Spring Break deal: $100 off any Lufthansa flight from the US

by Scott Carmichael on

Bored with the usual Spring Break destinations? You could consider checking out 5 tips for alternative destinations from our friends at AOL Travel, or if you’d like to get really creative, head to Europe for a bit. Thanks to a promotion from Lufthansa, you can now book a flight on one of their routes for $100 off.

The promotion requires you to enter your name and email address, and minutes later, you’ll have a unique promo code in your inbox.

The fine print is pretty simple – book and redeem between now and February 21 for travel between now and March 31. Promo codes can only be used on Lufthansa flights (so no codeshares) and only on flights that depart in the US. According to the terms and conditions, the promo can be applied to any ticket code! Promotions like this don’t last long – so snag yourself a code as soon as possible.

Found yourself a flight for a nice price? Share it in the comments section!

[Photo: AFP/Getty Images]

In Washington state, search continues for missing skier

by Laurel Miller on


The search for an experienced backcountry skier missing since Tuesday afternoon has resumed in Washington state, after being postponed Wednesday night due to darkness and poor conditions. The Seattle woman was skiing alone in the Red Mountain Area of Snoqualmie National Forest, near Alpental ski resort. Seattle’s King 5 News reports that after the woman failed to show up at work on Wednesday, her friends were contacted, and King County Search and Rescue launched a full-scale hunt. Another skier located the woman’s backpack and glove on Wednesday, and her car was also found in the ski area parking lot.

Concerns of avalanche danger are high, due to increasing temperatures. Deputy Ed Christian of King County Search and Rescue commented, “We have the best searchers in the state here and we may not even put them in the field…that’s how dangerous it is… We haven’t had the opportunity to search with probes due to the conditions and lack of light. She could be under the snow. She could have gone down further, said Christian. “Until we get enough light we don’t know where she’s at.”

The sheriff office’s helicopter spotted ski gear and what looked to be fresh snow slide activity off the backside of Red Mountain yesterday, while another group of searchers found additional clothing and debris, diminishing hopes of finding the woman alive. One theory is that she may have plummeted from a cornice that broke off. The search is now being considered a recovery mission.

Folks, please be careful out there when engaging in backcountry winter pursuits, and always carry an avalanche beacon and let someone know where you’re going and when you’ll be back. Winter outdoor enthusiasts should take an avalanche safety course (REI is one place that offers them for free, and I’ll vouch for how informative they are), and check snow and weather conditions before setting off for a day of recreation.

Five visitation travel tips for divorced dads

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Divorced plus distance equals difficulty – when you have kids. You don’t get to spend as much time with them as you’d like, and the process of going to see them involves lots of time on a bus, train or plane (or even in a car). The trip home leaves you with lots of time to think. There’s nothing easy about this, but you can take some of the sting out. Keep the right frame of mind, and be realistic about how you travel: it makes a profound difference.

Do you take visitation trips a few times a month (or year)? Here are five ways to make it a bit easier, learned from a year of doing this myself:

1. Don’t measure time in minutes: this trap is seductive. You want to spend as much time as possible with your kids, and losing even 10 minutes to traffic or weather can be infuriating. It’s agonizing to be stuck on a bus, realizing it’s time you won’t be able to spend enjoying fatherhood. You can’t let this get to you: it’ll just drive you nuts (and affect your visit). It took me a few months to come to grips with this, and life got much better when I did.2. Leave early: this is especially important if you’re taking a bus, train or plane. You have enough stress already, and rushing for transportation will only heighten it. And, do you really want that to shape your frame of mind when you hug your kids for the first time in a few weeks? Give yourself a cushion up front, even if only to decompress a little. Arriving early can help you do this, too.

3. Distract yourself during the trip: I didn’t’ do this well at first, and I felt it. Even veteran travelers – who have logged hundreds of thousands of miles and are accustomed to bringing books, magazines and laptops – will not be as adept at passing the time on a visitation trip as they expect. Spend too much time dwelling on your situation (as I did for the first few months of three-hour bus rides), and you’ll torture yourself emotionally.

4. Be ready for the return trip: this can be pure living hell inside your head. Give yourself a moment to unwind before going home – you’ll need it. I usually get to the bus station 45 minutes early to collect my thoughts, reflect on the weekend and ease myself out of the mindset of having said goodbye. It helps. A lot. Traveling home accompanied only by your thoughts should become more bearable.

5. Know that it gets easier: or, at least that you’ll get used to it. You’ll find a rhythm, and that will get you through the traveling itself. Over time, you’ll see and feel the changes, and you’ll spend more time enjoying your visits.

Do you have any tips for making visitation travel easier? I’m not the only one who’d love to hear them, I’m sure. Leave a comment to help us all out.

[photo by Rob Young via Flickr]

Advertising in airport restrooms: awesome or too far?

by Gadling Staff on

Just when it seems like they can’t find any more ways to inundate our lives, marketers get creative. First they took over our pre-movie experience, and now they have come up with the most outlandish location to sell us on products. Ads while washing your hands? Really?

NBC Chicago is reporting that O’Hare International Airport (ORD) is allowing Clear Channel Airports to install 40-inch mirrors which will display ads to the nearly 200,000 people who pass through the airport daily. The high-definition mirrors have motion sensors, as they display ads until restroom users saddle up to the sink, minimizing them into a corner to make preening in the mirror possible. The mirrors, created by a company called Mirrus, will be able to track viewing statistics for advertisers.

A video on the company’s website (http://mirrus.com/mirrus-network.php) shows a demonstration of how the mirrors work. The best part of the video is the man in it, who behaves just as I imagine I would when encountering these odd ads. I am torn between being vaguely outraged the idea of ads (and cameras?) encroaching into one place I thought they would never reach and looking forward to hamming it up just as the man does in the video. Tested at the airport in December, NBC reports that the mirrors will be in ORD within the next 3 months, and possibly in sports venues like Wrigley Field and Soldier field later this year.

Has the search for advertising revenue gone too far, or would you be interested in seeing something like this in an airport near you?

[Image via Mirrus.com]

When in Philly, do as everyone does: eat your way through the Terminal Market

by Gadling Staff on

The sights and sounds of Pennsylvania’s largest city are also some of this country’s oldest and most revered: the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Franklin Institute, and America’s very first zoo. It is also a city of 1.5 million people, with an old and overburdened roadway system and legendary rush hour traffic.

In order to escape the cacophony that is the streets of midtown Philadelphia, you can step into the cacophony that is the Reading Terminal Market.

The Reading Terminal Market is everything under one roof, but it’s not like anything you’ve ever experienced. There are great markets across the country: Seattle’s Pike Place, Cleveland’s West Side Market, D.C.’s Eastern Market and Union Square in New York City. But Reading is a food hall/shopping experience with the feel of a small village. It has straight-line aisles that accommodate more than one person at a time, places to sit and enjoy your food, and as for the choices of food: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Greek, mezze, cheesesteaks, salumeria, baked goods, fresh produce, ice cream, beer, wine, deli and vegetarian, Plus prime meats, poultry, seafood, flowers, chocolates, books, crafts and groceries to take home. It is possible to shop only here for all your food needs, and never go inside a supermarket. A dedicated food lover may want to consider living here.

It is amazing to realize that the Market almost died several years ago. Down on its luck throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, thanks to suburban growth and the decline of the railroads that supplied its goods, the market nearly went out of business. Now every space is rented out, and the market is not merely a tourist attraction, it is a place where office workers order pizza next to construction crews feasting on roast pork sandwiches, and an Amish farmer deals in dairy alongside a stall known for its specialty of Peking duck. It’s a United Nations of food and diners, except that everyone gets along and no one leaves dissatisfied.

[Photo: Flickr/Uberzombie]