Luanda, Angola: The world’s most expensive city for expats

by Aaron Hotfelder on

London. Tokyo. New York. Hong Kong. Luanda?

When you think of expensive places to live, Luanda, Angola, probably doesn’t come to mind. But according to a recent study by the consulting firm Mercer, the Angolan capital is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates. Why?

Well, it’s the same reason prices are usually high: too much demand, too little supply. Luanda, a city rife with crippling poverty, has seen several multinational oil companies move to town in recent years, but it lacks the infrastructure, secure housing, and affordable services that many of their employees expect.

“To entice talented staff to [African] cities, multinationals need to provide the same standard of living and benefits that these employees and their families would experience at home,” said a researcher at Mercer. “In some African cities, the cost of this can be extraordinarily high–particularly the cost of good, secure accommodation.”

Cheeseburgers in Luanda cost about $15, with haircuts running $150, and one-year gym memberships costing $2,500. Quality housing in a safe neighborhood can cost just under $10,000 per month.

The survey placed Tokyo second for cost of living, with N’Djamena, Chad, Moscow, and Geneva rounding out the top five. Karachi, Pakistan, was the world’s cheapest city for expats.

More here.

[Photo Credit: Embassy of Angola UK]

Telluride Blues & Brews Festival single-day tickets on sale now

by Laurel Miller on

Even in a town famous for its festivals, Telluride’s Blues & Brews is one hell of a party. The 17th annual, beery, bluesy weekend takes place September 17-19th in Town Park, but if you’re short of cash or time, single-day tickets from $55 to $65 are now available.

Headliners include George Thorogood & the Destroyers, B.B. King, and a TBA performer whose identity will be released Augusts 16th. The lineup also includes perrenial favorites like JJ Grey & Mofro, as well as Jimmie Vaughan, Allen Toussaint, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and the Dana Fuchs Band. Late night “juke joint” performances at bars and other venues around town are also a festival highlight; be sure to get these tickets asap, because they’re a guaranteed sell-out.

A Grand Tasting featuring 53 (mostly Southwestern) microbreweries and nearly 150 beers includes big guns like Sierra Nevada, Stone Brewing Co., and Red Hook, to Colorado standouts such as Avery Brewing Co., Ska Brewing Co., and Odell Brewing Co..

If spending a crisp, early fall weekend outdoors in one of the most spectacular mountain towns in the Rockies sounds like your idea of a good time, dust off your biker boots, and bring a warm, waterproof jacket, just in case. Town Park also has a beautiful campground with full amenities, right on the San Miguel River. It’s first-come, first-served, so get there early, or you might end up sleeping in your car for three days like a certain blogger once did. Thank god for construction site Andy Gump’s.

Google acquires ITA: the search for bargain airline deals is about to get even easier

by Darren Murph on

You’re an avid traveler, right? Sure, why else would you be reading this? Chances are that you’ve spent some quality time at either Kayak, Airfare Watchdog, Bing Travel or one of the many other niche ticketing sites in search of deals over the past few months. To that end, you’ve probably spent next to no time at Google searching for the same thing. But the obvious question is this: “why not?”

That’s a question that has obviously been bugging Google, which is a master of all things search in most every other category. For whatever reason, Google has allowed a number of other, typically smaller competing sites to grow their user base without any interference. But if Google’s so great at finding images via keyword, remedies to your strange medical conditions or more details on that vehicle you’ve been meaning to investigate, why can’t it do the same for travel?

Enter ITA Software, a Cambridge-based software firm that was born from an idea within the minds of a few bright computer scientists from MIT. Currently, the outfit is home to a highly advanced QPX software tool for organizing flight information, which is used by leading airlines and travel distributors worldwide including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Bing, Continental Airlines, Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz, Southwest Airlines, TripAdvisor, United Airlines, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and others. Moreover, it’s now offering a completely new airline passenger reservation system to improve the customer experience. And as of today, the company is an integral part of Google…
Google has ponied up $700 million in order to acquire ITA and turn the tables in the online ticket search business, but what’s most interesting here is that there’s a good chance the resulting search engine will not only do its own thing, but also bring in results from your existing favorites (Kayak, for instance). In a way, it’ll be the ultimate airline ticket search engine, pulling information from every nook and cranny available and organizing it in a way that the Average Joe or Jane can fully understand and take action on.

Once the acquisition is complete, Google aims to “make it easier for you to search for flights, compare flight options and prices and get you quickly to a site where you can buy your ticket.” It’s important to note that much like Kayak, Google won’t actually be selling you an airline ticket directly; it’ll simply be providing the access to buy one. Still, this all sounds like a huge win for consumers who are tired of crawling three different airline search engines to get a somewhat comprehensive look at their options, and we personally can’t wait for this marriage to officially bear fruit.

[Source: Google]

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk – On Par in Catalina

by Stephen Greenwood on

In continuation of our series on Catalina Island, we decided to settle the score on our golf skills once and for all!

After brushing up on our swings in Orlando, it was time to take our game to the links of Catalina, where the green is only minutes away from the shores of the Pacific and the course is welcome to golfers of all levels (thankfully). Check out this bonus clip to see who came out ahead.

If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.

Subscribe via iTunes:
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Links
Book a round of golf via Catalina’s website!

Hosts: Aaron Murphy-Crews, Stephen Greenwood

Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea

Affordable Paris souvenir: glass yogurt containers as candle holders

by Amy Chen on

Souvenir shopping can be a frustrating and expensive task, but sometimes, you know you’ve found the perfect souvenir as soon as you see it.

On a recent trip to Paris, I was pleased to find that my hotel breakfast included single-size servings of yogurt in adorable little glass containers, which I knew could easily double as candle holders once I rinsed them out.

Over the course of a week, I accumulated a stash of five glass containers, all of which survived the trip back in my checked luggage.

Once I got home and ran the glass containers through the dishwasher, tealights from IKEA ($3.99 for a 100-pack) completed the look. The candles now stand on my windowsill and remind me of my trip to the aptly named City of Light.

Even if your hotel doesn’t include breakfast, most grocery stores around France seem to carry several brands of yogurt in glass containers. For example, I found that the Monoprix supermarket chain sells a four-pack of yogurt for about €2 ($2.50). A snack and a souvenir all in one, imagine that.

[Image Credit: Amy Chen]