Free Republic

In his first year in office, Bar ack Obama has visited more foreign countries than any other president. He has touched ground in 16 countries, easily outpacing Bill Clinton (three) and George W. Bush (11). It's an itinerary befitting a "citizen of the world." But there's one stop Obama won't make: He has begged off going to Berlin next week to attend ceremonies commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. His schedule is reportedly too crowded. John F. Kennedy famously told Berliners, "Ich bin ein Berliner." On the 20th anniversary of the last century's most stirring triumph of freedom, Obama...

President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the H1N1 influenza a national emergency, giving doctors and medical facilities greater leeway in responding to the flu pandemic. Obama signed the declaration late Friday, which the White House said allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis. "The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels -- personal, business, and government -- and this proclamation helps that effort by advancing our overall response capability," the White House said in a statement. In the proclamation,...

Sometimes it's the journey, sometimes it's the destination—and sometimes, it's both. National Geographic Traveler has scoured the globe for the world's most beautiful, interesting, and off-beat road trips. Dive in to get directions, quizzes, photos, and more.

TSA Secure Flight Information The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is introducing Secure Flight, a program to help enhance the security of domestic and international commercial air travel through the use of improved watch list matching. In accordance with this new policy, you will notice changes to our reservation process which have been made to obtain the necessary Secure Flight Passenger Data for reservations purchased beginning September 15, 2009. Please note that SFPD is not being collected from AA passengers whose tickets were issued prior to September 15, 2009, regardless of their travel date. How will this affect you? When you...

Looking for romance? Head to Honolulu. But if you are single, like live music, boutique hotels and want a wild weekend, New Orleans is the city to visit. In its latest survey of America's favorite cities Travel and Leisure magazine asked readers to pick the best places for everything from the most attractive, intelligent, stylish and the friendliest people to where to find the best museums, restaurants, bars, museums and affordable hotels. "The big news this year is that New Orleans received the most number one rankings over New York," said Travel and Leisure Assistant Editor Stirling Kelso. ...The city...

Here’s a real copy of an American citizen’s DHS Travel Record retrieved from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s Automated Targeting System (ATS). This was obtained through a FOIA/Privacy Act request and sent in by an anonymous reader (thanks!) The document reveals that the DHS is storing the reader’s: Credit card number and expiration (really)IP address used to make web travel reservations Hotel information and itineraryFull Name, birth date and passport numberFull airline itinerary, including flight numbers and seat numbersCruise ship itineraryPhone numbers, incl. business, home & cellEvery frequent flyer and hotel number associated with the subject, even ones not...

A south Minneapolis travel agency owner who is accused of swindling travelers out of airline tickets, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Hennepin County Court. Ali Mohamud, 35, is charged with six felony counts of theft by swindle. Mohamud owns Amana Travel Agency, located at 1841 Nicollet Ave. S. Mohamud is accused of taking approximately $40,000 from at least a dozen travelers by either failing to purchase their airline tickets or canceling them and keeping the cash. The FBI is also looking into Mohamud. In August, agents searched his business as part of an investigation into Somali men missing from the...

Hotel Bel-Air Closes For Renovations, Laying Off 250 Union Workers The hotel has refused to commit to rehiring the employees, many of whom are immigrants, when work is done in 2011. Many are worried about losing affordable health coverage. By Hugo Martín and Patrick McDonnell October 1, 2009 The Hotel Bel-Air closed quietly Wednesday, shutting for two years of renovations without agreeing to a severance package with its unionized employees. The resort -- for more than 60 years a retreat for presidents, movie stars and others -- has refused to commit to rehire 250 union employees after its multimillion-dollar face-lift...

I guess you might consider this a "vanity" post, but didn't know where to post it. Myself and five other gals are going to New York City for five days in Nov. for sight-seeing, shopping, Broadway shows, etc. Has anyone here ever bought/used the New York Pass and/or hop-on hop-off bus pass? None of us have been to New York City before (at least not in the last 30 years) and wonder if this is something we should purchase ahead of time, or is it a big rip-off? Thanks for any help you can offer.

A stunning collection of photographs taken by a 19th century globetrotter has caused a stir - because he meticulously painted the colours in himself. The amazing images shed new light on the world as it was more than 100 years ago, with vivid images of snake charmers, ships on the Suez Canal and fighting Sikhs, among others.Henry Harrison, a Royal Navy Paymaster General, took the black and white  pictures on his voyages around the globe and, because he was a talented artist, was able to painstakingly colour them in. Stunning imagery: One of Henry Harrison's photographs shows prisoners in China...

I was buying a diet Dr. Pepper in the Birmingham airport snack bar when he walked in behind me. Wearing desert camouflage and carrying a backpack, he appeared to be in his early 20's. He chose a soda and got in line behind me. I pulled out some cash and told the clerk, "Let me get his, also," nodding at the young man behind me. I know someone who does these things much more gracefully than I. He's seen more than one soldier eating a meal with his family and he's quietly picked up the tab, exiting before they have...

The Obama Administration has decided to block travel by the people of Honduras to the United States to punish their country for its Supreme Court’s refusal to back the return to power of Honduras’s ex-president and would-be dictator, Manuel Zelaya, who is backed by left-wing Latin American dictators like Castro and Chavez. The Obama Administration is now blocking the issuance of nearly all visas, meaning that a Honduran grandma who wants to visit her grandkids in the United States can’t...............

Fees for Airline Carry-Ons Could Lead to Universal Bag Sizes, Less Waiting. BY RICK SEANEY You know you want to, airlines. You're dying to do it. So which one of you will go first? I'm talking about charging passengers a fee for toting a carry-on bag. I know, it sounds crazy -- and I have no specific insider info -- but it's all the buzz with air travelers and you have to admit it's a logical progression: First the airlines charged a fee for a second checked bag, then for a first and, well, what's left? At the very least,...

Arthur Frommer This week Arizonans were shocked when iconic travel industry promoter Arthur Frommer blogged that "I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks [and t]ourists should safeguard themselves by avoiding stays in Arizona." Mr. Frommer's comments, touched off a firestorm of criticism - so much so that as of publication of this column, Frommer's blog entry attracted 1,061 comments compared to the usual 8 comments or so for his other blog entries. The crux of the criticism against Mr. Frommer's Arizona travel advisory (even by pro-gun folks like me who don't...

Note: The following text is a quote: Travel Alert U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Bureau of Consular Affairs This information is current as of today, Mon Aug 24 2009 01:02:34 GMT-0700 (PDT). Mexico August 20, 2009 The Department of State has issued this Travel Alert to update security information for U.S. citizens traveling to and living in Mexico. It supersedes the Travel Alert for Mexico dated February 20, 2009, and expires on February 20, 2010. While millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year (including tens of thousands who cross the land border every day for study, tourism or business),...

Starting this year, Americans will have to get government approval to travel by air. As Privacy Journal revealed last fall, henceforth "Permission Now Needed to Travel Within U.S." Getting a reservation and checking-in for air travel will soon require Transportation Security Administration authorization. That permission is by no means assured: For example, if your name matches a "no-fly" list, even mistakenly, you can be denied the right to a reserve a seat on a flight. If your name is on a "selectee" list, you and your possessions will be searched more thoroughly before you can board. What is going on...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- JetBlue Airways will offer an "all-you-can-jet" pass for $599 in which passengers can book an unlimited number of flights within a one-month span

A new superbug that is resistant to all antibiotics has been brought into Britain by patients having surgery abroad, Government scientists said. Doctors are urged to be vigilent for a new bug that has arriving in Britain with patients who have travelled to India and Pakistan for cosmetic surgery or organ transplants and is now circulating here. New Superbug Found in Britain

I have tried all the usuals. How can I truly find that great air-fare deals that don't tack on all the tax in the end? Thanks ahead.

By now, most everybody in the U.S. has seen or heard of the tragic airplane-helicopter collision over the Hudson River in which 9 people (all 3 on the plane, all 6 on the chopper) tragically lost their lives. Eyewitness reports seem to place the blame on the fixed-wing light aircraft (a Cessna), which apparently intruded on the airspace of the helo as the rotary-wing aircraft was merging into the traffic stream that runs up and down the river. This incident highlights a fact that was just highlighted in certain media reports the other day which laid out the nation's 5...

I consider myself a “plain and simple man” although others in the past have disagreed with this characterization. However, those that do know me personally will tell you: “The day I stop thinking is the Day I die.” I prefer to say that I’m like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will find! It has been a difficult week for my blog readers. We have been taking direct hits from all sides! First, Camden, SC’s own narcissist Kathy Parker attacked our Southern heritage, the Administration called out the Chicago union thugs and they teamed with AARP against...

Do you ever wonder why it's so expensive to eat at an airport? We don't mean the food you're served while on a plane (if you get any food at all, which is definitely an iffy thing in these cost-sensitive times for airlines) but all that sumptuous fare you can avail yourself of while waiting for your flight to begin boarding or while you're between connecting flights. For sure, at large or medium-sized airports the chances are good that the array of dining opportunities will range from what's considered fast food (and therefore, supposedly inexpensive) all the way up to...

Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds. The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad. The congressional shopping list goes beyond what the Air Force had initially requested as part of its annual...

MEXICO CITY — Surprised tourists found their little piece of Cancun beach paradise ringed by crime-scene tape and gun-toting sailors on Thursday. Environmental enforcement officers backed by Mexican navy personnel closed off hundreds of feet of powder-white coastline in front of a hotel accused of illegally accumulating sand on its beach. Mexico spent $19 million to replace Cancun beaches washed away by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. But much of the sand pumped from the sea floor has since washed away, leading some property owners to build breakwaters in a bid to retain sand. The practice often merely shifts sand loss...

(AP Photo/Don Ryan)Karen McNutt of Women & Guns has a warning for travelers. You could be traveling by airline with a declared and checked-in gun in your baggage, all perfectly legal, and think you've done everything required of you. Then say something compels you to claim your luggage at a layover airport: perhaps your flight was rerouted, or perhaps there was a delay and they're going to shuttle you to a hotel or an alternate terminal... Don't assume it's safe to claim your suitcase. That could put you in a world of hurt. I came across McNutt's article--one I missed...

Hi folks, I am thinking of taking a job in Massachusetts, and I was wondering if any FReepers had any recommendations on where to live. The company is located in Waltham, and I've always wanted to live on the East Coast. I would be leaving sunny Southern California. I am shocked to see that the land of Kennedy and Kerry has much lower tax rates (income and sales) than the land of fruit and nuts. We are a family of five (no pets) and it seems like the biggest hurdle I have is finding a nice enough place to live...

WASHINGTON, D.C. Three central Florida members of the state's Congressional delegation have signed their names to a letter sent this week to the U.S. General Accounting Office, demanding an accounting for a supposed "no meetings" list for official federal conventions or other business. There is no evidence that such a list exists, and federal agencies have not said there is one, but U.S. representatives Suzanne Kosmas, Alan Grayson, and John Mica are the Floridians who signed a letter calling for an investigation. The supposed list includes tourist draws of Orlando and Las Vegas, where officials could use tax dollars to...

Question for any freepers out there who would know. What hotels do MLB teams stay in, when they stay in the Windy City of Chicago? Particular interest, what hotels do the Mets and Yankees stay in, when they are in Chicago? I know this is an odd question, I'm doing some research for future vacations, in different cities, and this was something that wound up interesting me.

Is Las Vegas too fabulous? Earlier this year, President Obama specifically condemned companies who received bailouts and then held meetings in Las Vegas. As business after business — fearing political backlash — cancelled their trips and conventions here, the Vegas tourism and meeting industry took a beating at the time it could least afford it. Mayor Oscar Goodman loudly expressed his outrage and demanded that President Obama apologize. Last week the RJ reported that Sen. Harry Reid had gotten the White House to issue a letter saying it was OK to come to Vegas for a government meeting. Federal government...

This is quite a nice travel poster, it's a shame that the dhimmi Brits in the ASA caved in to some Israel hating moonbats in the UK who wanted it's use discontinued. Why? Because just glancing at the poster, or looking at it from a distance, it appears to feature a map that "correctly" shows Gaza, Judea, and Samaria as part of Israel. It doesn't. Nevertheless, the moonbats didn't like it so they complained to the ASA which decided the travel poster's use would be discontinued. For those who would like to make their own complaint concerning the actions of...

EATING MELATONIN-RICH CHERRIES ARE ‘‘NATURAL” WAY TO RESET YOUR BODY CLOCK WHEN CROSSING TIME ZONES Research Reveals that Cherries Boost Your Body’s Melatonin Levels to Help Prevent Jet Lag After Long International Flights It takes mere seconds to reset our watch to a different time zone, but our body’s internal time clocks often take longer to sync up in our new locale. Experienced travelers often stash a bottle of melatonin supplements in their carryon bag to help adjust, but experts say there may be a more natural and tasty way to get melatonin: cherries. Recent studies have revealed that cherries...

In a poll sponsored by Expedia.com, 4,500 international hotels were asked which country’s tourists were they least excited to see come through the lobby. The answer? Of course, the French. According to the responses, the French were seen as cheap, arrogant, and unwilling to speak the languages of the places they visited. Isn’t this how Barack Obama characterized Americans who traveled abroad, as knowing nothing more than “merci beaucoup”? A spokesman on French radio explained away the poor performance in the survey by saying that the country of France is so superior that few French ever feel the need to...

Link only - Senate Approves Disclosing Office Expenses Online

Interview - Athena Andreadis Crossed Genres co-editor K.T. Holt recently had the pleasure of interviewing Athena Andreadis, Associate Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the author of To Seek Out New Life: The Biology of Star Trek. Read on to see what a bioscientist has to say about werewolves and other human-hybrids, settling on other planets, and human evolution both past and future. Crossed Genres: LetÂ’s talk about genetics and Fantasy. IÂ’ll just state up front that I donÂ’t believe that the sort of radical back-and-forth transformation we see with things like werewolves...

Grand Strand marketers turn eyes toward Europe. BY MIKE CHERNEY MYRTLE BEACH — When it comes to attracting foreign visitors to the Grand Strand, some local tourism leaders are looking to Congress for help. The Travel Promotion Act of 2009, which has been introduced in the House and Senate, would create a nonprofit corporation to advertise the U.S. as a travel destination in foreign countries. The campaign would be funded by industry contributions and a $10 fee on foreign travelers who do not have to pay for a visa. The travel industry, including the U.S. Travel Association and the American...

WASHINGTON -- Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands. The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago. The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among...

According to several sources, including Folha Online: (English Translation: Since the beginning of the search for the black box of Airbus, the French Navy have detected several beeps, but after further analysis, these tracks were discarded for not registering the technical parameters of the signals... The BEA has the wrong blood to do it! Le BEA a du mauvais sang à se faire!... The BEA announced a «factual report» would be presented on July 2nd at 3pm. EuroCockpit could publish a synthesis on this accident the same day, just before the BEA conference. No doubt that journalists will then have...

Traveling just got complicated again, for me and many others ... Clear Lanes Are No Longer Available. At 11:00 p.m. PST on June 22, 2009, Clear will cease operations. Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.

Extended Stay Hotels has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, buckling under debt as its revenue dries up in the recession. The Spartanburg, S.C.-based company filed its Chapter 11 petition Monday in the Southern District of New York. Extended Stay - which operates under the brands of Extended Stay America, Crossland Economy Studios, Extended Stay Deluxe and Homestead Studio Suites — operates 15 hotels in the Orlando area. According to the filing, Extended Stay had about $7.1 billion in assets and $7.6 billion in liabilities at the end of 2008. Lakewood, N.J.-based Lightstone Group bought Extended Stay from Blackstone Group...

If you’re a golden retriever who loves to travel, you’ve no doubt heard about Pet Airways, the new airline that caters to pets — “A Pet Airline where pets fly in the main cabin, NOT in cargo!” its Web site yells at you. Of course, if you’re a golden retriever, you’re probably more likely to be peeing on my column than reading it, so I’ll speak to the human pet owners out there — assuming they’re not peeing on my column. As a pet owner who is strongly considering putting his dog on a one-way flight next time she drags...

Start from the outside, then work your way in. That's the artistic lesson Kathryn Stats learned the first time she attempted to paint Zion National Park more than 30 years ago. "Painting from within the park is just mind-boggling," Stats said. "Everything's so big, and you're so little." She moved her easel to just outside Rockville, Utah, where she could look into Zion from a distance. Even then she found the light moving so quickly -- sparking fiery reds, stark yellows and vivid oranges as it traveled across formations -- that her subject changed almost completely with every half-hour. And...

Since Congress passed President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus bill in February, administration officials have traveled to at least 66 events across the country to tout the massive spending program or hand out stimulus cash to grateful local officials. But a POLITICO examination of the travel reveals a distinctly political trend line: Top officials have hosted events predominantly in states that Obama won in 2008. What’s more, the examination revealed that Obama officials all but avoided Southern states that Obama lost. It is not unusual for a presidential administration to find ways to reward its supporters through federal largesse,...

In 1861, a melancholy Englishman named Benjamin Walker settled in Madison and built a medieval castle for his home. Two round turrets framed a square tower. In each turret was an octagonal sitting room, one decorated in red and the other in green. Carved marble mantels topped the fireplaces and gilt-framed oil paintings decorated the walls. A massive oak table and chairs, elaborate candelabras, and fine china furnished the dining room. Walker built a stone barn behind the castle and an underground tunnel to connect the two buildings. Walker was recalled as "a dark, glowering, silent man" who spent most...

Starting Monday, the last implementation stage of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will go into effect, requiring travelers to present a passport or other valid travel document when entering the U.S. by land or sea.

Last week, President Obama signed a bill which, besides changing credit card laws, says that in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges, the laws about gun carrying will be the same as in the host state. So in Colorado, for example, you will be allowed to carry a concealed handgun in Rocky Mountain National Park, if you have a state-issued concealed carry permit. In Vermont’s Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, you can carry at will, since no permit is required for carry in the rest of Vermont. In New Jersey’ Gateway National Recreation Area, you will need a permit, and since...

We will be traveling to Texas and hope to be returning with a firearm or two. Does anyone know the law about crossing several state lines with a gun in your trunk? This would be from TX to NY. Just exercising our 2nd Amendment rights to own... will not seek concealed carry in NY as it is too restictive - just want one at home. (Course NY is wanting to restrict purchase of ammo now - via registering purchases so they will know what kind of gun you have that you are buying ammo for.)

I have always thought air travel was fun and exciting. http://crosshairs.archangelsandwitticism.com/2009/05/25/returning-to-the-wild-blue-yonder.aspx

Time is a component of a measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects. Time has been a major subject of religion, philosophy, and science, but defining time in a non-controversial manner applicable to all fields of study has consistently eluded the greatest scholars. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time) At the point in history when Homo sapiens became socially aware, time was considered to be cyclical, or a matter of day and night. The seasons were a matter of birth and death, and calendars were based on...

NEW YORK – A Somali teenager caught by US forces in an operation to free an American merchant ship captain from pirates last month pleaded innocent to piracy, hijacking and kidnapping here Thursday. The suspect, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, stands charged in a grand jury indictment with "piracy as defined by the law of nations" in the international waters of the Indian Ocean off Somalia. It is the first time in more than a century that US courts have heard a case of piracy on the high seas. But Muse denied any involvement in the April 8 hijacking off the Somali...

You don't have a big pickup to tow your 6,000 lb. gooseneck trailer. A little careful, well thought out engineering can solve your problem. Wouldn't you love to see how the trip went? Good chance he ended up doing some unintended off roading somewhere. She's hitched up and ready to roll! Amazing how the extra weight smoothes out the ride. Needed to air up the rear tires a bit ('bout 160 psi). Added some super heavy-duty chain for extra support on the tailgate, (note the 'Heavy-Duty 'S' hooks to attach the chain) Also paid-up for some BIG Number 5/16 sheet...