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Tags: Pools / Germany Travel / Extra Fees / Thomas Cook / → All Tags

The Latest In Extra Travel Fees: Pre-Reserving Lounge Chairs

Hey, hidden and extra fees are keeping the airline industry afloat. So why not resorts as well? Here's the newest extra fee scheme, coming straight out of Germany:

The travel firm Thomas Cook is giving Germans the option of pre-booking their loungers. Reserving a lounger and beach umbrella in advance will cost about three euros ($4.30) a day. One of the firm's managers, Peter Fankhauser, said that 'with this we're relieving our clients of early morning stress.' He said he too found it "really tiresome" on holiday to be sent out by his wife early in the morning to place beach towels on the desired poolside loungers, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported.

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Tags: Jaunted in Hawaii / Hawaii Travel Videos / Shira Lazar / Pools / → All Tags

Dipping Into The Queens Bath in Kauai

West Coast web media princess, and Jaunted Embed, Shira Lazar rushed off to Hawaii for a couple days at the bequest of So Much More Hawaii. We will be bringing you her travel videos between June 1st and 5th, in hopes of creating a glorious on-the-fly travel guide using as much point oh social webbing as we can. Enjoy.

The Queen's Bath in Kauai is a small freshwater pool carved out of a lava shelf next to the ocean. Watch the video to see more of this natural wonder!

Tags: Worlds-Coolest-Pools / Pools / Thailand Travel / Resorts / → All Tags

Get Your Feet Wet In Thailand

Last one in's a rotten egg! We're finding the best places in the world to stick our toes in this summer (or next winter) for our World's Coolest Pools map. Know of any pools we must check out? Let us know.

Sometimes it's the accessories that make the outfit, and this Thailand resort pool wouldn't be complete without the cabanas that have doubtless been the subject of many a turf war at this new property's shore. But to dip your toes in this beauty is worth a "Home Alone"-style booby trap or two.

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Tags: Worlds-Coolest-Pools / Disney World / Pools / Disney / Pirates / → All Tags

Indulge Your Inner Amphibian At Disney's Stormalong Bay

Last one in's a rotten egg! We're finding the best places in the world to stick our toes in this summer (or next winter) for our World's Coolest Pools map. Know of any pools we must check out? Let us know.

Without a cutesy shape or a benevolent aura, you'd never recognize this mega-pool as the domain of the Mouse. But we had to check out the Yacht and Beach Club combined pools after a tipster promised not only a sandy bottom but "a slide from a pirate ship." And you all know we have a weakness for pirate travel.

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Tags: Worlds-Coolest-Pools / Tahiti Travel / Pools / Hotels / → All Tags

Your Own Semiprivate Oasis In Tahiti

Last one in's a rotten egg! We're finding the best places in the world to stick our toes in this summer (or next winter) for our World's Coolest Pools map. Know of any pools we must check out? Let us know.

The invention of the sandy-bottomed approach was one of the great pool innovations of the '90s. But the pool at the Le Méridien Tahiti takes it a step further: There's nothing real about this white-sand beach, but your toes won't know the difference.

The sand in question is claimed to be natural, but is in fact imported from other parts of the island to give the Le Méridien lagoon that particular sparkle. The blob-shaped pool is somewhat remote from the nearby city of Papeete, but the hotel also features an on-site artist's studio and horseback rides should you be bothered to change out of your swimsuit.

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Tags: Worlds-Coolest-Pools / Cornwall Travel / Pools / Saltwater Pools / → All Tags

By The Sea, By The Sea, By The Cornwall Sea

Last one in's a rotten egg! We're finding the best places in the world to stick our toes in this summer (or next winter) for our World's Coolest Pools map. Know of any pools we must check out? Let us know.

Further proof nature has a sense of humor? A natural outcrop of rocks provided the inspiration for city officials in Bude, a popular Victorian seaside destination, to lay in the groundwork for one of England's rapidly disappearing "sea baths."

Before chlorine ruled the pool world, swimmers looking for a space more placid than the open ocean turned to natural pools along the coast of Cornwall to bathe -- same seawater, no undertow. Many of these sea baths have since been closed, but Bude's remains thanks to a small but dedicated cadres of locals who fought to keep the pools open (albeit with municipal lifeguards) after a 2005 study deemed them unsafe.

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Tags: Restaurants / Hotels / Pools / → All Tags

New Boston Restaurant: BOKX 109 American Prime

Mango mint cocktails on the pool deck... truffled duck fat fries in the private tented cabanas... swordfish steaks in the plush dining room. Gotta be Miami, right? Or maybe Vegas?

Nope, try Boston. Beantown's chicest new hotel, the Hotel Indigo in Newton, recently debuted what clearly aims to be the town's trendiest restaurant-bar, BOKX 109 American Prime.

With a nightclub-like atmosphere and an upscale comfort food menu, this peculiarly-named restaurant certainly has started a late summer buzz in Boston. But is the nation of Red Sox and Sam Adams ready for high-heeled pool parties, $40-entrées and chefs who are touted as "performers?" One thing's for sure: A line of trendy restaurant moguls are eagerly awaiting to see whether Bostonians bring their wallets.

Related Stories:
· BOKX 109 American Prime [Official Site]
· Boston Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: BOKX 109]

Tags: Crime / Swimming / Pools / Summer Travel / Google Earth / → All Tags

"The Google Earth Gatecrashers"

How did we not already think of this? New York magazine once crashed hotel pools in Gotham, but now British lads--and you know it's the lads--are using Google Earth to find neighborhood pools worth infiltrating.

Says the Daily Mail:

The craze involves using the Google Earth programme, which provides high-quality aerial photos of Britain and other countries.

Once a target is chosen, the organisers use social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo to arrange to meet, say police.

Authorities worry that the trend is about to really catch on thanks to a combo of warmer weather and vacant houses, as Brits go on summer holidays. Time for us to get a Bebo account!

Related Stories:
· The Google Earth Gatecrashers [Daily Mail, via]
· Summer Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of a prime target: Google Maps]

Tags: Pools / Resorts / German Tourists / → All Tags

Bus Driver Burns Pool Towels

Ever stayed at a resort, enjoyed your breakfast, then wandered down for a day poolside only to discover that a bunch of other tourists have "saved" all the good spots by creeping down at dawn and leaving their towels there?

We have, and we hate it. But not as much as one British guy who recently got his revenge. At Viana Marina, a resort on the Italian Riviera, the bus driver for a group of Welsh tourists decided that his poor customers had complained one too many times about the early morning towel layers. He collected up every towel from every sunbed--which he claims, fitting the stereotype, were all left there by German tourists--and burnt them in a beach bonfire. Perhaps it's a good thing the Germans are creating their own exclusive Italian resort where such behavior will probably be greeted with smiles rather than smoke.

Related Stories:
· Brit Burnt German Towels [Ananova]
· Germans Buy Village in Tuscany [Jaunted]
· Hotels in Italy [HotelChatter]

[Photo: Andy2Boyz]

Tags: Active Travel / Pools / Swimming / London Travel / → All Tags

To Do in London: Swim! Outdoors! In November!

The London Fields Lido closed in the '80s, but after a major renovation it's been brought back to life as the only heated Olympic-sized outdoor swimming pool in London. The project isn't 100% complete--a seasonal roof for winter swimming is in the works--but the pool is open for business. It's heated to a comfortable 77 degrees fahrenheit.

Access is £3 ($5.72) for adults, and the colorful lockers seen above are available for a single-use fee of £.20. Until November 19, weekends are reserved for general swimming only, while weekday hours are as follows: adult lane swimming from 7:15 am until 9:30 am, and general swimming from 10:00 am until 4:15 pm. After that, and until December 17, Tuesdays and Thursdays are also general swimming only, with hours reduced from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm (with lane hours set for 8:30 am-9:30am on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).

A sunbathing terrace is available, but you probably won't be able to make good use of it until summer. If your hotel in London doesn't have a pool, this is your best shot at showing off that bathing suit bod to a crowd.

[Photo: onionbagblogger]

Tags: Pools / Las Vegas / → All Tags

The Pools of Vegas Graded

Boston Globe freelance travel writer Steve Friess, along with a discriminating judge, has sucessfully graded most of the major pools in Vegas. Sure, we guess most people don't go there for the swimming, but it's still a place where you'll spend a lot of time recovering from the night before.

His discriminating judge was his 14-year-old mentee "whose eyes sparkle when he sees a fountain at the mall." The two set out to grade pools on an A to F scale.

The criteria:

Mostly, we asked ourselves: Is the pool innovative? Does it fit the hotel's theme? Is it any deeper than the typical 3-to-4 feet of most of its rivals? Is it clean? Is the layout logical or clever? Does it invite us to jump in? Do the lifeguards appear to be paying attention?

The winner: The Flamingo, an A+. Its network of waterslides, waterfall and live flamingos and penguins nearby seem to work.

The loser, ironically, was the Venetian, with an F. Apparently three ordinary shadeless rectangles just doesn't cut it.

Many of the larger resorts scored in the middle range. The Mandalay Bay also scored an A+, for its beach-like features.

Related Stories:
·   Dive In! [Boston Globe]

Tags: Pools / → All Tags

By the Pool

If you're the type that must have a hotel with a pool, check out some of the world's best pools, broken down into helpful categories for you by the folks at DailyCandy.

Best View: Perivolas - Santorini, "a minimalist chic infinity pool perched on an Aegean cliff. Views include white-washed villages, bougainvillea, and a submerged volcano." Not too shabby.

Best Special Effects - Hotel Unique in Sao Paolo. Apparently this rooftop deal is dyed a rich crimson. um, gross.

Cheapest Thrill: Hotel QT in NYC, this lobby pool is 10 x 15 ft. and the bar is right behind it. (Note: some of us have been here, it certainly doesn't seem so small after a few drinks...and perks abound...you can sort of hear the music underwater)

Best Overall: Aminkila, Bali. (above) With a breathtaking three-tier inifinity set-up facing the Indonesian Sea we aren't going to argue.

Related Stories:
·   Travel: Pool Hopping [Daily Candy]