America’s Most Polluted Beaches – Is Yours On The List?

Today the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) released it’s annual report of the dirtiest beaches in the United States. In the 60′s we “Loved That Dirty Water”, but today we expect to swim at safe clean waterfronts.  The NRDC keeps careful records of all water testings and beach closures throughout the United States to monitor who is complying with regulations and what progress is being made to assure the public won’t be swimming in polluted water.  Their Testing The Waters report reveals some startling beach conditions.

You may be surprised to learn that the Great Lakes have the dirtiest beach water conditions in the country.  Apparently antiquated sewage treatment systems and urban storm-drain run off pumps pollutants into the Great Lakes on a regular basis.  There have been 18,000 closing and advisory days for 5 consecutive years!  Some coastal states aren’t faring much better.  Florida, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New York, Rhode Island and South Carolina have their own major trouble spots.  While the shores of Southwestern Florida are considered the least polluted in the country.  Read more

Paris Pickpockets – Latest Tricks for 2010

Linda and I are just back from Paris and are pleased to report that the number of gypsies and shady characters lurking about tourist attractions seem to be on the decline this year.  But it pays to be ever vigilant!  Here are the tricks we experienced on our trip:

#1, A young person approaches you saying, “Do you speak English?”, while holding out a large index card.  As you focus on the writing on the card (which is a jumble of gibberish), you are in fact blocking your field of vision to your purse and pockets.  Don’t accept the card – keep your hands and field of vision clear!

#2, While walking down the sidewalk someone will reach down to pick up a piece of gold jewelry saying loudly, “Oh am I lucky!!”, while holding up the gold for all to see.  When you come closer to look at the lucky find, they find an excuse why they cannot use the piece (Oh darn my ears aren’t pierced, or Oh no this ring is too big for me) at which point they will offer the gold piece to you.  If you take it, they will ask for some money in return – because after all you are getting the gold for free and it’s worth a lot of money.  Of course the jewelry is actually a fake piece of junk.  (We encountered this trick twice in 3 days!)

Our advise is to keep your valuables protected inside your clothing and always be suspicious if someone who enters your zone of  ‘personal’ space – assume they are going to try to rob you.

The FCC Takes The Mystery Out of Phoning Home From A Foreign Country

The Federal Communication Commission today announced a new initiative to help US travelers find the most up-to-date information on how to make phone calls from foreign countries at the most economical rates. The FCC has created a new web portal at http://www.fcc.gov/worldtravel that will serve as a directory of information to help travelers phone home from foreign countries, whether it be by phone, smart phone, text, calling card, or voice over internet.

Each year over 60 million Americans travel to foreign countries for business and leisure.  Until now it has been a cumbersome process to gather information on the least expensive and most reliable ways to maintain communications while traveling.  We’ve all read horror stories of vacationers returning home only to find an enormous bill from their cell phone carrier because they ‘misunderstood’ the terms of their calling plan.  The FCC is hoping to help US travelers avoid this very situation.

This first week of summer has been deemed “Wireless World Travel Week” at the FCC.  Each day of the week the FCC will post helpful articles to their website:
Tuesday: Getting Ready for Your International Trip
Wednesday: Calling Options from Overseas
Thursday: VoIP – Calling Over the Internet
Friday: Back at Home – Checking Your Invoices

We say BRAVO to the FCC for simplifying the communication challenges for travelers.  Linda and I just went through this exercise before we flew off the Paris last week, and appreciate what a land-mine of choices are out there.  We’ll be digesting the FCC’s recommendations all week and will bring you the highlights.  In the meantime, be sure to bookmark their site so it will be a click away for the next time you’ll be traveling out of the country.

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H1N1 Travel Insurance Explained

New Gluten-Free Allergy Alert Travel Cards

Plan For The Best But Prepare For The Worst

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