A wedding dress and a bouquet may boost a coach couple to the lap of luxury (the same way a short skirt can get a girl nearly kicked off a plane), but the folks at Flyertalk wondered, what about the solo flyer? Can a fancy suit, a nice tie and some slicked-back hair send a non-elite traveler to the front of first class? According to one flight attendant, yes:

I assure you that passengers wearing jackets and/or ties stand significantly higher chances of snagging the upgrade than someone in a T-shirt, shorts and baseball cap. It also helps if you can make the check-in agent smile. Nobody wants to upgrade the sloppy grouch who argues.

When I'm sitting up front, it's amazing how many guys wearing suits do the walk of shame thru F or J to the back of the bus. Doesn't always seem to work for them.

Related Stories:
· Wear a Suit to Get an Upgrade? [Flyertalk]
· Bad Girls Fly Southwest [Jaunted]

[Photo: Jon Feingersh/zefa/Corbis]]]> jnaw 2007-09-20T10:45:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/9/17/9532/70484

The Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum has long been a good place to hang out for some serious forum ferreting, but there's always been one problem: too many threads, so little time. That's why LP's newest innovation seems like a good idea, even if it does have an overly serious name.

We're talking about the Lonely Planet Community News blog. It's been floating around in cyberspace a little while now but recently seems to have found its purpose, and now tends to feature conclusions from the most interesting threads on the Thorn Tree, saving us from digging around ourselves.

Recent highlights were the ever tricky to visit Myanmar or not question, on-the-ground tips from Mexico after the recent hurricane and the consensus that Scandinavian languages can be easy for English-speakers to learn. Sounds hard to believe but we never said this new site tells the truth: It just passes on what other travelers say, making our ferreting life easier.

Related Stories:
· Community News Blog [Lonely Planet]
· Forum Ferreting: Thorntree Speaking in Tongues [Jaunted]
· Forum Ferreting coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Plymography]]]> amandak 2007-09-18T09:35:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/9/13/73542/7020

When we think sand we usually picture a nice beach, but chatters over at the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree have got other ideas: dunes. And according to this board of globetrotters, Namibia is the place to see the biggest and the best.

Sossusvlei is a salt pan in the Namibian desert, but it's known for it's incredible red sand dunes that rise more than 3,000 feet in some places. If it's a once in a lifetime trip, chatters say these dunes are not to be missed. And they've got a few tips for making the most out of the adventure, too.

Go to Sossusvlei, make sure you go further than Dune 45 at some time, wear whatever you want on your feet, spend two nights nearby. Stay hydrated, don't walk from the end of the 2wd part in the heat of the day if you can avoid it, take plenty of film and a sun hat and last but not least - don't try and make sand castles, it just doesn't work.

And if you're planning a trip to Namibia, now's the time to go, since December and January tend to see the most rain. Would that make the sand castle construction easier?

Related Stories:
· Lonely Planet Thorn Tree [Official Site]
· Namibia Travel Stories [Jaunted]
· Namibia Hotel Reviews [Hotel Chatter]

[Photo: Patrtick Schoonbee]]]> jnaw 2007-09-13T15:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/8/29/23524/2576

We love Top Ten lists, so when we found a forum on BootsnAll that asked backpackers for their top tips for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro we had to take a peek. What did we find? Words of wisdom that every camper knows--about sleeping with the next day's clothes to keep them warm or reusing baby wipes--as well as a few choice bits of wisdom specifically about reaching the summit of the Kill:

Instead of a backpack for the porters to carry all your stuff that is not in the day pack...use a DUFFLE bag. Easier for one to pack and unpack. The porters consolidate bags and carry them in their packs on their head...so even if you have a great pack its not very useful for them.

Forum-goers also have ideas on what to pack:

Don't forget knee braces and elastic bandages. You will need them while coming down. Your knees will thank you.

And even a special tip just for the ladies:

For the girls...dig a hole in front of your tent between the tent door and the outer fly, make a 'dam' on the downward slope...This is great if you need to pee in the middle of the night and you don't want to walk to the long drop (bleh), find a bush, or it's freezing cold outside. Cover your pee with dirt when your done...Get as low as you can, knees literally on the ground and lower legs splayed out to prevent splashing and waking up your neighbors.

Related Stories:
· Forum Ferreting coverage [Jaunted]
· Tanzania Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: Millbrook Inn]]]> jnaw 2007-08-30T14:30:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/8/22/16917/6769

Half the fun of travel comes from experiencing a new culture--that's a whole lot easier when you know the language. But we've all had embarrassing verbal snuffs--and now there's a place to air them at the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree travel forum, Speaking in Tongues.

There are questions that range from the practical: How to say thank you in Arabic, to the curious: How U.S. and U.K. rules differ when it comes to name changes after marriage. And then there are the miscommunications, like this one that caught our eye:

A colleague of mine mainly conducts qualitative research and found herself working on a project with people suffering from constipation ... It was difficult to get the discussion going and that respondents were giving unexpected answers. The problem, it turned out, was that half the group confused 'hard stools' with 'constipation'. that means that the 'hard stools' people thought they had constipation, but they hadn't - they only confused the softness (or lack of if) of their stools with constipation (hard stools people have regular bowel movements, no matter how hard their stool is while sufferers from constipation have irregular bowel movements and their stools can be of any hardness).

i just thought i let you know that some people don't know to differentiate between the two.

Apparently, if you've got a question, a comment (any kind of comment) or a story about language this is the forum to post it.

Related Stories:
· More Forum Ferreting [Jaunted]

[Photo: Talkscape]]]> jnaw 2007-08-23T10:44:23-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/8/14/222714/436

Staying in hotels is nice and even hostels can be decent. Camping in a tent is down right thrifty. But if you ask the folks at RV Travel they'll tell you the 10-wheeler is the only way to go.

It turns out despite high gas prices and insane summer traffic, people still love the great American Road Trip. It's just these days they like knowing what they're getting into. Just listen to this:

People don't get into RVing to save money...they do it so that they can go places they want to go where there are NO motels...and so they can sleep in their own bed and use their own bathroom. (Have you ever seen the reports on TV where they've gone in with a blue light and shown the stuff that's still all around the room even after it's been cleaned? It's disgusting!)

Turns out avoiding bed bugs and worms tops the list of RV travel positives. (And seriously, we've all seen that Dateline.) But those in the know say it's best to avoid KOA camps, too. After all, there are plenty of places that let you park for free. (Word is Wal-Mart's a good place to try). But past that, they've been a thorn in RVer's side for way too long.

Our reason for avoiding KOAs is a purely political one: KOAs, along with ARVC, are usually behind the "can't park any place but an RV park" ordinances in local communities. We refuse to support any business or organization that tries to push these.

We say if you can handle one of these rigs on the open road, more power to you. But for us? Well, we'll stick to backseat driving on this one.

Related Stories:
· Road Trips coverage [Jaunted]
· RV Travel [Official Site]

[Photo: Stewart]]]> jnaw 2007-08-16T11:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/8/7/225423/6972

We can barely stretch a buck, let alone a Euro, so we were excited to see the New York Times' practical travel guru, Michelle Higgins, take a stab at surviving the exchange rate.

Mostly, though, her tips are no-brainers: Fly coach and pick a budget carrier, use mass transit and heck, pack dinner instead of lunch. As usual, we found the down-and-dirty commenters had some pretty valuable tips of their own.

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