MJ’s Travel Favorites 4-11-10

Lots of travel news over the past week, from the potential merger of a couple of heavy weight airlines to the pay-to-pee, from the continued discussion of airline bag fees to the crash in western Russia, it’s been a helluva week for the industry.

On a happy personal note, I booked tickets for my June trip to Rome. The countdown now begins!

Here are a few of the interesting, fun, and quirky articles that I found this week. Give them a read:

Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome Italy 300x224 MJ’s Travel Favorites 4 11 10 PlanetEye Traveler – New Delhi offers advice on how to tame auto rickshaw drivers. Following this advice will give you a quick ride at a reasonable charge.

The Wall Street Journal has a great analysis of how Twitter and travel combine for powerful business opportunities. Of course, we travel bloggers have been saying that for quite some time now!

At BlogHer Travel, Pam Mandel gives us a little knock up the side of the head, challenging to drop some the elitism and snobbery in travel blogging. Good food for thought there!

Up Up & a Gay gives a Flight Attendant’s perspective on airline charges and what makes sense. It’s good for a laugh, but it makes a whole lot of sense, too.

The Culinary Gadabout gives detailed instructions about how to open a bottle of champagne (note: turn the bottle, not the cork). Practice up now so you can pack a special bottle for your next picnic.

PlanetEye Traveler – Disney offers good advice on how to maximize the purchase of your park/attraction tickets. Since these babies can cost an arm and a leg, you’ll want to follow this advice to get what you need at the best price.

The Vacation Gals have a great post on digital scrapbooking. I did the paper version for awhile, but haven’t made the switch to digital. Now they’ve almost convinced me it will be simple enough to give it a try.

Camels & Chocolates has some drool-worthy photos from Rwanda. It’s a great photo essay on the people, especially the children, that she encountered on the trip.

Intelligent Travel has details of special celebrations for the 50th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird. This has long been my all-time favorite book (and I loved the movie, too), so I wish I was going to be in Alabama for some of these events.

My Mélange reminds us that there is more than one leaning tower in Italy. Check out the details on these five.

Consumer Traveler provides sage advice about connection times. I was faced with this very issue myself, and opted to avoid a connection to Europe that only allowed me 45 minutes at JFK. With a runway under construction, and an airport of this size, it wasn’t work saving a couple of bucks to risk missing the last non-stop flight to Rome.

PlanetEye Traveler – Washington DC reminds us that Elvis is in the building. The Newseum has an exhibit covering his life and music, complete with some very special artifacts. If you’re a student of music, or just a lover of rock and roll, you’ll want to put this on your must-visit list.

And ending on a humorous note, Consumer Traveler analogizes purchasing an airline ticket to purchasing paint. We all know which one is simpler. Read it for a good laugh. Or a good cry.

That’s it for this week. May the coming one be full of safe and adventurous travels!

Photo credit: personal collection

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