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November 27, 2005
Airlines and lost luggage
I just finished reading an interesting article on how to handle lost luggage problems when you're flying. First an interesting stat - the chances of a problem are aout 1 in 200. If you fly often enough those odds are going to catch up with you.
Some of the tips I already new, like putting a change of clothes in your carry on, or being able or describe your luggage. Other tips were news to me: Put ID tags insude your luggage in case the external ones are torn off. And finally the biggest problem:
Pay attention to your bag's destination. Check your luggage check tag to insure it's checked through to the right place. Believe it or not, this is the biggest single miscue when checked luggage doesn't arrive at the proper airport. With more and more travelers checking luggage at curbside, the chances for errors have been compounded.See Fox Carolina for more information.
November 21, 2005
Whale watching in California
Places for whale watching in California:
Northern California (best time for whale watching January through March): Centerville Beach (5 miles west of Ferndale), Guthrie Creek Headlands (12 miles southwest of Ferndale). Mendocino holds a "Whale and Wine Festival," March 4-5, and has whale-watching walks.
South of San Francisco on Highway 1: Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay (boat tours); Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (see migrating whales breaching as they travel along the coastline); Davenport, (whales come close to the shore).
Los Angeles area: San Pedro (yacht trips December through March). Marina del Rey, Channel Islands Harbor (planning a "Celebration of the Whales Festival," March 5).
Orange County: Newport Harbor in Newport Beach (boats leave daily January through late March), Dana Point (daily cruises in winter). The Dana Point "Festival of Whales" is scheduled for March 4-5 and March 11-22.
San Diego: Cabrillo National Monument has an observatory (it's enclosed); McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad (whale-watching flights).
November 18, 2005
Getting through security in American airports
Check in early, because a trip through airport security checkpoints may take a few minutes but sometimes takes 30 minutes or more. The longer waits can be expected at bigger airports like JFK.
To help you get through security faster: Lighters are now prohibited. Older advice includes: Don't wrap gifts, even in checked luggage, because screeners may need to examine them. Lock luggage only with TSA-approved locks, and prepare to remove coats and jackets for X-ray before proceeding through a checkpoint. (Shoe removal is optional, but recommended for footwear with metal or thick soles or heels to avoid additional screening.)
Actually shoe removal is not always optional so if you see everyone in front of you removing their shoes it's a safe bet that you'll have to as well.
November 17, 2005
Medical Value Travel
Certain prties in India want to replace the term medical tourism with the term medical value travel to better position India in the world marketplace. They feel the distance from countries that do medical tourism will highlight that India does more complex procedures including organ transplants.
"We need to position ourselves differently. We are not doing just low-end medical jobs. We have world-class facilities in expert areas such as heart care and even liver transplant. Countries in south-east Asia region which have done good in medical tourism most of the times do simple procedures. We don't want to dilute our medical expertise by the term medical tourism."
November 16, 2005
Opodo.co.uk
Opodo.co.uk has a meaningful travel section with packages ranging from bear monitoring in Ecuador, humanitarian tours of Thailand and Laos, to building classrooms in Tanzania and teaching English in Mongolia. Most offer you an option of one week, two weeks up to several weeks.
A survey for Opodo.co.uk reveals that over half of British travellers are more likely than 12 months ago to undertake meaningful travel, helping those less fortunate than themselves, or protecting the environment.
November 13, 2005
British travelers reconsidering France
Traveling to France has generaly been seen as a pretty safe plan but many people are not so sure these days. The Times Online reposrts that in France tourists need to avoid certain areas and driving after dark.
Tourists bound for France were urged last week to take extra precautions to avoid getting caught up in riots. The Foreign Office said anybody passing through affected areas should be “extremely vigilant”.Emergency powers have been brought into force in several tourist destinations, including Paris, Nice, Lille, Marseilles and Le Havre. The subway system in Lyons was temporarily closed after a firebomb exploded in a station.
The French tourist office in London urged travellers not to panic. “All the places affected have been residential, not tourist areas,” she said.
November 5, 2005
Civil rights?
The head of Civil Rights for the US Department of Homeland Security is urging Muslim air travellers to register with the Federal government before flying to reduce the chances they might be stopped at an airport because their name is on or similar to names on an anti-terrorism watch list.
Daniel Sutherland says that registering will not eliminate the risk of Muslims being stopped for extra security checks, but thinks it will improve the US Department of Homeland Security's relations with Muslims and Arab-Americans.
"We need to listen to their concerns," he said at the seminar on homeland Security sponsored by the Knight Centre for Specialized Journalism.
"We need to build a level of commitment and trust that's unprecedented in our nation's history, not an 'us-versus-them' perception in the community. One way to do that is by having Muslim and Arab-American travellers complete the form on the web page of the transportation security administration, a division of Homeland Security responsible for protecting mass transit systems including airports.”
Personally, I don't see how this is going increase trust.
Indonesia travel warning
Australia has warned its citizens that another attack on Westerners in Indonesia is being planned:
"Any popular tourist area or location known to be frequented by Westerners is a particular target, including resort areas,'' the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned. "The possibility of another attack against Australians cannot be ruled out.''
November 2, 2005
Travel agent to blame for sending British vacationers to Cancun?
How responsible is a travel agent for sending tourists to Cancun while a hurricane watch is in effect?
We may find out since Ros Davies, a solicitor who specialises in personal injury claims, may sue MyTravel after being trapped with her family for four days in a Mexican hotel room with little to eat or drink after Hurricane Wilma struck is considering legal action.
She thinks the travel firm should ahve found her an alternate vacation spot since they had some advance warning about the hurricane. The travel agent says they had no way of knowing exactly what kind of weather would come.
The company says:
"We completely reject the suggestion that we would knowingly fly people into an area that was expected to have a hurricane. There is a big difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning."The Caribbean could not function if everything ground to a halt when there was a hurricane watch. At the time the Davies family flew out, we had no idea a hurricane was going to hit the area where they were staying."
"Our main priority has been to get people out safely. The evacuation exercise has cost us £4m and it is remarkable that no British holidaymakers have died.
"The hotel where the Davieses were staying had sufficient protection for people not to be evacuated.
"Of course we have sympathy with them, but they were a lot better off than many other people - they were, after all, in a five star hotel."
The would be holiday maker says:
"When we arrived at our hotel on the evening of October 18, everything was fine. The day after we heard rumours from other guests that the hurricane was on its way, but when we spoke to the tour rep she told us we were only likely to get the tail-end of it. By the Thursday evening things were pretty bad and after we had gone to our room a note was pushed under our door telling us the hurricane was expected to pass over and that everything would be OK.
"But when the hurricane hit we were stuck in our room with no electricity, running water or food. Fortunately we had some bottled water. The staff delivered bags of food on the Saturday and Sunday - we each got a ham sandwich, a cake and a juice box to last a day.
"Our room was in a building outside the main hotel, and it was considered safe for us to go into the main building on the Monday. When we got there, we were given a paper plate with some cold pasta and melon.
"We left last Thursday and after our flight from Cancun was cancelled three times we were taken to another airport. The flight was going half an hour later, so we had to abandon our luggage and leave only with the clothes we were dressed in.
"They flew us to the Dominican Republic, where we stayed on the tarmac for a couple of hours while the plane was refuelled.
"The holiday cost £3,000 for the three of us and a further £2,200 for my in-laws. I honestly think we should have been offered an alternative holiday before we left Wales."