Norwegian Discounts Cruises From New York

Norwegian is dealing on its November cruises out of New York to the Bahamas. Inside cabins are available on seven-night cruises at $399 per person, double occupancy, which comes out to $507.50 when taxes and fees are added.

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Chillax For Less At Kripalu

The Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Mass., is offering a third night free to guests who book two nights in its retreat and renewal program this winter, and two free nights for those who book three nights.

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Vacation Scammer Seeks Cash

I just got one of those emails purportedly from an acquaintance who is stranded overseas and needs me to wire money asap:

I’m in some kind of deep mess right now.I came down here to London,England for a short Vacation, got mugged at gun point last night at the park of the hotel where i lodged.All cash,credit cards and cell were stolen,I went to the U.S embassy and the Police here to report but they’re not helping issues at all,My flight leaves today and I’m having problems settling the hotel bills.

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Making Air Travel Even More Unbearable

Joe Sharkey tries out the new “stand-up” airplane seat and finds it quite unsurprisingly uncomfortable.  Here are some unlovely photos from the manufacturer. I was going to post the photos, but I just can’t bear it.

Why do the things in commercial aviation that I hope most fervently will not catch on seem to be the things that always catch on?

Amtrak Offers 25 Percent Discount In Northeast

Amtrak is offering a 25 percent discount for advance purchase of one-way fares on its Northeast Regional service, which runs from New Haven to Washington with spurs reaching Boston and Springfield, as well as Lynchburg and Newport News, Va.
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A Look At Ryanair’s Abusive Policies

It’s pretty much a given that Ryanair will charge an extra fee for anything and everything it can think of, but I got a look today at how predatory that airline’s practices really are.

Some relatives got an email this morning from Ryanair stating that they would be charged 40 euros each for boarding passes at the airport — a penalty because they had not checked in online and printed passes at least four hours before their domestic flight in Spain.

At the current exchange rate that’s $50. To print a piece of paper. (And what’s with the four-hour cutoff?)

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A European Lesson In Patience

My father and I were driving from Galicia to Madrid on Monday when traffic on the A-6 (care-ay-TAY-rah day la nor-oh-AY-stay, according to the GPS) came to a complete stop — and stayed that way for nearly an hour.

The Spanish drivers got out of their cars, stretched and, in the case of almost every male driver, urinated on the side of the road. I ate most of the food I’d brought along for lunch and read a few chapters of my book (“The Known World” by Edward P. Jones: Must. Read.) Finally, I asked a nearby driver what had happened. He let out a stream of Gallego-inflected Spanish from which I extracted the word “mineros” and little else.
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Photo: Villafranca del Bierzo, Spain

Villafranca del Bierzo, Spain

I took this photo from the window of my room at the Hotel Plaza in Villafranca del Bierzo, Spain.

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