Vacation in Hawaii? Kauai Vacation Rentals has hotels, condos, and more.
Vacation plan with help for a Hawaii directory: Hawaii Vacation on any island.
Find accommodations for your holiday in Cabo San Lucas Vacation in Mexico.
Travelers: Kauai Condos offers vacation rentals at Kuhio Shores.
Vacation with views: try Hanalei Bay Resort on your Hawaiian vacation.
June 29, 2004
The Cuban travel ban
I know there are lots of countries in the world, but I would persona;;y like to be permitted to vist all of them. I don't appreciate the US government telling me that I can't take a vacation in Cuba.
Understandably, people with relatives in Cuba are even more upset.
Hotel Club
Sorry I haven't been posting much recently. My dog bit my nose and sent me to the ER a few days ago... I'll be posting regularly soon. For now, here are some links to various web sites in the Hotel Club network.
Hotel Amsterdam from www.amsterdamhotels.org
Find great deals on this and other top quality hotels in Amsterdam! www.amsterdamhotels.org - Cheap and Budget Amsterdam Hotels
Grace Hotel from HotelsSydney.com
Find great deals on this and many more top quality hotels in Sydney!
Gran Hotel Luna Granada
Find great deals on this and other top quality hotels in Granada! www.granadahotels.net - Hotels in Granada
Centra Christchurch
Find great deals on this and other top quality hotels in Christchurch! www.christchurchhotels.net - Christchurch Hotels New Zealand
Novotel Brisbane from www.brisbanehotel.net
Find great deals on this and other top quality hotels in Brisbane! www.brisbanehotel.net - Brisbane Hotels Australia
Interlaken Hotels Switzerland
Interlaken Switzerland hotels and accommodation reservation. Extra discounts on all hotels in Interlaken.
Regina Hotel Paris - Find great deals on this and other top quality hotels in Paris! www.hotels-paris-unterkunft.com - Unterkunft Paris
ANA Hotel Tokyo from www.hotels-tokyo-japan.com
Find great deals on this and other top quality hotels in Tokyo! www.hotels-tokyo-japan.com - Tokyo Hotels. Hotel Reservations.
June 22, 2004
Search for cheap travel
mobissimo.com lets you search for airline prices at different booking services.
From the Jun. 28, 2004 issue of TIME magazine:
You can still buy tickets through Orbitz, Travelocity or any other site and get their fares and frequent-flyer miles. Mobissimo just does the research and lets you choose. Some flights shown are from overseas providers and may be listed in foreign languages, but Mobissimo converts everything to U.S. dollars.
I did a search from JFK to ATH and got results from Anyway, US Airways, Opodo, Travel Now, Travelocity, Destina, etc. The results are shown in order from cheapest to most expensive. I clicked on "Deatils/Book" for the cheapest one, and it sent me to the Anyway.com page which seems to be French. Still, I'm pretty sure I could figure it out if I wanted the tickets. Or I could return to the Mobissimo results and choose a slightly more expensive English one.
You could also check Travel - Directory of travel information and resources, discount ticket resources, hotel information
June 21, 2004
The Pacific Islands
My wife and I have been considering a trip to Guam. It's closer to Korea than Hawaii and much much cheaper. However, a student who has been to Guam recently warned me that there was nothing to do. She may be wrong; she may be right, but I do know that many of the pacific islands need tourists to escape chronic poverty.
Air Nauru, which has been on the skids for more than a year, is due to re-launch a low-cost service connecting Australia and Nauru with the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands next month. Richard Branson's budget carrier Pacific Blue will start flights from Australia to Fiji and Vanuatu in September, and has plans to further extend its service to the Cook Islands.
The problem here is that each tiny island has its own national carrier. The budget carriers may mean more tourists, but they also threaten the 20 or so tiny national airlines. Australia is puching countries to stop supporting their national carriers, but no one seems interested...
June 17, 2004
Brazil
So my wife wants to go to Brazil instead of doing a wolf howl canoe trip. I found some interesting info from the Lonely Planet site, and was surprised to learn that Sao Paulo is the world's secong largest city. I also found that Sao Paulo may be kind of a tough plave to visit:
These paulistas are lively and well-informed and, though they complain about the traffic, street violence and pollution, wouldn't dream of living anywhere else.Sáo Paulo can be an intimidating place but, if you know someone to show you around or you like big cities, it offers the excitement and nightlife of one of the world's most dynamic places. Attractions include the baroque Teatro Municipal, Niemeyer's Edifício Copan, the Museu de Arte de Sáo Paulo (MASP) and the 16th-century Patío do Colégio.
My wife and I don't deal too well with stress on vacation so maybe Sao Paulo is not for us...
June 11, 2004
Algonquin Park - moose and wolf howls
One of the things I'd like to do on my next vacation is hear a wolf howl. I've been to Algonquin Park (North of Toronto) before and a company called Northern Edge Algonquin has wolf howl canoe trips for 469.00 or 515.00 (Canadian dollars) depending on whether you book 30 dyas in advance or not. The first one this summer is August 5-8. I was told via e-mail that the trips are vegetarian and the food is so good that many people ask for recipes.
They also have morning tea with moose trips. This is also a guided canoe trip through Algonquin park. Now you don't have to spend all this moeny to enjoy Algonquin Park. There are lots of campgrounds and hotels off of highway 60 (which goes right through the park) and highway 60 is also an excellent place to see Moose believe it or not. If you see a car on the side of the road, stop and check it out. They probably pulled over to see a moose. And last time I was there I heard that in August park rangers take groups out at night for wolf-howls. So while you're looking at 1,000 Canadaian for the guided canoe trip, your probably looking at much much less for a camp site, ranger guided wolf howls, and driving up and down highway 60 to the different park museums and nature trails (keeping an eye out for moose of course).
June 8, 2004
Traveling is bad for the environment
Politicians in the UK are discussing what to do about the impact airplanes have on the environment. The fact is that when you fly you hurt the Earth. Now many times there's no alternative to flying, like when I travel from Seoul to New York.
However, if I'm going to contribute to global warming while flying, I'm going to do a little something to help mother nature. I've compiled a list of web sites where you can click in order to support a charity free. Now these web sites are not actually charities. If you buy something from them they make money. But they attract vistors by helping charities free. 5 minutes a day on these sites and you can save rainforest, feed animals in shelters, feed chimpanzees, fight hunger, etc. Knowing that you help these charities everyday should help you sleep better the next time you fly.
June 5, 2004
Summer music festivals in USA & Canada
So I'm visiting America from mid July to mid August and I'd like to go to a music festival while I'm there. Because they're in the middle of my trip, the last weekend in July or first weekend in August seems best to me. A visit to Festival Finder reveals few options.
The most promising option I've found so far is the Great Woods Music Festival (August 5-8), which seems to be a mixture of blues, rock, and reggae. 4 day passes are a reasonable $48 if you buy in advance. Camping is probably extra (but it's hard to tell from the not so well designed web site). Serviced sites are 20/night, non-serviced sites are 17/night, rustic camping is 5/person/night. I presume all prices are Canadian so with 2 passes and rustic camping for two you're looking at $136 Canadian. That's about what you'd pay for one at the Phily or Falcon Ridge folk fests.
Great Woods Park is near Winnipeg which is kind of far from New York (where I'll be staying), but road trips can be fun when gas is affordable...
June 4, 2004
SARS and travel advisory complaints
It seems that some people are unhappy with the way the WHO handled SARS travel advisories. Apparently one person who did have SARS was missed due to a flood of frivolous cases, suposedly brought on by the travel advisory mistake by the WHO. Personally, I don't see how no travel advisory would have helped contain SARS. I think the WHO had to put out a travel advisory.