Videos of Costa Concordia
Here is a collection of videos made available through the Daily Telegraph’s website. The first is infrared footage of the ship’s evacuation. The second, if you speak Italian, is the Coast Guard commander ordering the captain and the second-in-command back on board to coordinate the evacuation. And the third shows the Italian military blasting a hole in the hull to search for survivors.
A chance to tour the real Downton Abbey
If you’re one of the millions of Americans completely smitten by the PBS Emmy award-winning series Downton Abbey, and you’re as wealthy as the Earl of Grantham, you can immerse yourself in the show’s Edwardian setting.
Taking a Martin Luther King historical journey
On this Martin Luther King Day, US national holiday, Ned Levi discusses his travels to Atlanta, Georgia, and Montgomery Alabama, to see some of the historic locations important in the life of Dr. King, while he was attending and covering the Southern Poverty Law Center’s 40th Anniversary Celebration last year.
Stewart Island: The “other” New Zealand island
Stewart Island, 674 isolated square miles of land to the south of South Island that very few New Zealanders visit, much less anyone else, is the only place in New Zealand where you can spot kiwis, the native bird that few natives ever see.
Weekend what we’re reading: All-you-can eat strategies, quirky left behinds at hotels, $400K collected in left change by TSA
This weekend we examine how to get the most out of all-you-can-eat salad bars from how to make sure you get what you want to piling the most for your money onto your plate. (Watch out! These techniques have been banned by Pizza Hut in China.) Next we take a look at strange items that travelers leave behind in hotel rooms. Finally, TSA reports that this year’s haul of spare change left behind at security checkpoints topped $400,000.
What we’re watching: Matt is still dancing, TSA and Grandma, FAs vs. FFs
Contributor, Karen Cummings, found this video that flashed through 50 or 60 or so locations in as many seconds. I find it fascinating at how recognizable these sights are at only a glance. Next, Grandma gets special Christmas service from TSA and finally Ryanair’s flight attendants strut their stuff. (If you don’t like scantily clad flight attendants and fawning photographers, don’t bother watching.)
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada
You can’t find many places further from somewhere else than Elko, Nevada. This city of about 20,000 sits halfway between Salt Lake City and Reno; 230 miles from the former and 288 miles along one of the loneliest highways in America from the latter. It is also home to the controversial National Cowboy Poetry Gathering that takes place this year from January 30 to February 4, 2012.
Free market and consumers are losers when airlines keep hiding fees
Consumers are coming up to crunch time in the hard work that has gone towards mandating that airlines reveal fees to consumers. This has been a struggle that has been proceeding since spring of 2010. It has gone on through one completed rulemaking that will fully come into effect on January 24th and 26th. Then a new proposed rulemaking focused on price transparency is scheduled to follow in mid-2012.
Thank you Europe for yet another fee and taking money from environmental conservation efforts
The European Union’s (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is now up and running. Bureaucrats in Europe figured if they charged airlines for burning fossil fuels when traveling to Europe, the airlines would have an incentive to save fuel and, hence, improve the environment. Wrong.
4 not-too-unrealistic airline passenger wishes for 2012. What are yours?
All frequent travelers want first class service at coach prices whenever and where they fly. Forgetaboutit. On a more realistic note, there are a number of steps airlines could potentially take to improve the flying experience. Here are four of my potential wishes for not-to-unrealistic changes the airline can make. Let me know if you agree or disagree.