Everglades to be put back on U.N. endangered list?

by Kraig Becker on

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is meeting with a task force charged with overseeing the restoration of the Florida Everglades this week. He intends to tell them that the Obama administration will ask the United Nations World Heritage Committee to put the national park back on its endangered list when the committee meet in Spain this week.

Two years ago, in what has been viewed as a controversial decision, the Bush administration requested that the U.N. remove the Everglades from the list. At the time, the Department of the Interior defended the decision by citing progress being made in protecting the region and the species that lived there, despite the fact that the restoration program had failed to meet milestones, and was billions over budget.

The current administration believes restoring the Everglades National Park to the list of endangered places will send a strong signal to environmentalists that they are committed to the protecting the environment. If restored to the list, the park will join the Galapagos Islands, the Old City of Jerusalem and Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley as the other World Heritage Sites considered to be in danger. The Everglades were originally added to the list back in 1993 when the area was damaged by Hurricane Andrew and the effects of prolonged exposure to water pollution became known.

Despite the issues effecting the park, the Everglades remains a popular tourist destination. There are more than 156 miles of canoe/kayak and hiking trails, with 47 designated campsites, inside the 2500 square miles of subtropical forest that define the parks boundaries. The Park Service reports that over one million visitors experience the Everglades each year.

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Trax metacrawler launches with First Class Frenzy upgrade game

by Grant Martin on

The newest metacrawler in town, Trax, is wooing users with added incentive to abandon their old Kayaking ways: upgrades. The travel search engine, which is undoubtedly scrapping for market share, just launched First Class Frenzy, an online trivia game where you can answer a host of questions and virtually “move up to first class.” Winners of the online game will be entered in a drawing to win an upgrade on their next flight.

“What sort of upgrade” you ask? According to Trax knower of things Ani Custer, winners will receive one, one way, domestic upgrade good for a year on a major US carrier. One winner will be selected every month, starting on July 16th. Fair enough. If you’re not traveling on the carrier that Trax selects, you can always give away the certificate.

As far as how Trax performs as a search engine, the site has real promise. I just ran a comparison search from DTW – CDG for a week in July and Trax found a fare $75 lower (via vayama.com) than Kayak did. I’ll be sure to include it in my battery of engines next time I run a real search.

Photo of the Day (6/4/09)

by Kent Wien on

Getting just the right shot in a Kayak can’t be very easy, but this one by Adam Baker turned out great. Taken in Cambria, CA, which is just off of HWY 1 on the coast.

Congratulations, Adam. Nice shot!

Are you a Flickr user who’d like to share a travel related picture or two for our consideration? Submit it to Gadling’s Flickr group right now! We just might use it for our Photo of the Day!


New Peter Island wants to help make a new you

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Peter Island Resort & Spa is celebrating a new look with a fresh deal. The largest private island resort in the British Virgin Islands has refurbished its 32 ocean-facing rooms and 20 beachfront junior suites and wants to show off the new look. Hey, if you just got a makeover, wouldn’t you? So, the property is offering up the “New Us, New You” package, which runs through October 31, 2009.

Remember, this is Peter Island, so you’re going to have to put out some cash, but you’ll get plenty for it. For $2,780 (or $4,020 for a junior suite), you’ll get five nights and only pay for four. On top of that, the resort is throwing in three meals a day and access to resort activities, including windsurfing, kayaking and the like. The best part – in my mind, at least – is the 75-minute Ayurvedic Abhyanga massage. The private yoga class for two doesn’t do much for me, but if you’re into yoga, I imagine you’d like it.

While you’re in the 10,000-sqft spa, check out some of the other treatments, as well. There are 13 types of facial available, with everything from collagen to caviar to botanical extracts.

If you need a reason to go relax on a private island that keeps even its own guests to a minimum, this is probably it.

New travel site Voyij.com offers comprehensive deals and user-friendly innovation

by Brenda Yun on

Launched just a few days ago, Voyij.com, the newest travel site whose crew brought SideStep to the world wide web, is hoping to bring fresh and creative deals, offers and sales for the flexible traveler. Voyij fills a void on the web that people want: the best bargains for travel. Users can explore and discover travel sales they never knew existed, independent of origin, destination, or dates. Voyij was developed to bring the “best of the best travel bargains” to users in the easiest, most time-efficient way.

Here’s how Voyij works: Simply enter where you are and Voyij will present the most comprehensive list of travel deals on the web at any given time. Not every destination or date is always on sale every day, but Voyij allows you to find what is on sale at the time you search. In the process, you can explore other, new travel possibilities from a variety of other places. It’s similar to Kayak, but offers more field options to get the kind of results you’re looking for.

In addition to finding new and unexpected travel possibilities, you can opt to select by criteria. Voyij provides complete filtering for what is important to each individual person, including travel dates, accommodation ratings, location, activities, price, and more. It is not uncommon for travelers to visit over a dozen sites before finding just the right travel deal to fit their travel needs.

Voyij does all the navigating for you. All you have to do is enter in your travel criteria. From one central hub, Voyij searches the web’s deals and sales to offer exclusive last-minute specials and promotional rates to bring its users the widest selection of offers from any one site.

I’m always looking for the cheapest fares from Honolulu to the mainland, and now I can find out when I can go that will provide the best deal rather than searching for arbitrary dates and destinations. It might take a little getting used to initially, but Voyij definitely has the potential to make travel that much cheaper, easier and more hassle-free.