Oceania

Travel through Oceania by country:

Australia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

Travel through Oceania by popular city:

Auckland, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Wellington

Travel through Oceania by popular things to do:

Cook Islands, Sydney Opera House

Travel through Oceania with our writers:

In the Corner of the World, Work and Play in Queensland

Breaking: Delta Air Lines to add Seattle’s Best Coffee

by Chris Owen on

You don’t have to fly first-class to get the best coffee on Delta Air Lines. Starting March 1st, Delta’s brand will be Seattles Best Coffee. That might not sound like a really big deal but it took a lot of work to make that happen.

Coffee is best when brewed with water that is 197 degrees, just shy of boiling. The problem with brewing coffee in flight (you were right, there was a problem) is that at 30,000 feet, the altitude affects barometric pressure and how hot water reacts to coffee. Enter the Green Coffee Quality Team at Seattles Best Coffee.

Coffee expert Kim Giroir from Seattles Best quality team told Gadling they experimented with a bunch of different blends and finally came up with what they call “Level 4” coffee that is just right for brewing in the sky.

When Seattle’s Best says they want to “bring great coffee everywhere” that’s not just a slogan. Back at the Research and Development labs at Seattles Best, they brewed test blends in a barometric chamber, mimicing the conditions of brewing in the air.

It’s been a meticulously tedious process finding the right blend but taste tests in November had all the cabin crew buzzing about the new coffee. That’s nothing new to the coffee company that relaunched it’s brand at Starbucks headquarters in May.

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Seattle’s Best thinks they have come up with the perfect cup of coffee, no matter where it is served. A big hit on Royal Caribbean cruise ships, it just made sense to take to the air too.

Delta is no stranger to fine cuisine either, taking in-flight dining seriously for quite some time now, especially in their BusinessElite product.

As the official airline of the Food Network New York Wine and Food Festival, Delta Air Lines brought along its roster of six consulting chefs to venues throughout the event.

In 2006, Delta revealed an on-board menu created by celerity chef Michelle Bernstein. As Delta’s consulting chef, Bernstein designed entrees and side dishes which became part of Delta’s continued effort to enhance its BusinessElite product, creating a more inviting and entertaining experience.

In 2007, Delta tapped top chef Todd English to create selections for its food-for-purchase menu being developed for customers flying in its Coach Class on flights within the United States.

“The back of the plane is where the real challenge is,” said English, adding that he plans to help Delta devise business-class meals in the future.

In 2009 hand-served entrees and signature dishes created by Miami celebrity chef Michele Bernstein and master sommelier Andrea Robinson, expanded dessert options and improved Japanese meal options created by Delta’s flight kitchen in Tokyo.

After all that, a good cup of coffee just made sense.

4 reasons why you need a Travel Expert in your pocket

by Chris Owen on

This is the person you want to have on your side when planning travel. Not a Travel Agent, many of them are order takers who fill in the blanks on computer screens. Others try to be everything to everyone and that is just not possible.

Your Travel Expert specializes in one particular area of travel. It might be cruise vacations. They will know what cruise line will work best for you, keep on top of commodity-like cruise pricing and add a great deal of value to your vacation experience. It might be trips to Russia your Travel Expert specialized in. That person will know all there is to know, have been there a bunch of times (if not lived there) and probably speak a good amount of Russian. That’s the person I want helping me plan my vacation. Here are five reasons you need one of those people.

They know what to do in an emergency. You can bet that travelers on the ground in Egypt who have a Travel Expert on their side that knows the lay of the land are glad they do. Any travel agent with the right credentials can book a trip to Egypt. Someone who has visited there a lot or lived there will know specifically what you should do. You will be one of the people that made it out of the country while others lagged behind.

They will be honest with you. Any Travel Expert will tell you without hesitation if what you are looking for is not realistic. The last thing you want is a journey planned by a “yes” man who will say anything to get a sale. If you ever feel you are getting anywhere close to that situation you are not dealing with a Travel Expert. Look for your Travel Expert to speak at functions, teach classes, be involved with travel organizations and be easy to find publicly, like via Facebook, Twitter or a simple Google search.

They will insure a rich experience for you. That same knowledge that can give you an advantage if you had to evacuate a travel destination much more commonly works to enrich your travels. A Travel Expert knows people on the ground where you are going. Regardless of how you get there and what you want or need to see, its the people that will make the difference. A Travel Expert’s recommendation will get you in the door of places you might not ever see without his or her thumbs up.

They will encourage education. Everybody wants to talk about the fabulous places you will visit and things you will see. A Travel Expert will want to give you the knowledge over time that will allow you to appreciate what you will see and experience when you travel. In the olden days they would have given you a travel guide to read, maybe one printed by AAA, a leader in those sort of things. Today they will point you to sources like specific blogs, travel guide sites, and maybe send you a copy of the book they wrote.

You may end up paying one of these people for their expert advice. Be sure that advice comes gift-wrapped with that is called an Errors and Omissions insurance policy backing. That is insurance against loss if something goes horribly wrong directly due to advice you may have received from pretty much anyone in the travel business. Travel agents have it, so do Travel Experts who make a living selling their advice.

Photo: Wiki Commons

Underwater explorers seek lost New Zealand wonders

by Kraig Becker on

A team of underwater explorers has begun a search of Lake Rotomohana in New Zealand to discover the fate of a natural wonder that has been missing for nearly 125 years. The group will use high tech equipment, including submersible vehicles, to map the bottom of the lake to determine what has become of the fabled Pink and White Terraces, which were popular tourist attractions until they were destroyed during an eruption of Mt. Tarawera in 1886.

The recently got under way when scientists first began the mapping process and the torpedo shaped submersibles were dropped into the water to aid in that process. They hope to discover if any portion of the Pink and White Terraces, which have been described as the “8th Wonder of the World,” remain intact under the surface of the lake.

Until they were destroyed in the volcanic eruption, the Terraces were New Zealand’s number one tourist attraction. Many visitors from Europe made the journey to the country in the 1880’s just to gaze upon the amazing site. The Terraces were created by geothermally heated water, containing high amounts of silica, spouting out of geysers. As that water flowed down the slopes, the silica was left behind, giving the terraces their pink and white color.

On June 10, 1886, Mt. Tarawa violently erupted, spewing ash into the sky and sending hot mud into Lake Rotomohana. That mud covered the terraces and altered the surrounding landscape, causing the water in the lake to rise and changing the geothermal activity in the region forever.

New Zealand tourist officials, as well as local Maori leaders, are interested in knowing if any portion of the terraces still stand. They’ll have to wait for up to 12 months however, as that’s how long the scientists on the research team believe it’ll take to complete their survey.

You might not like Disney Dream

by Chris Owen on

It’s sure the big cruise ship story of 2011, of that there is no doubt. Like Disney or not, like cruise vacations or not, Disney Dream is the big tamale of ships for the year. There will be more new ships from other lines coming out later in the year. But none will be as big of an event as the launch of Disney Cruise Line’s first ship in over a decade.

Why then, is it that so many have this all wrong?

If you’re not a fan of Disney, you won’t have too look far to find someone who has taken issue with something about the new ship. Some say it’s simply too much “Disney” to take. Others get more specific, pronouncing individual features disappointing. Still others compare what happens on board to a land-based theme park which I suppose is fair, since Disney does have a certain presence in that area.

Following their standard game plan, many who review cruise ships give Disney Dream a thumbs up but hedge their bets with a story or two about something universal that most people would agree is a negative. Kids bouncing off walls because soft drinks are free or comparing the cost per night on Disney Dream to some other new ship are common complaints.

On the other side, some reviews highlight innovative features like virtual portholes for inside cabins or the AquaDuck watercoaster as defining elements of the new ship. They mention the zillion dollars it cost to build Disney Dream and upcoming twin Disney Fantasy and get into details of how profitable these ships will probably be for Disney.

Neither one of them has it right.

What they are missing, the experience they are robbing themselves of is quite simple.Disney Dream is not a cruise ship at all.

Disney Dream is a show.

A grand show put on by the masters of storytelling, dream-making and all-things wondrous for kids of all ages for decades. The show begins before the curtain goes up as guests are greeted by cast members, dressed and rehearsed for the part, from the time they enter the cruise terminal at Port Canaveral in Florida.

Actually, the show begins before that. As guests approach the purpose-built cruise terminal, they see a carefully landscaped art-deco facade calling them into a grand space with a timeless air that transports them back to the days of grand ocean liners.

Waiting to board, guests line up, not to board the ship like they would on some other line, but to have their picture taken with a rotating parade of classic Disney characters. Do they really think this will be their only opportunity to get in a picture with Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck? Really?

No. Those people get it. Those people; large and small, young and old, get it. They have bought their tickets, checked in, are ready to board and have the time of their lives. Once on board they will experience a show that starts with their family name being called out as they enter the ship, answered by a round of applause. The show continues with every cast member they encounter along with every meal, activity and performance they attend. They’ll hear obscure bits and pieces of classic Disney music in hallways or elevators foreshadowing a culmination of energy, emotion, memories that represents a total escape from reality during some performance later in the day.

Disney has taken what every cruise line knows is the key to success: allowing passengers to Escape Completely, visit the Land of Wny Not or take a ride on The Fun Ships to an entirely different level.


If they believe.

Guests who allow themselves to be taken in. If they play along. If they can let Disney do what they do best on the perfect stage setting that the closed environment of a cruise ship provides, they will have a unique vacation experience like no other.

If they can’t do that, they might not like Disney Dream.

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Photos: Whitney Owen

Deep sea hunter fishes underwater for five minutes – on one breath

by Scott Carmichael on

Deep sea hunting is something you have to see to believe – in the video above, an Indonesian hunter swims to a depth of 65 feet, and stays there for just under three minutes. Other dives can send them underwater for up to five minutes. Armed with nothing more than his trunks, a pair of goggles and a spear gun, this hunter scours the seabed for his catch – staying underwater as long as it takes to catch what he needs.

At this depth, Indonesian sea bed hunter Sulbin has an immense amount of pressure above him. Sulbin is a Bajau fisher – a member of an ever decreasing tribe of sea nomads that spend their entire life out at sea. Bajau are born at sea, will live at sea, and will die at sea.

These sea gypsies live in Malaysia and Indonesia. They live on houseboats or in stilt houses off the shores. So much of their time is spent in the water, they often feel landsick when they are on dry land.Because of the pressure from diving, these divers will intentionally rupture their eardrums at an early age – which essentially makes them partially deaf, a high price to pay for ensuring a good catch. The deep dives even change their eye muscles increasing their underwater eyesight.

The catch varies from area to area – some dive for food, others are after pearls or sea cucumbers. To make their job productive, many of these divers will have to make hundreds of dives a year.

The clip is part of the BBC/Discovery produced “Human Planet”. To learn more about the show, and the challenges involved with creating this amazing footage, check out the Human Planet blog.

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