Honolulu’s Bishop Museum offers the natural and cultural history of Hawaii’s indigenous people. Founded in 1889 by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last heir to Kamehameha I, you’ll find artifacts and exhibits representative of all the Pacific Islands. A couple of my favorite highlights are the Science on a Sphere exhibit and the Science Adventure Center. Science on a Sphere is a 68 inch, 200 pound fiberglass sphere suspended from the ceiling. It serves as a sort of 3-D movie, displaying full color, satellite and animated images. You can watch a hurricane forming, a dust storm, violent solar storms, or any number of phenomenon occurring on our planet or in space. The Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center is focused on helping visitors understand the environment of the islands. You’ll find exhibits and research on such diverse topics as volcanology, […]
Read MoreSihanoukville Express, Bus Ride from Hell
Today I have a guest post from fellow blogger Ken Dunlop from The Vancouver Traveler. Ken spent several months traveling around Southeast Asia, and he graciously offered to share a bit of his trip with you. This is one of what I am sure is many anecdotes about getting around in Southeast Asia. So, you find yourself in Sihanouk Ville in Cambodia, and you are desperate to get into Thailand. Not wanting to travel the four hours to Phnom Penh in order to fly, the lady at the Internet Café presented a great plan, “Mr Ken, take the bus…it is good ride and only 8 hours.” Yup, you have it I took the bus. The day began at 07:00 for the tuk tuks ride to the bus depot, for the 07:50 bus departure. The bus is one of those huge […]
Read MoreMy First View of Rome
Rome has been wonderful so far, and I regret that my time here was so short. Everywhere you turn there is such a sense of history and wonder. My first real impression of the city was coming up from the subway (Colosseo stop) and finding this in front of you. It literally took my breath away! Seeing it in books and photos cannot do justice to the sense of awe I felt at seeing this piece of the beginning of civilization. Photo credit: personal collection _____________________________________________
Read MoreBack to Basics: Mastering Celsius
I’m leaving for Italy in a couple of weeks, and in addition to bragging to friends and practicing my Italian phrases, I’ve been re-learning the metric system. I’ve especially been interested in following the weather forecast as I struggle to figure out the proper clothes to pack. Since I was raised on the Fahrenheit system of measuring temperature, it always takes me a bit of thinking to do the conversion. The simplest way for me to remember is this formula: Multiply the Celsius temperature by two, and then add 30 to convert to Fahrenheit. While it won’t give you an exact temperature, it’s close enough for most purposes. So here’s what the temperature looks like today in the general areas where I’ll be traveling: Rome: 18C (66 degrees) Pienza: 16C (62 degrees) Sorrento: 17C (64 degrees) It should even be […]
Read MoreBack to Basics: Mastering the Reservation Phone Line
I’ve written about this previously, but it’s basic information that can’t be repeated too many times. I know that most people do their research and booking online, but there are times when you are going to have to call a reservation center. It can be annoying to be put on hold, and repeatedly hear how many callers are ahead of your or how long your expected wait time is, and even further annoying to finally get a person who you can’t understand. I hope these tips will help reduce your frustration factor, and get you the information and service that you really need. Call at non-peak times. This means avoiding calls during standard business hours, if at all possible. Late nights (generally considered after 8 pm) are usually good are usually light in terms of wait time. News stories can […]
Read MoreBack to Basics: Remember Your Hotel Room Number
The days of having a metal key with your hotel room number engraved into it are long gone. Keys these days aren’t even keys. They are flimsy pieces of plastic, about the size of a credit card), and instead of having a room number on it, it has a pretty photo of your hotel along with operating instructions about how to insert it into an electronic reader on your room door. The plastic key usually comes tucked into a small envelope, or a larger folder, with the room number written on it. But the larger envelope or folder is often too large to tuck into a pocket or purse, and so we leave the room with only the plastic key. And when it’s time to return to our room, we have to trust our sometimes faulty memory about what the […]
Read MoreBack to Basics: Hang Up
How many times have you called up an airline (or hotel, tour operator, car rental company, or any other company that you want to do business with), and found yourself talking with someone who is rude, unintelligible to you, unwilling to assist you, or is downright hostile? If you’ve spent any time on the phone at all, this has probably happened to you many over. I know that I have spent countless hours trying to understand an accent or explaining myself to someone who wasn’t listening to me and merely reading a prepared “script.” It frustrates me when I have to repeatedly ask someone to slow down so that I can understand what they are saying. And turn down the background noise so that I can hear you! How to resolve these telephone aggravations? Hang up and start again! Chances […]
Read MoreYou Can be a Pinball Wizard at the Pinball Hall of Fame
Bing, bing, bing. . . the bells, whistles, and bumpers of pinballs fill the air at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, while on display is the world’s largest pinball collection. Established as a non-for-profit corporation, the museum showcases games from the 60’s to the present. It’s pure pinball, so deposit your coin and see if you can play well enough to rack up those additional games. The museum is family-friendly (no violent games allowed), and prices for the games are 25 cents for the classic games and 50 cents for the post-1990 games. The Hall of Fame has 4,500 square feet of wall to wall pinball machines that, unlike many slot machines, will have cheering and laughing. Here you can have fun — whether you win or lose. In fact, there is no focus on making a […]
Read MoreGo Directly to Jail. Have Dinner.
I do a lot of reading about travel, and a lot of research and planning for future vacations. From the practical to the silly, and from the certain-to-try to the it’s-never-going-to-happen, most of it captures my attention and imagination. While most of my travel blogging here at Flyaway Cafe involves personal experiences and recommendations, occasionally I read about something that I want to share with you — even if I haven’t yet experienced it myself. As I’m reading and researching about Italy for an upcoming trip, I heard about an usual, yet special dining experience. Jail. No bread and water here, and in this case getting into jail is nearly as difficult as getting out of jail. Fortezza Medicea in Volterra, Italy is a high-security prison restaurant. In order to get a reservation you need to plan pretty far in […]
Read MoreLoi Kratong Festival in Thailand
One of our travel bloggers, Ken at The Vancouver Traveler, is traveling around Asia right now. He’s had some difficult with electricity, let alone an internet connection, but he was recently able to send me this beautiful photo of the Loi Kratong Festival. The festival is celebrated annually in Thailand, usually during the month of November. One of the traditions is to decorate a raft and then release it on the night of the full moon. It looks like the raft launching is what is happening in the photo. I thought it was a beautiful photo of light, dark, and something else. . . something mysterious, or maybe mystical, going on. Thanks, Ken. Safe travels. Photo credit: ©Ken Dunlop, used with permission _____________________________________________ Technorati Tags: b5media, Flyaway Café, flight attendants, travel, vacation, travel information, travel tips, travel blogs, travel & […]
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