LONG BEACH - More than two-tenths of a mile long and more than half a football field wide, the Mediterranean Shipping Co.'s vessel, the Altair, made its way from China's Port of Yantian into Long Beach before the sun rose Thursday. It's the second time a container ship as large as the Altair had ever called to North America. The first one, the MSC Fabiola - about the same size as the Altair - was lauded when it first came to Long Beach in March. And while Altair did not get the same fanfare as Fabiola, the arrival of the second ship confirms what industry leaders have already known. "You look at all the order books coming out with all the different carriers and everybody is ordering these mega container vessels, " said Tom Hughes, an executive at MSC. "It's a natural progression in the industry. That's where it's going." The 1, 200-foot long Altair - stacked high with thousands of multi-colored metal containers - required six gantry cranes to unload it Thursday. Capable of carrying more than 12, 000 containers, the Altair dwarfed the smaller industry-standard ships, which at most can carry about 8, 000 containers and typically need three or four cranes for unloading. The growing trend of ships carrying as many as 11, 000 to 13, 000 containers bodes well for the Port of Long Beach, one of the few ports that can accommodate these mega ships. "It's a very significant change that's happened with these ship sizes, " said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Christopher Lytle, adding that his port will start seeing more mega ships call to Long Beach on a regular basis in the coming months as the busier season approaches. "It's not just that they're bigger ships; the fact of the matter is these vessels are much more efficient on a per-container basis, " Lytle said. The benefits, Lytle said, include fuel efficiency, and they are cleaner burning and have less harmful pollutants or air emissions. "And what's very appealing to the owners of these shipping lines is the fact that they realize it's literally hundreds of dollars per container saved compared to using a smaller ship, " Lytle said. The mega ship trend also means job growth and a more robust regional economy, said Kimberly Ritter-Martinez, associate economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. "An efficient transportation system helps to draw investment into the region and promote economic growth, " she said. "The flow of goods from the local ports, through the warehouses of the Inland Empire and into the wider national distribution system sustains an entire network of local industries." These industries include not only port activities and logistics and warehousing, but also financial services, professional business services, manufacturing and wholesaling activities, Ritter said. Trade-related infrastructure developments and existing facility improvements generate immediate jobs, especially in engineering and construction-related fields, she said.

Help support calm behavior in anxious dogs and stop dog behaviors like inappropriate chewing, marking, dog anxiety and stool eating. Find solutions like Comfort Zone, Dis-Taste, and Ultra-Calm, as well as many more, all at our everyday low prices. For a rewarding way to treat your dog while promoting calm behav... Help support calm behavior in anxious dogs and stop dog behaviors like inappropriate chewing, marking, dog anxiety and stool eating. Find solutions like Comfort Zone, Dis-Taste, and Ultra-Calm, as well as many more, all at our everyday low prices. For a rewarding way to treat your dog while promoting calm behavior, try Drs. Foster and Smith Ultra-Calm Tablets or Chews . These delicious dog treats can be used along with Comfort Zone or other pheromone aids. Tasty dog treat blends valerian extract, inositol, chamomile and Vitamin C for a natural approach to calming support.

Greece’s vast north is unmatched for geographical, cultural and even culinary diversity. Here, great stretches of mountains, lakes, forest and coastline remain to be discovered... Greece’s vast north is unmatched for geographical, cultural and even culinary diversity. Here, great stretches of mountains, lakes, forest and coastline remain to be discovered. With terrain stretching from the azure Ionian Sea across the rugged Epiros mountains to the Thracian plain and the Turkish border, the north offers something for everyone, from culture and urban sophistication to swimming, hiking and birdwatching...

What documents do I need to travel outside the United States? In general, you will need to present a passport from your country of citizenship or your refugee travel document to travel to a foreign country. In addition, the foreign country may have additional entry/exit requirements (such as a visa). For information on foreign entry and exit requirements, see the Department of State’s webpage. What documents do I need to present to reenter the United States? If seeking to enter the United States after temporary travel abroad, you will need to present a valid, unexpired “green card” (Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card). When arriving at a port of entry, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer will review your permanent resident card and any other identity documents you present, such as a passport, foreign national I.D. card or U.S. Driver’s License, and determine if you can enter the United States. For information pertaining to entry into the United States, see U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s webpage. Does travel outside the United States affect my permanent resident status? Permanent residents are free to travel outside the United States, and temporary or brief travel usually does not affect your permanent resident status. If it is determined, however, that you did not intend to make the United States your permanent home, you will be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status. A general guide used is whether you have been absent from the United States for more than a year. Abandonment may be found to occur in trips of less than a year where it is believed you did not intend to make the United States your permanent residence. While brief trips abroad generally are not problematic, the officer may consider criteria such as whether your intention was to visit abroad only temporarily, whether you maintained U.S. family and community ties, maintained U.S employment, filed U.S. income taxes as a resident, or otherwise established your intention to return to the United States as your permanent home. Other factors that may be considered include whether you maintained a U.S. mailing address, kept U.S. bank accounts and a valid U.S. driver’s license, own property or run a business in the United States, or any other evidence that supports the temporary nature of your absence.

Obscene repast. Not conceptually different from lowering face into a trough. And so good. at, Boca Raton. The Rapid Traveler and Mrs. enjoyed the view from the (thank you Hilton 2011Q4 free night certificates) but rarely dine at a hotel restaurant. No matter how objectively good, hotel restaurants generally seem generic and soulless. The outpost in the sister hotel, , lost its edge with croquet played outside. They prefer to seek out local hangouts and Tom Sawyer fit the bill: cars crammed into a bland strip mall parking lot, decor that defies modernization, and sassy waitstaff. Mrs. Rapid Traveler sampled the Carolina omelet, while The Rapid Traveler went whole hog with Breakfast in a Pot, a cheesy scramble baked on a bed of biscuits and sausage gravy. The scramble choices are Western, 3 meat or veggie. The waitress, upon hearing the order for the pot, gave a knowing nod to The Rapid Traveler and intoned, “3 meat.” It was not a question. Nor could there be. Best to follow orders in a place like Tom Sawyer.

Oh, and speaking of changes – Amtrak allows you to make an unlimited number of changes to your itinerary with no change fees. They recommend that you pre-book all of your segments upfront so you have guaranteed seats. But as we were following our interests in specific buses, we booked (and frequently changed) our trip as we went. We loved that flexibility, and always were able to get to where we wanted. Before you can get on a train, you must pick up a physical ticket at an Amtrak ticket counter. You can pick up as many tickets from your itinerary as you want at one time, and you can pick them up at any staffed ticket counter (which may not necessarily be one you are traveling out of). However, once you pick up a ticket, if you want to make a change to it – you have to physically swap them at a counter again. As we were making frequent changes, we opted to only pick up our next batch of tickets for routes we knew we were for sure taking. Hint: Not all Amtrak Stations have ticket counters! A potential hassle to keep in mind – not all Amtrak stations have ticket counters! When we decided to route to Arizona, the closest station to our destination was Needles, CA, which doesn’t have a ticket counter. When we made our reservation, we were encouraged to go ahead and also pick up a departing ticket out of Needles. As we had no clue what would be next, we ignored this advice and took our chances. During our Arizona bus shopping via rental car, we had to route to a staffed counter in Maricopa to pick up a ticket back to Los Angeles, to give us the greatest exit flexibility if we didn’t find a bus. Be Flexible The key to enjoying your Amtrak travels is to be flexible. Train travel in the USA is by no means the quickest form of transit, but it is incredibly relaxing and a great way to see parts of the country that you can’t otherwise access by other modalities. That is.. when everything is going well. Amtrak is a privately held company, but its single shareholder is the US Government. It’s also the only interstate passenger rail service. Created in the early 1970s as a way to save passenger rail in the US, its formation was intended to be a temporary couple year solution at best. Despite this, Amtrak has hung on by a thread for 40 years and is heavily subsidized. Except for in the Northeast, it owns none of the rails it depends upon – they’re all privately owned freightlines that are mandated by law to give priority to Amtrak for its scheduled routes. If Amtrak is running late leaving the station it looses that priority, and now has to wait to be shuffled into heavy commercial traffic. And being a kinda-sorta government entity, Amtrak has lots of the bureaucracy and grandfathered in labor laws from the old railroad days.

Hunter’s Lodge at Haslemere in Surrey has been turned into a bunkhouse by the National Trust and sleeps 19 people. PR Yurting and glamping? So last year. Camping? Well, the weather so far this summer hasn't been inspiring and the cost of all that kit can be prohibitive. Not to mention the shrinking size of pitches at some of the more popular sites. Step forward the humble British bunkhouse, hostel and bothy. Shrugging off the image of rundown dormitories strewn with the wet socks of strangers, the bunkhouse is enjoying a revival as more people stay in the UK for their holidays and more go walking and cycling across the green and pleasant parts of the land. Offering cheap shelter from the rain, situated in some of the best scenery the UK has to offer, often for less than you would pay in airport tax alone for the average foreign holiday, the hostelling holiday is coming into its own. Some 50 minutes from London, down a leafy, single-track lane outside the Surrey market town of Haslemere sits Hunter's Lodge, a pleasant half-timbered building with a few sheep idling outside and the forests and meadows of the South Downs National Park stretching for miles around. Just refurbished by the National Trust, the lodge is being run as a bunkhouse and sleeps 19. "We're finding that people who might have gone to France or Italy before, especially if you're a big family group, are now coming here, " said David Elliott, head ranger at Black Down Estate, 100 acres of National Trust land surrounding Hunter's Lodge. "And it's not just families, but walkers' groups and ramblers, cyclists. There is definitely a great rise in people using the outdoors. We're seeing the membership of the National Trust growing too, and that's a great thing, as we want people to be more passionate and more involved in the British countryside." It is a little disconcerting to admire the miniature belted Galloway cows grazing across the field and then notice that the hearth rug is made of the same distinctive pelt, but the accommodation is clean and comfortable. With a wood-burning stove, more than adequate kitchen and bedrooms of single bunks, it runs on a log-fired biomass boiler that uses wood coppiced from the forests.

Great Rivers of Europe The Great Rivers of Europe June 11th - 25, 2015 (Pre and Post Tours Optional Tours available) From .$6194 includes airfare from Phoenix and travel protection Cruise through history along the scenic Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers, where medieval architecture beckons from every riverbank ... time-honored wine-making traditions abound at hillside vineyards ... and landscapes seem to spring from the canvases of centuries-old masterworks. As you journey to the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria, you'll get a taste of local culture both onboard and off—like during anApfelstrudel baking lesson in the ship's kitchen, and while savoring a Home-Hosted Kaffeeklatschin Wertheim, Germany. This value-packed European River Cruise has reigned as our most popular trip for more than a decade—we hope you'll see why when you join us. Depart today on your flight to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Please refer to your individual air itinerary for exact departure and arrival times. Arrive today in Amsterdam. You are met at the airport by a Grand Circle representative and transferred to the pier to embark your river ship. Enjoy a light lunch onboard and time before dinner to relax after your flight, or do some exploring on your own. Amsterdam is a thoroughly modern city that has taken extraordinary measures to retain its Old World charm and historical significance. The narrow Dutch houses with their tidy window boxes and hand-scrubbed stoops and sidewalks will charm you. The city is easy to get around in and explore on your own. You may want to spend time in Dam Square, the heart of the city. This is the spot where the Amstel River once flowed. Due to flooding caused by high river tides, a dam was built—thus, the square’s name. Or relax and do some people-watching in Rembrandt and Leidse squares. During your European River Cruise, whenever you approach a new port or town, you’ll receive a briefing about the area prior to arrival so you can make the best use of your free time. These are called "port talks." Tonight, you'll gather for your first Ship Briefing, and you'll be joined by those travelers who took the pre-trip extension to Bruges, Belgium . Then get better acquainted with your Program Director and travel companions over a Welcome Drink, followed by dinner. After returning onboard for lunch, the ship will begin its cruise on the Rhine River towards Germany. You're invited to join your Program Director for an Orientation Briefing about your upcoming trip (during which you will have the opportunity to purchase optional tours). This evening, meet your crew and fellow travelers at the Captain's Welcome Drink and Dinner. This morning, your ship will continue sailing toward Germany. You'll arrive in Cologne after an onboard lunch, and you'll disembark for an included walking tour. Cologne was a Roman settlement called Colonia Agrippina after AD 50 and came under Frankish control in the fifth century. You can still see the ruins of Roman temples scattered throughout the city, including the Roman Gate near the cathedral, once part of the medieval town walls. During the 15th century, the city flourished as a member of the Hanseatic League. Your tour will end at Cologne’s magnificent Gothic cathedral—the Dom. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the cathedral largely escaped the World War II damage that ravaged the city and the rest of Germany. There’s evidence that Allied forces had orders to avoid...

Travel House Nepal is one of the largest Nepalese travel agencies in United States operating from Washington, New York, Boston, Denver and Chicago. It has branch offices in Kathmandu, “Nepal, ” London, "UK" and Toronto, “Canada.” It was established in 2006 and accredited and affiliated by ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation), IATA (International Air and Travel Association), ASTA (American Society of Travel Agent) and NATTA (Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agent) and NTB (Nepal Tourism Board.) Travel house Nepal deals with all the major online and offline carriers which fly to Kathmandu and other worldwide destination like THAI Airways, Singapore Airlines, Jet Airway, Qatar Airways, Gulf Airways, Dragon air Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Etihad Airways, Nepal Airlines and Biman Bangladesh. The sales office is equipped with advanced airlines system for online worldwide bookings for quick reservation and pricing manned by qualified and experienced staff. The website offers an online booking service where one can purchase International and domestic flight tickets. The website also offers online Passport and Visa Services, Travel Insurance and vacation offer deals within the United States and other popular destinations.

I was wrong on my last review, there are 4 pools. Still good enough for me though! I love this place, the camp site is huge (for tenters). They fixed up the bathrooms which are so much nicer now! Different designs, mosaics on the walls. Every bathroom has a different theme to it. The main pool that stays open till I believe 11, it's slightly crazy. They've built a new cafe attached to the pool area as well. It's just perfect. No competition with KOA across the street. We met people who actually came over from there before because the campground just sucked. Holiday is basically near everything. A mile from our FREE beach parking (better get there early for spots - although it is a bit of a walk near the "popular" beach area, it's do-able though), wal-mart, shopping centers, gas stations, mcdonalds, the aquarium, the highway. At the camp resort there's activities, golfing, band, a DOG PARK they must have recently put in, so much etc's! I'm a fan and I'll always stay a fan! Their store is open till 10pm I believe, they basically have everything else but Tylenol. They have this powder Acetaminophen, not in pill form. Also, the two Russians who work graveyard shift, they were drinking beers while sitting down at the bathrooms, relaxing on their rounds.