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Tags: Sports Travel / Airport News / Poland Travel / Ukraine Travel / → All Tags

The 2012 European Soccer Championships Will Get Their Own Airport

If you're already super-psyched about the big UEFA European Soccer Championship in 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine, we highly recommend holding off for a while on getting a jumpstart on your travel plans.

You see, if you plan it all out now, you could end up flying into Warsaw's congested Okecie airport rather than the brand-spanking-new airport they're just beginning now to build outside of Warsaw, in the town of Modlin. The $140 million dollar airport is being built specifically to ease the bottleneck of soccer fans arriving for the UEFA Championships, and will no doubt be fully kitted out in soccer regalia to get you in the spirit.

Related Stories:
· Poland To Build New Airport For 2012 European Soccer Championship [Today In The Sky]
· Sports Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: wikipedia]

Tags: Alcohol / Poland Travel / → All Tags

Vodka Travel: Finding the #1 Drink in Poland

With a recent experience of Polish vodka still tingling our taste buds, it's no surprise we had our attention grabbed by a weekend Age article about finding the best vodka in Warsaw.

Turns out that the Polish aren't quite as fascinated with their vodka as we are, seeing it as a bit of layman's drink, but that won't stop us trying a few more. The Age reporter was lucky to sample quite a few, including:

Krupnik, a honey vodka drunk for breakfast in the mountains, as well as subrezty, a sour-sweet vodka, a cherry flavoured vodka and Siwucha, a potato vodka.

The favorite turned out to be the potato vodka, but our personal vote is for the honey vodka. And who says breakfast time is too early to start drinking? Not the Polish, obviously.

Related Stories:
· The Best Vodka in Town [The Age]
· Polish Cuisine in Melbourne: Borsch, Vodka & Tears [Jaunted]
· Poland Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: ceronne]

Tags: Movie Set Travel / Castles / → All Tags

Movie Set Travel: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Take a break from reality this weekend and hit up the theater to see "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," the next installment in the series of the the Pevensie sibs.

This time the charming English foursome find that hundreds of years have passed since their last trip to Neverland, er, Narnia, and a new villan, King Miraz, has taken over the throne. Of course they enlist help from all the Narnia creatures and then have to figure out how to get home. This one's full of mythology, some new local characters and even a night raid on a castle.

In that vein we encourage you to explore Narnia this week. We kid, we kid. Instead, try checking out some of the below hotspots in Poland, where parts of the film were actually shot:

Where to Stay: Hotel Grodek, Krakow Part of the Donimirski family of boutique hotels, the Grodek features distinct rooms (you can view them all online and decide before booking) and is tucked away in the Old Town area of the city.

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Tags: Public Transportation / Europe Travel / → All Tags

Public Transportation: Polish Trams Jump Tracks

Ah, trams. They've always seemed so safe: slow-moving, confined to a clear track, occasionally driven by bare-chested men, especially in Eastern Europe. But head a little north from Bratislava (home to the "look Mom, no hands!" school of tram drivers) and the recent drama in Poland makes us feel a little less certain about the reliability of streetcars.

It turns out that a 14-year-old school boy in the Polish city of Lodz was clever enough to hack into the tram network. He configured a TV remote control so that it would get trams to change tracks instead of flipping channels on the telly. The result of his fun was several accidents and four derailments, but fortunately no fatalities.

Sounds like a boy with a brilliant career ahead of him, if only he can put his amazing tram powers to work for the good guys.

Related Stories:
· Schoolboy Hacks Into City's Tram System [Guardian]
· Getting From A to Bratislava [Jaunted]
· Public Transportation Love-Hate coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Tierecke]

Tags: LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / Centralwings / Poland Travel / → All Tags

Centralwings Loves Kids, Discount Tickets

Following the (largely Polish-held) theory that Poland is the center of Europe, the low cost carrier Centralwings is, of course, based in Poland. The airline flies out of eight different Polish cities, though apart from flights out of Warsaw and Krakow, the destination choices are fairly limited. Coming up this winter, though, some new flights will open to Athens, Barcelona, Lyon and Manchester.

But the big news over at Centralwings is they're trying to drum up some family business and are proudly advertising that children can get a discount on tickets. Infants under two fly free, and all children aged between 2 and 16 get a 20% discount on the adult fare. It started out sounding kinda generous, but when we calculate that the 20% discount on a 19 Zloty ($7) flight is just about enough to buy a small fries, it starts to sound like a marketing trick.

Of course, if your travel arrangements are completely inflexible or you book at the last minute, you might end up with some useful savings. Tickets can go for up to 600 Zloty, and with the money you save there, you'll be able to buy a burger to go with those fries.

Related Stories:
· Site Scramble: Centralwings [Jaunted]
· Bad Jokes Are Free At Wizz Air [Jaunted]
· Centralwings [Official Site]

Tags: New York Times / Denny Lee / Backpackers / Expats / Sophistonauts / → All Tags

Times Writer Continues Hunt for Travel Cliches

What's with travel media and "X is the new Y?" Public enemy number one when it comes to the reductionist formulation would have to be the New York Times, which has another new Prague this week: Krakow, Poland.

Writer Denny Lee (turns out Denny is a good photographer as well) has some "fresh" "intelligence" from those who know the city best: a bunch of self-described bohemians. (We're suspicious.) Here's what a dozen expats got up to last October:

The group chatted about their creative endeavors as they polished off six-packs of Tatra Pilsener, smoked hand-rolled cigarettes and, at one point, began scrawling existential messages on the walls. Then, at about midnight, they headed off to Kitsch, a multilevel pansexual club on Ulica Wielopole, where they danced until the wee hours.

Sounds like Krakow might be the new Cartagena.

[Photo: Denny Lee/New York Times]

Related Stories:
· Poland Travel [Jaunted]

Tags: Amazing Race 11 / Chasing Racers / Television Travel / Amazing-Race-All-Stars / → All Tags

Amazing Race All-Stars: Chopin Has Groupies?

Click Here To Go Straight To Chasing Racers Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race All Stars 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.

Must've been a slow week over at CBS because last night's Amazing Race was a two-hour spectacular. The double show packed in the excitement, with Joe and Bill almost a day behind the front of the pack. After Danielle freaked out while getting tossed off a flight last week, would she be back in Eric's passenger seat this time? And would Oswald be able to come up with even more saucy one liners? With only six teams left--and more sausage than you care to think about--we find out after the jump.

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Tags: Nightlife / Britain / Drinking / Culture / Travel Hell / → All Tags

Keep Your Skirt On!

We've already expressed a hint of dismay at the growing popularity for the British to hold their bachelor parties in Eastern Europe, often causing drunken havoc and mayhem at their destination, since it's so much cheaper to drink there than at home. Getting drunk, throwing bottles and breaking bar stools is one thing, but in Poland the situation's definitely getting out of hand: the Scots are lifting their kilts.

Seeing a man in a skirt while you're trying to enjoy a night on the town is disturbing enough, but seeing what's under his skirt (nothing!) is just a touch too much. Some Polish cities are trying to get men in skirts banned and are at the least threatening to throw them in jail for the night. Seems kilt-wearing in Poland gives a whole new meaning to the idea of "traveling light".

[Photo: melomane]

Related Stories:
· Polish Authorities Seek Ban on Kilt Drunks [Scotsman]
· British Government to Charge Citizens for Vomiting Abroad [Jaunted]

Tags: Poland / statues / → All Tags

Polish Miracle, or Poor Urban Planning?

Wadowice, a small town in Poland, isn't too far from Koniakow, the village we know better as the home of sexy lingerie crocheted up by Polish grannies. But Wadovice is famous for a completely different reason--it's the birthplace of the late Pope John Paul II.

There's been a sudden burst of travelers to Wadowice of late, since word got around that a miracle occured. Blessed water was pouring out for all beneath a statue of JP. But read on before you change your travel plans. The local mayor has admitted that they installed the pipe that's suppplying this magical aqua-pura:

We didn't mean anything by it, it was just supposed to make the statue look prettier.

Oops. Seems miracles in Poland just aren't what they used to be. Better stick to the sexy underwear idea if you're looking for a reason to head there.

[Image via patriciadizon/Flickr]

Related stories:
Town Council's Miracle Fountain [The Australian]
Polish Grannies Crochet a Storm [Jaunted]

Tags: shopping / → All Tags

Polish Grannies Crochet up a Storm

If your grandmother's anything like ours, there's nothing she likes more than to sit back with a ball of cotton and knit or crochet some ghastly piece of clothing to be foisted with glee onto the next grandchild to walk through the door.

But if your grandmother's Polish, perhaps it's a different story. Having missed out on capitalism during their whole working life, a bunch of grey-haired women in Koniakow, southern Poland have made up for it by hitting upon a winning "crochet + internet = profit" formula. They're crocheting sexy g-strings and selling them across the world on their website.

Yep, you read right. They started out with their delicately lacey doilies and tablecloths but when they realized the money up for grabs in the online lingerie market, their needles started clicking in another direction. Sitting up in their pretty little village in the mountains, they're taking the world by storm. So who says it's bad to wear knickers from your grandma?

Related stories:
Grannies' G-Strings Go Global [Ananova]
British Police Say Wear Nice Knickers [NineMSN]

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Polish Nurse Seeks Tourists, Cash

Just as most countries have their own favorite immigrant groups to blame for the potential loss of jobs, for the French and others during the failed EU referendum talks this spring, it was the Poles. Especially their plumbers, who (the theory went) were itching to move west and take jobs away from good Frenchies. In an ad campaign, the Warsaw tourist board riffed on this stereotype with a poster of a sexy lug, wrench in hand, and a caption saying "I'm staying in Poland -- everyone come visit."

And now there's a sexy Polish nurse to join him in the welcoming. Excuse us while we go over and say hi.

Related Stories:
·   Polish nurse quickens the pulse [Polski Radio via landspeednyc]
·   'Polish plumber' beckons French [BBC]
·   Polish Tourist Board [Official site]