| Passports: New rules make travel more difficult | | Posted Friday, January 26, 2007 3:21:16 PM by Blog57 Team | | Incontestably requiring passports of air travelers coming from our closest neighbors -- Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Caribbean -- is a step backward for easy and convenient travel for tourists and business travelers. Previously, a government-issued photo ID, typically a driver's license or a birth certificate, was sufficient, but the passport requirement was added as part of a 2004 antiterrorism law. .... | |
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| | | iAppreciate the chance to travel in space | | Posted Saturday, January 13, 2007 1:20:58 PM by Blog57 Team | | Technology is exciting to me, but it wasn't always. I was one of those who had to be physically, emotionally and intellectually dragged into the digital age and the world according to Steve Jobs. Now I fully appreciate the way technology allows one to advance, communicate and enjoy various forms of entertainment. Thanks to technology, readers of our online edition are now able to view a Saturday Spin video teaser that I am able to self-produce right in my office with my iMac and a sweet application called iMovie. Thanks to high-speed computers and gadgets of every conceivable use, a new age has spat forth self-made publishers, recording artists and videographers. There are even self-made space entrepreneurs, namely Sir Richard Branson with his Virgin Galactic outfit, and homeboy Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin who, about eight weeks ago, debuted a vertical takeoff and landing by a development vehicle called Goddard.... | |
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| | | Hilton creates Food Network travel package | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:46:30 AM by Blog57 Team | | Hilton Hotels and the Food Network have partnered to offer the "Food Network Travel Package" at 11 Hilton hotels throughout the country starting this week, Hilton said Monday. With the package, guests can experience a customized, regionally inspired four-course tasting menu created by the hotel's executive chef, and guests of legal drinking age can enjoy wine pairings chosen by the hotel's wine steward. Guests will also receive a Food Network welcome package including a Food Network tote, cookbook, restaurant guide, and a Food Network DVD of travel shows. Cost of the package was not released. Guests will also be offered complementary in-room programming created by Food Network. The package is available at The New York Hilton in New York; The Beverly Hilton and Hilton Costa Mesa in Los Angeles; Hilton Chicago in Chicago; Hilton San Francisco in San Francisco; Hilton Hawaiian Village (Oahu) in Honolulu; Hilton New Orleans Riverside in New Orleans; Hilton Austin in Austin; Hilton Atlanta in Atlanta; Hilton Back Bay in Boston; and Hilton Sedona in Arizona.... | |
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| | | Tips for Making the Most of Winter Travel | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 11:43:33 PM by Blog57 Team | | (ARA) - If being cooped up inside for days or weeks on end is giving you the urge to travel this winter, you're not alone. A change of scenery can be just the cure for cabin fever - whether you travel across the country or just to the next town over.But unpredictable weather can present some challenges when traveling at this time of year, so plan ahead and be flexible:* If you're driving, allow extra time to get to your destination in case snow or ice slow you down. .... | |
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| | | Travel agency hit with $100,000 fine | | Posted Thursday, November 09, 2006 1:55:31 PM by Blog57 Team | | A travel agency has been given a HK$100,000 fine and its membership of the Travel Industry Council suspended for one month following an incident last month in which one of its tour guides abandoned 12 members of a mainland tour group at a ferry pier after they refused to buy souvenirs at a shop he had recommended. Kam Sing International Agency was also put on a six-month probation during which any further violation of the rules laid down by the TIC would result in the company's license being suspended for a month. The guide involved also had his original two-week suspension extended to three months in what is said to be the harshest penalties ever imposed by the tourism watchdog on a member agency for such behavior. The decision is seen as an attempt by the authorities to shore up Hong Kong's image which has been battered by mounting complaints, especially from mainland tourists, about the territory's unscrupulous retail shopowners, as well as by the recent spate of negative publicity concerning operations at two of the SAR's key tourist attractions - Hong Kong Disneyland and the newly opened Ngong Ping 360 on Lantau island.... | |
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| | | Griffiths warns travel firms of fumes danger | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 7:14:50 PM by Blog57 Team | | BRITAIN'S travel bosses were today being warned by Edinburgh South MP Nigel Griffiths that they have to upgrade the boiler and central heating checks on overseas apartments in the wake of the Corfu carbon monoxide tragedy. The Deputy Leader of the Commons was meeting senior figures from the tourism industry in the wake of the deaths of Robert Shepherd, seven, and his six-year-old sister Christianne in a Corfu bedroom last month. .... | |
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| | | Travel industry monitoring Fiji activity | | Posted Wednesday, November 01, 2006 11:35:32 AM by Blog57 Team | | Airlines and travel agents have adopted a wait-and-see approach after the government upgraded travel warnings for Australians heading to Fiji as fears of a military coup persist. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) upgraded its travel warning to recommend a "high degree of caution" for travellers to Fiji. Melbourne Airport communications manager Tom Perry said the DFAT upgrade was having no major impact upon airport operations and the next flight departing Melbourne for Fiji would leave at midnight (AEDT). Mr Perry said travellers were very resilient and the airport would adopt a "wait-and-see approach". Flight Centre spokesman Hayden Long said the travel agency had received no major response from customers, but it was still quite early.... | |
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| | | Travel group joins privateers | | Posted Wednesday, October 25, 2006 7:21:55 PM by Blog57 Team | | AUSTRALIA'S largest travel agent, Flight Centre, will go private again in a deal that will deliver its founding shareholders a $435 million bonanza while retaining control of the company in partnership with private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP). Flight Centre shares leapt more than 23 per cent yesterday, up $3.20 to $16.85, with the deal offering minority shareholders $17.20 a share including a 20c per dividend. At this price the company is worth $1.6 billion. But there was concern yesterday the buyout offer was taking advantage of recent industry turbulence, and its subsequent effect on Flight Centre's share price, to buy back the company cheaply. Greg Hoffman, a director with Intelligent Investor Research, said "in the rather pessimistic circumstances, the offer represents a large premium to the pre-bid share price".... | |
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| | | Free student travel plan | | Posted Monday, October 23, 2006 1:13:15 PM by Blog57 Team | | FREE public transport will be provided to all children and full-time students throughout Victorian including Wodonga from July next year if the Liberals win government. Under a $285 million initiative announced by Liberal leader Ted Baillieu, children aged four to 14, primary and secondary students and full-time tertiary students eligible for a tertiary concession card will get free transport on Melbourne’s tram, train and bus networks, V/Line trains and coaches and bus services in Victoria’s regional cities. The only students to miss out will be those currently ineligible for a public transport concession card, including overseas, part-time and post-graduate students. "We want to do everything we can to assist Victorian families with education and providing free public transport for our young people represents a crucial opportunity to ease the cost," Mr Baillieu said.... | |
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| | | Seattle 'Travel Wizard' conjures up fine dinner | | Posted Sunday, October 22, 2006 7:13:45 PM by Blog57 Team | | The "Travel Wizard," a mythical figure my spouse created long ago, visited our children bearing treats on long road trips and rewarding good behavior. One night this summer, he reappeared on the streets of Seattle. We were hungry visitors seeking a restaurant to celebrate our son's recent completion of a postgraduate program. I stopped a kind-looking man on the street, seeking a recommendation. He smiled, greeted us and provided directions to an Italian eatery. Unfortunately, he gave us inaccurate information, and we had soon lost our way. What were we to do? Out of nowhere this "Travel Wizard" re-emerged, panting from running up a very steep street. He apologized for his mistake and pointed us in the right direction.... | |
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