Tag Archives: Taiwan

The IBIT Travel Digest 6.16.13

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

Airbus A350

AIRBUS A350 — Airbus Industrie

BOEING v. AIRBUS: IT’S ON
Up next, a heavyweight fight over a pair of new lightweight jets.

When Airbus successfully debuted its new A350 wide-bodied airliner last week, it effectively threw down a multibillion-dollar challenge to Boeing.

Boeing invented the jumbo jet concept with its now-iconic 747, but when Airbus upped the ante with its humongous double-decked A380, the Americans changed the game with their 787 Dreamliner, opting for longer range over greater size.

When the airlines rewarded Boeing with an avalanche of Dreamliner orders, a panic-stricken Airbus scrambled to create the A350.

Both aircraft use lots of carbon-fiber in place of metal to save weight. But the A350 was still on paper while the Dreamliner was already flying. It looked like a first-round knockout for Boeing.

But multiple delays made Dreamliner deliveries three years late, and when the 787 finally did go into service last year, its well-publicized battery problems grounded them all for months. Airbus took full advantage.

Now, the A350 is flying, just in time for the week-long biennial Paris Air Show, where airlines and aircraft builders traditionally do their mega-deals.

And which officially opens…tomorrow.

I’d go to the Paris Air Show just to watch all the flying displays and check out their air museum, but between Boeing and Airbus, there will be enough back-room dealing and drama to create your own reality TV show.

Trust me, it’s on now.

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PARK YOURSELF
Regular readers of IBIT know that next weekend is the first African American National Parks Event. If you haven’t heard about this, read up on it here — then start planning your weekend outing.

Too many have this misguided idea that America’s national parks consist of a handful of giant, scattered wilderness preserves, beautiful but distant to reach, expensive to access and unwelcoming to “us.”

None of that is true.

In reality, our national park system is as diverse as the nation for which it was created — parks, monuments, seashores, lakeshores and recreation areas in virtually all 50 US states. Admission is cheap, and often free.

And the National Park Service is practically dying for more black American visitors.

So consider taking some time next weekend to see what your taxes are paying for — and what you’ve been missing.

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HAVE PASSPORT, WILL WIFI
Need a reason to include Taiwan in your Asia travels? How about free wifi?

Taiwan already offers free wifi to all its citizens. Now it’s making wifi available at no charge to tourists…all tourists. Just show your passport and you’re in.

Check out this story from CNN for more details on how it works.

Taiwan is an underdog in a take-no-prisoners battle with the rest of Asia for a share of the tourism market, but it’s coming out swinging — and it has to. Japan already makes wifi free for foreign visitors and Thailand is making plans to follow suit.

Expect this trend to continue throughout the region.

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CARNIVAL TRIUMPH RETURNS
The cruise ship Carnival Triumph, whose name became synonymous this year with nightmares at sea, is ready to return to sea, according to NBC News.

This was the ship that left some 4,200 passengers and crew adrift for five days earlier this year, with little food and few working bathrooms, the result of an engine-room fire that left the vessel powerless. More problems soon followed aboard Carnival Dream, Carnival Legend and Carnival Elation.

Meanwhile, Travel Weekly is reporting that while this and other mishaps with its ships have given Carnival Cruise Lines a public-relations beatdown, veteran cruise travelers are remaining loyal.

Carnival can brave-face this situation all it likes, but the fact is that such brand loyalty is likely to be of scant comfort in its Miami headquarters. Why? Because Carnival needs a steady stream of new cruise vacationers to fill the tens of thousands of cabins in its large and growing fleet.

And it’s those cruise virgins who are most likely to give cruising the side-eye following the Carnival Triumph and other unfortunate episodes. Some serious confidence building — or in this case, rebuilding — may be in order.

And now, here’s The Digest:

AIR
from NBC News
American Airlines, trying to merge with US Airways to stave off financial demise, has figured out an ingenious way to lure more passengers — reduce the legroom on many of its planes. What will they think of next…and are you sure you want to know?

from NBC News
Another one for the “What will they think of next?” category. A new private air service in California called Surf Air doesn’t want to sell you a ticket. It wants to sell you a subscription.

LAND
from Agence France Presse via France 24
Dubai debuts one of the world’s tallest buildings…and when they say this tower is twisted, they’re not kidding.

from France 24
And speaking of “twisted,” are you ready for a flying bike?

SEA
from the Washington Post
The beleaguered cruise industry has come up with a passengers’ bill of rights. But does it protect you, or the industry?

from SFGate.com
Cruise the New England coast as 19th century seafarers did, aboard a three-masted schooner. SLIDESHOW

FOOD & DRINK
from the Washington Post
Want to see where your food comes from, and maybe bring some of it home, fresh from the source? Do a rolling tour from farm to farm along Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

from The Guardian (London)
Street food, Greek style. Athens is the place.

from The Guardian (London)
A taste of Bolivia, cuisine with as much attitude as altitude. How else can one describe bull’s penis soup? Uhh…

from SFGate.com
Come to picturesque, trendy Monterey, CA for some of America’s finest…moonshine? Yes. And it’s legal, too.

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AFRICA
from The Point (Gambia) via allAfrica.com
The Gambia’s president pushes food self-sufficiency for the country and urges Gambians to “go back to the land.”

from the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
A museum in Tanzania dedicated to the birthplace of humanity itself…or so they will tell you.

from The Star (Kenya) via allAfrica.com
If you thought the poaching in Kenya couldn’t get any uglier, with entire elephant families being wiped out to the last animal for their tusks, guess again: Conservationists are now being accused of colluding with poachers.

from Reuters via Yahoo!
In the Ivory Coast, the government is trying to reclaim its national park parks from cocoa growers — in some cases, by force.

AMERICAS
from the Los Angeles Times
Drought-stricken Southern California may not much going this summer for river-rafting enthusiasts, but there are plenty of places in Northern California and elsewhere in the West to take your whitewater thrill rides.

ASIA/PACIFIC
from the Toronto Star
For a stunningly beautiful and spiritual time, hike the Himalayas.

from the New York Times
The other Bangkok — the cool, green, smog-free Bangkok. Hike. Ride your bike. Then retreat to your boutique hotel.

from the Toronto Star
When Americans want to visit a Pacific island paradise, they go to Hawaii. When Chinese tourists want to do the same thing, they head for Hainan.

EUROPE
from the Washington Post
The Santorini that the tourists don’t know, and most won’t find.

from the New York Times
No man is an island, but Stockholm is composed of 14 islands. On one of them, gentrification is grudgingly depriving the Sodermalm neighborhood of its reputation for high crime. Crime…in Sweden? Who knew? SLIDESHOW

AIRLINES: Same as it ever was

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Boeing 747 | Photo courtesy of Singapore Airlines

Travel+Leisure magazine readers make their annual choice of the world’s top 20 airlines. Asian, Pacific and Middle Eastern airlines dominate the top spots. European carriers fill out the rest. US airlines? Barely there.

There are certain things in life you can always count on. Water will be wet. The sun will rise in the East. And Asian airlines will be deemed the best in the world by those who fly.

I know Singapore Airlines only by its reputation, but that reputation is solid enough to make Caesar’s wife look like Paris Hilton.

The latest evidence comes courtesy of Travel+Leisure magazine, which annually asks its readers to name their favorite 20 airlines worldwide, based on cabin comfort, food, in-flight service, customer service, and value.

This year’s winner, for the 17th year in a row: Singapore Airlines.

The nation and people of Singapore are teased and mocked somewhat as allegedly being rigid, emotionless and anal-retentive to the max. But when some of the world’s most experienced and discerning travelers name your airline the best in the world for 17 years running, you clearly are doing something right.

And that’s not the only consistency revealed in this latest T+L airline survey. Of the top ten spots, six are held by airlines from Asia or the Pacific region:

  • Singapore Airlines
  • Air New Zealand
  • Korean Air (South Korea)
  • Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
  • Asiana (South Korea)
  • Thai International Airways (Thailand)

Two of the remaining four spots go to Middle Eastern airlines — Emirates and Qatar. The last two positions are held by a European airline, Virgin Atlantic, and its US spinoff, Virgin America.

(NOTE: T+L counts Virgin America as a US airline. IBIT does not.)

The rest of the list looks like this — Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Japan, Tahiti, Switzerland, Israel and Finland.

The one and only true US carrier (for my money, anyway) to crack this list — JetBlue, in 16th place.

I’ve flown a handful of these airlines myself — Cathay Pacific, Japan Air Lines, Air Tahiti Nui — and I can tell you they have their spots in T+L’s top 20 on merit. Likewise, I know a lot of folks who have flown JetBlue and swear by it, so I suspect their place in the top 20 is legit.

The question that always comes to my mind is, why is the rest of the US airline industry utterly unable to join the company of the world’s elite airlines?

Because the most surprising thing about the T+L list is that it’s no surprise at all. Virtually every credible survey taken of the world’s air travelers for the last two decades yields pretty much the same results, year after year after year.

The Asian, Pacific and Middle Eastern airlines dominate. The European airlines represent. US-based airlines will show up somewhere toward the middle of the pack at best, depending on the survey’s format.

When it comes to naming the world’s best, America’s airlines barely show up at all.

This is not an aberration. This is not a fluke. Flukes don’t last 20 years. The question is, why?

The clue lies in the categories on which T+L readers based their ratings — cabin comfort, food, in-flight service, customer service, and value.

In all these areas, there is a common thread among the top airlines. They go above and beyond the call for their passengers, both in the air and on the ground. They may not always be the cheapest seats in the sky, but you know you’re always getting your money’s worth, and then some.

I stil have vivid memories of trying to get out of a hopelessly overcrowded Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris one cloudy fall morning.

Six different jumbo jets from six different airlines, including Air Tahiti Nui, had been scheduled to take off from the same terminal at more or less the same time. That meant funneling close to 2,000 passengers simultaneously through exactly three security gates.

The lines of people checking in and then trying to get through security barely moved, backed up so badly that they merged into one another. Some people spent a half-hour or more before realizing they were in the wrong line. Airlines were announcing imminent departures. French airport security was totally indifferent.

The businessman in from of me was trying to get back to Toronto. Air Canada literally had left him at the gate the day before under these same circumstances. Now, he was back for Round Two, fearing he was about to be left again.

All the while this nightmare was in progress, a check-in clerk from Air Tahiti Nui was running — and I do mean running — up and down the different lines, shouting at the top of her lungs:

“If you are flying on Air Tahiti Nui, do not worry! We will not leave without you!”

By now, Im wondering if I can get back to my hotel in time to reclaim my old room.

That Air Tahiti Nui flight pushed back from the gate an hour late, but it left Paris with every one of its passengers. I was among the last six to board.

How many US-based airlines do you think would have gone that far for its last six passengers — and Coach passengers, at that?

Yeah, right.

By and large, US airlines are not horrible. They’re just not great, either. Worse, they seem to be okay with their middling status, as long as they can show a profit.

Being mediocre is not a crime. Being content with it is, or it should be.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so galling were it not for the fact that this is the country that not only invented the airplane, but invented the airline business itself.

What would it take for America’s airlines to raise their game in the eyes of the world’s travelers? Any ideas?

the IBIT TRAVEL DIGEST 4.4.2012

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

Bicycle parking lot, Amsterdam | ©IBIT G. Gross

TOURISTS: A BILLION SERVED?
Some of you out there (and you KNOW who you are) are old enough to remember when McDonald’s fast-food joints started running those “1 million served” slogans on the marquees they mounted in front of their trademark golden arches. The count has long since run into the billions, of course.

Well, it looks as if the world’s tourism industry may be catching up.

If the UN World Tourism Organization is right, some time this year, someone will step off a plane or a train or a cruise ship to become something the world has never seen before:

The One Billionth Tourist. That’s one billion in 2012 alone.

There’s a reason why tourism is one of the largest industries on Earth. Nothing, it seems, stops the world from traveling. Not recession, wars, or flight crews losing their minds.

If you’re interested in the breakdown by region, the Adventure Travel Trade Association has it for you here.

And now, here’s this week’s Digest:

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AIR
from Travel Daily News
The world’s largest airline alliance broadens its reach in the East. Star Alliance agrees to accept Taiwan’s Eva Air as a new member by mid-2013. China’s Shenzen Airlines joins Star this year. That will give Star eight airlines in the Asia-Pacific market.

from Travel Weekly
Pinnacle Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Never heard of them? There’s a good chance you’ve flown with them without knowing it. That regional shuttle or “puddle-jumper” flight you took with Delta, United or US Airways? In reality, it was these guys.
​
from Travel Weekly
The bad news: Southwest Airlines quietly raises its airfares. The worse news: Five of its rivals match Southwest increase for increase. You didn’t have to do that, guys. No, really, you didn’t.

LAND
from Smarter Travel
Truth or Consequences is one thing but — Elephant Butte, NM? Rabbit Hash? Leg O’Mutton? Crapstone? Some of wackiest town names you can find — including one Colorado town whose name is No Name. SLIDESHOW

from The Economist (United Kingdom)
Airlines aren’t the only ones looking to bypass online travel agencies like Expedia and Travelocity. A half-dozen hotel chains have joined forces to do the same thing.

from Smarter Travel
Shoes that fold up. Shirts that don’t smell. Jackets that double as pillows or even carry-ons. Clothing for the road warriors among you.

from Ethical Traveler
The world’s most ethical travel destinations among the world’s developing nations.

SEA
from the New York Times For every style of music, it seems, you can find a cruise for it, and rock-themed cruises are among the most popular.

from USA Today Another week, another cruise ship runs into mechanical troubles on the high seas. This time, it’s the Azamara Quest. Another engine room fire. Everyone’s safe.

from Der Spiegel (Germany)
Was the Costa Concordia disaster a tragedy waiting to happen? Der Spiegel talks to maritime experts who say yes, and say why.

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AFRICA
from Vanguard News (Nigeria) via allAfrica.com
A diplomatic showdown may be coming between the Nigerian government and British airlines over complaints that Nigerian passengers are being overcharged compared with passengers from other West African countries. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are the carriers most often cited by officials inthe capital, Abuja.

from The Star (Kenya) via allAfrica.com
Government urged to combat child sex tourism in Kenya. The laws forbidding it are not being enforced.

from The Star (Kenya) via allAfrica.com
Tourism investors in northern Kenya appeal to the media to start reporting more of the region’s positive aspects, including its track record as a film location.

from The New Vision (Uganda) via allAfrica.com
Should Uganda use the controversial Kony 2012 video to lure tourists to the country? These guys say yes. EDITORIAL

from Daily Monitor (Uganda)
Unlike many African countries, Uganda doesn’t have a national airline — and odd as it might sound, the country might have a better chance of boosting its tourism without one. EDITORIAL

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AMERICAS/CARIBBEAN
from theNew York Times
In New Orleans, they’re re-imagining the hotel bar. It’s not just for tourists anymore. Updated drinks, better food and good music are earning once-stodgy hotel bars a local following.

from the Los Angeles Times
Downtown (Las) Vegas, baby. The part of town that first made southern Nevada a major destination is renewing itself.
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from the Los Angeles Times
Oakland is moving up in class as a destination. Yes, that Oakland.

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ASIA/PACIFIC
​from Japan Australia
Like the idea of traveling Japan by train and want to save money, but you’re an expat, not a tourist? The Japan Rail Kanto Area Pass may be just your ticket.

from The Telegraph (London UK)
I’ve said it before: China likes to do big things. The world’s tallest bridge connecting two mountain tunnels? I’d say that qualifies. It’s 355 meters high. That’s 1,165 feet. You could fly a jumbo jet under that.

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EUROPE
from Rick Steves via SFGate.com
Europe’s not just about cathedrals and vineyards. If you’re into adventure travel, the Old World is ready to satisfy your need for an adrenaline rush.

from the New York Times
History may be the biggest draw in Cologne, the oldest city in Germany, but fresh shops, restaurants and hotels have Cologne thriving in the present.

from VisitBritain Shop
Better than a hall pass, especially in London — a Pub Pass. Pretty cheap for what you get, and good for a year.

from Hotel Chatter
How’s this for a memorable summer: Commute to the 2012 London Olympics…from Paris.

Edited by P.A.Rice

the SUNDAY TRAVEL DIGEST

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A roundup of the good, the bad and the bizarre from the world’s best travel media

THE ORIENT EXPRESS — ON TWO WHEELS
For the better part of a couple of centuries, two words and one train evoked the romance of travel like no other — the Orient Express.

Long before Ian Fleming and Sean Connery became famous with it through Fleming’s book and subsequent James Bond spy film “From Russia with Love,” this train from Paris to Istanbul was synonymous with romance, glamor and above all, luxury travel.

The Orient Express I’m talking about here is nothing like that. This isn’t propelled by hissing, screaming steam locomotives. In fact, it’s not a train at all.

It’s a bicycle tour.

Tour d’Afrique Ltd. is organizing an Orient Express bike tour that follows the route of the original train between Paris and Istanbul — 50 days (11 rest days, 239 on the bike), 2,500 miles, divided into four segments.

If you have the time — and about $8,500 — you can make the whole run with them. If not, they’ll let you ride the segment of your choice. It starts June 5 and concludes July 24.

For more details on the Orient Express tour, go to the Tour d’Afrique site here.

This tour is BYOB — Bring Your Own Bike.

There’s still time to sign up, but this is not the kind of trip you’re going to take on the spur on the moment, for physical reasons if no other.

Unless you train on your bike constantly (as I should, but do not), you need to spend some time preparing both body and bike for a journey of this magnitude.

Still, it sounds like an incredible journey, does it not? Something just tells I’ve got a new addition to my ever-lengthening list of dream trips.

And now, here’s this week’s Digest:

AIR
from the New York Times
Is Business Class the new black for the airline industry? International travelers who don’t want to splurge on First Class but don;t want to suffer in Sardine Class increasingly are striking a more comfortable, if pricier, balance.

from the New York Times
The airlines are feeling a lot better about the quality of their in-flight food. How much better? They’ve been going around major American cities, dispensing it from food trucks and even in bicycles.

LAND
from the New York Times
The NYT’s Michelle Higgins shares 12 tips for saving on the cost of gas this summer — and maybe saving your vacation.

from the Associated Press via USA Today
There are some tricks to booking a summer vacation package without feeling your checkbook has been hijacked. Here are a few of them.

from AP Travel via Yahoo!
When it comes to hiking and backpacking, less is more and light makes might.

SEA
from AP Travel via Yahoo! and the Columbus Foundation (British Virgin Islands)
Working replicas of two of the ships that Christopher Columbus led to the Americas will be on display this week in North Carolina. They were built as “sailing museums,” and they’re working their way up the Eastern Seaboard toward New York..

AFRICA
from The Standard (Nairobi, Kenya)
Not all the landmarks on heritage of the trans-Atlantic slave trade are to be found in West Africa. A group of African journalists take a trip back in time to a slave trading post in Tanzania. And that’s not all.

AMERICAS/CARIBBEAN
from the New York Times
On Kodiak Island in Alaska, life is bearable for the grizzlies, and you get to see them up close. Just remember who’s at the top of the food chain around here — and it isn’t you.

from the New York Times
Can you get in and out of a Rio de Janeiro weekend on $100? The NYT’s Seth Kugel shows you how it might be possible.

ASIA/PACIFIC
from AsiaOne (Singapore), the Taipei Times (Taiwan) and Bernama (Malaysia)
The Japanese tourism industry is trying to mount a comeback back from this year’s earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster, and it’s visitors from the rest of Asia who are leading the way.

from the Guardian (London UK)
If Indonesia’s Bali is alluring but too overrun with tourists and the traps thereof to suit your sensibilities, consider its endearingly under-developed alternative: Lombok.

EUROPE
from USA Today
It’s not just ocean-going cruise lines trying to outdo one another with hot new ships. River cruisers in Europe are now entering the can-you-top-this? sweepstakes with bigger cabins and much bigger windows for taking in the views.

from the Guardian (London UK)
Alexei Sayle is a remarkable man for two reasons. The first is that he’s been cycling around London for 30-plus years. The second is that he’s still alive. VIDEO

from Deutsche Welle (Germany)
Forget the beer, sauerkraut and schnitzel. The thing Germans really go ga-ga over is white asparagus. It’s a spring thing.

LA TRAVEL SHOW: A tale of two nations

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Egypt and Taiwan. One is eager for you to come back. The other is waiting for you to discover that she exists.

Every year, a lot of countries are vying for your attention at the Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show. Two of the more intriguing competitors at this year’s show, which wrapped up yesterday, were Egypt and Taiwan.

Unless there’s no cable TV in the cave you live in, you know about Egypt. For the first time in the living memory of a great many Egyptians, the head of state is someone not named Hosni Mubarak.

Three decades after the assassination of Anwar Sadat put him in power, a popular uprising — and an Egyptian army that refused to fire on its countrymen — turned him out. That act has left the Egyptian people proud, exhilarated and hopeful for the future.

“I served in the Egyptian army. I knew they would never shoot their own people,” said Elsayed M. Khalifa, consul-director of the Egyptian Tourist Authority of New York, who manned the country’s small table on the floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

“It was a historic change and it happened in a very short time. We are very proud, very happy. People are very excited. There’s a new optimistic spirit.”

NEW SPIRIT, NULL TOURISM
No matter how dire the situation in Cairo’s Tahrir Square may have looked to Americans on their television screens, he said, there was never any fear among the Egyptian people that the situation would sink to the level that it has in Libya.

In the short run, though, it’s also left Egyptian tourism pretty much null and void. The revolution exploded in the heart of the country’s high season for tourism, and the country’s two principal cities, Cairo and Alexandria, took the hardest hit.

In a typical February and March, Egypt would get about 25,000 visitors from the United States each month. This February, 6,000. Overall, he said the losses may run into the billions of dollars.

“It hurts a lot,” he told me, “not just in money, but even more in jobs.”

All that’s over now, though, and the descendants of the pharoahs would really love to see Americans, and the rest of the world, come back.

The pyramids and other historic sites, the museums and all the ancient artifacts are still there. The Nile and its river cruises are still there. Cairo, one of the great cities of the world, is still there.

“People should go and visit,” the official told me. “They shouldn’t be scared, because it’s safe and secure. The ordinary Egyptian is very eager for visitors to come back.

“The best way to support the new freedom and democracy is to support our economy through tourism.”

For more information on Egypt and what it has to offer, check out the following Web sites:

HIGH ENERGY, LOW PROFILE

Given all that, it probably wouldn’t surprise you to hear that Egypt was among the top three sponsors of this year’s travel show.

Only it wasn’t. That distinction went to Taiwan. Their huge, elaborate and high-energy presentation literally met you at the door and went pretty much non-stop from opening to closing, both days.

Taiwan isn’t struggling with the aftermath of a political crisis that literally had the whole world watching. Their problem so far is getting the world’s travelers to pay attention at all.

The typical American knows two things about Taiwan:

  1. It’s where the Nationalists went after the Communists led by Mao Zedong won China’s civil war right after World War 2, and
  2. Their Little League baseball teams usually kick the world’s butt.

Beyond that, Taiwan pretty much slips below the radar of most American travelers.

Well below.

Making this worse is that this island nation has to compete with the likes of China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Thailand for tourists and their money, turning Taiwan into Asia’s David among a bunch of Goliaths.

How bad is it? According to Trust Lin, director of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau in Los Angeles, the entire island nation took in about 5.5 million international visitors in all of 2010.

That sounds like a lot, until you find out that over that same year, the city of Hong Kong received 36 million.

The city of Beijing takes in nearly three times Taiwan’s total…in a month.

Of those 5.5 million visitors who touched down in Taiwan last year, about 400,000 were Americans.

Drop, meet bucket.

This year, sadly, there is added motivation for Taiwan toboost its tourism from here in the States. Their third largest source of foreign visitors, after China and Hong Kong, comes from Japan. And after what Japan has just been through, it stands to reason that a lot of Japanese won’t be traveling this year.


A LOT OF ASSETS
What makes all this really unfortunate is that Taiwan actually has a lot going for it as an Asian destination:

  • One of the world’s great cities, Taipei, with both a 24-hour pace reminiscent of Manhattan and one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, Taipei 101.
  • Mountainous tropical forests, so much that Taiwan has national parks and scenic areas in all four regions of the island. Marble canyons and multiple types of natural springs — hot water, cold water, fresh water, salt water and volcanic mud — so much so that there’s a whole springs culture.
  • Great food, and not just Chinese, especially in the night markets.
  • Lots of spectacular festivals each year celebrating the cultures of the 16 different ethnic groups that live on Taiwan, including a dozen different aboriginal groups (and no, you don’t have to be in Australia to be an aborigine!).
  • A wide range of wildlife, flora and fauna, some of which are unique to the island.
  • A fast and efficient passenger train system that makes getting around this relatively small country fairly easy (sound familiar?)
  • Taiwan’s location makes it an ideal stopover point for visitors to the rest of Asia. In fact, there are stopover tours of one or two days created specifically for that purpose.

All of which explains why Taiwan was hitting the travel show so hard, and probably will continue that at other travel shows around the country. They’re far from done.

“We want to increase the number of international visitors by 1 million every year for the next five years,” said Mr. Lin.

A visit to Taiwan has one other advantage of sorts: bragging rights. Odds are, nobody you know will have ever been there.

For more information on Taiwan and what it has to offer, check out the following Web sites:

the SUNDAY TRAVEL DIGEST

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

AIRFARES — TO INFINITY, AND BEYOND?
If you’re planning on traveling anywhere distant this year, especially if it involves flying, you need to be looking into purchasing your air tickets now, regardless of when you actually plan to take your trip.

The reason? You’ve been watching the reason on the evening news for the last couple of months — political upheaval in North Africa and the Middle East, the regions that produce most of the world’s crude oil.

The oil companies are using that unrest as a pretext for raising the price of crude, and they’re raising it through the proverbial roof, which means that any fuel made from crude will be going up along with it.

A barrel of Brent crude oil that cost $80 a year ago is orbiting around $112 right now. You already know what those numbers mean to you at the gas station. What we tend to overlook is that airlines don’t get any more of a break on fuel prices than we do.

In the last year, the cost of of Jet A, the fuel that airliners run on, has shot up almost 40 percent (SOURCE: International Air Transport Association)

I have no idea who “Brent” is, but when I see numbers like those, I want to slap him upside the head. So too, probably, would the average airline executive.

There’s no way the airlines are going to swallow major increases in fuel prices. Those costs are going to be passed on to you and me — most likely through increases in those infamous add-on fees at first, then by raising the cost of base airfares themselves.

That’s why it would be wise to examine your travel plans and see if it would be worth your while to buy your tickets now, before airfares really take off.

If you haven’t already done, start using Web sites that let you track the rise and fall of specific airfares. Yapta, AirfareWatchdog and FareCompare are two good examples.

Also, sign up on sites that alert you by email when the airfare you want has dropped or risen to a certain amount.

Use your judgment. Airfares rise and fall with the seasons. Pulling the trigger too soon on your air tickets could end up costing you as much money as buying them too late. If you think yours might be cheaper as you get closer to your travel dates, it might be worth it to wait.

These days, however, that’s seldom the way to bet.

And now, here this week’s Digest:

AIR
from Smarter Travel
I turn my back on the airline industry for a couple of weeks and look what happens: United grounds its entire Boeing 757 fleet, more than 90 planes, because of failures to inspect a critical onboard computer system upgrade. “Friendly skies?” Don’t get me started…

from Smarter Travel
When it comes to using those frequent flyer miles, the term “free flight” is a relative concept — and may be one you won’t like.

from Smarter Travel
On the other hand, Delta Air Lines is no longer letting your frequent flyer miles expire. your miles are your forever — or until the Delta execs change their minds again. Given that Delta is positioning itself to be America’s air bridge to Africa, those of you interested in visiting the Mother Continent should take note.

from Smarter Travel
The good news: there are three frequent flyer programs out there that will let you exchange your accumulated miles for cash. the bad news: You’ll only be getting pennies on the dollar. Still, if you’ve got a bunch of miles that don’t quite give you a flight somewhere, and you could use the money, it’s better than nothing.

from CNNGO
Ranking the “world’s hottest airline crews?” Has it really come to this? Has the airline industry run out of interesting topics for folks to write about? Then again, that Etihad stewardess is pretty cute…

LAND
from USA Today
How to score that perfect vacation rental, without your wallet getting scarred for life.

SEA
from USA Today
We told you this would happen: The glut of new cruise ships out there is making Caribbean cruises really…really…affordable. One of the reasons is that, unlike the airlines, the cruise lines aren’t rushing to pass on their added fuel costs to their passengers.

from USA Today
Meanwhile, the cruise situation along the Mexican Riviera just keeps on getting worse. Comes now word that cruise ships are either skipping Mazatlan or pulling out of that port altogether following the shooting death of two men (not tourists) in a hotel parking lot. This follows a spate of muggings of cruise passengers and crew members in Mazatlan back in January.

AFRICA
from the New York Times
The rest of Egypt may be scrambling and struggling to rebuild their tourism in the wake of the the country’s revolution, but there’s one spot to which visitors are already starting to flock: Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the movement that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

from the Toronto Sun
An ancient statue of an Egyptian pharaoh, one of eight irreplaceable treasures stolen from the Egyptian Museum during anti-government protests in Cairo, has been found. Two others also recovered. Five still missing.

AMERICAS/CARIBBEAN
from USA Today
Are you a fan of “Deadliest Catch?” Ever wonder what it would be like to be out there yourself on the Bering Sea — without having to face death? Well, there’s a tour for that.

from USA Today
Tourism in Chile is still trying to dig out from the impact of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that shook the nation a year ago — and killed some 500 people.

ASIA/PACIFIC
from the Toronto Sun
Are you a daredevil, an adrenaline junkie? Need to feel the rush? forget skydiving, bungee jumping or caving underwater. Just go driving in India.

from the Toronto Sun
Taiwan is trying to drum up interest in the island as a tourist destination, even to the point of allowing visitors from its political arch-rival, mainland China. Non-Chinese have reasons to visit, too, though.

EUROPE
from the New York Times
There are reasons to visit the French Alps that have absolutely nothing to do with skiing. With or without snow, French mountain towns have more than their share of charm.

from the Guardian (London, UK)
Istanbul, a city with one foot on two continents and one foot in two cultures. A city that defies pigeonholing, stereotyping and maybe even description. But you can have a blast trying.

from the Guardian (London UK)
An online walking tour of Kensington Gardens, with literature and poetry as its theme. Not the largest of London’s public parks, but definitely my favorite, even had Princess Diana never spent a minute in its palace. Take a spring stroll along the Broad Walk as the sun sets and you’ll understand why.

from Lonely Planet
A look at the back-alley bars of Venice. On your first visit to Venice,the whole city may seem like a giant collection of back alleys. These are the ones where you won’t be part of the herd of streaming tourists. That alone makes them worth exploring.

the WEDNESDAY TRAVEL DIGEST

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

Chicago Midway Airport | © Greg Gross

Okay, my West African sojourn is over. Time to get back to business. And I’m not the only one who’s back.

The Amazing Race, easily one of the most successful of all reality TV series, is back for another round-the-world round on CBS.

This time around, some old friends — teams that fell short for a wild variety of reasons — return for a second bite at the million-dollar apple.

Some of them — like the Cowboys, the Goths and the Trotters, among others — were viewer favorites. Others were more anti-favorites back to raise our collective blood pressures, like the NFL cheerleaders.

While they all battle each other for the bucks, we get to follow them vicariously around the globe. Sounds cool to me.

They started from the desert outside Palm Springs. First leg, Sydney, Australia. First surprise of the series: Sunday night’s debut was a two-parter, so nobody’s been eliminated yet! So if you missed last weekend’s opener, you’ve got a chance to catch up next Sunday.

The Boeing 747 will never die, just modify.

You know how rapper Tupac Shakur, who’s been dead since 1996, somehow magically seems to release a new CD almost every year? So it is that Boeing keeps coming up with new incarnations of its now iconic 747, which first flew 42 years ago.

The newest version is the Boeing 747-8, rolled out earlier this month. Designed to fly farther, faster and quieter on less fuel, this latest version of the original looks like Boeing’s latest bid to throw down with rival Airbus and their massive double-decker A380.

As some of you will recall, that’s what the new state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner was supposed to do. But with Dreamliner deliveries top the world’s airlines still stalled by a seemingly never-ending set of problems, the Boeing folks appear to have settled on the 747-8, with its increased capacity and redesigned wings, as their Plan B.

You can read all about this latest version of the 747 in the CNET magazine story here.

This follows an old rule of aircraft makers: If it ain’t broke, upgrade it. When the original design is a winner to begin with, you can do that.

And now, here’s this week’s Digest:

AIR
from the New York Times
The FAA held its annual Aviation Forecast Conference last week to look at various indicators for the immediate future of air travel — costs, aircraft and airport room, availability of flights and the like. For the traveling public, none of it looks good.

LAND
from Frommer’s
ATTENTION, BEER LOVERS! Where are the best places in the world to knock back some truly great beers? the Frommer’s crew offers up their 14 nominees. Between my own experience and that of friends, I can vouch for seven of them. WOW, I’m way behind! SLIDESHOW

from the New York Times
When in Rome, shop like the Romans do. From personal experience, I know that if you want to save money when you travel, go local. Nowadays, that includes scouring the Web for sites offering deals and discounts for locals only.

SEA
from Maritime Matters
The Carnival Splendor, crippled by an engine-room fire last November, is back in business.

from Smooth Jazz Cruise
First, all you jazz purists out there, just chill! Aiiight?! Second, for you smooth jazz fans out there — and you know who you are — the Smooth Jazz Cruise is taking bookings for their two Jan. 2012 sailings. So why am I giving notice 11 months early? Because these cruises sell out every year, that’s why.

AFRICA
from msnbc travel
With the political chaos in Cairo having subsided (at least for now), Egypt is desperately trying to get its tourism back up to speed. (NOTE: With Egypt trying to lure back visitors, that could mean some real bargains in the offing. Keep an eye on this!)

from We Blog the World
A look at Swaziland, the last African monarchy. It’s small, it’s peaceful — albeit with perhaps a sternly forced peace — abnd culturally fascinating. All of which may explain why it doesn’t show up on the cultural radar of mainstream media.

from allAfrica
In South Africa, talks are underway that could lead to the African Diaspora becoming more than just a concept, but a place — a formal recognition as a region of Africa itself. The implications, and their potential, are off the charts.

AMERICAS/CARIBBEAN
from the San Francisco Chronicle
As expected, the presence of The City’s new fan-friendly baseball park has drawn new restaurants, shops and residential building to an area once known only for run-down warehouses and little-used railroad tracks. King Street is becoming the new epicenter of San Francisco.

from the New York Times
Meanwhile, an hour’s flight to the south, downtown Los Angeles is turning into a place that’s actually worth spending some time in. Best of all, you can actually WALK there. Walk in LA…what a concept!

from The Grio
B&Bs in Massachusetts and Michigan offer a descent into history with their bed and their breakfast — tunnels, trapdoors, secret passages. That’s because a century and change ago, these inns were stops on the Underground Railroad that took escaped slaves to freedom.

ASIA/PACIFIC
from Asia Travel Tips
If you’re flying on China Airlines to Taiwan and plan to use their high-speed trains to get around (and why wouldn’t you?) you get a 25 percent discount on your train tickets.

EUROPE
from the New York Times
Could you get through a weekend in Paris on only $100? See what happens when the NYT’s Frugal Traveler, Seth Kugel, gives it a shot.