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the IBIT Travel Digest 1.27.13

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The good, the bad and the bizarre in the world of travel

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DANCING THROUGH CUSTOMS
One of the fringe benefits of writing a travel blog is that you can make some great friends doing great work. One such friend of mine is Renee King, who publishes A View to a Thrill.

In her most recent installment, she gives us the 4-1-1 on of the US government’s trusted traveler programs that can seriously speed you through the Customs process upon your return to the United States. It’s called “Global Entry” and here’s what Renee had to say about it:

“Originally created to target frequent international travelers, the U.S. Global Entry program has been a virtual god-send for travelers who want a fast and secure way of skipping the lines altogether when re-entering the United States.”

To pick up all the details on “Global Entry,” check out Renee’s article here. And then bookmark it. You’ll want to keep this one handy.

Anyone who doesn’t “get” the importance of this program has never walked/stumbled/staggered off a jumbo jet with about 300 other exhausted souls after a transoceanic flight lasting 12 hours or longer, only to queue up in a Customs line…with the passengers of two, three or four other jumbo jets, all doing the same thing you are.

I have. I don’t recommend it.

If such a trip is a one-in-a-lifetime deal for you, then you may not need this program, especially when it costs $100. You’ll also have to make an appointment to be interviewed, electronically fingerprinted and see if you qualify for the program — and frankly, not everyone will.

But when you walk off that plane in a jet-lagged fog and breeze by all those folks suffering in line, you’ll swear it was the best time and money you ever spent on travel.

And if you make more than, say, three or four globe-girdling flights per year, you need this.

To apply for the Global Entry program, start here.

ALL ABOARD…THE NIGHT TRAIN
If it’s true that, in the words of the old Amtrak commercial, “there’s something about a train, then there’s something even more captivating about an overnight “sleeper” train.

Watching the sun set from the privacy of your own compartment, then bedding down for the night with a window full of stars and awaking the next morning in a different city — or a different country — is unforgettable.

It’s also practical. A sleeper train combines transportation and lodging in one. Instead of losing a day traveling between points, you arrive at your destination early the next morning.

It’s not cheap, but a private compartment often includes all your on-board meals, as well as other perks unavailable to Coach passengers, all of which makes the sleeper experience worth considering.

London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper has considered it at length, and compiled a slideshow of what they consider to be the top ten overnight sleeper train runs in Europe, including one between Europe (London) and Africa (Marrakech, Morocco).

Paris-Barcelona? Paris-Berlin? London-Penzance? Yeah, I could happily do any of those.

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AFRICAN FASHION MADE EASY
Not many folks on this side of the Atlantic are aware of it, but Africa has developed quite the fashion scene. We’re talking high-end threads for men and women from high-profile designers from the length and breadth of the Mother Continent.

Until a few years ago, your best shot at checking out this vibrant and growing fashion world was to fly to one or more of perhaps seven African cities:

  • Lagos, Nigeria
  • Nairobi, Kenya
  • Cape Town, South Africa
  • Johannesburg, South Africa
  • Dakar, Senegal
  • Luanda, Angola

And if you want to get a feel for the sources of inspiration that drive these African fashions, that still might be the best idea.

However, you do have alternatives. Lots of them, in fact.

New York City, Los Angeles and Dallas both annually hosts African Fashion Weeks. But if you feel like giving your fashion trip some international flavor — with a bit less expense and a lot less flight time — there’s the Black Fashion Week in Paris and the Africa Fashion Week London, now in its third year.

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And now, here’s The Digest:

AIR
from Business Insider via Yahoo
A Germany-based air safety monitoring group lists the world’s ten most dangerous airlines over the last 30 years. Read with some large grains of salt.

from eTurbo News
An Indonesian airline adopts new Sukhoi Superjet 100 airliners from Russia. The reason: They can operate from the country’s short runways.

from NBC News
Southwest Airlines is betting that you’ll be willing to pay $40 extra to board their planes early. Would you?

from eTurbo News
Ethiopian Airlines cuts flights from Addis Ababa to Europe.

LAND

from Travel Weekly
A heavy late-December snowfall has the skiing looking good at America’s ski resorts.

from The Telegraph (London UK)
What do you get when you take an Amtrak train between Toronto and New York? A 12-hour rail cruise through US history and some of North America’s most gorgeous scenery.

from Forbes via Yahoo
Can you measure a country’s happiness? The Legatum Institute of London says it can, and it’s produced a list of the world’s ten happiest nations. And no, the United States is nowhere in the top ten.

from Time
Has snowboarding lost its mojo?

SEA
from Cruise Industry News
More evidence of the cruise industry’s growing tilt toward Asia: Princess Cruises to homeport a second cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, in Japan.

from Cruise Critic
For those of you dying to escape the frigid winter, there are six cruise ships sailing in warm waters that nearly always have cabins offered at a discount.

from Cruise Industry News
The upscale cruise line Silversea plans to offer shorter (and thus cheaper) cruises in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

from Cruise Industry News
As cruises go, this one’s the ultimate icebreaker. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is planning an August cruise of the Northwest Passage fron Greenland to Alaska on one of its expedition ships, the Hanseatic. You don’t often see the words “expedition” and “5-star” in the same sentence.

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AFRICA
from Reuters
You might want to hold off on that Cairo vacation a little longer. Things are getting hectic — and deadly — again in Egypt.

from al Jazeera
Museum in Mali trying to protect some of the country’s historic artifacts from the threat of destruction by radical Muslim insurgents.

from eTurbo News
British Airways pulls out of Tanzania, and Emirates is the first airline to step into the void.

from The Telegraph (London UK)
Tourism officials in Egypt report that foreign visits are up, but not as much as expected.

from eTurbo News
Ethiopia turning to China, India and Russia as potential new tourism markets.

AMERICAS
from the Huffington Post
George Hobica says Albuquerque NM has been overshadowed by Santa Fe, but it deserves a closer look. Especially if you’re a fan of beer, road trips and under-the-radar cool.

from Travel Weekly
Want a shot at some warm winter weather and a whiff of that new hotel smell? Start saving your coins and circle Dec. 2014 on your calendar. That’s the the 1,000-room $1 billion Baha Mar casino resort is set to open its doors.

from the Chicago Tribune
If you’re a baseball junkie, a visit to Chicago’s historic Wrigley Field is something close to a religious pilgrimage. Now, the Sheraton hotel chain is planning to put up a boutique hotel directly across the street from the old ballpark. Think they’ll pt bleachers on the roof?

from Reuters via NBCNews
More flights and a weaker dollar have combined to create record-setting tourism in Hawaii.

ASIA/PACIFIC
from BootsnAll
Southeast Asia is a great destination for rail travel.

from China Daily
The dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku (or if you’re Chinese, Diaoyu) Islands is throwing cold water on tourism between the two countries.

from SFGate.com
Walking in the path of samurai. Scenic medieval walkways in Japan.

from The Guardian (London UK)
What would you see on a 40-mile walk across a city of 30 million souls? Marcel Theroux gives us his answers from his trek across Tokyo, the first of a series of walks across the largest cities on Earth.

EUROPE
from ABC News via Yahoo
Welcome to County Kerry in southwest Ireland, where drunk driving is legal. And no, that’s not a typo.

from eTurbo News
Ukraine’s largest airline, AeroSvit, goes belly up, stranding hundreds of passengers in the process.

from The Guardian (London UK)
It wasn’t that long ago that the term “luxury hostel” might have been the ultimate oxymoron in travel especially in Europe. It’s fair to say that things have changed. A lot. SLIDESHOW

This and that from Long Beach

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First of two parts

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It was a case of “something old, something new” in Long Beach last weekend at this year’s Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show in Long Beach.

If you’ve been to these shows before, listening to well-known travel gurus like Rick Steves, Pauline Frommer and Patricia Schultz felt like re-connecting with old friends and hearing about their latest adventures.

Another familiar offering that was a welcome sight were the combination bike/barge tours of Holland.

The table-flat region of northwestern Europe once known as the Low Countries are custom-made for leisurely cycling tours (if you’re in the mood to really burn off some calories, just pedal harder into the headwinds). Combine the rides with cruises on the Netherlands’ web of canals and that’s one good trip.

NOTE: For those of you who have as much trouble keeping this straight as I do, Netherlands is the name of the country. Holland is a region of the Netherlands.

Something that’s gotten old here in a not-so-good way is the absence of African nations. Only Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways were here to represent for the Mother Continent, even though more Americans visit Africa from the West Coast than anywhere else.

Benign neglect as a marketing strategy? I dunno…

As for the new stuff, there are some new destinations starting to emerge, some as alternatives to the usual popular suspects, others just trying to get themselves noticed in their own right.

ADRIATIC ALTERNATIVE
One European destination that’s picking up a lot of buzz is Slovenia, just on the east side of northern Italy on the Adriatic Sea.

It’s being talked up so far as a low-cost alternative to Italy, but it has enough going for it to one day be seen as a major attraction all its own.

It’s one of those new Central European republics that gained their independence when Yugoslavia broke up in the early 1990s. Compared with the rest of the region, the Slovenes managed to claim their independence with relatively little trauma, which left their country virtually undamaged.

You’ll be hearing more about this place in the coming years, and not just here at IBIT. Unspoiled mountain villages and national parks. Spectacular caves. Alpine skiing. The Adriatic coast, which is gorgeous.

Best of all, the cost of virtually everything in Slovenia is a lot cheaper than in Italy. As the saying goes, what’s not to like?

But if you just can’t deny yourself a little taste of Italia, Venice is only a few hours away overland.

LAYERS OF CULTURE
Most of us Americans don’t know much about Malaysia as a travel destination, but the rest of the world does, enough to make it the world’s 10th most popular destination.

Malaysia has a fractured geography, sharing the Malay Peninsula with Thailand and Singapore, and the island of Borneo with Indonesia.

If you want to visit a beautiful country in Southeast Asia without running into hordes of your fellow Americans, this might be a good choice.

It’s not that big, maybe a little larger overall than the state of New Mexico. It’s definitely tropical, mountainous, with lots of beaches, mangroves and reefs for you scuba and snorkel enthusiasts. It also claims to hold the world’s oldest tropical rainforest.

Probably the most recognizable part of Malaysia is strictly urban, the twin Petronas Towers, one of the tallest buildings in the world.

What makes this place interesting to me, though, are the multiple layers of ethnicity and culture. We’re talking three major ethnic groups — Malays, Chinese, Indians — and perhaps a dozen or more native and non-native tribes.

Languages? At least 15, including six different flavors of Chinese alone. As for the rest, Malay is the official language, but one of the others commonly spoken is English.

Religiously, the country is about 60 percent Muslim, 20 percent Buddhist, 10 percent Christian and 6 per cent Hindu, with a little Chinese religion thrown into the mix.

The best part: Everybody gets along. It hasn’t always worked perfectly, but it still seems to work.

As a bonus, their national air carrier, Malaysia Airlines, may be one of the best airlines you never hear about, one of only six in the world given a 5-star rating last year by the British airline rating organization Skytrax.

Beautiful country. Great food. Friendly people. A world-class airline. And no drama? Yeah, I could do that.

But there are lots of other things you can do when you travel, some of which are a little…unconventional. And that’s coming up in Part 2.

A nightmare with wings

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©Roman Snytsar | Dreamstime.com

©Roman Snytsar | Dreamstime.com

UPDATE
Boeing 787 Dreamliners are now being grounded worldwide for safety checks. —IBIT

The latest mechanical incident involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner grounds all the aircraft flying in Japan. Could things possibly get any worse for Boeing? Yes, and quite soon.

So I’m in Long Beach, CA last Sunday at the Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show, talking with the West Coast sales rep for All Nippon Airways about their new Business Class seats, which they’re featuring on their equally new Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

ANA was the first airline in the world to start flying Dreamliners, and he expresses some mild sympathy for the variety of fuel leaks within the last month that prompted ANA’s rival, Japan Air Lines, to ground all of theirs.

What a difference three days makes. Aboard an ANA Dreamliner flying over western Japan, there’s suddenly a burning smell in the cockpit and smoke in the cabin. The crew makes an emergency landing, the exit rows become exits and 137 passengers slide for their lives.

Between them, ANA and JAL operate nearly half of the 50 Dreamliners in service around the world, and airlines on every continent have hundreds more on back order. Both airlines have now grounded their 787s while mechanics try to figure out what the hell is going on with these aircraft, which have been flying commercially for barely 15 months.

How do you say “WTF” in Japanese? One more episode like this and Boeing’s public relations people may want to go into witness protection.

The Dreamliner is the first totally new airliner that Boeing has put out in a decade, a state-of-the-art design with range and fuel economy never seen before. The company spent billions of dollars to create it and the airlines, desperate to cut their fuel bills, went all-in committing to it.

In other words, the future of Boeing and more than a few airlines is riding on the wings of this airplane. And now, it’s not looking so good. In fact, as IBIT has documented, the Dreamliner has been a hot mess from the start. Design problems. Production problems.

When Boeing delivered its first 787 to ANA, it was three years late, and the company hasn’t caught up yet. Some airlines grew disgusted with the whole process and cancelled their orders.

And now this.

Groundings like this don’t just affect travelers flying from Point A to Point B. They have a ripple affect through an airline’s entire flight schedule, stranding hundreds and even thousands of suddenly very angry people.

It’s even worse for smaller airlines, that don’t have spare aircraft sitting around, waiting to fill the void.

History tells us that all new airplanes, especially those that push the design envelope as much as this one, have some teething problems in the beginning. History also tells us when it comes to public perceptions of safety, that may not matter.

To understand why, you have to go back to 1952 and the world’s first jet airliner, Britain’s deHavilland Comet.

The Comet was beautiful. So sleek, with its four engines set inside the wings, that it looked fast standing still. Big square windows for unrivaled views. Supremely comfortable inside. No propeller-driven airliner could match it.

But within a year of entering service, Comets started falling to Earth. They were all grounded while engineers tried to track down the problem, which they eventually did.

The square window shape cut into the fuselage was too weak to withstand the pressure of higher altitudes. The windows were blowing out, causing sudden decompression that the aircraft couldn’t survive. (And if you ever wondered why all airliner windows have the shape that they do today, now you know.)

By 1958, the Comet was deemed safe, but by then, the flying public wanted no part of it — and soon, neither did the world’s airlines. That also was the year that Boeing came out with its groundbreaking 707.

Within six years, the Comet was a memory — and DeHavilland was out of business.

You can bet cash money that every senior executive at Boeing knows this story by heart. They also know that every new incident, every new grounding moves the Dreamliner one step closer to becoming the Comet 2.0 in people’s minds.

Business writers already are using the words “Dreamliner” and “Edsel” in the same sentence. Not good.

Not everyone is scared, however. LOT Polish Airlines is making its first trans-Atlantic flight today with its new Dreamliner. I’ve also talked to my friends at Ethiopian Airlines, who say they absolutely love theirs and want more of them. Even the Japanese airlines are saying their 787s could return to the air in a few days.

Together, that could be enough to ease public unease about the plane. And Airbus is still a good three years away from putting its answer to the 787, the A350-AWB, into comercial service.

So Boeing still has time — a very little time in airline years — to get its billion-dollar bird together.

Even so, the folks who’ve staked their future, and that of the airline industry, on the Dreamliner REALLY can’t afford another month like this one.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
Dreamliner in flight
AFRICA — The air game changes
A Dreamliner come true for San Diego

AFRICA: A different kind of Visa

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With a little imagination, a new Visa card being sponsored by an East African bank and Kenya’s national airline could serve as a model for promoting black American travel to Africa.

Kenya Airways Boeing 767

Kenya Airways Boeing 767

In Sunday’s IBIT Travel Digest, I mentioned the new Visa card from Kenya Airways, backed by Barclay’s Bank of Kenya.

That raises some intriguing possibilities.

On this side of the Atlantic, many black Americans would love to visit Africa if only they could afford it, and black-owned banks that could use an infusion of capital to invest in Black America.

On the other side, many of Africa’s 54 nations are eager to welcome black American visitors. There are credible African airlines that would love to bring us there. There also are some African banks that could benefit from building business relationships in North America.

What would happen if all these folks started talking to one another?

Maybe something wonderful.

Suppose those African airlines were to offer a credit card in this country, through a cooperative agreement between black-owned US banks and an African bank. The cardholder could choose between building mileage credit toward free flights on the sponsoring African airline, or a cash rebate.

But why stop there?

The airline could work with hoteliers and tour operators in the host country to put together an all-inclusive tour — lodging, meals, transport, tours, transfers to/from airports, everything.

Tours could be designed around different themes, keyed to a visitor’s interests:

  • EDUCATION — language, African history, Diaspora history and heritage, science, conservation
  • CULTURE — art, music, fashion, food, nightlife, religion
  • RECREATION — hiking, bicycling, boating, surfing, diving
  • BUSINESS — investment opportunities
  • NATURE — conservation, safaris

The possibilities are as varied as Africa itself.

But the card simply would be part of the bank’s package to its new customers. The principal feature of that package would be a savings account, to which you commit to making monthly deposits.

No minimum starting balance. Deposit as much or as little monthly as you want, as long as you deposit something. In effect, it would be a monthly bill, with one critical difference: You’re paying yourself.

Once you build up enough cash, you log onto the bank’s Web site and select your Africa tour package. Within seconds, your trip is paid for, your flights and hotels booked. Travel insurance would be included automatically as part of your credit card account &mdash just as it is with the Kenya Airways card.

The remaining money in your account becomes your spending money in Africa, cash you can withdraw from the ATM machines of the US bank’s partner in Africa.

Next stop: The Mother Continent.

Upon your trip, start saving for your next trip to Africa. Or South America. Or Europe. Or any other purpose. It’s your money.

Putting all this together definitely would be a challenge, and not just on the banking side.

Currently, only six Africa-based airlines make direct flights to the United States — Nigeria’s Arik Air, Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways, Cape Verde Airlines, Egyptair and Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc. But all either have or are capable of making codeshare agreements with US or European airlines that fly between the US and Africa daily.

Ethiopian Airlines already is a member of Star Alliance, the world’s largest alliance of codesharing airlines.

This could work. The key to making this work is saving.

Consider the amount of money annually estimated to be floating around in Black America, — currently about $1.1 trillion. How do financial experts describe all this money we collectively have? “Black wealth?…”Black economic strength?”

No and no. It’s invariably referred to as “black purchasing power.”

And brother, do we ever purchase. We spend money as if it were about to evaporate, caught up in a society that pushes us 24/7 to BUY! BUY! BUY! The word “bling” used to represent the sound of a bicycle bell — until we got hold of it.

Now look at China. The country pays some of the world’s lowest wages, and yet Chinese tourists are fanning out across the globe. The Chinese are known as the world’s most ferocious savers.

Coincidence? I think not.

Some, like this long-winded financial wonk, say it’s a matter of government policy. The Chinese themselves say it’s a cultural thing. Either way, they put their money away.

Imagine what we could achieve if we did the same with just 1 percent — one penny on every dollar — of that $1.1 trillion. That would put $11 billion into banks that we own, money to invest on homes, on creating businesses and jobs, paying for education. Paying for travel.

You can do a lot with $11 billion.

Am I dreaming? Sure, but why not? Small dreams are a waste of sleep.

the IBIT DIGEST 10-28-12

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The good, the bad and the bizarre from the world’s best travel media

awash coffee ceremony

©IBIT/G. Gross

HIT THE COFFEE ROAD
In addition to wildlife safaris, history and heritage, you now have a new reason to visit East Africa: coffee. An outfit called ET African Journeys is offering a 14-day tour next month called Ethiopia & the Birth of Coffee.

Don’t expect a lot of “down” time on this trip. The package includes visits to a coffee cooperative and at least three different local tribes — the Erbore, Kanso and Woito peoples. You’ll also head into the Great Rift Valley for 4×4 drives and boat rides on valley lakes, as well as the Blue Nile Falls. You’ll also be seeing two different UN World Heritage sites, the castles of Gondar and the rock churches of Lalibela.

Lest you drop from sheer exhaustion and sensory overload, they’ve also worked a couple of resort and spa stays into those 14 days, as well.

Ethiopia is where coffee was born and there are those of you who will swear it’s the best in the world. It spread east into the Arab world and then to Europe before finally making its way to the Americas and the rest of the planet.

I’ve never been a big coffee drinker, but after getting my first taste of it during San Diego’s African Restaurant Week, I can tell you this: Ethiopian coffee is the only coffee I’ve ever had that I would willingly drink black. It’s smooth, it’s flavorful and it won’t bite your tongue off.

I’ll make my apologies to Juan Valdez later.

The tour departs Washington DC’s Dulles airport on Nov. 30 aboard a long-range Boeing 777 jumbo jet from Ethiopian Airlines. For more information, go to the ET African Journeys site here.

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TRAINING FOR VACATION
These days, Amtrak has jumped with both rails into the package vacation business.

Amtrak Rail Journeys last from seven to 13 days and combine multiple destinations. Some feature famous sites like the Grand Canyon. Some are regionally focused — the Northeast, the Deep South, the West Coast, the Canadian Rockies. At least two combine rail trips with cruises.

Costing from about $1,000 to $4,000 per person, none could really be called cheap, but considering that your transportation, lodging, meals aand tours are all included in the one price — not to mention the experience of train travel itself — you may find it offers real value for the money.

Amtrak also offers much shorter (and much cheaper) Rail Getaways to individual cities in the United States and Canada, as well as national parks and attractions like Hearst Castle in California and several national parks. These tend to last no more than three days and run from about $300 to $600 per person.

If the idea of a vacation on rails gets your blood racing, check out the Amtrak Vacations page.

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AMERICAN DELIVERS…SORT OF
Think of this as a kind of pre-emptive strike from American Airlines.

We all know how much travelers resent those airline baggage fees. We also know that travelers are starting to turn toward air freight companies and luggage shipping services to get their bags picked up and delivered, thumbing their noses at the airlines in the process.

Well, before too many more folks opt out of letting the airlines handle their bags, American has decided to partner up with one of those services to offer its own baggage delivery. For a fee, you can now bypass the luggage carousel and let American deliver your bags to your home or hotel.

You can read about it here at Travel Weekly.

Sounds like a great idea, and a pretty slick move by American…until you learn that you pay for this extra service on top of the airline’s checked bag fees. That, I suspect, will be a deal-breaker for a lot of travelers.

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AIR ALTERNATIVE TO PARIS
OpenSkies is a small upscale subsidiary of British Airways that flies trans-Atlantic routes with smaller Boeing 757 narrow-body jets set up to be more comfortable for travelers willing to pay for a pricier ticket.

In addition to offering more legroom, nicer meals and seats that don’t leave you feeling you’ve spent six hours in a vise, the airline is now offering flights from New York into Paris’ other major airport, Orly.

Most international travelers, especially from North America, usually fly into Paris via the massive, chaotic and perpetually packed Charles de Gaulle international airport. If you’ve experienced CDG in the past — and would do anything to avoid a repeat of it — this may be your chance.

And now, here’s the Digest:

AIR
from SmarterTravel
You know those controversial airport X-ray body scanners? The TSA is quietly replacing them with scanners believed to be less potentially harmful. But the old machines aren’t going away, just being moved to smaller airports.

from Yahoo Travel
Coming soon to an airline near you — personalized airfares. Individual airfares based on your personal profile data and travel history. Good deal or something sinister? Read and decide.

from Smarter Travel
Eight foods and beverages to avoid when you fly. Some, like beans and garlic, are no-brainers. Others, like alcohol, are no surprise. But sugar-free gum?

from Travel Weekly
With Orbitz, you may not always know: the federal government fines the online travel agency $25,000 for failing to properly disclose airline baggage fees.

from USA Today
Feel like living dangerously? North Korea’s Air Koryo, judged by aviation experts around the globe as the world’s worst airline, launches a Web site. Apparently, the site is about as functional as the airline it represents. Pyongyang, anyone?

LAND
from the Travel+Lesure via the BBC
The five best neighborhoods in America for authentic ethnic food — and you won’t see a lot of “the usual suspects” on the list. If you have dissenting opinions, list your own nominees in the Comments section. SLIDESHOW

from SmarterTravel
Was it something you said? Five phrases never found on the lips of a good traveler. SLIDESHOW

from Travel Weekly
There’s a little less competition in the rental car business these days. Hertz is buying up Dollar Thrifty. Good news for Hertz. For the traveling consumer, probably not so much. But the feds still have to bless this merger, and there’s no guarantee that they will.

from the United Nations
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, adds 26 new locations to its list of world Heritage Sites. Meanwhile, the crew at SmarterTravel picks its ten favorites. Your bucket list may need a bigger bucket.

from USA Today
Few visitors to New York City have reason to hit Staten Island, even with the lure of a free ferry ride from Manhattan. That could change by 2016 if plans go ahead to build the world’s biggest Ferris wheel in the Big Apple’s most ignored borough.

SEA
from Travel Weekly
This from Carnival Cruise Lines: No more saving deck chair for someone who’s not on deck.

from Travel Weekly
For those who plan ahead: The Cunard line has already set its world cruise itineraries for 2014 The cruises can last three months — but Cunard will let you buy much shorter segments, as short as eight days.

AFRICA
from CNN Travel
If unique wildlife is your thing, then Tanzania may be your place. Who’s up for a safari?

from Bulawayo 24 via Travel Comments
Ahead of next year’s big general assembly of the UN World Tourism Organization in Zimbabwe, three African airlines are adding more flights to Victoria Falls. You don’t have to be a UNWTO attendee to take advantage.

from Gadling
Forget trick-or-treat. If you want to see something truly spooky, check out the annual migration of 8 million African bats. Relax, they only eat fruit.

AMERICAS
from the BBC
New entry fees and visa requirements going into effect in Argentina and other South American countries. If you’re planning a trip to South America, don’t wait until departure day to get yourself up to speed on the new requirements. If you do, you may never get out of the airport.

from Agence France Presse via France 24
You know all that stuff you’ve been hearing about how the Mayan calendar forecasts the end of the world in 2012? Well, the Mayans say it’s all bogus and they have one word for all the folks out there pushing this myth: STOP.

from the New York Times
Want to really go New Age in Santa Fe, NM — and get healthier at the same time? Explore it by bike.

from The Guardian (London UK)
El Vilsito. Auto mechanics by day, wonderfully fixed up tacos al pastor by night. Only in Mexico City.

ASIA
from Xinhua News Agency via CNNgo
China is taking not quite $1 million to turn its first atomic bomb test center into…a theme park? Swords into plowshares is one thing but, uhh…wow. This is one new tourist hotspot that could be just that.

from China Daily
For decades, travelers from around the world have descended on Hong Kong in search of bargains. Now, te Chinese are doing it, too.

from The Province (Vancouver, BC, CANADA)
There’s a lot to see and do in Hong Kong. There’s even more to see and do outside one of the world’s most densely crowded cities. Venture out.

EUROPE
from The Guardian (London UK)
There are lots of good reasons these days to visit the Czech Republic. Here’s one you may not have heard about — good skiing, incredibly cheap.

from the BBC
In Paris, the Seine is getting a 35 million euro makeover that will make the riverbanks more pedestrian friendly and even more attractive to locals and visitors alike. It comes at the expense of daily commuting motorists, who are less than thrilled.

from CNN Travel
Ten cool and free things to enjoy in Paris, including your own guided tour with a local. Did I mention that it’s all free?

ZIMBABWE: Revealing “a World of Wonders”

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Zimbabwe sunset

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The convening of the Africa Travel Association’s annual congress at Victoria Falls signals the rise of a new player on the African travel scene, and it’s one you might not expect.

When you think of African travel and tourism, you probably don’t think of more than a handful of the 54 countries that officially comprise the Mother Continent. The odds are equally good that Zimbabwe won’t be one of them.

Zimbabwe would like very much to change that.

If you heard anything at all about Zimbabwe over the last several years, it probably revolved around political wrangling within the country, staggering inflation and criticism from Western countries over the seizure of lands, sometimes violently, from former colonial settlers and farmers.

Since then, a political power-sharing agreement has reduced the turmoil and the country has its inflation under control — in part by pegging the national currency to the US dollar.

Now, the country is looking outward — and inviting travelers — including Americans — to come in.

It’s an effort that appears to have official blessings on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Earlier this year, the Africa Travel Association, which holds its annual congress in an African country, announced that this year’s congress would return this May to Zimbabwe for the first time since 1988.

The gathering annually brings together government tourism ministers from across Africa, as well as industry professionals, tourism providers, scholars, travel trade media and leaders from the African Diaspora.

Charles Ray, U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, has been enthusiastic about ATA’s return:

“Zimbabwe offers a ‘World of Wonders’ to tickle the fancy and sense of adventure of the full array of international travelers…Your visit to Zimbabwe will bring a smile to your face for a lifetime.  I applaud ATA’s vision in…opening the world’s eyes to what Zimbabwe has to offer.”

It’s no accident that the ATA gathering is being held not in the capital city, Harare, but on the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls, which is believed to be the largest waterfall in the world.

(Zimbabwe actually shares Victoria Falls with neighboring Zambia.)

Nor is it an accident that high-ranking members of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority are in the United States in the run-up to the ATA congress. At a news conference hosted by the association, Tesa Chikaponya, the authority’s executive director for destination marketing, spelled out some of the multiple directions the country is taking:

  • Adventure tourism
  • Eco-tourism
  • Cultural tourism
  • African diasporan/heritage tourism
  • MICE tourism — Meetings, incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions

An ambitious agenda, to say the least. But in the increasingly fierce competition for African tourism, Zimbabwe has some good cards to play, as Ms. Chikaponya pointed out:

“We have a lot to offer as a destination, starting with the resort town of Victoria Falls, which boasts of being the adventure capital of Zimbabwe. It’s an experience to be on the Zambezi River. There is a pristine wildlife habitat, the Eastern Highlands…Lake Kariba (the world’s largest man-made reservoir). There is a rich history and heritage that we want to share.

“Zimbabweans are a wonderful people, sharing smiles every day of our lives, looking to give a helping hand to anyone.”

The country’s decision to tie their economy to the dollar also has a major fringe benefit for US travelers: No need to change money. Touch down there with the dollars you’d normally have in your wallet and you’re ready to roll.

In fact, just about any Western currency will work just fine, according to Ms. Chikaponya. “Bring your euros, bring your pounds, bring your US dollars. You can buy in Zimbabwe.”

And like many African countries, Zimbabwe is looking for foreign investors as well as foreign visitors, she said.

It’s not all about generating money, however. Ms. Chikaponya explained that Zimbabwe wants to use tourism as a vehicle for preserving its heritage.

Given the damage that mass tourism can sometimes do to a culture, that almost seems counter-intuitive, but they’re serious about it.

There, too, Zimbabwe has some precious assets, several historical sites, the most important of which may be Great Zimbabwe, the ruins of the original Kingdom of Zimbabwe, built with such skill and sophistication that generations of white colonists refused to accept that black Africans had actually built it.

“We’re focusing on our national shrines. We have many places that for a long time have not been looked at,” said Ms. Chikaponya. “We know that cultural tourism is very important and we need to preserve our culture for future generations. We are setting up cultural villages to preserve our folklore.”

Naturally, all this has got me wondering about the nation, whose nickname is “World of Wonders.” If Zimbabwe wasn’t on my list before, it is now.

IF YOU GO
Zimbabwe is a landlocked nation roughly the size of Montana in southeastern Africa, bordered by four countries — Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana.

The country’s population is approximately 12 million people, about the same as the city of Mumbai. Nearly a quarter of all Zimbabweans live in or near the capital city of Harare. The national climate is tropical. It sits mostly on two high plateaus, with mountains to the east.

In its days as a British colony, it was known as Southern Rhodesia. It was known for 15 years as Rhodesia when whites, led by Ian Smith, broke away from Britain rather than accept the colony’s conversion to a black-majority-ruled independent state. After much turmoil, its independence as Zimbabwe was formally recognized in 1980.

As is the case with most of Africa, there are no nonstop flights between the United States and Zimbabwe, nor are there any US-based airlines flying there. Likewise, the country’s national airline, Air Zimbabwe, does not fly to the United States.

African airlines that serve Zimbabwe include EgyptAir, South African Airways, Kenya Airways, TAAG Angola Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines, as does Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East.

Non-African airlines that serve Harare include British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM and Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East.

All but Emirates are members of airline alliances that enable US airlines to book flights to Zimbabwe on a code-share basis.

US visitors to Zimbabwe need to obtain a visa from the Zimbabwean Embassy in Washington DC or upon arrival.

Edited by P.A. Rice

A Dreamliner of Africa

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Ethiopian Airlines

Image courtesy of Boeing

One of Africa’s premier airlines is the first on the Mother Continent to acquire Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner. The implications for African travel are enormous.

While US-based airlines wait to get their hands on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the world’s newest jumbo jet is already changing the game in Africa.

Ethiopian Airlines is the first African carrier to put Boeing’s new state-of-the-art airplane into regular service on the Mother Continent. The first arrived last December and Ethiopian has nine more on order.

This comes as Ethiopian becomes the 26th member of the Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance.

Both of these developments carry huge implications for American travelers with an interest in Africa.

Let’s start with Boeing’s shiny new toy. The Dreamliner is likely to have a much greater impact on African tourism than the Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet, at least in the near term.

Simply put, the 787 is more Africa-ready than the A380. Here’s why.

With the A380, Airbus took the position that “bigger is better,” creating the world’s first fully double-decked airliner, capable of flying as many as 800 travelers at a time.

Big plane equals more seats and (in theory, at least) cheaper seats.

Boeing chose range and fuel economy over size, limiting the Dreamliner to fewer than 300 passengers and marrying its two highly fuel-efficient engines to an aircraft made mostly of lightweight composites instead of metal.

That gives the Dreamliner a maximum range of nearly 9,500 miles, which puts virtually all of Africa within easy reach from virtually all of North America.

As an example, the 6,200 miles between Los Angeles and Dakar, Senegal would be nothing for this airplane.

This means that airlines like Ethiopian, Nigeria’s Arik Air and Kenya Airways, both of which have 787s on order, will be able to reach European and American destinations in one hop, without pilots nervously watching their fuel gauges.

Until more Africans start traveling by air, the 787′s extended range serves the Mother Continent better than the A380′s size. And with most of Africa’s international airports lacking the facilities or the runways to comfortably handle the massive A380, the Dreamliner literally is a better fit.

Where Africa-bound Americans are concerned, Ethiopian’s presence in the Star Alliance is just as important, especially if you happen to be a member of United Air Lines’ or US Airways’ frequent-flyer mileage program.

Star Alliance is now the only airline alliance in the world with three African airlines as members — Ethiopian, South African Airways and Egyptair. You now can put your United or USAir miles toward an Africa flight on any one of them.

Kenya Airways is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, which means you can use your Delta frequent-flyer miles with them.

Meanwhile, Arik Air was accepted late last year as a member by the International Air Transport Association, which sets safety standards and represents most of the world’s airlines. That clears the way for Arik to join an alliance.

oneworld is now the only one of the Big Three alliances without an African partner. Arik Air membership in oneworld would enable travelers holding miles on American Airlines or British Airways to snag code-share flights to West Africa via Arik.

Don’t be surprised, then, if oneworld puts the moves on Arik Air to partner with them.

What’s more, international airlines can and do form code-sharing partnerships outside of the alliances. South African Airways, for instance, has already hooked up with JetBlue.

Expect to see more connections like this, and soon.

Without the 787′s ultra-long reach, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. With this new long-range airliner coming into African hands, a whole world of new opportunity now opens up for them — and for the world’s travelers who are increasingly turning their eyes to Africa.

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The German air conglomerate Lufthansa smells huge opportunity on the Mother Continent, and they’re breaking off the biggest chunk of it they can get — partly with the help of “ethnic fares.”

One of the things that jumps out at you when looking at last weekend’s debut of ECAir, the new national airline for the Republic of the Congo, is the involvement of Lufthansa Consulting, an arm of the German national airline Lufthansa.

They wrote ECAir’s business plan for the next five years, laid out their future air routes, planned the structure of the eventual air fleet. They’re also consulting on the supervision of the ROC’s three main airports, as well as creating an “airport city” at Brazzaville Maya-Maya, the airport serving the national capital.

All in all, a pretty powerful jump start for a fledgling African airline flying three days a week on one route with one airplane.

When you look a deeper, though, you find that this a small part of a much larger push by Lufthansa to establish itself as a permanent and powerful presence in Africa.

In addition to Lufthansa, the group owns four other European airlines erving Britain, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, all of them running flights to Africa. Beyond that, it’s a code-share partner in the Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance, which has 11 airlines flying to African destinations.

And beyond that, Lufthansa has its own code-sharing agreement with Ethiopian Airlines.

When they aren’t flying into Africa, they’re taking a hand in developing airlines and airports throughout the Mother Continent.

In addition to ECAir, Lufthansa Consulting played a similar role in developing Cameroon’s new national airline, Camair-Co, which started flying last spring, and the company reports that several other African countries are engaging them for the same purpose.

The bottom line: Lufthansa sees a large part of its own bottom line in Africa in the years to come — and they aren’t shy about saying so:

“The airline seizes all opportunities for strengthening and continuously expanding its position on the African continent.” (SOURCE: Lufthansa Group)

And as you’ll see from this 2010 interview by The African Courier with Thierry Antinori, then the Lufthansa board member in charge of marketing, they aren’t shy about saying why, either:

“Africa, with 950 million people, is the biggest continent after Asia Pacific. You have a lot of resources — oil, minerals, etc. Lufthansa considers Africa an important continent, a growing economic power, with a huge and young population connecting with the rest of the world.”

If all this is has you wondering why the US airline industry is still largely sleeping on Africa, I’m right there with you.

ETHNIC FARES
While looking over The African Courier interview with Thierry Antinori about Lufthansa and Africa, I came across this:

“We have very good ethnic fare, prices charged those living in Europe who’re visiting their home countries in Africa. So that people can afford to visit their families.”

“Ethnic fares?” That one kind of stopped me in my tracks.

Turns out that ethnic fares are a common and accepted pricing practice outside the United States — designed, as Mr. Antinori said, to help immigrants afford flights home.

Here’s what I learned:

  • You have to be living in the country where the flight originates. You have to be a citizen of the destination country, or be able to show that you were born there. Spouses and children qualify for the discount, as well.
  • Ethnic fares can be cheaper than regular fares, but they aren’t always.
  • Travelers flying on ethnic fare get a larger luggage allowance than regular passengers — 60 pounds instead of 44 — without having to pay fees for overweight bags.
  • Ethnic fare passengers also get a sizable break on length of stay — up to 90 days instead of the 30 days allowed a regular ticketholder.
  • You can find ethnic fares to Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Middle East. They apparently are quite popular in Germany, especially for African destinations.

As with anything else, there are tradeoff and limitations.

While a lot of airlines offer ethnic fares, they don’t offer them to all destinations. Nor can you be in Country A and buy an ethnic fare from a travel agent in Country B for a trip to Country C. And if your flight passes through the United States, your extra baggage allowance with your ethnic fare is null and void.

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AIRFARE ALERT: The $500 catch

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One of Africa’s better airlines is offering a 2-for-1 sale and it’s really not a bad deal. It’s just not quite “all that.”

Have you ever seen a movie that started out great — strong plot, sharp dialogue, beautifully filmed and well acted — only to let you down with a weak, tepid, limp-wristed ending?

Airfare sales can be like that, the latest example of which comes from the Mother Continent.

Ethiopian Airlines — the country’s national flag carrier and by all accounts, one of Africa’s better international airlines — is offering what it’s calling a Labor Day sale to Africa:

“Buy One, Get one Free.”

Buy one, get one free…from the United States to most major African cities? Sounds like a great deal, doesn’t it? A steal, almost. And in fact, it could save you a fair chunk of change over what you’d normally pay for two Coach seats.

Only it’s not quite the deal that Ethiopian says it is.

When I read the words “Buy One, Get One Free,” that suggests to me that you pay for one and pay nothing for the other. Is that how you read it, too?

If so, prepared to be disappointed. Here it is, from Ethiopian’s own press release:

“Here’s how the fare works: one passenger’s airfare from Washington, D.C. to Nairobi, Kenya would be $1699.30 for a round-trip ticket which includes all charges, fees and taxes. The second passenger, traveling with the first would pay $500.32 (Fuel surcharge $416 plus other applicable taxes & fees $84.32).”

Say what?

Now, I’m the first to acknowledge that math and I are barely on speaking terms, and maybe I’m just too old-school about this for my own good. But according to my understanding of the English language, something “free” should not come with a $500.32 price tag attached.

From the East Coast, you could buy a round-trip Coach flight to Europe with a “catch” that big. From the West Coast, it could put you in Hawaii.

That’s one hell of a catch.

This is about a half-step up from classic “bait-and-switch” sales tactics, and virtually all the airlines do it in one form or another.

It’s just a bit disappointing seeing it coming from this airline.

Okay, I get it. You’re not paying the airline’s fare for the second seat, so technically, it’s not a total deception. And although the amount you save works out to upwards of 35 percent rather than an even half off, that’s still a substantial savings.

Also to be fair, those taxes and fuel surcharges won’t be in Ethiopian’s hands very long.

Still, if they really meant for the second seat to be “free,” why aren’t they picking up the taxes and surcharge, as well? And they make it quite clear right up front that they have no intention of doing that.

As usual, when it comes to the airlines, don’t believe the hype.

Africa can’t wait

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If there’s ever to be a true bridge of travel and tourism between America and Africa, it may be up to Africans to take the lead in building it.

Among many Americans, Africa has the image of being some sort of nether region — unknown, unsafe, unattractive and unappealing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing and nothing could be further from the truth.

Incredibly beautiful land and seascapes. Flora and fauna found nowhere else on Earth. Growing and vibrant urban scenes. Historical and cultural heritage. Almost every type of niche travel that exists. Wide-open business and investment opportunities. The Mother Continent has got a lot going for it.

And statistics would suggest that a growing number of Americans are starting to “get” all of that.

In 2008, while the number of Americans flying abroad dropped 1.4 percent overall, U.S. air traffic to Africa rose nearly 56 percent. In 2009, when the overall traffic dropped 2 percent, Africa-bound air traffic rose nearly 25 percent. In the first six months of 2010, the most recent numbers I’ve found so far, the number of Americans flying to Africa was up about 17 percent.

Add it all up and it means the flow of U.S. air travelers to the Mother Continent has risen nearly 40 percent in the last two and a half years. — and that was while we were in the middle of a recession.

There’s something else at work here, too.

A MARKET IN WAITING
A fair number of people in a good number of sub-Saharan African countries would love to see their their African-American brethren engaging with their ancestral homelands. That’s a market just waiting to be tapped.

What’s more, a lot of African peoples would love to see Americans in general more involved commercially across the continent, if only to provide a kind of counterweight to the financial clout of China.

A survey of African views of China by Aleksandra Gadzala and Marek Hanusch found that Africans in general may be equally skeptical of both of China and the West, but that:

“Africans who attach particular value to human rights and democracy are overall largely critical of the burgeoning Chinese presence across the continent.”

From shoddy products to indifference toward the health and safety of African workers, the views of many on the Mother Continent toward the Middle Kingdom are changing. A great many Africans view the Chinese as standoffish and condescending, with neither interest in nor respect for African cultures or peoples.


You can read the entire survey report in the form of a PDF file on the Afrobarometer site here. Click on the link marked WP117.

I’ve had it put to me pointblank — and in these words — by African diplomats, journalists and ordinary citizens:

“We see the Europeans here. We see the Chinese here. Where are the Americans?”

It’s a good question. You’d think that America’s travel industry, especially its hard-hit airlines, would be all over this.

If they are, they’ve done an excellent job of hiding their interest.

So far, Delta and United air lines are the only U.S.-based carriers providing direct flights from the continental United States to Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa — and even then, only to a relative handful of cities.

Let’s be real here. Obstacles abound.

BIG HURDLES
U.S.-based air carriers are justly dubious about airport infrastructure and security in many African capitals. Our own FAA has little confidence in their civil aviation counterparts in most African countries.

Once you get to Africa, the challenges don’t stop.

Whether from other continents or from within Africa herself, the international traveler needs safe and efficient air, rail and road links, and streamlined customs and immigration procedures to move smoothly and easily between countries. Right now, for the most part, they don’t exist.

When travelers find it easier, safer and at times even faster to travel to neighboring African countries by connecting through London or Paris, that’s a problem.

There are people taking on these challenges from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. But if the nations of Africa wait for the United States to take the lead in creating this market, they will be waiting in vain.

To be sure, the major players of the U.S. travel industry probably would love to see a thriving U.S.-Africa travel market, but they have little desire to do the heavy lifting needed to get this ball rolling.

AFRICAN INITIATIVE
If this great, lucrative bridge is ever to be built, its construction will have to start from the African side of the Atlantic.

But you know what? Africa can do this.

It’s going to take time, hard work, money. It will take peace and political stability within nations. But it also will take something else — an unprecedented level of trust and cooperation among African governments.

Most countries in the world would love to have their own national flag airline representing themaround the globe; reality says “no.” Running a trans-continental airline is forbiddingly expensive, even for countries that can actually afford it.

A regional approach to this could make a world of difference.

Take (or create) perhaps four African airlines — one each serving North, East, West and Southern Africa — and make them capable of true trans-continental operation, with airliners capable of connecting virtually any two major points on the globe in a single direct flight.

The nations of each region would contribute to flight crews, maintenance crews, airport operations. All would share the costs and the profits.

Not having to fly to Europe and connect to a second long flight to reach African destinations would make Africa travel a lot more attractive to a good many Americans, among others.

REGIONAL THINKING, GLOBAL REACH
Sound far-fetched? Not from the technical side. Airliners capable of flying non-stop between African and U.S. destinations already exist — and a handful of them are already in Africa.

Boeing has extended-range versions of its popular 767 and 777 jets. The “ER” stands for extended range. The 767 can fly nearly 7,000 miles, the 777 almost 8,000 miles non-stop, with 200 to nearly 400 passengers.

These African airlines already fly one or more of these aircraft:

  • Arik Air (Nigeria)
  • Ethiopian Airlines
  • Kenya Airways
  • TAAG (Angola)

Just this year, Ethiopian became the first African airline to take delivery on a new model, the 777-200LR. The “LR” stands for “Longer Range” and can fly nearly 9,000 miles non-stop.

Airbus also is in this mix with its own long-range airliners, like the A340 series. These African airlines already fly them:

  • Arik Air
  • Air Mauritius
  • Air Nambia
  • Egyptair
  • South African Airways

Once on African ground, smaller regional airlines, brought up to speed with the help of our FAA through efforts such as its Safe Skies for Africa program, could distribute foreign visitors through each African region. And a streamlined visa process similar to that of the European Union could enable them to move from country to country on a single tourist visa.

Those transcontinental African carriers, meanwhile, could use the long reach of their extended-range jumbo jets to tie all of Africa together.

Is all of this radical, even wishful thinking? Perhaps. But as I like to say, small dreams are a waste of sleep.

When your continent holds 12 percent of the world’s population but accounts for less than 1 percent of its air traffic, it’s time to start thinking — and doing things — differently.

Especially when 20 percent of all the tourism-related jobs in Africa are generated by travelers arriving by air.

Africa can overcome this challenge. But she cannot wait for outsiders to lead the way.