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About Roadtripping

Marjie Lambert
Marjie Lambert
E-mail  | |  Bio

Recent Posts

  • Switch to twitter?
  • A bid to restore Ken Kesey's psychedelic bus
  • Road trip dining: breakfast in Pittsburgh
  • Rental car agencies and bogus bills for damages
  • Shuttle Atlantis goes on display June 29
  • A short tour of the Costa Mediterranea
  • 'Madagascar' coming to Busch Gardens
  • Road trip: Grapefruit League's Spring Training
  • Royal Caribbean names 2 new ships
  • Behind the scenes at United/Fort Lauderdale

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After Sandy: dealing with flight cancellations

Hurricane Sandy has had such a huge impact on travel that it has been the focus of most travel stories the last few days. I've been posting updates on the Herald's website here. I just posted some tips on how to handle flight cancellations; check out the story here. 

10/31/2012 in Travel news | Permalink | Comments (0)

Freeport closed to cruise ships at least til Sunday

It's official: we're not going to Freeport, where the port won't open til tomorrow due to Hurricane Sandy. And right now, the Coast Guard won't let the ship leave the Port of Palm Beach, although there's a possibility that later we can take a 'cruise to nowhere' (translation: open the casino). A lesson in hurricane-season travel: stick to road trips.

10/27/2012 in Off-road travel: Planes, trains and ships | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bahamas cruise: Still stuck in port

As soon as I woke up, I pulled open the curtain and looked out. Darn! The cargo dock of the Port of Palm Beach. Twelve hours after the Bahamas Celebration was scheduled to leave for Freeport, Grand Bahama, we were still in Florida.

Late afternoon Friday, after the captain announced that the Coast Guard wouldn't clear us for sailing that night because of Hurricane Sandy, I called the cruise line to see if I could reschedule the cruise. The agent said no.

I was enjoying the singer in the piano bar about 10:30 pm when there was another announcement on the loudspeaker: We would all be entitled to an almost-free cruise; we would just have to pay taxes and fees -- about $60 for this two-night cruise. Aha, I thought, the cruise line must have been told that we wouldn't be allowed to leave in the early-morning hours either, as crew members had been speculating. So I wasn't surprised to wake up still in the port. But I am mollified. I'll still get to Freeport another day without paying for a second cruise. Now if only they could do something about this view of cargo cranes.

10/27/2012 in Off-road travel: Planes, trains and ships | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shuttle Atlantis to make its final journey

Atlantiscropped
On Friday, the last space shuttle will make its final journey. Atlantis, the last orbiter from the retired shuttle fleet to move to its exhibition space, will travel from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (pictured above) to the visitors complex. The daylong, 10-mile journey will include a couple stops, one private, before it ends at the building still under construction where it will go on display next summer. For the journeyworkers will have to remove and replace 120 light poles, 23 traffic signals, 56 traffic signs and one high-voltage power line to make way for the orbiter. Tickets and advance reservations are required to attend the event. Several packages are available; cost is $50-$90 for adults, $40-$80 children. Click here for information.

10/27/2012 in Attractions & things to do | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hurricane cruise: Will we get to the Bahamas?

It wasn't my intention to cruise into a hurricane. But when I booked this cruise almost two months ago, I thought it was a safe gamble since we would be past the peak of hurricane season.

So here I am at the Port of Palm Beach, waiting for the Bahamas Celebration to depart for Freeport, Grand Bahama. Departure is scheduled for 5:30 pm but that's not going to happen. The captain just announced that the Coast Guard won't let the ship leave tonight because of Hurricane Sandy. We'll leave tomorrow as soon as the weather clears, he said. We've only got some stiff breezes here, but crew members say it's worse in the islands. One told me that the entrance to the port at Grand Bahama is narrow and difficult to maneuver in high winds.

I called the cruise line before I left home today to ask about conditions and how the storm would affect the cruise. The customer services rep told me the Coast Guard was going to let the ship sail.

I've never been to Grand Bahama. Seeing it was the reason I booked the cruise. I know a lot of people like the floating resort aspect of cruising and don't necessarily care if they ever get off the ship in any ports. I'm not one of them. For me, it's all about the destination(s). So I sure hope we get to Freeport tomorrow.

10/27/2012 in Off-road travel: Planes, trains and ships | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hurricane cruise: Will we get to the Bahamas?

It wasn't my intention to cruise into a hurricane. But when I booked this cruise almost two months ago, I thought it was a safe gamble since we would be past the peak of hurricane season.

So here I am at the Port of Palm Beach, waiting for the Bahamas Celebration to depart for Freeport, Grand Bahama. Departure is scheduled for 5:30 pm but that's not going to happen. The captain just announced that the Coast Guard won't let the ship leave tonight because of Hurricane Sandy. We'll leave tomorrow as soon as the weather clears, he said. We've only got some stiff breezes here, but crew members say it's worse in the islands. One told me that the entrance to the port at Grand Bahama is narrow and difficult to maneuver in high winds.

I called the cruise line before I left home today to ask about conditions and how the storm would affect the cruise. The customer services rep told me the Coast Guard was going to let the ship sail.

I've never been to Grand Bahama. Seeing it was the reason I booked the cruise. I know a lot of people like the floating resort aspect of cruising and don't necessarily care if they ever get off the ship in any ports. I'm not one of them. For me, it's all about the destination(s). So I sure hope we get to Freeport tomorrow.

10/26/2012 in Off-road travel: Planes, trains and ships | Permalink | Comments (0)

White rhino born at Busch Gardens

BG_Baby Rhino_01
A white rhino was born at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay this week, the seventh white rhino to be born at the park since 2004. The baby, shown with mom Kisiri, is not yet named. It weighed about 140 pounds at birth and is expected to gain about four pounds a day until it reaches an adult weight of 3,500 to 4,000 pounds. Busch Gardens says that fewer than 15,000 white rhinos remain in the wild, and approximately 200 live in zoological facilities across North America. Busch Gardens has eight black and white rhinos.  

BG_Baby Rhino_05

Photo credit: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

10/26/2012 in Theme parks | Permalink | Comments (1)

Countdown to Legoland's "Star Wars" installation

LEGOLANDSTARWARS3
Models that will be used in Legoland’s newest attraction — a Miniland section based on the Star Wars movie series — have arrived from model shops in Germany and California. Now, model builders at the Winter Haven park (including Jason Miller, master model builder, pictured above) are putting the parts together. The new display will officially open to guests on Nov. 9.

LEGOLANDSTARWARS1
The exhibition will consist of a scene from each of the six Star Wars movies plus the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, built in 1:20 scale. Above: The cantina from Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

The scenes will include more than 1.5 million Lego bricks and 2,000 Lego models, some of them more than six feet tall. As with the other Miniland displays, some of the scenes will have moving parts that can be animated with the push of a button.

LEGOLANDSTARWARS2Here is a photo of the Darth Maul character that will go in the Episode I: The Phanton Menace scene.

Click here for info on Legoland.

Photo credit: Legoland Florida

10/25/2012 in Theme parks | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy ending for rescued manatee

Goodby return shot
This morning, SeaWorld’s Animal Rescue Team returned Goodby, an adult male manatee, to Goodby Creek near Jacksonville. Goodby was rescued due to cold stress in March 2012 from Goodby Creek and had seven months of rehabilitation at SeaWorld. The return of the manatee, who weighs almost 1,000 pounds, was coordinated with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and Sea2Shore alliance, which tagged Goodby for future tracking.

Photo credit: SeaWorld Orlando

10/24/2012 in Travel news | Permalink | Comments (0)

New art at Miami International Airport

Travelers who use the Miami airport: MIA now has three new art installations:

  Paul_Villinki_©2012_Dan_Forer

Air Chair, a construction of a discarded wheelchair and steel and wood materials, floats above passengers near North Terminal’s gate D-14. Paul Villinski, a New York artist who jogs near two VA hospitals on Roosevelt Island, was inspired by men he saw in wheelchairs. As a sculptor and paraglider pilot, he said, he wanted to contrast the image of limitation (a wheelchair) with the freedom of flight.  

  Roberto_Juarez_2012_Dan_Forer

Roberto Juarez’ MIA Flower Fence, a painted mural that juxtaposes botanical-style renderings of Florida wildflowers with the geometric patchwork designs of Florida’s Miccosukee Tribe, is by skytrain Station 1 on Concourse D.  “A glimpse of Miami's clear skies and starry nights celebrates the splendor of Florida's tropical climate and blossoming gifts of nature,” Juarez said.

Aramis_O'Reilly_©2012_Dan_Forer

Hortensia, two kaleidoscopic mixed-media murals by local artist Aramis O’Reilly, is by the exit doors between the South Terminal international greeter’s lobby and the Flamingo parking garage. “My work is an exercise in creating moments that describe the play between the act of creation and the deeper forces of design with purpose.  In this work, I represented nature vaguely abstracted and created a design that attempts to express the exuberance of life,”  O’Reilly said.

For more information about the new installations, click here. All photos by Dan Forer.

10/24/2012 in Attractions & things to do | Permalink | Comments (0)

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