New restaurant at Four Seasons Resort Santa Barbara

by Annie Scott on

‘Tis always the season for exclusivity at a Four Seasons. This season, Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara (excessive names much? It’s like having three daddies) has opened a brand new restaurant, Tydes Restaurant and Bar.

Tydes Restaurant and Bar was designed by Peter Marino at the legendary Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club. The “Coral Casino” has been through a $65 million restoration and is now an exclusive members-only club to which guests of the Four Seasons have access, and Tydes Restaurant and Bar has opened inside of that. Basically, if you want to go there, you probably can’t.

That picture? Is a sketch. You can’t even see it.

More about what you’re missing:

“Critically acclaimed chef Pilar Sanchez, most recently known for her eponymous Napa restaurant, has crafted a tour de force menu that is authentically Mediterranean – creatively combining French, Italian, Spanish and Moroccan influences to create a harmony with the “Riviera” feel of Tydes’ natural surroundings. Constantly in flux with the seasons, it stars fresh seafood such as loup de mer, turbot and daurade flown in from the Mediterranean daily, along with the best ingredients from that part of the world. Also featured are the local region’s freshest produce and meats sourced from local purveyors, including one-of-a-kind artisan foods like bread and cheeses that have been custom created to Sanchez’s own specifications.”

Not exclusive enough? There’s a private dining room within Tydes Restaurant and Bar which seats just eight guests and has views of the ocean and the mountains. The room also opens out onto a sundeck.

If you find yourself on that sundeck, you’ve probably broken out of the matrix. Watch for agents.

The Death of Blogging

by Brenda Yun on

Although I may not have admitted it earlier, I’m a most fervent believer in virtual travel. Those of us who don’t have enough money to travel the world can appease their itch by hopping online and reading about exotic places people have gone. In this economy, many people have to turn to the vicarious experience of travel through reading travel articles or viewing photos online or in print. There’s no way you can get the real thing, so you settle for it virtually. Travel blogs like MatatorTravel, BlissfulTravel, and PerceptiveTravel have been my fix of choice, and without them, I’m not sure I’d feel as alive as I do.

That’s why I was stunned when I read an article in The Economist about how blogging has gone too mainstream.

The article describes how, just a decade ago, blogging was considered fresh, but it has since become an informational tool that is so large that it is impersonal. It states how Jason Calacanis, the founder of Weblogs, Inc. (which happens to be the motherblog to Gadling), decided to retire from blogging. His reasons? “Blogging is simply too big, too impersonal, and lacks the intimacy that drew me to it.” I beg to differ with this view. The effect of blogs for readers, I believe, is really the opposite: I’m able to feel connected to people and cultures on the other side of the globe all with my eyes, my heart, and upon the click of my mouse.
The Economist went so far as to suggest that Calacanis’s retirement from this media marks a possible slow death of blogging itself. It compares this inevitability to PDA’s of all things: “blogging may “die” in much the same way that personal-digital assistants (PDAs) have died. A decade ago, PDAs were the preserve of digerati who liked using electronic address books and calendars. Now they are gone, but they are also ubiquitous, as features of almost every mobile phone.”

I’m rather appalled by the notion that blogging can die one day. That reality obviously remains to be seen, but the scary part about this possibility is what could replace it. Will virtual travelers find their fix elsewhere? Is Gadling doomed for non-existence? I certainly hope not. If anything, it is evolving into something more multimedia and accessible.

The Sounds of Travel 7: So Flute

by Anna Brones on

Here at Gadling we’ll be highlighting some of our favorite sounds from the road and giving you a sample of each — maybe you’ll find the same inspiration that we did, but at the very least, hopefully you’ll think that they’re good songs.

Got a favorite of your own? Leave it in the Comments and we’ll post it at the end of the series.

France. This is a country known for its music. The stereotypical accordion tunes from atop Montmartre embodied in the soundtrack of Amélie, the ballads of Edith Piaf, and the intense lyrics of adopted icon Jacques Brel (he was actually Belgian, but the French like him so much they seem to forget). But beyond those symbolic melodies that scream French roots, there’s another side to French music. One that is much more urban, cosmopolitan and chic. It’s the smooth, electro-jazz, slightly funky sounds of contemporary bands like St. Germain.

I was spending a semester in France in college and had fortunately been placed in a very cool attic apartment with an equally cool Frenchman; one who had a penchant for red wine, dinner parties and top of the line background music to complement the food and company. St. Germain’s Tourist album was played at one of the first of these dinner parties that I ever experienced.

It was a quintessential French evening: a bottle of regional Muscat to start the night, a whole chicken, cooked in butter and herbs fresh out of the oven, a salad with fresh greens and a homemade vinaigrette, a Burgundy to go with the chicken and a cacophony of French voices all giving their politically charged opinions on everything from GMOs to the American President. The upbeat sound of the saxophone in “So Flute” hung in the air, dancing around in the vibrant ambiance.

All of a sudden I felt instantly chic and European. Just listening to “So Flute” let me shed my hippie college roots and automatically develop into that classy, cultured young adult I’d always wanted to be. From that night on I couldn’t stop listening to St. Germain.

When I returned home after my semester abroad I would try and recreate these dinner parties. I would tell people that we would eat at nine, they looked at me as if I was crazy and sad they would come at six; Americans unlike the French are not trained for late night dinner parties. I got frustrated that the only white wine I could find for an aperitif was a Californian Chardonnay; trust me, after wine of Alsace, it’s not the same. But thanks to my pre-departure stop at FNAC (the French Borders) at least I could have “So Flute” play in the background. Maybe I didn’t feel so chic in my shared college house, but at least I could import the French urban vibe. At least it was better than drowning my sorrows in a bottle of bad red.

Returning home, especially after extended stays when you have completely immersed yourself in your host culture, can be hard. Sometimes, to get over that culture shock — no matter how long you’ve been back — all it takes is a melody reminiscent of your time there. Instantly you are taken back to a certain moment, a certain feeling and for a second all that cultural confusion just slips away. “So Flute” is that song for me and whenever I play it I am whisked away to my favorite vibes of France.

Click here for previous Sounds of Travel.

Toilet overheats and causes an emergency landing

by Jamie Rhein on

You may remember Heather’s post about smelling something weird on a flight when she was popping open a can of cranberry juice. She took off her shoes to see if heat was coming from the floor. In the case of this particular flight, nothing was amiss. The smell eventually went away.

In the case of one of yesterday’s Virgin Atlantic flights, there was heat coming up through the floor. An overheated toilet pump was the culprit. I wonder if there was heat coming through the toilet as well? That would give a passenger a start, wouldn’t you think? Puts another meaning into hotseat.

According to msnbc.com, the 331 passengers on the flight, hoping to make it to London from Miami without mishap, ended up in hotel rooms in Wilmington, North Carolina this morning because the crew thought there might be a fire in the cargo hold.

I’ve been on two flights when an engine went caput–but never a toilet pump. I wonder if that’s what makes the toilets go whoosh! when you flush. I hope the Virgin Atlantic passengers in Wilmington have managed to make the best of it and will be rested up by the time they make it to London.

I’m also wondering if any passengers noticed if the flight attendants had taken their shoes off and were walking slowly down the aisles before the announcement that the flight was being diverted. [photo by Cubbie_n_Vegas]

Air France pilot strike: Does it affect you?

by Jeffrey White on

Gadling reader Ingrid Ivins writes us asking:

Do you have any advice for those of us taking AF this weekend? My daughter and I are flying Monday from Washington to Tunisia (via Paris). Although we are flying Economy, since I have an unrestricted full-fare ticket and Platinum Elite Status, are we less likely to get booted off the flight? Thank you.

Ingrid — it’s not looking good right now, but you very well may miss a major delay because of your Monday departure.

The Associated Press is reporting that the nearly half of Air France’s flights have been grounded today due to this pilot’s strike. But the AP is also reporting the that strike is expected to last through the weekend. If you’re a glass-half-full traveler, then there might be reason to hope that while Monday might bring about delays you’d expect as AF’s network tries to recover, your flight won’t be canceled outright.

Pilots walked out to protest an AF plan to extend the age at which pilots can retire from 60 to 65, effective in 2010.

Right now Air France is saying that around 40 percent of its long-haul flights have been canceled, again today. But its unclear whether those cancellations stretch into the weekend, if they do at all. There are also scattered reports that negotiators are trying to bring the strike to an end quickly — but this is France, which, like Italy, takes its walk-outs seriously.

Best to contact the airline directly and see where your flight stands. With your elite status, you might be able to score a transfer onto another Sky Team partner.

Good luck!