War no more: Six countries that are (now) safe to visit

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Whenever a country is labeled “war-torn” or “conflict-stricken,” you can bet that tourists will stay away from that country long after it is once again safe to visit. Just ask Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, or Cambodia, and they’ll tell you that the “war-torn” description is a tough stink to wash off.

The folks over at ProTraveller realize this, and that’s why they recently wrote about 6 Upcoming Countries Worth Visiting Now the Conflict Is Over. Despite their glaring omission of just about all of Central America, the article is well worth reading. Some of the highlights:

  • Angola: “In 2002 a ceasefire was reached and the political situation began to stabilise. Angola is not yet a democratic nation but the internal warring appears to be done, at least for the time being. In recent years, Angola has topped the lists of post-conflict countries for making developments in the area of peace.” [Pictured above, by the way, are Angola’s impressive Calandula Waterfalls.]
  • Northern Ireland: “The small province is blessed with some of the most spectacular coastal scenery you’ll find anywhere in the world, with the Causeway Coast being the jewel in the crown. Elsewhere in the province, Belfast is in the midst of a remarkable transformation from being deeply depressed and introverted into a cosmopolitan and lively city with excellent hotels, restaurants, shopping and nightlife.”
  • Indonesia: “A recent string of bombings in Bali caused temporary concern. However, it is an increasingly safe location that is gaining in popularity with globetrotters. Islands such as Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa are great places for watersports such as surfing and windsurfing. The cost of living is cheap, the inland scenery spectacularly lush and the beaches tropical; there’s certainly plenty to see and do!”

Read the whole thing here, why doncha.

[thanks to Andy Boyd for the tip]

Kayak updates search engine with “Weekend” function

by Grant Martin on

Kayak updated its search engine last week with a new “Weekend” feature that I’ve been tinkering around with for the last couple of days. It’s basically a modification to their canonical search routine that lets you make your search solely over any weekend period instead of nailed down to specific dates.

For example, if you know you want to go to Boston to see a friend some time this summer, you can select the weekend function, choose July, departing Friday, returning Monday and get queries for all weekends in July. The results will automatically give you the lowest price on the market, but if you want to exclude certain weekends you can do this on the left task bar.

In my case, the most useful aspect of this feature is for the “getaway” factor. Once in a while I get the itch to just get out of town next weekend and run a broad search across many cities over many dates. Now I can just run quick searches by changing the destination city and rerunning the query. Now if they had space for ambiguity in the destination and the dates (ie, I want to go anywhere, any weekend in August), that would be keen. I’m wondering if that query is too complicated for Kayak to handle though.

Galley Gossip: The problem with “soaring” ticket prices

by Heather Poole on

Remember what airline tickets used to cost? Oh no, I’m not talking about last year, go back a little bit further, okay a lot further, like 1950 further…remember those prices? I didn’t think so.

A couple years ago I went just a wee bit crazy, spending too much time (and money) on eBay bidding on airline ads from the 1960’s and 1970’s. They were big and bright and colorful and they said things like: “fly me,” “just a working girl working,” “think of her as your mother.” They were sexy and sexist, totally wrong, and yet so right — at the time. I loved them. Still do. Had them framed. Hung them on the wall. And then, last year, tucked them away in a drawer for safe keeping (and a clutter free office). I think of one of those ads often whenever I hear people complaining about the price of airline tickets, or whenever I read articles like the one by Dan Reed in USA TODAY entitled “Airline Tickets Soar This Summer” that was featured on AOL with the caption, “Passengers Can’t Bear to Look.”

Well I’ve got something for those passengers to look at, something that may force them to rethink the definition of soaring ticket prices. I mean, soaring? Don’t you think we’re being a bit dramatic here? Especially when people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on fast food, botox, designer clothes, and even video games for the kids. Give me a break. Because the ad, the one I mentioned above from 1950, lists the price of a ticket from New York to Paris for $326. Please, can anyone tell me, what else out there costs the exact same price as it did over fifty years ago?

Precisely.

Yeah, I know, service in the air has gone down hill big time. You don’t have to tell me. I live it every time I put on my uniform. In fact, I spend most of my time at work apologizing because we don’t have this and we don’t have that to a flight full of miserably cramped passengers. I feel for those passengers. I really do. It’s gotten bad out there. Worse than bad. Flying, today, is just not what it used to be, for everyone involved – passengers and crew alike.

But what gets me is that thirteen years ago I worked at a no frills airline called Sunjet International Airlines. The ticket price back then was $99 to fly one way from Dallas to Fort Lauderdale, Newark, or Long Beach. That was thirteen years ago. Fuel prices were 1/3 of what they are today. Keep in mind that price was on an airline that offered pretty much nothing but a seat (a broken seat covered in duct tape), a lot of delays (I’m not talking a few hours delayed, I’m talking two-day delays), lost luggage (or no luggage at all. What do you mean you checked bags?), and a burnt chocolate chip cookie, depending on who happened to be in the galley that day. Then, in 1995, I found myself working for a major US carrier, on probation for six months without flight privileges, in the month of December. The price of a ticket from New York to Dallas was oh just $800. In Coach. Needless to say, I didn’t get make it home for Christmas that year.

Now flash forward thirteen years and you can fly nonstop on a major carrier from New York to Los Angeles for as little as $235 round trip. I’m sorry, but that’s not bad. In fact, it’s so not bad that I just bought myself a seat on that same flight (even though I’m able to fly standby for free) I challenge anyone to drive that same distance for less money. Yes, airline ticket prices are up 200% from last year, but when you realize they were down 700%, that’s still a good ticket price! So when someone writes a piece about the “soaring” ticket prices of today, I have to shake my head and think, how soon we all forget.

National Trails Day: Get moving

by Jamie Rhein on

Yesterday was National Trails Day. Sorry not to give the heads up sooner, but I found this out while I was hiking on a trail and without WiFi access. If you can swing a hike today on a national trail, I’d take one. If not today, than soon.

Make a plan for next weekend if you must. It doesn’t have to be major hike, but give yourself enough time for your arms and legs to move in a rhythm with each other where you have time to find your stride. If there are trees around, a bit of nature, wildflowers, a bubbling brook–great.

On such a hike, keep an eye out for things you don’t normally notice. A spider web that’s stretched between two twigs, a large leaf clump high over head that marks a squirrel’s home, a bird’s nest, a butterfly that’s dipping down for a drink in a stream, the way water shimmers in the sun when it’s illuminated on a rock face. These are some of the reasons for taking a hike in Ohio where this picture was taken.

In New Mexico, it’s the smell of juniper berries and pinion trees and the steady progress as you make your way up the Sandia Mountains or the Jemez–or any other steep mountains in the state. There are switchback after switchback. Notice how the earth turns brilliant orange or deep red depending on the time of day and the angle of the sun.

However, even if you live in an urban area, make up your own trail in the spirit of National Trails Day. Head out on the streets on your own volition–much further than your parked car or the closest subway or bus stop or metro. See where you live from a more intimate angle. Say, “Hi,” to folks as you pass. See what’s going on and which people’s yards make you smile with their riot of flowers if you live in suburbs, or in a neighborhood like I do–not downtown, but not suburban either. If you live in true city terrain, see which people have planted flower boxes and have hung them on the windows of their brownstones. Notice the way your feet move along a sidewalk and the strength of your gait.

No matter where you live, a hike does good, which is one reason to celebrate National Trail Day one day late-plus it gives the exclamation “Why don’t you take a hike?” a positive spin.

When I was on my hike at Old Man’s Cave in Hocking Hills area of Ohio, thanks to the state park naturalist I was with, I saw treasures like spider webs that look like jewels clinging to the gorge’s walls and columbine, the tiny flowers that serve as a hummingbird’s drinking fountain. The flower he showed me had been used by a bee that had opened the petals further.

To help plan ahead, National Trails Day is always the first Saturday of June. Find a 2009 calendar and mark it.

Galley Gossip: Should airlines restrict how much we pack?

by Heather Poole on

I was reading Grant Martin’s post, Should airlines charge you by your weight? and immediately thought of The Husband, who has recently become obsessed with the weight of my bag. The tote bag. That little black bag that attaches to the big black rolling bag, the one that gets placed in the overhead bin closest to my jumpseat.

Just last week I was on the floor, packing up the old tote bag, getting ready to commute back to work, as The Husband leaned against the wall of our bedroom watching me struggle with the zipper. With all my might I pressed as hard as I could, squishing down the contents inside, so I could just…get…the thing…zipped. There!

The Husband began to shake his head. I must tell you that I really do not like when he shakes his head like that, because when he starts in with all that head shaking business it means that he’s got something to say and I usually don’t care to hear what he has to say, especially in situations like this. Trust me, I’ve heard it a million times already.

“Unbelievable,” he said, and that’s all he said, yet that pretty much said it all, did it not?

“Go away,” I said, because I was just about to start filling up the suitcase, and that, I have to say, can get ugly. Very ugly.

He handed me a stack of magazines I’d left on the dresser, and smirked. “Don’t forget these.”

“Oh thanks” I said, as I unzipped the tote bag. I moved a few things around and proceeded to get a copy of Us, Writer, Budget Travel and Vanity Fair inside. Then I remembered the books! Yes, books, as in more than one, because I only had ten pages left to go in Margo Candela’s latest novel, More Than This, therefore I needed a backup book, so I grabbed a paperback copy of Lolita, a book I’ve been meaning to read for what, maybe ten years now, and somehow managed to get it all inside. With all my might I pressed as hard as I could and tried…to get..the thing….zipped. There, got it! I don’t know how I did it. But I did.

The Husband continued to shake his head. “What are you doing? Why are you taking all that?”

“I need. it.”

“You need it?”

“Yes, I need it. I’m going to be gone for five days. I need it.”

Okay, we’ve been married for five years now, so you’d think by now the guy would know that a flight attendant never leaves home without her reading material. I mean, hello!

As I rolled my empty suitcase out of the closet, I asked “What?” because he was at again, the head was shaking.

“You know the airline would save a lot of money if they fired you.”

“Go away,” I said, and meant it.

So he’s probably right, the airline would save a TON of money if they started putting restrictions on what we pack, even so, I’m not giving up my reading material. No. Freakin. Way. I don’t care how much money it saves the company, not after all I’ve given up already – pay, meals, pay, vacation, pay, you get the picture. I’m taking it all with me. And maybe a little more. Like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, for instance, just in case, ya know, I get hungry during a six hour flight. And my Ipod, so I can relax in a dumpy airport layover hotel after a long day at work. And a couple packets of oatmeal, so I can eat before the flight in the morning since we usually leave so early we don’t have time to grab anything. And a couple extra packets of nondairy creamer, because…well..there’s never enough creamer in the hotel room, and this girls gotta have her creamer. And antibacterial hand lotion, in case we have a sniffling passenger or two onboard. And cold medicine, in case the antibacterial hand lotion does not work. Oh and Tums, in case there’s left over food on the airplane and I actually decide to eat it. And water, in case, you know, I get thirsty while I’m gone for five days. And….well…do I really need to go on? The bag gets packed. Full. And The Husband continues to shake his head.