space

Germs sent into orbit on the space shuttle last year came back to Earth three times more virulent, a finding that could have major implications for astronauts on the International Space Station or on proposed voyages to the moon and Mars. Researchers knew that space travel depressed astronauts' immune systems, so the observation that infectious agents can become more pathogenic in space could lead to new sterilization requirements for food and other items, as well as to new protocols for the treatment of infections during missions, experts said. The findings could have relevance for humans on Earth because the bacterium in question is common and can have severe consequences, said Cheryl Nickerson, a microbiologist at Arizona State University, who led the experiment. LA Times

4. Doc Spots

An Australian doctor who charged Malaysian Airlines a fee for rendering services to three passengers while on a flight has sparked a debate whether doctors should charge while on a flight should their services be needed. Acknowledging the doctor’s contribution, the carrier compensated her with a a bag of toiletries and pajamas. The carrier had turned down her request for an upgrade. An airline industry observer says, "the doctor's obligation is to the passenger, not to the airline. If there is any bill to be paid, it should be paid by the patient, just like going to the clinic back on the ground."

5. Air Streams

A report by the UN's tourism, environmental, and weather agencies concludes that climate change within the next 50 years may trigger large changes in tourism habits, and that travel by north Europeans to some popular Mediterranean, Caribbean and North American areas could suffer, as well as to a lesser degree parts of Asia. Travelers from wealthy regions, such as Japan, Europe and the U.S., will be more likely to vacation closer to homes, and in some countries, tourism accounts for as much as 40% of the economy, the report noted.

Separately, tourists from temperate nations that currently dominate international travel would adapt and take advantage of "new climatic opportunities closer to home," according to an advance summary of the report due to be released next month. UN officials underlined that some of the changes could be influenced by indirect impacts of global warming, such as water shortages in popular warm weather resorts that would strain resources shared with the local population or agriculture. Recent opinion polls have also indicated that travelers are increasingly aware of greenhouse gas emissions and possible carbon taxes especially associated with air travel. The Times of India

6. Over Indulgence

Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over a one year period on business or first class air tickets bought in violation of travel policies, congressional investigators said. The review of travel spending covered the July 2005 to June 30, 2006 timeframe. The study found 67 percent of premium class travel by executives or their employees was unauthorized or unjustified. AP

Emirates Airline offers passengers luxury options including private suites that cost as much $12,000 per flight. Emirates and other airlines have noted increased demand for luxury seating on long-haul flights, up by 20% to 25% a year for several years. The carrier has extended its improved amenities to coach class, where passengers are "cradled" in specially designed seats and treated to a 10.6-inch video screen. ABC News/ASTA

7. Just for Fun

http://www.fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf

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

2007-09-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. World Tourism Day

While you were sleeping, destinations around the globe celebrated World Tourism Day on Thursday, September 27. The day is organized by The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). http://www.unwto.org/wtd/index.php.

According to the UNWTO, global tourism set a new record in 2006, with 842 million arrivals worldwide and global tourism-related spending reaching $735 billion. The United States leads the world in global tourism receipts and is ranked third among world destinations in terms of visitation. The United States’ share of world arrivals has been steady for the last three years (6.1%) and is on pace to set a new record for international arrivals and spending in 2007. The US welcomed almost 51 million international visitors who spent a record $108 billion on travel and tourism-related goods and services, positioning international travel as one of the country’s largest service exports. ETN

2. The Day the Travel Industry Stood Still

Mark your calendars. On June 1 the industry association (IATA) that handles ticketing for most major airlines will stop issuing paper tickets. Some small regional and foreign airlines will continue issuing paper tickets, but they’ll be few and far between. Paper tickets cost airlines $10 to $17 on average, compared to $1 for electronic tickets. Paper tickets have fallen to less than 14 percent of the 400 million tickets IATA processes each year. AP

3. Virtual Tourings

Welcome to virtual vacations at Second Life. There is no need for money, no plane tickets, no suitcases, not even another language to learn. All it takes is choosing an avatar, or virtual persona, downloading a free program, a few mouse clicks, and a little help from a veteran Second Life "resident" like Tim Allen. Allen created the dragon in 2003 as a way to give tours to "newbies," as newcomers to Second Life are known.

According to Catherine Smith, director of marketing at Linden Lab, makers of San Francisco-based Second Life, it makes sense that virtual tours would become popular in this world with an average population between 40,000 and 50,000 at any given point in a day. For Smith, the fact that 70 percent of the audience in Second Life is from other countries makes it a good way to explore new places and learn about different cultures from all over the world. It also provides an opportunity for those who can't travel to experience what a trip to a certain place would be like using an engrossing three-dimensional platform. Mercury News

4. Travel Insurance Buying Tips

The following tips from the St. Petersburg Times can help you determine what kind of travel coverage is right for you.

1. Familiarize yourself with what's out there. Travel insurance can include trip cancellation, trip interruption, accidental death or dismemberment, medical and dental care, transportation to medical facilities, loss of luggage or personal possessions, and protection against the bankruptcy or default of your cruise line or tour operator.

2. Determine whether you're already covered. Many homeowners' and renters' policies provide coverage for theft and other losses away from home. Your medical and auto insurance may be valid in other countries. And airlines must reimburse you if they lose your bags.

3. Remember your credit cards and auto club membership. Check to see what travel protection you have from your credit cards. The American Express Platinum Card gives generous accidental death and dismemberment coverage, and insurance for car rental loss and damage.

4. Buy through a third-party insurer. Travel agents, tour operators and cruise lines sell travel insurance, but your safest bet is to obtain coverage through an established insurance company. You can compare rates at InsureMyTrip.com (www.insuremytrip.com.

5. Ask the right questions. Ask insurers: What disasters are covered? What restrictions apply? How does the reimbursement get determined?

6. Know the drill with trip-cancellation coverage. In the case of natural disasters and other dramatic events beyond a travel provider's control, you're likely to get a refund if your trip gets canceled.

7. Avoid flight insurance sold in vending machines. Have you ever spotted such offers in airports? They're situated there to play on people's fear of flying, but remember: The least expensive way to insure your life is through a term life insurance policy. And your credit card may provide such coverage.

8. Understand cancellation waivers. Many cruise and tour operators offer these waivers for about $40 to $60 in case you have to cancel your trip. The waivers provide some protection, but they often have many restrictions and are not regulated by the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

9. Consider extra coverage. If you must travel with expensive electronic equipment, sporting gear or jewelry, you could consider a floater for your existing homeowners' or renters' policy.

10. Recognize the value of emergency medical assistance coverage. This would cover you if you must be airlifted off a mountain, receive prolonged treatment in a foreign hospital or be flown home because of serious sickness or injury. Before you buy, find out whether your health insurer would cover you overseas and pay for your flight home if an emergency strikes. If you have Medicare, this coverage could be valuable because you're probably not covered outside the United States.

5. Earth Hour

Planning to be in San Francisco on October 20? At precisely 8 pm and for the next 60 minutes the people of this city will turn off all unnecessary lights as a way to reduce carbon emissions and preserve natural resources. The “lights out” movement started in Sydney as a symbolic gesture to cut energy use and help reverse global warming. LA Times

6. Just Desserts

The Fortress Resort in the coastal city of Galle in Sri Lankan resort is charging $14,500 for what it calls the world's most expensive dessert, a fruit infused confection complete with a chocolate sculpture and a gigantic gemstone. “The Fortress Stilt Fisherman Indulgence” dessert is a gold leaf Italian cassata flavored with Irish cream, served with a mango and pomegranate compote and a champagne sabayon enlighten. The dessert is decorated with a chocolate carving of a fisherman clinging to a stilt, an age old local fishing practice, and an 80 carat aquamarine stone. The dessert has to be specially ordered, and, to date, no one has yet forked over the money to try it. ABC News

7. Think Small?

Over the last decade the prevailing mood in tourism has been to think small—like boutique hotels, cozy bed-and-breakfasts, and family-run restaurants. But there is growing evidence that the "big is best" model - typified by the skylines of Cancun, Benidorm and Las Vegas - is fast making a comeback. The spark for much of this about-turn is the success of Dubai, the Middle Eastern city that has risen rapidly out of the deserts of the eastern Arabian peninsula and which, in just over a decade, has become one of the world's highest-profile tourist destinations. From a standing start in the early 1990s, Dubai now attracts 6 million visitors a year.

Meanwhile, Cambodia's reputation as a less-developed, more pristine alternative to the well-trodden backpacker tracks that traverse Thailand and Vietnam could be short lived. The county's largely untouched south coast is the focus of a major government-backed project to develop high-end tourism. 61 offshore islands are now available to international investors to develop into a beach paradise.

Often called China’s Hawaii, Hainan Island, which lies off the country’s southern coast is starting to look more and more like the US Hawaii. The main resort's hub, Sanya, now features 18 golf courses with 10 more planned), a thick swathe of beach front and high-rise hotels including international hotel chains such as Sheraton, Crowne Plaza and Marriott.

Planning a safari in Kenya? With more than 1 million visitors flying here this year for the first time ever, a long-term plan is in the works to build three resort cities - one in the safari heartland, the others at the coast. The first resort is planned for Isiolo, a backwater town 65km north of Mount Kenya. One location is situated at the gateway between the lush highlands and the desert scrub badlands that run toward Ethiopia. Resorts are also planned for Mombasa and a second coastal city, possibly Malindi to the north, in the next 10 to 15 years.

Earlier this month, Muammar Qadaffi's 35-year-old son, Saif al-Islam, announced to a slightly perplexed gathering of the world's press that a 3,200km2 area of land between Benghazi and Tobruk in Libya’s north will be the location for a $3 billion Green Mountain Sustainable Development Area. The plan is to incorporate a national park, eco-friendly hotels and even organic farms. It aims to create more than 70,000 jobs and comes with the endorsement of some high-profile names including Sir Norman Foster, Sir Nicholas Stern and the Prince of Wales ... well, the Prince's School of Traditional Arts is involved.

To reach its goal of 10 million holidaymakers by 2010, the government of Morocco estimated that 160,000 new tourist beds would be needed. The result was Plan Azur - a blueprint for six coastal resorts to be built by the end of the decade - five on the Atlantic, one on the Mediterranean.

If Dubai can build ski runs in the scorching heat of its desert, then why can't a beach be recreated up a snow-crested mountain? That is the view of Samih Sawiris, the billionaire owner of the Egypt-based Orascom hotel group, who has announced that he is to fund a huge new resort at Andermatt in Switzerland, complete with swimming pool and artificial sandy beach. Construction starts next year on land formerly owned by the Swiss army and will also incorporate the ubiquitous 18-hole golf course (though few can have been built at such high altitude) and tropical spa complex. Five new hotels will offer at least 800 rooms and help create 2,000 new jobs in a town that has a population of 1,600 and has suffered an economic depression since the Swiss army vacated its training center near the town following the end of the cold war.

The beach will not be the only odd sight in the Alps. The $140 million Matterhorn Glacier Paradise Project will see a 117m steel and glass pyramid built on top of the Klein Matterhorn, taking it to a height of 4,000m - which tourism leaders hope will "make the mountain more attractive to visitors. Taipei Times

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

2007-09-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Slow Down You Might Be Moving To Fast

It may not be feasible for business travelers to take a slow boat to their next business meeting but there are other ways to embrace the movement known as “Slow Travel”, like eating in locally-owned restaurants, carbon offsetting and being a responsible traveler. Indeed, slow business travel may not just be good for life-work balance. It may also improve relations between countries and cultures. In the United States, the non-profit group Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA) wants to create civilian ambassadors in its business travelers. BDA has drawn up a free, downloadable World Citizen's Guide for American executives who travel, offering sixteen practical tips -- including talking slower, eating slower and...well you get the idea.

Starting in October, BDA is launching a crash course for business travelers on global corporate diplomacy, called 'CultureSpan'. It is part of an entirely new industry, with consultants in cross-cultural negotiation training and cultural intelligence. CNN

Slow Down Tips

1. Unplug and find moments in the day to switch off all electronic devices. Use the time to sleep, get a massage or go for a walk.

2. Don't over-schedule. Plan to do fewer things. That is also true for your free time.

3. Get a slow hobby like reading, yoga, sketching instead of reaching for the TV or your laptop, have a slow ritual.

4. Check your speedometer throughout the day, stop and pause to see if you are doing something too quickly.

5. Don't forget human contact. Try to chat to hotel staff or go to the hotel's social 'Cocktail Hour'.

2. Eight Ways to Avoid Airport Delays

These days it may feel like a miracle if your flight arrives on time, but the truth is flights have always been subject to delays—whether they're caused by stormy weather, mechanical problems, or something else entirely. For example, at JFK in NY, the airlines have scheduled more than 50 flights to depart in one hour's time on weekday mornings. Yet the airport can only safely depart 45 aircraft when the weather's good. The resulting overflow of delayed aircraft spills into the next hour, and the next, and so on. Throw in pilots reaching their maximum work-hour limits, and other crew and employee shortage problems ... and you have the summer of 2007. USA Today

Tips

1. Avoid delay-prone flights.

2. Avoid airlines that are known for labor disruptions and major incidents of flight cancellations and delays.

3. Book a non-stop so you won’t get stuck in a connecting city.

4. Fly mornings before the delays get worse. The busiest times to travel are Mondays through Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., traveling on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays may improve your odds.

5. Leave enough time for connections.

6. Use small airports which are usually less congested and less prone to delays.

7. Know the rules: Familiarize yourself with your airline's rules for identification, baggage limitations, and check-in and gate times. 8. Be early: Arrive at the airport with plenty of time to park, check in, and pass through security.

3. The Dark Side of Cruising

Passengers on cruise ships run nearly double the risk of being sexually assaulted that they do in normal life, a researcher claims. Professor Ross Klein told a conference at the Auckland University of Technology that the cruise ship industry has tried to cover up incidences of rape and sexual assault to avoid negative publicity.

He studied figures submitted to the US Congress by the industry last year and found that the rate of sexual assault on cruise ships was 59 per 100,000 compared with a norm in the US of 32 per 100,000. There were an additional 53 cases per 100,000 of sexual harassment. Nearly 70 per cent of sexual assaults were carried out by crew on guests, and 10 per cent by crew against fellow crew members.

The reasons for the higher incidence of sexual assault on ships, he said, included the easy availability of alcohol, passengers letting down their guard and the predatory behavior of some onboard staff.The Seattle-based International Cruise Victims Organization, formed by several families with similar cruise ship horror stories, lists dozens of alleged crimes at sea, including the disappearance of 18 people. The organization says many assaults go unreported because passengers "often feel alone and frustrated by jurisdictional uncertainties and poor treatment by cruise companies.” nzherald.com

4. From Russia With or Without Love

Maria Smirnova runs an adventure tour company on the Solovetsky Islands, an archipelago in the White Sea of northwestern Russia, about 100 miles from the Arctic Circle. Though growing in popularity, her business has roiled the monks and some residents, who accuse her of sullying the island’s religious traditions and ignoring its bloody past.

The islands, also known as Solovki, are one of the holiest sites in Russian Orthodox Christianity, and the 40 or so monks who reside here consider the land their own. Their predecessors settled here in the 15th century, creating a monastic dynasty that lasted nearly 500 years. When the Soviets came to power, they imprisoned or killed most of the clergy members and lopped off the cupolas on the churches they built. Buried beneath the wild blueberry fields and gangly forests of knotted dancing birches are the bones of thousands of inmates who perished at one of the first and most notorious Soviet prison camps: the Solovetsky Camp of Special Purpose, described by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as the harbinger of the gulag.

Despite the monks opposition, many of Solovki’s residents see tourism as a chance to emerge from the poverty endemic to many remote Russian regions. Among the dilapidated shacks and crumbling apartment blocs — some of which are former prison barracks — quaint wooden cottages and hotels with relatively expensive restaurants have appeared. “Solovki is more than a monastery,” Smiranova said. NY Times

5. Chill Outs

An LA spa offers a 30-minute road rage recovery treatment for $75. China’s spas, sensing the potential of the relaxation market and the upcoming Olympics, are giving themselves a makeover, upgrading their services so they can compete with the finest health resorts in Asia.

Blame it on global warming or just the varies of nature. Whatever the cause the beaches of South Florida are losing their sand and the communities at risk are evaluating ways to keep their beaches wide and welcoming. Broward Country, which completed a $44.5 million renourishment project in 06, is considering using recycled glass bottles.

6. Can Buy Me Love

Luxury travel has arrived in India in a big way. Owning a private jet, yacht or speedboat is the ultimate in luxury travel for the Indian millionaires, reports the India Times. Indian corporate houses—Reliance Industries , Videocon, UB Group, Raymond, GMR, Bharat Hotels, Taj Air, Oberoi et alare—are all buying private jets such as Falcons, Cessnas, Bombardiers, Beech Kings and Gulfstreams in large numbers. The new-age Indian traveler wants to travel not only in comfort but also save time, and at his convenience. With money not being the deciding factor, orders for private jets shot up to more than 45 last year while nearly 100 new yachts are expected to enter the India market this year. Industry experts say marketing is an important tool to make luxury travel a countrywide phenomenon. “At present the demand is high in metro cities. It will percolate down but it depends how the marketing is done,” says one expert. He estimates that there are between 8,000 and 10 ,000 people today who can buy their own aircraft, but they are not aware that it’s not an expensive affair to buy one.

7. Airport Watch

A former business consultant who longed for a decent glass of wine between flights to celebrate a deal with some colleagues, just opened his fifth wine bar at a US airport. Vino Volo is a growing chain that offer a respite for oenophiles, with wines by the glass or bottle, small plates of cheese and cured meats, leather chairs and outlets for laptops.

Also in growth mode is stemware (wine glasses) specially designed for particular wines. The theory holds that the design of the wine glass—from the shape of the bowl and degree of tapering at the rim, to the design of the rim itself—can affect the way someone experiences the aroma, taste and harmony of a wine. NY Times

Bonus...Congrats to the new US resorts that reached 5 star status in the Mobil Travel Guide’s 07 edition: The Tower Suites in Las Vegas; St. Regis Resort at Monarch Beach in Dana Point, California; the Mandarin Oriental in New York; St. Regis Hotel, San Francisco; and The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. Only 35 hotels are on the five-star list. Seventy-five percent of a hotel's score is based on service, 25 percent on facilities. To earn a fifth star, properties must score in the 90th percentile. AP

A five-star resort should have all the amenities of a four-star, plus some of the following:

1. a well-informed staff that is "extremely well spoken, polite and clear, avoids slang and phrase-fragments"
2. a choice of at least two complimentary newspapers
3. 24-hour room service
4. cloth towels and fresh plants or flowers in public washrooms
5. three phones per guest room, including one in the bathroom
6. CD player/stereo
7. high-quality ice bucket and glasses with sterile tongs
8. fresh flowers in guest rooms
9. separate shower and tub
10. proactive service at pools, with towel and chair assistance and complimentary refreshments when the weather is warm

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

2007-09-14T04:46:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Choo Choo Cachoo

While sleek new passenger trains streak through Europe, Japan and other corners of the world at speeds nearing 200 mph, most U.S. passenger trains chug along at little more than highway speeds — slowed by a half-century of federal preference for spending on roads and airports. But advocates say millions of Americans may be ready to embrace high-speed rail for everything from business travel to vacations because of soaring gas prices, airport delays and congested freeways that slow travel and contribute to air pollution.

Congress is considering a six-year Amtrak funding bill co-sponsored by 40 senators that would provide the first matching federal grants for rail projects. The measure proposes $100 million in first-year grants, paltry considering that California alone needs $40 billion for a mammoth bullet train project that would link San Francisco and Sacramento with Los Angeles and San Diego. Some argue federal money would be better spent to research electric-powered cars and other cutting-edge travel alternatives, rather than the ribbons of steel that triggered America's westward expansion in the 1800s.

The six-year-old Acela Express is the only U.S. rail line that tops the 125 mph considered "high speed" by international standards. And even supporters concede it barely qualifies, hitting its maximum 150 mph for less than 20 miles from Boston to Washington, D.C., and averaging just 86 mph over the full 456-mile run. AP

2. Airherent Behavior

In a year of record flight delays and baggage mishandling, hope is on the horizon. One solution: an airport where the only people are the passengers. The Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam is floating a vision of travelers lined up at self-service kiosks where they would check in, tag their bags, drop them into luggage chutes, select their seats and print out boarding passes. In about five years, there will be hardly any counters with humans behind them, Schiphol officials predict. Schiphol officials expect that, by 2015, about 90 percent of its passengers would use the self-service machines, allowing the airport to handle a 50 percent increase in travelers while reducing the typical time in line by 10 percent. LA Times

A 23-year-old woman who boarded a Southwest Airlines plane in a short skirt for a flight to Arizona says she was led off the plane for wearing an outfit that was considered too skimpy. A spokesperson for the Dallas-based airline said a customer service supervisor asked her to leave the plane and addressed her in the walkway leading back to the terminal, "away from the other customers. The employee felt the outfit "revealed too much" but was placated after the woman made adjustments that included covering her stomach. ETN

3. Dollar Delights

With the dollars value eroding against the euro and the British pound, there are a few places where US currency still has muscle. Experts at Hotwire.com and Orbitz.com agree on two destinations where exchange rates are favorable and prices are low: Thailand and Argentina. Hotwire's travel expert says you can still get a $12 steak dinner and an $8 bottle of wine in Buenos Aires, A spokesperson for Orbitz notes that you can find three- and four-star hotels in Phuket, Thailand, for under $120 a night. Other suggestions: Chile, Turkey, Vietnam and Mexico. In Santiago, for example, the cost of a good meal is about $12, and you can find hotels for around $110. And Mexico, with an 11-1 exchange rate on pesos to dollars, remains affordable and accessible. Mercury News

4. Online

http://www.farecast.com/, known for predicting domestic air ticket prices, is now testing a similar service for hotel pricing. http://www.kayak.com/ allows customers to search for hotel review results in three ways: in a list, on a map or in a photo slide show. http://www.hotels.com/ introduced a rate calendar that gives travelers a quick view of the lowest room rates for the coming days and months. NY Times

A study by online travel tracker PhoCusWright found that 84% of leisure travelers this year took or plan to take at least one long weekend trip. According to the annual study, weekend travelers spend $6 of every $10 on travel Web sites, vs. just $3 of every $10 for those taking vacations of a week or longer. http://www.kayak.com/ last month unveiled a search tool specifically for weekend air fares. Among other things, the new service lets users compare flight prices for upcoming weekends or for all weekends in a specified month.

http://www.orbitz.com/ has also jumped on the bandwagon. In June, it started offering an application called Orbitz Insider Deals. The application can be downloaded from Orbitz's Web site. A custom feature makes it easier to book last-minute weekend trips. The application lets users book hotels as well as flights for long weekends by setting date parameters for their trip. Expedia and Travelocity also offer last-minute weekend getaway package options on their Web sites. CNNMoney.com

5. Something To Care About

World Responsible Tourism Day will be on Nov. 14. Working in conjunction with Tourism Cares, the travel industry’s non profit dedicated to protecting and enhancing the traveling experience for the present and future generations of all consumers, ASTA will work to beautify the grounds at George Washington’s historic home, Mount Vernon, in Mount Vernon, Va. ASTA will also develop member materials to increase awareness and further educate clients on the power of responsible travel and the role they play. Additionally, several ASTA members will travel to Peru with ASTA partner, Global Volunteers. Global Volunteers is an organization that assists tourists in planning volunteer vacations so they might perform humanitarian work in various countries around the world.

6. Change Your Life

That's the concept resorts are selling to a growing number of people for whom an exotic getaway just isn't enough. From luxury hotel resorts to rustic retreats, yoga offerings and yoga-centric vacations have increasingly become a carrot to lure vacationers that want more than a fabulous place to stay and entertainment.

Marketing and research firm Ypartnership said its latest survey of affluent travelers - the top 7 percent of U.S. households, or those that bring in more than $150,000 a year - showed 30 percent of respondents named yoga as their favorite spa program or service. Massage was the most popular with 65 percent.Yoga vacations come in many incarnations. The high end can range from packages at luxury resorts to all-inclusive vacations to India, Chile, Bali or elsewhere. The spectrum of choices includes more austere retreats that offer the bare bones - more meditation than amenities - and cost much less. Forbes

7. Elephant Walk

Namibia's Environment and Tourism Minister called on Namibians to exercise greater care in regions where elephants abound following the death of four people in the past six weeks in run-ins with the giant animals. The minister urged residents to avoid walking around at night and avoid disturbing elephants in any way. Since the beginning of the year, 10 so-called problem elephants have had to be killed in Erongo and the eastern Otjozondjupa regions.

After receiving several complaints about damage caused by elephants to property, the ministry has begun looking at ways to reduce the conflict between people and wildlife. A higher hunting quota for "problem" elephants and crocodiles roaming outside national parks and conservancies has been set for 2007 and 2008 in the Caprivi and Kavango regions, which have the highest concentration of elephants.Namibia's elephant population fluctuates because elephants in the north-eastern Caprivi Strip roam across the border into and from neighboring countries, particularly Botswana.Environment officials estimate at more than 20 000 the number of elephants in the Caprivi, with about 3 000 in the Kavango region. ETN/mg.com

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

2007-08-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Group Think

More group travelers are using the Web to arrange their plans. The research firm PhoCusWright estimates that groups of leisure travelers ranging from 5 to 19 people spent $15.3 billion on hotels, air fares and car rentals in 2005. By 08 that number could exceed $18.9 billion. Family reunions are the most popular type of group leisure gathering, followed by sports outings, wedding parties, and association or community group gatherings.

The two top online group travel companies are http://www.groople.com/ and http://www.groupabout.com/, which have teamed with other travel companies to serve as a bridge between Web sites. Groople works with Travelocity, SideStep and Kayak, while GroupAbout works with SideStep and Orbitz.

http://www.hotelplanner.com/ has a slightly different business model where groups tell it the city they want to visit and what their needs are, then collects online bids from hotels in that city. Once the group accepts a bid HotelPlanner creates a customized Web site for the group that allows individuals to book rooms. Meanwhile, www.Priceline.com began letting groups of five to nine people reserve hotel rooms by either bidding for rates or booking published rates; groups requiring 10 or more rooms may request bids from hotels. A “Meet Me In” program offered by Travelocity enables groups of up to four people to travel from two different cities, meet at one destination, and buy a discounted package.

Other companies specializing in planning rather than booking group trips include them http://www.triphub.com/ and http://www.triporama/.com. Triporama lets travelers share research and coordinate plans and provides links to Web sites like Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and CruiseShipCenters International.

Some cruise and hotel companies have also made the planning process easier for group trips. Last year, Carnival Cruise Lines introduced CarnivalConnections.com, a site that helps groups plan trips. Carlson Hotels Worldwide gives groups that reserve a block of guest rooms a customizable Web page for booking and paying for their accommodations, while the InterContinental Hotels Group gives groups a customizable Web page for booking. NY Times

2. Fidelocity

Travelocity was fined $182,750 by federal regulators for booking trips between the US and Cuba. The US government said the company had violated the prohibition nearly 1,500 times from January 1998 to April 2004. Said a Travelocity spokesperson: “The trips to Cuba were unintentionally permitted to be booked by consumers online because of some technical failures several years ago, and it’s just now being finally settled.”

3. Those Goo Goo Googly Eyes

American Airlines is suing Google, accusing the Internet company of violating trademark laws and selling search words involving American’s name such as “American Airlines” and “AA.com” to other companies. Reuters

4. Hot Spot Influencers

Could Sarande, a coastal town at the southern tip of Albania be the next travel hot spot, replacing new comers such as Vietnam, São Paulo and the Caribbean island of Vieques? Enter John Stoll, Crystal Cruises director of land programs whose job it is to scout out new -- and often obscure -- destinations. Of course, luck and market forces play a role in the rise or fall of a destination. But in many cases, their fortunes reflect the remarkable influence of a small cadre of people like Stoll.

W Hotels relies on Ross Klein, who spent most of his career as a marketing executive for Ralph Lauren and Liz Claiborne. For inspiration, Klein picks up vintage travel magazines from the 1950s and '60s at flea markets. He looks for destinations that were once popular and today might have a retro-appeal. Add to the influential’s list Scott Woroch, who helped bring the Four Seasons to Malaysia and who spearheaded the opening of Ritz-Carltons in Moscow and Bahrain. And Adrian Zecha, the chief executive of Amanresorts, a Singapore-based hotel chain. Zecha spends two-thirds of his time on the road, often staying at his own hotels, where rates routinely top $600 a night, or looking for new places to expand.

At Club Med, any new project in the Western hemisphere needs the green light from Nicolas Boudet. One of his most important resources is a 50-year Club Med veteran named Gerard Joachim, the company's marine consultant, who tests the waters at potential resort sites by peeling down to his bathing suit and swimming or snorkeling in the ocean. Being the first to discover a new spot can reap big rewards. Besides tax breaks and other government incentives, hotels can claim the best site before the masses come rushing in. It also helps attract well-traveled customers looking for something new. WSJ

5. Online

Microsoft Corp launched Microsoft Streets & Trips 2008 with Connected Services. The updated version of the program combines the travel and mapping softwarefor the United States and Canada, a Global Positioning System (GPS) locator, and a new MSN Direct receiver, providing drivers with current traffic updates and competitive gas prices without needing an Internet connection. Streets & Trip with Connected Services also integrates with Live Search Maps, allowing consumers to find up-to-date local information that can be saved to take on the road. CNNMoney.com

For the 20-something-crowd--An online network of travelers who are tired of staying in hotels and hostels and want to see the world with a free place to crash—often on someone’s couch, www.couchsurfing.com. Boston Globe

While most world stock markets are reeling from the credit concerns and re-evaluation of risk, there is one market that just keeps on trucking--China. The reasons are relatively straightforward: There are no subprime and real estate credit issues. The Olympic build-out is occurring as well, and everything that goes with that, including travel. Many people inside China are turning to online services to book this travel. The biggest and most well known is www.Ctrip.com. This is the Chinese equivalent of Expedia or Travelocity. Interestingly, they cater to a growing middle class. Thestreet.com

6. Ditzney

Poor visitor numbers at its Hong Kong theme park may force Disney to seek refinancing of its share of the joint-venture project with the Hong Kong government and postpone the construction of a new theme park in Shanghai. Disney, which owns 43 percent of the shares, projected 10 million visitors annually by 2020 for the Hong Kong park. Hong Kong Disneyland averages 11,000 visitors daily and is still well short of its 34,000 capacity. Disney said it still has to tap visitors from mainland China.

The theme park, which opened in September 2005, is yet to reach four million visitors in its second year of operations, far lower than the 5.2 million reached during its first year. The small size, lack of sufficient attractions and rides to occupy visitors for a whole day have contributed to the problems facing Hong Kong Disneyland. The clash of cultures from shark's fin soup in menus to a "lack of cultural relevance" may account for some the problems facing Disney, says one expert. "Some of the shows and rides at Hong Kong Disneyland are presented only in English.” ETN

7. The Green Line

An arid region on the eastern tip of Crete is the proposed site of the $1.6 billion Cavo Sidero resort development. If all goes according to plan, this highly publicized year-round resort will sit on 6,000 acres and make claim to being the largest eco-friendly development in southeastern Europe. But there is a catch. Local environmentalists say water-starved Crete cannot support this development which would include hotels, vacation homes and golf courses. Indeed, signs of an environmental crisis are everywhere in the region. Parts of Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey are facing desertication or the degradation of once-fertile soil because of overbuilding, overgrazing and an explosion in hothouse agriculture. Hoteliers say they are adopting greener practices to ease the concern. NY Times

One for the Road: For many years hitting golf balls into the ocean off cruise ships was sheer ecstasy for duffers. The fun ended in 1990 when the International Maritime Organization prohibited the dumping of plastic water into the sea, including those little pockmarked white balls. But in the 1990s two developments brought cruising and golfing closer together: the computerized golf simulator and itineraries that include stops to play golf on real courses. The bill for simulated cruise golf with lessons and equipment can run about $250. The onshore version upwards of $500. NY Times

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

2007-08-16T17:16:00.001-07:00

7 Days: 7 Travel Stories
please support the Weekend Reader by clicking on the ads above.

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

2007-08-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. Online

A rundown of some online travel guides that can help you navigate new cities or find quirky attractions at your planned destination from the WSJ.

TripWiser.com: Find vacation ideas by browsing through other people's trip itineraries. The site's maps, photos and destination briefings provide an easy way to look before you leap.

WeJustGotBack.com: Get family-friendly vacation advice about specific destinations, like Cape Cod or New Orleans, or more general travel tips.

Gridskipper.com: Look to this site, which bills itself as the "decadent urban travel guide," to find hot nightlife and top restaurants in cities world-wide. A summary page displays briefings on the featured locations and plots them on a Google map.

Waymarking.com: Search for unusual sites by location, category or both. The site relies on global-positioning-system coordinates, but people without a GPS device can search by ZIP Code. Categories include everything from "odd-shaped buildings" to "scenic railroads."

Another site that's similar in spirit is RoadsideAmerica.com.

Yelp.com: Read restaurant and nightlife reviews that are mostly written by locals. The site works best for bigger cities, like San Francisco and New York, but also has reviews for smaller towns. WSJ

2. Airline

Northwest said it will trim maximum flying hours for pilots on domestic routes to 86 from 90, cut this month’s US capacity by 4 percent and add as many as 350 pilots. Also in the new pilot contract, a $1,000 bonus for perfect attendance now through September 3, and overtime pay of 50 percent for flying more than 80 hours a month. The new contract is designed to return Northwest to its historical status as one of the industry’s most reliable airlines. With 1,400 departures daily, the airline canceled flights after pilots missed shifts during June and July. Bloomberg News

3. Weatherline

From the inventor bin...an umbrella that glows when it is going to rain. Priced at $125, The Ambient Umbrella features a net-connected contraption at its handle that provides weather information from Accuweather. http://www.ambientdevices.com/ Boston Globe

4. Greenline

Boeing expects the number of commercial jetliners to nearly double, to 36,420 in the next 20 years. By 2050, the industry is expected to contribute anywhere from 6 to 10 percent of the gases and particles tied to global warming, up from about 3 percent today. Aviation’s expansion has led to political problems for the industry in Europe, where there is increasing pressure to cut back on air travel, reduce airport expansion, and increase taxes on tickets. In response, the EU proposed rules that would require airlines serving domestic routes to enter into an emissions-trading scheme by 2011.

Carriers flying to and from Europe, including US airlines, would have to enter the system by the following year. The US and other nations plan to vigorously fight the proposal at an international meeting of aviation authorities in Montreal in September. They say that it would drive up costs for airlines and violate the principle of air service deals brokered between governments. Further, they say Europe doesn’t have the right to force carriers to buy credits for carbon dioxide emitted in US or international air space. Washington Post

Separately, a June 2007 study commissioned by airlines and aircraft manufacturers estimates that compliance with the proposed EU emissions-control regulation would cost airlines $60 billion-$90 billion between 2011 and 2022 and reduce their profits by $55 billion in the same period.

5. Timeline

Time travel has long held a fascination for many of us. One young boy, growing up in the 1950s in the Bronx in New York, was especially interested in these tales. Ronald Mallett was just 10 when he found solace in science fiction. More than 50 years later Mallett has learned a lot more about science. He's now a professor of physics at the University of Connecticut and he seeks funding for his Space-Time Twisting by Light project.

It would work something like this: we know that massive objects, such as stars and planets, can bend both space and time. Dr Mallett and others believe that light too, because of its inherent energy, can also bend what's called the space/time continuum.

Thus...Build yourself an extremely powerful ring laser, and pop some material - maybe even one day a human - in the center of this vortex of light, and you might just be able to drag what's inside the machine back or forward through time. BBC News

6. Fineline

Italy has dethroned Hawaii as the world's No. 1 honeymoon destination in Modern Bride magazine's annual "World's Best Honeymoons" survey. Second on the list was Hawaii, which was the top destination in the Modern Bride survey for a decade. Tahiti came in third, followed by Costa Rica at No. 4 (up from No. 10 last year), Mexico, France, the Maldives, Anguilla, Fiji and Greece. The number of honeymooners traveling to the Aloha State fell to 215,973 through the first six months of this year, a 1.2 percent drop from the same period in 2006.

7. Frontline

Hyundai Asan, the South Korean operator of privitized tours in North Korea, has announced plans to spend $3 billion by 2025 to develop its tourism complexes on the North's east coast. The company said it plans to develop the coastal area from North Korea's eastern port city of Wonsan to Haegeumgang, near Mount Geumgang, where it has built a mountain resort.

Mt. Geumgang, divided into three parts--Naegeumgang (inner, western part), Oegeumgang (outer, eastern part) and Haegeumgang (seashore), has long held a spiritual allure for Koreans and will now be accessible daily starting this summer season, instead of three times a week in the past. The complex has attracted 1.5 million visitors since 1998, up to now mostly consisting of South Koreans. Official records show 8,000 other visitors came from 48 countries.

Cruiseline Bonus

Ship berth capacity based on double occupancy...Carnival 50,878. Costa 24,890. Holland Ameria 20,052. MSC Cruises 17,786. Norwegian 22,048. Princess 35,380. RCI 55,356. Celebrity 13,452. Travel Trade

Rich’s Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler2 Communications. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. andtyler222@verizon.net

2007-08-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

7 Days; 7 Travel Stories
don’t forget to support the Weekend Reader by clicking on the ads above.

1. Air Tix On The Cheap

http://www.cfares.com/, which has been selling cheap airline seats since 2005, has just updated its user interface after securing $4.5 million of venture funding. cfares charges $50 a year for the privilege of buying travel wholesale. Wholesale fares represent about 20 percent of the market in the U.S. cfares’ president says his company can offer lower fares by kicking back a portion of its customer membership fees to participating airlines. He says it's appealing to the airlines because it's the opposite of the typical business model in which airlines pay travel agencies (including online agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity) for selling tickets.

Cfares isn't a travel agency nor does it sell tickets. Instead, it refers visitors to the websites of companies that do sell tickets, including airlines and travel services such as Expedia. cFares also works with travel consolidators – also known as "bucket shops" – who can sometimes offer lower prices by booking large numbers of seats on selected flights. Consolidators can sometimes offer tickets for 20 to 40% below retail.

[Visit www.itinarod.com to see where the real air bargains can be found for free!]

2. Card Carriers

The airlines spend $3 billion each year on credit card merchant fees, $1 billion of which is just on corporate air sales processed by ARC. After having already cut labor, commissions and GDS costs, air carriers now see credit card fees as the next opportunity for meaningful savings. Credit card companies charge as much as 3% for a transaction. Historically, the average has been between 2.2% and 2.5%. Airline officials report there is no negotiating with credit card companies, which leaves two options-- finding lower-cost alternatives to credit card payments or foisting off credit card fees on someone else. In this case, the customer, which could violate contracts with credit card companies and might even be illegal in several states. Against this backdrop, ARC devised a plan to persuade corporations or their agents to convert larger accounts to cash payments.

This month, Southwest and Northwest introduced the PayPal service on their Web sites. The 140 million consumers with PayPal accounts can pay with credit cards, debit cards or cash in the form of bank drafts. PayPal averages out its costs, enabling it to charge a lower fee than credit cards. Southwest predicted its savings on PayPal would be less than half a point.

3. Where In The World

American Express will drop its prepaid Travelers Cheque card after years of prodding consumers to use it in place of paper checks. Amex began phasing out the card in late June and will end the program Oct. 31, when it will refund customers any balances remaining on their cards. The card, introduced in 2003 as the TravelFunds card, was designed to be preloaded with cash and used to make purchases with merchants who accept the American Express card or for withdrawals from ATMs, but it failed to catch on with those used to using paper traveler's checks.

Use of traveler's checks has been on the wane as people have turned toward accessing cash at ATMs, but Amex says there's still a market for the paper checks. It’s still a big business in the United States and Western Europe, and in countries such as India, Mexico and Russia, where customers use them as an alternative to keeping cash at home. The Seattle Times

4. Silk Roadies

For centuries the ancient Silk Road route was the only land trade route between Asia and Europe. Alas, dotted with historic and cultural attractions, the 2,100-year-old route linking Asia and Europe needs better transport links to develop tourism, say officials. Delegates at a recently-held United Nations Development Program (UNDP) forum were informed that the biggest obstacle to development of tourism along the centuries old Silk Road route was “insufficient capacity” to handle large amounts of traffic. Nations along the route have agreed to jointly apply for 48 UN Heritage sites.

5. Online

Gender-based trip planning at http://www.imin.com/, features a date decider that enables users to put in their free days to better coordinate travel plans.

A survey by leading online accommodation booking agency HotelClub has revealed that Asians are turning more and more to the Internet when making travel purchases. Respondents indicate (51.1 percent) use the Internet to research their travel purchases, followed by word of mouth (26.2 percent), and magazines (7.1 percent), further breaking it down to flights (50.3 percent) and accommodation (35.1 percent). ETN

The latest hot destination for travel is a new application on Facebook. “Where I’ve Been” allows members to download a global map and then share their travel history. Users are asked to highlight the places they have lived, visited or would like to visit. The map contains tidbits of information about each place. Users can then compare their maps againsts those of their friends to see who has traveled the most. NY Times

6. Tour Packaging Pricing

Pricing for European tour packages are expected to increase up to 12% next year because of the diminished value of the US dollar against the Euro. This month the euro hit 1.38 against the dollar, higher than it has been since the European currency started trading in 1999. And there's little hope of any relief. A combination of inflation and the dollar's continuing woes in the currency markets will continue to make travel to Europe the most expensive it has been for American tourists in anyone's memory.

Europe operators have different methods for establishing their package prices. Most are finalizing the high-season prices right now and will release their brochures in September and October. Brochures for specialty products, such as river cruises, and for the low winter season have already been printed and distributed. In times of large currency swings, tour operators historically have employed two methods to ensure that they can survive most fluctuations: negotiate with suppliers for a fixed price regardless of the exchange rate or negotiate a fixed exchange rate with a bank. Travel Weekly

7. Stay in touch (for less) when abroad

The new National Geographic Talk Abroad Travel Phone lets users receive incoming phone calls without charge in 65 countries, including all of Europe. Rates begin at 90 cents a minute for outgoing calls. So far, 300 National Geographic phones have been sold since mid-June, when the program started, and users of the service have tripled to about 3,000. NY Times

Odd&Ends

The Back to the Future Ride at Universal Studios in Calfornia is history. The 14 year old ride will make way for a new “The Simpsons” ride to open in Spring 2008...The last Back to the Future ride will be this September 3. LA Times

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

2007-07-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

7 Days, 7 Amazing Insider Travel Stories

1. Bumpy Road For Orbitz

The online travel portal, Orbitz (NYSE: OWW), went public at $15 a share, priced below its original IPO range of between $16 and $18 per share. Experts say that investors weren't willing to fly too high to get a piece of the company, which includes the namesake site as well as other popular travel sites like CheapTickets.com and Europe's eBookers.com. Orbitz has been passed around more than a hot potato at a suburban toddler's birthday party.

The company went public in 2003, but was acquired by Cendant a year later. Then a private equity consortium led by Blackstone (NYSE: BX) acquired Cendant's Travelport business, including most of the Orbitz pieces that went public last week. At issue: while other portals, like Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) and Priceline (Nasdaq: PCLN), have been consistently profitable lately, Orbitz has never turned an annual profit.
Also, the travel landscape is changing. Even though online sites are eating into conventional bookings, (Orbitz saw its gross travel bookings soar 38% higher last year) too many travel providers, such as Southwest Airlines, are establishing direct relationships with their users. Motley Fool

2. At the Concierge Station

Ask the concierge for information at Rome's Cavalieri Hilton this summer and, along with sage advice, inside tips and a street map, you'll also be offered an MP3 player. The hotel has loaded up two walking tours, lasting six hours and spanning between four and five miles through the city's main sights. Forward thinking, innovative, original? Well, up to a point. The idea, acknowledges the hotel, is simply to meet guests' "evolving needs and interests". The ripping up of the travel rulebook is an unstoppable force. Sales of package holidays are declining, as the growth of independent travel continues unabated. Travel to Europe and the US is at a standstill while long-haul travel is up 30 per cent year on year.

Of note, the Association of Independent Tour Operators (Aito) offers 30 podcasts covering several countries, www.aito.co.uk.
Another audio tour site: www.touridio.co.uk. London Times Online

3. Student Travel

Students ready for a travel break should visit the web site for the nonprofit International Student Travel Confederation. The site, http://www.istc.org/sisp/index.htm, features a worldwide calendar of events. It also sells an International Student Identity Card ($22) through affiliated travel agencies such as STA, www.statravel.com. The card can be used to obtain discounts on airfares, hostel stays, museum admissions and more. Hartford Courant

4.Why Use a Travel Agent

For the most part, a travel agent can't get you any better deals than you can find for yourself through diligent online searching. But a travel agent can save you time, provide valuable counsel and help you out when something goes wrong. The No. 1 reason most consumers use travel agents is to take advantage of their specialized knowledge on: Destinations. Local deals. Good deals and special promotions. They also can save you time.

That's the main reason so many business travelers rely on agents to make their travel arrangements. When something goes wrong -- either before you leave or when you're already on your trip -- a travel agent is your best source of help. When people ask how to find a good agent, the answer is, "The same way you find a good accountant, stockbroker or auto mechanic -- word of mouth." A travel agent is a professional, just as those others are professionals, and the best way to find one is through other satisfied clients. Chicago Tribune

5. A 30,000-foot View From PC World

The online air sites this teckkie magazine likes most.

Farecast charts where airfares for a particular itinerary have been in recent months and predicts what they're likely to be in the near future. PC World named Farecast one of the 20 most innovative products of 2006. Unlike Farecast, Kayak, one of PC World's 100 Best Products of 2007, also lets you search for hotels, rental cars, and cruises. And Kayak's Buzz section reveals the best prices other Kayakers have found for top destinations in the past 48 hours. ITA Software is another good option for finding the lowest airfares. Founded by MIT scientists, ITA Software is a search engine that's known for not favoring particular airlines (unlike some travel planning sites). And it provides a convenient way to find itineraries that combine the lowest fares with the most convenient routing.

Ever worried that the airfare for an itinerary will drop after you've booked a nonrefundable ticket? That's where the recently launched www.Yapta.com comes in. While some sites, such as Travelocity's Fare Alert, notify you of fare decreases between two cities, they don't alert you when a rate for a specified itinerary changes. Yapta does. Once you've settled on or booked your trip, register with Yapta to receive e-mail alerts whenever the fare for that specific itinerary drops. Yapta works in two ways. You can download and install the free Tagger applet, which lets you automatically tell Yapta to start tracking an itinerary you've planned on a variety of travel sites. Or you can manually enter itineraries directly on the Yapta site.

A Few More Glamor Sites

www.FlightStats.com lets you view on-time performance records of major airlines.

www.SeatGuru.com provides seating diagrams for many domestic and international aircraft. Always check out your seats here before you book.

www.MileageManager.com charges $15 yearly to track all your airline, hotel, and rental car membership points, and sends you updated e-mail summaries. Unfortunately it doesn't tell you when your points expire, however.

www.WebFlyer.com is a useful tool for comparing one frequent flier program to another, checking blackout dates, converting miles from one program to another, and a lot more.

6. Green Travel

Green travel is broad, diverse and hard to define, but the steps and sites below can help preserve the planet.

Before you leave: Turn down the thermostat and water heaters at your home; most have a vacation setting.

Do your homework: Select hotels, tour companies and other travel providers that make a genuine commitment to environmental preservation. How can you tell? Ask them to e-mail a copy of their ecology policy. See whether their catalog is printed on recycled paper. For tours, ask if accommodations are at chain hotels or locally owned lodgings. Lonely Planet's book Code Green lists almost 100 eco-friendly trips. For advice from Lonely Planet, go to www.lonelyplanet.com/responsibletravel/travel_tips.cfm.

Use the same towels and sheets: Many hotels now change towels and sheets only when you request it. Towels on the floor are replaced; those on the rack are left to dry. Even if your hotel doesn't have a card urging you to do this, you can leave a note for housekeeping saying that you don't need the towels or sheets changed. You can also request that the hotel refrain from using chemical air fresheners and cleaning products in your room.

Beware of green-washing: Many travel companies "cloak themselves in an eco-blanket" but aren't really green, says Geographic Expeditions' Jim Sano. He encourages travelers to ask outfitters how they select tour operators overseas, if they support local people and what they do to minimize impact on the lands they visit.

Choose eco-friendly activities: When visiting a city, you can travel by tour bus or walk. Walking is not only greener, but it also opens you to serendipitous encounters. Bike touring, white-water rafting and kayaking can be green, depending on the decisions of the tour operator.

Pack it out: When traveling to remote areas, including mountains and rivers, take as little potential trash as possible and pack out whatever waste you create.
Consider the consequences: You might like a cold beer and hot shower after a day of trekking in the Himalayas, but tourist demands can lead to increased deforestation (to heat water) or to the disruption of traditional ways.

Get online: For a list of green hotels, go to www.greenhotels.com, but note that these hotels are self-selecting so some may not be very green. For a list of top eco-travel destinations, go to www.ethicaltraveler.org/destinations.php.

For a compendium of eco-friendly adventures listed by country and activity, see www.responsibletravel.com. Also go to the forums at www.greentraveller.co.uk and www.groups.yahoo.com/group/green-travel. Dallas Morning News

7. Going Solo

Bucking the trend toward networking travel sites, www.JourneyWoman.com is one of a few that encourage women to go solo. and urge women to share their travel experiences, both good and bad. Another site, www.womentraveltips.com, offers safety advice, like: “Be sure to know when the sun rises and sets. A bustling market can quickly empty out and be transformed into dark deserted streets.” It also has a directory of female-friendly travel companies, and offers tips like “Do talk to strangers,” saying, “Some of the most meaningful travel experiences come from spontaneous invitations to join a person” or group for some activity. NY Times

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

2007-07-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

7 Days, 7 Travel Stories

1. GeoTourism
The term is so new that few tourists use it. But it's on the lips of travel professionals who describe it as a step beyond the better-known and environmentally friendly ecotourism. The term? Geotourism. Consider...traveling to a seaside New England clam shack for fried clams. Listening to jazz in New Orleans. Visiting a small organic coffee farm in Guatemala. These trips would all make for very different summer vacations, but they have something in common: They could all be considered "geotourism," which focuses on a destination's unique culture and history and aims to have visitors help enrich those qualities rather than turn the place into a typical tourist trap.

While geotourism encourages treading lightly on nature, it's also about authenticity and making a place better by visiting and spending money. In May, Rhode Island became the latest region to sign the Geotourism Charter by the National Geographic Society, joining Arizona, Guatemala, Honduras, Norway and Romania in a commitment to the ideals of geotourism. The state will form a "Geotourism Collaborative" to come up with ways to preserve its unique assets, whether it be Narragansett Bay at the heart of Rhode Island or its Colonial-era architecture in Newport and Providence.

Jonathan B. Tourtellot, the National Geographic Society's first director of sustainable destinations is said to have coined the term in a 2002 study. "The enemy of geotourism is sameness," he says.

Learn more:

National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations: www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/

Counterpart International: www.counterpart.org

Tourism Center at Michigan State: www.tourismcenter.msu.edu

United Nations' World Tourism Organization: www.world-tourism.org

2. Over There

In the United States only about 40 percent of companies have any type of travel risk management program in place to help employees deal with medical emergencies, kidnapping and extortion threats or any of the other myriad problems that can occur when traveling abroad. There are many insurance options. International SOS offers a 10-day program for $80 that includes access to its 28 global alarm centers and medical assistance and evacuation. Short-term insurance coverage is available for $29. An annual membership costs $350. HTH Worldwide estimates that its coverage, which includes medical evacuation and cashless access to its worldwide network of 4,000 English-speaking doctors and 750 hospitals, would cost about $4 to $6 a day.

To mitigate risk whether you have insurance or not, make copies of all important documents, like a passport, credit cards, driver's license and medical information and leaving a copy with a colleague or family member. Consider scanning and e-mailing these documents to yourself. Before going abroad find out if your medical policy covers sickness and injuries overseas. Even if policies do promise reimbursement, you might still have to pay any costs up front for medical care. Most insurance policies do not cover medical evacuation, which can easily run into the six figures. International Herald Tribune

3. Tops List

Midwest Airlines was named best domestic airline in Travel + Leisure magazine's annual readers' survey for the 8th time in 12 years. JetBlue came in No. 2 followed by Hawaiian Airlines, USA 3000 Airlines, Aloha Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Horizon Air. Travel + Leisure readers named Florence, Italy, the world's best city, followed by Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Rome, Sydney, New York, Udaipur in India, Istanbul, San Francisco, and Cape Town, South Africa. Udaipur is home to spectacular palaces, gardens and temples. The city also has luxury hotels like the Oberoi Udaivilas and the Lake Palace.

Top 10 large-ship cruise lines in the readers' survey were Crystal, Regent Seven Seas, Oceania, Disney, Cunard, Celebrity, Holland America, Orient, Princess and Royal Caribbean. The survey of nearly 19,000 readers also named Bali the world's best island, Hertz the world's best car-rental agency, and The Peninsula in Bangkok as the world's best hotel for under $250. http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest. AP

4. On The Go

The Japan Travel Bureau says bookings from Japan to Hawaii are up 3.9 percent for the summer vacation period July 15-Aug. 31. More than 213,000 Japanese are planning a trip to Hawaii, some 8,000 more than traveled there during summer 2006. Overall outbound Japanese travel to all destinations worldwide ran to 1.3 million visitors in May, down almost 6 percent from the same month last year. The Japanese National Tourist Organization said travel to Hawaii in May was 10 percent from May 2006 but travel to China was up 11 percent. Travel was down 9 percent to Canada, down 9 percent to Guam, and down 6 percent to the U.S. Mainland. Japanese travel was up 24 percent to Macau and up 27 percent to Bali while down 3 percent to Korea and down fractionally to Taiwan. PacificBusiness

5. Small Things

The first Yotel opened at Gatwick Airport in London. For the clueless, a Yotel is a low-cost Japanese-style capsule hotel. Yotel offers two types of cabins that a guest can reserve for a few hours. The standard cabin, at $50 for four hours, features 75 square feet and amenities for two to sleep, store small bags, Wi-Fi, flat screen TV, radio and 24-hour room service for light meals and drinks. The premium cabin, priced at about $80 for four hours, includes an extra 30 square feet. NY Times

6. Spaniks

Luxury hotel chains like Park Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and Mandarin Oriental are installing sleek, spa-themed rooms. Among the pampering features: steam showers, saunas, color-therapy tubs, massage tables and workout equipment. NY Times

7. Airseats
Some of the least packed planes to popular European destinations are flown by airlines you might not think of. For example, the LA-Frankfurt route is covered by both Lufthansa with 90 percent of its seats filled, and Air India, with only half its seats filled. Enter a new web site dedicated to international travel and finding those counterintuitive route combinations: www.vayama.com.

One for the road: Outlet shopping, which emerged in the US in the late 1970s, is now all the rage in Europe. At the end of 2006, there were 66 outlet centers in 14 European countries and new ones are being built at a furious pace, especially in emerging markets like Eastern Europe. Catch a glimpse of one at www.chicoutletshopping.com.

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

2007-07-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

7 Days, 7 Travel Stories

1. Lost In Space...The public space travel industry is going and growing. There is already more than $1.5 billion invested in new air transportation ventures and an estimated $1 billion in new commercial space ventures. Public space travel experts gathered recently at "Flight School 2007 — Flying: Beyond A to B," a workshop for commercial space and private aviation ventures. Among the issues discussed: harnessing the technology, dealing with regulations and finances, and satisfying customer needs and desires. Read more at http://www.space.com/ or www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19618732. MSNBC

2. A survey of AAA travel-agency managers in April identified these cities as "hot spots" for summer 2007. 1 Orlando. 2 Las Vegas. 3 Seattle. 4 New York. 5 Los Angeles.

3. Way down upon... Boaters on Florida’s Suwannee River are keeping a sharp eye for sturgeon who like to jump high out of the water before returning to the depths with a stunning splash. Every so often, however, the sturgeon miss the water and strike someone onboard a boat. Leaping sturgeon have injured three people this year. 8 were hit last year. And it can hurt too...A sturgeon, at 8 feet long with its armored girth, can weight more than 200 pounds. NY Times

4. The current membership fee for Exclusive Resorts, a destination club whose members vacation in luxurious, club-owned homes throughout the world: $425,000, along with $29,900 in annual dues. What you get in return—a 45 day stay at any of the club’s 345 private homes, usually with 3,000 to 4,000 square feet and three to four bedrooms plus lots of high-end amenities and concierge services. NY Times

5. Paris has joined Lyon, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Barcelona and London with a city bike system where people can rent bikes to move about the city. Called Velib, Paris’ program allows riders to pick up and drop off a three-speed bike at any one of various stations spread throughout the city. The first 30 minutes is free; after that the cost is 1 euro, or about $1.35 for the first half hour, 2 euros for the second half hour and 4 euros for each half hour after that. Copenhagen has a free bike system that requires only a small deposit that is returned when the bike is relocked. London uses a debit card. Proposals for similar programs are being considered in Chicago, Washington and NY. NY Times

6. As domestic sales slow, online travel sites are looking to Europe to grow. About 30 percent of domestic travel is booked online with room to grow to possibly 50 percent. In Europe, online travel represents only about 20 percent of sales and just 12 percent in Asia. American online travel agencies have become dominant in Europe in recent years by buying competitors or increasing the share of their own businesses. Most active are Priceline, Expedia and Travelocity.
Experts say Expedia has the been the most successful in building its foreign operations from the ground up, introducing 13 Expedia-branded sites in Europe that will generate about $5.6 billion in bookings. Travelocity’s biggest international push came in early 2005 with the acquisition of LastMinute.com for $1.1 billion. Priceline’s acquisitions include Active Hotels and Bookings BV, now http://www.booking.com/. Entry in markets such as China remain difficult because of significant infrastructure hurdles and credit card adoption lags.

7. The people of the Micronesians, whose islands spread from near the Philippines in the west to five hours from Hawaii in the east, require no charts or graphs to see that the rising ocean is a critical and constant presence in their lives. When the moon is full, the waves at high tide are several feet higher than ever, according to long-time island residents.

And to that end, many of the tropical islands across the Pacific, which depend heavily on tourism--often with a focus on scuba diving, snorkelling and sport fishing—are being threatened by climate and ocean changes. The same goes for the region’s living coral reefs. Among the many islands under threat, Kiribati, formerly the Gilbert Islands, has lost two small islands to the ocean and is facing the possibility that its 100,000 people will also have to find another homeland. Will there be anyone left to hear them fall? Visit http://www.visitmarshallislands.com/travel.htm. Toronto GlobeMail

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

2007-06-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

7 Days, 7 Travel Stories
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1. A carnival in Venice...More than a century ago author Henry James once observed: "Though there are some disagreeable things in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors." And to that end, more than 20 million tourists are expected to visit Venice this year. Many are day-trippers who, experts say, wreak havoc on Venice's delicate ecology and architecture without leaving behind a financial footprint that would help officials neutralize their impact.

Enter Augusto Salvadori, Venice’s city official in charge of public conduct. Salvadori recently launched a campaign to encourage tourists and Venetians to treat the city in a manner befitting its stature. The campaign features signs advising visitors not to picnic in public places, treat the canals as if they were a beach, and write messages for fellow travelers on the monuments. Violators face fines of $67, and the city has deployed enforcement stewards.

Enter again, Pierluigi Sacco, a professor of design at Venice's University IUAV. Sacco's prescription is to raise cultural offerings to heighten tourists' commitment to the city. Venice currently sponsors an annual film festival and, every two years, a contemporary art show called the Biennale, which draws several hundred-thousand visitors.

Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari has ruled out charging an entrance fee to the city as unmanageable, but is pushing Rome to reconsider a lodging tax of a few dollars on overnight visitors to help cover the costs of such services as trash removal - which must be done by hand cart in many Venetian quarters. AP

2. Greenpeace Southeast Asia said the Guinness World Records had accepted its proposal to include Indonesia in its 2008 record book as the country with the fastest rate of deforestation in the world. Indonesia's forests cover roughly 91 million hectares and harbor diverse life forms that include 11 percent of the world's plant species, 10 percent of mammal species, and 16 percent of bird species.

With that said, Indonesia plans to launch a "Visit Indonesia Year" in 2008. The Culture and Tourism Ministry hopes to attract 6 million foreign tourists and generate around $5 billion in foreign exchange earnings. Environmental groups hope some of this revenue will go toward protecting Indonesia's unique natural assets. One environmental expert says that 60 percent of Indonesia’s protected and conservation areas have been badly damaged by illegal logging and palm oil plantations. The technique of clearing land for plantations emits large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which destroys the natural habitats of endangered species like the orangutan and the Sumatran tiger. UPI

3. A generation ago only penny-pinched backpackers and granola-eaters would seek out a rustic hotel with a compost heap in the back and solar panels on the roof. Today, with global warming at the top of the world’s political and social agenda, it’s the well-heeled traveler who wants to know that a hotel or tour operator is doing what it can to protect the environment. TravelAge West looked into its crystal ball and came up with 11 ways that climate change and the eco-conscious travel movement will change the way travel agents do business. The bottom line: Travel agents who want to stay ahead of the curve will have to offer eco-options to clients without being asked. To maintain credibility with clients and overseas travel partners, agents will also have to adopt environmentally responsible business practices in their own offices. In the future, it can be expected that travel agents will have to pass on at least some of the additional costs for a greener industry to their clients.

4. According to a recent study, business travelers brought family members along with them on 14% of 435 million trips last year, up from 11% in 2000. The travel trend is prompting hotels to alter their marketing efforts to attract the travelers. "More and more, younger boomers and Gen Xers today are looking for ways to easily mix business with leisure and family fun," said Bill Marriott, chairman of Marriott.

[don't forget about www.itinarod.com for all of your travel planning.]

5. China announced plans to turn a rough path into a tarmac route of “blacktop highway” from the Chinese side to Mt. Everest’s base camp at 5,200 meters. The four-month project aims to turn Everest into a resort destination. It will also ease the path of those bearing the Olympic torch, which is expected to be the most ambitious Olympic torch run in history--a 130-day, 85,000 mile relay that begins in Beijing on March 31, 2008, crosses five continents and ends in May atop the 8,850 meter peak of Mount Everest. China’s name for Mt. Everest is Mount Qomolangma.

6. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) committee held a meeting recently to discuss whether its World Heritage Sites are in danger from mass tourism. The committee, representing 21 states, debated whether war, over development, and neglect are posing new dangers to the sites. Greenpeace and the Climate Justice Program are among several organizations petitioning the committee to include Mount Everest and the Great Barrier Reef in the in danger or under threat category. Others included in the list are the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu, Dresden in Germany and Tower of London. There are currently 830 World Heritage Sites covering properties, cultural, natural and mixed status in 184 countries on UNESCO's World Heritage Site List. ETN

7. At the Paris Air Show...Airbus confirmed that it had booked an order from an individual for its A380 super jumbo jet. The price tag for the 525 seater, $300 million. Lines also formed at Falcon’s new 7X, a gleaming $41 million eight-seat super large business jet. Separately, a private group wants to bring back the supersonic Concorde, which had its last commercial flight in 2003. Club Concorde hopes to raise nearly $30 million for the venture and is seeking approval to fly from the British civil aviation agency. A lifetime membership in the group costs $20. So far more than 30,000 people have signed up. NY Times

8. Online...A site where hotel employees let loose: www.community.livejournal.com/hotel_workers/. Budget Travel magazine says the best way to search travel online is to start with the meta-search engines like Kayak and SideStep. Once you have found a good deal, grab it then keep looking on other sites. They suggest deleting the cookies in your Web browser that tell a travel site you have been there . That way they will treat you as a new customer each time you visit. Also members of loyalty programs get better service, experience fewer hassles, less paperwork and great freebies and perks. NY TImes

9. Fairway views...Golf course designers and professionals agree that the worst place to build a house is the right side of a hole about 150 to 200 yards from the tee. Directly behind or to the side of a green is risky too, even if the home is high above it. NY Times

10. Ganga Ma is everything to Hindus and an important part of reaching nirvana. But the prayer rituals carried out at the water’s edge many not last forever—or for that matter—even another generation, according to scientists and meteorologists. The Himalayan source of Hinduism’s holiest river, they say, is drying up. The Gangotri glacier, which provides up to 70 percent of the water of the Ganges during the dry summer months is shrinking at a rate of 40 yards a year, nearly twice as fast as two decades ago, scientists say.

Environmental groups, such as the Sankat Mochan Foundation, which have long focused on the pollution of the Ganges, are redirecting their energies toward the melting glaciers. The Foundation and other environmental groups want to see the Indian government enforce strict reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, the primary cause of climate change. Scientists predict that the Himalayan glaciers that are the sources of the Ganges could disappear by 2030 as temperatures rise. Washington Post

Extra Reading... TravelPost.com’s top 5 trips to take before you have kids: Running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain; March to New York City for St. Patrick’s Day: Let loose in Amsterdam; Trek Thailand’s Golden Triangle; Visit the Exit Row one last time...EU regulators blocked a hostile takeover bid by Ryanair for Aer Lingus saying it would limit consumer choice and boost ticket prices. The $1.9 billion takeover already appeared doomed after nearly half of Aer Lingus’ shareholders vowed to block it... Cruisers on the three largest cruise lines last year spent $4.4 billion for extras such as spa treatments and upscale wines. On deck: Botox treatments and cashless slots.

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

2007-06-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

7 Days, 7 Travel Stories

1. About $6 out of every $10 spent on weekend travel was purchased online versus less than $3 out of every $10 for a weeklong vacation, according to a report by PhoCusWright. A three-night stay away from home is now the most popular type of leisure travel. Of those who buy travel online, almost two-thirds say that general search engines influence where they purchase their travel and what they book. 7 in 10 online travelers indicated that it is a Web site's use of video, pictures and online maps that most influence their method of purchase. TW

2. A new site, http://www.tripology.com/, helps travelers find a travel agent with the expertise for the destination they plan to travel. Simply fill out a trip request form online with your special needs and up to three travel agents with expertise in your areas of interest will contact you by phone or e-mail. Chicago Tribune

3. Rising housing costs and an appreciating ruble made Moscow the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row and nearly 35 percent higher than New York, which served as the base city for the survey. Living in London is 26 percent more expensive than New York. Seoul and Tokyo were the third and fourth most expensive cities. In Moscow, a luxury two-bedroom apartment will cost an expat $4,000 a month; a CD rings up at $24.83; one copy of an international daily newspaper is $6.30; and a fast-food hamburger meal totals $4.80. The least expensive city for the fifth year in a row was Paraguay's capital of Asuncion, where the cost of living is half that of New York. The study was conducted by Mercer. Human Resource Consulting. AP

4. Several thousand Italian tourism Web sites have been infected by software that secretly installs so-called trojan software that takes control of a visitor’s computer and records information entered into the computer -- including credit card numbers and other personal data. Computer security firm Micro Trend said it detected more than 4,500 travel sites in Italy that have been infected. The trail of data leads to a server located in Chicago. Computer users are only vulnerable to the attack if they are not using up to date versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Updates are available at http://www.microsoft.com/. The attack, which Trend Micro first detected last Friday, was engineered using hacking software sold in Russia that costs around $700. ETN

5. After decades of relying on telephones to book tables, the restaurant business has finally gone unabashedly high-tech. Some 7,000 high-end restaurants around the world now use http://www.opentable.com/ to let patrons make reservations. The reservations that eventually pop-up on the restaurant's computer also reveal personal tibits of intormation about the guest that can be used to make the dinner even more satisfying. OpenTable, which started in 1999, did not take off right away. At the time few restaurant owners could see the advantage of paying a dollar per dinner to an Internet company. But the company deployed an aggressive sales force and persuaded owners that dining reservations would eventually go the way of hotel and airline reservations. NY Times

6. Fare tracking site http://www.farecompar.com/ said that the lowest airfares have dropped 8% and 15% this summer from one year ago. Observers also noted that demand on some routes has slipped a little. Wall Street Journal

7. Paris awakening...After four days of deal-making at the Paris Air Show, Airbus appears to have booked enough orders to move ahead of rival Boeing in the sales race this year. Airbus sold less than half as many planes as Boeing over the first five months of the year, but a characteristic surge on its home turf at Le Bourget may have put it ahead. Airbus has taken 405 firm plane orders at the show so far, plus another 250 or so looser sale agreements. Year to date puts Airbus orders over 600.

Boeing had a quieter time in Paris, with only 66 new firm orders announced, and a similar number of existing orders identified. The air show tally plus a few other recent deals would put Boeing at around 500 sales for the year. Boeing holds the record for most sales in a year, 1,044 in the year 2000. Airwise

Extra Reading...Volunteers wanted for a simulated flight to Mars. The European Space Agency seeks 12 volunteers to go on a 520-day simulated mission to the red planet. Candidates must be citizens of one of 15 European countries or Canada, be highly motivated and speak English and Russian. They must also contend with extreme isolation and confinement. Accommodations feature a 30 square-foot room for each crew member, a kitchen-dining room, living room and only one toilet for the group. Food will be carefully rationed. Smoking and drinking are not allowed. AP

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

2007-06-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

7 Days, 7 Travel Stories

1. Some business travel advice from the Times of India...

The lighter you pack, the faster you can move through the airport to your taxi, hotel and meeting.
Wear your power suit on the plane and take it off once you get to the hotel.
Get rid of wrinkles with a good, hot iron, and a touch or two of fabric freshener to eliminate lingering airline funk.
Bring interchangeable outfits to save packing space.
Bring travel size toiletries. Roll your shirts, blouses, slacks and skirts into bundles so they fit easier in your bags and allow more space for files, DVDs, and other business resources.
For those who want an extra level of space, purchase a ziplock storage bag and fill it with clothes, roll it up to push out excess air, and seal it.
Pack certain items within other items to save space. For example, pack your socks inside your shoes or ties within your casual polo shirts. Choose luggage that allows you to quickly pull out things like a computer at security.
Use a carry-bag with outside pockets large enough to hold certain items - like laptops, cell phones, boarding passes, and personal identification.

2. Notes from a tourism researcher. Even though the travel industry is as major source of jobs, tax revenue and often, urban revitalization, governments still lack an understanding of the extent tourism plays in economic development. Tourism and economic development go hand-in-hand. On the do-it-right list--Tourism requires friendly people and good service. Tourism requires a secure community with police fire and first aid personnel playing an important role in making visitors feel secure. Tourism requires good restaurants, hotels and things to do, and if visitors are not treated well when visiting, there is very little chance that they will move their business and family to the location.

Tourism also adds prestige to a community. People like living in a place which others consider worthy of visiting. Community festivals, traditions, handicrafts, parks and natural settings all add to the desirability of a locale and its ability to sell itself to potential outside investors. Quality of life is also reflected in a community's museums, concert halls, theatres, and uniqueness. ETN

3. One buck marketing...Go, which operates interisland air service in Hawaii, made 1,000 one-way tickets available on its web site, http://www.iflygo.com/, for one dollar each. The carrier gave buyers a 12-hour window to purchase the tickets. About 20,000 people visited the site in the first hour of the sale, and that Sabre, the Web site's booking engine provider, was unable to handle the volume. The Web site was down for several hours while Sabre conducted repairs. The $1 fare was Mesa’s way of celebrating Go’s one-year anniversary. The airline had notified its regular customers on Monday of the sale, which was for midweek travel from June 11 through Dec. 15. TW

4. Up Yours...Budget Rent A Car recently made-over its road-trip-themed blog which provides travelers with an online forum to share road trip stories, receive free travel ideas and tips, find money-saving deals, and contests to win a variety of prizes being daily.
Called "Up Your Budget," the blog is now in its third year of operation. http://www.upyourbudget.com/ Earthtimes.org

5. Lights out. Motel 6 plans rolled out the hospitality industry’s first national fluorescent light bulb and battery recycling program. Motel 6 is the US’s largest hotel chain with nearly 900 properties. In January of 2006, Motel 6 began retrofitting rooms with fluorescent lighting. With the lights starting to dim, each Motel 6 property will receive a box designed to collect light bulbs and a container for batteries. Materials are then shipped to a recycling center. Batteries, light bulbs and electronic equipment typically contain mercury, lead and other heavy metals that are considered hazardous to the environment.

Motel 6 is owned by Accor North America, which also maintains brand control over Sifitel, Novotel, Ibis and Studio 6. Accor’s Earth Guest program consists of extensive and ongoing environmental initiatives including the planting of 20,000 trees representing each Accor employee in North America, implementation of a 65-point environmental check list at all properties and at the corporate headquarters, and donation of $375,000 to educational and charitable groups.

6. With carbon-offsetting becoming the hot marketing cache for travel companies, Travel Weekly reports that some environmentalists, analysts and others wonder whether if it is really doing any good. Of concern...lack of standards that make it ripe for manipulation.

7. The travel industry is among the top 25 businesses that the Better Business Bureau monitors for fraud. One industry insider says that travel fraud costs Americans an estimated $12 billion a year. The most popular scams involve bargain-priced package deals that require hefty down payments. Some throw in the airfare for free but forget to mention that a hotel room upgrade could cost them six times more. The old adage, “if it sound too good to be true,” form the watchwords to smart travel buying.

To be safe, travel experts advise travelers to book through a trusted agent and never pay by cash or check. They also warn consumers not to give out credit card numbers over the phone unless it’s to a familiar person or company. And one should always be suspicious of unsolicited offers. Voice of America

One for the Road: TripAdvisor.com marked a major milestone this week by adding its 10 millionth user-written review. In celebration, the travel site has added a travelers’ network feature that lets registered site users invite people from their email address books who are also TripAdvisor members to share their site screen name so reviews they have written are highlighted in the searches. Boston Globe

2007-06-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

7 Days, 7 Travel Stories

1. Avis car renters can now hire a chauffeur with their rental car in 10 major U.S. cities. While some industry insiders are applauding the move, others say it could set off a turf war with taxis, limousines and car-for-hire businesses. USA Today/ASTA

2. The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) launched an alternative travel guide called 'Paradox Lost: How not to be a tourist in Tibet' which describes how China promotes tourism in Tibet and, at the same time, suppresses what makes Tibet unique. The free report is available at: http://www.savetibet.org/documents/document.php?id=229 newsBlaze.com

3. World Environment day has come and gone. It was on June 3 in case you missed it. The day brings to light that “Green” travel has arrived in a big way. Spurred by the weight of public opinion, more and more companies seem to be hopping on the bandwagon. Hotels started the green ball rolling years ago with the bright idea that sheets and towels didn't need changing every day. Then came turn off the lights, turn off the air conditioning, use environmentally friendly toiletries, and don't waste water.

A study in The Philippines found hotel guests used as much water in 18 days as a rural family did in a year, while in Egypt it was found a large hotel used as much electricity as 3600 families. Now offsetting carbon emissions is all the rage. It costs only about 38c (Aus) to offset the pollution caused by hiring a medium-sized car for a day. A return Sydney-London flight would cost $74.89 (Aus). And for an around-the-world trip, $260 (Aus).

Most of the environmental damage occurs when planes take off, so those in-the-know advise that short flights should be avoided. Carbon emissions from trains are one-third that of planes. Ships are better, if slower; kayaks, sailing boats, bikes, horses and walking, of course, are the green way to go. News.com (Aus)

4. The newest trend in alternative hotel accommodations comes by way of Austria where an art school graduate offers a place to sleep inside a drain pipe. Open May through October, each of the three pipes, located in a park next to the Danube River in Ottensheim, has a bed, window, electricity and is near public toilets, showers and a cafe. Visitors can book online at http://www.dasparkhotel.net/ and are given a code that opens the door. Meanwhile, on Vancouver Island, BC, you can stay in wooden spheres that dangle from three ropes tethered to three separate trees in a forest at Qualicum Bay. Pricing begins at $100 a night or two nights for $175. www.bothylodge.com

5. As the online travel market matures, companies with major Internet presences continue to alter strategies to differentiate themselves. Thus, Travelocity is going private while Orbitz goes public. In terms of total customer awareness, Prophis eResearch, a Toronto-based travel research firm, reports 97% awareness for Expedia and Travelocity, 96% for Orbitz, and 92% for Priceline, with no other company above 86%.

For 2007, Thomas Weisel analyst Jake Fuller estimates $18 billion to $19 billion in total U.S. business booked both domestically and abroad for Expedia, $12 billion for Orbitz, $11 billion for Sabre and $4 billion for Priceline. The figures include Fuller's prediction of an almost 25% bump for U.S. bookings growth to $47 billion for the year.

In Europe, the second-largest travel firm, Thomas Cook, recently merged with the third largest, MyTravel Group (MT.S.LN), while in the U.S., Sabre recently bought Site59 to combine with lastminute.com. In the past several years, Expedia has made international purchases, such as French online company Egencia and U.K. travel agency World Travel Management, as well as such domestic sites as Hotwire and hotels.com.

Now, Expedia has earmarked more than $300 million for capital expenditures over the next three years, with its target possibly set on any of its three largest competitors. Fuller noted, however, that Orbitz might be the most likely choice. Read more at http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/online-travel-industry-grows-changes/story.aspx?guid=%7BA8C8CFE3-CBB5-4867-9BD2-3D7F55591630%7D MarketWatch

6. Summer at last. Last year, the ubiquitous drink was the caipririnha, made from cachaca, a Brazilian rum. This year’s drink could very well be pisco, a Peruvian liquor that is often compared to cachca. Margarita drinkers are prime candidates for the pisco sour, which features a thick texture made from egg whites. Pisco first became popular in the US in the late 1800s during the Gold Rush when East Coasters and Europeans traveled to San Francisco by boat via South America. They learned of pisco when the boat stopped in the port city of Pisco. For years, Chile claimed the spirit as its own, but in 2005 the World Trade Organization recognized pisco as a beverage of Peruvian origin. Boston Globe

7. Green thumbing it...By 2010, tourism will eclipse oil as the largest industry on the planet, according to an official with the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s list of damage caused by mass tourism: soil erosion, pollution of land and oceans, natural habitat loss, pressure on endangered species, heightened vulnerability to forest fires and increased strain on water resources.

Research by the UN Environment Program shows that about 80 percent of spending by vacationers on all-inclusive package tours goes to airlines, hotels and other international companies instead of local businesses or workers. Once a destination sells itself as a tourism product, the demand for souvenirs, arts, entertainment and other commodities often has a negative influence on the community.

Of concern—a diminished respect for sacred sites, rituals, and objects when they are perceived as goods to trade. In an effort to address these negative impacts, some tour operators have started including sustainable development standards in their contracts with service suppliers. They also provide training, advice and financial incentives, especially hotels. ETN

Extra Reading

Tourists from long long ago... New Zealand researchers have provided the first direct evidence that Polynesians sailed across thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean to reach South America long before the arrival of the Spanish around AD 1500. Their proof? Chicken bones from a breed of Polynesian chickens that were recently found in Chile. Also, strengthening the theory that travel and food exchange existed among Pacific ocean residents and native Americans--sweet potatoes indigenous to the Americas were discovered in a number of Polynesian island archaeological sites.

At the airport....Since the new passport rules went into effect at the beginning of the year, processing delays have continued to mount despite the US government’s best efforts, causing many a traveler to cancel their trip.

The State Department says it will soon announce new initiatives to help deal with the issue. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is holding firm on its proposal to have airlines fingerprint passengers when they check in for international flights. The airlines have steadfastly opposed the plan, saying it makes more sense for the Transportation Security Administration to handle the task.

AirTran’s Chairman and CEO, Joe Leonard, says that the cost of fuel has been a main driver in airline industry losses. Five years ago fuel was 15 percent to 18 percent of our costs. Today it’s 35 percent. To save fuel, AirTrans pilots taxi in and out on one engine and run auxiliary power only when necessary. The airline also shifts a plane to ground power faster by laying power cords where the plane stops instead of dragging them across the ramp. It also has air-conditioning at the gates so it can keep the planes cool in summer instead of using the airplane’s systems. ASTA/NY Times

Rich’s Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler22 Communications. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten.