Back in June, 2008, I was a correspondent for a blog called Gridskipper, a snarky travel site run by Gawker Media. Gridskipper wasn't hitting its numbers, so Gawker sold it to the Curbed Network, which relaunched it as a luxury travel site. I don't blame them for trying something new, but I didn't love the direction it was going, so I decided to jump ship. I got in touch with the editors at Jaunted, Gridskipper's longtime competitor, or, as I often described it, the Pepsi to Gridskipper's Coke. Jaunted was good enough to take me on as a weekend editor, and I spent the next 18 months posting 363 entries (now 364) on topics as varied as the vagaries of TSA I.D. requirements and the vacation habits of my Russian barber, Oksana. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-12-19T15:55:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/12/5/153136/534

National Geographic Adventure magazine has published its last issue, bowing to competitive pressures that have shuttered dozens of magazines in 2009. According to news reports, they tried to sell the title, but wouldn't part with the National Geographic part of the name, and nobody wanted to buy a magazine simply called Adventure. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-12-05T15:31:36-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/16/172221/95

After the recent chopping of magazines like Gourmet, it's safe to say that print media is beyond shaking in their boots; they're already cleaning out desks. The latest magazine closure scare came at Budget Travel, formerly under Arthur Frommer's wing but now controlled by the Washington Post Co.

On Friday, rumors began that the magazine would announce its closure on Monday (today). NY Mag reached Editor-In-Chief Nina Willdorf for comments only to receive a cryptic "heading out town"-type response.

Instead of closing today, it was only reported that "it's business as usual," but execs did hold a meeting to discuss the future of the magazine. Although it looks like no one lost their jobs today, employees in ad sales were told to hold on the February issues. Will the scythe of death fall on Budget Travel in January 2010, or—even worse—around the holidays? Rest assured that we'll continue to follow this story.

Related Stories:
· Magazine Deathwatch: Budget Travel [Mediabistro]
· Budget Travel Shuttering? [NYMag]
· Travel Magazines [Jaunted]

[Photo: Kenn Wilson]]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-16T17:34:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/14/14817/340

Every few months another one of these "vacation deprivation" studies comes out and promptly gets picked up as Science! by the same tourism boards that commissioned it. The term seems to go back to a contest for free hotel rooms that Hyatt ran in the mid-1990s, and it's been circulating as this kind of pseudo-scientific fake medical term ever since.

The latest version puts everything in terms of economic productivity, because that's what people care about right now. If people cared about something else, that's what vacations would be good for. And so, we are stuck with this drivel: ]]> Omri 2009-10-14T15:48:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/29/154217/184

We recently flew Air France between Dulles and Charles de Gaulle, giving me the chance to pore through one more in-flight magazine, the aptly-named Air France Magazine. As it turns out, Air France Magazine is a lot like an American in-flight, only fatter. It's fatter, of course, because every article is published in both French and English, a polite gesture to passengers such as me. But other than that, it seems to cater to the same demographic, rich (or aspirational) travelers obsessed with health, beauty, and duty-free items. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-08-29T15:42:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/11/74038/0294

One can never have too many travel magazines; after all, we need something to read while we’re flying to our destination—you know, after the iPhone battery dies. Launching later this month is AFAR, a magazine focused on places and people off the beaten path. The founders are hoping to bring cultural connections and new experiences to the masses, but we’ll have to wait for their inaugural issue to see if they deliver.

They’ll be all about experiential travel at AFAR, and their team will look to hit the Internet in 2010, assuming the magazine hits the newsstand running. Some of their upcoming regular features include: The A(FAR) List, which will reveal destinations around the world that are a little less common than the local state fair, and Spin the Globe, featuring a writer's musings after she's been randomly sent to a location—sounds like something we'd read for sure. ]]> kjb 2009-08-11T11:34:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/25/112547/349

Time to withdraw that application for the modern wonders of the world: The New York Times fawned over the German island of Usedom and its harmonious beaches without ever making the (comparatively short) trip to the singing beach in its backyard—er, in Massachusetts.

The classily-named town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, about an hour out of Boston's North Station, boasts a singing beach of its own not half a mile from the commuter rail stop. The low price of $5 gets you a full day of soft white sand which, if you strain your ears, appears to make a slight squeaking noise when you step on it. It's BYO spa gear, but you have very little chance of running into a dude with gray chest hair boasting of how the mineral waters aid his digestive tract, so it's a split decision.

Manchester's an easy day trip from Boston, especially when compared to the further enticements of the Cape, Newport or Block Island. There are a few things the American singing beach lacks, notably Roman Polanski and nudity, but why not leave those to the Europeans anyway, since both are potentially hazardous?

Related Stories:
· The NYT Visits Germany's "Singing" Sand Nude Beaches [Jaunted]
· Welcome to the Singing Beach [Manchester.MA.US]

[Photo: conbon]]]> egw 2009-06-25T12:10:49-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/