The Vacation Gals entreat the airlines and the FAA not to allow lap children.  The fares are cheap these days, but the costs add up.  Still, think about these issues before keeping your infant on your lap for your next flight.

Italy Mondo strike a chord near and dear to my heart, Italian food.

PlanetEye Traveler – Green Travel is talking about holiday travel.  Already!

Eyeflare has a nice primer on how to capture silhouettes in your travel photos.  Here’s one of the tips – turn off your flash!

Uncornered Market, making its first appearance in my list of favorites, lists the 7 habits of highly effective travelers.  How many can you count as yours?

Travel Savvy Mom, another first timer on my favorite list, tells why spending more money for an executive floor room can actually save you money.  I agree, and try to take that option whenever possible.

Intelligent Travel teases us once again with a very strange hotel, this one in a sewer pipe.

PlanetEye Traveler – London tell s the story of a neighborhood about to be demolished.  Residents of the building have put up portraits on the windows, a reminder of the real people who are impacted by this decision.

Cockpit Chronicles at Gadling attempts to help us understand why waiting in line on the runway is inevitable.

Travellious has some cool travel gear.  And besides that, Kelly is heading off to Italy.  (See Italy Mondo post above. . . again!)

LA Times lists some over-the-top promotions that hotels are trying.  Are you tempted by any of them?  The promotion that I want?  FREE internet access!

Seattle PI reminds me that there are hostels here in Seattle.

That’s it for this week.  Please stop by and say hi to this great group of travel bloggers – and tell them you read about them at Flyaway Cafe.

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

The Stardust opened in 1958, and had a rather checkered existence.  There were numerous rumors that it was a front for mob activities, and several managers and associates has criminal histories that gave credence to the rumors.  But the Stardust was also known for launching careers.

Magicians Siegfried & Roy got their big Las Vegas start at the Stardust, as did plenty of other entertainers whose names became, legendary around town.

It’s amazing how many of the old standards of the strip have gone by the wayside, making way for bigger, better, and splashier hotels and casinos.  I love some of the new places, but also appreciate the history of the old.

Do you have a matchbook collection, or maybe just a couple of them knocking about in a drawer?  I’d love to feature your matchbook in an upcoming Matchbook Monday.  Just take a quick photo and email it to me

Photo credit:  personal collection

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Here’s some posts you won’t want to miss:

The New York City Traveler combines two of my favorite food groups, bacon and beer, in his post about a limited production beer at the Brooklyn Brewery.  Another reason to make the trek across the bridge!

Nerds Eye View takes us along her road trip – in a 32 foot RV.  I’m not a camper, but maybe RV-ing it would be a little different.  What do you think?  Is a road trip in your future?

MSNBC gives us some tips on how to spot a hotel in bankruptcy.  Ignore these warning signs at your peril.

Seattle PI Blog has an interview with Hollywood screenwriter Mike Thompson, and he talks about his new movie, Love Happens starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart.  Parts of the movie were set in and around Seattle.

Fox Nomad suggests that we ask for a corporate discount, even if we don’t work for that business.  Or ask for a conference rate, even though we may not be attending the conference.  A good topic at the intersection of budget and ethics.

A Traveler’s Library reviews the recent Travel Insight 100 poll about using Twitter.  Members of Travel Insight 100 are travel writers, travel industry professionals, advisors and analysts, and travel bloggers.  (Full disclosure:  I’m a member of the panel.)

A Single View has a beautiful photo of the Hotel Cala di Volpe on the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, Italy.  Beautiful!  And makes me long for my return trip to Italy.

Traveling the Green Way lists some green activities in the Portland area.  Some great stuff happening just down the freeway a-piece.

Photo credit: SXC

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Last Friday night, I arrived in Las Vegas, caught a cab, and was off to my hotel, arriving there 10:30 pm.  I had a reservation at a major hotel, and my credit card had already been charged for one night.  At the front desk, I was told that I could have a choice of a room with a king sized bed near the elevator, or a room with two double beds a bit further away.  I haven’t slept in a double bed since high school, so opted for the king room closer to the elevator.

Off I went to the room, only to get there and find that the room wasn’t “near” the elevator – it shared a common wall with the elevator.  The noise was deafening.  I called down to the front desk to ask for a different room, and was surprised that the front desk could hear me over the elevator noise.  They were actually very nice and sent someone up with a key to another room.

The other room was just two doors away, and I expressed my skepticism to the guest services person who had brought me my key.  He assured me that it would be quiet, so off I went.  At the door of the room, I realized that I could still hear the elevator.  After going inside, I could still hear it.  And I’m not talking about the little dinging noise that lets you know the elevator has arrived.  I’m talking about the roaring and whooshing noise of the elevator in the shaft.  This room was only slightly less noisy, and I knew that it would be a miserable place to sleep.

This brings us to the dilemma.  Horrible room, totally unacceptable, and it’s now after 11 pm at night.  What do you do?

There was a point in my life where I would have just made do with the horrible room, figuring that my complaint was trivial or that I would resolve the issue in the morning.  First, the complaint isn’t trivial.  A room with the noise level of these is simply unacceptable.  Yes, I know someone will probably be forced to sleep in these rooms, but it didn’t have to be me.  The hotel needs to do some soundproofing and bring these rooms up to an acceptable level, but until it does, no one should feel bad about complaining.  Second, by waiting till morning I reduce my leverage in getting a different room.  Absent an express commitment on the part of the front desk, I become a problem that has gone away.  If I accept it for one night, who’s to say that I won’t accept it longer.  I was staying for 4 nights, and it wasn’t going to be in a noisy room.

So back to the front desk I went with a new mindset.  I needed a new room, a quiet one, or I was prepared to leave and go to a new hotel.

When presented with these options, the hotel began “looking” for another room.  Now I happen to know that while this is a major conference and convention hotel, room occupancy rates in Las Vegas are pretty low right now.  I knew that it was extremely unlikely that the hotel was full.  In fact, based on the rate that I got for a Friday night, I knew darned good and well that they were not full.  In other words, I knew there was room inventory available, and they just needed to dig a little deeper.  More importantly, if this hotel couldn’t dig deeper and find me a decent room, there were lots of others that would.

Sure enough, the digging worked, and another room was found.  This involved giving me an upgraded room, a not unreasonable or unusual way to solve the problem.  Everyone was happy!

When requesting a room change, keep these things in mind:

• Be reasonable in your room expectation.  Quieter is reasonable, but absolute quiet is not.
• If the first person that you speak with can’t help you, ask for someone who can.  Often times employees are only authorized to make limited changes.  Don’t get angry with them, let them know that you understand and will make your request to someone who can.
• Be nice.  It’s not the front desk clerk’s fault that the room is noisy.  People want to help people who are nice to them, and no one wants to reward bad behavior.  Keep your cool and present your issue in a calm fashion.
• Don’t make threats.  Be prepared to move if that’s what you might do, but most people can see when you’re just being a bully.
• Don’t make false complaints.  Stories are rampant about people who complain about silly things in order to get an upgrade.  Rather than rewarding bad behavior, front desk clerks will upgrade someone other than the complaining party.  Be honest about your complaint.
• Accept a reasonable alternative.  While I would have preferred a king size bed, I wound up with a mini suite with two beds.  This is a reasonable accommodation.
• Be prepared to go elsewhere.  It may not be convenient, but staying in a horrible room is worse.

What do you do when you get a horrible room?  Do you speak up or suffer in silence?

Photo credit:

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Luxuo introduces us to a new type of architecture, a house built out of the iconic Louis Vuitton brown and gold print.  It’s rumored to be located in Mexicali.  I wonder how many tourists stop by for a look.

LA Times Travel lures us with exotic details of a cruise to Antarctica.  I would love to be able to afford a trip to this least inhabited of the continents.

Vintage Seattle shows us photos of Sea-Tac Airport circa the 1950’s.  It’s changed!

Tripbase lists 14 juvenile things to do with an underwater camera.  Come one, how many of these have you done while on vacation?

Over at Gadling, Heather lists 20 things you can do inflight with a maxi pad.  Yes, flight attendants really do ordinary items in unusual ways.

Traveling Mamas introduces us to the Broadmoor, a luxury resort in Colorado Springs.  The pool area sounds great, despite her little one’s misadventure.

Travel Writer News shares some airline humor.  Although many of these have been around for awhile, you’ll likely find a new one to chuckle at.

AOL Travel lists some ways to tell if a user generated review of a hotel is real or fake.  Take it all with a grain of salt seems like a good idea.

Almost Fearless gives good suggestions on how to find safe, affordable, and clean places to stay while traveling.  You’ll find these useful whether you’re traveling for a short duration or living on the road.

I’m off to learn more about what to expect in the travel industry for the next year, and what the trends will be.  I’ll have more to report on those topics coming up.

Photo credit: SXC

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

I remember when this hotel opened.  It was the most luxurious hotel in Tacoma, had a great fine dining restaurant (I believe it was Italian), and since it was adjacent to the Bicentennial Pavilion, it catered to a lot of business and convention travelers.  I stayed there frequently after special events, planning to stay rather than drive, after a night of indulgence.

The Tacoma Sheraton was also happened to be a prime meeting spot for “working women” to meet up with a “client.”

After falling away from luxury standards for awhile, the hotel was eventually purchased, remodeled, and re-packaged as the beautiful Murano Hotel.  Although I’ve not yet stayed there, the hotel lobby is full of beautiful art, and, given its proximity to the Museum of Glass, has dedicated the rooms and public space to glass artist.  Worth a trip to see the public areas, even if you’re not staying there.

The address is the same:  1320 Broadway Plaza, Tacoma.

Photo credit:  personal collection

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Here are the top things that I found:

• Spent a day at the pool at Mandalay Bay.  Renting a cabana, and have a place to get out of the sun occasionally, made a 100+ degree day at the pool bearable.
• Watched the volcano erupt at the Mirage.
• Saw Disney’s The Lion King at Mandalay Bay.
• Dinner & a show at the Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur.

Win a trip to Fabulous Las Vegas!

I’ll be writing about my experience, and providing some reviews and recommendations about them soon, but I wanted everyone to know that I had a GREAT time!  I have some future Vegas trips coming up that will be adult-oriented, so this trip was a little out of the ordinary for me.  But it was was incredibly fun!

How would you like to have a GREAT time in Las Vegas as well?  If you tell me what you would love to see or do in Las Vegas, you just might have the chance to do it!

The nice folks at VisitLasVegas.com are providing one lucky winner a $250 gift card on Southwest Airlines to take a flight to Las Vegas.  SWA flies there from most major cities around the United States.  In addition, the winner will also receive a $150 AmEx pre-paid debit card for spending cash.

To enter the contest all you have to do is leave a comment here on the blog post and answer this question:

When you go to Las Vegas, what do you want to do or see?

Deadline for comments is Tuesday, August 18th, at midnight ET.  After that, I’ll select a random number and match it up with the comment.  You must leave an email so that I can contact you.

Not sure what you want to do?  Or maybe you just need a little help narrowing it down?  Visit Las Vegas will help you out with all sorts of suggestions to tempt you.

Now what are you waiting for?  Enter the contest and tell me what YOU want to do?

Photo credit: Bukowsky18 @flickr

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Today’s Matchbook Monday is a little trip down Las Vegas memory lane, back to the glory years of the desert, and the once infamous Desert Inn.  The Desert Inn was once the home to reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, who rented a couple floors and holed up there for so long that he eventually bought the place.  This was the first of many Las Vegas purchases that Howard Hughes made.

The Desert Inn was one of the premium resorts on the strip, and all the top stars played its Crystal Showroom.  You weren’t anybody till you played the DI.  The original 1960’s version of Ocean’s Eleven was shot here, and it was the setting for the television show Vega$ which aired in the late 70’s.

The resort celebrated it’s 50th birthday in 2000, with a huge, splashy week long party that included many of the starts that had played there over the years.  Just three short days later, the resort was purchased by Steve Wynn.  The hotel eventually closed and was demolished, making way for the Wynn Resort.

I remember visiting the Desert Inn at a time when it was considered one of the elite spots on the strip.  Anyone else?

Photo credit:  personal collection

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Marty asks:

Q.  I was wondering what flexibility you have, if any, in choosing what hotel to stay at?  I’m imagining that you probably have to stay at the airport location for whatever hotel chain that your airline has designated?  Is it the same chain in every city?  And can you stay somewhere other than the chain’s airport hotel?  Also, are there situations where the airline might give you an allowance to seek more permanent accommodations in a city that you are often having layovers in?  i.e. enough to get a shared apartment, etc?

A. Hotel costs are a huge budget item for airlines, and, as you can imagine, every effort is taken to save every single penny that can be saved.  It’s the ultimate standoff – with the people who are staying in the hotels wanting comfortable, well appointed, and conveniently located hotels, and the people paying the bill for the hotels needing to crunch the numbers and to negotiate the lowest possible contract rates.

While the process is handled differently, depending on the airline, the over arching issue is the same.  At most airlines that I’m familiar with, there is a Hotel Committee of Flight Attendants, of Pilots, and a counterpart for the Airline.  These three parties each have a list of what they require in a hotel (often set by contract) and what they’d like in a hotel.

Word is put out to hotels to determine who might be interested in having flight crews stay there.  Not everyone wants us, as it usually is at a seriously discounted rate.  In return, however, the hotel is guaranteed a number of booked rooms each month.  When there is a list together of interested hotels, representatives from the Flight Attendants, Pilots, and Airline will schedule onsite inspections.  Additional considerations will include the distance from the hotel (travel time will eat into crew rest), transportation to and from the airport, availability of restaurants, etc.

After all that, it will come down to money.  Sometimes a hotel will offer a lower rate if you choose their property in several cities.  Sometimes you want locations in a city, but can’t get it.  It varies tremendously, and there really isn’t any consistency.  It’s all about the money.

You are not generally required to stay at the crew hotel.  For example, many Flight Attendants commute to a base other than where they live, and bid for layovers at home.  However, the crew hotel is the only place where the airline will pick up the tab for the expense.  The airline direct pays for the hotel.

That’s the basic process, and although there will be some variations, it will essential be the same from airline to airline.

Thanks for the question, Marty!

—

Is there something that you’d like to know about the job or lifestyle of being a Flight Attendant?  You can email me your questions, and I’ll answer them in a future Flight Attendant Friday.

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Maybe what you need to do to get out of your rut is to look at vacation through a different lens, and perhaps a vacation club will help you branch out and see the world.

Royal Holiday is a premiere vacation club, that allows you to purchase credits to exchange for accommodations over the life of your membership.  Unlike a traditional time share, which locks you into one location, the vacation club allows you to choose a different vacation spot each year.    (Okay, if you really want to do the same thing every year, you can still do that with a vacation club, but c’mon – live a little!)

For a warm weather destination you could choose the Paradise Beach Villas in Aruba, or maybe try a cultural destination like Paris or London.  If you’re ready to try something more exotic, try Morocco or Chiang Mai.   And if you really don’t want to get too far from home, there are plenty of locations stateside like Lake Tahoe, Orlando, San Diego and Vail.  There are over 180 destinations in 52 countries, so you know you’ll find somewhere you want to go!

Royal Holiday also has owns and operates a few all-inclusive hotels in Mexico in Cancun, Cozumel, Ixtapa, and Acapulco.  Blogging pal Jon, at The DC Traveler, visited the Park Royal Resort in Cozumel, so check out what he had to say about it.

Because they believe in their premium product, and want you to spend some time checking them out to decide if it’s an option for you, Royal Holiday has offered a GREAT prize for one Flyaway Cafe reader!

First, here’s the prize:

• Royal Holiday-branded polo shirt
• Royal Holiday-branded gym bag
• Royal Holiday-branded hat
• Royal Holiday-branded towel
• Flipcam Ultra

Yep, all that logo swag, AND a Flip video cam so that you can shoot some video on your next vacation.  How great is that?!

Here’s all you need to do:

Go to Royal Holiday and check them out.  Take a look at their history and what they offer. See if a vacation club offers good value for your personal travel style.  Then, go look to see if they have something to offer in your favorite vacation destination – or maybe somewhere that’s destined to become your new favorite location.

Leave a comment here telling me what that location is and why.

Deadline for comments is Tuesday, August 1st at midnight ET.  At that time, I’ll random select a number a match it up with the comment.  You must leave an email so that I can contact you.  This content is only open to residents of the United States, Canada, and Mexico (shipping requirements).

I’ll start it off with my choice of the Sheraton Casablanca in Morocco.  Why?  Morocco fascinates me – the culture, the people, the food.  But I don’t know that I’m adventurous enough to go it alone in the country.   I’d like the convenience of a modern place to stay, alleviating the stress of the unfamiliar place to stay, leaving me free to explore something totally outside by comfort zone during the day.

How about you?  Where do you want to stay and why?

Photo credit:  Royal Holiday

Post from: Fly Away Cafe