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Rock The Boat in London This Year, 'Pirate Radio'-Style
Today, "Pirate Radio", or "The Boat That Rocked" as it is known in the U.K., opens nationwide. The movie is based on the true story of a few rogue rock-and-roll deejays who broadcast from ships anchored just outside U.K. during a 1966 ban of rock music by the BBC. That same spirit is still alive in the U.K. today and here's how you can capture it.
Where to Stay:
Keeping with the anti-establishment theme of the film, The Pavilion Hotel in London certainly doesn't play by the rules. Every room in the hotel has an over-the-top theme and is decorated in loud colors and mismatched patterns. The bathrooms are small, the building is old, there is no elevator, this is not the Ritz, but what it lacks in amenities, it makes up for in character. The price is right too, rates start around £60 a night.
Tags: Celeb Travel / Twilgiht Travel / Gwyneth Paltrow / Robert Pattinson / Kristen Stewart / World Travel Market / London Travel / → All Tags
London Brings The Stars To Town This Week With Twilight And More
Gwyneth Paltrow is getting back to her normal routine in her adopted hometown of London. The actress and her kids, Apple and Moses, spent the summer in Los Angeles so she could work on the sequel to Iron Man, but now they're all back in the UK and okay. Gwyn was spotted sipping on a cup of coffee yesterday after skipping her kids off to school.
The family's routine won't last too long though. Gwyneth just signed on for The Danish Girl, replacing Charlize Theron as Greta, a 1920s painter whose husband poses for her as a female model. Nicole Kidman has also joined the cast too—she'll be playing the husband.
Tags: Taxis / London Travel / Virgin Atlantic / Airport News / LHR / Airport Transportation / → All Tags
Virgin Atlantic Believes In The Airport Taxi Share, Introduces 'Taxi2'
It's one of the oldest airport debates: whether or not to suck it up and take a taxi into town, or risk public transportation. For us, it depends on how large our party is and how much baggage we're dragging, but taxis are just so darn tempting.
Thankfully, Virgin Atlantic knows this and echoes our sentiments when they say: "we think it's crazy that people often wait in line and then get one taxi each. Most people go from the airport in a similar direction, so it's a great waste." Hallelujah, go tell it on the mountain, Virgin Atlantic! And since they're a giant company and all, they've decided to do something about this shared taxi conundrum by creating Taxi2, a social networking way to link up with other from your flight and share a ride with them into the city, cutting down on ride cost and maybe even making you a new friend.
Tags: Airport News / London Travel / London / British Travel / Airports / LGW / → All Tags
How Much Would You Pay For One Of London's Airports?
The UK's second busiest airport— and a perennial frustration for delayed London travelers having to fly in and out on its single runway—Gatwick Airport is about to come under new management. BAA, which owns six British airports and is in turn owned by the Spanish firm Ferrovial, has sold the facility to Global Infrastructure Partners. Final price: a lot:
BAA has agreed to sell its 100% interest in Gatwick Airport Limited to an entity controlled by Global Infrastructure Partners for £1.51 billion. Of the sale price, £55 million is conditional on future traffic performance and the buyer's future capital structure... Colin Matthews, BAA's Chief Executive, said... 'BAA is changing and today's announcement marks a new beginning for both Gatwick and BAA. We wish Gatwick well for the future and are confident that the airport will flourish under new ownership.'
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London Gets A Gay Traveler Info Center With Boring Website
Nepal as a gay travel destination was something of a surprise. But the fact that London has just opened up an LGBT Tourist Information Office isn't too out of the blue – but it's a good thing just the same.
The office director says the reason for the center is to show that "London's exciting LGBT life is the best in the world". There might be a few cities which would beg to differ, but you'd have to agree that a huge city like London definitely has plenty for everyone.
But – here's a pretty big "but" – the office's website doesn't show much about the exciting LGBT life in London yet. Sure, it's early days, but the site's just a simple Wordpress blog with hardly anything on it, and really not ready to be launched, in our humble opinion.
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UK Forger Gets Busted For Fake Train Tickets
Back in middle school, one of our friends got a scanner for his computer—it was cool at the time, we promise. The logical thing was to immediately make fake hall passes, so we totally understand what Jonathan Moore was thinking when he did something similar. Instead of wandering the hallways, this IT expert made more than £12,000 in fake train tickets. His copies were pretty good since they allowed him to travel totally free for about two years.
He would have continued on his merry way except a ticket taker with a good eye finally ruined his free ride. One day in Brighton an inspector noticed a color variation in his ticket, and then another 11 fake tickets were discovered in the plastic wallet where he kept all his contraband. So instead of getting busted for just one ride, he pretty much got busted for every ride he ever took. It didn’t help that the local police found over 70 designs for forged tickets on his computer.
Tags: Harry Potter / Movie Set Travel / London Travel / Movie Travel / → All Tags
Check Out Harry Potter's Most Enchanted Locations In The UK
Harry Potter fans rejoiced earlier this month when they learned that The Wizardly World of Harry Potter theme park will open this spring at Universal Orlando. But for some, the wait is just too long. If you're looking to get your Harry Potter on now, here are a few real-life locations that have been featured in the films, and are now popular tourist destinations:
King's Cross Station
The King's Cross railway station is located on the edge of Central London, at the junction of the A501 Euston Road and York Way. Platform 4 at King's Cross station is Platform 93/4 in the first movie where Harry first got on the Hogwarts Express. A sign for Platform 93/4 still hangs in the station and there is even a luggage trolley that magically disappears into the wall.
That one was easy; more after the jump.
Tags: Fall-Foliage-Map / Fall Foliage Travel / Fall Travel / Outdoor Travel / London Travel / Lithuania Travel / → All Tags
Fall Foliage Travel: 4x4 Through A Lithuanian Forest
Typically when you think of quaint villages and local charm surrounded by autumn colors, your mind fixates on the East Coast. But banish the thought, since Lithuania totally kicks butt in all of those departments.
The capital Vilnius has an old town city centre that is also a UNESCO heritage site, and from here you can grab excursions to the south of the country and its forests full of fresh air, like Dzukija National park or Grutas Park, the latter of which is peppered with statues of Soviet political figures—bring your fancy camera for these. But our highest recommendation goes to 4x4 off-roading through the forests.
Tags: Fall-Foliage-Map / Fall Foliage Travel / Fall Travel / Outdoor Travel / London Travel / England Travel / → All Tags
Jaunted's Five Favorite Canadian Hot Spots For Fall Foliage
Now that we're a mere week away from the start of October, it's time to head out on leaf-peeping vacations and weekend trips to take advantage of the fiery colors which erupt in forests around the continent.
We've already given you a pretty good idea of some United States and overseas options with our Fall Foliage series, but there's just as much—if not more—color above the border. Just remember to bring your passport along, as we countdown our Five Favorite Canadian Hot Spots For Fall Foliage:
Tags: Fall-Foliage-Map / Fall Foliage Travel / Fall Travel / Outdoor Travel / London Travel / England Travel / → All Tags
Fall Foliage Travel: Skip Central Park For London's Hampstead Heath
Reap the benefits of the slow airline of fall by hopping a cheaper ticket across the pond to London. We're not kidding; a friend just booked a weekend trip to London on Virgin Atlantic after seeing that it was just as expensive as some flights between Chicago and NYC.
If you are similarly spontaneous, or just thirsty for a good pub with some fall foliage outside, we recommend heading to London's Hampstead Heath area, like their version of NYC's Central Park. Here, you'll not only get a view of trees turning during the fall colors peak of late October through early November, but also—atop London's highest point, Parliament Hill—you'll have a view over the whole city.
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Believe It Or Not: American Football Is Twice As Nice Overseas
The professional football season kicks off tonight, if you’re looking for a little more excitement than an evening planted on the couch, you might want to consider a fall football getaway. For the third consecutive year American footballers are going to cross the pond to play a game at London’s Wembley Stadium. This year it’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New England Patriots battling it out and Virgin Vacations wants to help you get there.
If you’ve got some extra coin hanging around, this package is an excellent way to get rid of it. Packages start at $1899 and include round trip flights on Virgin Atlantic, transfers from the airport, and four nights of hotel fun in London. Of course you’ll also get two tickets to the big game on October 25 as well as access to some NFL fan festival thing. If price isn’t a problem, they’ll gladly upgrade you to the Diamond Package, where you’ll be rubbing elbows with the players’ wives on the 50 yard line.
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The Top Five Counterfeit Shopping Districts In The World
While tourists who are free with their credit cards are a dream for cities, any metropolis with a thriving upscale shopping district will also have a black market equivalent doing just as well, if not better. Both buying and selling counterfeit goods is illegal in many countries, with recent court cases (Louis Vuitton vs. Canal Street merchants) backing up trademarks and revealing how the sale of counterfeit goods funds other illegal operations, like the New Jersey money laundering scandal of late.
We'll even admit to purchasing a fake for $15 in Rome's Piazza Navona, right out in the open, back in 2004. We haven't worn it yet, and we probably never will, seeing as how both brands and police have spent the last couple years reshuffling their legal and street teams in order to crack down on the vendors and buyers. And we want to keep you safe. If you're in a dangerous mood, then you might want to shop in these places, but after the jump, we've listed the World's Top Five Counterfeit Districts from which you should stay away.
