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Why Good Friday is Not So Good for Travelers

London's Victoria Station during today's evening rush hour

Traveling today? Hold onto your housecoat as today just happens to be Good Friday, one of the critical annual Christian holidays. As the jump-off for Easter weekend, Good Friday is a hugely popular day for travel as people head out for a long weekend or head home to celebrate with family.

Despite the positivity of this spring season, we think Good Friday is one of the worst days to travel. Here's why:

1. "Good Friday" is, well, always on a Friday. Have you ever traveled on a Friday? Yuck. Aside from the fact that Friday flights are pricier than, say, Saturday flights, airport security has nice long lines and trains outbound from any urban center are full.

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Chinese New Year / Hong Kong Travel / Events / Photo Gallery / Holiday Travel / Party Travel / → All Tags

Scenes from Celebrating Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

恭禧發財 or Kung Hei Fat Choi! That's us wishing you a prosperous new year in Cantonese, seeing as how we've hightailed it out of the United States just in time to miss the big blizzard and instead fall into another kind of blizzard—of red hóngbāo envelopes, the kind filled with money given at the start of the Chinese New Year.

Celebrating Chinese New Year is not so simple as getting drunk and standing in one spot to watch some spectacle, a la Times Square; instead, Hong Kong throws a massive bash that lasts for several days of public holiday and focuses on food, family, fun and travel.

By tradition, there's a whole series of "auspicious" things to be accomplished in order to guarantee a lucky, successful year ahead. Some examples are wearing the colors red and gold, dressing up in traditional Chinese attire, tossing and eating a Yusheng Salad, and decorating with tangerines and plum blossom flowers.

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There's Still Last-Minute Chinese New Year Flights to Asia for Under $1,000

You've done the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Holi in India, Oktoberfest in Munich and maybe even New Year's in NYC's Times Square. No matter what major world events you've crossed off your bucket list, there better be an entry for Chinese New Year in Asia. It's next Sunday—February 10—and if you can jet away for a long weekend on the other side of the world to celebrate the start of the year of the Snake, there's still plenty airplane seats.

Just to sample the goods, we searched for the most affordable Economy airfares* from the US to where the Chinese New Year fireworks will be largest.** Here's what we found:

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Five Places of Travel Named for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

In case you're not one of those lucky enough to have today off of work, let us remind that it's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Whereas this holiday only happens once a year to focus on the life of the revolutionary advocate for peace and equality, there are reminders of him and his work scattered across the country in the form of renamed civic features.

Think for a moment. Does your city have anything named for MLK, Jr.? If not a park or a bridge, then there's likely a roadway dedicated to his work as some 650+ streets/boulevards/highways are named for Dr. Martin Luther King in the United States alone. There is, however, no airport; the code "MLK" belongs to Malta Airport in Montana.

Still, there are a few other places of transit and tourism named for King:

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New Year's Travel / New Year's Eve / Holiday Travel / Events / Lists / → All Tags

Three Weird Falling Foods That Welcome the New Year

A past look at Wisconsin's cheese drop...

Everyone knows about that ball drop in Times Square to celebrate the New Year, but there’s even better stuff falling from the sky around the country. If New York City is out of range this year, there might just be something a little more unique to welcome in 2012 close to home especially if you enjoying flying food. Here’s three options and celebrations that might just be a little more interesting:

· Watermelon Drop - Knox County, Indiana:
The skies over Knox County in Indiana will be crowded in just about a week, as it’s almost time for the annual New Year’s Eve watermelon drop. The area celebrates the local cash crop by raising an 18-foot 500-pound watermelon into the sky, and then once it’s at the top, 13 watermelons will be dropped to welcome in 2013. The fun starts at 9pm as locals and tourists alike are welcome to join together at the Riverfront Pavilion for music, food, beer, wine, and plenty of noisemakers—they’ve even got t-shirts to celebrate the big night.

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Long Weekend / Holiday Travel / Christmas Travel / → All Tags

Merry GIFsmas to All, and to All a Good Flight

Happy Holidays to you, our awesome readers. We've already got everything we wanted—you guys.

Have safe and excellent travels this long weekend and we'll be back bright and early on Wednesday morning.

Videos / Delta / Holiday Travel / Christmas Travel / Flight Attendants / Pilots / Flashmobs / LAX / → All Tags

And the Award for Cutest Holiday Airline Video Goes to...

Can you handle one more airline holiday video? We promise it's good, and not a flashmob for once!

Back in October, Delta got a few good flights attendants and pilots and ramp staff and red coats out on the tarmac at LAX in the wee hours of the morning to film what would be their 2012 Holiday Card to the world. Above is the finished product, which takes marshalling (signalling at aircraft with those handheld lightsticks) to a new, awesome level and—shocker—shows airline employees smiling!

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It's Not a Flashmob, but JetBlue Sings Travel-Themed Holiday Carols

It might not be as polished and clean as some of those overly planned "flashmobs" at the airport, but when it comes to holiday greetings—JetBlue knows what they doing.

The airline's most festive crew penned a little set of lyrics to the tune of Jingle Bells, and they made it all about what to do at the airport to keep your holiday stress-free. Initially it was just words on paper, but after a request over on Twitter it was time for JetBlue employees to put on their Santa hats and sing for the masses.

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The Four iPhone and iPad Apps You'll Need to Survive Holiday Travels

If you're reading this, then we're going to assume you're already hip to apps like TripIt and those from the airline with which you're traveling, so let's go beyond the basics to the secondary apps that'll help you survive not only holiday flying, but possibly even a long weekend with family. Your flight is booked, so no travel deal search engines are needed.

These four apps will be there for you once you've already hit the road:

· GateGuru for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad
If you're an infrequent flyer or just transiting through an unfamiliar airport this season, GateGuru will not only tell you where the Starbucks kiosks, ATMs and club locations are, but it also factors in user reviews. Is that Applebee's near Gate 23 worth it on a 2-hour layover? Maybe not, if there's a Brewery Pub down the terminal...GateGuru knows.
Where you'll use it: In the train/car/bus to the airport; standing beneath the Departures board and wondering what gate the airline lounge is nearest to; in an airplane after landing at your layover airport with lunch on your mind.
Cost on iTunes: FREE

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Cathay Pacific's First Flashmob Stays Out of the Airport

Yep, it's time for yet another travel flash mob as Cathay Pacific, for the first time, joins in the trend for holiday synchronized dancing. Forget for a moment that the flight crew are due to stop smiling and reserve service to argue for a pay increase this season, and just enjoy that they can still get together for a good cause. This performance of 115 crew at their Hong Kong HQ (named Cathay City) helped solicit donations for the charity Operation Santa Claus.

It's too bad that they didn't pull this off inside an airport terminal, but the touch of the Macarena is nice, as is the moment of simulated airplane seating when the attendant walks down the "aisle" with the holiday decoration bedecked cart, but we won't spoil anything else for you. Just watch it, below.

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Three Zoos Going All Out with Holiday Light Displays

Even if you’ve still got plenty of shopping to do, we say it’s fine to take a little holiday break to enjoy the season. Load up on the hot chocolate or one of those peppermint mochas, and head out to the zoo. It might not seem that seasonal, but when they flip the switch on the lights it’s becomes a winter wonderland. Here’s a few zoos doing the Christmas lights thing this holiday season:

Christmas at the Zoo – Indianapolis Zoo, Indiana

At the Indianapolis Zoo the fun has been going on since around Thanksgiving, and the lights are turned on nightly—between 5pm and 9pm—through December 30. This zoo was the very first in the country to do something like this, so at this point they’ve got it pretty darn figured out. They’re bringing out the animals that enjoy the cooler nights like the sea lions, tigers, brown bears, and off course the polar bears. Lights are pretty much everywhere you look, and there are even a few holiday themed dolphin shows. Carolers round out the holiday zoo experience, and it’s all included in your admission. Offseason tickets start at $10 per adult, but you can save a buck by donating a new hat, scarf, or pair of gloves when you visit.

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It's Not a Flash Mob, but the National Park Service Says Happy Holidays

The holiday greetings are now starting to stream in after starting with a trickle. Up this week is the country’s National Park Service, as they’ve uploaded their own little YouTube greeting to wish you and yours a very merry holiday season.

Park employees chime in to say hello from their national parks, historic sites, and monuments, and of course there’s even a little cameo by Santa.

There’s some cheesy special effects like everyone doing their thing inside of a snow globe, but we’ve got to say good for them and happy holidays right back at you, NPS.

[Photo: NPS]