airlinemeals.net This site is fun to browse for the vintage airline advertising photos alone. The home page starts off with news about the industry, along with a photo of the meal of the week, which, not surprisingly, is often from an Asian carrier. The site includes menus from all the major airlines, as well as reviews and ratings of the food in airline lounges and photos of the crew meals, just in case you thought they were eating better than you. The photo reports that go behind the scenes to share how the food gets to the airplanes are interesting too, and the site offers a way for visitors to download photos of their own meals. Check out the airline photos from the 1970s, which usually involve someone drinking a giant cocktail and wearing a really bad shirt.
GEARING UP
Plunking down $199 seems like a lot for a headset – until the baby behind you starts wailing at 12,000 feet and doesn’t stop until five hours later. The price for noise-canceling headphones varies from about $70 to $300, and so does the quality, which is what makes Pro Travel Gear’s Solitude headset a bargain. It works as well as a $300 set, and comes with a cord and two adapters that converts to a single or double-pronged jack for plugging into an iPod or airplane audio system. But the Solitude’s most important function is to block noise, including the annoying whir of an airplane engine, and it does just that by wrapping each ear in a soft, spongy cup of metal-colored faux-leather padding. The headphones fold down into a compact unit; skip the bulky carrying case it comes in, though, and find a good makeup bag or soft pouch that will fit better in a carry-on.
$199; available at ProTravelGear.com.
TRAVEL BY NUMBERS
Travel + Leisure Family recently released the results of its 2005 survey on the most family-friendly resorts in four regions.
TOP 5 RESORTS IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S., CANADA
1. Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
2. Four Seasons Resort Whistler, Whistler, British, Columbia
3. Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, Anaheim, Calif.
4. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
5. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
TOP 5 RESORTS IN HAWAII
1. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii
2. Mauna Kea Beach Resort, Kohala Coast, Hawaii
3. Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, Koloa
4. Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa, Wailea, Maui
5. Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa, Lahaina, Maui
TOP 5 RESORTS IN MEXICO, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
1. Llao Llao Hotel & Resort, Golf-Spa, Bariloche, Argentina
2. Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Punta Mita, Mexico
3. La Meridien Cancun Resort & Spa, Cancun, Mexico
4. Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, Machu Picchu, Peru
5. Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
TOP 5 RESORTS IN THE CARIBBEAN, BERMUDA AND THE BAHAMAS
1. Four Seasons Resort Nevis, Pinney’s Beach, Nevis, West Indies
2. Maho Bay Camps, Cruz Bay, St. John
3. Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino, Palm Beach, Aruba
4. Playa Linda Beach Resort, Oranjestad, Aruba
5. Half Moon, Montego Bay, Jamaica
For the complete survey, pick up a copy of this month’s issue of Travel + Leisure Family or visit tlfamily.com.
YOU MUST BE DREAMING
It sounds almost too good to be true, but it is: Only 22 couples being taken care of by 75 staff members on a secluded, 113-acre Caribbean island. Petit St. Vincent resort, known as PSV, is part of the Windward Island chain situated in the Grenadines. Covered with white sand and studded with 22 cottages that have been placed discreetly apart from one another, the resort is set up so that no one ever has to see another soul but the people who serve the meals (at your cottage three times a day, if you so desire). There’s no airport – you fly to Barbados, then take a puddle-jumper to Union Island and a small boat to PSV – and so no noise, and there are no TVs or phones or any other distractions except the day’s agenda: Swim in the turquoise waters or drink another piña colada? Prices range from $740 to $910 for two people per night ($580-$720 per person single occupancy), plus $165 per person for the flight from Barbados to Union Island, airfare from the United States not included. Petit St. Vincent Resort, 800-654-9326, psvresort.com.
BOOK YOUR VACATION
Where so many adventure authors go wrong is in making the tale all about them, forgetting that it’s far more enjoyable to learn about the storyteller through the story rather than directly from the teller. Peter Stark, a frequent contributor to Outside magazine, avoids this trap in “At the Mercy of the River” ($24.95, Ballantine Books), an easygoing read about kayaking down Mozambique’s Lugenda River. While it’s possible he could have used the word “I” a bit less, Stark deftly weaves the story of five disparate temperaments on a bare-bones journey in an unforgiving environment, and he does it without the self-reverential I Don’t Shave, Therefore I Am an Outdoors Writer kind of tone occasionally found in Outside. Along the way, Stark must deal with his discomfort at being handed orders by a woman, confronts the irony of paying people wages that seem outrageous at the time but are less than the price of a Starbucks cappuccino, and figures out how to outrun hippos. Not to mention the sheer physical exhaustion of it all, from the way the river forces the group to conduct rocky portages to the long days of steady paddling and brutal rapids. The line that best captures the spirit of the book, though, comes as the 48-year-old Stark is about to fall asleep in camp after a particularly brutal day: “You know … I’m sore all over, I have diarrhea, and there are lions out there, but I’m strangely content.”
GEOGRAPHY QUIZ
1. The Andes Mountains do not run through which country – Ecuador, Peru or Cuba?
2. A series of violent incidents in the capital city of Tblisi followed the forced resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze in November 2003 in which country?
3. Which country, ceded by Denmark to Sweden, dissolved its union with Sweden in 1905?
4. Which city, located on the St. Lawrence River, was the last Canadian city held by the French during the Seven Year’s War?
5. The Malabar Coast is to India as the Skeleton Coast is to what?
6. Lake Tahoe, a major tourist destination, is on the border between Nevada and what other state?
7. Place these river deltas in order according to their latitude, from north to south: Nile, Po, Mekong.
8. Fiordland, a national park and world heritage site, is located in an island country that borders the Tasman Sea and boasts the greatest number of penguin species of any country in the world. Name this country.
9. Dagestan, a region that includes many different ethnic groups, is located just west of what large body of water?
10. The state of Baden-Wurttemberg is a major manufacturing region in which country?
ANSWERS: 1. Cuba 2. Georgia 3. Norway 4. Montreal 5. Namibia 6. California 7. Po, Nile, Mekong 8. New Zealand 9. Caspian Sea 10. Germany
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
