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US Airways Begs You To Go To Europe This Summer

April 2, 2009 at 2:26 PM | 0 Comments

US Airways knows what you did last summer: Sat around bemoaning the soaring euro and toiled with the idea of going to Toronto just to be able to say you left the country. (No offense, Canada.) 2009, you vowed, would be different.

After enticing us with fare sales to the UK, Sully's favorite airline has widened the net to include other destinations like Dublin and Madrid. Eat your frites in Brussels or, and this has us intrigued, get 5,000 miles with your trip from Philly to Oslo. Now if you'll excuse us, we've got some currency to change.

Related Stories:
· Five Airfare Sales To Get You Out of the Staycation Doldrums [Jaunted]
· US Airways Sale to UK: It Rules [Jaunted]
· Travel Deals coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: travelstar]

Everyone Goes To The Prado

March 13, 2009 at 11:57 AM | 0 Comments

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal check out Madrid's Museo Nacional del Prado, a major tourist draw that locals actually visit sometimes. Reese and Jake, in town for her promotional tour for "Monsters versus Aliens," weren't even the highest profile visitors this week: German president Horst Kohler got his own private tour from Crown Prince Felipe yesterday.

Can't make it to Madrid to check out the best of national masters like Goya? You can now visit the museum on Google Earth, and even zoom in on selected works up to fantastic detail. Still, we have to insist that there's nothing like the real thing.

Related Stories:
· German President visits Madrid [Earthtimes.org]
· Fall Culture Travel: We <3 Goya [Jaunted]
· Prado Museum to be featured on Google Earth [Examiner]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]

Share The View (and Your Memory Card) with Photochaining

March 10, 2009 at 1:35 PM | 0 Comments

Losing a memory card at the end of the trip can be tragic. But what if you plan to leave it behind on purpose? The Photochaining project encourages photographers to willingly leave behind cheap cards for others to find and add to. It's like Where's George, but for pictures!

Currently there are 16 memory cards out there, some with people names (Ben, Lola) and others with themes (Gimme, Love, Landscape). Most of them have only been found once in places from Madrid (where a card with the above photo was from) to San Francisco. As much as we like to hang onto our cards, this could work as long as people remember to let their findings go. Yours could be next!

Related Stories:
· Leaving Camera Memory Cards in Public Places! [Photochaining.com]
· O'Hare Airport Stars in Chicago Photography Exhibition [Jaunted]
· TravelMuse Wants Your Vacation Snaps [Jaunted]

[Photo: "Anna" memory card]

Get To Know Madrid-Barajas A Little Better

March 6, 2009 at 10:26 AM | 1 Comment

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero accidentally became an international YouTube star this week when he cursed out a fellow world leader at a press conference. Surely he didn't say that Russia's Dmitri Medvedev and him needed to make their countries very intimate together, right?

Zapatero will be in a tight spot until the country can get over his gaffe, but travelers through Madrid-Barajas International Airport have no need to worry about getting caught out: The terminal wireless furnished by Kubi is so organized, the company even lists all the hot spots so you can find out before you go what restaurant or lounge to park yourself in.

Kubi is the leading provider of wireless Internet in Spain, and if this fanatical organization characterizes all their ventures, we will soon be getting very intimate with their services. (Uh, not like that.)

We promise not to put it on YouTube if you send us a tip on some international WiFi.

Related Stories:
· Medvedev Zapatero news conference [YouTube]
· Find a Hotspot - Madrid-Barajas [KubiWireless.com]
· Airport WiFi Map [Jaunted]

Fall Culture Travel: Bend It Like Gandhi

September 19, 2008 at 12:30 PM | 0 Comments

Never doubt that a small group of committed, exceedingly flexible individuals can change the world: Sunday's Yoga for Peace will unite nine countries in sun salutations dedicated to global harmony.

Organized by Global Mala, a nonprofit dedicated to "uniting the global yoga community," the stretchy among us will be taking over public parks from Pocatello, Idaho to Zagreb, Croatia.

Even if the solstice-oriented event doesn't achieve world peace in our time, you could do worse than getting a little fresh air, say in Madrid's famous Parque del Retiro, and working out those computer-related kinks.

Related Stories:
· Participating Cities [Yoga for Peace Official Site]
· Standard Miami's Friday Night Yoga Nights [HC]
· Back of the Envelope Guide: Woodstock Film Festival [Jaunted]

[Photo: banno]

White Night Travel: Madrid's La Noche en Blanco on Saturday

September 9, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments

The place to be this Saturday, September 13 is most definitely Madrid, as White Night fever hits the city. La Noche en Blanco 2008 sounds pretty enchanting:

With the full moon watching over them, Madrid residents and visitors will discover a new city, one made with illusions and dreams.

Traditionally, White Nights take place around the summer solstice in cities close to the Arctic Circle where the sky never gets dark for several days straight. To embody that spirit in Madrid, throughout the night, museums will be open, concerts will be on and all public transport will be free. With events running right through until 6 am, you'd better book Sunday as a day to sleep off that cultural overload.

Related Stories:
· La Noche en Blanco 2008 [Official Site]
· Sleepless White Nights Hit Europe [Jaunted]
· Madrid Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: Clara en su mundo]

Dangerous Travel: Spanair Crash Kills at Least 45 in Madrid

August 20, 2008 at 1:20 PM | 0 Comments


A Spanair MD-82 bound for the Canary Islands skidded off a runway and caught fire at Madrid's Barajas Airport, leading to reports that only 25 of the 173 people on board survived.

Flight 5022 (also listed as Lufthansa 255) reportedly suffered an engine fire around 5 pm local time while attempting an emergency landing on Runway 6, immediately after takeoff. Despite the efforts of 11 emergency vehicles, on the scene reports are putting the death toll at around 150--though only 45 fatalities have been confirmed as of now.

It's the worst fatal airplane crash in Spain since a 1985 incident in Bilbao. Prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero has been called to the scene from his vacation in Doñana National Park in Andalusia.

Related Stories:
· At Least 45 Dead in Madrid Plane Crash [AP]
· Dozens of Dead Following Crash upon Takeoff at Barajas [El Pais, in Spanish]

[Photo of a Spanair MD-82: thomasbecker]

Hurting Culture Travel: "Guernica" Needs a Facelift

July 21, 2008 at 9:17 AM | 0 Comments

To stand before Picasso's magnificent "Guernica" canvas is to be bowled over by the artist's depiction of the horrors of war. But curators at the Reina Sofia Museum, where the painting has made his home since 1992, say the major work needs some major work done--and might even be too fragile for restoration.

A particular problem according to experts is that the painting is too fragile to move, even to its namesake city, while it used to join exhibitions as far away as Chicago and Brazil. It was defaced in 1974 by an antiwar protester who added the words "Kill Lies All" to the painting, though that has since been removed.

Despite damage sustained, the painting is protected not by alarmed glass but just by a rail and guards. You're not supposed to take pictures, though--hence this stealth shot.

Related Stories:
· "Guernica" Needs Special Care, Say Curators [AP]
· Madrid Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: oppenodom]

Fall Culture Travel: We <3 Goya

November 9, 2007 at 3:15 PM | 0 Comments

Our Fall Culture Travel Map can get you to the good museums.

And here we thought Goya just made delicious black beans and pastel colored sodas that taste like cartoons. Apparently Goya also makes masterworks of 19th century Neo-classicist portraiture, hung not in the aisles of your local bodega but in the newly renovated halls of Madrid's Prado Museum.

This Fall the Prado is pulling the classics out of storage to fill their new wing with little-seen examples of 19th Century Spanish art. Hidden from the public eye, these paintings and sculptures have been the subject of many years of research and restoration and will also be featured in an exhaustive catalog of the Prado's collection. Titled A Collection Rediscovered, this exhibition takes the viewer through the years that separate Francisco de Goya from Pablo Picasso.

The exhibition runs until April 24 with a concert on November 16 and a screening on the 17 that both explore themes of 19th Century Spanish art. Admission is relatively cheap (about $9) but bring whatever special ID (student, teacher, AARP?) you have lying around to drop the price through the Prado's liberal discount admissions policy.

Related Links:
· The 19th Century in the Prado [Official Site]
· Fall Culture Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Fall Culture Travel Map [Jaunted]

[Photo: Lanpernas 2.1]

Fall Culture Travel :: All the Arts in Madrid

October 26, 2007 at 10:20 AM | 0 Comments

You don't have to stay at home just because the leaves are changing. Follow along on our Fall Culture Map to discover what's happening this autumn.

While Americans fawn over events dedicated to cookie jars, butter sculptures and the art of sausage-making, a European festival needs some heft in order to distinguish itself in the culture glut of The Old World. Luckily Festival de Otoño (Autumn Festival) in Madrid has the stats to set it above the rest.

For five weeks every autumn, invited companies take the stage daily and nightly. This year's shows include 73 theatre, 21 dance, 13 music and 39 circus performances. The 28 international productions hail from world-renowned companies from a host of European countries, the United States, South America and Asia. To find that kind of diversity stateside, you'd have to ride "It's a Small World" at Disneyland.

La Comédie-Française, which claims the title of the western world's oldest theater company, just wrapped the first Spanish performance of Molière's Le Misanthrope. And while it's too late to catch the French comedy of manners, ˇPiratas, Piratas! might be more fun anyway: 60 acrobats from Mongolia, Russia, India, Malaysia and China flip and fly in a Cirque-like battle between good and bad pirates.

Now in its 24th year, the Autumn Festival started October 15 and lasts until November 18.

Related Stories:
· Festival de Otoño [Official Site]
· Fall Culture Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Fall Culture Travel Map [Jaunted]

TomKat Pretends To Like Football In Madrid

June 18, 2007 at 9:22 AM | 0 Comments

Forget America's favorite pastime. You want to roll with the Beckhams, you'd better enjoy the world's game -- soccer! Or as they prefer to call it, football. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes jetted off to Madrid this weekend to see David Beckham play in his final game for Spanish team Real Madrid. (As true footie fans know, Beckham was signed to the L.A. Galaxy earlier this year, making him basically the only star of his stature playing in the U.S. MLS league.) Victoria Beckham and the kids sat in the stands explaining to TomKat why there aren't any cheerleaders.


Real Madrid won the championship, but David Beckham was taken off the field (perhaps in retaliation of his transfer). Of course, the best way to see el Bernabeu, for the first OR last time, is when it's packed with screaming fans singing profane songs and waving HALAMADRID scarves. But if you can't, the stadium is open from 10 to 6 daily for tours -- and at two blocks up the metro, it's an easy addition to your Madrid itinerary.

Related Stories:
· Madrid Travel [Jaunted]
· Hotels in Madrid [HotelChatter]

[Photo: JustJared]

Public Transportation Love-Hate: Madrid Plays The Map

March 14, 2007 at 2:40 PM | 2 Comments


Jaunted is in the midst of a public transportation festival. Join us in celebrating the ultimate travel tool: a cheap way to get around. Share your stories in the comments or by emailing us at tips [at] jaunted [dot] com.

In most cities the public transit system is like a skeleton: It's always there, and more noticed in its absence than in regular operation. Perhaps the city of Madrid was hoping to save its cheap, clean subway system from such a fate when the local Telemadrid television station created "Metro a Metro," a game show that makes the metro system its playing board.

The game starts with four players racing to get to one pre-determined metro stop by answering trivia questions. The furthest away is eliminated, and then the map changes and they're racing to a different stop. In the finale, participants go head-to-head to answer 15 trivia questions in a minute. "Metro a Metro" loved to ask about the often obscure names of the subway stops; it's from there that I learned my own stop, Islas Filipinas, was named in honor of an ambassadorial visit. Sometimes co-host Carla Hidalgo would shoot live footage around Madrid for the questions.

When I lived in Madrid I used to come home every day after class and watch "Metro a Metro" with my host dad, a guy who knew pretty much all the answers. My only chance was with the pop culture questions, and then only when I could translate them fast enough. I used the Metro constantly, even though it closed during the all-important party hours between 2 and 6 a.m.; it had just been spiffed up for the city's bid to host the 2010 Olympics (it lost, sadly). You can even take it directly to the airport -- hear that, New York? Too bad no cunning producer has picked it up for an American version (say, "Subway to Subway" on NY1?) yet. Watch "Metro a Metro" five days a week at 7:30 p.m. in Madrid and the suburbs.

[Photo: dcols]