Our friend and colleague over at Stuck at the Airport, Harriet Baskas, has been following developments at Vancouver's international airport (YVR) as the Olympics draw preciously near. Anticipating a massive crowd, the normally serene, Pacific Northwest city is neck-deep in preparations, particularly at bottleneck junctions such as borders and airports.

To help soothe the massive flow, YVR is taking a proactive approach to managing traffic on the days of and after the games. Particularly on outbound flights the day after closing ceremonies, the airport suggests arriving for flights 4 hours prior to departure, with the check-in process complete after 3.

As Ms. Baskas points out, they've even gone so far as to ask hotels to allow unilateral late checkout and to post the adjacent placard onto every door, advising travelers on the best departure and airport strategy.

It's good forward thinking by an airport that's sure to see record traffic over the next few weeks. Hopefully passengers and security move smoothly in kind.

Want more Olympics coverage?

• Read more Olympics coverage on Gadling.
• Educate yourself about Vancouver.
• Familiarize yourself with Vancouver attractions.
• Get smart about Vancouver accommodations.

Nary a day goes by when we don't receive another email at Gadling from an airline or travel agent trumpeting the latest sale fare to this season's hot destination. Fares like $215 to Barcelona, $199 to London and $400 to Buenos Aires tickle our travel fancies, filling us with the dream that we can score a dirt cheap international ticket and jetset away for an action packed, budget weekend.

Click through those links to the booking page, however, and your miracle sale fares will evaporate. But where did these original, quoted prices come from? Lets take a look.

In an advertisement (ie, email) that an airline sends to you, airfares are often only quoted one way. So the $215 fare that you see to Barcelona above is actually $430. That's not a bad price until you also note that taxes and fees aren't included, which for any transatlantic destination is a least $100. That pushes the price up to $530.

But that's still a good sale price, right? Maybe not. Yesterday's Air France sale advertised fares from New York to Madrid for $239. Making the ticket round trip with fees included (say, from March 3rd to March 10th) brings the price up to $570. That same fare on British Airways: $518. Air Europa (who?): $520. What kind of a sale is this?

The lesson here is that it's important to keep both the advertorial angle and the competition in mind when considering a sale fare. Airlines send these emails out to get your brain engaged, drag you into their site and make a sale, but a good consumer does her homework, compares prices and knows when a fare is truly outstanding.

The safest flight on which I have ever flown was between Minneapolis and Honolulu on a Northwest 757. On my way to a wedding in Maui, I happened to be on the exact same flight as 40 surgeons bound for a conference on the island. Imagine my comfort in knowing that if I choked on a mai thai there would be someone to resuscitate me.

Airlines often give an unofficial token of thanks to medical professionals who help on board a flight during an emergency. Stories range from upgrades to first class to vouchers for the in flight duty-free store to a bottle of Champagne, all small thanks for helping a fellow passenger in need.

German based Lufthansa is now making the process more official in their Doctors on Board program. MDs in the Miles and More program can register prior to departure to be "of use" during a medical emergency, and in return, Lufthansa will deposit 5,000 miles into the doctor's account.

Note, while it does not say "medical" doctor on the proper site, the registration form does require credentials to be faxed in, so doctors of Mechanical Engineering or Judeo-Christian history need not apply, unless, perhaps, a passenger is having trouble falling asleep.

Whether it's to avoid stringent passport regulations, fly into a cheaper airport or just enjoy the beautiful drive up the coast, there are plenty of reasons that Winter Olympics travelers have to fly into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA or SeaTac) next week. The Pacific Northwest, a beautiful corner of North America has plenty of natural and cultural offerings to woo the passing traveler, so why not take the long road up to the 2010 games?

Should you be working your way north from SeaTac, here are a few logistics to keep in mind:

Route
I-5 will take you almost all of the way there, from the periphery of SeaTac to across the border at Blaine, WA. Once in Canada, travelers can continue straight onto 99 northwest around the bay and then west into Richmond, just below Vancouver. Several of the XXI Olympics venues are in Richmond and there's a chance that your hotel will be here too, so this is where your GPS or your map printout will come in handy.

Car Rentals
If you're renting a vehicle, make certain that the provider knows that you'll be taking it out of the country. While most won't have a problem with this, additional insurance and fees may apply, and if you neglect these options you could be in serious trouble if something goes wrong north of the border.

Customs
Travelers crossing the border by automobile are only required to show a valid, state issued ID and proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate. If you're an American citizen, more data can be found at travel.state.gov, while citizens of other countries can check with Canada Border Services Agency.

After three years of waiting, the announcement is finally live: Air New Zealand will be reconfiguring their Boeing 777 cabins to incorporate lie flat seats in economy, a revolutionary change to transpacific travel and a godsend to long haul passengers. Traditionally, the comfort of lie-flat seats is only reserved for travelers in business or first class, but with these new configurations, even economy travelers will be able to stretch out for a good night's sleep.

The novelty comes with a redesign to the way that economy seats mate together. The combination of a smooth interface between each seat, moveable armrests and an extension to the seats effectively makes a sideways bed onto which a few travelers can lie.

Changes to premium economy and business class will also be redesigned for better space utilization.

Our own blogger Kent Wien is on the ground in Auckland as we type, collecting photos, videos and all of the fine details of the new cabin configurations. Stay tuned to Gadling over the course of this evening for real-time updates, videos, pictures and to take part in the the revolution of transpacific travel as we know it.

Gallery: Air New Zealand's new cabin configurations

UPDATE: Check out Kent's thorough profile and photos of the new seats here!

Tomorrow's announcement from Air New Zealand about their new cabin configurations is purported to be a doozy, a change to transpacific flight that could forever impact the way we think about airline travel.

A few small clues about the configurations have leaked through, including a recent interview with ANZ's CEO Rob Fyfe where he indicates that most of the changes would be in the economy and premium economy sections. A recent article from the New Zealand Herald also suggests that the airline may go as far as installing lie-flat seats throughout all of coach.

Here at Gadling we've got a couple of ideas for where the award-winning airline can go with their long-haul aircraft:

• Like Delta has considered, ANZ could reconfigure their cabin with staggered seats, incorporating more room for passengers and creating even more space to pack in seats.
• One of the wide-body options that Airbus has recently offered is for bunk beds in economy. Could Boeing and their 777 aircraft use the same thing?
• The above interview with Rob Fyfe highlighted the importance that ANZ is placing on families in the future. Using cafe style (facing one another) seating in coach could help families coordinate, make extra space and softening the pain of long haul travel.

Either way, we've sent our own airline expert Kent Wien out to the Air New Zealand ranch in Auckland, New Zealand to scope out the new changes, snap some photos and get the skinny on what the big excitement is all about. We'll get you updated Monday afternoon after the official launch.

UPDATE: Read all about the new changes here.

Have you ever slept better on an airplane than in your own bed? The only time that this has ever happened to me was on an Air New Zealand flight between LA and Auckland, comfortably tucked into the business class cabin on the upper deck of their 747.

This business cabin (lower deck pictured above), a ten seat Eden of comfort, good food and endless inflight entertainment is one of the only ways to cross the Pacific in style, complete with fully lie flat beds, delectable meals and wine and non stop pampering. Perhaps this is part of the reason that ANZ was named Airline of the Year by Air Transport World.

Incidentally, the movers and shakers at Air New Zealand are in the midst of a drastic redesign to their transpacific cabin configurations. It's all strictly under wraps until next week (hint: Monday at 5) so check back then to hear the great news!

And don't forget to get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Donating to the earthquake relief effort in Haiti should be a no-brainer, but for those who haven't given or who would like to give more, the travel industry is offering a few additional mechanisms, some with incentives.

As of Tuesday morning, here's a comprehensive list of how you can donate your miles via assorted airline or hotel websites.

• American Airlines will give you 250 miles if you donate $50 to the American Red Cross or 500 miles for $100.
• Continental OnePass members can donate to the American Red Cross directly, and CEO Jeff Smisek is reported to be matching coworker donations up to $50,000
• Similar programs are in place at Delta and United.
• Spirit Airlines, which flies daily flights to Haiti, is returning 5,000 miles to anyone who donates at least $5 to their charities.
• JetBlue and Southwest won't let you donate miles, but they do have donation links to the relief effort on their main pages.
• In addition to matching the donations of their employees, US Airways allows Dividend Members to donate their miles.
• Hyatt Gold Passport members can donate increments of 5,000 points by calling 1-800-228-3360, Hilton members can convert 10,000 points to a $25 donation at their site and Priority Club and Choice members can also chip in.
• Starwood hotels are matching all donations, where 4,000 points will equal $50.
• In addition to the $500,000 that Bill Marriott gave to the relief effort (classy!), you can donate your Marriott points here.

Did we miss anything? Drop off links in the comments below and we'll update the post.

One of my favorite strategies when doing my travel research is food blog crawling. Food blogs put a unique spin on a destination, have authors who are almost always social and are furthermore great places to find new places to eat. Our own blogger Jeremy Kressmann dominated the gastronomic scene in Seoul this way, and more and more food bloggers are seeping into mainstream shows like No Reservations and Bizarre Foods.

Great case in point? Cafe Fernando. The author, as one commenter puts him a "gourmet of life," is an Istanbul resident, cooking genius, amateur photographer, and talented blogger, the product of which is a mouth watering journey into pages of crumbcakes, donuts, cheescakes and tarts.

Heading somewhere soon? Give it a try on google: plug "[your city] + food + blog" into a search and see what comes up. You'll be surprised, delighted and hungry when you're finished.

Ask any of my friends and they'll tell you that I'm probably the worst foodie traveler on the planet. I stood by while my companions ate horse sashimi in Tokyo, politely declined the boiling hot oyster balls in Osaka, ordered the steak instead of the borscht in Russia, and definitely skipped the chicken feet in Hong Kong. Andrew Zimmern makes me uncomfortable, my first tuna roll was in Bangkok last year and even with a Vietnamese mother, I'll admit that I don't like phở.

It's true that gastronomic exploration is an excellent way to experience a culture, eat like a local and try something exotic, but there are more significant components to foodie travel then competing to see who can eat the most outlandish viscera. Food brings people and cultures to a communal table, a place where stories are exchanged, traditions are observed and friends are made. And this can happen at the dive bar in the red light district or at the 4 star Michelin rated restaurant at the top of the finest hotel in the city.

Enjoying food on the road can thus come in many forms, some in plain sight in a guide book and others, more subtle, in a host's kitchen or at a marketplace vendor. Today at Gadling we'll be covering all points on the spectrum, from some of our favorite hotspots to strategies for making your meal worth it's buck. We hope you enjoy it.