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First Look: Richard Branson Shows Us All His 'Little Red'

Jaunted's 'Little Red' Series:
1. Par-tay on the tarmac!
2. The flight experience
3. Where it flies and for how much

Remember a couple of years back when Richard Branson lost a bet with Air Asia’s CEO Tony Fernandes, which meant he was going to have to dress up as a female flight attendant? That may not have come to fruition—although, according to Fernandes, the time is nigh—but he went one step better worse further early this morning at Scotland's Edinburgh Airport.

Launching Little Red, Virgin Atlantic’s domestic UK service and a major step for the airline, Branson donned a kilt and then dressed down by flashing us.

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Scotland Travel / London Day Trips / Glasgow Travel / Britain Travel / London Travel / Get Out of Londontown / History Travel / → All Tags

Get Out of Londontown: And Into Glasgow (Some More)

Heading to London this summer? Yeah, so is everyone else. This week, Jaunted's London embed, Lilit Marcus, will share some definite destinations for getting out of town and out of the crowds.

Read Part 1 here

PART 2:

After exploring the university area, see the more urban, up-to-date side of Glasgow by heading downtown. Unlike central London, downtown Glasgow is easy to navigate by foot, and most of the main attractions are quite close together.

The place to start is George Square. In the square itself is the famous statue of Robert Burns, the unofficial poet laureate of Scotland and a beloved national icon. Although his birthday is celebrated as a holiday, you’ll often find flowers and notes left for him all year round. Also in the square is the Cenotaph, which was originally built to honor Scottish soldiers who died in World War I and was later updated to include soldiers killed in World War II. The square also boasts a new attraction: the Wheel of Glasgow, a white Ferris wheel with enclosed seats that offers beautiful views of the city.

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Scotland Travel / London Day Trips / Glasgow Travel / Britain Travel / London Travel / Get Out of Londontown / History Travel / → All Tags

Get Out of Londontown: And Into Glasgow

Heading to London this summer? Yeah, so is everyone else. This week, Jaunted's London embed, Lilit Marcus, will share some definite destinations for getting out of town and out of the crowds.

Q: What do you call people from Glasgow?
A: Glaswegian.
Q: What do you call people from Edinburgh?
A: English.

This old joke sums up the way that Scotland's two main cities compete against each other. While a daytrip from London to Glasgow might be too difficult to pull off, it's absolutely worth a long weekend. Easyjet offers cheap fares to Glasgow from Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports, and there are also daily trains from Euston and King's Cross stations.

Rest assured that Glasgow has plenty to offer for even longer than a weekend, but let's just address what we consider the highlights.

Part 1:

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Green Travel / Donald Trump / Golf Travel / Scotland Travel / Tourism / → All Tags

Donald Trump's Newest Enemy is a Scottish Windfarm. Yes, Really.

Donald Trump is in the business of making money. Let's get that straight first and foremost. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Trump is now calling a proposed green energy windfarm a "disastrous and environmentally irresponsible" development...all because it's nearby his picturesque Menie estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The lengthy details of the fight against the building of the offshore windfarm—read more here from Deadline News—of course don't directly name the Trump golf course as the reason for Trump's opposition. For him, says Sorial of the Trump Organization, it's all about the greater effect on local tourism: "People come from all over the world to play courses that are unique to Scotland. They don’t want to look down on electrical turbines." Um. Need we refresh his memory that when the Earth faces a serious energy crisis, nobody's going to give a gosh-darn about the view from his precious golf course?

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Food Travel / Foreign Grocery Friday / Scotland Travel / Edinburgh Travel / New Brunswick Travel / → All Tags

Foreign Grocery Friday: Swigging Irn Bru in Scotland

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

What's that bottle of nuclear-orange soft drink on the same shelf as Pepsi, Coke and other top-brand colas? Oh, it's just the best selling pop in Scotland: Irn Bru. Although we like to pronounce it by mumbling "urn bruh," the actual way to say is simply "Iron Brew." Irn Bru is not only hugely popular in the UK, but also in other places around the world where you'll find some Scots residing. For example, we recently ran across it in Nova Scotia. The entire history of this curious drink is of course available over at Wikipedia, and we're stunned to find that this stuff was first introduced back in 1901.

The taste: Don't be afraid to try some when you spy its bright orangeness up against the dark bottles of other colas. Irn Bru doesn't taste like orange pop, nor is it unpleasant. Our chief Irn Bru expert describes its taste "citrus-y, cream soda-y, energy drink-y without quite tasting like any one of the three." We agree. It's hard to pinpoint it as, you see, no one knows the full Irn Bru recipe aside from two folks at the top of the company.

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Food Travel / London Field Trip / Edinburgh Travel / Edinburgh Field Trip / → All Tags

This is How British Fish and Chips Ought to Look

For Americans traveling to London, or really anywhere in the United Kingdom, there is one stereotypical English meal that must be sought out: fish and chips. It's a comfort food, so it doesn't matter if you find yourself in the UK all the time or if you've been saving up for years for a London vacation, because fish & chips is just one of those things.

We found this perfect juicy specimen of fish & chips (the chips are behind the fish, effectively propping it up) at the inexpensive and cozy pub restaurant called The World's End in Edinburgh, Scotland recently. Sure it's right on the Royal Mile and surrounded by shops that try to sell tartan to tourists, but you can't deny that it's a damned good place to settle down for a hearty meal, and perhaps sample haggis with one of their appetizers (so you're not stuck with a whole dinner of it). Forgive us for not devouring some fish & chips wrapped up in newspaper, but that gets greasy messy.

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Theatre Travel / Edinburgh Travel / Edinburgh Fringe Festival / Events / → All Tags

Jaunted's Picks For Must-See Masterpieces At The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Where were you when the largest art festival in the world started this weekend? The 62nd annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival brings performers from all over the world to Scotland for two weeks of doing whatever their muses lead them to do, for lucky audiences who don't mind waiting in line and drinking many, many beers. With most shows under £10, it's a cheap way to catch a show which could one day be sitting pretty on the West End, also known as the Broadway of London.

Our picks among the thousands of offerings this year:

· "The B.F.G."
Honor the U.K.'s own Roald Dahl with this puppet masterpiece for all ages about a man of unusual size and his new best friend. At Augustine's, 41 George V Bridge. Tickets £7.

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Jaunted Field Trips / Homecoming Scotland / Whisky / UNESCO / → All Tags

Five Reasons To Visit Scotland in 2009 (Or Ever, Really)

There are plenty of reasons to visit Scotland, London’s twee neighbor to the north—and by that we mean, plenty of reasons beyond the thousands of burly men in skirts with adorable Scottish accents. Just to prove it, we’ll give you five fabulous reasons to go to Scotland, and we won’t mention kilts at all.

Reason 1: 2009 is a banner year for the Scots, as it is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert “Rabbie” Burns, and the entire country is partying all year long to celebrate. Rabbie Burns, for those who don’t know, is the famous (Scottish) poet who gave us “Auld Lang Syne,” and for whom the town of Burns, New York, was named after. The year long “Rabbie” celebration is widely called “Homecoming” and anyone with Scottish descent is invited to fly “home,” trace their ancestry, drink some whisky, and dance around with their fellow countrymen. Whether you dance in pants or “skirts,” is up to you.

More reasons after the jump

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Scotland Travel / Music Travel / UNESCO / Creative Cities / → All Tags

Music Travel: Glasgow's Officially a Creative City

We're big fans of UNESCO's Creative Cities program which so far has quite rightly crowned Berlin as a City of Design and let Santa Fe don the cap of City of Folk Art. This month a new creative city has stepped up: Glasgow has been official christened a UNESCO City of Music.

Being a City of Music, according to UNESCO, is meant to help Glasgow preserve its music culture as well as make it an extra-attractive tourist destination. Home to great indie bands like Franz Ferdinand and Belle & Sebastian, and with a typical week of music in the city totalling 127 different gigs, you'd be hard pressed not to find something musical to entertain you on a night out in Glasgow.

Related Stories:
· Glasgow's Music Scene Recognised with Rare Honour From UNESCO [The Independent]
· Take Me Out to Glasgow [Jaunted]
· UNESCO coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: turquoise boy]

Celeb Travel / UK Travel / Scotland Travel / Colin Firth / → All Tags

We Heart Colin Firth and His Travel Picks Too

We have to confess to just a tiny crush on Colin Firth, that quintessential English gentleman who we adored in "Bridget Jones's Diary" and is starring in "Mamma Mia!" soon. This tiny crush means we are very, very open to the travel suggestions he made recently in the UK Times.

Colin's especially keen on the desert, like the stuff you find in the northern Sahara in Tunisia, but it sounds like the place on earth that he'd most recommend is the west of Scotland.

He's vacationed in that part of Britain more than once, but he's also spent time around Loch Fyne filming a movie and says it had an "impossibly romantic glow." Right: Adding west Scotland to our must-travel list now. We hope the charming Colin Firth will come along with us.

Related Stories:
· My Hols: Colin Firth [UK Times]
· Anticipated Summer Movie Travel: Who Wants to Go to Greece? [Jaunted]

[Photo: rutty]