Zimride announces new route to Lake Tahoe

by Kraig Becker on

Just in time for the start of the ski season, ride sharing website Zimride has announced the opening of a new route between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. To celebrate this new option, they’re also giving away free gas and partnering with local resorts as well.

Launched back in 2008, Zimride is an interesting mash-up of carpooling meets social media. The site allows drivers to sell the empty seats in their cars to passengers who are traveling along the same route, saving everyone some cash in the process. Touting the economic and environmental benefits of ride sharing, the company says that it has helped facilitate more than 26,000 carpools, covering over 100 million miles, at an estimated cumulative savings of $50 million.

The San Francisco to Lake Tahoe route is expected to open on Thanksgiving Day, which is often seen as the unofficial start to the ski season as well. To commemorate the new route, Zimride is giving away a free tank of gas ($40 value) to the first 500 drivers who successfully book the new route between now and the end of the year.

Lake Tahoe has long been considered one of the truly great ski destinations in North America. Nestled high in the Sierra Nevada mountains along the border of California and Nevada, the region is home to more than a dozen resorts, such as Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley. Travelers who stay at either of those resorts, or one of Zimride’s other Lake Tahoe partners, will will also be entitled to discounted lift tickets, VIP parking, and more.

I’ve never personally used Zimride, but it sounds like a great way to not only save a little cash, but also take a road trip with some like minded people. It sounds like fun to share a ride from San Fran to Tahoe for a weekend on the slopes. Considering the price of gas these days, it never hurts to split the costs either.

Find out more at Zimride.com.

Electric blue lobster found in London fish market

by Elizabeth Seward on

While dark blue is the typical color for the European lobster (while alive), an electric blue lobster, on the other hand, is a bit of a rarity. Found by Rex Goldsmith at the Billingsgate Fish Market in London, this lobster was “too nice to put in a pot and boil”, according to Goldsmith. Instead, he contacted crustacean scientist, Paul Clark, at the Natural History Museum. Clark confirmed the the lobster is common (European) in species, but its color is being seen as a rare genetic variant. The specimen was sent to and will remain at the London Aquarium. After it has completed its quarantine, the lobster is set to stay on display in the aquarium, hopefully for years to come. So, for all of you lobster-lovers in London–you’re probably going to want to check this exhibit out.

LivingSocial launches “room service” in the Washington, DC market

by McLean Robbins on

This week, deal megalith LivingSocial announced their newest food service offering, dubbed “room service” in its hometown market of Washington, DC.

It marks the first time LivingSocial has offered a non discounted product to users, but also greatly expands their market. How does this fit into travel, you ask? It’s simple – restaurants in LivingSocial areas are now offering delivery, which makes “ordering in” to your hotel room easier than ever – and eliminates those ridiculous room service taxes and charges. The options are limited so far, as the service is very much in beta, but we can see this being an easy option for restaurants that are already offering delivery and a popular service among LivingSocial’s consumer base. Of course, restaurants that want to apply a “deal” to their delivery certainly can, and so we’ll likely see great discounts in the future.

Even more interesting is their new “Room Service” option, which pairs LivingSocial with fine dining restaurants to offer a true gourmet service in the privacy of your apartment, home or living room.

According to Living Social: “Along with an elegantly plated meal on ceramic dishware, we’ll provide you with everything you need, from a cloth napkin to candles. As for those dirty dishes? We’ll take care of those, too. Just place them in a LivingSocial Room Service container, leave them outside your door the next day, and we’ll pick them up.”

Sounds simple enough to us. The restaurants partnering with the site in its beta test will offer pre-set menus and will likely be around the cost of a menu for two plus tip. Delivery, the fine print says, is only available on Thursday or Friday nights and within a two-mile radius of the restaurant.

If the first restaurant to pilot the program in DC, Kushi, is any indication, the restaurants will be of a rather high quality – this is by far one of our favorite sushi spots in the city. The menu offerings look more like a high-end tasting menu than a standard dinner, and the price, $66 per person with tax, tip and delivery, sounds quite reasonable for the amount of food and quality offered. We only wish they delivered wine and cocktails too!

It’s too early to tell what implications, if any, this will have on actual room service at hotels, but we can surely say that we’ll be testing the offering at our home in Arlington, Virginia (just outside the DC line) sometime very, very soon
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Forbes Travel Guide launches Startle.com in conjunction with 2012 award winners

by McLean Robbins on

Today, Forbes Travel Guide (formerly the Mobil Travel Guide) announced their 2012 world winners of their four- and five-star hotel properties and also the launch of Startle.com, their new “curated” site for luxury properties worldwide.

The site launched with content for 72 US and five international markets, according to TechCrunch, and includes content from the Forbes reviews as well as specialized content from influential “Tastemakers” like Ivanka Trump and chef Eric Ripert alike.

The site is set up in a Q&A style where travelers can find answers to questions like “What are the rooms like at X hotel,” or “What are the bathrooms like in the suites” and get detailed responses about specific properties. City-specific guide information is also available. So far, the site seems most similar to a review platform like Oyster, but geared towards luxury properties already on the Forbes list.

A select deals component called “Startle Me” is also available, which looks like it takes aim at sites like Jetsetter.com, offering discounted package offerings at places like Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and The Mayflower Inn and Spa.

We’re excited to see how the site evolves – at present, more than 350 establishments on the Forbes Travel Guide list are accounted for. For those who are already fans of luxury travel and wish to visit spots on the Forbes list, this site will prove exceptionally useful. For those who want to explore additional destinations are are looking for more unique properties offering an experience that is still upscale but perhaps not “four star” by Forbes’ standards, the site may not prove as interesting.

In the interest of full disclosure, this writer has previously worked as a freelancer with Forbes Travel Guide.

Meet the 2012 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year

by Kraig Becker on

On Monday of this week, National Geographic announced their list of the 2012 Adventurers of the Year, bestowing the honor on eleven men and women who have pushed the envelope in their particular fields over the past 12 months. This year’s group includes mountaineers, a professional surfer, a long distance hiker, a mountain biker, and more.

Several of the names on the list will certainly be familiar to Gadling readers. For instance, we told you about Jennifer Pharr Davis when she set her new speed record on the Appalachian Trail a few months back and we took note of climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner when she summited K2 in August, ending her quest to become the first woman to climb the highest peaks in the world without the use of supplemental oxygen. We even told you about Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa and Sano Babu Sunuwar, the two men who paraglided off the summit of Everest last spring. Others earning Adventurer of the Year status include mountaineer Cory Richards, who became the first person to climb Gasherbrum II in the winter and snowboarder Travis Rice, who rode some of the toughest mountains in the world, in style no less. To view the entire list of winners and read more about their exploits, click here.

With the announcement of these recipients, Nat Geo has also opened an online poll that allows you and I to weigh in on who we think deserves the most recognition for their accomplishments this past year. Readers are encouraged to vote everyday until the poll closes on January 18, 2012. Then, in February, they’ll announce the winner of the 2012 People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year Award as well. Click here to cast your vote for your favorite adventurer.

Finally, to catch these men and women in action, check out the online photo gallery that National Geographic has put together to highlight their selections. Not only are they fantastic photos, they also capture the winners in their natural habitats, namely mountains, oceans, forests, and so on.

Congratulations to all the winners.

[Photo courtesy of Cory Richards]