Car Rental part two

So I am now checking car rentals for two foreign trips.  The first one is easy, the same price at three different sites:  Direct from the car rental, plus American Airlines and Triple A.  All the same price.

The second trip is not so easy.  So to simplify, let's use the same car rental company rented from the same airport (not downtown).  Same length of rental AND same car.  So I try the same three  sites I just mentioned, then I searched from the local airport, a different airline (not flying AA this time) and then instead of the dot.com (US website) I used the countries website. 

Now the websites wanted me to cookie them so they know I was inquiring about costs from the US.  But long story short, rates were are random AND if I booked via the local site using their currency, the costs were 30% higher!  Again there are a bunch of added fees like CDW and such, but I was just looking for the base price plus taxes and airport fees.

There are benefits to prepaying as opposed to paying at the desk.  And I don't mind prepaying IF there is a chance to get a refund should something happen.

So for my first trip I will probably wait a bit and just book direct with the car rental company.

For the second trip .... I just don't know but need to do something since the summer travel time may reduce supply.

Happy shopping.

Oh yeah, I blogged about this back in March.  And a shot of the car I dinged in Martinique.  Same style of car, but this shot is in Switzerland.

Smart phones and Weather Forecasting

This morning, before I headed out for a hike, I checked my Weather Underground App to see what conditions I might experience (cool and warming but dry, at least until tonight).  Before I excited the App, I was asked if I wanted to contribute to the forecasting by allowing the App to record the local pressure.  Yes, not only does my phone record where I am, but can sense the atmospheric pressure!

I declined, but then wondered how much of my actions are already being recorded by location and actions.   hmmmm

Anyway, citizen based weather reporting is not a bad thing.  I even wrote about it back in 2005 in the paper titled "Emergency Preparedness and Tourism: Both Win with Help of the Amateur Meteorologist."  See this link for the paper.  The additional data provided by citizens makes for a better forecast.  Makes sense, right, after all, Denver's weather is not representative of the whole state.

Bristow, Robert S.; Leiker, Karl; DeBlois, Roland 2006. Emergency Preparedness and Tourism: Both Win with Help of the Amateur Meteorologist. In: Peden, John G.; Schuster, Rudy M., comps., eds. Proceedings of the 2005 northeastern recreation research symposium; 2005 April 10-12; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-341. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station: 135-139.

For Sale $8.9 million house in Category 1 Hurricane flood zone

Water front property is the dream of many, but if you buy land on the Cape of Cod, Massachusetts, your waterfront may be underneath you.  Compare these two images.

The first is from Zillow.com and shows today's listing for properties in Cape Cod.  For $8.9 million you can buy a 4 Bedroom, 6 Bathroom (?!?!), cottage (nearly 8,000 square feet).

But if you research this a bit, the Cape Cod Commission notes the location of flooding from a modest Category 1 Hurricane.

Not to be fair, will the hurricane happen?  Maybe and maybe not.  Is the house high enough to reduce the damage from a small hurricane?  Perhaps.  My estimates are just based on a quick look using the imagery and not a ground survey. 

But in any case, the Cape of Cod will cease to exist in the future (10,000 years) according to a report in the New York Times.

Nordic Geographers 2019

First announcement: Nordic Geographers Meeting 2019 in Trondheim, Norway.  I presented at this conference a few years back when the University of Iceland sponsored it.  The paper I presented led to to this publication.

 A great conference (and Venue).

65th Running of the Westfield River Wildwater Races this weekend

The oldest continuously run canoe race in North America will take place this weekend.

Can't race?  Watch the racers at the famous Hill and Dale Rapids.

oh yeah, we published a travel behavior paper influenced by climate change induced stream flow recently as well.

Sun Country Airlines

The lesson here, is do not take the last Plane/Bus/Ferry/fill in the blank, to return home

Sure, if you were vacationing in Mexico and used the seasonal airlines called Sun Country, you might have been screwed when poor weather cancelled flights.  I can relate from a layover in Philadelphia.

Yet, I also know to not use the last option if I can.  Ferries between islands is one example.  If you miss the last one, you might be spending the night.  So why add stress and take a return trip earlier.

Be sure to fill up the gas in your car rental before returning the car to the boat dock at Sandy Point Landing North Caicos.

NERR 2018 Poster Presentation

Here is the poster I shared at the 2018 National Environment and Recreation Research Symposium (NERR)  earlier this month.

Curling finals

Sorry but I have been at the NERR conference the past few days, so I didn't get to report the final scores of the World Men's Curling Championship in Vegas.

Sweden beat Canada 7-3. for Gold and Silver, and Scotland earned the Bronze over Korea 11-4.

All great times on the ice in Vegas.


Here is Skip Niklas Edin going backwards.

Medal day in World Men's Curling!

So the final day has come to Curling in Vegas.  It is down to four teams:

Bronze between Korea and Scotland, and the gold between Sweden and Canada.

I will say the Scotland fans are a small but powerful and enthusiastic group.  Canada fans are plentiful and colorful!  (I am for Sweden if you don't know.)

The ice will be hot in Las Vegas today!

Team USA has qualified for Playoffs

If you are not in Vegas, you can follow the excitement at this link.  Cable TV coverage is spotty.

Sweden and Scotland are in the lead with 11-1 in the Round Robin.

Curling Challenge

Las Vegas is known for a lot of things but ICE?  (think Sanka)

The World Men's Curling Championship is going on right now.

It appears from my panoramic shot that the sheet is curved but it is not.

Also the shot is during practice and the reason multiple stones are on the ice.

These shots were taken this past Saturday and the competition goes onto this weekend.

So head to the Orleans Arena in Vegas for some great curling.

Annual April Fools

I was gentle yesterday for April Fools, perhaps because Sweden is 4-0 at the

World Men's Curling Championship 2018

 

Go Sweden !

Count Arthur Strong for President

American politics has welcomed movie stars and even reality TV quasi-celebrities.  We can't get any lower.

Now is the time for members of a "royal" family to take the stage, leading America out of the dump.

Count Arthur Strong for US President 2020!

His platform is "We're Listening."

When was the last time we had someone in the office that listened to the American People?