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Are You Still Searching For Travel Deals Online?

No room to dream: Online vendors are freaking out after a Times Online report revealed internet searches for travel were down 42 percent after Christmas, when holiday-fattened bank accounts are traditionally emptied out for spring vacations.

Searches for travel to the US were one of the hardest hit segments of the British travel biz, as the pound falls against the dollar and Brits tighten their belts. The only segment that showed any improvement were searches for package holidays, but the interest didn't lead to a corresponding lift in bookings.

Online bookings were taking a hit back in October already, but the gap between booking a trip and not even looking for one is pretty enormous. So dear readers, are you still looking for travel online, even if you can't afford to go now?

Related Stories:
· Internet Travel Searches Drop 42 Percent [Times Online, via]
· Financial Fallout Travel: Online Booking Hurting, Too [Jaunted]
· Budget Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of an empty terminal at MAN: Jett Loe]

Tags: Coal Patrol / Blue Airline / LCCs / Christmas / Santa Claus / Low Cost Carriers / → All Tags

Le Blue Line Keeps Santa For Themselves

Ho ho no! Blue 1--a Finnish budget airline affiliated to SAS Airlines and not to be confused with Romania's Blue Air French-based Blue Line--has made a bunch of British kids really blue this Christmas.

The airline should have carried 160 people in two small planes from Manchester to Santa's home in Finnish Lapland early on Saturday morning, but the passengers were then told there'd be a delay while Blue found a new aircraft. The bigger one they got was then deemed too big to land at Finland's Enontekio airport in bad weather and the whole trip was canceled.

Police had to be called to calm down the screaming children, and angry parents had to explain to their kids that they hadn't been good enough to meet Santa this year after all.

Related Stories:
· Police called after angry parents protest at cancellation of flight to see Santa in Lapland [Daily Mail UK]
· Fury as Santa Trip is Sleighed [SMH]
· Will the Real Santa Please Stand Up? [Jaunted]

[Photo: (stephan)]

Tags: Fall Travel / Sports Travel / AIG / Meltdownomics / → All Tags

Fall Bailout Travel: Americans Own a Soccer Team Now; Why Not See It?

Hey, remember a few weeks ago when you bought a British football team? No, you weren't drunk at the time, but when the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve board voted to bail out insurance giant AIG, it effectively bought a piece of Manchester United, the popular club AIG paid £56.5 million ($99 million) to sponsor in 2006. Finally, a reason for Americans to care about soccer!

But seriously: If you're in a footie-playing country, a game is a great way to experience life as a local. You may not recognize all the songs whistling past your ears towards the players (nor the colorful language) but you're in for a great game.

This month, Man U takes on West Brom and West Ham United at home and Everton away; British readers, any tips for Americans enjoying their first game ever?

Related Stories:
· US Government Announces AIG Bailout [CBC.ca]
· AIG Still Sponsoring Manchester United [Yorkblog]
· Manchester Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: tunis marsh]

Tags: Bonnaroo / Summer Travel / Music Festivals / Music Travel / Kanye West / → All Tags

Yeehaw! Bonnaroo '08 Promises Acts Never Seen at the Grand Ole Opry

If you long for the glory days of festivals like Woodstock, where the mud seeps into your Converse sneakers and there are no VIP accommodations, Bonnaroo '08 is your bag: The tent-camping-centric, off-the-beaten-path concert weekend draws ever increasing star wattage this weekend in Manchester, Tennessee while still being its sweet hippie self.

We're definitely catching MGMT and Lez Zeppelin tonight, Chris Rock and The Swell Season (the musicians from "Once") tomorrow, Kanye "Almost Mr. M.I.A." West on Saturday and, if we haven't died from heat stroke by then, Aimee Mann on Sunday. Drink your water and wear sunscreen, people.

And remember, if you absolutely must live-blog your concert experience, check out the Fuse TV barn. They'll have cell phone charging stations and computers with web access so you can make your friends jealous without even leaving the fest!

Related Links
· Bonnaroo [Official Site]
· Summer Music Festivals: We Heart Bonnaroo [Jaunted]
· Bonnaroo coverage [Jaunted]
· A Travelpod for Bonnaroo? [HC]

[Photo from Bonnaroo '07: batesvillebreeze]

Tags: Ski-Resorts-in-Summer / Adventure Travel / Summer Travel / Active Travel / Patrick Leahy / President Bush / → All Tags

Ski Areas in Summer: President Bush Not a Fan of Bromley Mountain

Bromley Mountain is having quite the political summer. Vermont's senior senator, Democrat Patrick Leahy, snuck a provision into a recent farm bill that would have had the federal government sell some national forest land to the ski resort in his state. But President Bush--or more likely one of his aides--caught the earmark; Bush specifically cited the proposed sale as one reason he vetoed the farm bill.

Congress didn't care for that, and they overrode the veto--only to find out that a paperwork mistake will force a re-vote on the entire thing. So Bush may have yet another chance to stick it to Leahy and Bromley Mountain.

In the meantime, the resort has plenty of summer activities on its current property. A three-track alpine slide is the main draw, but the zip line, "space bikes" and water slide also look pretty decent. If they ever get that extra land from the national forest, who knows what might be added... Maybe a statue of a senator?

Related Stories:
· Bromley Mountain [Official Site]
· Farm Bill Background [NC Mountain Times]
· President Bush's Message on Farm Bill Veto [Official Site]
· Ski Resorts in Summer coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: UK Travel / Music Travel / Videos / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: Making Music Videos on the Cheap

The fact that this made-from-surveillance-camera-footage music video came out of England shouldn't surprise us in the least. After all, the UK is where you'll find airports planning to implement facial-recognition technology.

But however creepy all these cameras are, it's still pretty cool. Maybe making videos with closed circuit cameras is the 21st century equivalent of waving to your friends back home via webcam?

Related Stories:
· The Most Clever Music Video of the Year (So Far) [WorldHum]
· Band Record CCTV Video [BBC]
· Dystopia Travel: British Airports Getting Face Scanners [Jaunted]
· Videos coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: MHT / Airports / Airport Transportation / → All Tags

Manchester Airport Also Obsessed With Being From Boston

A Jaunted reader points out that Skybus isn't the only airline with Boston lust. Turns out Manchester New Hampshire airport, MHT, which is a good 54 miles from Boston, now calls itself "Manchester Boston Regional Airport." Please.

We know with the Red Sox winning the World Series, the Patriots working on an undefeated season and the Celtics ready to return to glory, everybody wants to claim they live in Boston these days, but New Hampshire is not Boston. MHT might as well call itself "Manchester, NH--Manchester England Regional Airport".

That said, Manchester does offer a new high frequency bus service operates every two hours, 24-hours a day, seven days a week between MHT, the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn, MA and the Sullivan Square MBTA Subway Station. This service is free to all passengers. Very cool. So tell us this MHT: Why not just call yourself what you are, a small airport about an hour from Boston with excellent transportation options to and from the city, instead of going all Skybus on us and trying to convince noobs that Manchester is a suburb of Boston?

Related Stories:
· Skybus So Wants Portsmouth to be Boston [Jaunted]
· Skybus coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Bonnaroo / Music Festivals / → All Tags

Bonnaroo Post-Mortem: Protesting Air Conditioning

This past weekend brought Bonnaroo to a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, and along with it sold-out shows (to the tune of about 80,000 tickets at $200 each) by The Flaming Lips, The Police, Damien Rice, Tool and tons of other music masters.

We hear the heat was blistering (95+ on Saturday), but the sets were awesome and after listening to tipsters (those helpful hippies!) and surfing the message boards here are our quick and dirty post-Bonnaroo tips so you'll be in top shape for next year:

If you're looking for a jazz break, head to the only tent with waitress service, Somethin' Else, full of tables and cool drinks. Although don't expect to hear the actual music - apparently the ventilation fans overpower the tunes.

For all Bonnaroo tries to do for the environment (a solar-powered stage, copious recycling bins, biodiesel generators for power), the crowds work directly against it. Don't sit in your SUV running the air conditioner rampant all day and expect the hippies to love you.

Buy tickets to The Police and go to the show in your hometown next time they're on tour. Apparently they played the same set at Bonnaroo as they've been playing on tour, 50 mins shorter than what was promised to fans!

Sign up for the Bonnaroo mailing list - you can get tickets to the festival for $150 before Christmas (offered to list members) and save yourself $50.

If you're camping in the car lot for the show, remember that if you bring a tent next year, you might just be 30 minutes closer to "Centeroo". Tents get priority distance-wise.

All in all, we hear the festival was fun, less muddy than recent years, and the music excellent.

Related Stories:
· Bonnaroo Travel Coverage [Jaunted]
· A Travelpod for Bonnaroo [HotelChatter]
· The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival [Official Site]

[Photo: CoreyPud]

Tags: Music Festivals / Music / Bonnaroo / → All Tags

Summer Music Festivals: We Heart Bonnaroo

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. is tired of SXSW getting all the glory. The event boasts a lineup that is both varied and overwhelmingly good.

This June 14 to 17, hippies, hipsters, and the committed unhip can all find something suitable for their ears. Performers include: The Police (not just Sting, the whole gang), Tool, Widespread Panic, Ben Harper, Wilco, The Flaming Lips, The String Cheese Incident, Bob Weir & Ratdog, Franz Ferdinand, and about 100 other acts.

Some of our personal favorites in the lineup include: The Hold Steady (whose epic storylines remind us of The Who's Tommy); The Decemberists, because they have a song dedicated entirely to apologizing for losing a friend's bicycle; and Regina Spektor, who's unfortunately VH1's "undiscovered" artist du jour.

A four-day weekend pass, which includes camping and parking, cost $214.50. Organizers put together 15 or so activities in addition to the concerts: attendees can take yoga classes, see the interactive art performances, and visit a jazz club curated by Blue Note Records.

Tags: Celeb Travel / Justin Timberlake / Jessica Biel / → All Tags

Hotel Internet Lures Jessica Biel to Justin Timberlake's Love Shack, Again!

Friends? Lovers? Co-conspirators hungry for publicity but not actually attracted to each other? There's no telling what the exact nature of Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake's relationship is. Whatever the case may be, we do know that they recently spent time together at The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, England. The two were spotted at the hotel's bar, and later on their way up to Justin's presidential suite. The Lowry's Charles Forte suites start at about $3158 a night, including unlimited wired broadband. So were Jess and JT actually getting it on, or was she simply taking advantage of the hotel's ample tech offerings and updating her MySpace page all night? We might never know. Sigh.

[Photo: pit-yacker/US]

Related Stories:
· Justin Timberlake & Jessica Biel Reunite in England [US]
· Hotel WiFi Lures Jessica Biel to Justin Timberlake's Love Shack [Jaunted]

Tags: Airports / Valentine's Day / Airport Security / → All Tags

Manchester Airport Is For Lovers

Manchester Airport isn't such a bad place to spend part of your VD in. Besides the mood lighting, its also set up a secret password program for Valentine's Day. Yup, you heard us right. Pax smuggling engagement rings and other romantic surprises can whisper the password to security personnel, who will screen them in a way that doesn't blow their cover in front of a date. But doesn't the password itself kind of give everything away? Then again, you know they'd consider just about anything else a bomb scare.

MAN also apparently has some of the craziest passengers anywhere. A new report on the state of security at the airport includes a listing of incidents involving angry travelers rebelling against liquid restrictions. That includes a guy who pissed straight into zip-top bag to protest the rules. What his point was, or how that proved it, we're not entirely sure. But he's still our new hero.

[Photo: g4gme]

Related Stories:
· Password will spare lovers' airport bushes [Manchester Evening News]
· Airport reveals bizarre actions by passengers [AsianImage]