New Jersey takes the prize for the highest percentage of passports issued: 68.36%. At the low end: Mississippi, with just 19.86%.

Via C.G.P. Grey, see the graphic below:

For the “yes, but…” file: This dataset actually reflects addresses for issuance, not ownership of US passports. That’s because it’s based on addresses at the time of application, so if you got your passport when you live in Los Angeles and then move to St. Louis, you’re in the California stats, not the Missouri stats.

Also, since it’s based on US passports, it doesn’t take into account the sizable non-citizen resident population. So, for example, green card holders aren’t included.

But while these data aren’t perfect, they probably capture the majority of reality.

Data junkie? Hit the raw data directly from the US government, or view the data in Google Apps spreadsheet form, as organized by blogger C.G.P. Grey.

Thanks, Ben!

Maybe getting into a shuttle bus and tooling around Istanbul after seven hours on an Airbus isn’t your cup of tea, but if you’re up for it, then focus on the key term in that previous sentence: Free!

From the website for their program, IstanbulInHours.com, some of the details of the six-hour tour:

If you have a transit flight from Istanbul and have more than 6 hours waiting time for your connecting flight, you can visit our hotel desk to join our free city tour and experience the glamorous city that connects Europe to Asia as land and also as culture.

After you apply to our Hotel Desk which can be found at the airport, you will be picked up by a private tour guide and get to see most significant historical places of Istanbul. There are two 6-hour tours daily; one starts at 09:00 and ends at 15:00, and the other one is from 12:00 to 18:00. You will be taken to airport after your tour ends. The transportation in Istanbul and the transportation to and from the airport will be done by free shuttles.

All your transportation, meal and museum fees will be met by Turkish Airlines. If you have any further questions, please visit our FAQ page or contact us.

All transportation, meals, and museum fees are covered? Wow.

Are you going to get a full taste of Istanbul in six hours? Of course not. Will you be tired? Quite likely. But you’ll get a brief taste of some major sights.

How viable is it to actually take advantage of this? Remember, you need to be transiting Turkey internationally, not just making a connection from an international flight. Depending on your destination, the timetable may not make it possible.

Since I’ve never participated in these tours (or even been to Turkey, yet), I can’t vouch for the quality of the tours, so don’t take this as an endorsement, per se. But I really like the idea, so hats off to Turkish for offering this. Bonus points since they’re not just doing it for business class passengers. Even economy gets in on the action.

I’m curious to hear if others have any experience with this. If anyone out there has done a free Turkish Airlines Istanbul tour, post your story in the comments.

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I started my morning with another needle in the arm, finishing the cycle of what I hope is the last vaccine I could realistically need for many years. It feels like I’ve had them all… typhoid, yellow fever, meningococcal meningitis… you name it. I suppose there’s, say, a cholera vaccine that I could be getting, but I’m pretty much covered at this point for travel to just about anywhere.

It wasn’t always that way. For years, I never really gave vaccination a second thought. I figured, I wasn’t traveling to disaster areas, so where was the risk? Silly me. I ended up picking up a nasty bug that could have been avoided with a few vaccines. Luckily, my body beat it, with no long-term consequences, but it was a painful experience that knocked me out of commission.

So I’m no longer messing around. Now, when travel takes me to a country or region I haven’t been to before, I check the Center for Disease Control’s destination pages. The individual country pages list vaccines, pre-or post-travel medications (such as anti-malarials) to plan for, and general warnings about things to look out for, to avoid regional illness to which non-locals are susceptible.

For the sake of your health, and, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, for the peace of mind of your loved ones, don’t be an idiot. Don’t risk your health when you travel. Get your shots.

But this year, more and more travel companies are getting in the Black Friday game (and the lame online follow-up Cyber Monday). My inbox has filled up with deals and offers from companies trying to get a piece of the Black Friday revenue pie. Many (most!) are vacation-package related.

Here are a few deals of note, for your comparison shopping needs. Note the expiration dates on these promo codes:

• Hotels.com is pitching an offer of 50% off hotels — plus a free Flip camera if you’re among the first 500 people to book a 4-day hotel stay using the promo code 4DAY — for bookings made from 11/26 to 11/30. Don’t count on that camera, but a 50% off rate is solid, if you can get it.
• InterContinental, Holiday Inn, and other hotels in that group are offering “up to” 20% off for bookings made on 11/26 or 11/29. No code needed.
• Travelocity is offering $100 off flight+hotel packages of 4 nights’ stay or more, off a $1000 or more package. Use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY on 11/26 or 11/27.
• Expedia is offering a similar $100 off coupon for vacation packages to Hawaii, the Caribbean, or Mexico, with the promo code BlackFriday2010. Their deal is valid from 11/26 through 11/29.
• Expedia, again: Get a $50 pre-paid debit card if you book a 3+ night hotels stay “at select Expedia hotels.” From 11/26 to 11/29.
• LuxuryLink, which has both auctions and buy-it-now vacation packages for sale, is giving 10% off vacation packages with promo code 1NOV25LL through 11/29.
• FamilyGetaway is giving 15% off vacation packages with promo code THANKS15FG. Through 11/29.
• CheapCaribbean promises good deals for packages to the Caribbean (duh) on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but I haven’t seen any specifics. Their sales have historically been strong, so it may be worth a look. No promises on this one, though.
• Funjet is offering up to $300 off flight+hotel packages to Mexico, Caribbean or Hawaii with promo code ULTRABFCM. Valid longer than most, through 12/2.
• Southwest Airlines is offering flight+hotel package promos, with discounts up to $125. Use promo code: BLKFRI2010 by 12/2.

FareCompare wants you to go on a mileage run
The folks at FareCompare are running a sweepstakes of sorts, offering the lucky winner the opportunity to go on a mileage run for up to 15,000 miles of travel on the airline of their choice. If you’re just shy of elite status (re)qualification and have time to kill, it can’t hurt to enter.

OpenSkies knocks $200 off fares to Paris
All-premium carrier (and British Airways subsidiary) OpenSkies has a promo code for $200 off flights from New York to Paris if you book and fly by November 30, 2010. Promo code is PAR200DO.

Citibank brings back the 75,000-mile American AAdvantage bonus
Well, that didn’t take long… While the mega-bonuses on new Citibank/American Airlines credit cards ended on October 31, a new offer is already up. 75,000 miles after $4000 spend within 6 months, with no annual fee. Not quite as easy to attain as the last round of offers, but still a fine, fine way to collect some major mileage balances. (via Gary Leff)

Now, back to the polls…

The video also taught me a new word: Snarge. (The aforementioned remnants of dead bird on aircraft parts.)

One warning: The image of dozens and dozens of drawers filled with taxidermed birds (starting at 0:38) may make you rather sad.

Upgraded: Pushback against Homeland Security searches
If you arrive in the United States from overseas, your laptop, cellphone, or other electronic device is treated as if it were a suitcase, subject to search and seizure. It’s as if your data is a bag of dirty clothes inside your bag. Why? You’re in the gray area of the customs area — not quite admitted to the United States, but still on United States soil — so there has been no clarity in the question of whether constitutional protections against warrantless and unreasonable searches are applicable or not. Now, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, challenging the department’s authority to search and seize electronic equipment “without reasonable suspicion.” I’m looking forward to a court clearing this up, and rooting for the ACLU here.

Downgraded: Travel for American citizens
A fringe pastor in a tiny church in Florida threatens to burn Korans — and then backs down — but the damage is done, and the State Department is relegated to issuing a global travel alert for American citizens traveling overseas. Just awesome.

Upgraded: Rationale for lousy interior design
Vegas hotels go for the razzle-dazzle… but why are the casino carpets so hideously awful? It’s not a bug, it’s a feature: Ugly casino carpets lead to more gambling. And I thought that gaudy designs and bright colors subconsciously led to faster turnover, like at brightly-colored fast food restaurants?…

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Before this morning, I had never heard of Socotra. Now, it’s on my “places to see before you die” list.

For those, like me, who never heard of it before: It’s an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, just 150 miles off the coast of the Horn of Africa. One third of its plant life is found nowhere else. It’s the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, for lack of a better metaphor.

The natural formations and flora look like scenes from Avatar. It looks like an alien landscape. Roads were only built on the island, which belongs to Yemen, in 2006.

Accommodations on this island of 40,000 are, as you might suspect, quite limited. As per Wikipedia, Yemenia and Felix Airways fly from Socotra Airport to Sanaa and Aden via Mukalla (RIY – Riyan Airport). The Sanaa service is everyday, while Aden flights are available only Mondays (as of December 2009).

There’s an amazing set of photos over at Dark Roasted Blend, so I just suggest browsing over there and looking at the whole thing. If anyone has been there, I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks to reader J for the tip!

Upgraded: Lawsuit chutzpah
So a disgruntled passenger who paid $25 to American Airlines to transport her checked back, and whose bag was lost, is suing the airline for $5 million. Umm, I think the suit is a little out of scale here. And now American is saying that they weren’t even the airline to transport the woman: the passenger was apparently rebooked onto another airline (presumably United) when the original American Eagle flight was canceled. Pass the popcorn!

Upgraded: ANA
Japanese airline ANA has made technological breakthroughs that will allow it to start serving draft beer in flight. Bravo, ANA! (Via View from the Wing)

Upgraded: Laughs, literally at Carnival’s expense
Carnival Cruise Lines is introducing comedy clubs on all 22 of its ships. It’ll be dubbed “Punchliner.” Har har har. Take that, Lido deck!

Upgraded: oneWorld
The oneWorld alliance got a boost recently when American Airlines, Iberia, and British Airways got the green light for anti-trust immunity on transatlantic routes. Not a big surprise. A bigger surprise: German semi-discount carrier Air Berlin is joining the alliance. That adds a few more locations to the oneWorld map.

Upgraded: Taking airport privacy to absurd levels
If the prospect of a full-body scan disturbs you — and yes, they CAN see your privates — then perhaps it’s time to invest in some FlyingPasties. (Warning: Potentially unsafe for work, if a pasties-covered female figure doesn’t make the cut for your at-work monitors…)

Upgraded: Alaska Airlines’ green cred
Alaska Airlines has tested a new method of landing, which uses satellite technology to guide the plane down more smoothly than traditional “descend and maintain 5000 feet” directions can do. The airline claims the procedures can reduce noise and cut fuel burn by a third. A third. Yowza.

Policies vary by carrier, of course, and in this instance it was Delta’s policy that applied.

Delta charges a $100 (or 100 euro) fee when a minor is traveling alone. For that fee, a flight attendant will hold onto the boarding passes, passport, etc., and the airline agrees to release the minor only to a specified person at the destination.

Fees vary by airline, of course. So does service. Just as an example, Lufthansa promises a great deal more attention to the unaccompanied minor:

On board your child is welcomed and looked after by a stewardess during the flight. On the plane the child has a special seat located close to the flight attendants so that they can be on hand immediately. Games, crayons and colouring books and their own entertainment programme ensures – irrespective of the length of the flight and the route – that your child feels comfortable throughout.

Lufthansa’s rate varies according to distance flown. For a trans-Atlantic flight, for example, it’ll cost $150 or 100 euros. (Note the variation in exchange rates between Lufthansa and Delta…)

These were fees I wasn’t aware of. When I mentioned this to another friend, he expressed outrage at the cost. “They don’t actually take on real liability, so what are you paying for? Someone to hold the kid’s passport? What a ripoff!” Years ago, this service — like so many others — was free.

I think Lufthansa has the right idea by charging a fee that varies, depending on the distance flown. But it’s still pretty hefty.

So the question goes to you: Is it fair to charge a fee for unaccompanied minors? If so, how much? Parents, what do you think? Hit the comments…