Unfortunately, only the thought of going to a place where most of the time I would go to a beach bores me to tears. Not even the fact that I could use hotel points makes it better. So I have made a decision to learn something during my vacation even if it might cost more. I have been doing some research (nice term for using Google) and there seems to be a plethora of sites for activity holidays (I would have been very surprised not to).

Some of these sites that I have come across:

www.travel-quest.co.uk
“Travel-quest is a human edited specialist travel directory, each entry is checked and reviewed by an experienced editor. We list adventure and activity holidays, vacations, trips, tours, residential courses and weekends away in the UK, throughout Europe, in the USA, North America and world-wide – try us for sports, action, culture, crafts, relaxation …”

Cricket, cliff jumping, archery, beer, ballet, embroidery, astronomy, ghost, etc. there seems to be something for everyone. 

www.facilitutors.com
“… I had the idea of Facilitutors - the education destination, which offers very reasonably priced advertising to venue owners, tutors and course providers and is a one stop shop for anyone looking for a course or a venue in France.  If you can’t find what you’re looking for, I will do my best to find it for you, for free.”

One of the activities ‘pig keeping’ is not for me but ‘Savons-Fabrication’(soap making) could come in handy if the economy goes into recession or my job is off-shored. 

www.my-language-travel.com
You can learn a language and not only, and here is the beauty of it, combine it with an activity. For example I saw a course Spanish + Yoga in Ecuador, and not expensive but Yo puedo hablar espanol so I would like to learn French + Fitness/Bodybuilding. I would take a 2/3 weeks intensive course just to help me to get by in French and look like Jason Statham at the end :). Double – win. 

However, I could not find this combination so I might settle for French + Golf (I have never played golf before so this would be an opportunity to kill 2 birds with one stone = learn 2 things during the short vacation we usually have in North-America in comparison with Europe, but better to have a job and a short vacation rather than no job at all.

This is a sculpture at the Vancouver International Airport; I have been running a few times to catch a flight but I hope I didn’t look like him .

Again I found a letter in the room about the appreciation week. It said: “Our hotels will be honoring <my company’s name> travelers as a thank you for all you do for Marriott.”

But I did not feel honored at all that week . There was no difference from any other weeks. I would have expected for example a bottle of water every day or something; but nothing, nada, zilch.

So why waste paper and ink if you are not going to do something differently (it does not have to cost a lot of money) !?!

The same letter was sent last year.

I said that I’d stop reading the business section of the newspapers (and I stated the reason why here) but sometimes I cannot help it.
And an article – travel related – drew my attention ‘Southwest’s new legacy shouldn’t strand shareholders’. Actually it was the first paragraph that made me read it: “We know what’s wrong with Air Canada, American Airlines and every other carrier that’s toppled into bankruptcy in the past decade: They weren’t more like Southwest Airlines, LUV the legendary company whose low costs, happy employees and loyal customers have produced 39 consecutive years of profit”.

39 consecutive years of profit, almost unbelievable when most financial news about airlines is how they struggle, have to receive government subsidies and in the end go bankrupt.

LUV is a good ticker symbol, no wonder it has had such a good run – it has increased 9 times more than Dow Jones since 1978 – everyone wanted to have such a symbol in their portfolio. However, past performance is not a guarantee for future results as more recent comparisons show:

• in the past 10 years; Dow Jones + 28%, LUV -52%
• 5 years; Dow Jones -3%, LUV -44%
• 1 year; Dow Jones -1%, LUV -33%
• year-to-date; Dow Jones +3%, LUV -6%

“Where’s the LUV?” asks the article after it stated: “So it may surprise you to learn Southwest is one of the very cheapest stocks in the S&P 500. Its forward price-to-earnings ratio hovers at around 10. Its enterprise value – net debt plus market capitalization – is 2.3 times its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization); only two companies in the S&P 500 index are cheaper by that measure.” It seems the investors don’t like the direction the company is taking by the acquisition of Air Tran. “Southwest is becoming one of the legacy carriers it always won its business from. For years, Southwest built its business by operating one type of plane, which kept maintenance and training costs down, and concentrating on point-to-point leisure travel between second-tier airports with cheap landing fees. It eschewed complicated national and international networks that appealed to business travellers.”

The article concludes in a slightly optimistic note. “Will Southwest ever soar like that again? Possibly not. But for now, the shares have been grounded, and it will only take a small amount of liftoff for investors to profit.”

Should I buy Southwest?  Warren Buffett said:

“The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines. Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers.”

“As of 1992, in fact—though the picture would have improved since then—the money that had been made since the dawn of aviation by all of this country’s airline companies was zero. Absolutely zero.”

However, it seems Southwest is the exception that confirms the rule. Perhaps I should buy it only to confirm that whatever stock I touch it goes lower:).  I would become famous like Midas but for having the opposite effect.

It seems I have managed to register and yes, I had to stay up late but you cannot get something in life without putting in some effort .

The sites have been so overloaded, I did not even had to watch the videos, I just got a ‘thank you’ message for watching them.

U.S. News Travel published a list of the best travel gadgets that can improve your travel experiences.

The first gadget on the list is:  SpareOne Emergency Phone ($69.99), that I didn’t know of.

From the site’s FAQ:

• SpareOne is the world’s only cell phone powered by a single AA battery – the world’s most widely available battery. It works on GSM cellular networks, the world’s most widely available cellular network. These two facts make SpareOne the most widely usable phone in the world.
• The phone works everywhere in the world where a GSM cellular network exists – i.e., most everywhere. SpareOne models exist for both GSM frequencies:  850/1900 MHZ for North America and western South America, 900/1800 MHZ for Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and eastern South America. Because the two GSM frequencies are not interchangeable in the same phone, international travelers may wish to keep two SpareOne phones: one for home, and one for when they travel to countries with a different GSM network, where they can buy a local SIM card to avoid expensive roaming charges – I wonder why they did not make a model for all GSM frequencies, my 3 year old iPhone works on all 4 of them, so technically it is possible, maybe it would be more expensive and the company wanted to keep the price low.
• SpareOne can hold its charge, unused, for up to 15 years with the pre-installed Energizer Ultimate Lithium L91 battery, or for whatever shelf life of the battery installed.
• SpareOne is always able to make emergency calls. Just dial the emergency number of your country (i.e: 911, 112 or 999).
  In the United States, the FCC requires networks to route every mobile-phone and payphone [verification needed] 911 call to an emergency service call center, including phones that have never had service, or whose service has lapsed. HOWEVER some GSM networks outside the United States will not accept emergency calls from phones without a SIM card, or even require a SIM card that has credit. For example, Latin American networks typically do not allow emergency calls without a SIM.

This phone makes a compelling case, especially as my phone is locked so when abroad I cannot use prepaid SIM cards. The full FAQ is here.

The other travel gadgets on the list are:

Victorinox Slim ($45.99)
It looks exactly like a Swiss army knife, but it carries a 4GB USB memory stick and it is waterproof.

Airport Express ($99)
Plugging the Airport Express into the wired connection creates a fast wireless network that can support up to 10 devices.  

UWater G4 Chrome MP3 Player ($79.95)
It is compact (less than half an inch thick and 1.75 inches long), light weight (under one ounce), and waterproof. The UWater player can hold more than a thousand songs and last through six and eight hours of continuous play time.

Kensington ClickSafe Keyed Laptop Lock ($44.99)
Kensington’s one-click security device uses a key. You can also register your particular key online, so if you lose it, you can purchase a replacement. However, I would have preferred a code and to purchase the key only in the case you forget the code.

OtterBox Smartphone Cases (Starting at $19.95)

Logitech Keyboard Case ($79.99)

Bedol Water Clock (Starting at $19.00)
This digital alarm clock doesn’t require batteries, it just uses … water.

From the law firm’s site:

“On May 7, 2012, Thomson, Rogers issued a $20 million class action against Air Canada on behalf of the 95 passengers of AC 878 en route from Toronto to Zurich on January 13, 2011.

During the flight, passengers were subjected to violent forces as the aircraft was suddenly put into a steep dive. Many passengers were catapulted out of their seats striking the roof and interior of the cabin.

Following the incident, an Air Canada spokesperson stated on January 14, 2011 that the incident was caused by unexpected turbulence. However, on April 16, 2012, the Transport Safety Board of Canada issued a Report identifying the true cause for this terrifying episode as the deliberate actions of a confused pilot who was waking from an extended sleep.

At no time prior to the Report being made public were passengers provided any explanation for the terrifying episode other than the suggestion of turbulence. In fact, Air Canada entered into purported settlements with passengers for modest compensation without explaining what they knew to be the true cause for the terrifying episode.

The Class Action claim alleges that Air Canada covered up the true cause for the terrifying episode and claims punitive damages to punish their conduct.”

I wrote about this incident in the post ‘Sleepy Pilot Thought Venus Was a Plane‘.

These are a few photos that I took a while ago

Guard escorted by the police:

Guard change: tall guys are replaced by not so tall and not so nicely dressed guys:

 The police escort away the old guard:

Two statues – a woman holding a sickle and a man holding a hammer – in front of Buckingham Palace (Karl Marx lived in London ):

And the official changing of the guard:

I found the link on … the official web site of the British Monarchy.

Yes, there is such a thing but I hope I will never see a twitter and/or facebook account of the British Monarchy.

However from the site’s FAQ I learned something quite interesting. The Queen doesn’t have a passport (not that she would need one), because it would not make sense one to be issued.

Q16. Does The Queen hold a passport?

A. As a British passport is issued in the name of Her Majesty, it is unnecessary for The Queen to possess one. All other members of the Royal Family, including The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales, have passports.

The title of this post was inspired by the news that Delta bought a refinery and everyone is wondering how an airline could succeed at running a refinery that experienced energy companies have shunned.

Will this start a trend?

However, Air Canada could do even better, buy in addition to a refinery a small-medium oil company as well (lots of opportunities in Canada) so they would not care at all whether the oil price goes up or down.

It can comfortably fly 10,000 Miles (16,000 km) at Mach 0.88 or 654 mph (1,046 km/h) with 1000 passengers on board !
They have kept this secret long enough.  This shot was taken last month by an amateur photographer.

Boeing is preparing this 1000 passenger Jet Liner that could reshape the A ir Travel Industry. Its radical “Blended Wing & Fuselage” design has been developed by Boeing in cooperation with NASA Langley Research Centre. The mammoth aircraft will have a wing span of 265 feet compared to 211 feet of its 747, and its been designed to fit within the newly created Air Terminals for the 555 seat Airbus A 380, which is 262 feet wide.

The new 797 is Boeing’s direct response to the Airbus A 380, which has racked up orders for 159 already. Boeing decided to kill its 747X Stretched Super Jumbo in 2003 after little interest was shown for it by Airline Companies, but continued to develop its “Ultimate Airbus Crusher”, the 797 at its Phantom Works Research Facility in Long Beach, California.
The Airbus A 380 had been in the works since 1999 and has accumulated $13 Billion in development costs, which gives Boeing a huge advantage. More so because Airbus is thus committed to the older style tubular structure for their aircraft for decades to come.

There are several big advantages in the “Blended Wing & Fuselage” design, the most important being the ‘Lift to Drag’ ratio which is expected to increase by an amazing 50%, resulting in an overall weight reduction of the aircraft by 25%, making it an estimated 33% more fuel efficient than the A 380, and thus making the Airbus’s $13 Billion Dollar investment look pretty shaky.
“High Airframe Rigidity” is another key factor in the “Blended Wing & Fuselage” technology. It reduces turbulence and creates less stress on the airframe which adds to fuel efficiency, giving the 797 a tremendous 10,000 Mile range with 1,000 passengers on board cruising comfortably at Mach 0.88 or 654 MPH, which gives it another advantage over the tube-and-wing designed A 380′s 570 MPH.

The exact date for introduction of the 797 is as yet unclear, but the battle lines are clearly drawn in the high-stakes war for future civilian aircraft supremacy.

Disclaimer: I got this info as an e-mail (one of those e-mail chains) so I am sure it is a joke but the pictures are nice.