As an American, I was disappointed that Chicago didn't win the 2016 Summer Olympics, but I've got to admit that Rio looks like a pretty spectacular choice. I've never been, but watching their official candidate commercial yesterday moved it to the top of my list of dream trips. Today I happened upon the city's master plan pitch, and it really looks like Brazilian officials have thought this thing through. I'm not surprised the I.O.C. believed that South America in general, and Rio in particular, would be the perfect host for the games. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-10-03T12:34:35-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/2/123035/794

It's time to break out the Mardi Gras beads and barely-there bustiers and learn how to spell "Rio de Janeiro" without hesitating, because Rio is indeed the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games. All this morning and early afternoon, the world was glued to their TVs and Twitter as the Olympic Committee first heard final pleas from the delegations from Chicago (Prez Obama was there), Rio, Tokyo and Madrid and then announced their decision in favor of the first Olympics to be held in South America.

While people rush onto Copacabana and Ipanema beaches to celebrate, we can already imagine the tour operators and airlines brainstorming their deals for travel to Brazil in 2016 and even these next few years as the city strengthen its infrastructure and emerges as a true hot destination. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-02T13:16:48-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/1/91115/5381

Tomorrow is the big day! On October 2, the Olympic Committee will announce the host city for the 2016 Olympics, and it's a hot race right down to the last minute for finalist cities Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Madrid. These final 24 hours have been particularly important to the decision-making process, as each city flew their star-power spokespeople to Copenhagen, Denmark to make final pleas before the Committee.

While soccer star Pelé did what he could for Rio's case, Chicago's representation was a bit more impressive with both Oprah and Michelle Obama stepping up to the podium to pitch The Windy City. Oprah might rule it these days, you see, but Michelle was born there and remains a Second City gal, even if her residence is now the White House. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-01T09:36:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/26/183048/951

It's certainly not too early to start thinking about travel to next year's Winter Olympics, which take over Vancouver in February 2010. Just make sure you know who you're buying tickets from.

Olympic organizers recently filed suit in a Canadian court seeking to stop the website RoadTrips.com from reselling tickets to the Winter Games. A similar suit earlier this year tried to stop Coast2Coast Tickets from doing the same thing. The groups buy up event tickets and then sell them as part of larger Olympics travel packages, a practice organizers are seeking to crack down on.

While these brokers claim their sales are legit, we'd say the safest bet is to stick to official tix. The next phase of event tickets go on sale June 6 via the Olympics website.

Related Stories:
· Vancouver 2010 [Official Site]
· Olympic organizers sue travel company [The Canadian Press]
· Looking Ahead To The 2010 Vancouver Olympics [Jaunted]

[Photo: jeffwilcox] ]]> BS 2009-05-27T12:48:16-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/19/104716/788

Chicago called and it wants you to get more active. Or at least that's the message we're getting from the Chicago Office of Tourism's new site Explore Chicago, a dynamic (at least in name) change from its former web-home ChooseChicago.com.

ExploreChicago.org shares a background color and a similar slow rotation of chipper photos with its predecessor, but it gives more on-page real estate to newsy items like hotel deals and anything involving Barack Obama. (Not surprising -- banners with the Shepard Fairey Obama design still carpeted downtown when we were there a few weeks ago.)

We're liking the event search on the front page and the "Travel Tools" pull-down menu, although we're skeptical about this Insider Profile -- would mild-mannered Lin really join the drunken crowds at The Wiener's Circle? [NSFW!]

We're guessing the website enhancements could be tied to the Windy City's bid for the 2016 Summer Games as it faces off against 2012 finalist Madrid, 1964 host Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro, which could become the first South American city to host. Chicago won't learn its fate till October, when the IOC meets in Copenhagen, but it's never too early to put on that welcoming face.

Related Stories:
· Wide-Eyed Travel: The Death-Defying Chicago Air and Water Show [Jaunted]
· Sorry Chicago: Virgin America Is Headed To Boston [Jaunted]
· Chicago Tourism coverage [Jaunted]]]> egw 2009-01-19T12:30:52-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/13/114044/47

Hey, remember China? Even though the Olympics are over, it's still there--and the air quality in Beijing is back to absolutely horrible.

To try to alleviate the pollution, the city government has reinstated restrictions on driving. Cars will only be allowed on the roads six days a week, with license plate numbers deciding who gets to drive when. Officials say the plan will keep 800,000 private vehicles off the capital's clogged streets every day.

The scheme, which began today, will be in place until at least April, and if pollution continues to worsen, the government says it may order as many as half of the city's 3.4 million cars off the road daily.

Related Stories:
· Beijing Reintroduces Car Rules [BBC]
· Our Olympics Air Quality Obsession Continues [Jaunted]

[Photo of the Pangu Plaza on August 10, 2008: xiaming]]]> pbb 2008-10-13T11:50:44-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/21/223816/932

The Olympics paid off in more ways than one for China. Sure, the country got awesome new hotels, venues and infrastructure built, but now, post-games, the country's also experiencing a boom in tourism. The New York Times reports that travelers want to experience for themselves what their favorite Olympians did--and tour groups are seeing bookings jump as much as 20 percent.]]> sedona 2008-09-22T11:30:32-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/