Beijing 2008 Olympics tickets: Watch out for sketchy online offers

by Jeffrey White on

Quick quiz: Click on this site for Beijing Olympics tickets. Now, click on this ticket site. What’s the difference? The first is official, the second is not. They look pretty much the same, right? That’s the point, and that is what’s scary. The second link is clearly some ticketing warehouse. Note the text along the top of your browser — Champions League? Euro 2008? But, you say, I want Olympics tickets! — and the glaring typo in the welcome message. Go ahead and click on ‘About Us’.

The Washington Post‘s crack travel team outed a sketchy Olympic ticketing site this past weekend in their “Coming and Going” column. Having been alerted by a reader to a suspicious site — http://www.beijingticketing.com — CoGo, as the column is playfully referred to, made some calls. A few things didn’t add up: The site gives a UK phone number and a Phoenix address. The company running the site — XL&H — is either a public or a private enterprise, depending on which part of the site you happen upon. It is registered in Delaware. The Post notes all this, but couldn’t turn up any Delaware registration for the company. When reporters tried to contact the company through the e-mail given on the site, they received a vague response about all tickets being available for pick-up in China. The paper also turns up some interesting fine print items.

What really matters in all this is that, as the Post notes, this particular site pops up first in most standard Google searches for Olympics tickets, which could lead some to see it as more official than it might be. Ditto for the second and third hits that come up on most searches, the Post reports.

The Olympics are a scant five months away. Individual events have been sold out for months, and the scramble is on to secure packages and miracle one-offs. This is not to say that you cannot go through alternative channels to obtain hard-to-get seats, or that Web sites advertising tickets are necessarily scams. But you should be careful and you should have a pretty good idea where you’re sending your money.

Telecommuting from the road: the art of combining work and travel

by Neil Woodburn on

I can’t imagine a better work situation than telecommuting from abroad.

This used to be simply impossible but today with the advent of technology and the internet, this is wholly doable and is actually far easier to pull off than ever imagined.

Thankfully, the fine folks over at Business 2.0 have put together a little how-to guide–and just in time. I’m disappointed to report that Business 2.0, one of my favorite magazines, has called it quits and just published their last issue.

The good news is that these out-of-work journalists can now follow the advice of Chris Morrison, one of their colleagues, to “see the world and collect a healthy paycheck.”

The Rise of the White Collar Nomad is Morrison’s outstanding article that provides tips on how to drop out of the rat race and run your business from remote locations while your clients are stuffed into their cubicle farms.

Morrison points the aspiring nomad towards the right gear, such as a Mac laptop (less likelihood of getting a virus), PayPal account, key chain flash drive, Skype, and WiFi signal sniffer. He also throws out a couple of “Cheap and Wired” locations to set up your temporary office-away-from-the-office. Try Egypt, for example, where Morrision estimates that daily food and lodging costs just $37. Imagine getting your regular paycheck but having just a fraction of the bills to pay.

There are downsides, however; no face-face interaction with your colleagues and no water cooler conversation.

For more details on living this dream life, be sure to visit Workingnomad.com for inspiration.

Savvy Traveler: How to Spot Fake Wasabi

by Iva Skoch on

Wasabi (aka the lump of green stuff that comes with sushi) is not horseradish. Wasabi is a plant that grows primarily in Japan but now also in the Pacific Northwest of the US. It is difficult to grow and can cost up to $100/lb. You see where I’m going with this…

In order to meet the rising demand for $6 supermarket sushi, the green stuff you are most likely getting with your sushi is American horseradish, mustard and coloring, hopefully at least mixed with the real stuff.

If you would like to be sure what you have, Sushifaq.com suggests, you can ask your wait staff if what you are served is ‘real wasabi’ or ‘fresh wasabi’ and if not, if it is available. If you are served putty, more than likely it is not real. Real wasabi is grated (traditionally on a sharkskin grater called an oroshi) and looks as such. Fake wasabi is not and does not. Just ask your wait staff for ‘fresh wasabi’ and if they have the real thing, they will usually return with a dish with a grated pile of the real thing, which is a very different experience from fake wasabi. If you are buying wasabi in store, read the label to determine if you have real wasabi or something else.

Rent Baby Gear on Your Next Trip for Easier Packing

by Jamie Rhein on

We traveled with my son from India to Thailand when he was three months old. This wasn’t his first trip, but it was his first international one. Along with us came his car seat carrier, baby stroller, baby sling, and diaper bag. He slept with us, so that took care of the where to let him sleep. We stacked pillows around him whenever he was in bed alone. The baby stroller was also handy for transporting our own personal items through the airport and up to the gate. Strollers are hand-loaded onto an airplane and since you get it back as soon as you land, it’s mighty handy to have one.

There were times on other trips when we lugged along a portable playpen, but he really never used it. I can’t recall why not, but bringing it turned out to be a waste of energy and space. Probably because he never used it at home either, so why would he use it elsewhere? The what to bring along when traveling with a baby can be a stumbling block for folks whose child needs certain items to feel comfortable in an unfamiliar environment. I too pondered this before every trip away from home.

To help people who want to travel with their young ones, but hesitate with the thought of the stuff they could be dragging along, there are companies who are offer solutions. (see article). Baby’s Away rents out full-size cribs and stuff like ExerSaucers. The Traveling Baby Company rents high end strollers, baby bathtubs, car seats, baby monitors etc. You can also order stuff like baby food and supplies to have on hand when you arrive at your destination.When visiting friends and relatives, having a crib readily available could come in handy–it actually isn’t a bad idea to have some food at the other end too. Not that you can’t get any, but to not have all those jars to pack sounds divine. When traveling in some parts of the world, commercial baby food just seems a safer bet.

This summer was the first time we drove to New York without the jogging stroller. It was always such a pain to pack. Trying to keep the wheels from tumbling out each time the hatch of the station wagon was opened and closed was an issue. I can see how it might have saved us some grief if we could have rented a stroller for the few times we actually used it. As far as renting a car seat goes, since you can carry them to the gate and have them hand put on at no extra charge, I’m not sure why a person would rent one, unless you are one person traveling with a child and can’t manage to carry it too. I could be dense, though, and just not get it.

The photo by Six Continents Chick on Flickr shows what traveling with three adults and one infant can look like in the stuff catgory. Read the description and you’ll see what I mean.

Greetings from Crete: Driving a Fiat Like It’s a Ferrari

by Iva Skoch on

Coming back to the hotel last night, we passed by a major traffic accident: a head-on collision involving several small cars. One was flipped over and crushed, and at least one other was completely destroyed. All in all, we counted six involved cars.

I’ve found that there are exactly three rules of the road to driving in Crete:

1) Ignore the speed limit

2) Ignore the double center line and pass at will

3) Drive off the side off the road, to allow faster (much faster) traffic to pass. Everyone straddles the right-side line or drives on the shoulder to let others pass.

Undoubtedly, the accident we came upon was caused by any combination of these three rules.

I’m reminded of a recent article saying that the deaths of most tourists were caused by traffic accidents, not heart attacks, shark bites, sucking leeches, crime, or malaria. In fact, the WHO estimates that over 1.2 million tourists are killed in traffic accidents every year, with 20-50 million injured.

You know how they say that the majority of car accidents happen within two miles of home?