Tel Aviv is Israel's largest city and the center of the country's secular life. The residents recline on glistening beaches. They dance in bustling clubs. They shop in skyscraper malls. And every morning they sit on Freeway 2 and share one of the Middle East's worst commutes with two million of their closest friends.
In between all that, they still found time to give unto the world Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model Bar Refaeli. Let us pause and give thanks.]]>
In keeping with the visitors bureau’s switch from the suggestive “What Happens Here, Stays Here,” to the soothingly soporific “Take a Break” as its marketing slogan, the first thing Bar Refaeli did when she arrived in Vegas aboard Southwest’s SI One at was hit the sheets. Alone, no less.]]>
After seeing a hundred-foot-long Bar Refaeli on a Southwest plane yesterday, we began to question why more planes don't have really, really, ridiculously good-looking people on them. Sure, the commenters at Blog Southwest may not all agree with us that a swimsuit-issue snap is appropriate, but these frequent travelers look good in everything -- or almost nothing.
So meet the fleet of Jaunted Air -- the best-looking planes in the business. We've got three lovely ladies and three dashing men, who we hope will be as happy to see them in the air as we are.
Related Stories:
· Bar Refaeli Touches Down In Bikini'd Southwest Plane [Jaunted]
· Airport Photo Shoot: A Celebrity Pack in the Wild [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]>
"So this is a magazine," supermodel Bar Refaeli said, holding this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue which features her on the cover. All subscribers automatically receive SI's most popular issue, but they don't get to ride with Refaeli on SI One, a Southwest Airlines 737-300 wrapped with a shot of the Israeli model in a white bikini.
SI One touched down at New York's LaGuardia Airport, and we were probably the only ones just as excited about seeing the plane as seeing its cover girl. (The photographer next to us didn't know the Southwest markings and was continually disappointed as one after another plane passed without stopping.)
Giddily skipping about on Christian Louboutin heels, Refaeli said landing the cover was a complete shock to her -- she didn't find out until this week, when her agency coerced her to arrive in the city a few days early. The first person she called to tell? Mom. (Sorry, Leo!) This is her third appearance in the Swimsuit Issue, but she says she never contemplated being on a plane -- still, unlike most of us, the way-larger-than-life portrait didn't freak her out.
Like a pro, Refaeli gamely posed with Port Authority cops (one of whom was clutching his own camera) and the Southwest flight crew, albeit not in one of the signature bikinis she sports in SI. (Instead, she donned a Balenciaga jacket and James Perse tee. Bar and her bevy of beauties will be partying in New York tonight before boarding SI One to Las Vegas tomorrow for the Swimsuit Issue launch at the nightclub LAX.
Related Stories:
· Swimsuit Issue 2009 Locations Revealed [Jaunted]
· Following The SI Swimsuit Issue Ladies [Jaunted]
· SI Swimsuit Issue Holding Bash at LAX Inside Luxor [HC]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]>
Yesterday, we let you know where the lovely ladies of the 2009 Swimsuit Issue got their glamour shots taken, and today we’ll let you know where to find them. They’ll be heading over to Pranna Restaurant in New York to fill up and schmooze with VIPs. The restaurant is trying to be clever with their happy hour stimulus package, but we’re thinking that the models will be treated to the full menu that focuses on the cuisine of Southern Asia.
After they’ve killed the batteries in everyone’s cameras, the models will be off to LaGuardia to board their Southwest jet wrapped in bikini imagery. Best of all, once the beauties are done with their private air charter, the plane, “SI One,” will remain in service for about a month—so maybe you’ll get a chance to see it on your next connection through BWI or MDW.
Tomorrow night, the party will get going at LAX--the club, not the airport--inside the Luxor Resort and Casino. Besides Cristal and Grey Goose, expect a lot of SoBe Lifewater flowing as well, since the company threw down tons of cash to be a major sponsor of this year’s issue. We don’t know about the after party, but the models will still be in Vegas on Thursday as well signing autographs and making appearances at resorts all over the strip.
Related Stories:
·Swimsuit Issue 2009 [Official Site]
·Pranna Restaurant [Official Site]
·Sports Illustrated Group Announces SI Swimsuit 24/7 [PR Newswire]
·Swimsuit Issue 2009 Locations Revealed [Jaunted] ]]>
While we did our bestest to determine where some of the sexy snaps for Sports Illustrated's "Swimsuit Issue 2009" were taken before the issue actually came out, the men's mag managed to surprise us a quite a bit with their locations.
Cover girl Bar Refaeli was snapped on the Canouan Island in the Grenadines--a ho-hum choice since the Caribbean is a Swimsuit Issue go-to location. But other models were wriggling around in skimpy suits in Riviera Maya, Spain's Canary Islands, Cappadocia (Turkey) and Naples. Tennis stars like Tatiana Golovin were indeed snapped in the Dominican Republic but race car driver Danica Patrick and the NBA Dancers (random?) were photographed in New York at a studio.
In case you want more of where the Swimsuit Issue was shot, check out the website's dedicated page to the location photos. The page even lists the accommodations used by the crew and models in each location, complete with room rates and reservations numbers. Sorry, the SI Models don't come with the room.
Up next for the Swimsuit Issue? The gals will be boarding a dedicated Southwest plane from Laguardia to Las Vegas on Wednesday night for a party at the Luxor. The plane will even feature "Swimsuit Issue imagery" on the sides of the plane. But will it have in-flight WiFi?
Related Stories:
· Swimsuit Issue 2009 [Official Site]
· Sports Illustrated Swimsuit party to be held at LAX Nightclub inside the Luxor Hotel and Casino" [We Do It All Vegas]
· SI Swimsuit Issue Holding Bash at LAX Inside Luxor [HotelChatter]]]>
We’ve been doing our best to hunt down the ladies and locations of this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Unfortunately, we still have no idea who’s going to be on the front. Although, we will be staying up past our bedtime this Monday, as the secret will be revealed on the Late Show with David Letterman.
We do know that for the first time, Esti Ginzburg will be joining the crew of the issue. We’re thinking that during last year’s shoot in Israel, the SI crew did a little talent scouting along with taking in the landscape. Unlike fellow Israeli, and Jaunted fav, Bar Refaeli, Esti will fulfill her military obligation in the nation’s army. Knowing that, we will not be making any attempts to get her phone number--not like that would be an option anyway.
Besides Letterman, the SI crew is using “experiential marketing” this year to get the word out about their iconic magazine. With this new promotion, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 24/7 New York to Vegas, teenage boys will get the chance to fly from New York to Las Vegas and hang out with the beauties. For those who aren’t big winners, they’ll be plenty of behind the scenes videos to oggle on YouTube.
Related Stories: [Photo from 2008 of Ana Beatriz Barros in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua: SI]
·Letterman To Unveil SI Swimsuit Cover [MarketWatch]
·Israeli Cover Girl’s SI Swimsuit Debut [Forward]
·Marketing the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models [AdAge]
·Bikinis coverage [Jaunted]