Food and travel go together like planes and airports. No matter where you go you’ll have little trouble finding at least one culinary experience that will help you understand the local culture. In some countries the food is the highlight, drawing many a foodie to its borders, like a moth to a flame. In a series 11 countries hers is number one(in no particular order) that your taste buds will thank you for visiting.
Greece
Image by Klearchos Kapoutsis
From olives to octopus, the true taste of Greece depends on fresh, unadulterated staples. Masking or complicating original flavours is not the done thing, especially when you’re dealing with oven-fresh bread, rosy tomatoes and fish fresh from the Mediterranean. The midday meal is the main event with a procession of goodies brought to the table as they’re ready. With Wednesday and Friday traditionally reserved as fast days (ie no-meat days), vegetarians are also looked after.
The nation’s two top airline security officials said today that while travelers will eventually be able to go through checkpoints without taking off their shoes, it will be much longer before restrictions are lifted on carrying liquids.
In separate appearances, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and TSA Administrator John Pistole said improvements in screening technology will allow passengers to go through the lines without taking off shoes or belts, though neither of them said when that would come.
But the two officials said liquids are a different matter. “One of the last things to change will be restrictions on carry-on liquids,” Napolitano said.
Pistole put it this way: “We are working on technology to get to the point where we can allow liquids to come back on planes, but we’re not there yet.”
Both stressed the Obama administration’s goal of making air security more responsive to intelligence and less of a one-size-fits-all approach. They said TSA is working to streamline security for frequent travelers, a concept it has just begun to test at a few airports. Eventually, Pistole said, trusted travelers who agree to undergo an intensive background check would breeze through a separate screening line, could keep their shoes on, and would not have to remove laptop computers from their briefcases. “Those are tangible benefits we’re looking for,” he said.
And both said the decision by airlines to increase baggage fees has put more pressure on TSA, with more carry-ons to check. Napolitano said it’s costing TSA at least $270 million more a year in manpower expenses. She wants Congress to raise the security fee airlines pay to have the government screen passengers.
Pistole has been pushing TSA to adjust screening procedures when the threat from specific kinds of travelers is considered low. “It made little sense to me that we should require pilots who are literally in charge of the aircraft to go through screening,” he said.
Under his direction, TSA has been working with groups of World War II veterans who go to Washington, DC on charter flights. “There’s a chance that one of these elderly gentlemen — the youngest is in his late 80’s — is a terrorist, but it’s not likely.”
But Napolitano said the government can never issue a blanket rule that certain travelers, such as very young children or people in wheelchairs, will never be subjected to enhanced screening. “That’s what would be exploited if we tried that,” she said.
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Reporting from the Future Travel Experience 2011 in Vancouver, B.C.
The future – it’s not what it used to be.
In travel, as in so many areas of modern life, things are now changing so quickly that it’s almost impossible to predict what getting from Point A to Point B will look like in 10 or 20 years.
Which keeps Rohit Talwar, CEO of Fastfuture.com, a very busy man. As the keynote speaker at this year’s Future Travel Experience (FTE) conference, he pointed to changes in demographics, geo-politics and technology that will present opportunities and challenges to travelers and travel providers alike.
Amid that volatile environment, however, one thing is certain. When it comes to travel, Talwar told msnbc.com, “People will expect seamless processes, instant updates of key information and the ability to maximize their time while minimizing disruption.”
Given FTE’s focus – the event’s theme is “Innovation to enhance the passenger experience on the ground” – most of the sessions and working groups dealt with the airport experience. From check-in to security to boarding, technology providers showcased the latest developments in bag-tagging, biometrics and identity verification.
But even as industry suppliers continue to roll out new scanners, kiosks and other capital-intensive systems, they’re dealing with a customer base that’s increasingly carrying its own cutting-edge technology. Smartphones, especially next-generation ones equipped with Near Field Communications (NFC) chips that will combine location-based services, payment options and other as-yet-undetermined capabilities, promise to remake the airport experience all over again.
“Technology will be central to our lives and we’ll expect travel providers to make use of our technology and provide information, services, rewards and purchasing opportunities through our devices,” said Talwar. “We won’t want to have multiple checkpoints in the airport – once we’ve signed in with our NFC-enabled devices, we’ll expect that to be enough to navigate us through the airport.”
Whether the industry is up to the task comes down to companies’ commitment, their capital budgets and the always-challenging interplay between airlines, airports and government authorities.
Ultimately, the air-travel industry is on the cusp of major change and it’s too early to tell how it will play out for individual airlines and airports. But technology – both in the industry and in travelers’ pockets – will only play a larger role as time goes on.
A lot of the current focus is on self-service boarding, bag-tagging, etc., said Talwar, but he believes that’s only the beginning: “I think the process will accelerate and the industry will feel real customer pressure to accelerate the pace of innovation.”
Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.
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Not only can travelers access concourse maps on self-service kiosks, but they can scan a two-dimensional barcode and get the map in the palm of their hands.
By Joe Myxter, travel editor
Reporting from Future Travel Experience 2011 in Vancouver, B.C.
Welcome to the airport. Now, go stand in line at the ticket counter to get your boarding pass. Once you’re through security, you’ll want to stop and check the departure board to make sure your flight is on schedule. Then, go find a map of the concourse so you can navigate your way to the gate, hunt for a café where you can score a decent cup of coffee, and try to find free Wi-Fi so you can double check the weather at your destination.
Or you can use a kiosk that can help you with all of those tasks.
IBM Multichannel Self Service Solutions’ kiosk allows air travelers to check in, determine wait times for security and customs, check the time and weather forecasts, get a layout of the airport – including detailed directions – and find nearby restrooms, restaurants, lounges and coffee shops.
Smartphone users can scan a barcode and get the airport’s layout and directions on their mobile device.
And while it has not yet taken off in the U.S. – primarily due to TSA regulations – the kiosk is capable of printing out baggage tags for self-tagging.
IBM is displaying its latest kiosk at the Future Travel Experience 2011, but the company already operates nearly 6,000 airline kiosks and about 2,000 airport kiosks around the world. Many of the kiosks are capable of offering the aforementioned services.
IBM is also showcasing a “Q card” reader that Qantas Airways has unveiled as part of its next-generation check-in program.
The carrier’s system has found success among domestic flights in Australia. Qantas frequent fliers swipe their chip-embedded cards. The readers use near-field communication (NFC) technology, and the system takes as little as five seconds to check-in travelers without bags, and about 55 seconds for travelers with bags, according to Gabriella D’Alessandro, head of IT for Qantas Airways Operations.
Qantas launched its “faster, smarter check-in” initiative in June 2011. No other airlines have yet followed the airline’s lead.
But Simon Rucker, solution manager for IBM Global Business Services, anticipates travelers will continue to embrace high-tech options that make trips through the airport more efficient. “Adoption has been tremendous.”
Joe Myxter has been running msnbc.com’s Travel section since 2006. Follow him on Twitter.
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