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| Volume 5, Issue 25, June 21, 2007 |    |
American businesspeople take less vacation time than their counterparts in five other western nations, a new study by Harris Interactive for Expedia.com reveals. Not only do Americans get less vacation than people in other countries, they use less of it: One-third of Americans give back some vacation days, and the number of unused days increased by 33 percent in the last years.
Fourteen days' vacation is the average in the United States, compared with 19 days in Canada, 24 days in Great Britain, 26 days in Germany, 30 days in Spain, and 36 days in France. Even worse, Americans don’t use 28 percent of their vacation days, compared with 11 percent for Canadians, 13 percent for the British, 12 percent for Germans, 7 percent for Spaniards, and 8 percent for the French, though the number of days left on the table has increased in every country this year. Germans are the best at taking advantage of vacation: 79 percent of them use all their vacation time.
The most common duration of vacation for Americans is one week, with extra days used to create “power weekends” at other times throughout the year; the two-week vacation is the most common duration among Canadians.
If you’re feeling vacation-deprived, where you live may have something to do with it. People in the Midwest are the least likely to take two-week vacations (9 percent), while those in the West are the most likely (one in four takes a two-week vacation). 
Misery doesn’t love company. At least, that’s the basis for the recent U.S. News and World Report ranking of the country’s most miserable airports. It used a combination of load factors and delayed flights to create the ratings, saying that the combination of the two is a recipe for misery. Among large airports, the most miserable was Detroit Metro (DTW), with 39 percent of flights delayed, and planes filled an average of 77 percent. Chicago O’Hare (ORD) was a close second. Best of the large airports was Metropolitan Oakland International (OAK), with an 80.5 percent on-time rating and flights that typically run about two-thirds full.
There are various ways that business travelers who want to avoid the congestion and delays of airports can use private aircraft to accomplish their goals, without having to actually own one. “Flights of Fancy” in the June issue of Global Traveler provides a thorough look at your options, and here are two more brand-new ones announced in the last week. Virgin USA (the U.S. branch of Virgin Atlantic, not to be confused with the upcoming Virgin America airline) is launching an online marketplace for private aviation, Virgin Charter, featuring empty legs. Unlike some of the empty-leg clearinghouses that let consumers choose among available aircraft, Virgin hopes to let consumers announce their routes and let aircraft owners and operators bid for the business; it will also include other aircraft besides jets. VirginCharter.com is not yet taking bookings, but plans to open for business before the end of the summer. And California-based business aviation company JetSource is entering the fractional-ownership business, with the options of purchasing a share of a particular type of jet, or buying a card for charters in 25-hour increments.
Opening on June 22 at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) Terminal 3 is Yo Sushi, with seats for 56 and a take-out option. Hot and cold dishes are available, all under $10, and if you’re running late, you can preorder your take-out online or by calling 44 08701 90 80 40; the menu is available online too.
Seeing hotel videos online isn’t new. Being able to go to one site to see videos for competing hotels is rarer. And now there’s a new venture by some former Expedia executives that not only lets you comparison-shop 1,500 hotels in 25 European destinations by video, but tour their neighborhoods too. As it develops further, TVTrip.com also plans to add reviews by travelers and allow site users to upload their own videos.
With the summer high-travel season upon us and passport applications backed up to record levels of delay — even for high-priced “expedited” passports — the U.S. government last week relaxed rules somewhat. Benefiting primarily North American travel, the requirement of passports for all U.S. citizens entering the United States by air from Canada, Bermuda, Mexico and the Caribbean that was instituted in January has been relaxed until October, but only for travelers who can show proof that they have a passport application in the works. While allowing many to keep their summer travel plans, it won’t ease the backlog. That’s why the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to delay the requirement for passports for entrance by land or sea, scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, until next June.
Spoons
27 Tura St.
Jerusalem, Israel
tel 972 2623 5778 or 972 54 654 9716
spoons@netvision.net.il
Sometimes it’s who you know, and sometimes it’s where you know. Friends who invited my wife and me to a gourmet dinner party get the credit for introducing me to Spoons, a by-appointment-only restaurant in Jerusalem’s historic Yemin Moshe neighborhood, overlooking the Old City and the Judean Desert.
Spoons is, essentially, in the home of chef Hila Solomon, an Australian emigrant to Israel who realized her passion for cooking by turning it into both a business and an art. Dining at Spoons is like having your own personal chef, and a high-end clientele has found its way to her tables — diplomats, heads of state, top executives, trade missions, even the Cardinal of Mexico.
The space itself is part of the experience. The house, with its domed ceilings, dates back 120 years. We started out with pre-dinner cocktails upstairs in the living room, with its million-dollar view (literally) of the Old City lit up at night. After some amiable banter, we descended to the dining room, where an elegantly set candlelit table awaited.
Solomon varies her style depending on the occasion — anything from romantic dinners for two to parties for 25 — and her mood. Our meal was decidedly French, but our chef/host couldn’t resist a few Middle Eastern touches. We started with freshly baked bread to be dipped in olive oil, zatar (a thyme-based spice mixture) and homemade tahini, and a bowl of home-pickled olives. This was followed by a choice of two appetizers: fillet of yellowtail served sushi-raw with wasabi-lemon dressing, or cooked figs stuffed with minced chicken and poached in a tamarind sauce. We had one of each; both were sublime. After an amuse gueule — basil and lemon sorbet with a Polish vodka chaser — there were two soups apiece: a demitasse of hot pear soup, and a full bowl of bouillabaisse. Both were wonderful, but the pear soup, a Spoons signature dish with a hint of coconut, was out of this world.
The main course was a subtle duck in fresh pomegranate sauce with a side of Jerusalem artichoke, accompanied by a 2004 Petit Castel red wine from a local winery. Dessert was a massive hot chocolate soufflé accompanied by strawberry slices dipped in homemade orange liqueur and slices of coconut sorbet. And then — yes, there was still more — out came slab of fresh halvah from Turkey, and a tea made from sage, geranium, lemon balm and mint from the garden. All the food was glatt kosher, too.
With the exception of a brunch that’s served the first Friday of each month ($25 per person), Spoons is open by appointment and for private parties only, so reservations are mandatory. The multicourse-meal prices start at just over $100 per person, with an $808 minimum. To impress clients or create memories, as long as you can plan ahead, Spoons is the place.
Score: ••••• Brian Blum
The all-suite Vero Beach Hotel & Club in Florida has guest golf privileges at the nearby Indian River Country Club, and on Saturdays now through September, is putting them to an unusual use. Hotel general manager Peter Serena is challenging amateurs to beat him at golf; if you do, you get a room rate equal to your score, rather than the usual rates that start at $159 a night — and can use the “golf score” rate for every night of your stay. Plus, at the end of the promotion period, the player with the lowest overall score (handicap included) wins a three-day, two-night stay for two.
Find a better fare and we’ll match it: That’s the new promise being made by Singapore Airlines online. If you buy a fare from Singapore online and then find a deal that’s better — even if just by $1 — the airline will match the price and give you a bonus of 5,000 KrisFlyer miles. To qualify, flights must originate in New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO) or Vancouver (YVR).
In last week’s eFlyer, we warned against trying to travel on July 7 to any gambling-related or wedding-oriented destination. But other places are actually using the occasion to spread the luck around, in the form of savings. For example, at the Texas Collection Omni Hotels in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Corpus Christi, the Lucky 7s package, available only over the weekend of July 7, starts at $107.77 a night ($777.77 for Presidential suites) and includes free breakfast, a six-pack of 7-Up, fortune cookies and loaded dice. And through July 7, if you book a flight at www.icelandair.com you can add on extras such as whale-watching, a day’s use of spa facilities, or the 48-hour Reykjavik card which includes bus and museum access, for $7 each instead of their normal $28 to $59 prices.
More than 30 Design Hotels are offering a Seasonal Spaces promotion, which allows guests to book an automatic upgrade to a higher room or suite category. Participating hotels include the Haymarket in London, the Bel-Ami in Paris, The New Majestic in Singapore, the Omnia in Zermatt, Switzerland, and others in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Feeling creative? Here’s a contest with a challenge. Riviera Nayarit, Mexico’s newest resort area (just north of Puerto Vallarta) is running an online contest at www.visitrivieranayarit.com with six grand prizes of a free five-day, four-night all-inclusive vacation at Marival Resort & Suites. The contest has six categories with multiple photos; in each, you pick one photo and write a caption. Marketing professionals will pick a winner in each category, based on creativity, usability and originality.
