James Beard is food. Great food. Whenever we visit NYC, the James Beard house is one of our first stops for dinner. It’s such a great place to wine, dine, meet others and have some great food. The James Beard Foundation just announced their semi-finalists for the 2012 James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards. You can find the list on their blog by clicking here.
“Glowing Man” Snowboarder Video – Tignes, France
Trending the past few days on Vimeo is “Glowing Man”, a very cool snowboarder video. The snowboarder is wearing an LED bejeweled snowsuit while on the slopes at night in Tignes, France. Enjoy!
GLOWING MAN from Jacob Sutton on Vimeo.
TSA Pre Check Program to Expand
The TSA Pre Check program allows for a faster screening process when going through pre-flight security at designated airports in the US. Today enrollment is limited to members of specific airlines frequent flyer programs or members of the US Customs & Border Patrol Global Entry Program (GOES). Currently, there are only five US airports and two airlines participating, however that’s due to expand starting in March. By the end of this year, the program expands to 28 additional airports and add two more airlines (US Air & United).
How does the TSA Pre Check program work? The TSA determines if a passenger is eligible for expedited screening. Once enrolled with your airline, the information is embedded in the barcode of your boarding pass. TSA reads the barcode at the security screen airport and may be sent to an expedited screening lane. There you may not have to remove the following items:
- Shoes
- 3-1-1 compliant bag from carry-on
- Laptop from bag
- Light outerwear/jacket
- Belt
United recently announced that for it’s new Premier 1K and Premier Platinum members they will be assisting with the fee to participate in the GOES program.
Vacation Surprise: $11,000 Movies
Using your smartphone becomes a daily habit. But if you’re not at home, be careful. A Canadian family after vacationing in Arizona arrived home to an $11,000 wireless bill. Read the article here. Another good reason to make sure you’re aware what data rates are from your cellular provider when traveling outside your home country. To avoid accidental usage or charges, make sure to turn the “International Data and Roaming” capability OFF on your phone before leaving your country.
30 Days of Airline Changes for US, Europe and Beyond
The first 30+ days of the year see airline changes across the globe. On January 27, Spanair, HQ’d in Barcelona, abruptly shutdown leaving many passengers stranded. This past weekend, Malev, the Hungarian state airline shuttered operations as well. Air India, is also having trouble paying it’s fuel bills which is causing some flights to be delayed or cancelled. American Airlines files for bankruptcy shows airline problems are not limited to just the US. Plus, a slate of mergers in early 2012 are on the horizon as well. BMI, is being sold by Lufthansa to British Airways with the sale set to close at the end of March. TAM in Brazil and LAN in Chile, hope to tie up their merger in the same timeframe, now that both Chile and Brazil have approved the marriage.
Beyond the airlines, the major airline alliances are caught in the ripple effect. Oneworld, loses Malev. Star Alliance loses Spanair and more than likely loses BMI when there merger with Oneworld’s, BA is complete. Everyone is waiting to see who the alliance winner will be when TAM (currently Star Alliance) and LAN (currently Oneworld) officially merge. Both airlines have stated a decision had not yet been made as to which alliance they’ll join.
2012 will continue to be a difficult year for airlines. With the travel season ahead, there are a couple of things to do to protect yourself from this unsettled airline market. Purchase your ticket with a credit card. You’ll at least have a chance on getting your money back from the credit card company. Purchase travel insurance that includes coverage for tour operators and airlines going out of business. Remember, it’s only February. What will happen during the rest of the year?
Snowboarder Saved by Air Bag
Living in the snow country of Colorado, we’re always acutely aware of the danger of backcountry skiing or snowboarding. Snow and mountain conditions change constantly, no matter what the weather may seem like. Being prepared, whether your skiing, snowboarding or just hiking in the backcountry at any time of year is important. Here’s a video clip shot last week of professional snowboarder Meesh Hytner, near Montezuma, Colorado in the Vail-Summit zone of Colorado. As she snowboarded down the mountain, she triggered an avalanche. Luckily, she was wearing an Avalanche Airbag from Backcountry Access and walked away from it. Watch this amazing video.
Savored – A Great Way to Save When Dining Out
A few weeks ago, we checked out Savored. For $10, you can save 30% off your entire restaurant bill. That’s not just food, but alcohol as well. We’ve just tried Savored once, but it works like a charm. We saved over $60. No coupons, no hassles. When you receive your bill, 30% is automatically deducted from the total.
What’s the catch? Well, today, Savored is only available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington D.C. Savored promises other cities are coming soon. A couple of other things to be aware of is not all restaurants are available every night, plus reservations on weekends are usually for those who dine early (5-6:30PM) or later (after 9PM). You must make your reservation through the Savored website and show up no later than 15 minutes past your reservation time.
We think Savored is a great idea and hope that they continue to add more cities and restaurants to their service. It’s free to sign up, so wander on over and take a look. It’s a good way to save on your next meal out. Plus, don’t forget to tip your server on the full amount of the bill.
Denver International’s New South Terminal
Construction is underway for DIA’s new south terminal project, with revised designs. With a budget cut from $650 million to $500 million, original Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava pulled out of the project. However, his general design lives on albeit with some scaled-back revisions. The two largest features will be a new hotel as well as an RTD light rail platform. The terminal is due to be completed in 2015. Denver International is the 5th largest airport in the US and 10th largest in the world in passenger traffic. See the slide show of the previous and new designs here.
Switching from Zenfolio to Smugmug
During this week, our photo collections may not be available. We’re moving back to Smugmug from Zenfolio. We originally started at Smugmug, switched to Zenfolio about three years ago and now we’re going back. Not that Zenfolio wasn’t good, it’s just Smugmug has become a lot better. They have better integration with WordPress, better upload APIs for Aperture and, all in all, the photos just look better there, than on Zenfolio. So, we’re making the move. When our photos come back online, we’ll also have the long awaited photos of our trip to Madrid and Rioja earlier this month.
