The World’s Top 10 Best Airports For 2007

What’s your favourite airport?

Unlawyer-At-Large has always been fascinated by world-class airports. They have become a symbol, among other things, for a country’s showcase of economic progress. How airports are rated can be a daunting task, considering that sheer size of airport terminals alone is not enough to snag the top spot. In other words, "bigger" is not necessarily "better".

Thankfully, there’s Skytrax, which released the results of its survey on Top 10 World’s Best Airports for 2007. Skytrax, a well-respected aviation research organisation, actually conducts the annual World Airport Awards to pick out the best airports. This year’s winners emerged from more than 7.8 million detailed passenger surveys, covering over 170 airports, and conducted over an 11-month period throughout the world. Airports were rated according to terminal cleanliness, staff efficiency and courtesy, terminal signage and walking distances, as well as features like shopping, dining options, internet services. Security processing and immigration waiting times were also considered.

Two of Unlawyer-At-Large's favourite airports in Asia, namely, Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore Changi Airport, made it to the top list, the latter sharing second spot with Seoul Incheon International Airport.

Check out Skytrax's official link for more details and see if the Top 10 Airport List includes your own favourites.

Where To Find The Best One-Stop Worldwide Travel Advisory Resource Online?

Unlawyer-At-Large is no stranger to travel hassles. It is such a sheer inconvenience to just discover at the 11th hour that a quirky storm puts a kibosh on that trip of a lifetime. Unlawyer-At-Large, who was once caught in a quagmire of a last-minute flight cancellation from Manila (Philippines) to Hong Kong and was stuck for hours at the airport with hundreds upon hundreds of clueless passengers, will never leave home again without consulting the latest travel advisory.

Travel guides, which are useful, cannot be the sole source of information before traveling. Certainly not before departure.

So what is the best complement to your travel guide?

A travel advisory.

A travel advisory, according to Wikipedia, is a public notice issued by a government agency to provide information about the relative safety of traveling to or visiting one or more specific destinations. The purpose is to allow travelers to make an informed decision about a particular travel destination, and to help them prepare adequately for what may be encountered on their trip. Travel issues include, but are not limited to, inclement weather, civil unrest or disease.

Yes, you can spend hours searching online for a particular travel advisory from embassies around the world, health and government agencies, as well as travel and non-governmental organizations. Is that too cumbersome? Maybe. But if you simply want a well-organized travel advisory resource online, you better check out this link from AllSafeTravels. You will be directed to a clean, simple, yet very navigable one-stop, worldwide travel advisory page. Simply select the country of destination and you will see categorized advisories per country. AllSafeTravels' advisories include up-to-date news links from other resources, too. One of the most frequently updated lists is weather condition.

Best of all, the country-by-country travel advisories you can find in AllSafeTravels are available for free.

BOOK REVIEW: 1,000 Places To See Before You Die

Unlawyer-At-Large has been pondering...don't we all (at least those of us whose inner wanderlust has not been traded in for that inner couch potato) have such a fantasy that someday we will travel to the world’s most exotic destinations, and that before we die we'll get to do it all?

To deal with that question, Unlawyer-At-Large takes a look at 1,000 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE. No, this book is not about morbid thoughts. This is about seizing the day, as in carpe diem. This is about the joys all of us can find in traveling, beginning with a 972-page book guide which, to say the very least, is very organized and well-written. No boring prose. No words wasted.

There is a plethora of travel guides on print written by many experts, but the credibility of the author of 1,000 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE as one of the famous travel gurus cannot be shrugged off. Patricia Schultz, now 54, wrote this New York Times #1 Bestseller, which created quite a delightful stir worldwide since 2003. She is also the co-author of Made in Italy, a former writer for Frommer's, Berlitz, and Access travel guides, and is now a freelance travel writer. Her articles have appeared in Conde Nast Traveler (one of Unlawyer-At-Large’s favorites), Islands, and Harper's Bazaar.

This is a must-have book (notwithstanding the mixed reviews it received) for the seasoned traveler (and you thought you’ve seen everything?), the unseasoned traveler (do not feel intimidated by it), and the dreamer (hmmm, arm-chair traveling is not a lost art and it's free). There is something for everyone here. Ms. Schultz does a convincing job of weaving a very engaging list of "travel wonders" of the world encompassing Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, North America and South America. Hotels, bars, restaurants and watering-holes are included, whether known or least known, “on and off the beaten track,” exactly as inscribed on the book cover.

Last May 2007, Ms. Schultz released another book, 1,000 PLACES TO SEE IN THE USA AND CANADA BEFORE YOU DIE (finally, something which Unlawyer-At-Large has always expected and yearned for, but that is another review to deal with later). Adding another thousand places to see is no joke, but not for the indefatigable Ms. Schultz who, in a recent interview last July 2007 with CNN, said: “People have always loved to travel. People will always love to travel. It's as old as mankind…It's to remove yourself from the same-old same-old, the day-to-day-ness of everyday life, to recharge, explore."

Before Ms. Schultz starts to write another round of thousand places to see, Unlawyer-At-Large urges you to grab a copy of this book to help you get started with planning your trip(s) of a lifetime.

Here is a caveat, though. No travel list out there is ever complete, and this book is no exception. After all, declares Ms. Schultz in the said CNN interview: “The more you travel, the more you realize that you've seen nothing."

RATING: Highly recommended.

TREND: Harry Potter Redefining The "YOUTUBE" Generation?

Has anyone really thought about it? Harry Potter redefining the Youtube generation?

Has the last instalment of the series, Harry Potter Book 7, The Deathly Hallows, created quite a stir that cannot be ignored?

Unlawyer-At-Large used to hear litanies from many university professors lamenting that the current generation of young people, which is obsessed with video sharing and posting with Youtube, currently the most popular video hosting website in the world, and spending countless hours online in popular virtual social communities like Myspace, Facebook and Friendster, has lost the art of reading. As in, reading real books reminiscent of the laid-back, good 'ol pre-internet days. As in, reading classics (which a lot of kids consider pretty heavy to read) like those written by Shakespeare. Like those of Ernest Hemingway’s or Mark Twain's.

If figures are of any revealing indication about the inconclusive “lost art of reading,” the final Harry Potter instalment by J.K. Rowling made such a dent that cannot be shrugged away as just another fluke which accidentally seeped into the consciousness of both young people and young-at-heart. The Deathly Hallows, the last and 7th instalment, sold over 10 million copies in its first weekend since its July 21st debut, and still counting. At this writing, all seven books in the blockbuster series have sold a combined 335 million copies worldwide. Yes, that’s right. A staggering 335 million books! That means, about 47 million copies for each of the 7 books, if you divide them equally. If that isn’t a blockbuster in itself, then Unlawyer-At-Large should find a new definition for the word blockbuster outside of Hogwarts!

There are books available out there worthy of leisurely reading, but Harry Potter has enchanted fans from all over the world, from cities like Buenos Aires in Argentina to Berlin in Germany, as well as from Manila, Philippines to Los Angeles, USA. Unlawyer-At-Large makes the observation that the series’ fans are not actually confined to the younger set. Even those in their 30s and 40s have lined up for the books or, conveniently, pre-ordered their copies at popular online sites like Amazon which will deliver worldwide for about US$17.99 per book at its current price.

The debut of The Deathly Hallows also spawned get-together parties, discussions and debates on whether J.K. Rowling really ended the Harry Potter series according to their expectations. People were reveling (yes, jumping up and down like winning the lottery!) with hardbound copies of Book 7 in their hands like there was no tomorrow.

Indeed, for the 7th time, Harry Potter held the entire world, including Unlawyer-At-Large, under his spell.