Travel

No one doubts that the high price of oil is a problem for the airlines. The carriers’ dismal quarterly financial results are proof positive that fuel costs are pushing airlines to the brink. Questions do arise, however, as to the causes of the recent price spikes. The airlines would have us believe that the oil price bubble is largely the doing of a shady group of speculators, who have cynically bid up oil prices in order to line their own pockets. As reported by SmarterTravel.com’s Molly Feltner, the airlines last week issued an open letter to their customers, blaming oil futures speculators for the airlines’ problems and asking flyers to pressure their representatives in Congress to put an end to the alleged financial shenanigans. Are the airlines right? Is speculation really the culprit? The answer is of more than academic interest. If the airlines are wrong and Congress spends resources legislating changes that don’t address the real problem, it will amount to fiddling while Rome
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The Rose garden in Tyler is the largest rose garden in the country. There are over 38,000 rose bushes/trees here. I love going here because it is a free day of walking around. Early spring and fall are the best times to view all the flowers in bloom. You can even buy famous Tyler rose bushes to take home with you. The best place, and the cheapest, is up on I-20 where these guys sell them for $2.50 for a plant. They are really nice and a pretty good size plant for the money. This is also the place where they have the annual Rose festival in October. This is a big event that sees thousands of people arriving from all over. If you are a rose buff, you will recognize David Austin Rose bushes. There are close to 300 of these which make you think you are in England. This is also the home of one of the 24 nation rose testing centers in the USA. Many of my friends have had weddings and special parties here. The summer brings blooms of perennial colors and scents. The Queens Tea during
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If you’re planning to drive a rental car in Europe this summer, you might run into some age bans or surcharges. Some countries and/or rental companies enforce a maximum age for renting a car, and young drivers under 25 can expect a hefty surcharge. I last reported on age limits more than a year ago, and a refresher is in order. The senior limit is the more troublesome and unexpected one, although you can sometimes get around it. As far as I can tell, senior travelers—regardless of age—can rent cars without limitations or surcharges in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, or Switzerland. At the other end of the spectrum, rental agencies in four countries generally establish maximum ages for any senior rental:Ireland (Republic): No rentals to travelers over 75. Those over 70 may have to pay an extra fee. Israel: No rentals to
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Slower to catch the tourism train than its neighbour to the west, Lombok has been promoted as an "unspoiled Bali". But a future $US600 million ($NZ802.35 million) development may see it emerge on par with Bali as a world-class tourism destination, according to the United Arab Emirates-based developer. Tourists visiting Lombok typically treat it as a side-trip to Bali, staying just a few days. The Japanese and Australians, Bali's top two groups of tourists, come to Lombok for the surfing. The Koreans come here to honeymoon, the Europeans see it more like an extension of Bali, and expats come from Jakarta for the relaxation, explains Dominique Duvivier, the general manager of Accor's Novotel Lombok. But he says there's new interest in Lombok. The hotel struggled to survive in the aftermath of the tourism downturn that followed the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings. Business is particularly good this year though, with the hotel running at about 53 percent occupancy
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Swimming with Crocodiles is an interesting hybrid: a coming of age story, mingled with travelogue and Nat Geo-styled adventure tale. Eighteen year old Will Chaffey was rejected by a number of universities after completing his High School diploma at the prestigious Milton school, and decided to take a trip overseas to Australia. It was there he met Geoff Cunningham, adventurer, nomad, and herpetologist, who took him along on a trip deep into the Kimberleys in Western Australia. It’s a good story, gripping and thoughtful. Chaffey manages to successfully toe the line between providing the reader with a good deal of information on the flora and fauna – some of it magnificent – of the area, and creating an engaging plot with a deeper underlying theme. With all the skills of a fiction writer, Chaffey presents a cast of interesting characters – students, scientists and hippies, from Bill, the grad student biologist from Berkeley who led his team of trappers and data
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Think airline ticket prices are confusing? Purposefully misleading, perhaps? The Europeans think so, and they’re not going to take it any longer. Yesterday, the European Parliament passed a law requiring airlines to display all-inclusive prices, up front, in their advertisements and on their websites. According to the Parliament: “Air travellers will soon be able to see at a glance exactly what they have to pay for their tickets … Airfares as displayed will have to include all taxes, fees and charges added to the basic ticket price and known at the time of publication.” In a clear indication of just how pressing the issue is considered, and how undivided the prevailing sentiment is on the matter, there was not a single dissenting vote among the body’s 785 members. According to Associated Press coverage of the story, the bill was partly in response to a May study commissioned by the European Union, which found that “a third of people who shop for flights online are being cheated by
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Falconio is murdered and Lees escapes and hides in the rough desert country. The killer unsuccessfully searches for her in pitch darkness before fleeing. The distraught Englishwoman, cut and bloodied by the scrub, waves down a passing road train and is taken to safety at nearby Barrow Creek. Almost seven years later, I'm sitting on a bar stool at Barrow Creek, population 11. It is hard to imagine that in July 2001 it was the biggest crime scene in Australia and the focus of the world's media, eager to report on the murder and abduction that eventually led to the jailing, for life, of Bradley John Murdoch. There are a few fuel pumps at Barrow Creek and a strong smell of diesel that has spilt on the hot ground. Inside the hotel, there are two men, in shorts and singlets, drinking their afternoon beer. That's it. Helen Jones, the woman who looked after Lees for the first few days after her ordeal, is pouring our drinks. There are small, basic rooms to stay in out the back,
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Just a few years ago, travel on most airlines was an all-inclusive experience. You paid one price and got a seat (your choice of aisle, window, bulkhead, or exit row), a meal, drinks, movies, baggage service, and customer assistance by phone if you needed it. Now however, many of the major airlines charge base fares that basically entitle you to transportation to your destination at some point (not necessarily on time) and that’s about it. Taxes and fees are extra, fuel surcharges may be added on, and if want anything else—a snack, checked baggage, an exit row seat with more legroom—you’ll have to pay for it in many cases. Airline executives know these fees are unpopular, and blame skyrocketing fuel costs for their decision to nickel-and-dime their passengers at every turn. Traditionally, the airlines have turned to fees and other cost cutting measures rather raising base prices because American leisure travelers have tended to balk at paying higher fares while appearing
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We had been working in the Pinedale, WY area…finished up early…and ran into Jackson Hole for drinks and dinner. Ted recommended Roadhouse Barbeque. Tanvi and I decided to split a sampler plate. Ted should have joined us. The sampler plate was loaded with thick-sliced brisket, 1/4 bbq chicken, sausage, pulled pork and ribs. Our glasses of sweet tea were never empty…as the waiter made sure we were taken care of. On the drive back into Jackson Hole, we watched an Osprey snag a trout from the river and fly in front of us. Maybe he ate better than us. Jackson Hole BBQ

I’m a sucker for travel-related stats. Give me a list of load factors, or seat pitches, or mishandled bag stats and I’m happy as a hog in slop (if that’s truly what makes hogs smile). Here’s a recent data point that caught my eye: As many as 12,000 laptop computers are lost each week in U.S. airports. I always travel with a laptop. And I have more than a passing familiarity with airline and travel metrics. But that figure stunned me. Twelve thousand laptops. Every week. Lost. That’s a stack of laptops as high as a 10-story building. We’re not talking about sports coats, or eyeglasses, or iPods. These are laptop computers. They’re expensive. And they contain all manner of personal and business information that the owners both need and consider proprietary. According to the study, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and financed by Dell, between 65 and 70 percent of the lost computers are never reunited with their owners. So the loss, in the great majority of cases, is permanent. How is
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