The Lowe Road

Who knew that a Japan Airlines flight attendant uniform could sell for as much as 2,000 British pounds - and that the 'collectors' were not aviation enthusiasts but in fact were sex clubs based in Tokyo?

JAL - whose bankrupcy has called for 400 flight attendants to be laid off - is so fearful of the uniforms being sold for profit that it has asked the redundant staff to turn them in before they leave the company. Each is tagged with a serial number so none can ever be 'misused' confirmed a company spokesperson. 

It may not be the first airline to do so - Gol of Brazil and V Australia have them - but All Nippon Airways will introduce women's only lavatories next month after female travelers surveyed wanted something bars and restaurants have had for centuries: a gender dedicated toilet. 

www.ana.co.jp

The island of Manhattan plays host to the 2010 New York Times Travel Show between February 26-28. Attracting tens of thousands of visitors eager to scoop deals on travel and learn more about the latest trends, the show also kicks off the summer travel season. 

Travel the world in a New York Minute. Admission is $15. 

www.nyttravelshow.com

Argentina's capital Buenos Aires may be known for an icon or two, but one of its hidden gems is its music scene.

As a reflection of the city's latin soul and as an immigrant melting pot, Buenos Aires is one of the worlds most multi-layered and fascinating cities (if you push beyond those tired tourist cliches, so tired as not to be repeated here) where music - and we are not just talking tango here - flourishes in a young, cultured and outwardly thinking, party minded population - known as porteños. 

And nobody parties like porteños. 

Chris Bernay, a local photographer has captured both the city's local and visiting music scene, and has recently launched a website - www.ChrisBernay.com, features a selection of his work, including that of Lykke Li, below. 

So if you intend to head south of the border and party like a porteño, check out Chris Bernays site, it will be ahead of the music curve by featuring intense, soulful images like these shot at music events in Buenos Aires through 2010 and beyond. 

www.ChrisBernay.com

Over $4 billion dollars later, the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest skyscraper, has opened.

As a part of the wider new "Downtown Dubai" (a cool $20 billion) the tower anchors the eastern end of the city, not far from the iconic Burj Al Arab, the city states most famous hotel, now dwarfed by the 160 storey building. 

Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the building was initially meant to be entirely residential. Office space has topped $3,000 USD per foot, while the Armani Residences found within the Burj are $3,500 per square foot. 

A stand alone Armani Hotel will also be found within the hotel. 

Remember Y2K?

It's been 10 years since the whole paranoia fear swept the planet - Planes were meant to fall from the sky. Bank accounts were going to delete your hard earned cash from their records. Electrical systems would fail, and the world would end. 

How quaint. 

Now that December 2012 is around the corner, the next doomsday scenario is rearing its ugly head. Maybe the Mayans didn't predict the world would end, maybe they ran out of stone on that wheel to carve out the future. 

Amsterdam's international airport, Schipol, has reinstated the use of so called 'naked' scans for all passengers traveling on flights to the USA.

Long hailed as an invasion of privacy by certain rights groups, safety advocates have stated that with liquid bombs an ever increasing threat, there is no choice but to use them.

The recent attempted bombing of Detroit bound Delta A330 on Christmas Day prompted the move. 

Though faces are blurred and private areas as well, many passengers are refusing to subject themselves to what some call a 'virtual strip search.'

Spain's Air Comet airlines - serving mainly latin American destinations - has cratered, leaving 7,000 passengers without flights during Christmas.

Some passengers were so furious they threatened a hunger strike in Madrid's airport.

No word yet on whether the Spanish gov't will step in to fly the jilted pax out.

For years the scams aimed at snaring tourists in Thailand - from fake gems to longer tuk tu rides to a recent trap at Bangkok's airport (on a recent flight out of Thailand's capital on Singapore Airlines, cabin crew were furiously filling out duty free orders, so frightened were passengers even to set foot within a King Power Duty Free shop) did nothing to dampen the number of visitors to the Land of Smiles. 

Bravo TV's latest program, Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand, sheds light on the scams faced by tourists in Phuket, Samui, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and while it is sensationalist and maybe a bit heavy handed, Thailand, like other popular tourist hotspots, has a dark underbelly. 

Bravo TV UK

The Indian Ocean tsunami connected millions through shared experiences of the day the seas withdrew and returned, bringing unbelievable destruction. The waves themselves came without warning for most, but what did not come without warning was the help from dozens of countries, in the form of food, shelter, assistance and aid that has healed the damage from those terrible hours. 

http://tsunami.trust.org

Surly customs agents. Nasty security line attendants. Unhappy flight attendants. Ahh, all part of the travel experience these days. 

Except for Israel.

Expect to be interrogated for up to two hours as a recent American visitor was, and then - the piece de la resistance - her laptop was shot three times by security forces who thought it was 'suspicious'.

Though her name wasn't revealed, the laptop, according to the blogger, is going to be replaced by the Israeli airport police. 

Gauche Protocol's cry of 'Claim Your Right to Be Contemporary' proves the brand takes a fashion forward stance that takes it away from all that processed crap at the mall.

Matching German military surplus and crisp phrases, Gauche Protocol launches this Saturday December 19th where it all began - in Barcelona, Spain.

  www.gaucheprotocol.com

Scarf #1

German federal border guard necktie in 100% white summer-weight wool with distinctive selvedge along one side and magenta silk-screen print

Limited edition of 300

Frequent ironing from the back is advised to maintain a creaseless appearance

Hand wash only

Boeing's Dreamliner - the 787 - is set to take its first flight over Seattle on December 15th 2009 - as the most advanced jet in the world, and one of the most successful (over 800 have been ordered) ever produced. 

Brouhaha: 'The sudden hike in room rates caused a right brouhaha among the residents of the hotel'

Rigmarole: 'It was a real rigmarole to get a train ticket in India, think Dante's circle of Hell'

Hell Bent: The Egyptian taxi driver was hell bent on using just 2 tires on his car'

Dawdle: 'Dawdling over a cup of Ethiopian coffee is a great way to kill an evening'

Ginormous: 'The central Angkor temple has a ginormous moat encircling it'

Chewing the Fat: 'I sat around in the Baliem Valley chewing the fat with tribesmen'

Gallavant: 'She was gallavanting around so much she lost her sense of direction'

Quagmire: 'Waiting in line to pay a bill in Argentina feels like you are stuck in a quagmire of bureaucracy'

Persnikecty: 'The fare collector was really persnickety about the bill I gave her, apparently it was too dirty'

Pig Ugly: 'The beach was so pig ugly even the local dogs wouldn't sleep there'

Lollygag: 'Don't lollygag when you cross the street in Saigon. You may end up with a broken leg or two'

Wherewithall: 'I wanted to climb Everest but didn't have the wherewithall to do so'

Alot of Ins, Alot of Outs, Alot of What Have You's: 'You know, I had a fantastic time, but there were alot of ins, alot of outs, alot of what have yous that I'm not gonna repeat'

Dear Lord. These bloated, over polished words even find their way into so called 'professional' travel writers' work. Unless you are as breathy as Joan Collins, Don't. Use. Them.

Exotic: 'This exotic city is full of color and life.'

Bustling: 'The bustling markets sell every kind of local craft.'

Paradise: 'This island paradise nation of 300,000 is

Idyllic: 'The idyllic Toggien islands are just a stone's throw from Sulawesi'

Turquoise: 'The turquoise seas beg exploration'

Swaying/Waving: 'Every beach is blessed with swaying/waving palm trees'

Breathtaking: 'The seafood meal was simply breathtaking'

Fringed: 'Coral reef fringed islands'

Every self respecting surfer knows about Mavericks, the annual surf contest held at the surf break with the same name in San Mateo County, California, 30 minutes drive down Highway 1 from San Francisco.

Each year the worlds top surfers gather to ride some of the planet's most humongous waves, topping 35 feet + on occasion. Though deaths have occured during the tournament, the spirit of Mavericks continues, and the event always happens at a moments notice: as soon as the waves are up, the competition begins.

This year's Mavericks was held Wednesday, December 9th. To view photos, click here.

Chuck Thompson's latest book, To Hellholes and Back, details his travels in central Africa, India, and most disturbing of all, Disney World. Through sharp observations and a thirst for adventure, this kind of extreme tourism is certainly a breath of fresh air: as a huge step away from the sugar coated travelogues that clog the travel section of bookstores these days, where dear readers can choose between a nauseating array of 'finding' oneself through eating and praying, or spending a year in Provence as a way to better understand the art of washing linen, or some other angst ridden housewife off to screw her way through Italy to reconnect with herself.

Coming on the heels of his last book, Smile When you're Lying, Thompson continues to trash the industry that fed him, peeling back the layers of how their marketing machines work and how adventure and local color are brushed under the rug to focus on the color of sunsets and that latest spa treatment.

You can get the book here.

No, not that ET.

Ethiopian Airlines (airline code: ET) the national carrier of Africa's only Christian country, will be joining Star Alliance in 2010.

Often associated with famine (ET cabin crew are frequently asked if there will be food served on board their planes) the country of Ethiopia is rich in history and culture. On my visit in 2002, I hiked with baboons in the Simien Mountains, descended into royal tombs older than those in Egypt, and endured many a dusty, bumpy hour on buses that crisscrossed the mountainous country.

But I did have a very strange run in with ET.

Their sales offices are always plastered with posters proclaiming ‘Be a guest of Ethiopian Airlines! and ‘Come to the Wild Blue Yonder!’ which didn’t quite reflect the reception I had in Addis when my connecting flight was deleted from their schedule.

After reconfirming my flight from Kampala, Uganda to Djibouti via Addis Ababa, I received a paper confirmation that I would have a 3 hour layover in Addis airport. When I arrived in Addis, my onward flight vanished: over the weekend, the flight frequency between Addis and Djibouti had been reduced, every ET airline official claimed it was my fault and I was to pay $100 for a visa, $200 (per night) for a hotel, and I was going to have to surrender my passport.

Arguing made no difference, and I was basicly, trapped.

When I produced the printed confirmation, the story changed. I was now to be a terribly unwelcome guest of Ethiopian Airlines. I was still forced to give up my passport, was the made to take the airline crew bus to the Ethiopia Hotel where I was given a room where I was warned that I was not to leave: even with a visa, I was practically under house arrest (I got around this when I found a back entrance door unlocked, and snuck out of the hotel)

Eventually, I was released from house arrest at the hands of ET and you can read more about this story called 'ET Phone Home' in my book, Sandwiches Should Never Taste Like Cow Crap, available here.

Despite this experience, i did find ET to be a great airline, compared to the white knuckle rides most African airlines offer these days.

Few cities are burdened with so many stereotypes as Buenos Aires, and the reality of life in this city of 13 million is vastly different. Like all the world's great cities, you have to walk it to know it, and having compiled photos from wanderings across many a barrio in BA, here's a slide show to capture the chaos, color, noise and eclectic street life of the Argentine capital. 

If they ever find a way to bottle atmosphere, Buenos Aires will have the market cornered.

Watch the slide show here.