Nas Air, the first no-frills budget airline in Saudi Arabia flew for the first time February 17. This first flight, basically for media and publicity purposes, was led literally by the CEO, who is a trained pilot.

The ticket fares offered by Nas Air reportedly have the potential to be dirt cheap. I say potential, because it depends how early you book. The earlier, the better. Also, they are supposedly offering good discounts to those who purchase online at FlyNas.com.

Nas Air will officially open to all Arabians on February 25, 2007 with flights offered on one of its three Airbus A320s. Nas Air has big plans though, and expects to become a huge player in the budget airline market. They hope to have eight planes in their fleet in a year, and plan to service 23 Saudi Arabian destinations in two years. After that, they want to go international and will have an IPO. Yeah, like I said, big plans.

This happens to remind me a lot of Jet Blue and Emirates. Jet Blue, because of their urgency to grow and aggressiveness as a young airline. Emirates because Nas Air is exploiting (in a good way) an untapped middle-class Middle Eastern market.

If Nas Air doesn’t pull a downfall like their US rapper counterpart (sorry for the pop culture reference) they could become the next RyanAir or easyJet. Watch out Saudi Arabian Airlines.

The story from ArabNews

While traveling internationally, the potential language barrier can be a bit intimidating. Luckily for Americans, English is so widespread that US travelers can often get by without knowing any of the foreign language of their host country.

To me, that kind of ruins the point of traveling. It’s much more interesting using the native language of the country you are visiting, as it allows you to learn so much more about their culture.

So I’m going to examine a few low cost language learning systems that will offer you Spanish, French, German, Farsi, Hindu, Chinese, Korean, or Italian lessons before you travel internationally.

1. Rosetta Stone Language Learning Software

There are many different “at home” language learning programs that travelers can indulge in. Rosetta Stone is probably the leader in the computer market as they offer the highly touted language learning software that is suppose to have great results. It’s supposedly a favorite among governmental and business users looking to learn foreign languages. Rosetta Stone focuses on the natural way to learn languages without the “dictionaries or grammar books, without memorization or translation”

Rosetta Stone software will run you about $200 for level one, $225 for level two, or both levels for $330. It does seem pretty steep, but when you consider how comprehensive the lessons are, and how big of an investment it is, $330 really isn’t that much.

2. Language Learning Audio

Much like Rosetta Stone’s monopoly of learning language software, The Pimsleur Language Learning System owns the audio language market. The Pimsleur language learning method is supposed to also be natural, and not consist of “memorize the following verbs” instructions.

The Pimsleur audio systems include a 10 day money back guarantee. “Start speaking any language within 10 days or receive a full and courteous refund.” So they must have confidence in their teaching techniques.

3. Language Books

Well, I found this to be kind of a crossover category, because no real “exclusive” books on Amazon offer to teach you a foreign language by text alone. Most books come with an audio CD to aid you in your language practice, which is probably necessary so you can pronounce and understand words.

Dover’s Listen and Learn French seems to be popular on Amazon.com. The way to find the best language books + audio cds is probably through Amazon or Barnes and Noble. A bunch of research with customer reviews will help you find the best product for you.

As spring approaches, the Caribbean is the place to be. A large assortment of Caribbean Islands will be hosting the internationally renowned Cricket World Cup, which has lead to looser travel restrictions in ten Caribbean nations. I’m going to offer a few budget friendly travel tips as I promised in my previous post on the Caribbean Cricket world cup.

Traveling on a tight budget this spring could be tricky as most of the Caribbean will be buzzing with excitement from the Cricket World Cup. This event, paired with the Caribbean’s reputation of being crowded anyways, could put the tourist saturation at all time highs.

But for cricket fans and travelers, these roadblocks still may not be enough to sway your convictions. The locations that are included under the lax travel restrictions are:

• Barbados
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Dominica
• St. Lucia
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Grenada
• St. Vincent and The Grenadines
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• St. Kitts and Nevis

Of these destinations, I have found Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Barbados offer the best budget friendly deals. Cheap lodging is usually the hardest thing to find, and possible deals include:

St. Lucia: Ashley’s Inn from $35USD a night, and Fox Grove Inn from $45 a night.

Barbados: The Rio Guesthouse is a neat hostel that has rates from $30 a bed. This looks like a great deal at a pretty cool place.

Jamaica: Has plenty of hostels available listed on HostelWorld.com. Prices are usually around $20 a night, but may get as high as $40 in resort areas.

For flights, if you’re lucky you might be able to find a dirt cheap flight with Spirit Airlines. Otherwise, on other airlines, expect a round trip fare to range between $400 and $600, depending on your location. From major hubs, expect to be around $450-500ish range.

Other tips? Well, be smart and use your wisdom developed from reading my lengthy posts to make good fiscal decisions if you travel to the Caribbean.