“A great travel guide - Examiner” plus 3 more |
- A great travel guide - Examiner
- As Coal and Coke Trail hits end, Mt. Pleasant cyclists conquer others - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
- Brits ‘Get Their Kicks on Route 66’ in Dream Driving Adventure - PR Inside
- Web sites help navigate the unfriendly skies - WGNtv.com
| A great travel guide - Examiner Posted: 22 Jun 2010 07:20 AM PDT When planning a trip, it is good to have a great travel guide to assist with the details. DK Publishing Eyewitness Travel Guides are colorful, they list specifics such as hours and public transportation access, and they include a great appendix full of details like where to find a hospital, key phrases in the local languages, and a collection of ideas for various groups, such as couples, seniors, and families. Even better than the basic Eyewitness Guides, though, are the Top 10 guides. These include fantastic city maps and go through the Top 10 for the city overall, as well as Top 10s for each neighborhood, and, finally, a Top 10 for different themes. Examples are Top 10 for shopping, Top 10 art galleries, and Top 10 pubs. Over time, these travel guides will become so tattered that they almost stop being useful. Almost, though, because even with notes written on the pages and missing covers, they are so thorough that travelers will still get the most out of each city they visit.
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| As Coal and Coke Trail hits end, Mt. Pleasant cyclists conquer others - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Posted: 21 Jun 2010 09:40 PM PDT When the Coal and Coke Trail reached its completion, the interest in biking in general grew in the area, but for two area men, the completion of the bike trail was just another leg of trails to conquer. Bill Potoka Jr. and Greg Harmening, both of Mt. Pleasant, although biking for many years, decided late this spring to hit the trails and head south, taking a 350-plus mile trek to the nation's capital. Both said they ride an average of 5,000-plus miles a year, but this was the longest trip the two took together, taking four days as a team. "Greg and I have talked about cycling across country coast to coast for quite a while," Potoka said. "Since we retired, we felt that a trip from our homes to D.C. would be a good start and a learning experience for future trips." "Bill and I have been talking about it for several years, and when the trail was completed between here and Cumberland, we had no excuses," Harmening said. "So after procrastinating for a couple more years, we finally just did it." Leaving early in the morning, the pair started their journey with only a few maps and a sense of adventure. Although a trip had been discussed for years, the event unfolded within a 24-hour period. "We had the opportunity to catch a ride back from D.C. with our good friends and neighbors Fran and Joanne Prosnik," Harmening said. "They were taking their daughter Lauren back to her home in D.C. and had the room and my bike rack to bring us back. "We really didn't do a lot of planning," he continued. "Just followed the trail and used the maps and guides that are freely given out by the Trail Association and the National Park Service. Although, if you count talking about it as planning, we've been talking about it for years. We only decided to go the day before when we heard that we had a ride home." The pair first traveled to Rockwood, then to Paw Paw, W.Va., on to Williamsport, Sharpsburg and finally Washington. Taking the designated trails, the spring days and warm weather afforded the pair a memorable trip. "The Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal towpath are as interesting as they are beautiful," Potoka said. "The trip gives one the feeling of biking through history. Especially the Harpers Ferry area, the locks and the lock keeper's houses, all the tunnels: the Eastern Continental Divide, the Big Savage, and the Paw Paw tunnels." After the pair met with friends in Washington, they packed up their bikes to head home. Both said the trip would be worth repeating in the future. "We would do it again, but we are looking forward to new challenges and longer bike trips," Potoka said. In addition to experiencing the fun of the sport, the men enjoy the health benefits of biking. "I love to bike," Harmening said. "I bike because it makes me feel good, and it puts me in a good mood. I have Type 2 diabetes, and riding is my way of controlling my glucose levels. I need to bike every day just to work out the kinks and aches and pains associated with having too many birthdays." "If I didn't bike, I would weigh 300 pounds in a week's time because my wife, Julie, is a great cook," Potoka laughed. "Plus, I try to stay fit enough to be able to help my family and to keep up with my very energetic grandchildren. I also love the outdoors and enjoy the friendships made while biking."
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| Brits ‘Get Their Kicks on Route 66’ in Dream Driving Adventure - PR Inside Posted: 21 Jun 2010 04:29 AM PDT 2010-06-21 13:33:28 - Driving across the US on Route 66 is the the top motoring holiday adventure for UK travellers.
Brits would like to 'get their kicks on Route 66', according to research by travel and car insurance provider swiftcover.com revealing that 40% of people would choose to drive the fabled American coast-to-coast highway as their dream driving adventure. The legendary Route 66, which runs from the East Coast to the West Coast of the USA, is by far and away the most popular motoring experience amongst UK drivers. By contrast, the second most popular motoring adventures were to drive a supercar or go off-road in a four-wheel drive vehicle, both chosen by 14% of people surveyed.
swiftcover.com's research found: The 2,500 mile Route 66 starts in Chicago on the East Coast of the US and runs through states including Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona before ending in Los Angeles on the West Coast. Established in 1926 and often referred to as the 'Main Street of America' or the 'Mother Road', Route 66 has been immortalised on film, TV and most famously in the blues song of the same name, which has been recorded by music stars including Chuck Berry and The Rolling Stones. Rote 66 was removed from the US highways system in the 1980s and no longer exists on official maps, but many states still promote their stretch of 'Historic Route 66', whilst a whole industry has sprung up to support people wanting to relive the American driving dream with Route 66 guides, maps and even fly-drive holidays. Tina Shortle, Marketing Director for swiftcover.com, says: "It might seem like a busman's holiday to drive thousands of miles across America for a dream vacation when so many of us are stuck in our cars for hours every day whilst commuting to work, but the lure of the open roads and the free-wheeling romanticism of Route 66 has an obvious appeal to British motorists and petrol-heads." However, Shortle warned that motorists keen to indulge in other popular driving adventures, such as racing supercars or off-roading, shouldn't try and replicate them in their ordinary cars. She continued: "Most people will not be insured to drive their vehicles at full-speed around a race track or rally circuit, or attempt a serious 4x4 obstacle course, so swiftcover.com recommends that people indulge in their motoring adventures by using a reputable experience provider. "And although swiftcover.com customers will be covered if they take their cars to Switzerland and Italy*, we would advise caution when driving through the mountains. Driving off a cliff is likely to result in policyholders losing their no claims bonus!"
Research carried out amongst 1,110 people in May and June 2010 www.swiftcover.com www.facebook.com/getalife.swiftcover ENDS
Notes to Editors
About swiftcover: This powerful operating model combined with successful marketing and competitive pricing has proven to be a tremendous success. In 2008 swiftcover.com achieved over half a million live policies and in May 2009 sold their one millionth policy. They are considered to be the fastest-growing insurer in the UK. In 2007, AXA UK acquired swiftcover.com. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Insurance UK PLC which forms part of AXA Group.
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| Web sites help navigate the unfriendly skies - WGNtv.com Posted: 15 Jun 2010 12:50 PM PDT Business travel is a pain. It upsets your routine and digestion. It throws you into a mix of strange places and stranger people. Worst of all, you usually have to deal with the one industry that proves service is dead: the airlines. While nothing except maybe a private jet can eliminate the suffering, there are ways to ease it a bit. Knowledge is key and here's how the Web can help.
It always pays to know your enemies, so we'll start with some airline industry insider sites. Aircrewlayover.com is where flight crew members offer recommendations to each other on restaurants, nightlife, hotels and entertainment venues. Looking under LAX (yes, cities are listed by their three-letter airport code), the restaurant recommendations sort of explain the quality of airline food. Useful, if your company doesn't allow you to expense meals. More frightening than the food is Crew Rumors, which has a number of bulletin boards where pilots, flight attendants and ground crew post questions, gossip and complaints. Topics include stupid pax questions and the rudest pax. "Pax" are us, the passengers. If you upgrade, you'd better act it: "If I had to name a group of pax who tend to be on the rude side, it is the first-class upgrades -- definitely. Just because they are sitting in 1A does not mean they are a first-class pax, they are merely a pax with a first-class ticket." Or pax drinks: "I was once asked for prune juice. Can you imagine the damage that that could cause on a 14-hour flight to NRT? Gross!!!" Then there's the fight over jump seats between mechanics and pilots on one airline. That can't be good. Here and there between the juicy stuff are recommendations on travel sites and books. Crew Rumors is part of CrewStart.com, which has tips on places to eat and stay, a currency converter, a language translator, clothing size conversions and a host of other things that any frequent flier, pax or crew, would find useful. Airline pilots have their own Web site at www.airlinepilots.com. Before you fly read up on pilot fatigue and air safety. There are also chat rooms as opposed to bulletin boards. Hey, they've got to do something when the autopilot is on. We of the pax persuasion have our own forum for tips and complaints at Airwise. Topics include air rage, passenger rights, and individual airlines and airports. Airwise's main page has news, flight schedules and airport guides. An overwhelming and fascinating list of links is at JohnnyJet. Oh sure, you'd expect bargain flights, hotel and car bookings and individual airlines. But what about the best toilets? Or a group of links for "Bored in the Hotel Room." There are also travel guides, maps, links to the Sunday travel sections of major newspapers, consumer complaints and passenger rights. A section devoted to business travel includes links to best places to close a deal -- from Ontheroad.com, global business basics and drinking customs and toasts from around the world. For more on global business customs and etiquette, try Executive Planet, which covers top U.S. trading partners. For each country, articles include things to know before making a deal, making appointments, gift giving, conversation, business dress and public behavior. For example, if you're in England, it is not a good idea in conversation to bring up Northern Ireland. But current events are fine, so keep mentioning those cow bonfires. Business Travel News Online offers a more corporate look at travel. And we discovered hotel rates are dropping due to a dip in occupancy. There's good news in every downturn. Even more corporate is the National Business Travel Association, a site aimed at corporate travel managers. But all this corporate stuff is making us want to run, at least in place. FitforBusiness.com is a guide for travelers who don't want to miss a workout. The site includes best hotel gyms, where to find sports courts and healthy advice. If you don't care about athletic facilities, but want to make sure the room is up to snuff, there's WorldExecutive.com with its searchable listing of first-class and business hotels. You can view the rooms, as well as make reservations. To make sure your airline is as good as your hotel, try Skytrax, which rates airlines' quality based on product and service. There are no five-star airlines based in the United States. Cubana is the only one-star airline. But who cares about quality when your life is at stake? Amigoingdown.com lets you plug in your departure and arrival cities, the airline, the type of jet if you know it and the month you're flying. Then you get the odds of making it there alive. For our L.A.-to-Paris flight they were 1 in 1,801,586 and "That's very good for this route." Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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