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Human-powered circumnavigator climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for Tanzanian school

by Laurel Miller on Mar 14, 2011

Seattle-based adventurer Erden Eruç has launched the next phase in his quest to circumnavigate the world under human power, for his charitable organization, Around-n-Over (AnO). The mission of the 501(c)(3) non-profit is to assist poor communities by providing basic educational aid, resources, and facilities as a means of guiding them into self-sufficiency.

Eruç will continue his Six Summits Expedition, to climb the highest summits on the six continents he reaches after approaching each by bicycle, on foot, and by rowing across three oceans. His goal in raising awareness about his journey is to instill in young people the values of selflessness, sacrifice, and perseverance in the tradition of historical adventurers and expeditions. In November, 2010, Eruç became the first person in history to have crossed three oceans (Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific) via rowing. He is also the most experienced ocean rower alive.

The next leg of AnO’s Six Summits Expedition takes Eruç to Tanzania, and the continent’s highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro, to raise awareness for the Mateves Secondary School in Arusha. For this journey, AnO has collaborated with Mountain Madness, a Seattle adventure travel company who will provide guides and support for the climb. The goal is for AnO and participants to raise money to use toward the building of new classrooms and educational support. Mountain Madness will also donate a portion of the fees they receive from participants toward the school. To donate, click here.

10 ways to pass the time in port on your cruise

by Chris Owen on Mar 14, 2011

Cruise lines offer a lot of things to do on the ship. They have way more than ever before and before it was virtually impossible to do everything they offered. There are more entertainment, dining, activity, and learning options than ever. You can see a Broadway show on one ship, dine at a five-star restaurant on another, ice skate or surf on yet another or enjoy a world-class spa treatment on just about any of them.

Going ashore though is another thing altogether.

They have shore excursions. That’s it. Nothing else. Should that keep you from going on a cruise? Oh my no. Here, check these ten things you can do other than shore excursions.

Sing a song– Have you done that lately? Just really let go and sang along other than in the shower or someplace alone? If you never, ever would do such a thing, this is the perfect time to start. I guarantee you will remember that day forever. The best part is that, with few exceptions, you will probably never see anyone sailing with you ever again for the rest of your life. You might text or tweet them or maybe even email them. If you’re really friendly you might talk about cruising with them again. But once you get back to real life, odds are their memory will fade over time. Be the one they will remember forever.
Shop– This is one of those things everybody says they do but few do well. Most people go ashore to buy, not to shop. There are no rules that say you must come home with a coffee cup or refrigerator magnet from every place you go. Think about this before you even get on the ship. Walk around where you live and take inventory of your stuff. Would a cool bag from a call in the Caribbean be a good replacement for your worn gym bag? You bet it would. Would a handful of necklaces, hand-made in Haiti be great gifts for friends? Of course. How about some drugs from Jamaica? Probably not. Unless you’re on Royal Caribbean and know one of the crew members/drug smugglers.
Go off on your own– I know, it’s not safe. Well you can play it safe going along with the crowd on a tour bus filled with other playing-it-safe people and see all the same things they and thousands before them have and thousands after them will. Or you could choose to spend an afternoon sitting in a local coffee shop drinking in a culture that is probably a whole lot different than yours back home. Maybe you go crazy and do something different, something you would never have dreamed of doing back home. It’s called “traveling” and you can do it.
Stay on the ship– If you don’t like the look of the port or you have been there before and see no reason to get off the ship, don’t. You will find that most everyone else left, leaving pretty much the whole ship to you. This is a great strategy for crowded ships where there are lines for stuff. I should mention that there is a huge difference between “staying on the ship” and “hiding on the ship”. Unless you are a criminal, running from the law, you should not be hiding on the ship. That is sick and you need help.
Get off the ship– One of the huge advantages of a cruise ship is that it transports you to different locations. “Being in port” can be an exciting experience where you can see and do things not possible on the ship or back home. Some people like the idea of itineraries with many ports so they can have a wide variety of experiences in a short amount of time, noting their favorites then returning later, maybe by sea or maybe by air, to stay longer making what was once a short port call into a destination for a future vacation.
Meet someone– The attractions you may see ashore, be they touristy sites or out of the way places you found by doing going off on your own, have been there for a long time and will probably be there for a long time to come. People, however, have a much shorter lifespan and will not. Find a shop that does not look too busy, a street vendor that has some time on their hands and ask some questions, get some answers, exchange some ideas. I think that’s called “having a conversation” and it’s something you won’t find listed as a shore excursion.
Get in the picture– Unless you are a professional photographer, odds are these days that you can probably find all the photos you are apt to take online. You could probably pretend to go someplace and “borrow” plenty of photos and other documentation to show you went there. Take just a split second longer to ask someone to take your picture standing by the landmark you traveled halfway across the world to see.
Set the camera down– I had the best of intentions when taking photos of our family vacations. I wanted to preserve every moment forever. I was the family photographer. Me and me alone had that responsibility. After about a half-dozen vacations, I realized that I had seen every one through the viewfinder. At that point I set the camera down and rarely pick it up. Off topic: same goes for recording baby moments. I have what represents thousands of dollars of memories in boxes that we have never looked at and probably never will unless one of the kids murders someone really important and they do one of those “where did this nut case come from” exposes.
Ignore the icky people– If you have never been on a cruise before I have news for you. The ships are not full of all beautiful people who always have a smile on their faces. Like on land vacation or just on land in general, there are icky people that you will not like on a cruise too. The Love Boat was a TV show. While we would like to believe everything we see on television (especially those shows where people have “powers”) real life is not quite a happy. Same goes for the other passengers on the ship. People-watching can be a really entertaining activity at home. Imagine your
Watch a sunset. It’s the same Sun you see at home. The same Stars in the sky. The same Rain that fell from the clouds thousands of years ago. The difference is where you are and who you are with. That you got there by cruise ship is an insignificant detail to sharing the moment with someone you like, love or just met and are not quite sure about yet.

Take the time to enjoy yourself whatever you do, however you do it and whenever you go. These 10 things to pass the time in port are not the ultimate answer but they are a good start. That might take saying out loud “I am on vacation. I may never pass this way again. I will enjoy this.” Whatever it takes, enjoy yourself. Whatever that may mean to you, all the tools are available as only a cruise vacation can provide.

VIDEO: Mad Men high-speed rail travel PSA

by Meg Nesterov on Mar 14, 2011

“Would you rather fly into Queens or take the train into Manhattan?” is just one of the great would-be ad taglines in this PSA starring Mad Men actors Vincent Kartheiser and Rich Sommer to promote high-speed rail in America (we’re hoping for a sequel with a Simpsons‘ Monorail-esque jingle). They also argue for the simplicity and convenience of

train travel and how you can save time, money, and aggravation. All of these points were true about the importance of a high-speed rail network in 1965 and they are even more true in 2011, so let’s make it happen!

Learn more on how to support high-speed rail at

www.madfasttrains.com and vote for the video on FunnyorDie.com.

Spring break in full swing, budget considered

by Chris Owen on Mar 14, 2011

Around the world, concern over rising prices is high on the list of concerns with travelers, but with spring break in full swing U.S. college students take to the beach. Somewhere. Maybe not where they initially had planned.

If the price of gas at the pump is cutting back on spring break travel you’d never know it at Miami’s South Beach, a perennial favorite among spring breakers. Crowds of party-goers are clogging the beaches by day and streets by night as thousands stream in. But higher fuel prices and a recovering economy are having an effect whether they come by air, land or sea.

Skyrocketing prices at the pumps are modifying plans and adding on additional costs for travelers. Gas prices nationwide are averaging right at $3.53 a gallon right now, up from $2.75 a year ago says GasBuddy.com who has been tracking prices since 2000.

As much as spring-breakers want to get away from world events, they can not escape the effects of a world in turmoil on several fronts. It’s been nothing but bad news coming from the middle east starting with Egypt unrest then Libya and the potential threat to oil supply that could result. As the massive earthquake then tsunami rocked Japan yet another wild card was thrown into the oil game.Airlines too are adding on or increasing fuel charges. In a revised profit forecast, the International Air Transport Association said it was downgrading its airline industry profit outlook for 2011 to $8.6 billion from the $9.1 billion it had estimated just last December.

Cruise lines, with a system in place to recoup rising fuel costs, are holding off on adding back in their rabidly unpopular fuel surcharges for the most part. Based on the price of crude oil, while the threshold for when a fuel surcharge can be added has already been exceeded, cruise lies are not anxious to pull the trigger in fear of slowing down solid bookings that are filling ships at a record pace.

Yesterday, we were in Fort Lauderdale at the premiere of Royal Caribbean’s short film series Ocean Views (#Oceanviews) where packed ships were full of spring breakers and their families at Port Everglades.

The Ocean Views series itself, directed and starring Jenny McCarthy and James Brolin along with some other big-time Hollywood stars is a comment on a world in transition. In the well-done 10-minute films, available on YouTube and the cruise line’s website, top names in entertainment are, well, working on a cruise ship, something none of them would have imagined a short time ago. Still, it’s where the future is headed and the social nature of a short film is right on track. In a question and answer session following the premiere, 40-year veteran Brolin admitted being a bit hesitant to take on the project in the beginning but acknowledged that “it felt right” after production began.

Filmed on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, Brolin’s film has to do with multi-generational (3G) family groups, a segment much sought-after by travel sellers. 3G travel groups, backed by grandparent’s secure funding, have a better ability to weather unanticipated increases in travel costs. The all-inclusive nature of a cruise vacation is appealing too as grandparents get out the checkbook to pay.

Still, with spring break in full swing for many, bringing along the parents and grandparents is about the last thought in a spring-breakers mind. Adjustments in the budget category for students on South Beach this year means maybe another person or six in a car coming down here or in the hotel room, not always a bad thing.

Flickrphoto by Gubatron

Help for Haiti still coming in a number of ways

by Gadling Staff on Mar 13, 2011

Help for Haiti in the way of relief efforts has been a big, ongoing task. Traditional relief organizations have been spread thin and much-appreciated donations are helping them continue their work. Unlike some other natural disasters that happened in lands with fertile economies, Haiti was not in good shape before the devastating earthquake hit over a year ago. It was virtually a knockout punch for the already down-and-out nation. But some unconventional sourcing of direction for the lost land is making an impact.

Highly-visible to anyone following the situation in Haiti is actor Sean Penn. After some of the world’s biggest entertainers had come, raised millions, then left, Penn stayed behind. At the one-year anniversary of the disaster, he told popeater.com

“The [current] projects are shelter-focused with connective tissues to basic services, but even the most well-funded among them are poised to take very small cautious steps in terms of permanent housing,” Penn said of the current situation on the ground in Port-au-Prince. “There are 1.2 million people displaced, and only small pilot projects in the foreseeable future. The current challenge is the definition or the selection of beneficiaries [for funds both raised and promised], meaning among these extremely vulnerable populations, we can expect nothing more than demonstration models in 2011.”

To help keep the world’s focus on this situation that is far from resolved, Penn will address the Clinton Global Initiatives Meeting in April but touched base with the Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain a few weeks ago.

To start the seventh season of the Emmy award-winning Travel Channel program NO RESERVATIONS, Bourdain traveled to Haiti and spent some time with actor/humaitarian Penn.

Gadling reported just before the season premiere a different theme for NO RESERVATIONS this year aimed to uncover beauty in the dark corners of humanity, a focus promised to be delivered throughout the new season.

“The Haiti episode, which contrasted his tour of the country’s culinary highlights with scenes of its continued blight and poverty, was less a travel show than a kind of multilayered essay on Haiti’s political history, the ethics of tourism, the morality of journalism/voyeurism and the wisdom of well-intentioned efforts. No Reservations is not a news documentary (though it was nominated for a news Emmy a few years ago for an episode on Beirut), but in a way, this was one of the most thoughtful pieces of cultural journalism I’ve watched in a while.” said critic James Poniewozik, on the Season 7 premiere of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.

One by one, relief organizations, celebrities and businesses help keep the world’s focus on Haiti and the long road ahead. One forward-thinking company had ties to Haiti long before the devastating earthquake.

Royal Caribbean International has a private destination in Haiti called Labadee. It’s an island oasis for cruise ship passengers. Full-time Royal Caribbean Hatian employees work on the island year-round and depend on ships visiting to support their families and friends. Just after the earthquake, many were critical of the line for continuing to visit the island, dropping off cruise passengers for pleasure while so much devastation was so close-by. But the line remained focused on it’s long-term commitment to Haiti, delivering much-needed first-responder supplies and helping in other ways with the survival and reconstruction.

Royal Caribbean International took a look back this week to the building of L’Ecole Nouvelle Royal Caribbean, one of the first schools to be built in Haiti after the earthquake.

The school is on land Royal Caribbean leases from the Haitian government. The cruise line worked with gobal builder InnoVida and used the company’s Fiber Composite Panels to build the entire school complex in just four weeks, using 50 local Haitian workers. All construction materials were transported onboard their cruise ships. InnoVida’s structures can sustain hurricane winds, resist earthquakes due to their high deflection capacity, are waterproof and are a highly energy efficient system.

Beginning just days after the earthquake, Royal Caribbean transported more than 3,000 pallets of much needed supplies on Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises ships that called on Labadee.

I was on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas as one of the first ships to call after the earthquake and remember vividly the comments from local vendors and artisans who told me almost universally

“We need people to come off the ships. People are afraid to come off the ships…that it is not right to be here when so much damage is done. We need the people to come see us, buy what we have to sell, give us a chance…”

To date, Royal Caribbean’s monetary contribution to the Haiti relief effort is at least $2.5 million, which includes money raised from the donated Labadee calls, the onboard guest donations, and matching funds. The company’s operations at Labadee impact over 500 local Haitians who are either employees or vendors at Labadee commuting from nearby villages. Royal Caribbean also employs over 200 Haitian crew members onboard ships.