Offers & news from the world of travel

There is really no bad time to visit New York City. It is one of the only city that has made itself a sought-out destination all year round. Spend a summer afternoon picnicking in Central Park or skate around with your Sweetheart in December at the Rockefeller Center. NYC, you could say, has got it all. World class museums and art galleries. Food like you’ve found no where else. Entertainment to the nines and a night life that challenges any other metropolis in the world.

Right now NYC is starting to warm up. New Yorkers are coming out of winter hibernation and the city that never sleeps is coming alive once again. In a matter of a few weeks the city’s many parks will be blooming and all of that sleet and gray we all love about winter will be gone. Even though March and April are known for their unexpected weather and sometimes drab conditions, New York visitors don’t seem to mind. Take to the museums, the perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon or browse through a stack of American fashion magazines while curled up beside a window in a café. No matter what borough you’re in there are always things to do and see in New York City this spring.

Don’t be put off by April’s showers, search for a cheap flight to New York City and discover why New Yorkers love this city all year round. Check out Armory Arts Week or the new show happening at the MoMa. There are always last minute tickets to minor-league basketball for the sports fans or scope out the many and thriving book shops all over New York City. There is something else great about spring in New York City and it’s all of the amazing hotel offers that seem to be on right now. You can find cheap hotels overlooking Central Park during the week for less than you’d expect.

Need some more ideas of what to do in New York in spring? There are many different events guides but this one is particularly thorough.

For real? Yes certainly.

American Airlines announced on February 9th that they would begin charging passengers $8 for a blanket to use for the duration of their flight. This new condition applies to all domestic flights that are longer than 2 hours in duration as well as flights to Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and further south.

Following the steps of other airlines that have begun charging for every little luxury (for example Ryanair’s toilet fee) blankets are now the next culprit. So what should passengers do? Bring their own! Or dress in layers, always having a larger sweater in case the cabin temperature doesn’t suit your comfort. If it is too warm, you can always shed a few layers and if it is too cold, you can always add a few if you bring them. Airline often allow a few other personal items on top of the restricted baggage allowance for cabin luggage. This can usually include a purse or laptop bag as well as an overcoat, pillow, blanket and reading material. So take advantage and save your $8.

The original story was posted on USA Today, you can read it here for more details.

Soon to open at Universal Studios is the world’s first Harry Potter theme park. It is due to open sometime this spring at the Orlando, Florida location. The advertising campaign hasn’t started yet, but a few places on the internet have gotten their hands on the first commercial. The park is aimed at letting all Harry Potter fans really believe they are students at Hogwarts, putting on capes and choosing their own wand and broomstick. The details that Universal is putting into the sets is incredible, expect that visitors can expect nothing less than splendor and excitement. There are little rumors about roller coasters too!

Theme rides, shops, restaurants oh my!

The designers aim the theme park to be as close to the details from the film as possible, including the different shops and dining restaurants. Happy Potter fans around the world are waiting anxiously, checking flights to Orlando, booking time off of work.. okay maybe not. But still. If you like Harry Potter and want to try your skills out at magic school and dodgeball in the air.. check out these cheap flights to Orlando on liligo.com to be sure you get there in time for the grand opening this spring! From London to Orlando, there are flights from £342!

Check out this video:

Austria’s tourism is booming, all winter and summer-long. The new rave? Alpine Huts and Chalets, not just for skiers but for anyone wanting to fully embrace winter. Snow enthusiasts (including tobogganers, sledder, skaters, snowboarders, snowshoers, snowman builders, snow angel makers and more) come from around the world to stay in a wooden chalet for a week or a week, however long and really enjoy the historic hospitality of the Austrian mountains. I am sure the air does not get any fresher than at 1100m above sea level.

Priesteregg looks out to the Steingebirge mountains and has been a place of solitude and retreat for priests of Salzburg. It has always been a site for reflection due to its incredible natural beauty. The community of Bergdorf is a collection of old wooden huts, with foundations of century-old stones. In the wintertime the surroundings are pine, snow, mountains and sky. In the summer, the area offers some of the best mountain hiking in the area. These chalets are fully serviced, if you’d like. A common eating place is just a short walk away, or for more privacy, a roast can be delivered and put right into the oven to keep it warm and fill the place with the smell of herbs.

Some of these places are booked a year in advance, especially at holiday times. The standard chalet goes for 185€ per person, per night.This price includes use of the garden (and its vegetables in the summer), breakfast served every morning, bathrobes, hot water bottles, fresh spring water, wood for the fireplace, a covered parking spot, luggage transfer to the chalet, ski shuttle and more. More than this, pets are always welcome.

Getting there is simple. Find a cheap flight to Munich and from there rent a car and head for the A8 towards Salzburg. Take the way to Leogang. It is a little more than 2 hours drive from the airport in Munich.

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This morning an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed into the Mediterranean sea after it took off from Lebanon’s Beirut. In terrible weather, heavy rains and lightning storms, the place disappeared from radar and crash landed into the water. Close to one hundred people were on-board and as of now the cause for the crash is unknown. Along the coast, early risers could see an airplane on fire falling and then crashing into the water. Only a few bodies have been recovered from the crash but Lebanon’s military are trying desperately to recover anything that can give clues to the cause of the crash. The airplane was a Boeing 737, one of the most widely used airplanes in the world. Even though many people might think that African airlines have shaky safely history, Ethiopian Airlines is an exception. Except for a hijack incident in the 1980s this airline has had little to no hiccups on any of their flights. Is it the airplane then? The weather? It is all speculation for now, but it does raise questions for travellers not just in Lebanon but all around the world.

Air travel revolutionized modernity. It  redefined travel and brought the world into modern times in the same way that the train did. Is technology advancing so quickly that little details are being overlooked, displaced? I don’t want to question the safely of air travel or the integrity of airlines, but it is just to look at the present moment from underneath, or behind, from a different perspective. Technology is failing all around us everyday but in modern times we become machines and we become dependent on the turning of the cogs, click click. The mouse and the keys, the spinning fan to cool down the hardrive. Do we depend too much on modern time technologies? We are moving so fast, at such a speed, do we need to slow down? Is it possible after rushing so fast and so desperately since the industrial revolution.

For the first time, three cities are sharing the title of  European City of Culture: Ruhr, Germany / Istanbul, Turkey / Pécs, Hungary.

Each year a new city, or in this case cities, are designated by the European Union for the period of one year to show case their cultural life and development. Many cities in the past have used this opportunity to spark tourism and really transform their cultural attractions. Past recipients experienced a boom of tourism after the year ended, as most tourists saw that city as a potential holiday destination. Although not directly related to the festivities there are many hotel and flight deals happening that can get travellers to and from the celebrations in Ruhr, Istanbul and Pecs easily.

RUHR

Many of the city’s events are taking place at the Folkwang Museum. The grand opening features and extension done by David Chipperfield on the museum that was built in the 1950s. The exhibition A Star is Born: Photography & Rock since Elvis Presley runs from the 2nd of July until the 10th of October this year. The city celebrates its music on the 10th of March with classical and jazz pianist Fazil Say at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. Also in the area is a lively nightlife district, nicknamed the Bermuda Triangle in Bochum. Find a cheap hotel in the nearby Essen, like the Hotel Petal Ernestine with double rooms for 57£ per night.  For a complete list of the city’s events find them here.

ISANBUL

With flights being offered by easyJet for around 50£, there is really no reason to not buy a cheap flight to Istanbul to enjoy some of the organized culture events this year. In the summer time the city will open its long neglected Hasanpasa gasworks as and arts centre. In the mean time there is an excellent exhibition at the Istanbul Modern called Time Within Us which features photographic work from Turkish, Greek, and Russian artists. The city will celebrate with U2’s 360º Tour concert gig at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium on the 6th of September. It is easy to experience nightlife in Istanbul if travellers are staying in the excited area of Ortaköy on the European side of the Bosphorus. The complete list of events is here, on the official website.

PECS

The grand opening of Hungary’s culture capital will take place at the Pannon Philharmonic’s new home, the Pécs Conference and Concert Centre. The main exhibition that was organized for the year’s celebrations is Hungarians in Bauhaus which showcases teh influential artists, architects, photographers, and designers at the Modern Hungarian Gallery from the 15th of August to the 15th of October. Pécs also has a new concert hall from which a series of classical concerts will take place in November with tributes to Mahler. While there, travellers are advised to check out the pedestrian friendly street, Király utca. Find a cheap hotel in Pécs city centre to get the most out of the city. For example the Retro Hotel on Felsovamhaz ut, 53 that can be booked for £35 a night. For Pécs complete list of Culture Capital events visit their website here.

With discount flights on already low-cost airlines, it is easier than ever right now to get away for just a few days and enjoy a weekend break from whatever we can call “normal”. This deal seemed particularly appealing, an Easyjet flight from London to Venice for only £48 return.Its not only the cheap flight that makes a few days in the incredibly romantic city of Venice appealing, its also the possibility of finding a cheap hotel in Venice since it is the off-season and hotels are offering winter sales on their rooms which are usually booked solid all summer long.

Try the Hotel Dell’Opera at San Marco, 2009. It is located next to La Fenice, Venice’s historical theatre and opera house. It is a two minute walk from St. Mark’s Square and just ten minutes from Rialto Bridge. It is in the heart of the city and offers comfortable rooms in classic style. Double rooms go for £67 a night on weekends. Equally appealing is the more elaborate choice of the Palace Bonvecchiati Venice Hotel. A prestigious hotel also near St. Mark’s Square. It is the idea balance of classic history and modern features. Many of the rooms offer spectacular views of the square. Expect to spend around £129 per night at this hotel.

To keep the spending low key for the weekend, try eating lunch at the Rialto Fish Market on Saturday and to a local tavern for dinner where you can get a sizeable pasta dish with house wine for 20€, the locals like Taverna San Trovaso (Dorsoduro 1016) where grilled fish and calf’s liver are the specialties.

For sightseeing, wander the back canals, especially in the Cannaregio area. The church of San Francesco dell Vigna in the Castello district does not charge for admittance. The facade is by Palladio with a Virgin and Child statue by Giovanni Bellini. Walk around to the Piazza San Marco to visit the basilica and spend a few Euros to enter the Peggy Guggenheim to see a fine collection of contemporary Italian art.

Return to work by Monday morning refreshed from a trip away and hopefully still full from the pasta dinner the night before.

CityJet now has flights departing from Hall 3 at Orly Airport West that can reach London before 8am. This service is aimed at business travellers, but there is no reason why all travellers can’t take advantage of it. From the City Airport in London, there is tube access to the entire city. Imagine arriving at your meeting at Canary Wharf in 20 minutes when it starts at 9am. To return to Paris, check-in just 15 minutes before departure and you are on your way home again. This service gets you to and from Paris in a flash and also lets you sleep in a little more in the mornings and get home in time to sleep again.

Choose from three fare types: city value, cityflex, or city plus. in the morning take time to read the complimentary newspaper with a coffee and complimentary snack or prepare yourself for an upcoming meeting in London or Paris. All the aircrafts are fitted with leather seats and ample legroom for ultimate comfort to work or just relax while flying.

Take advantage of the low-fares on flights between London and Paris with CityJet Airlines.

I’m not sure it ever left, but finally after almost ten years the Museo Romantico opened on December 3rd. It is now known as the Museo del Romanticismo but what’s in a name? On the opening day around 50 people were lined up outside to get a look at this famously small and eclectic museum’s collection. It is 85 years old and is devoted to the depiction of life in Madrid during the 19th century. Locals love this place and the neighbourhood grew with it. The now trendy Chueca bario where it is located (Calle San Mateo 13) has patiently awaited its reopening.

Visitors can now re-explore the interior of the museum, complete with gracious gilding, tufts, tassels, and embroidery everywhere. It is elegant and stylish. One can really step back in time here. One of the visitors in line at its reopening commented to the New York Times that  ”It’s different from other museums where they just hang pictures on a wall. Here they create a complete environment.” (José Luis Iglesias) There are nearly 1,400 items on display that range from very grand pianos to oil paintings to small tin soldier toys to diamond-studded decorations and accessories. All in all it is complete and with 26 rooms to explore, there is hardly any reason not to put this newly refurbished museum at the top of the must-sees when visiting Madrid.

The layout hasn’t changed but the reorganization of the objects lets the museum show 50% more of its collection than before. Each room now tells a more complete story of Madrid life in the nineteenth century. Visitors can admire now more aintings, sculptures, furniture, painted fans, jewelry, carpets, coins, cameos and ceramics than ever before from this era.

The museum draws crowds for its famous portrait of the writer Mariano José de Larra who epitomized the role of the romantic character when he killed himself in 1837 over an ended love.

The closest metro stop is Alonso Martínez and general admission is 3 euros. Find a cheap hotel in the trendy neighbourhood of Chueca near the Museum of Romanticism and start here to discover Madrid.

Brand-new destination for winter sport fans:  Ulan Bator, Mongolia.  Sky Resort is the name of the resort which has been opened last month as the very first ski truck in Mongolia, located on Boghd Khan Ul Mountain, in the outskirts of the capital city.

Ski resort owners in France, Switzerland or Slovakia have nothing to fear of, though. The Boghd Khan Ul mountain has its highest point at only about 3,000 feet, not to mention that even though average winter temperatures can go below freezing point, there’s only a small amount of snowfall, so the resort has to rely on machine-made snow in order to supply its 9 runs, served by 2 chairlifts.

As for the prices, rates are quite low, at least for us, foreigners: a whole-day pass for adults starts from 16,000 tugrik (6.70928 GBP approximately,  as 1 MNT = 0.000419330 GBP and 1 GBP = 2,384.76 MNT). Renting the equipment is possible as well.

The ski resort also cares about those who are not real ski fans; there have been plans for opening a golf course in June, too.

Airline tickets London - Ulanbator for the 15th of January are around 670 GBP, including all taxes and fees.