tingilinde

are pay by weight fares fair?

Bjarne notes Samoa Airline's new ticket price policy.  Some people as well as families will save money.  Others won't..

A friend is exceptionally tall - tall enough that she can't get her feet on the ground in standard economy seating.  She is forced to pay for legroom upgrades if she wants to keep her blood circulating.

 

looking back about 80 years

An updated veresion of a streamlined travel trailer from the 30s ..  The Bowlus Road Chief.

The new one is north of $100k.  High end modifications to travel trailers like Airstreams have been going on for some time and high-end motor homes can easily top $500k, but the WSJ notes manufacturer interest in what has been a very depressed industry.  Airstream has been showing concept trailers ...

Some people modifiy Airstreams as semi-permanent tiny houses - the sort of thing for livig somewhere for three or six months and then moving on.  An intersection of the small house movement with wanderlust.  Some architects are even getting involved.

Airstream designer-extraordinaire from Airstream Family on Vimeo.

I know several people who would probably like this sort of lifestyle if it was a bit more accessible.

 

from trail to train

Travel times across the US in the 1800s

railroads changed the nation

the aging biker population

Bikers age  and turn into trikers via the NY Times ... 

snip

...

Mr. Howard is one of a legion of aging bikers — suffering from aching joints and slowing reflexes — who have abandoned their traditional two-wheel motorcycles in favor of three-wheelers, the super-steady and seemingly safer machines commonly known as trikes. Equal parts “Easy Rider” and easy chair, the trikes have grown in popularity in recent years, expanding from a do-it-yourself niche to a potentially lucrative market for major manufacturers.

Industry experts say the sale of tens of thousands of trikes, whose sticker prices can rival an upscale sedan’s — a new three-wheeled Harley starts at $30,999 — has helped buoy a slumping industry and kept a generation of born-to-run riders on the roads.

“The baby boomers are getting older, man,” said Steve Stirewalt, a lifelong rider and motorcycle dealer known as Fat Daddy by his friends. “People riding all their lives don’t want to stop just because of bad knees, or bad eyes, or diabetes or something. They want to keep rocking.”

Mr. Stirewalt, who is 63 and helped along by a hearing aid, was polishing his three-wheeler — a chrome-on-chrome chopper with a fake alligator skin seat — at the National East Coast Trike-In, which drew hundreds of trike owners and enthusiasts to Mount Airy, N.C., over Labor Day weekend.

Alex Ross, aka Iceman, chief executive of the nonprofit trike group Brothers of the Third Wheel, said three-wheelers offered all sorts of advantages, including the comfort and padding to allow drivers to go longer distances without stiffening up.

“My wife goes to sleep as soon as we start traveling,” he said.

...

 

 

 

what people want in cars now

Not surprisingly fuel economy is once again important as noted by Consumer Reports.

I wonder how many people have learned eco-driving techniques and what percentage worries about trip planning?  Eco-driving can easily bring a 15 to 25% improvement and trip planning can be extremely important too.  Of course there are ways to save even more money (like getting rid of one of the family cars and using alternte modes of transportation).Trading to a new car early in search of better economy may be pocketbook foolish.

iceland

From the winner of the X Prize Foundation’s video contest "Why Do You Explore?".  It won Joe Capra a $10,000 National Geographic Expedition of his choosing.

 

when to buy airline tickets

A report by Airline Reporting Corporation suggests six weeks prior to your flight ..  

certainly not during the two weeks before flying...

 

the hi-line

The Hi-Line in Montana is roughly the Northern-most region that stretches from the Eastern front of the Rockies to the North Dakota.  The original Great Northern Railroad originally cut through and defined it, but now the path is usually taken to be US Highway 2.   

I grew up near there.  

Nancy pointed to a National Geographic piece on the place.  I suspect even most Montanans haven't seen much of it - perhaps only the piece immediately to the East of Glacier Park.   But if you want to explore prairie, this is an excellent destination and an exotic place that happens to be within the US.  Montana Magazine has frequent articles on the region for those who might like a bit more information.

wonderful time lapse movies from the iss

amazing

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space | Fly Over | Nasa, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

woods hole

David noted a link to a travel article on his town of Woods Hole ..  a very fine place indeed.