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Lea Lane: For a Bargain: A Repositioning Transatlantic Crossing

2009-12-21T10:32:32Z

I'm writing this watching waves fold to the horizon under a cloud dabbled gray-blue sky in the middle of the Atlantic. I'm on the Azamara Journey, the same small ship I took almost two years ago when I traveled solo to Antarctica. This time I'm not solo, and I'm in far warmer climes, on a a ship repositioning from Europe to the Caribbean.

Avoiding hurricane season, ships cross in the spring from the Caribbean to Europe and in late fall, cross back the other way. If you're lucky and savvy you can take advantage of this bargain adventure as the crew paints and otherwise spiffs up the ship around you.

Our cruise started along the Mediterranean -from Barcelona to Alicante Spain to Gibraltar to the Portuguese island of Madeira. Our last landfall was La Palma, in the Canary islands off the African coast, before turning west heading six days into the ocean and on to the Bahamas and Miami.

This wonderful trip is a holiday gift from my new beau - and a way to make sure we can spend a couple of weeks together in a small cabin and remain smitten. (In previous testings with other fellas, one of us usually failed).

Columbus sailed from the Canary islands as the last known land mass on his way to discover a route to India on an uncharted sea, and he was busy! We were too. In fact, you might be interested in a synopsis of the options of a typical day at sea -Thursday, December 10. I doubt the Nina, Pinta or Santa Maria had slots and shows and virtual bowling (well, maybe a Spanish crossword puzzle: "Hmmm... four down... what we hope the earth is not ....")

A Day in the Middle of the Ocean

Up early, at 7:30. Not sure what I'll choose to do today. I decide not to "walk a mile" along the jogging track. I'll walk later. I could join the sunrise and stretch or sudoku and crossword at 8, but instead breakfast in the cabin. I usually have juice, a bagel and coffee, trying desperately to minimize the 7-pound weight gain of most passengers.

At 9 am there's a service club get-together, or a special interest trivia ("All About Aviation") at 9:30 shuffleboard, and at 9:45, visual trivia ("Flags of the World"). I pass on all. Shuffleboard is a cliché for elders and I'm not up on flags except for stars and stripes.

By 10 am most passengers are up and about and can choose from an Adobe Photoshop lesson in the computer room, a bridge players lecture, a Smithsonian lecture on the Poles, by the institution's director for marine science. Not into lectures -I'm thinking arts and crafts: Santa's underwear. Sounds more interesting than shuffleboard but do I really care whether Santa chooses briefs or boxers, or even goes commando? No. I'm bi-polar myself (as in "having traveled to Greenland and Antarctica") but the Smithsonian lecture will later be shown on my in-room TV, so can catch it later.

At 10:15 there's Tic Tac Toe Putt, which sounds like golf for dummies. At 10:30 more hard choices, including a fitness seminar on detox for weight loss, or pictionarions (who names these crazy sounding things in the daily bulletin?). Being a nice Jewish girl, I'm tempted by a latke cookoff. But who needs the calories and heartburn, I'm already eating for three.

A cha-cha lesson is given at 11 by Maryanne and Jeff, master dancers; but beau and I already had a mambo lesson and I have cha-chaed since I was a teen in Miami Beach, so no need. At 11:15 I could attend a tanzanite seminar given by the nice man in the jewelry shop who no doubt wants to tempt us to buy a bauble but I had bought myself one of those purplish-blue stones as a special gift to myself in Tanzania, shortly after my husband died eight years ago. Pass.

11:30 it's Team Trivia. Games are overheated and loud, so I skip that and also the Spot the Fake raffle draw. I think I'm already pretty good at spotting fakes, like the Salahis.

So it's lunch. And up to now I've done nothing but eat breakfast. Reading about all those activities has worn me out. I think I'll nap by the pool, after checking out the buffet, where I especially like the Indian specialities and sushi.

After lunchtime, the activities continue. If passengers are into gambling, the casino features Texas Hold 'Em tournaments through the afternoon and evening, and $500 Mega Bingo and a poker slots qualifying round. As my dad was a pro gambler, I'm inoculated from these surefire ways of losing money.

Throughout the early afternoon there's an Improv Acting Class, an art preview and live art auction. We can sign up for the talent show, play duplicate and social bridge, or take a Broadway dance class. Or we can join the Azamara High Seas Choir, or play a Virtual Home Run Derby.

I finally do something social! At 2:15 I play Battle of the Sexes. Men and women vying for points throughout the cruise, answering trivia questions. As I was long ago on Jeopardy!, general knowledge is my thing and I make some contributions ("The Statue of Liberty was modeled after the sculptor's mother" ... "The three longest rivers are the Nile, the Amazon and the Yangtze ....")

After the exhausting rigors of that game I decide to indulge in teeth whitening next day day in the spa (hope it's a calm day or I'll wind up with bleached lips), while Beau will get a haircut. I'll skip acupuncture or the cellulite reduction program. I can't imagine needles placed in my body on rough seas. Bleached lips would be bad enough.

3:30 to 4:30 is time for "Elegant Tea" up in the fancy restaurant on the top floor, with harp music and scones and such. I'm still full of sushi, so pass. For harder drinkers there will be a later cocktail party and a martini tasting and (not surprisingly) a "Friends of Bill W" meeting. These discreet meetings are offered daily on most ships where alcoholic temptations abound.

Before the sun sets on the high seas there's another late-afternoon computer class, and photo op with Santa with or without his underwear (see above if you are skimming!). And all kinds of dancing, music and cabaret entertainment long into the night. Tonight's featured performer was a backup singer for Barbara Steisand. Last night there was a comedian-magician and the night before a young guy who played a xylophone-synthesizer. Okay, it isn't Vegas, but it's a small ship, remember -- only 500 or so onboard.

For dinner we have a choice of two fancy restaurants on the top deck, plus the buffet restaurant, and the main dining room. We choose the dining room and sit with two other couples who seem to have participated in most of the activities. They look tired. Tomorrow night we are invited to dine at the captain's table with our big Greek master of the ship. The poor man has to host table after table of us throughout the crossing.

Santa arrived before bedtime, offering cookies and punch in the ship's library. Some passengers wrote him a letter hoping to win another contest. I just sat on his knee.

I hope you get an idea of the options of a repositioning cruise, even if you don't opt for them. Days are as active or as sedentary as you wish, and because we cross the ocean in iffy conditions, at bargain rates.

And I did accomplish a few independent things. I wrote this post. I read a bit of The Last Chinese Chef. I checked my emails. I walked up and down stairs, and a couple of miles on the jogging track. I watched Obama accept the Nobel Peace Prize as our satellite reception faded away. And before bed, as our ship headed further west on swelling Atlantic waves, I perused tomorrow's completely new list of activities, placed on our pillow along with a chocolate.

Thanks, Columbus, for leading the way. And thanks, Beau for inviting me on the same voyage path over 500 years later. (I now admit, some cruise activities omitted here. Let's just say I save my energy for the things that count, Atlantic crossings or not.)

Lea Lane: I Saw Greenland Melting

2009-12-16T17:20:47Z

Later this week -- if troubles abate at the climate change talks in Copenhagen -- President Obama will speak with 191 other world leaders about the global warming crisis. But there is posturing and bickering and real problems to resolve from countries rich and poor. The conference leader has resigned. Protests are increasing. It's a depressing, dangerous scenario.

This past Polar Year -- which actually has been going on for two -- more than a thousand researchers from sixty countries reported on polar climate change both in the Arctic and Antarctic. Their reports told us more definitively about how much of the ice is melting, and the role of gases and emissions, in the future. And the results were worse than expected. (See the February 21, 2009 New York Times editorial on newest stats about global warming.)

I posted here about my trips near the poles in early 2008. I cruised within a few degrees of 70 latitude south in Antarctica, and six weeks later I flew to northern Greenland at the same latitude north, 250 kilometers above the Arctic circle. (As my friends wryly note, I'm now bi-polar.)

Whatever the cause, I've seen the effects of global warming with my own eyes, and listened to Greenland fishermen who have no agenda except to make a living and feed their families. Since I was there, glacial melt is increasing in the Arctic, and a huge chunk of Antarctica is right now floating towards Australia.

And despite this, the politics remain dismaying and intransigent. Even talking together is a problem.

Al Gore may have some recent trouble with stats, but in An Inconvenient Truth, has projected with scientfic backing that if we emit only twice the amount of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases we do now, and if the temperature increases by only a couple of degrees, the almost three-kilometer thick Greenlandic inland ice will melt away. Global sea level will rise over twenty feet, causing world catastrophe. The horizon for such a scenario is a few thousand -- or even a few hundred years -- depending on which researcher you ask.

Why has Greenland become a major symbol for global warming? The Greenland ice cap, fourteen times the size of England, covers most of this largest island in the world, and contains ten per cent of the world's total reserves of fresh water. The ice is constantly changing and moving, and every year sheds thousands of icebergs into the sea from glaciers in the central and north-western regions. These bergs consist of heavily compacted snow that fell up to 15,000 years ago.

The ice fjord I visited near Ilulissat is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Sermeq Kujalleq near there, the fastest moving glacier in the world, produces the most ice -- twenty million tons a day. But since 1840 it has shrunk forty kilometers, and in the past few years alone, over fifteen kilometers -- the equivalent of about ten meters, or thirty feet a day.

In 2007, Arctic-Ocean ice was half of what it was four years before, and warming will trigger icebergs to break free from the leading edge of glaciers more frequently, opening the way for the glaciers to race even faster to the sea.

Some climate researchers from the Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder Colorado now believe that these warming Arctic waters could be completely ice free by 2012. (Scientists previously estimated this wouldn't happen until 2040.)

Two Aprils ago I passed within a few hundred feet of icebergs big as battleships, fortresses, cathedrals and islands, and thousands of smaller chunks gently drifted past in the Arctic currents. Some of this ice will float more than 2,500 miles south before melting at latitudes of around 40 degrees, the latitude of New York.

The ice took all shapes, and openings in some icebergs were large enough to tempt our little red fishing boat to sail through (we didn't), and we crunched over ice the size of cars. Aqua water outlined the seven-eighths of ice below the surface, and small, clear bits -- frozen rain trapped maybe thousands of years ago and now freed -- float pure and sweet around us, like crystals in the sun.

Despite the warming trend, ice and snow surrounded me in Greenland. I gingerly walked on it, and dog-sledged for hours along steep, white, glistening fields behind a fan of fifteen Greenlandic dogs and an Inuit driver sharing my sledge. And from the little red Dash-7 Air Greenland plane I gazed down on thousands of bergs in the sea, white polka dots on blue velvet.

Looking inland, the vast icecap stretched as far as I could see. Near Kangerlussuaq, the air hub where we made connections, I stepped onto this huge remnant from the last ice age. I'm no expert on global warming, but I did talk to dozens of locals, mainly fishermen, who make their living at the Royal Greenland fisheries from these waters. Some of what they said:

-- The water temperature is two or three degrees warmer than in the recent past.

-- Cod have moved to the area, and shrimp have moved further north. Fishermen have not been able to ice fish recently, and they can now sail into previously icebound fjords year round.

-- Sealers and whalers in Qaanaaq in north Greenland, say that the sea ice is three feet thinner today than earlier.

-- For the past ten years the Ilulissat harbor has not frozen, and it always did before.

People are reacting to this and Greenland is becoming a world center of climate research. Three Ilulissat warehouses are now Kangia Ice Fjord station, where scientists and researchers will study climate change on a regular basis.

John McCain, Nancy Pelosi and other pols have already made the pilgrimage to Greenland's melting icecap. They, like me, were probably shocked by the sea of floating ice, beautiful yet bittersweet. And it's getting worse. Besides these iceberg-clogged Arctic waters, a couple of weeks after I returned from Antarctica, the Wilkins ice shelf, 160 square miles wide, broke off near the western peninsula, near waters where I had been cruising.

Questions may still exist as to the speed of declining ice, but facts now show it is declining faster than ever recorded. What can we do? And can we get our act together and take a world view before we destroy the planet and ourselves?

We shall see what comes out of Copenhagen this week.

Witnessing the silent white/blue coldness of ice shelves, ice caps, glaciers and icebergs in our polar regions is life-altering. How can all countries not be moved to go green in every way possible, when the white of the world seems to be melting before our eyes?

Business Or Pleasure? Foreign Travel Costs Spike For Congress

2009-12-16T07:11:54Z

Lawmakers take scores of overseas trips each year to visit military bases, meet foreign officials, attend conferences and see how U.S. funds are spent. Ever since a corruption scandal in 2005 led to restrictions on privately funded travel, legislators have been taking more trips paid for by the government.

The cost they reported for such travel abroad was $13 million in 2008, a 70% jump from 2005, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records. Lawmakers don't have to report the cost of domestic travel when the government pays. The $13 million didn't include the expense of flying on Air Force planes, which lawmakers don't have to disclose.

Teresa Rodriguez Williamson: Donation Vacations: A Brilliant Idea For All

2009-12-15T16:14:44Z

If you happen to own a hotel, restaurant or villa at a destination where tourism has dramatically dropped, then you might want to talk with Mr. Ajit M. George, co-founder of the very successful Winemakers Dinners in the British Virgin Islands. Mr. George is a seasoned fundraiser and entrepreneur who knows how to raise money and draw a crowd.

In 1989, Ajit became the Founding Chairman of Meals On Wheels Delaware and launched the highly successful Meals From The Masters Culinary Weekend in 1998. During the ten years that he chaired these major culinary events, he was able to raise more than $4.2 million for Meals On Wheels in Delaware.

Ironically, 27 years ago, Mr. George bought a little 147-acre property in the British Virgin Islands called Nail Bay. In 2008, he was trying to figure out how he could increase tourism to the BVI, while raising money for the local charities that desperately needed funding. Learning from his success with Meals on Wheels, he decided to see if his magic could work in the Caribbean. Could he entice travelers to his piece of heaven by offering an event that brought together culinary stars and legendary winemakers while supporting local BVI charities? He was not sure, but was willing to find out. So, with the help of a few friends, The BVI Winemakers Dinners idea was born. Now, all he needed was a few famous chefs, international winemakers and the hospitality of villa owners throughout the 60-plus BVI archipelagos to support his dream.

Martin Dindos, owner of OHMS, a company that imports premium wines from Germany and fine champagnes met with Ajit in the Czech Republic and together they conspired to make Winemakers Dinners a reality. Mr. Dindos, a founding sponsor, helped convince many of the winemakers to donate rare and exclusive wines for the event, as well as fly to British Virgin Islands for the dinners. Richard Grosche, wine journalist from German wine magazine Weinwelt and Manager of the international wine academy MUNDUS vini donated his time to meticulously pair the wines with the food each day.

OHMS - which stands for On Her Majesty Services - also donated the fine Czech porcelain and glasses for the seven course place settings each evening.

This past Winemakers Dinners series, held on December 2 to December 6, welcomed international tastemakers, seasoned gourmands, travelers and media from Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, United Kingdom and the United States.

The gourmet lunches and dinners were held at a collection of exclusive villas and restaurants on three islands and featured an incredible variety of cuisine prepared by some of the world's most celebrated chefs. The wines were poured by winemakers from Argentina, California, France, Germany and Italy.

Over 860 people attended the four dinners, seven luncheons and the VIP Reception. The four-day event featured 74 courses of food, and 81 different wines that were paired with these courses.

This series of Winemakers Dinners kicked off with a private VIP Reception at the Pirate's Bight, on Norman Island and featured over 12 different Caribbean dishes prepared by Chef Matthew Webb from Guana Island and Norman Island. Two different wines from Rosemount from Caribbean Cellars and two burgundies from Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils from Grands Vins de France were poured.

The first dinner was held at Baraka Point Estate at Nail Bay, Virgin Gorda. The second night was hosted by Richard Friedman at his private villa, Frenchman's Lookout on Tortola Island. The third dinner was hosted at Giorgio's Table and Rock Cafe on Virgin Gorda. The final dinner was hosted at the newly-constructed Golden Pavilion Villa on Tortola Island.

Each night, the seven-course dinners were paired with 14 renowned wines, personally poured by the vintners. Every night, the guests were treated to a pre-dinner sunset reception featuring Grand Cru Champagnes from Pierre Paillard Champagne in France.

Visiting chefs and culinary personalities created a symphony of food under the leadership of Vikram Garg from Halekulani Resort in Waikiki, Hawaii who has served as the Executive Chef of the Virgin Islands Winemakers Dinners from its inception.

The other chefs included:
Anne Burrell, host of the Food Network program, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef
Roberto Trevino from Budatai, Puerto Rico
Otto Borsich from City Hall Restaurant, Keller, Texas
Taekuing Chung from Chung Cooking Studio, Tokyo, Japan
Albert Kramer who served as the first Executive Chef of Virgin Gorda's Little Dix Bay when it opened in 1964.

Virgin Gorda based chefs who participated included Heidi Davis Benyair, pastry chef at Biras Creek and Giorgio Paradiso, owner of Giorgio's Table All the chefs volunteered their time and talent.

The international vintners included:
Antoine and Quentin Paillard from Grand Cru Champagne producer Pierre Paillard in Bouzy, France
Andres Belinsky of Terrazas de los Andes and Cheval des Andes in Argentina
Johannes Haart of Weingut Rienhold Haart in Piesport, Germany
Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga of Tenuta San Leonardo, Trentino, Italy
Larry Stone of Francis Ford Coppola's Rubicon Estate in Rutherford, California
Gerhard Grans from Weingut Grans-Fassian in Leiwen, Germany.

All the winemakers donated their wines for this incredible fund raising event.

"The 2009 Winemakers Dinners were a series of exclusive events during which guests had the opportunity to meet some of the most gifted winemakers in the world and sample their award-winning wines. These are wines were expertly paired with innovative creations by international master chefs together with some chefs in the British Virgin Islands. We are pleased that over $110,000 in gross revenue was raised from the 2009 Winemakers Dinners even though the economic climate was very challenging. However the combination of great food and wonderful wine served in unique settings in the British Virgin Islands persuaded both visitors and residents to support this event," said Mr. George.

The four beneficiaries of the net proceeds of the 2009 Winemakers Dinners are The BVI Red Cross, St. Mary's School, Virgin Gorda, St. George's School, Tortola, and YEP (Youth Empowerment Project) in the East End, Tortola.

The Co-Chairs of the BVI Charitable Fund are the Premier of the British Virgin Islands, the Hon. Ralph T. O'Neal, OBE and Ajit Mathew George, Managing Director, Nail Bay Resort. The BVI Charitable Fund was established in March 2008 with a $25,000 challenge grant from Nail Bay Resort to help promote this destination to potential new visitors while at the same time creating new and innovative fund-raising events to benefit various charities in the BVI by attracting support from both outside and within the BVI. The BVI Charitable Fund is part of the Community Foundation (BVI) Limited which has no paid staff or overhead. In addition to Nail Bay Resort the other Founding Sponsors are Allivictus and OHMS.

For additional information including pictures from the various dinners and lunches visit www.winemakersdinners.com.

The next Winemakers Series will be July 2010.

To see more images from the December Winemakers Series, click here: TDWmedia(c)

Photo credit: Tim Williamson

Terry Gardner: Cellular Self-Defense: Don't Get Ripped Off By Hidden Cell Phone Charges

2009-12-14T14:54:49Z

With smart phones keeping many of us connected 24/7, it's hard to drop off the grid while you're abroad. But it might make financial sense to do just that.

ROFL ("rolling on the floor laughing" as my nephew explained it) isn't that much fun if the text will cost you $2.50.

Many travelers learn too late that each international text message and e-mail cost far more than they imagined -- as much as $2.50 a text and $20 (or more) per megabyte. The amount of data that fly freely across cyberspace may create an unwelcome surprise when you return home.

You need cellular self-defense.

In the European Union, telecommunications providers are regulated in the amount they can charge traveling Europeans for calls, texts and data use in Europe.

This website explains some of the safeguards: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/regulation/index_en.htm#new_rules.

Its tale of a German traveler who got a 46,000 euro bill (about $69,000) for downloading a TV program in France is an excellent reminder of the kind of trouble an international traveler can get into with a smart phone.

Indeed, the number of U.S. travelers who have run into financial troubles is legion. "I was really taken aback by the number of travelers who have contacted me with their stories of getting ripped off by roaming fees," said Christopher Elliott, travel ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler.

"It happens all the time, and you often don't even have to cross the border. Just get close," he said in an e-mail. "Or try to make a call near a port, and connect to a cell tower on a ship. It's hard to not think of the telecommunications industry as predators when it comes to these roaming charges."

Steven Frischling, a photographer and travel blogger (www.flyingwithfish.com), was billed $500 for international roaming charges on a two-day trip to Detroit. Frischling thinks his BlackBerry's signal hit a nearby tower in Windsor, Canada, just across the river from his hotel in Detroit. After Frischling produced receipts proving he was in Detroit, his cellphone company waived the charges.

Cellular self-defense also helps when smart phones do the impossible. On a recent trip to New Zealand, I used my iPhone as a calendar and iPod only and kept it in "airplane mode," which prevents incoming and outgoing calls. One morning, however, it rang. Somehow my iPhone took itself out of airplane mode (which Apple insists is impossible).

I dodged the international data charge bullet because I had turned off the features AT&T recommends to limit international data charges.

For Tips to Reduce your chances of getting gouged, see the full story: LA Times: More for Your Money - Smart Phones Can Be a Costly Travel Companion

Tim Ferriss: Top 3 Travel Spots: Tim Ferriss And Kevin Rose's Picks

2009-12-11T15:10:46Z

This is a continuation of the Random series. Past episodes include language learning, start-up advice, must-read books, and more.

Random - China Episode 2 Part B from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.

In this episode, filmed on the roof of the Yin Bar in Beijing, Kevin Rose and I (and a little bit of Glenn McElhose) discuss our top 3 favorite travel spots. Details include favorite areas, seasons, things to look for and, occasionally, things to look out for...

Let us know your favorite travel spot in the comments!

If someone were only there for one day, what are the 1-3 non-mainstream must-see or must-do picks?

###

Elsewhere on the web:
Tim Ferriss on Twitter - real-time mischief
Tim Ferriss - top-11 most popular blog posts

2morrowknight: 12 Awesome Travelers on Twitter Who Rock the Planet

2009-12-11T14:37:38Z

As a kid, I remember being eternally excited by the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom series, which went all around the world to study and film animals. The journeys were so sweeping in their grandeur, the narratives so eloquent in their presentation. Today, I get my "global fix" from viewing shows like The Amazing Race, as well as the great work of Travel Channel personalities like the lovable Samantha Brown, the ultra cool Dhani Jones, and the comical Anthony Bourdain.

And, I also get my "global fix" from reading the work of international travelers on Twitter who illustrate our world in a very bold and enlightening way. Below are 12 world travelers who do just that. Enjoy:

@umarket
Audrey & Daniel have been all over the world, and have chronicled it in their award-winning travelogue UncorneredMarket. Their global exploration has yielded great human stories, travel photography and street food reportage. In fact, their pictures of Asian mountain ranges (which can be seen here) is nothing short of breathtaking.

@TransAmericas
Karen & Eric's fantastic Trans-America journey has gone more than 4 Years, and over 200,000 miles, through North, Central & South America. Their travels have produced awe-inspiring pictures, and amazing insights. It's hard not being impressed with their cool travelogue: TransAmericas.com.

@travelojos
When Steven Roll is not doing legal editing at a Washington DC-area publishing firm, he maintains Travelojos, a great blog about his numerous travels throughout Mexico and Latin America. His passion for great food becomes evident. This picture of him above is priceless - he's having too much fun!

@almostfearless

In 2008, Christine Gilbert walked away from a major Fortune 500 Company to become a freelance writer - working and traveling to cities around the world. It's truly a great story. Her travels have taken her to 13 countries and over 20 cities. Her aptly titled blog, AlmostFearless, is a great read. It has some great links to other travel blogs.

@craig_martin
Craig Martin, an award-winning co-host of the very popular IndieTravelPodcast, a show he operates with his wife Linda. A connoisseur of wine and coffee, Craig has traveled to 5 continents. But, he gets major kudos for living in New Zealand, where the Lord of the Rings movies were shot.

@collazoprojects
Julie Schwietert Collazo is managing editor of Matador Travel. Her travel stories make for great reading, including one about what she learned from reading John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley. See her work on Collazoprojects, which she runs with Francisco Collazo, her partner in "life, love, and business." The pictures from her travels are awesome.

@pwcarey

His cool blog, The Carey Adventures, has some great pictures from his travels all over the globe: Ireland, Peru, Nepal, among many other countries. He loves back country traveling in the "mountains and woods of the Cascade Mountains in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia," as well as the sandstone marvels throughout the state of Utah.

@thefutureisred

Based in Argentina, Leigh Shulman left Brooklyn, NY to travel the world. She is the inspiring editor of Matador Life, and a noted visual artist. Her travelogue, The Future is Red, is filled with great images and insights from her travels. Her pictures of San Pedro de Atacama are smokin' hot!

@Pharaonick

Nick Rowlands was leading tours around Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan from 2005-2008. But now he's a freelance writer, and editor of the impending tour guide The Croc. Cairo, Egypt is the source of his inspiration as he continually plans his next adventure. His many travels are documented on his Trazzers page.

@Brooklynnomad
Andrew Hickey, a self-described hotel nerd and pizza snob, has a great blog, The Brooklyn Nomad. For years he wrote travel stories and shorts for media outlets, and then branched out on his own. He is @CheapOair's Manager of Social Media, and is a blogger for Oyster Hotels.

This post was originally published at 2morrowknight.blogspot.com.

Winter Storm Leaves Frigid Temps In U.S., More Snow Likely (VIDEO)

2009-12-11T07:39:48Z

The season's first big storm has left heavy snowfall and frigid temperatures across the U.S. and it looks like we are not finished yet as the large storm pushes east:

But due to the large size of the storm, it could continue pulling a strong eastward flow over the Great Lakes and into the Northeast. That could cause heavy lake-effect snow to dumping over the eastern shores of the eastern Great Lakes.

Another 5 to 9 inches of heavy and damp snow was expected over northern New York, though western Michigan was expected to see an inch or two on Friday.

Most of the nation prepared for colder than normal temperatures: "Almost the entire Lower 48 is below normal as far as temperatures. In some cases, 20, 30 degrees," CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano said.

Watch the NBC report below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Laura Dave: The Best Los Angeles Road Trips (Part 1)

2009-12-08T15:14:57Z

This past August marked my one-year anniversary of living in Los Angeles. I'd flirted with the move for about a year, spending two weeks a month in LA, overstaying my welcome in a friend's second bedroom, wondering how many times I was going to re-read Joan Didion's Goodbye To All That before I finally convinced myself it was okay to give up my small studio apartment on 10th Street in New York.

Something that helped seal the deal for me was the California Coast itself. I've spent the last 12 months working on a new novel in which the narrator has a travel column. And, in the name of research, I've spent many weekends exploring towns and cities within a day's drive of my new home.

In the spirit of this great advantage we Angelenos have -- of being able to get in our cars and head to some fairly spectacular places -- I thought I'd talk about the best road trips one can take from the city of Los Angeles.

It feels only natural that I start with Big Sur. Highway 1, winding you up California's Central Coast and into Big Sur Valley, is inarguably one of the most beautiful stretches of road ever created. And it serves as the perfect reminder that Los Angeles is within driving distance of some of the most extraordinary intersections of mountains and ocean the world has to offer.
Depending on the amount of time you have, you may want to stop at Hearst Castle, or the artist's town Cambria (where several film and TV shows have found their fictional home.) Or, you may just want to open your windows a little wider, and take in the mind-blowing beauty of the Santa Lucia Mountains.

Once you're in Big Sur, the Ventana wilderness provides the backdrop to some of the loveliest hikes on the West Coast (http://tinyurl.com/ygoeewn). Or, for the road-weary, you can also opt to spend a few hours soaking in the Esalen Baths (http://tinyurl.com/6x475l). The luxurious Ventana Inn and the rustic Deetjens Inn (the best French Toast... ever) are two great places to stay.

And, whatever else you do in Big Sur, I highly recommend stopping at the Big Sur Bakery for one of their homemade ginger scones.

I also highly request you bring one back for me.

Steven Nereo: Missing Los Angeles

2009-12-07T18:04:13Z

I drove up to San Francisco a few weekends ago for a wedding, listening to the Dodgers playoff game in the car. I was in fan mode in a Dodgers hat so I didn’t even think twice to take it off while wandering the city. This turned out to be a mistake. On a Friday night, no less then five people commented on my hat or made snide remarks about Los Angeles. I might have understood it a bit more in a working class city pride 'hood, but this was out amongst the hipstered masses pub crawling the Mission. I remember living in SF in the 1990s and hating on Los Angeles also, I just didn’t know they were still doing it.
My friend and I were talking about this at the wedding the next day, comparing “from LA” stories when some guy listening drunkenly interrupted with “..but for being from LA, you two are pretty cool..” Of course we started laughing. I know it was supposed to be a compliment, but when your stereotypical opinion is so low, even a reaching compliment feels like a diss. A reminder of just how low their starting point for the opinion really is. Anyone who has lived in Los Angeles long enough knows the feeling.

This feeling often arrives in the form of weekend visitors who can be tedious in a way that is distinctly unique to our city. Something about traveling to Los Angeles tends to bring out a certain enamored disdain that is absolutely city specific. As a host you can usually handle it for a night or two, but by day three you’re dropping guests off at the Viper Room with your home address and a cab service written on a piece of paper. It sometimes feels like they just came to LA to condescend on it while at the same time working harder then anyone you know to get some celeb time. (Most likely so they can go home and tell their friends how lame the celebs really are.) A true haters holiday and one that they love to take. That Sunday night flight to Seattle returning them from whence they came can feel a million years away.

I grew up in New York, moved to Colorado for school, finished in San Francisco and first-jobbed post college in Seattle. I move to Los Angeles 10 years ago and like a wife after a series of relationships, it is the one the stole my heart. My Los Angeles has nothing to do with the botox playground of shallow bluetooth-headset-clad knobs. Of course it is sometimes fun to joke about this element, but a weird aside is all that is in my Los Angeles. What people often fail to realize is that Los Angeles isn’t in your face like tighter cities so everything is an effort. If you don’t like the Beverly Center, skip it... forever. Don’t make the effort. You won’t miss it and it definitely won’t miss you. The same applies to everything, like a real life choose your own adventure book. If you don’t like where the story is going, flip back to the last choice and make the other one.

The right choices include great friends and great people. Oceans to surf in and mountains to bike. It’s drunken taco trucks adventures at 2 a.m. and hungover ones at 2 p.m. The city that everyone loves to hate also happens to also be a city that loves to be loved, and loves you back like a three movie cuddle-fest with a rad person. Even on a bad day, Los Angeles will smack you down in a painfully beautiful way, reminiscent of listening to The Smiths for a week straight after being dumped. That’s only a piece of the Los Angeles I still have a gushing crush on but I'll save a little something for later. if you're visiting, know that we could care less how shallow or materialistic you think our charming 'burb is because that's not what we see. It'd be like going to New York and obsessing over bankers, or SF with its vanilla yuppies. Every city has its blemishes, so if you're completely focused on ours, you’re not only missing the point... you’re missing Los Angeles. Besides, we have the best nigth clubs in America...

Terry Gardner: Continuing Education Through The Newspaper

2009-12-07T14:56:40Z

On Thanksgiving Day, I began pondering what makes me thankful, and I realized that my attitude usually improves whenever I focus on gratitude.

Column One, a regular feature of the Los Angeles Times regularly fills me with gratitude. Not only has it spared me from waffling over a new major for my continuing education, it has introduced me to subjects I never would have gone near in school . . . like football.

On December 4, 2009, Kurt Streeter made me hunger to sit in a stadium to root for the Dorsey High football team. Streeter made me want to park my butt on a concrete bleacher to see Dorsey High play football. He also reminded me that good teachers are a precious resource and we need more of the caliber of Paul Knox (a history teacher and Dorsey's football coach).

Reporter Dawn Chmielewski braved the Mambo for me, so I could experience Dancing with the Stars without having to don high heels or face Bruno Tonioli.

Robyn Dixon brought opera alive for me in the Botswana Bush.

John Glionna's article about the World's most dangerous golf course along the DMZ in South Korea transported me to a course where golfers must worry about land mines rather than sand traps. He made me content to remain a putt putt golfer.

Catharine Hamm's recent Travel mystery Column One showed that even a saavvy traveler can be fooled by a clever con artist. Her cautionary tale made me glad I usually pay by credit card. On December 6th, Hamm followed up her tale of hoodwinked travelers in her On the Spot column. Her useful tips may protect you from being scammed.

Most major cities have newspapers providing a similar public service. The New York Times recently had a series on brain power, the new psychosurgery by Benedict Carey.

So I remain thankful for newspapers. If newspapers were dinosaurs (as some claim), why would they be helping me with my continuing education? Frankly, I like getting a bit of news print on my fingers every morning.

Rather than swallowing Ginko Bilboa daily to nourish my noggin, I'd rather absorb a dose of Column One.

Telluride: "Come Visit. Our Runway Now Meets FAA Standards"

2009-12-07T13:46:50Z

Telluride Regional Airport will celebrate a grand re-opening on December 17th with Neil Armstrong as the guest of honor. After $22 million and nine months, officials are proud to have improved the grade of the runway, and in doing so removed a 16-foot dip that once dominated the middle of the strip.

In an interview with the Telluride Daily Planet, Chip Taft, a pilot with Mountain Aviation who flies into Telluride regularly, said of the old runway, "It was sporty... the wheels would leave the ground on takeoff, and the runway would try to come up and meet us."

The airport is North America's highest commercial airport, and at 9,070 feet above sea level, a safe--and now longer--runway is important. In a press release, officials emphasized their pride that in addition to "a much smoother landing, the runway now meets FAA standards." (emphasis added)

That's one small step for Telluride, one giant step for ... jet-setters everywhere.

Robert A. Iger: Two Common Sense Ways to Improve the Economy

2009-12-06T20:20:39Z

It's estimated that over 500,000 jobs have been lost in two of our most important industries, due to reasons that have nothing to do with our current economy.

Entertainment and tourism are two of the most promising areas for job creation in the United States as a whole and in Southern California in particular. They are both vital to the country's economic well-being, not only for the jobs they create, but the spending they generate and the taxes they pay.

What's more, the entertainment industry is one of our most successful exporters and makes a very significant and positive contribution to the nation's trade balance.

While visitation to the U.S. doesn't feel like an export business, in essence, it is. We export the promise our destinations offer as brands, or a means of encouraging people to come to our country, whether they wish to visit Disneyland, see our nation's capital, or attend one of our universities.

At President Obama's jobs summit last week, which gathered together business, labor and political leaders, I discussed measures that could help sustain and increase employment growth in these critical industries. These measures don't rely on increased government spending, additional legislation or regulation, just some common sense steps.

The first is better protection of intellectual property. As consumers increasingly enjoy their entertainment over the Internet, it's absolutely critical that content creators -- be they big companies or individual artists uploading their own works -- are better protected from piracy.

Two years ago, many of the world's leading Internet and media companies got together to create a set of guidelines built around the use of filtering technology to reduce the flow of pirated content on user generated content sites. This effort was designed to foster an environment where more content could be brought to more consumers through legitimate channels. This voluntary approach has shown promising results.

But there are many who use the Internet to profit from pirated content and who have no interest in voluntary solutions that would put an end to their commercial exploitation of the creative output of others. For that reason, there is a role that government must play to stop piracy on those platforms and services unwilling to police themselves. The confirmation last week by the Senate of Victoria Espinel as the nation's first Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator is a great step. But it's critical she be given the necessary resources to get the job done.

The stakes are high in the U.S., and particularly here in Southern California. Millions of Americans create, market and distribute content for a living. If we don't address the piracy threat with vigor, cohesiveness and immediacy, we can't create new jobs. In fact, we'll lose even more.

In addition to making our case for improved intellectual property protection, I also suggested a couple of things to help the U.S. travel industry -- again, a big employer in our region and one with potentially promising long-term prospects. Since 2001, foreign visitor arrivals have dropped off substantially. That's due both to the fact that the very process of visiting the U.S. makes many overseas visitors feel unwelcome by the time they get here and because competition from foreign travel destinations has, in the meantime, increased significantly.

We can fix that by implementing a secure, but user-friendly, visa process that maintains our security but is more efficient and easier to navigate. Second, we need to do a better job of welcoming visitors at our airports and ports. Third, we need to tell the world about improvements we've made to the entry process, to invite international travelers to visit us, and to make them feel welcome here. Such outreach could be funded through a small fee collected from overseas visitors, combined with matching funds from the travel industry, costing taxpayers nothing.

The decline in foreign visitors, according to the U.S. Travel Association, has probably cost the country around 245,000 jobs. The Motion Picture Association of America reckons that piracy has cost another 375,000. Together, those are big numbers in industries where we should have a big long term advantage over our competitors and which are critical to the economic health both of Southern California and the U.S. economy as a whole.

President Obama's jobs summits touched on a wide variety of approaches, from rebuilding America's infrastructure to measures designed to spur exports and to help small businesses. Many would require legislative action and in many cases, increased federal spending.

So when you hear about "stealing intellectual property," a term that may have little meaning to you, think about it as a means of contributing to unemployment and harming our economy.

And when you think about America as a place that's easy to visit, with a thriving tourism business and a welcome mat out for millions of people, think about how we could attract even more visitors and how many more jobs that would create or support.

Curbing piracy and making it easier to visit our country are straightforward and immediate ways to spur long-term job growth. They will help us maintain our national competitiveness. And they do so at no significant cost to the taxpayer.

Gang-Themed Bus Tours Include Birthplace Of Bloods, Crips

2009-12-04T22:18:27Z

A group of civic activists, united by faith and a belief that the poor economy in the interior of Los Angeles is a social injustice, is preparing to offer bus tours of some of the grittiest pockets of the city, including decayed public housing, sites of deadly shootouts and streets ravaged by racial unrest.

After a VIP preview last weekend, L.A. Gang Tours expects to open to the public in January, giving tourists a look at the cradle of the nation's gang culture -- the birthplace of many of the city's gangs, including Crips and Bloods, Florencia 13 and 18th Street.

Homeless, Celebrities Collide Heading Into South Africa World Cup

2009-12-04T04:40:57Z

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Homeless South Africans complained they were being forced from the streets of Cape Town to make way for a host of star-studded, glamorous events surrounding next year's World Cup tournament.

Isaac Lewis, 41, said Thursday that police have arrested him for loitering six times in the past month. Before that, Lewis said police mostly left him alone. He said he's been homeless for most of his life.

Lisa Haisha: Create Travel Memories And Friendships That Last A Lifetime

2009-12-02T13:37:30Z

Think about a recent trip you took. It could have been across town, across the country, or across the ocean. When you returned from your trip, did you come home with the contact information of new friends? Did you create memories that go beyond places you visited? Did you connect with people on your trip on an emotional or even spiritual level?

For most people, the answer to all those questions is "no." While they may have taken a day trip to a nearby location or a month-long retreat to a foreign land, they usually interacted with the locals on a superficial level ("Where is the museum?' "Do you know when the next bus arrives?"), and they took from their trip more than they gave.

What a shame. One of the true joys of traveling, especially to a foreign land, is to bring home memories and relationships that last a lifetime. While seeing the sites and buying souvenirs are great, you also want your travels to enhance your personal and spiritual growth. You want to get more from your travels than just a few nice photos you can hang on your wall--you also want photos you can hang on your heart. Only then can you experience the inner rewards that travel has to offer.

Most people don't travel with memories or friendships in mind because of one simple word: fear. They fear that the people they reach out to won't like or accept them. They fear that they don't have good enough social skills. They fear that if they reach out to a stranger, they may get laughed at or taken advantage of. But realize that any fear rests only in your head. The majority of people you'll meet (95% or more of them) will be eager to make a new friend as well. Someone simply has to make the first step. Why not you?

If you're ready to get more from your travels and create new memories and friendships, remember the following tips:

• Attitude is everything.
Leave the past behind and live like the locals do. Wear clothes in their style, learn some key words of their language, and keep a smile and positive attitude at all times. Remember that you want more than just souvenirs of your travels; you want memories that will transport you back to that place. Open up to people and they will be receptive to you.

• Look at odd moments as a way to connect with people.
When you travel, "things" happen. You bump into people on the street, you spill your soup on a waiter, or you nearly get run over by an out of control camel. Whatever happens, use the situation as an ideal opportunity to meet new people. For example, suppose you're on a bumpy bus ride. The bus is full, so you're standing and holding onto a bar for support. When the bus hits a very large bump, you slip and fall right into someone's lap. Most people would feel embarrassed, pick themselves up as quickly as possible, and apologize for the "faux pas" without making eye contact with the other person.
But what if you rested in the person's lap for a moment, gave him or her a big smile, and shared a good laugh together? Even if you can't verbally communicate with the person, smiles and laughter transcend all languages and cultures and are a great way to create a connection. These are the moments that define a trip and that you'll talk about for years to come.

• Be curious of others.
Be respectful and find out what people are doing. Don't just go someplace and be a taker. Ask people about their life, about their family, and about their culture. People love talking about themselves and talking about their homeland. They also love giving travel advice while you're in their country. So don't be arrogant, abrupt, or rude when you interact with people. Use the old standbys of common courtesy ("please" and "thank you"), and be respectful at all times. A little curiosity goes a long way to getting people to interact with you.

• Allow your travels to take you on an adventure.
Too many people try to control their trips. They plan to see certain things and to spend a precise amount of time at each location. Don't have your travels all scheduled out like that. In everyday life we all have appointments that we must keep, and we often feel that life is too stressful because of it. Therefore, when you're traveling, loosen up. Yes, you want to see it all. But it's better to see two good museums rather than six in a rushed way. Take the time to just sit and relax and people watch. You never know where one conversation with a stranger may lead you.

• Get involved while you're there.
During your travels, take on a job or get involved in a cause in your new location, such as working in a school or volunteering in an orphanage. Before you travel, look up some place where you could volunteer. Or, ask your hotel concierge if there are any schools or orphanages in the area (or any other causes that could use some help). Volunteer with the locals for a day to get a deeper understanding of the culture. People are always grateful to expose themselves and their children to someone from a different country.

• Use technology to your benefit.
When you meet people by using the various approaches presented, don't just walk away when the encounter is over. Get the person's name, address, email, and any other information you can. With today's technology, you can easily keep in touch with people no matter where they live. You can send a fax or an email, connect on Facebook, talk with instant messenger, or even send twitters. And even in the most remote of places, people do have access to these technological tools. If they don't have it in their home, they can go to a café or a friend's home to access technology.

Endless Opportunities Await

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if your trip away is for one day or one month - it only takes five minutes to develop a relationship with someone. If you want to get more from your travels in terms of memories and relationships, then you need to reach out to others and travel in a whole new way. Always remember that home is where the heart is; however, it's up to you to open the door and invite others in.

Tracy L. Barnett: Havana To Tracy: Not So Fast

2009-12-01T13:58:43Z

... Or, five lessons from a would-be (and soon-to-be?) Cuban correspondent

Cuba, it seems, was not ready for me.

I definitely was not ready for Cuba.

It seems that getting a Cuban journalist's visa is a great deal more complicated than I had been led to believe. My lack of attention to this particular detail led to a brusque reception by disbelieving bureaucrats, a long cold night in Jose Marti International Airport and the first flight back to Houston.

It was a costly, embarrassing and extremely painful lesson, but here's what I learned. I'm sharing the story in the hopes that you will learn from my mistakes.

Never believe your travel agent when she tells you she'll handle the visa for you. Even when your agent works for one of a handful of companies licensed to take U.S. citizens to Cuba, and she knows you're a journalist, and you've already received a specific journalist license from the U.S. Government, faxed to her at her request, and when she's told you that you can just pick it up at the counter along with your ticket. Don't believe her to be an expert in these matters. She is not.

In this case, she was a Brazilian native recently hired by the company -- a nice lady who feels very badly about what happened, but she was in no way knowledgeable about Cuban journalist visas, which are notoriously hard to procure.

Don't assume the official-looking Spanish-language documents in your packet are what you think they are. Had I inspected the documents I was given instead of rushing off to the gate post-haste I would have noticed that there was no visa; only a swine flu screening document, an embarkation form and a customs form. At that point I might have had some options. But I didn't notice this until I was in Havana, at which point my options were extremely limited.

Don't rely on the guidebook, which devotes many pages to explaining how to get U.S. permission to travel to Cuba, but only a couple of paragraphs to the Cuban journalist visa -- one of them stating that if you come in on a tourism visa, you can request a status change and get a journalist visa in about a week. This guide is not written for journalists and while that may or may not be true, it's no indication of the ease or difficulty in getting a journalist visa to enter the country in advance.

Don't do international travel -- particularly to a country that has been estranged with your own for several decades -- on two hours' sleep.

Blogging, tweeting, facebooking and texting family and friends are optional. Mindful attention to logistics is not.

Bruno Henriquez, a solar energy expert and science fiction author I was scheduled to meet, consoled me via e-mail when he received my bad news.

"Here in Cuba, we have a saying: 'Lo que sucede, conviene.'"

Roughly translated: What happens is the best thing.

It's a tough one to swallow at the moment, but it comforts me to think that in the long run, Bruno's wise words will be made manifest.

Back home in Houston, I'm investigating my options. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, it's time to turn this fiasco into the best thing possible.

Tracy L. Barnett, www.tracybarnettonline.com, is the founder of The Esperanza Project, a green news portal for the Americas.

Read more: Travel, Media, Cuba, Visa, World News

Patricia Yarberry Allen: Thanksgiving: A Day of Introspection and Gratitude

2009-11-30T22:36:30Z

I did not feel well enough to travel this holiday. Normally, I would have pushed my way through it but my husband gave me this gift of the day, the turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie that I needed for my soul. I needed time to be and not do more than I could do, for just one holiday. I have never been fond of holidays, except for my birthday and July 4th; but I have always given it my best effort at often significant cost.

My family is all happily ensconced in the bosom of extended family experience: my husband and step sons, Garrett and Hunter are with our Michigan family celebrating the first Thanksgiving together since the death of the family matriarch, my beloved mother in law, Natalie McIntyre, who died on Mother's Day, 2008. Jane, the baby of the family, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has been in charge of creating the most delicious Thanksgiving foods in America for almost twenty years now, so this part of the family ritual will be the same. And of course she does it effortlessly. None of the chaos that is found in my Thanksgiving kitchen would be allowed in the kitchen of the yellow house in Orchard Lake. The family is connecting with old and new ways of celebrating this year and I know that each one there will be redefining the family so that it will endure.

My son, Baxter, is spending Thanksgiving with his father and stepmother in Savannah. He enjoys time there where entertaining is such an important part of that city and important to this part of his family. Ashley and his perfect wife, my precious daughter in law, are making their first Thanksgiving Day dinner in their home. They don't know that I have taken a sabbatical from just one holiday or I would have been unable to pull this off.

I most miss being in Kentucky today. Everyone from my family will be home but me. The phone call to my sister was the hard one. But, no one has siblings like mine. We accept and love each other and always believe that what we say to each other is the truth. So, when I said I needed a holiday off the grid, she understood. My brothers and sisters are fabulous cooks and I know what each of them will bring to the table. Mommie will be the center of love and attention, our beloved mother who always selflessly made such a fantastic Thanksgiving meal and taught us by example and inclusion to do the same. Missing my Kentucky family on this Thanksgiving is the sad part for me.

I am spending part of the day here in my office. My work, by my choice, has always been the central part of my life. Some people are just like this. I am most content in patient interactions, giving both the patient and the doctor a quiet time for review of their lives and their health issues. It is a time of focused listening for me. The work continues, of course, after the patient visit is over. The results of tests arrive and the real work of medicine, the creation of a narrative of the patient's life and the organization of symptoms, the integration of the physical findings begins. I am at my best in this detective work, the work of a biographer if you will.

I began to work in a hospital full time 47 years ago, when I was not quite 15 years old. I lied about my age in order to get that job, but I needed independence and that meant that I needed a job. Since the first day as a nurse's aide, I have always been at home in a hospital.

I am thankful today for my relationship with New York Presbyterian Hospital, where I have been at home since 1976. My hospital has been ranked number six in the nation, in overall care, as for several years now. This hard won acknowledgment of good medical care has come from leadership and integration of staff at all levels in patient centered care and constant improvement in all aspects of the patient experience. The physicians at the hospital are exciting to be around because they are at the top of their game and reinforce excellence throughout our hospital community. After my training was completed in the hospital, I moved to my office here at 90th and Madison in New York City. I have been in this cozy office for over a quarter of a century.

This Thanksgiving Day is the one I have chosen for reflection and remembrance of some of the many people and events along my life's long journey that made it possible for me to have this wonderful life. But I want most to remember those who make it possible for me to give the best I have to my patients and to the women over 40 with whom I have an ongoing conversation on line.

I have chosen incredible doctors and therapists who work with me to solve diagnostic problems and create therapeutic plans, who provide efficient and thoughtful care in their offices and surgical suites, and who always teach me something new and encourage me to be the primary care doctor that I love being most. Gynecologists are primary care doctors, of course, but most don't have the luxury of time that is necessary to do this when they are seeing many patients, delivering babies and operating on patients. I have left all that behind, because its season for me has passed. I miss the excitement and joy of delivering babies, I miss the camaraderie on the delivery floor and in the operating room but I knew at each stage of leaving a part of the professional life of an obstetrician gynecologist behind, that it was always the right time for reinvention. I felt on that memorable day in the delivery room, as I gave a baby girl to a beloved patient for the last time, that I had completed a cycle of my life with dedication and joy. My first day in a hospital as a nurses' aide began in the delivery room and that memory was still with me at the time of the last delivery of a baby.

The most unexpected joy in my professional life came from the formation of Women's Voices for Change with Faith Childs and Laura Sillerman, launched on November 21st in 2005. We are the Executive Board now of a growing organization that has created www.womensvoicesforchange.org, as a forum for women over 40 to describe and define who we are in this Second Spring of life we call The New Menopause. Our focus began with the need to change the meaning of just one word, menopause. Menopause has been a word that the media, advertising and the corporate world has shunned or used in demeaning ways. Women themselves have chosen denial, shame, and fear in response to this word.

The growing numbers of contributors, who have joined us, write to create a portrait that is an accurate one, not one based on outdated assumptions. We write to give women not yet physiologically or psychologically quite there, hope that this transition is the best opportunity for self invention that life will offer them. We write to give templates for hope and change to those in the tornado of the transition.

Women in the New Menopause, who choose to be present and fully aware of their life experiences, learn to use the fuel of this sometimes volatile life passage to make choices, and create their own change. We learn what is important, we divest ourselves of the unnecessary, and we focus on ways to make meaningful change in our individual lives, our communities and our country.

I am especially thankful today for the extraordinary and unexpected contribution to Women's Voices for Change from two donors who wish to remain anonymous along with a recent event given for WVFC by the extraordinary jeweler, Verdura. These important gifts will allow us to implement a long dreamed of way to include women across America in the creation of our portrait of women who are unafraid of the word, menopause, and who will encourage those in the media and the advertising and corporate world to recognize us for who we really are.

Women in The New Menopause are visible and we are well positioned to be part of the reinvention of our country as we face a new normal no one wanted and many refused to expect. We are more highly educated. We control more of the economic resources than any other demographic in this country. We are politically active across the spectrum. We decry political inactivity and waste in the government that has so little now. Waste will be noticed and noted again and again.

I am thankful for all the members of the Board of Women's Voices for Change. Each brings wisdom, intelligence, creativity and energy to our mission. Thank you Faith Childs, Laura Sillerman, Elizabeth Hemmerdinger, Catherine Wood, Lisa McCarthy, Leslie Frances, Dr. Elizabeth Poynor and to our newest board member, Coleen Caslin. We are all thankful to our Executive Director, Mary Kelly Selover, and the staff that supports www.womensvoicesforchange.org, directed by our editor, Chris Lombardi. We bring joy and support to each other as we work on our mission to make the New Menopause a life destination that is viewed with optimism.

On this Thanksgiving Day, November 26th, 2009, I am grateful for our readers who are becoming our writers. Our small effort that has grown only with the help of the famous public relation firm, "word of mouth", makes a difference only with your voices that are diverse and memorable. Write your way through The New Menopause with us and give other women who are without support and knowledge of options, your description of the best time of your life. And when there is a rough patch, write through it and know that we are here with you.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Giving Getaways Help Travelers Give Back On Vacation

2009-11-27T12:21:52Z

Traveling this holiday season? The burgeoning trend of trips that give back has entered the mainstream, with many top destinations and travel guides contributing ways that one can contribute to positive change while on vacation.

As CNN reports, Red Rock resorts and Ritz Carlton hotels are offering vacation packages known as Give Back Getaways. The Ritz Carlton programs allow travelers to spend part of their trip making community contributions, be it by assisting local wildlife, feeding the hungry, or learning about the local environment.

CNN also highlights the advent of new sites like Together For Good, which suggests ideas for travelers looking to give back. Even travel guide mainstay Frommer's has published "500 Places Where You Can Make A Difference" to show vacationers how they can both experience and serve destinations.

From CNN.com:

Ritz Carlton guests might collect sea turtle eggs in Cancun, clean big cat habitats in Sarasota, plant flowers and clean up a river at a Jamaican orphanage or work with the blue iguanas in the Cayman Islands through the Give Back Getaways program.

More than 2,000 Ritz Carlton guests have participated in the program over the last 18 months, says Sue Stephenson, who oversees the international program. "It's not for everybody," she adds, though it may well turn out to be the most memorable day of your trip.

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Home For Holidays: Too Expensive To Travel

2009-11-25T22:08:35Z

CHICAGO — There's still family, turkey and football, but one Thanksgiving tradition is taking a hit this year. Millions of Americans are spending the holiday at home, saying the poor economy has made it unaffordable to hit the road or board a plane.

"It's too expensive," said Benita Hall, 24, a nurse's aide who can't afford to travel from Cincinnati to Atlanta to see her mother and siblings. "It's depressing because you want to be with your family for the holidays."

Dr. Michael J. Breus: Sleep Boxes: Coming To An Airport Near You?

2009-11-25T14:23:53Z

Nothing is more frustrating than traveling
on empty and there’s really nowhere to get a cat nap. Lying across three
rows of hard seats in the boarding area doesn’t do the trick. Sitting on the
floor and resting your head on your carry-on luggage won’t do it either. And if
you don’t belong to a 100K club where you can relax in a plusher setting, then
you’re trapped.

Until now. Well, in the near future. Maybe.

A Moscow-based company has just released its concept
“Sleep Box”—a capsule mini-hotel that you can rent for 15 minutes or
longer. Perfect for sneaking in a rejuvenating nap.
And get this: it’s fully equipped with:

Wi-Fi

LCD display

electrical outlets

a space to store luggage

a ventilation system…and a means to “zap” the
interior with a quartz light to kill germs.

Now that’s pretty cool. But will we ever see these sleep boxes for real in the real world?
And how will the real world treat these things?

Maybe they can work in airports and places where people have
a reasonable wait time (30-60 min). I’m actually surprised it has taken us this
long to come up with such an idea.

Metronaps,
the Australian and U.K.-based company that makes sleep pods primarily for
workplace settings, haven’t really taken off yet in the U.S. and would not be
great in a public place (the pods are sort of futuristic and open to see
people lying down).

Yelo,
a New York based company, offers a place to nap and a reflexology massage that
is awesome. The chair you sit in puts you into a zero-gravity position so you
can completely relax. This is great for an afternoon break or to help with that
lull we all hit between 1 and 3 p.m.

So if you are tired of hitting the vending machine (candy or
an energy drink), the coffee shop, or those hard chairs in the boarding area, this
new concept could be the next great way to take a well deserved nap.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

This article on sleep is also available at Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Sleep Better: How To Beat Holiday Jet Lag

2009-11-25T09:08:29Z

The disruption to normal schedules caused by flying and especially jet lag can wreak havoc on sleep patterns.

Lea Lane: Two Faraway Thanksgivings, And What I Learned

2009-11-24T12:37:34Z

My ex married a university president and lived in a historic house where leaves were raked by others and fireplaces crackled picture-perfect below important art and the table was set with Lenox and Steuben. My sons usually spent Thanksgiving at that table.

I adapted to that reality. In the years between my marriages -- the 1980s and '90s -- I'd usually wind up at a friend's Thanksgiving celebration as a stray, and often had a fine time, except when it rained and I'd have to maneuver in the dark, on oak-leaf slicked winding roads back to my Westchester house.

When I was in a relationship, I'd share Cornish hens and candlelight and rose-colored champagne. Many years I'd invite singles over and we'd stay up most of the night in our sweats, and talk about our exs and our kids and how the holiday season had to be endured through Valentine's Day.

And sometimes in those years between my marriages when my kids were at my ex's, I'd have a truly memorable time.

Right now, when the economy has rocked me and I am adapting to a new lifestyle, I find it especially interesting to look back to two unusual Thanksgivings from the last decade of the last century. And by looking back at them, I realize how much things have changed for me. They seem like fantasies. But they are real.

Solo In Malaysia

I was working as executive producer on an interactive language project for the Defense Department in Southeast Asia. Most of the crew headed off to dive; I chose to go to Malaysia for the Thanksgiving break. In Kuala Lumpur I hired a car with a driver who could speak some English and we traveled throughout the country. Past endless, neat groves where palms were grown for oil. Past tiny indigenous communities with houses on stilts and families sitting bare around firepits.

I ate my first durian here, a creamy, foul-smelling fruit -- half peach, half onion -- bought at a stand on the side of the road. Locals seem to love the durian; most others disdain it. (I disdained.)

On Thanksgiving day I arrived at a timbered lodging in the Cameron Highlands, the cool uplands where row after row of tea plantings threaded the hills. At dinner I sat alone, and ordered chicken, feeling rather sorry that the driver didn't want to share the meal. The waiter brought the chicken to me with a smile. And then I smiled, and grinned and laughed. And felt thankful.

He had stuck a little paper American flag in the thigh.

On a Yacht in the Caribbean

The man was from Texas, in "arbitrage." I wasn't sure what that was, but it was enough to place him in an office high in New York's Seagram building. He called me "lil' lady" as in, "Driver, take the lil' lady back to the hotel." He had been active in politics at one time, and fit my need back then for a take-charge guy. I sought father-figures unlike my father, and the more powerful the better.

Texan could get tickets to any Broadway show, fifth row center, last minute. He'd eat at one of two restaurants almost every night: 21 or the Four Seasons, And when I'd dine with him and get up to go to the ladies room he'd slip a $5 bill in my hand to tip the attendant. He had things covered.

So when Texan invited me to spend a long Thanksgiving weekend with him on his "fishing boat" in the Caribbean, it was an easy "yes."

We flew to St. Thomas, where the boat was docked. Well, he called it a boat. It had three levels, a king-sized bed, a marble bath with shower and tub, and a kitchen as big as mine back home. Just us -- and a captain and a cook.

By day, we'd cruise around the Virgin Islands, reggae and rock blaring into blue-on-blue sky and water. He's ask where I wanted to go, and then say, "Cap'n, take the lil' lady to the Baths." Or "Cap'n, dock the boat by the best reef near St. John." We snorkeled among rock formations and coral. He'd fight with a big fish for hours at the back of the boat, while making deals on a cell.

At night we'd dock and eat in the dining room at the Ritz Carlton, just a path away, and later we'd look up at the stars on the boat's front deck. Except for Thanksgiving. That night we drove up into the hills of St. Thomas to a shack with surrounding tables. The place was packed with locals, including lots of Americans living on the island. We consumed goat and fish and rice and fruits and beer. And we talked of Thanksgivings past.

And after I returned to the States I never saw Texan again. That's the way it went in New York in those days. I didn't care. I loved the rush.

**

A couple of years after the Texan I married a very different kind of man, a man who could care less about material things, a man I adored, and then lost too soon. And after eight years, this year I am again with a kind and humble man.

Life gives us many reasons to give thanks, whatever our current problems, be they loss or pain or poverty. Things can turn in a minute. Your priorities can change. You can figure out what really matters and shake the past. One Thanksgiving you're on a dark road alone; another in the hills of a faraway land, laughing with a stranger; the next in a warm room with a good man who says, "I want to make you happy."

You never know.

Read more HuffPost Thanksgiving coverage and commentary

Six Ways To Get Online From Anywhere

2009-11-23T09:32:37Z

We're all so accustomed to having Internet access in so many place -- at home, at the office, at airports, at coffee shops -- that it can be infuriating to travel and find yourself with low-speed service or none at all.

Fortunately, there are six good ways to make sure you -- and anyone traveling with you -- can can access the Internet using your laptop's built-in wireless networking, even when you're nowhere near a Wi-Fi hotspot.