Source: http://catitravel.blogspot.com/2011/06/with-golden-triangle-tours-enjoy.html
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Europe's Easternmost City Looking To Become Cultural Capital
The city of Perm, located in the Urals foothills, is, geographically speaking, the most easterly city in Europe. Yekaterinburg, which is situated further to the east, beyond the Urals ridge, is located in Asia. Yet, while the whole world thinks that Europe ends at Perm, its citizens are convinced that it begins there.
Click here to explore Perm in photos >
Perm owes its birth to the mountains that separate Europe from Asia. One of the first copper-smelting works in the Urals was built there in the early 18th century. As production developed, the settlement grew and Empress Catherine II (the great) soon signed a decree creating the city of Perm around the plant. For centuries, the city developed as an industrial center, so it is not surprising that the working people in Perm welcomed the October Revolution of 1917. In 1940, the city was renamed Molotov, but not for long, as its former name was restored in the late 1950s. Today Perm is a leader of Russian heavy industry.
In recent years, however, the city has been striving to rid itself of its image as Russia’s industrial capital and be recognized as a cultural capital. Can a mighty industrial city, studded with factories, turn overnight into a capital of fashion shows, music and modern arts? The local people are confident that they can do it; the local museum features ancient local artifacts such as wooden idols and bronze animal medallions alongside modern art. Artists and musicians come to Perm to lecture and give master classes and, once every two years, the city hosts the Diaghilev Seasons, a classical festival in memory of the famous ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev. This is not accidental – the guiding spirit of the famous Russian Seasons in Paris lived in Perm with his family for a long time and graduated from the local school. This year, the city had its first ever White Nights multicultural festival, which lasted a whole month. The authorities hoped the festival would attract hundreds of thousands of tourists but in reality there were fewer. This was partly due to poor promotion of the festival events and partly to the lack of a convenient tourist infrastructure, including information centers, cheap hotels, bicycle rentals and even toilets.
Click here to explore Perm in photos >
Even so, Perm is persevering. Like other major Russian cities, last June Perm opened a pedestrian street, its answer to Moscow’s Arbat. At present, it looks somewhat wild and provincial: a patchy asphalt surface, street vendors with nothing to do, a couple of artisans and a children’s playground. Yet the pedestrian street is already included in the standard sightseeing tour that winds around the center. The tour, called The Green Line, links key historical sights of old Perm such as merchants’ houses, churches and monuments. Not surprisingly, it also includes museums, such as the Perm Museum of Local Lore housed in a sumptuous villa that used to belong to the arts patron Nikolai Meshkov. This imposing building, with its columns and stucco moldings, overlooks the Kama River. Its storerooms and exhibition halls contain all the treasures of the city’s many centuries of history. A little back from the riverbank, the Museum of Perm Antiquities features a vast paleontology collection: skeletons of the ancient lizards that gave their name to one of the Palaeozoic periods and the legendary Perm mammoth. An alternative tourist route, called The Red Line, was inaugurated more recently. The places of the greatest romantic dramas played out in the city are marked in red on the city map.
Works of art and stone monuments are not the city’s only attractions. Because of its unusual history and geographical position, Perm has produced many remarkable personalities, some of whom became legends in their own lifetime.
Take Alexei Bessonov, a well-known local communist, an active blogger and an irrepressible public campaigner. He jogs in the morning and, thanks to his robust health, is ever ready to fight for the ideals of the Communist Party. He has come up with some startling initiatives. For example, he proposed turning the city hall into a pretrial detention centre and he tried to organize guerilla units to oppose the cultural reforms. Bessonov’s activities are hailed by the local media, and he has long been a living legend in the city. You can see him all over the place: In the morning he often jogs through the city’s main streets and, at noon, he can be seen leading a demonstration and carrying a banner in front of government buildings. Another local celebrity is Alexander Zhunev, a street artist who holds degrees in economics and geology. When he painted his first graffiti in 2008, he realized this was what he had been born to do. Now people come from afar to look at his works. If you see a portrait of the poet Sergei Yesenin that is as tall as 10-story building, or Spongebob Squarepants atop an electrical transformer box, or public phones in the shape of a fish or a cat’s head, you can be sure Alexander Zhunev has been here with his spray paint. And it is a good idea to visit the places that he has visited.
In contrast, Mikhail Shmakov has disliked Perm from the time he was a child. He thought the city was drab and gloomy. To escape the drabness, Shmakov and his wife set out on a voyage around the world. They have already crossed Africa and South America. Having seen half the world, Shmakov now admits that he does not want to leave his home city for good.
“Paradoxically, after visiting thousands of cities, it was brought home to me that I was lucky to have been born in Perm,” Shmakov said. “I have hated Perm all my life but have recently come to like its cozy provincial style and atmosphere of a wilderness.”
The “wilderness” surrounds the city in the shape of thick forests and the deep, dark waters of the Kama, a major river that slashes right through the middle of Perm. Today, though, the city is divided not only by water. One part dreams of turning it into a cultural capital and the other part wants it to be an industrial city, as of old. How to keep both camps happy? Perm is in the midst of stormy processes that will certainly be interesting to watch.
Click here to explore Perm in photos >
This post originally appeared on Russia Beyond The Headlines.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Europe on Twitter and Facebook.
See Also:
- Is The Russian Space Program Useless Without NASA?
- VINTAGE PHOTOS: Irish Children Through The Ages
- Hedge Fund Manager Commits Suicide Day After His Friend, Late "Real Housewives" Husband
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/perm-europes-easternmost-city-2011-8
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
?Sticky situation? contest extended one more day!!
It’s not too late!! Due to the outage last week, I have decided to extend the contest one more day. If you still have a “sticky” situation to share, post it in the comments. You could win a Kindle!! Thanks to Mitchum and their “Love Thy Pits” campaign for the idea and the prizes.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boardingarea/roadwarriorette/~3/rJi5j7dYjao/
AAA Says Americans Will Drive More, Fly Less During Labor Day Weekend - BodyShop Business
The Daily Hastings
AAA Says Americans Will Drive More, Fly Less During Labor Day WeekendBodyShop BusinessAAA forecasts 31.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Labor Day holiday weekend, a 2.4 percent decrease from the 32.3 million people who traveled one year ago, but the group expects more drivers will hit [...]
AAA Says Americans Will Drive More, Fly Less During Labor Day WeekendBodyShop BusinessAAA forecasts 31.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Labor Day holiday weekend, a 2.4 percent decrease from the 32.3 million people who traveled one year ago, but the group expects more drivers will hit [...]
Monday, 29 August 2011
Sunday, 28 August 2011
A Memorable Wine Adventure: Inside A Prestigious Napa Valley Wine Tasting
I receive a ton of email every day; offers for this, suggestions for that, questions on all sorts of topics.
So it’s not uncommon for me to face off with my computer each morning fortified with a triple latté and a blueberry muffin wondering what the Internet has in store for me.
A few weeks ago, somewhat bleary eyed from a week-long fam trip and an all-nighter writing up an article for a new editor I received an invitation to attend The Rutherford Dust Society’s media and trade annual tasting taking place on July 13, 2011 at Rubicon Estate in Napa Valley, CA. I now know what can wake me up faster than a triple shot of caffeine.
This is a prestigious tasting. Not a lot of invitations are sent out. Not many wine writers will ever get the call.
But there I was, invitation in hand, computer screen glaring at me, waiting to see if I could clear my schedule to attend. Well, gee, let me think about this for a Nano second…yes, yes, yes!
I was curious how the committee would arrange the day. I arrived on time at 10 am at Rubicon Estate Winery. Thankfully the evening before I did a test run from my B & B lodging in Sonoma.
Good thing I did as my GPS had me stopping in a patch of weeds waaaay down the road from the Rubicon entrance. A less determined person might have been deterred. But I was determined to get to this tasting. After driving up and down St. Helena Highway several times, pounding on the GPS repeatedly, and finally stopping at the Rutherford Grill for instructions (turns out it was right across the street), victory was mine.
Back to the tasting. About 10:20 AM the group was escorted into Rubicon Estate’s historic barrel room for the seated media tasting. There were 22, 2008 Cabernet’s poured in two flights of eleven. We were asked to taste 11 wines in 20 minutes in silence. We had a 10 minute break between flights. We had the choice of tasting blind (without pre-prepared notes) or tasting with collateral materials.
After the 2-hour tasting, lunch was served upstairs—with even more wines. To our great delight, Frances Ford Coppola joined us. It was a convivial hour and a half of great food, premium wines, some networking opportunities, and some short talks by Dust Society members. After the lunch we were escorted to the afternoon trade and media tasting. More wines, more wineries, more networking.
So let’s see, by my count I tasted over 30 premium distinctive Cabs in just a little over 4 hours! Between the morning tasting, the luncheon, and the afternoon trade tasting, I think I now have a very good idea of what the Rutherford Cabernet taste profile is all about: Smooth, aromatic, complex and elegant. I am impressed that most of the 2008 Rutherford Cabernet blends I tasted are drinkable now. I was expecting more tannic wines.
I was wrong. There are plenty of cherry, berry, currant and vanilla notes, standing competitively alongside attention-grabbing waves of spice, mineral, cocoa and plum. My guess is that even with the smooth nature of these wines, most of them can age nicely for ten years or more.
It’s interesting to note what gave these 2008 wines their voice, as 2008 was anything but a model year for grape growing. Growers experienced a cold winter, frost in March and April, below average rainfall, early bud break, excessive heat during bloom, a heat wave in August and September, high sugars and early ripening… and wild fires.
That’s enough to make any one want to turn and throw in the shovel. But crazy as it sounds, what happened was growers ended up with a small crop of quality grapes that were nicely balanced leading to some really great wine. The harvest might have been 23%-35% off, but the wines turned out subtle, elegant and slightly better than the acclaimed 2007 vintage.
Out of the 22 wines I tasted in the morning a couple of things to note. The alcohol levels ranged from 13.7% (Frog’s Leap) up to 15.3% (Beaulieu Vineyard) and the prices swung wildly from $26 (Pedemonte Cellars) to Rubicon Estate ($200). Some of the wines we tasted are already released, some we’ll have to wait for until Spring 2012.
There wasn’t a dud in the bunch. The wines were chosen carefully by a team of Sommeliers who started with 39 wines to choose from, narrowing the choices down to 22. Two thumbs up for their choices!
As with any informal tasting, some wines are bound to have better voices than others. I’ve listed all the wines I tasted, in the order I tasted them, but have given special attention to the ones I particularly enjoyed or thought you should try.
Flight One
- Peju Rutherford Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, $105, 900 cases, release date 9/1/14. A winner right out of the gate with its aromatic nose, lovely scents of vanilla, currant, spice and black cherry. Recommend!
- Monticello Cellars Tietjen Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, $65, 224 cases, release date 10/1/11.
- Flora Springs Rutherford Hillside Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon,$100, 347 cases, release date 10/1/11.
- Sullivan Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Reserve, $100, 200 cases, release date 4/1/11.
- Round Pond Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, $50, 3210 cases, release date 1/1/11. Nice plum, coffee, cocoa in the mouth. Tasty raspberry and cherry on the nose. Recommend!
- Pedemonte Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, $26, 360 cases, release date TBD. More earthy than some of the others with hints of cedar and mint on the nose and ripe boysenberry and cherry in the mouth. Great buy for the price.
- Frog’s Leap Winery Rutherford, $75, 1,865 (6/pk) (means that they produced the wine in 6 bottle cases, rather than 12 bottle cases, so there were 1,865 cases of 6 bottles each), release date 10/1/11.
- Honig Cabernet Sauvignon Campbell Vineyard Rutherford, $75, 250 cases, release date 6/1/12
- Quintessa Rutherford, $145, 7,820 cases, release date 9/1/11.
- Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Hozhoni Vineyard Rutherford, $45, 200 cases, release date spring 2012. A very interesting wine with layers of dark berries, vanilla and spice. Velvety tannins. Worth the wait. Recommend!
- Piña Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Firehouse Vineyard Rutherford, $85, 237 cases, release date11/1/10. A stylish wine showcasing a full bodied experience of blackberry, minerals, and sweet spice. Recommend!
Flight Two
- Sawyer Cellars Cabernet Reserve Rutherford, $49, 850 cases, release date 6/1/12. Loved the concentrated fruit flavors on the nose of this wine. On the palate expect opulent blackberry, black cherry, a touch of fig and toasty oak. Great Cab for the money proving the point that Cab does not need to be expensive to be good. Recommend!
- Meander Cabernet Sauvignon Morisoli Vineyard Rutherford, $125, 40 cases, release date 3/1/11. Nice burst of smooth espresso, plum, and cocoa on the nose and palate. Enjoy the black fruit, spice, and vanilla overtones. Recommend.
- Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, $115, 8200 cases, release date 8/1/11.
- Rubicon Estate Rubicon, $200, 6,675 (6/pk) cases (means that they produced the wine in 6 bottle cases, rather than 12 bottle cases so there were 1,865 cases of 6 bottles each), release date 3/1/12. The most expensive of the group it’s showing great promise now and I expect next year when it is released it will be exceptional. Recommend.
- St. Clement Vineyards Star Vineyard Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon, $80, 225 cases, release date 11/1/11.
- Staglin Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, $185, 2600 cases, release date fall 2011. Smooth with intense notes of blackberry , spice and black cherry. Recommend.
- 12C Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard Rutherford, $70, 120 cases, release 8/1/2010.
- HUNNICUTT Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, $75, 125 cases, release date Fall 2011. Elegant nose of blackberry, cherry, and vanilla. Spicy and rich on the palate, one could get lost in this gorgeous wine quite easily. Recommend.
- Soujourn Cellars Beckstoffer Vineyard Georges III Cabernet Sauvignon, $95, 140 cases, release date 2/1/11.
- Frank Family Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, $85, 1780 cases, release date 1/1/12. One to watch for when it’s released. It is a blend of 93% Cab, 4% Cab Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot. I like it now, but think in a few months it could really sing. Recommend.
- 2008 Hall Wines Exzellenz Sacrasche Vineyard Rutherford Red Wine, $165, 219 cases, release date 11/1/11. Nicely integrated nose of dried black cherry, mild spice, blackberry and toasty oak.
Story and photos by Linda Kissam.
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Saturday, 27 August 2011
How to prepare for the airline losing your bag
Last weekend, yet another friend told me a story about checking a bag that the airline then lost. Of course, this friend was on his way to Mexico for vacation, not on a business trip. When he asked me how to avoid this being a problem in the future, I realized that the principles are [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boardingarea/roadwarriorette/~3/ks46q4rMsrA/
Farm-to-Table Meals, on European Farms
Outstanding in the Field, which pairs local chefs and farmers to produce extravagant dinners in orchards and fields, takes it roving bus to Europe this fall.
Source: http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/farm-to-table-meals-on-european-farms/
Friday, 26 August 2011
Deciding on the Correct Tv Wall Mount
Developments in flat display screen tv technological innovation has progressed so significantly over the prior couple of years. Because of this there really is no explanation not to pick your self out a flat screen television if you are contemplating …
Source: http://seenewcaledonia.com/2011/deciding-on-the-correct-tv-wall-mount/
Global Entry Allows You To Bypass Immigration And Customs Lines At The Airport
A computer-generated email from my credit card company caught my eye and captured my imagination. Mind you, this is not my usual reaction to emails from American Express. Did you know there is a way to sail through immigration and customs – without being a foreign dignitary or soccer star? It’s called Global Entry, it's handled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and, at risk of sounding too sales-y, you, too, can participate.
Curious about this E-Z Pass of international travel, I clicked and began by filling out an extensive online application at GOES, the Global Online Entry System. Let me be clear, I am generally a privacy-phobe and utterly opposed to doing such things. I don’t even have a CVS frequent shopper card; it’s no one’s business what kind of lotion I buy. Still, I couldn’t shake the fantasy of sweeping past fellow passengers on eternal immigration lines and tucking into a jalapeño cheeseburger — my stateside meal of choice — a half an hour after deplaning.
The application takes forever to fill out, but requires no special private information. If the fuzz is out for you, they already know everything on this form: Your height and employer’s phone number are not secrets. The whole thing has the unmistakable whiff of government authenticity — it is boringly presented, counter intuitive, and long. I submit my application, and a mere eight days later I am asked via email to set up an appointment for my interview. The last step is a meeting with a federal officer from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I dress nicely for it. It isn’t often I am interrogated by Homeland Security, and I thought it might be important to wear my best unlikely-to-hijack-an-airplane outfit.
I show up at JFK at the appointed hour and find the office without much trouble. It is not the modern, clinical, high-tech CSI environment I am expecting. It is a small-ish office that smells of slightly burned coffee and is staffed by three super-fit guys from New York and one slight Asian woman. I peek my head in and tell them I am there for my interview. “Congratulations!” one of them says, and waves me in.
There were six people in the room total. The procedure took ten minutes. The only major event was a quick electronic fingerprinting. I was golden. I don’t have a criminal record, which sped things along, but Officer Robinson assured me that a misdemeanor or some dumb bar fight in college are not insurmountably egregious acts. CBP takes it on a case-by-case basis, so, like everything else in travel, you should hope for a nice person on the other side of that desk.
Officer Robinson put a sticker on my passport and showed me how to wield my Global Entry status. Upon entering the United States, I go directly to the Global Entry kiosk, swipe my passport, and be on my way. The system reads my passport information and documents my entry electronically. When the machine is not in working order, an attendant will be on-hand to help. So they say, anyway. Remember, this is a government program. Global Entry is available in most major U.S. airports, but not worldwide. That’s okay for now. I still enjoy getting those cool stamps.
The biggest obstacle is the $100 fee, which Amex is covering as a Platinum card benefit. So the next time you are waiting in line, calculating whether or not you will clear customs in time to beat rush hour traffic, look for me. I will be the blur racing ahead you. I will be the first online for the bathroom, and I will get your cab. You got a problem with that? Well, do something about it.
This post originally appeared on Fathom.
Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
- A Guide To Wine Investment
- Why Women Drink Different Wine Then Men
- The Most Addictive Sweets In The Big Apple
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/sail-through-immigration-2011-8
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Can I really check in on my phone?
DAVID POGUE, the New York Times' personal tech columnist, had a great item on Thursday featuring five really dynamite tech tips for travellers. Regular Gulliver readers will already know most of them, but the column's really worth a read. Please click through, especially since I'm only going to focus on one of the tips: checking in for flights from your phone. Here's Mr Pogue, who says he spent a long time wondering why every airline had a smart phone check-in app but never used them:
I finally tried it. The Delta app is the best of the bunch. You open the app?the day before your flight, for example, or even on the way to the airport?and it automatically shows the flight you?re about to take. It?s much smarter than most airline kiosks, which make you manually enter your flight information before printing out your boarding pass. (Shouldn?t the computer know what my next flight is on that airline?)
In the Delta app, you tap the flight, tap Check In, and presto: it displays your ?boarding pass? in the form of a big black-and-white QR code (a newfangled barcode). On that same screen, conveniently enough, is your gate number, seat number, seating zone?even Delta?s customer-service hotline....
...No matter which airline?s app you?re using, you handle your phone just as you?d handle the boarding pass. For example, you show it to the security person who monitors the entrance to the security line. When you get to the actual T.S.A. rep who checks your ID and boarding pass, you put your phone face down on a little glass scanner at the rep?s little desk, and you?re ushered right on through. Kind of amazing, really.
Amazing indeed. Mr Pogue cites three main advantages to checking in via phone: you save paper and trash, you're less likely to lose your boarding pass (it's essentially impossible unless you lose your phone, too), and by checking in early you make it more likely that you'll be upgraded to first or business class. I'm a convert: I will try this on my next flight (SFO to BOS, August 18, United) and report back.
Actually, though, my favourite part of Mr Pogue's column was his comment that he doesn't understand the whole check-in process in the first place. "If you can check in before you?re actually at the airport, why can?t you check in at the time you buy your ticket, and be done with it?" I've always wondered this, too. If we're not going to close the gaps in airport security that allow terrorists to easily forge boarding passes, why even bother with the whole kiosk/print-out rigmarole at all? Doesn't it feel like a big waste of time? Surely someone must have a good answer for this. (And no, I'm not accepting "to make us feel safer" as a good answer.) No? Bueller? Bueller?
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/08/tech-trips-travellers?fsrc=rss
In Lebanon, in Search of Music, Souks and Home
On the final stop of his 10-week Mediterranean tour, Seth Kugel decided to stay with families and to check out summer music festivals and souks.
Source: http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/in-lebanon-in-search-of-music-souks-and-home/
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Mi data, su data
...Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.
-Robert Frost, Mending Wall, 1915
DRIVE up the road leading to Facebook's spanking-new data centre in central Oregon, and you may be shocked to see no sign of a fence, or even a gate. Lack of the latter is partly down to a miscalculation. The first of the planned buildings on the centre's campus is accessible from a public road that was intended to be private, but a property goof left it in the city's hands and, as such, not eligible for a bar across the way. Not to worry. Facebook is paying for a ring road to skirt the site, and be given to the town?which agreed to christen it Social Loop?in exchange for taking the access road properly private. A simple gate will one day be erected. For now, Babbage pulls off the road to a security shack in a parking lot, and engages in friendly banter obtaining a slip of paper authorising his car to park a short distance away at the campus's first fully functional building.
The fencelessness, by contrast, is entirely intentional. The centre's boss Ken Patchett explains that fences in the middle of a rural area do not provide any enhanced security. A fence is a gauntlet thrown to anyone eager to pick it up. Ditch the wall altogether, and you remove the temptation to scale it. Moreover, Mr Patchett dislikes the message a fence sends. He reckons that a wall creates both a literal and figurative divide between the company and the community. He and his employer are doing their level best to blend in, by hiring locals, offering a no-strings-attached cash grant to the town, and bringing in power and broadband that should enhance the town's appeal to other internet firms.
Little wonder, then, than rather than erect a barrier Facebook drew inspiration from Robert Frost (see poem above) and plumped instead for a shallow ditch, a gentle berm and lines of sight out in all directions. All this makes the property appear fully open. For all that, the owner's ability to control who and what goes in and out remains intact. And the strategy seems to be working. (For instance, the image above depicts a gift from quilters in the community: a physical manifestation of a social web with Prineville at its heart.)
Facebook must juggle openness with privacy and security elsewhere, too. On its website, the company constantly has to choose between granting users the right to include and exclude people from their social circles as they see fit, on the one hand, and fostering new relationships which, by dint of the network effect, let it net ever more users, on the other. Increased use and more users produce more cash. And Facebook would surely love to drill peepholes in privacy barriers to give advertisers and partner firms a glimpse of data that would help them target clients more efficiently. Privacy groups, governments and users keep postering over those holes or demanding new, taller, solid fences.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/08/open-computing?fsrc=rss
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Business Traveler Interview: Melanie Waldman
This is part of a new series here at WhyGo Business Travel featuring brief interviews with people who travel for work, asking them about what they do and some of their favorite travel tips. This way, if you’re looking for a career that will require travel, you’ll get to read about people doing some of [...]
The Difference Engine: Off the radar
IT IS annoying enough when you board a plane in New York bound for San Francisco only to end up in Los Angeles because the Bay Area is fogged in (which has happened to your correspondent twice). It would be downright unnerving if it happened because the air-traffic control system directed the plane there by mistake.
The ?NextGen? air-traffic control system, which uses GPS satellites to pin-point every plane?s precise position in the sky once a second, plus onboard radios that let each aircraft continually see (and be seen by) all others nearby, is to be rolled out in 2012 and fully implemented by 2022. Replacing today?s patchwork of ground-based air-traffic control radars that sweep a small arc of airspace every 12 seconds?and lose aircraft between scans and as soon as they go out of range?with a blanketing mesh of GPS satellite signals should allow planes travelling busy routes to steer clear of one another, while flying in tighter formations though crowded airspace. The aim is to save fuel, time and lives, while handling an ever increasing amount of air traffic (see "Unfriendly skies", November 9th 2007).
And so it would except that, due to regulatory haste and shortsightedness, GPS coverage of America could soon go dark in places and become patchy elsewhere. Not only airlines would suffer. There are over 500m GPS receivers in use throughout the United States. Motorists, mobile-phone users, boat-owners, television broadcasters, the police, the armed forces, the emergency services and even farmers would be adversely affected. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reckons it would cost airlines, in particular, more than $70 billion over the next ten years if they had to find fixes to cope with a GPS blackout. A leaked report suggests the airlines' loss of GPS services would also precipitate some 800 fatalities during that period.
The ultimate source of the trouble is a decision made in 2003 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant special dispensation to a broadband satellite operator called SkyTerra, allowing it to fill gaps in its coverage by means of ground-based transmitters. SkyTerra?s chunk of spectrum (1,525-1,559 megahertz) abutted a crucial frequency (1,575 megahertz) used by GPS satellites. However, SkyTerra?s signals being mere whispers from space and its few proposed ground stations designed to operate at low power, any threat to GPS was dismissed as highly unlikely.
Everything changed when Harbinger Capital Partners, a New York-based investment firm founded by subprime-mortgage billionaire Philip Falcone, bought SkyTerra in 2010 and renamed it LightSquared. For Mr Falcone, the attraction was three-fold: SkyTerra?s swathe of under-used frequencies; its licence to provide a nation-wide internet service; and, above all, the FCC?s waiver allowing it to use ground-based transmitters where satellite reception was poor.
Mr Falcone quickly persuaded the FCC to rewrite the former SkyTerra licence. Instead of being conditional on offering an internet service primarily by satellite, with ground stations filling in only where satellite coverage was inadequate, the revised licence accepts that the network will rely almost exclusively on terrestrial transmitters.
And not just low-powered ones for serving inner cities. The company intends to build a broadband wireless network comprising 40,000 base-stations across the United States. These stations will put out 15,000 watts apiece. Typical mobile-phone transmitters in urban areas radiate between five and ten watts. Even the 100-foot towers used in open countryside transmit no more than 60 watts.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/08/gps-fiasco?fsrc=rss
Monday, 22 August 2011
The Economist launches on Android
AND now, the moment many tech-savvy readers have been waiting for: The Economist formally launches its Android app today, giving subscribers full access to the weekly edition on Android devices at no extra cost. If you have already activated your Economist online account (in other words, if you have associated your Economist.com credentials with your print subscription, or if you have a web-only subscription), you can use the same log-in details to access The Economist via the app, which is free to download. If you have an Android device and have not already activated your Economist online account, you can activate it here.
The Android app provides the same immersive reading experience as our iPhone and iPad apps, which we launched last November. Since then those apps have been downloaded more than 2.4m times and are now used on nearly 700,000 unique devices each month.
Each week's issue of The Economist is available to download via these mobile apps from 9pm London time (4pm New York time) on Thursdays. Once downloaded, issues are stored on the device. Every issue is also accompanied by a full audio edition (an optional download), with all articles read by professional newscasters, allowing for easy switching between reading and listening. Non-subscribers have free access to a selection of articles each week, including audio. The Android app runs on all Android phones and small and medium-sized tablets running v2.x. It can be downloaded from the Android Market. Please let us know what you think of it.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/08/service-announcement?fsrc=rss
10 Etiquette Tips To Remember While Aboard Cruises Perth
Traveling aboard��is a wonderful opportunity to get a good rest and relaxation away from your stressful daily life. And along every social environment, we must be conscious to other people’s needs and must learn how to be courteous to fellow … Continue reading
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Guess Where This Is
For centuries, self-proclaimed pilgrims have trekked dozens and sometimes hundreds of miles to get to the city where this hotel -- a former hospital -- is located. Today, the city boasts a new cultural center designed by an American architect that, while not fully completed, is already being heralded as a 21st-century beacon of culture.
Source: http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/guess-where-this-is-28/
Cooling Off the Berlin Summer With Artisanal Ice Cream
Since the days of spaghetti-eis, Berliners' palates have become more demanding, prompting many high-quality ice cream parlors to open around the city.
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Bathroom Screens or Curtains for Your Bath?
Bath screens and curtains are extremely useful in your shower facilities. They can not only help separate the wet place of the flooring from the dry region, but also avert the sizzling air from disseminating from the tub when you …
Source: http://seenewcaledonia.com/2011/bathroom-screens-or-curtains-for-your-bath/
Friday, 19 August 2011
We are beginning our descent
A COLLEAGUE writes on our Americas view blog about the expense of flying around Central America and the hope that the arrival of a new low-budget operator could drive down fares in the region.
Prices have stayed sky-high in Central America because there is no competition on most routes. Taca and Copa, the two airlines that have carved up the region between them, can therefore charge intercontinental prices for local hops. But change is afoot. Interjet, a gutsy budget airline that has opened some (relatively) cheap routes in Mexico, has just started flying from Mexico City to Guatemala City. At the moment its twice-daily return flights cost about $195 including taxes, about a third of what I have paid Taca in the past for the same trip.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/08/central-american-aviation?fsrc=rss
A Festival in Red Square
The Spasskaya Tower Festival in Moscow features military bands from all over, equestrian shows, fireworks and more.
Source: http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/a-festival-in-red-square/
Thursday, 18 August 2011
How To Survive A Flight On EasyJet
easyJet doesn’t exactly deliver on easy, but it is cheap, which is the draw. It’s similar to shopping at Filene’s or TJMaxx; you have to keep in mind that you’re going for the bargain, since the shopping environment leaves much to be desired.
I recently flew easyJet to and from London’s Stansted airport on my trip to Amsterdam, Bruges and Luxembourg and did find their fares to be significantly lower than other airlines.
But, you’ll pay in other ways, most notably frustration. As a newbie, I learned these five essential tips for flying easyJet the hard way. I pass them on so you can avoid my rookie mistakes and hopefully have a less stressful (if not easier) experience.
1) Bring one carry-on: The catch here is that it’s not in addition to a purse or briefcase; it’s literally one carry-on only. And they’re militant about inspecting you, so plan ahead. Stuff your purse or small bag into your “carry-on” before you get to the gate or you’ll end up paying for an extra piece of luggage. If you know you’ll have more than can fit into the regulation-sized overhead, then make sure to add a bag to your online ticket purchase to save some bucks; it’ll cost you more if you have to pay at the airport.
2) Have patience: Long, slow lines are the norm at every stage: check-in, security and boarding (they’re collecting that extra baggage moolah). Also, there are no kiosks at check-in so you’re guaranteed a line. The one saving grace is that they seem to know that they’re slow, so don’t panic if your flight is dangerously close to take off, they’ll eventually move you to the front of the line to expedite your check-in.
3) They don’t wait for you: That’s their motto of sorts, it’s even printed on the boarding pass: “Please go straight to departures, if you’re late we won’t wait!” Oh, and you need to be at the gate 30 minutes prior to departure. Here’s where severe frustration can set in (refer to tip #2); check-in and security inefficiencies make it nearly impossible to get to the gate 30 minutes in advance. Take solace, everyone else on your flight is in the same predicament so don’t succumb to stress, they can’t take off with an empty plane. (And remember the flight is cheap!)
4) No seat assignments: Again, refer to tip #2. It can be a bit of a free-for-all at the gate. If you’re traveling with someone else and want to sit together on the plane, be prepared to throw some elbows (or get to the airport really early if you prefer the more civilized approach).
5) Expect surprises: Not necessarily pleasant, but most certainly random. Upon landing at Stansted, we deplaned on the tarmac and walked to the airport. It wasn’t until we cruised through the airport a bit that we were diverted and put on a shuttle bus to get to the main terminal area, why they couldn’t meet us at the plane is beyond me.
Really it should be called cheapJet, which would be much more accurate. But, forewarned is forearmed and you will be saving money.
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Join the conversation about this story »
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-survive-a-flight-on-easyjet-2011-7
In London, Wonders of the World in Miniature
Twenty of the rarest and most beautiful of Fran�ois Fouquet's architectural models are on view at Sir John Soane's Museum in London.
Source: http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/in-london-wonders-of-the-world-in-miniature/
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Srilanka Trip Elates the Visitors Heart and Mind
Srilanka is a heaven on the earth. This beautiful tropical island is located on the azure Indian Ocean. Nestled in the admits of nature and cradled by the rolling green hills, lush tea gardens, picturesque landscapes, UNESCO World Heritage Cities … Continue reading
Source: http://travelagent.globaltraveling.net/1382/srilanka-trip-elates-the-visitors-heart-and-mind/
Sun-burned
RENEWABLE energy enjoyed a "remarkable growth" in investment last year, says a recent UN report, rising by one-third to a record $211 billion worldwide. Ebullient press releases aside, there is little hyperbole to the description, with China alone splurging $48 billion on new green energy projects to consolidate its position as the world's leader. And, for the first time, developing countries collectively spent more on renewables than their richer counterparts. Though wind was the big winner, led by China's enormous "green stimulus" package, solar power also had a good year, with installed capacity increasing in more than 100 countries last year. German homeowners, propelled by generous government subsidies, installed more solar panels on their rooftops in 2010 than the entire planet had managed in the year before.
But curiously, this building frenzy coincides with a wave of cuts to solar subsidy schemes across Europe. The future of sun-power does not look so bright in Spain, for instance, where retroactive cuts to "feed-in tariffs" - a type of subsidy where the state guarantees producers a set price for energy sold to the grid - have been made to tackle the enormous debts run up by the scheme. Spain's electricity regulator recently reported its annual electricity-tariff deficit (ie, the amount by which costs exceed revenues) had climbed in 2010 to a record ?5.6 billion ($8.3 billion) as a result of the surge in subsidy payments. The government now faces lawsuits from its own renewables sector, which had invested heavily on the promise of such profits. More recently, France has drawn criticism from the EU over its reduction of solar subsidies, which is seen to have damaged investor confidence. Even in Germany, state handouts have been curbed.
In fact, the positive and negative trends share a cause - the steep drop in solar photo-voltaic (PV) panel prices. That has left many fixed-price incentive schemes looking absurdly generous, prompting enormous spikes in investment. Countries which, like Germany, allowed for a degree of flexibility in their subsidy rates have been able to adjust accordingly. But handouts in many countries are often guaranteed for 20 years or more, leaving governments forced to take drastic measures - such as reneging on agreements - to cover their costs.
"They've underestimated the demand and the potential response - absolutely," says Virginia Sonntag-O'Brien, co-author of the UN report. "The devil is in the detail. Not just the amount of the tariff, but also how it is going to work over time and react to the market." Although China's ability to afford its $46 billion stimulus package is not likely to be tested, many other developing countries experiencing booms would do well to take note. "There's always a danger, but we hope lessons will be learned," says Ms Sonntag-O'Brien. "Many countries are already revising their solar PV feed-in tariffs to dampen the explosive rate of installations."
Indeed, some are already experiencing problems. Last year India, where feed-in tariffs are now being used, launched its "National Solar Mission". It aims to get 20,000MW of solar power onto the grid by 2022, from a current baseline of less than 40MW. Though the frenzied uptake was welcomed by those organising the bidding process for commissions, others believe subsidies have been set too high. More worrying are indications that state governments are already defaulting on payments to wind energy producers under a similar scheme, and may not be able to afford more such tariffs.
Renewables may never achieve cost parity with fossil-fueled electricity without years of heavily-subsidised development. But overly-generous and rigid guarantees may do more harm than good. More flexible feed-in tariffs, or indeed off-grid solar panels, may offer more appealing solutions. "It is quite similar to the Californian gold rush," says Ritesh Pothan, Managing Director of a Mumbai-based renewable energy advisory organisation. It is to be hoped not so many are left empty-handed.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/07/renewable-energy?fsrc=rss
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
That?s Not My Car
This week, I have been in Santa Clara for internal meetings. (BTW, three solid days of meetings is a looooong time.) For this trip, Budget gave me a Chevy Cruz. It drives very nicely, and I have been enjoying it. The first night, I made sure to pay attention to the color and where I [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boardingarea/roadwarriorette/~3/9klFmBTT_So/
Monday, 15 August 2011
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Business Traveler Interview: Cliff Rogers
This is part of a new series here at WhyGo Business Travel featuring brief interviews with people who travel for work, asking them about what they do and some of their favorite travel tips. This way, if you’re looking for a career that will require travel, you’ll get to read about people doing some of [...]
Saturday, 13 August 2011
home travel business
Article by Mathew Carpenter Working from home is one of the most satisfying things. You are not only your own boss but are also provided with more flexibility and opportunity to earn more than you used to when in employment. … Continue reading
Source: http://travelagent.globaltraveling.net/1377/home-travel-business-2/
Friday, 12 August 2011
Business Traveler Interview: Nanette Reid
This is part of a new series here at WhyGo Business Travel featuring brief interviews with people who travel for work, asking them about what they do and some of their favorite travel tips. This way, if you’re looking for a career that will require travel, you’ll get to read about people doing some of [...]
Thursday, 11 August 2011
home travel business
Article by Mathew Carpenter Working from home is one of the most satisfying things. You are not only your own boss but are also provided with more flexibility and opportunity to earn more than you used to when in employment. … Continue reading
Source: http://travelagent.globaltraveling.net/1377/home-travel-business-2/
Facebook And Skype Together At Last
Facebook recently enabled group chat and also video calling through Skype – two ways that make it easier for travelers to stay in touch with friends, families and workmates while on the road.
You’ve long been able to use Facebook chat to IM an individual in your network, but Facebook recently expanded its chat capabilities, enabling you to add people to the chat.
If you start a chat on Facebook, at the top right of the chat box you’ll find an icon which looks like a gear. If you click on the gear icon, one of the options you’ll see is “Add friends to chat.” Click on that and a box will open, enabling you to type in the Facebook name of afriend you want to add to the chat.
So, if you are traveling for work or play and staying in a hotel 2,000 miles from home, you can chat with your kids, soul mate or any other friend in your network in one chat window – assuming they all use Facebook.
You might also use group chat to arrange a quick meeting with three or four or five people you work with to go over some problem or issue that may have cropped up.
It’s an easy way to keep the lines of communication open when you are mobile in the event that you don’t want to arrange a group phone call or video call, for example.
And, speaking of calls, Facebook recently partnered with Skype, bringing a very convenient video-calling solution to Facebook. Again, it’s another easy way to stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues when doing your road-warrior thing.
To do the video calling, you open the chat window of a Facebook friend who is online, click the call icon (it looks like a video camera), and launch the call. Assuming both parties have webcams and microphones, a window opens up on your respective computers and you can have a video conversation much as you would using Skype outside of Facebook.
However, the resolution of the images of Facebook Skype appear even sharper than on Skype itself. At any rate, both group chat and Facebook video calling with Skype are great ways to communicate with friends, families and company associates when you are out of pocket.
Make travel easy with the CheapOair Flight Search iPhone app.Search and book flights instantly, anytime, anywhere.
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Join the conversation about this story »
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-and-skype-together-at-last-2011-7
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Effective Business Card Designs For Travel Agents
Article by Natalie Aranda The business card is, perhaps, the least expensive and easily used advertising device available in the world of commerce. Many people do not give the time and proper consideration to the design of this very cost … Continue reading
Source: http://travelagent.globaltraveling.net/1378/effective-business-card-designs-for-travel-agents/
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Affordable Travel ? How to Have a Great Vacation Without Going Broke
I have two weeks of vacation each year. My goal for at least one of them is to have the kind of trip that gets me away from my life and lets me forget the password to my work computer. Travel is a bit of an obsession for me. And a potentially costly one, which [...]
Affordable Travel – How to Have a Great Vacation Without Going Broke is a post from: TRAVEL
It's official: people like hotels
HOTEL reviews are overwhelmingly positive, it seems. A recent assessment of 90m such reviews by a company called ReviewPro has determined that 60% are positive, 28% are neutral, and the remaining 12% negative. ReviewPro used an algorithm to score each review (90m was obviously a few too many for the summer interns). Those scoring 80% or higher were deemed positive; those scoring 59% or less were negative; anything in between was neutral.
These data tie in with figures I got last year from TripAdvisor, where the average score of a hotel review, on a scale of 1-5, was 3.8. Steve Kaufer, the company's boss, told me that people will bother to write about positive experiences because they like to ?give something back to the community that helped them organise the trip?.
It's hard to tell, though, whether ReviewPro's numbers are the result of happy customers outnumbering unhappy customers by a 5:1 ratio, or of happy customers' greater keenness to share good experiences. Or perhaps hotels have simply mastered the art of placing glowing self-referential reviews around the web without being busted. Whatever the answer, the data imply that hotels wanting to manage their presence online need to pay more attention to the pleasant task of responding to praise than to the punitive labour of calming angry clients.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/07/hotel-reviews?fsrc=rss
Monday, 8 August 2011
Be prepared
VETERAN business travellers do not like to check bags. It inevitably slows you down, and you run the risk of losing your luggage entirely. But sometimes (if you're travelling somewhere for an extended period of time, for example), it seems unavoidable. Even if you do end up checking bags, though, it is still important to think carefully about how you pack your carry-on.
A checked bag full of suits and shirts should not be an excuse to leave your usual carry-on bag at home. Checked bags do get lost in transit, and it's terrible to be stuck in an unfamiliar place with just the clothes on your back. Unfortunately, some business travellers (including several of your correspondents' colleagues) do not normally carry changes of clothes in their carry-on. That seems like an unnecessarily risky travel strategy. A good carry-on should have toiletries, a change of clothes (or two), and everything you might need in case you have to replace everything that was in your checked baggage.
Of course, carry-ons get lost sometimes, too. That can be costly. Earlier this year, one of my colleagues noted a Hotels.com survey that found the average carry-on contains 12 items "with a combined cost of almost �1,500 ($2,340)." The list was suspiciously brand-name heavy ("If the average business traveller has a Mont Blanc Rollerball (as opposed to a biro from the stationery cupboard), then things really are looking up."), and contained very little clothing: a shirt and socks. You can probably get away with wearing the same trousers for a few days if absolutely necessary, but you're definitely going to want some extra underwear if you lose your checked baggage and get to your destination after the stores are closed. I usually also carry a fleece jacket, which can double as a travel pillow in a pinch, and more than one extra pair of socks.
If you desperately want to avoid bringing a carry-on and don't mind looking somewhat less than fashion-forward, you could always try the Rufus Roo travel jacket:
Like a kangaroo, the Rufus Roo has big pouches which travelers can stuff with clothes, toiletries, books and even a laptop before wearing the jacket and boarding a plane.
Adrian Oates is the co-founder of Rufus Roo. He says, "It's airports, it's trains, it's wherever you need to go and carry stuff and it just so happens that at airports, people are being expected to pay obnoxious fees for extra things and we think well hey, if you can carry it on your person, they're not going to charge you."
Adrian says the jacket can comfortably carry around 10 kilograms, and he hasn't any problems from airlines when wearing it to fly. He says, "Even if you've got 10 kilos, you don't always have to carry it. We tend to fill the pockets and just use the arm holes as a shoulder bag. You just use it like that."
You may look and feel silly cramming a change of clothes into the oversized pockets of your novelty travel jacket. But at least you'll be more prepared for lost luggage than the folks who pack a �230 pen in their carry-on instead of underwear.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/07/carry-bags?fsrc=rss
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Sun-burned
RENEWABLE energy enjoyed a "remarkable growth" in investment last year, says a recent UN report, rising by one-third to a record $211 billion worldwide. Ebullient press releases aside, there is little hyperbole to the description, with China alone splurging $48 billion on new green energy projects to consolidate its position as the world's leader. And, for the first time, developing countries collectively spent more on renewables than their richer counterparts. Though wind was the big winner, led by China's enormous "green stimulus" package, solar power also had a good year, with installed capacity increasing in more than 100 countries last year. German homeowners, propelled by generous government subsidies, installed more solar panels on their rooftops in 2010 than the entire planet had managed in the year before.
But curiously, this building frenzy coincides with a wave of cuts to solar subsidy schemes across Europe. The future of sun-power does not look so bright in Spain, for instance, where retroactive cuts to "feed-in tariffs" - a type of subsidy where the state guarantees producers a set price for energy sold to the grid - have been made to tackle the enormous debts run up by the scheme. Spain's electricity regulator recently reported its annual electricity-tariff deficit (ie, the amount by which costs exceed revenues) had climbed in 2010 to a record ?5.6 billion ($8.3 billion) as a result of the surge in subsidy payments. The government now faces lawsuits from its own renewables sector, which had invested heavily on the promise of such profits. More recently, France has drawn criticism from the EU over its reduction of solar subsidies, which is seen to have damaged investor confidence. Even in Germany, state handouts have been curbed.
In fact, the positive and negative trends share a cause - the steep drop in solar photo-voltaic (PV) panel prices. That has left many fixed-price incentive schemes looking absurdly generous, prompting enormous spikes in investment. Countries which, like Germany, allowed for a degree of flexibility in their subsidy rates have been able to adjust accordingly. But handouts in many countries are often guaranteed for 20 years or more, leaving governments forced to take drastic measures - such as reneging on agreements - to cover their costs.
"They've underestimated the demand and the potential response - absolutely," says Virginia Sonntag-O'Brien, co-author of the UN report. "The devil is in the detail. Not just the amount of the tariff, but also how it is going to work over time and react to the market." Although China's ability to afford its $46 billion stimulus package is not likely to be tested, many other developing countries experiencing booms would do well to take note. "There's always a danger, but we hope lessons will be learned," says Ms Sonntag-O'Brien. "Many countries are already revising their solar PV feed-in tariffs to dampen the explosive rate of installations."
Indeed, some are already experiencing problems. Last year India, where feed-in tariffs are now being used, launched its "National Solar Mission". It aims to get 20,000MW of solar power onto the grid by 2022, from a current baseline of less than 40MW. Though the frenzied uptake was welcomed by those organising the bidding process for commissions, others believe subsidies have been set too high. More worrying are indications that state governments are already defaulting on payments to wind energy producers under a similar scheme, and may not be able to afford more such tariffs.
Renewables may never achieve cost parity with fossil-fueled electricity without years of heavily-subsidised development. But overly-generous and rigid guarantees may do more harm than good. More flexible feed-in tariffs, or indeed off-grid solar panels, may offer more appealing solutions. "It is quite similar to the Californian gold rush," says Ritesh Pothan, Managing Director of a Mumbai-based renewable energy advisory organisation. It is to be hoped not so many are left empty-handed.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/07/renewable-energy?fsrc=rss
Saturday, 6 August 2011
home travel business
Article by Mathew Carpenter Working from home is one of the most satisfying things. You are not only your own boss but are also provided with more flexibility and opportunity to earn more than you used to when in employment. … Continue reading
Source: http://travelagent.globaltraveling.net/1377/home-travel-business-2/
Finest Way To Stop Smoking cigarettes 5 Excellent Suggestions to Triumph over Your Smoking Addiction
Are you searching for the very best way to stop smoking cigarettes? If your solution is indeed, then you will probably want to hear my story out. I was as soon as a smoker – a major one particular- for …
Friday, 5 August 2011
Senior Travel to Tanzania
Seniors. �Any idea where Tanzania is located in Africa? �Take a look at this interactive map and come long on an exciting trip to a country’s eastern borders that lie on the Indian Ocean. Mainland Tanzania falls into three major geographical zones-a narrow lowland coastal strip along the Indian Ocean; a vast interior plateau; and [...]
Source: http://www.seniorcitizenjournal.com/travel-articles/senior-travel-to-tanzania/
The FAA and the Communist party
A COUPLE of items in this week?s Economist merit particular attention from the readers of this blog.
One looks at the impasse (reported by Gulliver here) over the funding of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which manages air safety and air-traffic control in America. The agency has had to shut down partially because of a disagreement over the extension of its operating-authority bill, which has left the government unable to collect federal taxes on airline tickets.
A long shutdown could cost taxpayers more than $1 billion by next month. And passengers are not even enjoying a tax holiday at the airport, as most airlines have raised fares by an equal 7.5% (though Delta and US Airways are promising, shamefaced, to refund the money to customers). Jamie Baker of JPMorgan estimates that the daily benefit to the airline industry could approach $25m.
Meanwhile 4,000 FAA employees have been sent home, and 40 airport safety inspectors are working without pay:
They are flying from airport to airport, checking runways and monitoring airfields. What is more, they are travelling on their own dime, hoping they will be reimbursed when the shutdown ends. If only a similar unselfishness prevailed on Capitol Hill.
Elsewhere we return to the high-speed train crash in China on July 23rd and its repercussions. The government's clumsy response to the incident attracted much online griping from Chinese citizens, which in turn forced the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, into a damage-limitation exercise.
In another rare departure from common practice, he took an open slap at the Ministry of Railways, conceding that ?the public had many suspicions about the cause of the accident and the way it was handled?. He promised to investigate whether corruption, equipment or management problems were to blame, with no ?soft-pedalling?.
State media, already surprisingly vocal about the crash, took this as licence to ignore earlier orders to refrain from reporting controversy. Xinhua, the official news agency, began reporting on widespread suspicions about the reasons for the crash, as did the central state-television station. Some state media proved yet more defiant: the Economic Observer published an astonishing open letter to a rescued two-year-old girl, orphaned by the crash, laying bare concerns about systemic corruption and hypocrisy. Microblogging sites, notably Sina Weibo, China?s homespun version of the banned Twitter, ran unusually free comment. Reining it in would have been hard or counterproductive. Microblogs also provided an avenue for Chinese journalists to publish details on the accident in the crucial early hours, before slower-footed propaganda authorities could issue ?guidance?.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/08/economist?fsrc=rss
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Cheap Travel Vacation Ideas for College Students
College students don’t have lots of funds to spare and are seeking cheap vacation spots. It might seem hard to find cheap vacation ideas for college students, but with proper planning and research it can be done. There are numerous student discount schemes and travel packages that you just can avail to produce your vacation [...]
Cheap Travel Vacation Ideas for College Students is a post from: TRAVEL
Source: http://congresoplaguicidasbolivia.org/cheap-travel-vacation-ideas-for-college-students
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Some like it Hotwire
HOTWIRE is a hotel-booking website whose users can get room-rate discounts that sometimes exceed 50%. The catch is that they don?t discover the identity of the hotel where they will be staying until the booking has been completed. The hotels meanwhile benefit from filling otherwise empty rooms, albeit at less than full price, without having to advertise the fact that they?re not selling out. The site gives some details about each hotel, such as its general location, its star rating, its rating from Hotwire users, and its amenities, but not enough, in theory, to enable an accurate identification.
The US-based site has been running for ten years, and now has 27,000 hotels in 2,500 locations. A site geared towards British and Irish users has just been launched, on the grounds that British travellers are the savvy sorts (according to focus groups) who are likely to benefit. Hotwire works best, says Fulvia Montresor, a senior director at Hotwire, in markets where travellers know their hotels. ?The Brits know what a four-star hotel is,? she says. ?They know what a good price is.? This is obviously pertinent to the Hotwire experience, as it?s only if you know what a four-star hotel in, say, the ?Mayfair-Soho? area should normally cost that you can work out if the ?hot rate? being offered is worth getting excited about.
The decision any Hotwire user has to make is whether the juiciness of the discounted price offer balances out the uncertainty over the hotel's identity. If it has to be the Ritz or a hotel in the Hilton group, you'll clearly look elsewhere. If you do not need to stay in a particular hotel?because, for example, you just need a bed near an airport?then Hotwire has obvious uses. But Ms Montresor told me that the real sweet spot is the weekender market. People going away for a couple of nights tend to be readier to take a punt on accommodation based on the generic details that Hotwire supplies. If, for example, you want to stay in Paris next weekend, not far from the Louvre, then a perusal of Hotwire?s deals may prove more rewarding than two hours drifting around TripAdvisor (which is, incidentally, part of the same Expedia group).
How useful is Hotwire for business travellers? With its focus on good deals and unknown hotels, it?s not relevant to those whose journeys are arranged by travel-management companies. And there is no tie-in with hotel loyalty programmes, which will discourage some would-be guests. It?s more useful for someone self-employed who books their own travel and wants to save money.
Business travellers wanting to tag some holiday onto the end of a trip might decide that the lure of the deal is sufficient, unless put off by the system's vagaries. In London, for example, the "Chelsea/Knightsbridge/Battersea Park" area encompasses some of the most expensive property in the city, as well as rather less salubrious areas south of the river Thames. A price that represents a great deal in Knightsbridge is not necessarily a great deal by Battersea Park, and you don't know which you'll be getting.
In an era where hotels spend millions on marketing, Hotwire is strangely "anti-brand". The hotels it features become commodities, to be judged by their price and a few general facts. Some chains don't like this and so don't use Hotwire. Others are uncomfortable with the idea of deep discounting: after all, there is nothing to stop newly booked guests from spreading the details of the discounted rates, to the potential detriment of the hotels.
Users must decide whether, backed by the ratings supplied by fellow Hotwire-ites, they back themselves to spot a good deal. If they get it right, the savings can be tremendous. When I met her, Ms Montresor had been staying in a five-star hotel in London that she had booked through Hotwire for �115 a night. It normally sells for over �400.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/08/hotel-booking-online?fsrc=rss
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