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Australia Travel / Cairns Travel / Summer Travel / Diving / Qantas / Travel Deals / → All Tags

Winter in the Northern Hemisphere Means Fun in the Sun, South of the Equator

Quicksilver floating pontoon at Agincourt Reef

As the weather begins to turn a bit colder and a bit gloomier in the US, we're already seeking out a winter "light at the end of the tunnel." While doing some wanderlust brainstorming, along with a wide variety of flight searches, we recently came upon the option of escaping the blustery Northern Hemisphere for a little—or a lot—of sunny, summery Southern Hemisphere.

What screams Middle-of-January escape more than a diving trip to some of the most beautiful coral reefs on the planet? We knew that would get your attention. Celebrating its 30th anniversary as being named a World Heritage Site, the Great Barrier Reef lies just off the coast of Northern Queensland in Australia. Don't worry, this is no where near the floods from last year and, we mean, it's more than 600 miles away.

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Theme Parks / Roller Coasters / Six Flags / Amusement Parks / Summer Travel / → All Tags

Each and Every Six Flags Getting Sick New Rides

There’s still plenty of 2011 left, but we can’t stop looking forward to the new theme park options set to debut next year. We mentioned some of the best rides to hit the parks in 2012, and now it looks like Six Flags is outlining their plans to thrill visitors at their parks next summer.

Six Flags wants everyone to be excited to visit each and every year, so they’re going to start ensuring that there’s at least one new ride and attraction at each Six Flags every year. Obviously, every addition can’t be a world class coaster, but we’re certainly not complaining.

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Bike Sharing / Cheap NYC / New York City / Bike Travel / Active Travel / Summer Travel / → All Tags

NYC Finally Gets What It Deserves: A Bike Sharing Program

London's bright blue Barclay's bikes

It may not be the most bike-friendly city in the world, but New York, NY has more than deserved a bike sharing option for years now. Finally, it's getting one!

As with anything involving NYC, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the city has chosen Alta to run the program, a company that already successfully operates the bike sharing in Washington DC, Montreal, Melbourne and Boston. Further awesome news is that the bike share will be massive, with 10,000 bikes at 600 stations ranging from the Upper West Side to the gentrifying parts of Brooklyn.

Now, for the bad news: we've got to wait until summer 2012 to enjoy the first cycles, and there'll be a $100 annual membership fee involved. As with other bike sharing, you've also got to pay for the time you use with the exception of a free first half hour.

Now for the important question: what color will the bikes be? Hm hm hm?!

Fashion Travel / Labor Day Travel / Lists / Summer Travel / → All Tags

Seven Cities for Wearing White Pants Year-round

Horrible news. It's time to put those white pants away. That's right—Labor Day has come and gone and as much as we enjoying viewing the outline of your thong (male or female), the look has an expiration date.

Traditionally, white pants season (and relatedly, Sperry Topsider season) lasts from Memorial Day until the very last gasp of summer on Labor Day (ah hem, yesterday). Any other time—wearing white is completely at your own risk. One the other hand, at the beginning of white pants season we rounded up five cities where you can wear white pants year-round.

Now that we've reached the end of the season, here's an encore (plus new additions!):

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Beer Travel / Summer Travel / Drinking Travel / Beer Festivals / Festival Travel / Events / → All Tags

Three September Beer Festivals for Cooling Down with a Cool One

The weather might be cooling down as the calendar flips to September, but that doesn’t mean that there's no longer a need for a refreshing adult beverage or three. If you’re feeling a little thirsty next month there’s always plenty of beer festivals on-tap, but here are three that we think are worth the price of admission:

· Portland Brew Festival:
If your weekend cookout plans fell through, there’s always Labor Day weekend in Portland, Maine. They’re trying to keep it a local affair with over 25 breweries from New England and at least 75 different offerings, so freshness is certainly on the menu. There are three sessions from which to choose—two on Saturday and one on Sunday—and each will set you back around $30. Just be sure to buy before you arrive, because apparently there’s no tickets at the door; it’s the law in Maine!

Brewery supply shops will be on hand to answer questions about which tubes, bottles, and pots you’ll need to brew the good stuff right at home. Admission includes 24—um, that's a lot—different tickets that you can happily exchange for a two-ounce pour of one of the beers on the menu. Atlantic Brewing Company, Baxter Brewing Company, and Sea Dog will just be a few of the breweries in attendance. Oh, and of course there will be a few opportunities to sample an offering or two from our friends over at Narragansett—here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women!

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Labor Day Travel / Summer Travel / Lists / Orbitz / → All Tags

And the Top 10 US Cities for Labor Day Travel Are...

In case you're still using up Fourth of July fireworks and BBQ charcoal, let us remind you that Labor Day is right around the corner, so time to start planning for either a long weekend getaway or some relaxing on the home turf. As usual, Orbitz has been playing close attention to the cities being searched for Labor Day vacays, and though it coulda been a cool infographic, the site has released a list of the Top 10 Labor Day destinations in the USA:

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Food Festivals / Summer Travel / Food Travel / Events / → All Tags

Five Fresh Fruit and Veggie Festivals to Sample This Month

There’s all kinds of stuff to celebrate during the summer, but one of the best things has to be its food. Fresh vegetables and fruits are both delicious—especially when deep fried—so bring your appetites to five of the best fresh fruit and veggie food festivals hitting the country this August:

· The National Lentil Festival:
For those who have overindulged this summer on hamburgers and hotdogs it might be time to bite into something a little healthier. The National Lentil Festival certainly is focused on good-for-you eating, so it’s a good place to start—especially since there’s free admission. It all goes down on August 19 and 20 in Pullman, Washington. Expect wine tasting, beer tasting, live entertainment, and of course plenty of the little legumes. The Lentil Marketplace and Lentil Lane Food Court are two spots where you can sample a little of everything lentil, and be sure not to miss the Little Lentil Sprout Parade.

· Potato Days:
When it comes to food that comes out of the ground, there’s nothing much tastier than the potato, and that’s even more true when the little spuds are fried. Plenty of tubers will be attendance in Barnesville, Minnesota on August 26 and 27, and there’s usually a few fans visiting as well—last year’s attendance was just around 17,000.

This year’s festival features plenty of chances to chomp down on a few food treats, but we’re most interested in events like Mashed Potato Wrestling, Potato Days French Fry Feed, or the Potato Peeling Contest. Potato samples and some events do charge a fee, but general admission is totally free.

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Beer Travel / Summer Travel / Drinking Travel / Beer Festivals / Festival Travel / Events / → All Tags

Prepare for a Hangover Thanks to These Three August Beer Festivals

The summer is slowly winding down, but there’s still lots of August left to experience. If you’re still a little behind on your summer drinking schedule look to the few beer festivals left where you can combine the warm weather with some cold brews. Here’s just three festivals where you can enjoy the remaining days of the season:

· North Folk Craft Beer, BBQ, and Wine Festival:
If you’re headed to the Hamptons this weekend—and, ha, who isn’t—you might want to skip the water and stick to the events on the land. This Saturday, August 13 the Martha Clara Vineyard in Riverhead, New York is bringing 50 different brewers and 100 different beers to comingle with all those grapevines.

It’s rain or shine—and the weather looks fine—and tickets will set you back $70 at the gate or $55 in advance. You’ll get plenty of two-ounce samples of all the beer you can handle along with a BBQ sandwich from Maple Tree BBQ complete with choice of side dish.

Local beer options include Blue Point Brewing Company, Greenport Harbor Brewing Company, and Great South Bay Brewery, and of course there will be a few different wines to sample for those with a more sophisticated palette. Just be sure to make your mind up soon, as it's only a few days away and last year’s event sold out.

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Beach Travel / Summer Travel / Sandcastles / Events / → All Tags

The U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition Proves Playing in the Sand Isn't Just Kid's Stuff

If you think you can build a pretty good sandcastle, you might want to think again.

On July 23 & 24, the U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition brought the world's best sandcastle artists to Imperial Beach, CA where they had only a few hours to build their masterpiece before the tide washed it away.

A total of 32 teams competed in both amateur and masters categories including the team I.B. Posse which won first place in the masters division for its tribute to American Troops. The group won last year too for their sand-centric view of the BP oil spill.

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Celeb Travel / Spain Travel / Summer Travel / Javier Bardem / Eva Longoria / Penelope Cruz / → All Tags

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz Join the Tourist Crush in Roses, Spain

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem were spotted with seven-month-old son Leo enjoying a day off in Roses, Costa Brava, Spain where they took a stroll through town before stopping for lunch.

The hot couple was joined by Penelope's brother Eduardo and his girlfriend, Desperate Housewives' Eva Longoria. Though Cruz and Longoria have only been dating for a few months, she seemed to fit right in with the family. Over the weekend, Eva brought Eduardo to one of her favorite haunts too, her L.A. restaurant Beso, before they headed off to Spain.

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Food Festivals / Food Travel / Events / Summer Travel / Lists / Festival Travel / → All Tags

Put On Your Lobster Bib! Three Seafood Festivals To Check Out This August

Sure the summer is all about hamburgers and hot dogs, but let’s not forget about some of those delicious delicacies that come from under the sea. The summer months are a great time to crack into a lobster, crab, or other slice of seafood and August has plenty of food festivals to help you get your fill. Here’s just three seafood festivals arriving next month that we think are worth your time::

· Maine Lobster Festival:
We love all the tasty treats that come out of the sea, but if we had to choose just one delicious crustacean it would be the mighty lobster. Of course Maine knows the most about this clawed creature, so it’s not surprising that they’re the ones throwing a festival dedicated to all things lobster at the beginning of August. The Maine Lobster Festival is set to run between August 3 and August 7 in Rockland, and if you have $8 extra in your food festival budget this one is a must-see.

In total, organizers are going to go through roughly 20,000 pounds of lobster—and god only knows how much butter—as visitors from all around the country arrive at Rockland Harbor. Arts and crafts, cooking contests, and plenty of lobster are just some of the festival’s highlights, but we have to recommend attending the lobster crate races. It’s exactly what it sounds like and it’s open to everyone, so sign up and try to run on top of the crates without taking a premature dip in the Atlantic Ocean. Just remember to leave your wallet back on shore, as you’ll need $14 for each lobster you plan on enjoying during the weekend.

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Literary Travel / London Travel / Travel Bookstores / Travel Books / Summer Travel / → All Tags

Climb Aboard East London's Book Barge for Lit-Nerd Delights and 'Bibliotherapy'

Bibliophiles who land in London may find themselves beset with disappointment at the sight of many a so-so bookseller, W.H. Smith and Waterstones among the city's prominent chains. But, as we recently reported, the literary-minded city is also rich with independent shops with a penchant for carefully selecting their stock and giving their customers the kind of knowledgeable, personal attention every proper lit-monger demands.

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