After nearly two years of decreased highway travel in the USA, the end of this travel depression may be near.  During May of 2009, highway travel increased slightly for the first time in sixteen months.  It may be premature to call this a trend, but it certainly looks promising.

Lower gasoline prices and an increasingly optimistic attitude toward future economic improvements have likely encouraged US travelers to go back on the road.  This means you can expect slightly higher numbers of tourists on the roads and at the popular tourist destinations this summer.

On July 4 2009, the observation platform in the crown of the Statue of Liberty will once again reopen for visitors.  It has been closed to the public since November 11 2001 when the entire statue was closed for security reasons.  In 2004, Liberty Island and the base of the statue was reopened for visitation with enhanced security screening, but the observation platform in the crown remained closed.

After July 4, small groups of tourists will be escorted up the 168 steps within the Statue of Liberty to the tiny observation platform in the crown. Considering the large numbers of people that visit the statue every day, I don't believe it will be easy to attain this priveleged viewpoint.  If you would like to see New York city from the crown, I suggest you go the statue very early in the morning and immediately get in the queue for the climb.

The current worldwide financial crisis has had a significant negative impact on all of the US air carriers.  Declining numbers of vacation travelers and less business travel have left the airlines with a significant reduction in passengers and increasing revenue losses. 

The coming summer travel season is normally the busy time for airlines.  It is usually the time when they increase their fares.  This summer will be different.  Southwest Airlines, the largest discount air carrier in the USA, has published significant fare reductions through the summer travel season.  Most other airlines have countered with matching fare reductions.  It appears that we can expect an air-fare price war this summer.

This is great news for vacation travelers.  It means that bargain air fares are currently available.  You can now fly coast-to-coast from New York to Los Angeles for only $120.  You can fly from New York to Orlando Florida for less than $100.  Even the overseas prices have plummeted during this normally high-priced summer travel season.  Air fares to Europe are nearer to $500 or $600 for a round trip instead of the normal $900 to $1000 during the summer. 

 

The US State Department has issued a travel alert for visitors entering Mexico.  Tourists are warned to stay away from the drug and prostitution areas in Mexican border cities.  Many cities along the Mexico/USA border such as Tijuana and Nogales have been experiencing escalating drug wars with the use of automatic weapons and grenades becoming common.  In 2008, there were over 6,000 drug related killings in Mexico.

Visitors are not prohibited from visiting Mexico, they are just advised to stay within the tourist areas and do not venture into the drug and prostitution related areas.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that it will begin using body scanners in place of metal detectors for airport screening.  Effective immediately, airport security screeners in Tulsa, Oklahoma will begin using these new machines on a test basis.  Within a few months, the airport security screeners at San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City will join the test and also use body scanners.

 The new scanners require passengers to stand in the machine and raise their arms.  The scanners use micro short-wave radio signals to penetrate clothing and reveal both metalic and non-metallic objects.  The process takes about 30 seconds.

Privacy advocates fear that the images are too revealing of personal body parts.  The TSA claims that the machines block out passenger faces and reveal only indistinct images of body parts. Anyone that objects to use of these new scanner will be permitted to refuse, but they must then pass through a metal detector and undergo a manual pat down.

The future has arrived!  Technological strip searches are becoming part of daily life.

I just returned from a business trip to Las Vegas.  I was suprised by the low number of tourists in Sin City.  This economic downturn has had a severe negative impact on las Vegas.

The casinos are offering some really great bargains in order to attract more players.  Flamingo, which is a bit older but still located in the heart of the most popular part of the Strip, was offering rooms for as low as $30 per night.  Even Mandalay Bay, one of the newer an more expensive hotels, was offering its $250 rooms at a bargain price of $100 per night just to entice more visitors.

The restaurants were half empty.  The popular show tickets, that are usually hard to get unless you reserve in advace, were readily available and even discounted in many cases, Taxis were lined up by the hundreds at every casino entrance waiting for the few tourists needing them.  Worst of all, for the casinos, the gambling tables were more than half empty.

This is a great time to go to Las Vegas for a bargain vacation.  The weather is still a bit cool, but I was able to walk outside in a short-sleeve shirt during the afternoon, although a sweater or jacket was essential after dark.  You can easily find hotel rooms at bargain prices.  You will have no wait at the top restaurants.  You can see the best shows. 

Des températures très basses, d' énormes chutes de neige ainsi que des vents forts se sont mélés pour créer un temps désagréable dans toute la partie Nord des USA jusqu' aux états plus au Sud qui ne subissent jamais ces conditions. Toute la partie Nord des USA, à cause des chutes de neiges impressionantes et des vents forts certains états voient des conditions très difficiles et même dangereuses surtout sur les routes.  Pour le Montana et les deux états du Dakota ainsi qu' à Chicago c' est normal pour le mois de décembre.  Cependant pour Seattle et autres villes maritimes il est rare de voir autant de neige et des températures aussi frigides.  Cette semaine la ville de Seattle a été recourverte de 10 cm de neige ou plus aux alentours et a vu des températures basses à casser les records. Ce front froid, accompagné de vent et de neige s' étend jusqu' à la côte Est, Boston et la Nouvelle Angleterre et les états avoisinants. Même Las Vegas, dans la partie basse du désert du Nevada, a vu de la neige, jusqu' à 10 centimètres dans certains endroits.  Ces conditions peuvent devenir un vrai cauchemar pour les voyageurs.  Les villes qui sont habituées comme Chicago et Boston sont équipées et sont prêtes avec leurs agences et services de nettoyage pour déblayer les routes et les aéroports.  Les villes comme Las Vegas et Seattle, qui expériencent rarement telles conditions, sont moins bien équipées et peu de véhicules d' urgence pour maitriser la neige. Seattle ainsi que Las Vegas ont dû fermer leurs aéroports et certaines routes principales et nationales, pendant plusieurs jours tandis qu'ils essayaient de faire face à ce temps peu commun, ils les ont récemment réouverts.

Bitter cold temperatures, heavy snow and high winds have combined to make the winter weather very unpleasant in most of the northern half of the United States and even in some of the southern areas normally immune from such harsh conditions.

All across the northern half of the USA, bitter cold and high winds have combined with snowfall to produce hazardous driving conditions.  This is typical December weather for Montana and the Dakotas and is not uncommon in Chicago.  It is, however, highly unusual for Seattle and the coastal cities to receive more than a bit of snow or to rarely achieve below-freezing temperatures.  This week ,Seattle was blanketed with about 10 cm of snowfall and bitter cold temperatures. This band of cold, windy and snowy weather extends all the way to the East Coast where it plagues Boston and the New England states.

Even Las Vegas, in the low desert of Nevada where snow rarely falls, received more than ten centimeters of snow.  Such unusual weather can be a nightmare for drivers.  Cities that are acustomed to such weather like Chicago and Boston have adequate equipment and facilities to quickly clear snow from roads and airports.  Cities like Las Vegas and Seattle, that seldom experience such conditions, have little snow handling equipment and few emergency vehicles to handle severe winter snowfalls. Both Seattle and Las Vegas were forced to close their airports and major highways for several days while they attempted to cope with this unusual weather, but they are now reopened.

President Bush recently announced that the visa waiver program, for travel to the USA without a visa, will be extended to seven more countries.  There are currently 27 countries in the visa waiver program that allows its residents to visit the USA for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa.  By mid November 2008, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, South Korea and Slovakia will join that list.

Residents from these seven countries will be able to visit the USA for up to 90 days without a visa as long as they posess a biometric passport and they register online through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). 

This new online travel registration system is now fully active, and available for all visa waiver visitors to the USA.  So far, it has been a voluntary convenience, but in January of 2009 it will become mandatory for all visa waiver visitors.

You can get information about ESTA in nine languages at this US Customs and Border Patrol webpage.

Or you can register directly on this ESTA webpage.

The US Department of Homeland Security has finally issued a new set of rules governing the issuance of visas for travelers infected with the Human Immunodefficiency Virus (HIV).  This new regulation streamlines the process of obtaining a short-term visitors visa to visit the USA.

Previously, persons infected with HIV were denied access to the USA unless they obtained a special individual waiver from the Department of Homeland Security.  Now, anyone infected with HIV that meets all the other visitor qualifications, can obtain a visitor's visa from the US consulate in their home country. This should make the process much more convenient and rapid.

Last week, Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast near the port city of Galveston.  This immense category 3 hurricane caused widespread damage to Galveston and nearby coastal communities with lesser damage to the city of Houston just 35 miles inland.  Most other Texas cities were spared from serious damage.

For tourists traveling to Texas, it should not cause great inconvenience.  The airport at Houston is open and the city is slowly cleaning up the debris,  A few streets and roads will remain closed for a few days until the waters slowly recede.  On the other hand, Galveston will be completely closed to visitors for some weeks while aid workers attempt to deal with the widespread destruction. The Houston NASA Space Center, which is situated near Galvaston, is temporarily closed to visitors.

Other Texas cities, such as Dallas, San Antonio and Austin have been little affected by Hurricane Ike.

La villa ancestral Supai, de la Tribu Indígena Havasupai, está ubicada en el Gran Cañón. Es uno de los sitios más inaccesibles y más bellos de los EE.UU. Supai está ubicada a más de 8 millas (13km) de la ruta más cercana y bajando  más de 3000 pies (1000 metros) dentro del Gran Cañón. Se puede llegar hasta esta villa sólo a pie, en mula, a caballo, o bien por helicóptero.  Es el único lugar en todo Estados Unidos donde el correo se reparte con mulas. Este hogar ancestral de la Tribu Indígena Havasupai es un lugar bellísimo. A ambos lados de la angosta garganta del cañón se elevan paredes  de piedras rojizas y rosadas que alcanzan varios miles de pies de altura.  Ríos de cristalinas aguas se precipitan en fantásticas cascadas hacia lagunas azules. Pareciera que el paisaje ha sido diseñado especialmente como un paraíso para fotógrafos. Desafortunadamente, este paraíso ha quedado inundado y la villa de Supai ha sido seriamente dañada por un diluvio provocado por severas tormentas. Casi 400 nativos y un número de turistas tuvieron que ser evacuados por helicóptero la semana pasada a medida que subía el nivel del agua del cañón. Las lluvias finalmente han disminuido y las aguas han bajado lo suficiente para permitir que algunos habitantes regresen a sus dañados hogares. Ahora deberá iniciar el proceso de limpieza y reparación de toda esta destrucción. El sendero que llegaba hasta la villa ha sido dañado y algunos de los puentes han sido destruidos. Puede llevar bastante tiempo hasta que esta atracción hermosa y casi inaccesible vuelva a estar abierta al turismo.

Die neue Visa Erlass Webseite Das neue elektronische System für Reisegenehmigung (ESTA) ist jetzt wirksam. Wenn Sie in einem Land leben, das Reisen ohne Visum erlaubt, und wenn Sie die USA ohne ein Visa besuchen wollen, brauchen Sie nicht mehr das Formula I-94 im Flugzeug auszufüllen. Sie können im Netz zu der US Staatssicherheitsagentur Webseite gehen und Ihre Einreisegenehmigung erhalten ehe Sie abfahren. Momentan ist diese bequeme Methode nicht vorgeschrieben. Am 1. Januar 2009 wird es obligatorisch sein, die Einreisegenehmigung im Netz mindestens drei Tage vor der Abreise auszufüllen. Wenn man einmal seine Genehmigung erhält , ist sie zwei Jahre gültig. Hier ist ein Link zu der ESTA Webseite. Geschrieben von Mike Leco Übersetzung von Irmgard Castleberry

The Havasupai Indian Tribe's acestral village of Supai is located within the Grand Canyon.  It is one of the most inaccessible and most beautiful places in the USA.  Supai is located over 8 miles (13 km) from the nearest road and over 3000 feet (1000 m) down into the Grand Canyon.  You can reach it only by hiking into the canyon, by riding a mule or horse down the trail, or via helicopter.  It is the only place in the USA where the daily mail is delivered by mules.

This ancestral home of the Havasupai Indian Tribe is incredibly beautiful.  Canyon walls of red and pink sandstone tower several thousand feet on either side of the narrow gorge.  Rivers of crystal clear water plummet over lofty waterfalls into brilliantly azure-tinted pools.  It looks like the landscape was especially designed as a paradise for photographers.

Unfortunately, this paradise was flooded and the village of Supai severely damaged by a deluge from severe thunderstorms.  Nearly 400 natives and a number of tourists had to be evacuated by helicopters last week as the waters rose in the narrow canyon.  The rains have finally abated and the waters receded enough to allow some of the inhabitants to return to their damaged homes. 

Now, they must begin the process of cleaning up and repairing all of the destruction.  The trail into the village has been damaged and some of the bridges destroyed.  It may take a while before this beautiful and nearly inaccessible attraction is once again open for tourists.