Tag Archives: travel

Travel as a teaching aid

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Image courtesy of Dreamstime.com

Teachers looking for fresh ways to instruct young black children might consider using travel as a theme.

There’s been some controversy this year over the questions some schoolteachers are using down South to teach math to black students.

Example: “If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?”

Here’s another: “Each tree had 56 oranges. If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?”

For more on this educational fiasco, check out the Atlanta Journal-Constitution story here.

The surprise here is not that this kind of “teaching” seldom goes over well with black parents, but that there are people in 2012 who still don’t understand why.

Rather than spend too much time off-topic giving clues to the clueless, I’d like to suggest a safe and simple alternative. Why not design math questions using travel as a theme?

Here’s one easy example for elementary-age students:

“You’re walking from your house to a new school. The school is three miles from your house. If it takes you one hour to get to school, how fast are you walking?”

Here’s one for the more advanced students:

“Your Dad wants to take the family camping in a national park. The park is 500 miles away from your house. The family car holds 15 gallons of gas and gets 25 miles per gallon. How many miles can the family car travel on one tank of gas? And how many gallons of gas will the car need to get to the national park?”

Or this:

Delta Air Lines flies a jumbo jet on a round-trip flight once a week between Atlanta and Johannesburg, South Africa. The plane will burn 40,000 gallons of fuel each way. The airline pays $2.75 a gallon for jet fuel. How much money will Delta have to pay for fuel on this route in one year?

A lot of parents would love to help their child with this one — or better yet, have their child help them:

Your family is flying to Canada for vacation. The airline allows each passenger to check one bag for free, then charges $25 per extra bag. There are six people in your family. You have one piece of luggage. Your older brother has two. Your baby brother has one. Your sister has three. Your mother and father each have two. How much will the family have to pay the airline in baggage fees?

But if you just insist on connecting black history to math instruction, travel is a good way to do that and keep your teachers out of hot water with parents. Consider:

“Harriett Tubman is leading a group of escaped slaves from Atlanta to Boston via the Underground Railroad. Answer the following questions:

  1. Find the distance between Atlanta and Boston.
  2. Walking 25 miles a day, how many days will it take the escapees to reach Boston?
  3. If Harriett Tubman leads 25 slaves to freedom every other month, how many slaves will she help free in six years?

It’s not just math. There’s virtually no subject taught in K-12 schools that can’t use a travel theme as a teaching aid. Think about it. English, foreign languages, science, social studies, history — travel touches them all.

When it comes to designing lesson plans and tests, the possibilities would be practically endless. Introduce the class subject to your students while you introduce them to the world and fire their imaginations, all at the same time.

And nobody gets upset.

And nobody has to lose their job.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
Travel — Do it for your kids

Edited by P.A.Rice

the SUNDAY TRAVEL DIGEST 10.9.11

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

Venice canal

Traffic, Venice style | ©Greg Gross

TWO MINUTES TO LIVE
Could a hundred and twenty seconds worth of forethought save your life in an airline emergency?

British Airways thinks so, and they’ve got a class for their corporate passengers to teach them how.

In addition to giving them tips on how to do their own personal pre-flight check, the course shows BA passengers how to operate the emergency doors, slide down emergency chutes, use those life vests folded up under your seat, even give them a taste of what it’s like in a smoke-filled aircraft cabin.

What I find most remarkable is the class itself. Granted, BA doesn’t make it available for the Great Airline Unwashed like you and me, but the fact that they offer it at all is rather remarkable — and in my opinion, pretty cool.

Am I wrong in believing that if more folks felt they knew clearly what to do in an emergency, that fewer people would be afraid to fly?

This is something the airline industry as a whole should make available — not just to their big-spending corporate passengers, but everyone.

FALL INTO EUROPEAN TRAINS
The fall shoulder season is a great time to travel through Europe, especially by rail. Trains in western Europe are fast, comfortable, efficient — in other words, basically everything that Amtrak is not.

Train travel through Europe on its growing network of high-speed trains is ultra-efficient. By day, comfortably view the countryside as you whisk between cities or between countries. By night, bed down on an overnight train instead of a static hotel — and wake up in another country the next morning.

It’s even better if you can take advantage of one of the many Eurail passes that allow you make multiple trips over a set period.

And now, Eurail’s got a sale going that could actually give you a free day on train travel, and in First class, no less. Check it out at Rail Europe.



And now, here’s this week’s Digest:

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AIR
from the New York Times
Tips and tactics for getting some decent sleep in an airline Coach seat — or the science of sleeping like a sardine in a can at 35,000 feet.

from Gadling
Waiting for your flight to take off, and the food options in the airport lounge leave you cold? Want to have something tasty delivered to you, right at your departure gate? Yeah, there’s an app for that.

from MSN Money
Overpaid on your airfare…get a refund? Yes, you can!

from the Washington Business Journal
An all-Business Class airline suspends flights between Washington DC and Paris. Is Open Skies on the verge of closing its doors?

from ​Airfare Watchdog
Left something on the plane? Here’s how to get it back.

from the Independent Traveler
Want to get away…from the airport…faster? Here are 16 tips for how to do that, without making like OJ, and it starts before you leave the house.

​LAND
from msnbc
The Hyatt Regency New Orleans, shredded six years ago by Hurricane Katrina, gets a $275 million revival. Let the travelers say “Amen!”

from BootsnAll
Walking is great exercise and a great way to experience a new city. Here now, a list of eight relatively small cities ideal for walkers — including the one I call home!

from Frommer’s
Call them The Delicious Dozen: The best 12 cities in the world for cheap, filling and almost sinfully street food. I’ve hit six of them already, and my tastebuds are impatiently waiting to touch down in the rest. SLIDESHOW

from Globetrooper
Want to bring your MacBook on your next big trip? Here’s how to set it up for travel.

from BootsnAll
Here’s a whole different spin on the term “cross-country travel:” Ten countries small enough for a traveler to traverse on foot. And if you’ve ever traveled to Europe, you may have already set foot in six of them.

​from USA Today
Are Europeans better drivers than Americans? USAT’s Ben Abramson says yes, and says he has proof.

SEA
from USA Today
Cruise lines keep looking for reasons to make their passenger forget about going ashore: A celebrity Miami chef take charges of the menus aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas.

from USA Today
River cruising in Europe is increasingly catching on with tourists. The pace is less frenetic, the crowds are smaller, you get more exposure to the local culture — and everybody gets a cabin with a view.

from USA Today
Would you pay $59 per person to spend a few extra hours on a cruise ship that isn’t going anywhere? Celebrity Cruises thinks you just might.

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AFRICA
from Live the Magic of Africa
The ins and outs of car rental in South Africa.

from Africa Business
It’s not just travelers who are increasingly focusing on Africa these days. Forbes magazine launches its African edition.

from ​Wired
U.S. and European mercenaries are quietly taking over escort duties from Western navies in the battle against East African pirates, though not without some problems of their own.

from the Nairobi Star via ​allAfrica.com
Kenyan tourism ministers say East Africa needs a unified tourist visa for the region. IBIT agrees. EDITORIAL

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AMERICAS/CARIBBEAN
from Velvet Escape
Chillin’ in Buenos Aires, a city that specializes in being hot and cool at the same time.

from Pauline Frommer via the ​Palm Beach Post
The 2012 London Olympics are still more than nine months away, but they’re already drawing tourists.

from the New York Times
Getting yourself lost on the streets of Paris can be a good thing.

from the New York Times
The heavy rains that pounded the East Coast last month are making for some truly lush, eye-popping fall foliage this year. But those same storms also did enough damage that New Englanders ​fear it may put off visitors. So they’re masking deals. Advantage: YOU.

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ASIA/PACIFIC
from the Huffington Post
If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing the Taj Mahal, you’d better hurry. Its foundations are in such bad shape that the whole thing could collapse in five years.

​from Asahi Shimbun
Here’s a novel concept: the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto is combining the fictional works of professional and amateur writers an iPhone app in an attempt to lure more visitors to its historic attractions.

from Asahi Shimbun
The Japanese city of Fukuoka didn’t make Frommer’s list of top street food cities, but if tyou love noodles — and honestly, who doesn’t? — it just might make yours.

from the Straits Times (Singapore)
A new rail line in Singapore, the aptly named Circle Line can take passengers around nearly the entire island city/state in a shade under an hour. Great for commuters, equally handy for travelers. Took ten years to build, and already there’s an extension in the works.

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EUROPE
from Velvet Escape
How to experience Istanbul like a local.

from the Independent (London UK)
Europe’s newest foodie mecca is…Birmingham, England? Really?

from the​ Telegraph (London UK)
Okay, we all know that Brazil is a hot destination for British travelers. But why are so many Brazilians winging in the opposite direction?

TRAVEL: Do what you like

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Liverpool | ©Greg Gross

When it comes to travel, follow your heart, even if it leads you to what some would consider a travel cliché.

Insight is a little like a football. It can come bouncing at you from strange, unexpected angles.

While working on the blog this morning, I was listening to some old-school hip-hop via iTunes Radio when a favorite of mine came pouring through the speakers, “Do Whatcha Like” from the Digital Underground (much love to allthe Oakland bands!).

Anyway, that theme started bouncing around in my head until it linked up to the thing that I write about on this blog.

And that started me thinking.

When it comes to travel, you’ve got a lot of white noise to sift through in making your decisions — and a lot of that noise is generated by travel writers and bloggers.

Like me.

There’s an army of us out there, pouring advice into your newspaper, your magazine, your TV set, your computer. Where to go, what to see, what to do/eat/drink/listen to, how to get the max experience for the least amount of money, and so on. It’s endless, and much of it’s actually helpful.

What’s not helpful, I’ve come to believe, is when we start sliding into jaded travelerati mode.

You know: “You should be doing this. You shouldn’t be doing that.”

Yes, I know, the travel world has more than its share of cliché destinations and activities, and it’s fair to point them out as such, especially for those travelers looking for the fresh experience, the Next Big Thing in travel, the beach where theirs are the only footprints in the sand.

But we also need to recognize that those travel clichés became clichés for a reason, namely that people like them. A lot.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting people to expand their horizons when they travel, but sometimes, I wonder if we aren’t in danger of becoming travel snobs. That hipper-than-thou stuff can get old after awhile.

On occasion, it even comes from readers.

In trying our best to inform you, too often we end up talking down to you. And I’ve probably been as guilty of that as anyone.

So I’ll keep on bringing you things I think are interesting, worthwhile, or just plain cool, try to save you money, steer you away from needless hassles.

But when it comes to deciding where you want to go and what you want to do, you know your own mind, your own interests, your own passion. They are what should be the final arbiter in where you go, how you go and what you do.

It doesn’t have to be the newest, the hippest, the coolest. If it gives you what you’re looking for, and does it at the right price, that’s good enough.

When you decide you want to go beyond where you’ve been, don’t worry. We’ll all still be here.

Meanwhile, if you want to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, do it. If you want to go on an African safari, do it. If you want to stand in the spray of Niagara Falls or climb the steps of the Great Wall of China, do it. If you want to go to Disneyland, be it in Anaheim, Paris or Tokyo, do it.

When it comes to travel, like anything else: Do what you like.

TRAVEL TECH: Blackberry travel apps

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Think your Blackberry smartphone isn’t as useful as the iPhone when it comes to traveling? Think again — and in more than one language.

All you iPhone users are out are free to wander off somewhere and snicker for a minute.

Okay, you fellow Blackberry owners-enthusiasts-sufferers out there, time to face the truth: We’re envious as hell of iPhone’s plethora of applications, especially when it comes to travel.

And we should be.

I don’t know exactly how many iPhone travel apps there are compared with Blackberry, but knowing that the total number of iPhone apps in general dwarfs those offered for our digital toy, it stands to reason that the number of travel apps for Blackberrys is equally puny by comparison.

What are we to do?

Since the numbers clearly are not on our side, we have to go with the obvious — quality over quantity. And believe it or not, there are some Blackberry apps out there of real value to the traveler, starting with Blackberry Travel.

msnbc’s Suzanne Choney, a colleague and friend of many moons, reviewed Blackberry Travel earlier this year. Here’s what she had to say about it:

“The free BlackBerry Travel app lets you do all your travel planning, including flight info, hotel bookings and transportation, as well as “tap into your social networks” while you’re on the go, all from the app, according to the folks at Research In Motion, the Blackberry’s maker.

For the rest of Suzanne’s review of Blackberry Travel, click here. You may also find this review from Crackberry.com to be of interest.

A lot of that functionality comes from an older travel app, Worldmate, which has partnered with Blackberry to make a lot of its functionality available to Blackberry Travel users — and at no charge.

I’ve listed a few other apps that Blackberry road warriors might find useful.

Most or all of the travel apps listed below can be downloaded from their individual sites — or easier still, via Blackberry App World, the official online store for Blackberry apps.

Don’t let the word “store” throw you off, though. A lot of the apps you’ll find in there are free.

You should already have this installed on your smartphone. If you don’t, download that first. Then you can start your own hunt for more apps to turn your Blackberry into a really smart travel phone.

Three things of which you need to be mindful as you go app-hunting:

  1. Not every app that claims to be free really is. Some are 100 percent gratis. Others are merely trial versions which will require you to buy them at the end of the trial period if you want to keep using them. Still other free apps are stripped-down versions of the real thing — for which you’ll have to pay. A few even require an annual subscription.
  2. All apps eat up your phone’s memory. When you’re evaluating one app over another, keep in mind how of your Blackberry’s memory it takes to install and run it. All apps are not created equal in this regard. You want a program that’s as small as possible, but still performs well.
  3. Even if acquiring the app is free, using it may not be. If you’re not sure how heavily one or more of these apps bites into your phone’s data plan, call your cellphone provider and ask questions, lots of questions. Don’t get caught by surprise when you get your monthly bill.

And now that we’ve got all the caveats out of the way, let’s look at some Blackberry apps that a travel might find handy:

Amazon Kindle for Blackberry
The convenience of a pocket-sized library of eBooks that actually fits into your pocket. One less device to lug around.

Pandora for Blackberry
This is the go-to streaming music app for a lot of folks already, on their desktop and/or laptop computers. There are similar apps out there, but many people consider Pandora the best. I’m inclined to agree.

Poynt and TeleNav GPS Navigator
There’s little that TeleNav does for its admittedly piddling $3.99 that Poynt does not do for free. It’s strictly a matter of which feels better to you.

Worldmate
Before there was Blackberry Travel, there was Worldmate, which performs basically the same functions and comes in both free and Gold (i.e., pay) versions. Worldmate’s display is a bit dated compared with that of BT, but it not only remains remains every bit as functional, with tons of useful features even in its free version.

If the new Blackberry Travel isn’t compatible with your particular Blackberry, you might try this instead.

Navita Translator
Translates more than 50 languages, comes with English, Portuguese and Spanish interfaces. As as translator, it won’t be perfect, but then, none of them really is. Besides, it’s free.

XE.com and Currency Converter
Worldmate comes with a currency converter built in, but it’s limited to three major currencies — the U.S. dollar, the British pound and the Japanese yen. Not nearly enough. I’ve been using XE at home for years, so I’m very comfortable with it, but its ease of use shouldn’t even give first-timers any real challenges.

Its one weakness is a relatively minor one: It only lets you convert one currency to another at a time. This is where Currency Converter shines. If you’re traveling between countries in a part of the world in which each nation still has its own currency, Currency Converter will convert one amount of money into multiple currencies at the same time, as few or as many as you select.

Yelp and Urbanspoon
Need to find a good place to eat in the city/neighborhood where you happen to be? Want to know what real diners have to say? These two will give you the 411 — difrections, menus, customer reviews (both real and suspect, so read with a jaundiced eye).

Google Maps
Odds are, you’r fgamiliar with this one already. Name your starting point and your destination, then get a marked route on a movable map and written turn-by-turn directions. Blackberry offers a map of its own, but if you want to stick with the online navigator you know, who could blame you?

One Touch Flashlight
Whenever and wherever your travels take you, it’s nice to know you’ve got an emergency light when you need one. There are quite a few flashlight apps available for Blackberrys. This is about the highest rated one I’ve seen so far. It uses the video light built into your smartphone to project a surprisingly strong light — more than enough to find your way around a darkened hotel room, read inside a blacked-out train or bus, maybe even find house numbers over a darkened doorway.

NOTE: The maker’s claims notwithstanding, ALL flashlight apps eat a goodly amount of battery power, so if you use any flashlight app for any major length of time, always check the battery level afterward and recharge as needed.

Mobiscope
Remote home surveillance on the cheap. This connects the webcam in your computer at home to your Blackberry. Whatever your webcam can see and hear inside your house, you can see and hear remotely on your smartphone, wherever you are. You also can run a motion detector through it. If someone or something’s moving around in your place, you’ll get an email alert. Your webcam will then stream the image to you and you can call for help, no matter where in the world you are. It also can record what it sees.

At 19.99, it’s one of the more expensive Blackberry apps, but it just might be worth it.

Photo Editor Ultimate
These days, cell phones double as cameras for a lot of travelers, but you still need to edit your shots before you start sending them off to your friends back home. Photo Editor Ultimate lets you tweak your pics in some very creative ways. The free version may be adequate for most users, but when you see all the options the full version gives you, you might not mind springing for the $1.99 purchase price.

Know of some Blackberry apps that would be good for travel? Sned me at email at greg@imblacknitravel.com. It just might appear on this blog, credited to you!

ALSO CHECK OUT
TRAVEL TECH: End of the Flip
TRAVEL PHONE: A new development
CELL PHONES 2: The two-phone solution
Wanted: A cell phone for travelers, Part 1

Free your mind — Travel

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There’s no telling what you may bring back from your travels. You could find a serious dose of inspiration among your souvenirs.

Say hello and “What’s up!” to Jake Orak, by turns a skateboard enthusiast, professional designer and young entrepreneur.

A few years ago, he created a business that he calls Ethnotek, in which he uses panels of decorative cloth woven or embroidered by ethnic minorities in Africa, Asia and Latin America to make one-of-a-kind backpacks — like the one shown above.

What interested me most about Jake’s business is how he got the idea for it. The folks at Matador Network tell the story:

In 2007, Jake Orak was trekking through the highlands of Northern Vietnam, a region home to over 50 ethnic minority groups and nomadic tribes. He observed how they lived off the land, grew most of what they needed and bartered with handmade goods for the rest. After a day of hiking, he was taking a break in Bac Ha when inspiration struck.

“Rather than manufacture preachy blogs about the death of culture or try to flood tourists into these regions as if these tribes were animals on display, why not use the tools I already have in a very low-impact way to get the message out?

“The region I was in had some of the most amazing embroidered and hand-loomed textiles I had ever seen. I was a bag designer at the time. Why not combine the two by offering a piece of handmade global culture in a product that is practical and useful for our busy everyday lives?

“Boom, ETHNOTEK was born.”

There are a lot of intriguing aspects to this story, but if you’re a regular IBIT reader, you already know which part of this little saga hooked my attention:

“Jake Orak was trekking through the highlands of Northern Vietnam…when inspiration struck.”

Yep, that would do it, all right.

People have been drawing inspiration from travel for almost as long as they’ve been able to move from Point A to Punta B. Explorers have used it to discover new lands. Artists have traveled halfway around the globe just to find a certain scene, a special kind of light, a unique form of human beauty.

And creative people looking for opportunity have turned themselves on to new ideas for businesses, inventions, designs.

They all got their start from something that someone heard, someone saw or someone talked with while they were traveling.

And writers? Don’t even get me started.

The relationship between travel and writers is downright symbiotic. Writers inspire travel. Travel inspires writers. The two have been feeding off each other almost from the cave-painting days.

Would anyone remember Marco Polo today had he not written of his experiences traveling the Silk Road? And think about the impact those writing had on the Western world. Would Hemingway have been Hemingway had he not experienced Europe and Cuba?

There’s something about turning all your senses loose on a fresh scene, a new setting, different tastes and different voices, that almost seems to throw gasoline on the fires of creativity. There’s no telling what form or direction they may take, but I do know this: What comes out of those flames can be absolutely stunning, even to ourselves.

I can’t really explain how it works. I just know that it does.

Jake Orak got the idea for tying travel gear into world culture — and helping indigenous craftspeople at the same time — by traveling. What bolt of brilliance might hit you in the middle of a journey?

You’ll never know unless you go.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
The Greatest Trip I’ll Never Take
Travel — Do it for your kids!

Leave the bling at home

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Port of Naples, Italy — ©Dennis Dolkens | Dreamstime.com

The death of a 66-year-old cruise ship passenger in Italy during a mugging attempt is a warning about sporting your fine jewelry when you travel.

In almost every travel guidebook written for the past 30 years, experts have been issuing the same warning somewhere in their guidebooks or on their Web sites: Don’t wear flashy or expensive jewelry when you travel.

This, courtesy of the Associated Press via Yahoo!, is the reason why:

ROME – A Naples hospital says a Puerto Rican tourist who was knocked to the ground by muggers trying to grab his Rolex has died, nine days after he was hospitalized with severe head injuries.

El Nuevo Dia photo

Police said 66-year-old Oscar Antonio Mendoza was pushed to the ground by two muggers aboard a scooter after he resisted their attempt to grab his watch shortly after he arrived in Naples aboard a cruise ship on May 18.

Dr. Maurizo Postiglione, head of intensive care at Loreto Mare hospital, told the AP by telephone that Mendoza never regained consciousness after suffering multiple cerebral contusions and despite brain surgery.

Mendoza was strolling with his wife near Naples port when he was attacked.

It turns out that Oscar San Antonio Mendoza (his full name) wasn’t simply a “Puerto Rican tourist.” He was a former member of the legislature in Puerto Rico.

© Lukatdb | Dreamstime.com

It wasn’t as if Mr. Mendoza and his wife had wandered off into some especially unsavory part of Naples. They were attacked within minutes of leaving the ship, by a couple of thugs passing by on a scooter.

In a perfect world, you’d be able to travel anywhere and wear whatever you wished, without fear of being hassled or assaulted. In a perfect world, a cruise ship passenger could disembark at leisure, confidant that he or she was a perfectly safe environment.

I have no idea where that world is, but I know that I don’t live in it — and neither do you.

In your home environs, your diamond rings, your Rolex watch, may set you apart as someone successful, a person of style and class and taste. A person of means.

When you travel, they mark you as a potential pay-day for a thief.

It doesn’t even have to come to the extreme of mugging. There are unscrupulous people in airports and seaports who have no qualms about rifling baggage, looking for valuable baubles.

Since their start-up in 2001, roughly 500 TSA inspectors have been suspended or fired for stealing from passengers’ luggage. Few have ever been prosecuted.

Will your self-esteem really take that big of a hit if you’re not glittering like Times Square on New Year’s Eve when you travel?

When you’re lying on a gurney in a hospital ER, nobody cares how brightly your diamonds shine.

Unless, of course, they’re looking to steal them while you’re lying there.

If you just have to bring the shiny little pretties, be judicious about how much of them you wear and the time and place you choose to wear them.

For true peace of mind, though, do yourself a favor. Bring your energy, your enthusiasm, your sense of adventure and your open mind with you when you travel.

But leave the bling at home.

POSTSCRIPT
At the time of the attack on Mr. Mendoza, the Naples cruise ship terminal was crawling with ex-cons…with not only the knowledge, but the blessing of city government.

Since 2009, the city of Naples has been hiring ex-felons as tour guides to ensure the safety of cruise ship passengers. It’s called the Escodentro Project, and had actually been credited with reducing crime against tourists around the port.

You can read more about it in the New York Times and The Telegraph of London.

So far, there’s been nothing to suggest that any of these guides was involved in the botched mugging that led to Mr. Mendoza’s death.

Trip Planning Online, Part 1

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Spree River locks, Berlin | ©Greg Gross

Planning a major trip with friends and/or family can be like herding cats, especially if you’re widely scattered geographically. Never fear: The social Web is all over it.

It’s that time of year again. The Christmas bills are paid off. Spring break is upon us, summer is just ahead and that income tax return is burning a hole in your passport.

Time to start planning a trip someplace.

Believe it or not, planning trips is one big part of the fun of traveling, especially when the trip includes folks you like to hang out with, anyway.

Or it can be a nightmare.

INFORMATION TIDAL WAVE
The Web promised us access to a flood of information. The promise was kept many times over, to the point that the flood of available data has taken on Biblical proportions…nd nowhere is this more true than in the realm of travel.

Every airline, cruise line, bus line, hotel chain, car rental agency and nearly every travel agent seem to have their own Web site. So you turn to other sites that let you check out multiple airlines, hotels, cruise lines et cetera simultaneously…only to find seemingly a million of them.

Add in all the various travel forums that let travelers post reviews and opinions on this hotel or that resort, and the result is enough to make your head spin.

In three different directions…at once.

It’s bad enough when you have to take all this on by yourself. But when you’re planning a trip in conjunction with others, it can get a lot worse.

I have a couple of friends with whom I sometimes travel, usually for major league baseball around the United States and minor league ball almost anywhere on the planet. One lives about two hours north of me on the West Coast, the other in Connecticut on the other side of the country.

Over the years, we’ve gotten used to coordinating our travel plans via email, from wherever we happen to be in the world, and it’s a snap for us.

For lots of other folks, it’s nowhere near that easy. They have a hard time sharing their ideas, itineraries, opinions, from their various locations around the country or the world.

Even when they try, they have a hard time putting it all together in one place where everyone can see it, respond to it, make changes, all that good stuff so vital in putting together a smooth travel plan.

The result, in the words of an old Paul Newman flick, “is a failure to communicate.” Which often turns what could’ve been a great trip into a hot mess.

This is the 21st century, people. It doesn’t have to be like that.

And organizing all this in a string of emails may not be the most efficient way of doing it anymore.

Never fear, though. As usual, the Web’s got your back.

There are numerous Web sites that not only help you organize your travel plans, but let’s you share and coordinate those plans with others, all online. Itineraries, maps, pics, videos, everything. Here are but a few examples:

Travel planning platforms like these literally you and all your travel partners on the same page — itineraries, travel contacts, all the research you’re all doing separately for your trip, all in the same place where everyone can see it, respond to it, discuss it, modify it.

Result: No confusion, no hurt feelings, no wasted time.

(NOTE: All the sites listed here are presented purely as samples of what’s available. There are plenty more out there. You are your travelmates need to check them out for yourselves and agree on which one(s) to use.)

And none of this even takes into account the growing role that social media are playing in traveling planning.

NETWORKS OF TRAVELERS
That’s right, the 8,000-pound digital gorilla known as social media has already left one of its sizable footprints in travel planning.

And that footprint is growing.

It started with online travel forums that led travelers share information, tips and critiques. Some of them have been around forever. That’s about a decades or more in digital dog years. Others are relative newcomers on the scene, with more arriving all the time:

You can find them broken down by destination, category, type of travel. There’s even a forum for people who like to travel with their dogs.

But all that was just the start.

Take, for example, Hotels.com (which is owned by Expedia, just so you know). They weren’t content with letting you review and book any of thousands of hotels around the world with a few keystrokes and a couple of clicks of a mouse. Oh, no.

They had to go create an app on Facebook that lets traveling FB friends choose a hotel together. It’s called Hotels WithMe.

Indeed, almost any major player in the travel industry who has a site on the Web now seems to have a presence on Facebook or Twitter, as well.

iPad? Are you kidding? Just do an online search of the term “iPad travel apps” or “Android travel apps” or “Blackberry travel apps,” then sit back and embrace the avalanche.

There’s more. Some planning sites were created to help you plot and share your itineraries with your travel mates. Others are designed to share info on your destination, and maybe even help you connect to some of the locals who call it home.

(We recently looked at one of those, called Tripbod. We’ll examine others in future blog posts.)

These days, however, even social media is quietly being eclipsed by something called — and a part of me shudders even to use this term:

“Augmented Reality.”

Sites like TripSay, TripWolf and TagWhat take online trip planning and collaboration to levels unthinkable in ancient times — say, five years ago.

So does all this mean yet another round of digital overload? Not if you and your travels buds play your cards right. Find the online trip planning applications that work for you all, agree on the platform to use, then go to it.

You’ll want a well-designed site that easy to use, one that lets you freely share and save your information. If it has its own provisions for backing up your saved trip plans, that’s a plus.

But there’s more to successful trip planning than picking the right online platform…and we’ll get into that tomorrow.

AVIATION QUEEN: My Dream Airport, Part 1

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If you could design your airport airport, what would it look like? Our Aviation Queen shares her vision of air travel.

By BENÉT WILSON
The History Channel recently had a great program entitled “Most Extreme Airports.” It was a top 10 list of the craziest airports to land in, and I was pleased to say that I’ve landed in four of the 10 airports – St. Maarten, Aspen, San Diego and the old Hong Kong Airport, Kai Tak.

I was recently interviewed by the Milwaukee Business Journal on food choices in airports after I sent out a Tweet about the great choices I found on a May trip to that city’s General Mitchell Airport (ZML).  So then I started thinking – if I were going to play Dr. Frankenstein and stitch together my perfect airport, how would that look? 

So here are the top 10 things I’d like to see at Aviation Queen International Airport.

First, I’d want a facility that looked distinctive, like my beloved Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).  I never fail to catch my breath when I see that Eero Saarinen-designed wave of the main terminal when I drive up or land at that airport.  And I think a nice-looking airport just sets a nice tone for the start and the end of a trip.

Second, I would want it to have lots of light and space like Orlando International Airport (MCO).  As the gateway to Walt Disney and other amusement park attractions, Orlando does get its crowds.  But I have never felt closed in or trapped there because of all the space and great windows and skylights everywhere.  Orlando also gets bonus points for being a very user-friendly airport.

Third, I need to have some good food/beverage and retail shopping.  I would include the best elements of Portland International Airport (PDX), Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)and the international terminal at my hometown, San Francisco International Airport (SFO).  All three have a great balance of local, regional and national outlets that give the people what they want.

Fourth, I’d want to chill out in a terminal that looks like JetBlue’s T5 at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York.  There’s plenty of space to sit, there are plenty of outlets and free wi-fi. I like that I can sit at a desk at the gate and work, plus I can order some food delivered right at my desk.

Fifth, I’d want the efficient security checkpoint staffers like the one at my hometown Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. BWI was the first airport to get Transportation Security Administration screeners, and they have it down to a fine science, keeping the lines moving and doing it with professionalism and a strong sense of courtesy and respect for passengers.

Sixth, I’d want the easy-in, easy out convenience of Kansas City International Airport (MCI).  You drive up, you walk in and your gate is right there, including security checkpoint.  And if you land there, the baggage claim is right at your arrival gate.  Their bag delivery system is quick. You grab your bag, step 10 feet to the curb, catch your cab and go.

Seventh, I’d want the ease of getting to Aviation Queen Airport that you see with Washington National Airport (DCA).  You can catch the Metro subway, you can catch the bus, you can catch a cab and you can even ride your bike to get to the airport.

Eighth, I want good parking – and a system to tell me where to park – like Sky Harbor Phoenix International Airport (PHX).  In Terminal 4, I can drive up and see exactly how many spaces are available on each floor. It saves me time from driving around aimlessly looking for a space. Phoenix would be perfect if they had the red light/green light system at BWI airport, though.

Ninth, I want to see really great, but unusual concession concepts at my airport. An example of this is Vino Volo. It’s a simple concept – offer a nice lounge with world-class wines by the bottle and glass, gourmet little plates of food, good seating, outlets and a nice view.

And last – but not least – I’d want Aviation Queen International Airport to have a great mix of domestic and international service like Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport (LAS).  I’m the type of girl who likes to go where I want when I want, so service is king.

So I’ll turn the question on you – what are the things you’d want to see in your own personal airport? What airports have you been to that have great amenities?

Text and images by B. Wilson unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

AVIATION QUEEN: Travel Globally, Eat Locally

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By BENÉT WILSON
One of the best things about travel for me is the chance to sample local cuisine. I have traveled the world, and I’m amazed at people who fly to Paris and make a beeline to the local McDonald’s. 

Not me. I’m all about taking in what the locals eat — and drink.

Back in February 1994, I took my first international trip since living in Brussels in the mid-1970s.  I went to Singapore to cover the Singapore Air Show.

Back then, the Internet was in its primitive stages, so I bought a “Lonely Planet” guide to get an idea of what I would do in my off time.  I’ve always been a big foodie, so I wanted to check out what was available locally.

Singapore is a very modern city that nearly had its ethnicity beaten out of it after decades of British colonial rule.  The city is clean, modern and efficient.  Unfortunately, it looks like any large north American city, and the restaurant scene is similar.

Lonely Planet told me about the famous Singapore food courts, which focus on local cuisine and delicacies in a basic setting at amazingly reasonable prices. 

My boss wanted to have dinner at TGIFriday’s that first night we arrived. I demurred, saying I could go to TGI any day of the week at home.  But how often was I going to have the chance to eat foods from China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Indian, sometimes fused together?

Some of the dishes I still remember include chili crabs, fishball noodles, hor fun, shark’s fin and satay bee hoon.  The servers are very helpful in navigating the dishes, some of which might be a bit much for some American palates.

I love Paris, and have been many times for work and play. One time, I had a wonderful meal from Michelin-starred chef Guy Savoy — and at a fraction of the price of his usual expensive restaurants.  I ate at a tiny six-table bistro across the street from his flagship restaurant, where, on that night, Savoy himself was running across the street between the two eateries, cooking in both kitchens.

I traveled to Sweden several times in the 1990s and fell in love with reindeer, especially a leg loin with a lingonberry sauce.  Everything is served with Aquavit (similar to vodka), Sweden’s national drink.  I did not, however, develop a taste for herrings in cream.

I could do a whole blog post about the wonderful food of Brazil, some of which is similar to soul food.   The national dish is feijoada, a wonderful stew of black beans, beef and pork. It is served with white rice and is eaten with your choice of farofa (made of toasted cassava flour and is similar to corn meal), pork rinds, bananas, fried collard greens and Brazilian pepper sauce.  And of course, you MUST drink Brazil’s national drink, the  caipirinha, is made with cachaça (Brazilian rum) and two limes, muddled with sugar served over ice.

So when you’re planning that next international trip, take a quick surf on the Internet and see what’s what in local cuisine at your final destination.  Food is a key part of the journey and you’ll really miss out if you stick with restaurants you can easily visit when you’re at home. 

I’d love to know some of the great places you’ve frequented when traveling internationally.

AVIATION QUEEN: Passport = Freedom, Part Deux

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© Val Bakhtin | Dreamstime.com

By BENÉT WILSON
One of the bad things about my continued march into middle age is that I can’t remember things the way I used to.  In my last post, I wrote about all the places I visited on my old passport, which expired April 12.  But I was going on memory, which was a really bad idea. 

Why? I missed some of the other great places I visited!

I went to Berlin twice. During my first trip, I was smack in the middle of the filming of “The Bourne Identity.” Let me tell you, Matt Damon is a really nice guy. 

I also got to take a tour of the now-closed Tempelhof Airport.  It was a pre-World War II monstrosity that became a symbol as the staging point for the Berlin Airlift. At the time I visited, it was a shell of its former self, mostly being used by private jets and low-cost, European-based airlines.

I went to Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal, Canada.  All three cities were unique, and I’d visit all of them again in a heartbeat.  I went to Jamaica –okay, but I probably won’t go back.  Same with the Bahamas.  I went to Puerto Vallarta, where I was chased by people trying to sell timeshares to “rich” Americans. Not pleasant at all. 

And I went to a private jet air show in Geneva, where I had a grand time at the Patek Phillipe watch museum.  I’m going back to Geneva at the end of the month, so look for a post from that trip.

But there were two trips that I should have highlighted in the last post. 

I watched the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and fell in love with the city.  I swore I’d get there some day, and I went in November 2005.  It did not disappoint.  The people were wonderful, the food fantastic, and I continue my love affair with sangria made with cava.  I am a huge Picasso fan, and Barcelona has what the artist considered his favorite museum.  And you can get in for free on the first Sunday of the month.

Barcelona was very easy to navigate, with a great subway and train system.  The city is filled with iconic buildings by hometown architect Antonio Gaudi.  Buildings you must see include La Sagrada Familia temple; La Pedrera residence; Casa Batlló (which looks like it’s made of skulls); and the Park Guell.

The other big trip was to Seoul, South Korea, where I was doing a series of stories on flag carrier Korean Air. 

I was really excited to land at Incheon International Airport, since the facility has won numerous “best airport” awards.  After visiting, I now know why.  It was light and air and very easy to navigate.  It has world-class shopping, free shower/arrivals lounges for all travelers, free wi-fi and free computer stations, places to take tours or play a round of golf during a long layover and a free Korean museum where you can make your own crafts.

While I was there, the city was celebrating Buddha’s birthday, so there were celebrations everywhere.  The local flea markets and crafts areas are a shopaholic’s dream, and I made a point of not eating Western food.  The highlight for me was having lunch at Sanchon, a restaurant owned by Buddhist monks serving “temple” cuisine.  It was a lovely oasis in the city that served all-vegetarian fare — and I am NOT a vegetarian — and wonderful teas.

So go ahead — apply for your passport.  Having one can spur you to find your own adventures!

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