This shot from flickr user Theodore Scott was taken in beautiful Rhossili, Wales, a town which Wikipedia tells me derives its name from the Welsh word for moorland, “rhos.” Use that fact tonight to woo women and impress your friends.
Got a photo you want considered for Photo of the Day? Submit your best shots here.
One of the world’s great mysteries is when exactly the best time is to buy airplane tickets. You want to wait just long enough so that the price hits its lowest point — but you can’t wait too long, or else it’ll skyrocket again. Is it four weeks out? Four months?
You can never know. Even with the help of tools like Farecast, Kayak and Farecompare, there is always the risk that two days after you purchase your family trip to Europe, the price of your itinerary is going to plummet.
What most people don’t know, however, is that many tickets can be repriced. In the same way that you can take a television back to Best Buy if you find out it went on sale the day after and get the difference, you can also exchange tickets weeks after you book them.
Airlines, of course, are a little more criminal stingy about the process. Almost all of them charge a rebooking fee that can vary between $50 – $150 dollars. But on a high priced ticket, that can be a fraction of a price fluctuation.
The key is to keep an eye on your ticket price, even after you purchase it. If you see your exact same itinerary drop significantly in cost, call the airline up and ask to refare or rebook the ticket. They’ll dig around to see if it’s worth your time after levying the rebook fee and if you’re lucky, they’ll issue a voucher for the difference in price.
Just last week, for example, I noticed that a huge fare sale to Salt Lake City affected the ticket price for a future itinerary that I have into Reno. Calling up Delta Airlines, I got them to issue me a $54 e-cert for use in future travel. Sure, it’s not cash in hand, but I can definitely use the voucher.
What this stragety is particularly good for is repricing business travel. Many travel agents will blindly book a ticket on a preferred airline at high cost. When you, the passenger, check back in and reprice the ticket later, however, the reward is yours.
CNN Travel is reporting that, within three years, there may be a great new sleeping pill called tasimelteon that reduces the effects of grogginess and jet lag. I had several reactions to this rather lackluster news:
Hasn’t anyone heard of Melatonin?
The article suggests that this new drug mimics melatonin, an over-the-counter herbal remedy that many people already use to help them sleep at night. It seems awfully useless to produce a drug with the same effects.What’s wrong with Tylenol PM?
I’ve been desperate for sleep on many occasions, and if all of the natural solutions don’t work, Tylenol PM does the trick. There are plenty of sleep-enhancing medicines that already exist that will “help you get your Z’s.”
Why do we continue to promote drug use and not take the proper steps to sleep properly?
At the very end of the CNN article is a great list of natural remedies for jet lag. I feel this gets closer to the heart of the matter: We live in a medicated world – a world where drugs are often too easy to come by. Unless the cure for cancer is a drug or you’re fighting a serious illness, I strongly believe fighting jet lag naturally will be the healthiest thing you can do for yourself.
And finally, if this sleeping drug ends up becoming a household name (Honey, can you pass the tasimelteon), then couldn’t they have come up with an easier name to pronounce?
His recipe? Put two packets of oatmeal, honey and jam packets into the carafe, then put a tea bag in the filter. Run water through and you have a magic oatmeal concoction in no time!
Now, I’m not a big breakfast person nor a large fan of elaborate schemes to save $3, but this plan is too ingenious to ignore. I’m trying it on the road next week.
[via wikihow]
When I’m waiting for a flight, I like to dive into a book or pop open my laptop and try to forget my surroundings. Other travelers tend to annoy me, and I have a better time in transit if I can just ignore everyone else. So I’ll be avoiding Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston from now on.
The Texas airport has recently set up karaoke booths for travelers inside the terminals. Airport assistant manager Caroline Schneider says that they hope singing will help travelers relieve some stress and anxiety. The singers will be awarded small prizes.
They get points for creativity, but I just don’t think karaoke belongs in an airport. Travelers who are already edgy are not going to be the ones stepping up to the mic, and will probably only be further aggravated if their gate is next to the group of tone deaf teenagers stumbling through the words to “Love Potion #9.”
I love karaoke, really, but I think it belongs in a bar — one where the drinks aren’t $8 apiece. I suspect that this new airport karaoke will bother more folks than it will entertain, but maybe I’m just being a typical travel grouch. What do you think? Cute idea, or good intentions gone very, very wrong?