Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for caribbean
French Island Flair
By Linda Tancs
St. Barth’s is a French island in the West Indies, popular among jetsetters for it charm and sophisticated relaxation but no less fitting for visitors of any budget looking for lazy days in the perennial sun of this beach-fringed volcanic island. Listen to a sampling of the island’s delights at Travelrific Travel Show.
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Forest Life in Barbados
By Linda Tancs
Nature and wildlife lovers will be interested to note that the tiniest snake in the world has been discovered (in an official sense, at least) in a thicket of forest in Barbados. Resembling an earthworm, the barely four-inch, spaghetti-like reptile has been given the scientific moniker Leptotyphlops carlae. A similar species is endemic to the island of Martinique. Just another reason to keep your shoes on.
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Get Your Bajan On in Barbados
By Linda Tancs
It’s Crop Over time in Barbados. Find out what else is going on in this cruise ship haven. Visit Travelrific Travel Show.
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Passport Cards Offer Convenience for Travelers
By Linda Tancs
Marketed as a less expensive and more portable form of passport book, the passport card gives U.S. travelers returning from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean a wallet-sized form of entry at seaports and land borders to meet the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The card does not, however, replace the need for a passport when traveling by air. Like a traditional passport, the card is expected to have anti-counterfeiting features. Each card will also have an embedded radio frequency chip linking non-personal information to a secure government database at border stations. Applications for the card commenced on February 1, 2008 and delivery is expected in the spring. You can apply at any passport application facility. Find the one nearest you at http://travel.state.gov.
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Celebrity Cruises Is Going Green
By Linda Tancs
In a move illustrative of the ever increasing competition among cruise lines, Celebrity has announced that Solstice, its Caribbean-traversing megaship debuting later this year, will boast real grass on its top deck. One can only assume that their market research indicates a desire among the consuming public to have the scent of freshly mowed grass added to the salt air experience. Or perhaps the bocce ball and croquet lobby got the best of them. Whatever the case, there’s sure to be quite a premium to pay for all the irrigation and maintenance of this lawn experience. Ants and weeds are optional.
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2008 Will Usher In Changes in St. Bart’s
By Linda Tancs
Postcode aficionados, take note: in 2008, St. Bart’s postcode will change from 97133 to something beginning with “977.” But that’s not the only change to take place in this small yet sophisticated French West Indies island–the new year brings a new tax on guests. A resort tax (often referred to as a tourism development tax) of 5% will apply to the island’s 160 + hotels, condos and villas. No doubt this levy will greatly enhance the local economy. After all, consider the economic benefit conferred on Orlando, Florida courtesy of its 6% tax remitted by moneymakers like Magic Kingdom properties. By some accounts, the Mouse contributes as much as 33% to Orlando’s resort tax revenue, which tallied in the $14M range this year. Considering the exclusivity of this French isle, it’s a wonder that its luxe visitors (including A-list celebs) weren’t taxed sooner. Better late than never, as they say.
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What’s New in the Western Hemisphere: Part Deux
By Linda Tancs
Attention all procrastinators: time is up for winging it through the Western Hemisphere without official documentation. You may recall that passport requirements were relaxed in the wake of an avalanche of applications that were filed (and very much delayed) to meet the new requirements. Effective today, you must have passport in hand for your flights to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Limited exceptions (in the way of military travel, for instance) apply. Still don’t have that passport? Expedited service is running at about 3 weeks, they say. Go for it.
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Royal Golf
By Linda Tancs
St. Andrews, move over. Soon they’ll be another “royal” kid in town. Royal Island, Bahamas will host its own golf club courtesy of The Golden Bear (that’s Jack Nicklaus for you non-golfers out there) when construction is completed in 2009. Okay, maybe that’s not soon enough.
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What’s New in the Western Hemisphere?
By Linda Tancs
It should come as no surprise that there’s a run on passports these days. Under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, U.S. citizens traveling via air between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda now need a passport. For the time being at least, the passport is lauded as the best documentation of identity and citizenship. But is it “hassle free”? With the advent of the biometric (data encoded) passport, concerns are rampant that the passport holder’s identifying information is subject to hacking, giving rise to a cottage industry in anti-hacking devices. Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes.
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