Jaunted

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Would You Pay $12 an Hour to Sleep in an Airport Terminal?

Thanks to our site siblings over at HotelChatter, we’re pretty darn familiar with the hotel and motel options in and around the world’s airports. However, when it comes to just staying put right inside the airport there’s a new option that could be even more convenient than the airport hotel. That’s only the case if you’re cool with sleeping in some pretty tight quarters, as it looks like some kind of sleep pod recliners have made their way into the terminal.

They've only recently arrived overseas, in Abu Dhabi to be specific. Technically they’re calling them GoSleep, and they’re designed just for that purpose—to go to sleep.

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Where Huma Abedin is Traveling to Escape Weinergate

What do you so when you are a wronged woman and your significant other's moronic infidelities continue to publicly humiliate you? You grab a girlfriend and take a trip to get away from it all. In Huma Abedin's case, said girlfriend is Hillary Clinton, who undoubtedly can impart some words of wisdom on how to deal with a philandering spouse while you're in the public eye.

After revealing that she's pregnant, deputy chief of staff Abedin joined Secretary of State Clinton on some trips. When you want to get away from someone who breaks your heart, apparently you go far. Like Abu Dhabi far.

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Ferrari World and The World's Fastest Roller Coaster to Open October 27

It's happening, and soon! The theme park we never thought would happen, or at least this quickly, has announced it's official opening date. Abu Dhabi's Ferrari World debuts to the public on October 27 of this year. It's only the soft-opening period until the big grand opening in December, but still. It'll exist and hopefully it won't be long before YouTube is full of point-of-view videos of the world's fastest roller coaster, the park's Formula 1-inspired "Formula Rossa."

But of course, that's not all. The thing has a 21-acre roof, painted in Ferrari red. It's under here where the crowds will find most of the action. Six days a week from October 27 through December, the park will open at 12 noon. Adult ticket prices start at AED 225 ($61.25), but AED 375 ($102) will get you a Premium Ticket, which will give priority ride access and entrance to a lounge with refreshments.

Now a preview of the Big Three rides at the Ferrari Theme Park:

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Three Places to Find the 'Gold To Go' Gold Bar ATM

Japan may delight in having vending machines for almost everything, but there's one you can't yet find there: the Gold To Go gold bar-dispensing machine. Introduced only a couple years ago, they've been slow to roll out. They have appeared in a few places around the world, however, and we know where to find them when you need a solid gold fix.

Three Places to Find the Gold Bar Vending Machine:

· Frankfurt, Germany
Since the Gold To Go machine was invented by a German, it only makes sense for him to debut it in his home country. The first machines took up residence in two Frankfurt hotspots: Frankfurt International Airport and the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main train station). Both are humongous transportation hubs, where people may be walking around with lots of cash and the will to pass some time playing with, and buying from, the Gold To Go. Options can cost as little as 40 Euro, but the prices are continually updated via an internal computer which monitors gold value.

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Where to Find One of the World's First Gold Bar ATM Machines

Even though it sounds like something out of a James Bond movie, there is now an ATM that dispenses pure gold, and it happens to be in the one place we'd absolutely expect it to be: Abu Dhabi. Dubai ain't got nothing on them now, huh?

Sitting inside the Kempinski Emirates Palace Hotel on the West End Corniche, this machine will draw tourists and locals just to gawk at it, and who knows if security will be needed for people who actually want to use it to grab a gold bar to go. It's actually called Gold To Go, developed by a German, and it monitors the daily gold price ($1,245 an ounce yesterday!) and "offers small bars up to 10 grams or coins with customized designs." The first machines appeared in Frankfurt Airport a year ago, and now they're gaining steam.

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'Sex and the City 2' Goes to Abu Dhabi? Actually, It's Morocco

We're a little more than a month away from the return of Manolos and cosmos as Sex and the City 2 releases into theater in late May. And just like in the first movie, the girls—Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte—must get up and out of New York City for a little bikini and fruity cocktail time in someplace exotic.

In Sex and the City 1, they went south of the border to Mexico, but this year they're gone far more afield...to Abu Dhabi. Or that's what they'd have you believe. The film has the girls going on some all-expenses-paid junket to the Emirate for camel trekking, bazaar buying and even a run-in with old flames, but all of this isn't actually in Abu Dhabi. We spotted the crew filming the Abu Dhabi scenes last November in the medina of Marrakech, Morocco.

What does it all mean? Find out after the jump

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Abu Dhabi's 'Ferrari World' Will Have The Fastest Roller Coaster in the World

Theme park season is almost here, and if you look hard enough, your local park might be offering a sneak peek of the upcoming season any day now. No offense to Six Flags, but we’re thinking about planning something a little bigger for 2010. That’s why we are eager to see exactly what’s up with one of the world’s newest theme parks: Ferrari World. Sure, it doesn't yet have an official opening date and it’s a lot further away than Harry Potter’s new home, but driving a Ferrari around the United Arab Emirates sounds like a worthy alternative. Here are just a few things to look forward to when Ferrari World opens in Abu Dhabi later this year.

· GT Rollercoaster
This coaster will bring guests one step closer to actually driving a Ferrari as crazy and quickly as can be imagined. There’s two competing tracks, so you’ll be racing your buddies while sitting in something that resembles the latest in Italian super car design. The cars are replicas of a Ferrari F430 Spider, but they could definitely pass as the real thing if they had an engine. Designers have even included different launch sections which they hope will simulate real racing conditions, but you’ll probably just be trying to hold on as you reach speeds of about 60 mph.

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Abu Dhabi Takes First Rihanna-fied Steps To Becoming Party Capital

Well, at least she kept her thighs under lock and key...

The New Years holiday is the time for celebrities to scatter themselves all around the globe, from the ski slopes to the beaches of St. Barths, but if you're a celebrity entertainer, then the odds are that you've got a very well-paying gig you'd rather not miss.

Such was the case with Rihanna, who did a very hyped, very controversial concert in Abu Dhabi at the Emirates Palace for 10,000 fans, followed by fireworks. Although the girl raked in $500,000 for a few songs—and no doubt had a private, paid-for jet to get her through the crazy airport security of the weekend—the controversy came when they asked her to cover up a little more than usual for the performance.

Abu Dhabi as party capital?...

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Etihad Slowly But Surely Getting The Word Out About Abu Dhabi

Dubai, Dubai, Dubai. The Middle Eastern city on everyone's lips these days is still Dubai, despite the economic beating they're currently taking. Nonetheless, inch by inch Abu Dhabi is eeking its way up there, and Etihad Airways is majorly helping the Emirati capital to capture the world's attention.

In the last few years, Etihad has scrambled up to serving 58 destinations, with a goal of 70 worldwide by 2010. Is it a ploy for world domination or what? Our guess is that Etihad just wants to make a profit, since they haven't yet. Here's the next few routes we can expect from this growing Abu Dhabi giant:

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Tweet Of The Week: Abu Dhabi On Our Mind

Poor Dubai, you haven't had the best week; what with the announcement about the failure of the multi-billion dollar "The World" deal and news that the skyscraper Burj Dubai would be delayed until December, unable to open this month as planned. All that his news has made us do however, is think more and more about heading over to that nook of the world and seeing what exactly is going on.

Thanks to Twitter though, we don't need to quite yet. We can be perfect armchair tourists thanks to tweets like the above, from Lara Dunston, who is living the United Arab Emirates life currently, but her profile cements her nomadic status: "Perpetual globetrotter (60+countries) travel writer (40+books, 100s stories for world’s best publishers) living out of a suitcase since Jan 06." Her personal travel stories can be found at cool travel guide, and her tweet today made us wish we were on the other side of the world with her:

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