Serji’s Travel Blog

Initially feared to have the force of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ernesto lost force and weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday, August 27. Although forecasters worried that the storm would pick up force and resume its hurricane status, Ernesto did not hit the state of Florida with hurricane force.

Miami Beach’s oceanfront Newport Beachside Resort (http://www.newportbeachsideresort.com) remained open and honored all reservations through the pre-storm panic. Resort general manager Barry Harris is advising guests that “Ernesto is over and all is great in paradise.” The food is hot, the beach is groomed, and the resort is in full swing for end of summer travel.

Unfortunately, sometimes news reports can get taken out of context, and instead of serving as a warning to the public, they can cause panic. If you are traveling and worried about weather or other issues going on in the area you will be traveling to, always check with the establishment you will be visiting to find out the true nature of the conditions in the area. The hotel will be able to confirm or deny conditions in the area, and will work with you to accommodate you accordingly.

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Stand-up comedian Dustin Diamond, better known to children of the nineties as Screech from “Saved By The Bell”, had an encounter with a woman in his hotel room last week, an incident he recounted to a Florida radio show. The chance meeting apparently involved grabbing and at one point pinning against a wall. And then the police arrived.

OK, that all sounds way more torrid than it really was. According to a story in Yahoo news, Diamond claims the woman broke into his hotel room in the wee hours of the morning, grabbed some video games, and then tried to make a break for it. At some point Diamond stopped her as she was trying to escape and held her against the door until authorities arrived. For her part, the woman denies any wrong doing and says Dustin was the one who assaulted her.

Obviously the most important questions here have not yet been answered. Like, what video games was she trying to take? I could see getting all upset over someone trying to swipe “Halo 2″, but if she was taking something embarrassing like “Kabuki Warriors” that Dustin may have secretly adored, why not let her take it and end the shame? (Note: I have no clue about Diamond’s taste in games…I just find it funny that he felt the need to keep a woman pinned to his door over the matter.)

Draw your own conclusions. After all, this is the guy who started a campaign of making silly t-shirts and begging ex-fans to buy them in a bid to keep the bank from foreclosing on his expensive home. Ah Dustin, you can try to run from it, but with these kinds of stunts, deep in our hearts you’ll always be Screech.

With news today focusing on global warming, high gas prices, and how if we don’t do anything soon the Earth will die, there is one hotel in South Africa doing it’s part to take care of the environment.

In South Africa’s Mount Nelson hotel, a high class luxury hotel, has hired someone - or something rather - to take care of all the organic waste at the hotel. 15 centimetres long, the worms, commonly known as red wrigglers or tiger worms.
While composting may not be a new concept by any means, I think it is nice to see a large hotel doing their part to help the enviroment. Since the introduction of the worms and composting to the Mount Nelson Hotel they have managed to reduce waste by 70%!
Their fluid excrement, or “worm tea,” is carefully harvested and used as a prized fertilizer in the hotel’s rolling gardens, where peacocks parade on manicured lawns. Their other by-product, vermicast, is a rich compost.

The worms neutralize harmful bacteria, such as Ecoli, and produce beneficial bacteria while increasing the levels of nitrogen and potassium in the soil elements that help vegetables grow.

I just spent the weekend at Hecla Island Provincial Park in Manitoba Canada and let me tell you it was probably one of the best weekends in the past few years. Six of us went up and camped and went all out. Giant potluck dinners, amazing pancake breakfasts and just a good time.

The beach was beautiful, not crowded at all, and really warm. The weather was perfect. I think if I could I would retire up there. There are lots of programs for kids too, which is cool. The island isn’t huge, but it just has so much to see. We all really enjoyed ourselves.

If you ever get the chance, check out Hecla Island. You will not regret it.

Yet another scandle has leaked out of the US government in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. It seems up to $1.4 billion Katrina relief funds were spent on bogus projects. Worse still is that up to, if not more than, 750 debit cards worth $1.5 million may not have even gone to Katrina victims, according to auditors.

Among the items purchased with the cards:

• An all-inclusive, one-week Caribbean vacation in the Punta Cana resort in the Dominican Republic.
• Five season tickets to New Orleans Saints professional football games.
• Adult erotica products in Houston and “Girls Gone Wild” videos in Santa Monica, Calif.
• Dom Perignon champagne and other alcoholic beverages in San Antonio.

Read the full Katrina Relief fund Scandle story.

Source: Trendy Teens

Till a few years ago, summer break in colleges meant part-time jobs for students � and a chance to earn an extra buck. The idea is to have a swanky job profile mentioned on the resume. To make things easier, most colleges of Delhi University are offering career oriented add-on courses along with bachelor programmes.

These courses help students explore other career options and an internship or summer training gives them a feel of the industry they might like to join later. Students pursuing short-term courses like journalism, advertising, tourism and ticketing, and banking do internships during the summer vacations.

�Internships are part of our add-on courses like journalism. Students of other short-term courses like advertising and banking also visit advertising agencies and banks to see people in action,� said Meera Ramchandran, principal, Gargi College.

“The students may or may not get stipend for these internships but they do get experience in these organisations,” she said. “Most of our students do summer jobs such as voice-overs and editing.

BPOs are also very popular,” said Roopali Sircar Gaur, Vice Principal of Sri Venkateswara College. The college offers add-on courses in Tourism and Ticketing.

Teddy Roosevelt’s foreign policy was to “walk softly and carry a big stick.” Those words of wisdom are useful for walkers and hikers to remember as well. When should you use a stick and how do you choose one?

I’m on a crazy hiking kick right now. Every weekend my buddies and I are going 8 hour hikes. They are pretty hardcore! So I was think that I needed a good hiking stick. My buddy Joel uses a classic large piece of wood found on the ground, but I want something more, something shiny. So I found myself a list of some really great walking sticks.

Brits are notoriously bad tippers and unless a service charge is included in the bill we generally don�t bother to tip. The downside to not having a tipping culture is when we travel, we don�t naturally think to tip, and sometimes get bad service as a result or even worse offend, according to travel retailer Flight Centre.

Flight Centre�s head of marketing Rob Freedman says while it�s tough trying to decipher what to tip from country to country, most travellers still want to avoid spit in the soup or the cold shoulder from the maitre�d, so it pays to find out what the norm is before arriving.

For example, in Japan if you leave a couple of coins on the table, the waiter may chase after you to return your forgotten change, but in New York if you leave less than 15 percent, good luck making a reservation in the same restaurant ever again!

Here�s a brief overview of tipping in countries frequented by British people:

United States
This country is the tipping capital of the world where not tipping can easily offend. Restaurants in the USA usually call for a 15-20 percent tip, which supplements a normally meagre wage. This is true of everyone in the service industry, so the rule is if someone helps you out from porter to bar tender it pays to leave a small tip!

France
In France service must be included in the price of a restaurant bill by law so no need to tip, although it is customary to round your bill to include a little more. This is not true of bars so you should use your discretion if you feel you have got particularly good service or not.

Italy
No tip is expected in restaurants throughout Italy, as you will normally be charged a coperto (cover charge) on top of your bill. However it will be much appreciated if you have had a good service to leave a bit extra.

Spain
In Spain most restaurants and bars will expect to receive a tip from tourists, although it is really is still a mater of personal discretion. Bills will usually include a service charge in restaurants and as a general rule if you are served a drink in bar at your table you should leave a small tip, as with porters and chambermaids in your hotel.

Thailand
Everything goes in Thailand, and that rule applies to tipping as well. Some places expect it and others don�t. In general, the more Westernised the place is, the more likely you�ll be expected to leave a gratuity. Cabs are now metered in Bangkok, so there�s no haggling over your fare, but local custom is still to round the fare up to the nearest five baht.

Australia
Tipping in Australia is starting to happen more frequently, but is still entirely optional. A 10% tip in restaurants is acceptable. It is not customary to tip taxi drivers but this form of tipping is on the increase as tourism to Australia grows.

Canada
Most service staff in Canada expect something in the 10-20 percent tip range, depending on whether it�s French or English Canada, and how good the service is - if the service is really bad, leave a few cents and they should get the message.

China
You�ll never have to tip anywhere in China. It�s the one comfort from the fact that foreigners are generally thought of as filthy rich, and therefore charged a lot more. Most government operated hotels and restaurants prohibit the acceptance of tips, but it is sometimes expected at the bigger hotels and by younger service personnel in the more open cities. Use your discretion.

Singapore
According to government notices in the Lion City, tipping is not allowed. Officials encourage tourists not to add to the 10 per cent service charge that many high-end hotels include on the bill. Hotel porters are one exception to the no-tipping rule, as they usually receive a couple of dollars for lugging bags.

Ireland
Tipping is not de rigueur in Ireland, however it is customary to tip of between 12 and 15 per cent in restaurants or hotels, if there is not already a service charge included. If you receive good service then a 10 per cent tip would be about the right amount for taxi drivers, porters and hotel staff.

By Deserae del Campo

Miami commissioners granted a permit last week to veteran developer Tibor Hollo to build a 34-story, 350-room luxury hotel in the Omni area.
“It will be 25 years since this area of Miami has had a hotel built,” said his attorney, Vicky Garcia-Toledo.
Mr. Hollo, president of Florida East Coast Realty who developed the Omni complex and nearby Grand and Marriott hotels, says the Hotel De L’Opera will be rated four stars.
“I approve of this project for this site because it is relative to Miami 21,” the city’s land use initiative, said Commissioner Johnny Winton. “It will bring a perfect fit to the area.”
“As a hotel project it will provide jobs at an entry level,” agreed Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.
The 400-foot, 34-story hotel at 1771 NE Fourth Ave. is to offer 350 rooms and 44,606 square feet of offices between Bay Parc Plaza rental apartments and the Opera Tower, projects permitted to Mr. Hollo in 2001.
“The original project started in the 1980s” as Miramar Center, said Philip Dahan, Florida East Coast senior vice president. It included Bay Parc Plaza, Opera Tower luxury condos and a site zoned institutional. “The institutional building could have included office space or an education facility,” he said.
Mr. Hollo said he was going to build the institutional building because the Miami-Dade School Board approached him in 2004 about the site.
“I don’t know what they had in mind,” he said, “but it was going to be for school board use. But I haven’t heard from them in about a year and a half, so I decided the next best thing would be a hotel on that land.”
“This hotel will be the only new hotel in that whole area,” Mr. Hollo said, “and I think it should be pretty good, with views of Biscayne Bay and dock space for people who want to bring in their boats.”

It is so funny how people have no problem parting with money for the silliest reasons. Celebrity autographs, hair clippings, and even hotel rooms apparently.

Ronaldo, a Brazilian soccer player, is one of the most popular players in the world right now. He is so popular in fact that Fans parted with 1,010 Swiss francs (�440) for a one-night stay in the room of Brazil’s leading striker after the team’s pre-World Cup camp on an online eBay auction. Ronaldinho’s hotel room at the Park Hotel in Weggis fetched 850 francs. The successful bidders will spend June 3 at the hotel, hours after the Brazilians move out.

Now I understand what the appeal might be, but really, the room is going to be cleaned and it is not like he is going to leave his lucky socks there.