Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for April, 2008
Italy’s Fabled City
By Linda Tancs
Popularly known as the Eternal City, Rome boasts 3000 years of timeless beauty in this fabled Italian metropolis. Take in the sights at www.travelrificradio.com.
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You Can Be a Select Traveler
By Linda Tancs
Imagine yourself sipping champagne in an ornate wood-paneled dining car, watching the Italian Dolomites soar as the steward offers you yet another canape. Or perhaps you prefer the French country elegance of a château. Or the craggy, mystical highlands of Scotland. Or the samba beat of South America. Whatever your guilty pleasure, Continental Airlines now gives you a menu of options to choose from with their new Select Escapes luxury packages. They’ve put together an impressive array of high-end rail tours, palatial digs, resorts and spas. Someone once said, “Vacation used to be a luxury, but in today’s world it has become a necessity.” Does that mean that a luxury vacation is an imperative? You decide.
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Long Life in Lugano
By Linda Tancs
Ask German born Rosa Rein if there’s something in the Swiss air, wine or water to account for her longevity. She’s now the oldest woman in Switzerland at a spry 111 years. Living in Lugano, she still enjoys the best of health despite some hearing loss. And she could have a partner with which to toast her good fortune. In the area of Misoexertal, Switzerland four men reside over the age of 100. Maybe longevity really is determined by how you choose to look at life, regardless how life treats you. After all, Rosa was widowed as early as 1973 and lost her mother at a Nazi concentration camp. As Swiss psychologist Carl Jung observed, “It all depends on how we look at things and not on how they are themselves.”
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New Hotel Chain Promises a Lofty Experience
By Linda Tancs
If tight ceilings, small beds and even smaller TVs are putting a crimp in your hotel experience, then maybe Starwood’s new offering will give you a lift, or should I say, a loft. “aloft” is the newest budget entry in the chain’s array of properties, sporting oversized windows, HDTV flat panels, oversized beds and showers, and 9-foot ceilings that even Brobdingnagian guests should find comforting. The majority of open properties at the moment are in North America, ranging from Montreal in the East to Rancho Cucamonga in the West. Other properties slated to open in 2009 and beyond include hotspots such as Orlando, Nashville and Denver in the U.S. and international locales such as Brussels, U.A.E. and the Asian Pacific region. With hotel development in full vigor worldwide among the leading players, let’s hope that guests won’t be aloof over aloft.
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Heathrow Ad Likely to Promote Ire
By Linda Tancs
Following up on our 3 April post, a recent ad by British Airways promoting Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 will likely throw salt into the wound of any traveler who “benefited” from the experience. The ad, entitled “Feel Calm Again,” directs you to “immerse yourself in serenity as you flow effortlessly through your journey.” Yep. Memo to Ad Team: Major media ad placement shall hereafter take place following successful testing of new launches.
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Happy Earth Day
By Linda Tancs
Today marks a worldwide celebration of our natural resources. What better way to commemorate the day than to see what’s on in some of Mother Nature’s most glorious natural environments. How about Hawaii? Many Earth Day-related festivities have already started–and ended. However, the Kona Earth Festival is still kickin’ until 21 June. In Thailand, morning chants at Dhammakaya Assembly Hall started off the annual salute to our environment, ending tonight with fireworks at the Grand Meditation Square. Calgary is celebrating with a call to action to Ward 9 to pick up litter for 22 minutes! And the U.K.’s North Norfolk coast, an eco-friendly paradise for backpackers, is hosting an exhibition on environmental technology and initiatives at Deepdale Farm. What’s on in your neighborhood?
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Travel Promotion Laws
By Linda Tancs
Few people may realize that in 2007 yet another pass was made in Congress to create an advertising fund to promote travel to the U.S. The Travel Promotion Act of 2007 intended to address declining travel to the U.S. by earmarking $100 million generated by private industry and overseas visitors’ entry fees to facilitate understanding of America’s entry system and promote U.S. travel. These activities would be undertaken by a non-profit corporation to be known as the Corporation for Travel Promotion. Even fewer folks may recall that in 2002 a similar initiative fell flat. Of course, the circumstances differ surrounding the introduction of a travel promotion bill in each of these years. In 2002, the primary concern in developing the legislation was to allocate funds from a $100 million proposed reserve to the states to prop up tourism following 9/11. In 2007, the bill’s sponsors blamed harsh border control and entry requirements for a drop in tourism despite a weak dollar. There is certainly support for that position. Just consider this portrayal of travel to the U.S. by travel columnist Matt Rudd from January’s Sunday Times in London: “Nowhere else can a visitor expect such a spirit-crushingly frosty reception. A preflight e-interrogation, epic queues at immigration, thin-lipped questioning from aggressive border guards, and an outside chance of a rubber-gloved rectal rummage are all part of the fun.” Ouch. On the other hand, a recent report from the Federal Reserve claims that the one bright spot in America’s economy at the present time is–drum roll, please–foreign tourism! So perhaps the bottom line is that, so long as schizophrenic assessments pop up among bureaucrats, any proposal to bring America’s promotional spend in line with that committed by our chief competitors will surely be doomed.
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Whole Body Imaging Coming to An Airport Near You
By Linda Tancs
Following a successful pilot phase in Phoenix, the TSA has reported that it will expand its whole body imaging technology testing to JFK and LAX in the near future. Whole body imaging is an alternative to a security checkpoint pat-down search. The technology captures an image of the whole body (hence the name) and is hailed as a more reliable method of detecting and resolving anomalies in the passenger screening process. Needless to say, critics dub the process intrusive despite the fact that the image is transient and cannot be viewed by any other member of the public at the screening area. Readers, what say you–for or against?
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Cell Phone Use Made Simple
By Linda Tancs
The limping U.S. dollar may not have you thinking about traveling abroad any time soon, but if you do, you might be wondering about using your cell phone internationally. You may very well have a phone that is capable of working in most countries–the key word is “capable.” Will the frequency used in your target destination jibe with your phone? Do you need to “unlock” your phone from home before traveling? Should you rent a phone internationally or replace the SIM card? A good place to start looking for answers is with your service provider, of course. Some sites also attempt to provide you with some basic information to get you started, like http://www.cellularabroad.com/cellinfo.html.
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Vatican City
By Linda Tancs
Vatican City, led by the Pope, is one of the holiest sites in Christendom and houses some of the most magnificent displays of art in the world. Explore the wonders of the world’s smallest country at www.travelrificradio.com.
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