Remember when Ryanair threw a hissy fit about bad coverage and "retaliated" by giving away over a million free seats? This new deal from low-cost carrier AsiaAir has going is just like that, rounded down a few thousand seats. Except this the deal opens up a huge vacation window next summer. And it covers over 70 destinations in China, India, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand. And you don't have to fly on Ryanair. All things that we are very, very in favor of, but let's hear what they have to say:

AirAsia’s regional commercial head Kathleen Tan said when the economy was tough, people looked for traveling options that offered them better value for money. 'With no fuel surcharge and administration fee, this deal offers fantastic value to our guests'...she said to complement the free flights, AirAsia’s one-stop travel portal was also offering deals and packages including “free rooms” in more than 180 Asia-Pacific hotels online.

]]> Omri 2009-11-11T15:34:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/11/23036/951

Amusement parks, ice-skating rinks, wave pools, and IMAX theatres—believe it or not, these are all found inside of select malls around the world. And although many know of Minnesota's Mall of America, which continues to be a popular road trip destination, the shopping centers that beat it in both size and attractions require an international voyage.

So we spilled the beans; the most shocking malls are not within the United States, but can you guess where they are? Here's a hint: although mall culture is typically associated with North America's suburban malls, a continent on the other side of the world is taking their malls a thousand times more seriously, not to mention larger.

Join us in awe, won't you, as we run down the The World's Top Five Most Shocking Malls, after the jump.]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-11T09:47:45-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/2/0525/58696

Now that we've got our freedom, wanna come over? A Reuters article published this weekend described the follow-up fight of the new Southeast Asian country East Timor, which emerged from 24 years of occupation to join the UN in 2002, to capitalize on its troubled past in attracting visitors. Actually, it was more "speculated on" than "described," but we'll get to that in a minute.

East Timor declared itself independent in 1975 when Portuguese colonizers left, only to be invaded and occupied by Indonesia a week later. Some 180,000 civilian deaths and two attempted military uprisings later, East Timor is now a democracy backed up by its neighbor to the south Australia -- so it must be time for tourist dollars to flow in again. ]]> egw 2009-11-02T08:49:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/19/44450/470

One of our favorite low cost carriers, Air Asia, is not just cool because it keeps adding more routes—like Kuala Lumpur to Paris on the cheap and the Indian destinations like Thiruvananthapuram just to name a couple of last week's highlights—but it's also giving us ideas for our 2010 travel plans by holding a big airfare sale at the moment.

For bookings made between now and Sunday, you can get bargain tickets for travel between January 11 and April 30, 2010 for a bunch of Asian routes. The cheapest flights get as low as 19 Ringgit ($5.50) but they're mostly internal Malaysian flights; to get from Kuala Lumpur to further afield, there are deals like KL to pretty much anywhere in Indonesia or Thailand for 59 Ringgit ($17) and KL to Australian destinations for 199 Ringgit ($58). Get booking fast or we might snap up all the seats first.

Related Stories:
· Air Asia [Official Site]
· Let's Go Thiruvananthapuram! [Jaunted]
· Sarkozy Approves Air Asia X's Low-Cost Flights to Paris [Jaunted]

[Photo: Auswandern Malaysia] ]]> amandak 2009-10-19T09:13:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/16/16354/924

While we're busy being happy for the winner of the CN Traveler Awards, plenty of other airlines around the world have news of their own, and mainly in the new routes area. For those of you chilling around Asia like our own Claire Duffett, here's the need-to-know new routes coming your way:

· Air Asia begins low-cost direct flights from their base in Kuala Lumpur to Calcutta, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in India in November. One-way flights (including tax) begin as low as $32, and these new routes compliment Air Asia's current India destination of Trichy, effectively quadrupling their Indian routes. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-16T16:43:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/24/7438/87632

All this week, Jaunted special embed Claire Duffett will be relaying the joys and jumbles of her travels through Southwest China including Tibet. Finally, she reaches Shangri-La:

Oh, Shangri-La. In a cynical attempt to drum up tourism, the Chinese government renamed the town of Zhongdian, which is a pleasant city with a lovely old town, after the fictional Utopia in Lost Horizon. Copies of the book are sold in every shop, so we read it, and no, there’s really no similarity between the fictional land and the town in northwestern Yunnan. But it is TIbetan, and that's cool. ]]> ced138 2009-10-16T10:43:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/24/64232/8492

All this week, Jaunted special embed Claire Duffett will be relaying the joys and jumbles of her travels through Southwest China including Tibet. Today, a gorgeous gorge:

Tiger Leaping Gorge is a (novice) trekkers dream. For the masochistic hikers, it’s probably too easy. But we’re all for maximum payoff at minimum effort, and the gorge offers incredible vistas of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from along well-trod dirt paths, with plenty of guesthouses eager to offer respite and lunch.

That’s not to say the two-day trail isn't without challenge. Old Naxi men trail the weakest-looking trekkers (this writer, for example) with donkeys, offering to sell them a ride when the trail gets to the “28 bends”—a steep, direct ascent from the middle of the mountain almost to the top. They pick off stragglers like lions on a herd of antelope and pocket their prize. ]]> ced138 2009-10-15T15:07:42-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/