Asia the Place to be for Eclipse

I realize this isn't really travel news, but I figured I would post this story about the solar eclipse seen over parts of Asia yesterday. If I were traveling in Asia, this is something I would have made sure to see.

Tens of thousands of people — from renowned astrophysicists to farmers — descended on a muddy Indian village yesterday to watch the best solar eclipse of the 21st century from what was predicted to be one of the finest vantage points on the planet.

There was only one problem: when the key moment came, it was cloudy.

The luxuriously thick monsoon cloud cover that had formed over Taregna in northern India overnight obscured any view of the heavens from the moment “first contact” was made between the Moon’s shadow and the Sun to the point of totality — when the Sun was completely obscured and the sky turned black.

Over Taregna, where every rooftop was populated with throngs of spectators as the Sun appeared to set just an hour after rising, the eclipse lasted three minutes and 38 seconds. The descent into darkness was met with whooping and hollering from a massive crowd, who had spent an hour listening to a state-sponsored lecture seeking to dispel the belief that eclipses portend ill fortune.

Two billion people cast into darkness as total eclipse crosses Asia - Times Online

Technorati Tags: asia, eclipse, sun, moon,

Teenager Pulls One Over on the Air Industry

Teenager wings it with a fake airline - Times Online

A TEENAGE boy from Yorkshire succeeded in persuading British aviation executives that he was a tycoon about to launch his own airline. Using the pseudonym Adam Tait, the smooth-talking 17-year-old told airport and airline executives that he had a fleet of jets.

Tait, who said he was in his twenties, even flew to Jersey to attend a 1½-hour long meeting with the director of its airport. Their talks were considered promising enough for a further meeting to be arranged, which was due to be held next week.

Other air industry bosses found themselves dealing by telephone or e-mail with Tait’s fellow executives, David Rich and Anita Dash, who proposed to launch a cut-price Channel Islands-based airline servicing most of Europe.

What no one realised was that Tait, Rich and Dash were all the same person: an aircraft buff with the gift of the gab and an overactive imagination.

Technorati Tags: hoax, airline, travel, airports

Tips for Travelling with your Kids in Mexico

Whether your ideal Mexican vacation is a succession of frosty margaritas delivered to your beach palapa by white-shirted waiters or busing at whim from village to village with your backpacks in the overhead rack, those days are gone once you have children in tow. With a little forethought, though, traveling with kids in Mexico can be a joy for parents and offspring alike. Mexico's reverence for children and its captivating traditions provide a world of fascination for kids, and locals will open up to you like never before, regarding you as a fellow parent rather than a stranger.

Forethought, inevitably, turns to swine flu. Media reports on the waning of the epidemic in Mexico have been just as subdued as reports of the outbreak in Mexico City were overwrought. The fact is, the World Health Organization reports this week that the United States has more than three times as many H1N1 flu cases as Mexico and has now logged more flu-related deaths as well; kids are more at risk of catching the flu in their own schools in September than in Mexico this summer. Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director, said during a summit of health ministers and representatives from more than 50 countries in Cancún last week that "Mexico is safe and a beautifully warm, friendly and inviting destination to visit," and declared her intention to do just that.

10 tips for taking kids to Mexico

Technorati Tags: mexico, kids, travel, fun