Cairo: Traffic Impressions

Cairo though the windshield: Seeing the largest city in the Middle East the way most tourist don't

When my friend Katy learned that I was coming to Egypt, she told me that her sister Louise, brother-in-law Brian and two neices are living here and put us in touch. E-mail is a wondrous thing. I wrote to Louise, who replied quickly and invited me over for dinner this evening (Friday) and sent a driver to pick me up at my hotel just six hours after I arrived. What a wonderful chance to meet some worldly expats. Ibrahim, a Filipino and therefore also an expat, picked me up and drove me to the Maadi area. We drove many miles outward from the city center, which took about an hour and gave me a chance to see the non-touristic side of Cairo. En route in whatever direction we were heading (Ibrahim didn't know), I noticed:

• Streetlights are yellow-ish rather than glaring white. Advertising signs are affixed partway up the lampposts on arterials in residential areas. Coupled with wicked, visible air pollution, the impression is a gray-yellow gloom. Stores are illuminated with glaring fluorescents that are far brighter than the streetlights.


• Very few traffic lights and even fewer traffic cops -- and then only at a few major intersections. Drivers don't pay strict attention to either.


• Vehicle lights are random. Drivers might use headlights (one sometimes broken), parking lights or no lights at all.


• Replacing some red tail lights and/or white parking lights with blue lights is a favorite example of automotive decoration. Really tricked-out cars have additional trim of alternating red and blue lights on the sides.


• The vast majority of cars have something dangling from the rearview mirror.


• On major arterials, four lanes of traffic where there should be three -- if lines have been painted at all. Also if there are actual lines, straddling one rather than driving between two is common, Motorscooters are a bonus. Helmets? What helmets?


• Broken-down cars are common in the right lane -- and occasionally even the left lane. Some are abadoned where they died; others have their hoods up and the driver and perhaps onlookers staring balefully at the engine.


• The farther from the airport or the city center, the more signs are only in Arabic.


• Instead of traffic circles or left turn lanes on divided roads, drivers make U-turns from the left lane. This creates sudden traffic jams when drivers in the two left lanes wait for the smallest break in oncoming traffic.


• Double and triple parking is the rule. Add cars stacked up for a left turn to the parked cars, and four lanes quickly neck down to two.


• Obeying one-way signs seems to be at the drivers' discretion.


• Whether the traffic is moving or inching along, drivers perform astonishing lane-changing feats.


• Horns are used as alerts ("I'm about to cut you off"), as explanations ("I just cut you off because I could") or automotive conversation ("Same to you, buster!")


• There are no crosswalks (though in fairness, people wouldn't pay attention anyway). Pedestrians cross where ever they wish and pose an extra challenge, especially when said pedestrians are fully veiled women in head-to-toe black who are camouflaged in the dark night.

I saw signs for rental-car agencies. Would I ever? Not on your life.

Cairo: Airport Impressions

You can't tell a book by it's cover, but I'm not sure whether or not there's a corollary about countries and their gateway airports, but here's my first impression of Egypt. Cairo International Airport (CAI) not only serves Egypt's capital and largest city but is also at the crossroads where the influences of the Gulf States, Africa and Europe meet. Terminal 1 has recently been renovated, Terminal 2 redevelopment has "been initiated" and a new Terminal 3 is "under construction and scheduled to open soon."

If you arrive without a visa, as many/most foreign tourists do, don't go straight to passport control. Go to the bank, where $15 will buy you a Monopoly money-size visa that will be pasted into your passport and decorated with an impressive official stamp. Also, don't expect anyone to take the entry or customs declaration forms that you filled out.

My initial impression therefore is of a bureaucratic country with systems that are not necessarily intuitive or logical to the outsider.

Couple On Display in Free "Hotel Room"

Hotel room set-up in corner storefront promotes hotel -- and displays guests

Duncan Malcolm and Katherine Lewis of London are spending five nights in a luxurious New York hotel room. The BBC reported that the tradeoff is that they any passerby can look in on them as they relax, watch television and do what people generally do in hotel rooms -- except that the bed is screened from view and there is a private bathroom. This is part of the promotion of a hotel that the BBC did not identify, and the couple view it as an extension of their Facebook presence. Would a free, glass-front micro-tel be the equivalent of Twitter?

Epic Snows 'Round the World

Heavy snows in the Alps, the Rockies, the Sierra and totally unexpected places around the world too

Scotland-based Patrick “Snowhunter" Thorne, who keeps track of such things, has reported "once in a generation” snowfalls on Mau Son Mountain in Vietnam, a meteorological curiosity but not necessarily germane for skiers. In the United Arab Emirates, In the United Arab Emirates, snow also fell on the northern emirate of Ras al Khaimah's Jebel Jais range. Thorne noted that the “situation [is] so rare that the local dialect doesn't even have a word for it.” Crown Prince Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who is planning an indoor snow center larger than the highly publicized Ski Dubai facility, visited the area to see real snow.

Closer to home, Mammoth Mountain, Calif., was inundated with five feet of snow over four days, and Steamboat reports has been slammed with powder-bearing storm after powder-bearing storm (42 inches out of the latest for a season total of 119 inches) and currently has an 80-plus-inch base. Steamboat (right) recorded 42 inches from this storm, bringing their season total to 229 inches (just over 19 feet). Crested Butte snagged inches for a season total to 202 inches. In this same late-January storm cycle, Aspen Highlands got 39 inches of new snow, Winter Park 35 inches, Silverton Mountain and Snowmass each 30 inches, Aspen Mountain 27 inches and Copper Mountain, Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort, and Loveland are each welcomed 26 inches of new snow. Even Eldora, just 22 miles from Boulder, got a rare 19 inches of fresh powder. New England is expecting such heavy snowfall out of a storm today (Wednesday) that schools in Main pre-emptorily closed.

But wait, there's more! Snowhunter reported epic snows in the Alps. Austria's powder champ was Nassfeld, with about four feet of snow in a week. The Axamer - Lizum above Innsbruck, far better known to American skiers, snared 14 inches. The report that the Mölltaler Glacier has the greatest snow depth in the country with just under 11 feet on upper slopes and German's Zugspitz Glacier in the Bavarian Alps got 11 inches, which is encouraging in light of the world's shrinking glaciers. Zermatt is Switzerland's seasonal snowfall leader with 18 inches from the most recent storm and a seasonal snow accumulation of 33 feet on the glacier. "Snowhunter" further reported that in northern Italy, Cortina d'Ampezzo got nearly three feet of snow, and Limone Piemonte 20 inches. Arabba Marmolada has the most snow Italy with 16 feet on the upper slopes. In France, where the World Alpine Ski Championships begin next week in Val d'Isère, Jean-Claude Killy's hometown, conditions are splendid -- though racers prefer hard, hard snow to powder.

The Pyrenees have also enjoyed abundant snow, including more than three feet at Baqueira/ Beret, Spain, and 20 inches in Andorra just this week, but as elsewhere, it comes with significant avalanche risk. “The snow depth and quality is excellent, but the risk of avalanche is high, and we are strongly advising our customers to stay on the marked pistes,” Vincent Doutres, lift company manager at Cauteret-Lys, told Snowhunter. Andorra expects to offer lift service until the first of May. In Scandinavia, Sweden received recent major winter storms, including something like 25 inches at Kungsberget. Ski Kungsberget! In Scotland, as unlikely a ski destination for North Americans as Scandinavia, all five ski areas are operation -- a rare occurance.

And if you are interested in conditions in places like Cauteret-Lys or Kungsberget, either because you like to ski places no other kid on your block has, or you just like to know about offbeat things, check out Snowhunter's site (www.skiinfo.com), which tracks conditions at something like 1,500 large and small ski areas.

Hotel Accessibility a Requirement, Not a Request

Consolidators must now change the way they handle reservations for disabled guests

It should not have taken a lawsuit to require hotel consolidators to accommodate disabled travelers who ask for accessible rooms. But it did. Candy Harrington, author of several books on handicap travel, calls this settlement agreed to by those third-party reservations services that book discounted hotel rooms and other travel components "a huge victory for disabled travelers."

She posted an informative report on her Barrier Free Travel blog applauding the settlement in the case of Smith v. Hotels.com L.P, in which the consolidator "has agreed to alter their way of doing business." By September of this year, details about accessible rooms are supposed to appear on the searchable websites of Hotels.com and Expedia.com.

Harrington continued that "travelers will actually be able to search for an accessible room with specific access features. So, for example, you'll be able to search for a room at a three-star hotel with a roll-in shower in Cleveland. That's a huge improvement in the whole system, as currently you can't determine a room's accessibility features when you search their database....And, in many cases you will actually be able to reserve that specific accessible room. It won't exactly be a point, click and book option, but a trained customer service representative will work with each disabled customer to make sure an accessible room that meets their needs is reserved. The representative will have to contact the property directly to make these arrangements, as hotels.com buys blocks of rooms, not specific rooms."

Harrington speculated that "this settlement may very well influence the Department of Justice as they revise the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) for hotels (also called transient lodging). Revisions under consideration include making hotels responsible for third party reservation systems that don't adequately reserve accessible rooms; and requiring properties to block accessible rooms upon reservation."

Harrington also noted that the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) such those proposed revisions, though it is mysterious to me why they would not want to do everything possible to encourage hotel and motel occupancy by a large and growing segment of the traveling public. Boomers with wanderlust in their aging bones are beginning to have mobility issues, and I would the hotel trade association have applauded not opposed the settlement.

Hotel Room Rate Roulette

Online booking site's two-week game can pay off with dollar deals


For two weeks from January 26 through February 6, LastMinuteTravel.com will begin selling its worldwide hotel room inventory for just a dollar per night for up to a seven-night’s stay. The catch is that the the transaction must be completed within 10 15-minute windows scattered randomly on weekdays during those two weeks. During each booking period, the first 500 entrants who complete the process will be able to book every room in its inventory of over 15,000 global hotel partners

To participate in this "World for a Dollar" promotion, sign up here, and to increase the odds of success, travelers can capture clues from the posted videos to the exact sale time. I don't know whether there is a final date by which successful entrants must use their room reservations.

The Sound of Silence in Mexico's Copper Canyon

Riding a railroad to a stunning, quiet place

Most Mexican cities and towns are noisy places, filled with traffic, voices, music and miscellaneous sounds. The Barranca del Cobre, which in English we call the Copper Canyon, is one of the quietest places I have ever been. It is actually not one canyon but a labyrinth of seven enormous canyons that could swallow our Grand Canyon several times over. Other than the two times a day when the train (below) rumbles through the clefted upland called the Sierra Tarahumara, nature's sounds prevail: wind whipping through the trees, rain splashing on rocks and roofs, rain water coursing down hillsides, insistent roosters crowing from dawn to dusk.

Below is the view from the terrace of my room at the Posada de Barrancas.

Tarahumara women make and sell exquisite baskets crafted from pine needles, reeds and other natural materials. These quiet, shy people do not hustle or pester -- nor do they invite bargaining or other aggressive shopping.

Simple homes are perched on ledges or in valleys with some elbow room. Below, a washline with a wondrous view.

Tarahumara women wear bright clothes and keep babies on their backs.

Older children look after younger ones.

Simple, ancient churches established by Spanish missionaries are still used, with celebrations combining Christian and timeless Tarahumara symbolism. Below is San Alonzo de Arareko.

The Tarahumara walk up and down steep canyon paths and through widely scattered settlements.

The mother below set out her baskets near a roadside pull-out overlooking a reservoir called Arareko Lake.

Dawn and dusk create equally gorgeous light shows as the sun peaks over or dips toward the canyon rim.

A Tip for More Than a Tip for the Hotel Housekeeper

When you want to leave something besides cash for the hotel housekeeper, a simple step will keep her from getting into trouble

I just returned from a Society of American Travel Writers Western Chapter meeting in Mazatlan. In addition to printed material, our kind hosts presented us with gifts. Mine included a plastic briefcase, two T-shirts, three baseball caps, a zip-up rain jacket of a material like a lightweight Tyvek, a Nalgene water bottle, a mouse pad with three USB ports, several pens and probably some other schwag that I can't remember.

I will need the press materials and brochures that I gathered, and I already had filled much of the space in my one piece of luggage with Tarahumara baskets and other handicrafts. Sometimes at such meetings, there is a place in the press room where gifts we are unable to use can be returned to the hosts, but this time, there wasn't even a press room. My inclination would be to leave the stuff I couldn't take home for the housekeeper -- along with a gratuity, of course.

My well-traveled colleague Bob Bone suggested that when we do that, we also leave a signed and dated note with the giveaway material, specifying that perhaps the housekeeper or her children might be able to use it. He said that without such a note, a housekeeper might get into trouble if her supervisor sees her leaving with goods. Good point, and I did that.

Sometimes we take clothing or footwear with us for one last wearing before we plan to discard it. Doing this, especially in a developing country, can benefit someone down the line -- but not at the cost of getting the recipient into trouble.

Thanks, Bob, for the excellent suggestion.

Indigenous Dances -- And Adaptations

Traditions preserved -- for tourists?

Indigenous villages in tourist areas, like El Fuerte where Mexico's famous Copper Canyon train leaves from, often find ways to preserve some of their traditions (usually dance, music, food preparation) by demonstrating them for visitors.

Such is the village of Camposa, where a local tour operator called Turismo Fuerte, has arranged for a family to open their rustic home to visitors. Emilia makes tortillas the old way. Jose-Luis dances. I am time-crunched and will have no Internet access for several days, so blow are a two photo of a traditional dance representing a deer being hunted. First, Jose-Luis Martinez performis in the village. Then, a dance student does the same dance in town.

If you can tell from the only images I managed to take under conditions too challenging for my my small digital cameras Note the differences in costume details. Jose-Luis is holding a real deer head in his teeth near the end of the dance. The costumed dancer never does that. And the deer head he is wearing is elaborately decorated.

Icelandair Adds Destinations, Lowers Fuel Surchargers

Icelandair to fly to 20 cities in the UK and Europe

With connections through its hub in Reykjavik and the addition of Stavanger, Norway, and Düsseldorf, Germany, later this year, Icelandair's route system is expanding to some 20 destinations in Scandinavia, Great Britain and Continental Europe. These new flights will operate seasonally from May 8 to September 29, 2009. Year-round North American gateways are Boston and New York-JFK, with season service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Orlando Sanford, Halifax and Toronto.

More on Snow that Stays & Snow that Slides

Followup: With great ski conditions come avalanches

Since December 29, when I wrote a cautionary post on avalanches in western North America, the snow has kept falling and fatalities have continued to rise. Even the New York Times, which doesn't often concern itself with our mountains, has noticed. According to an article called "Fatal Avalanches Rattle Ski Country in the West" in today's sports section:

"Since Dec. 14, avalanches have caused 13 deaths in the United States and
23 total in North America — one in a roof slide and the others in skiing,
snowboarding, snowmobiling and ice-climbing incidents, according to Dale Atkins,
vice president for the avalanche rescue commission at the International
Commission for Alpine Rescue.

"Perhaps most troubling to resorts and safety officials is that three
people died in-bounds — areas at resorts that are perceived as safe terrain.
Avalanches in in-bounds areas have led to deaths of skiers at Squaw Valley in
California, at Snowbird in Utah and at Jackson Hole. It is the most in-bound
deaths in one season since three skiers were killed in a single avalanche at
Alpine Meadows in 1976.

“'One in-bound fatal avalanche in a season is unusual; three separate
fatal incidents in one season is really rare,'” said Bob Comey, director of the
Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center. “It’s been a really big problem.
We’re doing what we normally do. Our techniques work really well, but they’re
not ever 100 percent guaranteed.'”

This is the rare kind of winter when reports of epic snowfalls at Western ski resorts are cause for both joy and concern. So again, skiers, snowboarders, backcountry skiers and snowmobilers are advised pack a good portion of caution when venturing into the high country.

Front Range Hotels: One Very Old, One Brand New

The Boulderado celebrated its 100th as Aloft was set to take off

On January 1, the Hotel Boulderado passed the century mark with a swank party New Year's party and then a Sunday open house commemorating 10 decades of hospitality -- luxurious, minimal and then luxurious again. All were welcome to visit the hotel, listen to live music, enjoy free hors d'oeuvres and punch and birthday cake -- and watch ballroom dancers in period costume performing dances popular throughout its long history.

















Dancers in period costume (above); Boulderado birthday cake (right) by Shamane's Bake Shoppe. By the time I shouldered close to it with my little camera, several of the top tiers had already been taken off, sliced and distributed to celebrants. The Daily Camera published excellent pix.

Meanwhile, as the gracious Boulderado was entering its second century, the cutting-edge aLoft Hotel (or is it the Aloft Hotel? or the aloft? or the ALOFT?) was getting set to open in Aurora, near Denver International Airport. There are 17 other hotels with this name, one of Starwood's brands, already open or about to open, and I'm thinking that images on the photo page of the website are of some other them. It brand's design seems hip, high-tech and super-cool with mid-century modern furniture and Technicolor hues in the public spaces and Euro-toned down (natural wood + white) in the guest rooms.

I haven't seen the Denver area hotel or received any press materials, so all I can do is quote its own prose:

stay & play: public spaces
Meet & mingle with friends at our w
xyz(SM) bar, grab a sweet, savory, or healthy snack from re:fuel by aloft(SM),
our 24/7 pantry, or play in our re:mix(SM) lobby. Plus, you can always stay
connected with complimentary hotel-wide wired and wireless Internet
access!

rest & refresh: aloft rooms
Breeze into one of our aloft rooms,
featuring our ultra-comfortable signature bed, an oversized spa shower, custom
amenities by Bliss® Spa, and more. Our plug & play connectivity station
charges all your electronics and links to the 42” LCD TV to maximize work and
play.

Colorado's first aLoft/ALoft/aloft/ALOFT is at 16470 East 40th Circle, Aurora; 303- 371-9500. Others are planned for the Arista complex in Broomfield (opening in May 2009) and Glendale (near Cherry Creek and opening March 2010).

Carbon Offset Kiosk Coming to an Airport Near You

San Francisco International to install nation's first dispenser of carbon offset credits

Come spring, eco-conscious travelers flyhing out of San Francisco International Airport will be able to buy certified carbon offsets at self-service kiosks in a one-year pilot program (yes, that's an intentional pun) set up by 3Degrees, a local company that deals in renewable-energy and carbon-reduction investments. The San Francisco Airport Commission has authorized a $163,000 startup costs to provide kiosks, initially at the customer service desk in Terminal 3 and two wings of the International Terminal.

The kiosk will probably look a lot like an ATM or airline check-kiosk. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, the flier will punch in the destination, and the kiosk's computer will calculate the carbon footprint and the cost of carbon credits to offset that particular flight. A credit card swipe then will buy the necessary credits.

Buying this credits will be an environmental good deed, but it's not a charity, so the cost is not tax-deductible. 3Degree's Krista Canellakis told the paper, "While the carbon offsets purchased at kiosks can't be seen or touched, they are an actual product with a specific environmental claim whose ownership is transferred at the time of purchase."

According city and airport officials, 3Degrees and city will choose projects to be funded from a list certified by the city's Environment Department such as "renewable energy ventures in developing countries, agriculture and organic waste capture, coal mine methane capture, and sustainable forestry." A portion of each offset purchase will also go to "the San Francisco Carbon Fund, which supports local projects such as energy-efficiency programs and solar panel installations for low-income housing, as well as efforts to convert waste oils into biodiesel fuels."

The cost of these offset purchases for travelers has not be finalized yet, but 3Degrees' web-based "carbon calculator" suggests that offsetting a two-hour trip using about 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide would cost about $4 per person. Offsetting a trip to Europe would is guesstimated at $36. Thirty percent of the revenues will go to 3Degrees and the rest to the city. If it works at SFO, it's sure to spread to other airports as well. Profits for the company, revenues to the airport without requiring any additional services other than electricity and a clear conscience for travelers. Seems like a good bet for success.

Ironically, just as SFO is ready to welcome the 21st century commodity of carbon offset credits, the city is set to bid farewell to Stacey's Bookstore, an 85-year-old institution at 581 Market Street, one of the diminishing independent book dealers that have sadly fallen victim to changing times.

Sites and Blogs with Names Similar to Travel Babel

With tens of thousands of blogs and websites, I found just a few similar domain names

I do occasionally check the number of visitors to this blog, but today I'm feeling puckish this morning and suddenly wondered how many other blogs and sites I could find quickly with names similar to my Travel Babel blog. I immediately found another Travel Babel in Poland. Its URL is almost identical to mine, but without the hyphen between "Travel" and "Babel."

Flipping the words around, I also found a Swiss tour operator called Babel Travel that organizes adventure trips to North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. There's a Travel Babble in Canada, a site that doesn't seem to travel far beyond Toronto and offers information for visitors traveling to that wonderful city. And I came upon a dead-end URL for a website called My Travel Babble that was once a domain name of Bob and Claudia Brill, " two people with extensive travel experience," says the Google search page. And I found a lame YouTube video titled "Travel Babble" of two blokes sitting around in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris and describing their time in Paris with only some words audible .

Staycation for the Birds

Non-migrating avians have been bellying up to our heated birthbath and flocking around our feeder

A flock of robins (below) has all but taken over the birdbath.



The bird feeder atop a pole stuck into the ground attracts smaller birds (below) until a (relatively) large flicker chases them off.

Squirrels patrol the snow (below), picking up any scattered birdseed, and occasionally, the neighbored fox comes around seeking a squirrel to snack on (I've never caught Foxy with my camera, but trust me that s/he lives nearby).


Meanwhile, Johnny Cash, the Cat in Black (below) is an avid birdwatcher. He really doesn't care to go outside into the cold -- especially when he might get his paws wet in the snow.

Snowmass Provides Sensational Skiing

Conditions were perfect at the largest and most varied of the four Aspen ski areas

There were days over this holiday period when Colorado's snow-covered highways were challenging to drive or when bone-dry roadways were choked with rush-hour traffic. There were times when the process of obtaining a lift ticket was so frustratingly slow that I thought everyone in front of me was buying a slopeside condo at Snowmass, and times when the liftline seemed endless because children's ski classes were loading onto the resort's six-passenger Village Express. But nothing, and I mean nothing, mattered once I started skiing.

Truth be told, I am back from several of the very best days of skiing I've ever had -- a perfect way to close the year of 2008 and shift the 2008-09 ski season into high gear. Snowmass had received 15 or 20 inches of snow in the few days prior to my arrival and had packed the snow down so the winds that accompanied and followed the storm it didn't blow the snow into the back of beyond. And did I mention a series sunny, wind-still days?

The Aspen Skiing Co. has invested a lot of money to upgrade the lifts and mountain restaurants at Snowmass, and the biggest and most varied of the Aspen area's four ski areas is better than ever. Here are recent improvements that I especially like:

• The new beginner area at the top of the Elk Camp gondola. Kids' classes can ride up and down on the gondola. Steps away is a wide, gentle slope served by a covered moving carpet.
  
• Novice slope on Assay Hill seemed to have more classes than I remember from recent years. Have they done something to improve it -- or is it just more visible now that nearby Base Village is closer to completion and less of a construction site.
  
• Slight relocation of the Sheer Bliss and an upgrade to a high-speed quad helps traffic flow on the parallel trail.
  
• Construction of the impressive Kahana terrain park beside the Elk Camp Gondola.


• Replacement of the old Sam's Knob on-mountain restaurant with the very attractive new Sam's Smokehouse (right), with a casual cafe-style area, a sit-down dining area, a new menu and fabulous views. Even the ladies' restroom is gorgeous -- and it's on the same level as the restaurant rather than down a flight of stairs!

I/we are fortunate to have hospitable friends who years back built a ski house across a small, snowy street from the Adams Avenue trail. This is the third or fourth year in a row that I've stayed there and skied at Snowmass for a few days over the holidays. Much as I like the other three Aspen areas, because each has its own distinct appeal, the convenient "commute" to the slopes has been such that I have only skied Snowmass. Happily. Very happily.