Follow-up

I did a little research and the service guy at Saturn of Fairfax was actually incorrect about the odometer law. It just says that a notice has to be attached to the left side driver's door that the odometer reading does not reflect the actual mileage. In fact, several states specify that the new odometer has to be set to zero. (I could not find information about Virginia's law specifically in the 10 minutes or so I was willing to devote to this.)

Still, 500 bucks will probably cover most of my expenses for my trip to Cambodia in December. And, as someone else I know with a stuck Saturn odometer pointed out, there is always a risk of them breaking something else in the process of replacing it.

United News - Bad and Good

I got an email from United that, effective 1 July, they will give only actual mileage for short hops instead of the 500 mile minimum. That certainly changes the equation for me on the puddle-hopper from Denver to Colorado Springs. I'm also glad that my upcoming trip to the Springs is in June.

The good news involves their upcoming new service (in October) to Dubai and Moscow. The good part is that the Moscow service will be into Domodedovo (DME), not Sheremetyevo (SVO). Why is that good? Because DME has an express train connection to central Moscow. SVO has bus service to connect to the metro system, but Moscow traffic is horrendous. Not that I'm planning a trip to Moscow in the foreseeable future, having been there twice, but there is always the chance of going through there on the way to somewhere else. (Solovetsky Island, for example, interests me.)

On the personal travel front, my plans for Madagascar are coming together nicely. I was amused today to get an email from the travel agent I'm working with reiterating (at the request of the Malagasy agent he works with) how rough one segment will be. But it will get me to places that are decidedly off the beaten track for Western tourists and should be well worth it.