New Budget Airline in Asia

by Erik Olsen on

I have little idea how difficult it is to get to and from a country like Malaysia and/or whether a new airlines there is needed, but here’s some new news for folks who are interested. According to this piece over at Yahoo, Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes launched a new long-haul budget airline named AirAsia X, which will start flying to destinations in China and Britain in July.

The new airline is expected to carry some 500,000 passengers in first year of operations, and will ultimately cover China, India, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. Funny that North America was left our of the equation, but perhaps we have enough budget airlines covering these routes from the US as it is.

A Travel New Year’s Resolution: Take a Fitness Vacation

by Adrienne Wilson on

Raise your hand if you decided to shed a couple of extra pounds before summer this year? Most people tend to be fairly gung-ho about taking off the weight at the beginning of the year, but as the days starting passing interest in breaking a hard and nasty sweat tend to fizzle or the body just gets plain-out burned-out. Don’t let either happen to you! Stick to your goal by doing whatever you need to the healthy way. The answer could be something as easy as a change of scenery, so why not take a fitness vacation? Lifetimetv.com has a fantastic list of 10 activities including locations where interested parties can join a yoga retreat, cycle through vineyards, hike up hills, and paddle in Belize. Working out in the gym is good, but wouldn’t it be great to escape and lose weight? Perhaps I am the only one who thinks so.

Word for the Travel Wise (12/31/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

As promised I’m taking this one full year of language from across the globe and from the teeny tiny villages found in the Congo out with an explosive big bang! Okay, so you saw right through my attempt to hype it up, but really this is an exciting time. 2007 is only hours away for us and this completes a full year first year for the “Word for the Travel Wise” feature. I hope that the lessons have not only been helpful, but a little memorable. For the last time this year I just want to relay that while I do not have a degree as a linguist or speak fluently the mother tongue of several far more exotic places than my home digs in Florida, I appreciate the feedback and minor corrections that have been given and look forward to building a better world language feature in the new year.

Here is Happy New Year in various languages:

  • Yiddish – A git yor
  • Portuguese – Feliz ano novo
  • French – Bonne année
  • Italian – Buon anno
  • Persian – sal-e no mobarak
  • Japanese – Akemashite omedeto
  • Turkish – Mutlu yibasi
  • Catalan – Feliç any nou

Happy New Year everyone!

iPod Listening When U Travel

by Erik Olsen on

Like a lot of people, I have fallen so in love with my ipod that, after my wallet, it’s the one thing I HAVE to carry with me when I leave the house. And before I go, I always make sure that it is loaded up with the most recent podcasts from NPR, as well as my Charlie Rose subscription on Audible.com AND many audio books from audible. I was happy to see Iva blog about audible’s content, especially about Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between, which I actually have in its atom-based, tree-pulp form and am enjoying immensely.

But for those who travel and are looking for walking tours and such to put on their ipods and other listening devices, here are a couple of ideas.

A company called AudioSteps offers audio walking tours of various cities around the country including New Orleans, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. For the internationally-inclined, especially those traveling to London, a company called BlueBrolly has a fine selection of audio walks for areas including Westminster, Soho, Chinatown, Greenwich, Covent Garden, St Paul’s and other spots around the English capital. Finally, PodGuides takes a step further and offers digital maps and small pictures, along with the audio tracks. A fine idea, and one I’m sure we’ll be seeing a LOT more of.

Photo of the Day (12/30/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Now that Christmas has come and past and with New Year’s only two days away it felt natural picking this shot of the ever-so-famous Mickey Mouse head. Why? I don’t know. Maybe someone out there put a trip to Disney World in Orlando or Tokyo on their 2007 vacation list. Sure it’s cluttered with tourists, but the mouse man has always been popular with the kiddies and the kid at heart. The fireworks show around the holidays is said to be an extra special site to see, so I’m told.

Anyhow, today’s POTD goes to vyxle. Taken on some type of Disney train in Tokyo, I wonder what puzzles the woman.