Can’t decide where to eat in a city? Urban Spoon to the rescue!

by Abha Malpani on

How many times have you randomly chosen a place to eat and it’s turned out to be a waste of time, taste-buds and money — when you just wished you had read a review or two before walking in? This happens to me ALL the time.

A quick skim through Urban Spoon before you choose where to eat and you might just save yourself from the agony of eating bad food or paying a ridiculous bill. Not only will you be able to find a plethora of options, but all of them have time-critical reviews and ratings pulled from various local news sources like Time Out, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post — depending on the city you choose. Alongside media reviews, you can also see reviews and votes from bloggers and friends. And, of course, they have your standard top 10 / top 100 lists.

The search for restaurants is pretty advanced: other than being able to find a place basis price, neighborhood and type of food, you can also pick a place basis whether it’s romantic, open late night, kid-friendly, vegan friendly, has home delivery, if the food is gluten-free, and even if the place has happy hour! Is that cool or is that cool!?

The site reminded me of MetaCritic, but for restaurants. However, unfortunately the site is restricted to cities in the US and Canada, but nevertheless it looks like a useful resource.

Pilot’s mental breakdown causes emergency landing

by Iva Skoch on

Early Wednesday, an Air Canada flight from Toronto to London Heathrow had to make an emergency landing in Ireland because the pilot apparently suffered a mental breakdown midair. BBC reports that he was shouting he wanted to “talk to God” when they were taking him off the plane.

After an 8-hour delay, all passengers eventually made it back to London. The pilot is now “in care”. Something tells me his career as a commercial pilot is history…

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Ever seen a plane this cool?

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Looking for danger? Head to Canada

by Aaron Hotfelder on

If I were to make a list of the safest countries on Earth, I’d probably put Canada right at the top. The Australian government, however, doesn’t agree.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is now advising Australian citizens, via its “Smart Traveller” website, to “exercise caution and monitor developments that might affect your safety in Canada because of the risk of terrorist attack.” Australian officials are also warning travelers to Canada of the risks of earthquakes, tornados, avalanches, and even tsunamis.

The site puts countries into five categories, from “Be alert to own security,” the lowest, to “Do not travel,” which speaks for itself, I think. Despite the warnings of possible terrorist attacks, Canada falls into the second safest category, “Exercise caution,” along with its neighbor to the south. (That’s the US, geography whizzes.)

Countries such as China, Belarus, Latvia, South Korea, and Romania fall into the safest category, while Afghanistan, Burundi, and (no surprise) Iraq are some of those deemed to be the least safe.

All this talk about government-issued travel warnings reminds me of what travel writer Cynthia Barnes once wrote about the U.S. State Department:

“[I]t’s my belief that the State Department is comprised of well-meaning ninnies. Like the father of a luscious 16-year-old, the State Department is happiest when we’re at home.”

Washington state issues enhanced licenses for border crossings

by Anna Brones on

Border crossings seem to be on my mind this week. For those of you lucky enough to be residents of Washington state (like myself), you are now able to surpass all the identification hullabaloo when crossing up to Canada.

Last year Washington governor Chris Gregoire, in an effort to maintain travel and cultural ties with British Columbia, signed a law launching a pilot program between the state and the Department of Homeland Security. As of this month, the Washington State Department of Licensing is now issuing enhanced driver’s licenses, which are equipped with radio frequency identification technology and therefore approved by the DHS for crossing back and forth over the US Canadian land border. Kiss those border-induced identification fears goodbye.

Washington drivers have to provide a social security number, proofs of residency and citizenship and undergo an interview with Department of Licensing staff. But at $40, the enhanced license costs less than half of the price of a U.S. passport. So keep your fingers crossed, hope that the pilot program works and maybe one day soon enhanced driver’s licenses will be coming to a Department of Licensing near you.

The Canadian Border: Homeland Security tightens ID regulations

by Anna Brones on

In 2001 I was turning 18, and for the big birthday weekend I had a fun escapade in Vancouver, Canada planned out. My birthday is at the end of September, and unfortunately that year, the tragic events of September 11th foiled my plans for making a break for the border. Lines were extremely long (hours and hours of waiting to be exact) and people that had been crossing back and forth between the Washington and Canadian border for years were all of a sudden held up for questioning. Needless to say, I stayed home to celebrate.

A little over six years later, you would think that the situation at the U.S. Canadian border had gotten better. It hasn’t. The Department of Homeland Security, who is always increasing their methods of border patrol, recently pushed Congress to tighten identification requirements at US land border crossings (meaning Canada and Mexico). Starting January 31st, both Canadian and American citizens will need to make sure to have their passports with them or a driver’s license accompanied by an original birth certificate; licenses by themselves won’t cut it. Luckily for Canadians, procuring a passport just got easier.

72 million people crossed the U.S. Canadian border in 2007 meaning that stricter regulations will mean one thing: more backup. The decision comes in response to legislation approved by Congress last month that barred Homeland Security from requiring all citizens entering the United States to present a passport or similar secure proof of identification. But Homeland Security pushed through. As Secretary Michael Chertoff said, “It’s time to grow up and recognize that if we’re serious about this threat, we’ve got to take reasonable, measured, but nevertheless determined steps to getting better security.”

Homeland Security’s decision states that all traveler’s 19 and over will be required to present a passport or border pass card. Otherwise, make sure you are carrying both your driver’s license AND an original birth certificate. And most importantly, plan on long lines.