Travel

Airports are a hacker’s dream come true: loads of people, especially business travelers, using laptops containing valuable information to connect to the Internet. One common scheme hackers use to catch unsuspecting airport Internet users is to create free ad-hoc wireless networks that look legit, but are actually traps that allow hackers to view what travelers are doing online and steal any information sent, including passwords and credit card numbers. Hackers can also plant spyware on a computer and turn it into a “slave” that sends spam to other computers. Here are few steps you can take to avoid these scammers: Before you leave for the airport, check your computer’s network connections settings and make sure it is set up to not automatically connect to any available network. If it is, your computer could connect to a hacker network on its own, before you even notice. Turn off any file-sharing features, too. Once you’re at the airport and have your computer turned on, go to your
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I hadn’t been in contact with my friend and former colleague for a while, but with his company filing for bankruptcy protection recently, I sent him a short email. He was surprisingly upbeat considering that and the recent passing of Proposition 8. If anyone has reason to feel glum, certainly it would be the men of the Gay Men’s Choir of Los Angeles. Yet their show, It’s a Fabulous Life: Holiday Songs in the Key of Life, which opens their 30th anniversary season, is funny, touching, and, as one would expect, a touch campy. For one weekend only, Dec. 20-21, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, the two-hour show includes a few personal stories interspersed throughout musical numbers and some short dance numbers. The show opens with Joy to the World and Santa Claus Llego a la Cuidad but also includes Kislev Cowboys — a mildly sexual-innuendo filled song based on “My Dreydl” with choreography by Billy Rugh, featuring Arron Rothbart and a few cowboys: Rod Andrada, Christopher Durbin,
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Budget airline Virgin Blue announced on Christmas Eve it would slash fuel surcharges for trans-Tasman and Pacific Island flights, a lead Air New Zealand is reluctant to follow. Only last month, Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said that to recover the full cost of jet fuel, airfares needed to rise 20 per cent, not fall. But with crude oil below US$40 a barrel and the carrier's backyard routes under siege from low-cost rivals, Mr Fyfe's arm could yet be twisted. A spokesman for the airline said: "Air New Zealand has been continually reducing airfares during the past three months." In the buildup to Christmas the airline again reduced Tasman fares by between $10 and $20 and smart saver and flexi saver fares on domestic jet services by $3. And across the rest of the network it has dramatically increased the number of lowest available fares, including doubling the number of cheapest fares on New Zealand domestic services. Its fares may yet be chopped further
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Airline staff are working around the clock to reunite travellers with about 750 suitcases, bags and backpacks that have piled up at international terminals in Sydney and Melbourne, one affected family said.The airline did not confirm the number of lost bags. However, a spokesman said a technical issue in the cargo hold of a Boeing 747-400 flying from Los Angeles to Melbourne led to all baggage being loaded on to the next available flights.The Quinns were told a suitcase full of Christmas gifts for their two young children had gone missing between London and Sydney when they arrived on Saturday night.Sue Quinn said airline staff told her on Sunday that theirs was one of about 250 items without owners.And when she called again this morning the tally had risen to 750. A fault with the baggage handling system in Los Angeles was partly to blame, Mrs Quinn was told."Santa had hid his pressies in my bag and I don't know whether to go shopping and start again or wait for them
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This is the time of year when college students, especially freshman, make the grand migration home, from campuses across the state or across the country. College freshmen in particular seem to need the comfort of the ties to their recent high school past lives. It’s a different story for the parents. In addition to preparing for the holiday celebrations and the stress of end of the year business, parents are busy stocking up on grocery items that they haven’t had to buy for three months. It’s the case in our household as well. There was a lot more parental consternation when my older child first went away to college three years ago. (Note to daughter: it has nothing to do with who loves who more.) He was, after all, blazing a trail of independence to which my husband and I were unaccustomed. While our children’s lives were by no means privileged, they enjoyed a reasonable buffer from the harsher realities of life, and there was more than the usual amount of
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TasteTV visits the annual Great Dickens Fair, a fantastic event that includes food, wine, ale, song, dance, and an occasional corset (for women and men). That’s right, we said “corsets.”

At the risk of sounding like the Grinch — and not for the first time, I might add — I have to admit that I've often had mixed feelings about holiday music. I didn't always have a problem with it. While I was growing up, the sound of Christmas music coming from the radio or record player meant that one of my favorite times of the year was approaching, and like most kids I was tickled pink. Never mind that it was for all the wrong reasons — Christmas presents, a long break from school, Christmas presents, tasty goodies everywhere, and of course, Christmas presents. I think the proverbial worm started to turn (or should I say crawled out of the Yule log?) in the early '60s when I found myself working as a young DJ on a small radio station. As the holidays approached, we kept programming more and more of the festive tunes into our broadcasts, and I began to hear the music in my sleep — and I don't mean I was snoozing at the controls. By the time
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The council says the aim of the review is to modernise facilities and services at the camping grounds at Oakura, Belt Rd, Fitzroy, Waitara, Onaero and Urenui - and to ensure their futures are secure. The review is also suggesting that New Plymouth would need to attract private investment of up to $11.6 million for this revamp to take place, with the council contributing another $3.5 million on both the upgrade projects and to ensure each has adequate open space for the public to enjoy. And if what is proposed does go ahead, there may be some unhappy people. People permanently living in cabins, caravans and converted buses would be thrown out and their accommodation removed, and there would be big decreases in the availability of camping sites at three of the district's most popular grounds - Oakura, Belt Rd and Urenui. Changes proposed for Fitzroy will almost certainly spark opposition among householders with properties overlooking the beach. The council wants to see the camping
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‘Tis the season for great car rental promotions, especially if you’re heading to warmer climates. In late autumn, many car rental companies need to move some of their fleet from colder areas (where tourism drops for the winter) to sunny destinations, where demand picks up for the season. In the past, one-way trips to Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas have yielded the most deals. Here’s a roundup of current offerings for snowbirds. Visit your preferred car rental company’s website for the latest deals.Alamo’s deal provides a coupon that gets you $20 off your one-way rental of three days or more. Most car classes are eligible, and this deal runs through the end of March. Hertz’ Florida Drive In promotion runs through December (through January for minivans). Pick up your car at participating locations in five states and drive it to any Hertz location in Florida. Rates vary by location and car class. One-upping Alamo, National Car Rental offers $25 off one-way rentals, through the
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If you’re anything like a typical frequent flyer, trying to find a free award seat on a flight you want is frustrating at best, impossible at worst. Recognizing that millions of travelers like you face the same problems, Yapta—the innovative online fare-tracking search site—just added a new frequent flyer feature. Enter a flight you want to take and Yapta will notify you if and when an award seat becomes available. And this service doesn’t cost anything—Yapta makes its money out of links and advertising. The process is simple. Log onto Yapta, enter your personal information, and search for a flight itinerary you want to take. Yapta notifies you if either the fare goes down or a frequent flyer seat becomes available at the lowest mileage requirement for an award. You can track awards in coach/economy, business, or first class. You can track one-way or round-trip itineraries, including itineraries that require connections. If you wish, you can also have Yapta link
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