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Archive for April, 2010

AirTran Airways is having a one-day sale with one-way fares as low as $44 (plus taxes and fees). You have to book Friday for travel by June 16.

Deal: The super-low fares on this deal feature East Coast destinations: Boston to Baltimore ($49) and Nassau, Bahamas to Orlando ($44). From Los Angeles, one-way sale fares for 50 destinations are in the $104-to-$179 range, including $104 for Washington, New York and Boston; $166 for San Juan, Puerto Rico; and $124 for Atlanta. You have to travel Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays to get the lowest prices.

When: Purchase tickets by 8:59 PDT May 7 and complete your travel by June 16. Tickets must be bought seven days in advance of travel; blackout days are May 28 and 31 (Memorial Day weekend).

Tested: I tried various date combinations from Los Angeles to New York but couldn’t always get the $104 rate both ways. For example, leaving Wednesday, June 2, the lowest fare I could find was $129, though I could get the $104 rate to return on Saturday, June 5. As I tested various dates between L.A. and New York, the $129 rate showed wider availability than the rock-bottom $104, but that may be because seats are going fast.

Contact: Air Tran, (800) 247-8726

– Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger

Image: Air Tran logo

By LA Times

Spend enough time on “the official website of the British Monarchy” and you’ll suddenly have a hankering to immerse yourself in all things royal. My favorites are the adorable pictures of Queen Elizabeth II at age 2, looking very Shirley Temple. Each year the queen opens parts of her Buckingham Palace home to visitors for just eight weeks in late summer and fall – the latter a perfect time to take advantage of lower fares and post-peak crowds.

Deal: Air New Zealand is offering a $778 round-trip airfare (plus taxes and fees) on nonstop flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and London (LHR). This fare requires passengers to travel on Mondays through Wednesdays; add an extra $30 each way for travel on other days of the week.

When: You buy your tickets by May 12 for travel between Sept. 10 and Oct. 20.

Tested: I tried to find this fare online with September dates and was pleasantly surprised to find a slightly lower-priced ticket. (Air New Zealands website states that “some days with lower airfares are offered” but “there are not enough seats to advertise.”)

On a test booking for a Sept. 13-20 round trip, I found a $749 fare, or $911 with taxes and fees. In scanning other September and October dates, I found good availability for the $778 round-trip fare and limited choices at the $749 rate. As a comparison, fares on the same flights two weeks earlier – leaving Aug. 30 and returning Sept. 6 – cost $1,123, plus tax.

Contact: Air New Zealand, (800) 262-1234

Royal tour: You can tour the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace from July 27 to Oct. 1. Adult admission is $26. For $46, you can tour the State Rooms plus the Royal Mews and the Queen’s Gallery.  Contact: The Royal Collection, 011-44-20-7766-7300

- Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger

Photo: (top): Take a spin to London from Los Angeles in late summer and fall with low fares from Air New Zealand.  Credit: Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times

Photo (bottom): The State Rooms of Buckingham Palace are open between July 27 and Oct. 1.
Credit: Jessica Erskine

By LA Times

Are you fed up from seeing one and same places? Need some changes and want to explore something different but new? If I have got you then this summer you surely want to plan a trip to China’s most beautiful, most adorable and oldest city, ”The Hangzhou”. This article gives you some overview of how you can plan your trip while booking the best hotel deals and get some hotel discount. Also how you can plan your trip successfully by viewing some travel blog.

@ wikimedia.org

Hangzhou is the China’s most adorable and attractive city for tourist. The stunning Solitary hill, Mausoleum of General Yue Fei, Ling Yen Temple and charming sites of West Lake and Fuchan river catch the eye of the tourists. The city of Hangzhou has all the beauty of ancient civilization and is the one of the worth seeing historic city. You can find every true color of nature here. The civilization of this city is as old as 4,700 years ago and has a history of 2,200 years and is considered to be the one of seven ancient Chinese capitals. Hangzhou is found to have a convenient and exciting environment. In addition travelers and tourist are also able to find reasonable accommodation as most of the hotels provide you with the best discount hotel and hotel deals.

@ icamconferences.org

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Wine Bars in Barcelona

It depends on who you ask, but most agree that the best wines in Spain come from the regions of La Rioja and Ribera del Duero. These regions produce a lot of wine, and so it is also probable that even if you don’t know too much about Spanish wine, if you have drunk one, it was likely from one of those two places.

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The Kanha Tiger reserve is a part of the Kanha National Park located in the Central India province of Madhya Pradesh. The reserve is located in the Maikal hills of the Satpura range and is made up of parts of Balaghat and Mandla districts.

The reserve is thickly forested with bamboo and sal tress and is part of the traditional habitat of the conservative Gond tribes.

How to reach the Kanha Tiger reserve

The Gondia station is the nearest railhead. Trains originating from Mumbai, Nagpur and Kolkata pass through Gondia. The park is a three hour drive from the Gondia railway station. You can even fly down to and continue your journey by tourist cab. It is a five to six hours drive from Nagpur to the reserve.

How to travel within the Kanha Tiger reserve

Hiring an escorted jeep is your best bet to go round the park. Do hire the services of a guide to tell you about the habits of the different animals you are bound to come across at every turn of India Tours.

What to see in the Kanha Tiger reserve

Seeing the big cats is the major attraction. The yellow striped tiger royal Bengal tiger is the major attraction. But apart from the tiger you will also see other species of wildlife including the panthers leopards, Chital, Sambhar, Chousingha and Barasingha (variants of swamp deer).

The Best Season to visit the Kanha Tiger reserve

Located in the plains of North India, the park gets quite hot and dusty in the summers, so prefer to visit during the winter months of mid-October to mid-March. For the more adventurous a visit during the wet months from July to September would have its own charm.

Where to stay in the Kanha Tiger reserve

There are many decent options to stay near the park or even good three star India hotels at Jabalpur Nagpur, Bilaspur and Raipur. But the tented camp is one spot that can provide you with the trappings of civilization in a rustic environment just outside the reserve.

What to eat in the Kanha Tiger reserve

Many of the hotels around the park have well equipped kitchens that serve continental, Chinese and traditional North India food. You will have to carry a packed dry picnic hamper when you go on the safaris through the park. Do sample the different parathas which are like unleavened bread stuffed with spicy concoctions. The typical fillings are made form potato, cabbages and radishes and are quite spicy and tasty when eaten with pickles and curd.

It’s hard to believe that the Cangarda (pictured above), one of the most elegant steam-powered yachts of its day, lay in a shallow mud grave near Boston just a decade ago. Built primarily between 1901 and 1910, these Edwardian steam yachts are rare, and a race between two of these sleek vessels is even rarer.

But at noon May 15, a completely restored Cangarda, which is now steaming slowly down the coast from Seattle, will take on the Medea, a 1904 steam yacht permanently housed at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, for a race that will launch from Coronado’s Glorietta Bay.

Don’t expect a pulse-quickening contest: Top speed for these yachts is 7 knots per hour. On the course, the competitors will pass under the Coronado Bridge, sail past the Embarcadero on Shelter Island and end at the museum. The race will begin when a cannon fires from the tall ship Californian and will end with another salute from a pair of 1847 cannons.

The museum’s first steam-powered smackdown is expected to draw crowds on land and on sea.

“Whenever we have an event like this on the bay, people come out on kayaks, surfboards, anything that floats,” museum spokeswoman Robyn Gallant said.

Good places to watch the race on land include the museum, Harbor Island and Shelter Island. Or you can ride one of two boats that will be following the action: the Californian ($50 for adults, $30 for children), which will offer a four-hour sail, or the 1914 Pilot ($35 for adults, $25 for children), with a two-hour sail. (Note that children’s tickets are for ages 6 to 12; neither sailing is recommended for those under 6.)

If you want to see the yachts close up, you can visit the museum before the race to board the Cangarda  from 2 to 4 p.m. May 13 and 14. The Medea will be open to visitors during regular museum hours, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. (You can’t visit either ship on race day.)

Museum tickets cost $14 for adults, $11 for seniors (62 and older) and $8 for children (6 to 17); children under 5 are free. Add $5 to any ticket and you get free museum admission through the end of the year.

Contact: Maritime Museum of San Diego, 1492 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego; (619) 234-9153.

- Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger

Photos: At top, the fully restored Cangarda, built in 1901, will appear in San Diego for a steam-powered-yacht race May 15. At bottom, the Medea, which will also participate in the race, is permanently housed at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Credit: Maritime Museum of San Diego

By LA Times

Starting June 1, some members of Delta Air Lines’ SkyMiles frequent-flier program will accrue more than miles. Cardholders who carry Gold, Platinum and Reserve Delta SkyMiles credit cards issued by American Express will score a new privilege: a free first checked bag, according to a May 5 Delta announcement.

This represents a $50 savings on a round-trip flight. Under this new benefit, the $25 first checked bag fee, charged each way, is waived for cardholders and up to eight others on the same reservation.

Cardholders will automatically receive the baggage fee waiver at Delta upon check-in.

“Baggage fee waivers are one of the benefits we provide to reward some of our most engaged customers,” Jeff Miles, vice president of the SkyMiles program, said in a statement.

Delta began charging for checked bags in December 2008, shortly after it purchased Northwest Airlines. At that time, the airline charged $15 for the first bag; the fee increased to $25 in January.

- Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger

Photo: Bag-toting Delta passengers wait to check in at Logan International Airport in Boston on Dec. 21, 2009. Credit: Michael Dwyer / Associated Press

By LA Times

A passage way behind the Diwan-i-Khas leads through to the tiny Mina Masjid, a very plain white marble mosque – little more than an enlarged corridor – which was built by Shah Jahan and is traditionally said to have been used by him during his years of imprisonment here. Beyond here, the passage way leads to a two-storeyed pavilion known as the Musamman Burj, famous in Mughal legends as the spot where Shah Jahan is said to have caught his last glimpse of the Taj Mahal tour before he died – though the truth of the great emperor’s demise is rather less edifying.

Surrounded by a veranda, the elegant pavilion is perhaps the most elaborately decorated structure in the entire fort, its lattice-screen balustrade with ornamental niches and with exquisite pietra dura inlay covering almost every surface, while a marble chhatri topped by a cooper dome adds a final flourish. In front of the tower a courtyard, paved with marble octagons, centres on a pachisi board where the emperor, following his father’s example at Fatehpur Sikri, played a rather bizarre version of the game (a form of ludo) using dancing girls as pieces).

Continue past the Mausamman Burj to reach another large courtyard, the Anguri Bagh (grape garden), a miniature charbagh, its quarter linked by wide pavements, with a marble tank at the centre. The east side of the courtyard is flanked by the marble building known as Khas Mahal (private place), possibly used as drawing room or the emperor’s sleeping chamber of India Tours.

Designed essentially for comfort, it incorporates cavities in its flat roofs to insulate against the searing heat of an Agra tours summer, and afford soothing riverside and garden views. The place is flanked by so-called Golden Pavilion, their curved roofs ( a form that would later become a staple of Rajput architecture) covered with gilded copper tiles in a style inspired by the thatched roofs of Bengali village huts, their arches framing further photogenic Taj vistas. In front of the Khas Mahal, steps descend into the northeast corner of the Anguri Bagh and the Sheesh Mahal (glass palace), where royal women bathed in the soft lamplight reflected from the mirror-work mosaic that covered the walls and ceiling; unfortunately the building is currently locked, so you can only peek in through the window.

South of the Khas Mahal lies the Shah Jahani’s Mahal (Shah Jahan’s Palace), a heavily graffitoed cluster of four rather sorry-looking room (originally painted in bright colours and embossed in gold), plus another delicate octagonal open-sided two-storey chhatri with further Taj Mahal views.

Bar Milano Barcelona – Cocktails

I would be interested to know what Barcelona has more of: bars or bakeries? Surely someone, some city official, has this information. It seems as though each block has at least one bakery selling the basic baguettes, croissants and glazed doughnuts and that every corner has a bar, serving cerveza, the house wine, and carajillos (coffee with rum or other liquors).

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If youre heading (or even thinking of heading) to any of the 118 islands that make up Tahiti, you might as well go in comfort. Air France is offering premium economy seats for economy-class prices on nonstop flights from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tahiti’s capital, Papeete, during selected dates that start in spring and last through November.

The centerpiece of the new cabin class, launched last year as Premium Voyageur, is a “fixed-shell seat,” which allows you to recline your seat without affecting the passenger behind you (the seat actually moves within the shell). The seat is roomier (19 inches wide), adds wide armrests and has a 38-inch seat pitch (a measure of legroom), compared with 31 inches in regular economy, known as Voyageur on Air France. Other extras: a larger seat tray, a 10.4-inch video screen, priority check-in, increased baggage allowance, noise-canceling headphones and more.

The deal: You can get a premium economy seat from Los Angeles to Papeete on select dates for a fare of $798 one way for spring and fall and $894 one way for summer – about half the price usually charged for these seats, Air France spokeswoman Karen Gillo said. These fares are based on buying a round-trip ticket. They include a $120 fuel surcharge each way but not taxes, which add about $90. 

When: The spring rate applies to travel May 7 to 31, and the fall rate is good Nov. 1 to 30. The summer rate applies to travel June 1 to Oct. 30. Tickets must be purchased by 8:39 p.m. PDT  May 22. Nonstop flights from LAX to Papeete run Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; return flights run Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Flight time is about 8½ hours.

Tested: I found the deal to be widely available when I went online. While I didn’t find it on all dates, I found it on many dates.

Contact: Air France, (800) 237-2747

- Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger

Photo: (top) Air France has nonstop flights to Papeete, Tahiti, the jumping off point for places such as Bora-Bora, 160 miles northwest of the main island of Tahiti. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

Photo (bottom) Air France “fixed-shell seat” is the centerpiece of its new premium economy section. Credit: Air France

By LA Times