One of our favorite hotel chains, Kimpton Hotels, made it on the list three times – in Chicago IL, Portland OR, and Alexandria VA. We’ve stayed at several Kimpton hotels, each with their own quirky (or not so quirky) theme, and loved every single experience. We haven’t been to any of the ones listed on the top 25, I can say for sure that Kimpton does things right. They have the best loyalty perks for someone who isn’t a heavy business traveler from free Wi-Fi to $15 in “honor-bar” items (from their mini fridges) just for being a member.

As for the best hotel in the world, that prize went to The Phoenix Resort in San Pedro, Belize – the photos look amazing!

As for cruise ships, you’re more like to get sick, from the close quarters, than actually having to evacuate the ship… but it’s not unheard of. Just yesterday, a cruise ship ran aground near the Italian island of Giglio. If you’ve ever watched a cruise ship go into port, you’ll know that sometimes they go into some pretty tight passageways. Running aground is uncommon but when you’re moving anything of that size through such a small channel, mistakes can happen.

In this case, the ship was carrying 3200 passengers and 1000 crew when it ran aground during dinner and at least three people were killed. It just underscores the importance of paying attention during those drills.

American Airlines was the largest carrier until Delta Air Lines purchased Northwest Airlines in 2008. It fell from the #2 spot when United Airlines merged with Continental Airlines. As it turns out, Southwest Airlines is currently #4 and US Airways is fifth.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out though I suspect AMR will emerge from this process.

Then why is there a book called 100 Places to Go Before They Disappear?

It’s kind of sad really, that there are endangered places now. The basic premise is that climate change is increasing the temperature of the world, which melts glaciers and causes the sea level to rise. If this persists, certain places in the world will no longer be accessible. Yahoo spoke with the publisher, Gaute Hogh, about the book and the first place he thought of:

The first place that came to Hogh’s mind was the Wadden Sea, a low-lying coastal zone in Denmark where visitors can “walk on water” to see varied landscapes and migratory birds. Hogh fears that rising sea levels will make the crossing too dangerous and destroy its dynamic ecosystem.

The most significant story, at least covered in the press, about climate change and how it can affect people is the Maldives, which recently started building barriers to hold back the oceans. Scary stuff.

The list:

1. Delta Airlines
2. Singapore Airlines
3. Southwest Airlines
4. Lufthansa
5. Air France

I’ve long been a fan of Southwest but recently their performance has only been average. On a recent flight, I paid $5 for internet access and was unable to access anything. After sending them a note, the auto-reply said they’d respond in 10 days… TEN DAYS. Stunning. It’s only a matter of time though, small airlines want to be big airlines and big airlines just don’t have that personal touch.

The chart is based on 2010Q3 fuel prices but it lets you see the impact of fuel prices on profit margins. Increase fuel prices by 30% and the profit shrinks to $4.10, or a mere 0.8% profit margin. Yikes.

I suppose I don’t feel that bad about bag fees, considering how little the airlines make, but they really should be increasing fares, not nickel and diming on fees.

While this has made national news, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal considering the travel restrictions are still in place. This severely limits the number of people who can go to Cuba but that hasn’t stopped some politicians from speaking out against it.

There are always bad apples.

The core idea is that treating everyone like a terrorist makes no sense, especially with all the data and technology that we have. Why not let some people enroll in a program that gives them priority screening? While you have to make sure to avoid fraud and deception, I personally think that paying an extra $100 is going to be worth it for people who travel enough. Even if you don’t pay the fee, the “regular” line will be shorter because you screen fewer people (assuming you keep the same number of lanes).

That being said, an alternative I would love to see is a more intricate network of high speed trains. One of the best things about traveling throughout Europe was the ubiquitous nature of trains. You could go anywhere armed with a train ticket and a case of beer (another reason train travel is so much more fun!). So, absent a renewal in mass rail transit, I’d love to see a little prescreening occur outside of the terminal.

While I can understand the outrage, I don’t think they had atmosphere characters at Walt Disney World in Florida. I think the characters were always in designated areas at designated times. You could always take photos with your camera, you just had to wait in line. I can understand it though because after seeing those lines, it’s no shock that characters would get mobbed. When you consider how little they can see in those costumes, it can be a very scary experience!

So, I can understand being upset but I can also understand Disney’s perspective.

(Photo princessashley)