Travel plan idea blog

How safe is Northern Mexico?

The US recently issued a travel warning:

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday that 27 U.S. citizens had been kidnapped in Mexico in recent months. Two were killed, 11 remain missing and 14 were released, he said.

The Mexican goverment clealry wants US tourism and is not happy about the warning:

Creel said the warning ignored the deployment of hundreds of federal troops and agents to the region last week. He suggested the United States was not doing its job in fighting the drug war.

England's Telegraph notes that Americans are not being asked to avoid the area entirely, and stresses that some in the Mexican goverment are very angry.

Skiing in Korea - Vivaldi Park in Hongcheon

Hongcheon is near the East coast of Korea about 90 kilometers from Seoul. Vivaldi Park is about 20 kilometers from Hongcheon but they say it's in Hongcheon anyway.

Before I even got there, my patience was tested as it took 20-30 minutes to go the last 2 kilometers thanks to traffic. As you might imagaine, parking was difficult too, and scary since all the people who don't care much about their skis (and even less about my new car) looked likely to leave a scratch or two.

Inside, you're pretty much stuck eating whatever they have (which is nothing for vegetarians) and that means overpaying for too small portions. The PC room is 3,000/hour three times or at least twice what you'd pay elsewhere.

A 2 room condo will run you 120,000/night while a nicer one in Pusan on Haeundae Beach was quite a bit less. Actaully I was in Pusan a couple of days ago and the junior suite in the Riviera Hotel was 120,000 night and quite a bit nicer even if the carpets were kind of worn.

I've enver been to any other ski area so I hesitate to comment on the quality of the skiing (not to mention I haven't tried it yet), but the slopes look pretty boring. Just a couple of snowy hills really.

Travel Ban to Iraq pays off for China

China was able to tell hostage takers in Iraq that it already bans travel to Iraq. According to the Turkish Press this has led to the freeing of the hostages.

Crazy about the Superbowl

Planning to travel to the Superbowl?

Wilder's company can get you there, place you in a hotel and get you a ticket - but it's not cheap. Sleeping four to a room will cost about $3,900 apiece; single rooms will run around $5,400 for a three-night stay.

Doing it on your own might be cheaper but could end in disaster. Last year people payed as much as $2,500.00 for fake tickets. Who knew you couldn't trust scalpers on the street?

Also last year, other fans flew to Texas but couldn't find any ticket for under $1,000.00.

If it were my thousand dollars I'd rather take a little trip to Europe; Tickets from JFK to major cities like Rome, Paris and London are often quite reasonable. If we were talking 5,400 (the single room price I quoted) or in that area, I think my wife and I managed 9 weeks in Italy for about that much each.

The moral is that if you have to watch the superbowl, watch it on TV. Unless you're one of those people who has too much money, or the kind of person who hates traveling to Europe.

JFK security (TSA)

The TSA seems to go out of its way to hire annoying security people. JFK has the rudest security of any airport I have ever been to; these people really seem to hate their jobs.

And even though there was no one behind us they were trying to rush us. First some guy told me (not asked me) to take out my laptop. He said it a few times before I had gotten mine out.

Then he told me (getting even more rude) to take off my sweater. I put it in a box, but he took it out of the box and put it in the same box as my laptop. Why? And he was certainly not trying to keep it from wrinkling or anything.

Then they have me wait in some capsule that blasts air on me. Then I can go pick up my stuff. When the ladies there were not too busy talking about their Friday plans they rudely rushed me to pick my stuff up faster.

I do not complain about security people keeping me safe and I suppose I get spoiled by polite security in Korea and Japan, but seriously they were so busy talking to each other that I wonder how effective they really are.

JAL business class - checking in

As usual, Japan Airlines is only OK on the ground in America. When checking in at JFK for our flight leaving at 9:00, we arrived at 6:15 and were told we could not check in until 6:30.

We actually checked in at 6:40 because they were a little late. Now we are in the Sakura JAL lounge where the old tiny IBM thinkpads are driving us crazy. The SK and KTF telecom lounges in Incheon are much nicer...

Oh and when we checked in they told us our flight would leave late because we do not even board until 8:40.

New Year's in Boston

So we had a very nice New Year's. Fist Night gave us the opportunity to go to a bunch of different concerts. None were very remarkable but they were all fine. We also had dinner at a french cambodian restaurant named Elephant Walk. They had some good vegetarian/vegan options (the tofu citrnoelle was fine). Entrees were around 15.00 and drinks were about 8.00 each (the cocoanutmudslide was excellent).

All in all New Year's in Boston with First Night is a very good option.

Orbitz special

So Orbitz is running a new special:

The Blackberry 6710 is a wireless device with lots of neat features for traveleers: Email, phone, SMS, browser and organizer applications in a single wireless handheld

Java™ development platform based on open standards

Full-featured connected organizer with PC synchronization

International roaming support

World band handheld, operates on 900/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS wireless networks, allowing for international roaming between in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific

But even if you get the device for free, you still have to pay for service...