Spill your secrets about Vietnam

Cathay Pacific is adding better seats to its airplanes. On Oct. 18, the airline began offering these seats on its daily flights out of San Francisco. [Update 11/6: A Cathay Pacific spokesperson now says that the San Francisco flights will begin to offer these seats in March 2008.] On Nov. 16, it will add the seats to its flights out of New York City to Hong Kong. Last week, I got my first look at 'em. In economy-class, the most important new feature is that the seats no longer recline backward at an angle. Instead, the seats have cushions that slide down and recline into the shell of the seat. This is good news if you're someone who hates it when the passenger in front of you reclines his or her seatback into your space. But the legroom (called "seat pitch") remains the same: 32 inches. Tall passengers may find that Cathay Pacific's seat cushions now slightly move one's legs forward. However, airline spokespeople say this shouldn't be a problem. The seat frame and structure has been designed to max out knee and shin clearance by stripping out the awkward fixtures and fittings that jam up against the kneecaps on many airline seats. Another change: The pocket (or netting) that's used for storing magazines and other items has been moved by designers from underneath the tray table to underneath your seat, lessening the chance that your legs will touch it. Here are some other perks of the economy-class seats: Each seat comes with an eyeglass holder, which is a real boon if you wear specs and have had to store them while sleeping mid-flight. Each seat also comes with a 110-volt standard electric socket. As a standard feature, a coat-hook is also offered. Most important for some travelers, the seatback TV screen is nine-inches, somewhat larger than Cathay Pacific's previous standard for economy class. Each seat also has a three-point belt, which means that it will be much more obvious to flight attendants passing through the aisles whether your seat buckle is fastened. Today, the industry standard is, of course, the two-point belt. If you toss a blanket over top of your two-point belt while you're sleeping, you hide it from the flight attendant, who may have to disturb you to check to see that it is belt buckled during the flight. Not all Cathay Pacific flights have these seats, but they are being rolled out to all flights to-and-from the U.S. by May 2008. THE REAL DEAL This year, Cathay Pacific upgraded its famous All Asia Pass, enabling you to visit roughly two-dozen cities in 21 days. The pass includes travel to 23 cities in Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It costs $1,599. If you sign up for the airline's e-newsletter, you can qualify for a $200 discount for departures on certain days of the week. Additional airport taxes and fees are roughly $54 for the U.S. as well as from $20 to $80 for each foreign destination. The pass must be booked through a travel agent, who will likely charge a fee. EARLIER: Worst new idea in seating? Face-to-face seatbacks.

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises has long been known for a party-hearty philosophy (its first boat was named Hangover). But the company has recently been hit by various financial problems, as covered in a recent Budget Travel feature story. This morning, the Miami Herald reported that Windjammer has officially canceled Legacy's November 3 and November 10 cruises. The company now says it will resume its voyages—which haven't sailed in weeks—on November 17. [via Miami Herald.] EARLIER: Windjammer hits a rough patch. ADVICE What to do if your tour operator goes out of business. Photo by Digitalfilmphoto via Flickr and Creative Commons

As you may know, Facebook is the social-networking site of the hour. About 46 million members have joined and created profile pages, which list their favorite books, hobbies, and friends. If you aren't already a member, you're missing out on quite the party. It's free to sign-up, so why not give it a try? Washingtonpost.com (the big brother of BudgetTravel.com) has just launched a very savvy, useful Facebook application called newsTracker. It allows you to personalize the news articles that you want to follow, and it displays these articles in a remarkably intuitive format. NewsTracker takes about a minute to add to your Facebook page and to customize. I typed in "travel" as a search term. Now, each time I go to my Facebook page, I see a list of stories from hundreds of news sources (not just the WaPo) that match that topic. Full disclosure: I'm biased in touting newsTracker. The idea for the program came from Don Graham, the head honcho of the Washington Post Company, which owns BudgetTravel.com. Even so, I say without shame that if you're a news junkie or a frequent Facebook user, you'll find it worth taking out this app for a spin. It's fast and easy to install, and if you change your mind about it, it's fast and easy to uninstall, too. Facebook members can check out newsTracker by clicking here.

If you have a digital camera—you know, one of those $200 to $300 point-and-shoots—then you should listen to Allen Birnbach, a professional photographer in Denver and Los Angeles, who offers insights into taking better photos at TakeGreatPictures.com. He also teaches photography to hobbyists who own fancier cameras through his blog, abetterphotograph.com. In an interview, Allen offered the following tips on taking better photographs outdoors during the winter. If there's snow, be careful about where you're standing in relation to your subject. The relation between where you're shooting and where the sun is will affect how the snow appears in your photos—as a blank white space or as a textured surface. The key is to have sunlight come in from an angle, says Allen. "Most people would think that their best position as the photographer is always having the sun behind them, but not in this situation. Let's say, we're looking south, and the sun is coming from the east: That would be in an ideal position to get the snow looking realistic and not a blank, texture-less white. Alternatively, if you're facing into the west as the sun sets, you'll get your scene backlit by having sun in your pic. That could also make for a nice effect." Your photos can often become 50 percent better simply by returning to shoot the same setting on another day, or at a different time on the same day. If you're like me, the inspiration to take a photo often happens spontaneously. There's something about a setting, such as a backyard garden, that instantly says, "Snap a picture!" But Allen points out that such a scene might become even more photo-worthy when the light is better at a different time of day. Shoot at dawn or dusk. "If you shoot midday, it'll typically be hard to see surface details of the objects you're photographing because the sunlight will usually be too harsh. Late in the afternoon or early in the morning, as a rule of thumb, you'll find better natural light. Pro photographers who are shooting portraits of people outdoors always try to shoot during the early morning and late evening magic hours." Returning to a scene, you may get a much better shot. Opt for your camera's highest image quality setting. Many compact digital cameras these days give you an option to record images in various levels of image quality: standard, large, fine, and superfine. (Your camera may use different words for similar functions.) People tend to use the low-resolution image settings because low-res images don't eat up as much memory on a memory card, enabling you to cram more pictures onto a single card. "I recommend setting your camera to take pictures at the highest possible image resolution and then buy additional flash memory cards for you to take with you on your trip. Memory cards are inexpensive now, costing at about $40 to $70 a pop. These high-resolution images will look a lot sharper." Winter weather requires that you adjust your camera's settings. Most digital cameras have settings for adjusting to various light conditions, such as indoor, sunny, and nighttime. You can typically adjust these settings by going to your digital camera's electronic menu. (For example, you may see icons such as the image of a cloud covering the sun.) Some cameras instead use a number system called ISO, which is a measurement of the sensitivity of a camera's sensor to light. Says Allen, "The rule of thumb is on sunny days you could be working with an ISO of 100 to 200; on cloudy days, 200 to 400; and when it's twilight, 400 to 800. Don't go more than 800, or else you'll you get grain in the film or noise in the digital file. In other words, your photos will look odd." MORE TIPS: How to take better photos of your friends. (Advice from Budget Travel's photo department!) Read more tips from pro shooters at TakeGreatPictures.com. Here's a new device that cures awkward-arm syndrome for photographers. ($25, xshotpix.com.) Listen to a podcast of photographer Rick Sammon offering advanced digital photography tips. Before you buy a camera, visit this website. Photo by Allen Birnbach