Interesting News: Law EC 261

I routinely read New York Times travel when I stumbled upon an article that I think everyone needs to know about! It is about how airlines, including US Airlines, are REQUIRED by European Union law to cover meals and hotels if they cancel your flight for any reason.

This comes as a shock to me as I was in London the big volcanic ash crisis happened and I remember reading about people who went broke trying to pay for hotels. The article states that any carrier is required to cover people of ANY nationality flying from the EU. It even states that if the flight is cancelled for mechanical reasons then they have to pay penalties to every passenger up to 600 Euros!

I think that this goes a little overboard personally. The airlines had no control over the volcanic ash, but I wish I had known as I had to pay an extra nights hotel for having my flight on Emirates to Dubai cancelled due to the ash. I wish I had known this was the law! I even asked the airline if they would do something and they said no! Appears like they lied to me...

I hope spreading the word about this helps someone else, even if it didn't help me!

The details can be found at NYT here!! This is a must read if you fly in and out of Europe!

Is It Worth It?

Sometimes you find yourself in situations that you're not really sure why they are happening. Such is the case in which I found myself at the Today Show, waiting earnestly at 4am last Friday morning to see Lady Gaga.

Why you ask? I mean she's pretty awesome (I think) and her music is fun to dance to. I always thought that she would be a fun act to see in concert, though the $100 and up price tags are not so fun...

Thus fueled with desire to see her, but no tickets, another girl (whom I had just met the previous day) and I decided to go to the Today Show and see her. Little did we know that people had been waiting outside for 48 hours STRAIGHT for her.

We got to the show and had a decently good view of the stage from across the street. It wasn't raining, the sun started to rise and it there was cloud cover so it seemed like it was going to be ok.

First view of Lady Gaga!

Then things started to go awry. People were pushing, fanatic fans were yelling at grumpy new yorkers (read typical new pushy new yorkers), it started to get unbearably hot, there was lots of yelling and our view of the stage was obscured by all the fans they let in around it.

We managed to stay for just her warm-up songs, the other girl bailed and I tried to stick it out, but I was tired of being shoved, yelled at and sweated on all over by people that were non-purposefully standing on me. I ended up leaving 45 minutes before her real show.

Moral of the story: Never go to a Today Show concert. Not sure what I was thinking doing such a touristy thing in a city I'm living in and knowing I hate touristy things. Also, if someone is worth waking up at 4am to see, it's probably worth it to spend $100 to not feel like you're dying or might die.

Other Updates:

I'm officially going to Peru and will be living, studying and volunteering in Cuzco from August 28 - Thanksgiving. And Jolene is joining me for the Inka Trail at the end of the trip! I'm beyond excited!

I am applying to grad school this year. It's going to be a long and stressful process, but when you decide what you want, I guess there is no easy way. Now to find one more recommendation... (Seriously 4??)

I'm excited to see my Mom on her way back from Russia on Sunday! She doesn't know any of my new plans yet!

Stunning Sunset on the 4th of July from Brooklyn of Manhattan