A gallon of gas could soon fall below $1 a gallon.

This seems amazing since just this summer it cost more than $4 a gallon.

Now with gas prices plummeting, this means more people likely will be able to hop in their cars and not have to worry about spending $50 or $100 every time they have to fill up at a gas station. Instead, they’ll be able to travel where ever they want.

So you might ask, why the sudden shift in prices?

The Associated Press is reporting that oil prices hit four-year lows today as employers cut the highest number of jobs in 34 years. “The continuing decline in prices is so dramatic and so sudden that it is raising the prospect that gas prices could soon fall below $1 a gallon,” the AP wrote.

The last time gas prices were this cheap was in March 1999 when it cost 97 cents a gallon, according to AAA motor club.

When a gas station in East Haven, Conn. offered gas for 99 cents a gallon this past May, drivers started lining up at 4 a.m. so they could save a bundle.

Gas in the Syracuse area is averaging just under $2 a gallon. The national average is $1.77 per gallon.

That’s not so bad, but when gas prices were twice as much it really affected the economy.

A study by the Department of Transportation showed the number of drivers on the road in March 2008 fell 4.3 percent compared to the year before. That was the first time in 30 years that fewer people traveled on public roads during the month of March, CNN reported.

Let us know, do you think you’ll travel more as the price of gas drops?

There are some trips as low as $899. This one includes New York to London, out of Istanbul to Kiev to Bangkok to Hongkong to Los Angeles or San Francisco.

This website lets you customize your own trip.

More around-the-world tickets.

If you are planning to do a trip around the world, here are some things you should know.

* Remember housing and food are not included in the Around the World tickets
* Plan your trip out as much as possible
* Plan for potential setbacks
* Create a realistic budget. We always spend more than we anticipated on vacation.
* Pack light, so you can buy a lot of souvenirs and clothes abroad.
* Spend time with locals and learn about the culture

* Be aware of your surroundings and remember to take normal safety precautions
* Adhere to local laws and customs. For example, there are some countries that have lashing as a punishment for chewing gum.
* IPanda has a language guide for Europe and Asia for your IPOD. This can be practical when asking for directions, etc.
* Check out books that have tips on traveling around the world, such as the Practical Nomad.
* Be open minded and step outside your comfort zone. I never thought I would eat Kangaroo or go to the bathroom half standing half squatting over a hole in the ground toilet in a restaurant.

* Make sure to have plenty of camera memory.
* Have a video camera too.
* Blog about your trip as you go, so people at home can see what you’re doing and know you’re safe. Also, your memory starts to fade after so many amazing experiences, so you want to record your trip as its happening.
* HAVE FUN!

And in homage to my home state, here are the top 10 off-the-beaten-path California destinations that TravBuddy ranked for 2008.

1. Monterey—Cities along Highway 1 were a popular theme, and TravBuddies went to Monterey to check out the world renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium and for the scenic drives.
2. Santa Cruz—Monterey’s northern cousin was also very popular for hiking, the boardwalk and beaches during the summer months.
3. Palm Springs—Popular Labor Day weekend destination among TravBuddies for hiking, dining and as a local escape from Los Angeles.
4. Lake Tahoe—Lake Tahoe is known for its snow sports, but it was also popular during the summer months for water-skiing, hiking, fishing, and exploring nearby “ice caves.”
5. Napa Valley—This wine-tasting mecca was a favorite weekend getaway for Bay Area natives.
6. Joshua Tree National Park—TravBuddies endured attacks by flying bats to witness beautiful sunrises and spectacular hiking among the alien landscape of Joshua trees.
7. San Simeon—Hearst Castle was a popular stop, as were the 2-ton elephant seals that gather along the shores here.
8. Laguna Beach—Beautiful beaches and the annual Festival of the Arts made this laid back community another favorite along Highway 1.
9. Big Sur—Despite the fires, solitude, star-gazing, and hiking made Big Sur a favorite among those seeking a little more peace, quiet and isolation.
10. Santa Rosa—Wine, hiking and the Charles M. Schulz Museum were popular draws to this Sonoma County destination.

Photo Credit: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

I love to sing; I’m just going to throw that out there.  I sing in the shower, in my car, and on my way to classes.  But, I don’t think I have ever thought about singing in the airport, well, at least until now.

I saw a story today in the Houston Chronicle about a new program at the Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas has set up karaoke booths inside of the airport.  It’s not American Idol and it certainly isn’t the stage at the Video Music Awards, but travellers still have a chance to come away with small prizes.

Photo Credit: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

The karaoke booth is just one of many music related initiatives at the airport.  For the past two years, airport officials have been inviting high school bands and other choirs to perform at the airport lobby. 

A karaoke booth was up and running yesterday in the airport and the response seems to be pretty positive. 

Photo Credit: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

Reporters in Texas say that while a lot of people enjoyed the musical diversion, most travelers were too busy and hurried to even stop and take a look.

And if you are asking where they came up with the karaoke machine, we have a story for you.  The machine was actually donated by an airport employee who normally takes the machine to his mother’s nursing home.

The karaoke machine will move from Terminal E to Terminal A before its tour in the International Baggage Claim area. 

I can’t wait to try it!

During the course of our travel blogging we have talked about trips to China, Europe, Hawaii, and many other locations all around the world.  For many of us, the trip is exciting but the first day or two in a new time zone (and after flying all day or more!) leaves something to be desired.

Leave it to the brilliant scientific minds out there to create something that could prove to be the answer to jet lag.  The solution may be a pill created by an Australian scientist that serves as a sedative and also as a preventative to jet lag.  Now, this pill is only in experimental stages and would have a long way to go to be part of our daily lives but the prospect of what it could provide is very interesting!  Read on!

The scientists from the Monash University’s School of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Psychological Medicine led by Dr. Shantha Rajaratnam have developed a medication called Tasimelteon.    The pill helps with the natural ebb and flow of the body’s sleep hormone, melatonin.  Some industry analysts say it could be available within the next couple of years. 

The drug is under experimental testing by a U.S. Pharmaceutical company.  Phase’s 2 and 3 of drug trials have shown the drug is effective in treating “transient insomnia.”  In essence this is what they found:

“The drug was trialled on a group of 450 Americans and it was found that it improved the ability to fall asleep and then stay asleep when bed time was shifted earlier by five hours.

Dr. Rajaratnam says this is the equivalent of travelling eastwards and putting your clock back five hours, such as returning from India to Melbourne, or Dubai to Perth.”

 The research has been published but researchers say the drug will go under another couple of years of extensive testing.  Right now the two major side affects that may result at headaches and nausea.

1. BLACKBERRY CURVE
   Provider: Model 8310 by AT&T
   Provider: Model 8320 by T-Mobile
   Price: $149.99
   Pros: Smallest BlackBerry with full keyboard; can be tethered to a laptop for Internet access; calendar/organizer; lots of software. The 8310 has a Global Positioning System. The 8320 has Wi-Fi.
   Cons: Many advanced BlackBerry functions won’t work on a Mac. The 8310 lacks Wi-Fi. The 8320 lacks GPS.

2. BLACKBERRY BOLD 9000
Provider: AT&T
Price: $299.99
Pros: Great display with all the features of the Curve, plus 3G and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, or HSDPA (for higher data speeds); GPS with audible turn-by-turn directions; Wi-Fi; view and edit documents.
Cons: Slightly larger than the Curve.

3. BLACKBERRY 8830 WORLD EDITION
Provider: Verizon and Sprint
Prices: $149.99 (Verizon), $219.99 (Sprint)
Pros: User-friendly keyboard; GPS with audible directions; Sprint unlocks for overseas travel.
Cons: No camera; a locked SIM card in Verizon model; memory expandable to only 4 gigabytes.

4. BLACKBERRY STORM 9530
Provider: Verizon
Price: $199
Pros: Touch-screen keyboard; can view and edit documents; video streaming and messaging; visual voice mail (so you can see who called); GPS navigation with audible directions; removable rechargeable battery.
Cons: Locked SIM card; no Wi-Fi; no trackball.

5. G1 (GOOGLE PHONE)
Provider: T-Mobile
Price: $179
Pros: Touch-screen and slide-out keyboard; 3G (speedier network); one-touch access to Google maps.; GPS; rapid HTML browser; Android market for applications; Wi-Fi.
Cons: Fewer applications than iPhone; still camera only-no video; limited music player.

6. iPHONE 3G
Provider: AT&T
Price: $199 for 8 gigabytes, $299 for 16 gigabytes.
Pros: Intuitive touch screen; visual voice mail; improved voice quality; iPod with video; more than 1,000 applications, including 400 for travel and 60 for weather; Wi-Fi.
Cons: No audible GPS navigation; documents can be viewed but not edited; locked SIM card; no voice-activated dialing; no removable battery.

7. NOKIA E71
Providers: AT&T and T-Mobile
Price: $483
Pros: No two-year contract required; unlocked.
Cons: No discounts as the phone is not branded to a specific carrier.

8. SAMSUNG ACE
Provider: Sprint
Price: $99.99
Pros: Unlocked SIM card; modem compatible for Internet use (at additional cost).
Cons: No voice-activated dialing.

9. SAMSUNG BLACKJACK II
Provider: AT&T
Price: $79.99
Pros: Full keyboard; 3G; GPS.
Cons: No voice-activated dialing.

10. T-MOBILE SIDEKICK
Provider: T-Mobile
Price: $149.99
Pros: Customizable shells; video capture/playback; works in Spanish and English.
Cons: No Bluetooth; memory limited to built-in 16 megabyte flash.

At Carousel Center, the mall in Syracuse, N.Y., anyone driving a fuel efficient, low-emissions vehicle can park in one of the 68 reserved spaces close to the mall for “green vehicle parking only.” The spaces are marked by signs made from recycled plastic.

Wegmans Food Markets and other stores offer reusable grocery bags.

And even some newspapers are “going green.” The Post-Standard in Syracuse recently launched a Green CNY magazine.

Knowing just how environmentally-conscious my city is, I wanted to find out which cities in the United States are considered the ”greenest.”

Here’s what I found…

TreeHugger.com blogger Jacob Gordon lists 10 U.S. cities he believes are the most green in an article for MSN City Guides. His picks are: Austin, Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle.

Popsci.com used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide to come up with the top 50 greenest cities in America. It ranks Portland, Ore. as the greenest city in the U.S.

“America’s top green city has it all: Half its power comes from renewable sources, a quarter of the workforce commutes by bike, carpool or public transportation, and it has 35 buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council,” the Popsci.com site says.

San Francisco, Boston and Oakland come in behind Portland.

Syracuse (No. 17) and its neighboring city, Rochester, N.Y. (No. 27), also made the list.

Cities were given points and ranked based on how they draw energy from renewable sources, how many commuters take public transportation or carpool,  for devoting area to green space, and how important its citizens consider environmental issues.

I’ve always known Syracuse was environmentally friendly. Growing up, my family always recycled cans and bottles, newspapers, and milk cartons. But I was surprised that we made the top 20. After all, there are a lot of cities in America. Go Syracuse!

In China, I was terrified because the drivers did not look when switching lanes, they ran red lights, and they just kind of drifted in and out of lanes.

Check out the slide show of the worst taxi rides.

But one problem in every city I have been to is getting scammed on a taxi ride.

In Portugal, Morocco and Egypt, you have to negotiate the price you will pay before you get in the cab, and often when you arrive, they will try to charge you more than the agreed upon rate.

In cities that have meters, like China, Spain and the United States, drivers will take you on the long route to where you want to go or on particularly slow streets to charge you more money. When I went to the Olympic Volleyball Venue in China, it should have taken less than half an hour and no more than 50RMB or about $7, but my driver drove me all over Beijing, and it ended up taking one hour and more than 110RMB or $16. And in Spain, the driver even told me the ride to the airport was free (claiming to be the hotel shuttle service). Not only did I have to pay, I had to pay double what the meter said because it was a trip to the airport. So a ride that was less than ten minutes ended up costing me more than $17.

Here’s a few ways you can avoid getting scammed or at least reduce the risk…

1. Know the currency and customs.

2. Ask your hotel consierge or an information person at the airport how much it should cost to get to your hotel.

3. Know how much it should cost, and ask the driver how much he/she expects it will cost before you get in the cab. If it is considerably more, find another cab.

4. Behave yourself.

5. Learn from previous bad experiences.

I know a lot of my friends dream about going to Hawaii.  Many people still see Hawaii as an exotic paradise far, far away from the cold of Syracuse and Central New York.  But obviously for many people, Hawaii is home and for others its where they go to school.

For those of you avid travelers out there, I found a great opportunity for you!  You can go to Hawaii and enjoy the beaches while also studying to get a degree from the University of Hawai’i School of Travel Industry Management!

The school, fondly known as the “TIM” school, is located on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus on the island of Oahu.  Two of the key degrees offered are a Bachelor Science in Hotel and Resort Management and a Bachelor of Science in Tourism and Travel Management.  The School was founded back in 1966.  It boasts 380 students “from all over the world.”  Find out more about the school here.

Juanita Liu

I know, it sounds too good to be true, right?  But the travel school at UH is a reality.  UH’s School of Travel just made headlinesin academia by announcing its new interim dean.  The new dean, Juanita Liu, will replace Walter Jamieson who spent five years at the helm. 

Liu told reporters that now is one of the most important times for leadership at Hawaii’s school of Travel.  She has been a professor at the school for more than 28 years.  The state’s tourism industry is seeing some of the its lowest profits in years as the nationally economic troubles continue.  Here’s what the interim Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs had to say: 

“The bottom line here is UH-Manoa is well aware of the importance of this program, which is one of a mission critical for university and also for the state,” said Peter Quigley, UH-Manoa interim vice chancellor of academic affairs. “Certainly since the economic crisis has come on, this is one of the pistons in the engine of our economy that needs to be well looked after. We’re closely monitoring the transition and are very concerned about health and growth and the well being of the program.”

If you are interested in the school check out the tuition fees.  It’s more than $30,000 than less to attend UH Manoa than it is to attend Syracuse University.  Tuition for an out-of-state undergraduate student is about $8300 per year. 

Pirates — yes, pirates! — chased and shot at a U.S. cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board.

They failed to hijack the luxury cruise liner Sunday between Yemen and Somalia, the Associated Press reported. But they definitely made me (and probably many others) think twice about shelling out thousands of dollars for a cruise where you just might hear, “Pop, pop, pop.”

If I want to see pirates, I’ll just sit home and watch Capt. Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

My reaction is probably exactly what the cruise industry is dreading.

“As the recession takes hold, pushing down both prices and bookings, the last thing cruise lines need is for people to be too scared to take a holiday at sea,” Jane Archer wrote in the Telegraph today.

Fortunately, no one was hurt during Sunday’s pirate attack on Oceania Cruises’ ship Nautica.

But last October, FOX News reported maritime pirate attacks worldwide had jumped 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007 compared to the same time a year earlier. 

An International Maritime Bureau (IMB) report showed 198 ship attacks were reported from January 2007 to September 2007, up from 174 in the same period in 2006.

The FOX News report also quoted IMB as saying 15 vessels had been hijacked, 63 crew kidnapped and three killed during that time period. 

The IMB keeps a weekly piracy report and a map of piracy activity.