Western Australia Launches New Trails Resource
Western Australia's The Kimberleys (courtesy, ATC)
Western Australia—home of the Coral Coast and some of the country's most far-flung cities and pristine landscapes—launched a great new travel resource last month. TopTrailsWA provides a fun, info-filled resource on over 50 of trails within the region, from an hour-long mountain bike jaunt to days-long treks, along with packing lists, tips on "leave no trace" low-impact hiking, and dates to key events.
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May 22, 2009
Video: Freediving World Record Set at 288 Feet!
In April of 2009 an astounding mark was set at the Vertical Blue freediving competition in the Bahamas. Will Trubridge established a new world record for constant-weight, no-fin freediving at 288 feet. Check out this video of the dive in its eerie, utterly inhuman entirety here:
As Trubridge explains in the YouTube comments, the reason he starts to sink at the 1:20 mark is because, at a depth of around 60 meters, the body becomes negatively buoyant, letting him free fall the rest of the way. But, Trubridge explains, "This obviously works against you in the ascent, as you feel heavy after the turn at the bottom and have to swim all the way back to the surface." He also wears nose plugs and liquid-filled goggles to reduce the degree of equalization needed as he descends.
The deepest I've ever been is 110 feet—and that was with a full scuba tank. This guy, he's just amazing.
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April 30, 2009
Applications We Like: Facebook's Where I've Been
WHERE NEXT?: Facebook's Where I've Been application
Facebook users have been blessed (or cursed) with many applications, such as quizzes that tell us which Muppet we most resemble to apps that broadcast our favorite professional wrestlers. While knowing these things about your friends and yourself is amusing at best, there's one (and only one) application I've used on Facebook that rises above the rest, and that's the Where I've Been application.
Sure, we know which cities and countries we've been to, where we've lived, and where we want to go, but we finally have a program that helps us keep track, and lays it out visually on an interactive map for us. The tedious part (or fun part, depending on how you look at it), is initially filling out the information, as you remember the distant cities your parents dragged you to for your great aunt's funeral or that road trip through the Canadian Rockies, to the exotic vacations you took as an adult. Then Where I've Been tells you what percent of the world you've been to. You can also include places you have lived and places that you want to go. And what's more fun than traveling to a new place and updating the list?
When you're all finished, you can compare your map to your closest 350 friends (or however many you have) and you can say I didn't know that Hugh from band camp lived in Tunisia. You get the point.
So, while Facebook will always be a forum for broadcasting your top celebrity crushes to telling everyone your dinner plans, Where I've Been is one Facebook application that's essential for organizing your perpetual wanderlust.
Away.com is now on Facebook! Become a fan today and get updates about latest articles and photo galleries, seasonal travel ideas, and contests!
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April 13, 2009
Away.com Is Now on Facebook and Twitter!
If you like Away.com's travel ideas and inspiration, you can now get updates from us even more frequently, through Facebook and Twitter! Become a fan of Away.com on Facebook and get updates about our latest travel stories and photo galleries right to your Facebook News Feed. Plus, as a fan you can:
- Share your travel photos, stories, and tips. We want to see where you've been!
- Get the latest on seasonal and regional travel ideas.
- Give us feedback on our site and tell us what you'd like to see—we want your input!
And in case you've been living in a cave, and haven't heard about the Twitter revolution (and literally, a Twitter revolution by the youth in Moldova), Twitter is a microblogging website that is growing faster than you can say "tweet." The website allows you to share information and stay in touch with your network of followers on a real-time basis. It's proved a useful tool for travelers looking for recommendations and advice—even food and lodging. Follow us at awayblog on Twitter, and we'll:
- Keep you updated on all the latest travel news.
- Give you updates on new blog posts and articles.
- Post links to cool and interesting happenings around the world (and the Web).
- Ask you for your two cents about travel-related issues.
- And answer any travel questions you've got!
We've already got over 970 people following our up-to-the-minute travel tweets, so what are you waiting for? Become our 1000th follower and we'll send you an Away.com luggage tag, T-shirt, and mug!
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April 02, 2009
Consumers Find Travel Deals Amidst Air Industry's Economic Woes
SILVER LININGS: Air travel's woes can be a consumer's gain (J. Luke/Photodisc/Getty)
As people have become more conservative about spending money on travel, airlines have taken a seriously hard hit, losing more revenue than even after the September 11th attacks. For consumers, this has meant a mixed bag of good and bad things, the bad mostly comprised of airlines tacking on a fee for seemingly everything under the sun—or at least everything that was once free (even talk of charging for toilets on Ryanair flights!). But take heart ever-slighted air traveler! You'll be happy to know there is some positive news for you. Here are some of the latest trends and news about airlines:
- The recession has created a strong buyer's market. As a response to declining ticket sales, airlines have been offering unbelievably low bargain fares (as of today, JetBlue is offering a one-way fare from New York to San Francisco for $14!). Southwest Airlines has made several rounds of price cuts and is again offering one-way sale fares for $49. In fact, Southwest's sale—which will last for travel through the summer—has been dubbed "the most amazing airfare sale since 2001" and has prompted other airlines like AirTran, American, Delta, and United to match the deeply discounted prices.
Continue reading "Consumers Find Travel Deals Amidst Air Industry's Economic Woes" »
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March 25, 2009
Travel Video: Southwest Airlines's Rapping Flight Attendant
Let's be honest: No one ever pays attention when flight attendants do their spiel before takeoff. I've flown enough to know generally where the exits are (those are the rows where the seats now cost extra because of the added legroom, right?), that oxygen masks will pop down from the ceiling in the case of an emergency, and I've usually gotten my act together enough to know the destination of the flight I've just boarded.
But add a rapping flight attendant to that scenario and I'm all ears. David Holmes, a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, recently got his 15 seconds of fame when passengers posted cellphone videos on the Internet of his Will Smith-style version of the standard cabin announcements. Now a YouTube hit, Holmes' was featured in an interview with the Wall Street Journal and a segment on CNN. Like rap or not (Holmes says he gets the biggest applause on Thursday and Friday night flights into Las Vegas... figures), it's definitely a unique and interesting way to get people to listen up, and differentiates Southwest as a fun, down-to-earth airline. And in an economic climate when fewer and fewer people are booking flights, PR like this is priceless. Rest assured, Holmes says he won't do the raps on early morning flights (but, hey, I'd say it'd be a nice pick-me-up).
Here's the full video of Holmes' hip-hop take on the pre-flight announcements:
What do you think of the rapping flight attendant? Have you been graced with his rapping presence on any of your Southwest flights?
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March 16, 2009
Hawaii Tourism Upset Over SNL Skit
The Associated Press reports that Hawaii's lieutenant governor and some in the state's tourism industry are upset over a Saturday Night Live skit that aired March 7, 2009, claiming that it portrays Hawaii in a negative light. The skit (video below), with professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who once lived in Hawaii, and SNL regular Fred Armisen, is about two poorly paid stereotypical entertainers in grass skirts making the rounds at a restaurant full of tourists. Hawaii's tourism liaison told the Honolulu Advertiser that the skit is "offensive," and with the economy and tourism industry in such bad shape, anything that portrays the state negatively could affect the industry even further. You be the judge. Would you think twice about taking a trip to Hawaii, one of the most beautiful and exotic places in the United States, because of a sketch that makes fun of the divide between Hawaiian natives and tourists?
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February 05, 2009
Valentine's Day Deals Around the Web
LOVE IS IN THE AIR: Robert Indiana's sculpture in Philadelphia (J. Smith/courtesy, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation)
I know what you're thinking. You barely got a breather from Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa, and times are tough money-wise. But, the saccharine holiday (say what you will about it) might just be a good excuse to treat yourself to a vacation. Besides, President's Day falls on the Monday after, and God gave us three-day weekends so we could do something with them. And you don't have to spend a ton of money, or even go far from home (see slightly-to-very-irksome buzzword "staycation") to leave work, kids, or stress behind. Here's a roundup of deals you and your loved one might want to take advantage of in the next month or so. Who says you can't up the romance while still trying to save a few bucks?
Continue reading "Valentine's Day Deals Around the Web" »
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February 03, 2009
New 7 Wonders of Nature
A SHOE-IN? The Grand Canyon in Arizona (Michael Busselle/Digital Vision/Getty)
If you're like me, when the the New 7 Wonders Foundation started a worldwide online campaign a couple years ago to select a new set of Seven Wonders of the World, you weren't sure why we even needed a new list. That's because, unbeknownst to many, the actual Seven Wonders of the World do not include the Great Wall, or Machu Picchu, or any of the other awe-inspiring man-made structures that spring to mind. The original list—Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, and Lighthouse of Alexandria—most likely sounds unfamiliar (and very ancient) because none of these structures exist anymore, except, of course, the Pyramids.
Continue reading "New 7 Wonders of Nature" »
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January 15, 2009
Master of Disaster
My resolutions for 2009 included doing more cross-country skiing, and for a couple weeks, I've been weighing the merits of a ski weekend in Glacier National Park versus one in Yellowstone. Thankfully, nature has decided for me by sending a flurry of more than 400 small earthquakes shuddering through Yellowstone right after Christmas.
Though earthquake “swarms” like this aren't uncommon in the park, this is the biggest one in more than 20 years, and it immediately got the media squawking about a possible cataclysmic eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. For the record, it's not super likely. But if I have to choose between a tranquil weekend swooshing powder in Glacier or an adrenaline-fueled, edge-of-your-seat burn through a hissing, quaking, Ragnorakian Yellowstone... well, I just hope there are vacancies at the Old Faithful Inn.
Disaster tourism is so hot right now! And what's a bigger disaster than if the magma chamber beneath Yellowstone swelled up and melted my skies to my feet? Let that rhubarb-munching pansy Garrison Keillor split for Europe—I want to be where the action is.
Continue reading "Master of Disaster" »
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