Give dad a custom vacation from Kensington Tours this year

by Kraig Becker on

Father’s Day may still be a couple of weeks away, but if you’re struggling to figure out what to give dad this year, than Kensington Tours is here to help. The travel company, which specializes in private guided adventure travel to more than 80 countries around the globe, has officially designated a Vacation Valet who is prepared to help create a custom itinerary to fit your dad’s needs.

Kensington has named Brad Crockett as their official Vacation Valet for Dad, and he is ready to help apply his years of experience in the travel industry to create an unforgettable vacation experience. Whether your dad is an experienced global traveler or this is his first time abroad, he’ll have a custom designed itinerary that has been developed with his interests in mind. Best of all, these custom trips are surprisingly affordable, ranging from $200 to $2000 per day depending on your destination and options.

Of course we all know that every dad is different and each has their own idea of what constitutes a great travel experience. Fortunately, Kensington has the resources to deliver those experiences to even the most demanding traveler. For instance, if your dad is an adventurous traveler, then perhaps he’d enjoy trekking in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco or hunting with Pygmies in the Congo. Is he a history buff? Then let Kensington send him on a tour of famous battle fields in Vietnam or on an archaeological expedition through Egypt. Other options include exploring Kenya by motorcycle, dog sledding in the Yukon, white water rafting in Peru, or fly fishing in Chile. And for the dad who’s passion is golf, Kensington can even arrange a trip to the British Open in Scotland, including rounds of golf and whiskey tasting.

If you have one of those dads who already has everything, perhaps this year you can give him something that he has been lacking in the form of an international adventure of a lifetime. For more information go to Kensingtontours.com.

AirBaltic expands, spruces up

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Yesterday, Latvian airline AirBaltic launched two new routes: Riga-Madrid and Riga-Beirut.

Riga-based AirBaltic is an airline to watch. Little known in North America, the airline is notable for its low starting fares and the inclusion of most of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations on its route map. But what really sets the airline apart from the pack is its range of underserved destinations across Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and the Nordic countries.

These less well-served destinations include Baku, Tbilisi, and Yerevan in the Caucasus; Almaty, Dushanbe, and Tashkent in Central Asia; Amman, Beirut, Dubai, and Tel Aviv in the Middle East; and destinations like Kuopio, Tromsø, and Visby across Nordic Europe.

The catch is that most routes fly in and out of Riga, a beautiful city that is sadly not exactly top-of-mind among most visitors to Europe. While AirBaltic’s fabulous range of destinations can best be accessed from a starting-point in the Baltics or the Nordic countries, the airline’s fares for connecting flights from cities across Western Europe can also be quite competitive.

In anticipation, no doubt, of the summer traffic to come, AirBaltic also upgraded its site yesterday. The visual changes are minimal, but they go some way toward making the site more streamlined and enjoyable to peruse.

(Image: Flickr/Londo_Mollari)

Iraqi Airways shuts down after dispute with Kuwait over aircraft theft

by Scott Carmichael on

State owned Iraqi airlines has been forced to declare bankruptcy. The airline had been around for decades, and when they tried to restart operations with regular Baghdad-London operations, they ran into a nasty reminder of their past.

Upon landing at London’s Gatwick airport, the airline was confronted by lawyers representing the state of Kuwait. Apparently, the Iraqi’s had helped themselves to aircraft and aircraft parts during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

With a bill of over $1.2 billion, Iraqi airlines had no other option than to declare bankruptcy.

Because Iraqi airlines chartered its planes from other air carriers, the Kuwaiti authorities were not able to confiscate them. In the coming days, the airline will cease all flights. The Iraqi government calls the claims by Kuwait “harassment”, but they don’t seem to be denying the claims of theft from 20 years ago.

(Image: Getty Images/AFP)

Top ten best airlines revealed in 2010 World Airline Awards

by Scott Carmichael on

Spoiler alert: U.S. based airlines apparently all suck. At least, if you believe the results of the Skytrax 2010 World Airline Awards. The top ten airlines in the world are mostly from Asia. The only upside for U.S. based airlines is that no European airlines made it to the list either.

American airlines are only represented in the “best North American Airlines” results – and even there, Air Canada takes the top spot.

The results are hardly surprising – I’ve flown many of these international airlines, and their product is indeed miles ahead of anything on offer in the U.S. or Europe. Still, it is a bit of a disgrace that none of the U.S. based airlines managed to make any of the winning categories. The top ten airlines of the world are:

  1. Asiana Airlines
  2. Singapore Airlines
  3. Qatar Airways
  4. Cathay Pacific
  5. Air New Zealand
  6. Etihad Airways
  7. Qantas Airways
  8. Emirates
  9. Thai Airways
  10. Malaysia Airlines

Still, it isn’t all doom and gloom – in recent weeks, the AOL “spy in the sky” flew all major U.S. carriers and found that there are still some friendly and helpful airlines out there. Check out their report cards for the ten airlines they reviewed.

The world’s most dangerous destinations (according to the Los Angeles Times)

by Kraig Becker on

The Los Angeles Times recently compiled a list of their picks for the world’s most dangerous places, with some popular tourist destinations earning amongst their ranks. Unlike other lists of this kind however, they automatically omitted places like Baghdad or Afghanistan, which are not travel friendly to begin with. Instead, this list points out the the very real dangers that a tourist might face while visiting one of these places.

For example, Gansbaai, South Africa earns a spot amongst the world’s most dangerous destinations because of the shark infested waters that surround the city. The region has an abundance of seals and penguins, which attract hordes of great white sharks, making it a popular place for visitors who want to see those predators up close. Thrill seekers can take a dip in those dangerous waters inside a shark cage, while most will look on from the safety of their boat.

Other dangerous destinations include Mt. Everest in Nepal for the extreme conditions and high altitude. The entire country of Australia gets the nod thanks to all the dangerous snakes and spiders that live there, and Memphis, Tennessee is a surprise entry for its proclivity for earthquakes. The city sits on a major fault line that could make it a major disaster waiting to happen.

There are a number of other popular destinations on the list, each with a unique threat to those that visit there. The list is a good reminder that we don’t have to visit a war torn nation to face real dangers on our next trip.