PAY TO PEE?

Okay, it was one thing for Ryanair to attack "idiot" and "lunatic" bloggers. But a top Ryanair official has taken things a step further - and lower - by suggesting they've considered the idea of pay toilets on board their airplanes.

And you thought some North American airlines were ridiculous by charging for pillows?

This is a complete joke. But they appear serious about at least examining a deal that would require passengers to slip a pound (about $1.80 Canadian) into Ryanair's pockets before using the loo.

In today's USA Today travel blog, Ben Mutzabaugh has a go at the issue:

Said Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound."

My God, where do you start? More important, where do you finish? And how much would it cost you?

It sounds illegal but a British Aviation official said - and this is remarkable in itself - that aircraft AREN'T REQUIRED TO HAVE TOILETS ON BOARD so they, therefore, might be able to charge for them.

Incredible, ain't it?

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Warming up nicely here in Toronto, if only for a while. But a sure sign of spring comes at noon today when the Toronto Star Golf and Travel show opens at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Front Street - travel and golf booths from far and wide, a huge retail outlet, tips from pros and lots more to choose from.

I missed the British Columbia media soiree yesterday but managed to get to the Prince Edward Island  function at Labatt House, where Toronto golf course architect Tom McBroom was explaining how he's redone the old Stanley Thompson design at the Anne of Green Gables course. Sounds like it's worth checking out.

MEXICO HUBBUB

Seems some U.S. schools are warning their students not to travel to Mexico for spring break due to recent problems with drug dealers taking their disputes into public. To hear some tell it, the streets of some cities are like war zones and even seasoned journalists are reluctant to travel to some spots.

High-ranking Mexico authorities, of course, insist everything's under control and that it's perfectly safe to spend a week at Cancun or Acapulco.

 

SUNNY SPOTS AND "IDIOT" BLOGGERS

Damned statistics; a guy could get confused around here if he wasn't careful.

Mexico's tourism board sent out a press advisory saying they attracted 1.114 million Canadians to their part of the world last year - a 20 per cent increase. That's pretty good. I thought the release said more Canadians went to Mexico than any other destination, but, in fact, it said no such thing.

It simply didn't make sense that more Canucks would hit Mexico than Florida, so I checked with the Florida tourism people and they say there were 2,832,300 Canadian visitors to the Sunshine State last year; up from a little under 2.5 million in 2007.

So, Florida is still ahead of Mexico by a long shot. But there's no doubt Mexico has proven a much more popular destination for Canadians in the last little while, with lots of great resorts and golf courses and new beaches to discover.

Aeromexico next Tuesday (March 3) is slated to announce daily flights from the Big Smoke to Mexico City, so clearly something is afoot.

RYANAIR BLOG WAR

Here's a good one. Ryanair has launched a wonderful attack on a blogger who was telling folks how to, allegedly, get free trips on the European airline.

Apparently the guy thought he had found a way to book free travel and was telling folks about it. But it wasn't quite true. Ryanair could've left it alone but, unfortunately for them, an employee got into a web-based shouting match with the blogger - not a good idea.

"Ryanair can confirm that a Ryanair staff member did engage in a blog discussion," said spokesman Stephen McNamara. "It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won't be happening again. Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel."

Well, MOST of your people, Stephen. But not all.

I'm just glad they haven't phoned me. Mind you, I've been called worse than "idiot" and "lunatic" - often by my family.

USA TODAY BLOG

Good item from USA Today travel blogger Ben Mutzabaugh on airline safety; something we try not to think about too much around here.

GROSS OUT

Anyone see the "worst hotel" list that tripadvisor.com put out? We won't get into what hotel they're talking about in New York city, but consider this entry: "The windows towards the street was (sic) broken, the bath curtain was rotten ... (it) seemed like a bad movie where only the police marks on the floor was (sic) missing.

"(There) were four people in two rooms - most of us got bed bugs," the person wrote.

Here's my favourite part: "Service was not existing at all - but the location was fantastic."

Well, in THAT case ....

 

GOING DOWN, DOWN, DOWN

The Conference Board of Canada says the recession will ground profits in Canada's airline industry this year.

A Canadian Press report says the Ottawa-based think tank is calling for "lower demand for personal and business air travel will cut profits by almost 86 per cent, although the industry will remain profitable."

The Conference Board estimates Canada's airlines will eke out a profit of $106-million this year, the lowest level since 2004, CP says.

 

DOPERS KEEP OUT

Canada used to have a reputation as a friendly, left-wing kinda place. People would come looking for an escape from American, button-down values so they could perhaps have a gay marriage or engage in some other kind of behaviour our friends to the south don't always like.

But now comes news that the Toronto group Power Within Inc. canceled scheduled appearances in Canada by Olympic hero Michael Phelps because of his alleged marijuana use. Phelps was to give motivational speeches in Calgary and Vancouver but apparently no longer.

"Due to widely publicized, alleged use of marijuna by Michael Phelps, the decision has beem made to present the program without Mr. Phelps' participation," the company said in a statement released to Canadian media.

Gee, you can shoot up on the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, but you can't allow a guy who won EIGHT GOLD MEDALS in Beijing to deliver a speech in town? Yeah, that makes sense.

So much for the international image of Canada as a tolerant, liberal society. And so much, we presume, for getting any Amsterdam tour groups booked into Toronto any time soon.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THESE YEARS?

Funny, when times were great all those la-de-da hotels in Florida and the Bahamas and such were quick to insist they didn't want spring break kids - you know, the types who might run into Michael Phelps at a party - coming down and soiling their reputation.

Now, however, the New York Times travel folks are reporting that places like The Sheraton on Grand Bahama Island, which apparently had stopped taking student groups, is putting the "open for business" sign back in the window and working with an online student travel agency called StudentCity.com. The Times says the hotel is offering four nights for $589 U.S. as part of a "Bahamas Party Cruise."

Hey, what's a little drunkenness and debauchery when you really think about it? Come on down, kids.

 

PHELPS GETS THE BOOT

Gee, I thought Canada liked athletes who smoke dope. But I guess not.

Maybe it's the Harperization of Canada. Or maybe times have changed, but it's interesting that American swimmer/bong show boy Michael Phelps has been dropped as the keynote speaker at two events in Canada next week.

The promoter cited the Olympic champion swimmer's "widely publicized alleged use of marijuana," according to Associated Press.

Here's text from the AP story:

Power Within Inc. of Toronto, which organizes motivational speaking events, canceled Phelps' appearances at events in Calgary and Vancouver. Power Within initially stood by the swimmer, but has now booked actor Martin Sheen as its keynote speaker for the Calgary event. The Vancouver event will feature Mehmet Oz, a regular on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

"Due to widely publicized alleged use of marijuana by Michael Phelps, the decision has been made to present the program without Mr. Phelps' participation," the company said in statement released to several Canadian media outlets.

A British tabloid published a picture of Phelps smoking from a marijuana pipe at a party in Columbia, S.C., last November. Police said last week there was not enough evidence to charge Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Phelps has apologized for his actions, acknowledging he used "bad judgment" after the photo appeared. Last Friday, IOC president Jacques Rogge said Phelps deserves a "second chance."

Guess the folks at Power Within don't agree.

Calgary we can understand. But Vancouver? Where you can shoot up legally on the street? Oh, I see. That's okay; you can light a crack pipe on the Downtown East Side or fill your arm with heroin, but you can't allow a guy who won EIGHT gold medals at the Beijing Olympics to speak in public because he might've taken a couple deep breaths on a bong filled with marijuana at a private party.

Yeah, that makes sense.

JUST IN TIME

It may not help, but you have to think the folks who are trying to get golf into the Olympics are thrilled to see Tiger Woods teeing it up on the PGA Tour in Arizona this week. Woods has suggested in the past that he wouldn't be keen on an Olympic tournament, but if someone could get him to change his mind it would be a huge boost to golf's chances.

GUATEMALA CALLING

For the longest time, southeast Asia was the big thing. We at Star Travel last fall were besieged by freelancers in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

Now, however, the focus has shifted. A story on breakingtravelnews.com said the latest figures released by the World Tourism Organization show visitors to Central America increased by eight per cent last year. that includes Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

The deals are said to be good and the area offers everything from Mayan ruins to quiet beaches and rainforests, all with a Spanish flair. Spanish carrier Iberia is offering more flights to Guatemala and Panama, while KLM has boosted flights from Amsterdam to Panama City from three times a week to five.

AEROPLAN "DEAL"

Boy, these guys are generous. The folks at Aeroplan - you know, the people with whom you can almost never book the flight you want at the time you want - sent out an offer today where members can buy access to Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges. The price? A mere 7,000 points for a one-time pass.

A flight from Toronto to Los Angeles, if you could book one you wanted, would set you back 25,000 points. If you assume the ticket would cost you $500 with taxes on Air Canada, which is pretty typical for a sale, that means 5,000 points is worth roughly $100. Which would mean that a 7,000 point redemption for an Air Canada lounge is worth something like $140.

Hey, I enjoy the free Internet and the halfway-decent Merlot and cheese or fruit slices they serve, but an Air Canada lounge ain't much compared to some I've seen. On my way to London recently I was at the Maple Leaf lounge at Pearson and all they had were free papers and a couple magazines, some beer and wine and soft drinks and a small bit of salad and fruit. And maybe some soup, I don't recall for sure.

On the way back I had access to the SAS/Air Canada lounge at Heathrow and it was great; a small theatre showing the BBC, lots of cheese and crackers, some pasta as I recall, plus a much better selection of drinks and tons of papers to choose from, all in a nicer environment.

That one might be worth $140 if you have a really long layover or desperately need a free drink. But it doesn't sound like much of a deal for 7,000 points.

Aeroplan also is offering a one year pass for 50,000 points or a pass for a member and a spouse for 73,500 miles.

GREEK ISSUES

Associated Press reports that Greece's state-run airlines, Olympic, will cancel dozens of flights tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 25) because of an air traffic controllers strike. Officials said 68 mostly domestic flights will be cancelled and four international flights rescheduled.

The air traffic controllers action is part of a 24-hour strike called by the umbrella civil servant union of Greece, which wants wage hikes and better social security benefits.

Strikes in Greece? Hard to believe.

 

EGYPTIAN TROUBLES LOOM?

It's been a turbulent couple years in the tourism business, with government problems in Thailand, the attacks in Mumbai and other problems. Now comes the weekend bombing at a market in Cairo, which killed a 17-year-old French girl and injured at least 21 others.

Egypt has been emerging as a great spot for tourists looking for cheap alternatives to places like Italy or Spain. But bombing a spot so close to a popular tourist bazaar is undoubtedly going to make folks think twice about an Egyptian holiday.

Reuters reports the bomb was planted under a bench near the Khan el-Khalili market and that was "the first such attack on tourists in the city since April, 2005 and the first in Egypt since the Sinai resort of Dahab was bombed in April, 2006. That's less than three years ago.

Reuters says tourism accounts for about seven per cent of Egypt's gross domestic product but that "previous bombings had only a short-term impact" on tourist visits.

BILLING BLUES

Seems diners at a tavern in Mesana, Cyprus weren't very happy with their bill and took it to an extreme - opening fire with a shotgun, then dousing the place in gasoline and threatening to set it on fire. Apparently the man weren't happy (we guess not) over a 93 euro bill for food and drinks at the restaurant on Sunday night. They offered to pay only 50 euros, which seemingly didn't sit well with the owner.

CALLING MR. BLACKWELL

Reuters (thanks, guys) also reports today that public servants "in the gritty central Chinese city of Zhengzhou" have been not to wear "unnatural hair styles" or wear clothes that are too wild. The report says that from now on, Zhengzhou city officials "should make sure their clothing matches and (should) stay away from bright colour schemes."

It's not clear what set the government off. But you'd have to wonder what they thought of what Goldie Hawn was wearing at the Oscars Sunday night? Yikes - act your age, sweetheart. We can forgive Miley Cyrus her Disney World silliness as she's just a kid. But Goldie oughta know better.

Speaking of the Academy Awards, have you ever seen such inane fawning and bowing and scraping over alleged "celebrities?" It's embarrassing. I covered sports for 15 years and I've interviewed Michael Jordan and Roger Clemens and Wayne Gretzky and Mike Weir and I never felt obliged to gush, "Gee, you're so wonderful and it's such a pleasure to have you come by and deign to talk to little old, undeserving me - and might I add that you look particularly ravishing today." Yes, it's Oscar night and they all dress well. But skip the obvious and ask them an actual question.

Your job is to TALK to these people, not be their public relations agents.

HONG KONG FERRY TOPS THE BILL

The Society of American Travel Writers has just published a poll of its members, who ranked the world's best ferry rides. An interesting concept, I'd say, as who doesn't like a ferry ride?

Think about it. The Toronto Islands are a nice park but half the fun is taking the boat and the sense of anticipation as the city skyline slides behind you and the tree-lined shore and the bays and boats creep into focus ahead of you. So congrats to SATW for the idea, and here's a list of their favourites, with a few comments from yours truly, who's been lucky enough to ride a couple of them.

1. Star Ferry, Hong Kong. Probably a no-brainer. Classic skylines on both sides of the harbour, bustling crowds, exotic smells and historic boats.

2. San Francisco to Sausalito, California. You dance past Alcatraz with great views of the Marin hills, the Golden Gate Bridge and the yacht harbours of Sausalito, which is a great little town for walking and milling about or slurping an ice cream cone. Some lovely restaurants right on the water. And you can slip into the restored Ferry Building in San Francisco, which has great local produce and wine shops.

3. Staten Island Ferry, New York. Awesome views of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty. A definite top-three.

4. Washington State Ferries, Puget Sound to the San Juan Islands. Haven't done this one but it's a stunning area.

5. British Columbia Ferry System, including Vancouver to Victoria. Most definitely deserving, with the lovely islands and rocky shores and mist-covered mountains of lower B.C. and Vancouver Island, not to mention the numerous islets that pop up as you drift past.

6. Sydney Harbour to Manly, Australia. Lucky enough to catch this one during the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Sydney Harbour is one of the great urban/natural places on earth, and the cliffs surrounding Bondi and Manly are absolute stunners. The colour of the water is remarkable.

7. Greek Islands. Do yourself a favour and grab an early morning boat from Athens to one of the local islands, such as Hydra, for a day trip. Or go overnight to the Cylcades or some further-flung spot. But don't do it in summer. Instead, aim for May or October, when the crowds have dissipated. A cold Mythos beer and some Greek olives and hummus, or perhaps some rich, Balkan yogurt in a bowl with a drizzle of honey and a cup of coffee if it's morning. What more could you want?

8. The "Blue Canoes" of the Alaska State Ferry System. Don't know anything about them, myself, but SATW says overnight passengers can pitch their canoes on deck, which sounds pretty cool.

9. "Norway in a Nutshell" Tour and ferry ride. A great way to see the fjords as you go from Flam to Gudvangen, said one society member. Have to take their word on this one.

10. Ferry from Mallaig to Isle of Skye, Scotland. About time for the British Isles to appear, doncha think? Haven't had the pleasure but the Isle of Skye sounds lovely and mysterious and wonderfully Scottish.

Anything missing? Personally, I've always wanted to take the ferry cross the Mersey River in Liverpool, owing to one of my favourite songs - the old classic by Gerry and the Pacemakers. And I'm dying to take the boat from Long Beach to Santa Catalina in California.

VIVA LAS VEGAS

Wow. Those are some kinda deals happening down in Vegas these days.

With the North American economy tanking all around us, the tourism folks in southern Nevada have ramped up some great specials. The web site dealbase.com today was offering a room at the la-de-da Venetian for $149 U.S. a night - but it included a $50 slot machine credit and a $25 beverage credit. Dealbase said the $149 already was 41 per cent off the regular price. Toss in the credits and you've got something that's even a better deal than that.

Expedia.ca today was listing a room at the Sahara for next week at, get this, $31.54 in Canadian dollars. Plus you get a $25 casino credit, which means the room (a quick check of the old abacus here) is just about the price of a large cafe latte and a small cookie at Starbucks. A room at Circus Circus was listed at $31.48.

Wow.

Expedia was listing flights for Wednesday of next week, returning Friday, at $440 Canadian out of Pearson. No doubt there are better deals to be had, which means there may never be a better time to visit Vegas.

CANADIAN MARKETS

Air Canada continues to make the kind of headlines it doesn't want, with more and more whispers about potential bankruptcy. They're keeping a stiff upper lip at ACC headquarters, however, and the airline has always survived. But West Jet is making very strong inroads and seems to be in better long-term shape right now.

As for the little airline that could, Porter (Mayor David Miller's favourite), officials continue to sound off about expansion in the near future. Airwise.com is reporting that "the two-year airline intends to double its aircraft fleet and add up to three new destinations this year ... bringing the total number of cities it serves to 12."

Apparently near the top of the expansion list are Washington, Philadelphia and Boston.

Some family members of mine flew on Porter just yesterday and came away impressed with the service, something Air Canada officials continue to try to hammer home to employees.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION?

Down in Tulsa, Oklahoma, they're trying out body scanners as a potential replacement for metal detectors at the airport. Of course, this hasn't gone over well with everyone.

According to USA Today, "The scanners aim to close a loophole by finding non-metallic weapons such as plastic and liquid explosives, which the TSA considers a major threat. The machines raise privacy concerns because their images reveal outlines of private body parts."

"We're getting closer and closer to a required strip-search to board an airplane," said Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The folks who run the machines say they blur out people's faces so they can't identify who is who. And they insist all images are promptly erased after screening. But it's easy to see some, uh, spectacularly-built person perhaps having their image, somehow, preserved for posterity. Hey, it's possible, isn't it?

The newspaper said airports in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City will join the test in the next two months.

If anyone goes through one, let me know what you think.

SNOWBIRDS ON THE RISE

No surprise that Canadians love to visit Florida. But it's a bit unexpected to see that Canadian visits to the Sunshine State grew by some 14 per cent last year.

Visit Florida folks say 2,832,300 Canucks dipped into the state last year, compared to 2,500,000 in 2007.

On the other hand, and you knew this was coming, Canadian travel to Florida fell by 5.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008. Not great if you're a Florida innkeeper, but it's better numbers than a lot of places can claim.

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

According to American Express Travel bookings, some smaller cities are still doing well in the tourism biz. Tucson, Arizona saw its numbers jump 12 per cent in January 2009 versus January 2008, while Palm Springs, California went up 13 per cent and Portland, Oregon jumped 38 per cent.

Portland's numbers seem a little strange. It's a great town, as I recall, but January's a weird time to head to the Pacific Northwest.

AmEx says Philadelphia also is doing well these days. Maybe it was the Phillies' winning the World Series. Or maybe it's aggressive marketing and cheaper hotel rooms than New York - certainly there were Philly posters all over the Tube in London when I was there a couple weeks ago. Not very interesting posters, but at least they were pushing. And apparently they were pushing the right city. As opposed to the Philadelphia transit agency, which has some red-faced officials after folks realized that the transit passes they were selling recently had a picture of the New York City skyline on it. Oooh, that's embarrassing.

GOLF GROWS

Golf resorts have seen no end of trouble in North America, but it seems there's still a lot of golf being built elsewhere in the world. Vietnam has become a hot spot, as has China. Now, it's Honduras on the golf map, with a Pete Dye course called the Black Pearl at a place called Pristine Bay.

It's on the island of Roatan, 35 miles off the coast and it's Dye's first course in Honduras. A residential/resort development also is underway on the island, previously known as a scuba-diving spot due to a coral reef that's said to be the second largest in the world.

LINING UP "FORE" A NEW SPORT

Apologize for the lame headline, but it's been a while since I checked in under my Olympic blogging umbrella and I'm a little rusty.

Taking a breather here between travel blog entries and twitter entries (hey, there's still a newspaper to put out, too) and ran into a Bloomberg wire item about a favourite subject; golf in the Olympics. As editor of the Star's golf magazine and an avid but lousy player, it's always fun to think about what will happen with plans to get golf into the five-ring circus.

According to Bloomberg, the International Golf Federation has submitted a 76-page document to the International Olympic Committee that outlines how 60 men golfers and 60 women players would compete ina four-round, stroke-play competition to determine medal winners if golf gets the nod for the 2016 Games, which could take place in Chicago.

"Never before, in both mind and spirt, have all levels of golf around the world been so united towards a single goal," federation officials said in a statement.

A friend of mine in the Olympic movement says she's heard the pleas from golf about sportsmanship and the Olympic ideals and how golf matches up with the Olympic movement and that she's impressed. But who knows what chance they have of success.

The plan calls for the top 60 players to be based on official world golf rankings. Generally speaking, it sounds like there would be a maximum of two players per country, although the top 15-ranked players would be automatically eligible and wouldn't count under the formula.

The U.S. has five men in the top 15, while England and Sweden both have two.

The federation said the golf schedule would be fixed so that there wouldn't be a conflict in dates, which might mean having to move the British Open from late July or, more likely, the PGA Championship from its usual August date. They also said the best players in the world would be available, although it's unlikely anyone could be forced to play.

Tiger Woods has sounded a little iffy on the idea. But Canada's Mike Weir, who jumped to number 17 in the world rankings after coming second at Pebble Beach on the weekend, has appeared eager.

The last time golf was in the Olympics was in 1904 in St. Louis, when George Lyon of Toronto won the gold medal - and walked through the clubhouse on his hands to celebrate.

Also trying to get onto the agenda for 2016 are baseball, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, squash and softball. Softball appeared to pick up a solid head of steam when the U.S. monopoly on the gold medal was broken at the Beijing Games. If softball gets back in, that would leave baseball (which is having PR problems galore of late), rugby sevens, karate, roller sports, squash and golf to battle it out. Although there's no guarantee the IOC will even vote to add two more sports in the first place.

"We are confident that our responses to the IOC questionnaire will position our sport favourably as we move into the final run of the bid process," said International Softball Federation president Don Porter.

Said International Rugby Board chief Bernard Lapasset: "Sevens is already successfully integrated in major international multi-sport events such as the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games, the Pan American Games and the World Games and it has a proven track record of filling stadia - the Commonwealth Games 2006 Sevens tournament was attended by 150,000 over three days, second only to track and field."

IOC voters will take up the issue at a meeting in Copenhagen in October. They'll also decide at that meeting where to stage the 2016 Summer Games. The four finalists are Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Some guy named Obama might be pushing for Chicago, we hear. But Madrid has former IOC boss Juan Antonio Samaranch in their corner.

HOCKEY LOGO ... BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

Don't know about you, but this big fuss over what logo the Canadian hockey team wears on its uniforms strikes me as really dumb. Sure, let's be historical. But isn't the point to win the gold medal and not to worry about what Canada's team is wearing when it finally competes?

Guess I'm just not enough of a hockey guy.