Best Leisure Time Blog

posted by Adam Johns on Mar 5

The mobile-phone industry has finally developed a worthy successor to AT&T’s Digital One Rate. Late last month, Verizon Wireless ushered in the era of “all-you-can-eat” pricing. For a $99.99 monthly fee, customers can make unlimited domestic mobile calls. The basic plan includes voice calls. Another $20 a month gets you unlimited monthly text messaging too.

The last time that I used a hotel-room phone, about a dozen years ago, I got dinged for $11 for a two-minute call from Phoenix to New York. This was during the phone wars, a nasty era for business travelers that lasted for years after the government broke up the old AT&T monopoly in 1984.

During that time, hoteliers would mark up domestic calls by 500 to 600 percent, and three-digit prices for short calls from overseas hotels were standard. Business travelers essentially opened their economic veins whenever they plugged their phone modems into a hotel system and downloaded their email at the then-blazing speeds of 14.4 or 28.8 kilobytes.

Pay phones were even more ridiculous. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, telecommunications companies would put goofy proprietary pay phones in airport concourses. One I remember particularly well had a pullout keyboard, acoustic couplers for the handset, and a miniscule monitor. For two or three bucks a minute, you could laboriously dial into AOL or Compuserve—and be disconnected before you retrieved a single message.

Back then, I carried a separate little travel wallet stuffed with calling cards, all claiming to shield me from the telephonic havoc. During those years, I had three flavors of AT&T cards; a call-back card that routed all my calls through some Caribbean country; and even a phone card from American Express—which saved me a lot of money, assuming that I was willing to dial 32 digits to phone home.

Fortunately, mobile phones made the phone wars irrelevant. In the years since their widespread adoption, some telecom experts say that hotels have lost as much as 80 percent of their calling volume and revenue from in-room phones. Pay phones have all but disappeared from airports and city sidewalks. And do you know any business traveler who still uses a calling card?

It’s easy to pinpoint the moment when mobile phones changed the game for business travelers: In 1998, one of the many mobile companies that have been called AT&T introduced the Digital One Rate plan. Customers paid just 11 cents per minute for a mobile call from anywhere in the nation—no roaming charges, no surcharges, and no other tricky fees. With mobile service truly national and predictably priced, business travelers converted in droves.

It’s taken a decade, but the mobile-phone industry has finally developed a worthy successor to Digital One Rate. Late last month, Verizon Wireless ushered in the era of “all-you-can-eat” pricing. For a $99.99 monthly fee, customers can make unlimited domestic mobile calls. The basic plan includes voice calls. Another $20 a month gets you unlimited monthly text messaging too.

Verizon’s major competitors reacted in a flash: Within hours, AT&T essentially matched the Verizon deal (but pointedly excluded the Apple iPhone from the offer). T-Mobile, generally the cheapest of the major firms, went even further—its $99.99 monthly plan includes unlimited calling and unlimited text messaging. T-Mobile’s catch? You must extend your existing contract to qualify. Verizon and AT&T allow existing customers to switch to all-you-can-eat pricing without adding time to their current contracts. Sprint Nextel finally joined the fray last week, unveiling its own $99.99 endless-talk plan.

Market analysts are skeptical about the flat-rate pricing, of course. They worry that the plans will erode the profit that mobile companies wring out of heavy users like business travelers. They also insist that flat-rate prices will further commoditize the mobile-telecom industry.

There’s no such carping from business travelers. In fact, a predictable monthly price for mobile calls and messaging is the next-to-last front. “A hundred bucks a month for my mobile?” one frequent business traveler emailed me last week. “I’ve spent more than that on one phone call from my hotel room back in the bad old days.”

Now that we’ve got a path to taming our domestic calling costs on the road, all that’s left to conquer is international mobile calling prices. An overseas cell-phone call can cost as much as five dollars a minute, and the calling protocols and roaming regimens remain daunting.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath on the international front,” one mobile-phone executive told me the other day. “We have a hard time figuring out what we pay to provide international service, so I don’t think we’ll be in a rush to cut fees there too quickly.”

posted by Adam Johns on Feb 20

Want to know if you’ll get seasick, or gain weight? Answers for newbies.

1. What should be my first cruise?

There are two ways to go here. Most first-time cruisers choose a short cruise with lots of port calls; they do this because they’re afraid they’ll go crazy if they’re stuck aboard ship. While this is a good strategy if you just want to get your feet wet, I recommend looking for a longer itinerary with some “sea days.” That way you can relax and enjoy the ship’s facilities. It’s really the only way to find out what “cruising” is all about. So, look for a cruise with some balance between sea days and port days.

2. What about seasickness?

It may have all the amenities of a shoreside resort, but a cruise ship does travel on open water. Your body will register that motion no matter how big the ship is or how well it is stabilized. Therefore, if you experience severe motion sickness on land or on airplanes then cruising may not be for you.

Ordinary motion sickness can be relieved by remedies like Dramamine and acupressure bands. (If you forget to pack them, don’t worry; they are always available in the ship’s store.) If you’re susceptible to motion sickness, book a cabin on a lower deck in the middle of the ship where motion is minimized. Even better is a balcony cabin in the middle of the ship; fresh air really does help with motion sickness. If the going gets rough, you can get a motion sickness shot in the ship’s medical center, but understand you’ll be charged a fee ($75 on up).

3. Do I have to get dressed up every night?

If you love dressing up, then by all means do so. But cruising has become less formal in recent years, so fancy dress is optional. In fact, many new ships offer several informal dining venues (e.g., sushi bars, pizzerias, buffets and snack bars) where you needn’t dress up at all. Still, most ships continue to offer two formal nights in the main dining rooms: the Captain’s Welcome and the Farewell Dinner. Formal-night attire ranges from tuxedos to dark suits for men; for women, formal dress ranges from long gowns to dressy pantsuits. More casual dress is appropriate in the dining rooms on other occasions, but most ships do not allow jeans, shorts or sleeveless men’s tops in any dining venue.

4. Do I have to sit with strangers at dinner?

One of the best parts of cruising is getting to meet people from all walks of life. But if you are uncomfortable sitting with people you don’t know, you can arrange a table change with the maitre d’ - but you must do so as soon as you get on board. If you wait too long, the staff may not be able to accommodate you. Understand that tables for two are scarce aboard ship except on luxury cruise lines like Silversea.

5. What about tipping?

Except on a few luxury cruise ships that have “no tipping required” policies, passengers are expected to tip their cabin steward, dining room waiter and assistant waiter. Many lines recommend that each passenger tip about $10 per day, as follows: cabin steward, $3.50; dining room waiter and assistant waiter, $5.50 (shared); and bistro service waiter and cooks, $1. Bar bills are automatically charged a 15 percent gratuity for the bartender. Special service personnel such as the maitre d’, deck stewards and bellmen should be tipped as service is rendered.

Some cruise lines offer to add the suggested gratuities to your shipboard account; the accounting office then distributes the tips at the end of the cruise. On other ships, you leave cash in an envelope on the last evening of your cruise. Understand that ships’ crews work very hard to make your cruise top-notch. Unless the service has actually been poor, tip the recommended amount. For outstanding service, add a little more. To get an idea of how much to tip, visit Cruise Tip Calculator, a nifty Web site that lists tipping amounts for each crew member on most cruise lines.

Here’s a tip from me to you: Get your cash tips in order before your cruise and have them organized in separate envelopes for each crew member. Believe me, there’s nothing worse than waiting in a long line at the cruise desk on the last night of the cruise to get all your cash tips in order.

6. Will I gain weight?

Cruising is the ultimate “see food” diet — you see food, you eat it. Yes, most passengers end up with more to love after a cruise. But you don’t have to become a sloth in a deck chair; there are plenty of active pursuits to enjoy aboard ship. Most ships have exercise rooms, pools, jogging tracks and fitness classes covering everything from aerobics to yoga. Newer cruise ships like Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas offer boxing, rock climbing and surfing classes, while traditional ships like the Queen Mary 2 offer walk-a-mile deck-lapping sessions and aerobics.

7. Can I do my laundry on board?

Most ships have self-service laundry rooms with ironing boards. On most mainstream and premium cruise lines, you’ll have to pay to use the washers and dryers. On luxury lines like Crystal, Regent, Seabourn, Silversea and Regent, the self-serve laundry is complimentary. Don’t want to waste valuable vacation time doing laundry? Then send your clothes to the ship’s laundry or dry cleaner; there will be a per-item charge. During the cruise, many ships offer a “laundry bag special”: For a set fee (usually $10-$20), laundry crew will wash everything you can cram into the laundry bag.

Cruising is a vacation like no other. It offers vast open seas, and the scenery changes every day. The food and service are better than in a resort hotel, all food and entertainment is included in the price, and you have to unpack only once. Believe me, once you try cruising, you will be hooked for life.

posted by Adam Johns on Feb 15

While some winter vacationers are happy to nurse cocktails on a beach, others — the few, the hardcore — take trips specifically to dive. In the middle, of course, are plenty of us who like to switch it up: dive for a few days, enjoy the beach, soak up the electric green of a rainforest and the incandescent blue of tropical skies. And maybe nurse a few of those cocktails, too.

The quest to determine the world’s best scuba sites is practically its own cottage industry. Considering that only about a third of this planet exists above sea level, there’s a surfeit of good options just below the surface. Ours is not a competing line-up of the top diving spots around the world; rather, it’s a look at the best winter diving escapes. When it’s cold outside and the sky is gray, these places beckon with not only world-class diving, but sunny shores, remarkable vistas and luxurious accommodations.

To make this list, each of these diving destinations offers premium underwater visibility and, of course, a high probability of seeing magnificent sea life and vibrant reefs. But that’s not all. They must also feature plush accommodations, exotic locales or unparalleled above-water scenery. And while it would be easy to populate this list by focusing solely on the Caribbean, we’ve instead assembled a global panel of experts to assess the best winter scuba escapes —from Costa Rica to Queensland. Think of these places as rehab for the winter doldrums.

There’s quite a range to these sites. Cocos Island off of Costa Rica requires divers to pony up for live-aboard ships; and the Lakshadweep Islands, offshore from India, have few established accommodations. The Maldives, on the other hand, are stacked with all-inclusive luxury resorts. But that doesn’t mean the first two destinations are anything less than spectacular; most visitors will spend part of their vacation on the mainland Pacific Coast of Costa Rica or tropical Kerala in South India, respectively — the diving is just part of the overall trip.

For North Americans, Central America is a surprisingly quick three- to four-hour flight from the southern states. An emerging winter scuba escape is Panama’s Coiba Island, the largest island in Central America. A penal colony for most of the 20th century, it remains underdeveloped and is one of the last places in Central America where the scarlet macaw still thrives in the wild. Matthew Firestone, who has covered Panama and Costa Rica for Lonely Planet Guidebooks, explains, “Fed by the warm Indo-Pacific current through the Gulf of Chiriqui, Coiba is home to a unique underwater ecosystem atypical of this region, and attracts large populations of pelagics including sharks, whales, dolphins and manta rays as well as enormous schools of fish.”

Brazil is represented twice on this list. The Fernando de Noronha archipelago off the northeastern coast is generally recognized as one of the best places to dive in South America. The islands also present a cornucopia of other water sports, on-land adventures and idyllic beaches. Adriana Schmidt, owner of the innovative Noronha-based travel agency Your Way, lives on the archipelago and is a certified PADI Dive Master. When not enjoying Noronha’s ideal diving conditions, she likes to travel south to Abrolhos Marine National Park in the state of Bahia. Just 45 miles off shore, the group of five volcanic islands claims some 80 million square feet of coral reefs. The area is known for its unique coral pinnacles called chapeirão, which look like enormous mushrooms topped with domes of brain coral and fans of colorful fire coral. Back on land, it’s a short trip to blissed-out beach towns such as Trancoso and Morro de São Paulo, or up the coast to the animated state capital, Salvador.

Sri Lanka-based Gaya Sriskanthan, senior program officer for Marine and Coastal Ecosystems for IUCN (The World Conservation Union), suggests that the Lakshadweep Islands off of India “have the lovely, off-the-beaten track dive sites … while the best commercial sites are bound to be in the Maldives.” Adrift in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives are more than 1,000 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls. (The English word “atoll” actually comes from the local term “atholhu”). Here, you will find some of the planet’s best underwater visibility and access to large open water marine species. Luxury and seclusion are not hard to come by either — more than 80 of the islands have resorts. Many are single resort islands, so it’s more difficult to find crowds than it is to discover your own private stretch of sand.

When it comes to reef diving, it doesn’t get any more tremendous than Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The world’s largest single structure made by living organisms lies off the coast of Queensland, Australia’s “Sunshine State.” The state capital, Brisbane, is worth its own trip. Between the street festivals, the Queensland Ballet and the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) — the largest modern art gallery in Australia — there’s plenty to help you decompress from winter gloom.

Information is taken from: Forbes Traveler

posted by Adam Johns on Jan 30

DUBAI on a budget sounds like an oxymoron. The most ostentatious of the seven city states of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is where travelers go to find a self-proclaimed seven-star hotel, indoor skiing and artificial islands springing up from the seas in the shape of palm trees. A stay at that “seven-star” hotel, the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab, starts at more than $2,000 a night.

Yet now a number of budget hotel chains are moving into this playground for the rich. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the serial entrepreneur who founded the budget airline easyJet, was in Dubai two weeks ago to break ground on the first of six easyHotels to be built in the emirate.

The hotels, based on the easyHotel model introduced in Europe in 2005, will have rooms a little bigger than those in existing easyHotels — but still small, around 160 square feet, with just the basics, including a bed, a shower, a flat-screen television and an Internet connection. Prices won’t be announced until the opening, but are expected to be around 250 to 300 dirhams, or about $67 to $80 a night at 3.75 dirhams to the dollar.

InterContinental Hotels plans to open its first Holiday Inn Express in Dubai this summer; with 244 rooms, the hotel will be significantly larger than its counterparts in the United States.

Ibis, an economy brand of Accor, the giant French hotel company, which already has one hotel in Dubai, plans to expand with a 480-room hotel there in December and a 365-room hotel in 2008. The existing Ibis World Trade Center Dubai, linked to the International Exhibition Center and Convention Center of Dubai, has rooms from around 70 euros, $95 a night at $1.35 to the euro. And Whitbread’s budget brand, Premier Travel Inn, Britain’s biggest hotel chain, is building a 300-room hotel at the Dubai Investments Park. Room rates are expected to be in the 400-dirham range.

The extreme emphasis on luxury in Dubai over the last decade is precisely why the market for budget travel is wide open. While most hotel guests continue to stay at high-end places, statistics show a growing demand for lower-priced accommodations.

The number of guests who stayed in five-star luxury hotels in Dubai increased just 10 percent, to nearly 2 million, in 2005 from the previous year, according to the latest statistics available online from the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. By contrast, the number staying in one-star, limited-service hotels jumped 32 percent in that same time, to about 600,000.

It’s not only hotels that have taken notice of the budget traveler. Anticipating a shift toward more economical vehicles in the next few years, Hertz is adding small cars like the Honda Jazz hatchback and Toyota Yaris to its Dubai fleet — cars that rent for about $55 a day, compared with $110 for a mid-size vehicle or $220 for an S.U.V.

“The place has gotten very expensive,” said Bob Farrow, general manager of Hertz Car Rental in Dubai. “Everybody would love to drive a big car on vacation, but they want to pay for a small one.”

Five years ago, small cars made up just 10 percent of the fleet at his outlet, but in the next year or so, Hertz plans to increase that to about 25 percent.

While more travel companies are catering to budget travelers in Dubai, for now it can still be difficult to find the cheaper alternatives. A call asking about budget options a couple of weeks ago left a spokeswoman flummoxed at the New York office promoting Dubai tourism.

“We really focus on the high end,” she said. “Truly, it’s a luxury market.”

The head office in Dubai wasn’t much more help. Asked by e-mail about typical rates and recommendations for travelers on tight budgets, Mohamed Abdul Mannan, a spokesman for the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, replied with just one line — a Web address for an online article about the recent easyHotels announcement of plans to build there.

The spectacle of modern Dubai is a product of many years of intensive development. Once a fishing and pearl-diving village, it grew into a modest commercial city in the 19th century and wasn’t transformed into a metropolis until the last couple of decades. Even as Dubai’s reputation as a luxury travel destination took off, savvy travelers continued to score deals — although less remarkable ones as time went on — even without the new influx of budget chains.

“My wallet has seen the changes,” said Jesse Long, 34, a photographer in Brooklyn who has been traveling to Dubai on business for the last five years. Hotels where he used to stay for $30 or $40 a night are now charging four times more, he said, “and they haven’t really improved anything.”

To get the best deal, Mr. Long stays in the central Bur Dubai district, where modestly priced accommodations can still be found, particularly along Khalid Bin Waleed Road. Last month, he stayed at the Hotel Ascot in that area for about $130 a night and dined at nearby Indian restaurants for less than $5 a meal.

For discounted hotel accommodations, he recommends www.wired-destinations.com.

It’s also possible to find a bargain by consulting the tourism desk at the airport, but to avoid any confusion later, be sure to get the terms in writing, including the rate and any incentives, like free breakfast.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, when people of Muslim faith fast from dawn to dusk, can be a good time to find bargains since hotels tend to be less crowded and may be more willing to negotiate on price. (This year, the start of Ramadan, which varies slightly by region, begins around Sept. 12.)

While working hours are slightly altered and many restaurants are closed much of the day, there is an air of festivity after dark, said Daniela Bonanno, a sales manager at Absolute Travel in New York who has visited Dubai during Ramadan. “After sunset, everyone celebrates because that’s when they can eat,” Ms. Bonanno said.

Shops and malls stay open longer, and hotels and restaurants offer special Iftar buffets to break the fast.

If you’re on a budget, you might want to avoid traveling during the wildly popular Dubai Shopping Festival, which typically runs from late December through January, when you’ll face high rates as you compete for rooms with crowds of well-heeled travelers.

posted by Adam Johns on Jan 5

Lounging on the sun deck of a cruise ship as it navigates the warm waters of the Caribbean or Mediterranean, perhaps with a cooling cocktail in hand, is how many travelers envision spending a cruise. But others seem increasingly drawn to a vacation where the ice isn’t just in their drinks, but in the very waters that surround them.

Among the fastest growing trends in the cruise industry are itineraries that take passengers to the coldest parts of the world — not just Alaska, of course, which has long been a popular cruise destination, but places like the Baltic Sea, the northern reaches of Canada and Greenland, and even Antarctica.

Indeed, more than 35,000 tourists are expected to visit Antarctica this spring and summer, compared with just 6,750 during 1992-93, according to the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat.

Among the cruise lines heading to Antarctica with new itineraries are Crystal Cruises (www.crystalcruises.com), whose Crystal Symphony will offer a Christmas and New Year’s trip around South America, Cape Horn and Antarctica, including a stop in Puerto Montt, Chile, and a cruise around Elephant Island, Antarctica (rates start at $7,995).

Hurtigruten (www.hurtigruten.us) is offering a 17-day round-trip cruise out of Buenos Aires aboard its newest expedition ship, the M.S. Fram. With the help of smaller PolarCirkel boats, the cruise will go farther south on the Antarctic Peninsula — all the way into the rarely visited Marguerite Bay — than it ever has in the past. Departures are next January and February, and rates start at $5,799. (The Fram will also head to Greenland this summer, with eight-day trips that include viewings of Jakobshavn Glacier — ”the world’s most active glacier,” according to the company — and walking tours of several Inuit villages and towns.)

Among the other cold-water options for 2008:

Cruise North Expeditions (www.cruisenorthexpeditions.com), a company based in Kuujjuaq, in northern Quebec, and owned mostly by Inuits, will sail the Arctic in northern Canada this summer, including a trip stopping at Beechey Island to visit the remains — grave sites and all — of the famously ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition led by Sir John Franklin.

Hapag-Lloyd (www.hl-cruises.com) will offer two 14 and 15-day trips to Greenland in July and August aboard its 184-passenger expedition ship, the Hanseatic, above, that include stops at Disko Bay and some Inuit settlements

Princess Cruises (www.princess.com) will have eight ships, more than in any previous year, sailing to Alaska destinations in 2008. With first-time stops in Kodiak, Seward and Valdez, the line will offer 37 new options for shore excursions, including one that will take travelers to the Columbia Glacier in Valdez.

Abercrombie & Kent (www.abercrombiekent.com) is offering a two-week trip in July aboard its 118-passenger ship Clipper Odyssey that sails round trip out of Nome, Alaska and includes stops in Siberian Russia, including the Chukotka area, which is home to reindeer-herding nomadic tribes, and Kamchatka, a peninsula that has 29 active volcanic craters.

Source: NY Times

posted by Adam Johns on Dec 24

Highways remained slippery Monday for some holiday travelers in the upper Midwest in the aftermath of a blustery snowstorm that blacked out thousands of homes and businesses and snarled air travel.

 At least 19 deaths were linked to the weekend-long blast of ice and windblown snow, which led to multi-car pileups that closed sections of several major highways on the Plains.

Conditions had eased Monday, with sunshine across much of the region, but that didn’t necessarily mean safer roads, authorities cautioned.

Highways in northwestern Wisconsin still had slippery patches Monday, said State Patrol dispatcher Linda Luhman in Spooner.
“We haven’t had anything major, accident-wise. Slide-ins and minor property damage, but no serious injuries or fatalities,” Luhman said.

Early Monday, Sgt. Tim Elve of the Dane County Sheriff’s Office said: “The roads aren’t quite as ice-covered, but we’re still telling people not to drive unless they have to. The interstate is still slick and the rural roads are really bad.”
Authorities had issued urgent pleas for travelers to stay home Sunday but officials worried that people would insist on driving Monday, regardless of the weather, to get to Christmas Eve destinations.

“I know it’s the holidays, but we hope people use some common sense when traveling,” said Sgt. Chad Breuer of the Grant County Sheriff’s Department in southwest Wisconsin. “There are a lot of people saying, ‘I’ll just leave that much earlier,’ but still, the roads are not favorable for traveling.”

The storm rolled through Colorado and Wyoming on Friday, then spread snow and ice on Saturday from the Texas Panhandle to Wisconsin. On Sunday, snow fell across much of Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota and parts of Michigan and Indiana.

Up to 15 inches of snow fell over the weekend on parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which typically gets heavy snow, and freezing drizzle glazed some highways Monday morning in counties along Lake Michigan. The area of Madison, Wisconsin, got three to four hours of freezing rain early Sunday, making driving treacherous.

The storm system had blown out to sea Monday morning, but in its wake wind blowing at 25 mph picked up moisture from Lake Erie to create lake-effect snow in Buffalo, New York. Five to 10 inches of snow was possible there and in other parts of western New York by Tuesday morning, the weather service said.

Wind was measured at 88 mph over Lake Michigan, with gusts of 50 to 68 mph across the Chicago region, according to the National Weather Service.

Because of the wind, airlines canceled more than 300 flights Sunday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the city Aviation Department said. Municipal officials said the wind had knocked out nearly 170 traffic signals, and there were more than 500 reports of fallen trees and limbs.

Travelers packed hotels in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Sunday night after blowing snow and poor visibility forced them off Interstate 35. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty authorized the National Guard to open the city’s armory for stranded travelers.

Accidents on highways slippery with snow and ice killed at least seven people in Minnesota, three in Indiana, three in Wyoming, four in Wisconsin and one each in Texas and Kansas.

More than 11,000 homes and businesses were without power at some point Saturday in Wisconsin because of the freezing rain, ice, gusty wind and heavy snow, utilities said. Michigan utilities reported some 31,000 customers were still without power Monday morning, and in Illinois about 3,900 ComEd customers remained without power Monday, down from a Sunday morning peak of more than 225,000.

Source: CNN

posted by Adam Johns on Dec 18

Two prides of lions stretched luxuriously in the midday sun, casting an occasional lazy glance at crowds of zebras, impalas and giraffes waiting anxiously for a turn to quench their thirst at the water hole.

 shadow of mud-caked elephants in the shimmering afternoon heat punctuated only by whirlwinds of dust. In the distance, herds of wildebeest and gemsbok emerged on the vast salt plain.

Typical scenes on an average day in Namibia’s Etosha National Park, which is home to rare black rhinos and the world’s largest population of cheetahs and where a single photo frame captures multiple species of wildlife, shaming its more famous neighbor — South Africa’s Kruger Park.

“Thank goodness for digital cameras,” I thought as our two oohing and aahing daughters clicked away endlessly and jostled for the best vantage point at the car window, which was hastily closed as a male lion heading for a shady bush sauntered way too close for comfort.

We visited in late September, the end of the six-month dry season when the landscape takes on almost ghostly qualities as dust and sand envelops the scrub and vegetation. It’s the best time for instant, quick-fix game viewing — in contrast to the hours sometimes spent in Kruger. Although visits are possible all year round, it can get uncomfortably hot between November and February.

Etosha is deservedly the highlight of a visit to Namibia, a country dominated by the Namib and Kalahari deserts and roughly the size of France and Germany combined, which is attracting growing numbers of tourists — especially from Europe — lured by safaris and sand. Endless, endless sand.

And above the sand?

Ballooning, paragliding, skydiving and rock-climbing adventures abound as the southern African nation seeks to carve out a niche market among well-heeled tourists in search of the wild and adventurers thirsting for the spectacular.

Nearly 850,000 tourists visited Namibia in 2006, according to official statistics, a rise of 7 percent on 2005. Small fry compared to the numbers who flock to Paris or Rome, but in a country with a population of less than 2 million, this translates into big bucks.

A recent study carried out for the government estimated that tourism accounts for 18 percent of gross domestic product and in the next 10 years will be the largest single contributor to the mineral-dependent economy.

It’s not just the “Brangelina factor” — although Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s decision to have their daughter Shiloh in the seaside resort of Swakopmund certainly helped catapult the little-known corner of Africa onto the international map.

It’s also because Namibia remains wonderfully unspoiled, an “insider’s secret” tempered by increasing accessibility through regular nonstop flights from Frankfurt and London as well as daily connections with South Africa. Cars are few and far between on its fantastic, tabletop roads — one of the happier results of brutal German colonial influence and apartheid-era South African control which ended only with independence in 1990.

It’s clean, safe — at least by African standards — and the food is simple but tasty, with game being a staple on many menus. Our daughters — having declared they wanted to become vegetarians — sneaked seconds of the gemsbok steaks, although drew the line at zebra.

There is a high quality, though fairly limited, choice in guest houses, farms, hotels and posh safari lodges — as well as camping for the budget-conscious. Prices are comparable to those in South Africa — the Namibian dollar is pegged to the South African rand, which can be used everywhere.

A taxidermist store, with luridly painted model animals, stands near Windhoek airport in testimony to Namibia’s growing popularity with the hunting fraternity that is not content to view the wildlife through the lens of a camera.

The government has woken up to the economic potential and is seeking to overhaul the tourist industry and spread its benefits.

Accommodations in Etosha were upgraded ahead of the park’s centenary celebrations in September. Locals complained that prices also rose, but even so they are cheaper than the privately run lodges around the park and offer unrivaled nighttime game viewing around the water holes in the camps. Bed and breakfast in a double room at a waterhole chalet in Okaukuejo — near the western entrance to the park — is $104 per person.

It’s easy to travel independently — be warned that car hire is expensive because of the high rate of accidents by tourists driving too fast along empty roads. But it is often cheaper and easier to go with an organized tour as their all-terrain vehicles are equipped for long desert drives. Some also combine it with a visit to other southern African countries. Budget camping tours — with equipment included — cost as little as $100 per day while 10-day luxury safari packages — including internal flights — can be up to $10,000. One option for the adventurous is to hire an off-road vehicle with its own tent built in the top.

We met an Italian couple who had asked family and friends to contribute to a honeymoon tour embracing South Africa’s Kruger Park, Botswana’s famed Okovanga Delta and Chobe Park and the Victoria Falls on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.

“Why, oh, why did we settle for a TV, toaster and towels?” I sighed, listening to accounts of their dream journey.

Namibia’s coastline is long and desolate — and notorious for shipwrecks. Its best-known resort, Swakopmund, remains heavily influenced by its German colonial past — Germany gained control in 1883 and surrendered the territory to South Africa in 1915 — and is particularly popular with German tourists. It was hard to share in the enthusiasm for a Bavarian-style beer festival (though Namibia makes an excellent brew) and the town’s designer shops and kitsch held little allure after the raw beauty of Etosha.

By contrast, the sand dunes were breathtaking between Swakopmund and the port of Walvis Bay (which is incidentally the starting point for journeys to Napoleon’s island exile, St. Helena, for those with an extra couple of weeks on their hands).

The dunes have become the center of adventure activities like sand boarding — where the intrepid reach speeds of up to 55 mph an hour and sand skiing. Being in the midst of the dunes is almost like being in the Alps surrounded by an endless expanse of virgin snow — only of course it’s yellow rather than white.

We opted for a quadbiking tour which catered both for adrenaline junkies seeking thrills and spills as well as those wanting more leisurely sightseeing. Victor Gouws, our guide from Dare Devil Adventures, said his oldest client had been an 86-year-old American woman. And she didn’t fall off, he grinned.

Brad Pitt also made a brief foray into the dunes last year, Gouws mentioned casually, as heavily pregnant Jolie stayed in a nearby hotel. But Gouws and most locals shrugged their shoulders about the famous visitors. Tourism is increasing on a monthly basis, and it doesn’t depend on the whim of visiting celebrities.

The majesty of the Swakopmund dunes apparently is insignificant to the famous, much photographed star dunes further south at Sossusvlei, deep in the Namib desert.

Sadly we didn’t have time to make that long trek, settling instead for a quick catamaran cruise in Walvis Bay to see dolphins, seals and pelicans, and look at the nets of one of Namibia’s newest industries — oyster farming. Neither did we make it farther south to the Fish River Canyon — said to be one of the world’s biggest after Colorado’s Grand Canyon.

Source: CNN

posted by Adam Johns on Nov 2

A new entertaining park for spies will be opened in Spain. Spyland (future name of the park) will become a part of Grand Scala. Grand Scala is a huge entertaining city that contains several luxury hotels, 32 casinos, 4 entertaining parks and numerous shopping centers. All side-shows in Spyland will be based on the history of world famous super agents. Everyone will be able to take a secret mission, feel himself a secret agent that is responsible for the future of his country. New top technologies and exclusive weapons will be able to use.

The creators of the park say that they were inspired by the Washington’s Museum Of Espionage. More than 3.5 million of people visit this museum annually so Spyland promises to be a successful idea. Spyland grand opening is planned in 2010. It is a great thrilling experience for everyone to become James Bond even for a couple of hours. The park was planned to be build in France and later in Dubai but only Grand Scala agreed to build Spyland as a part of its infrastructure.

posted by Adam Johns on Oct 22

It has become a stylish tradition in European countries to smoke hookah during parties and in different entertaining clubs. Hookah is an old tradition in Oriental countries. It originated from India and then got its original outlook from Turkey. First hookah was made of coconut shells and was called “Nargil”. The main difference of smoking using hookah and other ways of smoking is that all harmful substances stays in the water and don’t get in our lungs.

Young people prefer to smoke delicate flavoured tobacco; it has a pleasant aroma and almost harmless to our health. Elderly people smoke strong tobacco without any flavour. The smoke we inhale is very humid and doesn’t harm the throat. Other liquids could be used instead of water as a filter. When liquid becomes dark – it is time to change it. This means that the water has become dirty. When you smoke cigarettes, all this dirt gets in your lungs.

Some people insist that hookah doesn’t form a habit. I can say you that it is true for me. I don’t smoke at all but sometimes I smoke hookah with my friends, it makes the atmosphere intimate and philosophical. Hookah is a wonderful thing that helps to relax after a busy day.

posted by Adam Johns on Oct 19

Leaders of American airline industry announced about some radical changes in services provided to their passengers during flight. American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines and Virgin America said that in several moths almost all possible internet services will be available on board during flight. Some airline companies allowed people to write email messages and exchange short messages but none of them provided a full spectrum of Internet services.

Any passenger may use his notebook during a flight and even those who don’t have their notes on board may use stationary terminals and surf the internet. All users will be united in one local area network so LAN games and network services will be available. Fast food and drink order will be present directly from your portable computer or stationary terminal. Administrations of all airlines ask their passengers not to make internet voice calls in order not to disturb other passengers. Emails and other message services are more preferable during flight. It’s necessary to mention, that Internet services cost about 10$ per flight and are only available during stabile phase of the flight; it is forbidden to use electronic devices during take-off and landing.

I hope that such services will be soon available all over the world, it can be very helpful to use all resources of the Internet while on board, besides it will make the time of the flight shorter and more pleasant.