Category Archives for Destinations.
A week ago United Airlines made an announcement about its flights to China that is not true. They said they would add 10 weekly flights between the U.S. and China. They will not do so.
Delta announced that it would add six weekly flights between the U.S. and China. It probably won’t do this either.
West Maui is in shambles. Lahaina has largely been destroyed. 111 people are confirmed dead, with as many as 1,000 still missing. Over 2,000 structures were damaged – most of them residential. But slowly life is being put back together. Verizon cell phone service was just restored. Yet Maui already needs tourism back.
Tirana is going to feel like a European city. The northern part of the country will seem underdeveloped. It’s a highly seasonal (summer) destination located in Southeastern Europe on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. It is both relatively safe and affordable. You’ll see castles and other architecture in addition to beaches, and you’ll eat soured milk casserole and drink coffee. There are more coffee shops per capital in Albania than anywhere else in the world. Albania does seem to be having a moment.
The town of Lahaina on Maui is being absolutely pummeled by fire, spurred by wind from a hurricane that passed by. Hundreds of people evacuated. Power and cell service have been down for many. A Presidential Disaster Declaration is expected. Maui lacks ICU beds and burn victims are being flown to Oahu.
Brazil has said that U.S. tourists will have to obtain a visa starting October 1, since the U.S. continues to require Brazilians to obtain a visa. The country scrapped the requirement in 2019 but it’s being re-imposed as a reciprocity measure.
Brazilians are flying to the U.S. to buy computers and then flying home. The cost savings on their purchases more than funds the trip. And some buy more than one, sell the second at home, making the whole thing ‘free’.
A tourist carved “Ivan+Haley 23” into the Roman Colosseum, the elliptical amphitheatre at the center of the city just to the east of the Roman Forum. It was completed in 80 AD under the emporer Titus.
Facing five years in jail and a $16,000 fine, 27 year old fitness instructor and British resident Ivan Dimitrov was tracked down by Italian police in England after a five day search. He has apologized, saying he didn’t realize the Colosseum was so old. Presumably if it dated only to the twelfth century the carvings would have been alright?
The U.S. government is warning Americans not to travel to China over laws and practice there allowing for arbitrary detention for political reasons, and for prosecution over the contents of private emails.
New legislation went into effect July 1 allowing the government to take even greater steps. But what about Hong Kong? And transit through the airport there?
The President of Belarus flew over Russian airspace – but his plane’s transponder was turned off until he had cleared it. Belarus is a vassal state of Putin’s regime. And Putin is facing a coup led by the boss of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
With Prigozhin’s forces targeting military aircraft, VIP aircraft movements taking steps not to be tracked seems… wise.
This was a failure of U.S. authorities – suspecting someone as a drug courier over behaving like an airline employee. It was a failure of Canadian authorities, arresting someone based on a fallible test and locking them up for a week while slow-walking a real test. And it was a failure of the passenger, who didn’t secure legal representation (though as a 22 year old kid on an airline income that’s not surprising).
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
