Bike Friendly Airports – 7 Essential Elements
As someone who travels with a bike, these are some things that a bike friendly airport needs to have.
1. A bike box exchange.
If people are going to ride and fly (ride to the airport and then fly with their bike), the airport needs to have a bike box exchange – you leave your cardboard box and then get another when you arrive back at the airport for your return flight.
As bike friendly as Portland is, they don’t have this.
Finding a bike box can be a major mission. The last thing cyclists want to do is have to find one for their outboard journey and attempt to hunt down another one while on vacation.
2. A pedal wrench available for borrowing.
You need to remove the pedals when you fly with your bike. To get them on and off, you need a pedal wrench. Pedal wrenches are effing huge and heavy. They’re even larger than a normal adjustable wrench. If you’re cycling you don’t want to pack one.
It would be so easy for at least one airport information counter to have a pedal wrench available to borrow. It’s only a 1 minute job so it could easily be done in view of the agent. Portland airport has a bike assembly/disassembly station.
3. Bike friendly public transport to/from the airport.
Some distances are too big to bike so people need to be able to take their bike on airport mass transit. Also, cyclists need a safe path … Read the rest of this blog post
Tips for Getting to Hawaii
Why come to Hawaii
We’re in love with Hawaii. Our friends at Bohemian Travelers who are also here at the moment totally agree.
Hawaii offers both a great option for people on vacation, and an amazing choice of destination for digital nomads. We couldn’t love it more.
There are hardly any bugs! The weather is hot but not too hot. It’s pretty much perfect! We even got to swim with turtles (in a completely natural setting).
Getting to Hawaii
Open Jaw into one Hawaiian island and out of another.
If you want to visit more than one island, consider booking your flight into one island and out of another, so you only have to take one flight between islands. This will usually price out as two half roundtrips rather than as two one way flights so it shouldn’t be more expensive than a roundtrip.
Which island?
In terms of the “best” islands to visit, we love Oahu and many of the people we know rave about the Big Island (the official name of the Big Island is Hawaii, but since that’s also the name of the state people call it the Big Island).
Figuring out how you’re going to get to Hawaii (the state) is confusing because there are multiple islands that have international flights.
You might expect international flights would only fly into Oahu (the island where Honolulu and waikiki are located). However, for example, Air Canada offers flights to Oahu, KOA airport on the Big Island, and OGG … Read the rest of this blog post
Tips for Hosting a Vegan Guest
Vegans will often be too polite to mention things they feel uncomfortable with, but if you’re looking to make a vegan guest comfortable then here are some basics.
1. Feather free.
Give your guest a feather free duvet and pillows.
2. Vegetarian soap.
Lathering in beef tallow doesn’t appeal to vegans. They likely will bring their own soap but in case they forget, why not leave a vegetable based soap with their towel on their pillow. You can buy vegan soap at virtually any supermarket. Look for vegetable glycerin on the label.
Even liquid soaps are sometimes not vegan friendly.
3. Invite them to store food in the fridge and prepare their own food.
It’s understandable that people who aren’t vegans aren’t familiar with cooking vegan. Save yourself the stress and ask your guest if they’re prefer to bring their own food and cook for themselves.
If you are worried this might come off as inhospitable, don’t. Your guest could very well prefer this option. The last thing a vegan wants is their host to feel stressed about cooking for them.
It can also be a bit stressful for vegans to worry about whether the food they’ll be served meets their vegan standards (e.g., some people think vegans eat honey and make mistakes like this in cooking for vegans).
If you’re curious about vegan food, asking your vegan guest if they’d like to cook for you during their stay is completely acceptable! This is likely to help your vegan guest … Read the rest of this blog post
If you like 30Traveler, also try RTW Travel Guide.
