Jaunted

Movie Set Travel / Celeb Travel / Florida Travel / Adam Sandler / Katie Holmes / Al Pacino / → All Tags

Go To Fort Lauderdale, Be An Extra In An Adam Sandler Movie

For those who have always dreamed of sharing the big screen with Adam Sandler, this might just be your chance. This weekend there will be an open casting call held in Fort Lauderdale, FL for Sandler's latest movie, Jack & Jill.

During the open call Sande Alessi Casting will be looking for men and women of all ages and ethnicities, including real families with children, to be background actors in the movie when it shoots in Florida next month.

more ›

Themed Cruises / The Beatles / Beatles Travel / Royal Caribbean / → All Tags

Obsess Over The Beatles 'Eight Days a Week' on The Tribute Cruise

Were you curious about Oxford University's mini-program this summer featuring an entire class on The Beatles? but want something less academic and stuffy? The Beatles Tribute Cruise has come to your rescue.

The cruise will set sail on March 28 for one week, departing from Fort Lauderdale and making stops in Belize and Costa Maya and Cozumel in Mexico. And it's bound to be populated by the middle-aged versions of fanboys and girls.

The cruise will feature some of the most important people on the fringes of the Beatles stardom like May Pang, Yoko Ono's assistant who famously hooked up with John Lennon on his "Lost Weekend" in LA. Additionally, Paul Saltzman, the photographer who captured the Beatles during their retreat to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in India will be cruising as well as Shannon, the Beatles artist who did all the artwork at the Hard Day's Night Hotel in Liverpool.

And of course, a tribute band called BritBeat that hails not Liverpool, but from Chicago:

more ›

Travel Snapshot / Airports / FLL / Super Bowl Travel / Football Travel / → All Tags

Fort Lauderdale Airport is Ready For Some Football

This is what greeted us when we landed in Fort Lauderdale in the Virgin America terminal on Tuesday night—Super Bowl banners!

The Super Bowl is not for another week more, but more football fans are expected to flood the Fort Lauderdale-Miami areas this weekend as well as the NFL Pro Bowl takes place here on Sunday.

Related Stories:
· The Cheapest Flights to the Super Bowl for Colts and Saints Fans [Jaunted]
· Te Top Five Most Outlandish NFL Playoff Packages [Jaunted]
· Super Bowl travel coverage [Jaunted]

Airfare Wars / FLL / Virgin America / JetBlue / Inaugural Flights / New Routes / Fort Lauderdale Travel / Florida Travel / → All Tags

Fort Lauderdale Airport Is The New Bunker Hill

When the Colonials learned that British forces were planning to send troops out of the city to the surrounding unoccupied hills, they acted. The colonials set up shop at the top of Bunker & Breed's Hill and picked off the redcoats sending them retreating towards Cambridge. Seems to us that FLL is the new Bunker Hill, though we will leave it to you to determine which airline wears what uniform.

By now we all know how Virgin America launched their 10th destination earlier this week at FLL and we have the photo gallery to prove it. However, what really struck us about our jaunt to meet them in FLL was the obvious jockeying for position that was going on there between JetBlue and Virgin America.

The feud deepens, after the jump.

more ›

Cruises / Oasis of the Seas / Cruising / Dangerous Travel / Royal Caribbean / Seasickness / Motion Sickness / → All Tags

New Oasis of the Seas Hits Monster Waves in First Transatlantic Crossing

The brand new, unbelievably huge Oasis of the Seas cruise ship has been rocked by some serious waves on its first voyage. As USA Today points out, the 5,400-passenger vessel encountered hurricane-strength winds and waves over 60 feet high in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Fortunately for the cruise line, there aren't any passengers on board, as Royal Caribbean is merely transporting it from the shipyard in Turku, Finland to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for its inaugural cruise. But while many passengers would have likely gotten seasick, they wouldn't have been in any serious peril, as the ship has weathered the waves quite smartly. For maximum stability, Captain William Wright has slowed the world's largest cruise ship down and steered it head-on into the waves. He probably wouldn't admit it, but I bet he's having fun.

more ›

New Routes / Virgin America / LCCs / FLL / Fort Lauderdale Travel / Miami Travel / Spring Break Travel / Airline News / → All Tags

Virgin America To Service Fort Lauderdale in November

Who's ready for spring break?!?!!? Okay okay calm down, because you've still got another eight or so months before you can decamp with your whole camp down to Florida's beaches for barely legal fun. But for you snow birds and West Coasters looking to trade the clubs of LA for the clubs of Miami, the partying will start in November as Virgin America has today announced that they'll be flying nonstop from San Francisco and Los Angeles to sunny Fort Lauderdale.

Jaunted thought this would be a VA destination long ago, though we were leaning MIA over FLL.

Tickets went on sale today for flights beginning November 18, and with two direct roundtrips daily from each city, including the only directs between FLL and SFO, we expect them to go like hotcakes. True to their LCC nature—who thinks of them a low-cost carrier anymore, with their WiFi and great service?—the tickets will start out rather cheap. We're talking prices from $99 each way for economy and $499 and up for higher classes (those with the white leather massage chairs).

more ›

Tropical Storms / Hurricanes / Kite Surfing / Videos / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: So Extreme, Bro!

Attention extreme sports enthusiats: Kite surfing is not one of the things the National Hurricane Center considers "Preparations to protect life and property."

A guy in Fort Lauderdale had to find that out the hard way after he was snatched up by a wind gust, slammed to the ground, dragged over a busy highway and thrown into a wall. He's in critical condition at a local hospital, though he did manage to survive the ordeal. Uh... congrats?

Related Stories:
· Caught On Tape: Wind Blows Kite Surfer Into Building [WFOR]
· Kite Surfer Injury: Blame the Media? [Sun Sentinel]
· Fort Lauderdale Kite Surfing School [Official Site]
· Catching a Wave--with a Kite [Jaunted]

Killer Beaches 2008 / Summer Travel / Beaches / → All Tags

Anti-Shark Travel: Summer in Ft. Lauderdale

With all these killer beaches, so much for a summer of frolicking in the sea, right? But Ft. Lauderdale is cleverly profiting from Florida tourists' shark-phobia by offering a ton of "beyond the beach" deals that won't leave you limbless.

Adventure-seekers can captain their own fishin' boat for a day with Best Boat Club. They're giving a full-day rental at a half-day rate, saving you $219 and giving you a few extra hours to hunt down Jaws' offspring. The tamer offers include a visit to Red Door's Lauderdale Spa for a "Signature Spa Break" massage and facial with bonus hair and makeup, which will have you feeling special when you and your date take a $99 2-for-1 cruise to Grand Bahama Island.

If you book one of the twofer tours now you'll also become the proud owner of a "Summer of Discovery" swag bag complete with beach towel and beach ball for use on your trip. Just make sure you don't use 'em too close to the water!

Related Stories:
· Summer of Discovery [Official Site]
· Shark Travel: New Smyrna Going for Gold [Jaunted]
· Killer Beaches 2008 [Jaunted]

Travel Snapshots / Flickr / Public Art / Airport Art / Airports / FLL / → All Tags

Travel Snapshot: Seen at the Fort Lauderdale Airport...This Guy

We had a connection last week in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (don't ask) and as we deplaned and made our way to the baggage claim in Terminal 3, we saw this public art sculpture. It was so strikingly weird that we snapped a picture right away.

Once we got back in front of a computer, we tracked down the meaning of this thing. Titled "Vendor with a Walkman" the piece was done by late sculptor Duane Hanson in 1990. Here is the official description from the Broward County Cultural Division:

Featuring a seated thirty-something male in a red T shirt and blue pants, listening to a walkman radio/cassette during a break. The installation accessories give additional clues to the narrative of the artwork: toy airplane, various signs and announcement for the shop, janitorial supplies... Hanson again presented a slice of Americana in the most unexpected locale.

Interestingly enough, the picture on the Broward County website shows the vendor with a Miller Lite hat. Our picture has the guy wearing some other sort of trucker hat. Looks like not much has changed since the 90s here. Oh well, we guess it's less shocking than sheep in formaldehyde.

Have your own travel snaps? Drop 'em in the Jaunted Flickr Pool, and we'll highlight the best.

Related Stories:
· Travel Snapshots coverage [Jaunted]
· Jaunted Photo Pool [Flickr]

Tourism Boards / Florida Tourism / YouTube / → All Tags

Fark vs. Florida II: FLA Fights Back With Fake Beaches

Last month we told you how Florida earned its own category on news commentary site Fark.com. Furthermore, we told you that Florida Tourism was going to spend more money in 2007, to try and reverse the 2.4% tourism slip that occurred in late 2006.

How? Well for starters, The Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau took over a building in New York City's Union Square for a week (Jan 10 - 16) and turned it into coast(954), a pop-up tourism store selling trips, offering free massages, virtual fishing, a sand box and a volleyball net. The Bureau also hired some ambassadors to welcome visitors and bring to life what Florida is really about: beach bodies, from what we saw.

We noticed bikini clad Lauren sitting on her "virtual beach," a fenced-in installation of sand where a heat lamp played the role of the sun, and decided to liberate her from the monotony of oglers with a quick interview, letting her tell you directly why you should visit FLA, and more specifically Ft. Laud. Why should one visit Ft. Lauderdale and not arch-rival Miami? Because, as she points out, Miami has gangs while Ft. Lauderdale keeps it classy.

more ›