High Tech Replaces High Touch in Air Travel

Millions of words have been written -- including some on this blog -- about the increasing annoyances and unpleasantries involved in air travel. But one thing has gotten easier: the ability to preprint boarding passes from your home or office computer. While I miss the high-touch aspects of flying as it once was, where passengers were catered to rather than hassled, the ability to get some of the mechanics out of the way does make things a lot easier at the airport. You might say that I'm conflicted.

First came self-service check-in kiosks at airports: dip your credit card or frequent flyer card into a terminal, up pops your itinerary, confirm or change your seat selection(s), enter the number of bags you are checking in, press again, and out comes your boarding pass. Take any checked bags to the counter to be tagged and hopefully loaded onto your airplane, and you are ready ready to deal with the security line. I don't know about other airlines, but using United's on-line check-in adds another 500 miles to my MileagePlus account.

Not only do I miss the high-touch elements to air travel in the past, but I really am sorry for the downsized airline employees who used to do for us what are now self-service tasks. Still, I have to admit that high-tech has made it all a lot easier. I am flying out of Denver (DIA) for Boise (BOI) this morning, and along with my photo ID, I'll leave the house, ready to park my car and check in.

Cool New Denver Hotel

The Curtis blazes onto the lodging scene -- well in time for the '08 Democratic convention

I very rarely spend the night in a downtown Denver hotel, but if I did, the newly (and partially) opened 336-room Hotel Curtis would be high on my list -- along with such pricier lodgings as the Brown Palace, the Monaco, the Oxford, the Teatro and the Westin at Tabor Center.

The Curtis has had what the hotel industry calls a "soft opening," meaning that rooms are available but has its restaurants or all of its public spaces are not open yet. The hotel is all about pop culture. A toy robot welcomes guests into the lobby (right), which is done up in retro colors and fabrics but with a decidedly 21st century high-definition video screen of considerable side. Instead of ponderous business publications, the reading nook offers well-loved comics and books on pop-culture themes. The convenience store, called the 5&Dime, sells such classic candies and vintage-style soda pop.

The rooms are attractive yet straightforward and not too wild, but each of the 16 floors features a different pop-culture theme, from the elevator recording announcing the next stop to photographs and pop art carrying out each specific theme. These include Big Hair, Sports Champions, TV Mania, Chick Flick, One Hit Wonder, Sci-Fi, and more. Guest amenities are along the lines of a PEZ dispenser and sweet candy wafers to fill them with or a yoyo. Guests get their wake-up calls from Austin Powers, Mr. T or other storied characters. Still to come this year are the restaurants (The Corner Office and Martini Bar, Oceanaire, and a Starbucks), fitness facility, a large indoor swimming pool, business center, and meeting space. The hotel is pet-friendly and even features a doggie door so that Fido feels especially welcome.

Not only is a new hotel welcome in and of itself, especially in view of Denver's hosting of the 2008 Democratic Convention, but it was built within the shel of the Executive Tower Hotel, a dated property that was singularly uninspiring and unattractive but was a traditional venue for political events -- rumor has it because it was a strong union hotel.

Nightly room rates at the new Curtis currently start at $129. Go to the website or call 800-525-0661 or 303-571-0300 for further rate information or reservations.

New Concept in Air Travel

I've been flying long enough to remember such breakthrough air carriers as Icelandic Airlines (now Icelandair), once the only non-charter, low-fare carrier between the US and Eruope; People Express (long ago wrapped into Continental), a low-fare, non-union domestic airline with simplified regulations, and Laker Airways' SkyTrain, the late Sir Freddie Laker's low-fare, no-frills transatlantic airline. I have welcomed the rise of Southwest Airlines (especially their apperance on the Denver air scene), applauded the success of JetBlue offering luxury for less and enjoyed the funky-mod ambience on Virgin Atlantic.

Now comes another really great idea in air travel . Beginning this Thursday, January 25, SilverJet is offering business class-only daily service between New York's Newark International Airport and London's Luton Airport. This new carrier is boasting about ooperating the world's first private terminal for an intercontinental commercial airline with a mere 30-minute check-in, its own security screening facilitity and the services of a luggage concierge to deal with baggage.

SilverJet is flying single-class Boeing 767 aircraft with just 100 flat-bed seats, freshly cooked food that each passenger can order when he or she wishes to eat and individual personal entertainment systems. The carrier promises, "When you want to sleep, we'll make up your bed, offer you a night-cap, and promise not to wake you, unless you've specifically requested it. We’ll keep pre-landing procedures to a minimum to give you an extra lie-in. With no intrusive announcements, no flood-lit cabins and no trolleys to bang into your seats, we create the quietest possible cabin environment to help you sleep, or concentrate on work."

Sounds pricey? Not really, considering what your money brings. SilverJet the fare is $1,796 roundtrip, well more than economy on other airlines but only about half of their front-cabin fares. For semi-frugal expense-account flyers or anyone ready for a transatlantic splurge, SilverJet is the way to go. I wish the airline great success and hope to fly it someday.

But wait! There's more! Passengers can fly SilverJet with a clear conscience. It announced that it is the world's first airline to be 100 percent carbon neutral. That moderate ticket price includes a mandatory carbon offset contribution, giving passengers the opportunity to reinvest "Carbon Points" into a number of climate-friendly projects around the world.

I like travel providers that offer services at such good prices that even the most budget-conscious can afford to go places and see things. I like luxury and service. What I like about
SilverJet appears to be offering up top-shelf service and facilities at happy-hour, well-drink prices. What can be better than that?

Ode to the Road

I don't suppose a 360-mile drive can be considered a real road trip. Lately, however, I seem to have spent so much time on airplanes, shoveling out my car and staying close to home that this has been the first one farther than Denver (or Denver International Airport) that I've taken in some time. I drove from Boulder to Durango, diagonally across the state. Over the years, I've tried various combinations of highways. For my usual route, I have settled on CO 93 to C-470 to US 285 over Kenosha Pass through South Park and the San Luis Valley to Rte 112 to Del Norte to US 160 over Wolf Creek Pass) into Durango. I particularly enjoy this drive, because very little of it is on an Interstate -- and if I wanted, I could easily avoid that too.

For someone like me, who grew up in Connecticut (about 130 east-west miles and 60 north-south miles), drives of this length were once almost incomprehensible. In New England, 360 miles would mean traveling through three states and usually numerous traffic jams -- or at least slowdowns. But now, with a 4WD car that nevertheless gets decent gas mileage, satellite radio and a book that I want to "read" downloaded from audible.com and saved on CDs, the miles fly by. This time, the trip seemed every sweeter and more beautiful than usual.

Following storm after storm at home, I enjoyed sailing along the dry roads under the big blue sky, with panoramic mountainscapes crisp in the clear air and sunshine. It was very cold, and the kind of water-look mirages that appear on asphalt on hot summer days are a winter phenomenon too. Who knew? Cattle and horses grazed in pastures where the snow had begun melting back. Having watched recent newscasts of the devastating impact that deep snowdrifts on Colorado's eastern plains had on livestock, I was thrilled to see animals placidly eating. Birds flocked and wheeled overhead. In the great expanse of the San Luis Valley, plumes of steam rose from irrigation dishes that surprisingly were unfrozen. Alpenglow lingered long on the Sangre de Cristro mountains' western faces.

There was, however, a blot on this idyllic trip. In the long straightaway between Villa Grove and Saguache, I was stopped for speeding (79 in a 65-mile zone). I didn't even try to talk my way out of the ticket, my first ever speeding citation. My car has cruise control, which could keep me honest, but I don't usually use it. I have to mail payment in to Saguache County within 20 days.

If I needed an additional reminder to be more conscientious, ib a column in today's Durango Herald from High Country News, syndicated writer Gail Blinkly wrote about the double-standard of some environmentalists and green-leaning politicians who speed on the open, empty roads of western Colorado. She pointed out that a vehicle traveling at 75 miles per hour can burn up to 45 percent more fuel than one going 55 mph. I probably won't scale back to 55 on road trips, but I'm going to to start using cruise control to help stick to the speed limit. It will keep me from getting pulled over for speeding again -- and it will give me all the more time to enjoy the wonderful Colorado scenery.

New Orleans? Think Twice

All my friends know that I take reasonable precautions but am not a fearful traveler. Big cities don't scare me. Street people don't scare me. Public transportation doesn't scare me. Crowded markets in developing countries don't scare me. But I wouldn't go to New Orleans these days -- even if I wanted to experience Mardi Gras there, which I don't.

According to a news feature in today's New York Times, the depopulated and beleaguered city tallied 95 murders per 100,000 residents in the second half of 2006 and an appalling eight since the first of the year. That's nearly one a day, which is fine for multi-vitamins but not for homicides. The Times used such phrases as "dysfunctional law enforcement institutions," which could as easily describe Baghdad. I wouldn't want to take a vacation there either!

Petty crimes (pickpocketing, lewd and drunken behavior, soliciting and the like) plagued the picturesque French Quarter long before Hurricane Katrina, and it doesn't appear that the recent epidemic of violence has been directed at tourists. Still, such a high murder rate plus the ineffective law enforcement reported in the Times equals an ucomfortable climate, no matter what kind of a welcome mat the city's tourist industry has laid out.

My heart bleeds for the Crescent City, but when it comes to my own travels, I'll stay away for a while. I don't care that Orbitz, which sells airline tickets and travel packages, has named it one of seven "in" destinations for 2007, or that Travel & Leisure put it on its "go-to" list. The convention and visitors' bureau quoted T&L's January issue as commenting, "Less than 18 months after Hurricane Katrina, much of New Orleans is back and ready for visitors. Revamped favorites and interesting newcomers are contributing to the second act of one of America’s favorite cities," adding that “For travelers who want to play a more direct part in the Crescent City’s renaissance, ‘voluntourism’ opportunities abound.”

Hoping the New Orleans soon gets a grip on itself is probably like hoping that the Shiites and Sunnis will be friends, or the the Palestinians and Israelis will become compatible, or that Yankees and the Red Sox fans will see baseball the same way. I hope I'm wrong.

Snow Here, But "Snowhere" Else

Three snowstorms in three weeks, and another forecast for Thursday, and Colorado's Front Range is experiencing the makings of an epic winter. It was a lousy drive home to Boulder from the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver on Sunday evening, and I had to cancel a trip to Beaver Creek on Monday, because blowing and drifting snow and ground blizzards caused the Department of Transportation and State Police to close major highways and secondary routes all over the Front Range.

The storms also imperiled livestock and have hit ranchers on the Eastern Plains particuarly hard, so I don't mean to minimize some people's inconvenience and trivilize others' real misfortunes. However, for skiers, a winter like this is nature's greatest gift. Ski resorts up and down the Rockies have benefited from strong strong storms, and even if transportation to and from the high country was dicey at times, there have been more pluses than minuses so far.

While the Rockies are wallowing in snow, the Northeast is hurting and hurting badly. New England ski areas are limping along at best, and Europe is not any better off. The Alps are still in terrible shape. When I returned from Europe in early December, I wrote about the lack of snow, unseasonable warmth and sad prospects for the winter. These appear on my December 9, 2006, post. There has, alas, been no significant improvement. Whever there is a snow-poor year somewhere, resorts elsewhere might benefit in the short them, but in the long range, they suffer too.

In his guest column in the Denver Post, Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety reported, "One thing that has been common this season is that conditions for nearly every race -- other than Beaver Creek and Levi, Finland -- have been very inconsistent and unfair. There has been very little snow, and temperatures have been unseasonably warm. During the slalom here [Adelboden, Switzerland] on Sunday, it rained. On Monday, the temperature was about 45 degrees and the mountains slowly turned from snow to mud."

I'm not gloating, but I am grateful to be a skier and snowshoer living in a region where there is lots of snow -- at least, right now. I'm not taking anything for granted, snow-wise. It might not be like this next year (2005-06 were devastating in New Mexico and the winter before was uncharacterisitically snow-poor in the Pacific Northwest), so my winter soulmates and I better enjoy ski conditions while they are this good. And we fully expect even more Easterners, Europeans and Brits than unusual to come share our snowy slopes.

Colorado's Top 10 Hotels

I always take magazines' "best" lists with a grain of salt. Sometimes the lists are compiled from readers' ballots, favoring big hotels or resorts in popular destinations that more people will have visited over smaller places or those in less glamorous destinations. Sometimes the lists suspiciously favor long-time advertisers. But I read them anyway -- and I've never quibbled with what's been included, rather by what I feel also merited such recognition. The new issue of Conde Nast Traveler's Gold List of 700 of the world's top hotels includes 10 in Colorado. Acknowledging that the magazine's readers and/or editors only seem familiar with Aspen, the Vail Valley and Colorado Springs, I give you their 2007 selections plus my descriptions:

• The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs: This sprawling, resort keeps getting better. Every year brings news of new or renovated restaurants, a rebuilt golf course, a spa expansion, totally renovated guest rooms. The Broadmoor features 700 rooms, some of the best dining in the state, world-class golf, excellent tennis and drop-dead views of Pikes Peak in one direction and treetops by day twinkling city lights by night in the other direction.
• Hotel Jerome, Aspen: This historic (1889) jewel of a hotel is the grande dame of Aspen hotels, restored and expanded lovingly into a Victorian-style showplace. But hold your hat, because the owners of The Broadmoor have purchased the Jerome, plan to close it sometime after the ski season and make it over completely. Observing Knowing what they have done at The Broadmoor, it's bound to be a dazzling but historically respectful renovation.
• Little Nell Hotel, Aspen: This gorgeous, tasteful hotel right at the base of the Aspen Mountain gondola set the bar high for luxurious, contemporary hotel development in one of America's leading ski towns. Its rooms are tasteful, its staff caring and competent and its location at the edge of downtown Aspen exceptional. The concept will eventually be taken down the road when the planned Little Nell at Snowmass is built.
• Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, Edwards: Magnificently located on a mesa with commanding mountain views, this boutique lodge offers a combination of seclusion and easy access to all of the Vail Valley's abundant appeals and is the centerpiece of a development of super-luxe private homes. The resort features four golf courses and a wonderful on-site spa.
• JW Marriott Denver, Denver: When I think about it, I am amazed that until this classy, 196-room hotel opened in June 2004, the vibrant Cherry Creek North area offered no lodging. Shops? Yes. Restaurants? Plenty. But this was the first hotel. When I'm in the area, even if I have no particular reason to walk through the door, I usually wander in just to gawk at the beautiful art glass in the lobby and other public areas.
• Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa, Beaver Creek: When this luxuriously rustic hotel opened, it was the first real luxury property at still-developing Beaver Creek Village. Stylish and self-contained, it never lost its edge. The Hyatt was among the first to bring beautiful understated decor, well-trained staff, exceptional on-site facilities and top services to the mountains. Its standards have since become the norm for high-end ski hotels in the United States.
• Pines Lodge, Beaver Creek: Good things come in (relatively) little packages. Set on a hill above Beaver Creek Village, is an attractive, understated ski-in, ski-out lodge with only 60 rooms, yet it combines abundant mountain charm with upscale services, amenities and decor and even European-style flair.
• Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch, Beaver Creek: Taking its inspiration from grand National Park lodges, this spectacular ski-in, ski-out resort hotel offers 237 exquisitely appointed rooms, plus abundant atmosphere, enviable tranquility for those who wish it, a beyond-gorgeous spa and the exceptional hotel services for which Ritz-Carlton is known worldwide. There's a chairlift right outside the door, and all the other attractions of Beaver Creek and the entire Vail Valley nearby.
• Sonnenalp Resort, Vail: This is a perfect rendition of a classic Alpine ski resort brought to the Rockies. Run by the Faessler family that has operated the original Sonnenalp in the Bavarian Alps since 1919, this extraordinary 115-suite, 12room resort hotel occupies several buildings in the heart of Vail Village. Rooms and public spaces are all appointed in impeccable and authentic Alpine style. The lifts are a short walk away, and the Sonnenalp also operates its own nearby golf course.
• St. Regis Resort, Aspen: With 179 spacious and graciously appointed guest rooms, a dazzling spa and all the top services expected at a St. Regis property, this is a shining jewel in the diadem of Aspen lodging. Self-contained and located at the base of Aspen Mountain, very near the lifts, it is also just a short walk from all of downtown Aspen's attractions.

Some commonalities can be assumed for all of these properties: twice-daily housekeeping, excellent on-site dining, at least one congenial bar/lounge and often entertainment; concierge, doorman and valet services; fitness center and/or spa and/or swimming pool(s); child-care arrangements, and other services and facilities. After all, they would not have made the top-10 list without such features. You will find that these hotels have won numerous stars from Mobil and Diamonds from AAA, often every single year.

Vicarious Travel -- by the Book

I bought my copy of The Best American Travel Writing 2006 a few days ago, as I do every year. There's always a prominent guest editor's name on the cover of this anthology. This year, it's Tim Cahill, following Jamaica Kincaid (2005), Pico Iyer (2004), Ian Frazier (2003), Frances Mayes (2002), Paul Theroux (2001) and Bill Bryson (2000). When they aren't guest editing, it is not uncommon for their bylines to appear in the year's collected works.

Travel writers of this caliber hook me hard and reel me in to the places they have been, the things they have seen and the adventures they have experienced. By and large, my travels are closer to home. In fact, I often joke that I'm a travel writer who doesn't often leave her time zone. I know (and write) a lot about Colorado, and also Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Montana, especially the mountain areas.

The best travel pieces captivate me and carry me far away. I love to take the latest "best" anthology for whenever I have time on airplanes and in hotel and motel rooms. I can read a story originally published in, say, National Geographic Adventure, put the book aside for a few days, pick it up again and read something from The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker or the New York Times Magazine. And of course, there's always at least one piece from Outside.

I would consider the publication of one of my pieces in The Best American Travel Writing to be the apex of my writing career, but then again, I have rarely even dared submit anything. Rather like the lottery, if I don't play, I can never win. But then, I just don't get the opportunity to do the kind of erudite, insightful travel writing that finds its way into this wonderful annual. So I buy the book every year, grateful to Houghton Mifflin for continuing to support the series and set off on my annual armchair voyage to distant and/or exotic and/or exciting places as experienced by the best travel journalists writing in the English language.