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Travel

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Air Travel Set To Suck More

As if it wasn't bad enough already, be prepared for some additional security precautions and likely inconveniences if you are traveling to the US from an International airport.

Travelers to U.S. Now Face Patdowns and Other Scrutiny
Airline passengers traveling to the United States on Sunday were subjected to more scrutiny, including physical patdowns, in the wake of new restrictions that lengthened lines at airports and limited the ability of international passengers to move about an airplane. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Sunday that all passengers headed to the United States from foreign destinations are supposed to be subject to a physical patdown at thegate area, in addition to more frequent carry-on bag checks. The requirement is imposed on foreign airports.

TSA continues to allow laptop computers, cell phones and other electronic items.
TSA says its still allowing laptops & cellphones onboard but some ppl experiencing different flying from other countries

New rules keep passengers in seats
New government security regulations prohibit passengers from leaving their plane seats beginning an hour before landing.

Bad time to be a Nigerian with irritable bowel syndrome.
A Nigerian man who became ill on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit -- the same flight involved in Friday's terrorism attempt -- triggered a security alert at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after the pilots requested emergency assistance upon landing ... Earlier in the afternoon, Delta Airlines, which acquired Northwest last year, said in a statement that the crew had requested police assistance on the ground because a passenger was "verbally disruptive." ... The T.S.A. said that the flight landed safely at Detroit International Airport at approximately 12:35 p.m. Eastern "without incident."

It's amazing to me just how much people will put up with when they are flying.

Update since this was posted:

Some security has been relaxed since the underwear bomb incident but it's worth noting that the increased security only applies to flights who destination or departure is the United States. Asian travel is unaffected.

President Obama, It's Time To Fire the TSA
Today, DHS's Napolitano's response to the crotchbomber: "We're looking to make sure that this sort of incident cannot recur." But the TSA's response to Abdulmutalib's attempt makes one thing clear: We must stop pretending the TSA is making us safer.

Security expert Bruce Schneier nails the core incompetency: "For years I've been saying 'Only two things have made flying safer [since 9/11]: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers.'"

The Unofficial Guide to Flying After the Underwear Bomb
The TSA hasn't explained jack. But we found this audio of a pilot explaining the new in-flight security arrangements. Based on that, and what else we know, here's an unofficial guide to travel in the age of the underwear bomb.

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The cognitive benefits of travel

Why do we travel? It's not the flying I mind--I will always be awed by the physics that get a fat metal bird into the upper tropo- sphere. The rest of the journey, however, can feel like a tedious lesson in the ills of modernity, from the predawn x-ray screening to the sad airport malls peddling crappy souvenirs. It's globalization in a nutshell, and it sucks.

And yet here we are, herded in ever greater numbers onto planes that stay the same size. Sometimes, of course, we travel because we have to. Because in this digital age there is still something important about the analog handshake. Or eating Mom's turkey on Thanksgiving. Or seeing the girlfriend during her semester break.

Travel, in other words, is a basic human desire. We're a migratory species, even if our migrations are powered by jet fuel and Chicken McNuggets. But here's my question: is this collective urge to travel - to put some distance between ourselves and everything we know--still a worthwhile compulsion? Or is it like the taste for saturated fat, one of those instincts we should have left behind in the Pleistocene epoch? Because if travel is just about fun then I think the TSA killed it.

The good news, at least for those of youreading this while stuck on a tarmac eating stale pretzels, is that pleasure is not the only consolation of travel. In fact, several new science papers suggest that getting away--and it doesn't even matter where you're going--is an essential habit of effective thinking. It's not about vacation, or relaxation, or sipping daiquiris on an unspoiled tropical beach: it's about the tedious act itself, putting somemiles between home and wherever you happen to spend the night.

I so want to simply cut 'n' paste the whole article here because it's not until much later that Jonah Lehrer gets to the point I observe within myself time and time again when I travel. Even when I only travel somewhere new 30 minutes away.

... our thoughts are shackled by the familiar. The brain is a neural tangle of near infinite possibility, which means that it spends alot of time and energy choosing what not to notice. As a result, creativity is traded away for efficiency; we think in literal prose, not symbolist poetry. A bit of distance, however, helps loosen the chains of cognition, making it easier to see something new in the old ...

Travel, at least the travel I engage in, forces me to think in whole new ways; tackle problems that never happen in my day to day life. I find routine, though comforting, becomes mind numbing over time. I'm not forced to think as I act largely on instinct. When I travel I'm forced to navigate strange streets in a language not my own while I wonder about contingencies if the atm won't work or the credit card is somehow unusable. I see things and experience points of view entirely different from my day to day existence.

When I travel I can't sit still. I could never imagine lounging about in a hotel, a hotel which provides the same experience as every other hotel in the world. Which is the point for many - familiarity and the comfort of being home. I get out and walk, and walk, and walk. I try to experience as much as I can in the time I have. Where at home I am an introvert, abroad I approach strangers and ask them questions. I sit and watch people, observing their behaviour, style, and tastes. I document all that I see and experience.

How can this not have positive cognitive benefits.

Why We Travel by Jonah Lehrer

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An Itinerary For A Short Stay In Bangkok

I've travelled to Bangkok so many times that many of the traditional tourist attractions, though amazing, have lost some of their appeal to me. Bangkok is a big city with a trememendous variety of activities that cater to just about every interest. Activities for kids (yes Bangkok is an ideal destination for families too), museums, the best movie theatres in Asia, art and design exhibits, towering restaurants on top of the city, shopping and more shopping, are all wrapped with a unique rich culture and some of the friendliest people in the world. With frequent short visits I try to see something different, exploring different neighbourhoods, while hitting the usual haunts that make Bangkok special to me.

Before I get started, I always hit the grocery where I stock up on fresh fruit, vegetables, juice and yogurt. I do this no matter which city I land in but I've learned the hard way in Bangkok that not eating right can have some uncomfortable consequences. My one risk is coffee to go from a street vender. It's not a French café but there is something about starting my day with fresh Thai. coffee replete with condensed milk that marks the start of any day there. It's almost impossible to plan a timed itinerary into a short space of time here so I tend to write a laundry list of places I want to visit and hope that I can manage to check them all off during my stay.

Excluding all the usual meandering about with camera and the inevitable stops for banana shakes, the following is alternate itinerary for a short stay in Bangkok

Continue reading >>

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Bangkok experiences an all-time low in hotel occupancies

International arrivals declined by 21% in the first six months of 2009 as compared to the same period in 2008.

During this time, it was reported that Bangkok's five-star hotels recorded occupancy of approximately 47% while four-star hotels recorded approximately 51% during the same period.

Bangkok hotels have not witnessed such levels of occupancy since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

It was forecast that occupancy is likely to remain in the 50% to 60% region as approximately 7,150 rooms are expected to enter the market in the next three years.

This fall may prove to be an excellent time to visit.

Source: www.hvs.com

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Japan Cultural Guide

Whether you are visiting on business or plan for a short or long term stay, hopefully this short list of resources will make your trip to Japan more interesting. While much of this pertains to Tokyo but there should be enough information here to guide you to experience the rest of Japan.

Guide

Art Space Tokyo Art Space Tokyo acts as your 272 page personal guide and interpreter, connecting you with the neighborhoods and figures behind some of the most inspiring art spaces in this colossal city.

Tokyo superguide
Downloadable PDF city superguide for global shopping experts 30 pages total

Continue reading >>

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How to avoid confusion on your travels in Europe

From website Fasten Seat Belts To The World which tries to help travellers break cultural and linguistic barriers, raise their curiosity towards new languages, and help you kill time intelligently.

Today, travelling has become necessary and accessible to more and more people. This increased mobility exposes millions of travellers every day to new cultures, customs and languages. Without education, dialogue can be difficult and misunderstandings can arise. You can get yourself in all sorts of trouble in other countries by not having an understanding of their cultural language. Much of our behaviour can mean other things in other countries, some of it amusing, some of it extremely offensive.

Fasten Seat Belts To The World. Via Swissmiss.

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How to pack for travel

Some bag-packing travel advice for men from The Art of Manliness. The article includes folding tips for avoiding wrinkles and comes replete with a helpful printable version. A couple tips from the article which I have similarly done for some time:

Finally, pack an empty garbage bag in your suitcase. That way you can keep your dirty clothes separate from your clean ones while on your trip.

If you plan on bringing a ton of stuff home, pack a collapsible bag inside of your bigger bag, and you can fill it with your booty.

If you are having trouble deciding what to bring or need help getting organized, I created a simple travel todo and packing list to help get you started. Print it off before your next trip.

How to Pack a Bag for Travel. Via Hivelogic.

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Me No Speak - Language Companion

Traditional phrase books are nice but when dealing with a difficult tonal language a picture can help you communicate faster and more effectively. When my vocabulary (and mime) fails me I resort to on-the-spot sketching in a small moleskin notebook. This would be fine if I could actually illustrate effectively. Me No Speak to the rescue.

Me No Speak are passport-sized books designed with illustrations and phrases about food, money, transportation and bathrooms, printed in English and the local language, thereby helping you to communicate in the simplest way-by pointing at what you want to say. They are faster and certainly more beautiful means to communicate an urgent need than my homespun effort.

When traveling without knowing the language, in one of the countries represented, this simple book could prove to be an incredible asset for everyday situations.

me no speak

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Google City Tours helps build itineraries

Beyond ensuring that I have all I need in my bag, I'm not a big believer in exhaustive trip planning. I prefer spontaneity as a means of framing my experience of a new place. When visiting a city I do pick waypoints, specific points of interest, which I might try to hit while I go about my urban explorations. I've long since eschewed the guidebook for background research, preferring google search or local blogs as my pre departure tools, and locals for on arrival advice.

Though fairly limited in scope, I couldn't find anything for major centers in Asia, Googles newly introduced City Tours has me excited as it removes my need for a large bulky map and further refines my pre-departure research. It's also excellent for last minute arrivals.

City Tours helps the user “identify points of interest and plan multi-day trips to most major cities throughout the world.”

It features suggested sights, the ability to manually enter your own points of interest and to view refinements like distance & time. This is a very functional tool, especially when coupled with a device like an iPhone with it's built in compass and aGPS. City Tours is a Google Labs project which generally means it's still very much a work-in-progress.

Google Labs’ City Tours. Via Google launches City Tours.

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Thailand Airport Scam

If it wasn't bad enough that Thailand is under seemingly constant political strife, the tourism industry there has taken another hit with an alleged scam involving corrupt police at Bangkok Airport. This alleged scam involves police falsely detaining tourists on theft charges whereby the only way they can regain their passport and their release is by paying a large 'fine'. This fine/bribe has been in excess of 13,000US.

A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their release are to take legal action for compensation.

They were the victims of an extortion racket that has ensnared other foreign travellers at the airport, which handles most of the 800,000 British visitors to Thailand every year.

Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, both technology professionals from Cambridge, were detained by security guards as they went to board Qantas flight QF1 to London on the night of Saturday, April 25.

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently conceded there was no evidence against them.

Travelers beware, with the recent riots and near constant jostling for political power, no matter how worldly and well travelled you think you are, you can never be assured of 'safety' as there is no authority in Thailand that can assure that safety, even in their international airport. Thailand may be my favourite place to visit but it's getting hard and harder to recommend it as a holiday or working location.

And stay away from King Power Duty Free.

From British couple fights Bangkok airport extortionists. Also, £10,000 for eye shadow at King Power?- The Bangkok airport scam.

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