Some Interesting World Facts, yet again, from one of my favorite books, The World’s Greatest Book of Useless Information, by Noel Botham & The Useless Information Society.

The average French citizen eats five hundred snails a year.
*Oh so yummy in butter!

Since Hindus don’t eat beef, the McDonald’s in New Delhi makes its burgers with mutton.

Tibetans drink tea made of salt and rancid yak buter.
*A must try once in a life time.

Port Alba, the first known pizza shop, opened in 1830 in Napels and is still open today
*To Try delicious Neapolitan pizza in the states check out:
Lombardi’s, New York, NY
Settebello, Salt Lake City, UT
Punch Pizza, St. Paul MN

For more interesting cultural facts check out Mind Your Manners.

On our last flight from Mexico City to New York we tried out Delta’s new inflight internet. Pretty exciting to surf the net while 30,000 feet in the air. But I did notice my left-hand neighbor had some wandering eyes. No problem since I was just catching up on the latest 30Rock but below are a couple inflight internet tips for your next trip to keep your privacy safe and have a pleasant ride…

Inflight Internet Tips

• Don’t check anything to personal, most airlines will ensure that it’s safe ad secure to use inflight wifi but you can’t stop wandering eyes so to keep away peeking passengers try 3M’s Privacy Filters
• Bring headphones so you can watch hulu or listen to pandora and keep your neighbor happy – but not too loud
• No voice calls, not even with skype (the FCC does not permit making or receiving calls during a flight)
• Turn the brightness on your monitor down as to not interfer with passengers watching inflight movies or trying to sleep

Inflight Internet Free Codes
To get ready for this upcoming holiday season here are some free inflight internet codes that you can use to keep connected as you head towards friends and family.

Delta – DELTATRYGOGO
For first time inflight internet users Delta is offering a free inflight internet code

Virgin America – no code needed
Between Nov. 10, 2009 – Jan. 15, 2010 Virgin America will be offering free wifi for holiday travel

AirTran – bosbwi
Good between now and Dec. 31, 2009

Any Gogo-Equipped Airplane – 228657052hha
Good between now and Jan. 7, 2010

Have an inflight internet experience or tip? We’d love to hear it!

Always a touristy giveaway is the bulky tour book. Leave it at home and instead bring your cell phone. Now available are cell phone city tour guides, downloadable mp3 guides and iPhone application guides.

Tried and True – Seeing Central Park, Audio Guide 646-862-0997
Visit website to download map. Look for little green signs near your favorite landscape. Call the number above, then the extension on the sign followed by the # sign.

We tried this audio guide tour at Central Park today and loved it. 40 different celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Whoopi Goldberg are the voice guides who present short histories of park landscapes. We would definitely recommend.

Several Cities & Museums have cell phone audio tours including:
Pittsburg Cultural District, Pittsburg, PA – 412-235-6276
Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA – 310-499-9236
Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, Washington D.C. – 202-747-3405
New York Botanical Gardens – 718-362-9561

For a more complete list check out guidebycell.com

iPod/MP3 city guides
iAudioGuide.com – 40 cities in US & Rome
Strollon.co.uk – Prague, Czech Republic for free with several other pay for guides
ItalyGuides.it- Rome, Italy

Free iPhone city guide applications
HearPlanet – Global Guided Tours Coverage
This cool application plays audio tracks of Wikipedia articles based on points of interest surrounding your current location, turning your iPhone or iPod touch into an audio tour guide.

Go Tour It – San Francisco & Houston free with 29 pay-for-guides
Self-guided GPS tours on your iPhone.

Blue Walks – World wide walks
bluewalks lets you create your own walking tour, or find the walk tours of your taste from the bluewalks community

While flying, the most common complaint I’ve heard is when the person in front of you reclines their seat, leaving your already sparse leg room, sparser.

For me it’s the touchscreen music/video players conveniently placed on the back of the headrest. Without a doubt, I aways end up with an exciting passenger that is playing bejeweled causing my headrest to bob forward every few seconds…

That being said I would love to introduce you to a set of fun airplane etiquette videos done by delta airlines called Planeguage. These short 45 second animations give a whole new definition to reclining your seat.

For all 6 videos click here

While you are day dreaming about your next trip I’m sure your dreading the cost of your next trip. So here are a few websites that can help you quickly compare flight costs so you spend your saved cash on better things, like scuba lessons!

Also perfect for upcoming Holiday Travel!

1. FUNCTravel.com
Searches over 450 agencies online to find you the cheapest for fastest route to almost any destination in the world. But what is unique is FUNCTravel.com also offers offers a unique features: “Low fare graph” which allow you to see the fare trend for the next six months. This is great if you have flexible travel dates to find the cheapest days to travel in a month.

2. Kayak.com
The world’s largest travel search site. Instead of checking every travel booking website just head to Kayak.com where they check search data from hundreds of travel sites at once to find the deal that’s right for you. Like FUNCTravel.com they don’t sell tickets they just point you in the right direction.

3. Airfarewatchdog.com
Focusing on quality not quantity airfarewatchdog.com includes sites many search engines don’t (like Web-only fares, and Southwest Airlines) and will alert you when these deals happen via email. Another nice feature of this site is that real people are checking seat availability to ensure when you go to book that seat and price it is still available, if it’s not they won’t list it.

Remember when booking flights it’s sometime worth your time to spend more money on your flight then if it takes say an extra 5 hours to get there.

We are headed to Coatzacoalcos, Mexico for a week today. So what this means is we’ll be on planes and at airports for a total of 15 hours. Which is fine because… I’m prepared!

Have a long flight/road trip ahead? Here’s what I do to make sure I’ll be entertained the entire time.

One Fully Loaded iPhone including:

• Two new audio books, Austenland & The Time Traveler’s Wife
• Travelocity iphone application – so I can check our connecting flights for gate changes or delays
• Skype iphone application – so I can stay in contact in a wifi area while laid-over in Mexico City
• And some fun two people games like Touch4 (just like the game Connect Four)

Two new books (I plan on having a lot of time to read this week)

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
• A Whole New Mind, Why Right-Brianers Will Rule the Future! by Daniel H. Pink (Thanks Mom!)

My own set of headphone since most international flights have free entertainment

As well as, all i need to catch a wink since I was up late last night finishing up some work as well as my handy dandy scarf – I don’t leave home without it.

What tricks do you use to get through a long day or traveling? Crossword Puzzles? Sudoku? Let us know!

Traveling to a new time zone can be hard on your body. And it can be difficult to trick your body into sleeping when it’s not use to. Here are some travel ‘must have’ items that I can’t go on an overseas trip without and that help me get the restful sleep I need.

Reset your Watch
Once on the plane reset your watch to your destination time. This will help you start thinking about your sleep and schedule in relation to where you are going.






Keep the Noise Down
Earplugs – Noise can distract you from falling asleep and staying asleep. These Mack’s Ear Seals ($6) from flight001.com are amazing at keeping out noise. The design ensures the plugs will stay in your ears and that noise stays out. I’ve also seen airline employees were the same style of ear plugs at work – good sign.


Turn the Light Off
Everyone knows how important it is to be in a dark place to sleep and the [1] Lights Out Sleep Mask ($15) covers your eyes while still allowing natural rapid eye movement. I usually use a traditional cloth mask like this [2] Sleeping Mask Royal Blossom ($22) But am definitely putting the Lights Out Sleep Mask on my list for next big flight. Both masks from flight001.com

Dress Up
I’m normally chilly on planes and that can make it hard to fall asleep. Plan to where your light or heavy sweater for the trip on the plane. This is also a good tip since you want to wear your heaviest clothes on the plane, to reduce your baggage load. I also love to bring along a large scarf that can double as a wrap or a blanket. See other ideas for a large scarf here.

Cover Up
Even on short flight I like to always carry a pair of socks. Especially in the summer when I’m wearing sandals and the air conditioning is full blast. With a pair of socks you can keep your toes nice and cozy. Try these F1 First Class Socks ($8.50) from flight001.com


Listen Up
I am absolutely programmed when I hear an audiobook to fall asleep. So I recommend  bringing along an ipod or iphone on every trip. Not only on planes, I find that by having an audiobook playing I can fall asleep in almost any travel condition, including Thanksgiving night last year we slept on the LAX airport floor (a fun story I’ll have to share another time, as well as advice on how to find a good place to sleep at an airport). You can get free audiobook recordings of public domain books from librivox.org so you can finally read Jane Eyre or Les Misérables.

Don’t Forget
Remember when your on a long flight to get up and stretch. Your body needs you to move around to circulate your blood and keep you from getting crinks and cramps. I found some good exercises for long trips at here.

What tricks do you use to get a good night’s sleep on flight?

I recently read on about.com Getting cheap tickets to The Metropolitan Opera. We tried all three of their approaches and I think some additional advice is needed…

gonyc.about.com
Rush Tickets: 200 orchestra level seats are available for $20 for most performances Monday through Thursday. Tickets are available at the box office two hours before curtain on the day of the performance.

TheToteTraveler
When we called ahead we were told 150 orchestra level seats are available for $20 for most performances Monday through Thursday and that people start lining up around four hours before performances. The second lady in line said she had been there since 11:30 am. So we recommend, if you have a day off, getting there around 2:00 pm. It’s a lot of time to dedicate to the opera but these seats can sell for $275 each. We got there at 4:20 and missed out on getting tickets by about 10 people. Each person can buy 2 tickets.

gonyc.about.com
Standing Room Tickets: $20 Orchestra standing room tickets are available for $20 beginning at 10 a.m. the day of the performance at the box office and online. Family Circle Standing Room tickets are $15 on Saturdays (and Monday through Friday when the Family Circle is sold out). (Opening night, premieres, and gala standing room tickets are $35 for Orchestra Level and $25 in the Family Circle.)

TheToteTraveler
Since we didn’t get rush tickets we bought standing room tickets for $15 each and were in the furthest possible area from the stage. Which was fine because we still had a great view of the stage. Unless you are wearing your tennis shoes to the opera I would not recommend this. We only stood here for the first act and then moved to an empty seat below. You can’t beat $15 dollars but standing was just too distracting from the opera.

gonyc.about.com
Student Discount Tickets: Full-time students 29 and under can purchase same-day tickets for $25 (weekday performances) to $35 (Friday and Saturday performances) at the box office beginning at 10 a.m.

TheToteTraveler
Before we headed to our seats. We bought tickets to Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust in two weeks. They checked our student IDs and we got Orchestra seating center for $25 each! (it’s a long story why I have a current student ID) Student Discount Tickets can sometimes be bought ahead of time. Call the box office for more info 212-362-6000

If you don’t’ have a current school ID or the time to wait and rush the Family Circle tickets can be purchases for $20 – $26 dollars and Balcony Box seats can be purchased for $20.

Best of luck and enjoy!

I have a favorite light reading book called The World’s Greatest Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham & The Useless Information Society. I love reading the cultural facts in this book that I think could be very useful in your travels!

Here are a couple interesting ones I read today:

“In Tibet, it’s good manners to stick out your tongue at your guests.”

“In China, it is unwise to give the gift of a clock, as to the older Chinese generation a clock is a symbol of bad luck.”

“In Germany, shaking hand with the other hand in a pocket is considered impolite.”

“In Western culture, spitting is rude, but it is common as a Russian gesture to ward off bad luck or to express the hope for continued good fortune.

So next time your out in the world remember to stick out your tounge, don’t give out any clock, shake hands with both hands out, and spit over your left shoulder three times, and you should be fine!

A travel trick and must for me is cleansing wipes/face wipes here’s why:

1. Pick-Me-Up
Feel fresh and clean any time of day with just a swipe across your face to fight off  layers of sweat from site seeing.

2. Keep Your Hands Clean
About to chow down at a street cafe? Grab your handy dandy cleansing wipes to wash your hand quickly before your first bite. I always choose this route over hand sanitizer because it doesn’t take room out of my liquids bag and the wipes can remove dirt and harmful things from your hands that sanitizer can not.

3. Scrub a Dub for Your Feet
When traveling in warmer climates I’m often wearing sandals that leave my feet in need of a wash before bed. We are not always sleeping somewhere with easy access to a bathtub so cleansing wipes are the perfect way to get cleaned up before bed.

4. AKA…
But what these are also great for is their intended use. Get ready for bed quickly and without the need for water with face wipes. A great way to start the morning too.