Tag: Sports Travel

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The Details on Tomorrow's Ticker Tape Parade for the NY Giants' Super Bowl Victory

February 6, 2012 at 8:07 AM | by | Comments (0)

In between all the commercials and snacking there was a pretty good football game last night, and when the final whistle was blown it was the New York Giants on top. They’re the Super Bowl champs—for the second time in four years—and now New York is ready to welcome their team home for a little bit of a party and parade. Mayor Bloomberg is putting the final touches on this and that, but we do know that the celebration is taking place on Tuesday.

Late last night New York City officials released the plans for the ticker tape parade, so if you’re going to call out sick tomorrow, start planting some subtle cues this afternoon at the office. All the fun will take place in Lower Manhattan, as the parade is scheduled to do its thing beginning at Battery Place and Washington Street around 11am. After that Eli Manning, Victor Cruz, and Jason Pierre-Paul will continue north up through the Canyon of Heroes towards Worth Street as they greet throngs of well wishers.

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If You Still Need Super Bowl Tickets, There's Always Costco

February 1, 2012 at 10:34 AM | by | Comments (0)

You may have heard that this year’s Super Bowl is taking place on Sunday in Indianapolis, and if you’re thinking about attending in person it might just be possible. Costco—what don’t they sell—is coming through with some last minute tickets, so if you’ve got a whole lot of spare change it might be time to cash it in.

The Giants, Patriots, and you will all be in Indy this weekend, but that’s assuming you have around $3,000 extra to spend on this year’s big game. Costco had some bigger and fancier packages available last week, but since you procrastinated there’s only one option left. The $3,000 price tag will get you one Upper-level End Zone Ticket to Super Bowl XLVI, and they’ll even throw in admission to a pre-game party. The only bummer is that for once they're not selling them in bulk, so you might need to make some friends with the people next to you before kickoff.

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How To Get Tickets To Indy's Biggest Super Bowl Parties

January 31, 2012 at 1:24 PM | by | Comments (0)

This week Indianapolis is being transformed into the party capitol of the world as everyone from sports fans to supermodels begin arriving for the Super Bowl. To accommodate all of these party people, bars and clubs are popping up in vacant spaces around the city.

The Cuda Lounge, located at 141 S. Meridian St in Super Bowl Village, is one of Indy's biggest pop-up lounges with events planned throughout the week.

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Airfare to Super Bowl XLVI is Already Soaring Out of Control

January 23, 2012 at 10:27 AM | by | Comments (0)

After a busy Sunday we now know that there’s going to be a Super Bowl rematch between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. Fans from the Northeast—and the rest of the country—are already submitting vacation request paperwork as they roll into the office. We took a quick look at the flight situation, and here are some ideas on how to get to Indianapolis for this year’s big game on February 5.

You’ve only got two weeks to finalize your travel plans, but figuring things out sooner rather than later is the best plan. If you’re looking to fly from Boston for the weekend, expect to pay around $1100 for a nonstop option on Delta that gets you in on Friday and sends you home—hopefully with a championship t-shirt—on Monday. Staying a little longer and making a connection can save some serious coin, as leaving on Thursday and coming home on Tuesday will set you back around $500 instead. Flights from other parts of New England like Hartford and Providence are just as pricey—with must-do connections—so the smaller airports won’t save you any cash.

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: Budgets, Boards and Pura Vida

Where: Costa Rica
January 13, 2012 at 6:08 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

Yesterday: Becoming a (surf) bum in Mal Pais

As you've probably guessed, Costa Rica is one of the most surf-friendly destinations on the planet. Surfers are welcomed here with open arms, and locals will go above and beyond to help you out. It is perfectly normal to see a massive board bag strapped to the roof of a taxi, to store your boards in your hotel room, and to set up a makeshift clothes line outside your door.

And just as friendly as it is, it's also easy. US Dollars are accepted just about everywhere and most people speak at least a little English, though no matter how bad your Spanish, an attempt to speak it will always go down well. ATMs are fairly easy to find, and most will have English as an option. The bigger bank ATMs even dispense dollars as well as the local currency, Colones, and any of the main hotels or stores will take credit cards.

Nonetheless, be careful of the foreign transaction fee charges that your US bank will tack on; look into a foreign transaction-free credit card if you travel abroad often. For myself, I tried to pay for most things in cash, only using plastic for purchases of $100 and up.

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: Making It to Mal Pais

Where: Costa Rica
January 12, 2012 at 4:33 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

Yesterday: Playa Negra and the rush of hitting the waves.

Mal Pais is a sleepy little surf down at the bottom of the Nicoya Peninsula. It’s about five hours' drive from Tamarindo (taking the sensible road), or many more hours drive than that taking the silly, but very picturesque coastal road. I say silly because the above is what sometimes passes for a road in Costa Rica.

Note that the photo was taken during the dry season. In wet season (May to November), or any time it’s been raining, roads like this become impassable to all but the sturdiest SUVs. You'll find that towns in Costa Rica usually have an old man who magically knows the conditions of every river within 20 miles of his location, but as I was not in possession of one of these wrinkly oracles in my passenger seat and didn’t feel like getting my SUV stuck in a river, I elected to take the boring, safer route.

Once I arrived in Mal Pais, the first thing I noticed was, well, not a whole lot really. Not much happens here, and that’s exactly what’s so great about the place. There are a couple of bars (that’s a couple more than when I was first there ten years ago), plus other mild activities like yoga, zip-line tours and so on, but the truth is you come to Mal Pais for one reason: to surf.

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: Playa Negra and the Rush of a Single Wave

January 11, 2012 at 4:51 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

Yesterday: Hitting the road to Tamarindo.

Standing on beautiful Tamarindo beach, with my board under my arm and looking out to sea, it occurred to me in a moment of mild panic that I was very out of practice. Was I making a terrible mistake? The ocean, for all its infinite beauty, is still a scary, powerful and potentially lethal thing.

You see, you can generally tell how good a surfer somebody is by watching them as they enter the water. Folks who know what they're doing look like they own it; they glide out on their boards and effortlessly get themselves beyond the break (to the calmer part of the water where you see surfers congregate). Surfers who maybe aren't so great will walk their boards out until the water comes up to their chests, then flail around every time a wave comes in, and they generally project an aura of terror.

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What Melbourne Has to Offer (Besides Tennis) During the Australian Open

January 11, 2012 at 12:18 PM | by | Comments (0)

The whole of Australia is consumed with the Summer tennis circuit currently touring around the country, and the pinnacle of the tennis season down under is marked by the Australian Open played in Melbourne. As the only grand slam tennis tournament held in the Southern Hemisphere, the city is showcased not only as a sport capital, but the cultural capital of Australia.

Melbourne is located on the southeastern Aussie coast and it boasts a vibrant cafe society and an avant garde fashion scene. Originally established during the Australian gold rush, Melbourne's rich history and causes it to be called the "Paris of Down Under." If your plans bring you to the city for tennis, plan to soak up more experiences than just seeing top seeded Novak Djokovic or Caroline Wozniacki.

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Celebrate Alabama's BCS Win by 'Roll Tide(ing)' to Their Official Museum

January 11, 2012 at 9:55 AM | by | Comments (0)

Everyone is going football crazy this month, and that’s with the Super Bowl still a few weeks away. Sure, the NFL playoffs are doing their thing for a couple more weekends, but this week’s big news was Alabama cruising over LSU in the BCS National Championship Game.

The college football season might be over, but that doesn’t mean that you need to end your season. Just head down to Alabama to celebrate the Crimson Tide’s past, as you roll into the Paul W. Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa.

Things will likely be busy this week as fans pay tribute to past teams and traditions as they continue to celebrate the school’s 2012 championship. The museum archives have stuff dating back to the 1890s, but of course they have plenty of stuff that’s a little more current as well. Exhibits include the Hall of Honor, The Tide Through Time, and Coach Bryant's Office. There’s plenty dedicated to former Coach "Bear" Bryant, including a Waterford crystal replica of his houndstooth hat—we guess you’ve just got to be an Alabama fan to appreciate that.

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: The Road to Tamarindo

January 10, 2012 at 5:13 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

Yesterday: Making the decision to drop everything and go.

Touching down at Liberia Airport in northern Costa Rica was somewhat of an adventure in itself. The terminal itself is modest (OK, it’s a shack), and although there’s a shiny new terminal built and waiting to open, when I arrived they were still waiting for the paperwork to be complete [Ed note: the new terminal finally opens this Thursday!].

Within 30 minutes or so I’d gone through immigration (and some sort of weird security check where they scanned my bags as they came in to the country…why would they do that?), and was on the way to pick up my rental car. A word on this: driving in Costa Rica is not for the faint of heart. It’s not that drivers here are bad; certainly they’re no worse than you find in New York City. It’s just that the roads are—how to put it—somewhat unpredictable. You have to assume that there’s a horse in the road around every corner, because in many cases, there is in fact a horse in the road just around the corner.

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Air New Zealand Paints Their Itty-Bittiest Plane All Black

January 10, 2012 at 1:16 PM | by | Comment (1)

YES—another all-black plane has taken to the skies. For the third time, Air New Zealand is honoring the country's rugby team—the All Blacks—with an aircraft painted in the team colors, which would be all black (plus a little white and gray to form the fern of the team logo).

The first AirNZ plane to get the treatment was a Airbus A320, then they upgraded to repainting a Boeing 777. This time, however, AirNZ has chosen the smallest of their fleet—a Beech 1900D, newly completed.

Keep a look out for the tiny black plane (and two more upcoming) buzzing its propellers on AirNZ's shorter domestic routes, such as between Blenheim and Christchurch.

[Photo: Air New Zealand]

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: Setting Off from the City

January 9, 2012 at 4:54 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

I used to surf a lot in my 20s. I even took a year out of my life to travel 'round the world on a combo surfing/snowboarding trip. At that time, I visited some of the world’s great destinations for these sports, taking in Central America, the Californian coastline, Hawaii’s legendary North Shore, and of course Bells & Bondi in Australia. I wasn't an expert per se, but I was reasonably competent on a board.

Eventually I settled in Southern California, with world class breaks on my doorstep, before making the move to NYC. In recent years though, my dearly loved 7' 6" funboard (hand shaped in San Diego, lovingly transported to New York City by your truly) has been more of an ornament than anything else. It's a beautiful '70s-style blue and white, and it's propped up against my living room wall, making me look all sporty and Californian to visitors that don’t know any better, but definitely not serving the purpose for which it was designed. The truth is, I had stopped being a surfer.

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