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Tags: Train Travel / California / California Travel / Napa Valley Travel / Thanksgiving Travel / Thanksgiving Alternatives / Wine Travel / Wine Country / → All Tags

Gourmet On A Train: Ditch Cooking For A Napa Wine Dinner

There is a certain romantic allure to train travel—just ask fictional sweethearts Jesse and Céline of Before Sunrise. But Stateside, unfortunately, the mode of transport isn't as common as it is in other parts of the world. While you continue to dream about hopping aboard a Darjeeling Railway car, we're happy to report that a smaller-scale train trek can be had in California, even if it is less grand than journeying across exotic international ground.

The Napa Valley Wine Train is a refined alternative to unofficial "drunk buses" tourists often book to stay safe while sipping wine flights throughout the day. Equally drinker-friendly, and much more respectable, the train is holding a special Thanksgiving dinner aboard its Gourmet and Vista Dome cars for $104 and $139, respectively. Sadly, lunch tickets have already sold out.

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Tags: Movie Set Travel / George Clooney / New Mexico Travel / Alien Travel / → All Tags

George Clooney's Mustache Enjoyed Roswell, And You Can Too

"The Men Who Stare at Goats," starring George Clooney's mustache, Ewan McGregor, and Kevin Spacey hits theaters today. The movie, about a reporter who tags along on a bizarre military mission, was filmed last year in New Mexico and Puerto Rico. The cast spent the bulk of the shoot at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell.

If you're scheming to make a visit to Area 51 or just check out Roswell and the movie's backdrop, here's our take on where to stay and what to in the area, aside from growing out your own Clooney-stache.

Where to stay, what to do, and what to see in Roswell, NM, after the jump.

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Tags: Airport Restaurants / Airport Food / LAX / Pinkberry / Airport News / Airports / → All Tags

Load Up on Pinkberry Before Your Southwest Flight

It was only a matter of time before the faux fro-yo craze that is Pinkberry would hit the airports and we were oh so privileged to see it in action last night at LAX's Terminal 1, known to locals as The Southwest Terminal (although US Airways does have some presence here.)

Wedged in between a Starbucks, a California Pizza Kitchen ASAP and a Gordon Biesch brewery, the Pinkberry seemed to hold its own. We saw many a customer in our 45-minute wait in this airport fast food haven that solely came in to get some Pinkberry.

The bonus? You can also get Pinkberry as soon as you deplane as the location is right before the escalators down to the baggage claim.

Related Stories:
· Pinkberry Coverage [Jaunted]
· An Injection of Frozen Yogurt for Terminal 1 at LAX [Jaunted]

Tags: Audio Tours / Chicago Travel / iPods / Technology / → All Tags

How To Make Your Own Tour Of Chicago On Your iPod, For Free

The London Guarantee Building is the tour’s starting point.

In this craptastic economy, you may not have the extra bucks to buy one of those expensive tours where a guide shows you the ins and outs of a city. So we decided to try out a recession-friendly, iPod self-walking "Loop to Loop" tour of Chicago. And it's totally FREE.

Just visit the Chicago Loop Alliance's website and decide whether you want to take a theater, an art or a landmarks tour; we opted for the latter, which takes you throughout the Loop. Download the appropriate tour and add it to your iPod. But for a seamless experience you will have to do some work. The site provides you with a map of all of the landmarks, but it just lists the names of the buildings. We recommend writing down all of addresses so that you know where the heck you’re going. Click on all 23 landmark points on the website to get the addresses.

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Tags: National Parks / Delaware Travel / Active Travel / → All Tags

Coming Soon To Delaware: A National Park?

Besides working on health care reform and extending the housing credit, members of Congress are working on another pressing issue. Those from Delaware’s congressional district are looking to get the ball rolling on the creation of the state’s first national park. We’re all for more national parks, but we’ve been through Delaware, and park isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. However, we hear the Delaware Water Gap is pretty nice and it’s already a National Recreation Area—too bad it's not in Delaware.

Senator Thomas Carper is the one pushing hard for the First State National Historical Park, and he wants $5 million to preserve land near New Castle and to probably build a cool gift shop. Things at the park would focus on the state’s early settlers from Europe as well as other stuff perfect for an elementary school field trip. Besides the attractions in New Castle, there will also be sites outside of town like the Old Swedes Church in Wilmington.

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Tags: AirTran / Airlines / Airline News / Livery / Airplanes / Airplane News / Sports Travel / → All Tags

AirTran Paints Its Planes To Celebrate The Birds Of The NFL

Fans of the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons now have an easy pick when it comes to choosing their favorite airline—it has to be AirTran. The airline that loves in-flight WiFi has just released a Boeing 717 dubbed Ravens One from the hangar, and the plane is ready to shuttle fans to away games around the country.

Just a couple weeks ago, the airline pulled the masking tape off another plane dedicated to the Atlanta Falcons. It’s fitting that AirTran has a thing for football teams named after birds. However, the airline is also planning to release a plane with an Indianapolis Colts livery in just a few weeks. From what we’ve seen of Peyton Manning’s acting skills in commercials, we have little doubt that he’ll be the featured pitchman for the Colts’ new plane.

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Tags: Cirque du Soleil / Circus / Santa Monica Pier / Santa Monica Travel / → All Tags

Koozin' It Up In Santa Monica: The Kooza Cirque Du Soleil Show

While VegasChatter is all a-tizzy about the new Viva Elvis Cirque du Soleil show that is set to hit The Strip next month, the folks in Los Angeles are getting a chance to experience Kooza in their own backyard at the Santa Monica Pier.

Kooza is the story of a little boy who's trying to find his place in the world. Called The Innocent, he's guided by The Trickster who shows him all sorts of things in the world of Kooza from a bumbling king and his clown sycophants to a loudmouth pickpocket, pretty female contortionists, jugglers, dancers, tightrope walkers (and cyclists) and tumblers extraordinaire.

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Tags: Top Chef Travel / San Francisco Travel / California Travel / Top Chef / Food Travel / Restaurant Travel / → All Tags

Laurine Wickett Of 'Top Chef' Gives Left Coast Some Market-Fresh Options

This week's cheftestant profile involves travel to you, rather than a self-initiated jaunt to a cast member's restaurant. Laurine Wickett, whose tenure on Top Chef effectively ended after what is arguably the show's most difficult challenge, "Restaurant Wars," has since returned to San Francisco where she runs Left Coast Catering.

New York born, but Northern California bred—at least in the culinary sense—Laurine incorporates the Bay Area's various cultural influences into market-fresh menus for her clients. Whether left coast parents planning a Bat Mitzvah or bride-to-be hosting a dessert reception, Laurine will provide you with options galore. We perused some of her sample menus online, which reflect a flavorful Californian approach to cooking while turning to other regions of the world for inspiration. She does everything from sushi stations to steak and french fries, on the same menu if you'd like guests to have multiple options. Her ill-fated Pork Rillette (or, as Dana Cowin punishingly put it, "cat food") made no appearance on any of the menus we saw.

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Tags: Baseball Travel / Nightclubs / Drinking Travel / New York City / → All Tags

The Yankees Just Won The World Series, And This Is Where They Went...

That sonic boom you heard emanating from the tri-state area was the sound of millions of Yankees fans, having been cruelly denied a World Series title, finally ending a 9-year drought last night with a 7-3 victory in Game 6. After the game, third baseman Alex Rodriguez and his girlfriend Kate Hudson hit the Meatpacking District, partying at 1Oak with his mom and sister and shortstop Derek Jeter and his girlfriend ("Friday Night Lights"' Minka Kelly).

Even the revelation that Rodriguez has a painting of himself as a centaur in his bedroom failed to slow the Yankees in the rush to their 27th title. Other celebrity Yankees fans include Alec Baldwin, who was spotted in the stands during Game 1, and Jay-Z who performed "Empire State Of Mind" at Yankee Stadium before Game 2. Game 6's celeb ticket holders included Will Forte, Spike Lee and Regis Philbin. (None of them were at 1Oak to the best of our knowledge, though.) On the other hand, it might be appropriate to buy a drink for Will Smith, Tina Fey and Vice President Joe Biden, all Phillies fans.

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Tags: Willis Tower / Sears Tower / Skyscrapers / Architectural Travel / Observation Decks / Chicago Travel / Tourist Traps / → All Tags

We Lived On The Edge And Visited Willis Tower's New Ledge

The Willis Tower installed "The Ledge," these new glass boxes that jut out 4.3 feet from the skyscraper to give you that standing-on-the-edge feeling in the pit of your stomach, on the west side of the building's Skydeck on the 103rd floor.

With a name like that, you'd think it was an amusement park ride. Adding to the amusement park novelty are shirts, mugs and other paraphernalia for sale that boast "Dare to Stand Out" and professional photographers on hand to take a souvenir snapshot of you in the floating box that will be printed and framed by the time you leave the building.

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Tags: Food Travel / Restaurant Week / Restaurant Travel / Philadelphia Travel / Philadelphia Restaurants / Hotels / → All Tags

Some News From Philly That's Not World Series-Related

How do you enjoy Restaurant Week menus and prices without it actually being Restaurant Week? Well, if you're in Philadelphia, all you've got to do is book your hotel stay on withlove.gophila.com, and you'll receive all the details on the hotels where you can dine on discount prix-fixe menus through December 30.

Restaurants featured run the gamut, from super swish 4-course meals at Lacroix at The Rittenhouse to fresh Italian at Positano Coast. And since we promised Restaurant Week prices, you'll be happy to hear the the 3-to-4-course meals are all either $20, $30 or $35 per person. We're guessing that Lacroix is up at the $35 end, but menu choices aren't piddly; think "prime rib, crab imperial, handmade orecchiette and olive oil-poached Scottish salmon."

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Tags: Volunteer Travel / Celeb Travel / Kids Travel / Travel With Children / → All Tags

'Project Explorer' Asks For The Definition Of A 'Global Citizen'

Whether it was because of a family road trip or National Geographic, most of us were inspired to become travelers at an early age. Now, the non-profit Project Explorer is bringing that inspiration to the classroom and exposing kids of all ages to different places around the planet. Their website, ProjectExplorer.org, provides free virtual field trips that include information about everything from the history to the culture and cuisines of far off locations around the globe. Their current trips include Jordan, Shakespearean England, South Africa, and a visit to Malaysia is also in the works.

To further their mission, Project Explorer is asking leaders, visionaries, public figures, children and the general public to answer one question: What does being a good global citizen mean to you? You can share your answer by becoming a member of Good Global Citizen. Well you are there, you can also watch inspiring videos by others who have already answered Project Explorer's call including Andrew Zimmern, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Russell Simmons, Allison Janney, Ziggy Marley, Dulé Hill, Paul Rudd and Mario Batali.

Check out their website for more information about how you can get involved or donate to Project Explorer.

Related Stories:
· Project Explorer [Official Site]
· Travel the World Virtually with ProjectExplorer.org [Wandering Educators]
· Volunteer Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Good Global Citizen]