Travel briefs

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, February 17, 2007

The nation’s air travelers in 2006 faced more late arrivals and more lost luggage than the year before – yet they complained less often, federal statistics show.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, a division of the Transportation Department, released data that showed 75 percent of flights last year arrived on time among the 20 airlines that filed performance reports with the government. That was a decline from an on-time rate of 77 percent in 2005.

Airline passengers also were more likely to go home without their bags, as airlines received more than 6.7 reports of lost, stolen or damaged baggage for every 1,000 passengers, up from about 6.6 per 1,000 in 2005. That statistic has risen steadily since 2002.

However, passengers filed fewer complaints. The government recorded more than 8,300 consumer complaints in 2006, down from more than 8,700 the year before.

Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue Airways Corp. had the lowest rates of mishandled baggage last year, while AMR Corp.’s American Eagle Airlines and SkyWest Inc.’s Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the highest rates.

For the year, the report found that the Hawaiian and Frontier Airlines had the highest on-time rates, while the lowest were recorded by Atlantic Southeast and ATA Airlines. In December, 71 percent of airline flights were on time, the report said.

Goldeneye getting a facelift

Goldeneye, the scenic rural retreat in eastern Jamaica where British author Ian Fleming created the James Bond character that spawned dozens of novels and films, is getting a facelift.

Work begins in June on 82 villas, cottages and suites at the 100-acre property overlooking a harbor in St. Mary parish, according to Jason Henzell, president of luxury hotelier Island Outpost.

Henzell said Goldeneye’s current owner, media mogul Chris Blackwell – who is also the owner of Island Outpost – wants to use the property for tourism.

“He wants to develop a new niche in Jamaica called residential tourism, where people buy land, visit and ultimately promote the island,” he said. He declined to comment on the project’s cost.

Fleming bought Goldeneye in the mid-1940s when it spanned just 40 acres, and wrote several books there. One of those novels, Casino Royale, was the first to feature the super spy and charmer James Bond.

Fleming died in 1964 and some of his memorabilia is kept at the site.

Several 007 movies, including “Live and Let Die” and “Dr. No,” were filmed near the estate, and it shares a name with the 1995 Bond film “GoldenEye.”

Tourism bureau seeks ‘Seven Wonders of Illinois’

Sure, Illinois lacks the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Pyramids of Giza and the Colossus of Rhodes.

But it does offer visitors the Garden of the Gods in southern Illinois, the prehistoric archaeological remains of Cahokia Mounds, and a 170-foot-tall water tower shaped like a giant ketchup bottle in Collinsville.

Echoing the ancient seven wonders of the world, the Illinois Bureau of Tourism has launched a “Seven Wonders of Illinois” promotion.

Visitors to the www.enjoyillinois.com Web site will be able to make nominations through February, said Jan Kostner, the bureau’s deputy director.

Those nominations can be for anything residents and visitors consider wonderful about Illinois – parks and historic sites, statues and museums, cheesy roadside attractions and naturally beautiful scenic spots.

The nominees will be placed in categories for each of seven regions: Chicago, Chicagoland, northern, central, western, southwest and southern.

The public then will be able to participate in online voting for their favorites starting March 5, with the field being narrowed through the rest of the month. The tourism bureau will announce one winner for each region on April 30, along with themed travel packages and downloadable videos, Kostner said.

Some of the sites and attractions Illinois tourism officials believe might be nominated for the “Seven Wonders of Illinois” contest include the Old State Capitol in Springfield, the lodge at Starved Rock State Park, the Mississippi River, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Dana Thomas House in Springfield, the Superman statue in Metropolis, the giant ketchup bottle, the John Deere Pavilion in the Quad Cities, Millennium Park in Chicago, Garden of the Gods in Shawnee National Forest and Jane, the dinosaur fossil at Rockford’s Burpee Museum of Natural History.

Preventing deep-vein thrombosis

Deep-vein thrombosis, a blood clot that forms in the lower leg, can develop during long-distance flights when passengers sit in the same position for a long time without movement.

Most clots are harmless, but they can become loose and travel to the lungs. People over age 50 are the most susceptible.

The new issue of Travel Smart Newsletter – www.travelsmartnewsletter.com – out Feb. 15-20, offers tips for preventing the condition whether you’re on a plane, train or bus or just sitting at your computer researching your next trip.

Most of the tips involve ways to increase circulation, such as avoiding clothing that’s tight around the upper thighs; wearing compression hosiery; walking up and down the aisle once an hour, and doing six to 10 deep-knee bends each time you get up. The newsletter also suggests doing simple exercises from your seat at least once an hour, such as ankle circles (using your feet to draw circles, clockwise and counterclockwise).

The World Health Organization also has information online on deep-vein thrombosis and other medical issues; search for “travel by air: health considerations” at www.who.int/ith/en.

Space Center to offer ‘Shuttle Launch Experience’

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla., plans to offer a simulated NASA shuttle launch ride starting Memorial Day weekend.

The attraction, called the Shuttle Launch Experience, is part of a 10-year development plan, according to information provided by the visitor complex, which also said that former NASA astronauts helped design the attraction.

The ride is designed to recreate the sensation of blasting into Earth’s orbit.

The space center is 45 minutes from Orlando. The Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau said the ride will have a motion platform, multiple video screens, special audio effects and high-tech seats that together simulate the effects of three times the force of gravity.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex says that because the gravity effects are simulated on its ride, no air-sickness bags will be needed.

Washington slept here – in Barbados

The newly renovated Barbados home where George Washington lived as a young man in 1751 has attracted hundreds of visitors from the United States and Britain only weeks after opening, officials said.

The George Washington House and Museum, completed in mid-January after an eight-year restoration project costing nearly $3.5 million, honors the first U.S. president and documents his time in the Caribbean.

The site in the Garrison Historic district, just outside Bridgetown, includes a yellow home in the Caribbean Georgian style with green shutters and louvered windows, stables, a bath house and a windmill.

Washington came to Barbados – the only foreign country he ever visited – at age 19 with his older half-brother Lawrence, who suffered from tuberculosis. Doctors had recommended Lawrence try to recover in the island’s warm tropical weather.

During his two-month stay, Washington rode around the island on horseback, saw his first fireworks shows and play and met the governor and generals. He also contracted smallpox, making him immune to the disease when it later claimed lives during the American war for independence.

“Barbados had an incredible effect on the young George Washington. It was like a kid from the mountains going to Paris for the first time,” said museum director Penelope Hyman. “Bridgetown was a huge town compared to anything he had ever seen.”

For information on the house, go to www.georgewashingtonbarbados.org.

Travel classes, seminars

Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door holds free travel classes from 10 to 11:30 a.m. most Saturdays at the Edmonds Theater, 415 Main St., Edmonds.