Jaunted

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Fucking, Austria is Totally Fed Up with Its F*cking Name

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from Fucking, Austria."

Yes, that punctuation is correct and yes this is a conversation held god knows how many times in the last slew of decades, as residents of the Austrian town Fucking explain that yes, that's really the name of the town and, yes, it's been the name of the town since the 18th century, so shut up.

All was fine and dandy for the 108 residents of Fucking, until the postcard sales and tourist bus revenue was sullied by petty crime. You see, The Telegraph UK tells us that the town's name sign has been stolen 13 times, and at £250 each, it's no wonder Fucking is tired of all that...well, fucking around.

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Travel Hell / Airlines / Airline News / Comtel / ATQ / BHX / VIE / → All Tags

Is This The Worst Flight Ever? Passengers Forced To Pay $36k To Finish The Journey

We’re sadly used to paying extra for our flights now – baggage, drinks, extra legroom seats, priority boarding… But one thing we never expected to have to shell out for is the actually taking off.

So it’s gobsmacking to hear of Comtel Air, an Austrian-based airline that, in October, launched a twice-weekly service from Birmingham (UK) to Amritsar (India). On Tuesday, a plane which should have taken off on Saturday, stopped in Vienna for a scheduled refueling; only, according to passengers, the pilot refused to take off until they clubbed together to pay £23,000 ($36,000) to get the plane in the air again.

For real.

After a six hour standoff (let’s not forget they were already three days late in their arrival), the passengers agreed to pay £130 each to get the ordeal over. If they didn’t have cash on them, they were escorted to ATMs in the airport before being let back onboard.

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Australia Travel / Travel Tips / Dangerous Travel / Travel Photography / → All Tags

Taking Photos from Precarious Places in Australia Could Land You a Fine

Snapping killer vacations photos is a must and the most postcard-perfect shot can often be the best free souvenir from a trip. But you daredevil shutterbugs will have to watch out if you decide to pull a risky Peter Parker/Spider-Man type photo shoot near Australia's beautiful Twelve Apostles area.

The Twelve Apostles, a set of tall red rock formations off of the scenic Great Ocean Road, are a popular Victoria attraction where tourists dangle dangerously from cliffs to snap such postcard-worthy images, but if you get caught taking photos from precarious cliffs, you can face a fine of up to $240.

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Train Travel / Orient Express / Austria Travel / Travel News / → All Tags

The Orient Express Train Loses Steam, Finally Calls It Quits

One evening a few years ago, our measly little Trenitalia train limped into Venice's Santa Lucia station. At the track opposite ours sat a slick black train, with the words "Compagnie Internationale des Wagon-Lits" written on the side. "Oh my god," we thought; it's the frickin' Orient Express! So we proceeded to mentally freak out, even though we shouldn't have been so surprised since the train did call the watery city home as a terminus.

Anyway, that Venice train we saw is only one of several trains bearing the "Orient Express" name, and one of them is coming to an end. The original Orient Express, which once ran the exotic route from Paris to Varna and on to Istanbul by steamer, will cease operation on December 12 of this year.

But don't be sad...

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Vienna Field Trip / Embedded Travel Guides / Wine Travel / Wine Bars / → All Tags

Three Wine Bars To Try in Vienna

All this week, Carolyn Banfalvi will be taking us on a eat-and-drink tour of Vienna, Austria. If you have any questions or suggestions for Vienna Travel, let us know and we'll have Carolyn get back to you. Enjoy.

Everyone knows the Viennese have a thing for coffee. But Vienna is also one of Austria’s big wine-making regions. The world’s only capital city which encompasses a significant amount of wine growing areas within its limits, Vienna also offers loads of places to drink wine.

On the weekends, the Viennese head to the vineyards in the wine district on the edge of town to sample wine, have meals at the traditional wine taverns, and hike in the vineyards.

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Vienna Field Trip / Embedded Travel Guides / Cultural Travel / → All Tags

Five Places You Must Visit in Vienna

All this week, Carolyn Banfalvi will be taking us on a eat-and-drink tour of Vienna, Austria. If you have any questions or suggestions for Vienna Travel, let us know and we'll have Carolyn get back to you. Enjoy.

If it were up to me, I’d spend my days checking out the coffee houses, and my nights exploring the wine bars. But Vienna is so full of art museums, grand palaces, well-kept parks, galleries, and theaters, that you have to check out at least the biggies.

You could occupy days just wandering the winding streets of the inner city, where all roads seem to lead to the spectacular Stephansdom--the cathedral which is essentially the city’s focal point. And there’s always that other form of culture for which Vienna is so famous: music.

Here are Five of Vienna's Top Attractions, each of which could easily occupy an entire day, (or more).

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Vienna Field Trip / Embedded Travel Guides / Starbucks Alternatives / Vienna Coffee Houses / → All Tags

Three Not-So-Traditional Coffee Houses To Try in Vienna

All this week, Carolyn Banfalvi will be taking us on a eat-and-drink tour of Vienna, Austria. If you have any questions or suggestions for Vienna Travel, let us know and we'll have Carolyn get back to you. Enjoy.

If there’s anywhere in the world to avoid the coffee chains, it’s Vienna. Think Vienna, and its gilded coffee houses come to mind. These are places where waiters dressed in black and white serve coffee in porcelain cups on silver trays, and the delicate cakes are made as they have been for hundreds of years.

Such iconic Viennese coffee houses have long been places where locals spend significant chunks of their lives, but the city also offers a more modern take on the traditional coffee house, where the younger generations take their coffee and check their email in surroundings ranging from hip Bohemian to sleek revamped versions of landmark cafes.

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Vienna Field Trip / Embedded Travel Guides / Food Travel / Desserts / → All Tags

Where to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth and More in Vienna

All this week, Carolyn Banfalvi will be taking us on a eat-and-drink tour of Vienna, Austria. If you have any questions or suggestions for Vienna Travel, let us know and we'll have Carolyn get back to you. Enjoy.

Vienna might be the world’s only capital city to have a cuisine named after it. Viennese cuisine tends to be a bit more refined that food elsewhere in Austria. It’s also a little more international, with influences from the other countries that once were part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Most notably, the Hungarians contributed goulash (and you will find so many more variations on that dish here, than in more traditional Hungary). Vienna’s most famous dish, Wiener Schnitzel (a huge slab of breaded veal served with a lemon and potatoes), is a riff on Veal Milanese. Vienna’s other signature dish is tafelspitz, a big hunk of beef that has been boiled with vegetables in its own broth, and is usually served with roasted potatoes, minced apples, horseradish, and sour cream. The dish was said to be the favorite of Emperor Franz Josef.

And, of course there are the desserts.

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Amazing-Race-14 / Amazing Race 14 / Chasing Racers / Television Travel / TV Travel / → All Tags

Your Target Is Your Partner's Face

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 14 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray.

Remember to zoom in, out and around on the map--with so much happening in each episode, it's easy to miss a map point.

After last week's incredible episode, we were reminded why we love his show: awesome challenges, interesting locales and teams we actually like. Will Margie and Luke be able to keep their lead, or will Tammy and Victor power ahead? Can the flight attendants Jodi and Christie use their travel prowess to their advantage, and will Steve and Linda stop crying and focus? Only ten teams remain in this race around the globe. Who has what it takes to make it all the way to the finish and win the million dollar prize?

LET'S FIND OUT!

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Religious Travel / Art / NASA / Outer Space / → All Tags

Jesuits' Cosmos: Austrian Artists Install Massive NASA Mural in Vienna Church

Outer space is the perfect metaphor for God and the mysteries of life. It's infinitely vast, it's mysteriously unknowable, and it elicits wonder and contemplation in all who behold it. This might be why Austrian artists Christoph Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf installed a massive NASA photograph of an astronaut floating in space on the ceiling of the historic Jesuit Church in Vienna in an exhibit entitled The Jesuits' Cosmos. The photo, which will be on display through May 25, 2009, is printed on a huge section of semi-transparent net fabric. Employing a change in lighting, the curators can switch the focus between the astronaut and the curvature of the blue planet to a "reverted view" of the Andrea Pozzo ceiling frescoes above them. Either way, the viewer is awed with a sense of spatial illusion. I like this trend of installing thought-provoking pieces of modern art in houses of worship. It's a pleasant reminder that we're all on the same planet, just trying to get along and figure a few things out.

[Photo: Steinbrener-Dempf]

Related Stories:
· Jesuits' Cosmos [Steinbrener-Dempf]
· Vienna Jesuit Church [Official Site]
· Religious Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Toilets / Cafes / Bathrooms / → All Tags

Viennese Cafe With Easy Bathroom Access

In a city we expect better from, the usually-culturally-rich Vienna, someone's really let us down by creating a cafe with a bunch of toilets lining the walls.

The theory is that if the male customers can sit on the toilet while drinking their coffee--they're not functioning toilets, in case you're freaking out--they'll be more rested and happier and, we presume, more likely to come back and buy their next coffee in the same spot.

The name now translates to "A Quiet Place" and we're thinking it's an appropriate name. Watching other customers sitting on the toilet is not our idea of high culture in Vienna, so we'll be staying away and leaving the cafe nice and quiet.

Related Stories:
· Cafe Loo-ses the Plot [Ananova]
· Phil Café and Store in Vienna [Jaunted]
· Vienna Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ananova]

Ski Resorts / Skiing / Active Travel / Winter Travel / → All Tags

Austrian Slopes Have Us Forgetting About Switzerland

Over Switzerland? We reckon skiing in Austria is just as good, and often not as pricey. Sure, there's a bit less Swiss chocolate but the Austrians still know how to give you a good time going down a mountain.

The Arlberg region in the southwest is one of the most well-known resort areas with half a dozen choices for skiers including St. Anton and St. Cristoph--perfect spots if you feel you need some saintly blessing. If you get there before January 30, low season prices let you ski for three full days for €110 ($147).

Closer to Salzburg in central Austria, Krippenstein is not for beginners but we love the name too much not to recommend it. It's famous for some spectacular off-piste possibilities with huge vertical drops and is home to the Freesports Arena. Three days here run just €86.20 ($115).

If snowboarding is the way you prefer to glide then Hippach is a good spot for you. Close to Innsbruck in the south, Hippach has 45 ski lifts and reliable snow cover--and quite a bit of local fame among snowboarders. A part of the massive Zillertal ski area, you can shred Hippach as well as many other peaks in the region on a Zillertal SuperSkiPass; four full days are €133 ($177).

And before you waste pre-trip time worrying about global warming, don't forget that Austria has put giant blankets on some of its peaks to prevent premature melting.

Related Stories:
· Ski Arlberg [Official Site]
· Krippenstein Skiing [Official Site]
· Zillertal, including Hippach [Official Site]
· Austria's Melting Peaks [Jaunted]

[Photo: rossjamesparker]