Planning to Visit Canada or Mexico?

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will be fully implemented on June 1, 2009.

What this means to you:

Citizens of the US who enter at sea or land ports of entry must have a passport or a passport card (not valid for international air travel).

Children under the age of 16 or traveling with a school or religious group will need a birth certificate or proof of citizenship.

For more on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) visit this site.

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Get Ready for the TSA's Secure Flight Program

In an effort to remove innocent people from being placed on "no fly" lists the TSA has instituted it's Secure Flight Program. Look for this to begin domestically early this summer with international flights to follow.

What this means to you:

Be prepared to give the birth date & gender for every person you purchase an airline ticket for. The information is then passed from the airlines (who used to do the vetting) to the TSA who use "a uniform, efficient matching process".

Of course this kind of security is costing the airlines "an estimated $630 million in costs to reprogram reservation systems and collect the passenger data, according to the TSA". And we all know how those costs will be recouped...

Personally I'm not sure how I feel about this. Of course I want flights to be as safe as possible and I know that programs like these have helped to keep us safe since 9/11. From the bit of information that is being requested I don't think it's any more of a privacy violation than many websites request to sign up for newsletters... It just seems, to me, like a waste of money for a program that probably won't make much difference to the majority of people.

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Did You Hear?

I take my laptop everywhere with me. It allows me to download photos, keep in touch with friends and family and to update my websites.

So I study the places I stay very closely and look for free Wi-Fi or internet connections.

Marriott recently announced that they will have free Wi-Fi in lobbies and public areas at all Spring Hill Suites, Fairfield Inn and Courtyard by Marriott properties.

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