Since the increase in terrorism we are all aware of the security measures being implemented around the world. Securing travelers protects both our personal safety as well as helping prevent terrorists from traveling on an unabated basis. When is travel security to much? I read this article from CNN about the use of Biometrics to control access during travel. Sounds simple enough except now your personal information is being shared with thousands of agencies. The article uses the example of walking into a bank and completing your business. Two hours after you have left the bank it is robbed. Suddenly your finger prints make you a suspect and you are left to prove your innocence. This is an interesting concept. If I travel from the U.S. to Europe, walk into a bank and exchange some currency and hours later Interpol shows up at my hotel what inconvenience am I faced with. How did I suddenly become involved in a criminal investigation? I am all for safety in travel. I realize I will have to give a little personal freedom up to live in a safer world. This article shed some pros and cons as to what this kind of Biometric control can do to personal freedom. Check it out and see what you think. I would be interested to hear from some of you what your opinions are.

Many employers are sending people to dangerous places especially with the amount of work in Iraq. These employers need to be honest about what the employees are facing and what they are doing while they are doing it. That means thinking early on about the risks involved. How dangerous is the area I am going and what do I need to do to prepare. Travel internationally is by all means hazardous, especially with the elevated threat of terrorism. An article in Personnel Today addresses some of the issues and I felt it was a good article to share with my fellow www.desktoptravellers.com. Good advanced training is a must. The Oxfam company trains there employees in an almost military-like approach. Even the charity Save The Children, which has over 4000 employees working outside the UK is very careful. They admittedly go to dangerous areas. Check out the article travellers, and business travellers, it may be a big help.
Link

I just got back from Cabo San Lucas for a weekend of filming. We flew in on Continental Airlines. The weather was good for the most part. We stayed at the Westin Regina Resort and the people there were awesome. We have a small film crew by most standards and the folks at the Westin Regina Resort were very accommodating. No meddlesome issues. We shot several scenes in our rental car of our two principal actors driving down into Baja and then arriving in Cabo San Lucas. Advantage rental car was pretty good to us. The premise for the weekend was an adventure for the two that leads to the meeting and development of friendships with people they meet. These friendships will play a later factor in the film. No stunt work for the weekend but I did sneak away to go for a snorkel and a run with Baja Racing Adventures. What a kick driving the buggies in the desert. I think the highlight was the beautiful sunsets and the evening socializing. I know Cabo San Lucas is a big spring break party spot, but the people there were great. I suppose I was expecting a real pressure sell environment to the tourists but it was more like a relaxed ”Irie” environment. Very cool. Cabo Wabo was killer. I am back in South Padre on the Third Coast in early March for some more filming there. I will keep you posted. Here is a link to where I planned the trip from.
http://www.allaboutcabo.com/

It is time again for the Oscars. Sunday February 27th. Chris Rock is going to be the host. Now this should be interesting. With Chris’s propensity for foul language I wonder if the delay switch will be set on hyperactive. The FCC is probably pretty nervous about now. I have visited the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. It is a most beautiful venue and I can only imagine what Oscar night will do to elevate the glamour factor. The producer’s blog for the Oscars has some great statistics in it. For example over 1600 men and women are working on elements of the show, from music and lighting to construction and costumes. That is a lot of behind the scenes organization for the producers. Gil Cates is the Producer for this years Oscars. It is an extraordinary amount of work to salute the outstanding achievements in motion pictures in 2004. Louis J. Horvitz is the director this year and I am, sure an extremely busy man as well. Even the presenters have an opportunity to practice. The presenters actually meet one on one with the produces and talk about their roles. Then they go to the stage and practice the delivery. When I watch the award shows they seem almost seamless in their performance. After keeping an eye on some of these blog’s and hearing more about the process I am impressed indeed. If you are heading out to Hollywood, California and too the Oscars let me know how it went.

The New Zealand Herald
This article is interesting. We are in such a, “information on demand age,” that I was surprised, only a little, at this study. The study talks about how often people like to read updates on travle locations. In this case more people are reading Travel and Food updates but they only want to see them once a month. Now, I fall into this category. I was not aware so many other people did as well. When it comes to reading travel magazines I like to read one every two weeks or so. I’m talking about magazines that highlight places to travel. The opposite to this is that I like to read articles daily on travel safety and security. Articles, not magazines mind you. I read magazines for the enjoyment and discovery of new travel locations. If I read two many I find myself inundated with information. So, I like to read daily articles on what’s happening, but at the same time I like to dream about exotic locations on a less cluttered level. I guess this is why I found the article interesting. For me the reading of a new travel location creates a fantasy about what could be experienced. I think it is this relaxed fantasy that leads me to not want to clutter my mind with two many new travel locations at once. ie… more time to dream. So maybe I’m an artistic explorer. Whatever the case here is the article. Take care.
Link

Travel and tourism have become such a big deal for economic growth that the state of Pennsylvania recently made some major changes to it’s license plates. They have removed the states web site address and replaced it with the states tourism address. In the movie making, film industry, states have their own individual film commissions. These commissions go to great lengths to bring in the production crews for major Hollywood films specifically for the economic growth it provides. In Texas for 2003, there was over 200 million dollars spent by film production companies. What the Film Commissions do is pitch support and fabulous locations to the production companies. The fabulous locations are what tourism boards also pitch. Now once a film has been to a state, city or town there is a new opportunity to pitch tourism. For example; come to Dripping Springs Texas and see the set of the Alamo. I see a direct correlation between the two entities and I think Pennsylvania is smart in putting their tourism web address on the license plates. Marketing, marketing, marketing.

I was reading an article on a couple’s travels to Italy and found a cool link to the train schedules over there. It’s actually called Trenitalia and I have included the link. I did a practice run with it and typed in areas from Naples. I went to Pompeii, Capri, Ischia and Sorrento Italy. I easily brought up the train schedule and times. Check it out. The article I was reading was at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6853727/

For this film we are working on we will be doing a skydiving scene. Even though I do stunt work I have never skydived before. So to prepare I went this weekend for the first time. Man what a thrill. We started the morning by doing a six hour ground school. They told us how to jump, what position to be in, what to pull, when to pull it, all the stuff you would think was important. We hung in harnesses and practiced skydiving. The weather was to bad for skydiving in the morning but by the afternoon it had cleared and we were ready to roll. When we got on the plane there were a lot of people with white faces. I am happy to say I never felt nervous. The adrenaline was pumping at the anticipation but Iwas ready. We were skydiving from a static line. When we jumped that meant that the rip cord was already attached to the plane inside and would automatically be pulled by the strap. When they said go, I went. The second or two before the parachute opened were a tremendous thrill. After that it was a spiritual glide to the ground. I landed on the run and my heart hasnt quit pumping at high speed since. I am looking forward to completing the requirements so I can enjoy the longer free falls. The scene in the film requires a star formation and a fall into a drop zone. We will be doing this during Spring Break at South Padre Island in Texas. It should be a lot of fun. I dont have any travel updates or tips, tricks or scams for the week. Someone email me your suggestions and I’ll share them on the www.desktoptraveler.com site.

My buddy Mike spoke to a friend of his named Winthrop yesterday. Winthrop owns a health food store in Austin, Texas called “TFN Nutrition”. He is also a Jamaican and was part of the Jamaican Olympic team for hurdles “twice”. Anyway that being said he lives in Austin but still keeps a house on the North side of Jamaica. Mike asked him about the status of the island due to Hurricane Wilma as Mike himself is traveling to Jamaica in two weeks to the resort of Grand Lido Broco and wants to make sure he has a resort to visit. According to Winthrop the North side of the island is in good shape. The South side is getting all of the winds and rain. Jamaica has a large mountain range between the North and South sides of the island which is providing protection for the North. I dont know what the next week will bring but anyone traveling to Jamaica right now the prognoses looks good, according to Winthrop.

I traveled down to the Texas Gulf Coast. It is also known as the third coast. We continued filming our feature “Northwinds” in Rockport, Texas on friday night. It was a great shoot and continued into Saturday morning. When 11:00 a.m. rolled around the rain started to fall. Since we were shooting beach scenes this shut us down pretty quickly. After making a few phone calls we found out that South Padre Island had good weather. It was three hours from where we were so we packed up the crew and took off. Almost the entire drive we were in rain. Of course this led to us wondering if we had been dupped. 12 miles from S. Padre everything changed. It bacame sunny and warm and stayed that way the rest of the weekend. The shoot itself and all the scenes turned out great, but what really impressed me is this resort area that seems to maintain their own climate when only 12 miles away up and down the Gulf Coast it is raining. The resteraunts, “I recommend Blackbeards,” were great. The people were great. We are now planning a vacation there for the future. It was a great place to travel. The beach does not compare to the pacific. It is its own being in South Padre. Anyway, If you are in Texas I recommend visiting South Padre.