Traxo: all-in-one mileage, points and status tracker

by Scott Carmichael on

Last week, we took a look at ten ways to prevent your hard earned miles and points from expiring. From that article, we received a tip to check out another new online mileage tracker – Traxo.

Traxo describes itself as “an automatic, intelligent new system for organizing, managing and sharing all of your trip details”. What this means to us travelers, is that the site automatically monitors your miles and points on over 40 different sites. The system knows how to access almost every major airline, hotel chain, online travel agency, rental car company and credit card reward program – and once entered into their site, you’ll have a single point of reference for all your accounts.

Best of all, the site does more than just display your account balances – it also tracks your current membership status, informing you how far you are from the next tier. It also collects all your (upcoming) trips, and its social features can share (parts of) these trips with authorized friends and family members. Other handy features can alert you when miles or points are going to expire, giving you plenty of time to find a quick way to add some new activity.

Of course, as with all sites that “scrape” from your accounts, you need to be well aware that there may be risks involved, but the Traxo privacy policy seems quite adequate.

The site is easy to navigate and accounts can be added very quickly. Best of all, the service is free of charge. To take it for a spin, head on over to Traxo.com.

Renovated Opryland Hotel reopens with glitz, glam and a whole lot of country

by Melanie Nayer on

The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center reopens today following a $270 million face lift after the May 2010 flood that shut down the hotel and convention center for six months.

Most of what took place over the past six months is repairs from severe water damage after May’s devastating floods in the region. The famed Opryland Hotel reclaims its place in hotel history when it opens with five new restaurants, flat-screen TVs that line the marble wall space behind the check-in counters, renovated rooms and the hotel’s famous atriums.

From the lobby sofas to the business center to a large, museum-quality glass sculpture that now sits in one of the hotels’ lobby, everything in this hotel is brand new. According to the hotel, the Opryland Hotel already has 11,000 rooms booked for 2011.

To celebrate the rebirth of Nashville’s favorite attraction, Gaylord is putting on one hell of holiday splash: a three-day series of Christmas-themed events featuring the Rockettes, a playground made of ice, fireworks and free concerts. For some lucky guests, a private audience with Keith Urban and Sheryl Crow are among the perks of the hotel’s opening.

The hotel staff has been hard at work since July putting together the following touches to the holiday decorations. The Gaylord Opryland Resort will revive it’s annual “A Country Christmas” from Nov. 19, 2010 through Jan. 2, 2011. Nearly 1 million guests each year experience the family-friendly shows and activities and beautiful 2 million twinkling lights that are the hallmark of the world-famous A Country Christmas at Gaylord Opryland.

Infographic: Is it safe to fly this holiday season?

by Scott Carmichael on

The holiday season is often the time of year a lot of people take to the skies that are not frequent fliers. And if you combine this with the recent bad news about air safety, you can’t blame people for asking themselves: is it safe to fly this holiday season?

With news of exploding engines, bombs in printer cartridges and enhanced security at the airports, the media would make it seem like flying is more dangerous than ever.

So, the artists at The Friendly Planet Blog have collected some data, and turned it into a brilliant infographic. With numbers collected from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Air Transport Association, the infographic shows what most of us already know – air travel is safer than ever.

The numbers don’t lie – on over ten million flights in the U.S. last year, only 50 people died in a flight accident. You have a much greater chance of dying in the car on the way to the airport than you will when you are on board your flight.

In the coming weeks, we’ll have some great survival tips on how to get through the hectic holiday travel season, and after the jump you’ll find the full version of the graphic with lots more statistics to prove just how safe air travel is.

Click on the image for the full size version. Thanks to blog.friendlyplanet.com for providing the infographic!

German body scanner protesters remove clothes at airport

by Laurel Miller on

In Germany, a “fleshmob” of semi-naked activists from the Pirate Party staged a body scanner protest at the Berlin-Tegel Airport, reports Discover magazine. German authorities plan to begin using “Nacktscanners,” or AIT (Advanced Imaging Technology), which uses high frequency radio waves to produce images of a passenger’s naked body, across the country within the next two years.

Here and elsewhere abroad, the TSA and its international partners are increasingly employing body scanners as an airport security measure, so items like explosives, weapons, or drugs can be detected beneath a passenger’s clothing. The use of the scanners has become a subject of much public controversy, ever since the would-be “underwear bomber” was thwarted at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Dec. 25 of last year. Many passengers feel that the use of full-body scanners is a violation of their privacy.

Wired states that the German protesters scrawled comments such as, “Be a good citizen–drop your pants,” and “prosthetic [with arrow pointing to the wearer’s leg],” on their bodies. One flesh-toned-clothed woman bore a sign reading, “pixelated,” referring to the option modest passengers have to request a scanner be programmed to produce a blurred image of their body.

For more information on your rights as an air traveler, Reddit has created Fly with Dignity, a “site-based initiative to inform the public.” Want to personally protest body scanners? National Opt-Out Day is November 24th.

British explorer to ski to South Pole and back again

by Kraig Becker on

British adventurer Chris Foot is currently in Punta Arenas, Chile, preparing to set out on a long and difficult journey that will see him traveling on skis to the South Pole. That, in and of itself, is an impressive feat, but one that has done plenty of times in the past. But upon arrival at the Pole Chris intends to separate himself from the explorers who have gone before him, by turning around and skiing back to where he started, something that has never been done before.

The entire journey will cover more than 1392 miles through one of the most desolate and remote regions on the planet. To add to the challenge, Foot intends to make the trip solo and unsupported, which means he will be completely alone and won’t receive any supply drops or outside assistance for the length of the expedition. Instead, he’ll pull a sled behind him that will carry all of his food, equipment, and other supplies for the length of the journey, which could last for upwards of three months.

The expedition will begin and end at the new Union Glacier Antarctic base that we told you about last week, and could get underway as soon as today. Weather has delayed the start of Chris’ journey, as high winds and heavy snow have prevented planes from landing at the new base, but according to the latest dispatches from the former British commando, his gear has all been packed and weighed, and he is awaiting a clear weather window to allow him to get start the long, slow march to 90ºS.

Chris will be one of the first adventurers to hit the ice this year, but his arrival will mark the beginning of the Antarctic expedition season that will see other expeditions heading to the South Pole as well. Additionally, mountaineers will challenge themselves on several cold and remote peaks in the region and adventure travelers will get the opportunity to visit a place that few ever experience.

[Photo credit: Chris Foot]