Rail Transportation's US Future

President's proposal for rail expansion would alter US travel

I love trains. When I travel abroad, it is my favorite mode of transportation., I love the energetic bustle of big-city railroad stations and the convenience of traveling from center-city to center-city, and I certainly prefer reaching small communities by train to clogging up roadways with a costly rental car. I wish we still had decent, punctual trains in this country, and maybe it will happen in my lifetime. I was cheered by President Obama's State of the Union message last Wednesday that included the intention of awarding $8 billion in stimulus funds for development of light-rail corridors around the country and new high-speed rail in Florida. It makes sense from all perspectives -- employment, traveler convenience, the environmental benefits of mass transit.

A number of US and Canadian cities already have light rail rapid transit -- surface trains, not subways, that unclog roadways. When I changed planes in Phoenix not long ago, I saw that the city's Valley Metro rail line reaches Skyharbor Airport from both east and west. Vancouver's new SkyTrain (upper right) connects the airport with the center city. Light rail lines in Denver, Salt Lake City and Calgary do not currently reach their respective airports but hopefully will in the future. Kansas City voters rejected a north-south light rail line, but the regional transportation district is planning on using diesel-driven trains on existing tracks -- perhaps similar to the Albuquerque-Santa Fe Railrunner (lower right). We'll see.

Elsewhere in the world, a rail link from major airports to the city and from there to national and international train networks is taken for granted. Once again, the US, which pretends to be so enlightened and so advanced, lags far behind. I just hope that Washington a-ginners who were fixating on deconstructing proposed health care/insurance reform don't get their talons into rail transportation improvements too.

Luggage Pilferage

No valuables taken, but petty theft is annoying and (again) shows travelers' vulnerability

Yesterday afternoon, I flew from Houston to Denver. Two bright red TSA-approved locks were on my checked bag’s two biggest zipper compartments when I checked in. When I got home, I saw that the bag sported only one lock.

Is it possible that I didn’t snap one lock completely, and that it opened and fell off in transit? Yes, of course. Is it possible that the small bottle of tequila in a sturdy little cardboard box given to all somehow fell out of the middle of my bag? Unlikely. It could have been either a TSA screener or perhaps a baggage handler, or for all I know, a space alien who likes tequila and used its super powers to find mine.

According to Aero-News, a TSA screener at Newark International reportedly was recently arrested for trying to sell pilfered items on eBay. I’m not saying that my little tequila, given to all convention attendees, will end up in an on-line auction, but I’ll bet it ends up in someone’s drink -- or simply as a straight-from-the-bottle nip for the needy to make a boring job tolerable.

Newsday reported that TSA spokeswoman Lara Uselding had said that 465 TSA officers (0.4 percent of the agency's workers) have been terminated for theft since May 1, 2003. The odds are pretty good that nothing will be swiped from checked bags or from carry-ons during the shoes off/jackets off/laptop out/X-ray/metal detector pre-flight gauntlet passengers endure, but when it happens, it's annoying at best and devastating at worst. When expensive electronics (including laptops and other communication devices with private information) or jewelry is taken, it can be be more than the loss of something as inconsequential as a small bottle of tequila.

Am I going to report it? No. It's not worth the bother. The TSA and/or airline baggage-handling operations seem to be the gift that keeps on taking.

Lake Tahoe: Ski Areas by the Dozen (Plus)

Magnificent alpine lake with concentration of ski areas unsurpassed in North America

Here's the census of ski areas in an arc on the north end of Lake Tahoe and also along Interstate 70: Alpine Meadows, Boreal, Diamond Peak, Donner Ski Ranch, Granlibakken, Homewood, Mt. Rose (within sight of Reno), Northstar-at-Tahoe, Royal Gorge (cross-country), Sugar Bowl and Squaw Valley (host of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games). At and near the south end of the lake: Heavenly, Kirkwood and Sierra-at-Tahoe. Seven of the largest ski/snowboard areas (Alpine, Heavenly, Kirkwood, Mt. Rose, Northstar, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Squaw) market themselves as Ski Lake Tahoe and offer an interchangeable multi-day lift ticket.

In addition to 14 (or more if I'm missing something) places to ski, the Tahoe Basin is scenically stunning and incredibly conplex (two states, five counties with five county seats outside of the basin, one incorporated city and numerous smaller communities and a hefty local, state and federal jurisdictions).

I've just returned from a Society of American Travel Writers confab at Lake Tahoe, and with a full schedule and travel time too, I managed to ski just three days of sliding on snow -- one each at Northstar (on a Saturday following the first heavy snowstorm in weeks -- not recommended, one at Heavenly and one at Kirkwood. Reports to follow.

Travel Writing and Photography Award Winners

Society of American Travelers honors the best in the travel commmunication business

Two of the journalists' organizations that I belong to are the American Society of Journalists & Authors and the Society of American Travel Writers. The former's slogan is "We write what you read." At the SATW convention which has just concluded in Houston, the 2008 travel writing, photography and broadcast awards were announced. I wish I had time to include links to all the winners' websites, but I don't -- so I hope some of you will take the time to search some of the names and publications to find out why my colleagues have been honored.

Lowell Thomas Awards in travel journalism (numbers in parentheses indicate the number of entries in each cagtegory)

Category 1: Grand Award — Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year (37)
Gold: Christopher P. Baker, freelance writer-photographer
Silver: Jane Wooldridge, Travel Editor, The Miami Herald
Bronze: Sarah Wildman, freelance journalist

Category 2: Newspaper Travel Sections (27)
2A — Newspapers with 500,000 or more circulation
Gold: Los Angeles Times, Catharine Hamm, Travel Editor
Silver: The Houston Chronicle, Harry Shattuck, Travel Editor
Bronze: The Boston Globe, Anne Fitzgerald, Travel Editor
Honorable Mention: Chicago Tribune, Randy Curwen, Travel Editor

2B — Newspapers with 350,000-499,999 circulation
Gold: The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Karan Smith and Julie Traves, Travel Editors
Silver: St. Petersburg Times, Janet K. Keeler, Travel Editor
Bronze: The Miami Herald, Jane Wooldridge, Travel Editor
Honorable Mention: The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Betsy O’Connell, Travel Editor

2C — Newspapers with up to 350,000 circulation
Gold: The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Millie Ball, Travel Editor
Silver: The Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA, Gary Warner, Travel Editor
Bronze: Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Judy Wiley, Travel Editor
Honorable Mention: The Ottawa Citizen, Laura Robin, Travel Editor

Category 3: Magazines
3A — Travel Magazines (15)
Gold: National Geographic Adventure, John Rasmus, Editor-in-Chief
Silver: Budget Travel, Erik Torkells, Editor-in-Chief

Bronze: Travel + Leisure, Nancy Novogrod, Editor-in-Chief

3B — Travel Coverage in Other Magazines (12)
Gold: Brides Magazine, Sherri Eisenberg, Senior Travel Editor
Silver: Departures, Richard David Story, Editor-in-Chief
Bronze: Coastal Living, Kay A. Fuston, Editor-in-Chief

Category 4: Newspaper article on U.S./Canada Travel (99)
Gold: Jane Roy Brown, “After Alice’s Restaurants,” The Boston Globe
Silver: Janet Forman, “Oh, men and their spas,” The Globe and Mail, Toronto
Bronze: Diane Daniel, “Home Exchanges, A bit at a Time,” The New York Times

Category 5: Magazine Article on U.S./Canada Travel (73)
Gold: James Vlahos, “The Arch Hunters,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Dana Cowin, “What Defines a Great Food City?” Food & Wine
Bronze: Stephanie Mansfield, “How the Sunset Tower Got Its Cool,” Departures

Category 6: Newspaper Article on Foreign Travel (79)
Gold: William Ecenbarger, “A Small Ship in a Big Jungle,” Chicago Tribune
Silver: Yvonne Horn, “Spanish Wineries’ Star Power,” San Francisco Chronicle
Bronze: Richard Read, “Amsterdam, Dual and Cool,” The Oregonian

Category 7: Magazine Article on Foreign Travel (90)
Gold: Scott Anderson, “Fast Track to Tibet,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Laurie Werner, “Asian Beauty,” ForbesLife
Bronze: P.F. Kluge, “America’s Best Kept Secret,” National Geographic Traveler

Category 8: Newspaper Photo Illustration of Travel Article (40)
Gold: Richard Sennott, “Room for the Soul,” Star Tribune, Minneapolis
Silver: Torsten Kjellstrand, “Amsterdam, Dual and Cool,” The Oregonian
Bronze: Michele McDonald, “A Gloriously Gritty Groove,” The Boston Globe

Category 9: Magazine Photo Illustration of Travel Article (66)
Gold: Gordon Wiltsie, “The Vanishing Breed,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Tierney Gearon, “Malibu A-Go-Go,” Departures
Bronze: Catherine Karnow, “Authentic Paris,” National Geographic Traveler

Category 10: Special Packages/Projects (44)
Gold: Tom Haines, project director, and Boston Globe staff, “At the Edge of Europe,” The Boston Globe/boston.com
Silver: Terry Tazioli, Travel Editor, and Seattle Times staff,
“Pike Place Market at 100,” The Seattle Times/seattletimes.com
Bronze: Toni Salama and Randy Curwen, “The Next Big Thing,”
Chicago Tribune/chicagotribune.com

Category 11: Article on Marine Travel (48)
Gold: Carl Hoffman, “Take Me to the River,” National Geographic Traveler
Silver: Gayle Keck, “Pirates of the Mediterranean,” The Washington Post
Bronze: Alan Solomon, “How Do We Love Baja? Let Us Count the Whales…,”
Chicago Tribune

Category 12: Article on Adventure Travel (60)
Gold: Aaron Teasdale, “Across Maasai Land,” Adventure Cyclist
Silver: Gary McKechnie, “Prairie Hog,” Hog Tales
Bronze: Matthew Power, “Escape to Mount Kenya,” National Geographic Adventure

Category 13: Travel News/Investigative reporting (26)
Gold: Steve Friedman, “The Long Trail to Jail,” Backpacker
Silver: Christopher Ketcham, “A Death at Outward Bound,” National Geographic Adventure
Bronze: William J. McGee, “Air Security: Why You’re Not as Safe as You Think,” Consumer Reports

Category 14: Service-Oriented Consumer Article (80)
Gold: Jill Schensul, “Ever Ready for Mishap,” The Record (Hackensack, NJ)
Silver: William J. McGee, “The Ultimate Guide to Travel Web Sites,” Condé Nast Traveler
Bronze: Carol Pucci, “The Exchange Game: Pay Attention When It’s Time to Pay,” The Seattle Times

Category 15: Environmental Tourism Article (45)
Gold: John Falk, “Why the Bonobos Need a Radio…and Other (Unlikely) Lessons From the Deepest Congo,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Ellen Creager, “This Little Traveler Saved the Planet,” Detroit Free Press

Bronze: Susan Pigg, “The Plane Truth About Flying,” Toronto Star

Category 16: Cultural Tourism Article (92)
Gold: Matthew Polly, “Bangkok Vice: Buddhas, Boxers, and Bar Girls,” Slate
Silver: Gretel Ehrlich, “The Vanishing Breed,” National Geographic Adventure
Bronze: Jerry Shriver, “Finns Call the Shots,” USA Today

Category 17: Personal Comment (121)
Gold: Steve Friedman, “It’s Not About the Hole,” Bicycling
Silver: Silvano Marchetto and Marisa Acocella Marchetto, “Italian Road Trip: So, What Should We Eat?” Bon Appétit
Bronze: Sebastian Junger, “Running Away,” National Geographic Adventure

Category 18: Special-Purpose Travel (118)
Gold: John Falk, “Downward Facing Boyfriend,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Paula Bock, “Burma: Healing and Hand Puppets,” The Seattle Times
Bronze: Leigh Ann Henion, “The Longest Yard,” The Washington Post

Category 19: Short Travel Article (70)
Gold: Christopher P. Baker, “ Baracoa,” Cuba Absolutely
Silver: Arthur Golden, “ Stolen Kisses,” National Geographic Traveler
Bronze: Tom Downey, “A Manhattan in Tokyo,” Outside’s Go

Category 20: Travel Books (16)
Gold: Nesreen Khashan and Jim Bowman, editors, “Encounters with the Middle East,”
Travelers’ Tales/Solas House
Silver: Susan Fox Rogers, editor, “Antarctica: Life on the Ice,” Travelers’ Tales/Solas House
Bronze: Anita Alan, author, “Big Sur Inn: The Deetjen Legacy,” Gibbs Smith, Publisher

Category 21: Guidebooks (46)
Gold: Erik Torkells and the editors of Budget Travel, “Secret Hotels,” Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Silver: Andrew Evans, author, “Iceland,” Bradt Travel Guides
Bronze: Debbie Harmsen and Michael Nalepa, editors, “Fodor’s Complete Guide to the National Parks of the West,” Fodor’s Travel Publications

Category 22: Online Travel Journalism Sites (24)
Gold: Boston.com/travel, The Boston Globe, Christine Makris, Senior Producer
Silver: BudgetTravel.com, Budget Travel, Steve Merrill, Online General Manager

Bronze: Southernliving.com/southernbyways, Southern Living, compiled by Annette Thompson, Associate Travel Editor

Category 23: Travel Broadcast — Audio (18)
Gold: Paul Lasley and Elizabeth Harryman, “On Travel — Kansas City,” XM Satellite Radio
Silver: Joseph Rosendo, “Ontario, Canada’s Far North,” Travelscope Radio Network
Bronze: Ron Bernthal, “Lost and Saved,” WJFF Public Radio

Category 24: Travel Broadcast — Video (10)
Gold: Joseph Rosendo, “Colors of Malaysia,” PBS TV stations
Silver: Joseph Rosendo, “Churchill, Manitoba’s Beluga Whales and Polar Bears,” PBS TV stations Bronze: Toni Salama, chicagotribune.com, Hawaii’s Big Island, Galveston, Kemah, Greek cruise and Dubai shorts


Bill Muster Photography Competition


Photographer of the Year

** Gold: Ellen Clark ** Silver Alison Wright ** Bronze: Chad Case

** Single Subject Portfolio ** Gold: Gail Mooney (Buenos Aires) ** Silver: Michael Ventura (Cajun Country) ** Bronze: Donnie Sexton (Life on the Ganges)

** Animals Gold: Bernadette Heath Silver: Blaine Harrington III Bronze: Stuart Dee HM: Rick Browne HM: Steve Rosenberg

** Action Gold: Paul Franklin Silver: Michael De Freitas Bronze: Steve Bly HM: Steve Bly HM: Gary Crallé

** Cultural Gold: Michele Burgess Silver: Yvette Cardozo Bronze: Richard Nowitz HM: Richard Nowitz HM: Bob Willis

** Natural Scenic Gold: Richard Nowitz Silver: Eric Lindberg Bronze: Dennis Cox HM: Blaine Harrington III HM: Mary Love

** People Gold: Richard Nowitz Silver: Blaine Harrington III Bronze: Donald Nausbaum HM: Donald Nausbaum HM: Stuart Dee

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.

Marooned at Machu Picchu

Heavy rains triggered mudslides that cut off Cuzco-Machu Picchu land connections

In the great scheme of recently world catastrophes, Tuesday's mudslides between Cuzco and Machu Picchu are small potatoes. After all, compared with tens of thousands of fatalities, grave injuries, wildspread hunger and a capital city destroyed in Haiti's earthquake two weeks ago, the suspension of train service, the five to 10 deaths (reportedly including one guide and one tourist) and somewhere between 800 and 2,000 stranded tourists are no big deal. Record rains have fallen in this region.

Despite heavy weather, helicopters evacuated hundreds of marooned tourists near the famous Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. Beyond the tourist impact, Preuvian authorities estimate that 10,000 people have been affected by the rain and some 2,000 homes destroyed in and around Machu Picchu.

I've been wanting to see Machu Picchu for years, but I can't say that I'm sorry not to be there right now.

Inter-Island Airline Improvements in Hawaii

In the wake of Aloha's demise, Mokulele Airlines set to fly with larger aircraft

Mokulele Airlines of Hawai’i will begin flying 70-seat Embraer 170 jets on November 19, 2008. The two-class cabin will have large windows, comfortable seating with extra armrest room at the elbow, wider aisles and overhead bins nearly 30 percent larger than standard in most narrow-body aircraft to accommodate large carry-on bags.

Republic Airways Holdings, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is operating Mokulele Airlines. This airline holding company owns Chautauqua Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. I just flew Chautauqua, operating in Texas as a Continental commuter partner, from Houston to Midland-Odessa and from El Paso back to Houston. Previously, Mesa Airlines operated smaller Cessnas for Mokulele.

After all the airline failures I've written about in recent months, I am happy -- really happy -- to report on improved air service, especially in Hawaii, which really depends on reliable air service. The carrier's phone number is 808-426-7070.