Travel News – Banned For Life, Boycott Fiji?, Afghanistan Park, Laptop Searches, Courtyard Suit, Cuba Travel

• 
  
  
• Tweet
• Sharebar

• Tweet

A cautionary tale comes from a story about a Carnival cruise. You are more likely after reading this story to take pictures of your cruise ship cabin when you arrive.

Carnival cruise line bans family for life

You would think that it would take a pretty serious infraction to cause a cruise line operator to ban you for life but surely not for getting a few scratches on your dresser. According to one Mr. Chris Harvey who took a cruise docking into Ft. Lauderdale this summer, however, that’s what got him and his family the boot.

Should we boycott countries whose politics we think are wrong or should we engage?

IFJ calls for Fiji tourism boycott

The International Federation of Journalists wants travellers to rethink any plans to holiday in Fiji.

Fiji is facing suspension from the Commonwealth at midnight Tuesday (local time) for its slow progress towards a return to democracy.

A national park in Afghanistan… I think we will have to call that adventure travel.

Afghanistan has its first national park

High in the mountains of central Afghanistan is an area of relative peace and majestic beauty — a chain of six lakes so vibrantly blue that they are clearly visible in satellite photos. It’s called Band-e-Amir, and this year it was turned into Afghanistan’s first national park after the U.S. government spent nearly $1 million to help establish the landmark.

There have been a lot of questions about the law that government can seize laptops and their data at the U.S. border.

DHS Clarifies Laptop Border Searches

The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday released new directives covering border searches of electronic devices and media, but the government’s rules leave open the question of whether individuals can be compelled to provide passwords and encryption keys.

Laptop searches remain an unusual event for travelers entering the country. More than 221 million travelers passed through U.S. ports of entry between Oct. 1, 2008, and Aug. 11, 2009, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These entries resulted in about 1,000 laptop searches, only 46 of which were in-depth.

Much of the case law for job discrimination in the U.S. is written by idiots doing idiotic things. This is one of those stories.

Ex-Courtyard sales chief wins age bias suit; boss told to “fire the old lady”

A former Marriott Courtyard hotel sales director who was 67 years old when the hotel fired her won an age-discrimination suit and more than $420,000, according to a recent Columbus Dispatch report.

The article says that upper management at the Hilliard, Ohio, hotel told the woman’s supervisor to “fire the old lady in sales.” A Franklin County jury ruled earlier this month that Charlotte Thomas was fired strictly because of her age, according to the Dispatch.

OK, I predicted that the travel ban would be lifted to Cuba this year but it seems to be moving much much slower.

Changes to Cuban travel, gift rules now official

The federal rules regulating what gifts and how much cash can be sent to Cuba finally became official Thursday, five months after President Barack Obama announced a loosening of restrictions amid great fanfare.

Other stories that I liked this week:

• Understanding Parisians
• Continental, British Airways Change Checked Baggage Fees
• US travel charge plan criticised
• Report: Terror attacks on hotels have doubled since 9/11; current hotel security steps not enough