Gadling

If you've dismissed the idea of a guided tour due to financial reasons, award-winning Geographic Expeditions has your back. Pointing out that the travel industry employs one out of every twelve jobs, the company has lowered its prices - by a lot - in their own effort to stimulate the economy for drivers, staff, cooks, and guides.

Sample discounts include a $1,700 deduction (more than 10%) on a 17-day tour of Rajasthan, India; $1,400 (more than 20%) off of 12 days in Bhutan; and $1,200 off for 12 days in Vietnam.

It's not budget travel by any means, but a good deal nonetheless. Check out Geographic Expedition's website for more details. Happy trails!

iPhone - a tool for freedom?

When Steve Bierfeldt was pulled aside and questioned by Transportation Security Administration at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport in March, he activated an audio recording application on his iPhone and recorded the entire conversation. Bierfeldt was carrying $4,700 in cash, campaign donations for Ron Paul, and contends that the TSA both harassed and unlawfully detained him.

Bierfeldt was taken to a windowless room and questioned for nearly 30 minutes. A partial transcript of the interrogation shows Bierfeldt continually asking his legal rights, while agents continued to press him. At one point an agent says, "You want to play smartass, and I'm not going to play your f**king game."

Though Bierfeldt was eventually allowed to leave and catch his flight, American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit against Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, using his recorded questioning as evidence of unlawful detainment and harassment.

[Via CNN]

Before I moved to Alaska, I assumed that solstice celebrations were for druids and/or hippies, and imagined long-haired folks with crowns of leaves preforming incantations and ceremonies on both the longest and shortest days of the year. While there are no doubt spiritual observances of the elliptical path of the sun going on in Alaska, up here you're just as likely to have a grocery store clerk wish you a "happy solstice." Daylight here is more than passive background lighting; it dictates our moods, energy, and productivity, to say the least. Even travelers here for less than a week find themselves affected, if only because they can't sleep at night for all the sunshine.

With nearly 24 hours of daylight in the summer, and nearly 24 hours of darkness in the winter, many Alaskans intently observe solstices. In summer, the day is both a celebration of all that fabulous daylight (better than any serotonin-enhancing drug, I assure you) and a bit of mourning for the fact that the day also marks the beginning of the sun's retreat. In winter, we wholeheartedly celebrate the days getting longer, even though we won't see normal daylight hours for months after either holiday.

A common way to ring in the longest day of the year is to climb a mountain and watch the sun circle the horizon rather than dip below it. If you're looking for something more formal, plenty of organized, non-Druid celebrations are held across the state for summer solstice; following are a few ways you can honor the longest day of the year.

The unfortunate death of a Continental Airlines pilot today is nevertheless calming fears of many a flying-phobe: even with one pilot down, a plane can safely land.

During the flight from Brussels to Newark, the 60-year-old pilot allegedly died of "natural causes" (the first doctor to respond in the air reports that it was likely a heart attack). Passengers weren't told of the death, and fight attendants continued serving snacks. A relief pilot on board took over, and with another co-pilot safely finished the flight.

Emergency crews met the plane as a precaution, but the Boeing 777 touched down without incident, and on time.

[Via MSNBC]

Recreational Vehicles: giant, gas-guzzling monsters, or eco-friendly transportation? Our friend Peter Greenberg recently analyzed a new travel trend: the "green RV." The term may seem contradictory; after all, can a lumbering, fuel-thirsty behemoth really be labeled "green?" But Greenberg points out that "the RV industry is adjusting to the demands of a more environmentally conscious public." And those adjustments don't just include simply trying to improve fuel efficiency (though a sleeker, more aerodynamic design and lighter composites contribute considerably to better gas mileage).

Features of these new, more environmentally-conscious RVs include solar and wind turbines (for powering that gourmet kitchen), and hybrid models that run on both gas and batteries.

Greenberg also points out that many consumers are simply buying smaller vehicles, which reduce environmental impact by using less fuel and creating fewer emissions. Further, he notes that the self-contained nature of an RV reduces travelers' carbon footprint, since folks are not flying, eating out, or staying in a hotel.

Still, even innovative hybrid models get around 12 miles to the gallon, which doesn't seem too eco-friendly to me. What are your thoughts?

I laughed out loud at Terry Ward's observations over at World Hum of young Americans awkwardly negotiating the "morning after" scene at Balmer's Herberge in Interlaken, Switzerland. Laughed, because when I was a 21-year-old college student on a study abroad trip, Balmer's was a sacred place - a destination for hordes of other kids just like me, proudly sporting university sweatshirts and perky enthusiasm for the soft-core adrenaline adventures on offer around the town. Ward's description is a spot-on retelling of my own experience there: waiting for the liquid courage to dance, then getting wasted on beer from plastic cups, running into a new friend at breakfast the next day and having an awkward, stilted conversation about the Italian coffeemaker he'd bought his sister in Italy. I also recall waking up that morning and finding my contact lenses in shriveled corpses on the floor next to my bed; I simply stuck them in solution and popped them back in. Oh, youth.

Like Ward, I have no desire to revisit Balmer's. On subsequent visits to Interlaken, I've stayed at the pleasantly peaceful HI hostel. But I also don't (totally) regret my drunken couple of nights at Balmer's. I'm one of those people who hates missing out on any kind of experience, and at the time, a night or two at Balmer's was what I was after.

Anyone else have a similar experience there?

Driving the Alaska Highway (casually called the "Alcan") is the ultimate road trip: more than 1400 miles of road, filled with mountain ranges,spindly boreal forests, po-dunk diner-and-gas-station towns, bison herds, scenic detours and flying gravel. Constructed as a link between Alaska and the contiguous US, the highway was completed in 1943, though the regions harsh environment forces nearly-constant upkeep.

If you decide you need a vehicle in Alaska, which is wise for extended stays considering the lack of decent transportation and the vast expanse of the state, you'll need to get it up here. You've got three options: put your car on a barge and fly up, drive your car onto the ferry and ride up, or drive the Alaska highway.

The last option is likely the least expensive, and gives you a sense of just how remote Alaska is. Though the Alaska highway officially starts in Dawson Creek, Canada, and ends in Delta Junction, Alaska, your drive will be much longer. With gravel sections, frost heaves, inclement weather, and long stretches between towns, it's important that you're fully prepared for the unique conditions of driving to Alaska.

We already covered passengers who won't move to the right on the escalator, and those who bring hot, smelly foods on to the plane. But my personal (non)favorite is those folks who press their shins right up the baggage claim conveyor belt, in the hopes that it might help them spot/claim/get to their bags faster.

People! At the Anchorage airport, there is a bright yellow line painted all the way around and about a foot and a half away from the baggage claim belt. This line is for you: it quite clearly indicates that you should remain at least that far away, so that other people can see and grab their bags.

The last thing I feel like doing after being crammed into a germy metal tube for however many hours is bump shoulders with and act polite to folks crowding around the luggage carousel. When you stand right up against it, not only do I have to crane my neck and hop up and down like a deranged cheerleader in order to spot my luggage, I also have to wade through you and others like you to try to get it. If everyone would just mind the yellow line, then every single person would be able to spot their luggage and not have to body slam accidentally bump into those who hover like vultures.

For more passengers we just love to hate, click here.

Calling all students: with an International Student Identity Card (ISIC), you can add two free days of rail travel to an eight-day Eurail Select Pass. The offer, which comes from the STA Travel, lasts through June and July, the height of summer travel.

Though budget carriers such as EasyJet may tempt you with their unbelievably cheap fairs, consider traveling the romantic, old-fashioned way - by rail.

Besides getting two free days of travel, there are many reasons why taking the train is cooler than flying: smaller carbon footprint; you can bring more than three ounces of liquid on board; train stations are in the center of town, rather than the outskirts (where budget airlines often leave you); you don't have to pay to check your bags; it's easier to meet people; it's relaxing (I actually can barely stay awake on trains); you can catch an all-nighter and skip paying for a bed one night.

So get your ISIC, and get your train travel on.

Combat fishing: if these two words bring to mind images of men dressed in camouflage, battling for giant fish, then you're not too far off from reality. Though Alaska might seem like the sort of land where scenes from A River Runs Through It play out in real life, you're actually more likely to see roadside rivers crammed with anglers tossing hooks and sinkers into the water in the hopes of snagging one of the many salmon working their way to a spawning site.

Up here, salmon swim up streams that pass through major cities. In downtown Anchorage, salmon-rich Ship Creek is a 100-meter sprint from the high-rise hotels and office buildings of the business center, and in the middle of the rail yard and port. Mid-summer, you can spot anglers shoulder to shoulder in the creek as you wander through the Saturday Market.

The salmon are so plentiful, in fact, that as they are finishing their life spans you can actually reach into the water and pluck one out with your hands (it's illegal to do that, though). In the fall, after the fish are all spawned out and dead, the smell of rotting salmon permeates any land within 100 feet of a stream - just driving over a bridge in your car is enough to catch a whiff of decaying fish.

But when salmon are still full of vigor, filling clear streams with their red and silver bodies as they struggle upstream to spawn, their rich meat is sought-after by sport and subsistence fisherfolk alike.