Worst travel mistakes of the 2000’s: Driving through Dingle

by Melanie Nayer on

Let me be clear about one thing before I launch into my story: I do know how to drive. I have a valid driver’s license and while I don’t own a car, I believe I’ve had a hand in keeping Zipcar in business this year. I know how to drive manual cars and actually learned how to drive on a Toyota Celica two-door manual shift, so it would stand to reason that I can operate a stick-shift on any car in any country for the rest of my life. Right?

Over the past decade I’ve traveled through most of Europe, spent countless hours in airport bars and lounges, cuddled up next to perfect strangers as I squeezed into the middle seat on last-minutes flights, and scoured some of the best (and worst) hotels around the world. It’s a dream job and despite popular belief, it’s not easy. Being a travel writer means long days, even longer nights, and endless reporting from the road. Sleep is a luxury I don’t often get but I’m not complaining – I wouldn’t trade this for the world. However, it’s fair to say that even travel writers hit their point of exhaustion and as anyone knows, making decisions when you’re exhausted is never a good idea. With that, I give you my biggest travel mistake of the 2000s:

Destination: Ireland

It was my first trip to the Emerald Isle and I was overjoyed. Visions of rolling green hills, farmers and sheep herders, bottomless glasses of whiskey and endless nights of Irish sing-a-longs filled my head as I reclined in my seat on my way to Shannon International Airport. Six hours later I arrived in Ireland, standing in line at the rental car counter waiting for the keys my mid-sized four-door Ford or ‘something similar.’

The man came from behind counter with the keys to the Ford and a neatly packed GPS system in a black box, and pointed to a little blue 4-door parked in spot 17. It didn’t seem that difficult. We’d both driven a stick-shift car in the past and now, all we had to do was remember that we’re driving on the opposite side of the road. Even on no sleep I can do this, or so I thought…I’ll spare you the details of the drive to the Cliffs of Moher in the fog, the flat tire somewhere between Shannon and Tralee, and the head-on collissions we escaped by thismuch as we drove our stick-shift car through Ireland. The pièce de résistance comes at the end of our trip as we made our way to the Dingle Penisula for a drive to Dingle Bay. (If you’ve been to the Dingle Peninsula you know what’s about to happen. For those travelers who haven’t been, pay close attention and repeat after me: automatic car.)

I took the wheel, put the pedal to the metal, and recalled the standard H-shift of my youth. The first part of the drive to Dingle was easy — flat roads and plenty of stop-signs allowed me the opportunity to get comfortable with the shift again, all the while driving on the wrong side of the road. As we slowly climbed up the mountain, I gazed out the window and admired the green hills filled with sheep, the old pubs on the side of the road, Gaelic signs and cows for miles. I had neglected to process one thing: I’m on a mountain — a steep mountain — with narrow lanes and sharp cruves. In order to get to Dingle Bay, one has to actually drive up and over the mountain.

The narrow roads were the least of my concerns. Do I downshift or switch to a higher gear? Do I ride the clutch or ride the brake? Do I gun it and hope for the best? At exactly the wrong moment, I looked in my rearview mirror and realized we were at what seemed like a 90-degree angle on the mountain, looking down on fields of sheep, perfectly spaced green patches of land, and miles of ocean. Panic stricken and realizing I had no where to go but up, I started my deep breathing (and silent praying).

The road was too narrow to turn around now, and trying to navigate a 3-point turn might have resulted with us in an unfortunate position with our car and a family of sheep. With the encouraging words of my friend in the passenger seat, I made it over the mountain just as it started to rain. I pulled the car over as the road widened, turned off the engine, handed my friend the keys, and calmly searched my bag for a Valium.

Moral of the story: While it’s fine to skimp on some things, like paying less for coach seats so you can afford a fancier hotel, it’s not a good idea to skimp out on the simple luxuires of the modern-day world, like automatic cars. Save yourself the headache – and the near-death experience – and just pay for an upgraded vehicle. Any travel writer will tell you so.

“Save the date” now and save at Leading Hotels of the World

by Katie Hammel on

The Leading Hotels of the World group represents hundreds of properties, on every continent, in over 75 countries. 70 of these hotels are participating in the group’s “Save the Date” promotion, going on now through December 31. Book a stay before that date for travel from January 1 to March 31, 2010 and you’ll save 30-50%. The discount varies per hotel and minimum stay requirements apply.

Relax at the Encantado, a boutique hotel set on 57 acres in Santa Fa, watch the sun set from your terrace at Shutters on the Beach in Los Angeles, drink Guinness in Dublin and then retire to your room at the Westbury, or take in the sights of Tokyo from your room with a view at the Imperial Hotel.

The website lists several other current deals, most of which are valid through the end of the year. The “One More Night” promo will get you three nights for the price of two, four for the price of three, or seven for the price of five. Other deals will get you 30-50% off certain properties, a $100 spa credit, or a free round of golf.

Twitter reaches Ireland and Indonesia

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Twitter addicts don’t need to worry about hopping a flight to Indonesia or Ireland any more. The white-hot microblogging service has expanded its footprint to these two countries, with local mobile carriers making Twitter available by SMS without charging any extra fees. Twitter was worried about overseas expansion for a while, because texting costs outside the United States were likely to prevent user adoption.

If you’re in Indonesia and are a customer of 3 Indonesia, the local carrier, Twitter becomes even more valuable. TwitPic is incorporated via MMS, making it possible to tweet pictures easily.And, the folks over at Twitter say more countries are coming, but there’s already a pretty impressive list on board already.

Ryanair could change forever

by Tom Johansmeyer on

What would Ryanair do without those gusts of hot air from Michael O’Leary? The company has been defined by cheap flights and the streams of absurdities uttered by its chief executive officer. Without O’Leary, Ryanair is nothing more than an uncomfortable seat for the price of a martini. Well, the big guy is planning to step down in two to three years, he said on Saturday. He’s said this before, of course, so we don’t know when his exit will actually occur.

So, how does O’Leary plan to get out? He told RTE radio that he’d love to see Aer Lingus take over his airline. This final, masterful cut seems to be the elusive goal for the CEO. He’s tried it twice and failed both times. But, does he really need it? The innovator has explored standing-room seating, pay to squirt and anything else that’ll make a dime. He even came to the defense of an employee moonlighting as a porn star.

For the finance geeks, O’Leary’s projected retirement date is pretty close to the end of a major capital investment program (in 2011), which is when he said he plans to pay some pretty hefty bonuses to the airline’s management. At that point, he might also ditch his no-dividends policy.

Ryanair threatens to “divorce” Boeing

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Ryanair may start to look for its planes closer to home. Of course, saying it was thinking about a switch from Boeing to Airbus would be far too simple for CEO Michael O’Leary … the genius behind “pay-to-pee” and many, many other stunts. O’Leary needs a bit more style, which is why his new intentions are being called “divorce.”

O’Leary believes that the management shakeup at Boeing has taken the company’s eye off the ball, which could be enough to make him switch teams. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ryanair is one of Boeing’s largest clients and has been working an order for as many as 200 planes … but the negotiations have been going on for more than a year. O’Leary says, “The difficulty has just been in getting someone in Boeing to make a decision. Boeing seem to have a degree of internal turmoil.”

But, O’Leary has pulled this game before, and according to WSJ’s The Source blog, he “is known to speak in the heat of the moment, use colorful language at press conferences to the amusement of journalists, and shoot from the hip.” Yeah, like the time he referred to the idiots in the “blogsphere …”

Want to thin out O’Leary’s wallet? Check out the video below for a few ideas.