Thursday, March 12, 2009
Continental's Mileage Calculateor
I've often wondered does Continental's Mileage Calculator encourage people to take more convoluted, longer routings in order to amass more miles? Hmm....
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Coachella Radio on Pandora
If you're going to the Coachella music festival in California next month, check out Pandora's Coachella Radio station. It's a good way to hear some of the bands playing there:
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Alain de Botton "On going to the airport"
It's just a 5 page essay in a slim book called "On seeing and noticing", but "On going to the airport" by Alain de Botton has to be the most beautiful thing I've ever read about travel. Has anything more lovely ever been written about a 747:
"On a grey day from the edge of the runway at Heathrow, a 747 appears at first as a small brilliant white light, a star dropping towards earth. It has been in the air for some twelve hours. It took off from Bangkok at dawn. It flew over the Bay of Bengal, Delhi, the Afghan desert and the Caspian Sea. It traced a course over Romania, the Czech Republic and began its descent, so gently that few passengers would have noticed a change of tone in the engines, above the coast of Normandy. From the ground, the white light gradually takes shape as a vast two-storied body with four engines suspended like earrings beneath implausable long wings. In the light rain, clouds of water form a veil behind the plane on its matronly progress towards the airfield. The plane is a symbol of worldliness, carrying within itself a trace of all the lands it has crossed; its eternal mobility offering an imaginative counterweight to feelings of stagnation and confinement. This morning the plane was over the Malay Peninsula, a phrase in which there lingers the smells of guava and sandalwood. And now, a few metres above the earth which it has avoided for so long, the plane appears motionless, its nose raised upwards, seeming to pause before its sixteen rear wheels meet the tarmac with a blast of smoke that makes manifest its speed and weight".
"On a grey day from the edge of the runway at Heathrow, a 747 appears at first as a small brilliant white light, a star dropping towards earth. It has been in the air for some twelve hours. It took off from Bangkok at dawn. It flew over the Bay of Bengal, Delhi, the Afghan desert and the Caspian Sea. It traced a course over Romania, the Czech Republic and began its descent, so gently that few passengers would have noticed a change of tone in the engines, above the coast of Normandy. From the ground, the white light gradually takes shape as a vast two-storied body with four engines suspended like earrings beneath implausable long wings. In the light rain, clouds of water form a veil behind the plane on its matronly progress towards the airfield. The plane is a symbol of worldliness, carrying within itself a trace of all the lands it has crossed; its eternal mobility offering an imaginative counterweight to feelings of stagnation and confinement. This morning the plane was over the Malay Peninsula, a phrase in which there lingers the smells of guava and sandalwood. And now, a few metres above the earth which it has avoided for so long, the plane appears motionless, its nose raised upwards, seeming to pause before its sixteen rear wheels meet the tarmac with a blast of smoke that makes manifest its speed and weight".
Monday, March 2, 2009
Use BMI's frequent flyer program to score perks in the US?
This is a story which interests me because I'm a member of BMI's frequent flyer program, and I've used it to amass almost 150,000 miles, which I'm going to use at some point for flights to London. Their miles do not expire, and can be redeemed on Virgin Atlantic as well as BMI itself.
However, my experience in the US is that unless you have Gold status with BMI (equating to Star Alliance Gold status), you don't get lounge access with United. Also, the miles which I amassed with BMI were useful for transatlantic flights, but not so much inside the US. For example, i could not do much with a small-ish amount of BMI miles, though if I had miles from a US carrier then I could use a small-ish amount of miles for internal US flights.
Therefore, a few years ago I signed up for United's frequent flyer program and I use this to amass miles (which I can spend internally in the US, or for transatlantic flights, e.g. with Aer Lingus to Ireland). I find that I get perks such as upgrades, though still not lounge access (as I'm still only on Star Alliance Silver level).
Here is the story from Yahoo Finance anyway, even though it doesn't match my experience with lounge access (unless you have Gold status):
BMI is part of the Star Alliance, a group of 25 airlines that work together (United, Lufthansa, Air Canada and Air New Zealand among them), which means your points and upgrades can be applied to any of those airlines. While most U.S. airlines do not offer complimentary lounge access to frequent fliers, most foreign carriers do, which means you get the benefit of using those facilities within the U.S.--on airlines like United--without actually belonging to their frequent-flier programs.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/106661/How-to-Score-Secret-Airline-Perks
However, my experience in the US is that unless you have Gold status with BMI (equating to Star Alliance Gold status), you don't get lounge access with United. Also, the miles which I amassed with BMI were useful for transatlantic flights, but not so much inside the US. For example, i could not do much with a small-ish amount of BMI miles, though if I had miles from a US carrier then I could use a small-ish amount of miles for internal US flights.
Therefore, a few years ago I signed up for United's frequent flyer program and I use this to amass miles (which I can spend internally in the US, or for transatlantic flights, e.g. with Aer Lingus to Ireland). I find that I get perks such as upgrades, though still not lounge access (as I'm still only on Star Alliance Silver level).
Here is the story from Yahoo Finance anyway, even though it doesn't match my experience with lounge access (unless you have Gold status):
BMI is part of the Star Alliance, a group of 25 airlines that work together (United, Lufthansa, Air Canada and Air New Zealand among them), which means your points and upgrades can be applied to any of those airlines. While most U.S. airlines do not offer complimentary lounge access to frequent fliers, most foreign carriers do, which means you get the benefit of using those facilities within the U.S.--on airlines like United--without actually belonging to their frequent-flier programs.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/106661/How-to-Score-Secret-Airline-Perks
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Cat packing and wooden highheels
Looking at the search terms which lead Google searches to this blog, I see many obvious ones like "Driving from Killarney to Galway".
However, I also see some strange searches, but when I checked the results they actually do make sense:
- "cat packing". This search leads to: http://24hourstravelguide.blogspot.com/2008/10/cat-packing.html)
- "wooden highheels". This search leads to: http://24hourstravelguide.blogspot.com/2008/10/high-heels-on-wooden-floor.html)
However, I also see some strange searches, but when I checked the results they actually do make sense:
- "cat packing". This search leads to: http://24hourstravelguide.blogspot.com/2008/10/cat-packing.html)
- "wooden highheels". This search leads to: http://24hourstravelguide.blogspot.com/2008/10/high-heels-on-wooden-floor.html)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Save on flights, pay it on parking, at Boston Logan Airport
Yay, Southwest is coming. It doesn't sound like they'll have many flights from Boston initially, though. This removes one of their key benefits for me: the ability to switch to an earlier scheduled flight free-of-charge.
The bad news if that parking fees have gone up at Logan. It's expensive by US standards, but still I find it reasonable when compared to places like Heathrow or (ridiculously) Dublin.
The bad news if that parking fees have gone up at Logan. It's expensive by US standards, but still I find it reasonable when compared to places like Heathrow or (ridiculously) Dublin.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Stage Deli in New York City
Just back from a great trip to New York City.
However, I have to say that I 100% agree with these reviews of the Stage Deli (on Broadway). As one of the reviewers says below, there are plenty of places in NYC where you can get a $20 sandwich. And not wait about half an hour for it to be delivered.
However, I have to say that I 100% agree with these reviews of the Stage Deli (on Broadway). As one of the reviewers says below, there are plenty of places in NYC where you can get a $20 sandwich. And not wait about half an hour for it to be delivered.
Don't Eat Here -- The Service is Unforgivable
dano7532 from 91607 | Posted on 1/29/08
Overall Rating: 1 (Not Recommended)
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The service at this restaurant is substandard. The waiters give rude a new meaning. If you're going to pay $20 for a sandwich, there are a hundred places in New York that will serve you them with a smile. Not only is the staff completely useless, but the management doesn't seem to care about customers' complaints at all. I guess they feel they have a built in clientele of "dumb" tourists. Go across the street. You'll get the same food with none of the unpleasantry.
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NEVER AGAIN
GinnieS from 17601 | Posted on 9/30/07
Overall Rating: 1 (Not Recommended)
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I go to New York several times a year. This was the first and last time i will eat at Stage Deli. Waiters were rude, all sitting in the corner. One of the waiters, was walking out of the kitchen with a cusomers meal, and was picking the french fries right off there plate and eating them, as he got to the table to place the food down. He hid the fry behind his back. It was gross. I will never return, other than the sandwiches being big, they were not all that good.
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Monday, February 16, 2009
The recession in action - $24 hotel rooms just off the Strip in Las Vegas
Just off the Strip - $24 a night midweek. About twice that midweek on the Strip itself, which is still cheap...
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Dubai - turn on the lights
The New York Times has a story this week entitled "Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down", and reports "housing vacancies and lowers real estate prices, in a downward spiral that has left parts of Dubai — once hailed as the economic superpower of the Middle East — looking like a ghost town". The Guardian (Feb 13) also covers Dubai's troubles, and includes a good video.
The thing which the stories fail to mention is that parts of Dubai already looked like a ghost town. I've visited Dubai a few times over the past few years. There was a tremendous amount of building happening there, with many tall apartment buildings going up. But few people seemed to be living in the buildings, or moving in. Do you know how you could tell? At night all the buildings were dark. I stayed in a hotel amongst many tall new apartment buildings, and at night you could not tell that the tall apartment buildings were there at all.
Take a look at this photo of the Burj Dubai (tallest building in the world) at night. It is lit up, since it is under construction. But where are the buildings around it? Nowhere to be seen because they have no lights on at night. If buildings are actually being used, either as office buildings or as apartments, then some lights will be on at night.
Compare the photo to this picture I took of San Francisco at night. Those are all office buildings in the photo, but at night they still have many lights on.
The old joke is that "will the last person to leave turn off the lights", but in the case of Dubai the lights were not on in the first place.
To finish, here is a great video of a city at night. If you don't like the music, turn it to mute. But what beautiful images:
The thing which the stories fail to mention is that parts of Dubai already looked like a ghost town. I've visited Dubai a few times over the past few years. There was a tremendous amount of building happening there, with many tall apartment buildings going up. But few people seemed to be living in the buildings, or moving in. Do you know how you could tell? At night all the buildings were dark. I stayed in a hotel amongst many tall new apartment buildings, and at night you could not tell that the tall apartment buildings were there at all.
Take a look at this photo of the Burj Dubai (tallest building in the world) at night. It is lit up, since it is under construction. But where are the buildings around it? Nowhere to be seen because they have no lights on at night. If buildings are actually being used, either as office buildings or as apartments, then some lights will be on at night.
Compare the photo to this picture I took of San Francisco at night. Those are all office buildings in the photo, but at night they still have many lights on.
The old joke is that "will the last person to leave turn off the lights", but in the case of Dubai the lights were not on in the first place.
To finish, here is a great video of a city at night. If you don't like the music, turn it to mute. But what beautiful images:
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