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Bizarre foods: European "delicacies," by country {Gadling}
Mar 16th 2011 7:16PM See, we always get a bad rap here in Asia for the most bizarre and strange foods, but I will eat 90% of the stuff here -- I don't think I'd touch anything on the Europe list. My stomach is turning after reading this (especially at the Sardinia one). I'll stick to my Taipei night market! LOL
I am curious though at the Scandinavian one posted in the comments...it's declared the most putrid smelling dish in the world...it actually beats out our durian fruit here? The smell of durian is so bad it's been banned from hotels, public gathering places, and trains/buses in some Asian countries. Perhaps it is just because it's a Japanese study and durian is found mostly in SE Asia and here in Taiwan.
Tokyo flights canceled, diverted after tsunami {Gadling}
Mar 11th 2011 8:33AM Air France just issued a statement that says the NRT airport will remain closed until further notice and flights through 3/15 may be affected. China Airlines was among those carriers that canceled flights as well -- our local news here in Taipei have been showing lots of Japanese passengers who are now stuck here.
I watched this unfold live after a fellow travel blogger tweeted as the quake happened. The coverage on the news of the tsunami was heart wrenching. Thankfully, Taiwan and many other islands have been spared and the tsunami warnings have since been lifted.
My heart really goes out to all those in Japan right now.
Five ways to get more European stamps in your passport {Gadling}
Mar 2nd 2011 12:27PM Not sure if they still do it, but I heard Lichtenstein had an office you could get a tourist passport stamp as well. Although they weren't an official part of the Schengen yet (I heard that might've changed as recently as 2 weeks ago though), they were kind of treated like an extension of Switzerland for border crossing so you didn't get a stamp. My husband lived in Europe for a number of years so he spent time trying to figure out how to get passport stamps anywhere he could on his weekend drives. LOL
One thing he did learn....if you fly into Ireland and your passport has a EU temporary residence visa in it -- no stamp! We flew in for a weekend once and he didn't get stamped, only I did. :-)
Five good reasons to screw up your frequent flier mile strategy {Gadling}
Feb 3rd 2011 1:31PM I agree with Ralph. As an elite, you get access to premium economy seating firsthand so getting the exit rows are nice on the long haul international flights. Also, the elite benefits are far worth it (to us) -- it's much more than early boarding. We are not business travelers in the traditional sense, but we spend a lot of time on planes each year.
Priority baggage is definitely one benefit. When you have a short connection in the US and you have to go through customs, our bags are one of the first out and that can mean the difference on making the flight. Priority security lines in many airports....at LAX if we checked in with the regular economy folks, we'd have to stand in the line to have our checked bags screened and then go through another hour in the actual security line. As elite members, our bags are sent through to be scanned and we go through the security line that is reserved for crew and elite passengers. Luggage weight is another - we get two bags each - 70lbs each...domestic and international (which we always utilize on return flights rather than paying $400 to ship a box with things we needed to buy that we can't find where we live now.)
Besides the lounge access, one of the biggest perks is the automatic upgrades we sometimes get on the international flights...and we buy the lowest fares. I've been on business class between LAX and Tokyo, multiple flights within Asia, and in the US, you are have priority upgrades for first class (automatically). We don't always get them domestically because someone with higher status or full-paid fare class, or first class checked in full, but it does happen.
I do agree with you Tom on #1 that business definitely comes first. We've not flown our preferred alliance before because it meant adding on another 9 hours of flying time or they didn't have flights on our preferred days. We just try to keep our flights on one alliance as it is what allows us to travel as much as we do and anything we can do to lessen the stress of the whole airport experience is important to me.
Delta Air Lines sends frontline staff back to charm school {Gadling}
Feb 3rd 2011 1:05PM Glad to see they are making some changes. We fly them almost exclusively as my husband and I both have elite status with them so upgrades, lounge access, and extra luggage allowance are vital as we travel between Asia and the US at least 4-5x per year. Out of prob 50+ flights we took last year on Delta, we only had issues a couple times -- most of the problems stemmed from ground crews handling Delta flights (KLM, China Airlines). We've run into a few bad ones in Los Angeles, but we check in through Business Class lines and I think they put the best agents there. LOL
There have been times I've wanted to switch alliances, but we've built up so much in mileage and status that I hate to start over so we suck it up.
