Tag: political travel

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Obama Heads Down Under, Picks Up Some Uggs for Malia and Sasha

Where: Australia
November 17, 2011 at 9:05 AM | by | Comments (0)

After a couple of failed trips, Air Force One finally crossed the international dateline from Hawaii to Australia, touching down in the capital city, Canberra. Barack Obama became only the fourth US President to visit the Land Down Under this week right on the heels of Queen Elizabeth's royal tour.

While this was a much shorter visit than the Monarch, it marked the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty, a defense treaty between the US, Australia and New Zealand. Obama even got a bonus opportunity to strengthen the friendship between himself and Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister

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Delta Direct to Havana is a Real Thing

November 8, 2011 at 10:32 AM | by | Comments (0)

Unfortunately the flights aren’t searchable or bookable through your favorite travel site just yet, but there is another new option for those looking to head to Cuba. It sounds like Delta is the latest carrier to get in on the Cuba travel craze, and they’re working with a Miami-based travel agency to help you get there.

The airline is partnering with Marazul—that's the travel agency—to get passengers the necessary paperwork, passports, and other stamps and seals to get to and from Cuba. Some flights had already been available out of Miami last month, but now there’s plans to do a nonstop flight from New York-JFK right into Havana. If all goes well there will also be an Atlanta option—obviously—beginning this December. If you’re interested, the airfare from New York will set you back around $659, and the flights departing from Atlanta start around $599.

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Forget Generation X; Aussie Passports Now Welcoming Gender X

Where: Australia
September 15, 2011 at 10:28 AM | by | Comments (2)

"X" marks the spot...for a new gender choice on Australian passport applications. The change was recently made "under new guidelines to remove discrimination against transgender and intersex people," according to MSNBC and the Aussie government.

Think you'll be funny and choose "X" for yourself? Not so fast; this is serious stuff. Intersex people—those biologically not completely either sex—can choose the new option. But if you're just transgender, then be prepared to show a doctor's note to back up your identifying as such. And it'd also be wise to prepare yourself to explain the "X" under "gender" on your Aussie passport when you pass through immigration at certain countries.

That said, a move like this just inches the world ever closer to equality, kinda like when the US altered the old "mother" and "father" fields to just "parent 1" and "parent 2."

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Oh, Goody: Tarmac Delay Laws Expand to Include International Flights

August 22, 2011 at 3:34 PM | by | Comments (0)

We've explained at length—see here and here, and probably here, and definitely this one—how the Department of Transportation's tarmac regulations are a recipe for travel hell. The assumption behind imposing huge fines for delays is that the airline industry simply wasn't trying hard enough to get its planes off the ground, and that market-based incentives like money and public relations disasters weren't enough to make them want to fly people around.

Put that way—and at the risk of belaboring the obvious—that's a pretty stupid assumption.

But regulations were imposed anyway and, as was easily and explicitly predictable, we ended up with more delays and more flight cancellations. So naturally the government has now expanded tarmac delay laws to include international airlines.

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Cultural Exchanges Now Departing Florida, Destination Cuba

August 16, 2011 at 3:47 PM | by | Comments (0)

We've been covering the loosening of Cuba travel restrictions for years now. There was a Congressional bill floating around in late 2009 but, as we explained at the time, it had zero chance of passing. So then President Obama tried to take things into his own hands, promising to open up travel channels. It took several more months before anything happened, but in 2011 the administration announced that "purposeful travel" would be allowed for Americans who could get visas to the island nation.

All of which brings us to this week's news, which is that People-To-People trips are again departing from Florida to Cuba. Booked through Insight Cuba, the cultural exchange program is one of several on the horizon.

There are no less than 35 organizations angling for the US Treasury Department to approve their purposeful travel trips, which have to involve "meaningful interaction between travelers and individuals." Hipster travel snobs will be especially pleased to know that Treasury distinguishes between being a Cuba "traveler," which is allowed, and being a Cuba "tourist," which is not.

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A Rocket-Airplane Will Fly Mach 20 Today, But Won't Be Taking Passengers

August 10, 2011 at 8:56 AM | by | Comment (1)

The space race is way over, and sadly so is the entire NASA Space Shuttle program as well. But just because we aren't shipping astronauts up into orbit anymore doesn't mean the US isn't playing around still in outer space. Today actually marks the second test launch of a strange form of airplane-slash-rocket: the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (FTVH2). Capable of cruising at over 13,000mph (that's Mach 20 or 20x the speed of sound), the unmanned FTVH2 isn't a new travel or research toy, but a military one.

Around 7am PDT, an 8-story Minotaur IV rocket will shoot into the skies from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Inside of it waits the Falcon, until, as International Business Times reports:

The rocket will puncture the atmosphere and releases FTVH2. Then the super-fast weapon will glide over the Pacific Ocean at nearly 20 times the speed of sound. The test flight will last 30 minutes before the FHTV2 hit the water and sink near the Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,100 miles from the Vandenberg Air Force Base. If the aircraft can complete its 30 minute flight, the project will continue otherwise the project will be shelved indefinitely.

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Think Traveling to Cuba is Tough Enough? One Woman is Swimming the Distance

Where: Cuba
August 8, 2011 at 10:02 AM | by | Comments (0)

Want to travel to Cuba? Join the club. Despite Obama's January lessening of restrictions for trips to Cuba, a hop down to Havana for mojitos and salsa still isn't an easy feat for Americans. The biggest name in luxury package vacations—Abercrombie & Kent—has just pulled out of their sold-out Cuba trips owing to technical issues, and you may just have to hope for another emergency landing in Havana (thought really, don't).

Of course there's always another option, but it's not for weak of heart or muscle. 61-year-old long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad is breaststroking her way the entire 100 miles that separates Cuba from the Florida Keys, risking sharks and bad weather.

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Spirit Airlines Celebrates FAA Shutdown, Wants Congress to Eliminate Taxes or Something

July 27, 2011 at 3:31 PM | by | Comment (1)

On Monday we flagged for you the unofficial airfare tax holiday that the United States is currently "enjoying," courtesy of Washington DC being the most insanely dysfunctional place on the planet.

Without getting into too many details: House Republicans told Senate Democrats that they would only fund the FAA if three powerful Senate Democrats gave up on something called the Essential Air Service, which is a program that sends a bunch of money to (ironically) totally inessential rural airports in those Senators' states. Everyone from liberal journalists to travel bloggers agree that the subsidies are totally unjustifiable, so this was partly an attempt to embarrass the Democrats. The Republicans basically said "there's no way you guys are shameless enough to hold up FAA funding just to keep sending obviously wasteful pork to tiny airports in your states," to which the Democrats responded "actually, we're exactly that shameless." And that's why there are no airfare taxes right now, because FAA doesn't have enough money to collect money.

The sad thing is that we don't have the space to dwell on that insanity, because of course Spirit Airlines looked at both sides of the political aisle and said "you want to see shameless... we'll show you shameless."

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Save Some Money on Airfares Since Congress Can't Get Its Act Together

July 25, 2011 at 8:39 AM | by | Comments (0)

The government’s general ineptitude might just be your ticket to cheaper airfare, but you’ve got to act quickly. Due to the budget battle over the FAA in Washington, DC it seems that certain airfare and travel taxes are now optional—and that means that you might be able to save a few bucks on your next airfare purchase.

The unofficial “sale” started over the weekend, but it seems a few airlines still might be passing along the savings. Initially there were several airlines where you could save a few bucks—including United and Delta—but at this point it looks like Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, and Frontier might be the only ones left. Other carriers—we’re looking at you American and US Airways—bumped their fares to make up the difference right from the beginning, so in reality they’re just charging for the tax as part of their fare and pocketing it.

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Google Maps Fails to Recognize the World's Newest Country, South Sudan

Where: Sudan
July 11, 2011 at 9:18 AM | by | Comment (1)


The current Google Map doesn't show the new South Sudan

Close your atlases and history textbooks. They're out of date. Close your browser too, because it looks like the Google Maps team doesn't work on the weekends. Despite all the news reports of the physical alteration to the world that occurred this weekend when South Sudan became it's own country, the official Google Map has yet to recognize it. Even President Barack Obama took some time from his Saturday morning to formally acknowledge the Republic of South Sudan.

It's not like South Sudan is a minor nation, either. It's got a capital (Juba), a flag (see below), a hefty population (some 8.2 million), and fifty years filled with two civil wars that brought it to this point. It's even planning its own currency: the South Sudanese Pound. Bet you can't guess South Sudan's official language...it's English!

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Today's Strike at London Airports Means Waiting At Least Two Hours for a Passport Stamp

June 30, 2011 at 9:11 AM | by | Comments (2)

As dawn crept over the horizon and first light hit the wingtips of UK-bound airplanes, their passengers just waking to the questions of "vegetable frittata or full English breakfast?," London's major airports were bracing for an onslaught. This is strike day, when members of PCS Union, the UK's fifth largest trade union, walk out and go instead to protest in central London. For airports, this means severely decreased numbers of staff at the border for passport and immigration processing and severely increased line waits.

Of course today had to be the day we flew in to London-Heathrow and witnessed the melee ourselves.

Our flight—Virgin Atlantic 46 from JFK, landed early thanks to nice tail winds, but even hitting passport control at 7am couldn't save us from a line wait of two hours just for a passport stamp. For what it's worth, Heathrow was taking the situation quite seriously; our pilot warned everyone before landing to expect delays, staff handed out kid activity kits and water bottles throughout the passport control area, and they managed to staff the booths to about 30-40%.

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Showdown Today on Texas Law to Throw TSA Employees in Jail

June 29, 2011 at 3:25 PM | by | Comments (0)

Today is the last day of the Texas House's special session, which means it's the last chance for Texas lawmakers to pass their TSA anti-groping bill. The bill, which would make conducting enhanced pat-downs a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine, was first passed by the House, then modified and passed by the Senate, and is now back in the House for a final vote. As of publication time there's still no news on whether the vote is yay, nay, or nothing.

Will Texas lawmakers hold a vote in time? Which version of the bill will pass? What will the Texas public think? Who cares. This law is moronic. It won't pass in any recognizable form. If it passes in any form at all it will be struck down by the courts. If it isn't struck down by the courts TSA will pressure Texas until the law is repealed. This is our third post on the topic, and frankly we're starting to resent Texas just a little bit for continuing with this charade.

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