Archive for Category: "Australia & New Zealand"
Travel News- Government Steps In Qantas Labor Dispute
Two days. 70,000 stranded passengers. 600 canceled flights. In one of the worst labor disputes in a decade, Qantas Airlines resumed flights as of mid-Monday after orders from the Australian government. Following months of intensified labor disputes between Qantas and employee unions, the airline’s CEO Alan Joyce made the immediate decision on Saturday to ground [...]
Australia’s Ecotourism Dilemma: Can You Promote and Protect?
From floods to cyclones to droughts and nearby earthquakes, Australia is struggling to promote and protect its natural resources.Virtuous Traveler Leslie Garrett asks if Down Under can get on top of its environmental challenges to become an ecotourism hotspot. Ask a traveler about visits to a rainforest and you’ll likely hear about treks through the [...]
How Recent Airline Strikes Impact Travelers this Fall
With the recent surge in airline strikes, thousands of travelers are getting stranded or bumped off their respective flights. Qantas Airway engineers have announced they have called off plans to strike, but the airline says it is too late to reinstate already canceled flights. The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Associated said Monday it will no [...]
Can ‘Aboriginal Tourism’ Be Authentic?
Aboriginal tourism is a double-edge sword. At best, travelers begin to understand a culture’s compelling and long history. At its worst, it’s exploitive and misinformed. Virtuous Traveler Leslie Garrett examines the full range of experiences from the superficial presentations of beads and feathers to a deeper understanding of another culture. The dancers wore loincloths, their [...]
Icarus Award: X Marks the Gender, Dogs on the Runway & a Seat Belt Straitjacket
It doesn’t pay to mistreat a flight attendant, though you may win an Icarus award for doing so. Last week’s flight attendant biting incident beat out Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong’s baggy pants for an Icarus win. This week, flight attendants were manhandled and punched all in the course of becoming one of the week’s [...]
Icarus Award: Snakes on a Plane, Bombs at Check-In, Nudists on a Mountain
Hurricane Irene may have pre-empted last week’s Icarus Awards, but that only gave us an additional week to seek out the most outrageous travel failures. And what a week it’s been… Snakes in the Pants On Monday, August 25, TSA agents in Miami International Airport caught a man trying to board a plane with seven [...]
The Complete Hidden Gems: New Zealand
New Zealand is one of the few places where you can step off the plane and be minutes away from starting an adventure. In Christchurch, there is harness racing and sea-kayaking, just to name a few activities. You can even see if you have what it takes to be a polar explorer. Elsewhere in New [...]
Hidden Gems: Waka & Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Every trip to New Zealand is a voyage of discovery, and one of the most interesting things to discover just might be the country’s past. You can take to the waters and ride on a Waka, a double-hulled, ocean-going canoe. They are thought to be how Polynesian settlers migrated to New Zealand. Waka building was [...]
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