One thumb down for Kayak.com

by Jerry Guo on

This might be a controversial position, but I’m not a fan of Kayak anymore. It’s gotten rave reviews for being an all-you-can-eat airfare conglomerate that doesn’t even charge you a buck (it works to aggregate data from other for-profit aggregators like Orbitz). People have also been saying it’s great for multi-city searches and car rentals comparisons.

To all that, I say bah humbug! I just tried to book last-minute tickets to Peru using the site and the fares it gave me were completely outdated. I wasted at least an hour trying to track down a ticket that I could actually buy; each time I got excited about a fare, it would tell me the system was outdated and the ticket was no longer available.

At first it showed me some ridiculous 3-stop connections to Lima for $1,000, which is quite a steal this late in the game. But those were gone. Then it showed me some 2-stop connections for $1,200 through Spirit Airlines. But when it connected me to the airline’s site, it abruptly changed the prices to $1,500. In its defense, Kayak did get most of the erroneous data from Orbitz, which on its own suffered the same problems.

Maybe I’m just grumpy I have to pay $1,500 for the tickets.

Update: Back from the grave

by Jerry Guo on

I wrote last Friday about the bizarre events unfolding in England, where a lost kayaker walked into a police station claiming amnesia, more than five years after he was assume dead.

Here’s the conclusion. Over the weekend, he was formally arrested for life insurance fraud and making false statements to obtain a passport. His wife was arrested on fraud charges. The 57-year-old man could face up to 10 years in prison. As I alluded to last week, the motive here was a $50,000 life insurance policy and a get-out-of-debt card worth $260,000, when the man disappeared and his wife claimed he was dead.

Turned out they’ve been living together since Feb 2003. But apparently life on the lam isn’t all that glamorous, though they’ve been to Cyprus, Gibraltar, and Panama. The husband got itchy with his secret life (in other words, pretending to be dead) that he wanted to fly to Kansas to live with a woman he met on the Internet.

The story has a very sad ending indeed. Their two adult children say they want nothing to do with their bum parents and this “huge scam.”

Crossing the “Ditch”

by Erik Olsen on

Ask any seasoned explorer and he/she will tell you that there are few “big firsts” left to do. Sure, the bottom of the ocean still holds a lot of promise since, as scientists say, some 70 percent of the deep ocean has never been explored. But up on the surface, there are few places man has not trod, and few big accomplishments he has not already made. Well apparently one of these firsts is crossing a stretch of nasty water known as The Ditch. The Ditch stretches between Australia and New Zealand, and according to this site, it has never been crossed in a two-man, human-propelled boat (aka kayak).

In late 2007, James Castrission and Justin Jones will kayak over 1000 miles across the Tasman Sea, from Australia to New Zealand. If they pull it off, it will be the first ever crossing and the longest two man kayak expedition ever undertaken. The pair have loaded up a finely-tuned, state-of-the-art two man kayak that looks more like a pace ship than a boat. They’ve got GPS and communication devices and have trained intensely for the effort. All the details of their prep can be seen here. Sounds like an amazing, perilous journey. We wish them well.

Booking a Flight from New York to San Francisco Online. But Where Online?

by Iva Skoch on

I used to be a big fan of buying tickets on travel websites such as Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com but lately, I found that it is often cheaper to buy them directly through the airlines’s websites. Have we come a full circle?

I picked a random date–a long weekend Sept.13-17 from New York to San Francisco–to see what rates would come back.

A sample of a few direct flights:

  • United: $303 on Expedia, $298 on United.com
  • Continental: $357 on Expedia, $352 on Continental.com
  • Delta: $303 on Expedia, $358 on Delta.com
  • Alaska: $343 on Expedia, $498 on Alaskaair.com (hello!)

OK, so it’s a mixed bag. I have to say though that I have yet to find a flight that is cheaper on Expedia or Travelocity than it is on Continental.com. Their website is really good, I think. It is comforting to know that airlines are starting to understand how to use the Internet to their–and our–advantage.

I now use kayak.com to see the best rates and then book directly on the airlines’ sites. Plus, I get extra miles for booking online. Expedia, be worried!

Cave Paddling at the Channel Islands

by Erik Olsen on

I loved the fact that someone so quickly identified the photo of Potato Harbor at Channel Islands National Park in our recent Where on Earth. It suggests that some folks regard the islands as highly as I do. As Neil mentioned, a group of us have done a series of trips out to the islands, and each time found the experience rewarding. The one thing that I really want to call attention to at the Islands are the sea caves. Santa Cruz Island has some of the largest explorable sea caves in the country. They make for a superb day out in boats and, should you bring along a fishing pole, you might even catch dinner. The best thing about the islands is how undeveloped they are. Unlike Catalina, which can be a weekend circus, the Channels Islands are largely privately-owned by the highly regarded conservation organization the Nature Conservancy. The section that is accessible to the general public is run by the National Park Service who generally does a fantastic job keeping the islands clean and in good condition.

I really just wanted to second Neil’s enthusiasm for the islands and to call your attention to this fine article over at Canoe/Kayak Magazine about paddling the sea caves. I fondly remember my own experience exploring these caves and look forward to being able to fully circumnavigate one or a few of them at some future time.