Jaunted

Air India / Star Alliance / India / India Travel / Airline Industry / Airline News / Airline Alliances / → All Tags

Air India Racing Against Time to Join Star Alliance

Air India has been given a hard deadline of July 31st to finally meet the entry requirements for Star Alliance, something the Mumbai-based airline has been trying to do since they got an invitation to join Star in 2007. The airline needs to standardize its operations and computers with the rest of the alliance, so that happy alliancey things like code sharing, seat upgrading, and reward traveling can start happening.

Integration has proven to be something of a problem, and Air India has already requested and received three deadline extensions. We're guessing that a fourth extension won't be forthcoming, given Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht's subtle hint that "we will not extend this deadline anymore."

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Travel Gear / Backpacking / India / India Travel / MTV / → All Tags

MTV and Bollywood Hottie Jacqueline Fernandez Team Up to Sell 'Travel Gear'

From this picture gallery and a couple Google searches, we learn that the MTV Travel Gear launch in Mumbai was attended by MTV VJs Bani, Ranvijay, and Ayushmann and by Bollywood beauty Jacqueline Fernandez. Other insights we gleaned, in no particular order, helpfully summarized for you in bullet point form:

· MTV has a line of travel gear. We're pretty sure it's only available in India. And maybe only at Wildcraft Stores.

· Fernandez is present as the travel gear's new brand ambassador. Sources have told Oneindia Entertainment that she was selected based on her free-spirit nature and the light hearted roles that she has done. That's a quote.

* Fernandez was Miss Sri Lanka at the Miss Universe competition in 2006. That might also have had something to do with the selection.

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Travel Deals / India / India Travel / Travelzoo / → All Tags

Shake Winter Cabin Fever With Eight Days in India For $999

Money is tight around the holidays and the several months afterward, when you're paying off your credit card bill from Black Friday. So it's probably better to start looking to the spring for your next big trip. Head to India for an eight-day spring break that will cost you $999.

You'll have a hard time finding frat guys and kegs on this kind of spring break, though. The Travelzoo package includes round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations, a daily breakfast buffet, a farewell dinner, ground transportation in India, sightseeing tours, and entrance fees to the sights.

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Beer / Netherlands / India / Animals / → All Tags

Indian Bulls and Dutch Dogs

Who knew that bullfighting was popular in India? Well, we didn't, but we do now know that after a few alcohol problems (drunk bullfighters and drunk bulls, too), authorities started breathalyzing both before fights, and injuries decreased rapidly. Just how you persuade a bull to blow in the bag is a mystery to us, but it seems to be working.

But what these Indian bullfighters could try is a new product from the Netherlands: beer brewed especially for dogs. The part that fixes our Indian problem is that it's non-alcholic. Kwispelbier is also fit for human consumption, but save it for the dogs or the bulls--it costs four times as much as a Heineken.

[Photo: Goody.]

Related Stories:
· Festival Bulls Breathalysed [news.com.au]
· Pet Shop Owner Creates Beer [ABC News]

Celeb Travel / Celeb News / Angelina Jolie / Brad Pitt / India / → All Tags

Brangelina Headed for Home

After extended time in Pune, India, with the whole clan in tow, Brangelina has left town. Apparently, filming of A Mighty Heart in the country has wrapped (or at least the part's Angelina's in), and the whole fam split for home in Los Angeles early on Sunday morning.

As you've heard, the last few weeks of filming were marred by various "situations," including a run-in with the law after the couple's bodyguards allegedly manhandled waiting parents at a school while filming was in progress. The family did, however, manage to get in some quality time too. From relaxing at Le Meridien Pune to sneaking off to Mumbai by private jet for a boat tour and retiring to a suite at the Taj in Colaba, it wasn't all work.

No word yet on whether producer-dad Brad will return to India, but something tells us they'll all be back....

[Photo: The Bosh]

Related Stories:
· Jolie, Pitt leave for home [DNA Mumbai]

India / → All Tags

Paint the Town Pink

There are all kinds of ways for governments to handle growing crime rates, rebel attacks and social unrest. The most common ways seem to be beefing up the police and military forces. But instead, a town in India has decided to paint every building in the town pink.

Aurangabad, India, is a town in trouble, and not only for its lack of tourists. Maoist rebel activity and a high crime rate have made it a less than pleasant place to live, but things are changing. Currently every public building and 80 percent of private buildings are painted pink--with most of the remaining 20 percent due to be pink before the week is out. An Aurangabad council worker said:

What better colour than pink which symbolises good mood, soothing sight and good feelings. Pink also fosters communal amity and harmony

It's also a totally hot and sexy color. So watch out, when we're in the mood for some extra good mood and good feelings we'll be painting the Jaunted pages pink too.

Related Stories:
· In the Pink [BBC]

Amazing-Race-10 / Amazing Race Maps / Chennai / India / Kuwait City / Kuwait / → All Tags

Amazing Race 10: Peter Says She's Just A Friend

Click Here To Go Straight To Chasing Racers Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 10 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below, and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray. Enjoy.

A reality show is always fertile ground for politics and backstabbing, but damn, this week's episode had back-room bargaining galore, didn't it? Here's how it's playing out: The alliance between the Barbies and Creepy Petey and Sarah collapsed last week. The other race cabal is going strong. The Karma Chameleons of Lyn, Karlyn, Dave, Mary and the Cho brothers are working together for everyone's benefit. (Who's not secretly rooting for the Cho Brothers? Seriously, integrity and reality television are an unusual mix.) Dave and Mary have to come in first this week because of a new rule twist. And Creepy Petey and Sarah seem to have chit-chatted and worked on their wacky relationship. They're eager to get on the road, says Petey: "Even on our worst day, we're better than some of the teams in the back." Jump away, race fans, to find out if this, and so many more ridiculous predictions, come true.

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Celeb News / Celeb Travel / India / Goa / Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie / Super World Travelers / → All Tags

Super World Travellers Go to Goa

Think you had a good weekend? Think again. Brad, Angelina and the kids, currently in Pune, India, hopped a private charter flight to Goa, India for a little R&R. Reports are rolling in that the couple needed a break from the 'razzi and left Pune on Friday night around 9pm on a small jet.

Goa's fame and beauty have attracted multiple old-school Hollywood types, as well as India's wealthiest families (think private beach houses, etc.) The Pitt's apparently checked into a guesthouse in Ashvem Beach in North Goa about 50 miles away from the Dabolim international airport there. Is Goa the Hamptons of India? Hm....The word is that North Goa is much more vibrant that South Goa, so we think it'd be like East Hampton vs. South Hampton perhaps. Shhh! Don't let Lizzie Grubman find out.

Related Stories:
· Pitt, Jolie Visit Goa [NDTV]
· Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Visit Goa, India [TheBosh]

Amazing-Race-10 / Amazing Race Maps / Hanoi / Vietnam / Chennai / India / → All Tags

Amazing Race 10: Peter Drives India Crazy

Click Here To Go Straight To Chasing Racers Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 10 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below, and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray. Enjoy.

This week's edition of the million-dollar-race-around-the-world keeps the creep on. Petey and Sarah keep up their bizarre relationship--sort of, including lots of shady behavior from Joe Simpson doppelganger Peter. Rob and Kimberly manage to go a week without fighting like crazy, but did the race turn his hair gray overnight, or is it us? The honest Cho brothers tell us they're in the race for the experience not the money. Dave and Mary on the other hand? They running around the world for the cold hard cash, and the kids. After the jump, the full rundown on all the happenings, financial or otherwise.

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Airlines / Air Slovakia / India / Punjab / → All Tags

Airline Report: Air Slovakia Reborn

Harjinder Singh Sidhu, an Indian-born businessman residing in the U.K., has purchased Air Slovakia. The Bratislava-based airline, which has a less than stellar reputation among its customers, is about to be injected with some Punjabi flava. Sidhu told the BBC that his rebranded Air Slovakia will have Punjabi "ambience and flavor," IFE, food, and flight attendants.

The aircrafts will also be facing an identity crisis of sorts, as tickets to and from India will be sold under a Punjabi name, and it seems the planes themselves, at least on those routes, will be dually branded.

Expansion plans are underway, and Sidhu expects that a fresh start will please the airline's heavy load of South Asian passengers. Let's just hope that more legroom is part of the new Indian "flavor."

[Photo: Java Cafe]

Related Stories:
· Fly Air Slovakia for Punjabi experience [BBC]

Shopping / Travel Tips / India / → All Tags

Be Smug when Buying a Rug

Buying a Oriental carpet overseas isn't for the faint of heart, but there are some basic things you can do to avoid getting ripped off too badly. Deborah L. Jacobs's approach during a recent trip to north India involved checking out stores whose rugs were used in coffee-table books, but also avoiding stores that tour guides, hotels, and tour guides steered her towards.

Even with some previous experience and a careful approach, she wasn't able to get any dealer to bargain--we thought that they love to haggle over there--and in one case she may have paid double a reasonable amount. If you think of her approach and similar tips as damage control rather than magic way to get the better of rug-dealers, you ought to be fine. Or be like us an stock up on cotton tablecloths instead.

[Image via DesignSlave/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Get a Great Rug [LAT]

Adult Entertainment / Nightlife / Mumbai / India / → All Tags

Mumbai's Bar Girls Win Big in Court

One unique feature of Mumbai nightlife has been its dance bars, where pretty ladies dance to Bollywood songs in return for tips in the form of "money showers" from appreciative men. At least they don't call them golden showers.

The bars were a feature until last fall, when the state government there banned the practice, saying that the dance bars were a cover for prostitution and encouraged crime. With one stroke of the pen, 75,000 women were thrown out of work and 1,300 bars were closed. With few other options, some of the former dancers did take up the world's oldest profession to make ends meet.

Yesterday, Mumbai's High Court overturned the ruling, saying that the ban was unconstitutional. The bar girls, the owners, and other workers aren't out of the woods yet, though, since the ban will remain in effect for at least eight more weeks to give the state to file an appeal. The state has said it will require to bars to re-apply for permits, so we hope that money showers are soon to return.

Related Stories:
·   Mumbai dance bars to reopen [GG2]
·   Bar girls dance with joy over HC order [Hindustan Times]
·   Ban lifted but dance bar not a fundamental right [Culcutta Telegraph]
·   Bar Girls of Mumbai [Dance with Shadows]