digimills

This list is helpful. I bought a ticket to Guatemala this morning for $69 each way and I’m still trying to figure out how $69 x2 = $223!

CHECKING BAGS

• Second bag - $10 (AirTran); $25 (American Airlines, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United and US Airways)

• Southwest charges starting with third bag - $25

SEAT ASSIGNMENTS

• Exit row extra legroom - $20 (AirTran); $5 to $35 (Northwest Airlines)

• Window, aisle seats in front of plane - $5 to $30 (US Airways)

• Reserving seat number in advance online - $6 (AirTran)

• Business Select early boarding - $10 to $30 more than highest fare (Southwest)

link (via consumerist)

I’ve been using the Maps function quite a bit lately and have been yearning for GPS capabilities. $90 ain’t too bad, but I’d love for something that didn’t stick out like this.

link

Off to kayak to check flights!

The plan is to convert the buildings in which prostitutes pose in the windows into apartments and more conventional commercial space.

And while they are at it…

[Mayor Cohen] also sees the buyout as a chance to begin clearing out the cannabis-selling coffee shops

If these changes go through as planned, about 5-10 years down the road, Amsterdam will likely have surpassed their current tourism dollars as a wealthier crowd becomes the norm. A bit like present-day Fort Lauderdale compared with the Spring Break/MTV crowd that was stomped out in the late 80s.

link (thx dough knees)

$95 a night is already a steal. Especially in San Fran, especially in a hipster hotel!

Take a stroll through San Francisco’s Nihonmachi, and you sense a vibrant, animé-inspired energy pulsing through the streets of the country’s most thriving Japanese-American community. The ‘hood is chock full of Eastern-influenced architecture, art galleries, Kimono shops and hidden culinary gems—while located just a short hop stop from the bustle of Union Square.

So where should you stay to experience it best? The newly opened Hotel Tomo. Inspired by Japanese pop culture, this boutique hotel features an original mural from Giant Robot fave Heisuke Kitazawa in every guest room, along with a docking station for your iPod, a flatscreen TV and a beanbag chair. There are also gaming suites where you can watch animé movies or play Wii games on six-foot LCD projection screens, and for chow hounds, Mum’s Restaurant, a funky spot that’s known for its amazing all-you-can-eat shabu shabu.

Because they love us (and you!) so much, the good people at Hotel Tomo are offering Pulse readers a special rate of $95 a night on a deluxe king room, subject to availability. Which means you can save your hard-earned coin for more important things, like lots of sake. Just enter the access code “GENART” when you book online, or mention the rate code “D-GENA” to get in on this hot deal!

Here’s a geek sugar video taking a tour of the gaming suites.

link (via gen art)

No matter where you’re going, BringFido.com can help you find a pet friendly hotel for your trip. Our pet friendly lodging directory includes more than ten thousand hotels that welcome pets, in all 50 states. Use the map below to browse properties and book a room at a pet friendly hotel today. Because your dog deserves a vacation too!

I’ll be using this for my Boston Terriers trip to Boulder.

link (via popgadget)

Availble in xs through XXL. 99eur to $999eur.

link (via pan-dan)

I landed in New Orleans at 9am today, haven’t seen this guy yet, but I’ve got 3 more days to find him.

The airport shuttle drove past a ton of wrecked buildings, some getting rehab, many left for demolition. I was surprised at the number of trailers parked in the front lawns of nice houses and looking like the new primary residence. A really telling sign was most of the churches being closed despite it being prime service hours.

I tried to hit Cafe Du Monde for some beignets, but there were literally 100 people in line. The fried oysters benedict at a nearby restaurant was a fine alternative.

Since I had some time to kill before I could check-in to my hotel and a heavy laptop bag, I went to the IMAX movie Hurricane on the Bayou. It focuses on the loss of the wetlands surrounding New Orleans and how that made the Katrina disaster worse than it could have been. Features some great music, plenty of aftermath footage and narration by Meryl Streep.

Even with it’s partying reputation I was struck by all the folks drinking at 9am. I suppose the Jazz Fest crowd preparing for a noon start time advanced that.

I remember being mesmerized by the haunting photos on
this site a few years ago. I was reminded of the adventures of ‘Kid of Speed’ when mentalfloss blogged about it today. I believe she’s added an account of a return trip.

link

update: check out My Journey to Chernobyl: 20 Years After the Disaster by Mark Resnicoff, great photos and in-depth explanations.

The initial Bonnaroo 2007 lineup was released Wednesday and it looks like I’ll be going again. This would make 5 of 6 for me (I skipped 2005). Hard to pass up all these bands that I would see individually if they came to town:

The Police
Wilco
Ween
Tool
The White Stripes
Kings of Leon
Ratdog
Manu Chao
Franz Ferdinand
Junior Brown
Wolfmother
The Flaming Lips
North Mississippi Allstars
Hot Tuna
Spoon
Cold War Kids
David Cross

link

Much like Alvin Straight, Paul Woods’ journey was launched because of a sick relative. He took care of his sick mother in Alaska until she died recently and is now trying to get back to his wife in Virginia.

As of this article, Woods and his broken-down Toro mower are in a ski resort parking lot in Utah.

link (thanks gene)

In NYC Sunday-Wednesday for a little break from the perfect weather Miami is having. One plus though, outdoor ice skating….and I didn’t fall once!

Great Flickr photoset featuring a boy playing gameboy around the world. Funny yet sad. He also needs to upgrade to a DS.

link (via neatorama)

They must trust their predicting system.

“Farecast is a service that predicts airline pricing in the future (U.S. domestic market only), helping customers decide if they should purchase a flight now, or wait. They’ve been testing a product which allows users to lock in a price found on the site for up to a week. For $10, customers will be protected against any price increases for that flight. This is, effectively, the purchase of an insurance policy against the risk of future price increases.”

Time to add farecast to my regular lineup of flight sites (kayak, mobissimo, southwest). And note to southwest, share your flight data with the aggregator sites already!

link (via techcrunch)

Who knew it was in downtown San Antonio? I’ve always pictured it out in the desert, but I guess that was 150 years ago. There’s some kind of conpiracy though, because searching google, there’s very very few images showing the alamo with it’s surrounding buildings. Yet the hotel I was staying in was 15 stories tall and my room overlooked The Alamo. Must be some Texas pride thing.

And like Pee Wee, they didn’t have my bicycle in the basement.

Saw San Antonio’s Riverwalk area for the first time this weekend as well. I really liked it’s setup and the great architecture. However for a Saturday night, it was empty. Also many boarded up stores/restaurants and the people that were there didn’t give off a vibe fitting of the place.

link

Airtroductions wants to make your next flight more interesting by allowing you to choose the person who sits next to you. Build a profile, enter your itinerary, match, and sit with them on your next flight.

A little creepy for the 3rd member of the row if the other two are on a date. It might however be nice to ensure you are sitting between two petite women instead of 300 pound men. I’m interested to see if there’s a ‘mile high club’ checkbox on the profile form.

link (via trendhunter)