Travel plan idea blog

Sunday in Zurich

I'm guessing that some of the people who said Zurich was boring visited on a Sunday. Cafes and restaurants are open but everything else seems to be closed. That's fine with me - I'm perfectly happy not shopping and not spending money. However, my wife isn't content just walking around taking in the sights again (we've already walked through most of the pedstrian areas). I'm starting to think that 7 days in Zurich is a bit much, especially since shops will also be closed Jan. 1, 2008 and at least some are also closed Jan. 2. Tomorrow (shops are open from 10-4 on Dec. 31st) might be our last day of shopping in Zurich...

I hope that the New Year's Eve fireworks are impressive enough to keep my wife happy for a few days. We're in Zurich until Jan. 3rd when we fly to Madrid.

Shopping in Zurich

I will not write much today because I want to save my internet time (10 francs an hour is the cheapest I have found so far) for when I have more to report.

But I do want to talk a little bit about what we did in Zurich today. We shopped. My wife called Zurich a shopper's heaven (wow just found the apostrophe on the keyboards here). There are lots of pedestrian zones with shops all over. As travelfan noted in his comment on my previous entry, some of the window displays are really excellent and some of the shops are really neat.

However, as you might have guessed, there aren't too many bargains here in Zurich. You need to have money or enjoy window shopping to really appreciate Zurich's shoppping. Burberry and Louis Vitton are more expensive here in Zurich than they were in Munich or Salzburg according to my wife who keeps track of these things. We did find some big sales at Ferragamo. It helps to think that you're saving money as you push your credit card closer to its limit...

Of course you have to be careful in Zurich because you could look at a cappucino that costs 6 francs and say it's a bargain since it is cheaper than other places like Starbucks. But anywhere else in the world that is an expensive cappucino. I caught my wife doing this with shoes or boots a few times. 200 francs might seem like a bargain in Zurich after seeing all the way more expensive boots but it's not a bargain where I come from...

Anyway, I still say that visiting Zurich was a good choice. My wife is happy walking around shopping and I'm happy walking around this gorgeous city. Ciao.

From a Zurich restaurant to a Zurich spupermarket

So we left Munich today and are now in Zurich. The castles we saw yesterday were amazing and when I get back from vacation I have pictures to show and some general commentary on tours, the people who take them, and the guides.

But for now I want to talk about Zurich. The Goldenes Schwert hotel is excellent so far. Unless they happen to know this blog they do not know I am anyone but a regular traveler so I was pretty surprised when they told me I would be in the junior suite for my 7 night stay. It is a great room obviously.

By the way, I will not be using contractions in this blog entry until I find the apostrophe on this craazy Swiss keyboard...

So our room has a living room, bedroom, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchenette. The kithchenette turned out to be absolutely huge and that brings me to the title of my blog entry: From a Zurich restaurant to a Zurch supermarket.

We had dinner tonight in a very mediocre Italian restaurant. We had a soup, a salad, and 2 main dishes (not to mention the water you always pay for in Europe). It cost us 90+ Swiss Francs. Obviously doing this 2 times a day for 7 days would get way too expensive - that is why I say the kitchenette was huge for us.

After our expensive but below average meal we went straight to a supermarket we had noticed on the way from Zurich main station to our hotel. We spent 30 Swiss Francs and probably got 5-10 meals worth of ham sandwiches, gnocchi, tortellini, arrabiata sauce, basilico sauce, yogurt, and water (we accidentally bought the kind with bubbles).

We do plan to try a couple os Swiss restaurants that the guy in the hotel recommended, and we might try another Italian place or get some Chinese food (my wife and I make sure to try Chinese food in every country we visit because it is usually different). However, for at least half our meals, probably more, we will be cooking for ourselves.

A few people asked why we chose Zurich - it seems that most people are not real impressed with the city. My wife and I think it is gorgeous and so far I have to say it is worth a visit. I suppose there are plenty of other beautiful cities in Europe and I do not yet know why Zurich would be better than any of them since I have only been here a few hours but we chose it for the New Year (no apostrophe) fireworks.

If you do visit Zurich for more than a few days, I strongly recoomend a kitchenette. Eating out here seems to be very expensive.

Confusion in Munich on Christmas day

Merry Christmas again!

We spent Christmas day in Munich and a few useums had reopened. Unfortunately, the BMW museums wasn't one of them even though the tourist information place outside the Munich train station told us they would be open. So after a short subway ride to Olympic Park and a long walk around in cold during which we got directions from several locals and spole to several other cold, confused tourists (lots os people expected the museum to be open and no one could find the actual entrance) we found out that it was closed. We never did find the entrance - I was pretty surprised there were no signs except for one that said 'BMW museum' in front of an empty parking lot.

Confused and cold, we got back on the subway and headed toward Marienplatz. There we found the toy museum which was a waste of 10 minutes for us. 3 euros each seemed like a fortune considering to the size of this place. I suppose if you really liked teddy bears or toys you could spend 20-30 minutes in there...

Then we went to Stadt Museum which was quite good. Surprisingly for a large museum almost none of the signs had English translations but we enjoyed looking at the musical intstruments and puppets anyway. This museum was free on Christmas day so that made up for the 6 euros we wasted on the toy museum.

In between museums we had more Bavarian food and Munich beer in a beer hall. We're not sure what we'll end up doing for dinner. Last night we had kebab since nearly evervthing was closed. We noticed many places closing at 3:00 today so we may be in for some more kebab or something...

Tomorrow I probably won't get to blog as we'll be at the castle all day...

Merry Christmas!

It's still Christmas Eve here in Munich, but for the locals this is the big holiday. All the museums were closed today so once the Christmas market and stores closed at 2:00 there has been nothing to do but wander around and take in the sights. Well I tried to take in the sights while my wife tried very hard to find a Louis Vitton store. Tonight we won't be eating German food since everything is closed besides a few kebab places.

Tomorrow (Christmas day) some of the museums reopen and the following day we go to Neuschwanstein or 'Fairy Tale Castle' - the one that inspired the castle in Beauty and the Beast. The following day we leave for Zurich but would have time in the morning for shopping if my wife ever finds her Louis Vitton store. I have mixed feelings about finding this store...

In Search of Santa Claus…and somewhere warm to spend Christmas

It’s that time of the year again…you have probably come across Santa in your local mall; you may even have paid for your children to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas (Hopefully, nothing too expensive)

But of course, you should head for Lapland, the remote region in the north of Finland, close to the Russian border, if you really want to see an authentic Santa. Since 1985, Santa has had his own village here and can be found at home every day of the year - with the exception of Christmas Eve. (If you want to see where Santa is on Christmas Eve, you can track his progress)

In addition to the Great Man himself, Santa’s Village also boasts an exhibition on Christmas traditions around the world, as well as the chance to stand on the nearby Arctic Circle. The Arctic Circle is also a great place to experience the northern lights during the winter, or the midnight sun during the summer.

Tours are popular from the UK to Santa’s Village – apparently it’s possible to fly there, visit Santa and fly back home, all in the same day. There’s even an international airport at Rovaniemi, a couple of miles from the village, from which you can fly even further north to Murmansk, the largest city north of the Arctic Circle.

However, if you want to spend the holidays somewhere a little bit warmer, you could always head to the aptly named Christmas Island. This tropical island is a territory of Australia and is a tiny speck in the Indian Ocean – it’s actually closer to Java than Australia. It isn’t particularly easy to get to – you have to fly from Perth or Singapore although once you get there, there’s quite a lot to see and do including snorkeling, bird watching, hiking and shopping.

Anyway, happy holidays to all the readers of this blog!

Guest entry by Mancunian

Salzburg day trip and a bit more from Munich

This entry may not be too detailed since I seem to be in the worst pc room ever. I can't find the relatively nice one I was in 2 nights ago and this one has people speaking loudly with the employees and someone singing into a mic to someone almost as unfortunate as me...

Salzburg is beautiful. Apparently it is popular for movie tourism thanks to The Sound of Music (we saw the 'do re mi' steps and the cemetery that inspired the Hollywood set in the movie) and Motzart. We didn't go into either of the 2 Motzart museums or buy any Motzart chocolate.

We did eat in the oldest restaurant in Europe while we were there, Stiftskeller St. Peter. Apparently they started serving food in 803 so they have had enough time to get it right. The food was excellent and at about 15 euros a meal not unreasonable. The dessert wasn't as good and seemed overpriced but then again, the desert we really wanted, Salzburger Nockerln, took 25 minutes to prepare and we hadn't ordered in advance...

We also saw the the inside of St Peter's plus the Salzburg Christmas market and my wife almost spent way too much on a Louis Vitton handbag.

As for Munich, I did visit Nuremberg Palace and Neue Pinakothek today. The palace is pretty neat inside with some fancy clocks and chandeliers. The Neue Pinakothek gave us a nice surprise when we found that admission is only 1 euro on Sundays instead of the usual 5.50. We enjoyed our hour there looking at paintings from the 1800's. I'm no art afficionado but the museum is fairly small so an hour might be what it takes a normal person to walk through. Of course I saved time by walking by every portrait in the place - I really don't like portraits. There were a few Van Gogh's and some excellent works by people I've never heard of.

And I finally tried Ghluwein in the Munich Christmas market. But if this entry seemed poorly organized it probbaly had more to do with this PC room than the alcohol. Ghluwein comes in .2 liter mugs which is enough to warm you up but not get you drunk.

As usual, please excuse any typos - German spellcheck isn't helping much...

Hello from Munich (Air France, Germania, beer halls)

Well I knew I'd be cold in Munich and I am. It's probably similar or only a little colder than New York or Seoul but since I was outside pretty much all day I really feel it. I almost spent 100 euros on boots with hopefully fake fur lining inside (on sale from 200) but I don't think I'll get to use them much and don't really want to carry them around...

By the way, typing on a German keyboard is an entirely different experience - several keys are different but the biggest difference is the y key down in the bottom left. It's a QWERTZ keyboard instead of QWERTY... Anyway, please excuse any typos... And I can't seem to link for some reason but I'll do my best with these unfamiliar resources.

So far I can tell you a few interesting things:

Air France is fine. I'd put the service somewhere between the Asian airlines like Korean Air, Asiana, JAL, etc. and the American ones like Northwest and Spirit. This means that while the flight attendants were never rude or mean as American ones sometimes are, they were't nearly as attentive as Asian flight attendants. It was pretty clear that they were as interested in talking to each other as they were in serving the passengers. Still much better than I've seen on many Northwest or American Airlines flights though.

I did hear one interesting story from the interpreter on board (since the flight had lots of Koreans on board but none of the French flight attendants spoke Korean they had a Korean - French translator who happened to be seated right next to us). She said that lots of Korean passengers complained about the service and the food. The service complaint will probably remain until they get a taste of American service; as long as they are execting Korean Air service they will be disappointed with any western airline. However Air France did solve the food complaints by serving kimchi with every meal.

Hotel Germania in Munich is fine. I can't remember what I had to pay so I won't talk about value but the hotel is in a great location - we haven't used any public transportation yet because everything is within walking distance. The rooms are small and old but it's not bad. The beds are too soft but most people complain about the hard beds I prefer. The room wasn't warm enough for my wife (I thought it was good enough) but they gave us some extra blankets and we're OK now. The taxi fare from Munich airport to the hotel is about 60 euros.

Munich has some beatiful architecture. It#s not spread out all over the city like in Rome but the New City Hall in Marienplatz was almost worth the trip all by itself. We've also seen some great churches, a former royal residence (I'm not sure why they don#t call it a palace) and other neat old buildings scattered around.

Munich's Christmas market is great. It's not real big but there are some stalls selling different kinds of food (we had some bread covered in salty cheese topped with bacon) and ghluwine. I haven't tried it yet because it smells kind of sweet and I haven't been in the mood for a warm, sweet, alcoholic beverage in the past couple of days. We also had some bratwurst from one of these vendors with Heinz mustard and ketchup. Others sell fruit, nuts, Santa things (I'm told that in southern Germany no one cares about the Santa myth so this is strictly for tourists from the north and from other countries), nativity sets, and other little craft-type things.

Munich beerhouses are great for dinner. They serve Bavarian food. It comes fast, portions are large, and prices are reasonable. The two I've tried so far had English menus available upon request. I also tried some local beer (apparently lots of breweries are or used to be run by monks). I don't like beer but this seemed like good beer to me. I kind of liked it.

Well that's about it for now. Tomorrow we take a day trip to Salzburg - I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I get a chance.

I hope I don't have any trouble on vacation; I fly out tomorrow for Munich on Air France. But this article reminds us that trouble when you travel should be expected at least some of the time.

Although I must say that when they talk about flight attendants they aren't talking about the ones on JAL or Korean Air or Asiana or probably the other Asian airlines. And I read the article too late to dress like I belong in first class:

. VISUALIZE FIRST CLASS. Most of us are stuck in economy class, but not all of us stay there. How do people snag upgrades? Well, one of the secrets of frequent travelers is to look the part. "Wear a sport jacket," says Jason Hupe, a project manager from Long Beach, N.Y. "If they are doing upgrades, then you have a better chance of getting one." This is true. I've spoken with several airline folks who have admitted they'll pick someone who looks like he belongs in the forward cabin.

The problem is that if I don't get the upgrade my jacket might not survive the flight in economy class - the cramped spaces help me spill food...

Packing for Europe

Well I finished my grades for the semester and am busy answering emails from students:

"Why did I get an A instead of an A+ and what is the requirement for an A+?"

"I know I don't deserve an A+ but can I have one anyway so I can get a scholarship, be an exchange student, get a better job, etc.?"

But soon it will all be finished (until next semester) and I'll be on a plane to Munich! I'm not used to the tough rules (20 kg per person) when it comes to traveling to Europe. When I fly between North America and Asia I think they give each person 2 check-in bags of no more than 32 kg each so I'm not used to packing so light. I think I'm only bringing two pairs of pants and one of them I'll be wearing on the plane...

One thing we're doing to save space is not bringing any guidebooks. We usually do travel with Lonely Planet, Let's Go, or Rough Guides but we're both so terrible with directions we often have trouble finding the restaurant recommendations anyway. And when it comes to museums and such who really needs a guidebook?

Tourism of Doom

Tourism of Doom is a phrase I just came across in this article. I've compiled a list of 'doom destinations' mentioned:

Glaciers of Patagonia (melting)
Coral of the Great Barrier Reef (threatened)
atolls of the Maldives (eroding)
Kilimanjaro (see the sunrise on the highest peak in Africa before the ice cap melts)
Galápagos Islands (getting worse)
a stay at a remote lodge in the Amazon (might be a cattle ranch soon)
Cruises of Antarctica (melting glaciers and sinking ships)

Are there any other good tourism of doom destinations you know of?

Deals for Canada, Italy, more

The Washington Post has collected some good deals. Many of them are ones I'm very interested in and have blogged about before. There's a cooking tour in Italy, the Rocky Mountaineer in Canada, a couple of cruises, airfare specials, and more.

You don't have to travel far when you take a vacation day

We've seen numerous articles about how Americans don't use their vacation days despite the fact that many of us get far too few (as an educator I do get good vacation time) and I've even blogged about it before because it's important.

Anyway, for those of you with vacation days you haven't used, this article offers what I think is a clever idea. Go shopping. Who says you can only take vacation days when you're going to Europe or Hawaii?

Where can you vacation without losing your ethics?

This article asks whether its ethical to visit countries where people are oppressed by dictatorships or whathaveyou. I recently told my wife that I wouldn't visit North Korea with her. I don't really feel like paying Kim Jong Il to see the tiny part of the country tourists are allowed to see. I probably won't be going to Burma (Myanmar) but I did consider going to Tibet.

The article also mentions Iran and the Maldives. I have a colleague from Iran and he made his home country, especially the city of Tehran, sound pretty appealing. I'm not sure why the Maldives are mentioned in the same sentence as North Korea. Cuba also gets a mention - I'd go there if it weren't illegal for US citizens.

Which countries would you visit / not visit?

How do you book flights for Europe online?

So I need to get from Zurich to Madrid and I guess the train ride would be long so I figured I'd just find one of those great inexpensive European flights I always hear about. A French woman told me to check out Kelkoo.com and Opodo.com but I didn't like either of those sites. I had to choose the UK versions to get English so the prices were in British pounds and pretty expensive.

So I went to Kayak.com where I had some success. I found a Spanair flight for $96 on Orbitz but I seem to remember some people having bad experiences with them so I thought I'd pay a little more and go to the Spanair.com site. As I was booking the flight the website told me there was an error...

That was a 1 stop flight anyway so we figured we'd try Airberlin which is nonstop. Kayak sent me to wegolo.com for that flight. I've never heard of them and while Kayak said it was a 1 way for $215 a person the actual site said it was not direct and $147/person.

So basically I've been confused everywhere I looked. Are there any easy sites you know of for booking flights around Europe?

Celebrate National Winter Trails on Saturday January 12, 2008

I thought the following press release might interest a few people who like being outside in the winter snow...

WHAT: The 13th annual Winter Trails® event offers children and adults new to snow sports the chance to try snowshoeing and/ or cross-country skiing free at more than 100 locations in 25 states and four Canadian provinces. Through these easy-to-learn activities, participants can have fun and discover the health and fitness benefits of snow sports. Most Winter Trails venues are located at Nordic Centers while others are on National Forest and Park Service land and at snow resorts. Equipment is provided free by venue or product suppliers. Many venues offer educational programs, lessons, clinics and guided tours.

WHO: Winter Trails is presented through a partnership between SnowSports Industries America, the not-for-profit member-owned trade association representing snow and winter sports companies, American Hiking Society, a recreation –based conservation organization that promotes and protects foot trails and the hiking experience, and Cross Country Ski Areas Association, a national organization representing Nordic Centers across North America.

WHERE: More than 100 venues across North America. Visit www.wintertrails.org for updates on locations and event details.

WHEN: National Event on Saturday, January 12, 2008; Final Event at Estes Park, CO on Saturday, February, 16, 2008. Visit www.wintertrails.org for hours.

Is TSA lucky or good?

I'm afraid I didn't have much time to check the new today - I was busy trying to save an expensive coat that my wife gave me last year. Somehow I managed to get chocolate protein shake all over it. I scrubbed for a while but I think I just made it worse. Maybe the dry cleaner will bail me out. Otherwise I could be in trouble for a long time...

The one thing I do have for you is a critical piece on TSA. The main argument is that flying isn't particularly safe because TSA is not very good at stopping people from getting weapons on planes:

Unless you’ve been living for the last few years in a cave that is much more remote and much less technologically sophisticated than Osama bin Laden’s, you know that government investigation after government investigation has shown that it is just as easy today to sneak deadly weapons past screeners as it was on 9/11. Just a few weeks ago the T.S.A. was defending itself against the latest such report - one from the Government Accountability Office - finding screeners at 19 airports around the country to be inept. (The G.A.O. added that it would likely have found similarly dismal results at other airports.)

Lonely Planet celebrates its 35th Anniversary

One of the most respected names in travel publishing celebrated its 35th anniversary earlier this year – Lonely Planet, which also claims to be the largest independently owned travel guidebook publisher in the world.

The company was founded by Tony Wheeler, who also wrote the company’s first book entitled Asia on the Cheap. Today, the company publishes guidebooks to just about everywhere in the world, including such exotic and far away places as Madagascar, Bhutan, Greenland, Yemen and the Pitcairn Islands. They also publish a book on self-proclaimed “micro-nations” such as Sealand.

Another well known publisher of guide books celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007 – a lot has changed since Frommer’s published Europe on $5 a Day – not least the fact that many of the places considered “exotic” back then are now within easy reach of many more people. And $5 a day may get you a cup of coffee in Europe today, but not much else!

Although there seems to be a shortage of good travel shows on American TV there is no shortage of travel guide books. A quick look in the travel section of my local Barnes and Noble reveals an almost overwhelming choice of titles.

If you are planning a trip to popular destinations such as Disney World, New York, Paris or London, there are at least 20 books on each of these places to choose from, including books that specialize in shopping, cheap accommodation, traveling with kids, gay travel, or student travel. There’s even a guidebook to the Paris cemeteries. Perhaps a guidebook to the guidebooks would be a good idea!

If you really enjoy choosing a travel guidebook, head to Stanford’s Map and Travel bookshop in London, which claims to be the world’s largest such store and has been around for over 150 years. You can also order from Stanford’s on line – but it isn’t quite the same as spending several happy hours browsing in the store and poring over maps of far away places.

Guest entry by Mancunian

Punishing article about YTB and other "card mills"

This article levels some heavy duty criticism at YTB and other "card mills" or travel related MLMs.

First they criticize the YTB line encouraging people to sign up and get their little slice of the 7 trillion dollar travel industry. When asked where the $7 trillion number came from, J. Kim Sorensen (president and CEO of YTB Travel Network) said it may have come from Forrester, a Cambridge, Mass-based travel research company. Forrester says they never did.

So is this a case of false advertising? Why doesn't YTB's president know where that number comes from? Did he make it up?

The next critical comment comes in the form of statistics:

In 2006, YTB made 72 percent of its revenue from the sale of online travel stores and monthly fees and 15 percent from travel commissions. Another 11 percent comes from the sale of training programs and marketing materials and the rest (less than 2 percent) comes from franchise fees and "other."

Now the article implies that this means most people who try YTB will lose money by quoting something from the FTC on MLMs in general inevitably collapsing. I've said it before and will say it again: most MLMs don't require a big investment. When my wife started her NuSkin business I think we paid nothing to sign up, and then around $250 + $15/month or something for a website (which was optional). So we weren't really investing our life savings.

Now YTB charges $500 + $50/month so that's expensive for an MLM. And the criticism is valid. With NuSkin, you can make more money by recruiting people into the business but you can make a living just selling the products. I really wish I knew what percentage of NuSkin's profit came from product sales because YTB's 15% from travel sales seems extremely low.

The third criticism refers to travel perks. YTB advertises that their agents are eligible for them though in truth most don't deserve any. One person who quit YTB said that in his experience people laughed at him when he showed his YTB card and asked for a travel agent rate. That's probably because of my own criticism that anyone can join so you get a lot of bad people.

The fourth criticism explains why most YTB agents don't deserve discounted travel: the average YTB agent makes $82/year in travel commissions. Now when you're paying $500 + $600/year, that $82 is pretty crappy.

The fifth criticism is that 97% of YTB agents last less than one year. Ouch. 97% of them wasted their $500 sign up fee. I don't remember exactly, but I think with Nuskin the number is about 85%. Of course with no $500 sign up fee it hurts a bit less...

The sixth criticism is that it takes YTB forever to issue a refund. The article doesn't explain what kind of refund the person who quit was eligible for. My guess is that the $500 sign up fee was lost but that if you pay the $50/month fees in advance you should be able to get them back. You just might have to wait a year and file a BBB complain to get the refund...

All in all it's a pretty damning article.

Upcoming review: Ames Walker Microfiber Travel Socks

I recently received this information and an offer for a sample pair of socks from AmesWalker.com. The review will probbaly come after my vacation, since I doubt I'll get the socks in time to try them out this time around. However I thought the information in the email might be useful:

Millions of people will be traveling to visit friends/loved ones for the holidays. While overbooked flights and bumper to bumper traffic are always a concern, not enough attention is given to the health risks associated with extended travel. Travelers use compression travel socks while traveling to help prevent blood clots (deep-vein thrombosis) – a potential killer. Even healthy people can get blood clots in their legs during long flights and long car rides. To help minimize the risk, AmesWalker.com offers Microfiber Travel Socks, which offer the following benefits:

· Help promote venous blood flow in the legs
· Help prevent leg swelling and discomfort
· Reduce the chance of blood clot formation in a DVT
· Improve circulation in legs

Gather for the holidays in your home or in a resort?

This article is obviously aimed at rich people:

She also advises clients to be open to unusual spots. Christmas in Provence or New Year’s in Seville can provide unexpected pleasures — a Gratsos client who took a villa in Spain had a memorable Christmas complete with flamenco dancing — and the properties can cost 25 percent less than they would at high season, she says. That means homes in Provence may run about $20,000 a week at Christmas, down from $25,000 in the summer.

But the question might be for everyone who can afford to travel for the holidays - there's no law that says you have to get a $20,000/week house. $2,000 a week might get you a nice house somewhere and if a few families are splitting the costs things might work out reasonably.

So I ask you: Have you tried or at least considered doing the holidays in a vacation spot instead of in someone's home?

I know we always do Christmas at my parents' house. This year my wife and I will be in Munich and we invited everyone to join us there. No takers though.

Has anyone flown WestJet?

Calgary-based WestJet has seen its business expand and its stock go up nicely. Apparently while they expand into new routes they are still able to keep plance relatively full. Does anyone know if that's due to service, price, or both?

Interview with travel writer Candy Harrington

Here’s an interview with a travel writer – most of her work is on accessible vacations (vacations for people with disabilities).

Questions focus more on the writing side of things. Some samples include:

Do you recommend other writers find a niche or specialty? What have been the rewards for you?
How do you approach the work of writing?

Can you tell us how you found representation for your books? Did you pitch it to an agent, or query publishers who would most likely publish this type of book? Any rejections? Did you self-publish?

In the last year or so have you seen any changes in the way publishers publish and/or distribute books? Are there any emerging trends developing?

How have you used the Internet to boost your writing career?

Different types of vacations: luxury in Bhutan, Moscow

I thought this article had a funny line: "Beautiful and unspoiled locales aren't just for backpackers anymore."

The article is about travel spots like Bhutan, which has "succeeded in marketing itself as an exclusive destination for highly selective travelers." Rich people get to go some place their friends probably haven't been and get to stay in expensive hotels.

According to the article Moscow isn't a big draw for the wealthy yet. However it may be soon:

Moscow has regular flight service to and from the U.S. but has attracted few discriminating Western tourists. That may change this summer, when the Ritz-Carlton opens its first Russian property in Moscow as part of a corporate strategy to develop hotels in cities with growing economies. The hotel, constructed on the site of an 18th-century tavern, cost $350 million to build, and the plan is for it to become a culinary haven: Its restaurant has a three-star Michelin chef, Heinz Winkler, and boasts specials like a $700-per-person Tsar's Breakfast that includes champagne, Kobe beef steak, foie gras, Beluga caviar, and a truffle omelet. After some grand-opening specials, standard nightly room rates will start at $1,000.

Why not fly to Moscow for what might be the world's most expensive breakfast?

Eurostar: London to Paris in just over 2 hours!

Eurostar trains that go through the Channel Tunnel are now even faster, and it was recently announced that the journey from London to Paris has been reduced to a little over two hours. I took the train from Paris to London through the Channel Tunnel about ten years ago, and the journey took around three hours. I thought that was amazingly fast - much faster than flying, if you take into account check in time and traveling to and from the airport, etc.

Brussels is even closer by rail from the UK – the journey takes just under 2 hours. Trains on the Paris/Brussels routes reach speeds of around 186 mph, although in April, a train went from Paris to London in just over two hours, at a record-breaking speed of up to 200 mph.

And Eurostar recently moved their London base from Waterloo to St. Pancras station, meaning that travelers can now make connections throughout England, Wales and Scotland. St. Pancras describes itself as the most romantic place to meet, drink and dine in London, which seems a bit unlikely, although the station does boast Europe’s longest champagne bar.

The cost of converting the rather run-down station into a major European travel hub was around 1600 million dollars and the station was ceremoniously opened by the Queen in November 2007. (The Queen recently celebrated her 60th wedding anniversary – perhaps she enjoyed a glass of champagne at the bar)

St Pancras is actually a beautiful Gothic style building, which was alarmingly close to being demolished, for many years. It was originally designed to be a luxurious hotel and will once again become a hotel some time in 2008. The building’s interior has featured in movies such as “From Hell” and “Batman Begins” as well as a Spice Girls rock video. This site has some great photos of the interior and the architectural detail.

The Eurostar isn’t the fastest train in the world – that honor goes to the Maglev train that runs between Shanghai airport and downtown and reaches an amazing 267 mph. There are also plans to develop high speed trains in many other countries – Russia, South Africa and Argentina.

And the slowest train in the world? That title seems to belong to the famous Glacier Express train in Switzerland, which averages a leisurely 22 mph – although the scenery is so spectacular, that nobody minds.

Guest entry by Mancunian

Who can you trust regarding the Explorer in Antarctica?

The other day I linked to an article about a British woman who said evacuating the sinking Explorer was pretty easy, no hassle, no panic, etc.

Apparently this woman found the experience a little more frightening:

"I literally was shaking from the inside out," she recalled. "There is no word in the English language to describe the terror. You're just thinking only about your family. I was sending e-mails out to everyone, a good-bye letter. It never occurred to me I'd make it out of this."

Of course since she took videos of the event and now has a publicist and an agent it is pretty clear she wants to make some money out of her story so you have to wonder if she isn't embellishing it some...

But I didn't entirely believe the British passenger either:

Ms Plant said the passengers had been "nervous" but that none gave any sign of fear.

"There was no panic at all."

Now in the BBC article they say that everyone had protective suits to help keep them warm. But this American woman with the agent and publicist tells it differently:

"When I was actually being rescued, my boots had fallen off in the ocean. I had nothing," she recalled. "You have your camera and the clothes on your back."

Now obviously I don't have all the information so right now I'm not believeing anyone but something doesn't make sense here. Maybe they got the orange suits after being rescued, maybe only some passengers got the suits, maybe the real story is somewhere in between the two I've linked to so far...

Bulgarian ski vacation experience + ski travel deals

Matt Gross has many complaints about Bansko in Bulgaria but ends up calling them petty thanks to one good day of snowboarding. The two main complaints, while conflicting, didn't seem petty to me though.

First was what the author called "anarchy" and second was that many lifts remain closed for no good reason. I say they are somewhat conflicting since someone decided not to run the lifts to the better snow so someone was in charge. However, that didn't seem to help much on the ground where the best way to get on the lift was to outmuscle the rest of the skiers.

The author decided to forgive Bansko when the lifts were all opened at the end of his vacation. Besides that one day of good snow and trails, he notes that skiing in Bansko is affordable - $60 to $100 a day should be easy according to the author (including lift tickets, steak, and beer).

Speaking of cheap skiing, here's an article that starts off with some "overlooked values" but also goes for some more expensive heli-skiing. This one focuses on US destinations (the heli-skiing is in Canada).

Qantas in the news

Qantas is in trouble for price fixing just like British Airways and Korean Air Lines had been in August. Qantas cooperated and received a much lesser fine.

Qantas is also in trouble for threatening travel agents.

But at least they have a big new plane to show off.

Another reason to be careful of local laws when you travel

A Britsh woman in Sudan was recently arrested for allowing her students to name a teddy bear. Naming the bear Muhammed was seen as an insult to Islam in Sudan (the verdict and penalty have been condemned by Muslim groups in London).

I guess she got off easy with only 15 days in prison and not the 40 lashes...

And if you want to leave some inflammatory comment, do it on the article I'm linking to. I will delete all comments that are not directly related to knowing local laws when you travel. Now if you have heard of a similar story or know someone who had a close call thanks to not knowing the local laws then your comment is welcome.

Sinking ships and vacation proposal

A few days ago I wrote about The Explorer in Antarctica. Well, here's an article about the vacation experience from one of the passengers. Certainly not your typical vacation experience, but it seems to have been a happy one for this passenger.

And for all you romantics out there "there was some unexpected good news as a Danish couple got engaged while in the lifeboat." I guess that will be a good story when people ask about the proposal. Who wouldn't be impressed to hear about a proposal in a lifeboat in Antarctica?

Does anyone here have a vacation proposal story to share?

Medical tourism creating difficulties in Thailand - is medical tourism responsible tourism or exploitation?

I wrote a while back (almost 3 years ago actually) I wrote about how a friend of mine ended up with a nasty infection after visiting a dirty hospital in rural Thailand. Her arm is permanently disfigured as a result so it must have been serious.

Several people replied that healthcare in Thailand is actually excellent and my friend's experience must have been the exception rather than the norm. It seems that we need to differentiate between private hospitals and public ones in Thailand. Since my friend was nowhere near a city I'm guessing she ended up in a public hospital, probably the only one anywhere nearby.

This article explains that public hospitals don't have enough doctors because private hospitals near expensive hotels pay much better than public hospitals. In one day at a private hospital a doctor might make three times more than she would working 5 days in a public hospital.

The result is that while some hospitals in Thailand provide excellent care, public hospitals even in major cities like Bangkok (and you can imagine it would be even worse the further you get from a city especially since people are willing to travel hours to get tot he public hospital in Bangkok) are a bit more trying:

The outpatient waiting room looks a bit like Grand Central Station. On a very hot day. With no air conditioning.

Hundreds of patients are squeezed onto old wooden benches. Many more are slumped in wheelchairs or lying on gurneys.

Malai says she has come in from the district of Phetchaburi because she feels sick and her legs hurt. She also has hepatitis. She left her home at 3 a.m. to travel three hours to the hospital.

It reminds me of this story from a while back - I linked to one article about Canadians getting transplants in India from poor people willing to sell their organs. It seems that medical tourism is great for the tourists but there's definitely some controversy over how good it is for the locals.

What do you think? Is medical tourism responsible tourism or exploitation?

And no, if I needed a kidney or whatever, I wouldn't really care about the answer to my question.