Jaunted

Airports / Airport News / AUH / Hotels / Jet Lag / Layovers / Abu Dhabi Travel / → All Tags

Would You Pay $12 an Hour to Sleep in an Airport Terminal?

Thanks to our site siblings over at HotelChatter, we’re pretty darn familiar with the hotel and motel options in and around the world’s airports. However, when it comes to just staying put right inside the airport there’s a new option that could be even more convenient than the airport hotel. That’s only the case if you’re cool with sleeping in some pretty tight quarters, as it looks like some kind of sleep pod recliners have made their way into the terminal.

They've only recently arrived overseas, in Abu Dhabi to be specific. Technically they’re calling them GoSleep, and they’re designed just for that purpose—to go to sleep.

more ›

Celeb Travel / Joe Jonas / Ashley Greene / Airports / Airport Security / → All Tags

Joe Jonas and Ashley Greene Caught with a Cheese Knife at Airport Security

Lovebirds Joe Jonas and Ashley Greene had some explaining to do when the singer was stopped by airport security after forgetting he packed a cheese knife in his carry-on. The young couple was flying from Abu Dhabi to New York City when Jonas was flagged before making it to the gate for their flight.

“We had too many bags to check so we took one as a carry-on instead of checking it through security. We were going from the Middle East to New York - to JFK, so tons of security, tons of screening," Ashley explained to George Lopez on a recent "Lopez Tonight" appearance. "We got through one actually, surprisingly enough, but at the second one, they all of a sudden stopped and kind of looked at us with these really stern faces and they were like, 'what is in your bag.' And I look at [Joe] and then [had] flashbacks of this knife set that we got."

more ›

Theme Parks / Abu Dhabi Travel / Sports Travel / Travel News / Amusement Parks / → All Tags

Ferrari World and The World's Fastest Roller Coaster to Open October 27

It's happening, and soon! The theme park we never thought would happen, or at least this quickly, has announced it's official opening date. Abu Dhabi's Ferrari World debuts to the public on October 27 of this year. It's only the soft-opening period until the big grand opening in December, but still. It'll exist and hopefully it won't be long before YouTube is full of point-of-view videos of the world's fastest roller coaster, the park's Formula 1-inspired "Formula Rossa."

But of course, that's not all. The thing has a 21-acre roof, painted in Ferrari red. It's under here where the crowds will find most of the action. Six days a week from October 27 through December, the park will open at 12 noon. Adult ticket prices start at AED 225 ($61.25), but AED 375 ($102) will get you a Premium Ticket, which will give priority ride access and entrance to a lounge with refreshments.

Now a preview of the Big Three rides at the Ferrari Theme Park:

more ›

Luxury Travel / Abu Dhabi Travel / Hotels / → All Tags

Where to Find One of the World's First Gold Bar ATM Machines

Even though it sounds like something out of a James Bond movie, there is now an ATM that dispenses pure gold, and it happens to be in the one place we'd absolutely expect it to be: Abu Dhabi. Dubai ain't got nothing on them now, huh?

Sitting inside the Kempinski Emirates Palace Hotel on the West End Corniche, this machine will draw tourists and locals just to gawk at it, and who knows if security will be needed for people who actually want to use it to grab a gold bar to go. It's actually called Gold To Go, developed by a German, and it monitors the daily gold price ($1,245 an ounce yesterday!) and "offers small bars up to 10 grams or coins with customized designs." The first machines appeared in Frankfurt Airport a year ago, and now they're gaining steam.

more ›

Movie Travel / Sex and the City 2 / Abu Dhabi Travel / Morocco Travel / Sarah Jessica Parker / Fashion Travel / Lucky Magazine / → All Tags

'Sex and the City 2' Goes to Abu Dhabi? Actually, It's Morocco

We're a little more than a month away from the return of Manolos and cosmos as Sex and the City 2 releases into theater in late May. And just like in the first movie, the girls—Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte—must get up and out of New York City for a little bikini and fruity cocktail time in someplace exotic.

In Sex and the City 1, they went south of the border to Mexico, but this year they're gone far more afield...to Abu Dhabi. Or that's what they'd have you believe. The film has the girls going on some all-expenses-paid junket to the Emirate for camel trekking, bazaar buying and even a run-in with old flames, but all of this isn't actually in Abu Dhabi. We spotted the crew filming the Abu Dhabi scenes last November in the medina of Marrakech, Morocco.

What does it all mean? Find out after the jump

more ›

Celeb Travel / New Year's Travel / Rihanna / Abu Dhabi Travel / → All Tags

Abu Dhabi Takes First Rihanna-fied Steps To Becoming Party Capital

Well, at least she kept her thighs under lock and key...

The New Years holiday is the time for celebrities to scatter themselves all around the globe, from the ski slopes to the beaches of St. Barths, but if you're a celebrity entertainer, then the odds are that you've got a very well-paying gig you'd rather not miss.

Such was the case with Rihanna, who did a very hyped, very controversial concert in Abu Dhabi at the Emirates Palace for 10,000 fans, followed by fireworks. Although the girl raked in $500,000 for a few songs—and no doubt had a private, paid-for jet to get her through the crazy airport security of the weekend—the controversy came when they asked her to cover up a little more than usual for the performance.

Abu Dhabi as party capital?...

more ›

New Routes / Etihad Airways / Abu Dhabi Travel / → All Tags

Etihad Slowly But Surely Getting The Word Out About Abu Dhabi

Dubai, Dubai, Dubai. The Middle Eastern city on everyone's lips these days is still Dubai, despite the economic beating they're currently taking. Nonetheless, inch by inch Abu Dhabi is eeking its way up there, and Etihad Airways is majorly helping the Emirati capital to capture the world's attention.

In the last few years, Etihad has scrambled up to serving 58 destinations, with a goal of 70 worldwide by 2010. Is it a ploy for world domination or what? Our guess is that Etihad just wants to make a profit, since they haven't yet. Here's the next few routes we can expect from this growing Abu Dhabi giant:

more ›

Etihad Airways / Pilots / Women / Airline News / → All Tags

Etihad Now Comes Complete With Women Pilots

From a region of the world not exactly renowned for recognizing women in the work force, Etihad Airways is keen to let the world know that they have just graduated their first local female pilots from their flight training program.

Etihad is based in Abu Dhabi and has only been up and running since 2003—and their pilot cadet training program has only just taken on its 100th trainee, so the female-male ratio is not too tragic, especially since they've got four more local women still in training now.

more ›

Middle East / UAE / Art Museums / Guggenheim / Culture Travel / → All Tags

Abu Dhabi Sneaking Out Of Dubai’s (Big) Shadow

Playing little brother to international city of the moment Dubai would definitely suck, but tourism officials are keen to make the UAE’s second city Abu Dhabi famous for something other than bizarre morphing skyscrapers. Abu Dhabi is proudly striving to become the cultural capital of the Middle East instead.

And while we scoffed a bit at first, on closer investigation it seems like Abu Dhabi does know something about culture. There’s going to be a Guggenheim Abu Dhabi by 2012, and in keeping with the UAE's penchant for world records, it'll be the world's biggest Guggenheim museum.

They've also got a bunch of national cultural buildings in Abu Dhabi like the National Theater and the main national library. Perhaps we’ll soon be able to skip the skyscrapers of Dubai and spend our layover soaking up the museum culture of Abu Dhabi. Pity the shopping will probably never be as good.

Related Stories:
· Oil’s Well in Abu Dhabi [The Age]
· The Incredible Morphing Skyscraper [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ioan Barbulescu]

Politics / Food / Restaurants / → All Tags

Prince Charles and the McDonald's-Free Vacation

We woke up this morning to the news that Prince Charles wants McDonald's banned. Everyone's screaming about it. Such a ban--and this is assuming he was being serious--would be a lost cause in Britain, but perhaps not so much in the United Arab Emirates (where the suggestion was made). If they want McDonald's out and McDonald's puts up a fight, the UAE will build a giant, diamond-encrusted, multi-billion dollar robotic lion and keep Micky D's out.

So, what if you are seeking solace from the golden arches? Where can you travel to be free from the Big Mac, or any of its international incarnations? The best answer we've found so far comes from Yahoo!. You can roam free in Benin, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Tajikistan, for starters. Those 'stans always come through.

[Photo: The McGuires/Kramchang]

Related Stories:
· Report: Prince Charles advises banning McDonald's food [Boston Herald]
· Are there any countries in the world without a McDonald's? [Ask Yahoo!]