Most avid travelers are aware that by going to numerous cruise discount websites, or even to the cruiselines’ own websites, they can occasionally find discounts off published prices of at least 50%. And yet, when they consider booking a river cruise, they usually pay full price. The foolishness of such a course was revealed this week in a widely-distributed e-mail from Vacations To Go , which is now heavily involved in the sale of river cruises. In that missive, VTG has listed two major, most-of-the-year river cruise programs on which participants, by booking now, could buy two cruises for the price of one — that is, at 50% off .

The offers, in the exact language of the e-mail, are the following:

Rhine Getaway 2012: 8 days with Viking River Cruises.

Full post…

Discounts, Discounts Were

Spooky travel destinations

— Walking through a hushed cemetery at night with only a flashlight to guide your way can be a stirring experience for amateur ghost hunters this Halloween.

“A lot of paranormal societies use graveyards for training grounds,” said Alan Brown, author of more than 20 books on the subject. “If you get an EMF reading in a graveyard, there is no electricity there, so it has to be coming from some other source.”

Oftentimes, the spirits you may encounter in a cemetery aren’t kind or frightening but rather full of grief in this final resting place.

“Oddly enough, a lot of cemeteries aren’t that haunted,” said Richard Senate, a historian and ghost hunter of 33 years.

Full post…

Ireland could be facing into decades of harsh winters, according to new research about to be published in Nature magazine.

The study undertaken by by Britain’s Met Office, shows there has been a fall in the sun’s ultra violet emissions, which could cause winters in Europe to become even harsher.

Forecasters have predicted the potential return of a weather pattern called La Nina,  which has been linked to extreme weather around the world. It is brought on by a temperature drop in the Pacific Ocean and affects upper air currents. La

Full post…

Ice, ‘little Ice




What an incredible but timely coincidence!

In Focus, the photo blog of The Atlantic, has just featured 39 photographs of Hindu festivals…and yes, you guessed it, 3 of those are of the preparations for the Durga Puja in Kolkata.

I am traveling this evening from London to Delhi, where I’ll spend a couple of nights, then on to Kolkata to for my Kolkata’s Cult of Durga Photo Expedition/Workshop.

The expedition/workshop will involve a lot of street photography, and at its core is the Durga Puja festivities.

Full post…

Festivals, Hindu Festivals

Irakleia, Greece (Photo by Dan Saltzstein)

Pulling into Aghios Giorgios, the main port on Irakleia, a tiny island in the Aegean Sea, I was, to my surprise, not seasick. This was a change from previous ferry trips I had made in the Cyclades, the sprawling group of Greek islands south of Athens. In the open waters between, say, Syros and Sifnos, a combination of big, choppy waves and ferries not much bigger than my Prius often resulted in me stumbling onto piers looking about as blue-green as the Aegean waters.

But Irakleia, nine square miles of rocky terrain with a permanent population of about 130, is sheltered from northerly winds by the significant bulk of Naxos, to the north.

Full post…