When people say you may spot dolphins off the shore of Kauai, they don’t mean just one or two. Noisy, fun-loving, fearless spinner dolphins cruise the Na Pali coast in pods, swimming alongside the sailboats and wowing the humans with airborne antics and graceful waterborne power. Spinners can’t be trained, and they can’t survive beyond a few days once taken from their natural habitat. They’re one of many unforgettable Hawaii vacation experiences that can only be experienced with Mother Nature’s permission, and if you’re willing to go a little out of your comfort zone to reach them.
Kauai’s nickname is “The Garden Isle” but its gardens are not merely the pretty floral kind. It’s got thousands of acres of backcountry and jungle where bold visitors can hike or zip line, kayak to waterfalls or four-wheel through swamps — ALWAYS with a tour guide, of course — even the locals know better than to go running around the ancient jungle by themselves.
Melissa Fuller is the Orbitz Travel Blog’s travel artist of the month. Each week we will feature a series of photographs from her collection. Before we share her photographs, we asked Melissa to share a little about herself.
I took the sage advice of my corporately employed single mother: “Melissa, I want you to do something you LOVE. It’s not worth it any other way.” And so it became ingrained in my head that work is synonymous with adventuring. And if you can do it making art along the way, then heck, you’re doing all right.
That seed, planted at an early age, was nourished with the developer and fix bath of a shoddy high school dark room and really took root in college, where I studied photography, film and video in tandem with global development. My inclination toward documenting and exploring became the driving force behind what has now become my work, my passion, and my way of meditation. Taking photographs and seeing into different cultures and ways of life not only inspires me to open my eyes wide, but it also helps me to grasp the simplicity of this place and time we are so lucky to be a part of.
Melissa Fuller earned her bachelor of science from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied word and image theory with an emphasis in photography. Her work has been featured in National Geographic’s “There and Back” readers series and for TOMS shoes for tomorrow blog. Melissa has traveled around the United States and abroad as production staff for several networks, including, A&E, VH1, MTV and ABC. See more of her work on her blog.
I went on an amazing international vacation — an African safari to see some of the world’s most prized national wonders: Arusha National Park, Ngorogoro Crater, the Serengeti National Park and Tarangire National Park.
Zebra graze on the hillside at Ngorogoro Crater.
We spent our days cruising in the sun under the popped top of a converted 4×4 Eurovan hunting for sightings of hippo, elephant, gazelle, rhino, giraffe, and lion. We didn’t have to hunt terribly hard.
Think you’ll be cooped up inside one of our Las Vegas hotels your entire time here? Think again. Despite the deserved reputation of our mega-resorts as never-need-to-leave wonderlands, fact is, the Vegas valley is filled with more outdoor activities than most visitors imagine. Now that the weather has cooled a bit, I thought it would be a great time to tell you about them.
First among our outdoor attractions would have to be the Hoover Dam, the marvel of the modern world whose construction put Las Vegas on the map. Little more than a half hour from the Strip, the tour that takes you 537 feet down into the power plant is a fascinating education in construction engineering, water usage and electricity generation for the old or young, and certainly worth the drive. (Several reputable tour companies run bus trips as well: the tour is the same no matter who takes you there.) On the way, you can check out Boulder City’s State Railroad Museum, bighorn sheep-dwelling Hemenway Valley Park, and Bootleg canyon zip lines.
Marty teaches the Hover Force Academy about Price Assurance and how customers get money back from Orbitz. Visit price.orbitz.com to learn more about Price Assurance.
United Upgrades Upgrades, US Airways Simplifies Club Membership: Continental Airlines joined the Star Alliance at the end of October, so fellow Star carrier United Airlines is bringing its Mileage Plus program in line with Continental’s OnePass plan.
Beginning in the second quarter next year, United will kill its 500-mile upgrade certificates. The new upgrade regimen is somewhat simple: unlimited domestic upgrades based on your elite status in Mileage Plus. Naturally, the top players, Global Services and 1K members, get first dibs.
Melbourne: where leisure is a luxury … for everyone
As a girl who lives on the beach, I’m never head-over-heels to see more white sand. I like cities, especially the ones with character and architecture all their own, which is why I included Melbourne on my Australia vacation itinerary. Though its urban sprawl covers more square acreage than U.S. cities twice as populated — Australians don’t like to live on less than a half-acre — its city center is a colorful labyrinth of laneways sprouting more laneways, where tiny bars are tucked into corners and attics and rooftops.
Federation Square teems with milling tourists and locals hurrying toward the train station across the street. People stroll and bike the banks of the Yarra River whenever the weather permits. Outside the Queen Victoria Market, locals angle for tables two blocks down the sidewalk, chatting and snacking without a care in the world, even at 2 p.m. on a Thursday. For anyone used to the typical 40-means-60-hour U.S. workweek, this spectacle is hard to comprehend. Aren’t these people supposed to be in offices? Maybe we can learn something from them.
Whats the best way to learn no one likes bad surprises? Getting tazed, of course. In this video, the Orbitz cadets of the Hover Force Academy learn firsthand about the benefits of Total Price.
If you’re traveling this Thanksgiving, don’t plan on moving anywhere too quickly — at least while you’re on the ground. Travel during Thanksgiving weekend can be slow no matter where you’re traveling, but some places are busier than others.
Orbitz just released a list of the Top 10 busiest airports in the country. Chicago’s O’Hare International ranks as the No. 1 most traveled airport during the weekend with LAX, Denver, San Francisco and Atlanta rounding out the Top 5. New York’s three area airports — La Guardia, JFK and Newark — along with Boston Logan and Seattle Tacoma International make up the rest of the Top 10. So if you’re planning on heading to or from any of these cities, make sure you are prepared for long waits at check-in and security.
Some Airports Actually Have Less Traffic
For the first time ever, Orbitz has tallied the Top 10 least busy airports.
Lufthansa Makes Another Run at In-Flight Internet: Lufthansa was almost alone in mourning the loss of Boeing’s Connexion in-flight Internet service, which ended in 2006 after $1 billion or more in losses. And it’s been searching for a replacement ever since. It may have finally found one.
The German carrier says it will begin using a new service from Panasonic in mid-2010. Unlike Aircell, which uses a ground-to-air system on many U.S. domestic flights, Panasonic uses a satellite-based service. It’s more expensive to install, maintain and use, but it’s the only way to do it over oceans and Lufthansa hopes to re-install what it calls FlyNet on the vast majority of its international fleet.
By Joe Brancatelli
If you’re traveling this Thanksgiving, don’t plan on moving anywhere too quickly — at least while you’re on the ground. 