03.29.13
The Department of Transportation delivered a sobering assessment of the safety record of recently shuttered Fung Wah Bus company, known for ferrying people cheaply between Boston and New York. Transportation Nation's Alex Goldmark reports. (Amy Farley)
Where’s Europe's dirty money? Gadling's Anna Brones reports that Oxford researchers tested currencies across the continent and found that the Danish krone has the highest bacteria count of them all. Hey, Denmark: Ever heard of money laundering? (A.F.)
A Norwegian economist is in the spotlight after proposing that airlines charge passengers according to their weight, a move that he claims “may provide significant benefits to airlines, passengers and society at large." CNN's James Durston has the scoop. (A.F.)
Cheeeeeeese! Slate presents a collection of vintage tourist shots by photographer Roger Minick, bringing back all sorts of memories of childhood family vacations. (Matt Haber)
Another slideshow, this time a beautiful side-by-side comparison of present-day Paris with photos from the turn of the century. (M.H.)
What happens to a man stuck in the 'It's a Small World' ride for 30 minutes? (M.H.)
Do not try this: Russian tourists illegally scaled the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Gawker's Max Read presents their admittedly pretty awesome (but so wrong!) photos. (M.H.)
The most terrifying hotel-based horror movie of all time now has a documentary dedicated to its most obsessive fans. Rodney Ascher's Room 237, which presents various interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, is out in limited release and is being hotly debated. Back in July 2010, The Atlantic's James Parker checked into The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado to experience the place that inspired Stephen King's novel. (M.H.)
A Los Angeles restaurant has gotten some attention for tweeting about its no-show guests. (Peter Schlesinger)
A list of international airlines that'll keep WiFi junkies happy, via The Points Guy.(Jennifer Flowers)
How stunning is this new airport terminal that just opened in Amman, Jordan? Plus, it's super green. Inhabitat's Charley Cameron shows us the Queen Alia Airport. (Nikki Ekstein)
Google maps steps it up again, with live transit updates in NYC, Washington DC, and Salt Lake City. TechCrunch's Drew Olanoff has the scoop (hat tip to Skift's Samantha Shankman). (N.E.)
03.29.13
Can you guess where this beach is? I took it a few weekends ago on short weekend getaway from New York. Head over to our Facebook page and leave your guesses there. Check back on Monday for the answer!
Lyndsey Matthews is an assistant digital editor at Travel + Leisure.
Photo Courtesy of Lyndsey Matthews
03.29.13
"Check out the big green lady!"
I looked in the direction my kids were pointing across the New York Harbor and couldn't disagree with their assessment. From the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, the Statue of Liberty loomed large and lovely.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but despite living in New York for more than twenty years, I've never visited. This summer, I'm determined to make that trip. Closed since October due to damage from Hurricane Sandy, Lady Liberty is re-opening July 4. I have no more excuses.
Clara Sedlak is a mom of two and a senior editor at Travel + Leisure.
03.29.13
It’s not often that we want to accessorize à la Carmen Miranda. But Colombian-born designer Nancy Gonzalez, known for her exotic-skin bags, has won us over with these too-cute-to-resist woven crocodile wristlets. Cue the samba! Available by special order at Bergdorf Goodman; 800/558-1855; from $2,550.
Photo by John Lawton
03.29.13
Now that spring has sprung, we’re daydreaming about Portugal’s spectacular southern Algarve region, filled with whitewashed towns and miles of sun-soaked coastline—and with a price tag like this one, it’s all within reach. Find more gems by checking out our full list of agents and Standout Properties in the March issue’s Global Guide to Villa Rentals.
THE COUNTRYSIDE HIDEAWAY
Casa Abelha, Algarve, Portugal
$140 per night, per room
The Details: This four-bedroom retreat is the perfect base for exploring the region’s sandy beaches and postcard-perfect villages. Start your mornings on the sun-dappled terrace with a decadent breakfast spread made with produce from the local market; cool off in the afternoons with a dip in the pool, which overlooks rolling green hills.
The Agent: Abercrombie & Kent Villas; akvillas.com.
Jennifer Flowers is an Associate Editor at Travel + Leisure and part of the Trip Doctor news team. Find her on Twitter at @JennFlowers.
Photo courtesy of Abercrombie & Kent Villas
03.29.13
The London hotel boom continues with a handful of new and newly-rebranded hotels popping up in London. The Nadler Soho (pictured) is scheduled to launch mid-May, entering a crowded field of other affordable hotels like Aloft, Citizen M, La Suite West, Z Hotels, and the upcoming Hudson. It will be the second London property and the new flagship from Nadler Hotels (formerly known as base2stay). The 78 rooms, with their in-room kitchenettes, will have courtyard-facing terraces or views of Soho Square. There won’t be a restaurant but the hotel promises that each of its staffers—including the “local ambassadors” at the front desk—will be able to provide insider tips on the local scene.
Also set to launch this May, in South Kensington is the Xenia Hotel, with 99 contemporary rooms in a restored Victorian building. Apparently the restaurant will bring a health-conscious Italian cuisine concept to the U.K. for the very first time, while the bar will feature a terrace with an herb garden and (of course) a cigar menu.
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03.29.13
You already knew that the bottle of Evian on your hotel room nightstand comes with a hefty price tag. But if you happen to see a swanky, Yves Behar-designed bottle next time you’re traveling, that charge will go to a good cause.
Last week, a number of luxury hotel chains, including several Ritz-Carltons, Dusit International, Banyan Tree, Six Senses, Soneva, and others have signed on to a new campaign called Whole World Water, whereby each property will filter, bottle, and sell their own water rather than importing. The proceeds go to various clean water programs around the world, yielding an estimated $1 billion-a-year to resolve our global water crisis.
Speaking about what prompted the idea, co-founder Jenifer Willing said, "There are one billion people who live without clean water, and one billion tourists travelling the globe each year." And the idea has (sea) legs: Richard Branson, Edward Norton, Treehugger founder Graham Hill, and Charity: Water president Cristoph Gorder are all pledging support. We couldn’t agree more.
Nikki Ekstein is an Editorial Assistant at Travel + Leisure and part of the Trip Doctor news team. Find her at on Twitter at @nikkiekstein.
Photo courtesy of World Water
03.28.13
New reading apps and aggregators are in the spotlight this week, as Google Reader officially goes dark. And as it turns out, our favorite replacement for Google's popular RSS reader is a proving a great tool for travel planning, too: Feedly not only aggregates content from your favorite blogs, it also de-clutters the search process so that you can easily find the inspiration you’re looking for. (Think: #London #food.)
For users of the old Google Reader, Feedly will still deliver all the basic functions you’ve come to know and love (though we haven’t yet found a way to search for other people’s reading bundles). Google Reader subscriptions are automatically updated into your Feedly stream, to make the transition seamless. And to improve upon the old model, Feedly introduces magazine-style reading, with big, splashy images that feel far less daunting than a long list of headlines.
After a pilot run, our favorite travel features are without a doubt access to hotel deals. A reading list filled with special offers from Expedia, Orbitz, and each of the Starwood brands (Luxury Collection, Le Meridien, W, Westin, to name a few), is teasing us today with free champagne and breakfast in bed in Paris, or a free night’s stay in Hong Kong. And on other tabs, our London, Paris, and Rome lists offer the latest on museum exhibits, restaurant openings, and cultural events. What’s not to love?
Nikki Ekstein is an Editorial Assistant at Travel + Leisure and part of the Trip Doctor news team. Find her at on Twitter at @nikkiekstein.
Photo courtesy of Feedly
03.28.13
Where does browsing end and loitering begin?
Mark Galpin, owner of Alladin's Cave, an antique shop in Christchurch, in Southwest England might say that the "oitering" starts as soon as you enter his establishment. The shopkeeper has made his store the subject of a brouhaha recently after he posted signs that say "Sorry No Tourists" and banned shoppers who don’t live within a 30-mile radius. "We have put up with it for three years, and we believe that maybe one in every 2,500 tourists has spent a pound or two," Galpin told the Daily Mail. "The rest have spent nothing." The sign explains the ban on the grounds that the store's items would be too large to ship. ("So, scram, why doncha!" is all but implied.)
Galpin told reporters that his sales have shot up since the ban—now that there's more room for paying customers to wander around—but some of Christchurch’s civic leaders are not happy about it. "It's just so depressing that we have got one eccentric trader taking this stance," Peter Watson-Lee, the chairman of the Christchurch Chamber of Trade, told reporters. "Tourists bring a lot of money into the town. He is in the wrong town if he doesn’t want to welcome them."
Galpin reportedly said that he might consider allowing tourists again—if they chip in some money to a pot for charitable donations.
Photo by Peter Jordan_NE / Alamy
03.28.13
Thanks to collaborative chef dinners—in which chefs invite fellow toques to take over their kitchens for a night—diners have the chance to sample dishes that would normally require a plane ticket to taste. Here, a few of our favorite upcoming events:
Graffiato, Washington, D.C.
On the first Monday of each month, head to this Italian-inspired spot in D.C.’s Chinatown, where chef/owner Mike Isabella recently launched Industry Takeover Nights. From 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., the kitchen is turned over to chefs and mixologists for late-night snacks and cocktails. Coming up: Kyle Bailey and Tiffany MacIsaac, the husband-and-wife team behind Dupont Circle’s forthcoming fried chicken-and-donut concept GBD (May 6), and Jamie Bissionnette of Boston’s always-packed tapas restaurant Toro, coming soon to New York (June 3).
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