Taking off Travel blog

10 Places American Tourists Should Visit in 2012

by Anna Dewinter

Travelers might think of visiting Great Britain for the Olympic Games 2012, or to experience the sights and sounds of London – one of America’s favorite destinations. However, there are other destinations that are sometimes overlooked and that definitely deserve a visit in 2012.

Whilst there, consider using hire cars to drive south to the second city and explore Cork – enjoy shopping in the English Market and ringing the Bells of Shandon. Throw in a short trip to nearby Blarney Castle where the famous Blarney Stone awaits.

From Cork, fly to the third destination: Hamburg. Packed with popular things to do and see, including the Miniature Wonderland with model railways and tiny countries, there are also fantastic parks and gardens, examples of superb architecture and wonderful museums.

A high-speed train runs between Hamburg and Amsterdam in The Netherlands, which has a laid-back ambiance and offers the wonderful Van Gogh Museum and the Royal Palace. For a countryside trip, seek out the tulip fields and windmills.

For these four European destinations tourists should always carry ID: a valid passport is needed but a visa is not required for stays of less than three months.

Two Complementary Destinations in China

Hong Kong displays a fusion of east and west influences with major Chinese temples and palaces, accessible via the iconic tram system, plus skyscrapers and Hong Kong Disneyland!

A three-hour flight from Hong Kong to Beijing takes visitors to a different, exquisite historical era; explore the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Ming Tombs and the Temple of Heaven.

Singular India

Delhi in India is a city in two parts: Old Delhi features historic mosques, forts and shrines, whilst New Delhi is contemporary, bustling and cosmopolitan. Be sure to view the stunning Taj Mahal in nearby Agra, the world’s finest monument to Mughal architecture and one of the seven top tourist attractions globally.

For both China and India a visa is required and a passport must have at least six months’ validity.

Three Different Choices – Abu Dhabi, St Vincent and Wellington

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates might be relatively unknown but it offers a relaxed break and a glimpse of the rich cultural heritage of the city. Explore dramatic sand dunes and mountains, and cruise along the Gulf Coast. A valid passport is sufficient if staying for up to 30 days; visas are free of charge at the port of entry.

Caribbean island destination St Vincent and the Grenadines is a great alternative to Barbados or Martinique. An English-speaking location, there are lots of tourist facilities among the tropical eco-rainforests. Snorkeling, yachting and scuba diving are on offer.

The city of Wellington provides easy access to the lovely North and South Islands of New Zealand. Besides the outstanding natural habitat, Wellington offers fabulous views from its cable cars and the Mount Victoria Lookout, and great shopping in the bohemian quarter of town. Pack a passport – visa requirements are waived for US citizens.

Whether preferred vacation choices are educational, unusual or exotic, there is a place to visit in 2012 that suits perfectly.

Image: slleong

Today we’re looking at Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF), a follow-up to previous coverage of New York airports, including JFK, LaGuardia (LGA) and Albany (ALB) airports.  Buffalo Airport serves Southern Ontario in Canada as well as the New York metropolitan area.

History

The airport started life as the Buffalo Municipal Airport in 1926, so it’s one of the country’s oldest public airports. It started passenger service in 1927 with flights to Cleveland.  The airport had successive expansions in 1955 and 1961 and its name was changed to Greater Buffalo International Airport in 1959. Expansions continued to address the growing air traffic, but it soon became clear that a new airport would be needed to keep pace with modern requirements. This was built between the existing terminals and opened in November 1997 as the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. The old terminals were then demolished.

The airport now has 25 gates and handled more than 5 million passengers in 2010. According to the airport it’s the fifth least expensive place to fly in the US, with a price per mile of about half of the most expensive place. It serves several major air carriers including AirTran, American Airlines, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, United and US Airways.

Services and Amenities

BUF Airport has a range of useful passenger services and amenities. In addition to food outlets and shops, the airport has a cell phone lot, laptop workstations near gates 3,14, and 20, and charging stations for cell phones and MP3 players at gates 4,14, and 20 and in the baggage claim. There are also special services for disabled travelers. Check out the terminal map and list of accommodation for more nearby amenities.

BUF Airport Parking

In addition to the onsite airport parking, we also offer Buffalo airport parking reservations. These include Thrifty Airport Parking, Airport Valet Parking and airport parking from The Parking Spot. Book on the web for discounted airport parking rates which are locked in when you reserve.

Things to Do Near Buffalo Airport

If you’re visiting the area, you’ll find plenty to do near Buffalo-Niagara International Airport.  You could make things easy by hopping on a plane and visiting Niagara Falls, but if you want to stay in the US, here are some suggestions:

• Go on a sailing adventure on the Spirit of Buffalo. Best done in summer, a sail on a 73 foot schooner is one of the areas most popular things to do.
• Visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House.
• Check out the beautiful Victorian homes, lovely walks and eclectic nightlife in Allentown.
• Find out more about Theodore Roosevelt at Wilcox Mansion.
• See the Heritage Farm (and the animals) at Buffalo Zoo.

Image: Craig Damlo

Happy leap month! It’s already been the leap year for a whole 31 days, but for many of us the whole leap year thing really comes into focus in February. Here are some fun and interesting facts about the leap year.

• The Egyptians are responsible for our knowledge that the solar and human calendars are not in sync.
• Instead of 365 days, the Earth takes an extra 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 second to go around the Sun.
• The Romans (Julius Caesar) added February 29th as a leap day in the Julian calendar, with the once every 4 years rule. It took another 1500 years (till 1582) for the Gregorian calendar to apply the system we use now.
• Only years divisible by 4 have leap days.
• No year that can be divided by 100 has a leap day unless it is also divisible by 400. That’s why 1900 was not a leap year but 2000 was.
• Leap day is the day when women are allowed to propose to men (though these days most women don’t wait if that’s what they want to do.) According to tradition, this practice started in the fifth century.
• Since those born on February 29th only have a birthday every 4 years (most celebrate the day before or day after), they can claim to be much younger than their calendar years. Here’s a handy chart to work out your age in leap years if this applies to you.
• Even decades usually have three leap years (e.g. 2000, 2004, 2008); even ones have two (e.g 1992, 1996)
• Want to know what day of the week Leap Day will be? It occurs on the same day every 28 years.  That means it will be 2040 before Leap Day is on a Wednesday again.
• According to the Guinness Book of Records, one family in the UK has three generations born on February 29th. They are Peter Anthony Keogh (194), Peter Eric Keogh (1964) and Bethany Wealth (1996).
• Not everyone follows the Gregorian calendar. For example, the lunisolar Chinese calendar adds a leap month approximately every 3 years. This month takes place at different times in the calendar.
• Sweden once had an extra leap day, February 30th, in 1712.

Image: OliBac

You’ve got an extra day to travel this month. Don’t forget to check our site and save on off airport parking.

Today I’d like to share with you one of my all time favorite online planning tools. It’s called Workflowy – and it works just as well for planning travel as for any other use. Workflowy starts from the premise that almost everything you do starts with a list, so when you first login to Workflowy, what you get is a blank page where you can make bulleted lists. Type and hit enter and you have a list item. Keep repeating till you run out of things to list. So far, so good, but there are lots of listing tools, so what gives Workflowy the edge? Several things, and I’ll illustrate by sharing how I set up my account.

Planning a Trip to Europe

As well as projects, goals, blog ideas, thoughts and links, I started a list item for my planned trip to Europe. I wanted one place to collect all the stuff I needed to think about. Once I’d created the main heading, I double clicked on the bullet point to create a new page with that list item as the main heading. On that page, I created a number of sub-items for the issues I wanted to look at, such as the countries I wanted to include, the accommodation to investigate, and some possible sightseeing targets in each country. Then I could add sub-items for each item. For example, under things to see in Spain, I could add Barcelona (yes, I do mean the whole city!), the Sagrada Familia, etc.

Workflowy Features

Workflowy has drag and drop, which means I can easily reorder items if I need to. I can also add notes to each list item, which is useful for more detail or to keep track of links related to a particular task I want to carry out. Every time I complete a task, a line goes through it, and I can choose to keep completed items hidden or visible. I can delete items that are no longer relevant, and I can also export the entire list (or a portion of it) and share lists with people, which could be useful if more than one person is involved in trip planning.

I find Workflowy an excellent tool for all sorts of uses. You can do a brain dump when you are initially thinking about a trip, then refine your thoughts by adding other considerations as sub-items and changing the order of items to reflect their importance. Workflowy also has search and tagging. And there’s one more good thing about Workflowy – it’s got a restful user interface. It looks like a page with a list and it never gets overwhelming because you can keep main list items collapsed and only expand when you want to see the sub-items.

Have you ever tried Workflowy as a travel planning tool? What do you think of it?

Planning a trip? Don’t forget to use our Happy12 coupon and save on off airport parking.

Here’s our weekly roundup of some of the recent travel news stories.

Experts Predict Airline Ticket Sales Slowdown

Last week we mentioned the new rules to promote more transparency in air travel prices for consumers. That story has continued to promote discussion especially since the rules came into force last Thursday. However, an article in the LA Times suggests that the rules may result in a reduction in ticket sales because of ‘sticker shock’ – the sudden increase in prices. This view is held by a number of travel industry experts. There is still a pending lawsuit to stop the rules from going into force, brought by Southwest, Spirit and Allegiant.

LA Visitor Numbers Rocket

The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau has released figures showing a 4.2% increase in overnight visitors to LA during 2011. The influx of 26.9 million people had a resulting 8% increase in spending by tourists to $15.2 billion. One of the largest sections of growth was in the international visitor sector, where visitor numbers increased by 7% and spending increased by 12%. One of the factors driving the growth was increased traffic from Asia, as well as Canada and Mexico but there was also a 2% increase in domestic travel to LA. The airport is undertaking an expansion of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, to cost $1.5 billion and Los Angeles is to host the US Travel Association’s International PowWow in April, resulting in an influx of international visitors. If you are planning to visit LA in 2012, check out our recommendations for things to do in LA.

Brazil Boom Brings Travel Woes

If you’re planning a trip to Brazil in the near future to attend any of the major sporting events to be held there, don’t be surprised if the trip leaves you feeling underwhelmed. The country is due to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics and ahead of that the country is experiencing a travel boom. That means headaches for passengers in terms of higher ticket prices and lots of delays. Brazil’s airport infrastructure just isn’t ready to cope with the boom and airport upgrades scheduled to be ready by the June 2013 start of the Confederations Cup, are unlikely to be complete. More on this in the Washington Post.

Relax at SFO

If you happen to be visiting San Francisco, you might find your trip through San Francisco International Airport quite … peaceful. Though that’s not a word often associated with air travel, the airport now has a Yoga Room in terminal 2, reports Time. Low lighting and sound protection should keep the noise of the terminal at bay, and you can sit on one of the many available yoga mats between 4.30am to 12.30am daily and rediscover your bliss!

Visiting SFO, LAX or another airport? Don’t forget to use our Happy12 coupon and save on off airport parking.