Daily Pampering: Condé Nast Traveller names top spa in the U.S.

by Melanie Nayer on

If a little relaxation and rejuvenation, and a lot of pampering, is on your task list for 2010, Conde Nast has a place for you: The Spa Solage.

Readers of Condé Nast Traveller voted Spa Solage, at Solage Calistoga, the “Favourite Overseas Hotel Spas: The Americas and Caribbean” in its seventh annual “Readers’ Spa Awards 2010.” This recognition follows on the heels of Spa Solage’s number two spot among the “Top 25 Hotel Spas: Continental U.S. and Canada,” in Travel + Leisure Magazine’s “World’s Best Spas 2009” awards.

The spa is located on 22-acres in Napa Valley and is known for its eco-friendly services including mineral pools, mud-treatments and organic menus. You can spend the day or stay the weekend in the one of the resort’s suites, which start at $320/night.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Feds Try to Halt Starwood Suit of Hilton to Chase Criminal Charges

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Usually, it’s what goes on inside the hotels that is mysterious. Illicit trysts, quiet business deals and the occasional rendez-vous of spies (very occasional, I suspect) are what we’d love to believe happens in behind the closed doors of hotels up-market and down. The reality, however, is far more interesting. There is plenty of espionage going on in the hotel world, but it’s the hotels themselves – not he guests – who are getting in on the action … and now the feds are involved.

A lawsuit filed by Starwood Hotels against competitor Hilton may have to wait for a bit. Federal prosecutors believe that the civil litigation could impede the criminal investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is pursuing charges that could include conspiracy, computer fraud, theft of trade secrets and interstate transportation of stolen goods against Hilton, as well as two executives that that the company hired from Starwood.

According to the filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “The government seeks a stay of discovery pending resolution of the criminal investigation.”

Starwood alleges that Hilton swiped confidential documents in an attempt to develop an offer that would compete with Starwood’s W Hotels brand. Before the civil effort can be put on hold in favor of the criminal investigation, a judge will have to sign off on the motion.

Hilton’s response to the filing, according to USA Today is: “Hilton Worldwide continues to fully cooperate with the Government’s investigation and supports the Government’s motion to stay discovery in the Starwood civil litigation matter.”

Not exactly earth-shattering.

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Pilots forced to talk about work in the cockpit

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Big Brother may not be watching, but he’ll be listening. A new recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board would involve the use of “black box” recordings to monitor the conversations that occur among pilots in the cockpit. This comes on the heels of several high-profile incidents in which pilots were distracted. According to a report by USA Today, this would be the first time that workplace monitoring would penetrate the cockpit. Of course, pilots’ unions oppose the measure, calling it intrusive (isn’t that the point?).

Until now, the black boxes have only been used after accidents. This new step, if executed properly, could make the recordings useful in preventing them – well, that’s the plan, at least.

Needless to say, the timing couldn’t be better for the NTSB, given the Northwest Airlines flight that overshot its destination by a hundred miles and the Colgan crash near Buffalo last year. In both case, pilot conversations were cited as among the reasons for the problems that occurred.

So far, this is only a recommendation from the NTSB to the FAA (the former has no regulatory authority). The NTSB’s Robert Sumwalt claims, “This is not a case of Big Brother spying on pilots.” Well, it really does seem like one, but it isn’t a hard measure to defend in this climate. It might be easier to see the pilots’ point of view if their objections weren’t centered on pilot privacy. Workplace privacy is a thing of the past for everyone.

Mike Michaelis, chairman of safety at the Aillied Pilots Assocation, the union over at American Airlines, told USA Today, “It’s the wrong way to go safety-wise.” What I don’t understand is how that can be true.

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National Geographic announces Adventurers of the Year

by Kraig Becker on

Way back in November we told you how you could help National Geographic Adventure select their Adventurer of the Year for 2009. The list of contenders featured ten of the most amazing athletes, explorers, and scientists from around the globe, each doing exciting and unusual things in their field. Now, after three months of balloting and more than 20,000 votes, the winner has been announced. Well, make that winners, as once the ballot box was closed, and all the votes were tabulated, two names emerged victorious, with explorer Albert Yu-Min Lin and climber Marc Hoffmeister earning the title of Adventurer of the Year.

The two men share an adventurous spirit and a love of challenges, but aside from that, they couldn’t be more different. Yu-Min is working within Mongolia’s “Forbidden Zone”, located in the northern part of the country, in an attempt to find the long lost tomb of Genghis Kahn, the legendary Mongol warlord who terrorized much of Asia and Europe in the 13th century. Hoffmeister, on the other hand, earned his honors on the steep slopes of 20,320 foot tall Denali in Alaska, where he led a team of soldiers up the treacherous West Buttress Route. Many of the soldiers, including Hoffmeister himself, were injured in the war in Iraq, with some of them even missing limbs.
Both men expressed gratitude and humility after being told that they had won the award, and each of them stressed that they were just one small part of a team that made their individual adventures possible. You can read more about Yu-Min and exploration of the remote regions of Mongolia by clicking here, and his reaction to being told that he won here. Similarly, this story details Hoffmeister’s epic climb up Denali, the tallest peak in North America, and his reaction to winning can be found here.

These awards are handed out in the wake of the announcement last December that National Geographic would cease to publish Adventure as a traditional magazine. The organization promised that we would continue to see the Adventure brand being used in a variety of ways however, including future Adventurer of the Year competitions. After a taking a short hiatus, the Adventure blog has also recently returned to life, with regular updates from the world of adventure travel and outdoor activities.

Tragic killer whale accident at Shamu Stadium kills SeaWorld employee

by Scott Carmichael on

(This is a developing story)

A SeaWorld employee died this afternoon when she was grabbed by one of the whales at the start of a public show.

According to a park guest, the trainer had just finished explaining the show when a killer whale popped up out of the water and grabbed her.

The whale thrashed her around, at which point the sirens went off in the stadium forcing all guests to be evacuated. The trainer was pronounced dead by rescue personnel, but no more information has been released by SeaWorld.

Update: According to a breaking news source on Twitter, the whale in question is Tilikum (Tilly), the world’s largest whale in captivity. If correct, this would be the third time Tillikum has killed a human.

Update 2: All shows at Shamu stadium have been canceled for today.

(Image from: IONU/X17online.com)