Old Town Albuquerque (courtesy, Albuquerque CVB)
This bustling New Mexico city is home to 3D religious artists, friendly ghosts, and a whole lotta liberals. Albuquerque writer Neala Schwartzberg shows Orbitz blogger Lena Katz the offbeat side of Old Town. Read more at Away.com. Read the rest of this entry »
By Joe Brancatelli
NEED TO KNOW
On-the-Road Intelligence to Help You Travel Smarter:
A firm called the Holdup Suspender Company has introduced a line of airport-friendly braces. The company claims the suspenders will not set off the alarms as travelers pass through the security checkpoints.
United Airlines now offers GoGo Inflight Wi-Fi connections on its so-called p.s. service, which operates flights between New York’s Kennedy Airport and Los Angeles and San Francisco.
And Air Canada is testing GoGo on two routes (Montreal-Los Angeles and Toronto-Los Angeles), but the Wi-Fi only works when the planes are flying over the continental United States.
US Airways‘ frequent flier program, Dividend Miles, undergoes a radical shift in January. There will be four prices for awards instead of two: off-peak, low, medium and high. So that means, for example, a business-class seat to Europe will cost 60,000, 100,000, 200,000 or 350,000 miles.
The big airlines have a new way to raise airfares: They impose a surcharge of as much as $60 on flights on so-called “busy” travel days. There are currently about 40 busy days between Thanksgiving week and Memorial Day.
Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com, a non-commercial Web site for business travelers. Copyright 2009 by Joe Brancatelli. Licensed by contract for Orbitz use.
Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Center
By Joe Brancatelli
HOTEL HOT SHEET
Recession Be Damned, The New Hotels Keep Coming: With occupancy plummeting and room rates falling precipitously, no recovery in sight and a record number of properties in or nearing default, logic would lead you to believe that the hotel industry would stop opening locations. But that’s not how it works since projects put into the pipeline years ago keep gushing out. So get out your scorecard and make note of the newbies.
Related Orbitz resources:
Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com, a non-commercial Web site for business travelers. Copyright 2009 by Joe Brancatelli. Licensed by contract for Orbitz use.
miX at THEhotel
By E.C. Gladstone
New York may have Times Square, Sydney may have the Harbour Bridge, London may have the Eye, but possibly no other city in the world grabs onto New Year’s Eve with such gusto as Las Vegas. Las Vegas hotels hosts lavish celebrations in their restaurants, lounges and nightclubs, competing with the big multi-site fireworks display over the closed-to-traffic Strip at midnight.
Dinner
Though certainly all of the top restaurants at Las Vegas hotels will be hosting lavish special meals on this special night (if you need inspiration, check out In Vegas, chefs are the stars of the Strip ), I would lean towards several with exquisite views. My picks include Alize at Palms, miX at THEHotel, Paris Las Vegas’ Eiffel Tower Restaurant … Read the rest of this entry »
By Lena Katz
New Year’s Eve falls on a Thursday this year, giving us a four-day weekend to welcome brand, shiny and new 2010. Party promoters, event planners and venue owners in California’s big cities are planning a merry-making marathon that lasts ’til Saturday p.m. (Which still gives you all of Sunday to lie around on the couch going “Owww my head,” and watching reruns of America’s Next Top Model.) If you’re up for the challenge, and ready to book a room at your favorite San Francisco hotel, San Diego hotel or other Cali destination, here are four cities ready to ring out 2009 with a bang. Read the rest of this entry »
The falls on the way down from Half Dome.
It happened a lot like this. I get a call from my best mate Jackie at 3 p.m. on a Thursday. “I have a plan,” she says. “I have three days left over on this week-long pass that I bought to enter Yosemite Valley. I think we should do Half Dome — I think we should do it at night. I read a bunch of articles about it; this could be seriously legit.”
This is standard Jackie.
“I’m in,” I reply. “What do I need to know?”
JD was at my door that night armed with carabiners, freeze-dried lasagna, Mylar blankets, extra headlamp batteries and enough hype to overkill the mellow wine buzz I was trying to offer her as compensation for her efforts. She unpacked her bag, spreading out a plethora of magazine tears and topo maps, nearly covering the surface of my kitchen counter, and over the next 45 minutes we scheduled our plan.
Donald Duck and the captain of the Disney Dream lay the keel for the new ship.
By Kate Schwartz
What makes the new Disney Dream cruise ship unique? Magic, of course! Like all Disney Cruise Line ships, the Dream combines state-of-the-art technology with a hint of enchantment.
If you’ve never taken a Disney cruise, throw stereotypes to the wind. This isn’t a kid-filled, in-your-face Disney experience; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. The “Disney” is in the subtleties — perhaps you’ll notice a glass slipper chandelier while enjoying a fine dinner at one of the many on-board restaurants, or maybe you’ll spot an oil painting that comes to life when you walk by. Hints of magic are in the details — only the beginnings of which are captured here. Read the rest of this entry »
Orbitz travel blogger and Away.com guest blogger Lena Katz
Join Orbitz travel blogger and Away.com guest blogger Lena Katz as she hits the road on a quest across the American Southwest. Bored with Los Angeles, Lena’s covering thousands of miles of great American highway in a borrowed Volkswagen Touareg TDI “Clean Diesel” SUV, with only her dog for company. The classic Western novels of Larry McMurtry are her inspiration, and her ultimate destination is the small West Texas town where McMurtry owns an antiquarian book shop. From alien lights in the sky to buffalo jerky breakfasts, find out what happens when a California girl leaves L.A. Read more on the Away.com travel blog. Read the rest of this entry »
By Joe Brancatelli
BEANTOWN BATTLE
JetBlue Expands Again in Boston: JetBlue Airways has emerged as the power player in Boston and it looks like it’ll be fighting for control of Logan, New England’s primary airport, with Southwest Airlines. The latest shot from JetBlue is a 30 percent increase in departures from Logan beginning next year. There’ll be additional flights to Chicago/O’Hare, Washington/Dulles, Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham; more transcons (San Diego and San Francisco); more flights to leisure destinations (Fort Lauderdale and the Caribbean); and some additional service in direct competition with Southwest (Baltimore/Washington and Denver). Read the rest of this entry »
(Photo: Hawaii CVB)
By Joe Brancatelli
HAWAII HOTLINE
Alaska Airlines Is the Hot New Player: Rampaging oil prices early last year wiped out Aloha and ATA, two carriers that had been growing their mainland-to-Hawaii route networks. Into the gap has come — surprise! — Alaska Airlines, which is hubbed and headquartered in Seattle. Alaska launched two new routes in November (Oakland-Maui and Oakland-Kona) and announced three more (San Jose-Maui on March 11; San Jose-Kona on March 12 and Sacramento-Maui on March 26). And even though it didn’t even fly to Hawaii until October, 2007, Alaska now will have 73 roundtrip flights a week. That’s an astounding 11 percent of Alaska’s total capacity.
Meanwhile, the big news in Honolulu is the Trump International Hotel Waikiki, a condo hotel that opened in mid-November. The rooms and they are stunning: gigantic, with lavish kitchens, top-flight furnishings and all-marble bathrooms. It’s not only the first luxury hotel in Waikiki in a generation, it’s also unlike anything else in town. “Introductory” rates are surprisingly affordable, too: $255 a night for a studio and $435 for a studio with an oceanfront view. They’ll sleep four. Trump’s one-bedroom suites start as low as $525 a night.
Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com, a non-commercial Web site for business travelers. Copyright 2009 by Joe Brancatelli. Licensed by contract for Orbitz use.
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