Travel

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Two airliners may have missed colliding by less than 40 feet on the runway at Los Angeles International Airport, and federal officials are investigating, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday. No one was hurt August 16, when the two jets came near each other after one had just landed and one was taking off. Aircraft landing on one of two parallel runways on the north side of the airport’s central terminal have to cross another runway to reach terminal gates. A WestJet Boeing 737 had just landed, changed radio frequencies without authorization and was told to taxi to a terminal gate, the NTSB said. It started to cross the inner runway, where a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 had been cleared to depart. The two aircraft came within 37 feet as the Northwest flight crossed directly in front of the WestJet flight, the NTSB said.Source: rss.cnn.com

What do we really know about Saudi Arabia? What does the North American general public know about the Kingdom aside from what we absorb through media references? And if our sources of information about the Arab and Muslim world in general, and Saudi Arabia in particular, are mass media sources - tabloids, newspapers, magazines, radio and television shows, and let's not forget Hollywood - what exactly is it that we learn? Do we learn anything of substance? Anything positive? Anything but propaganda and crude caricatures of the Other, viewed through the prevailing political and ideological prisms?After decades of negative portrayals in the news media and villainous stereotypes in Hollywood movies, a growing number of scholars, filmmakers and writers are pointing out not only the long history of anti-Arab racism in American mass media, but the fact that such portrayals have contributed, and continue to contribute, to the rise of Islamic extremism and terrorism. Books on the subject
(Read the full post about ‘Book Review: If Olaya Street Could Talk - Saudi Arabia: the Heartland of Oil and Islam by John Paul Jones’…)

Through November 30, members of United’s Mileage Plus program can earn up to 25 percent more miles when exchanging hotel points for Mileage Plus miles. Transfer the number of hotel points equivalent to between 10,000 and 19,999 miles to earn 2,500 bonus miles. Or transfer the number of hotel points equivalent to 20,000 miles or more to earn 5,000 bonus miles. The bonus can be earned when exchanging points from the following hotel programs: Choice Privileges, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, Marriott Rewards, TripRewards, Priority Club Rewards, and Radisson goldpoints plus. If this promotion seems vaguely familiar, it’s probably because it mimics a permanent feature of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program. SPG members receive a 5,000-mile bonus when redeeming 20,000 points for miles in participating airline programs. I applaud what appears to be United’s plagiarism here. As this promotion shows, copycatting can be good for consumers—as long as it’s best practices that
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LONDON, England — A visit to the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and the Pyramids is on the itinerary of most jet-setting travelers. But some of the most famous and iconic tourist attractions in the world are the most disappointing to actually visit, according to a survey of British tourists. And those questioned didn’t think too highly of their own country’s best-known landmarks either, with Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain also turning people cold. Travel expert Felice Hardy explained why many tourists, often after spending inflated amounts on reaching and then viewing the most famous places, are left with a feeling of anti-climax. "It’s easy to be swayed by brochures that opt for the mainstream and focus on clichГ©d tourist sights around the world," she said. "But many of them are overcrowded and disappointing. "Pick carefully and don’t always go for the obvious. Natural phenomena are usually more exciting than
(Read the full post about ‘Falling into the tourist trap’…)

A spurt in arrivals from China and the weakening kiwi dollar may deliver a 65 per cent, $6.4 billion increase in spending by visitors across the country in the next seven years, says the Ministry of Tourism’s latest forecast. The Government said yesterday that with arrivals predicted to top 3.2 million a year, there was potential for infrastructure to be swamped. Queenstown will lead the pack, with spending by foreign and domestic visitors jumping 57.1 per cent in the forecast period, followed by Auckland, with 54.6 per cent. Five Mainland destinations are predicted to see revenue jump more than 40 per cent – Queenstown, Fiordland (46.5 per cent), Canterbury (43.6 per cent), the West Coast (41.9 per cent) and Lake Wanaka (41.7 per cent). That compares with just two North Island destinations – Auckland and Rotorua (48.7 per cent). “These are all popular destinations for the fast-growing Chinese market,” the Tourism Forecasts 2007-2013 report said. It said the total
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The Jamestown Ferry connects historic Jamestown, Virginia, and all of Virginia’s “Historic Triangle” (Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown) with Surry County across the James River. Officially, it’s known as the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry. The ferry is used by commuters and commercial traffic, but is a very enjoyable ride for the visitor to Williamsburg and Jamestown. The 20 minute ferry rides takes you from historic Jamestown to Scotland in rural Surry County. From the ferry, you’ll see Jamestown itself and the three replica ships. In Surry County, you can see historic sites at Bacon’s Castle, Smith’s Fort Plantation, and Chippokes Plantation and State Park. The Surry House Restaurant is right on the way to these destinations. We enjoy taking a ferry ride over for lunch there when we’re in the Williamsburg area. The ferry is operated by the Virginia Department of Transpiration and is free to ride. Ferry James River Rivers Jamestown Ferry James
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For comprehensive vacation-planning tips, read our Hawaii Travel Guide, or visit Hawaii’s official tourism site.  

The word "café" has immediate associations for everyone. We all know what one is, and in every major city in the world you can arrange a meeting with an acquaintance by simply suggesting a certain café around the corner, a baroque favorite in some odd neighborhood or the famous cafe you've read about that's noted for the literati who frequent it, the film stars, the politicians. The aroma of coffee or pastry comes to mind immediately as does, of course, conversation, maybe even intrigue. The very word "café" is so well known in almost every language, the sound of it so suggestive of sensuous pleasure and intimate communication, that it barely needs definition anywhere.But … a confitería?When I first heard the word I thought it referred to jams or jellies, as in the French confiture. Or to a candy or pastry shop, as in the standard Spanish word confitería. But I was in Buenos Aires at the time, and in that city a
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For some years now, the major airlines have used frequent flyer miles to train consumers to conduct as many transactions as possible directly with the airlines, on their websites. In particular, the online booking bonus—typically 500 miles for reservations made on the airlines’ own websites—has been around since 1997, so long that many consumers have come to see it as a permanent feature rather than a limited-time offer. So, many Delta customers will be disappointed to learn that, effective August 14, there will be no more bonus for flights booked at delta.com. But the real story here isn’t the end of a favorite promotion. What’s noteworthy, and most chilling, is Delta’s communication of the change. Delta’s announcement of the new era of bonus-less booking consisted of … silence. No advance notice whatever. You expected bonus miles with that? Sorry, we changed our mind. As reported in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, this is entirely consistent with Delta’s recent
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(Travel and Leisure) — Hotel loyalty programs have come a long way since they were introduced a quarter century ago by Holiday Inn. Initially viewed as the ugly stepsister of airlines’ frequent-flier plans, they have shed their dowdy image, and points have become highly desirable. What’s changed? The value of a free airline ticket?the ultimate reward offered by carrier loyalty plans?has not risen significantly, while reward-point qualifying seats have become troublesomely scarce. According to the Air Transport Association, the airline industry’s trade group, the round-trip fare (without tax) for a 2,200-mile domestic flight increased minimally, from $292 to $298 (2 percent), between 2001 and 2006. A report issued last year by the inspector general of the Department of Transportation found that the six U.S. airlines with the largest frequent-flier programs reduced average capacity by 11 percent in 2005, compared with 2000, which "along with deeply discounted fares, has raised
(Read the full post about ‘Getting the most from hotel rewards’…)