Underwater Hotels – The World’s Most Spectacular

When your looking for adventure travel, the maritime industry has some spectacular options. From eco-cruise ships to Freighter Travel and more, the ocean is makes for a great excuse to leave work behind and enjoy life. But of all the options for eco-tourism, staying the night underwater is one of the most exciting options.

Posiedon Myster Island

Underwater Hotel

WebUrbanist brings us this pick for luxury subsea accommodation. The above picture is of The Posiedon Myster Island: “The Poseidon Mystery Island is competing for the title of the world’s first luxury underwater resort. The complex will be designed by Bruce Jones, famous for designing a series of $80-million luxury submarines with their own private state rooms and plush carpets, designed for voyages of up to three weeks in length. The project will cost $105 million and will be submerged next to a private island at a depth of 40 feet with an amazing view of the ocean floor.”
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A Cruise Ship For The Seasick

Queen Elizabeth Elite Cruise Ship Hotel - Kemer Turkey

One of the first questions I routinely get asked when people find out I work aboard ship is “Do You Get Seasick”. I find this question rather amusing considering that no amount of monetary compensation can justify the look I’ve seen on the faces of those prone to this ailment. For those in love with the idea of cruise ship travel but unwilling to step foot off the dock architects in Turkey might have your solution. News.com.au tells us:

Situated between the legendary Toros Mountains and the sparkling turquoise Mediterranean in Göynük, the Queen Elizabeth Elite Suite Hotel & Spa is a five-star luxury hotel in the guise of a massive cruise liner.

The hotel has been constructed on a purpose-built harbour, with ship-shaped villas, swimming pools, bars and vistas, as well as theme park rides.

Inside the 325-roomed hotel, guests can relax in saunas, Turkish baths, shock pools, steam rooms and Jacuzzis, while the spa and wellness centre offers a variety of therapies and treatments. (Photo GalleryVideo)

If you are looking for some more a authentic stationary cruise then you will have to wait for the QEII to reach Dubai, where she will become part of the new Dubai Maritime City. You could also just shop in a ship or visit maritime inspired destinations in a city near you.

For those looking to avoid sea sickness aboard a real ship here are a few tips:

Watch what you eat, avoid unusual smells, stay away from those who are prone to getting sick and, if all else fails, get topside and look at the horizon. Sea Sickness is most often triggered by confusion in your brain so, like most activities aboard ship, the best prevention is a relaxed but occupied mind.

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gCaptain’s Travel Gear – An Office Aboard Ship

Travel Gear Aboard Ship
Note: This is not our gear or our ship. <-click for photographer details.

This is an article that was originally posted in July, but with the holiday season coming up I figured it was a good time to re-post.

Working “day jobs” aboard ship gCaptain’s crew has three separate offices; home, work and mobile. As chief blogger I get to carry the most stuff so I wanted to show you what it takes to blog when I’m away from gCaptain HQ. Here’s the gear I use at home and thousands of miles from the nearest shore:

While gCaptain has a very nice office in downtown San Luis Obispo, maritime news breaks at all hours of the day and night. So while I’m at home my office consists of a Mac Pro connected to both my 23inch Cinema Display gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship and my 42″ Plasma Television gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship. imac with a dual monitor rotated 90 degreesSince I don’t work and watch TV at the same time the setup works well. I use it with a Logitech Sidewinder gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship mouse and an ultra sleek Apple Slim Keyboard gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship. The Mac Pro gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship is probably overkill but it was inherited from a failed start-up and I had no takers on Craigslist. I also have an inexpensive dell monitor I rotate 90degrees for dual monitor goodness (a trick I learned from Jason Calcanis at Mahalo -image-).

While traveling to destinations around the world my setup is a black macbook (however, due to an unfortunate incident involving wine it is now the new macbook) and my iPhone. I tend towards lengthy email replies when using the Macbook so I much prefer the iPhone to make them short and quick.

On the ship my primary computer is a windows box which I need for my day job. Because of restricted permissions I rely heavily on a Portable Application Suite I launch from my waterproof USB drive and VNC to access my office computer.  Outside my office the environment is unfriendly to electronics. Pelican Waterproof FlashlightI rely on my Pelican Flashlight gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship at night, Rite in the Rain notepad and Fisher Space Pen gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship. If I need a camera I put my Waterproof Xacti Digital Camcorder gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship in a Micro Pelican Case gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship. If I am outside on the ship’s deck for extended periods of time I catch up on the days news with a custom RSS reader; printed paper. To keep from killing too many trees I use a duplex enabled printer gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship set at 2-pages per side.

I work a schedule of 3 weeks at work and 3 weeks home so I get 6 months vacation per year. To facilitate this each position on the ship is filled by two people, the person on and the person off. This is nice because while at home my relief answers all emails, phone calls, ect., leaving me 100% disconnected from work. But regardless of where in the world my ship is located on the globe I must fly to it every 3 weeks. Staying connected on the road is important. To accomplish this I have set-up a custom SSH tunnel solution that I use with Apple Remote Desktop to connect back to my office network. I also have setup automatic back-ups with the Amazon S3 gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship based app JungleDisk and use Transmit to retrieve my files. Storage is important while traveling  so I cloned my MacBook‚ hard drive using SuperDuper and replaced it with a 250gb laptop hard drive gCaptains Travel Gear   An Office Aboard Ship.

Favorite Mac Apps: [Continue Reading →]

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Don’t Miss The Boat – Flight Tips For Catching Your Ship

FAA Flight TrackingCatching a flight to your ship soon? Here are the best websites to help you get there on time:

  • FAA’ s Real Time Flight Delay Status Map: LINK
  • Seat GURU, pick the best seat for your flight: LINK
  • Track your flight with FlightAware: LINK
  • Or track flights with Google Earth: LINK
  • Get Flight Status SMS on your cell phone: LINK
  • Enter your plane’s Tail number into google for a maintenance / safety history report
  • Find what you can carry on: LINK
  • Arrive awake with the Jet Lag Calculator: LINK

Planning a trip of your own:

  • Predict the best time to buy your ticket: LINK
  • Search all the travel sites with kayak.com: LINK
  • Find the vacation spot to fit your mood: LINK

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Dialing 911 Worldwide – International Emergency Phone Numbers

International 911 Emergency Phone Number Map

911 Dispatch brings us this map of International Emergency phone numbers. Click HERE for the latest version.

For more time zone and international dialing secrets click on out post titled: +34 45-434 2958 …how do you dial that number??

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Air Travel With Your Knife – How To

package Air Travel With Your Knife   How To

The stats are in and 2007 was a bad year for lost baggage. We hope that you take crucial items like your license with you in a carry-on bag but what about you’re knife? Travel Better has a solution:

So I was wondering if you know if it’s possible to get a temporary PO box or a similar thing in order to mail your shampoo, cologne and other liquids to yourself at your destination city ahead of time to make sure you know it’s there before you even step on the plane. Are there such services?

Why yes!

You’ve got a few options, actually, and as long as you’re packing well and not mailing things that violate postal service regulations, then this could be a great way to avoid checked luggage, avoid the theatrics of the TSA war on moisture, and avoid having to buy stuff at your destination, all in one swoop!

There are essentially three options:

  1. Your hotel
    Where you stayin’? Call the hotel, ask if they hold mail for guests, and what the restrictions are. In all likelihood, this will be the most convenient and most reliable way for you to receive packages. Tip: Be sure you include “hotel guest” after your name when you address the package.
  2. Post office
    The magic words: “Poste restante,” or “general delivery.” Poste restante is an old fashioned mail-pickup service that most countries’ postal services still provide. Mail is addressed to a person, but in lieu of an address for delivery, the mail is sent to a post office branch, where you pick it up.
  3. American Express
    American Express cardmembers and travelers’ check holders can have mail sent to an American Express Travel Services office anywhere in the world. Call them before sending them mail, and ask if they receive and hold Amex client mail. Not every office will do it.

For more details on these options CLICK HERE. Also check out some of their other tips:

The airline changed its schedule, what are my rights?
What kind of point-earning credit card is best?
Which airfare comparison site is the best?
Rating the hotel metasearches
How to lounge in airports
Tips on finding discounted first class fares.
I don’t care where I go, it just has to be cheap
Where to find cheap last-minute or emergency tickets

(Photo by massdistraction)

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