Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day is known as a federal holiday to honor and remember the men and women who died while serving in the country's armed forces. This American culture holiday, which is celebrated every year on the last Monday of May, was formally known as Decoration Day and originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the war. During the 20th century, Memorial Day was extended to honor all Americans who have died while in a military service. Memorial Day has also been known to mark the start of the American summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks the end. 

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Flags displayed to honor those who died in service at Arlington National Cemetary 

More importably Memorial Day is to honor those men and women who sacrificed their lives in defense for the United States. It is not to be confused with Veteran's Day, which specifically celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans. In honor of Memorial Day, many people volunteer to visit cemeteries and memorials in order to place a flag on each soldier's grave to honor them. 

Countries around the world celebrate similar observances or holidays throughout the year that are similar to America's Memorial Day. Many of their practices commemorate honors specifically for World War I and World War II. 

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Poppies are used to honor those who have fallen in the United Kingdom, France, and Canada 

In the United Kingdom, they refer to it as Remembrance Sunday. They hold ceremonies across the country on the Sunday closest to November 11, the day Germany signed the armistice ending hostilities during World War I. In modern time, it memorializes all British fallen soldiers in all conflicts since the Great War. "Remembrance Poppies" are displayed and worn as per tradition inspired by Canadian poet John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields," and on November 11th at 11 a.m., the time of the signing of the armistice, the UK holds a two minute silence. Canada holds a similar ceremony and celebration also on November 11th. 

In France, Armistice Day is observed on November 11th, with poppy adornments, special church services, and ceremonies. Their holiday has come to recognize all the country's war dead, and the 1.4 million people killed in World War I. 

In New Zealand and Australia, it is known as Anzac Day. Anzac Day is on April 25th and commemorates their servicemen and women who have died. Anzac stands for "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps," and falls on the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli. This was the first major military action by both forces in the first World War which lead to a campaign that would fuel the building of a national consciousness in both countries.

National Unity and Armed Forces day is celebrated in Italy on November 4th. This is the day that Austria-Hungary surrendered to the Italians in 1918. They hold ceremonies commemorating the armed forces killed in action. 

South Korea observes a Memorial Day on June 6th, which is in the same month the Korean War began. They hold a one minute silence at 10 a.m. to honor their servicemen and civilians who have died for their country. 

So from America, to the United Kingdom, to Australia and New Zealand, France, Italy, and South Korea, many countries hold ceremonies to offer those who sacrificed their lives in defense of their nation. These are just a few of the holidays, but one important message should come from this idea. 

On Memorial Day, remember those who fought for your freedom, fought for your country, and sacrificed their lives so that you could live a long and prosperous life. Near and far, all over the world, honor those and celebrate with your families in Memorial. 

American Airlines Responds to Twitter Threat

Yesterday morning, a Dutch teenager issued a very serious threat against American Airlines.  The tweet threatened the airline with terrorist activity.  Using this popular social media tool, American Airlines immediately responded and swore to take action in response to the threat made against them. 

Despite both parties deleting the tweet, with Sarah deleting her entire twitter account, this incident shows the importance of social media in all aspects of life, including national security.  In the aftermath of September 11th, these threats are taken extremely seriously.

According to Twitter's "Guidelines for Law Enforcement". the information of a specific Twitter user can be turned over and used as evidence “if there is an exigent emergency that involves the danger of death or serious physical injury to a person that Twitter may have information necessary to prevent.”  While there has not been substantial information released concerning the incident, Dutch police tweeted an update as of this morning confirming the arrest of Sarah in response to this incident.  Despite the teenager tweeting at the airline multiple times in response to their response, it is clear that they are still taking these threats seriously and are taking action against her. 

A representative for the popular social media site told Business Insider, "We’re not in a state that we can communicate any state of charges at this point, we just thought it was neccessary to bring this out mostly because of the fact that it caused a great deal of interest on the Internet."  

After this incident, it is important to remember to be careful on social media sites.  What may seem like a joke to you can be taken extremely seriously, especially if the content is aggressive and threatening in nature.  This story also shows the emphasis on security that airlines are implementing.  While security can be a pain when it adds on time to your travels, remember the service that they are doing and the lengths that they go to keep travelers safe!

Are you the next Study Abroad Global Duke?

ATTENTION JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: 

While many of our readers are interested in traveling or studying abroad, we also appreciate those readers who already have travel or study abroad experience!

If you have studied abroad or are currently studying abroad, then check out this great opportunity offered by James Madison University! 

JMU is looking for students interested in becoming a "Study Abroad Global Duke." Global Dukes are student peer advisors who want to share their study abroad experiences with potential study abroad students. This opportunity allows you to provide first-hand knowledge regarding the study abroad experience to engage and interest other James Madison University students. 

While the study abroad office provides fantastic information and resources, they recognize students often respond better to other students. JMU's Study Abroad Office wants your help to further the success of their study abroad programs!

While many leadership opportunities on campus demand a large time commitment, Global Dukes only requires seven hours a week of your time. As a Global Duke, you will spend approximately two hours a week in the Office of International Programs and around five hours a week planning study abroad projects and events. 

If you are seeking ways to stay connected to your study abroad experience after returning home, then Ready, Set, Roam encourages you to apply for a position as a "Study Abroad Global Duke!" The deadline is quickly approaching so be sure to fill out your application today and submit it along with your resume to Andriana Hench at henchaj@jmu.edu!

MH370: The Importance of Finding "Black Box"

A story that has recently been all over the news is the search for Malaysia Airlines plane MH370. The search is now relying on an unmanned submarine as fears grow that the batteries for the black box may have failed. No signal has been received from the box since Sunday, April 6th. A 16.2 feet unmanned submarine is now being considered to look for the plane in the main search area, but it can only cover 80 miles a day, traveling at about 5 miles per hour. This will lengthen the period of the search, and it supports the idea of why a black box is important and should be improved.

What is a black box? A black box or flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed on aircrafts for the purpose of aiding in the investigation of aviation incidents and accidents that may occur. There are two common types of the flight recorder or black box, the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). These two recorders can also be combined in a single unit. They are required to survive the conditions of a severe accident. They can withstand an impact of 3400 g and temperatures of over 1,000 °C (1,832 °F).

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing in the early hours of March 8, over 30 days ago. The box locator pinger's battery life was expected to fail after around 30 days. A black box and the plane use a radar based tracking system, which can be picked up via radio waves, but has a limited distance from the device. The radar tracks well when traveling over land or coastal areas, but over oceans radar does not work as it relies on line-of-sight tracking from a ground station.

A proposal to prevent this loss of location for the future of airline travels it to upgrade from radar to satellite. That way if a plane went off course over an ocean, it wouldn't be an issue to track it. This satellite would allow air traffic control to know where a plane is at all times. A new system named NextGen, has been implemented by  U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, in which GPS signals would transmit an aircraft's precise location to air traffic controllers via ground receivers. The expense of outfitting planes with GPS is beat by the cost to upgrade from radar to satellite tracking of planes. On cnn.com/technology in a story entitled, "Why satellites didn't find missing plane," by Dean Irvine, Irvine quotes that, "According to a 2006 FAA report, it would cost $4.6 billion to change to a satellite-based system in the U.S."

It may be expensive to upgrade, but if it could have the potential to save future airlines during crisis, then it would be worth it. A black box is good for now, but good may not be good enough. In the future, it should be mandatory to have the satellite tracking system.

All Aboard Air Twitter

In today's world, technology and social media can give huge benefits to many companies, including airlines. United Airlines recently committed to heavily utilizing Facebook and Twitter as means of communicating with their passengers.

On March 21, passenger Marybeth Cadotte was aboard a United airplane when the plane experienced mechanical issues. She tweeted the predicament at United's twitter handle and received a reply minutes later. They tweeted, “We hope to have you on your way soon.” United followed her case to ensure she had a successful end result. Soon after a mechanic showed up to the scene and Cadotte was off to catch her connecting flight. “The United app crashed, and people were on their phones talking to United. Twitter was definitely the way to go", said Cadotte.

This is just the beginning of large companies adopting social media as a way to connect with their consumers. Social media platforms provide customers with a magnified voice that can have a huge impact on a company's reputation.

University Writing Center Travel Writing Panel

James Madison University's University Writing Center (UWC) will be holding their first travel writing panel to educate and provide an opportunity to practice this genre of professional writing. The panel is on Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Harrison 1261. The event is hosted by the University Writing Center and the Office of International Studies. Several JMU professors from a variety of departments will share their travel experiences and give advice on how to write about traveling. 

Ready, Set, Roam believes this is a great opportunity to engage with experienced writers and travelers. On a daily basis, we post blogs about a variety of travel topics from transportation methods abroad to how to stay safe. At James Madison University, there are many resources that help students become better writers. The UWC aims to help students improve as writers, not to edit or proofread papers. They transfer their skills, provide resources and offer great responses and feedback. They coordinate events on campus to encourage students to utilize their services and even have walk in hours. For more information, visit their website at www.jmu.edu/uwc.

Love and the Eiffel Tower

Celebrating 125 Years this week!

The Eiffel Tower was not supposed to be the symbol of love that is today according to the creator Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.  In the end he, and his bitterness, had to leave the city to avoid his creation.

However, in the span of 125 years love continues to surround the Eiffel Tower. During my time in Paris, the Eiffel Tower brought the best memories. On a beautiful Parisian night people set up blankets with their loved ones and sat in front of the sparkling Eiffel Tower.

When Hannah and I settled by the Eiffel Tower one night, we brought a bottle of wine and a baguette and reflected on our adventures together and how blessed our lives had been up to that point.  Under the glow of the Eiffel Tower time stopped and we were just with each other. Romantic love of Paris did not sweep us off our feet but the love of humanity, family and friends did.

So I would recommend to anyone visiting Paris to take time to live simply. All you need is a friend, a bottle of wine and a baguette to enjoy the Eiffel Tower.  Good company, good wine and a night under the symbol of Parisian love is a European experience that you should not miss.

What is Backpacking? And who is Someone called a ‘Backpacker’?

By Aswetravel on March 30, 2010 in Before You Leave

What Is Backpacking?

In short, backpacking can be described as an independent, often international, low- budget way of travelling.

Someone who backpacks is called a ‘Backpacker’.

Backpackers generally travel for a longer period of time than most other tourists, and they tend to travel in several different countries during their time away.

The number of countries differs and a backpacker can be on the road all from a few weeks to several years.

However, that is again the short way of describing it.

Backpacking is a very loose definition – there are backpackers who go tramping in the forests sleeping in tents and on the beach, and hitch-hike their way around the world, and there are those who backpack with roller-bag suitcases, sleep in hotels and buy their own car to get around a country.

These are two completely different types of traveling, but they both like to call themselves backpackers.

You can however separate these into 3 different backpacking genres if you like:

• Backpacking RTW Travel
• Ultralight Backpacking
• Flashpacking

The two later ones are newer styles in ways of backpacking.

Ultralight Backpacking

What is Backpacking

Ultralight backpacking is becoming more and more popular.

Today the industry puts a lot of focus on making things ultra light. The backpacks are light like feathers, and the sleeping bags can be squashed down to the size of your palm.

This is definitely something for anyone to look into, as it could really help you ease some weight from your backpack.

These Ultralight backpackers go all the way, counting every ounce, cutting their toothbrushes in half to ease weight.

Although if this is your first time on the road, you will never understand WHY people would ever want to travel like this – but trust me after more than 6months travel, with your back hurting – you will start to consider this style of backpacking more and more.

You find more and more backpacker using smaller packs (under 50L) and buying lightweight clothes, quick drying towels etc.

I think in the future a balance between this style and Backpacking RTW Travel will become more and more normal.

Flashpacking

Flashpacking is a new type of backpacking. It is generally where you travel more expensively and with higher living standards.

Many people like to explain the definition of a flashpacker as someone who travels with a lot of tech gear like iPods and laptops and such, but I think that has become so common these days that nearly everyone carry an mp3 player with them, and laptops are hardly something expensive anymore – so the view of a Flashpacker now is more of someone who has all the latest stuff, doesn’t save up for a trip, spends his money on drinking, partying and staying in nicer places.

Another way to define the flashpackers would be to say – ‘THEY BACKPACK IN STYLE’. They prefer to go to the main guidebook destinations, do the main attractions, see what everyone else tells them to see – and they view backpacking more as an extending party than anything else.

The Changes Of Backpacking…

Backpacking has changed considerably the last decade. It has always been around, but today it’s easier than ever before.

The flight tickets are cheaper, in many places it’s safer, the communication is better etc.

Plus, you don’t have to take care of the boring part of traveling like plane tickets anymore, there are hundreds of organisations over the world that help you with that stuff.

Some people actually buy all their tickets to each country (including the one back home) before they’ve even left, through one of these companies.

All you do is to go into their office, tell them where you want to go, how long you’d like to stay in each place, and they’ll book all the flights you need for a trip round the whole world if that’s what you want.

Although, they obviously don’t work for free, and certainy won’t spend extra time looking for the cheapest flights.

There are also heaps of tours you can make. How about biking through Africa or New Zealand on a bicycle?

These days everything is more easily accessible, so that is also why you start to see more and more people leaving their home towns and exploring the world – which is such a wonderful thing, whatever way you do it.

The Original – Backpacking RTW Travel

This is the type of backpacking that you will find the most information about on our website. Backpacking in this term means traveling on a budget, usually for longer distances, seeing many different countries and for a longer time than normal holiday travelers.

These backpackers can be quite diverse, exploring different cultures and travel both in cities as well as on the country side.

Some of them might make a short hike for a few days or do some volunteer work, and then continue their travels – they view backpacking and travel more for seeing amazing new cultures and as a personal growth than as a party, or simply a short get away from the real world – they see the whole world as their home, and don’t really feel a need to get back to the ‘real-world’ anytime soon – travel is their life.

For you who weren’t quite sure what the term backpacking means, I hope this made it more clear for you and that you are now interested in also going out there no matter what type of backpacker you are and start exploring the world. It’s a real fun way to travel and it’s not just young people who do it – backpacking is for everyone!

If you’re already planning a backpacking RTW trip, stay tuned for our next 3 part series about how to choose the right backpack for your trip

Long-Term Travel Confessions

Blogger, DangerousBiz, confesses her disappointment regarding her long-term travel adventure in a recent blog post. Unfortunately, her sixth-month travel journey did not meet her expectations of falling in love with long-term travel like many of her friends.

DangerousBiz's previous travel experience consisted of short trips with other people, never a long journey by herself. In her blog post, entitled, A Confession, A Change of Plans, DangerousBiz describes her feelings of excitement before embarking on the journey. However, her excitement was met with immediate challenges that left her re-evaluating her plans after two months. Midway through, DangerousBiz found herself exhausted and running low on money, energy and enthusiasm. After carefully reflecting on her experience, DangerousBiz decided to end the trip early, heading home to the United States and postponing the rest of her journey. She struggled with the question of whether or not she was "giving up," but concluded that her decision to come home early wasn't giving up, but listening to her gut feeling. DangerousBiz recognizes that long-term travel didn't quite fit her lifestyle, but doesn't rule out travel altogether. She states you can still fit traveling into your lifestyle even if it consists of a job, permanent home, etc.

For those of you who may not be interested in spending months away from home long-term traveling, we hope you find DangerousBiz's blog inspiring. A large focus of Ready, Set, Roam is on study abroad, but this type of travel may not be for everyone. As DangerousBiz writes, there is no right or wrong way to travel and it is important to find the way that is right for you. Ready, Set, Roam hopes you find what works best for you and are inspired to travel, whether it be short-term or long-term!

Delta Narrows Bathrooms to Add 6 More Seats to Plane →

According to the blog, The Ticket, authors Chris McGinnis & Ramsey Quebein discuss many recent changes Delta Airlines has come out with. They talk about changes in SkyMiles vs SkyPpoints, Award Charts, sky snacks, Amex fees, and a new and improved bathroom with much narrower sinks. Just when you thought there was not enough bathroom space already, it gets smaller.

This article first caught my attention because my family and I are Delta regulars due to my dad being a frequent flyer who always has tons of SkyMiles. However, what ended up really capturing my attention was the new bathrooms Delta has recently been installing in their new planes. They figured out that when they narrow their sinks, they are able to add 6 more seats in the economy cabin. The designers removed the counter space to increase the room around the toilet. While it may seem narrower around the sink area, it is not so tight that an average-sized person will feel uncomfortable

If you have flown Delta recently and have experienced these new and perhaps not so improved bathrooms, comment below and tell us about your experience!

To read more about the Delta bathrooms and other Delta Airline changes, check out the rest of their blog! http://theticket-atlanta.com/skymiles-award-chart-skypoints-new-lavs-sky-club-snacks-amex-fees/