Welcome! to Psssss.....t!—Your Flight To Quality eZine—Your One-Stop Information Center. Here is everything you need!—

Your Flying Diet
"high-end, gourmet-quality"

   ?   
by
Marilyn King

What's worse than airline food? Airlines eliminating in-flight meals. What's worse than that? Airlines now selling you in-flight food service. U.S. carriers now offer you both options in their cost cutting frenzy.

A United Airlines executive recently came up with a brilliant way to offer you a different type of "flying experience." Immediately, their food service was dramatically cut back. What else is new, you may ask? The surprise innovation this time is that United has cut back on food for its First Class and Business Class passengers. Only beverages—no food at all—is served on flights under 2–3 hours outside of "normal meal times." Cold salads and deli plates now replace hot lunches and dinners—except on coast–to–coast nonstops.

This rampant lunacy is a shining example of being "penny–wise and pound–foolish." First Class passengers pay about $1000 more per ticket than those in Coach Class. This $1000+ is definitely enough for United to spend a few extra dollars on food. Yes!—United urgently needs to increase revenues! But!—it has just discouraged its most valuable customers from flying with them. The savings itself is no more than $5—at the most! For this!—United risks losing $1000+ extra revenue from First Class passengers. So now—enjoy the "experience of flying United" promoted in its newest advertising campaign.

US Airways also has cut back. Some changes are—elimination of hot meals on transcontinental and Caribbean flights, less food offered on their Shuttle flights, and even the elimination of fruit baskets in Business Class on their international flights.

Northwest is testing a program to sell you food on flights that have no meal service. Their test gives Coach passengers the option of buying "high–end, gourmet–quality" meals such as cinnamon streusel twists and fresh fruit—or a turkey club sandwich made with sliced deli meat. Their $10 sandwich basket comes with a side salad, fruit, bottled water and cookies.

On other Northwest flights, except for transcontinental, First and Business Class, hot lunches are replaced by a deli plate—or salad. In Economy, beverages and a snack mix substitute for a hot breakfast on flights lasting two to three–and–a–half hours. On transcontinental flights a hot breakfast sandwich replaces the former choice of two hot breakfast entrees. On overnight flights from Hawaii to the West Coast, the bill–of–fare has been switched from sandwiches—to beverage only.

Meanwhile, America West and Delta Airlines have begun testing to see if Coach passengers will pay extra for in–flight food.

On some Coach flights from Phoenix, America West sells—a snack box with Rondele cheese, Wheat Thins, nuts, teriyaki beef jerky and cookies for $3. A large bowl of fresh fruit costs $5. Their entree—Chicken Kiev with salad, baked potato, green beans and dessert—sells for $10.

On Delta flights, from New York to Florida, food for sale includes—Mrs. Fields cookies, Entenmann's cinnamon rolls and Pizzeria Uno sandwiches, priced from $2 to $7.

This topic can be a monologue from a late-night talk show host—"Airlines are so starved for money, they're starting charge for airline food! I took a flight and guess what I ate........and paid........"

But it's no joke!

Once standard service, meals have become more scarce. Major airlines are trying to survive one of the worst industry downturns in aviation history. Travelers favor low–cost carriers that skip frills and offer lower fares.

"Pay for airline food?"—Will customers open their wallets for the often–criticized airline food? This remains to be seen. Airports offer a great variety of food you can easily bring onto the plane. It hardly seems worth being "nickeled and dimed" for your flying diet!

The word "Parador" (or stopping place) appears in many classical Spanish texts. While the Posada (inn) was the place where animals were stabled for the night (travelers were not considered to be guests there), the Parador was the lodging offered to persons of more respectable rank.

Based on this tradition, the Marques de la Vega–Inclan, Royal Tourist Commissioner in 1926, had the idea of establishing a chain of State Paradores. The project was personally approved by King Alfonso XIII.

The first Parador was constructed in the Gredos mountain (Madrid) range and was directly related to the sport of kings—the hunt. Later as tourism and travel became popular, Paradores were opened with distances corresponding to an easy day trip in the automobiles of the time. This led to the creation of the Parador of Manzanares and Bailen, Oropesa and Merida. Currently the Paradores network consists of 85 properties.

The basic philosophy of the Paradores was, and continues to be—the State providing hotel accommodation in areas not profitable for private enterprise to do so. However—there is a second aspect to the Marquis de la Vega-Inclan's initial concept. To take advantage as much as possible—of ancient monuments, palaces, castles, old hospices, and convents for building the Paradores.

Visit the Paradores! Make the pleasantly surprising discovery that you are sleeping in the same room in the Castle of Jarandilla de la Vera—where Charles V is said to have stayed while waiting for his lodgings in the nearby Yuste monastery to be prepared. Dine in the rooms which once belonged to the Alcalá de Henares University founded by Cardinal Cisneros. Spend a few days in the Hondarribia castle—where the Prince of Conde led an unsuccessful siege three hundred years ago.

Antequera—A visit to this historical Andalucian town takes you back almost 5,000 years in time, beginning with the Bronze Age and the native Iberians. The timeline is there to be followed in this fascinating city's profusion of burial mounds, dolmens, Roman baths, a Moorish Castle, Gothic churches, Renaissance fountains and baroque bell towers.

The first sighting of Antequera in the distance is that of a typical medieval town, with the spires of her many churches and the walls and towers of the great Moorish fortress silhouetted against the sky. Spread out in the valley below lie rich farmlands irrigated by the Guadalhorce River. For centuries this has been one of Andalucia's most fertile areas, and is currently a leading producer of asparagus, cereals and olives. In summer, its fields turn brilliant yellow with sunflowers.

The town and valley are overlooked by an enormous crag of limestone, 880 metres high, called La Peña de los Enamorados, or "The Lovers' Leap". The name comes from a local legend about an impossible love affair between a young Christian man from Antequera and a beautiful Moorish girl from nearby Archidona, who were driven to the top of the cliff by the Moorish soldiers, where, rather than renounce their love, they chose to hurl themselves into the abyss.

Arcos de la Frontera—Relax when you arrive at this ancient Arab town. Now a historical monument, Arcos de la Frontera is situated on cliffs high above the River Guadalete, 20 miles (32km) east of Jerez de la Frontera—where sherry was put on the map A typical defensive hill village, cobbled streets lead up to a castle which was built in the fifteenth century on Moorish foundations. The view from the castle and village is staggering. Stay at the Parador Casa del Corregidor (an old vicar's home). Perched along the edge of a cliff, walks from there in almost any direction offer spectacular views of this pueblo blanco (white village) of whitewashed Andalusian houses.

Carmona—Located on a low hill overlooking a fertile plain, Carmona is a picturesque, small town with a magnificent 15th century tower built in imitation of Seville's Giralda. This is the first thing you see and sets an appropriate tone for the place. Not surprisingly, given its proximity, Carmona shares a similar history to Seville, and was an important Roman city, which under the Moors was often governed by a brother of the Sevillan ruler. Later Pedro the Cruel built a palace within its castle which he used as his royal residence in the country. Dominating the ridge of the town are the massive ruins of Pedro's palace, destroyed by an earthquake in 1504 and now taken over by a gracious parador.

Jávea—Framed by the Capes of La Nau and Sant Antoni on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, this beautiful town in the Costa Blanca is protected from continental winds by the mountainous barrier of the Montgó. Nature has been generous and splendid to this traditional seafaring community. The sea is pure blue, clean and revealing. The mountain, washed by the Mediterranean sea, offers lush vegetation and many local species of flora and fauna.

Nerja—On the Costa del Sol at the Balcón de Europa (Balcony of Europe) lies this Mediterranean gem, with a palm–shaded promenade jutting out into the sea, from the edge of a towering cliff. Once the site of a great Moorish castle, and lined with antique iron lampposts, the village overlooks a pretty beach and fishing fleet—on a sloping site at the foot of a wall of jagged coastal mountains. The old quarter of the town is still virtually unchanged with narrow, winding streets, whitewashed houses with wrought iron terraces overflowing with geraniums, on which a canary can sometimes be heard singing.

Ronda—The site appears inhospitable—a gorge slices through the town center. Twin halves are interconnected with bridges that are antiques in their own right. The winding streets of this old Moorish town are perfect for wandering, and the views of the surrounding Andalusian countryside are stupendous. Ronda is also revered by bullfighting fans, both for its bullring (the oldest and most beautiful in Spain) and the region's skill in breeding the fiercest bulls in the country.

A trip to the Paradores is not only a trip through the land of Spain but also through its history—from the later Middle Ages through the modern architectural styles of the twentieth century—

Our 3 day package prices vary from $169-$375 per person—based on double occupancy. These include—

• Two nights accommodation
• Breakfast daily
• Three days economy manual car

• is more "user friendly!" than before
• consistently returns very competitive fares
• provides an incredible selection

• Travelocity®
• Orbitz®
• Expedia®

• won or matched the "lowest fare" ranking in 50% of all searches.
• returned a lower fare nearly twice as often as Orbitz®, the closest competition.
• saved an average of $45 per ticket versus Orbitz®.
• saved an average of $82 per ticket versus Expedia®.
• saved an average of $341 per ticket versus Travelocity®!
• consistently returns the lowest fares for international travel.
• consistently returns the lowest fares for domestic itineraries.

When you research your next flight, visit me and see if I offer your lowest fare. Visit me now—

P.S. Our new FareBeater® Engine searches millions of airfares to match your request, including our exclusive database of negotiated rates. We bring you your lowest fares available in less than one minute.