I wasn’t “protected” on my flight to Tirana — should my travel agent pay?

from Elliott http://elliott.org/can-this-trip-be-saved-2/wasnt-protected-flight-tirana-travel-agent-pay/

A Colorful Frosty Morning

Dressing in the early morning I’ve taken up what I think is a bit of a bad habit. I basically pile up my 4 or 5 favorite warm clothes right beside my bed. This means that when I wake up in the morning, I can basically just kind of roll over and just get dressed […]



from Stuck in Customs http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2014/11/17/a-colorful-frosty-morning/

Exploring Howard Finster's 'Paradise'

More than a dozen years after the death of folk artist Howard Finster, his inspired, ecclectic "Paradise Garden" is getting an update.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/travel/paradise-garden-howard-finster/index.html

Dark star: A sleepy Chinese town brought alive by its murky past

Brutal property baron's former fiefdom now home to incredible array of museums, boutique hotels and a vintage cinema.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/16/travel/china-museum-town/index.html

A Suite Ride To Frankfurt: Introduction

A couple of weeks ago I had a quick commitment in Frankfurt. Usually when traveling to Germany I fly Lufthansa first class. This time around I was committed to not flying Lufthansa first class:

-- I've reviewed Lufthansa first class far too often, and wanted to review something new

-- Even if I wanted to fly Lufthansa first class, LifeMiles is blocking Lufthansa first class award space, United's award rates for partner first class are outrageous, and Aeroplan imposes fuel surcharges

As luck would have it, Singapore Airlines had KrisFlyer award space available on my exact dates between New York and Frankfurt, which is probably my favorite "fifth freedom" route they operate.

The post A Suite Ride To Frankfurt: Introduction appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/16/a-suite-ride-to-frankfurt-introduction/

Airbnb Introducing Print Magazine, Pineapple

The quarterly publication, whose debut issue contains no advertising, will be distributed to the company’s hosts, people who rent rooms to travelers.

















from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/408ac987/sc/10/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A140C110C170Cbusiness0Cmedia0Cairbnb0Eintroducing0Eprint0Emagazine0Epineapple0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

Delta Introduces A Functional SkyMiles Award Calendar!!!

While the Delta SkyMiles 2015 program isn't good news for most of us, there definitely are some good aspects to the program. For example, Delta will be introducing one way awards for half the cost of a roundtrip, which is great.

One of the other features they promised to add is as follows:

"New Award calendar – We will launch an all-new Award calendar with expanded search capabilities and make sure it shows the lowest price for dates you select."

Delta has long had a broken award calendar, seemingly by design. Not only was it completely inaccurate, but it would exclusively show award space for travel on Delta. In other words, if Delta had only "high" level award availability that's all you'd see, even if a partner airline had "low" level award availability every day. I guess you could say it was a "feature" on their part rather than a "bug" (feature to prevent people from redeeming miles efficiently, that is).

The post Delta Introduces A Functional SkyMiles Award Calendar!!! appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/16/delta-introduces-functional-skymiles-award-calendar/

Delta Massively Improves Award Search Calendar: Shows Partner Availability and Mileage Cost By Day!

Just after writing that there are five good reasons to fly Delta over other US airlines, along comes the elimination of one reason not to focus on Delta’s Skymiles program. Their award search calendar has been very, very broken — it showed only availability on Delta flights, and only whether there were seats at the […]

The post Delta Massively Improves Award Search Calendar: Shows Partner Availability and Mileage Cost By Day! appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/16/delta-massively-improves-award-search-calendar-shows-partner-availability-mileage-cost-day/

Did A Hotel Send Me The Wrong Email… Or Read My Mind?

Well this is truly bizarre. I'm presently at the Park Hyatt Dubai, which I love. It's a fantastic property, just a few minutes from the airport and city, but at the same time it's so private and residential that you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.

There's just something so peaceful about overlooking Dubai Creek, given the hustle and bustle otherwise found in Dubai.

I stay here almost every time I visit Dubai, and have no reason to stay anywhere else (well, on second thought, other than to review new properties for you guys). ;)

As a Gold Passport Diamond member I receive complimentary breakfast, and this hotel happens to have a very good one. Not only do they have an extensive buffet, but you can also order hot dishes off the menu (though the cold buffet is so good that I'm usually far too full to order anything off the menu).

The post Did A Hotel Send Me The Wrong Email… Or Read My Mind? appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/16/hotel-send-wrong-email-read-mind/

Why Nearly All Airline Advertising Fails

British Airways has a new ‘Experience the Welcome of Home’ video, telling the story of an Indian woman living in Toronto. She apparently flies British Airways to visit her family in India. Great story, we all have places to go, and it’s well-produced. But I have no idea after watching it why it’s better to […]

The post Why Nearly All Airline Advertising Fails appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/16/nearly-airline-advertising-fails/

Norovirus sickens another cruise

The latest norovirus outbreak aboard the Princess Cruises' Crown Princess has infected 172 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/16/travel/california-cruise-ship-norovirus/index.html

Five Good Reasons to Choose Delta

I give Delta a hard time frequently on this blog. I’m pretty transparent about my travel patterns and choices, and how I go about making those. Delta hasn’t been my choice and I think I’m justified in that. I’m not going to rehash all of the reasons here. Instead I thought I’d take a contrary […]

The post Five Good Reasons to Choose Delta appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/16/five-good-reasons-choose-delta/

Uber $30 Ride Bonus Ends November 23, 2014

As I've explained many times in the past, Uber is one of those companies that uses technology to make life better. When public transportation in a city isn’t good, I used to get really frustrated by the lack of options and taxi “mafias,” though for the cities in which Uber operates I love them. They have UberBlack, which is the “standard” service and a bit more than a taxi, while they also have UberX, which is usually cheaper than a taxi. And thanks to the instant feedback loop (you rating the driver and the driver rating you), service is excellent across the board, in my experience.

Uber has long offered sign-up and referral bonuses, whereby both the person referring and the person being referred get a bonus. Since June, Uber has been offering a bonus whereby both the person being referred and the person referring receive a $30 credit. That’s more than enough for a free ride in many markets (or in many cases, enough for a nearly two hour visit to Dominos). Keep in mind the bonus is only valid in the country in which it was issued, and it expires within six months (which is a new rule as of last month).

The post Uber $30 Ride Bonus Ends November 23, 2014 appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/16/uber-30-ride-bonus-ends-november-23-2014/

Here’s Something Travel Providers Don’t Seem to Understand: Coffee Fuels Business Travel

I’ve written before about the monumental importance of hotel coffee. A business hotel needs to be able to provide coffee 24 hours a day. There are lots of ways to do this: in-room machines, club lounge, lobby, and even room service. The coffee needs to be drinkable, and that includes making it possible to get […]

The post Here’s Something Travel Providers Don’t Seem to Understand: Coffee Fuels Business Travel appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/16/heres-something-travel-providers-dont-seem-understand-coffee-fuels-business-travel/

20 epic treehouses around the world

More and more people are building creative treehouses for use as hotels, restaurants, teahouses, or occasionally as a means of communicating with extraterrestrials (seriously! -- see the Beach Rock Treehouse below).



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/life/20-epic-treehouses-around-world/