Travel Maven blog

Crabbing and coughs in Southwest Louisiana

After more than two weeks on the road, in the air, and at sea, I have landed in Lake Charles, in Southwest Louisiana, about the only place in the state that isn't worried about flooding. I am burdened with kennel cough and the Mother’s Day card I bought as I left the United States April 29.

Airplanes, full of sneezing, runny nosed bodies caged in the seats closest to me, always seem to leach out a cold or cough  in the air. On this three-week trip I have boarded nine flights, and I have two yet to go before I am home. Who knows what other germs will find me before the trip is done. And how long will this kennel cough hang on?

The Mother’s Day card is my fault. I didn’t want to mail it too soon, as April 29 was more than a week ahead of May 8. Inevitably, I mailed it too late. But I told mom she will get a card later this week that has been in Chicago, Munich, Venice, Barcelona, Philadelphia, Cleveland, New York, Minneapolis, Dallas, and now Lake Charles. That ought to count for something.

I am in Lake Charles not to gamble, which the tourists do here on boats that are permanently moored at lakes’ edges, but to eat Cajun sausage and to hunt for crabs in a tour group led by Captain Sammie, pictured at right. We will be armed with chicken necks and string. I will tell you about that in my next post.

Cruising, a free voyage to the Bahamas

I met an enterprising woman cruising on Azamara Journey, during our November crossing of the Atlantic. She said she had just booked a free four-night cruise.

In this crazy world of travel anomalies and managed discounts, her plan made perfect sense.

The $7 flight from Frankfurt to Paris

Take a look at Internet booking sites, and you may be amazed at the price of flying between major cities in Europe. Sometimes the flight is very cheap. Just be careful to check which airports are listed, because some are hours away from the city center.

I flew roundtrip from the main airport in Frankfurt, Germany, to Charles de Gaulle in Paris for $7.

Or so the chart said. Government fees were an additional $109. Still, $116 for a roundtrip ticket between Frankfurt and Paris, on a full-sized Air France jet that did not charge me extra for my suitcase, is a very  good price. And it’s available most any day.

The flights went well for me, except for the waiting area at Charles de Gaulle, where international travelers were crammed into a tight section of the Air France concourse.  Seats and food were difficult to find, and announcements hard to hear.

What made the cramped, overheated wait worse was the cheery sign: It said that “For Your convenience” temporary walls were put up during reconstruction of the waiting area.

I wish that governments wouldn’t insult my intelligence with such signs. That crowded room, with scarce chairs, a tiny duty-free shop and limited food for travelers, was NOT for my convenience.

At best, the construction was aimed at other travelers, far down the road, who may find the new waiting area convenient, long after I have moved on, my suffering nearly forgotten. Nearly.

 

Packing for a two-month trip to Europe

Travels with Charlie, the suitcase

How do you cram enough stuff for two months of travel – during the changing weather of fall – into a 50-pound bag? That was my limit, imposed by most international airlines, and specifically Lufthansa, which flew me from the United States to Frankfurt, Germany, in late September.

This was a smart weight limit anyway. I was not going on a tour bus, nor preparing to sit in a resort. I would wheel and carry my luggage through Europe – France, Germany, Italy, Greece – on planes, trains, buses, subways, a barge, and three ships, including one that eventually would cruise me back across the Atlantic to the United States.

Pulling 50 pounds of suitcase on wheels along city streets is not so tough, even in hill towns. Lugging 50 pounds up the steps of budget hotels is a bit of work. Carrying it up and down the steps of Europe’s train and Metro stations is a serious strain. I would have fared better with a 40-pound limit.

The 50-pound bag I named Charlie. It’s made by High Sierra, with three compartments, and actually can convert to a backpack. Fat chance.

New flights from New York to China take an icy route

If you look at the world as a fat round ball, and your eyes move east and west, New York and China are half a globe apart.

But if you view the Earth from above the North Pole, perceptions change.

Flying north from New York, over the polar ice cap of the Arctic, brings China nearly as close to New York as it is to Los Angeles on a route across the Pacific Ocean. When you compare flights to China, Los Angeles is only a few hundred air miles closer to Beijing than New York is to Beijing. 

That's why Continental Airlines now flies north on its three daily non-stops from its New York hub in  Newark, N.J., to three China cities, Beijing, Hong Kong, and the latest, Shanghai, which began March 25.

Continental is the first U.S. carrier with daily service to Shanghai from New York, linking two of the world's top financial centers at a time when finance is on the world's mind. The flight, on a Boeing 777-200, leaves Newark at 11:20 a.m., arriving in Shanghai the following day at 1:45 p.m. The return flight departs Shanghai at 3:45 p.m. and arrives at Newark the same day at 6:20 p.m.

Flying times are approximately 14 hours and 30 minutes in each direction. Movies and music are available in English and Mandarin, as are instructional videos. Menus are in English and Chinese. Continental has offered special fares at Continental.com

I am on a one-week journey from Newark to Beijing, then back to Newark from Shanghai. A highlight of the flight from Newark was the view over the polar ice cap out the window -- ice as far as I could see, with occasional cracks and ridges, and the horizon that clearly showed the curve of the Earth.

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