Posted: 29 Nov 2009 04:41 PM PST

The Irish Times - Monday, November 30, 2009

ROSITA BOLAND reviews Schott's Almanac 2010 by Ben Schott Bloomsbury €16.99; 352pp

IF YOU love lists, or browsing through digestible reminders of events that happened in the year gone by, then Schott's Almanac 2010 is the book for you. It now appears annually, and is an esoteric kind of reference book.

Schott's Almanac is arranged in 13 sections. They are: Chronicle; the World; Society and Health; Media and Celebrity; Music and Cinema; Books and Arts; Science, Technology and Internet; Travel and Leisure; Money; Parliament and Politics; Establishment and Faith; Sport; Ephemerides. That last refers to information for the coming year if, like me, you had to look up the definition.

Schott's Almanac is really the Guinness Book of Records with a twist: lists reinvented and presented in imaginative ways, covering many topics. So while you are informed Usain Bolt won the 100m sprint at the World Championships, you also find out what effect exercise is thought to have on appetite: a long-distance run makes you crave fruit; swimming in cold water provokes a longing for biscuits or chocolate; a gentle walk doesn't make you hungry at all.

This is a book you dip into periodically, to get lost in a fascinating maze of (mostly) useless facts. Ever wondered what the consistent choice of where you sit on a bus says about your personality? Under Travel and Leisure, a Salford University researcher concludes that sitting in the front on the top deck makes you a forward thinker; the middle of the lower deck is occupied by strong communicators; and the back of the top deck are rebellious types, to which anyone who has ever taken a late-night bus in Dublin can surely attest.

Among the new words of the ebbing year are several associated with micro-blogging site, Twitter, whose tweet postings on 140 characters or less are described as "Object of the Year". These include, "twerd" a Twitter nerd; and "twoosh", a tweet of exactly 140 characters.

Overused words that Britain's local government association suggested should be banned included: benchmarking, blue-sky thinking, can-do culture, fast-track, going forward, outsourced, reconfigured, slippage and upward trend. "Recession" was not one of them.

We learn that a health survey conducted in July of this year on British children between the ages of 8-16 was sabotaged by the crafty participants who attached the pedometers they were given to the collars of their dogs.

Unsabotaged data that was released this year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed the number of hours spent on work and leisure in an average year by people in 18 countries. In the US, working hours were 1,986, with leisure 6,864. In Ireland, they were 1,543 and 7,217 respectively. The people of Norway worked for an average of 1,290 hours and frolicked for 7,470.

Among the many other trivia are details of the frocks worn to the Oscars. Understated, sober colours were all the go this year – cream, pearl, beige, grey, silver and nude. Penelope Cruz wore cream vintage Balmain. Kate Winslet wore pewter satin by Yves Saint Laurent.

The caveat about Schott's Almanac is that many of the statistics and lists refer specifically to Britain, so unless you're incredibly curious about who appeared on all the covers of Hello! and OK! during 2009, the queen's birthday honours list, or the British general election breakdown figures from 1979 to 2005, some pages will be of less interest to Irish readers.

Rosita Boland is an Irish Times journalist

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California city woos gay tourists - Seattle Times

Posted: 29 Nov 2009 12:22 AM PST

If you plan on protesting a ban on same-sex marriage, what better place than West Hollywood, Calif., a town known nationwide as a center for gay activism and politics?

But go there on vacation?

West Hollywood — where more than one-third of the population identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender — is well known to people in the Los Angeles area and draws many visitors from around California. But it's not a major national or international destination.

Now the city, eager to shore up revenue, wants to expand its reach. And with good reason: Even in a slumping economy, gay and lesbian tourists tend to wield more disposable income and are more likely to spend on travel and leisure than heterosexual tourists, studies have shown.

Over the past few years, cities such as Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Chicago and Bloomington, Ind., have launched campaigns to attract gay tourists.

The gay-travel segment is so hot that American Airlines, among other large corporations, has a marketing manager whose job is to reach out to that demographic.

West Hollywood's latest effort takes shape in a redesigned travel Web site (www.GoGayWestHollywood.com) that includes lists of hotels, clubs, bars and nighttime happenings that the visitors bureau believes would appeal to gay and lesbian tourists. The site includes a photo gallery and a list of weekly events, including nightclub parties with sexually suggestive titles. The photos include shots of shirtless men in leather as well as scenes from recent rallies in opposition to a proposed ban on same-sex marriage.

The Web site's content may raise eyebrows among outsiders, concedes Bradley M. Burlingame, president of the West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau. But he pointed out that travel bureaus for exotic-vacation spots that cater to heterosexual tourists often feature attractive women in bikinis.

"It's not our purpose to be a vehicle for people to hook up," Burlingame said. "But in reality, people sometimes go on vacation in hopes of meeting someone they might like."

But the main goal of the city's campaign is to draw visitors who will spend.

A survey this year by Harris Interactive, a global market-research firm, found that gay and lesbian tourists were expected to spend on average $2,300 for vacations during the spring and summer, whereas heterosexual travelers planned to spend on average $1,500 for the same period.

Like West Hollywood, tourism bureaus and travel companies across the United States are welcoming gay tourists.

"All travel marketers today are working harder than ever in this tough economy," said George Carrancho, American Airlines' marketing manager for outreach to gay and lesbian customers. "From my experience, however, the very smartest ones also express their welcome and reputation for inclusion to gay and lesbian travelers."

John Tanzella, president of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, said more tourism bureaus from around the globe had joined his association and were launching campaigns to attract gay travelers.

"The bureaus are looking for new revenue streams, and the strength of the (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) travel market is well documented," he said. "The LGBT community is passionate about traveling."

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AP TRAVEL AND LEISURE DIGEST For Week Of Nov. 16 - CBS News

Posted: 18 Nov 2009 02:30 PM PST

(AP) AP Travel for week of Nov. 16

OBAMA-NYC

NEW YORK - Jeremiah Miller calls the time Barack Obama spent in New York "the lost years," because that period from 1981 to 1985 is not as well-known as his roots in Hawaii or his recent years in Chicago. To fill in the gap, Miller offers a tour of Upper Manhattan called "Obama's New York." The two-hour $25 walking tour includes stops at Columbia University, a Harlem subway station, and the street where the man who now sleeps in the White House once slept in an alley.

By BETH J. HARPAZ.

AP Photos NY400-407

AP Travel Video filename: 1116trav_walkobama

HONDURAS

ROATAN, Honduras - "The president's been arrested already this morning," hotel owner Jeff Kuken told me and my wife one Sunday morning in late June. We had spent months planning a vacation across Honduras, but now Latin America's first military coup in decades was unfolding on the third day of our trip. Not exactly part of our plans, and definitely not included in guidebooks that painted Honduras as the Next Big Destination for affordable eco-tourism.

We wondered whether it would be possible to have fun and relax in a beautiful country going through political chaos. The answer turned out to be a resounding yes - with some changes in plans and a bit of luck. By RYAN J. FOLEY.

AP Photos NY421-426

HOLIDAY GIFTS

NEW YORK - What makes a good holiday gift for a traveler? If you have big bucks, splurge on an e-reader or a netbook. But if you're on a budget, go for clever stocking-stuffers, like a laminated cardboard wine wheel to help wine-challenged foodies instantly determine good pairings, $8.85 from Magellan's, or a funky $17 passport wallet from Flight 001. By BETH J. HARPAZ.

AP Photos NY408-410

HOLIDAY BOOKS

NEW YORK - Whether you're looking for a gift for an armchair traveler or a frequent flyer, you can't go wrong with a book. Booksellers from three travel bookstores - Distant Lands - http://www.distantlands.com/ - in Pasadena, Calif., Globe Corner - http://www.globecorner.com/ - in Cambridge, Mass., and Idlewild Books - http://idlewildbooks.com/ - in New York City - offered their recommendations for travel books that make good holiday gifts, from coffee-table books filled with gorgeous photos, to travelogues of long-ago adventures in faraway places, to practical guidebooks for every type of traveler. By BETH J. HARPAZ

AP Photos NY411-414

HOLIDAY LIGHTINGS

NEW YORK - This season's Christmas tree displays include trees made from feathers at a historic home in Indianapolis, a thank-you tree in Boston sent from Nova Scotia, and the Obamas' first National Christmas Tree ceremony in Washington. By BETH J. HARPAZ

AP Photos NY415-420

FASHION-SNL WINDOWS

NEW YORK - It's not quite the warm and fuzzy crowd one probably imagines gathering around the Christmas tree, but Barneys New York is celebrating the holidays at its flagship store with a motley crew that includes Roseanne Roseannadanna, the Church Lady, Father Guido Sarducci, Wayne and Garth - and Pat. Two dozen "Saturday Night Live" favorites have been transformed into life-size, paper-mache ornaments to hang in the windows on Madison Avenue as the retailer puts on its biggest visual show of the year.

By Samantha Critchell

Eds: Story expected Tuesday, Nov. 17

TRAVEL BRIEFS

Eds: Items on travel survey, cruises for babies, holiday airfare, New Year's Eve-Times Square, New Year's Eve-Vegas, books, Smithsonian holiday exhibit, Forbes awards, Indiana-cranes, Alabama governor's mansion

FLIGHT PLAN-CREDIT CARD FEES

ATLANTA - Another fee is coming in the new year for airline and hotel customers - this time from your credit card company. The message: Miss a payment one month and you forfeit the miles or points you thought you earned for making purchases on your card during that period. To get the rewards back, it's going to cost you. By Airlines Writer Harry R. Weber.

Eds: Moving Wednesday.

UPCOMING TRAVEL STORIES:

Eds: For planning purposes, here are some of the print stories scheduled for the AP Travel package for the next few weeks (list subject to change).

For Nov. 23:

St Barth

Amtrak-AutoTrain

Frank Lloyd Wright synagogue tours - Philadelphia

Daisy Bates house tours - Little Rock

Holiday train shows

For the near future:

Nov. 30 - 3 stories for Olympics-themed ski package: A look at the 3 U.S. venues that have hosted the Olympics and how the winter games influenced those destinations: Squaw Valley, CA; Lake Placid, NY; SLC, Utah.

Bethlehem, PA: Christmas City

East v. West skiing - pros and cons

Rethinking green skiing

Colorado - ski season outlook

Honduras

Motorcycle - tour rentals

Bonaire

Virginia pirates exhibit

St. Bart's

January - Vancouver - one month out from winter OLY

Late January - cruise trends

AP Travel editor Beth Harpaz is reachable at bharpaz(at)ap.org. For AP Photos, call 212-621-1921.

Reruns of stories are available from http://apexchange.com or from the Service Desk (800-838-4616).

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Travel and Leisure

Sunday, November 29, 2009

“Get lost in maze of useless, intriguing facts - Irish Times” plus 2 more

“Get lost in maze of useless, intriguing facts - Irish Times” plus 2 more

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