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April 2006
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6.
This is
Kaleel Sakakeeny with your XM Go Travel Update
With all the technologies
making travel more secure, ever wonder why airline luggage woes seem to
get worse and worse?
 The Department of
Transportation reports more than 2.7 million pieces of luggage went
missing, damaged, delayed or stolen last year. That’s is about one bag
for every flight coming and going. And it’s a 37% increase from 2004.
What to do.
Travel experts say complain, put it in writing and send a copy to the
Department of Transportation…and tell the airline that’s what you’re
doing.
Your homeowners insurance policy may well cover lost luggage and some
credit cards have lost luggage insurance
Even though the airlines have raised their liability limits for wayward
baggage to $2,500 ,you have to provide a list of lost articles and their
price paid for each item.
Of course the airlines will then depreciate everything according to
insurance tables.
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5.
This is
Kaleel Sakakeeny with your XM Go Travel Update
The U.S. can’t seem to get it right when it comes to making up its mind
about ID requirements for travel to and from Canada
Doesn’t matter. The damage is done. Canadian tourism officials already
report decreasing numbers of tourists because of the uncertainty, and
Ontario Tourism Minister Jim Bradley predicts a further loss of millions
of dollars.
Convention planners, for one, are reluctant to book meetings without
knowing what identification plan will be implemented, or what any plan
will cost.
And if passports are required, at $97.00 a pop, a family of four would
be adding almost $400 to their trip to Canada.
It seems that 2008, visitors will need a passport or some form of
identification presumably being developed by the State Department and
the Department of Homeland Security.
The most obvious solution to a probably nonexistent problem, is to
standardize and upgrade existing driver's licenses.
We wonder why the government doesn’t get it?
Sorry, No Audio
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4.
This is
Kaleel Sakakeeny with your XM Go Travel Update
New England is very beautiful
when it’s not too cold, or when the mud season has past, that terrible
time when the ground thaws and there’s nothing but mud everywhere.
But this year some enterprising innkeepers and resort owners have
decided to play in the mud.
Their menus feature clever things like Mudtinis, Mud Dip, Dirty Waffles,
Chocolate Truffles, mud masks and they even throw in car washes.
We asked Beth Steucek (stusick) of the NE Inns and Resorts what’s going
on
Pleaee download the
audio
to hear Beth Steucek’s comments about Mud Deals in New England
Most of the 300 inns are quintessential New England beauties …So here’s
mud in your eye…or at least in your weekend
Info and prices at
www.NewEnglandInnsandResorts.com
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3.
This is
Kaleel Sakakeeny with your XM Go Travel Update
Most Americans
aren’t anti-kids.
Just the ones that fly first class.
An on line poll had a majority of flyers saying kids don’t belong in
first class.
Of course in my family it was never an issue … but we were a bit taken
aback at the grumpiness of the “no kids allowed” crowd.
What’s bugging them?
It seems kids are cranky, cry, scream … and too many of them are not
toilet trained.
The soiled diaper argument really struck a nerve with one traveler
asking the airlines to restrict access to first class to certain ages.
Read: No kids allowed.
Will lawyers yell discrimination?
You bet they will.
Still, it’s a provocative idea.
Some insisted families should fly in the back of the plane in designated
“family sections,” turning the rear of the plane into an airborne
playpen.
Sounds like more discrimination
But what about adults who behave worse than kids?
Maybe they were badly toilet trained.
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2.
 This is
Kaleel Sakakeeny with your XM Go Travel Update
When
Tiger Woods rented the Sandy Lane Hotel Golf Club in Barbados for his
wedding, the resort understandably touted the event as an example of its
celebrity service.
Yet Golf Odyssey,
which prides itself on not accepting advertising, discounts or gifts
from the golf courses it reviews, said it ain’t necessarily so.
According to the monthly newsletter, Sandy Lane’s service to the general
public is marred by glitches and snubs with, quote, “serious service
shortcomings.”
Publisher David Baum says his newsletter is one of the few golf
publications that’s not afraid to tell it like it is….
Please
download the audio to listen to David Baum’s complete comments about how
one classy golf resort swung out
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1.
This is
Kaleel Sakakeeny with your XM Go Travel Update
Bike tours
around Europe, the United States and just about every where wheels can
hit the road are becoming the trip of choice for the self styled
traveler.
Tours like those offered by Tennessee’s
Bike Tours
Direct follow the Mozart trail in Salzburg, Austria or wind by
Germany’s best wine producing regions.
Bike tours don’t skimp on meals while on wheels either. Gourmet diners
in four or five star inns are par for the course, but as bike tourer
Paula Winkler says, it’s the ups and downs that really make a bike tour
unique
Please download the
audio to
hear Paula Winkler’s comments in full.
Most tours cover 25 miles a day and run for seven nights including
luggage transport, guides, repairs and lots of scenery.
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