Travel News
10.29.09
Is there anything more annoying than being forced to listen to others chit-chat on their cell phones? (Truth be told, I don’t care if your brother’s friend’s girlfriend’s sister broke up with you know who…) So I’m holding out that US airlines will keep in-flight mobile use out of the air.
Across the Atlantic, it’s another story. Passengers flying Emirates, Royal Jordanian, and Ryan Air, are already free to make calls and phone use agreements have recently been announced for Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Hong Kong Airlines, and select British Airways business-class only flights.
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10.28.09
An interesting hybrid between digital point-and-shoots and bigger, bulkier DSLRs, the new Olympus E-P1 ($799) combines a lot of the best of both worlds. (Tech writer Jonathan Blum does a great job summing it up here.)
What excites me the most about this camera is the pinhole-camera mode, which approximates the unpredictable, low-fi charm of a 120 Holga or Diana toy camera. It has a way of making the most prosaic of scenes look strangely appealing, with crazy-vivid color. The center is in focus, and the edges blurred out and nicely vignetted.
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10.27.09
Excuse my flurry of posts but there has been a huge surge of late-breaking contests that I just had to share. All you need to do is enter:
Larkspur Hotels "I Need a Vacation Because!" Contest (closes Nov. 17)
Facebook fans of the Larkspur Hotels page can enter to win a two-night getaway to one of the Larkspur
Collections’ eight hotels (one winner per hotel) in
California and Oregon. Contestants must post why they need a
vacation in 50 words or less. Entries will be judged on originality,
creativity, humor, and substance, and from what I’ve seen on the Facebook page,
TravelandLeisure.com’s savvy and creative readers have a pretty good
shot. The prize includes $150 voucher for Southwest Airlines and a $100
to the hotel restaurant. Winners do not have to cover taxes or fees.
Visit www.facebook.com/larkspurhotels to enter.
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10.26.09
Just in time for Caribbean travel season,
JetBlue today kicked off service between New York’s JFK and St. Lucia. We’re
big fans of the blue airline, so it’s exciting to see their destinations
expanding. It’s even more exciting to see the kickoff deal: only $129 each way.
Sure, there are strings attached: you have to act fast (book by this Friday)
and travel between November 2 and February 8, 2010 (yeah, Valentine’s Day is
going to cost more).
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10.26.09
I already know that Virgin America is a favorite airline of our readers—it scored No. 1 in the domestic airline category of T+L’s 2009 World’s Best Awards—but I’m happy to report that Richard Branson’s company is continuing to impress with new deals and fun in-flight amenities.
Here's a selection of some of its latest low fares:
$109 one-way from San Francisco to Virgin’s newest destination, Ft. Lauderdale
$100 one-way from Los Angeles to Boston
$40 one-way from San Diego to San Francisco (cheaper than a tank of gas!)
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10.22.09
In arts and culture circles, Dallas and Fort Worth have long been highly regarded. Fort Worth has remarkable museums and later this month Dallas adds to its luster when it opens a new performing arts center, touted as the most significant since Lincoln Center. But for anyone who grew up in Dallas-Fort Worth, as I did, amid the symphony orchestras, opera and ballet companies, and distinguished architecture, sports loomed large, and amid the professional sports teams the Dallas Cowboys loomed the largest.
Recently, the Cowboys unveiled a new $ 1.15 billion stadium (above) before a national television audience during the first, regular-season game against the New York Giants (for the record, the New York Giants won). But it may come as a surprise that in addition to the stadium's state-of-the art this and that, including the world's largest HDTV video board, is an art collection. And not kitschy “sports” art but the real thing.
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10.21.09
This is the final week of Berlin's Festival of Lights. As the city hunkers down for the dark winter months ahead, some of the city’s major monuments, including the Brandenburg Gate, the TV Tower and the Berlin Cathedral are illuminated in a rainbow of colors by a frenzy of glowing projections and fireworks. The festival, now in its fifth year, began on October 14 and culminates this Sunday.
Click here for an colorful slideshow of the recent festivities.
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10.19.09
First there was the Donovan House. Then the Park Hyatt. Now the W has set up shop. It seems Washington, D.C. is swapping its white-shirt-and-khaki image for a little New York edge. And on a recent pop-in to the new W property, I found myself thinking, ‘D.C. is kind of cool.’
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10.19.09
After almost a decade as an editor at Travel + Leisure, I’ve developed a sixth sense about offers that seem too good to be true. Which is why I was justifiably skeptical when I ran across the U.S. Virgin Island’s CENTsational sale (while doing research for an appearance on the Today Show; watch the video here).
The cynic in me was tempted to write the deal off a a clever marketing ploy with enough fine print to fill an encyclopedia. However, after examining the details closely, I have to say that I’m sold. Here’s the back story: to celebrate the newly minted U.S.V.I. quarter, a dozen hotels on St. Thomas and St. Croix , including Marriott Frenchman's Reef Resort, are offering a 25 cent nightly rate for a three-night stay (plus nominal taxes and fees).
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10.16.09
Was it Rachael Zoe, the celebrity stylist on Bravo TV, who said “I die for Chanel"? Seems the allure of the double C’s has no end and this year with two movies about Madame Coco’s life it has fanned the fire even more. Not that it needed any fanning.
In the inexhaustible pursuit of keeping the brand relevant, whimsical and inventive, Karl Lagerfeld has done everything from CC guitars, to CC surfboards. The latest collection of practical but chic bags and small accessories is called “COCO COCOON.”
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