Travel

Bonus miles for summer flights to France? Of course not! Summer is peak season for vacation travel. And Paris is a prime leisure travel destination. Flights should be running full, with no need for marketing incentives. Yet American has just announced a mileage promotion, awarding miles for flights from New York to Paris (Charles de Gaulle), through September 1. The bonus: triple miles for business class (J, D, or I booking classes), and double miles for unrestricted coach (Y or B). To be sure, these are higher-priced fares, generally purchased by business travelers. But the fact that the offer includes coach fares, even higher ones, indicates that coach seats are going unsold. And again, given the normal summer travel patterns on such a popular route, that’s peculiar. Clearly, consumer demand for American’s Paris flights is soft. As to why, we can only speculate about the combination of factors at work here. The dollar is weak, making hotels, meals, and other expenses extra pricey in
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Eleven hundred and six steep stone steps that never seem to end. We’re hiking high above Positano along Italy’s famous Amalfi Coast in the Lattari Mountains. This trail is less than three miles, but the elevation is steep. It’s the toughest hike our Backroads hiking group, including my daughter Reggie and me, has attempted on this the fifth day of our trip. Reg is at the front of the pack; I’m in the back. But from any vantage point, the views can’t be beat—30-foot-tall cypress trees, juniper trees, candy-colored houses marching up the steep hills. Terraced gardens with lemons, olives, grapes, wild herbs, and yellow and purple wildflowers. Below us, sailboats and yachts bob in the sapphire-blue sea and ferries chug between the Italian islands. I feel like I’ve hiked right into a postcard. California-based Backroads offers more than 1,000 trips around the world, from family camping trips in national parks (still room for this summer, they tell me) to biking and hiking trips like
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Dragon Boats on the Limmat River I made it to Zurich without any problems.  I think the Canadian 18 and under national bball team has some tourney (worlds perhaps?) in France because there were a lot of young, really tall guys on my flight from to Paris in matching canadian gear with something that looked like a combo maple leaf-basketball on their shirts and bags.  sponsored by nike, of course.  Anyways, Air France totally lived up to the hype about the good food.  Seriously — why is it that European airlines serve great food, and the US ones stink?  The meal was a barley salad with smoked turkey on the side, and then the options for the main were Belgian-style beef (whatever that is) with potatos or tortellini with marinara sauce. Lake Zurich (notice the mountains in the background)   and coffee cake for dessert….  and mini-baguettes.  One came with the meal, and then they brought around a basket with more.  oh!  and a
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A family of monitor lizards were first noticed by a pilot on the secondary runway on Monday morning, forcing authorities to delay flight operations for about an hour. More delays were caused when jackals and kites were also seen ambling across the runway, the newspaper reported. Animal welfare groups later rescued the lizards and chased away the jackals, but the hold-up already had a knock-on effect and delayed evening flights as well, officials said. "There are not many remaining at the airport and we also lay traps for them," a wildlife official was quoted on the presence of lizards by the newspaper. In the past, monkeys, jackals and peacocks have disrupted flights in the capital, mostly during the monsoon season.  

With expectations high, I was hesitant to pick up a book that everyone and their mother suggested I had to read. But after finishing Elizabeth Gilbert's travelogue, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia, I can say without a doubt that the author has delivered something great even to the skeptic. Eat, pray, and love symbolize three distinct journeys Gilbert takes us through after a rough divorce and her quest to find spiritual and personal happiness. Losing her home and most of her income in divorce settlements, Gilbert finds herself completely disillusioned with how quickly her once ideal life falls apart. With no one and no where to turn, Gilbert jet-sets across the world to find the solution to her problems through three outlets: food, spiritual guidance, and the almighty love factor. Gilbert's first journey through Italy highlights the initial stages of her breakup where she indulges herself in
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Together with the proposed merger between Delta and Northwest, Continental’s alliance with United will define the air travel landscape for years to come. And in particular, it will have a significant effect on how large numbers of travelers earn and redeem frequent flyer miles. Once implemented—and it will take a year or more for all the pieces to be put in place—the Continental-United alliance will include code sharing, reciprocal frequent flyer program participation, and Continental’s switching its alliance membership from SkyTeam (which includes Delta and Northwest) to the Star Alliance (United, US Airways, etc.). While the airlines haven’t disclosed a timeline, linking Continental’s OnePass and United’s Mileage Plus programs should be accomplished in six months (my best guess). Members of Continental’s program will then be able to earn and redeem miles for Continental flights, and members of United’s program will be able to do the same on Continental flights. Almost
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A Tasman District Council hearing on Monday was to consider Autumn Farm's application to operate its campground, which caters for 15 people throughout the year and up to 50 people at its five organised events between December and February. The 4.2ha Central Takaka Rd establishment has run the campground for 12 years, and the owners are also applying for consent to discharge treated wastewater to land. Golden Bay consents planner Laurie Davidson said in a report the application was originally received in 2005, but had been put on hold until late last year due to a lack of information. Mr Davidson said eight submissions were received on the application, and six of those submissions were in support from a range of people who were familiar with the farm and considered it a worthwhile asset to the community. The Nelson Marlborough District Health Board raised concerns over the efficiency of composting toilets at the site. A neighbouring property owner also raised objections to
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MAP OF UGANDA Most people don’t know which part of Africa Uganda is let alone what the main airport is. Uganda’s main airport is Entebbe (EBB), it is about an hour’s drive from Kampala (the capital city). Kampala is overly populated if you ask me, but once you are in, you are amazed by what you see. Ok, we need to do a better job of cleaning up too :D. Kampala seats on 7 major hills (some people say it is the city in the prophesies), well I don’t know and that would be another blog all together. I, will not tell all otherwise your trip there might not be as “shocking” as it should be, heheheeeeeeeee!! I have just created a group for those who have traveled to Africa and those who dream of Africa. This blog is the start of an exciting trip to Africa through my eyes, those who are there and of those who have been there. Uganda’s Coat of arms   I, will begin with East Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. UGANDA: (Are you wondering why I have
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On June 12, Continental released details of its capacity cuts and staff reductions, following up on last week’s news that going forward, the airline would begin looking to decrease costs for the year. Starting in September, the airline will start reducing service at its major hubs, including Houston, Newark, Cleveland, and Guam (yes, little Guam is a hub for Continental). Of the domestic hubs, Cleveland will lose the largest percentage of flights, with 13.1 percent of service being eliminated. Houston will lose 7.9 percent, and Newark will lose 3.2 percent. Service reductions at its hubs means Continental will no longer serve several destinations that are presently accessed through its hubs. Notable among these is Oakland, California; Sarasota, Florida; and Cologne, Germany; but most of the affected cities are smaller destinations. On the staffing side, the airline will eliminate 3,000 employees through voluntary and involuntary terminations. Continental couldn’t have picked a better
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Get this: Orbitz says it will send you a check if you didn’t get the cheapest fare for a flight booked on its site. Up to $250. Automatically. No need to do any legwork yourself, or file a claim, or fly from Obscure City A to Obscure City B on Preferred Carrier C. Sound too good to be true? I did some digging around, and as far as I can tell, this deal seems legit. However, it comes with a few restrictions, and the wording leaves Orbitz some wiggle room. I did an airfare search on Orbitz and I found a link to Orbitz Price Assurance, a new, as-yet-unpublicized feature that promises shoppers, “If another customer books the same flight at a lower price, we’ll automatically send you the difference in cash.” To determine how solid this deal really is, I tried calling and emailing Orbitz’ media reps but got no response. So, here’s what the Orbitz site has to say. In the details, Orbitz says that once you book a flight, it will track it, and if it finds another customer is able to book the
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