A series of fairly powerful earthquakes hit Japan today, rocking Ibaraki Prefecture, just north of Tokyo. There were no fatalities and no fear of a tsunami, though tremors could continue in the coming hours. The last earthquake of this magnitude hit the island nation last year; it killed 11 people.
Even though damage this time was light, it must've been an interesting experience for the most high-profile tourist in Tokyo right now: Chinese President Hu Jintao. The leader is meeting with his Japanese counterparts in an effort to smooth relations between the two countries, which have been frosty for the past decade.
Libyan ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi is in Paris this week, meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy and seeing the city for the first time in more than three decades. The newly diplomatic dictator is sealing arms deals and taking care of other business while in town, and is also making time for visits to Paris' banlieues and Versailles.
The most interesting part of the visit, at least to us, is the Bedouin tent that Gaddafi's had set up on the lawn of the Hotel de Marigny, across the street from the Elysee Palace. The heated shelter is a far cry from the grubby tent you have stashed in the garage, and the Libyan leader takes it everywhere. It's unclear whether he'll actually sleep in the tent, though it's probably warmer than most Parisian hotel rooms.
If the visit goes well, we can imagine Sarko returning the favor with a trip down to Libya. The country is on top of the travel trends (it's going green!) and we'd guess it has fewer paparazzi than New Hampshire.
Holiday travel is expected to be so bad this season that President Bush has stepped into announce some temporary practices that will reduce air traffic congestion and reduce long delays.
Military air space will be opened as an "express" travel lane for civilian flights and all nonessential maintenance projects will be suspended at FAA facilities. Additionally, real time reports on airports will be updated on the FAA website.
And if you get bumped from an airline, you just might get some more "spending" money:
The Department of Transportation will propose increasing the bump fee that airlines must pay to travelers who buy tickets but wind up without a seat. The department has been considering hiking the fee from $200 to more than $600.
However, the government didn't say exactly when these practices would start and begin only Thanksgiving and Christmas time frames were mentioned. Let's just hope nobody has to spend Turkey Day on a military-inspired cot at O'Hare Airport.
It's not a good time to be a World Heritage Site, at least one in Asia. Rioting near the Taj Mahal rendered it unaccessible, as mobs burned vehicles and battled police in Agra, India. The police enacted a curfew, which was just recently lifted, though tensions--stemming from violence during a religious festival--are still high.
And India isn't the only country with WHSites under fire: Sections of the Great Wall of China are literally crumbling as sandstorms whip across the northwestern part of the country.
If you've watched VH-1, E!, or MTV in the last few years, you'll notice the media has taken a liking to compiling arbitrary lists. But we understand their handiness: The lists can provide a synopsis of more than just "Hollywood's Hottest Bods." USA Today recently published a compilation of the top 25 travel milestones of the past 25 years. The creation of the online booking industry--Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia and the others--topped the list.
The rest of the top 10 listed handy new gadgets, a few travel trends, and the creation of new standards and regulatory agencies. These included:
TSA airport security
Airline e-tickets
Roll-aboard luggage
Smoke-free flights
Boutique hotel chains
Airports as malls
Indian casinos
GPS car-navigation systems
Self-service ticketing kiosks
While we complain about the hiccups in service and jumps in prices, it's safe to say we've come a long way in our ability to travel around this Earth of ours. And when our flights do get delayed 10 hours, at least we can drag our roll-aboard luggage through duty free shops to kill time.
More news is rolling in from Peru after a 8.0 magnitude earthquake shook the country's southern coastal areas. (Early reports of the quake's magnitude have been revised.) Already online are a Wikipedia page and photos on Flickr, documenting the disaster that killed hundreds, injured many more and even damaged buildings in Lima, 165 miles away. The quake was so powerful that scientists predict an 8-inch-high tsunami will wash up in Japan. Tomorrow.
The hardest hit area, closest to the epicenter, is Ica Region, south of the nation's capital. Government officials say more than half of Pisco--famous for its namesake grape brandy--has been destroyed. Buildings throughout the region have collapsed and there are widespread power outages. With roads destroyed, getting around, for tourists, locals and rescuers will be problematic at best.
Something like this could only happen in our wildest dreams--a man smuggled a monkey onto a Spirit Airlines plane originating from Lima, Peru on its way to LaGuardia Airport. Lucky Monkey!
Officials say the monkey, a pygmy marmoset, apparently belonged to a male passenger from Lima, Peru. He bought the animal off the streets in Lima.
The man then smuggled the animal, which measures only about a foot tall, through security in Peru onto a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He then got past security again when he took a connecting flight from there to New York City, and he even kept the monkey out in the open mid-flight.
Passengers of that flight say they noticed a small monkey clinging to the man's ponytail during the flight and reported it to authorities.
Unfortunately for the man and the monkey, they were met by Port Authority officials once they touched ground in New York. The animal was sent to Animal Control and is being examined for diseases. (WCBS-TV has some video of the caged monkey.)
Naturally, TSA officials have their panties in a bunch about how this monkey could have gotten past security. But c'mon now. Can't they just appreciate the beauty of a monkey on an airplane? He was even well-behaved passengers a few passengers reported, more so than some children we bet.
Anyways, the larger worry does seem to be whether the monkey was infected with diseases. One passenger expressed his concern saying, "There may be worse things that could happen -- it could grow into one of those big ones." Although, we're not quite sure if he meant a big outbreak or a big monkey.
AirCell (" a provider of aviation communications") announced yesterday that it will partner with American Airlines to start offering on-board internet access.
But we wouldn't get too excited. There is going to be a testing period and that doesn't start until 2008 and then only on 767-200 aircrafts. Plus, the business of this all has not been so enticing for airlines. (Though we did enjoy Connexion way back when.)
Still AirCell is selling the dream that their system will work better than the others.
AirCell says its system, which is based on cellular technology, is less bulky and much cheaper than Boeing's old satellite-based service.
AirCell Chief Executive Jack Blumenstein told Reuters that the equipment costs about $100,000 per plane and that airlines can offer the service for about $10 per flight.
We actually made a note of it when AirCell bought the license for in-air WiFi last year and we guessed that they were trying to finagle a cell phone deal as well.
So far, there's been no mention of AA doing that and that's good news because we like American. It's like the sweet-natured and wiser older sister compared to United's trashy and temperamental younger sister. Also, American hasn't lost our luggage. Yet.
