Men Who Like to Travel - David Latt

For the next week I'll be on a trip of a lifetime. With a group of writers from around the world, I am traveling to Seattle to tour the Boeing factory and pick up a new 777-200LR that will join Qatar Airways ' 5-Star fleet. The airline begins nonstop, daily service between Houston and Doha on March 30, 2009. Normally Qatar Airways doesn't fly from Seattle. This is a delivery trip so besides our group, the certification team from Boeing and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, and the airline staff, we'll barely number 20 passengers on a plane that can seat 217 in coach and 42 in business. The opportunity to go behind the scenes on the introduction of a new airplane into service is so unique, I'm going to post about the experience. Along the way I'm also going write about my visit to Seattle, a city I know and love but haven't seen for many years, and Doha, a city that is new to me and one I look forward to exploring. Before we picked up the Triple-7

I love the new car smell. Does an airplane h ave the same cool, sexy, absolutely fabulous fragrance as a car or is it something more, well, plane-like? Yesterday I had the unique pleasure of answering that question. Qatar Airways invited half a dozen of us to come along on the delivery flight of their second Boeing 777-200LR , flying from Boeing Field outside Seattle to Doha International Airport, Qatar. With Doha as its hub and routes already well established in Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and, of course, the Middle East, the Boeing 777-200LR gives Qatar Airways a reach of 8,000 nautical miles, putting them in striking distance of just about any destination in the world. Several years ago Qatar Airways pushed into the American market with non-stop service to New York and Washington, D.C. Starting March 30, 2009, the airline will begin flights b etween Houston and Doha. With service to Houston , they will strengthen their relationship with American energy businesses. For

Recently Accor redesigned its loyalty program to differentiate itself from its competitors,. Each of its branded hotels had its own program. Spanning so many levels of hotel service--luxury (Sofitel), upscale (Pullman MGallery), midscale (Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel), and economy (Ibis, All Seasons, Motel6)-- Accor wanted a more focused approach, so all the individual programs were consolidated into their new A/Club . Like other hotel loyalty programs, every time you stay in an Accor property, you earn points. The more nights you stay, the more points you accumulate, the more free nights you earn. In that, Accor is similar to the award programs offered by its competitors, InterContinental, Starwood, Hilton, and Marriott. What's different about A/Club is Accor uses its loyalty program to encourage their customers to spend as much time as possible inside their properties. If you belong to A/Club and stay at the Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg , for example, you earn points for

The big news in Santa Monica hasn't happened yet. Santa Monica Place , the southern most anchor to the Third Street Promenade, won't reopen until the end of the year. Before it closed, the mall had been overshadowed by the success of the Promenade's mile long shopping and entertainment corridor. The mall's decline had impacted the businesses along Broadway. The sidewalks always seemed littered. The restaurants, bars, and stores had a run-down, abandoned feeling. When Santa Monica Place reopens, the area will be reinvigorated as the mall celebrates its proximity to the beach. What was once a closed box monolith will have been transformed into an elegant, open air plaza. Looking to that future, Jonathan Chu who already has Buddha's Belly on the block, open ed an intimate bar, Copa d'Oro (217 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90401; 310/576-3030) across the street from Macy's (soon to be replaced by Bloomingdale's). The food at the bar is simplicit

If you live in Park City, you're used to the Sundance Film Festival taking over your town for ten days in mid-January. You've adjusted to the tsunami of movie stars and executives who fly in from LA and New York during the first weekend. You know you can't get a room for an out of town friend. The bumper-to-bumper rush hour is as bad as downtown LA. If you want a table at Zoom, the Blind Dog Grill, Riverhorse Cafe, Grappa, or even the Eating Establishment, you'd have to make a reservation months in advance. In Park City every table will be taken by a movie star, writer, director, studio executive, agent, or a manager who's tryin g to grab a quick bite to eat before rushing off to their next meeting or movie. And if all the tables aren't reserved by individuals, then the whole restaurant will be booked for a private party. After its premiere every film has a party. The smaller films have modest get-togethers, while the better funded movies throw big, n

Many states in the U.S. have developed premium grape growing areas: the Ohio River Valley, Oregon's Willamette and Columbia Valleys, Washington State's Walla Walla and Yakim Valleys, the Hudson River Valley, and Napa Valley in California, to name but a few. If you love wine, there is no greater pleasure than taking a trip to a winery and sampling the wine where it is made. At a few wineries you can do more than just have a glass of wine. You can go behind the scenes and learn how wine is made. In California , Wine Bo ot Camp has 1-day workshops in Napa , Sonoma , and Paso Robles. Grape Camp offers a Sonoma Wine Country experience that follows the grapes "from the vineyard to the bottle." In New York's Niagara-on-the-Lake, Pel ler Estates hosts weekend boot camps that also teach wine-food pairings. For wine lovers with ample resources, Beautiful Places can provide a more private setting where you can stay in a villa in the middle of a Napa Valley vineyar

Re cently I had the opportunity to experience the unique partnership between British Airways , Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, and Sofitel's new London-Heathrow Hotel. When I flew to Heathrow from Los Angeles. I booked an overnight flight. British Airways offers its Club World (business class) passengers a reclining seat with a privacy partition. After a full-course meal, I turned the seat into a bed, enjoyed a night-cap, turned off the light, and went to sleep. When we landed at Heathrow, I was refreshed by a good night's sleep and a proper English breakfast of a sausage roll and tea. British Airways is the exclusive tenant of Heathrow's Terminal 5. In designing the te rminal, BA wanted to create a flagship experience that would highlight the English tradition of service and comfort. The opening of the terminal complimented upgrades in the long-haul British Airways fleet. Terminal 5's opening in March, 2008 was marred by numerous, widely publicized problems . Desig