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TSA's Response To Clear Questions: 'Not Our Problem'

July 1, 2009 at 12:37 PM | 2 Comments

It's quick and it's dirty, but it gets the job done; yes, it's the TSA Blog's Response to your Clear questions. Although most of the post is devoted to reminding people that this whole debacle is not TSA's problem, but Clear's and that's who should deal with it, they nonetheless remind us that two other such companies still function out there: Flo and Vigilant.

Beyond that, the TSA assures that the market for such expedited security cards is still open: "This is purely a market-driven, private sector venture offered in partnership with airports and airlines. Another vender could potentially take up the program."

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Statue of Liberty's Crown Sells Out Through September

June 30, 2009 at 4:02 PM | 0 Comments

Good news for those of you who would no doubt be browbeat into climbing the 354 cramped steps inside of an overheated Statue of Liberty during the height of summer: tickets have sold out through at least September 1.

When the tickets became available on June 13, we checked out the official site's calendar and noticed that most weekends were swiped already. At that moment we decided to wait for cooler temperatures before attempting the climb, seeing as how the Statue staff warns visitors that the interior of the statue gets up to 20 degrees warmer than outside; that means if it's a 90-degree day in August and you're climbing at 2pm, you might be stairclimbing in 110-degree claustrophobic conditions.

If autumn in New York City is on your itinerary, then you can book visits to the crown for $3 on top of a $12 roundtrip ferry ticket. See if your preferred dates are still up for grab here.

Related Stories:
· Statue of Liberty crown tickets sold out through August 11 [NewYorkology]
· Statue of Liberty Crown Reservations Accepted Starting Saturday! [Gothamist]
· Cheap NYC Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: laverrue]

Clear Card Ceases Operations, And We Saw It Coming

June 23, 2009 at 8:32 AM | 5 Comments

Can we confide in you for a moment? We saw the downfall of the Clear airport security fastlane card coming from a mile away. Before we delve into that however, let's talk about last night's huge shock for current Clear subscribers.

An email went out yesterday evening to Clear members at 8pm, with a simple message:

At 11:00 p.m. PST today, 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. After today, Clear lanes will be unavailable.

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Are You Lucky Enough To Live In One Of The Top 25 Most Liveable Cities?

June 17, 2009 at 9:02 AM | 1 Comment

It's that time of the year again; no, we're not talking about BBQ-ing and skimming the surface of the pool for dead fireflies, but the release of Monocle's "Top 25 Most Liveable Cities" Index. This marks the third year for the listing of top cities in terms of "combination of investment in infrastructure, high-quality housing, low crime, liberal politics, strong media," and general good will.

Since we're well familiar with the magazine's Japanese and Scandinavian biases, the fact that no mainland US cities made the list is not a surprise. Honolulu did however make a showing at number 11, on account of its "low crime rates, good public transport, and even beat[ing] Madrid for sunshine."

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Would You Pay For Your Passport Stamps?

June 16, 2009 at 9:42 AM | 2 Comments

Is it illegal or is it good, clean fun? The stamping of passports for souvenir value seems as old a tradition as buying those horrific gift spoons, and this rampant passport defamation continues today, except now they're charging for it.

In our travels, we've run across the three biggest profiters from this racket: Liechtenstein, San Marino, and Berlin, although the latter is by far the worst of them.

In the picture above, the passport pages bear four fake stamps from the old Allied and Soviet sides of Berlin, stamps which could possibly invalidate the passport. There's even a discussion thread over at Lonely Planet regarding the legality of this tourist stamping, with particular attention to the prevalance of it around Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie. For 2€ each, you have your pick of the stamps, ranging from 4 different US sector versions to 2 Soviet designs, and even a few French thrown in for good measure.

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Beware, Eurostar: The .Italo Train Will Floor It Through Italy

June 15, 2009 at 12:37 PM | 0 Comments

We are positively blushing with excitement over the latest NYT train travel news out of Italy: in 2011, a "new privately owned high-speed train company, Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, will introduce a stylish, candy-apple-red fleet of 25 trains collectively known as .Italo."

It's estimated that speeds on the new train will reach 225 mph, effectively cutting the old 6-hour trip between Rome and Milan down to three hours—the Eurostar does it no faster than four hours now. This won't be the only .Italo route however, as it's scheduled to run the main corridors between Turin and Naples, crowded routes we know all too well.

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Uighur Travel: Bermuda Raises Its Profile by Taking In Four Ex-Gitmo Prisoners

June 13, 2009 at 3:05 PM | 0 Comments

First Palau, now Bermuda? Bermuda tourism has been on the decline for several quarters, with visitors passing over the sophisticated Atlantic island in favor of cheaper and glitzier destinations in Florida and the Caribbean, but a surprise deal with the U.S. has given it four new visitors that locals weren't expecting. In a move that has annoyed British authorities to no end, Bermuda agreed to admit four ethnic Uighurs from the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The former inmates were cleared of any wrongdoing years ago, but their status created a political hot potato because officials believed they'd face repression if returned to China, and no U.S. state would agree to accept them.

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Race You To The Top: Statue of Liberty's Crown Tickets Available Saturday

June 10, 2009 at 3:58 PM | 0 Comments

Crack your knuckles and get your typing fingers at the ready for this Saturday, when reservations for the soon-to-reopen State of Liberty crown become available. This will be the first time the public will be allowed back up in Lady Liberty's head since 9/11, and the park service isn't taking this lightly. There are some major limitations and stipulations if you're game to go.

Only about 254 people will be able to climb her everyday, meaning groups of 10 about three times an hour. On top of that, the crown is opening on July 4, meaning that its first few months of visitors will just love the fact that the interior of the statue can be up to 20 degrees warmer than the outside.

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Guantanamo Bay Detainees To Get a Permanent Palau Vacation

June 10, 2009 at 9:37 AM | 0 Comments

When it comes to tropical island paradises, the Pacific archipelago of Palau totally fits the bill; it's got world-renowned diving, impressive nature, an average temperature of 82 degrees, and plenty of take-out Asian food.

For this reason, we think we're allowed to be a little jealous of the 17 Uighurs (Chinese Muslims) of Guantánamo Bay who will soon be transferred here and "resettled." After a US court ruled to have them released into the United States, a decision which was eventually overturned, the prisoners' fate has been up in the air while the US waited for any country to take them out of the government's hair. Palau was the only one to jump at it as a "humanitarian gesture," and now the group will be moved from Cuba and repatriated in the Garden of Eden. Says the NYT:

'What they will encounter in Palau is paradise,' said Stuart Beck, an American lawyer who is Palau’s permanent United Nations representative. 'From the time the first British vessel hit a reef in Palau in 1783, it has welcomed refugees.'

Yea, refugees and tourists. The full-time population of the islands is only around 21,000 people, and let's not forget that it hosted not one, but two seasons of Survivor. What a history for a little group of islands; we only hope that this doesn't become a third season of Survivor.

Related Stories:
· Palau To Take Chinese Guantanamo Detainees [NYT]
· Travel News Coverage [Jaunted]

[Palau photo: Cleer; Jail image: Mississippi Family Law Blog]

Surfin' the High Line: Opening Day At NYC's New Elevated Park

June 9, 2009 at 11:51 AM | 0 Comments

Nothing's cheaper than free, and in New York City, we take what we can get. Luckily, what's available beginning this summer is nothing short of awesome as the hotly-debated High Line Park opens to the public.

Built in the 1930s to transport freight through the warehouses of the west side of Manhattan, the High Line is an elevated rail track that stretches from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District up to West 34th Street. The last train traveled its scenic route in 1980, and since then proposals for its future have included everything from completely disassembling it to turning it into a mile-long lap pool.

The final decision to add nature and make it a pedestrian-friendly park couldn't have been more perfect for this year of staycations, and so we headed up a level yesterday in the first few hours of the High Line's public life to check out the greenery and scenery.

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California Can't Pay For Its Parks, Meaning You Can't Visit Them

June 8, 2009 at 2:17 PM | 0 Comments

Were you planning on some recession vacationing this summer in California's vast network of state parks? Too bad:

Desperate for revenues, Schwarzenegger has taken the unprecedented step of proposing the closure of 220 of the 279 state parks and beaches – from Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay to the deserts of Anza-Borrego – to save about $213 million over the next two years. Administration officials said the list of targets came down to which parks generate more revenues from fees and concessions than they cost to operate.

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Would You Live Aboard AirTran Flights For One Month?

June 4, 2009 at 9:32 AM | 1 Comment

Our answer, simply put, is "hell no." But for the next month, comedian and Colbert Report employee Mark Malkoff is doing just that; he's sleeping and eating and breathing air travel 24/7 in order to conquer his own fear of flying.

Now that he's already up to day four of his travels, which has thus far taken him from New York-LaGuardia to Atlanta to San Francisco to Milwaukee and more on AirTran, he's taken to keeping up a dialogue with followers on Twitter. From his @mmalkoff account, we learn that not only had he had an opthamologist board a plane to fit him for contacts, but that he's doing this month without an ipod or any music with which to zone out.

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