July, 2021 - Getaway4

Texas man told Bumble match he participated in Capitol riot, DOJ says

Posted on July 26, 2021 | by getaway4 | Leave a Comment

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A Texas man was arrested last week after telling a Bumble match of his participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents.

Andrew Quentin Taake, 32, of Houston, is accused of pepper-spraying and assaulting police officers who were trying to prevent rioters from entering the building, federal authorities said. Taake is charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, obstruction of an official proceeding, among other charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The FBI received a tip about Taake’s participation in the riot from a tip provided by someone he matched with on the dating app, according to a criminal complaint filed July 23. Screenshots of the conversation show Taake sharing pictures of him at the riot, captioned “About 30 minutes after being sprayed,” the document said.

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The FBI followed up on the tip by pulling records of Taake’s travel plans that show that he departed from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas to Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Maryland on Jan. 5, according to the criminal complaint. He returned to Houston through the same airports on Jan. 8, right after the insurrection, the complaint added.

The FBI also found publicly posted photos and videos of Taake at the U.S. Capitol that day with a whip-like weapon in his hand, the court document said. Footage from body-worn cameras by the Metropolitan Police Department showed Taake using pepper spray and the metal whip against police, according to the criminal complaint.

After tracking down a FedEx driver who delivered a package to Taake’s home, the FBI brought photos of Taake to the driver, the document said. The driver was able to identify him.

Taake is the second suspect from the U.S. Capitol after a Bumble match alerted authorities. Robert Chapman of New York was arrested and charged in April after his potential love interest reported a photo he shared of him boasting about being a part of the riot.

The criminal complaint showed similar screenshots from Bumble. “I did storm the capitol,” Chapman messaged his match. “I made it all the way into Statuary Hall!”

“We are not a match,” the Bumble match, whose name was not shared, replied.

In the six months since the insurrection, more than 535 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the riot, according to the Justice Department.. Over 165 of the 535 have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, the department said.

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Americans are Flocking to Mexico. Should They Be?

Posted on July 16, 2021 | by getaway4 | Leave a Comment

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“During Covid, bookings never slowed down,” she said, noting that some resorts are planning to begin charging for the tests later this month, with rates running from $50 to $150.

In Los Cabos, Mr. Chung paid $40 for his Covid test.

Lynda Hower, a travel adviser based in Pittsburgh, was vacationing in the Cancún area with her family earlier this month. She said the airport customs lines were crowded with several flights landing at the same time, resulting in little social distancing. To reach the resort, she opted for a private transfer. A few days before returning home, the family was tested for free at the resort and able to receive their negative results via text at the pool.

“It was very professional,” she said, noting she got the results in 20 minutes.

No 4 a.m. tequila shots

The state of Jalisco, home to Puerto Vallarta, is green on the stoplight system, and it’s not hard to spot a tourist in town, especially as travel has picked up this year.

“The majority are still masked down here and if someone is not masked, you can assume they are probably a tourist,” said Robert Nelson, a California native who lives in Puerto Vallarta and runs the subscription website Expats in Mexico. “We are working hard to get more people vaccinated, but we need a little help from the folks visiting to abide by the local regulations.”

But even compliant travelers will find the experience changed, because of fewer visitors or safety protocols.

“Don’t expect bars to allow you to stay until 4 or 5 in the morning doing shots,” Mr. Nelson added.

In San Miguel de Allende, the popular colonial town in Guanajuato in central Mexico, public statues are dressed in masks and anyone entering the central plaza must pass through an arch that mists sanitizer. Local police admonish visitors to wear or pull up their masks and have been known to take scofflaws to jail for flouting the rules.

Ann Kuffner, an American retiree who has been living in San Miguel de Allende for the past three years, is telling friends who want to visit to wait until fall when vaccination rates will be higher and the events for which San Miguel is known, such as Day of the Dead festivities, may safely return.

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Rental car shortage means sticker shock for New Mexico travelers | Local News

Posted on July 6, 2021 | by getaway4 | Leave a Comment

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Off-the-charts sticker shock is in play as travelers who need a rental car try to make a booking.

Travel is surging exponentially, but the rental car supply is still stuck in neutral after companies sold nearly half their fleets during the pandemic.

Santa Fe native Megan Eaves found that out when she wanted to book a car for her usual visit back home from London, where she has lived for 10 years as a travel writer and communication consultant.

“The prices are astronomical,” Eaves wrote in an email. “$150-200/day. I saw one pretty normal SUV advertised for around $6,000 for my three-week visit. I guess I could probably buy a used car for that amount!”

Eaves recalled rental car rates in prior years at about $40 to $60 per day.

An online review of rental car rates for July 9-12 showed the lowest prices in Santa Fe at about $100 a day and climbing to $150 and $200. Rental car companies at the Albuquerque International Sunport typically listed low prices in the range of $60 to $70 per day, but most daily rentals were $120 to $178.

Jonathan Weinberg, founder and CEO of AutoSlash, a Garden City, N.Y.-based website that helps consumers save money on auto rentals, said Albuquerque rental prices are generally lower than the national average. “I haven’t seen many sell-out situations in Albuquerque,” he said.

Charles and Vicky Huettner traveled the nostalgic way from Chicago to Santa Fe — via Amtrak.

They rented a car from Avis.

“They gave us a good deal,” Vicky Huettner said as the couple waited at the Avis/Budget site for a shuttle to the Lamy station to catch their train ride home.

“We are senior citizens,” she added. “It was less than $400 for seven days. That was reasonable. The first company we called was Enterprise. They didn’t have any cars.”

The car rental market got nailed at the front end of the pandemic and now at the back end. The semiconductor shortage has stifled the new car market that rental car companies rely on to replenish their fleets.

“Back last year when COVID first hit, car rentals dropped 90 percent,” Weinberg said. “They really needed to sell off as many cars as they could as fast as they could. Three-quarter of a million cars were sold to the used car market. I think up to half of their fleets were sold.”

This came amid the collapse of air travel in the opening days of the pandemic. There was no sense of when the pandemic would let up or how long it would take for tourism to resume.

In 2019, typically 2.4 million to 2.7 million people passed through U.S. airport Transportation Security Administration checkpoints each day. That number dropped to 593,000 by March 19, 2020, and 90,000 by April 11, 2020, according to TSA statistics.

As recently as Feb. 2, 2021, only 493,000 people passed through airport checkpoints, but the number was more than 1 million ever day after March 11 and returned to 2 million June 11.

“Fast-forward to 2021, we first noticed a [rental car] shortage on Presidents Day weekend,” Weinberg said. “People started feeling comfortable traveling. Eighteen to 20 airports in Florida were completely sold out of rental cars. We never saw that before. We thought it was a one-time thing. We started seeing it week after week and in other popular places.”

Rental car companies had never had a problem buying vehicles before this year, he said, calling the situation a “perfect storm of factors”: Demand for rental cars returned more quickly than companies could buy cars.

Weinberg said low rental car rates across the country in 2019 were about $30 to $35 per day, with some places offering rates as low as $19 or even $15.

“We doubled or tripled prices, basically,” he said.

Rental car companies in Santa Fe referred questions to corporate offices, which did not specifically comment on local car supplies.

“We anticipate strong demand for car rental throughout the summer and encourage customers to book as early as possible and at the same time they’re making other travel arrangements,” Hertz said in a statement. “Another tip is to consider booking at a neighborhood car rental location which may have more availability when airport volumes are high.”

Enterprise Holdings said in its statement: “In addition to increased overall demand, other trends we are seeing are increases in the length of rentals and demand for specialty vehicles such as vans, pick-up trucks, convertibles, and large SUVs. If you’re planning travel, we encourage you to reserve a vehicle as early as possible. Providing flexible travel dates and branch pick up locations in your search may also help increase your options.”

Eaves, 39, was able to solve her transportation matters without relying on a rental car during her visit to Santa Fe from London.

“I’m keeping an eye on the prices, but a very generous friend has offered me use of their extra car, so I will probably take her up on that,” Eaves said.

“I really want to travel around and enjoy the beauty of the state if I can — camping, hiking, hot springs and wide landscapes,” she added. “I will probably rely otherwise on family, friends and, of course, the Rail Runner. I love that train.”

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