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Brazilian Air Force officials have just announced they found what appears to be wreckage from the missing Air France flight that disappeared yesterday enroute from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, France.

After departing Rio and nearly 4 hours later, Air France flight 447 left radar contact.  According to Air France officials, the Airbus A330 with 228 passengers and crew onboard, “crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence.”  This is the suspected cause of the apparent crash.

Most of the passengers onboard the ill-fated flight were from France, Brazil and Germany with the remaining passengers from 29 additional countries including the United States and Canada.

Air France has also just announced it will be holding “an inter-religious ceremony for the relatives and friends of the victims on Wednesday, June 3, at 4 p.m. at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.”

Princess Cruises is offering an amazing 107-day world cruise that will take you to the north, south, east, and west with the experience and knowledge that only Princess can offer with over 40 years of sailing the ocean blue.

Sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, to Rome, this 107-day luxurious cruise will stop at an amazing 40 ports including overnight stays in Sydney, Australia, and Xingang, China. 

If you don’t want to wait until 2010 for this cruise, a 104-day cruise is still available on the Dawn Princess sailing roundtrip from Sydney on July 5, 2009.  Ports include Cork, Ireland; Paris, France; Goa, India, plus an overnight stay in Bermuda.

Remember, cruising is the best vacation value for your money.  For more information, visit: Princess Cruises

Earlier this week Continental Airlines announced it will launch two new routes to Brazil starting later this summer.

A daily nonstop flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from Houston plus a through flight from New Orleans will begin service on August 1, 2009.  Continental will be flying Boeing 767-200 aircraft that accommodate 174 passengers onboard.

 “This new flight links important energy centers with convenient nonstop service,” said John Slater, Continental staff vice president for Latin America and Caribbean. “It also provides the most direct routing from numerous western points being that it is the only nonstop flight between Houston and Rio west of the Mississippi.”

Princess Cruises, offering “voyages as memorable as the places they visit,” is pleased to announce their 2010 & 2011 Exotic cruise line up visiting Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Tahiti & the South Pacific, and South America.

New ports of call include Toulon, France; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Manila, Philippines; Xiamen, China and Maputo, Mozambique.

Join Princess on an Exotic cruise with vacations ranging from 2-day experience to a 23-day West Africa, India, & Southeast Asia Grand Adventure voyage.  Among the Princess ships sailing to exotic destinations in 2010 and 2011 are all three of their small ships – the Ocean Princess, Pacific Princess and the Royal Princess .

Among the new itineraries is an amazing 107-day world cruise – see Part Two, May 23.

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Princess Cruises is offering fantastic savings on great holiday 2009 sailings from now until June 15, 2009.

It’s never too early to start thinking about the holidays and with these incredible savings now is the time to book a magical winter cruise to the Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Panama Canal, South America, Asia or the South Pacific. 

This sale is offering savings of up to $1,600 per couple off Launch Fares with 50% off 3^rd & 4^th passenger fares plus free upgrades on select sailings.  To learn more information, visit Princess Cruises.

Moneywise, there’s never been a better time to travel.  Team that up with cruising and you’ve got your best vacation value today.

Princess Cruises is offering up to 2-for-1 savings on select cruises including Europe, Alaska and South America.  Special time limited fares start at only $70 USD per day with great prices like $899 for a 12-day Europe or only $969 for a 14 or16-day South American cruise.

Alaska has never been a better bargain with amazing low prices like a 7-night Alaska sailing from $399 or an 11-night Alaska cruise tour starting at $1,124. 

For more information, locate a professional travel consultant near you or contact Princess Cruises directly.

Bon voyage!

Today is Earth Day, April 22, 2009.  What better way to celebrate than to take action?

Earth Day events are happening around the world and it’s still not too late to participate!  Attend an educational workshop, a parade, wine tasting, or a concert – find a complete list of events here!

If you can’t attend an event, you can donate, join, or volunteer through the Earth Day Network (EDN).  Even easier - plant a tree or simply switch out an incandescent light bulb!  Everyone can do their part.

Today is also the official kick off for the Green Generation campaign started by EDN whose mission is to provide a healthy, sustainable environment for all people of the world today and for our future.

Happy Earth Day!

If you watch televisions ‘Jeopardy ’ game show from now until May 1, 2009, you could win the trip of a lifetime to the Galapagos Islands.

You are invited to watch Jeopardy each weekday, then go to jeopardy.com , and enter for your chance to win.  A total of 25 lucky winners will explore the spectacular Galapagos Islands with Alex Trebek. 

The Galapagos Adventure is taking place from October 16^th to October 25, 2009, and is being provided by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.   No purchase is necessary and the contest is open to permanent legal residents of the 50 states of the U.S. and D.C.   For the complete Official Rules, see jeopardy.com.

Royal Caribbean is asking you to join the ‘Nation of Why Not’, by offering activities that other cruise ships do not such as onboard surfing and rock-climbing walls.

Instead of asking ‘can I?’ citizens of the Nation of Why Not already know that with 21 ships covering 361,000,000 kilometers of ocean terrain, Royal Caribbean is almost its own independent country where anything goes.

With its highly interactive Nation of Why Not website , potential citizens of the Royal Caribbean nation are invited to learn how to say ‘why not’ in 24 languages, learn about their wildlife, holidays or to explore cool activities like ice skating.

And if you’d like to book a cruise on Royal Caribbean, you can do that, too.

Couchsurfing is a simple travel concept – it’s a network of people from around the world that have one thing in common besides the desire to travel.  That’s the desire to travel for free.

Located in Berkeley, CA, this non-profit organization has been helping people connect worldwide through the CouchSurfing website.  It’s free to use – simply join by creating a user profile, decide when and where you’d like to travel, do a search for other members in that area, and “request to CouchSurf” with those members of interest. 

How you choose to CouchSurf is up to you.  You can request accommodation or simply meet for a drink or coffee at the destination of your choice, plus you can host a similar encounter in your neck of the woods to others.  There is no pressure to accept or decline a hosting experience.

With over 1 million members in 232 countries worldwide, the majority of CouchSurfers are in Europe which provides a wealth of opportunities for those members in North America to go abroad.  According to CouchSurfing.com, the top 5 CouchSurfing cities are Paris, London, Berlin, Montreal and Vienna with 27 being the average age of travelers.