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Archive for December, 2007

On Location in: Valletta, Malta

As promised yesterday, our Mediterranean cruise story continues, with today’s posting on Valletta, Malta. Malta is comprised of several Mediterranean islands covering 122 square miles (316 sq. km.) located south of Sicily and east of Tunisia. The country’s population is around 400,000 people. Valletta is the capital of Malta and the country’s main port.
In 1980, […]

Mediterranean Cruise

Two friends of mine, Debbie and Patti, recently returned from an eight day Mediterranean cruise aboard the Costa Concordia. Costa is an Italian cruise company, based in Genoa, operating a fleet of 16 vessels throughout the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Caribbean, Central and South America, Dubai, Indian Ocean, and the Far East.
For Patti, this was her […]

Soaked

Liquids. I know about the liquids rule, you know the liquids rule, we all know about the liquids rule…so why did it trip us up three times in the past week? Somehow, deep in our hearts, we don’t want to believe the liquids rule, we think our fluids will somehow seep through…but they won’t.
Last week […]

Preclearance to the United States

Another of the many interesting aspects of international aviation policy is preclearance to the US—that is the clearing of immigration and customs of US-bound passengers (of any citizenry) in the foreign country of departure. Upon preclearing, a passenger enters the United States and is treated as a domestic passenger, thus removing the necessity of […]

Merry Christmas

Have a Merry Christmas and I hope all your travel dreams are answered. Remember, you have to finish your New Years Resolutions List before the new year rolls in. After the stroke of midnight, I don’t believe any editing is permitted and you’ll be stuck with the list all year.

Who Bumps the Most?

Airlines typically sell more tickets than seats on certain flights counting on a given number of passengers not showing up. This is a permissible practice, though when the number of passengers that actually show up exceed the airline analyst’s expectations, the airlines must bump—voluntarily or involuntarily—some passengers.
For most people, this is an inconvenience. Though some […]

Airport Access in Cleveland: America’s First Airport-Downtown Rail Connection

Oftentimes, the best way to travel between an airport and the center of town is a train. I was recently connecting in Amsterdam and, if it were not for the train, I would not have been able to see any part of the city, in my mere 3 hours on the ground between flights. Though […]

Is Gate Checking of Luggage Safe?

I recently just flew a short hop on a 50-seater Embraer and had to gate check my bag as it wouldn’t fit in the tiny overhead compartment. When you land after gate checking your bag, you can collect your bag immediately after alighting (and need not go to baggage claim).
I never like checking my […]

The Official 2007 Christmas Gift Idea List

Are you stumped on what to get certain people this holiday season? Well, worry no longer. We’ve created this handy list of cool airline and travel related gift ideas that won’t put you in the poor house. All items below are between $5 and $100.
1. A one-day pass at an airline club. Great for someone […]

On Location in: San Benedetto del Tronto

There’s a wonderful little town on the Italian Adriatic coast called San Benedetto del Tronto. My father told me about it and how his father (now about 100 years ago) used to go there in the summers and hang out. As my wife and I were traveling in Italy this past April, we decided to […]


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