On 20 February 1962, and after three previously failed launch attempts, John Glenn became the first American to fly into space – a five hour flight in a Mercury space capsule named Friendship 7 that had him carrying out three orbits around the earth before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. He was not the first man to leave the confines of the earth’s atmosphere – that credit fell to Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin who [...]
Good morning There are a couple of great additional articles this week; one where I gratuitously point out not just one but two ways that new airlines could be formed and viably operated, and the other where I bemoan this administration’s eagerness to disarm our pilots due to air travel now being sufficiently safe as to make armed pilots no longer needed as the ultimate last ditch defense (or so they say). Other than that, [...]
Something in excess of half a trillion dollars has been spent on airport and airplane security since the TSA was created in 2002. What was formerly a quick and convenient stroll through a metal detector has now become a massively inconvenient process of taking laptops out of bags, removing one’s shoes and jackets, extremely intimate body searches, and more recently, taking everything out of every pocket as well – even a handkerchief is now enough [...]
The pendulum has swung to the other extreme. Regional airlines – once the only part of the airline industry that made good profits – have now become the least profitable part of the industry. The earlier careless approach by major airlines to negotiating contracts with the regional carrier partners has been replaced with a ruthlessness that echoes their similar ruthlessness with their own staff and with their passenger services and fees, and now we see [...]
Good morning Our September North Korea tour continues to go from strength to strength, with yet another couple deciding this literally was a once of a lifetime chance of a unique travel experience and sending in a deposit this week. In light of the steady increase in participants, I’ve persuaded the tour operator to double the number of guides we’ll have with us. This is going up from two to four, so even though the [...]
If I’m staying at a hotel I’ve stayed at before and like, I’ll generally call the hotel directly to make the booking rather than go through an online site. I do this for two reasons – first in the hope of finding some sort of special discount direct from the property, and secondly to save them money. If a hotel is selling its rooms through any online travel agency, it is paying probably somewhere between [...]
Good morning Travel has understandably been on my mind this week. Our September North Korea tour had three more people join – at this rate it will soon be that one in every 50 foreigners visiting North Korea in 2012 will be Travel Insiders. Amazing. Shall we try to make it one in every 40? One in every 30? I’ve also written a new piece to add to the growing collection of material about travel [...]
We’ve all of us yet to meet an airline fee that we like, but some are more odious than others. The same is true of the airlines that levy the fees – some are more odious than others. Winning this week’s award for most foul smelling odor is Spirit Airlines. They have added a new $2 fee to every ticket issued, what they are calling the ‘Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences Fee’. This gratuitous grab [...]
News reports this week revealed that director James Cameron has bought a very large farm spread in New Zealand and is moving there to live. We’re not suggesting you too should move to live in New Zealand, but a vacation there might be a good idea. Indeed, now is a great time of year in New Zealand, with their seasons of course reversed, meaning you can escape the worst of our winter and enjoy lovely [...]
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