Based on this press release from United Airlines, the company will be requiring that you fly on their airline (or a partner airline, but use your United FFN) every 18 months to keep your account active, instead of the 36 months it was prior to the release. There are other …

The first pictures from our trip to China are up on the new Gallery 2-based website, Fong's China. The Fong refers to Irene Fong, our tour director with Pacific Delights Tours who ran our trip in China. The experience was amazing. We traveled from Tibet to Beijing, Xi'an (home …

Didn't know whether to put this pointer to an article from BBC News in Policy, Technology or Travel, as it deals with the Policy of British customs officials to use technology (in the form of a software scanner) to look for porn on the laptops of travelers. Amusing note: I …

I admit it, I'm a hotel snob. It's not that I can't or haven't stayed in tiny, cramped hotels in seamy parts of town, it's that I tend to choose not to. So, after asking around, and getting plenty of recommendations, Carol and I decided to stay at the W …

An article from the Chicago Sun-Times tells of the Drake Hotel in Chicago (a landmark hotel built in the 1920's) deciding to give a Cicero couple a special anniversary gift: the same price they paid when they honeymooned at the hotel in 1946. According the the paper, "Amazed by the …

Anyone who has flown into Washington DC's (Ronald Reagan) National Airport since 9/11 is certain to be familiar with the inconvenient (and often very uncomfortable) fact that you cannot get out of your seat within 30-minutes of takeoff or landing at the airport. This rule, intended to prevent terrorist …

OK, after a couple of weeks out, Carol and I are back in the country and had a great time in Scotland (although the next trip out of the country will likely not include driving 1973 miles on the wrong side of the road in a country that believes in …

An article from the International Herald Tribune advocates using those frequent flier miles before they become even more difficult to use. Although I don't entirely agree, I will concur with his assessment that the best way to spend them is on premium-class international flights. They're where you'll get your best …

Not to beat up on the French, but they're getting the Homer Simpson "Doh!" award this week for this article from the International Herald Tribune describing a counter- terrorism check gone bad. It appears that 4+ days ago, the airport police in Paris planted explosives in an unsuspecting passenger's bag …

Not exactly travel, but I'm not sure where to put this. On Saturday night, Carol and I went to Celtic Christmas, a concert held at Dumbarton United Methodist Church in Georgetown. The concert was good, but the meal ahead of time was spectacular! Red Ginger of Georgetown (located at 1564 …

Thanks to Amanda for forwarding along this article from the National Review which sheds some more light on the situation on NW 327. It appears the band was accompanying Nour Mehan[n]a, a Syrian artist. The remainder of the article goes on to state that he thinks the original …

Many of you may have seen the article by Annie Jacobsen in from Women's Wallstreet wherein she describes a harrowing account of Northwest Airlines flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles. So, is this a prelude to a new terrorist attack, or just a sign of the paranoia created by …

For those who have read the Dan Brown novel, TheDaVinci Code, you are familiar with Roslyn Chapel. The chapel, just outside of Edinburgh is the home to one of the final pieces of the 'Grail puzzle in the book and is now seeing a substantial increase in tourist traffic. Although …

After all of this hubbub over the years about turning off your cell phones because they may crash the plane, CNet is reporting that American Airlines and Qualcomm completed on Thursday a test flight involving a mobile base station and a satellite uplink to provide in-flight cellular service to passengers …

Have fun visiting the New Zealand trip diary. I'm having fun making it. Sorry about the sparse page design and low res photos, but net access is pretty expensive here (NZ$10/MB).

I've updated the pictures on my Grand Canyon 2003 site. If you haven't seen them, you might want to check them out.

As usual, pictures will eventually be forthcoming, but the trip to the Patagonia region of Chile to the Explora was spectacular. We spent 4 nights and three days at the resort hotel, hiking and trekking during the day and feasting on fine food and Chilean wines at night. The accommodations …

Whistler, the Canadian ski and outdoor resort outside of Vancouver, is being "unwired" by Colubris. According to this press release, 50% of the hotel rooms in the area will be covered by the initial implementation.

An article from Wired reports that, thanks to new terrorist threats that the government has heard about, we'll all be waiting longer at the airports and that our laptops and other personal electronic devices are going to be subject to more intrusive testing. I searched the TSA website and couldn't …

In preparation for the opening of the Dulles Annex to the Air and Space Museum, another piece of aviation history has landed at Dulles airport, according to an article from the Washington Post. The oldest example of a working Boeing Stratoliner has come to final rest at the site of …