Most booked locations for MLK weekend getaways

by McLean Robbins on

Want to know where to head for MLK weekend? Hotwire just announced the top 10 most booked destinations travelers are visiting over Martin Luther King Day weekend.

Several cities have historic significance, including Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. he received his B.A. degree at Morehouse College and where the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center was founded as well as Chicago, was the first state to adopt MLK as a state holiday. Public pressure for the holiday mounted during the 1982 and 1983 civil rights marches in Washington.

According to results from Hotwire’s American Travel Behavior survey, 74% of people would rather take several smaller vacations over the year than one big one.

So here’s an impromptu poll – will you be traveling this MLK weekend, and if so, will you be visiting one of the ten most popular destinations?

Destination & Average Nightly Hotel Price

  • Las Vegas, Nevada $101
  • Atlanta, Georgia $72
  • Orlando, Florida $54
  • New York City, New York $125
  • Fort Lauderdale, Florida $97
  • New Orleans, Louisiana $87
  • Chicago, Illinois $66
  • San Francisco, California $109
  • San Diego, California $74
  • Washington D.C. $83

[Flickr via michaelhyman300]

Mammoth Mountain offers guaranteed snow

by Kraig Becker on

It has been a real hit-and-miss season for skiers so far this winter. Some regions of the U.S. have received plenty of snow, but large sections of the country are still waiting for for the sizable accumulations that will allow them to hit the slopes in style. But visitors to Mammoth Mountain in California can rest assured that they’ll have plenty of powder to play in, as the resort is even offering a snow guarantee for pass holders.

The Mammoth Mid-Winter Pass is currently on sale for just $299 and allows skiing or snowboarding everyday of the week between January 9 and February 10. That averages out to just $12 per day, which is an amazing deal for anyone who wants to ski one of the premiere resorts in all of North America. But, it gets even better. Starting yesterday, for every day that goes by in which the resort doesn’t receive 24 inches of new snowfall, they’ll extend the length of the pass for an additional day.

I’m told that the current snow base on the mountain is between 1.5 and 2 feet, and daily measurements will be provided by the Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol to keep track of how much new snow falls. A running ticker will also be added to the Mammoth website to keep pass holders informed of those measurements and how many extra days are being added to their pass. So while you’re lamenting the fact that no fresh snow has fallen on the mountain, the value of that Mid-Winter Pass will continue to go up.

There is one small caveat however. In order to take advantage of this deal, you’ll need to purchase the Mid-Winter Pass by Monday, January 9th. To find out more and order your pass online, click here.

[Photo Courtesy of Mammoth Mountain]

Adventure Vacation Guide 2012: Interlaken, Switzerland

by Jessica Festa on

Interlaken, Switzerland, is a hotspot on the backpacking circuit and is located in the beautiful Bernese Oberland.

For those that like to spend their time jumping out of planes, diving into canyons, and hiking glaciers, Interlaken in Switzerland is your perfect destination. Surrounded by a diverse landscape of jagged peaks, roaring rivers, snow capped mountains, and lush greenery, it contains the ideal landscape for an array of adventure sports. The area is also world-renowned for its famous hiking trails in the Swiss Alps. And, starting in March of 2012, a brand new hostel will be open to Interlaken visitors.

For those looking for an air-borne adventure, hanggliding, skydiving, and paragliding can all be experienced. If you want a thrill but would rather stay a little closer to Earth, Interlaken has bungy jumping, horseback riding, hiking, ice climbing, skiing, rock climbing, glacier trekking, ropes courses, and mountain biking. There is also a unique adventure sport called Via Ferrata which consists of traversing mountain passes equipped with fixed cables, steel ladders, and ziplines, and can only be done in a few unique regions. And for the water lovers, Interlaken gives you canyoning, kayaking, river rafting, and funyaking.

[flickr image via Fr Antunes]

Budget Vacations 2012: Ghana

by Jessica Festa on


For those looking to travel on a budget, Ghana, Africa, is a prime destination. According to exchange-rates.com, as of December, 2011, $1 was equivalent to about 1.63-1.65 Ghanaian Cedis.

It is not hard to travel around Ghana and spend very little money. While taxis are considered the “expensive” form of transportation, you can still get pretty far for $5 or less. The more economical form of transport is the tro-tro, which will allow you to ride locally for $0.10-$0.40. If you’re riding to another city, it is still budget-friendly. A 2 hour tro-tro ride from Swedru to Cape Coast took about 2 hours and cost a little less than $5. A longer ride from Accra to the Volta Region, which took about 5 hours, cost me about $9.

In terms of food and drink, it’s usually locally produced and always affordable. You can get a full meal at a local restaurant for less than $1. Moreover, there are tons of open-air markets and hawkers on the side of the street selling fresh food for a small price. And no need to worry about drinking water, as a 16 ounce bag of water costs less than $0.05.

Budget accommodation abounds in Ghana, and not just for backpackers. While a bed in a hostel will usually cost around $6 a night, like Big Milly’s Backyard in Kokrobite and the Oasis Beach Resort in Cape Coast, there are plenty of hotels that offer budget-friendly rooms, like Hansonic Hotel in Accra for $10 a night and the nature-surrounded Wli Water Heights Lodge in the Volta Region for $16 a night.

[flickr image via Stig Nygaard]

New budget travel magazine debuts: Off Track Planet moves into print

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Off Track Planet, a Brooklyn-based online budget travel publication, takes its f-bomb dropping idiom into print today with the debut of an eponymous magazine.

Off Track Planet, for the uninitiated, is geared toward the 18-30 set and is particularly focused on undergraduates.

Accordingly, the publication directs its attention to several subjects of primary interest to college kids; among these: partying, volunteering, and hostels. This online article, which claims to have located a Buenos Aires “party hostel” that is also “clean and comfy,” ensnares two of these themes simultaneously.

Sample articles at the Off Track Planet webzine include an overview of Mumbai volunteerships, a guide to culturally-specific insults, a Berlin club primer, and tips for getting stoned in Vancouver.

This is, in other words, one publication that knows its market.

It is a tough time to launch a print magazine, though Off Track Planet sets off into print with a built-in audience and ambition to boot. The Off Track Planet empire is also developing a trip planning mobile web platform to debut later this year.

[Image: Flickr | frontlinefreddie]