Jaunted

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How Dita Von Teese Survives Holiday Travel

No one travels quite like Dita Von Teese travels. So, when the burlesque star was jaunting across America recently, promoting her new 'My Cointreau Travel Essentials' bar, we cornered her to ask some burning travel questions--tips that may just get us through this month of holiday travel insanity.

Jaunted: What are your beauty travel essentials?
Dita:I always have my lipstick, lip pencil, powder and moisturizer.

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'From JFK, on the Beach the Same Day': Hawaiian Airlines to Fly Direct from NYC to Hawaii

212 and 808. Respectively, they are the area codes for dialing New York City and Hawaii. Today, however, they are also the prices for a one-way economy or first class seat on Hawaiian Airlines' just announced direct flights from New York-JFK to Honolulu starting in June 2012.

That's right. $212. To Hawaii. Non-Stop. With complimentary in-flight meals, pillows and blankets. That's all great and good, but the problem is these sale fares are going fast. Already we're seeing them raise to the $300s as planes fill for—believe it or not—autumn 2012. It just goes to show how needed this route is, since United née Continental is the only other airline making the 10-hour, 5,000-mile trek (and they dumped their free in-flight meal and other niceties almost one year ago).

The details: flights will be on an Airbus A330-200, with 18 first class seats and 276 economy (32" seat pitch in econ). Book 'em, Danno.

For a better perspective on how the new Hawaiian flights will go down, we met with the airline's CEO Mark Dunkerley this morning, mere hours after even airline crew found out they'd soon be flying to NYC.

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You'll Be Having the Ginger Cosmo, So Says the Cocktails Manager on the 'Queen Victoria'

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one and we'd like to introduce you to them.

Over the last two weeks, we've given exclusive peeks into the (somewhat) secret lives of a ship's officer, a "gentleman dance host," the ship's acupuncturist, the actual doctor and the foodie Saucier. For this final installment, we're all about getting our drink on. Cheers.

Cruises are the ultimate all-inclusive vacation...or are they? What you will have to pay for is all that boozing—wine with dinner, gin and tonics on deck and champagne poolside—so there's a man onboard whose job it is to make the cocktail menu as tempting as possible. For the Queen Victoria, this man is James, the ship's Public Rooms Services Manager.

He may be on a boat right now, but James is head over heels for hotels, using his experience in opening both Manchester's Velvet Hotel and Malmaison to evolve the Queen Victoria's bars and lounges into singular experiences for her thousands of guests. He's been at sea now straight since 2004, also stepping onto the old Caronia, the Queen Mary 2 and even some of the smaller Seabourn ships. Thus, you can bet he knows what to drink if you're feeling the motion of the ocean a bit much: the Ginger Cosmo.

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Even the Saucier on the 'Queen Victoria' is a Gordon Ramsay-Trained Gourmand

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over these two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

Last week we gave you exclusive peeks into the (somewhat) secret lives of a ship's officer, a "gentleman dance host," the ship's acupuncturist and its actual doctor. Now we're headed into the kitchens with Roberto, the Queen Victoria's Chef de Partie in charge of sauces.

He's just back from a month-long vacation to Bali, where he slept in an overwater bungalow and dined on fresh meals prepared in the rice fields. He's Roberto, and believe it or not, he's the chef in charge of making all the sauces for meals onboard the Queen Victoria, in the Brittania restaurant.

Oh, but it gets better. Roberto is not only a dashing English man of Italian and South African heritage who cuts a fine figure in his tall chef's hat; he's also a Gordon Ramsay-trained chef, with a CV that includes Ramsay's restaurant at Claridge's in London. And like many Londoners, Roberto feels a connection with New York, specifically with Thomas Keller's Michelin four-starred restaurant Per Se, where he comes to dine (and tour the kitchen) almost every time the QV docks in NYC.

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Scalpels and Seasickness: A Cruise Ship's Doctor Deals With It All

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over the next two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

Last week we gave you exclusive peeks into the (somewhat) secret lives of a ship's officer, a "gentleman dance host," and the ships' acupuncturist. Now it's time to get technical with Dr. Shaun, a Medical Officer onboard the Queen Victoria.

Not feeling so well on your cruise? No problem—since down below the theatre, below the bars and below even the cheapest cabins sits the Queen Victoria's full Medical Center, with its team of doctors and nurses in officer's whites ready to treat everything from your minor case of mal de mer up to serious, surgical matters.

One of the smart team is Dr. Shaun, a South African who has taken his medical training and interest in sports medicine to the high seas. He treats both passengers and crew, a easy feat considering how well-equipped the Medical Center is with two clinics, private recovery rooms (with portholes!) and heavy gear like portable X-ray machines and yes—Defibrillators.

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Being an Acupuncturist on a Cruise Ship is So Much More Than Sticking Pins in People

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over the next two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

Now that you're fully acquainted with a ship's officer and a pro dancer, it's time to indulge a bit with Justin Lane, Doctor of Chinese Medicine and the Queen Victoria's resident Acupuncturist.

Originally from San Francisco, Justin’s been fully qualified to stick needles in people for just two years, but he’s been into acupuncture for far longer than that. Growing up, he suffered from asthma and allergies; where Western medicine failed to help, acupuncture did the job. “Chinese medicine made a profound difference to my life,” he says. So when his childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot fell through, he decided to help others the way he’d been helped. After his undergrad degree (Psychology in San Fran, no less) he headed down to the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at San Diego for four years of training.

As Cunard is a British ship, the majority of passengers are English, which doesn’t always bode well for Justin, since he reckons that not only are Americans more open to trying new therapies and into spa-ing in general, but also that, because of the (glorious) NHS, the Brits aren’t used to paying for healthcare.

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Samantha Brown Walks National Parks Virgins Through Their First Time

The other day we got the chance to get some advice from an older, wiser, big sister travel expert, Samantha Brown. You know her as the host of her own show on the Travel Channel and as The Woman Whose Job We All Covet.

This summer, she's got another gig--she's the spokesperson for Nature Valley's National Parks Project, an awareness campaign to get folks to take advantage of the nearly 400 national parks in America and in doing that, help preserve our national parks for the next generation.

Now in a perfect world with unlimited funds we'd be at the Acadia National Park in Maine walking along with Sam in matching L.L. Bean jackets and duck boots but instead we did a Skype interview indoors--she in a hotel room in Boston and we in the cleanest corner of our home office.

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From Competitive Ballroom to Cruise Ships: The Life of a Cunard Gentleman Dance Host

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over the next two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

On Monday we met Richard, a real Anchorman. Today, meet Jeff, Gentleman Dance Host on the Queen Victoria.

"I'm not a gigolo...a 'giga-dancer,'" Jeff asserts. "I'm a competitive ballroom dancer doing this for fun."

We're chatting while seated in the ship's Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar and he's already donned his crisp white dinner jacket in preparation for the cruise's first formal night and the waltzing to come later. Jeff is a college professor on sabbatical, and a veteran of some 60 cruises, an impressive number even for the most cruise-happy blue haired ladies. Alas he isn't kicking back to gorge at the buffets or shop for duty-free liquor; he's here to dance as one member of Cunard's revolving corps of male dance partners for solo cruising women.

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This is the Man Who Drops the 12-Ton Anchors from Cunard's 'Queen Victoria'

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over the next two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

Today, meet Richard, Third Officer on the Queen Victoria's bridge.

You're looking at a future Cunard ship captain here. Richard, from the Isle of Wight, may be in charge of dropping anchor and inspecting the lifeboats, but he's got his eye on the helm. Believe it or not, this man in officer's whites is only 21 years old.

"I've got at least twenty more years [before captain]," he admits, but Richard's been at sea since 16, working his way up from cargo ships to the Seven Seas Mariner and finally to right here, where we're standing with an envious view overlooking the Norwegian port of Bergen.

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Talking About ST. ALi, the Latest Addition to London's Antipodean-Dominated Coffee Scene

ST. ALi is the latest Antipodean transplant to London's burgeoning coffee scene, a veritable sanctum to champion blends and artisinal brews. The cafe/restaurant, located in fashionable neighborhood of Farringdon, originated in Melbourne over a decade ago, a city well regarded for its commitment to quality coffee and exporting talented baristas.

As London's pint- and tea-centric culture ever so slowly evolves into one dominated by Clover fanatics and espressionites, ST. ALi may prove to be a key player in said change. Jaunted recently had the opportunity to sit down for brunch and a hearty helping of caffeinated beverages at ST. ALi, in addition to interviewing its Director of Coffee, Tim Williams. Where exactly is London's coffee industry heading, and how can you brew the perfect cup at home? Read on for more, and for photos from our visit.

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From Axl Rose to Zulu Warrior: A Visual History of Sir Richard Branson in Wacky Costumes

Branson dressed as a boxer. He's quite the knockout (get it?).

After much scientific testing, complicated measuring and grueling research, we've come to the very important conclusion that it is impossible to think Virgin Group main man Sir Richard Branson is anything but extremely awesome. C'mon—the man kite-boards with naked models, says he wants to build a spaceship and then actually does it, saves the world daily with his many charities, and yet still has time to sit down with us for a quick chat.

We last caught up with Sir Richard onboard Virgin America's inaugural flight to Chicago-O'Hare. As for all other monumental occasions in his family of Virgin brands, Branson donned a fun costume and parades around for the cameras, bursting with vim and vigor. This got us thinking. What costume, after all these years of dressing wacky for promotional stunts, does Richard really wish he could wear? So we asked him.

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The One Boring Thing About Richard Branson

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of Virgin Atlantic flights to Miami, and to celebrate it, Virgin CEO Richard Branson will walk out along the wing of one of his planes and party it up. It's just a typical day for Branson, jetting around as he does to check on his multitude of Virgin brands and still somehow chipping in to lend a hand in the world.

So where does he get all the energy to do this? Well, it probably helps that Branson has the money and personal assistants needed to pull off a packed schedule without a hitch, but let's not forget good old coffee.

Recently when we had a chance to sit down with Branson, following the very first Virgin America flight to ORD, we noticed he was toting quite the sizeable Starbucks cup. So what does a billionaire jetsetter order?

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