Authentic New York City souvenirs under $20

by Amy Chen on

Trying to find authentic souvenirs amid all the mass-produced merchandise can be tough. Here are five affordable New York City souvenirs that make great gifts for foodies — and any traveler who wants to keep a taste of the Big Apple close at hand.

Shake Shack
Danny Meyer’s New York City-based burger empire makes adorable Small Fry onesies for infants and Shake Shack T-shirts for adults — the silhouettes are a nod to the hour-long waits at the original Madison Square Park location, which even has a Shack Cam webcam to help people figure out when to go.
Cost: $18 each
Where to Buy: At any of the five Shake Shack locations (Madison Square Park, Times Square, Upper West Side, Upper East Side, or Citi Field)

Gimme! Coffee
Ithaca, N.Y.-based Gimme! Coffee has a Manhattan location and an outpost in Brooklyn. Perfect for espresso lovers, this 3-ounce porcelain cup’s message is loud and clear.
Cost: $9.95 for a cup and matching saucer
Where to Buy: www.gimmecoffee.com

Broadway gear
You’ve already paid for expensive Broadway show tickets and hate the idea of paying $20 for a souvenir program. Luckily, you don’t have to go home with just the Playbill. Stop at one of the bars in the theater, where you can buy a drink and keep the reusable plastic cup. For example, a Coke in this Wicked commemorative cup costs $5, while a Wicked mug at the souvenir kiosk is $15 (and doesn’t include a drink).
Cost: $5 for soda in a souvenir cup
Where to Buy: Broadway theaters, such as Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre (222 W. 51st St.) or The Lion King at the Minskoff Theatre (1515 Broadway)

Magnolia Bakery
Though the cupcake craze seems to ebb and flow, Magnolia Bakery (made famous by Sex and the City) offers a cute alternative to the regular I Heart New York T-shirts. Plus, the shirt will last long after the sugar rush subsides.
Cost: $20 for adults; $15 for teens, toddlers, and infants
Where to Buy: www.magnoliabakery.com

Jacques Torres
Warm up with this deliciously sinful Wicked Hot Chocolate — it’s spiked with cinnamon, allspice, sweet ancho chile peppers, and smoked ground chipotle chile peppers. If you can’t resist sampling the hot chocolate at the store, expect to pay $3.25 for a small 8-ounce cup and $4.25 for a large 12-ounce cup.
Cost: $18 per souvenir tin, which makes 8-10 cups each
Where to Buy: At any of the four NYC locations or www.mrchocolate.com

%Gallery-110403%

The 10 snowiest cities in America … bundle up!

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I spend all summer fantasizing about winter. From the end of May to the beginning of October, I wind up drenched in sweat, wishing I could peel off my own skin and running from one air conditioned environment to another. It’s miserable. When the biting cold of the winter season hits, I embrace it, finally able to be somewhat comfortable when I’m outside. Add a bit of snow to the equation, and the result is positively heavenly.

So, when I saw The Weather Channel’s list of snowiest cities in the United States, my mind immediately wandered to chilly places where I could hop on a sled (which I prefer to skis or snowboards), pour a big, steaming mug of hot chocolate and hurl snowballs at random passers by.

Are you into that sort of thing? Well, you’ll probably want to dash off to one of the 10 snowiest cities in the country! In case you’re wondering, here they are:

%Gallery-108139%1. Valdez, Alaska: The Weather Channel reports that this city gets 297.7 inches of snow a year, with 180 of them coming in only one month. If you go to the second snowiest city in the country, the annual average is six feet lower than it is in Valdez. Slackers.

2. Boonville, New York: Boonville just sounds like a snowy place. With 220.5 inches a year, this town in the foothills of the Adirondacks calls itself the “Snow Capital of the East” and has the powder to back up that claim.

3. Hancock, Michigan: In December, 56 inches of snow are dumped on Hancock, with another 68 inches following in January. The city averages 218 inches a year and once boasted of two feet of wet snow on June 2. This is my kind of place!

4. Crested Butte, Colorado: From November through March, you can expect at least 30 inches of snow to fall every month, with an annual average of 217.7 inches. If you like snow to shroud your Labor Day barbecue, this is the place to be – you can also find snow falling as late as the end of June.

5. Truckee, California: In the late 1800s, one storm pummeled Truckee with 10 feet of snow over two days. Since then, the elements have been merciful, if you call an annual average snowfall of 198.3 inches merciful. Do the math on this one.

6. Lead, South Dakota: Storms dropping more than 10 inches of snow hit at least three times a year in this city, which averages 187 inches of snow a year.

7. Steamboat Springs, Colorado: For 97 days a year, you can expect this mile-high city to have at least 10 inches of snow on the ground. The annual average snowfall of 175.5 inches is nothing to sneeze at.

8. Red Lodge, Montana: There have been years where snow didn’t fall in only two months – that’s what it takes to score an annual average of 173.9 inches. And, the snow lingers: there’s at least an inch on the ground 127 days a year.

9. Tahoe City, California: The snow doesn’t start to fall until November, but when it does, it comes plentifully. Tahoe City averages 170.8 inches a year.

10. Ironwood, Michigan: This city has a slightly pornographic name and a hell of a lot of snow. Ironwood averages 164.6 inches of snow a year and is a hot spot for winter sports, according to The Weather Channel.

[photo by bsabarnowl via Flickr]

Permits now required on Yosemite’s Half Dome everyday of the week

by Kraig Becker on

The National Park Service has announced that permits will now be required everyday of the week for the iconic Half Dome in Yosemite National Park during the 2011 summer season. The move is designed to prevent overcrowding on the trail that leads to the summit and is expected to make the steep hike safer for all involved.

Earlier this year, the park service announced that permits would be required on the weekends, but they found that that simply moved more of the crowd to weekdays. On average, about 400 people hike the trail on those weekdays, as opposed to about 800 on the weekends. With that in mind, the NPS capped the number of available permits to 400 per day.

To add another level of planning to the process, permits can not be obtained on site at the park. Instead, they’ll need to be purchased up to four months in advance through the National Parks Reservation System. The price of the permit is a mere $1.50, but you’ll now need to know exactly when you plan to make the hike and order your permit accordingly.

The “trail” to the summit of Half Dome can barely be called that. A set of cables run up the side of the rock face, which give hikers something to hold on to as they pull themselves up the granite slab, which has wooden beams spaced out along the way. On busy days, the lines can be slow and if someone slips, it is easy to take down others with them. The new permitting system will hopefully take away some of the crowding, and make the entire experience a safer and more rewarding one for all involved.

If you’re planning a trip to Yosemite in 2011, you’ll definitely want to ensure that you get your hands on a permit for Half Dome plenty early. It is one of the most popular things to do in the park, and definitely worth the trip.It would be a shame to go and not be allowed on the hike.

[Photo credit: Sjoplin via WikiMedia]

Exclusive Insight: Why hotels lost ground online

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Yesterday, you probably saw that hotels are getting hit pretty hard by online travel agencies, as customers have been hunting for deals aggressively. The latest data from PhoCusWright puts branded hotel websites at 54 percent of the online channel, down from 59 percent two years ago. And a few weeks ago, we took a look at the competition between online travel agent and airline brands as we head into a travel market recovery.

Well, it looks like hotels are going to stage a similar comeback as the economy improves.

I reached out to Douglas Quinby, Senior Director, Research, at PhoCusWright yesterday to find out a bit more about the supplier/online travel agent dynamic in the hotel space.

Quinby wrote to me by email, “The interesting thing about this shift away from branded hotel websites to OTAs over the course of the recession – and this has happened with airline sites too – is not that hotel brands are not important, but that those travelers who care most about hotel brands, the frequent leisure and business travelers and true brand loyalists, were the ones that pulled back the most.”Essentially, hotels’ best customers started to stray, as cost became increasingly important given prevailing economic conditions. It isn’t surprising, of course: when you have fewer dollars, each comes with greater gravity.

Quinby continued, “When money is tight, price becomes more important, and the OTAs have deftly outflanked the recession by focusing on that infrequent leisure travel and what they care about most: deals!”

As business travelers come back into the market, it seems, the share of total travel spending going to the suppliers will again increase, as corporate travel budgets get a little looser and those making the buying decisions get a bit more freedom again. Quinby notes that this goes for frequent leisure travelers as well, with both categories leading to “improving performance in supplier websites.”

There’s no doubt that online travel agencies will need to increase their brand investments to compete effectively with hotel suppliers in 2011. Let the games begin!

So, how do you book hotels: with a branded hotel website or an online travel agent? Leave a comment to let us know!

Virgin Galactic sets sights on orbital spaceflight

by Stephen Greenwood on

The stakes in the commercial space race just got a little loftier. Today, Virgin Galactic officially announced plans to team up with two U.S companies in pursuit of developing a commercial manned orbital spacecraft.

Backed by fearless entrepreneur Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic has chosen to support Sierra Nevada Space Systems (SNC) and Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDEV2); an initiative designed to stimulate the development of privately-operated space vehicles. This falls in line with the comments Branson made in our exclusive interview at Spaceport America, saying that NASA’s role should transition to apportioning out money to private space companies.

Since it’s conception in 2004, Virgin Galactic has primarily worked alongside Mojave-based company Scaled Composites to develop a reusable sub-orbital craft, dubbed “SpaceShipTwo”. This design will take passengers over 62 miles into space, but lacks the power required to completely escape the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in about 5 minutes of weightlessness. Orbital flights would give passengers a much longer weightless experience and views of the entire surface of the Earth.

SNC and OSC are following Scaled’s lead by researching designs that will utilize lifting-wing bodies and runway landings in an effort to minimize cost and maximize passenger safety.

While the first iteration of SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise, has yet to make a rocket-powered manned test flight, Branson commented on the importance of looking ahead. “We are now very close to making the dream of sub-orbital space a reality for thousands of people at a cost and level of safety unimaginable even in the recent past…Today’s anouncement is an important step along the way of acheiving our ultimate and long term goal.”

We are indeed living in exciting times for private space exploration. Now go ahead and leave the inevitable “when can I afford it?” remarks in the comments section below!