| Kirilenko misses practice because of travel visa
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko missed practice Thursday because of a travel visa, a day before Utah faced the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals. Agent Marc Fleisher said Kirilenko had to finalize a travel visa for a family trip to France this summer and Thursday was the only day he could do it without having to wait another month. Fleisher said Kirilenko, who is a Russian citizen, told the Jazz ahead of time about the conflict and was given permission to miss practice. Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said Kirilenko told coach Jerry Sloan he had an appointment for the visa that had been scheduled for weeks. Kirilenko was still expected to start Friday night. The Jazz returned to Utah early Thursday after a 111-104 loss in Los Angeles, putting the Lakers up 3-2 in the series.
Ukrainians hanker after visa-free travel with the EU
Ukraine has been celebrating Europe Day in several of its cities this week, while calling for closer ties with the EU and for a clearer recognition of its European identity. But for ordinary Ukrainians, the real priority is for the EU to let them travel freely within its borders. At the moment, Ukrainians need a visa to travel to EU countries and the process for getting one is lengthy and expensive. Their frustration with the situation increased when their neighbours, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland joined the EU`s borderless zone in December and put in place the same entry requirements as other Schengen countries such as France, Germany and Spain. By contrast, most EU citizens have been allowed to travel to Ukraine without a visa since July 2005. Bulgarians and Romanians, as the newest members of the bloc, were granted the same waiver in January.
Gas costs likely to curb travel for Memorial Day
Fewer people nationwide are expected to hit the road this Memorial Day weekend because of skyrocketing gas prices, the AAA said a week before the traditional start of the summer travel season. "It looks like there's going to be a cutback this year for the first time in a long time," said Tom Crosby, spokesman for AAA Carolinas, which releases its Memorial Day forecast next week. Gas is still a bargain in South Carolina, compared with the rest of the country. The state's average of $3.63 a gallon falls behind only Arizona and Wyoming. Still, the average cost of a gallon of gas in South Carolina state is up 78 cents from last year and 41 cents from just a month ago. "We don't believe it's going to hit $4 a gallon before Memorial Day" in the Carolinas, Crosby said.
Recession-proof travel
With a tightening economy across the board and travel expenses in particular putting the squeeze on your budget (can you say "fuel prices?"), many travelers are looking for ways to "Go Anyway" without going broke as well. However, while it's important to keep an eye on your budget while traveling, there are certain parts of your trip where you may not want to cut corners. Following are my guidelines for when and when not to worry about money when traveling in a recession economy. Let's start by saying it's not necessarily all bad news out there for travelers — the dynamics of supply and demand sometimes work for you and sometimes work against you. As more folks opt to take fewer trips, take shorter trips or even stay home, the opposite effect is that there are more empty seats, open hotel rooms and rental cars on the lot — in short, more good deals.
Holiday travel to be down slightly
TAMPA - Experts are predicting an almost imperceptible drop in the number of people planning to travel across the nation during the Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA Auto Club South. Nationwide, 37.8 million people are expected to travel more than 50 miles, a decrease of 0.9 percent from last year's total of 38.2 million. The southeastern U.S. reflects the same rate of decrease, AAA officials said Thursday. In Florida, more than 2 million residents are expected to travel. In the Southeast, the number of people who intend to travel by car is projected to drop by 0.7 percent and the number going by plane is expected to decline 1.2 percent over last year's figure. Holiday auto travelers will find gas prices nationwide currently averaging $3.75 per gallon of self-serve regular gasoline - 40 cents higher than last month and 64 cents higher than this time last year.
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