Hotel Booking Sites are Not the Final Answer for Deals

Go direct to the hotel if booking sites claim there's no room at the inn

The Society of American Travel Writers upcoming convention is in Germany. My husband and I signed up for a pre-convention hiking trip in the Black Forest. We are flying into Frankfurt, arriving on a Sunday, with the trip starting in Baden-Baden on Tuesday. We decided to come in a day earlier, spend an additional night in Baden-Baden and hop over the Stuttgart for a day. My husband was stationed in nearby Ludwigsburg and hasn't been there for 30-odd years, and I have never visited Stuttgart at all.

I started looking for hotels. The Hotel Neuer Karlshof was the obvious choice, since it is situated at the railway station and we are coming in from Frankfurt by train and will take the train to Stuttgart and back. The process of checking so-called discount booking sites was an odyssey through the Internet that kept looping me around.

First I tried TVTrip, which links to Booking.com, a Priceline company. When I checked two days ago as research, yesterday to reserve a room and today to write this post, upon entering our arrival and departure dates, I got the identical message that the last room was booked "1 day, 23 hours, 38 minutes ago!" The page did not volunteer a nightly rate. Priceline UK itself replied, "No rooms available. Sorry! Sold out [our requested date went here]".

TripAdvisor also uses Booking.com as the booking engine, so same reply. RealTravel, which quotes a $62.41 rate, also kicks back to Booking.com, which this time reports, "1 Hotel found, 0 Available." What? Trivago also uses Booking.com and of course reports, "Currently no offers can be found." Trying Maplandia landed me back on the RealTravel page, which quoted room rates as "from €55 (approx. £46)". Etc., etc., etc. I tried Agoda, saw that the hotel's rates start at US$76 but also had no availability that night. TravBuddy came back with, "Sorry, this hotel had no rooms available for those dates." ActiveHotels reports that the Neuer Karlshof has "rooms from €55," but informed me that "Unfortunately, this hotel does not have enough rooms available."

Hotels.com claims 90,000 hotels around the globe, but the hotel I wanted wasn't of them. It did offer links to four other hotels, two (Neuer Markt and Neuer Weg) actually in Baden-Baden, the Neuerweg in Wört and totally inexplicably, a link to "Atlanta, Georgia, United States." Expedia and Orbitz don't list the Neuer Karlshof at all. Travelocity automatically brought up IgoUgo, which both told me "We're sorry but we cannot identify the location that you entered" and also boomeranged to a Travelocity Black Forest page with more hotels outside of Baden-Baden than in Baden-Baden.

None of the booking sites that actually offered the Hotel Neuer Karlshof included a link to the hotel's own website, but I did eventually find it through the straightforward, multi-lingual Baden-Baden Convention and Visitors information website. It lists the city's hotels in order of standards from five-star luxury properties to simple unrated guesthouses. For each the site shows a picture, gives an address, indicates the price range for single and double rooms, whether breakfast is included and if so what kind of breakfast, gives the distance from the autobahn and airport, shows amenities and has click-to links to each hotel's website, further information and booking request.

For the record, the Neuer Karlshof website is http://www.hotel-neuer-karlshof.de/. It was renovated recently, reopening in January 2008. We have a reservation for the night we want at €69, which is not out of line when rates are quoted "from €55" on these book sites that proved to be dead ends when it came to actually getting a reservation. The website says that each room is equipped with television/DVD, free Internet access, iron/ironing board, safe and more, and the on-site Cafe Fellow means that we will not suffer from caffeine deprivation if we want to use it to readjust time zones. The breakfasts and the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff were praised numerous times on user reviews, and I don't need a user review to tell me the convenience of a hotel at a railroad station.

If you are frustrated by navigating through numerous booking sites that all seem to use the same hotel-supplied images, the same price quotes and in our case, the same unavailability, and whose main differences seem to be page design, go straight to the hotel's own website. Book online or pick up the telephone and call. A lot less hassle and often more satisfying results.

Tattered Cover to Welcome Arthur and Pauline Frommer

Father-daughter team of budget travel authorities launching book tour in the Denver area this week

The first post-World War II generation of young, independent travelers boarded their cheap-o charter flights equipped with the essentials: passport, student ID, Eurailpass and Arthur Frommer's Europe on $5 a Day. That iconic how-to travel book not only inspired young people to travel then, but to keep on traveling as they got older. It also spawned an empire. Arthur Frommer begat books (Frommers Travel Guides and other series), a magazine (Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel), a website, a radio gig (Arthur Frommer's "Travel Minute" on New York's WOR and podcast), a blog and a daughter, Pauline, who has followed in her dad's world-roaming, publishing footsteps.

Father and daughter are launching a book tour for Ask Arthur Frommer -- And Travel Cheaper, Better, Smarter at the Tattered Cover on Colfax on at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 8. They are offering a related mini-seminar, “Making Travel Work in Tough Economic Times.” Admission is free, and all Frommer's Guides will be 20 sold at off during this event -- and you can probably get them to sign the books too. The store is at 2526 East Colfax Avenue (at Elizabeth Street, directly across the street from East High School and the City Park Esplanade), Denver; 303-322-7727.

The following day, May 9, the Frommers will speak at the College Hill branch of the Westminster Public Library from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The library is at 3705 West 112th Street, Westminster. The event is also free, but the library would appreciate a call to register: 303-404-5104. If you want to buy a book there, it's cash or check only. Refreshments for the Westminster event will be provided by Cruise Holidays at the Ranch.

Arthur will continue the book tour at the Book Passage (51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, near San Francisco) at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, May 11; Distant Lands (56 South Raymond Avenue, Pasadena), at 7:30 p.m. on Monday May 13; and at the Borders bookstore in Century City (10250 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles) at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 14.

Airlines Reinvent International Travel -- Again

Fewer transoceanic flights, but improved front-cabin amenities

In the heady years that are now over, profit jets and, of course, first and business class cabins on commercial airliners were cash cows for carriers. Then fuel prices sored, air fares went through the roof and the whole airline picture changed. Fuel prices are down now, but so is the global economy, and airlines are still trying to tinker their way to profitability.

According to Associated Press and other reports, US carriers are cutting flights on their transatlantic and transpacific routes but some are upgrading seats and other amenities. Delta is cutting its international service by 10 percent, restructuring some routes to seasonal service and upping flights to Latin America while eliminating unprofitable routes across the Atlantic and Pacific. United has already shaved its international schedule by 15 percent -- but happily is reviving its Denver-London nonstop for spring and summer tourist season. American is cutting international services by 2 1/2 percent, and Continental is decreasing its international capacity by 7 percent.

Some airlines including United and Air France are among the carriers that are trying to retain what premium business there is by installing more comfortable seats, better inflight entertainment and sometimes enhanced ground services. Air France, especially, has raised the bar. It introduced curb-to-plane airport concierge service to ease the first-class passengers' departure. Its phenomenal inflight entertainment choices include 55 films, on-demand television and 116 hours of recorded music. The reopened Terminal 2E at Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) is dedicated to all US flights. In all classes of service, the carrier has introduced flexible business/leisure fares ("bleisure," the call it) with no Paris stopover penalties and enhanced what it calls "the French touch" in food and beverage service. Et finalement, Air France has introduced a premium-economy-style class that combines the comfortable seating of business class and the service found in economy -- which of course, includes complimentary French champagne and wine.

Epic Snows 'Round the World

Heavy snows in the Alps, the Rockies, the Sierra and totally unexpected places around the world too

Scotland-based Patrick “Snowhunter" Thorne, who keeps track of such things, has reported "once in a generation” snowfalls on Mau Son Mountain in Vietnam, a meteorological curiosity but not necessarily germane for skiers. In the United Arab Emirates, In the United Arab Emirates, snow also fell on the northern emirate of Ras al Khaimah's Jebel Jais range. Thorne noted that the “situation [is] so rare that the local dialect doesn't even have a word for it.” Crown Prince Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who is planning an indoor snow center larger than the highly publicized Ski Dubai facility, visited the area to see real snow.

Closer to home, Mammoth Mountain, Calif., was inundated with five feet of snow over four days, and Steamboat reports has been slammed with powder-bearing storm after powder-bearing storm (42 inches out of the latest for a season total of 119 inches) and currently has an 80-plus-inch base. Steamboat (right) recorded 42 inches from this storm, bringing their season total to 229 inches (just over 19 feet). Crested Butte snagged inches for a season total to 202 inches. In this same late-January storm cycle, Aspen Highlands got 39 inches of new snow, Winter Park 35 inches, Silverton Mountain and Snowmass each 30 inches, Aspen Mountain 27 inches and Copper Mountain, Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort, and Loveland are each welcomed 26 inches of new snow. Even Eldora, just 22 miles from Boulder, got a rare 19 inches of fresh powder. New England is expecting such heavy snowfall out of a storm today (Wednesday) that schools in Main pre-emptorily closed.

But wait, there's more! Snowhunter reported epic snows in the Alps. Austria's powder champ was Nassfeld, with about four feet of snow in a week. The Axamer - Lizum above Innsbruck, far better known to American skiers, snared 14 inches. The report that the Mölltaler Glacier has the greatest snow depth in the country with just under 11 feet on upper slopes and German's Zugspitz Glacier in the Bavarian Alps got 11 inches, which is encouraging in light of the world's shrinking glaciers. Zermatt is Switzerland's seasonal snowfall leader with 18 inches from the most recent storm and a seasonal snow accumulation of 33 feet on the glacier. "Snowhunter" further reported that in northern Italy, Cortina d'Ampezzo got nearly three feet of snow, and Limone Piemonte 20 inches. Arabba Marmolada has the most snow Italy with 16 feet on the upper slopes. In France, where the World Alpine Ski Championships begin next week in Val d'Isère, Jean-Claude Killy's hometown, conditions are splendid -- though racers prefer hard, hard snow to powder.

The Pyrenees have also enjoyed abundant snow, including more than three feet at Baqueira/ Beret, Spain, and 20 inches in Andorra just this week, but as elsewhere, it comes with significant avalanche risk. “The snow depth and quality is excellent, but the risk of avalanche is high, and we are strongly advising our customers to stay on the marked pistes,” Vincent Doutres, lift company manager at Cauteret-Lys, told Snowhunter. Andorra expects to offer lift service until the first of May. In Scandinavia, Sweden received recent major winter storms, including something like 25 inches at Kungsberget. Ski Kungsberget! In Scotland, as unlikely a ski destination for North Americans as Scandinavia, all five ski areas are operation -- a rare occurance.

And if you are interested in conditions in places like Cauteret-Lys or Kungsberget, either because you like to ski places no other kid on your block has, or you just like to know about offbeat things, check out Snowhunter's site (www.skiinfo.com), which tracks conditions at something like 1,500 large and small ski areas.

Icelandair Adds Destinations, Lowers Fuel Surchargers

Icelandair to fly to 20 cities in the UK and Europe

With connections through its hub in Reykjavik and the addition of Stavanger, Norway, and Düsseldorf, Germany, later this year, Icelandair's route system is expanding to some 20 destinations in Scandinavia, Great Britain and Continental Europe. These new flights will operate seasonally from May 8 to September 29, 2009. Year-round North American gateways are Boston and New York-JFK, with season service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Orlando Sanford, Halifax and Toronto.

Great Barrier Reef Ship Grounding, Update

Efforts underway to contain reef damage

Travel Babel seems to have been the first travel blog to report on the Chinese-flagged coal carrier "Shen Neng 1" that went 9 miles off-course and plowed into the coral reefs of Keppler Island, part of the Great Barrier Reef. The resultant oil spill continues to threaten marine life in a maritime protection area that also happens to be one of the world's great scuba diving destinations. Since then, the disaster has caught some world attention, with television news and wire service reports updating the situation and the Australian government response. The photo at right was released by Australian Maritime Safety Authority, and you can see a SkyNews report on YouTube.

The threat to the reef remains worrisome. According to an Associated Press report released on Tuesday evening, local time, "A stranded Chinese coal ship leaking oil onto Australia's Great Barrier Reef is an environmental time bomb with the potential to devastate large protected areas of the reef, activists said on Monday." Reuters quoted Llewellyn, director of conservation for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Australia, who called the "was a "ticking environmental time bomb."
The reef, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, the ship carried some 300,000 gallons of heavy fuel to run its engines. Shipping companies like this (relatively) cheap, low-grade fuel, which is very viscous, and and must be heated before injected into engines. When it ends up in the ocean, this gooey, sludge-like oil coats birds, wildlife, corals, rocks and sandy beaches and is extremely difficult to clean up.

An Environmental Crisis Waiting to Happen -- and It Did

"We've always said the vessel is up in an area it shouldn't be in the first place," Marine Safety Queensland general manager Patrick Quirk  told the media. "How it got to that to that position will be the subject of a detailed investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Board." He added ships sometimes used a shortcut through the reef, a practice that will be reviewed by the federal government.  Six thousand ships a year travel the marine lanes between the east coast of Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. Numerous conservation groups have for years been concerned that bulk carriers are permitted to travel through the reef without a specialized marine pilot. The government has thus far said pilots are not necessary when ships pass protected areas because they are banned there -- until they stray off-course, nine miles off-course, in the case of the "Shen Neng 1." The government might now change its tune.

At last report, two powerful tugs were on the scene, attempting to stabilize the ship while salvage crews assessed the situation. A boom is in place around the stranded ship to contain the oil spill. Australian  officials say the "Shen Neng I" is owned by belongs to the Shenzhen Energy Group, a subsidiary of China's state-owned China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (acronym, COSCO) -- the country's largest shipping company. COSCO could be fined up to 1 million Australian dollars (US$920,000) -- a pittance in view of the damage.

COSCO's History of Oil Spills

This Australian incident is COSCO's third major foul-up in less than three years. In November 2007, the "Cosco Busan" hit one of San Francisco Bay Bridge supports and spilled 53,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay, contaminating beaches, killing wildlife and floating into the Pacific Ocean. Skipper John Cota received a 10-month jail sentence for negligence. I don't know whether COSCO was also fined, but cleanup reported cost $100 million.

On July 31, 2009,, "Full City," a Panamanian-flagged ship owned by COSCO, suffered engine failure, ran aground during a storm and spilled some 200 tons of oil that eventually spread 100 miles in an area of wildlife sanctuaries and popular beaches. Pollution effects could linger for a decade. According to a British report on the fiasco, "In the days following the disaster, one of Norway's worst, thousands of birds said to be part of the Lille Sastein bird sanctuary and which were covered in oil, were considered beyond saving and had to be shot. Hundreds more are being cleaned up by volunteers along the coastline." The captain, whose name and ultimate fate I don't know, was arrested for a failure to alert authorities that his ship was in trouble, but he was released without bail.

COSCO has been notably silent about this latest disaster, but on April 1, it issued the following press release, which seems to indicate that money and ROI and not responsbility are all that matter to this state-owned compay:

"COSCO Sustainable Development Report 2008, among the 44 sustainable reports, was praised as 'Notable' report, which was conveyed in the letter to Capt. Wei Jiafu, President and CEO of COSCO Group from Mr. Georg Kell, Executive Director of UN Global Compact Office on March 3rd, 2010. COSCO Group is the only selected Chinese company this year and only Asian company whose sustainability report is deemed 'Notable' for four years in a roll [stet]. The report analysis was conducted by a coalition of global investors from 13 countries managing over US$ 2.1 trillion of assets, and they are all signatories to the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative to help companies that under United Nations Global Compact better corporate reporting on environmental, social and corporate governance activities."

State Department Warnings: What's in a Name?

Decoding US government warnings to international travelers from the US

Unrest and violence cause travelers -- especially Americans -- to reconsider international travel plans. Ten percent more Americans visited India in 2007 than in 2006, but with the recent terrorist attacks in Mombai (aka, Bombay) in which six Americans were among the 170 people killed, that number is likely to drop. Ditto travel to Greece, which welcomed 12 percent more international visitors in '07 than in '06 but has recently been plagued by riots in Athens, the capital, and concurrent strikes by workers at the Acropolis and other popular tourist sites.

Violence, of course, is volatile, and the US State Department doesn't always get it right. There were periods when visitors shunned London (Irish Republican Army attacks), central Europe (in the era of Germany's Bader-Meinhoff faction and other far-left terrorist groups) and parts of Spain (Basque separatist violence), as well as countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America when when wars, political unrest, assorted insurgencies and government policies made them unwelcoming. Consider that under Augusto Pinochet, Chile was not a desirable or safe tourist destination, now it is, while up north, not too many Americans visit Venezuela under Hugo Chavez or neighboring Colombia with its drug cartel-related violence. And US citizens have been forbidden or discouraged from visiting Cuba for nearly half-a-century, yet those who have visited report Cubans to be warm and welcoming -- and their visits to be incident-free.

The US State Department updates and issues travel advisories ranging from subtle warnings to outright recommendations to stay away from certain nations. When deciding on your risk-tolerance in light of these advisories, consider that the US government has also been telling air travelers in this country that the threat level is at "orange" just about since the color coding system was unveiled in 2002. That annoying Department of Homeland Security recording has played so incessantly since then that it has become just so much airport background noise -- and I don't think too many travelers pay much attention.

So it is with some skepticism that I share the State Department's definition of its country-specific evaluations for Americans contemplating travel abroad. These are updated on the department's website. Country-by-country evaluations are useful because they are not as simplistic as the "Department of Homeland Security's terror alert is orange" that we hear at airports.

• Travel Advisory - This is the general category of perceived threats that could affect Americans traveling to specific regions, countries or cities.
• Travel Alert - A threat that the State Department believes is of relatively short-term duration, including upcoming elections, hurricane or typhoon threat or other short-term situation.
• Travel Warning - Chronic violence, including such obvious destinations as Afghanistan and Iraq, where the situation so inflammatory and "potentially dangerous for Americans that we want them to know about that," Michelle Bernier-Toth, director of the Office of American Citizens Services and Crisis Management, recently told Gannett News Services. Well, duh!

Bernier-Toth also explained that assessing situations is a "very collaborative process between our embassy and consulate, between various bureaus and offices within the department. . . Sometimes we tell people to consider the risk of traveling, sometimes we say you should defer nonessential travel or all but essential travel and sometimes we just recommend you don't go. The best way to figure out what kind of danger you're facing is to read the specifics of the alert."

I am scheduled to visit Egypt with the Society of American Travel Writers in February, and have read the State Department's assessment, I'm willing to accept the risk

Easy Hotel's a la Carte Pricing

Low room rate and all sorts of add-ons: good idea or not?

I am of two minds when it comes to a la carte travel pricing. On the one hand, I appreciate budget-friendly prices, but I hate being charged extra for anything more than the air I breathe. So I'm also of two minds about EasyHotel, a fast-growing European chain from the creators of EasyJet, EasyCar and EasyCruise. The lowest promised rates are for early booking, though there might also be some last-minute price breaks.

The 12th EasyHotel recently opened in Berlin. Others are in  notably expensive places (London with six EasyHotels, Basel, Zurich) and Eastern European or Mediterranean ones (Budapest, Larnaka, Sofia). A very small, very spartan and very orange room with a very small bathroom -- shown above in a very fuzzy image. Prices seem to start at €25 per night (the new Berlin hotel had a rockbottom pre-opening booking rate of just €10. But the add-ons can add up: television access €5; a second towel, €1 per guest; WiFi access, €3. Even housekeeping is additional -- except between check-out and the next check-in. I don't know whether even a continental breakfast is included in the room, though at least that (and often much more) is in the vast majority of European accommodations.

Once upon a very long time ago, budget-conscience Yanks traveling to Europe and staying in modest guest houses, hostels or one-star hotels had to bring their own soap and washcloths. Many chose to bring toilet paper, because in those days, European TP either was total absorbent or had the texture of crepe paper. Some even brought their own towels or pillow cases -- just in case. Will the desire to save money bring travelers back to the future? Or will it appeal to thrifty young travelers who have no recollection of the way things were?

Villa Trapp Derailed in Salzburg

Salzburg turns down plan to open the Von Trapp family's former Austrian residence as a hotel

After the 1965 "Sound of Music" film became a hit, so many visitors to Stowe, VT, came looking for the mountain property where the Trapp Family Lodge was located that local youngsters began sporting T-shirts reading, "I Live in Stowe and I don't Know the Way to Trapps." Perhaps taking a cue from the Vermont experience, the Austrian city of Salzburg denied permission for the former Trapp family residence to open as a small, 14-room hotel to be called Villa Trapp in what the Associated Press described as "a quiet, upscale Salzburg neighborhood."

Residents reportedly were concerned that tourists would cause traffic jams and become a neighborhood nuisance, which is quite astonishing considering that they film came out more than 43 years ago. Then again, Salzburgers are very away of the film's enduring appeal. Sound of Music tours to the sites where scenes were filmed remain among the most popular in Salzburg.

Reuters added another layer to the tale, reporting, "In Austria, visitors can get married at the villa, which was home to the real von Trapps from 1923 to 1938 before they fled the Nazi takeover of Austria. Nazi Germany's security chief Heinrich Himmler used the villa, just outside Salzburg, as a home close to the Austrian Alps until 1945. Some opponents of the hotel have accused the developers of wanting to build a memorial to Nazism." The developers reportedly plan to mitigate the traffic impact but have seemingly not addressed the concern about Nazi era glorification.

Thanksgiving is Over; Let Winter Begin

After a mild fall, Colorado ski resorts are welcoming winter

This evening, the live telecast by Denver's "9News" of the lighting of the City and County Building finished off with light, wet snow falling on the streets of Denver. News anchors rejoiced about the perfect time, and skiers and snowboarders are rejoicing after a long, mild, dry autumn.

Snow or no, the City and County Building and other locatations in downtown Denver will be aglow until the middle of January. This glorious, gaudy display that has been a Denver tradition since 1932. Also, Union Station, nearby Larimer Square and the entire 16th Street Mall are festively illuminated for the holidays.

Colorado Mountains Cooling Off and Getting White

Current Colorado snow reports are finally somewhat encouraging too. Vail Resorts Inc.'s Colorado ski resorts (Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail Beaver Creek) reported 3 to 6 inches of snow in the last 48 hours. Moving southward and westward, accumulations have been greater. Aspen Mountain, hosting the Winternational ski races this weekend, and Snowmass (skiers loading onto the six-passenger chairlift shown at right) reported 7 and 8 inches respectively. They are two of the four areas operated by the Aspen Skiing Co. Wolf Creek, located in southern Colorado, was the state's snowfall leader with 13 inches in the last 48 hours. I am writing this on Friday evening, and Saturday morning's snow reports will show greater totals.

Great Snow Conditions in Europe

So far, this is shaping up to be a season of big snows in the Alps. Resorts in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland have reported up to a meter (39 inches) of new snow in the past five days. Although Europeans have no Thanksgiving to provide a psychological kick-off to the season, more than 200 ski areas across Europe have already opened or are opening this weekend, including Zermatt, Switzerland, with 100 miles of pistes and Espace Killy, France with 187 miles of pistes in neighboring Tignes and Val d'Isere. When Americans think of European winter resorts, the Alps come to mind, but the Pyrenees and Scandinavia, especially Norway, also offer downhill skiing. There too, resorts are starting off with abundant snow.

Iberia Adds 10 US Code Shares

Connections via Chicago make travel to Madrid and beyond more seamless

Code shares between domestic and international flag carriers take some of the stress out of travel that requires changing planes to a US gateway. Code shares assure legal connections, especially important when checked baggage is involved. I just flew between Denver and Huatulco, Mexico, on code-shared flights between American and Mexicana, which netted mileage added to my American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flyer account for all flights.

Iberia, the airline of Spain, has just added 10 new US destinations to its network with the extension of its code-sharing arrangements with American Airlines. Iberia passengers can now fly from Albuquerque, Buffalo, Baltimore, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Rochester and San Antonio to Madrid connecting via Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

With these new destinations, Iberia now operates from 48 cities in the United States, with direct service from Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York and Washington D.C., to Madrid, and connecting flights via American Airlines from the rest. From Madrid, Iberia passengers can fly on to 34 airports in Spain, 42 European cities and 10 destinations in Africa and the Middle East.

Final Farewell to Lufthansa Flights LH 480 and 481

Denver-Munich nonstops grounded for good, but Germany still courts Colorado travelers

October 28 was Black Friday for Lufthansa's one-and-a-half-year-old Munich-Denver-Munich nonstops. Denver had given Germany's airline $2 million in incentives to launch the route in March 2007 and offered to make monetary concessions if the airline would continue it. But Lufthansa spokesman Martin Riecken was quoted in the Denver Post as explaining, "It's not a flight that gives us enough revenue and benefits to keep it going." How's that for thanks?

Busy Route Not Enough for Lufthansa

You'd never know from our experience that Denver/Munich routing was not enough of a revenue-producer. My husband and I wanted desperately to fly from Denver to Munich in May 2007 to attend a wedding. First we tried redeeming MileagePlus miles for any class of service on Flights 481 (DEN-MUC) and 480 (MUC-DEN) in a two-week window wrapped around the wedding date. No luck. Then we tried a United-Lufthansa combo with whatever number of plane changes -- in the US, in Frankfurt or elsewhere in Germany. No luck. Then we tried combining flights on other Star Alliance partners. No luck. Then we tried to get affordable tickets on Lufthansa or United. No luck, unless you consider it "lucky" to find a few tickets for about $1,000 each, give or take. We didn't attend the wedding.

Germany Promoted in Denver

It was ironic that yesterday, just three days after Lufthansa wiped this wonderful flight off its timetable, German tourism representatives hosted a media lunch in Denver to promote visitation to the country. They showed enticing photographs of scenery (and infrastructure to see it better, such as this tower on Stuttgart's Killesberg, right), castles, palaces and other sites. They talked about new museums and old holiday traditions. They enthused about art, architecture and museums, and about hip nightlife and high fashion. They praised the ease of getting around via highspeed train or autobahn. It all looked wonderful. I was ready to get on a plane -- but there are now fewer flights from here to there, and I don't envision fares falling.

Schade -- which is German for "too bad" or "what a shame."

Europe is Subject New Lonely Planet Book

Photo-heavy, information-light coffee table book showcases 52 countries

Lonely Planet guidebooks are often thick and always comprehensive softcover books chockful of practical where-to, how-to, what-to information for travelers, particularly budget travelers. A few maps, illustrations and black-and-white photographs were scattered among the text pages, with a four-color photo insert or two to tart the layout up a bit. The books, subtitled "Travel Survival Kit," have become nothing less than bibles for travelers who rely on them for an incredible amount of in-depth information on countries around the globe. There's even a Lonely Planet guide to the non-country of Antarctica, the last, loneliest continent on the planet where visitation is official and scientific, cruise ship icebreaker or of a serious expedition nature, and is totally seasonal.

As noted here, BBC bought Lonely Planet a little over a year ago, and the international broadcasting and media giant lost no time in expanding the Lonely Planet brand into previously unimaginable realms. One of these is a series of hardcover coffee table books that would seem to be perfect adjuncts to a television travel series. The newest is The Europe Book: A Journey Through Every Country on the Continent. It profiles 52 European countries, touching briefly on such topics as landscape, people, the urban scene, cuisine, history and festivals. Enticing four-color photographs grace every page. A bit of the original Lonely Planet spirit survives in the sidebar listing the "essential experiences" for each country -- the kind of insider tidbit that Lonely Planet fans treasure.

The book also includes four themed essays (“Can They Do That In Public - Europe’s Outrageous Landmarks,” “Europe’s Unrecognized Nations,” “The New Europe” and “Revolutionary Ideas: Six That Changed History”), half-a-dozen suggested itineraries called "Great Journeys" and an random timeline of key events in European history and some interesting trivia. Who knew that Armenia was the first European country to adopt Christianity (301 A.D.) or that tiny Liechtenstein is the world's largest exporter of dentures?

Like 1,000 Places to See Before You Die (but bigger in format and with great pictures), The Europe Book invites travelers to tick off which countries they have visited. I have been to fewer than half. That surprised me. It wouldn't have, if I had actually never thought about how many there are now. Of course, now that I am thinking about it, the fragmentation of Europe has greaty increased the number of countries in Europe. The break-up of the Soviet Union, the dismantling of the former Yugoslavia and the splitting of the former Czechoslovakia now mean there are 18 countries where once there were three, a lopsided balance despite the reunification of two Germanys into one. Of the 52, more of two (Russia and Turkey) is in Asia and not in Europe at all, and one (Iceland) is out in the North Atlantic.

The book, subtitled "A Journey Through Every Country on the Continent," must have been a was a geographic and organizational challenge. The editors decided to segment into six regional sections. Most countries get four pages. Some of the biggies (such as England, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Russia ) are allotted six, while smaller city-states and principalities (Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, Vatican City) are covered in two pages.

I have visited nearly all the countries in the sections titled "Western Mediterranean," "Central Europe" and "British Isles & the Low Countries." I find it a bit odd to lump the four British Isles countries and three Benelux countries together in one section, because all they have in common is the North Sea -- except that Ireland doesn't touch it at all, while Germany, Denmark and Norway, which do have North Sea coastlines, are in other chapters. I've been to a few in the "Eastern Mediterranean & the Balkans" (IMO another oddball combo), none in the "Black Sea & Caucasus" and and only two of nine in "Scandinavia & Baltic Europe" -- plus Iceland's Keflavik Airport, but airports don't count. This book tells me that I have many more European nations to check off on my life list, and the gorgeous photographs illustrated why I should visit them.

Thirty-seven writers, mostly well-traveled and credentialed Lonely Planet authors, and numerous photographers contributed to The Europe Book ($40). It is the fourth in a series that also includes The Travel Book ($50), The Africa Book ($40) and The Asia Book ($40). The original LP guidebooks are for people who are planning a trip or are traveling, while this new series is for people who have traveled and want to tap into specific, I've-been-there memories and the general flavor of European countries to remind us all of the continents variety and beauty.

Can Moses Save Venice?

Is the $7 billion project to save the coastal city from rising waters working?

Global warming, climate change or whatever you wish to call the syndrome that is causing polar ice to melt and sea levels to rise are of concern to the world's low-lying coastal cities. These concerns are particularly urgent in magnificent Venice every winter with its rains. MOSES (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico) is a massive (and massively controversial) $7 billion engineering project begun in 2003 to construct 79 movable underwater gates designed to regulate the tidal flows in the city's lagoon (right) to prevent flooding and yet allow large cruise and container ships to pass through. Click here to see photos of floods in Venice in 2004.

Venice, founded in the fifth century, rose to be Europe's leading maritime power and center of Renaissance art and architecture, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Tourist interests and architectural preservationists are pro-MOSES. Environmentalists continue to oppose it because they are concerned with with a closed system of stagnant water with prevented from flushing out the Venice lagoon. Several months ago, contractjournal.com reported that the mile-long rock and concrete system has caused a new coral reef to form and species previously unseen there to find habitat there. These include the endangered giant pen shell (Pinna Nobilis), an endangered bivalve that can grow to about a yard long and the Dustbin Lid jellyfish (Rhizostome Octopus), the largest in the Mediterranean.

Sherman's Pick for 10 Best Ski Resorts for Nonskiers

With only four in the U.S., mixed-interest groups better get passports ready if following Sherman

 ShermansTravel selected "Top 10 Ski Resorts for Nonskiers."  The magazine's selection -- or perhaps the selection of Becca Bergman whose byline appears after each writeup -- is heavily canted toward resorts in other countries. This is not surprising in the sense that Alpine resorts have long considered themselves winter destinations, rather than ski destinations. The list include links to "smart splurge" and "great value" accommodations but not the main resort websites. I've added those for your convenience.

ShermansTravel's Choices

• Bad Gastein, Austria
• Megève, France
• Mont Tremblant, Quebec
• Park City, Utah
• Sierra Nevada, Spain
• Stowe, Vermont
• Sun Valley, Idaho
• Taos, New Mexico
• Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia
• Zermatt, Switzerland

Claire's List

I'm not taking issue with the selections above as much as feeling there are some better choices. I would just like to have seen more domestic destinations that are more convenient and affordable these days for US skiers -- and those criteria don't even take into account the additional hassles of overseas air travel in effect for the foreseeable future. Here are six (three in the US) that I think would have been worthy for ShermansTravel's list:

• Aspen, Colorado - Enchanting old mining town with a deserved reputation for high prices but a lot of surprisingly affordable, often free, non-ski options. These include free bus area transportation, free cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails and tours, free art museum, three ice skating rinks, excellent intown spa, winter flying fishing on the Roaring Fork and Fryingpan Rivers and much more.
•  Banff/Lake Louise, Alberta - Located in Banff National Park, town of Banff offers terrific shopping, museums and galleries. Heart-of-the-park cross-country skiing and snowshoeing adventures, including at nearby Lake Louise, which is jaw-droppingly beautiful.
•  Jackson Hole, Wyoming - The ski area is known for steep-and-deep skiing and riding, but the picturesque Town of Jackson offers fantastic shopping and gallery hopping. There's an Olympic-size skating rink at Snow King Resort. Visit the National Museum of Wildlife Art and then take an unforgettable sleighride through the National Elk Refuge, just north of town, or take a snowmobile trip at Togwotee Pass to the south. Plus snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in Grand Teton National Park, which actually borders the downhill ski area, and a day trip to magnificent Yellowstone National Park beyond.
•  Innsbruck, Austria - Two-time Olympic host in the heart of the Tyrolean Alps offers urban culture and urban pleasures. Twenty museums, from archeology to the most modern art. 14th International Fair for Contemporary Art INNSBRUCK (February 19-22) is major.Splendid shopping, window and otherwise, in the historic Old City. Vibrant nightlife.
• St. Moritz, Switzerland - Glamorous resort in Rhaetian Alps. No better place for window shopping, skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, winter walking, sledding, horsedrawn carriage rides and spectating at top-level sports competitions, including polo on the frozen lake.
•  Vail, Colorado - Fabulous shops in charming pedestrian village, fine spas, scenic gondola rides (free after 1:00 p.m.) and free valley-wide bus transportation. Cross-country skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing and nearby snowmobiling. Excellent dining. 

Great Snow Conditions Launch 2010

Happy New Year -- and happy powder season across the snowbelt.

My friend Maja has been in St. Moritz, Switzerland, over the holidays. On Wednesday she wrote, "winter wonderland! ..snowing snowing snowing...." On Thursday she wrote, "December 31st, St. Moritz..and it's snowing like crazy! I wish all my friends a great New Years Eve bash!!!!!! To a fab 2010!" And yesterday, on New Year's Day, she wrote, "Happy New Year!!!!!! What a spectacular start! Love 1.1.2010! Fab Skiing! tons of powder, blue skies, GREAT fireworks ... evening another snow storm.... true winter wonderland.....I am feeling like a winter princess..... a great 2010 has begun! Happy New Year, cheers cheers cheers!" Thanks, Maja. I just wish St. Moritz had a current snow conditions picture on its website or that the site had a more straightforward to obtain to copy here and share with everyone.

My pal Nancy wrote from Maine, "Gotta Love This Snowstorm! It's great for the ski industry!" Hey Nancy, it's great for all of us who like to slide on snow. The photo at the right was taken at Sugarloaf, Maine, a happy fresh-snow scene repeated across New England. Vermont ski areas reported 3 to 9 inches of new snow, which in the Northeast is a major dump. Most Vermont areas were in the 2- to 5-inch category, but Mount Snow, in the southern part of the state reported 9 inches! If true, Mount Snow must had its own micro-weather system, because New Hampshire ski areas also welcomed 3 to 5 inches of new snow, and Jiminy Peak in northwestern Massachusetts reported just 1 inch.

But what of the Rockies? I went to Snowmass between Christmas and New Year, skiing on beautifully groomed snow on three cold, clear, wind-free days. It started snowing on the evening after day three, just as I was leaving. My son, Andrew, teaches skiing at Purgatory near Durango in southwestern Colorado. He tole me that they got about a foot in the days leading up to New Year, that conditions have been great there too, and that he, his ski school colleagues and their clients are eagerly awaiting their next powder day.

The biggest snows (and the best January deal) might just be at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The resort clocked in 19 inches of snow since Wednesday morning and is expecting  huge storm that is forecast to hit the Tetons over the weekend, bringing another one to two feet of new snow. And the resort has an amazing January deal. The ‘Buy 2 Get 2’ airline offer from any departure city in the country, amounts to half-price fares on any airline for a group or family or four or more. Book before January 15 and travel by January 31. Combine that with lift/lodging packages starting at $81 per person, per night, and it's hardly worth staying home.

On the other side of the soaring Tetons from Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee has snared three feet of snow in the last three days. Th images are awesome, but I'm not skilled enough to download one and post it, so click here and be dazzled.

And if you don't ski, snowboard, cross-country ski, skate-ski (a dynamite exercise) or snowshoe, January is the time to do it. Learn a Snowsport Month features dynamite deals that generally include very affordable instruction, equipment and lift tickets or trail passes. Each participating ski resort or cross-country center sets its own program.

Sleep in a Grounded 747 in Stockholm

Jumbo jet conversion to airport accommodation

Last January, I learned of a project to convert a 747 into an airport hostel at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport and wrote a post about it. I just read a piece on a neat blog called Airport Hotels, not surprisingly about airport hotels but also related subjects, that it has been completed and is operating. Look at the image on the right and click back to the ratty aircraft the developer started with.

Airport Hotels blogger Susan R. has a fascinating post not just about the Jumbo Hostel* at Arlanda but also other interesting aircraft, grounded and otherwise. She found a 727 that has been turned into a treehouse-height executive suite in Costa Rica and a plane once used by East Germany's iron-fisted Erich Honecker and now a luxury suite at Holland's Teuge Airport. Susan R. also found some futuristic flying machines and has images of all the once and future airborne wonders on her post.

*The URLs to Jumbo Hostel's English and Swedish websites (www.jumbohostel.com and www.jumbohostel.com) are not functioning right now, but you can also read about it in a profile on the Hostel.com website and see photos in article in De Zeen, a design magazine.  

Chunnel Shut Down; Eurostar Services Halted

London-Paris-Brussels rail connection uncoupled

"Indefinitely" is a word that has been in the news lately. Tiger Woods is suspending participation on the PGA tour "indefinitely, and now the Eurostar train between London and Paris has suspended service "indefinitely" too -- at least through Monday, at last report. On Friday, five trains carrying some 2,000 passengers were standed in the Chunnel, the tunnel under the English Channel. Some passengers reportedly were stuck underground for more than 15 hours without food or water. Also, it was reported that there was little or no communication to passengers explaining what was happening. Reports didn't cover how bad those passenger cars must have smelled after 15 hours.

Eurostar blamed "acute weather conditions" for electrical problems that plagued their trains. Three test trains seem to have used the Chunnel without incident on Sunday, but the test runs also indicated that heavy snow in northern France was somehow being sucked into the trains' power cars. The incident was unprecented and unexpected in Eurostar's 15 years of service. The rail fleet is reportedly being modified and further test runs are to be made early in the week. According to the latest BBC report, there will be no Eurostar service on Monday.

With peak holiday travel beginning, 31,000 people in Britain, France and Belgium had canceled their train travel plans on Saturday, and another 26,000 were expected to cancel by the end of Sunday. Eurostar chief executive Richard Brown warned that services might not return to normal for days. Cross-channel travelers had few options. Nearly half of all flights out of Paris's Charles de Gaulle and Orly asrports were cut on Sunday, and air service in Brussels also was impacted. And does anyone take a terry anymore?

Dollar Gains Strength

International travelers might benefit from stronger dollar

If you're thinking about traveling to Europe or Great Britain this fall, and you can find an affordable air fare, you might want to jump on it. The dollar closed stronger against the 15-nation euro than any time in the last seven months (closing at $1.00 = .69€) and also rising against the British pound (closing at $1.00 = £.65). When my husband and I visited England earlier this year, the dollar-to-pound ratio was practically two to one. The current exchange rate doesn't approach the strong dollar that American travelers benefited from several years ago, but it is more favorable to travelers than it was earlier this year. What goes up can go down again, so if you have the time and the budget to go overseas, this might be the time to do it.

I'm Dreamin' of Santorini

Tempting fall bargains on fantasy Greek Island

I've long wanted to visit the Greek Islands, and I suppose someday I will. The desire to go there is usually tucked away in the back of my mind. But sometimes they force their way to forefront, like now, with the film version of Mamma Mia!, which was filmed on the islands of Santorini, Skiathos and Skopelos. Santorini, breached volcano, is arguably the most iconic and certainly stars in my Greek Island dreams.

I''m afraid that the era of small, Mamma Mia!-style inns is long gone, but a luxurious boutique property can make an escape to Santorini affordable with a first-ever discount package. Through October 31, Astra Apartments & Suites is offering a fourth night free with a three-night stay. The “Fall in Love at Astra” package starts at about $1,100 or $275 per night for two. Included are a traditional Greek breakfast every morning, champagne and chocolates served at sunset on the second evening.

The October weather on the beautiful Cycladic island of Santorini is mild, with average temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The property has just 16 domed-ceiling apartments and 12 luxurious suites decorated in traditional island style with works by local artists. Eight units have private plunge pools or outdoor Jacuzzis, and an infinity pool perches 1,000 feet above the turquoise Aegean Sea. A day spa offers a full range of massages and facials. Astra’s new restaurant serves fresh fish and Santorinian specialties under the stars. It sounds idyllic to me.

Astra has been written up in such persnickety publications as Travel & Leisure, National Geographic Traveler, Food & Wine and Bon Appetit, which is a good enough recommendation for me. Now, if I could only afford to fly to Santorini this fall......

For more information on Astra or reservations, visit one of the websites (http://www.astra-apartments.com/ or http://www.astra.gr/) or call 011-30-2286-2-47-65.