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Tags: Open Threads / Venice Travel / Italy Travel / → All Tags
Open Thread: Does Venice Smell?
Have you been to Venice? Was your visit in summer? Actually, no matter what season you found yourself among the romantic canals of Venice, you may remember whether you did or did not smell something afoul in the city. Stemming from our earlier post on what not to do in Venice—taking a gondola being one "don't"—we want to know if think Venice smells.
We lived in Italy for a while, and sometimes we'd head to Venice for the day, for the weekend, or for the week depending on how much good white wine and risotto al nero di seppia we craved. In the winter, we found the air to smell cold and salty, like any other seaside town that brought in boats of fresh seafood. But the in the summer, thanks to the rotting first floors of most residences coupled with the perfume of a sweaty population barely masked by the scent of restaurants cooking up prix fixe meals, our nose caught a whiff of something other. It's not enough to assault your senses, but it's there.
So tell us: have you smelled Venice? What did it smell like, if anything? Should people bring their gas masks or should Glade invent a Venice-scented room freshener? Let us know in the comments below!
Related Stories:
· What Not To Do In Venice: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes [Jaunted]
· Venice Travel [Jaunted]
[Photo: mattedgar]
Tags: Open Threads / Travel Etiquette / Seats / → All Tags
For Whom Would You Take A Middle Seat?
Nobody likes the aisle. That's what we discovered when we asked Jaunted readers what seat they preferred on a plane, and we weren't surprised at all. Given the opportunity to be penned in by two strangers, most people say "pass." Yet, ending up in the middle seat happens to all of us sometimes, and sometimes it's even by choice.
Maybe you're a lot nicer person than we are and you switch seats without complaining or even looking at your fellow traveler. In which case, we salute you and hope we can sit next to you soon. But even you, Nice Traveler, probably have your secret rules as to for whom you will make the move. We'll automatically switch without complaining if you...
Tags: Open Threads / Swine Flu / Travel Health / H1N1 / → All Tags
Have You Encountered Swine Flu In Your Travels This Year?
'Tis the year of the Swine Flu and things just haven't died down like we'd hoped they would. Now that the intense and occasionally fatal flu has affected everyone from D-List celebs to former All-You-Can-Jetters, it's apparent that it's not going anywhere anytime soon—or rather, it's going everywhere.
So we want to know: what's been your experience with Swine Flu this year? Have you taken to wearing face masks on flights and in subways or do you scrunch up your nose at those who do? Have you gotten and survived Swine Flu? Has anyone you know been under the weather with it, and if so, where do you think they go it? We're just wondering exactly how prevalent it is in places of travel, versus say at restaurants and in your local bowling alley. Or has your bowling alley had its balls sanitized? Hmm??
Let us know your travel Swine Flu experience in the comments!
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· Swine Fly Now Attacking D-List Celebs In Addition To Air Travelers [Jaunted]
· Is Swine Fly Hysteria A US Tourism Conspiracy? [Jaunted]
· Swine Fly Has A Grip On Every Country Except Antarctica [Jaunted]
· Travel Health coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: OhLaLa Mag]
Tags: Open Threads / Business Class / Airlines / First Class Travel / → All Tags
What Airlines Boast The Best Business Class?
Everyone knows the allures of ponying up the extra cash to fly business class: free drinks, more attention from the flight attendants, use of business class lounges which usually have more free drinks and sometimes free wifi, extra seat space, and—if you're lucky—in-flight entertainment when coach has none.
Since we were just upgraded to business class on a two-hour flight and we know very well how it feels to walk through the business class section during deplaning, with the free flight kits and plush blankets abandoned and mocking us, we're wondering on what airlines would it be worth it to go for business class. We're thinking Emirates, Singapore Airlines, and Cathay Pacific, because long hauls would give us ample time to drink our fill of bottomless wine and then pass out on a semi-flat bed.
Tags: Open Threads / Dangerous Travel / Arizona Travel / Arthur Frommer / Travel Boycotts / → All Tags
Frommer Announces Arizona Travel Boycott; Do You Agree?
Travel guru Art Frommer proclaimed on his blog recently that he's putting a moratorium on vacationing in Arizona because of its lax gun laws. To clarify his position, Frommer said he was alarmed that the state's gun statutes allowed about a dozen armed people, including one toting an assault rifle, to sit outside a place where President Obama was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He said:
I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest. I not only believe such practices are a threat to the future of our democracy, but I am firmly convinced that they would also endanger my own personal safety there. And therefore I will cancel any plans to vacation or otherwise visit in Arizona until I learn more.
Tags: Open Threads / Money / Megamillions / → All Tags
Where Would You Travel With $252 Million Dollars?
Update: the lottery jumps to $325 million this Friday with no winner found for the $252 million.
Yesterday evening, the winning numbers (3, 12, 19, 22 and 40; Mega Ball 2) were announced for one of the biggest MegaMillions lotteries ever: $252 Million Dollars. And it's about to get even larger with no winner this time around. The new jackpot will be $325 million, with numbers picked this Friday.
Megamillions is played in twelve states: California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington, and hopefuls who purchase a tickets stand a 1-in-175-million chance of winning the big payoff.
Whether it's $252 million or $325 million, imagine for a moment that the winner is you. Where would you take your first blow-out trip? Would you hop around five-star resorts in the Indian Ocean or opt for a year of private jet sharing? How about both? How about taking us along?
Let your imagination run wild and tell us your super-millionaire travel dreams in the comments!
Related Stories:
· Cha-Ching! Tonight's Mega Millions Jackpot $252 Million [19ActionNews]
· MegaMillions Numbers Revealed [Cincinnati.com]
· Jaunted Open Threads [Jaunted]
[Photo: Rpbert S. Donovan]
Tags: Open Threads / Airplane Food / Virgin America / → All Tags
What Are You Ordering During In-Flight Meal Service?
This sure has been a banner summer for airplane food, what with Times UK naming their favorites and Virgin America winning tops in the Travel + Leisure reader's poll. In addition, summer means menu changes, and Lufthansa sure stepped up with their Ritz-Carlton partnership.
Although legacy carriers are still offering free meals on long-haul flights (check our meal on Delta pictured above), or in first class on selected flights, LCCs like Virgin America are emerging as the leaders of in-flight cuisine with their available-for-purchase options. With less pressure on pleasing everyone and therefore more room to be creative, not to mention the fact that passengers pay for these things, it's not surprising that the for-sale meals on Virgin America are satisfying tastebuds.
Tags: Open Threads / Travel Agencies / Travel News / → All Tags
Do You Still Use A Travel Agency?
It's a question that's been tossed about in the travel industry for years now, ever since websites like Priceline and Expedia started eating the lion's share of business, and now we ask it again: Do you still use a travel agency?
We bet the British couple who flew to the wrong Sydney wishes they hadn't; even though they used a travel agency to book their dream summer vacation to Sydney, Australia, instead they ended up on flights taking them to the sleepy town of Sydney, Canada.
Reading the comments from that BBC articles, it looks like this isn't an isolated problem; another person remarked that their recent travel agency booking had them on a flight to the island of Antigua, rather than their intended destination of Antigua, Guatemala. Actually, we recommend reading all of the similarly hilarious comments on that story.
Tags: Open Threads / In-Flight Comfort / Travel News / → All Tags
What Time Do You Fly? Morning, Noon Or Night?
You're about to book a flight and you're sitting there, just staring at your departure time options, all of which suck. Take the 6am? Perhaps the noon flight? What about that red eye? The questions of when in the day to hop a flight is really the most stressful part of making plans for your travel days.
So let's discuss: what is your favorite time of the day to fly? We'll weigh the pros and cons of morning, afternoon and evening flights, and we want to hear from you, whether you've got more to add or simply a solid answer. Help a frequent flyer out, yo.
Morning Flights (between 5am-10am)
· Pros: The most obvious pro of a early flight is arriving earlier and thus having the rest of the day (or a whole day) to get exploring your destination. We also love how subways, buses and other public transportation are less crowded at dawn, before rush hour, and how you can easily be just as anxious about your flight as about scoring some coffee. If you miss your early flight, then you've got the rest of the day to try for stand-by on another. Not to mention that the earliest flights are often cheapest.
Tags: Open Thread / Extreme Travel / Dangerous Travel / Open Threads / → All Tags
What's Your Most Extreme Travel Experience?
We love a nice relaxing beach vacation as much as the next person, especially when umbrella drinks are involved. However, sometimes you want a little more than poolside waiter service. Sometimes, you wanna get dangerous. Cue the Roxette song, "Dangerous" please.
But how far are you willing to go for some thrills? Would you go deep sea “heli-fishing” or surfing off the coast of a volcano? Maybe your idea of adventure would be to try some "bizzare foods" or to visit some sex museums. Heck, maybe you even got Locked Up Abroad.And if you consider getting up close to the polar bears at the Berlin Zoo as far as your thrill-seeking will go, that's ok too. Because that can actually be very dangerous.
So let us know what kind of crazy possibly (hopefully?) death-defying stunts you’ve experienced or some or rebellious acts you've committed while on holiday in the comments below. We wanna hear your stories, mostly so it will inspire us to be a little more adventurous on our next trips.
Related Stories: [Photo: chego101]
·The Uncertainty of Handing Over Your Passport at Border Crossings [Jaunted]
·Open Threads coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Open Threads / Jonas Brothers / Relaxing Getaways / → All Tags
Joe Jonas Just Wants to Relax, What About You?
At least screaming fans will have to work a little bit: Disney-owned Joe Jonas told a writer for Seventeen magazine that, despite the fact that he's been everywhere with his brother act the Jonas Brothers, he would like nothing better than to take time off of the group to backpack around the world.
Joe, perhaps living out the archetype of the middle child, has a #1 movie and a Disney Channel sitcom about to premiere, but apparently he's ready to chuck it all to stay in hostel after hostel with his best buddy, preferably one not related to him.
There are trips you take because you want to see the world, and there are trips you take because you have to get away from it all. We could just call the latter "vacations," but that doesn't seem specific enough; we're talking about the trip where you turn your phone off and zone out in your own particular way for a time.
Tags: Swine Flu / Travel Health / Surgical Masks / Open Threads / → All Tags
Should We Invest in a Surgical Mask For Our Upcoming Air Travel?
As the swine flu hysteria gets stronger, we're still trying to determine just how this dangerous pandemic will affect our travel plans. A few of the folks here at Jaunted HQ have air travel plans for this weekend. Travel plans for which we did not buy travel insurance and for which we must absolutely go ahead with. Oh yeah and because we really really really want to get away.
But the swine flu has us a little concerned. We're not flying to Mexico but with reports of people getting swine flu by just talking to folks who have gone to Mexico recently have us perturbed. Can you imagine what will happen if squeezed into a middle seat in coach?
The NY Times's "Practical Traveler" says airlines are doing their best to keep the cabin air clean. Boeing boasts of their powerful air filtration systems and Us Airways is thoroughly cleaning the cabins on planes coming in from Mexico.
But what about on other airplanes that have never been near Mexico recently? They could still be ferrying passengers that have recently returned from Mexico. Should we buy a surgical mask or a Mini-Air Purifier (cost $129.99) or are we just totally overreacting? Tell us your thoughts on traveling in the time of the Swine Flu here.
Related Stories:
· Swine Flu Sends the Airlines Home Sick With Worry [Jaunted]
